Book picks similar to
Brunch At Ruby's by D.L. White


fiction
chick-lit
romance
contemporary

Vada Faith


Barbara A. Whittington - 2012
    She's always wanted to be known as "somebody.” Somebody besides a high school beauty queen in the small town of Shady Creek, West Virginia. Somebody besides the wife of football hero, John "Wasper" Waddell. More than the mother of twins. More than the town’s most sought after beautician, in the shop she owns with her twin sister, Joy Ruth. She's tired of living in the run down Victorian home her husband inherited from his Grandma Belle, even if Eleanor Roosevelt might have once sat in the wicker chair still on their front porch. Vada Faith longs for a new home in the fancy subdivision of Crystal Springs. Then, Roy and Dottie Kilgore swoop into town, wanting a child of their own, and bringing money to burn.In going after her own dreams, Vada Faith nearly destroys the lives of those she loves.

Read, Write, Love at Seaside


Addison Cole - 2014
    He spends twelve hours a day in front of his computer, rarely leaving the seclusion of his beach-front property, where he’s come to finish his latest thriller — that is, until free-spirited Leanna Bray nearly drowns in the ocean trying to save her dog. Kurt’s best-laid plans are shot when he comes to their rescue. Kurt’s as irritated as he is intrigued by the sexy, hot mess of a woman who lives life on a whim, forgets everything, and doesn’t even know the definition of the word organized.Leanna’s come to the Cape hoping to find a fulfilling career in the jam-making business, and until she figures out her own life, a man is not on the menu. But Leanna can’t get the six-two, deliciously muscled and tragically neat Kurt out of her mind. She tells herself she’s just stopping by to say thank you, but the heart-warming afternoon sparks an emotional and unexpectedly sweet ride as Kurt and Leanna test the powers of Chemistry 101: Opposites Attract.Read, Write, Love at Seaside is a Sweet with Heat novel and conveys all of the passion you'd expect to find between two people in love without any graphic scenes or harsh language. If you're looking for a spicier romance, pick up the steamy edition, Read, Write, Love, written by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Foster. Addison Cole is Melissa's sweet-romance pen name.

Flawless


Jan Moran - 2014
    After her parents are killed in an automobile accident, she becomes the sole provider for her younger twin sisters and her grandmother. Instead of attending college with her friends as planned, she rises to the challenge to guide and expand her family's business. She is in the midst of a critical international expansion into Asia when her carefully organized life begins to unravel.Verena is shaken to discover that her fiancé, Derrick, might be behind a scheme to take over her growing company. While she struggles to save the business that means everything to her, she meets Lance, an executive chef at the Beverly Hills Hotel. She encounters this intriguing man again while on a business trip to Paris, and soon gains a new perspective on love, romance, and relationships.When the unthinkable occurs and Verena's world collapses, her friends rally around her, among them Scarlett Sandoval, a top intellectual property attorney; Dahlia DuBois, a perfumer from an esteemed line of French perfumers; and Fianna Fitzgerald, a fashion designer with her own trendy boutique.Ultimately, Verena learns that truth, family, friendship, and love are the unshakable pillars of life. But will she get a second chance in business, or in love?Flawless is the first book in the Love, California series. Follow a group of smart, stylish, entrepreneurial friends as they navigate the turbulences of modern life in the business of beauty. Set in Beverly Hills with action flung across the globe, this engaging series features gutsy, determined best friends, and how they manage to live the lives of their dreams.

Come Home Cowboy


Alyssa Canter - 2015
    She decided to stay home and work on her family's ranch, when many of her friends went off to college. Although Paige could have become anything she wanted in life, she loved the everyday ranch life. One day a familiar face pops back into town and creates a buzz. Paige had a history with the handsome man and a flood of emotions came rushing back. Unsure of what the future holds with the blast from the past, Paige embarks on a journey of finding if true love is still real. *This book is part of a 3 book continuing series.

