Book picks similar to
Hold On to Me by Lucia Franco


arc
new-adult
contemporary
contemporary-romance

The Hard Way


Katie Ashley - 2016
    Because of his talent at football, coupled with his father’s wealth, he’s always gotten his way. But when a night of drunken debauchery lands him in hot water with the college athletic board, neither his influential father nor his charming grin can save him. He finds it a total buzz kill when he is sentenced to community service with troubled youth at an inner-city shelter. But his nightmare is only beginning when his greatest high school regret is the very one in charge of the program, and she has him by the balls in more ways than one.For Avery Prescott, senior year was a nightmare of epic proportions, and Cade Hall played the lead villain. After she fled her small town for college in the bright lights of Atlanta, she thought she had escaped the painful memories of her past. She never could have imagined Cade would waltz through the door of the outreach program she presided over. But Avery has news for Cade--she isn’t the same shy, doormat of a girl she was in high school. Since she holds Cade's football future in her hands, she’s more than ready to make payback a real bitch.Will the two stay in the defensive zone or discover that sometimes life's greatest lessons are learned the hard way?

Knotted


Pam Godwin - 2018
    It’s impossible. Growing up together, Conor and I shared all our firsts. First love, first kiss, first… Not all our firsts. We were sixteen the night she was violently assaulted while I helplessly watched. I’ll never forget the sounds of her suffering. Or my inconsolable agony when she left Oklahoma. Years later, she returns to honor our teenage pact. Except the boy she loved is gone, replaced by a ruthless cattle rancher knotted with secrets. She doesn’t know my dark cravings or the trails of sin that lead to her. I don’t deserve her, but one truth remains. She’s mine. TRAILS OF SIN series (HEAs with no cliffhangers - must be read in order): Knotted #1 Buckled #2 Booted #3

More Than Lies


N.E. Henderson - 2015
    But not for us. We’re locked somewhere between love and hate.TARALYNN EVANSI’ve loved Shawn nearly all of my life. But college is almost over, and it kills me that he’s been with every girl in town except me. It’s time I let go of old dreams, and of this pain. I’m just not sure I’m strong enough. He’s like a tattoo . . . permanently inked on my heart.But when the foundation of my life crumble, who will be there to put the broken pieces back together?SHAWN BRADENInk, sex, and lies—that's me. I'm the guy who screws a girl against the wall and then walks. I've been pushing Tara away for years, knowing she’s too good for me, even though it burns to see her with other guys. Now she’s the one walking and I’m not sure I can handle losing her.Then tragedy rips our lives apart, and I realize too late that I wasted my chance.Love is stronger than lies . . . or is it?

You Make Me


Erin McCarthy - 2014
    Then he left without a word. The betrayal devastated Caitlyn and made her vow to forget the compelling bad boy. But forgetting his sensual touch and their deep all-consuming friendship is easier said than done. Isn’t the guy she needs… Determined to move on, in college Caitlyn has risen above her small town impoverished roots and has joined a sorority, reinvented her appearance, and landed the right boyfriend. Pre-law major and frat president, Ethan, is thoughtful and always laughing, and he makes her feel happy, calm. He also gives her the social acceptance she craves. But the perfect world she tried so hard to attain is ripped apart when Heath appears one night out of nowhere. Caitlyn remembers all the reasons why she loves him, even if they don’t make sense to anyone but her. Out of the military, Heath is as brooding and intense as ever, and he is determined not only to win her back, but to exact revenge on everyone who kept him from her… And when one love allows her to breathe, but the other feels as essential to her life as air, how does she choose between them?

Come Back to Me


Mila Gray - 2014
    Jessa's finally following her dreams and Kit's discovered there's someone he'd sacrifice everything for.Jessa's prepared to wait for Kit no matter what. But when something more than distance and time rips them apart they're forced to decide whether what they have is really worth fighting for.

