Book picks similar to
Paint Me Beautiful by C.M. Stunich


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contemporary-romance

Shunned


Steffanie Holmes - 2019
    I should have let them win. Now the kings of the school are out for my blood, ... and they’re not the only ones. The fire took everything. My parents. My best friend. My life. Now I have a second chance. I only have to endure one year at this prestigious academy for rich snobs. One year of being the charity case no one wanted. One year of taunts and insults and bullying. Then I’m free. But I didn’t count on Trey, Ayaz, and Quinn. Arrogant, privileged, dangerous. Drop-dead fucking gorgeous. They want me gone. They want me to suffer. They’re determined to make my nightmares real. Tough luck, bully boys – I won’t hide away. I’m not afraid. But maybe… I should be. HP Lovecraft meets Cruel Intentions in this dark paranormal reverse harem bully romance. Warning: Not for the faint of heart – this story of three broken bad boys and the girl who stood her ground contains dark themes, crazed cultists, books bound in human skin, high-school drama, swoon-worthy sex, and potential triggers.

Becoming Us Again


Violet Blaze - 2016
     Now we're on the run, and I don't know what to think. He says he'll protect me no matter what, but I'm not sure if I should believe him. After all, we tried that once and it didn’t turn out well for either of us. When I turned twenty-one, he disappeared. Just disappeared without a word. Over a decade later, and now he's back and more ruthless than ever. He says the right things, does the right things, but the truth is … I'm afraid of him. I'm afraid *for* him. ***BECOMING US AGAIN is a 124,000 word second chance romance novel with a hint of suspense, a touch of Paris, a few secrets, and a lot of steam. This book was originally published under the pen name Violet Blaze; nothing has changed from the original story. A Second Chance Romance.

Trouble


Samantha Towle - 2013
    Running from a person she doesn’t ever want to find her. Running from a past she doesn’t ever want anyone to know. Desperate to find a future, that yesterday, she could only dream of having. Jordan Matthews likes easy. Easy women. Easy life. Then he meets Mia. She’s damaged, troubled and has more baggage than any person can carry. But the more Jordan gets to know Mia-for the first time in his life-he finds himself wanting to try hard for something … for someone … for her.And then life isn’t so easy anymore. Jordan is everything Mia shouldn’t want. A whole bunch of dirty hotness, tattooed, cocky bad boy, who made his money at poker tables and picked his women up in bars. Yet, Mia finds herself falling for him. Then the past Mia was running from, quickly starts to catch up with her. Because that’s the problem with running … you have to stop sometime. And when you stop, you get caught.Full length New Adult Contemporary Romance.Recommended Reading Age 18+

Thief


C.L. Stone - 2014
    The only way she scrapes by is to utilize her one skill: pickpocketing. But even though she’s a thief she has a moral code: no kids or old ladies, only targets who can defend themselves. Not that they see her coming…Thinking she’s been working under the radar, Kayli has no idea The Academy has been watching and taking notice. Now a team that needs her skill has offered her a way out of her predicament and it’s her last chance: work with them, or face jail time. Kayli resists at first, but slowly the boys reveal they can be trusted. With Marc, the straight man, Raven, the bad-boy Russian, Corey and Brandon the twins as different as night and day, and Axel their stoic leader, there’s a lot Kayli can learn from these Academy guys about living on the edge of the law. If only she can stay on the good side instead of the bad.Especially when the job they offer her is more than any of them bargained for. After it’s done, the hunters have become the hunted and their target is now after Kayli. The Academy boys do their best to keep her hidden, but a thief like Kayli will never sit still for long.Meet an all-new Academy team in Thief, the beginning of the Scarab Beetle series.Warning: This is a new adult series. Readers of the other Academy series may need some caution as this series will contain mature sexual and violent situations and themes.

Winter


Nikita Rae - 2013
    As Avery Patterson, she is no longer the daughter of a serial killer. No longer the girl who was bullied and abused through high school. A fresh name and a fresh start at Columbia University means Avery can leave all that behind. There’s only one thing marring her dream of a clean slate…. A boy with a past of his own… Luke Reid has a lot going for him: sex appeal, badass tattoos and insane musical talent. Despite his guitar skills, his calling in life has always been to serve and protect. A NYPD cop by day, singer in rock band D.M.F by night, from the outside Luke seems like he’s got it made. But falling for a girl whose father was accused of deeply sinister acts—a man whom Luke shared a devastating history with, himself—only serves to complicated things. Pieces of a puzzle…. Four symbols, four methods of destruction. A trade. Borrowed wings. Dark secrets that threaten to destroy.Author's Note: This book was previously released under the pen name Nikita Rae. There have been significant changes to the storyline and voices of the characters. The book has also been re-edited. Please make sure the original book is not already in your kindle library before purchasing! New Adult Romantic Suspense novel. Suitable for readers 16+.

Love Show


Audrey Bell - 2014
    Jack Diamond is a laid back student whose good looks have made things even easier than they need to be. She’s the girl who came out of nowhere and kissed him in the rain. He’s the boy who made her do something crazy.When the stakes seem too high, they have to decide if they’ll let their love show or if they’ll walk away for good.

All The Wrong Reasons


J.L. Paul - 2011
    That first night with him was a mistake.So was the second, the third...And what about Dustin?

