Book picks similar to
Where the Heart Is by Patricia Kay
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romance
contemporary-romance
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Taming Mad Max
Theresa Ragan - 2011
Believing his life will be cut short, Max tries to live every moment to its fullest. For this reason, Max shies away from forming close relationships. What would be the point of falling in love and starting a family only to leave them as his father left him and his sisters? When Max discovers he has a thirteen-year old daughter though, it throws all his years of planning and preparation for an early death into a tailspin.Nutrition expert, Kari Murphy, used to think Max Dutton, aka Mad Max, was to die for, but she’s older and wiser now. The last time Kari reacted with her heart instead of her brain, she conceived the thing she loves most in life…her daughter, Molly. As much as she dislikes Max Dutton for taking her declaration of love and throwing it in her face fourteen years earlier, she knows that if it wasn’t for him her life would be meaningless. And that really ticks her off, especially when she’s hired by the NFL franchise to follow Max around for a couple of weeks and give him healthy-eating advice, foolproof facts about carbohydrates and tasteful tips on cooking and shopping smart. Kari doesn’t want to be anywhere near the man, but what choice does she have? Her career is on the line.Taming Mad Max finaled in RWA’s 2008 Golden Heart competition under the title, Better Late Than Never.
Borrowing Amor Boxed Set: Books 1-3
Kat Bellemore - 2020
Chile peppers, hot air balloons and white sand dunes mix with a small town mayor, a fake fiance, and a second chance at love.
Borrowing Amor:
Love is a nuisance when all you want is to disappear.
Two weeks before Christmas, Katie is kicked out of her apartment. Again. Rather than wander the streets and continue to work for a dirty cop, she decides to leave the city and disappear for good. But her car breaks down in a small New Mexican town, and everything is threatened when she falls for the charming mayor. Sam Freedman is the first bachelor mayor of Amor. After convincing the locals that having a mayor without family responsibilities means he can dedicate all his time to the community, townspeople watch his every move. Then Katie Andersen shows up. Against Sam’s better judgement, he hires her to replace his event coordinator. Now he can barely think straight, let alone run a town. In the midst of half-truths and outright lies, Katie and Sam desperately search for the place where honesty and trust lead to love. But they have to find it before the past catches up with them.
Borrowing Love:
It’s better to have loved and lost, they said. They were wrong.
Ruby Freedman hasn’t left the small town of Amor in four years--not since her husband died. The memory of his fateful accident was enough to cause her to sell her airplane, and never ride in a car again. Then Parker Loveland comes back to town. Now she has to add him to her list of things she intends to avoid.After years away, Parker Loveland is back in Amor to celebrate his parents’ thirtieth wedding anniversary. He has worked hard to escape the clutches of his hometown, but when he runs into Ruby, the only girl he cared about in high school, and the only one that ever stood him up on a date, he’s torn between the embarrassment he felt more than a decade before, and his desire to be around her.Caught between memories of the past and fear of the future, it will take leaving Amor to help Ruby and Parker find the second chance they didn’t know they were looking for.
Borrowing a Fiance:
She wanted freedom. She got a fiance instead.
Melinda Garrett has been stuck managing her parent’s diner for over a decade, when all she had wanted was to go to college. When her younger sister gets married, Melinda reluctantly agrees to attend with her friend, Daniel, as her date. But when the pressure is on, she claims he is her fiance, in hopes that her parents’ opinion of selling the diner will change.Daniel Armstrong isn’t the kind of guy a girl takes home to meet her parents, but when he offers to attend a wedding as Melinda’s date, he finds himself labeled as her future spouse. Now, challenges lie around every corner, testing Melinda’s claim that she and Daniel are in love.