Desire


R.G. Winter - 2015
    The world Jane Parkett lives in consists of early mornings, long nights, and the rush of closing a deal. As a new junior analyst at one of the top financial firms in the country, she is determined to rise through the ranks and become partner one day. For the longest time, Jane thought that all she needed in life was her dream job. But when Franklin McKinnon waltzed into her life, throwing insults and sharp jabs her way, the world that Jane envisioned begins to crumble. As she opens herself up to new experiences, Jane learns that with new territory, comes new fears, new enemies, and an even greater love.

Drawing Free


Elena Aitken - 2011
    Between dealing with her youngest’s never ending tantrums, her teenager’s attitude and her ailing father’s rapidly failing memory, Becca doesn’t have time to worry about who she used to be--let alone remember.She loves her family, but deep down Becca knows she wants more than the daily chaos and the quick fixes her self-help books have to offer. It's just another day when finally the pressure proves to be too much and Becca makes a split second decision that will change everything.Leaving her crumbling life in the rear-view mirror and fleeing to a remote mountain town may feel like the perfect way to reconnect with herself, but will her choices come at the expense of everything she left behind? Or can Becca find herself before it's too late?

Intimate Strangers


Lasairiona E. McMaster - 2019
    But she did. Other than living over five thousand miles away in America, AJ Williams is seemingly her perfect match. Strikingly handsome, musically talented, plays hockey and has a typical college-guy life. In a moment of carpe diem, Lisa flies from Ireland to Alabama to surprise her internet-beau and finds herself face to face with an inconceivable reality that she couldn’t possibly have prepared for. How well can you truly know someone you meet online? Will true love win out, or will AJ’s secret life be too much for Lisa to bear?

Something in the Heir


Jenny Gardiner - 2014
    Modern-day Prince Adrian of Monaforte has a most old-fashioned problem: his demanding mother wants him wed to her best friend’s daughter, the hard-partying Serena. When his refusal falls on deaf ears, Adrian decides it’s time for him to slip away from his gilded cage and figure out his life, all on his own. As luck would have it, event photographer Emma Davison, weary of a revolving door of lost-cause men and tired of her outsider-looking-in career, is in need of her own escape clause, just in time to help a wayward prince in need. And she soon discovers that sometimes a girl’s gotta sweep a prince off his feet.For any girl that’s ever held out hope that some day her prince would come…or better yet, hoped that some day she’d come to him.

Worth the Weight


Mara Jacobs - 2012
    A new life. An old flame?Lizzie Hampton is literally a shadow of her former self. Having lost half her body weight, she's headed to her small hometown to test out her new body on an old flame. Just a harmless fling to get her self-confidence back before she returns to the city and the new man in her life.But Lizzie's plan has a few bumps in the road.Finn Robbins can't believe Liz is back in town. Desperate to be the holder of her innocence eighteen years ago, he never got the chance. Now she's back and he can finally check her off his to do list. But her friends, his son, and the mysterious Annie may have something to say about that.

Fur Coat No Knickers


C.B. Martin - 2014
     And as for mum - she's only been tending my recently-rehabilitated sister's cannabis bush, thinking it's a tomato plant! Hurtling through her thirties, Tara is still yet to find her perfect man, despite gruelling efforts to transform herself into the perfect woman. Tara's prayers appear to have been answered when she miraculously falls into the arms of Travis Coleman - the famed, silver-tongued sex demon. It would seem the years of curling, plucking, painting and waxing may have finally paid off... However, Tara's fairy-tale soon spirals out of control when Travis inexplicably ceases all contact with her. Distraught and desperately stumbling from one crisis to another, Tara ultimately loses her mind, her dignity and - shamefully - her Knickers. Fur Coat No Knickers is a hilarious, touching and outrageous tale; bound to relate to any woman

