Book picks similar to
Cruel Venus by Susan Lewis


fiction
chick-lit
susan-lewis
romance

Harley & Rose


Carmen Jenner - 2016
    So what if this isn’t her actual wedding day, and that she’s only here because Harley was left at the altar just a few hours earlier? Trading San Francisco for paradise and swapping her bridesmaid’s bouquet for a Blue Hawaii, Rose hopes she can finally escape the friend zone. Once upon a time they had been more than friends, but life got in the way. She’s spent every day since wishing Harley would get a clue. She’s always been his best friend. He’s always been hers. She’s in love with him. He’s … not in love with her. He’s … marrying someone else. He’s … hiding something. He’s … well—it’s complicated.

Beyond Eden


Catherine Coulter - 1992
    The product of old San Francisco wealth, the daughter of a man who despises her, her life is forever changed when she is brutally assaulted by her sister's husband, and then rejected by her family.Lindsay is finally forced to face up to her past when she meets S.C. Taylor, a tough ex-cop, turned private investigator and computer troubleshooter. He is hired to protect her; but can he both win her trust and discover who is trying to kill her and why? Is it her family? A supposed friend or colleague? A faceless sicko or perhaps a mad psychiatrist? Ah, it's a mystery to savor.

The Wedding War


Liz Talley - 2020
    The two haven’t spoken for the past twenty some odd years, and they’d be happy if they never crossed paths again.But now Mel’s daughter and Teeny’s son have fallen in love—and announced their engagement.Which means the two women must tolerate one another and play nice long enough to plan their children’s dream wedding. From the beginning, they clash. Melanie imagines a classy, elegant event, in keeping with tradition. Teeny’s vision is a bit more extravagant, and thanks to her habit of marrying well, she’s got the cash to plan the flashiest wedding of the season.Complicating matters are the men in their lives: Tennyson is falling for the wrong guy, and Melanie is trying to hold on to a flailing marriage. Amid the flurry of cake tastings, dress fittings, seating charts, and bridal showers, Mel and Teeny confront their past mistakes—with twenty years of pent-up drama.When the day of the wedding finally arrives, their friendship might just be something old and something new.

Work of Art


Monica Alexander - 2013
    So she moved across the country and started over. It was all she could do. Now she’s one of the most sought after female tattoo artists in the country, she has a successful business, and she has great friends. But she hasn’t had great luck in love, and she doesn’t exactly let people in. Then on a cross-country flight, she meets Brandon Cooper, a guy who’s been through the love ringer a few times himself and is just looking to have some fun. And for some reason, Harper and Brandon click. He tells her all about his friend he’s visiting in San Francisco, a guy who is about to marry the wrong girl, who Brandon is determined to corrupt during his visit. And part of that corruption is getting his friend a tattoo from the hot girl he met on the plane. But neither Harper nor Brandon realize that she actually knows his friend. And when he walks into her tattoo parlor, for the first time in ten years, Harper comes face-to-face with Ryan Carson, the guy who stole her heart over a decade earlier and then broke it into pieces.In Just Watch the Fireworks, Ryan Carson was on the losing end of a love triangle. And in response to being dumped, he dove headfirst into work, a new relationship with a girl his mother set him up with and a new life in San Francisco. On paper, his life is perfect, but in reality it’s anything but – and he’s getting married in four weeks. Then one weekend everything changes when he runs into Harper Connelly, the girl he lost ten years earlier. Old secrets still haunt them and old feelings dominate their interactions with each other, but Ryan and Harper are drawn to each other in ways even they can’t explain. And when the ultimate secret is revealed, Ryan starts to think long and hard about his life and the people he thought he could trust, but one thing is clear – he still loves Harper. But when it comes down to it, can Harper get past everything that happened between them and give him a second chance?Work of Art is a spin-off novel from Just Watch the Fireworks, but it is also a stand-alone novel.

