Book picks similar to
Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas
romance
favorites
age-gap
contemporary
When Heroes Fall
Giana Darling - 2021
A disappointment to my family. Haunted by my childhood traumas. I felt so much all my life that I resolved to feeling nothing at all. Until I met my match. As the most infamous mafioso of the 21st century, Dante Salvatore was madly passionate, unequivocally bad, and entirely too dangerous to know. He was everything I abhorred, yet I found myself representing him in the biggest criminal trial of the decade. I was so focused on winning and achieving the success I deserved that I didn't notice the gorgeous black-eyed man's effect on me until it was too late. My icy heart had been held too close to his flame and now I wouldn't let Dante go down without fighting with everything I had in me. Even if the cost of a new life with him meant the loss of my old life and everything I thought I held dear.
Beautifully Cruel
J.T. Geissinger - 2020
I didn’t know his name or where he was from. All I knew was that the only place I’d ever felt safe was in his arms. But safety is an illusion. And not every savior is a hero. And—as I’d soon find out—having an alpha save your life comes with a price. Liam Black wanted something from me in return.
Enemies
Tijan - 2019
while I made the worst decision of my life.Now I'm in Texas trying to pick up the pieces of my life.But, Stone is here.Stone is everywhere.It doesn't matter that disaster has struck my life again.It doesn't matter that he's the one trying to console me.It doesn't matter that he's the nation's newest football obsession.Because for me, he always has been and always will be my enemy.** Enemies is a 100k enemies-to-lovers football romance standalone!
IOU
Kristy Marie - 2020
I, Ainsley James, am crazy.Desperate and crazy. It’s the only explanation as to why I’m nauseous, standing outside Maverick Lexington’s door.I mean, it’s possible the stories about his deck of playing cards—with the words IOU scrawled across the back—are just rumors of the ruthless quid pro quo deals he barters. But the flutters in my stomach know better. Maverick is as cold as they come. But, I need one of those cards. I NEED to owe Maverick Lexington a favor… Whatever the terms, I’m willing to pay. Because, at this point, I have nothing left to lose.
The Hating Game
Sally Thorne - 2016
She’s charming and accommodating and prides herself on being loved by everyone at Bexley & Gamin. Everyone except for coldly efficient, impeccably attired, physically intimidating Joshua Templeman. And the feeling is mutual.Trapped in a shared office together 40 (OK, 50 or 60) hours a week, they’ve become entrenched in an addictive, ridiculous never-ending game of one-upmanship. There’s the Staring Game. The Mirror Game. The HR Game. Lucy can’t let Joshua beat her at anything—especially when a huge new promotion goes up for the taking.If Lucy wins this game, she’ll be Joshua’s boss. If she loses, she’ll resign. So why is she suddenly having steamy dreams about Joshua, and dressing for work like she’s got a hot date? After a perfectly innocent elevator ride ends with an earth shattering kiss, Lucy starts to wonder whether she’s got Joshua Templeman all wrong.Maybe Lucy Hutton doesn’t hate Joshua Templeman. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.
Rule
Jay Crownover - 2012
. . except the one that matters Shaw Landon loved Rule Archer from the moment she laid eyes on him. Rule is everything a straight-A pre-med student like Shaw shouldn’t want—and the only person she’s never tried to please. She isn’t afraid of his scary piercings and tattoos or his wild attitude. Though she knows that Rule is wrong for her, her heart just won’t listen.To a rebel like Rule Archer, Shaw Landon is a stuck-up, perfect princess-and his dead twin brother’s girl. She lives by other people’s rules; he makes his own. He doesn’t have time for a good girl like Shaw-even if she’s the only one who can see the person he truly is.But a short skirt, too many birthday cocktails, and spilled secrets lead to a night neither can forget. Now, Shaw and Rule have to figure out how a girl like her and a guy like him are supposed to be together without destroying their love . . . or each other.
Dear Ava
Ilsa Madden-Mills - 2020
Once upon a time, I wanted to be part of their world--until they destroyed me.The last thing I expected was an anonymous love letter from one of them.Please. I hate every one of those rich jerks for what they did to me. The question is, which Shark is my secret admirer?Knox, the scarred quarterback.Dane, his twin brother.Or Chance, the ex who dumped me. . .Dear Ava,Your eyes are the color of the Caribbean Sea.Wait. That's stupid.What I really mean is, you look at me and I feel something REAL.It's been ten months since you were here, but I can't forget you.I've missed seeing you walk down the hall.I've missed you cheering at my football games.I've missed the smell of your hair.And then everything fell apart the night of the kegger.Don't hate me because I'm a Shark.I just want to make you mine.Still.Mature Content. Recommended for 18+.A short excerpt of Dear Ava appeared in Team Player 2. (No longer available) This all-new, full-length version is 376 pages and 100,000 words.
Withering Hope
Layla Hagen - 2015
Her dress, her fiancé and the location—the idyllic holiday ranch in Brazil—are perfect. But all Aimee’s plans come crashing down when the private jet that’s taking her from the U.S. to the ranch—where her fiancé awaits her—defects mid-flight and the pilot is forced to perform an emergency landing in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. With no way to reach civilisation, being rescued is Aimee and Tristan’s—the pilot—only hope. A slim one that slowly withers away, desperation taking its place. Because death wanders in the jungle under many forms: starvation, diseases. Beasts. As Aimee and Tristan fight to find ways to survive, they grow closer. Together they discover that facing old, inner agonies carved by painful pasts takes just as much courage, if not even more, than facing the rainforest. Despite her devotion to her fiancé, Aimee can’t hide her feelings for Tristan—the man for whom she’s slowly becoming everything. You can hide many things in the rainforest. But not lies. Or love.Withering Hope is the story of a man who desperately needs forgiveness and the woman who brings him hope. It is a story in which hope births wings and blooms into a love that is as beautiful and intense as it is forbidden.
