Book picks similar to
Not in the Cards (Beaufort Poker Club, #5) by Maggie C. Gates


flirt-game-strong
physical-reads
forced-proximity
indie-author-or-publisher

Sunsets Never Wait


Jonathan Cullen - 2020
    The isolation is all but unbearable until a mysterious tenant moves into the house at the bottom of the hill. James Dunford has come from America but he won’t say why. He spends his days fixing up the old cottage and walking the beach with a stray dog that showed up on his doorstep.As the weeks pass, Tara tries to get to know James, but he resists her at every turn. And it's not until a local villager recognizes him from the news that she realizes his visit might be about more than just a vacation. On the night of a big storm, Tara finally confronts James about why he is there. But how can she expect him to be honest when she, too, is hiding her own dark secret?Set against the backdrop of the Hunger Strikes in Northern Ireland, Sunsets Never Wait is a story about love, loss, and the risks of hanging on to the past. No matter how much the world has let you down, there’s always a possibility for second chances.

Love at First Flight


Marie Force - 2009
    She's wondering why they're not engaged yet. Michael is going to his fiancee's parents' home for an engagement party he doesn't want. A states' prosecutor, he's about to try the biggest case of his career, he hates the distraction, and he's having doubts about the relationship. They sit together on the plane, and discover they're on the same flight coming back. When the weekend is a disaster for each of them, they bond on the plane ride home. But life is full of complications, including their exes, who don't want to let go, and when Michael's trial turns dangerous, the two must confront what they value most in life... Praise for Line of Scrimmage: "I will definitely be reading more Marie Force." -Revisiting the Moon's Library "It was a book that made me laugh as well as cry. The three-dimensional characters were so vivid... hands down, this is the best romance I've read this year." -J. Kaye's Book Blog "With its humor and endearing characters, Force's charming novel will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers, reaching far beyond sports fans." -Shelley Mosley, Booklist

Lost Petal


Linnea May - 2018
    That’s all I know. He says it’s all I need to know. I don’t know who I am or why I’m here. All I know is that I’m his. His prisoner, his toy, his piece of art - an empty canvas. Body and mind. With every spanking, every touch, every word uttered in the dark, he paints me just the way he wants - always leaving me wanting more. Pain meets pleasure with fiery kisses as he molds me into the person he says I’m supposed to be. But who is that person? And who was I before him? Every stroke of his hand brings me closer to the truth. But when the veil of mystery is finally lifted, it only gives rise to more questions - and more dark secrets between us. This is part 1 of a Dark Romance Duet. Fallen Petal will be published on December 27th.

Reaper


K.L. Savage - 2020
    Mine.Now, I'm going to burn this city to the ground.I'll reap havoc until my little maniac is back in my arms.

A Bad Boy For Christmas


Alex Wolf - 2018
     Checks off all the boxes on the “you should run far away” checklist. Best friend’s new stepbrother. Broody. Hot as sin. Mysterious past. Pissed off at the world. Everyone says he’s trouble. Parker even has the leather jacket for crying out loud. I can’t take my eyes off him, though. When he’s in the room, I can feel his gaze on me at all times, heating me from within. All I wanted to do was come home for the holidays and spend Christmas with friends and family, before I had to go out in the real world and put my degrees to use. We’re polar opposites. There’s no way it would ever work between us. But, the first time he touches me, and electricity blooms across my skin, I know one thing… All I want for Christmas is him.

Trigger


L.P. Dover - 2017
    . . that’s what I am. It’s what I do. It’s what I live for. I’m no longer the Preston Hale everyone knew. I left that life and the people in it a long time ago the second I made my first kill. I wasn’t going to give in, but when I heard the screams there was no going back. It triggered the pain, the need. I knew what I had to do, and I did it well. But I never expected for Emma Turner – the only link to my past – to come back into my life. She triggers a different emotion inside me, something I hadn’t ever felt. It’s not a want to kill . . . but a need to CLAIM.

