Book picks similar to
Precious Things by Stephanie Parent


new-adult
contemporary
music
contemporary-romance

This Time Around


Ellie Grace - 2013
    Now, four years later, she returns home and is forced to confront the past she left behind and the reckless boy who broke her heart. It’s not long before the pieces of her past begin to blur with the present and she realizes that the feelings she had for her first love never really went away. As old dreams resurface and new truths come to light, she begins to question the future she's always planned on.Jake Harris has spent four years regretting the night he let her get away. When she finally reappears in his life, he is determined to win her back and prove how much he’s changed. She might never forgive him for that night, but if he tells her the truth about what really happened it will shatter the world she thought she knew. If he doesn’t, he might not get a second chance. He’s already lost her once and he won’t lose her again.They come from two different worlds that are threatening to tear them apart…can they make it this time around?

Not Your Fault


C. Young - 2013
    Working the night shift at a local gym has given her buns of steel and enough endorphins to deal with the ninth anniversary of her brother's death. When a new owner takes over the gym, Delaney's forgotten past comes somersaulting back at her. Kris Payne isn't just her new boss, he's her ex-boyfriend from high school and he's got a smile that's as cocky as he is gorgeous. Delaney has no business being attracted to the womanizing, muscular man from her past. She tries to ignore his flirtatious nature, and the fact that she has a boyfriend isn't the thing she feels guilty about. In fact, being in a relationship bothers her a lot less than it should. After all, she can always ditch the boyfriend, but she can't ditch Kris' involvement in her brother's death.

Where My Heart Breaks


Ivy Sinclair - 2013
    Kate’s mission is to prove that she has learned from her mistakes. Almost immediately, Kate is drawn to someone else who understands the unfairness of being judged by actions of the past. Reed Black has his own regrets, but, instead of trying to change the town’s perception of him, he embraced it. When Reed offers to give Kate a crash course in the romanticized history and insight behind the novel that put the Willoughby Inn on the map, Kate is unable can’t resist playing only, even though she knows that just like the plot of the Willoughby Inn story, anything more than friendship is strictly off-limits. This is a full-length, standalone new adult contemporary romance novel intended for readers 18+. The Willoughby Inn Love Story Collection: Where My Heart Breaks Grounded By You

Star-Crossed


Luna Lacour - 2014
    It is intended for mature readers.It started with a game - seduce the new teacher.Eighteen-year-old Kaitlyn Laurent is living the American Dream. Born into a wealthy, socialite family with more opulent surroundings and material things than any girl could even fathom, Kaitlyn is the fresh, young face amidst a sea of morally-amiss Manhattan Debutantes. She is educated, poised, and on the outside - entirely virtuous. Her life, in short, is perfect.Or so it would seem. Inside the walls of her Upper East Side mansion, Kaitlyn is struggling. After her parents' divorce and her father's remarriage to a beautiful but otherwise utterly vapid woman, Kaitlyn quickly finds herself living in a realm of self-created fantasy, completely detached and entirely clashing with her new family – particularly, her classmate-turned-stepbrother, Marius. Arrogant and with a penchant for playing games, he is intrigued and infatuated by Kaitlyn's faux-chaste outer facade that she uses to cover an otherwise calloused heart.When the two of them enter into into their final semester at Trinity Prep, and the buzz around campus is that a gorgeous new teacher has set foot in the classroom, Marius makes Kaitlyn a bet: seduce the man who is now her Literature teacher.If she wins, she gets his trust fund. Money that she can use to finally escape a life that she has come to loathe.If Marius wins...he gets her virginity.When an initial spark turns into full-blown obsession, and her affections are inevitably returned – Kaitlyn learns that there are no actions without consequence, and some affairs are simply star-crossed.

Dirty Little Secret


Jennifer Echols - 2013
    She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

Pulled Beneath


Marni Mann - 2014
    The only place I could begin to find answers was in Bar Harbor, Maine.The first one I found was that everything I’d known was a lie. As the truths continued to unravel, I stumbled on Saint. His reputation was as tumultuous as the sea, his past a dark storm. His scars were so deep and mine so fresh that we somehow managed to find solace in each other. But the very thing that had brought us together could pull us beneath the waves for good.

The Summer I Fell


Sonya Loveday - 2014
    Growing up alongside of six guys is never easy. Especially in high school. Falling in love with one of the Six? Even harder when Ace has a hold of her heart, and he doesn’t even know it.Jake (Ace) Aceton has loved Riley for a long time, but has kept the secret oath of the Six. Riley was off limits. At least until after graduation.When her college plan falls through, and her future is left to the hands of fate, Riley finds herself scrambling to keep up with all the changes. But that's not the hardest part. The hardest part is saying good-bye, especially to Ace. Will Riley and Ace’s love be strong enough to hold them together when life tries to tear them apart?

How (Not) to Fall in Love


Lisa Brown Roberts - 2015
    Even her dog ate gourmet. Then one day, Darcy’s car is repossessed from the parking lot of her elite private school. As her father’s business hit the skids, Dad didn’t just skip town, he bailed on his family.Fortunately, Darcy’s uncle owns a thrift shop where she can hide out from the world. There’s also Lucas, the wickedly hot fix-it guy she can’t stop crushing on, even if she’s not sure they’ll ever get out of the friend zone. But it’s here among the colorful characters of her uncle’s world that Darcy begins to see something more in herself… if she has the courage to follow it.

