Book picks similar to
Just Ten Seconds by Jeannine Colette
romance
single-parent
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contemporary-romance
The Five Stages of Falling in Love
Rachel Higginson - 2015
Grady's prognosis was grim, even from the start, but Liz never gave up hope he would survive. How could she, when he was everything to her?Six months later, she is trying to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and get the kids to school on time. Both seem impossible. Everything seems impossible these days.When Ben Tyler moves in next door, she is drowning in sorrow and pain, her children are acting out, and the house is falling apart. She has no time for curious new friends or unwanted help, but Ben gives her both. And he doesn't just want to help her with yard work or cleaning the gutters. Ben wants more from Liz. More than she's capable of ever giving again.As Liz mourns her dead husband and works her way through the five stages of grief, she finds there's more of her heart to give than she thought possible. And as new love takes hold, she peels away the guilt and heartache, and discovers there's more to life than death.
Show Me the Way
A.L. Jackson - 2017
Jackson . . . Rex Gunner. As bitter as he is beautiful. The owner of the largest construction company in Gingham Lakes has been burned one too many times.His wife leaving him to raise their daughter was the last blow this single dad could take.The only woman he'll let into his heart is his little girl. Rynna Dayne. As vulnerable as she is tempting.She ran from Gingham Lakes when she was seventeen. She swore to herself she would never return.Then her grandmother passed away and left her the deed to the diner that she once loved.When Rex meets his new neighbor, he knows he's in trouble.She's gorgeous and sweet and everything he can't trust.Until she becomes the one thing he can't resist. One kiss sends them tumbling toward ecstasy.But in a town this size, pasts are bound to collide.Caught in a web of lies, betrayal, and disloyalty, Rex must make a choice. Will he hide behind his walls or will he take the chance . . .
The Birthday List
Devney Perry - 2018
A journal with a list.Take a karate class. Go skydiving. Learn to play the ukulele. Say yes to everything for an entire day. The list goes on, line by line, of youthful dreams.For too long that list has haunted me. But starting today, I’m going to cross one item off. Today, I’m opening my new restaurant in Bozeman, Montana. The Maysen Jar.It should have marked the first day of a new life. A fresh start. But then Cole Goodman waltzed through the door and brought with him the past. A man who shattered my heart. A man I tried to forget.Maybe it’s a good thing he insists on sticking around. Because the only way I’ll finish the list is with Cole’s help. And then I can finally say goodbye.
Sacrifice
Adriana Locke - 2015
I was left with a shattered heart, a heap of bills, and our daughter, EVERLEIGH. I don’t want to rely on anyone, least of all CREW GENTRY. He’s my first love and the man who almost destroyed me, the man who has let me down every time I’ve needed him. But when tragedy strikes a second time, Crew just might be my only hope. My life changed forever the night my brother died.I was left with a guilty conscience, a pile of mistakes, and little else. I take care of JULIA GENTRY, my brother’s widow and the love of my life, and their daughter. I know she doesn’t want my help, but she gets it anyway. I owe her that.When another disaster hits, I’m given the opportunity to make things right. I’m taking it. I'm willing to sacrifice it all.
Eleanor & Grey
Brittainy C. Cherry - 2019
As the young girl who first fell for him, I didn’t know much about life. I did know about his smiles, though, and his laughs, and the strange way my stomach flipped when he was near. Life was perfect…until it wasn’t, and when we were forced to go our separate ways, I held on to our memories, let go of my first crush, and wished for the day I’d find him again. When my wish came true, it was nothing like I imagined. I couldn’t have known when I took the nanny position that it would be his children I looked after, that my new boss would be that boy I used to know, that boy who was now a man—a cold, lonely, detached man. The smile and laugh I had loved so much were gone, now distant memories. Every part of him was covered in a fresh pain. When he realized who I was, he made me promise to do my job and my job only. He made me promise not to try to get to know him, not to recall the memories I’d treasured all this time. But, sometimes, I saw the boy I’d once known in his stormy eyes. I saw the Greyson who smiled and laughed, who had stolen a young girl’s heart, and there was no doubt in my mind that this boy was worth fighting for. I was given a second chance with the one who’d left his mark on me. All I hoped was that somehow I’d leave a mark on his soul, too.
