Book picks similar to
I Heart Mr. Collins by Laelia Starla


arcs-proofs
dnf-on-hold
forbidden-love
new-adult

Shuttered Affections


Rene Folsom - 2013
    The crippling memories of an abusive relationship, and the lack of support from her family, lead her to flee her old life and begin anew.After settling into a quaint college town, Juliana finally feels at peace, content to stay under the radar and keep things simple.Until Aiden Stone, her new photography professor, crashes into her life, blurring the line between love and lust. As their torrid affair reaches untold heights, Juliana struggles to keep her shuttered emotions, and growing affections, from throwing her into a relationship she isn't prepared for.With her newfound romance blinding her from the looming shadows of her past, her nightmares become reality, and she is forced to discover her true strength within.Warning: This novel contains sexual situations and is meant for adult readers ages 18 and up.

The Unrequited


Saffron A. Kent - 2017
    She is suffering from unrequited love. But it’s time to move on. No more stalking, no more obsessive calling. What she needs is a distraction. The blue-eyed guy she keeps seeing around campus could be a great one—only he is the new poetry professor—the married poetry professor.Thomas Abrams is a stereotypical artist—rude, arrogant, and broody—but his glares and taunts don’t scare Layla. She might be bad at poetry, but she is good at reading between the lines. Beneath his prickly façade, Thomas is lonely, and Layla wants to know why. Obsessively.Sometimes you do get what you want. Sometimes you end up in the storage room of a bar with your professor and you kiss him. Sometimes he kisses you back like the world is ending and he will never get to kiss you again. He kisses you until you forget the years of unrequited love; you forget all the rules, and you dare to reach for something that is not yours.NOTE: Please be aware that this book deals with sensitive topics like cheating. 18+ Only.

Not Yet


Laura Ward - 2014
    Lesson #1: Nothing goes the way you plan.Lesson #2: You can’t trust men. Especially not the pretty ones.Lesson #3: Turns out, appearances are almost always deceiving.Emma thinks she has life all figured out, and what she knows isn’t good. For years, she’s put her big sister, who was born with Down syndrome, first. Now Emma’s ready to start her own life, but fate has other plans. To do the right thing for the sister she loves, Emma’s dreams will just have to wait.She doesn’t plan on meeting Landon — a rich, flirtatious jock, who never has to wait for anything. Not for attention, not for money, and certainly not for girls. Meeting Emma marks the first time in his life that he’s had to fight for something. And Landon doesn't know how to lose.Emma has no interest in wasting her summer with a superficial guy like Landon. But very soon she realizes she is wrong about him. The question is, can she trust him? Or will he let her down like every other guy in her life? But most importantly, can Emma trust herself enough to live the life she's always dreamed of?Life has a way of sneaking in the most important lessons when you aren't looking. And once the heart gets involved, that's when the real learning begins. *** This book is intended for mature audiences. 18 and over!

Owned


Georgia Le Carre - 2014
    To Possess. To own her. *****When Lana Bloom learns the devastating news that her mother is dying, she is faced with a terrible dilemma. The one thing that can save her is the one thing she does not have. For young and Innocent Lana, the unthinkable is her only choice. When she walks through the door of that exclusive restaurant she has no idea of the seismic shift her life is about to take, for the highest bidder will not be the rich man she has accompanied. *****Fate drops her at the feet of the deeply mysterious and dazzlingly gorgeous american banker, Blake Law Barrington. Throbbing with raw masculinity and arrogance, this is a man who owns all that he pursues. And now he wants her. Lana cannot deny she is both intrigued and intoxicated by the world Blake inhabits and the smouldering passion he stirs in her body, but she is also fearful for this man is addictive and right now she is very vulnerable. *****She knows she should focus only on the arrangement, but how can she? When he has opened a door that cannot be closed.. *****Recommended for 18+ due to mature themes and sexual content