Revelry


Kandi Steiner - 2017
     She never expected to be divorced at twenty-seven, but now that the court date has passed, it’s official. The paperwork is final. Her feelings on it aren’t. Spending the summer in a small mountain town outside Seattle is exactly what she needs. The peaceful scenery is a given, the cat with the croaky meow is a surprise, but the real kicker? A broody neighbor with nice arms, a strange reputation, and absolutely no interest in her. Anderson Black is perfectly fine being lost. He doesn’t care about the town’s new resident — he’s too busy fighting his own demons. But when he’s brought face to face with Wren, he can see her still-fresh wounds from a mile away. What he doesn’t see coming is his need to know who put them there — or his desperation to mend them. Sometimes getting lost is the way to find yourself. Sometimes healing only adds a new scar. And sometimes the last place you expected to be is exactly where you find home.

The Man I Married


Elena Wilkes - 2020
    You’ll do anything for him. But do you really know him?This is the story of Lucy and Paul.They met. They fell deeply in love. They got married.Lucy thought that she had everything she wanted.Until she found the photograph from Paul's past life, read the text messages he's so desperately trying to hide. Until she uncovered Paul’s darkest secrets.Now Lucy realizes she doesn’t really know her husband. She doesn’t know if she can trust her own mind. She doesn’t know the lengths Paul would go to keep his perfect life.And worst of all, she doesn’t know that she’s in danger...A gripping, dark psychological thriller with an absolutely nail-biting ending that will keep you hooked - the perfect read for fans of Behind Closed Doors, Mark Edwards, and Lisa Jewell.

Some Girls Do


Clodagh Murphy - 2014
    Little do her fans know that shy, bookish Claire isn't quite as experienced in the bedroom as her sassy online persona. But everyone makes stuff up on the internet, right?Except that NiceGirl attracts the attention of London publisher Mark Bell. Handsome, charming and successful, Mark is offering Claire the life she's always dreamed of - a steady relationship, the literary world of London and a hot book deal.But when Claire enlists the help of brooding artist Luca to brush up on her sex skills before she's discovered for a fraud, things begin to get complicated...Great sex, friendship AND love - can't a girl have it all?

The Husband Thief


M.J. Hardy - 2019
    When trust goes, madness sets in.This tale comes with a twist that it’s doubtful you will see coming.

Black Oil, Red Blood


Diane Castle - 2012
    In fact, she proves it for a living. She sues oil refineries that would rather save a buck than comply with safety regulations designed to do important things like, you know, keep people alive.Chloe had a successful career until circumstances forced her to move to the bass-ackwards town of Kettle, Texas (human population: 4,000; gun population: 34,356). Big Oil industry giant PetroPlex employs half of Kettle's population, and there's no question the judge in the town's got oil stains on his hands. It's no wonder she's been on a losing streak lately. She suspects she's been litigating on an uneven playing field, but when her star expert witness turns up dead less than 48 hours before a make-or break hearing, she knows.What she doesn't know is the key piece of information that got her expert killed. It turns out PetroPlex is harboring a shocking secret-one that has the potential to skyrocket gasoline prices, spark an energy market meltdown, and trigger riots, chaos, death, and destruction on a global scale. Chloe must discover the secret and expose the villains before she is permanently silenced, all while juggling a troublesome ex-fiance and a tantalizing new flame along the way.

Bloodstained Beauty


Ella Fields - 2018
     Fresh out of college and headed straight for my dream job, I didn’t think things could get any better.
 Then I met my dream man. 
In an instant, my happy ever after had begun.
 The life I’d stumbled into was beautiful, and the man I loved was perfect.
 But perfection comes at a cost, and I’d slumbered through all the alarms.
 Then I met my nightmare. 
 The man whose bright eyes held untamed darkness. 
 The man who disarmed me with his peculiar behavior. 
 The man whose cold, merciless hands shook me awake.  
In an instant, questions started to dismantle my happy ever after.
 But whoever said the truth would set you free was wrong. 
It wasn’t going to repair the cracks in my naive heart. 
 It wasn’t going to caress my face with comforting hands and reassure me it was all just a dream.
 No, the truth shoved me down a rabbit hole, and I landed in the lair of a real-life monster.

