Book picks similar to
Beyond the Pale by Jennifer Millikin
ku
romance
love-triangle
arc
Hope Over Fear
J.A. DeRouen - 2014
I don’t deserve pity or sympathy. I’ve made my bed. I left Mason and ripped his heart to pieces as I ran away. The guilt and sorrow consume me, threatening to choke me everyday.But today is a new beginning. Today is the day I will wake up with a renewed resolve and determination to do better … to be better … to be worthy. My name is Sara Preston, and this is my story about what happens after.
This is the Wonder
Tracey Ward - 2014
We were the blue of the sky. The cold of the ocean floor.I went to Europe to study. To party, to hide, to run away from the endless sea of choices that would mold and shape the rest of my life. I wasn't ready for any of that. Not yet. I wasn't ready to have all the answers.And I definitely wasn't ready for Jax.Handsome, sweet, and sporting the biggest blue eyes I'd ever seen, he swooped into my world and changed everything. Suddenly I wasn't scared of making choices. I wasn't afraid of voicing answers. It was easy because where Jax was concerned, my answer was always "Yes".But I've been quick to find out that loving a military man isn't easy, and while Jax seemed like the answer to everything, he has questions of his own.Doubts about his future. Fears about his past.
Kiss and Break Up
Ella Fields - 2019
Dashiell Thane wasn’t a nice guy. He was an abrasive, demanding, conniving, intolerable brat. Yet somehow, we’d been best friends our whole lives. Until our senior year when I finally decided to dip my toes into the dating pool. All it took was one kiss for jealousy, lies, and betrayal to sweep in and propel us heart first into dizzying, hostile depths. You’re not supposed to kiss your best friend. You’re definitely not supposed to kiss your best friend while you’re dating someone else. And the absolute worst thing you could do is fall for your best friend. Unless, of course, you want to ruin everything.
Shame
Fiona Cole - 2017
Pretty. Sweet. Kind. Submissive. Until I met her, I was alone with the dark desires that I didn't understand, that I couldn't reconcile. She became my best friend, and then she became so much more.Desire. Disgust. Shame. Dominance. I wouldn’t have survived until college without her. When we were together, I was at peace for the first time in my life. But it was too good to last. Our appetite for pain and pleasure destroyed us. And all the drinks in the world weren’t enough to get used to missing her. On the verge of earning my degree, Ana walks back into my life, those gray-blue eyes still able to see right through me. It’s the chance I’ve been waiting for. One last chance to overcome my shame. If only it were that easy.
Up in the Treehouse
K.K. Allen
Then again, she never imagined she would fall in love with him either. When she finally reveals her feelings, rejection shatters her, rendering her vulnerable and sending her straight into the destructive arms of the wrong guy.The Rhodes twins never saw the betrayal coming. Chloe has always been their forbidden fantasy--sweet, beautiful, and tempting. But soon the lines between family, friendship, and love become as tangled as the roots of the treehouse they once shared.Now it's too late . . .Four years after a devastating tragedy, Chloe and Gavin find themselves crashing back into each other's lives. Haunted by the past, they're forced to come to terms with all that has transpired to find the peace they deserve. Except they can't seem to get near each other without combatting an intense emotional connection that brings them right back to where it all started . . . their childhood treehouse.Chloe still holds her secrets close, but this time she isn't the only one with something to hide. Can their deep-rooted connection survive the destruction of innocence?
Reckless Memories
Catherine Cowles - 2020
From skinned knees to first dates and everything in between. But he was never mine to love. I settled for friendship, even though I always wanted more. That was before. Before he ripped my world apart and didn’t bother sticking around to help me pick up the pieces. I knit every last shred back together all on my own. And I’ve all but forgotten his name. Now, he’s back, and everything is torn apart once more. But he’s not the only one doing the tearing this time. And there might be no stopping the person who has it out for us both.
Make You Stay (A Slow-Burn, Single Dad Steamy Romance)
M.L. Broome - 2021
Chloe is one of those fast-talking New Yorkers with an opinion about everything. Never mind that most of them are correct. She also has the greatest ass on the planet, along with a sex kitten smile that threatens to undo me every time we meet. But we want different things from life, and neither of us are willing to compromise. I have to keep my distance, no matter how much my heart wants to make her stay. Chloe:My holiday plans never included a funeral, or the grizzly bear in a suit scowling at me throughout the service, but here I am. Turns out the grizzly is named Aidan, and he’s actually a big softie beneath his shaggy beard. A big softie with rock hard abs. He’s fun, flirty, and dangerously attractive, but we’re strictly friends. There’s no crossing that line, although with each passing night, he’s getting harder to resist. I changed my life for love once before and I won’t do it again, no matter how much my heart wants him to make me stay.
A Million Miles Away
Lara Avery - 2015
The only person who doesn't know about the tragedy is Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can't bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can't deny that she's falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn't want.
Five Years Gone
Marie Force - 2018
A country bent on revenge. A love affair cut short. A heart that never truly heals.