Midnight Valentine
J.T. Geissinger - 2018
But the old Victorian she bought needs extensive renovations and the one man who can help her—Theo Valentine—takes an immediate and intense dislike to her. Left scarred and mute after a terrible accident, the reclusive Theo is a brilliant contractor whose plans to renovate the building Megan bought are eerily similar to her own. As their paths cross again and again and Megan begins to see the man beneath the mystery, a part of her that she thought was lost forever slowly starts to reawaken. But when she discovers unsettling similarities between Theo and her late husband and strange coincidences begin to mount, Megan is forced to confront everything she believed about her past…and decide how far she’ll go to get the truth.
Look the Part
Jewel E. Ann - 2018
Her references are good. And she’s easy on the eyes.Until …Flint discovers Ellen Rodgers, Board-Certified Music Therapist, plays music. Bongos, guitars, singing—not Beethoven administered through noise-cancelling headphones.The cut-throat attorney serves up an eviction notice to the bubbly, constantly humming redhead who's too sexy for her own good. But luck is on Ellen’s side when Flint’s autistic son, Harrison, takes an instant liking to her. A single dad can’t compete with guitars—and rats. Yes, she has pet rats.This woman …She’s annoyingly happy with a constant need to touch him—adjust his tie, button his shirt, invade his space, and mess with his mind.Still …She must go.Their lust-hate relationship escalates into something beautiful and tragic. This sexy, romantic-comedy explores the things we want, the things we need, and the impossible decisions parents and children make to survive.
Someone Else's Ocean
Kate Stewart - 2018
Thomas, I was six years old and we shared a summer beneath the stars.The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.
Ghosted
J.M. Darhower - 2017
Through scandal after scandal, addiction on top of addiction, a flurry of paparazzi hunt him as he fights to conquer his demons.She's a single mother, assistant manager at a grocery store, existing in monotony with her five-year-old daughter. Every day when she goes to work, lurid tabloids surround her, the face of a notorious bad boy haunting her from their covers.A man and a woman, living vastly different lives, but that wasn't always the case. Once, they were just a boy and a girl who bonded over comic books and fell in love unexpectedly.When Kennedy Garfield met Jonathan Cunningham back in high school, she knew he had all the makings of a tragic hero. With stars in his eyes, and her heart on her sleeve, the pair ran away together to follow their dreams.But dreams, sometimes, turn into nightmares.Now, years later, the only thing they share is a daughter—one who has no idea her father plays her favorite superhero. But Jonathan is desperate to make amends, and at the top of his list is the woman who gave up everything for him and the little girl he hasn't yet met.
Mack Daddy
Penelope Ward - 2017
They called him Mack Daddy. No, seriously, his name was Mack. Short for Mackenzie. Thus, the nickname. Perfect, right? So was he: perfect. The perfect physical male specimen. At the private school where I taught, Mack Morrison was the only man around in a sea of women. Everyone wanted a piece of the hot single father of the sweet little boy. I was riddled with jealousy, because they didn’t know that—to me—he was much more. They didn’t know about our past. He’d chosen my school for his son on purpose, because Mack and I, we had unfinished business. As my friend, Lorelai, so eloquently put it: “Unfinished business between two people who are clearly attracted to each other is like an eternal case of blue balls.” And I was suffering in pain from my case. I was still intensely attracted to Mack. I tried to resist him, immersing myself further into a relationship with another man just to protect my heart. Not to mention, getting involved with a parent was strictly against school rules. But seeing Mack day in and day out was breaking me down. And soon I might be breaking all the rules. Author's note – Told in alternating points of view, Mack Daddy is a full-length standalone novel.
Return to Us
Corinne Michaels - 2021
One look in his gorgeous blue-green eyes, and it’s like I never left. One kiss, and my world is upside down. One night together, and I know without a doubt, in his arms is where I belong.I’m not the girl I was—intimidated by his wealthy family and desperate to escape our small town. I can imagine a new life for us here.But he’s learned to guard his heart, and trust won’t come easily.How can I convince him to give first love a second chance?
