Book picks similar to
Break Free by Amber Garza


new-adult
stand-alone
romance
standalone

The Forgotten Hours


Katrin Schumann - 2019
    Katie’s life fell apart almost a decade earlier, during an idyllic summer at her family’s cabin on Eagle Lake when her best friend accused her father of sexual assault. Throughout his trial and imprisonment, Katie insisted on his innocence, dodging reporters and clinging to memories of the man she adores.Now he’s getting out. Yet when Katie returns to the shuttered lakeside cabin, details of that fateful night resurface: the chill of the lake, the heat of first love, the terrible sting of jealousy. And as old memories collide with new realities, they call into question everything she thinks she knows about family, friends, and, ultimately, herself. Now, Katie’s choices will be put to the test with life-altering consequences.

Dodge the Bullet


Christy Hayes - 2011
    But Sarah doesn’t know a Colorado Senator has earmarked her ranch for purchase and he’ll do anything to get it. Unwilling to sell, she dismisses his continued offers and moves ahead by improving the land with the help of a sexy stranger. A.J. Dodge is a man with a past. He’s returned to his hometown ready to set down roots and make things right with his family and whatever anyone else thinks he doesn’t give a damn. Until his old friend Tommy Thornton asks a favor, a favor he can’t refuse, and Dodge becomes involved with the beautiful widow Sarah Woodward. She’s alone with her young sons on a dilapidated ranch she’s determined to get up and running with or without his help. Under pressure to deliver the Woodward ranch to a land developer with shady connections, the senator sets in motion a dangerous plot to convince Sarah to sell. Dodge will risk everything to protect Sarah and the boys including his heart.

Collecting the Pieces


L.A. Fiore - 2016
    His name was Jake Stephens and he took the abandoned, lonely girl I had been and made me whole. His love was a pure and unconditional love that made every day better than the last…a fairy tale of my very own.But this story isn’t about Jake. It’s about Abel Madden; the man I meet after the fairy tale goes to hell. A cocky, arrogant man who says what he wants, does as he pleases, and makes no excuses for it. He irritates me—downright pisses me off at times—but he also brings me back to life.My name is Sidney Ellis and this is my story of finding love twice—the first when I needed it most and the second when I never saw it coming.

Play On


Samantha Young - 2017
    Nora O’Brien chased a dream from Indiana to Scotland, so sure it was the right thing to do. Three years later she was left in her adopted country with nothing to her name but guilt and regret.Until Aidan Lennox entered her life.Older, worldlier, a music producer and composer, the sexy Scot should never have made sense for Nora. But somehow in each other they found the light they were looking for, the laughter and the passion—the strength to play on despite their past losses.But when life dealt Aidan another unlucky hand, instead of reaching for her he disappeared. The agonizing loss of him inspired something within Nora. It fired her spirit— the anger and hurt pushing her forward to take control and reach for her dreams.Finally pursuing a career on stage while she put herself through college, everything is how Nora wants it. She’s avoiding heartbreak and concentrating on her goals.Sounds easy but it’s not. Because Aidan is back. And for some reason he hates Nora.He’s determined to be at war with her.And she has absolutely no idea why.

For Love or Money


Tara Brown - 2013
    SOCCERSEXSCHOOLJames Holland has all the basics covered and his life, as usual, is on track.That is until he meets her—Lana Webber.Then everything falls apart, as he falls for her.Along the way to losing his heart for the first time, he manages to fulfill a bargain he made a long time ago in a bar in Nashville where he left a dream.But she has skills at ruining lives, she's mastered them destroying her own, and she's the last thing he needs in his life.Try telling that to his heart as he finds himself more and more drawn to the girl deemed by all as unlovable.And as hard as he tries not to be interested, the closer he gets to her the worse it is.She is nothing like what she is portrayed in the public eye.Lana Webber is the girl every guy claims to have had.But she doesn't care what people say about her.She has fun.At least she did until everyone started saying she had it coming.But this time—she didn't.For the first time ever, Lana is innocent but her past has her guilty before anyone even hears her side.Betrayed, ditched, and humiliated—Lana discovers the road to redemption lies in a dirty secret.THE James Holland, soccer star and smug womanizer, isn't quite what he's portrayed to be.When she blackmails him into seeing things her way she gets more than she bargained for.18+

Saving Ella


Kirsty Dallas - 2013
    Staying still was dangerous...trusting someone was terrifying.The protection every child is owed was lost on Ella Munroe. Her tiny body was beaten and bruised, and pain became her only comfort. With her head down, scars covered, and heart locked behind a wall of steel Ella ran. On the streets she may have found her freedom, but she was still alone, until she found Mercy’s, until she found Jax.Born a warrior, Jaxon Carter could intimidate with no more than a glance, but this warrior was not born to destroy, he was born to protect. With his own scars buried deep inside, Jax spent his days working for his mom’s shelter, Mercy’s. The first time he saw Ella, he knew she was a runner. Gaining her trust would take all his heart, and he was prepared to give it.All Jax had to do was keep Ella safe, it all seemed so easy….“Your scars might remind you of where you’ve been angel, but they don’t have to dictate where you’re going.” ~ Jaxon CarterRead OrderSaving Ella, Book OneFighting Back, Book TwoTortured Soul, Book ThreeMother's Love, Book FourLosing Lola, Book Five

