Book picks similar to
Of Smoke And Cinnamon: A Christmas Story by Ace Gray
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Never and Always
Khardine Gray - 2017
Nick Wylder was definitely 100% irresistible. The kind of guy you can’t get out of your head. Mia was probably the first woman who’d grabbed her ticket to wait in line for the gorgeous Nick. He was her older brother’s best friend, and she knew he was it for her from the first moment that she laid her eyes on him. But, he was just a fantasy. It was clear that his lack of interest meant exactly that. He wasn’t interested and only saw her as his best friend’s little sister. She tried to forget him, and it was easier to try when he went to the Marines. Out of sight, out of mind right? Forgetting him seemed to be working until she lost everything, and it turned out that Nick was the only person who could help her. What she didn’t realize was, getting his help meant unlocking the door to an unimaginable mind-blowing whirlwind romance. One night with him unleashed years of passion and restrained desire. But… it also unlocked dark secrets from the past. She didn’t realize that being with him meant breaking the promise he made to her brother. A promise to stay away. From her.
She didn’t realize that being with him would come at a price. For him. If you like hot, steamy, romance with gorgeous, drool-worthy ex-marines that will make you melt, you will like this book. Scroll up and one-click your copy today!
Always You
Lucinda Whitney - 2019
He wishes he could tell her it’s him. Can they come to the truth before it’s too late? Simon Ackerley arrives in Lisbon for his temporary job as a consultant, not expecting to find his secret penpal easily. After all, he doesn’t know what she looks like or what her real name is. But when a biking accident reveals that Simon’s prickly co-worker Isabel is the elusive Amélie, he has to win her trust before he can confess his true identity. Isabel Antunes is content with her life as director of the English Academy in Lisbon, until the chairman hires a consultant without her knowledge. Despite Simon Ackerley’s repeated assurances to the contrary, Isabel believes he’s after her position, and she won’t hand it over without a fight. As if dealing with him at work isn’t enough, he shows up at her book club as well. Her only solace is writing to the penpal she knows simply as Elliot. As they work together, Isabel realizes Simon is nothing like her first impression and a tentative friendship grows between them. But how can she explore the possibilities when her heart belongs to Elliot? Always You is a sweet secret relationship romance and it can be read as a standalone. *Part of this story was previously published as One Small Chance. It has been rewritten and expanded to include new content and a swoony epilogue.* Falling For You Romance series: Book 1— Always You Book 2— Truly You Book 3— Only You A companion series to the Romano Family series.
Slow & Steady #1
J.H. Croix - 2018
Croix & Ali Parker! A small town can hide many secrets. It can also expose every secret you have. Serve & protect, that’s my life. I put my life on the line time and time again as a police officer. In days gone by, I held my head high in Cypress Creek. Until my family got caught in the riptide of scandal created by my father. No matter what, I still can’t believe he’s guilty. Niki Holmes never caught my attention before. She’s a librarian—smart and so quiet, she stays off my radar. The moment I take one look in her eyes, I’m lost. She calls to me on every level. She’s also pure as the driven snow. My life is way too dark and twisted, yet she’s the light in my darkness. By chance, she lands in the crosshairs of the investigation swirling around me. I’ll do anything to keep her safe, anything to make her mine. *This is Book 1 of the Slow & Steady trilogy. There will be a cliffhanger and you will need to buy book 2 & 3 to continue the series.
Eight Perfect Hours
Lia Louis - 2021
But fate seems to have different plans.On a snowy evening in March, 30-something Noelle Butterby is on her way back from an event at her old college when disaster strikes. With a blizzard closing off roads, she finds herself stranded, alone in her car, without food, drink, or a working charger for her phone. All seems lost until Sam Attwood, a handsome American stranger also trapped in a nearby car, knocks on her window and offers assistance. What follows is eight perfect hours together, until morning arrives and the roads finally clear. The two strangers part, positive they’ll never see each other again, but fate, it seems, has a different plan. As the two keep serendipitously bumping into one another, they begin to realize that perhaps there truly is no such thing as coincidence. With plenty of charming twists and turns and Lia Louis’s “bold, standout voice” (Gillian McAllister, author of The Good Sister), Eight Perfect Hours is a gorgeously crafted novel that will make you believe in the power of fate.
