Book picks similar to
Hostile Territory by Marie James


romance
romantic-suspense
contemporary
arc

Before She Was Mine


Amelia Wilde - 2018
    Don’t touch. Those were the rules. It took one heartbeat to fall in love with my best friend’s little sister. One more to know I could never, ever let it show. So I broke her heart and left her behind to go to war. She wasn’t supposed to walk back into the wreckage of my life. Now my Sunny is all grown up. All woman. She has eyes like liquid heat, curves that beg for my hands, and a mouth that’s hungry for mine. I shouldn’t look. I shouldn’t touch. But the rules are no match for one hot, reckless kiss. And this time, I’m not walking away.

Cover Me


Catherine Mann - 2011
    But when it comes to passion, nothing is ever simple. With the snowstorm kicking into overdrive, Sunny and Wade hunker down in a cave and barely resist the urge to keep each other warm... until they discover the frozen remains of a horrific crime. Unable to trust the local police force, Sunny and Wade investigate, while their irresistible passion for each other gets them more and more dangerously entangled...

Saved


Angel Payne - 2013
     Garrett Hawkins is the most valuable asset to his Special Forces unit, because, frankly, the guy doesn’t care if he lives or dies anymore. Since the love of his life, Sage Weston, was kidnapped and killed with her medical unit a year ago, Garrett has turned the shell of his soul into the armor of a finely tuned fighting machine. Being the first tapped for the unit’s craziest missions is just fine by him. The less time for memories and the agony they carve into his soul, the better. It’s a plan that works, until Garrett’s world is upended one night in the jungles of Thailand. Memories become reality when the unit is called to rescue a group of kidnapped aid workers, and they discover Sage and her teammate among the retrieved women. Now that Sage is back in his arms, Garrett doesn’t know what to do. He has changed in dramatic ways, especially in the darker tastes of his passion. If he touches Sage again, he’ll want to claim her, restrain her...dominate her. Is Sage’s love strong enough to let Garrett back in, not only as her fiancé but her Dominant? Can she trust that visiting the new shadows of his life will lead her to ecstasy and not ruin? Or can Garrett’s discipline be exactly what her soul needs to find its way back to life—and love—again?

Landon


S.M. Shade - 2016
    I’m not interested in his blue-green ocean colored eyes, his lean muscular body, or that crooked smile that can be so infuriating. I have more important things to worry about, like how to keep myself in college and my sixteen year old brother fed and sheltered. We all know life is hard, some of us just learn that lesson younger than others, but that doesn’t mean I’ll give up. I intend to succeed and make sure my brother has the opportunities he deserves, and no privileged jerk is going to distract me. Landon I don’t date. Don’t get me wrong, I’m far from celibate, but my condition makes carrying on any kind of normal relationship impossible. My life revolves around In Safe Hands or ISH, the underground hacker group I work with to track down and take care of predators and sex offenders who beat the system. I’m satisfied with my life until the day I meet the smart mouthed, compassionate, determined woman who opens my eyes to possibilities I never thought existed. This is book one in a series of standalone novels.

Nori's Delta


Lori Ryan - 2020
    Protecting a State Department official is just another assignment until he discovers that Eleanor Bonham is Nori Duncan, the one that got away. He can protect her from enemy forces in the Republic of Kazarus, but can he defend his heart from the woman who used to be his everything?She’s not going to fall for a soldier boy…High school was a long time ago, and Eleanor is no longer the heartbroken girl who ended things with Heath. She doesn’t have time for love, not if she’s going to rise in the ranks at State Department. But Heath is even more handsome than he was back then, and his years in the military have honed him into a man completely unlike the boy she once knew. With his sights set on her, how can she resist?The mission in Kazarus is as important as it is dangerous. Eleanor and Heath will need to rely on one another if they are going to see the mission through. But will they be able to overcome past pain for the hope of a future?

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

The Fixer


Jessica Gadziala - 2017
    Like santa. An honest politician. And gut instincts. That was, of course, until I woke up with one.And I knew.This was the day I was going to die. The cops, thus far, have proven useless and uninterested in my issues. When you couldn’t get help from legal channels, what other choice did you have but to look elsewhere?That was how I came across Quinton Baird. A “fixer.” Whatever the hell that was.All I knew was, I had a problem that needed fixing.Hopefully, before it killed me.QUIN-There were a few things I could put my faith to rest in. My team. People f*cking up, and needing my help. And my gut. So when my receptionist informed me that the woman in a case I decided wasn’t my kind of job was having a ‘gut feeling’ about being in desperate need of help, yeah, I dragged my a** across town to check things out.Not only did I not bank on the fact that she was in trouble beyond what I could have anticipated, but she was not what I was expecting either. Beautiful, resilient, and one hell of a distraction I didn’t need.As the pieces of her case start falling together, I was left wondering if maybe this new, unfamiliar sensation in my gut was telling me that Aven was much more than just another name on a case file…

Steel King


Devney Perry - 2019
    Everyone but Bryce Ryan. There’s more happening at the club’s garage than muscle car restorations and Harley rebuilds. Her instincts are screaming there’s a story—one she’s going to tell.As the new owner of the small town’s newspaper, Bryce is hungry for more than birth announcements and obituaries. When a woman is brutally killed and all signs point to the club, Bryce is determined to expose the members and their leader, Kingston “Dash” Slater, as murderers.Bryce bests Dash match after match, disappointed her rugged and handsome opponent turns out to be an underwhelming adversary. Secrets are exposed. Truths defeat lies. Bryce is poised to win this battle in a landslide.Then Dash breaks all the rules and tips the scales.One kiss, and she’s fighting to save more than just her story. She’s fighting to save her heart from the Steel King.