Gemini


Penelope Ward - 2013
    After he abruptly leaves the restaurant, she can’t get him out of her head.She has no idea that he had actually come on a mission to find her.Cedric Callahan wasn’t expecting to fall in love at first sight with the pretty waitress he’d set out to find. In fact, she was the last woman on Earth he should be having feelings for. But his selfish heart had other plans. Feeling compelled to know her before revealing himself, he makes her believe their meetings are coincidental. After a passionate romance ignites, Cedric’s lies and secrets are finally revealed, changing both of their lives forever.

Mud Vein


Tarryn Fisher - 2014
    Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat... and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free.

Weightless


Kandi Steiner - 2016
     I remember I wanted to photograph them, the way the red and blue splashed across his cold, emotionless face. But I knew even if my feet could move from the place where they had cemented themselves to the ground and I could run for my camera, I wouldn’t be able to capture that moment. I had trusted him, I had loved him, and even though my body had changed that summer, he’d made sure to help me hold on to who I was inside, regardless of how the exterior altered. But then everything changed. He stole my innocence. He scarred my heart. He took everything I thought I knew about my life and fast-pitched it out the window, shattering the glass that held my world together in the process. I remember the lights. The passionate, desperate, hot strikes of red. The harsh, cruel, icy bolts of blue. They symbolized everything I endured that summer. And everything I would never face again.

Wild Orchids


Jude Deveraux - 2003
    Then Jackie Maxwell tears down the walls of his isolated world with her sassy wit and fierce intelligence. Ford's heart is touched by his vivacious assistant -- and his imagination sparked by her knowledge of a strange story that drives them to a small North Carolina town brimming with secrets. There, they will trace the mystery of a woman said to have loved the devil himself...and discover not only the truth about a crime from the past -- but a passion that holds the promise of a new life together. Jude Deveraux, whose "enchanting and extraordinary" (Chicago Daily Herald) novels have enthralled millions, creates two of her most memorable characters in this powerful bestseller.

Right of Way


Lauren Barnholdt - 2013
    Click! It’s awesome, it’s easy, it’s romantic. This is the real deal.Unless it isn’t. Because when you’re in love, you don’t just stop calling one day. And you don’t keep secrets. Or lie. And when your life starts falling apart, you’re supposed to have the other person to lean on.Here are Peyton and Jace again, broken up but thrown together on a road trip. One of them is lying about the destination. One of them is pretending not to be leaving something behind. And neither of them is prepared for what’s coming on the road ahead…

Heroes Are My Weakness


Susan Elizabeth Phillips - 2014
    She's a down-on-her-luck actress reduced to staging kids' puppet shows. He knows a dozen ways to kill with his bare hands. She knows a dozen ways to kill with laughs.But she's not laughing now. When she was a teenager, he terrified her. Now they're trapped together on a snowy island off the coast of Maine. Is he the villain she remembers or has he changed? Her head says no. Her heart says yes.It's going to be a long, hot winter.

Till Death


Jennifer L. Armentrout - 2017
    Armentrout’s gripping new novel, a young woman comes home to reclaim her life—even as a murderer plots to end it. . . It’s been ten years since Sasha Keaton left her West Virginia hometown . . . since she escaped the twisted serial killer known as the Groom. Returning to help run her family inn means being whole again, except for one missing piece. The piece that falls into place when Sasha’s threatened—and FBI agent Cole Landis vows to protect her the way he couldn’t a decade ago.First one woman disappears; then another, and all the while, disturbing calling cards are left for the sole survivor of the Groom’s reign of terror. Cole’s never forgiven himself for not being there when Sasha was taken, but he intends to make up for it now . . . because under the quirky sexiness Cole first fell for is a steely strength that only makes him love Sasha more.But someone is watching. Waiting. And Sasha’s first mistake could be her last.

Between Now & Never


Laura Johnston - 2015
    Telling me something I don’t understand. A splitting pain, a longing to slip back under. They tell me I was in a hit-and-run, but I can’t remember what happened that night. All I know is that I woke up with pictures in my pocket, a card from one of those photo booths in the mall. And I’m in the pictures. Cody Rush. Me and…Julianna.Her brother was there that night, and my dad, the FBI agent, was the one who put her mom behind bars. What’s the connection? And why won’t Julianna talk to me now? Somehow, she holds the key to it all, and getting close–real close—to her for the answers I need will be no hardship at all…

One & Only


Viv Daniels - 2013
    Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she's sworn to keep: the father who won't acknowledge her, the sister who doesn't know she exists, and the mother who's content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets the distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets. But when summer ends, so does their relationship -- Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university. One love they can't ignore... Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan's life. Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess's legitimate half-sister. Tess refuses to follow in her mother's footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time. ...And only one chance to get things right.