Sex, Not Love
Vi Keeland - 2018
We met at a wedding—him sitting on the groom’s side, me sitting on the bride’s. Stealing glances at each other throughout the night, there was no denying an intense, mutual attraction. I caught the bouquet; he caught the garter. Hunter held me tightly while we danced and suggested we explore the chemistry sparking between us. His blunt, dirty mouth should’ve turned me off. But for some crazy reason, it had the opposite effect on me.We ended up back in my hotel room. The next morning, I headed home to New York leaving him behind in California with the wrong number.I thought about him often, but after my last relationship, I’d sworn off of charming, cocky, gorgeous-as-sin men. A year later, Hunter and I met again at the birth of our friends’ baby. Our attraction hadn't dulled one bit. After a whirlwind trip, he demanded a real phone number this time. So I left him with my mother’s—she could scare away any man with her talks of babies and marriage—and flew back home.I’d thought it was funny, until the following week when he rang the bell at Mom’s house for Sunday night dinner. The crazy, gorgeous man had won over my mother and taken an eight-week assignment in my city. He proposed we spend that time screwing each other out of our systems. Eight weeks of mind-blowing sex with no strings attached? What did I have to lose?Nothing, I thought.It’s just sex, not love.But you know what they say about the best laid plans…From #1 New York Times Bestseller Vi Keeland, comes a new, sexy standalone novel.
Written with Regret
Aly Martinez - 2019
The one where the white knight rushes in to save her from the clutches of evil. They fall in love, have babies, and live happily ever after. By that definition, my life should have been a fairytale too. When I was eight years old, Caven Hunt saved me from the worst kind of evil to walk the Earth. It didn’t matter that I was a kid. I fell in love with him all the same. But that was where my fairytale ended. Years later, a one-night stand during the darkest time imaginable gave us a little girl. It was nothing compared to the pitch black that consumed me when I was forced to leave her with Caven for good. At the end of every fairytale, the happily-ever-after is the one thing that remains consistent. It wasn’t going to be mine, but there hadn’t been a night that passed where I hadn’t prayed that it would be hers. I owed Caven my life. However, I owed that innocent child more. And that included ripping the heart from my chest and facing her father again.
Blind Kiss
Renee Carlino - 2018
Fourteen years ago, this shop was her childhood dance studio... Now she’s a suburban housewife, dreading the moment her son departs for MIT, leaving her with an impeccably decorated McMansion and a failing marriage. She had her chance at wild, stars-in-her-eyes happiness, but that was a lifetime ago. After The Kiss. Before The Decision.The Kiss was soulful. Magical. Earth-shattering, And it was all for a free gift card. Asked to participate in a psych study that posed the question, “Can you have sexual chemistry without knowing what the other person looks like?” Penny agreed to be blindfolded, make polite conversation with a total stranger, and kiss him. She never expected The Kiss to change her life forever and introduce her to Gavin: tattooed, gorgeous, and spontaneous enough to ask her out seconds after the blindfolds came off.For a year, they danced between friendship and romance—until Penny made The Decision that forced them to settle for friendship. Now, fourteen years later, both of their lives are about to radically change—and it’s his turn to decide what will become of their once-in-a-lifetime connection."
Preston's Honor
Mia Sheridan - 2017
The daughter of an impoverished migrant farmworker, she grew up as an outcast in what was no more than a tiny, cooped up shack in California’s Central Valley. But her heart found freedom in the land, in the wide-open spaces of Sawyer Farm, and in the boys who were her only friends.Preston has yearned for Annalia since he was a boy. But a sense of honor kept him from pursuing her until he’s unable to hold back any longer and their worlds—and bodies—collide one hot summer night. A night that sets off a chain of events that will alter their lives forever.Now Annalia is back in town after disappearing without a trace for six long months. Determined to reclaim her heart, her life, and the baby she left behind—the son who was created in a moment of lust and love and pent-up yearning.Preston has survived grief, a ravaging drought, and the despair of heartache, but he’s not sure he can survive Annalia again. And he might be unwilling to try. Will pride and bitterness keep him from the one thing he’s always longed for?How do you heal what is irreparably broken? How do you forgive that which is unforgivable? How do you discover that real honor comes not from circumstance, but from the place deep in our hearts where truth resides? And how do you move beyond the wounds of the past to discover that some loves are as solid as the ground beneath your feet, and as enduring as the earth itself?THIS IS A STAND-ALONE SIGN OF LOVE NOVEL, INSPIRED BY GEMINI. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to strong language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.