Book picks similar to
All the Pretty Lies by Melissa Toppen
romance
contemporary
high-school
young-adult
Love Me Back
Michelle Lynn - 2013
Throughout the complicated road she has traveled with Trent, someone else has had a strong presence in Maddy's life. Trent’s older brother Gabe has always been someone she could count on, therefore neither of them can be blamed when lines blur from friendship to something more. However, promises made between brothers threaten to ensure that neither of them will have a permanent place in her life. When Maddy returns to her hometown for her brother’s wedding, she is forced to face both Trent and Gabe for the first time in two years. While the two Basso brothers fight to win her heart, she is busy struggling with a past that won't seem to let her go. Whether she wants to or not, Maddy must decide to either forfeit her own happiness or forever tear a family apart.18+ due to adult language and situations
Don't Love Me
S. Doyle - 2020
That's when I met Ash, she was ten and the daughter of the man who owned the estate. She thought I would be her new best friend but I only wanted to be left alone. For years she was always there, always annoying me, always wanting more from me. But our roles were clear. She was the princess and I was the chauffeur's charity case.I told her not to fall in love with me...she didn't listen.
Off the Ice
Julie Cross - 2017
One semester off, that’s what she promised herself. Just long enough to take care of her father and keep the family business—a hockey bar beside the ice rink—afloat. After that, she’s getting the hell out. Again.Enter Tate Tanley. What happened between them the night before she left town resurfaces the second they lay eyes on each other. But the guy she remembers has been replaced by a total hottie. When Tate is unexpectedly called in to take over for the hockey team’s star goalie, suddenly he’s in the spotlight and on his way to becoming just another egotistical varsity hockey player. And Claire’s sworn off Juniper Falls hockey players for good.It’s the absolute worst time to fall in love.For Tate and Claire, hockey isn’t just a game. And they both might not survive a body check to the heart.
Save Me
Bella Scully - 2015
Cal Gatlin hates me. And now? Cal Gatlin is my stepbrother. I’ve been broken since Dad died. Crippled by pain and the secrets I keep. I’m supposed to be perfect—the good girl with the 5.0 GPA and a ticket to Harvard. The last thing I need is a sexy, dangerous, tattooed bad boy stalking me, flirting with me, and calling me Sis with a cheeky grin. Especially if that bad boy is my obsessive childhood bully. Cal Gatlin. I hate him. But now that we are forced together by our parents' marriage, our acts are breaking down. He’s seeing the weak, imperfect side of me I’ve been terrified to show to anyone. And I’m discovering the pain beneath his cocky bad boy mask. Deep down, we’re each both just as broken as the other. Loving Cal Gatlin hurts. It’s dangerous. It’s reckless. But maybe we can save each other. ___ Warning: this novel contains strong language, adult themes, and explicit sex. It is intended for readers over the age of 18.
See Through Heart
Amie Knight - 2016
It wasn’t our quiet nights by the creek or stolen kisses surrounded by a sea of cotton that saved me. It was her. She was my comfort when life threw one ugly tragedy after another at me. Until she dealt me the greatest blow. Now, abandonment, betrayal, and death darken every corner of my life. Anger and hurt burn bright where love and trust once lived. But, now, she’s back. Sure, she’s changed, but I see through it—straight to her heart.
In the Stillness
Andrea Randall - 2013
Staying present is only possible when you let go of the past. But, what if the past won't let go?
After All
Karina Halle - 2017
Light, fun and sexy as sin, it's the PERFECT SUMMER READ. From the NYT and USA Today bestselling author of The Pact and Before I Ever Met You. Emmett Hill is the perfect gentleman. At least that's what his PR team wants the world to think. Tall, handsome, and wickedly charming, Emmett is in the midst of a career comeback, having landed the role of a villain in a popular TV show. The only problem is, Emmett has come a long way from the "nice guy" characters he used to play and his old squeaky clean image is quickly being tarnished by bar fights, womanizing and bad boy behaviour. Considering he's two years shy of forty, it's an act he needs to drop. And fast. Enter Alyssa Martin. At twenty-eight, Alyssa is tired and ready for a change. Her job as office manager has grown stagnant and unfulfilling, while she's become continuously frustrated with Vancouver's lackluster dating scene, always searching for Mr. Right in a city of Mr. Wrongs. When Emmett and Alyssa's paths cross at a mutual friend's wedding, their chemistry is off-the-charts hot, culminating in a steamy one-night stand. What neither expected was for the media catch wind of their coupling - and run with it. Now Emmett has to convince Alyssa to date him for the sake of his image. Her curvy, cute and "normal" persona is just the ticket to smoothing out his reputation, while Emmett provides Alyssa with the excitement and change her life has been lacking. The only problem is, the two fight like cats and dogs outside of the bedroom. And considering their arrangement is just for show, they shouldn't be in the bedroom with each other anyway. Right? Try telling them that.
Reclaiming the Sand
A. Meredith Walters - 2014
Tormenter and tormented. Villain and hero. Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable. Particularly Freaky Flynn. Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.But then Flynn and Ellie grew up. And moved on.Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other. And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.
