Book picks similar to
Surface by Anna Brooks


romance
dnf
contemporary
romantic-suspense

The Perfect Life


Erin Noelle - 2016
    His support unwavering. The perfect career. As the recently-appointed executive director for the Boston chapter of Mending Hearts, a child abuse prevention and treatment program, my daily reward was helping to keep vulnerable, innocent children from being preyed upon and destroyed. It’s all I’d wanted to do since I was a teenager. Perfect city. Perfect car. Perfect house with the perfect view. From the outside looking in, it was impossible to find a single flaw in my life. I had it all. Everything I'd ever wanted.But that kind of perfection came at a price. Demanded the ultimate sacrifice.What happened when I discovered what I'd been missing all along? When I began to question if the lies were worth protecting? What if suddenly the last thing I wanted was to be perfect?

Irresistible


Melanie Harlow - 2019
    I don’t have time to fall in love—I’m too busy trying to run a business, keep the red socks out of the white laundry, and get the damn pillowcases on without owing a dollar to the swear jar. Sure, Frannie Sawyer is beautiful and sweet, but she’s twenty-seven, the boss’s daughter, and my new part-time nanny—which means she’s completely off-limits. It’s bad enough I can’t stop fantasizing about her, what kind of jerk would I be if I acted on the impulse to kiss her? (Exactly the kind of jerk you’re thinking.) Actually, I’m worse than that—because I didn’t stop with a kiss, and now I can’t stay away.  She makes me feel like myself again. She reminds me what it’s like to want something just for me. She’s everything I ever needed, but nothing I ever imagined. I’m a former Marine. I should have had the strength to resist her from the start. But I didn’t. And now I have to choose between the life I want and the life she deserves. Even if it means giving her up.

You Loved Me At My Darkest


Evie Harper - 2014
    Kidnapped by a rich madman, Sasha is sold into slavery, while Lily is forced to join The Collection, a unique bevy of exotic beauties enduring frequent horrors at the hands of elite bidders. However, no amount of pain and suffering will break Lily, who will stop at nothing to save her younger sister. Possibly with help from an unlikely ally.Love is stronger than loyalty…Attempting to prove his allegiance to his employer, Jake is tasked with guarding the unruly and uncontrollable Lily. He can’t afford to help her in her quest to free Sasha—not if he hopes to fulfill his own agenda. But in their dark, gritty, tension-filled world, solace is taken wherever it’s found. Bonds are formed and hearts engage despite Jake’s resistance and both their attempts at self-preservation.When certain secrets come to light, the resulting explosion has breathtakingly bittersweet consequences that, by the end, may not leave everyone whole…or alive.

I Don't


Ella Fox - 2017
    After all, the sexy and charming Mateo is everything she's ever wanted—and more. But she needs to protect herself—and her heart—before it’s shattered once and for all. Mateo has no choice but to let her go. His woman needs space, and he loves her enough to give it to her—no matter how much he hates it. The only thing keeping him sane is the certainty that their separation will be short-lived.Ava thinks it’s over, but she’s about to find out that Mateo will stop at nothing to turn her “I Don’t” into an “I Do.”

Hush Hush


Lucia Franco - 2019
    Don’t get close to the clients. The dark and glamorous lifestyle of the rich and shameless open my eyes to a lavish world of sin and wealth, and a man I can’t have. A man I desperately want—James Riviera. We're treading a fine line as we live the ultimate double life until we make a startling discovery that tests both our loyalties. I only had to follow the rules, but rules are meant to be broken.

The Maiden


Celia Aaron - 2018
    But I've discovered so much more, and the darkness here is seducing me, pulling me down until all I can think of is him. Adam Monroe, the Prophet's son, a dark prince to an empire that grows by the day. He is tasked with keeping me safe from the wolves of the outside world. But the longer I stay at the Cloister, the more I realize the wolves are already inside and under the Prophet's control. If Adam discovers the real reason I'm here, he'll bay for my blood with the rest of them. Until then, I will be Delilah, an obedient servant of the Prophet during the day and Adam's Maiden at night.Author's Note: If you have a trigger, this book will pull it. The Maiden is the first book of The Cloister Series. The Prophet will release in May, and the conclusion to the series, The Church, will release in June.

The V Card


Lauren Blakely - 2017
    You'd be wrong.At 25, I run a successful business, live in a fantastic apartment, and have fabulous friends to go out with any night of the week. And yet I'm still a card-carrying member of a club I don't want to belong to anymore. Good thing I know just the man for the deflowering job—my brother’s business partner and best friend. Graham Campbell is charming, smart, and, I’m told, oh-so-skilled in the sack. As long as I keep my eyes on the prize, there’s no way this pluck-the-flower project could possibly complicate matters.***Work and pleasure. As the CEO of a fast-growing company, I've been enjoying both to the fullest. What do I do when the board throws me for an unexpected loop so I can keep my business in my hands? I enlist the help of my best friend's little sister since she holds a big stake in the company. But then I learn there's another big stake she wants. The one between my legs.I can do this. Seven nights to teach her everything I know in the bedroom. There's no way I'll fall for her, even though she’s earning top grades in every single sinfully sexy lesson. And turns out I’m learning something too. The trouble is I don’t have the answer key to what to do when I fall hard for her.And that throws a whole new hitch in my plans.