Wanting Mr. Cane


Shanora Williams - 2018
    Cane.He was handsome, broody, tattooed, and rich. For years, he’s been mine. He just didn’t know it. I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with him, or for him to want me in the ways that he did.None of it was ever supposed to happen, but after all we’ve done together, it’s too late to turn back now. A once harmless crush had blossomed into so much more. CANEWhen we first met, she was just a kid - my best friend’s daughter. A sweet, young girl with a big heart. But now, she’s a young woman who knows what she wants, and all she wants is me. I’ve tried holding back, pretending the connection meant nothing, but my sweet candy cane made it impossible. If anyone finds out, I’ll be ruined. I’ve worked too hard to lose everything I’ve built. But there’s just something about her that tempts me, making me want to sacrifice just about anything to have her.

The Truth About Mack


Jettie Woodruff - 2014
    New name, new cover, same book.My name is McKenzie Perry. I’ve lived a life filled with secrets. Secrets that took me years to understand. Secrets that my bestie Gia and I kept from the world. Secrets that only I knew. I wasn’t afraid of the lies, the secrets, or the hidden skeletons. That’s not what frightened me. I was afraid that one day they would come out, somebody would find out the truth. If I am the only one that knew the secrets, the lies, then they were safe, right? How does a well-rounded, talented little girl create a false sense life? It took several years for me to understand the impact of lies. Lies I told, secrets I kept, and the lives they controlled. One of the things I know to be true is, I did the things I did for a reason, even if I didn’t know it at the time. They all had a reason.

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.

Broken English


Marita A. Hansen - 2016
    The first was the epic depictions of Hell from Dante’s Inferno, with people burning for their sins. The second image was a sexual depiction. I don’t know where it came from, but as far back as I can remember, I had always associated the name Dante with a beautiful and sexy man. I'd imagined a dark-haired, dark-eyed, gorgeous lothario, the type who could capture a woman’s heart with just one look. Dante was the Fabio of my generation, the heartthrob that got women’s hearts beating fast, made us want this man to rip our clothes off and to throw us onto the bed.Little did I know that the Dante that walked into my life was very different from the one I’d imagined. Oh, he was dark-haired, dark-eyed, gorgeous, even a lothario ... just ... he wasn’t a man. Instead, he was someone who was going to send me to the Hell his namesake had written about.And I was his teacher.Tags: Taboo, Literary Fiction, Teacher/Student Relationship, English Teacher, Male Student, Mental Health Issues, Abuse, Poetry, Gangs, High School.The BROKEN LIVES series will be broken up into two sets (duets). Each set (duet) has a self-contained, standalone story. Broken English (part 1) and Shattered Poetry (Part 2) are the first set, finishing the high school stage of Clara’s and Dante’s lives. The next set, books 3 and 4, is a new story, taking their relationship to another level.

Getting Dirty


Mia Storm - 2015
    He chose to believe she meant in college. They connect over Lord Byron’s Don Juan and, as their conversations become increasingly thicker with sexual innuendo, Caiden finds himself obsessing over a totally off-limits undergrad who’s bold, beautiful, brilliant, and one of the most passionate poets he’s ever met. But it turns out Blaire hasn't been totally honest. She's the seventeen-year-old valedictorian of her high school class, taking courses at Sierra State while awaiting her acceptance to Stanford. Will Caiden get too deeply into Blaire to back away before he finds out the truth? Or will their connection be enough to seduce him into risking his entire future on Jail Bait?"A thousand and one feels....Getting Dirty is a thrilling, tantalizing forbidden romance you do not want to miss! I not only devoured this book, it devoured me right back!"--Katy Evans, New York Times Bestselling author of REAL

Newness and Wonder: A Small Town Holiday Romance


Alexis Lynne - 2018
    After years of saving, she finally put an offer on the old place only to have it beaten by an out of towner whose plans for her childhood home are sketchy, at least in Tara’s mind. When she meets the man, however, nothing about him says villain, but will her disappointment and bitter past allow for a future with the one who stole all her dreams? Justin Hunter gave up his life in Manhattan to give his young sister a childhood free of stress and complications. Fixing up the old farmhouse would give them a chance to bond and build the happy home neither of them ever had. When Justin meets a beautiful artist and loses his heart instantly, “complicated” becomes an understatement. Can he convince her to believe in a new dream, one that includes him and a young girl who needs her? Spend the holidays in Sylvan Hills, North Carolina, where the scenery is beautiful, the people are quirky, and love finds you when you least expect it.