Life, Love, & Lemons


Magan Vernon - 2013
    This is NOT Erotica. There is no sex or even swearing. There is some heavy petting and drug references. Basically the book equivalent of a ABC Family show**It’s so SQUEEEE-DORABLE – Ashleyn Poston, author of Radio HeartsWhen life hands you lemons, sometimes you have to say screw the lemons and bail. Seventeen-year-old Bentley Evans had it all. Then her Dad got laid off. Now she has to move across town to a small apartment and leave her life of luxury for public school and a job at the local burger place. Just when her world seems like it's crumbling she finds solace in the unlikely punk boy next door, Kai Stone. But as their relationship blossoms, a jealous ex-girlfriend and a secret to tell that threatens to bring disaster back into Bentley’s life.

The Guys Are Props Club


Ingrid Seymour - 2013
    Cute guys are players and not to be trusted, a fact she learned the hard way when her first boyfriend ran her heart through a paper shredder. Two years later, her promise is still intact, and she’s determined to make it through college without falling victim to another creep. She has her job, school and The Guys Are Props Club to keep her mind and hormones in check.The club was founded by Jessica, Maddie’s best friend. It is a sisterhood of girls who have fallen prey to heartless jerks and who have vowed to turn the tables. Once a semester, Jessica requires members to “do onto others as they’ve done unto you.” Setting the example, Jessica’s next play is Sebastian Capello, a theater major with heartthrob looks and a flair for Latin dance, whose heart she plans to break the way hers was once broken.What the friends don’t know is that Sebastian is different. Despite his perfect looks and popularity, he’s not a jerk. He doesn’t play games to get his way. Instead, he keeps it real and goes after what he wants with honest intentions. And what he wants is not a bombshell like Jessica, but a down-to-earth girl like Maddie – even if it causes a riff in the girl’s friendship. Even if it means getting Maddie to break her personal vow.*** Due to language and sexual situations this book is recommended for ages 17 and older.

How I Lost You


Janet Gurtler - 2013
    One is that nothing will ever come between her and her best friend, Kya Kessler. They have a pact. Buds Before Studs. Sisters Before Misters. But in the summer before senior year, life throws out challenges they never expected. And suddenly the person who's always been there starts to need the favor returned. Grace and Kya are forced to question how much a best friend can forgive. And the answer is not what they expected.

Twist of Fate


Kelly Mooney - 2013
    He’d been there, done that. The two times he’d chanced it, they’d both broken his heart. He has everything a Junior studying at The University of Arizona could want; a great fraternity house to live in, his best friend as a roommate, and more girls then he knows what to do with. Life is good. Even perfect at times, until the one girl from his past, walks back into this life, changing everything.Paige Pearce has one goal - to get as far away from her old college as possible, desperate to forget the one night that should never have happened. Attending school with her older cousin Tommy 3,000 miles away, seems like the safest place to begin a new life. However she doesn’t bank on being drawn to the one boy she left behind years ago, and who just might be able to help save her, if she’ll let him.This is a new adult book. Intended for audiences 17+

In the Lyrics


Nacole Stayton - 2014
    She’s kindhearted, beautiful, and talented. Bored with her mundane life, thoughts of fleeing her small town begin to consume her. With aspiring dreams to use her voice as a one-way ticket, she suddenly discovers that music might not be her only passion.After a fallout back home, Colby Grant decides to leave his family’s farm, determined to show his father he’s more than just a wanna-be country singer. With his All-American good looks, it doesn’t take long for girls in his new town to focus their eyes on him. But things aren’t what they appear from the outside, and it isn’t long until Colby feels he doesn't fit into the perfect world that so quickly embraced him. A chance encounter places Hensley in Colby’s path, but it isn’t her natural beauty that first captures his attention – it’s her voice. When love and music mix, will the combination blossom into a beautiful melody or wither into a heart-wrenching tune?Warning: This book is intended for readers 18+ due to explicit language and sexual encounters.

Exquisite Betrayal


A.M. Hargrove - 2013
    The other is to meet her favorite author of romance novels, R.T. Sinclair. What she doesn’t realize is that the sexy green-eyed god she rams into at the airport is the real R.T. When they keep running into each other, she’s shocked, but excited, because the attraction is irresistible.Ryland Thomas Sinclair doesn’t want anyone to know his true identity. He’s the author that all women love, but everyone thinks he’s a female. He hides his persona behind the public face of his twin sister, keeping his own a secret. But after meeting the lovely Fallon, his intentions to avoid a relationship come to a screeching halt. She’s put an unwanted kink into his perfectly laid out plans. His unusual reaction surprises him because after a heart-shredding breakup a few years ago, he’s managed to avoid women at all costs. Resisting Fallon becomes more difficult than he imagines. Soon things are spiraling out of control, until a major miscommunication has Fallon walking out of his home and his life. Will Ryland Thomas succeed in losing the woman he loves? Or can he win her back?

Last Train Home


Megan Nugen Isbell - 2013
    In fact, she is downright furious. Riley’s only visited Carver a handful of times. She barely knows her family that lives there and she has no desire to spend her senior year among the backward, simpleminded residents of Carver. Reluctantly though, her views begin to change, despite her encounters with Adrienne, a girl Riley quickly realizes is determined to make her life miserable, when she meets Alex Bettencourt. Alex is popular and gorgeous and Riley’s never seen brown eyes quite like his before. While Riley couldn’t be happier, she knows Jesse, her best friend in Carver, isn’t sure of her new relationship with Alex. She soon finds a balance between Alex and her friends though and life in Carver doesn’t seem so bad after all, even if her relationship with her mother is rocky at best. Just when Riley thinks she might be happy in Carver, a single decision changes it all, leaving her to find out who she really is and who matters most in her life before she loses everything.