Extreme Measures


Elisabeth Naughton - 2014
    But when her latest mission literally explodes in her face, she wakes up labeled a traitor and—even more surprising—in the custody of elite Aegis Security operative and ex-lover Zane Archer. Although she still secretly has feelings for Zane, he’s now demanding the one thing that she can’t give him: the truth.When he caught her breaking the rules years ago, Zane let Eve walk away without an explanation. Now someone has not only sabotaged Aegis but also turned an American city into a war zone, and all signs point to Eve. Zane needs answers that can come only from Eve’s still-tempting lips, and he finally has the elusive operative right where he wants her—at his mercy.

The Night Is Mine


M.L. Buchman - 2010
    But a run-in with CNN puts her career on the line and ships her stateside—to the White House.Major Mark Henderson may be her commander but he’s also smitten by his very best pilot. Disguised as a jetsetter playboy, he plunges into the fray.But nothing is what it looks like at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. The President, First Lady, FBI Director, and even the head of the Secret Service all have hidden agendas. Emily can’t deny her attraction to Mark, but first they both must survive.[A complete happy-ever-after with no cliffhangers. Originally published in 2012. Re-edited 2021 for improved reader experience but still the same great story.]

The Wreck


Marie Force - 2011
    The young couple plans to marry before they head to college, and their future seems bright with promise. Everything changes one spring night when their six closest friends, including Brian's younger brother, are killed in a fiery car accident that Carly and Brian witness. The trauma leaves Carly unable to speak, and Brian is forced to make unimaginable decisions about a future that once seemed so certain. With Carly incapable of going forward with their plans, Brian leaves home—and Carly—for good. Fifteen years later, disturbing new clues indicate the accident that wrecked so many lives wasn't an accident at all, bringing Brian home to face a past——and a love——he's never forgotten.

Conceit


Alana Albertson - 2014
    Five hours a day I've trained to go undercover to learn the truth.Four plastic surgeries to transform into a pinup to gain access to their world.Three shots of tequila I down before I take off my clothes to dance for the SEALs.Two years since I'd left my soul mate Grant, the only man who can help me now.One dead stripper found strangled and drugged.Zero room for error. I'm Joaquín's only hope for freedom. No sin is too depraved, no challenge is too great. Even if it means destroying my soul.Conceit is a novella of 25,000 - the first of Se7en episodes in the Se7en Deadly SEALs series.Chronic: Se7en Deadly SEALs Episode Two releases February 2015

Whiteout


Adriana Anders - 2020
    But on what was meant to be her final day, the research station is attacked. Hunted and scared, she and glaciologist Ford Cooper barely make it out with their lives…only to realize that in a place this remote, there's nowhere left to run.Isolated in the middle of a long, frozen winter with a madman at their heels, they must fight to survive in the most inhospitable—and beautiful—place on earth. But the outside world depends on what Ford and Angel know and, as their pursuers close in and their new partnership burns bright and hot, they will stop at nothing to make it out of the cold alive.

Coastal Elite


Kate Canterbary - 2017
    Business problems, political problems, cheating ex-girlfriend problems. He knows that a week away from the Washington D.C. Beltway won't do a damn bit of good for those problems, but his beach house in Montauk is exactly where he needs to be right now. April Veach has plans.Work plans, travel plans, try-everything-once plans. Montauk is keeping her plenty busy this summer between decorating wedding cakes and teaching yoga, and busy is good. But busy is also a lonely bed, and that wasn't part of her grand plan. After a weekend together, his problems and her plans take them in an unexpected direction.

A Lover's Lament


K.L. Grayson - 2015
    I hoped in writing it I’d find some peace from the nightmare I was living, some solace in my anger.I didn’t expect him to write back. I wasn’t prepared for his words, and I certainly wasn’t ready for the impact this soldier would have on my life. A deep-rooted hate transformed into friendship, and then molded into a love like I’d never known before.Sergeant Devin Ulysses Clay did what I couldn’t: he put the shattered pieces of my heart back together, restoring my faith in humanity and teaching me how to live again.But now that I’m whole, I have a decision to make. Do I return to my life as I knew it and the fiancé I left behind, or do I walk away from it all for the only man to ever break my heart?***I’ve been living in hell, but you won’t hear me complain.These men depend on me, as I do them, and this brotherhood is the only family I’ve ever known.The Army saved me from a callous mother and a life on the wrong side of the tracks that was quickly spiraling out of control. So unlike most of the men in my platoon, going home wasn’t something I longed for.I was content overseas, spending my days defending this country that gave me my life back. Fighting became my new normal … until her.A letter from Katie Devora—a letter that I almost didn’t open. Her words put a fire back inside of me that I didn’t know I’d lost. She gave me hope during a time when I was fighting every day just to stay alive, and now it’s time I fight for her.