All the Little Lies


S.J. Sylvis - 2020
    The stone gargoyles sit at the school’s entrance, knowing just as much as anyone: I don’t belong. Once upon a time, I did. I belonged in the “it” crowd with all the other well-endowed kids, but now, I am no longer welcome. Not after five years away from this place. Not after the scandal that landed me on the wrong side of the tracks. I’d be lying if I said I’m not looking forward to seeing the one person who was always by my side. My old best friend. My safe place. Only, Christian isn’t the same boy I left behind. His cold, brooding, devastatingly attractive glare sends chills down my spine. My old best friend doesn’t welcome me with open arms, and I have no idea why. Lies continue to fall from our lips. Christian wants me gone. But I’m determined to stay.

Connected by the Sea


E.L. Todd - 2014
    Her best friend, Henry, has an invested interest in her, but Sydney never seems to notice. While Henry is the perfect man, she only dates the wrong guys. Her ex-boyfriend cheated on her, broke her heart, and now she’s too shattered to give anyone a chance. Until Coen… A sexy bad boy with a tattoo, he elicits dark desires Sydney hasn’t felt in so long. His intense eyes, the color of the sea, capture her sight, making it impossible to look away. She tries to avoid him, knowing he’s no good for her, but Coen, who always gets what he wants, doesn’t take no for an answer. Will Sydney regret this decision? Or will she find what’s been missing her entire life? The family she lost, the loves she misses, and the trust she never thought she could have for someone else?

Downfall


Willow Aster - 2019
    Besides hating nearly every word that came out of his mouth, I also drowned with lust every time I looked at him. At times I thought he might feel the same.But nothing prepared me for what his family would make me become.*There will be four books in the Kingdoms of Sin series. Each book can be read as a standalone though there are interconnecting characters.*Book 1: Downfall is LIVE! (Luka and Eden)Book 2: Exposed January 9, 2020 (Mara and Elias)Book 3: Ruin March 5, 2020 (Ava)Book 4: May 7, 2020 (Jadon)

Until the Last Star Fades


Jacquelyn Middleton - 2018
    COULD YOU BE THE ONE WHO CHANGES EVERYTHING?In her senior year at NYU, Riley Hope appears to be on top of the world. With a loving mother who makes Lorelai Gilmore look like a parenting slacker, ride-or-die friends, and a long-time boyfriend destined for the National Hockey League, she puts on a smile for the world. But behind it, she’s drowning. Racked with fears for the future, she battles to stay afloat amid life in the shadows of a heartbreaking illness.And then, Ben Fagan comes crashing into her life. Twenty-three-years-old, British, and alone in the Big Apple after a disastrous pilot season in LA, the struggling actor is looking for an escape: booze, mischief, sex—minimum commitment, maximum fun—anything to avoid returning across the pond. As they form an unlikely bond, Riley keeps her reality from Ben so that he remains a happy refuge. But how long can she hold back the truth…and is Ben keeping his own secrets, too?From the award-winning author of LONDON BELONGS TO ME and LONDON, CAN YOU WAIT?, comes a bittersweet story about love, loss, sacrifice, and the life-changing decisions we make.IAN Romance Book of the Year Award Winner 2019

Collared


Nicole Williams - 2016
    . .Brings her home. Jade Childs spent ten years in captivity, but now that she’s back, the real battle for survival begins. The media shadows her. Flashbacks haunt her. Her old life evades her. Her so-called new life rejects her. She spent too many years in the dark to recognize the light. She spent too long repressing her feelings to remember how to express them. She spent a decade abandoning hope and cannot dare letting it back into her life. Jade’s not just defined by what happened to her—she’s collared to it.When the twenty-seven-year-old woman is found,A community wants to know the story,Parents want to forget the story,Friends want to be a part of the story,And the man who still loves her faces the greatest challenge yet: letting her go.