If the Shoe Fits


Laurie LeClair - 2013
    All she wants is her late father's dream to come true by making his beloved King's Department Store thrive again. However, her stepmother has other ideas. Charlie agrees to help her stepmother find grooms for her sheltered stepsisters. In exchange, the stepmother will release her stronghold on the store's budget. After all, one good deed deserves another, right? But, Charlie has no idea what her heart's in for when... Alexander (Alex) Royale, dubbed by society newspapers as Prince Charming, arrives for dinner to meet the all-female King family. His ailing grandparents yearn for his marriage and then the baby carriage. Well, that and running the family company. Having unsuccessfully searched for months, Alex doesn't hold out any hope in finding his future bride among the King sisters. However, all his expectations, including his idea of a business-like marriage of convenience, vanish the moment Charlie crashes into him. When Alex sets out out to win over Charlotte, he has no idea he has to bargain with the stepmother, secretly buy the store, court Charlotte after the wedding, and, oh yeah, be featured in Charlie's new fairy tale ad campaign, The Charmings, based on them. Can a guy ever get a break? The couple never factored in falling in love with each other. Now, faced with losing all their families ever wanted, Charlie and Alex must choose: Do they live their families' dreams or do they finally live their own?

Pam of Babylon


Suzanne Jenkins - 2011
    Pam and his two lovers discover secrets and lies, and each other. The first book in the series. Book #10 available for preorder.

Unforgettable


Linda Barrett - 2021
    A rocking career in finance, a great group of friends and singing with the community chorus fill her calendar and provide her with total satisfaction. Until the phone rings. Until an upbeat familiar voice from the past reawakens her heart and reminds her of what she’s been missing.Playwright Doug Collins has never forgotten the girl he left behind. Even though it was Jennifer who’d made that final decision. “Go to New York and have a wonderful life,” she’d said before running back to her family, a family that still needed her. But that was five years ago. Five years of Jen in the back of his mind, nestled in his heart. Now memories are not enough! Doug packs up his car and heads to Boston in search of that “wonderful life.”Most reunions have bumpy beginnings and not all end well. Jennifer and Doug have a lot to figure out. But they’re smart, honest, and were once madly in love. Do they have a chance at finding the ending they so richly deserve?

Nora Roberts Land


Ava Miles - 2013
    All dreams of happily ever after—or Nora Roberts Land as her mother calls it—went up in smoke. But when her family asks her to temporarily help their Dare Valley, Colorado newspaper, she decides it’s time to change her life and prove her ex wrong. She’s determined to find her own small-town Nora Roberts hero, prove that true love exists, and publish a story about her quest.War correspondent Tanner McBride has just returned stateside to work for a major newspaper, and the last thing he expects is blackmail. Yet, before he can even unpack, he’s headed to Colorado. His assignment? Make his boss’s ex-wife fall for him and then break her heart. Her article about discovering love à la Nora might air dirty laundry about her marriage to the media mogul, threatening his senate run. The mogul wants Meredith stopped, and he makes sure Tanner has no choice in the matter.When the two meet, the sparks between them are undeniable. Meredith, who vowed never to date another journalist, begins to succumb. Could Tanner be her Nora Roberts hero? As they work together to uncover the truth behind a suspicious death, the depth of their feelings unfolds and both realize they’ve kept their secrets for far too long. But before the truth can be revealed, their investigation takes a deadly turn, one that might make Meredith’s personal Nora Roberts Land go up in flames.

Dream Big, Stella!


Ashley Farley - 2020
    At least, that’s what her parents have led her to believe. Imagine her surprise when she learns he’s none other than rock legend Billy Jameson, and that Billy has died and left Stella a historic inn on a sprawling farm in the mountains of Virginia. A city girl at heart, Stella can’t imagine living anywhere but New York. Her first inclination is to sell the property. But the terms of Billy’s will stipulate she manages the inn for three years before putting it on the market.Stella considers what’s really keeping her in New York. Her hotel management career is off to a rocky start; she's lost three jobs in less than a year. She's grown apart from her best friend, and her so-called boyfriend is only interested in late-night booty calls. Something is missing from Stella's life. On impulse, she hops on the next train headed to Virginia hoping to find happiness.When she sees the dilapidated state of the inn, Stella realizes she’s in over her head. But the more she learns about the fascinating Jameson family, the more she wants to know. Why did her mother keep Billy Jameson a secret? Were her biological parents in a relationship, or was she the result of a one-night stand? And why did her father wait until after his death to bring Stella to Virginia?On her journey to discover answers, Stella learns to have faith in herself and take a chance on love. Join an unforgettable cast of characters in the first installment of the Hope Springs Series.