A Very Pierced Christmas


Ember Davis - 2021
    I have no idea what it is, other than some sort of delayed homesickness, until I meet Levi Michaels.I’ve been talking to him via text and email about a custom motorcycle for my brother, but I had no idea I’d be meeting the sexiest guy ever when I go to pick it up. Talk about bad boy biker vibes. He’s got a beard I want rubbed all over my body even if he is a Grinch. When we meet, I swear I hear carolers singing, but something makes him go colder than the North Pole.Maybe he’s not a reason to stay. Maybe he’s a reason to keep traveling.LEVIAnyone who tells you Christmas is the best time of the year is a liar and should be watched with great suspicion. It’s true. How can the big man in red even be trusted? Delivering gifts around the world reeks of conman. When I meet Rowan Peters, I can feel a little bit of holiday cheer filter in for the first time in years. She’s a Christmas miracle if I’ve ever seen one, all sinful curves I want to lean into. Then I find out the motorcycle I’ve been working on for her is really for a man. It must be her husband. Somehow the lights, even the twinkly ones, dim with the knowledge that she’ll never be mine.When I’m set straight, the only thing to do is go after my woman and show her one of my golden rings is just for her.If you like alpha heroes and an insta-love story that is sweet but isn’t necessarily simple, then this is for you. No cheating with a guaranteed HEA. It is a standalone but is related to my Denver Family series (Banks Ink., Suburban Outcasts and Higgins Security). Meet Levi in Healing Her Home (Banks Ink. Book 5).Pine-ing for the perfect holiday romance? It’s love at frost sight with The 12 Days of Kissmas! A dozen standalone holiday romances so steamy they’re sure to melt that winter chill. From dashing doctors to dirty-talking mountain men, staying off the naughty list just got a whole lot harder.

The Last Sanctuary Omnibus #1-5: The Complete Post-Apocalyptic Survival Series


Kyla Stone - 2019
    A deadly pandemic unleashed. The fate of mankind hangs in the balance...In a near future devastated by famine, disease, and overcrowding, the United States balances on the cusp of collapse--and civil war.When terrorists hijack a lavish cruise ship, wealthy Amelia Black is forced into hiding with Gabriel Rivera, an enigmatic stranger with a dangerous secret. Despite their overwhelming differences--and the killers hunting them--the pair must form an unlikely alliance to battle a new catastrophic threat: a genetically engineered, world-ending bio-weapon hidden on the ship.What starts out as a single, terrifying incident will soon evolve into a race to save mankind from an extinction-level event...When the end comes for you, when there are no more rules and survival at all costs threatens to tear apart the moral fabric of the world, how far will you go to survive?*Rated PG-13 for mild language and moderate violence.*Full of twists, turns, and unexpected surprises.