The Unlucky Ones
Stacey Marie Brown - 2019
Bad luck. Heartache.Devon Thorpe is no stranger to any of them.After devastating news, Devon’s life becomes a prison of responsibility, heartbreak, and hardship. All her dreams to leave her small town vanish. A prisoner of circumstance.At her breaking point, Devon has a reckless moment in a diner bathroom with a blue-eyed sexy stranger. A single encounter with him leaves a deep mark on Devon, giving her only a memory of his touch when nights are lonely, and her life becomes too much to take.Years later, a terrifying incident takes her and her family to Albuquerque NM, where she finds work as a server at a bar to support her mother.Tattooed, moody, rough, brown-eyed, sexy as hell, Lincoln Kessler, the mysterious owner of the saloon, instantly draws Devon in. She can’t let go of the feeling there is some strange connection between them.But the more Lincoln tries to push her away, the more determined she is to figure out the enigmatic man. One fiery kiss and Devon realizes she should have stayed away because when their worlds collide and tragedy strikes, she recognizes they are not each other’s savior, but each other’s misfortune.A tear-jerking novel about ill-fated love, heartache, loss, and finding your way through the pain.And a lot of bad luck.*A NA/Adult Sexy and heartbreaking Contemporary Romance. Deeply emotional with a sensitive subject matter of dealing with a crippling mind disease.
Guarding Her
Lexi Whitlow - 2017
And my desire. Fate brought us back together. Now that I’m her bodyguard… Who’s going to guard her body from me? Avery is a nightmare. That smart spoiled mouth of hers turns me on. Maybe that’s why she’s the only girl I’ve ever loved? My contract with her famous parents has me on her ass 24-7. But I’m not allowed to touch her. She’s teasing me. She’s taunting me. And soon I have her bent over my knee, screaming my name. No one will know. It’s just a little fun. Until player three enters the game. There’s a baby on the way, and everything changes. I’ll risk everything to guard her and keep what’s mine. Guarding Her is a 77k standalone novel with lots of steam, a hot hero, and a feisty redheaded heroine! For a limited time, Guarding Her includes bonus content from author Lexi Whitlow. Enjoy!
Summer at Sea
Beth Labonte - 2015
Have you ever helped your parents pack for a weeklong cruise? No? I didn't think so. So shut it. So begins vacation for Summer Hartwell - twenty-six years old, living with her anxiety-ridden parents, and unwillingly booked by her brother on a weeklong cruise to Bermuda. Despite the nightmare of being trapped aboard a cruise ship with Mom and Dad, Summer sees a rare opportunity to fulfill The Prophecy – her mother’s declaration that she will live at home until she gets married. With two thousand passengers onboard, at least one of them must be husband material, right? The only problem is Graham Blenderman – her brother’s best friend who is joining them for the week, in all of his tall, blonde, extroverted glory. Graham doesn’t believe Summer needs a husband in order to break free from her parents. He thinks she just needs a little bit of nerve. And to Summer’s introverted horror, he’s willing to spend the entire week proving that he’s right.
Yours for Christmas
Lilian Monroe - 2020
Makes me think that my future could involve something more than a loveless marriage to an old, well-titled man.Treats my body with reverence, and shows me E-X-A-C-T-L-Y what I’ve been missing in my prim and proper life.But the Duke has secrets he’s not ready to share, and my time is running out…...and that’s before I find out I’m pregnant.Now I need to decide—do I pursue a life with a reclusive duke, or turn my back on love to make sure my baby has a stable future?Yours for Christmas is a contemporary royal romance novella. This steamy, short read will have you wishing you were on the naughty list!
Cheater
Rachel Van Dyken - 2017
All it took was a single moment—say, a certain disastrous incident on the night before his wedding—and boom. Reputation destroyed forever and always. So now he owns it. He has a lady friend for every night of the week (except Sundays—God’s day and all), and his rules are simple: No commitments. No exceptions.But a certain smart-mouthed, strawberry blonde vixen is about to blow that all to hell.Avery Black has never forgiven Lucas for cheating on her sister. And suddenly being forced to work with him is pretty much a nightmare on steroids. Of course, it does afford her the opportunity to make his life as difficult as possible. But no good revenge scheme comes without payback. Because he didn’t become the Lucas Thorn without learning a few things about women.Now Avery’s lust for vengeance has turned into, well, lust. And if Lucas stops cheating, it’s definitely not because he’s falling in love…
Man Candy
Melanie Harlow - 2016
And he looks good enough to eat, which is just one more reason to stay away from him. But I can’t resist.The sex is incredible (pretty sure we’ve shaken the house right off its foundation), but he can’t fool me—not this time. A degree in marketing and five years in advertising have taught me that “true love” is a fairy tale used to sell lipstick, diamonds, and perfume. It doesn’t exist.He thinks I’m wrong, and he wants to prove it.I think he’s crazy, so I dare him to try.It might be the biggest mistake of my life.