A Family Man
Mindy Neff - 1996
“Make love to me.” A desperate Josie Alexander spoke those words to a stranger on a rainy backwoods road. She didn’t allow herself to consider the risks—only the consequences. A lifetime of caution, of always doing the right thing meant nothing in the face of her despair. She was sure fate had put him in her path. He was going to be the miracle she needed. Four years later, wealthy pilot Chase Fowler still knew her face; he’d carried it in his heart ever since their night together. But it was the face of Josie’s three-year-old boy that surprised him. Chase had finally come to claim what was rightfully his in this tiny Louisiana town—and now that included his own son. But the boy wasn’t the only secret between them…. “A wonderful mix of complex problems and no easy answers in a romance you will love!” –Affaire de Coeur (4 ½ STARS)
Jaded Billionaire
Jill Snow - 2018
Ethan Thomas is disillusioned after selling his company for billions and discovering all the people he cared about are now only interested in him for his money. Needing to get away, he heads to a campground in Sweet Mountain, Montana. It’s the off-season and he is assured all the other cabins will be empty. He’s after complete solitude which is why the last thing he needs is a city-slicker faux camper in the cabin next door. Especially one who doesn’t even know how to boil water over an open fire. Lily Ryder doesn’t even know how to boil water over an open fire. Or on a stove for that matter. But she can’t pass up the opportunity for a big promotion at the newspaper where she works. All she has to do is spend one week at a campground and she’ll steal the job right out from under the nose of her rival. Camping, even in a cabin, turns out to be a lot hard than she expected, but the last person she’s going to turn to for help is the Neanderthal that almost shot her dog. They could just ignore each other, but Sweet Mountain is hiding a secret, one that could change both their plans forever.
Logan's Redemption
Cara Marsi - 2007
Someone is stalking her and sabotaging her father's company, her teenage son is rebelling, and Logan Tanner is back in town. For sixteen years, she's kept an explosive secret from Logan, a secret he soon discovers. Logan never belonged in Doriana's world, but a long time ago he allowed himself to dream of a future with her, until the awful night he was forced to run. Now he's back and he needs her forgiveness, but first he must forgive himself. Despite the fact that Doriana kept the existence of his son from him, Logan vows to protect her. He races against time to stop the culprit threatening Doriana and works to forge a bond with his son. Can the love and passion that still burn between Doriana and Logan overcome old lies and new dangers?
Burning Desire
Jen Talty - 2017
As an Air Forces Fire Protection Specialist, Ace has seen his fair share of infernos from fires in the sky, to chemical buildings, and even forest fires. While running into a burning building is no big deal for him, he dreads the call. He understands the devastation and destruction fires can cause, not to mention the loss of life as he lost his first girlfriend to a fire while in high school. His job is get people out of the fire and contain it at the same time. So, when he watches a car crash unfold while on leave, he jumps into action. He’s prepared to do what it takes to save the young women in the car… And protect his heart from the burning desire she awakes in his soul. While heading home to help her mother with a legal problem, Lexi Aberdean is T-Boned and her car bursts into flames. Lucky for her, a good Samaritan saves her life and now all she wants to do is find a way to repay him. Only, he wants nothing to do with her. That is until a series of unexplained events, including a fire, makes Lexi believe the accident was no accident at all.
Home to Stay (Clocktower Romance)
Becke Turner - 2020
She’s determined to open Robey’s Rewards to support her family and honor her husband, but first she has to win the only available lease in historic Sunberry. Wouldn’t you know, Ryan is her competitor? And she for sure won’t be falling for him in the middle of a fierce competition.Desperate to keep her three teens inside the law, Ava moves to her hometown. Renovating Gram’s old farm will keep them out of trouble while she negotiates a lease in the historic district. Just when she thinks she’s achieved success, her wayward boys find more trouble. Worse, their rescuer turns out to be the Marine who led her deceased husband on his fatal patrol.She’s not falling for his kindness, his help with her boys, or his help repairing the farm. Besides, he’s trying to ease his guilt by helping out the poor widow and her kids. She almost lets down her guard until she learns he’s her competitor on the only available lease. Too bad for him because she and her boys are going to kick him to the curb and win that lease.Five years haven’t eased Marine officer Ryan Murphy’s guilt about losing the best man in his unit. Now, he’s losing his heart to the man’s widow. But how does he choose between a comrade and a widow, especially when the family he never believed he could have is right in front of him? If you like a second chance romance with a courageous woman willing to risk everything for family, you’ll enjoy Becke Turner’s award-winning romance HOME TO STAY. Escape to the Sunberry, North Carolina world of romance, pick up your copy of HOME TO STAY, today.