Always You
Missy Johnson - 2013
At twenty-three, this would be my first ‘real’ teaching assignment. Working at the elite boarding school, home to the daughters of some of the wealthiest people in the world, was a great opportunity that I would’ve been stupid to pass up.One week into my new job, and I suddenly had no idea why I chose high school…I was a seventeen year old boy once, I knew how teenage girls behaved. You can’t even imagine the hell of trying to teach thirty, hormonal driven seventeen year olds who have been cooped up, away from any male contact. I could handle the whispers every time I entered the room. I could even handle the obvious attempts at gaining my attention. What I couldn’t handle was her…Rich bitches and way too many rules. Was it any wonder that I hated school? Add to that the lack of male contact, and I was going insane. Like literally. I wasn’t used to this. A year ago I was normal. I had a boyfriend, friends and a loving family. There is nothing normal about me anymore, and nobody here lets me forget that.My name is Wrenn, and I’m only here because my aunt took me in after what happened, but my aunt also happens to be the headmistress of this academy…Can you see my problem? I’m hated for my lack of money, and I’m hated for who my Aunt is.Then he arrived. Dalton Reed. My new history teacher.Slowly, he helped me see that even in the worst situations, there is always hope.
Taking the Chance
Kelsie Rae - 2018
Luke. My husband’s ex-best friend and my once-upon-a-time confidante. As the truth of my predicament tumbles out of me, he offers me a place to stay.And because I’m desperate and vulnerable...I accept.After all, what other choice do I have?
Rookie Move
Sarina Bowen - 2016
But on the first day he’s called up to the newly franchised Brooklyn Bruisers, Leo gets checked on both sides, first by the team’s coach—who has a long simmering grudge, and then by the Bruisers’ sexy, icy publicist—his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.Saying goodbye to Leo was one of the hardest things Georgia ever had to do—and saying hello again isn’t much easier. Georgia is determined to keep their relationship strictly professional, but when a press conference microphone catches Leo declaring his feelings for her, things get really personal, really fast....
Coming Up Roses
Staci Hart - 2019
Maybe it’s the day-to-day grind. Maybe it’s that client who never knows what they want, or the guy who always cooks fish in the microwave.But not me. I love every corner of the Longbourne Flower Shop, every flower, every petal, every stem. I love the greenhouse, and I love Mrs. Bennet, my boss. I love creating, and I love being a florist. I don’t hate anything at all.Except for Luke Bennet.The Bennet brothers have come home to help their mom save the flower shop, and Luke is at the helm. His smile tells a tale of lust, loose and easy. He moves with the grace of a predator, feral and wild. A thing unbridled, without rules or constraint. When he comes home to save Longbourne, I almost can’t be mad at him. Almost.He doesn’t remember that night I’ll never forget. That kiss, touched with whiskey and fire. It branded me like a red-hot iron. But it meant nothing to him.Everyone hates part of their job, and I hate Luke Bennet.Because if I don’t, I’ll fall in love with him.
Holding Onto Forever
Heidi McLaughlin - 2017
Making sure he worked hard to deserve the opportunities provided to him, Noah is where he's dreamed of being - starting QB for Portland Pioneers. Together, with his model girlfriend by his side, life can't get much better. Except that standing in his path is Peyton Powell-James, his life-long friend and the one woman he can never have. Peyton Powell-James always knew her future would be in football and dreams of having a successful sports journalism career once she graduates college. After being given the assignment to cover a professional game from the sidelines, Peyton believes that everything is going to plan. Until one fateful night changes her life. Harsh reality sets in for Noah and Peyton. One could lose everything, while the other struggles to keep the families together.
Preacher
Christopher Harlan - 2020
The 1st in a #newseries of interconnected standalones, “Preacher” will give you ALL the feels. SYNOPSIS:My preacher absolved no sins, because he was the sinner.Lyric:They say that you should give your heart away to the right guy, but mine was taken from me ten years ago, the moment Preacher moved into town and sent a blast wave through my life. He was my walking contradiction—gentle eyes set in a hardened face, an angel and an uncaged beast, mesmerizing good looks and terrifying ferocity, my savior and my destroyer.When he disappeared senior year he broke me like so much fragile glass. I thought I’d moved on from what happened between us, but now he’s reappeared out of nowhere, upending my life and reminding me that I can never break his hold over me.Preacher:I was trouble with a capital T—the guy your mom warned you to stay away from because he’d ruin you. She was right. I had no business being with a girl like Lyric—it was against all the rules—but when the hell have I ever followed other people’s rules?Never.She was beautiful, delicate, and oh so breakable. I was forceful, aggressive, and cocky as hell. Ten years ago fate split us apart. But now I’m back, here in New York, to remind Lyric of what she knows deep down but has always tried to deny.That she’s mine, and she always will be.
The Devil Wears Black
L.J. Shen - 2021
J. Shen comes a second-chance romance about love, loss, finding yourself, and getting lost in the right person.Maddie Goldbloom stitched up a plan to ensure everything in her life was perfect—from a career in fashion to a chic NYC apartment to a pediatrician boyfriend.When her ex, Chase Black, storms back into her life with an outrageous request, her immediate reaction is to refuse him. But he only wants to fulfill his father’s last wish. So even though he’s the man who broke her heart, playing his fiancée shouldn’t be hard, especially if it means she gets to watch the arrogant devil squirm a bit.What ensues is a chain of events that detonates Maddie’s life—and when Chase’s walls come down, they both are forced to face reality.They say keep your enemies close. But what if your enemy is also the man you love?