Disgrace


Brittainy C. Cherry - 2018
    I didn’t know my worth. I didn’t know how to exist without him by my side.All I wanted was for him to come back to me.Then, Jackson Emery appeared.He was supposed to be a distraction for my mind. A summer fling. A confidence boost to my bruised heart.We were perfect for one another, because we both knew we wouldn’t last. Jackson didn’t believe in commitment, and I no longer believed in love. He was too closed-off for me, and I was too damaged for him.Everything was fine, until one night my heart skipped a beat.I didn’t expect him to make me laugh. To make me think. To make my sadness somewhat disappear.When our time was up, my heart didn’t know how to walk away.Each day I prayed for my husband to love me again, yet slowly my prayers began to shift toward the man who wasn’t right for me. I prayed for one more smile, one more kiss, one more laugh, one more touch… I prayed for him to be mine.Even though I knew his heart wasn’t destined to love.*This book was previously known as Between the Notes.*

Almost Eighteen


Gretchen de la O - 2011
    Now, a month away from turning eighteen and orphaned by the death of her grandparents; she knows exactly what she wants. All it takes is a spontaneous ski trip with her narcissistic roommate to Colorado, to make it a reality. When he happens to show up at a party in Aspen, Wilson becomes tangled in the powerful emotions of first love, sexual inexperience, and society’s principles. She lives a whirlwind weekend filled with newly discovered boundaries, calloused aches for a family she never had, and all the pressures of keeping their weekend together a secret.

A Beautiful Kind of Love


Ellie Wade - 2015
    Why? Because I have one and his name is Jax Porter.I have known Jax my whole life and I have loved him with every breath I’ve ever taken. The fact that we were born a mere month apart to mothers that are best friends has made us inseparable since birth.What we have is so rare, one would think our story would be written, our fate sealed. But, unfortunately that’s not how life works. Life offers us many choices that can turn destiny into chance.I now find myself heading toward a destination that I could have never imagined and I have to figure out where to go from here. Will the choices that have been made change our path forever or will fate find its way?

Crash Course


Alyssa Wilde - 2021
    Not in the real world. Not here."After Arden Hart gets into a horrible collision with a drunk driver, her life comes to a standstill. Now, she’s a year behind her peers in graduating high school, college plans are on hold indefinitely, and nightmares of that horrifying night plague her every time she shuts her eyes. The only way she can cope with her past is by detaching from the present, so Arden makes it her mission to isolate herself.Everything changes when Henry Ames, the young, mysterious guy who saved her from the car wreck, unexpectedly becomes the new Creative Writing teacher at her high school. Much to Arden’s frustration, his presence is a constant reminder of the night she’s tried so hard to forget. When Henry is forced to help her with an assignment that confronts her buried emotions, she has no choice but to face her trauma head-on. What she doesn’t expect is the immediate connection she feels to Henry. As the two begin to develop an undeniable bond, Arden comes to a startling realization—the one person she cannot have is the only person she doesn’t want to push away.Though Henry is adamant that their relationship remains professional, neither can deny their growing feelings. When boundaries blur, emotions run high, and secrets from that terrible night emerge, Arden must decide if the fight for Henry’s heart is worth risking her own.*CRASH COURSE contains strong language, mature content, and dark themes.

Then There Was You


Claire Contreras - 2018
    Love is about walking to the edge of the cliff and taking the leap together.Timing was never on our side.My first mistake was hooking up with my best friend.My second came years later, when we met again, and I fell for her. My third was letting her go, because I had to. Because a love like this wasn't built to withstand the winds coming in our direction.Love and timing.I didn't believe in either. Then there was you . . .