Dreams: A Curvy Girl Holiday Romance Collection


J.S. Scott - 2019
    Get both curvy girl holiday romances for the price of one! A Christmas Dream Hayden: For the last decade, I’ve had the same Christmas dream every holiday season. It’s lovely, happy, sensual, and it’s total bullsh*t because there is no man like my dream man out there for me. Luckily, the sexy dream only happens once a year, because if it happened more than that, it would be depressing, a constant reminder of what I have in reality. In real life, I was just dumped by the latest loser in my life, a man who was just using me for my money, and a roof over his head. Good riddance, right? But things aren’t really all that simple. Problem is, I don’t feel like I’m worthy of anything better because I’m a big girl, and I like my food, if you know what I mean. So I made a bargain with myself to stay away from men and dating completely for at least a year to give myself a break, and to try to find my self-esteem after dating a string of men who just didn’t want…me. I thought that promise I made to myself would be easy to keep, and it was…until I met Jackson Gillette in Galveston while I was hiding out in my beach house licking my wounds from so many bad relationships. Jackson is a gorgeous, drool-worthy kind of guy. In other words, he was trouble. Men like him did not date women like me. But when I realized that there’s so much more to Jackson than the eye can see, do I dare take a chance on realizing my Christmas dream? After all, he might just be exactly what I want from Santa this year. Author Note: If you’re looking for a traditional, sweet Christmas romance, you might want to move on. This is a sexy, panty melting, fantastical Christmas romance that’s heavily rolled in sugar sweet enough to satisfy your craving for Christmas cookies, with a big dose of Christmas magic. If that sounds like great holiday reading to you, then dig in and enjoy!! A Valentine Dream Amy: February 14th is just another day to me. I don't really believe in hearts, flowers, romance, or happily-ever-afters. And I certainly don't think there's a dream man for a curvy woman like me, even if my little sister had found hers over the holidays. I'm more realistic. Or at least...I was...until I met Levi Gillette during my sister Hayden's wedding rehearsal dinner The man seems to have an annoying ability to make me lose my cool and calm facade. Yeah, he's definitely hot, but my sister's brother-in-law-to-be was also arrogant, infuriating, presumptuous, bossy, and most likely one big player because the man could be charming when he wanted to be. No thanks! Been there, done that, and I'd had more than enough of men like Levi Gillette. But when I start having amazingly erotic, intimate dreams about him, it's almost impossible to ignore him in the flesh. In my dreams, it was like I'd known Levi forever. But in person, I barely knew him, and he challenges everything I'd ever assumed about myself. We don't even like each other, yet he feels so...familiar. Finally, when the lines between dreams and reality start to blur, I have to wonder whether I can trust a guy like Levi with my heart. I knew he was hiding something. There were things I didn't know. I could feel it.

All the Little Lights


Jamie McGuire - 2018
    Both Elliott and Catherine feel like outcasts, yet they find an easy friendship with each other. But when Catherine needs him most, Elliott is forced to leave town.Elliott finally returns, but he and Catherine are now different people. He’s a star high school athlete, and she spends all her free time working at her mother’s mysterious bed-and-breakfast. Catherine hasn’t forgiven Elliott for abandoning her, but he’s determined to win back her friendship…and her heart.Just when Catherine is ready to fully trust Elliott, he becomes the prime suspect in a local tragedy. Despite the town’s growing suspicions, Catherine clings to her love for Elliott. But a devastating secret that Catherine has buried could destroy whatever chance of happiness they have left.

RomeAntically Challenged


Marina Adair - 2020
    Helena Vineyard series that fans of Emily Henry, Jen DeLuca, and Kate Clayborn will adore. Growing up the lone Asian in a community of WASPs, Annie has always felt out of place. Her solution? Start a family of her own. Not easy when every man she’s dated, including her ex-fiancé, finds “his person” right after breaking up with Annie. Even worse than canceling the wedding eight weeks beforehand? Learning the “other woman” plans to walk down the aisle wearing her wedding gown. New plan—find a fresh, man-free start. Too bad her exit strategy unexpectedly lands her working at a hospital in Rome, Rhode Island, rather than Rome, Italy, and sharing a cabin with a big, brooding, and annoyingly hot male roommate. Home on medical leave after covering a literally explosive story in China, investigative photojournalist Emmitt embarks on his most important assignment—cementing his place in his daughter’s life. Three men and a baby might work in the movies, but with a stepdad and devoted uncle competing for Paisley’s attention, Emmitt has lost his place at the family table. Then there’s the adorably sexy squatter in his cabin, who poses another problem, one he’d very much like to solve up close and personal. But he can’t win—Annie has sworn off men, Paisley’s gone boy crazy, and Emmitt’s estranged father reappears with a secret that changes everything. Annie and Emmitt are about to discover love comes in many forms, and sometimes the best families are the ones we make.

Deepwoods Trilogy


Honor Raconteur - 2019
    Until it arrives. From the desk of Honor Raconteur comes the tale of one guild, who believes in the impossible, and fight with everything they have to prevent the war they see coming. ~ Contains all three books in the trilogy "Deepwoods," "Blackstone," and "Fallen Ward," as well as "Origins," the collection of short stories.

