Book picks similar to
Instant Heat by A.K. MacBride


contemporary-romance
romance
insta-love
audio

My Perfect Life at Cornish Cottage


S.J. Crabb - 2016
     Sophie Bailey has it all or so she thinks until one day she wakes up to find that her husband of 20 years is leaving her for a younger woman. With no job, no money, no self esteem and the threat of losing her home Sophie will have to push aside her heartbreak and act fast. With a 6 year old son and wayward puppy to care for failure is not an option. As if things aren't bad enough she finds herself village gossip fodder, pursued by the mafia - playground variety, forced into servitude and resigns herself to a lifetime of shopping in Poundland. On the plus side there is the gorgeous Mr Rainford on hand to fantasise about twice a day. The only one she can count on is her totally mad friend who thinks that life is like one of the books on her Kindle. With her 40th birthday looming Sophie doesn't think that it can get any worse - she was wrong. Suddenly Sophie's life goes Viral! A bittersweet love story that will have you laughing out loud before crying into your latte. When life explodes around you who can you really count on? This is a story of shattered dreams and broken promises. When life deals you a hard blow you have no choice but to carry on. Throw in a mad dose of humour and you can get through anything. Can't you?

Bluestone Homecoming


M.J. Fredrick - 2012
    Leo doesn’t know how to be a single parent since the death of his wife, and he certainly has no desire to return to Bluestone. But he needs a place for his son, a place where he’ll be with family, while Leo does his job. He’ll stay long enough to get Max settled, then go back to work.School counselor Trinity Madison watches Leo struggle with his son, trying to overcome the mental barricade she’s erected against the man who sent his son away when he’s perfectly capable of caring for the child. The situation brings about her own unsettled feelings about giving her child up for adoption when she was young. But as she observes Leo’s difficulties, his sacrifices, she softens toward the man.While he’s in town, he ends up working with some old friends and Trinity on a committee to revitalize Bluestone. The former resort town is struggling and looking for ways to bring tourists back. Leo finds himself charmed, then smitten with the feisty counselor, but will he still love her when he learns her secret?

Rushing Into Love: A small-town sports romance


Kara Kendrick - 2021
    Work. Football. That’s my life summed up in three words.Sure, I used to be a pro NFL baller, but now I’m perfectly content with a quiet life in my small hometown of Peachtree Grove, Georgia.That is until Bree, a beautiful blonde dating expert, gets tackled at my Pee Wee football practice, knocking me off my game.I swore I’d never get involved again after my messy divorce left me reeling, but one date with Bree and I’m dropping all my hesitations—along with my jersey. Now she has me rethinking my plays.But will the tabloids, my ex, and Bree’s complicated past keep us in the friendzone?

Renegade


Laramie Briscoe - 2017
    I make up my mind and stay in my lane, never veering off the course I set for myself. Going into the military? Did it. Serving overseas? Did it. Youngest member of the Moonshine Task Force? That’s me. Get my best friend’s older sister in bed? It was my pleasure. Convince the older sister to give me a chance? Working on it. Age means nothing to me. I’ve seen and done things men half my age never will. What I want more than anything is someone to share my life with. The work I do is dangerous and knowing I have someone at home might keep me under control. Everybody says I need a woman, and I know I do, but I also know which one I want. That woman, whether she admits it or not, is Whitney Trumbolt. Whitney Trumbolt Ryan is ten years my junior, but damn, being a cougar never felt as good as it did the night we spent together. Now all I want to do is go back to how things were before. But Ryan is my younger brother’s best friend, and where Trevor goes, Ryan goes. Instead I put my head in the sand and do my best to go about my life. Build up my confidence from a horrible divorce? Working on it. Make my wedding planning company the best in the south? Did it. Ignore the way my body trembles when I see Ryan? Epic fail. Freak out when I see a positive pregnancy test staring back at me? Complete with mascara running down my face and clutching my pearls. Looks like things aren’t gonna go back to the way they were. There’s a man in my life that won’t take no for an answer. Gone is sweet Ryan, and in his place is the one who makes my blood run hot, my cheeks turn red, and my heart beat heavily within my chest. The one I’m up against is the one I can’t say no to. Not when he becomes Renegade.