Jenny Sparrow Knows the Future


Melissa Pimentel - 2017
    . . 'Perfect for fans of Sophie Kinsella . . . the feel-good book of the summer' Cathy Kelly, Number One bestselling authorJenny Sparrow can tell you her future:1. Meet soulmate at 25 2. Move in with him3. Marry him this year . . . According to the plan Jenny made at thirteen, it's time for her to get married. But when her boyfriend proposes a break instead of a wedding, a girls' weekend in Vegas is the only solution . . . until she wakes up in a stranger's bed, and discovers that this is the year she gets married - to the wrong man.Jenny wants a quick divorce and her old boyfriend back.But what if her accidental husband has other ideas?

Charade


Nyrae Dawn - 2012
    Walking in on her boyfriend with another woman her freshman year in college threatens that picture of perfection. Twenty-one-year-old Colt never wanted college and never expected to amount to anything, but when his mom's dying wish is for him to get his degree, he has no choice but to pretend it's what he wants too. Cheyenne needs a fake boyfriend to get back at her ex and Colt needs cash to take care of his mom, so they strike a deal that helps them both. But what if Cheyenne’s past isn’t what she thought? Soon they’re trading one charade for another—losing themselves in each other to forget about their pain. The more they play their game, the more it becomes the only thing they have that feels real.Both Cheyenne and Colt know life is never easy, but neither of them expect the tragedy that threatens to end their charade and rip them apart forever.

On a Hot August Afternoon


Bridget Straub - 2012
    With two young children, and the financial security to pursue her career only when it suits her to do so, she and the kids are about to join her in-laws at the family compound in beautiful South Lake Tahoe for her sister in-law’s wedding. There, she’ll be reunited with Pete who has been out on the road with his band for several weeks. However, she is blindsided when she goes to her mailbox and discovers an envelope of photographs, explicit photographs of her husband and another woman. Suddenly, she’s left questioning everything she thought she knew about the man she never meant to fall in love with.

Cheri on Top


Susan Donovan - 2011
    That's the lifestyle Cherise Newberry and her BFF Candy enjoy after leaving rural North Carolina for Tampa―until the market tanks and they lose everything. Cheri is surviving on Ramen Noodles and temp jobs when she gets a call from home to come back and run the family's small-town newspaper. Just one catch: She'll become the boss of her high school crush―and former brother-in-law―who might have the power to crush her all over again…But Cheri is surprised to see how "bad boy" J.J. DeCourcy has grown into the hard-working and principled managing editor of The Bigler Bugle. Still, according to Cheri's bitter sister, he's not to be trusted. If Cheri's going to co-exist at the with this sexier-than-ever man from her past, she needs to stay professional―and keep her distance ―even though he sets her on fire. When they're handed the biggest news story in the town's history, Cheri must trust J.J., even it means putting her life in danger.…and her heart on the line.

Insidious


Aleatha Romig - 2014
    When a powerful man is willing to risk everything for his own satisfaction, only one woman can beat him at his own game: his wife. Or so she thinks…“Let’s start with you calling me Stewart. Formalities seem unnecessary.”Stewart Harrington is rich, gorgeous, and one of the most powerful men in Miami. He always gets what he wants. Anything is available to him for the right price.Even me.Being the wife of a mogul comes with all the perks, but being Mrs. Stewart Harrington comes with a few special requirements. I’ve learned to keep a part of myself locked away as my husband watches me submit to his needs. But the more he demands of me, the more beguiled he becomes and that’s to my advantage. So I keep fulfilling his fantasies and following his rules because he doesn’t know that what he’s playing is really my game. And winning is everything, right?Insidious is a stand-alone novel and the first Tales from the Dark Side title. Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only.