Swallow Me Whole: A Friends To Lovers Romance


Gemma James - 2018
    She’s my sister’s best friend. The girl I’ve known since grade school. The girl I’ve always considered off-limits. She’s the girl that crawled under a table in a bar one night and changed everything between us. Now the brain in my pants is more than willing to step up. The rules are simple. No kissing. No screwing. No falling in love. But the more I let her use my body in the name of experimentation, the more I know being friends isn’t enough. Is it too much to want it all with her? The taste of her lips. The sweetness of her innocence. The chance to earn her love. I might have a real shot with her…if her douchebag ex and my past don’t ruin everything. Note from the author Swallow Me Whole is a friends-to-lovers standalone romance. Full-length at 77,000 words. Please note that parts of this story were previously published as a serial under the pen name of Angel Allen. This standalone novel includes the complete story. For a limited time, Trashy Foreplay is included as a bonus book in this copy of Swallow Me Whole, so the main book ends at about the 58% mark.

The Brit


Jodi Ellen Malpas - 2021
    Numbing herself to fear and pain is the only way she can survive in this cruel world. So when she’s taken as collateral by the notorious Danny Black in a deadly game of power, she’s thrown by the deep fear she feels rising within her. And, worse than fear, a profound desire. She’s heard tales of The Brit. He’s callous. Coldblooded. But no one ever said he was wickedly beautiful and darkly captivating. He sees past her mask, giving her a cruel sense of hope. But she must fight their twisted attraction or risk losing the one thing she survives for.When Danny Black took an enemy’s beautiful lover as security, he never anticipated the repercussions. Or the warped attraction they would share. Rose Cassidy pushes Danny to the brink of madness with her impenetrable façade and savage allure. He has to remind himself that she’s bait. A solution to a problem. Yet she evokes powerful feelings in Danny, and feelings are risky when you’re wanted dead by endless enemies.The most dangerous game is about to be played.But can either of them win?*This story is gritty, dark, edgy, and contains scenes that some people may find uncomfortable to read. It is NOT for the fainthearted.

Pieces of Me


Ann Garner - 2013
    When she starts her freshman year at Cedar Mountain University, she isn't focused on making friends or falling in love. She just wants to pick up the pieces of her shattered life and fit them back together the best she can.Cole Marsh hadn't settled down since getting his heart broken three years before. But one look at the sexy brunette with the sad blue eyes and he’s lost. But can he convince her to trust him enough to put the past behind her?

Southern Storms


Brittainy C. Cherry - 2020
    Cold. A man with a dark past. What everyone seemed to miss about Jax was the splashes of light in his eyes. The random acts of kindness he performed when no one was watching. The way he made me smile and laugh.Jax helped unpack the baggage I’d been carrying around with me. He was patient with my pain and gentle with my scars. He was the stillness during my hurricane.Yet when both of our pasts came back to haunt our present days, we realized quickly that sometimes love stories didn’t end the way we’d hoped. Sometimes you were left with only the damage from the storm.*Book One in New Compass Series of Standalone Novels.Coming April 2nd, 2020.*

Filthy Little Pretties


Trilina Pucci - 2020
    Liam Brooks is a charmer with puppy dog eyes you can’t say “no” to.They’re the kind of guys that make time stand still when they walk by. And when their childhood best friend, Donovan Kennedy, comes back to New York, friendships get tested. Choices are made they can’t take back. And one boy gets a taste of what it’s like to want someone so bad that you’d burn down the city to have her. “Trilina delivers an addictive high school romance high on angst and drama and a book that is total sexy perfection. Prepare to be twisted into delicious knots! I loved it!”--Siobhan Davis, USA Today bestselling authorDonovan Kennedy is the girl dreams are made of. Five years ago, she was our best friend. Our moral compass. The girl that held our hands everywhere we went. We were young. Innocent. Nothing could touch us — not even heartache. That was then. Now she’s back. All grown up. With red lips and long legs — a challenge waiting to be accepted. A prize that’ll turn our world upside down. Brothers turned to enemies. Friendships decimated. Lies told.Hearts torn apart. Prep school’s never been so scandalous.USA Today Bestselling author, Trilina Pucci, brings you an addictive, sexy friends-to-lovers high school romance packed with off-the-chart chemistry, competition, and raw emotional angst.