Pretty Little Lies


Jennifer Miller - 2013
    . .Like every other eighteen-year-old in love, Olivia has dreams of spending forever with the love of her life. Luke is all she’s ever wanted – until she overhears something she was never meant to. In a matter of seconds, Olivia’s heart is shattered. Olivia handles it the only way she knows how - she runs- leaving behind her family, friends and the boy she loves. Seeking comfort and an escape, Olivia finds it in resident bad boy Deacon. He’s everything Luke isn’t – and that’s fine with Olivia.Now, seven years later, Olivia is older, wiser and headed back to Chicago looking forward to a fresh start and reconnecting with her best friend Pyper. What she doesn’t expect, is to come face to face with the boy she left behind and discover that even though she may have left, her feelings for him didn’t. Can Olivia put aside the pain in her heart and trust Luke? Will the ties to her past ever let her go, or will she continue to let her life be affected by pretty little lies?

I Temporarily Do


Ellie Cahill - 2017
    A little white wedding. A pair of roommates in over their heads. Days before she's set to move across the country and start a prestigious graduate program, a con artist leaves Emmy with no where to live and less than zero dollars in her bank account. But her day doesn't seem quite so bad compared to Beckett's--his fiancée called off their wedding just days before they tie the knot. Now he's single and ineligible for his place in married student housing. So what are a girl without a home and a guy without a wife supposed to do? A quickie wedding in Vegas will solve both their problems. It's a business arrangement, and no one even needs to know. They'll just get an annulment in a few months. What could go wrong? Only Beckett forgot to mention his new apartment is a one-bedroom. And neither of them counted on their new friends at Middlesex University thinking they're a great couple. The platonic newlywed game might be harder to play than Emmy thought. Especially when it starts to feel less than platonic. I Temporarily Do is a Stand-Alone Romantic Comedy.

Away


B.A. Wolfe - 2013
    One night of pure weakness and lust has her running away from it all and seeking refuge in Alamosa with her best friend. But it seems life has other plans for her when she finds herself lost in the small town of Keaton. Jason Bradley is a charming country guy. He lives a simple life that’s nothing like what Cassandra is used to. A single moment in life changed everything he thought he once knew, leaving him with a broken heart and an unplanned future. What happens in Keaton is nothing Cassandra or her heart could have ever prepared for. The instant connection she shares with Jason is no secret, but what they're keeping hidden from one another is. Will these two be able to find a way to trust each other or will their secrets tear them apart?

Lost & Found


Nicole Williams - 2013
    And there’s Rowen Sterling.After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

The Scotch Series: The Complete Series


Penelope Sky - 2017
    He took my intelligence without paying for it. And thought he could get away with it. Think again. Now I’ll take something from him—something irreplaceable. His sister. Collateral. But even when Joseph doubles the amount of money he owes me, I don’t give her up. Nope. I have an image to maintain. So I keep her. And I’m not giving her up. The Scotch Queen I wasn't sure what changed my mind about giving London to Bones, but something did. Now London is officially mine. She's sassy, feisty, and she still tells me off when I have her under my thumb. I love it. Now I have a deal with the Barsetti brothers, Josephine is still pining for me, and revenge is heavy on my mind. I'm not sure what to do with London now that I'm not gonna kill her. But I'm certainly not going to fall in love with her. The Scotch Royals London is a lot more useful than I anticipated. She gets me what I need like a pro. With her by my side, I feel like I can do anything. My need for revenge is dimmed. My anger is contained. But her brother is still a problem. She wants me to let him go. I'm not sure if I can.

Extinguish


J.M. Darhower - 2013
    As a Power, one of the warrior angels, she has spent her existence defending the innocent from evil. After tragedy strikes, tearing Serah's brother from her life, she's given the task of stopping the approaching apocalypse before it's too late.Only one thing, though: she has to venture to Hell to do it.Lucifer—or Luce, as he prefers to be called—has been biding his time in Hell, longing for revenge against those who oh-so-easily cast him into the pit. When the heavenly beauty shows up at his gate, he's just as captivated by her presence as she becomes of him. The attraction between them is palpable, and Serah's willpower slowly slips. How can this charming creature, this scarred Archangel, be the one annihilating the world she so loves?As the war wages on, the world entwined in chaos, Serah starts questioning everything she ever knew. When the light and dark, hot and cold, finally collide, she has to make a choice—a choice that sets her world on fire, black and white exploding into colorful flames.Serah has questions. She wants answers.Luce just wants to play a game.

Falling Stars


Sadie Grubor - 2012
    He's hot, he's famous and everything a rock star can be. When he meets fellow lead singer, Mia Ryder, she's energetic, fun, and laid-back. Mia is everything Chris isn't and he isn't going to stand by while her vagina powered band ride the coattails of his fan base.But Chris's demons have grown so powerful he's about to lose everything, including his sanity. Until one night changes everything.Now, the one thing he's been trying to eliminate is the ONLY thing he's been sure of and she hates him.

Welcome to Last Chance


Cathleen Armstrong - 2013
    But as she encounters the people who make Last Chance their home, it’s her heart that is flashing bright red warning lights. These people are entirely too nice, too accommodating, and too interested in her personal life for Lainie’s comfort-especially since she’s on the run and hoping to slip away unnoticed.Yet in spite of herself, Lainie finds that she is increasingly drawn in to the dramas of small town life. An old church lady who always has room for a stranger. A handsome bartender with a secret life. A single mom running her diner and worrying over her teenage son. Could Lainie actually make a life in this little hick town? Or will the past catch up to her even here in the middle of nowhere?Cathleen Armstrong pens a debut novel filled with complex, lovable characters making their way through life and relationships the best they can. Her evocative descriptions, observational humor, and talent at rendering romantic scenes will earn her many fans.