I knew on the day of the attack that our lives were changed forever. What I didn't know then was that I'd never see John again after he deployed. One day he was living with me, sleeping next to me, making plans with me. The next day he was gone.That was five years ago. The world has moved on from that awful day, but I'm stuck in my own personal hell, waiting for a man who may be dead for all I know. At my sister's wedding, I meet Eric, the brother of the groom, and my heart comes alive once again.The world is riveted by the capture of the terrorist mastermind, brought down by U.S. Special Forces in a daring raid. Now I am trapped between hoping I'll hear from John and fearing what'll become of my new life with Eric if I do.From a New York Times bestselling author, Five Years Gone is an epic story of love, honor, duty, unbearable choices and impossible dilemmas.
Bookishly Ever After
Isabel Bandeira - 2016
Preferably a YA novel with magic and a hot paranormal love interest. Unfortunately, her life probably wouldn’t even qualify for a quiet contemporary. But when Phoebe finds out that Dev, the hottest guy in the clarinet section, might actually have a crush on her, she turns to her favorite books for advice. Phoebe overhauls her personality to become as awesome as her favorite heroines and win Dev’s heart. But if her plan fails, can she go back to her happy world of fictional boys after falling for the real thing?
A Little Too Far
Lisa Desrochers - 2013
She just had mind-blowing sex with her stepbrother. In her defense, she was on the rebound, and it’s more of a my-dad-happened-to-marry-a-woman-with-a-super-hot-son situation. But still, he’s been her best friend and confidant for the better part of the last few years … and is so off limits. It’s a good thing she’s leaving in two days for a year abroad in Rome.But even thousands of miles away, Lexie can’t seem to escape trouble. Raised Catholic, she goes to confession in hopes of alleviating some of her guilt … and maybe not burning in hell. Instead, she stumbles out of the confessional and right into Alessandro Moretti, a young and very easy-on-the-eyes deacon … only eight months away from becoming a priest. Lexie and Alessandro grow closer, and when Alessandro’s signals start changing despite his vow of celibacy, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s torn between falling in love with the man she shouldn’t want and the man she can’t have. And she isn’t sure how she can live with herself either way.
Searching for Glory
Hunter J. Keane - 2012
She's on a hit television show and engaged to one of the most desired men in Hollywood. Her life is perfect. But then she gets a letter in the mail that changes everything. The past she has been trying to forget for so long has finally come back to haunt her. Gloria Star hasn't always been an A-list celebrity. She used to be just a regular Midwestern girl named Glory Stark. Now she is forced to reconcile her two lives because Johnny Carter, the only man she ever loved, has asked her to return to her hometown, and she can't say no. Ten years ago, one night changed everything for Gloria and Johnny. Not only did Gloria lose Johnny, but she also lost herself.Now she's headed back to Princeton, Missouri, to reconnect with her sister and make amends with Johnny. She quickly realizes that returning to Glory Stark's life isn't going to be easy. As she faces painful truths about her past and an uncertain future, Gloria learns that forgiveness is essential, family is everything and love is forever.
Snowed In
Tricia Wentworth - 2019
But when her boss sends her on a mission to recruit “Heartbreak Harper” for their Super Bowl commercial, she’s brought face-to-face with both. Beckett Harper is sick of it all: the tabloids, the celebrity of being a football player, the social climbing women. At his family’s farm in Picketts, he can finally lie low—until Jordyn comes crashing in just before an impending blizzard. The storm hits hard. The power goes out. And the ice between them must melt—before Jordyn leaves for good.
99 Days
Katie Cotugno - 2015
How I wrecked their whole family. Now I’m serving out my summer like a jail sentence: Just ninety-nine days till I can leave for college, and be done.Day 4: A nasty note on my windshield makes it clear Julia isn’t finished. I’m expecting a fight when someone taps me on the shoulder, but it’s just Gabe, home from college and actually happy to see me. “For what it’s worth, Molly Barlow,” he says, “I’m really glad you’re back.”Day 12: Gabe got me to come to this party, and I’m actually having fun. I think he’s about to kiss me—and that’s when I see Patrick. My Patrick, who’s supposed to be clear across the country. My Patrick, who’s never going to forgive me.
Lies
Kylie Scott - 2019
He’s nice, but boring, and their relationship has lost its spark. But steady and predictable Thom, suddenly doesn’t seem so steady and predictable when their condo explodes and she’s kidnapped by a couple of crazies claiming that Thom isn’t who he says he is. Thom is having a hellish week. Not only is he hunting a double agent, but his fiancé dumped him, and thanks to his undercover life, she’s been kidnapped. Turns out Thom is Operative Thom and he’s got more than a few secrets to share with Betty if he’s going to keep her alive. With both their lives on the line, their lackluster connection is suddenly replaced by an intense one. But in his line of work, feelings aren’t wanted or desired. Because feelings can be a lethal distraction.