Firsts


C.L. Matthews - 2018
    She belongs to me, even if she doesn't know it yet.He’s taboo.Too old, too experienced, and my stepfather.I’ll cross every line to be with him. He's not mine, and never will be.It’s not about the danger of what's forbidden, it’s about the pleasure we get from it.All consequences be damned.

Watch With Me


Fiona Cole - 2020
     It started as a night to forget my past hurts. I just wanted to watch, to lose myself in my uncle's illicit club. I never meant to find someone — someone much older. I never meant to watch with him. I never meant for him to be my uncle's friend. None of that mattered. All that mattered was how he made me forget—how he made me want more. But was he willing to give me more? Or was it just one night.

Pennies


Pepper Winters - 2016
    You'd do best to remember that." Once upon a time, I was an eighteen year old psychology student.Now, I’m a man’s property.Stolen and sold, I’ve been decorated in bruises since the day my world changed two years ago.I suffer in silence, I crave freedom, but I never break.I can’t.Until he arrives.Elder Prest, the only man to look at me and see me. The only man more ruthless than my owner.He wants me for reasons I don’t understand.He claims me for one night then leaves and never looks back.Until he returns.And life becomes much more complicated.

Trust Me


Lacey Black - 2014
    Though Rivers Edge holds the pain of her past, it also holds the one person she wants but can’t have – her brother’s best friend, Maddox Jackson. When she learns the attraction might not be one-sided, will Avery be able to trust Maddox with the one thing she’s held onto tightly for the past few years? Police officer Maddox Jackson is a ladies’ man with one foot out the door. Never planning to settle down, Maddox fights the attraction he feels for his best friend’s little sister, Avery. But can he continue to fight it when his body and his heart are leading him to the one woman he shouldn’t want? When secrets are finally exposed, can Avery and Maddox trust each other enough to overcome the past, handle the present, and preserve their future? Can Avery trust Maddox with her heart? Will Maddox be able to convince Avery to take the chance?

Control Freak


Brianna Hale - 2019
    I need it in every aspect of my life. Some would say that makes me an asshole. A freak. But as long as everything’s exactly how I want it, I’m completely flexible. I’m kidding. Okay, I’m not kidding. Lacey needs someone in her life who’s bigger and scarier than her demons, and she wants that man to be me. Her boss. The Viking in a suit.I hope she understands what she’s getting into. This daddy isn’t going to pat her on the head and tell her she’s a good girl for nothing. Especially not when she’s spinning out of control. Author's note: this book includes depictions of eating disorder recovery.

Corrupted


Alexis Noelle - 2016
    Prey left defenseless. She needs to hide. They cannot find her. They will kill her if they do. When Lucy decided to run, she didn’t know where to go. They were coming for her. She needed protection, but she had no one to help her. Until she came across the warehouse of the Deathstalkers MC and begged them for protection. Now she owes them her life and her loyalty. Her family will never end their search for her; she is a piece of property that needs to be recovered at any cost necessary. For Lucy, there are worse things than needing to hide for the rest of her life, being found is one of those things. Sometimes the obvious evils aren’t the ones you need to fear. *Disclaimer - The book is not recommended to readers sensitive to graphic depictions of violence. This book is not suitable for persons under 18 years of age.* Alexis Noelle's Corrupted stole my heart, twisted it inside out, cut it wide open and then ripped it to shreds before putting it back together. There were so many emotions that they're impossible to describe. Kudos to her for a wonderful book.- JA Hensley, Author Alexis Noelle has written a brutal and beautifully raw no holds bar MC book. - Glenna Maynard, Author "Corrupted is not your average MC book. It's beauty and pain, heartbreak and triumph womven onto the pages expertly. It's a masterful combination of raw emotion, love and the hard-fought happily ever after. "Dark and sexy, emotional and suspenseful, Noelle corrupted me in the best way..." - Casey Bond, Author An emotional roller coaster of a story. Alexis Noelle weaves an enthralling tale of family, lust and danger, drawing you into a love story with twists and betrayal. This is a "can't put down read", and will leave you with the best kind of book hangovers. A must read. - Melissa Huie, Author "Corrupted is Alexis’s best work yet to come. She dug deep into the nitty gritty, making my heart bleed for the main character and all she’d been through. Corrupted is a must read if you want raw and real love." - Brooke Page, Author

Witness


Piper Davenport - 2014
     Bailey Harper thought she was heading to a graduation party, only to find herself kidnapped, beaten, and left for dead. When a handsome and charismatic FBI agent comes to her rescue and offers his protection, she finds herself falling hard and fast for him. When a deeply guarded, dark secret is revealed, will the truth drive them apart or will it strengthen the bonds of their newly found love?

On the Rocks


Kandi Steiner - 2019
    It's what the town said when his father died and the Becker brothers went wild. And it's on repeat in my mind the day I walk into the whiskey distillery where he works to buy a wedding gift for my fiancé.He's trouble. Dirty, sweaty, rude trouble. No matter how many times I repeat it, I can't escape Noah in our small Tennessee town. And the more I run into him, the more he infuriates me. Because he sees what no one else does.He sees me—the real me. The me I'm not sure I'm allowed to be.I'm Ruby Grace Barnett, the mayor's daughter. Soon to be a politician's wife, just like Mama and Daddy always wanted. Soon to fulfill my family's legacy, just like I always knew I would.Until the boy everyone warned me about makes me question everything, like whether the wedding I'm planning is one I even want. Everyone says Noah Becker is nothing but trouble.If only I had listened.