Daddy's Angel
K.A. Knight - 2020
Phillips. The silver fox that fills my fantasies and has been off limits… until now. Our one night together turns into more than we could have ever imagined, but when real life explodes into our torrid romance can we handle what it brings?Hearts are broken, lives are ruined, but if we can survive the world pulling us apart, we just might have a chance at a happily ever after.Buckle up daddy, I’m about to be your angel.Screw you Justin, your dad does it better.*This book contains dark elements which some readers may find triggering. All characters in this story are over eighteen and all sexual interactions are fully consensual.*
The Butterfly Project
Emma Scott - 2017
She channels her pain into her art: a dystopian graphic novel where vigilantes travel back in time to stop heinous crimes—like child abduction—before they happen. Zelda pitches her graphic novel to several big-time comic book publishers in New York City, only to have her hopes crash and burn. Circumstances leave her stranded in an unfamiliar city, and in an embarrassing moment of weakness, she meets a guarded young man with a past he’d do anything to change...Beckett Copeland spent two years in prison for armed robbery, and is now struggling to keep his head above water. A bike messenger by day, he speeds around New York City, riding fast and hard but going nowhere, his criminal record holding him back almost as much as the guilt of his crime. Zelda and Beckett form a grudging alliance of survival, and in between their stubborn clash of wills, they slowly begin to provide each other with the warmth of forgiveness, healing, and maybe even love. But when Zelda and Beckett come face to face with their pasts, they must choose to hold on to the guilt and regret that bind them, or let go and open their hearts for a shot at happiness. The Butterfly Project is a novel that reveals the power of forgiveness, and how even the smallest decisions of the heart can—like the flutter of a butterfly’s wings—create currents that strengthen into gale winds, altering the course of a life forever. #standalone #triggerwarning for sibling loss/child loss
Master of Salt & Bones
Keri Lake - 2020
He'd ride up on his white steed and break the curse I've been fated to carry since the day I was born.Funny how things changed over time. How the fairy tale twisted into something far more crooked, darker than I ever imagined.In reality, my knight is scarred and broken, living alone in a castle of bones that overlooks the sea. He isn’t searching for me. He never was.Lucian Blackthorne is as cursed as I am, and equally shunned by the locals, the fishers of men, who believe him to be the devil in the flesh.Perhaps he is, with the way his amber eyes draw me in, ignite me like an infernal blaze. And the sins he whispers in my ear are as wickedly intoxicating as the man himself.Yet, his touch is heaven and his will is my weakness.He calls us forbidden, an unsalvageable tragedy, with no happy end. Maybe we are. But in this story, he’s the one who needs saving.
The Dare
Harley Laroux - 2019
Please review the full content warning below.Jessica Martin is not a nice girl. As Prom Queen and Captain of the cheer squad, she'd ruled her school mercilessly, looking down her nose at everyone she deemed unworthy. The most unworthy of them all? The "freak," Manson Reed: her favorite victim.But a lot changes after high school.A freak like him never should have ended up at the same Halloween party as her. He never should have been able to beat her at a game of Drink or Dare. He never should have been able to humiliate her in front of everyone. Losing the game means taking the dare: a dare to serve Manson for the entire night as his slave. It's a dare that Jessica's pride - and curiosity - won't allow her to refuse. What ensues is a dark game of pleasure and pain, fear and desire.Is it only a game?Only revenge?Only a dare?Or is it something more?This dark erotic novella is written in First Person POV and is about 32k words in length.This book contains intense fantasy scenes of hard kinks/edgeplay, graphic sex, and harsh language. It is intended only for an adult audience. Beware: this is a dark, weird, kinky read. The activities depicted therein are dangerous and are not meant to be an example of realistic BDSM. Reader discretion is advised.Kinks/Fetishes within: erotic humiliation, fearplay, painplay, knifeplay, consensual non-consent (CNC), orgasm denial, boot worship, spanking, crying, blowjobs, clowns, group sexual activities, spit, bondage, public play, bloodplay.
Resisting Her
Kendall Ryan - 2013
Too vulnerable.I'm too rough. Too fu*ked up.I will ruin her.But you and I both know that won't stop me.Resisting her is harder than I ever imagined. My name is Cole, and this is my story of trying to do the right thing, and failing. Don't judge me too harshly until you've read the final page.Forbidden erotic romance. Read at your own risk. Full length stand alone. No cliffhanger.
Black Rainbow
J.J. McAvoy - 2015
McAvoy… After an erotic one-week fling with a musician she meets in a bar, Thea Cunning never expects to see Levi Black again. Then Monday morning comes around, and she discovers that her former lover is not only her professor, but he’s also one of the top criminal lawyers in the state of Massachusetts. With everyone in class vying to be one of the twelve disciples—a group of twelve students that Professor Black takes under his wing—tensions run high. Thea considers dropping his class, given their passionate week together and their undeniable chemistry. After all, there are other (less infuriatingly sexy) law professors on campus. But to accomplish her goal and get her father out of prison, Thea knows she needs to learn under the best of the best—and that’s Levi Black. But can she learn under the best, without being under the best?
Gothikana
RuNyx - 2021
An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong?An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an olden, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death.An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his paths cross with Corvina, she's dangerous to everything that he is.They shouldn't have caught each other's eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years for over a hundred years, and Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her.And so begins a tale of the mystique, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.