Booty Hunter


K.C. Cross - 2019
    Bounty hunter, Serpint, has just returned to Harem Station with a prize addition to his brother’s elite collection of Cygnian princesses. But Serpint sacrificed a lot to bring this little gift home and now all he wants is some no-strings sex with a simple, obedient girl and a bottle of whiskey. Enter Princess Lyra. She’s any filthy-minded rebel’s one-night-stand erotic dream. If you don’t mind her bad attitude and lack of… luster. Not quite the obedient girl Serpint was craving. But Cygnian princesses are hard to pass up. Even one with dark secrets. Because they have a very special, very specific, sexual talent. They glow when they climax. Lyra thinks she’s one of the strong ones. If anyone can resist an overzealous alpha like Serpint, it’s her. But his touch makes her light up like the sun. And she has never been with an Akeelian before… They have two—yes two—super big, super thick, super long… ***** How long can she resist that? Sci-Fi Alien Romance.

Ford Security


Clara Kendrick - 2017
    With over 250,000 words, the sexy and mysterious men of Ford Security are bound to keep you up well into the night… RANSOM Summer Smart’s on the verge of losing the only person she has left in her life, her older sister Taylor. After watching helplessly as strangers drag her sister away, she’s forced to entrust the help of Chase Carter and blindly follows him as he quickly takes charge of the situation. Chase is a seasoned pro who’s always made it his mission to make sure he avoids mixing business with pleasure but there’s something about the beautiful and vulnerable Summer that he can’t quite ignore. Summer has always been content to be on her own but when she finds herself needing Chase more than ever before, she quickly begins to learn that all is not fair in love and war. REUNION The last place Ella Gold wants to return to is high school, especially because she’s been receiving threatening letters in the mail recently and all signs point to the sender being someone from her past. As the letters become increasingly ominous, she enlists the help of Ford Security agent, Luke King. Luke King can be a bit of a jokester but when it comes to work, he’s all business. So, when he shows up to Ella’s house, he’s ready to get to the bottom of things. Unfortunately for Luke, this case isn’t as clear-cut as he’s used to and the more he learns about Ella, the more he learns that somebody might be lying to him… TRAINING DAY Zane Richards has just returned from the Caribbean after a lengthy stay, where he and his brother had escaped after a case went wrong. Now he’s back and ready to get back into the swing of things but an ordinary day turns into anything but when he decides to let the Ford Security office assistant tag along with him for the day… Anna Lewis is mostly content with her job manning the front desk and briefing clients, but sometimes she finds herself yearning for a little bit of an adventure. When boredom gets the best of her, she talks Zane into allowing her to spend the day with him in the field. But this ordinary day quickly takes a dangerous turn and she finds herself on the run from some very dangerous people. SINS OF THE FATHER Lola Grimm is a dead women walking, or at least that’s what she wants the world to believe. Both her and her father, Seth Grimm are supposed to be dead, but they’ve been hiding out in the Hollywood Hills waiting for the perfect opportunity to emerge back into the world with the intention of reinstalling Seth to the throne of the underworld empire he built from the ground. OUT OF THE SHADOWS Dominic Ford thought he had lost everything in this world. For the past ten years, he’s been torn between an internal battle raging within his soul, pulling him between the axis of both good and evil, and it was all in an effort to save his sister who was taken away from him by the corrupt and powerful Seth Grimm. Katie Strong has more in common with Dominic than he could ever know. Eight years ago, her brother was taken away from her by the same man that took Dominic’s sister and when all hope seems to be lost, she discovers there’s one person in the world who might know the whereabouts of not only her brother but Dominic’s sister as well.

Island Captive


Jane Henry - 2018
    I've seen what he's capable of, and the images will haunt me forever. I swore I'd stop at nothing to put him behind bars.But then our plane back to the States crashes.We are the only two survivors.And the monster will make me wish I'd died along with the rest of them... Please note: This is a dark romance which includes kinky, sexual content and dubious consent.