Clam Jam
R.C. Boldt - 2017
Example: You're chatting with a guy you're interested in and your friend comes along and lays claim to him.MaggieThat's my life except it's worse. My friend who keeps jamming me is my gay roommate, and if that isn't a W.T.F. moment, I'm not sure what is. Fact: He went home with three yes, three of the guys I had been so sure were into me. Fact: He's really pissing me off. I mean, hello? I'm trying to get back in the saddle, but I'll never manage to get a boyfriend before the age of fifty if he keeps this up. Fact: Secretly, I wonder what it would be like if he weren't gay.RyThe day I interviewed for the room to rent, everything changed. I knew I had met the girl, except there was one small problem: she didn't want anything to do with men. I recognized a top-notch force field when I saw one. She'd been burned badly and didn't want to deal with a heterosexual guy as a roommate. I could've turned around and found another place to live, but I wanted to live there with her. So I had to go undercover. Fact: I'm in love with my roommate. Fact: She's going to hate me if I come clean now. Fact: I'm not giving up. Which means I'll just have to continue to run defense until I figure out a way to get Maggie to see the real me. The me that loves her. The me that would never do her wrong. Until then, I'll keep running off every guy who shows any interest. Until then, I'll continue to Clam Jam.
What You Own
A.M. Arthur - 2013
Then my best friend. And soon my entire world. But a gay bashing rips us apart before we can be more, and I try to move on. Joke’s on me when we’re thrust together four years later to do a fundraiser for my local community center. Adam might look right through me, but I still want him down to my bones.
I had a plan, damn it. Survive my summer internship with my homophobic father’s company, graduate college, get my trust fund, and then find Ryan again. Beg his forgiveness for what happened in high school. But that plan shatters when my internship leaves me working with Ryan on a fundraiser. Old feelings can't be denied, and as we come back together over a shared love of musical theater, I realize neither one of us knows the whole truth about the night that tore our friendship apart.
WHAT YOU OWN is a standalone, 60k word MM romance novel. It was previously published and has been lightly updated, but no significant changes were made. Warning for mentions of past violence.
Frozen
L.A. Casey - 2014
Never mind that she’s got less than a week and it looks like everywhere is sold out. She’s promised Charli a Fire Princess doll—and Neala is a woman of her word. Darcy Hart is a people-pleaser. So when his adorable six-year-old nephew, Dustin, asks for a particular doll at the last minute, he says yes. Luckily for Darcy, there’s one left in stock at the local toy store. Unluckily for Darcy, he’s not the only person who wants it—and his rival is the one woman who’s immune to his charms. Neala and Darcy have loved to hate each other since they were kids, and they’re both willing to do whatever it takes to get that doll. This can’t possibly end well for both of them…can it?
Darcy Comes First for a Change (Love is a Beach)
Lilliana Anderson - 2019
Instead, she was served with divorce papers. Oh, and the knowledge they were bankrupt. With her twenty year union over and two children to support on her own, she moved in with her eccentric grandmother, hoping to find peace and quiet in the seaside town of Hampton. What she wasn’t expecting to find was a set of saggy old man balls upon arrival. Needing to bleach her eyes, calm her screaming teen daughter and stop her eight year old son from filming the chaos to upload, Darcy was already reconsidering the sanity in her decision. Turned out, Nana was quite the player in the retirement circle. She also fancied herself a bit of a match maker. Deciding local football legend, Leo Murphy would provide the ultimate distraction for Darcy, Nana enlisted the help of her trouble-loving great-grandson with somewhat disastrous results. Leo didn’t even know what hit him. Literally. With a great smile and a body to die for, it wasn’t hard to convince Darcy to give Leo a chance. It also helped that he had a lot of patience for one particularly rambunctious young boy and couldn’t run too fast on his busted knee—a captive audience was easily swayed, after all. But with a teenager in the midst of a meltdown, a heart cracked and bruised, and a son who wouldn’t stop acting up, even a chance could prove too much for Darcy and not enough for Leo, who wasn’t the kind of man who gave up easily.
Backward Compatible
Sarah Daltry - 2013
Two nerdy gents home for winter break have discovered a female gamer at a midnight release.During the break, the gamer trio manages to reveal the game’s secret boss, a hidden enemy with enough power to destroy anything in its path. Pursued by other gamers who want to be the first to beat this boss, George and Katie race to level up, and, in so doing, restore decency and sexual activity to their personal galaxy…