Maybe This Time (A Second Chance Romance)
Susan B. James - 2017
Forty-nine-year-old actress Jennifer Knight would rather eat worms than face her first husband. But when her niece Kat accidentally time travels them to 1988, she needs his help. Lance Davies is more comfortable with computers than people. He never knew how to handle his beloved, mercurial Jen. But now her future self is here in front of him and he wants another chance. Jen finds herself torn. Her traitorous body insists that home is in Lance’s arms, but her heart has trust issues. Can two people whose timelines are thirteen years apart find a future where they can be together?
Loving Glory
Joleen James - 2013
Everyone wonders how Jace can come back, especially after getting Fortune’s golden girl Glory Moon pregnant, then leaving her alone to raise their autistic son. No one is more shocked than Jace when he discovers that Glory kept the baby she’d promised to give up for adoption ten years ago. Seriously in debt, Glory and her son are one step away from food stamps and welfare. When Jace suggests a business arrangement--marry him and he’ll pay off her debts and get their son the finest medical care and private school money can buy, Glory has no choice but to accept his proposal. But Jace’s proposal comes with a price, and love is never simple—especially when the heart is involved.
Husband for Hire
Carla Neggers - 1995
Why not? The rugged man who just shoveled off her cabin roof is sure to deter whoever is harassing her. But she’s surprised when Cole accepts her proposition. Cole is surprised, too, but he’s convinced Cady isn’t telling him everything. Then again, he isn’t telling her everything about himself, either. When Cole and Cady head to New York as husband-and-wife-to-be, their attraction to each other becomes impossible to ignore. But is it the right time for romance? All they know is they are ringing in a new year…and anything can happen. Available for the first time for your e-reader! Refreshed and updated from the original, published in a multi-author paperback anthology.
Fighting For a Second Chance
Nikki Ash - 2016
I’m starting college and can’t be distracted. Besides, he has his own life to get back to. CooperThe moment I saw her I knew she was the one, but what my heart wants it doesn’t get. I know how life works. I’ve been fighting most of my life. My dad was a fighter, and so was his dad. I watched my mom cheat on him, and in return, he destroyed her. I will never do that to a woman. I get thirty hours with Liz and then we’re both walking away. At the end of the day, all we’ll have are the memories we have created here in Miami. ***Five years later, Liz runs into Cooper, only he has no idea that memories weren’t the only thing they created in Miami. He broke her heart once the day he left and now she’s guarded. Will he succeed in winning her heart over a second time? The only thing he knows for sure is that he’s fighting for a second chance, and this time, he won’t let her go that easily.
Forgiving History
Jenni M. Rose - 2018
She knew he’d come back someday. She’d just hoped he wouldn’t look so annoyingly dreamy when he did. Andy Walker has spent twelve years raising her daughter on her own and working to restore her once perfect reputation. All she wants is stability and for the past to stay in the past. When her ex, the boy that walked out on her more than a decade ago shows up, she knows that all her carefully buried secrets stand to be uncovered. Owen Monroe left home at eighteen and tried not to look back. Though the memories of the girl he’d planned to spend his life with haunted him, he swore he’d never forgive her. Until, that is, he finds out the truth about what really tore them apart. Oh, and that she had his baby all those years ago. His daughter, Jenna. Now it’s up to him to earn her trust back and he’s willing to go to any lengths to do it. This is a full-length SECOND CHANCE novel with an HEA, featuring a SECRET BABY!