I Pick You


Eryn Scott - 2021
    Magnolia Parker loves botany, but became a professor mostly to make her parents happy. When she’s passed up for tenure, Maggie decides it’s time to make a change. Escaping the city, she finds herself in the idyllic town of Plumb Creek staring at a For Sale sign in a flower shop that shares her name. It must be destiny. Maggie goes all in. Being a florist should be easy for a professor of botany. Right? Boy, is she wrong. Before she even opens shop, she’s angered half the town. After her first customer leaves in a huff, she realizes a botany degree isn’t going to cut it. Enter Grant Sommers, hot local entrepreneur who has the town in his back pocket. He’s willing to help turn the shop around, if Maggie will listen. As much as she wants this to work, she fears she’ll never be able to loosen the town’s tight-knit roots enough to be accepted.It’s time for Maggie to pick her own path, even if it means disappointing everyone else.

Tales of A Tomboy: Britain


Evan Grace - 2018
     I don’t have time to manage all the complications that come with relationships. And I sure as hell have no desire for any kind of commitment. My life is fairly uncomplicated, exactly the way I want it...until complicated literally stumbles my way. Britain Lancaster. Clumsy, plain, inexperienced, and the type of woman I tend to avoid. Unfortunately for me the universe seems to put her on my path around every corner, forcing me to notice her. To look at her. To really...see her. Pretty soon the universe no longer has to go through all the trouble sending her my way since I find myself looking for her, wanting to get to know her. And the more time I spend with her the more I realize that she’s everything I’m not. Pure, beautiful, innocent...corruptible. Now I can’t get her out of my head. I want her in ways that could ruin her, taint her, break her, and I can only hope she’s strong enough to survive this. To survive me.

Decked


Heather Slade - 2021
    But when a woman dies in his arms on a dark road, Deck's hellbent on uncovering the mystery behind her death. She hung up her cowboy boots for city-slick stilettos… Determined to leave the ranch behind, Mila Palmyer sets off for life in New York City without a second glance at the hay-baling world she grew up in. But when her sister's death brings her back to town, she’s determined to unearth her family's hidden secrets. Relying on each other may be harder than they realized… As Mila and Deck search for answers, their chemistry ignites. However, the last thing Mila wants—or needs—is to get pulled back into small-town life. But when her sister's killer sets eyes on Mila, Deck will do anything to save her. Can Mila trust her heart and stay when she's determined to walk away?

Blissed


Jamie Farrell - 2014
    But it’s redemption time, and she’s putting on her big girl panties to make sure this year’s bridal festival goes off without a hitch. Even if it means she has to play nice with the man who broke her fairy tale.She’s definitely not the one for him. Or is she...World adventurer and reluctant local hero CJ Blue doesn’t want to be in Bliss anymore than Natalie wants him here. But family obligations have brought him back, and now he’s somehow been roped into saving the town tradition he’d rather forget with the woman whose kiss he can’t forget. She frustrates him and drives him nuts but he's had more fun giving her a hard time about the bridal festival than he has in years.And their fun is just starting...Despite their rocky past, these two wounded souls have more in common than they expect. They’ve both loved and lost, they’ve both tried to move on, and now they’ve both been been banned from the local church confessional after...well, they’re not supposed to talk about it. But by joining forces for the sake of Bliss, they might find the courage and the sparks to risk love one more time.Note: BLISSED was previously published for like 5 minutes many years ago as THE HUSBAND GAMES. Publishers Weekly called it a "Marvelous romantic comedy" in a starred review and named it as a "Self-Published Star" of 2014.

Falling For You


Charlotte Blake - 2017
    But inside she’s still mourning the loss of her sister two years ago. Losing Mia and a failed engagement have been enough to keep her heart on lockdown ever since. 

 Luke Arnold is tired of relationships that don’t go anywhere. Usually women are all over him, but it’s been years since he’s met someone he could really fall for. 

But when he sees Grace from across the room at the Redview Lodge, he can’t keep his eyes off her. They meet in the New Hampshire mountains over Thanksgiving, and they find in one another something that neither of them expected.

 NOTE: This STAND-ALONE romance contains very steamy love scenes. All of the books in the Great Escapes series can be read in any order.