Mending His Past
Kristen Iten - 2020
Now, he’s rebuilding the storm-damaged Wounded Warrior Rescue in the seaside town of Liberty Cove. But he’s counting the days until he can put the small-town life behind and get lost in the big city.While in town, a German shepherd from the rescue begins to break through his defenses. But nothing can prepare him for the moment he comes face-to-face with the woman he left behind ten years ago. He wants to love her like she deserves, but fears he’s forgotten how.Olivia Malone once had big-city dreams of her own, but becoming a single mom changed her priorities in a hurry. Now, she has no desire to take her young daughter away from the idyllic town she grew up in, even though work is hard to come by.Her love for her daughter demands that she take any honest job she can find, even if it means treading dangerously close to a ghost from her past — a tall, dark, and handsome ghost. Their chemistry is just as red hot as ever, but she must consider more than her own desires these days.Olivia's been down the road of rejection more than once and has her walls firmly in place! Her daughter is her world, and she can’t risk breaking either of their hearts by inviting a man into their lives whose main goal seems to be leaving her behind… again.War taught him it’s better not to feel. Failed relationships taught her it’s better not to trust. Things heat up at the Wounded Warrior Rescue when Trent and Olivia must decide if taking a second chance at love is worth the risk.
Sapphire Falls Collection (a flirty, dirty small town rom com collection): Books 1-3
Erin Nicholas - 2014
WARNING: Read only if you like fun, small-town contemporary romances where they talk dirty… and act even dirtier. Book 1: Getting Out of Hand Genius scientist Mason Riley can cure world hunger, impress the media and piss off the Vice President of the United States all before breakfast. But he’s not sure he can get through his high school class reunion. Then he meets the new girl in town. Adrianne Scott loves Sapphire Falls. The sleepy little town has been the perfect place to escape her fast-paced, high stress lifestyle. Her only plans now include opening her candy shop and living a quiet, drama-free life. Until Mason Riley bids four hundred dollars just to dance with her. Mason sure doesn’t look—or kiss—like a genius scientist geek. In fact, he makes Adrianne’s heart pound like nothing she’s ever experienced. Passion like this with a guy who travels the world and parties at the White House should probably be a red flag for a girl who wants a simple boring life. Good thing no one falls in love in a weekend.. Book 2: Getting Worked Up Phoebe Sherwood is in love with the perfect man. Well, except for the fact that he’s in love with someone else. But Phoebe isn’t the type to let a little detail like that keep her from getting what she wants. And as she’s plotting how to get him back, she meets the perfect solution—Joe Spencer. The city boy is in town to retrieve his sort-of fiancé—the woman who stole Phoebe’s man— and when he hears Phoebe’s plan to reclaim their respective soul mates, he’s in. Bright and sparkly. That’s Joe’s first impression of Phoebe. He’s always been attracted to sparkly things—like neon casino signs, sequined evening gowns and Porsches. In fact, his affinity for those things, and the trouble they can cause, are exactly why he’s determined to change his habits and settle down. But if he’s going to win his girl back, he’s going to need to learn a new way of life. Country line dancing, guzzling homemade moonshine and getting rid of his custom-made suits are what it takes to fit into Sapphire Falls… and he’s got some work to do. Thank goodness Phoebe is the perfect coach. And everything will be just fine… as long as they can keep their hands off of each other and remember which hearts they are trying to win over. Book 3: Getting Dirty Travis Bennett is exactly the kind of guy Lauren Davis has been avoiding for the past nine years. Religiously. Stubbornly. Successfully. She knows too well how easy it is to let lust ruin perfectly laid plans. And a small town farmer with no ambitions beyond the borders of his own cornfield is not going to change her mind. She’s got important stuff to do. Her company is literally working to stop world hunger. Her plans are much bigger than Sapphire Falls. No matter how hot those farmers might be. The problem is—Lauren is falling in love. With Sapphire Falls. To kick her sudden desire to buy a welcome mat and start baking pies, she asks Travis to help her get over her crush. She wants him to show her what life in the small town is really like behind all the sweetness and sunshine and remind her that there’s no place for French manicures and Gucci heels on the farm.
Love's Healing Power (New Beginnings Book 1)
Margaret Daley - 2019
She’d always wanted a large family, but that dream was shattered when her fiancé was murdered while volunteering in South America. Peter “Mac” MacPherson, a former football superstar, had dealt with his own tragedies—the deaths of his father followed by his wife while she was giving birth to their daughter. His faith sustained him through his grief, but can he help Tess believe again in God and finally find a family—with him?