Sexy Jerk


Kim Karr - 2017
    It doesn’t bother me. I like my life the way it is.Since I’m single though, when my best friend and her husband finally decide to go on their dream honeymoon, she asks me to watch their three-year-old son.Of course I say yes.What my best friend neglects to tell me is that I won’t be babysitting alone. Feeling Max might be too much for me to handle, her husband asks his only single friend to help. Nick Carrington and I have met a couple of dozen times. I’ve never really given him a second thought—other than to say he’s kind of a jerk. Out loud. So he can hear. Sure, he’s tall, dark, and handsome. And yes, he has the best ass I’ve ever seen, and I mean ever seen quite literally. You see he mooned me at last year’s Fourth of July barbecue because, like I said, he’s a jerk.He always has to be the life of the party.He’s also arrogant.Imposing.Rich.And a playboy.I’d even go as far as to say he’s a manwhore.Yet somehow before I know it, this manwhore and I are co-parenting. Living under the same roof. Eating meals together and yes, talking.Don’t look at me like that—it’s not like I had a choice. Even though I knew every minute would be hell, I had to say yes.But after two weeks what I didn’t expect to discover is that I’d been wrong about him. That under his smart-ass exterior, he’s quite charming.That his arrogance is really confidence. And that the sight of his naked body would do really bad things to me.So yes, I’d misjudged him. And yes, I like him. Really like him. Although I might still think he’s a jerk…I now think he’s a sexy jerk.And I want more of him.The question is—does he want more of me?

Hot Mess


Emily Goodwin - 2017
    Forget about dating--nobody's got time for that. Even if love hadn't left me jaded, I'm not settling for anything less than perfect this time around.Lucky for me, the perfect man just happens to work in my office. But there's just one small problem: he's my boss, and is totally off limits. But hey, if it's meant to be, it'll find a way, right?Then a night out with friends turns into a night in with the walking-talking bad boy cliche of a bartender. It's just one night. No harm, no foul, right?Except when the hot bartender turns out to be my boss's trouble-making brother, who wants more than just one night with me. The more I resist the spark between us, the more I find myself wanting him too. Which puts me in the middle of what could be the biggest sibling rivalry of the century.Life is messy.And love?Well, love is even messier.

Not Fake for Long


Weston Parker - 2021
    Not that I have time for her crap.I’m a stockbroker in training and the last thing I need is to cater to my high-maintenance sibling’s every desire.And her first request? To learn to ride horses. So she can enter the wedding on one.You’ve got to be kidding me. We’ve never even touched a horse before.With lots of peer pressure and guilt tripping, we head to a breathtaking ranch, and lucky for me, the horses aren’t the only beautiful things to look at.The riding instructor is honestly the hottest guy I’ve ever seen. Everything about him sends me in a tizzy.Best of all, he’s nothing like my sister’s rich jerk of a fiancé.Wealthy guys are the worst. I work for them, with them, and avoid them at all cost.This hottie and I hit it off, and he offers to be my plus-one to the wedding, with a fake romance attached to it.I couldn’t be more thrilled until things start to not feel so fake anymore.I’m falling for his charm, his way with words, his scorching body.He’s perfect, until he’s not.Turns out, he’s a billionaire in disguise. And here I thought things wouldn’t be fake for long.Guess I was wrong.

Dancing Hearts


Heather Dahlgren - 2014
    He had to hit rock bottom before making his way to the top. Losing his dad left him with responsibility that he wasn't prepared for. Music is his only outlet. Emma Harris is a simple girl. Country music is her passion and with country music comes heartbreak. She hasn't had the best of luck with men, but she keeps writing the song. When Cooper and Emma meet at a concert, their connection is instantaneous. Cooper is the verse to Emma's chorus. What happens when tragedy strikes and lives are shattered? Will the music stop forever? *This book has been previously published

Deep Under


Lisa Renee Jones - 2016
     Kyle, one of the alpha men of Walker Security, is hot, bothered, and intense, and when Myla lands in his line of fire, she'll soon learn her secrets, and her passion, belong to him. Myla is beautiful, a dove with clipped wings, captive by the wolf, a rich and powerful man. One look into her eyes and Kyle could see the pain, the fear... the desperation. Or so it seems. He's been fooled before by a woman and it cost him everything and everyone he loved. He won't be fooled again.

Come Home to Deep River


Jackie Ashenden - 2020
    The people who live here love it, and they don't much care what anyone else thinks. Until the day Silas Quinn comes back and tells them an oil reserve has been found below the town and now it's neighbor vs. neighbor. Some want to take the money and run, while others want to tell the oil company to put its rigs where the sun don't shine.Hope Dawson never expected to leave Deep River. Her mom needs her. Her grandfather died and left her the local hangout to run. Her dreams of college and adventure died long ago. Until Silas comes back to town, holding the key to set her free. But freedom means she loses him again, and he's the one she's really always wanted.