Book picks similar to
Waking Up by Renee Dyer


new-adult
romance
contemporary-romance
contemporary

Making the Play


Robin Bielman - 2019
    She’s just as career-focused as he is and has resolved to never succumb to the notorious charmer no matter how handsome or quickly they click. But then Chloe lets her guard down one drunken night and confesses she’s cursed. All her boyfriends meet their true soul mate when they date her, so she’s given up dating for good.Star baseball player Finn Auprince isn’t looking for romance, especially with his smart and sexy new media manager. She’s a distraction he can’t afford, but when Chloe confesses her secret, Finn’s competitive side emerges, and he can’t resist the challenge…or Chloe. One date is all he needs to prove that he and Chloe can have a good time without his soul mate popping out from around the next corner.It’s game on…but can they play the game of love and both come out on top? First Published as Heartthrob

Brindle


V. Vaughn - 2015
    But once she realized what she had become, Katie wanted nothing to do with her new state. Running off to college seemed like a good idea until mating season hit. Now the fever to reproduce is so great she can’t think straight. Brindle Lindholm has his true mate locked in forever. If only Katie would come to her senses and accept that they are meant to be together. Mating season has come, and he knows Katie has to be suffering in heat. Brindle is the only one who can satiate the need, and even though his heart will have to stand the rejection that is sure to follow, he knows he must go to her. When their coupling satisfies more than sexual need, it changes their future, forever. **This is a complete story. The Winter Valley Wolves can be read in any order.**

Cadence


Lisa Swallow - 2015
    He’s hot property and loving every minute of his new found fame. Now, he’s on tour supporting Blue Phoenix and living his rock star life to the full. Until Tegan walks into his world and puts the brakes on. Tegan Hughes is taking a year out and has her sights set on touring Europe with her big brother’s band. Blue Phoenix drummer, Bryn isn’t happy when his sister arrives unannounced at his hotel in Lisbon, but Tegan isn’t the type of person to take no as an answer. With her big brother breathing down their necks, Jax and Tegan attempt to keep a handle on their growing attraction but that proves harder than they thought. Jax is used to getting whoever and whatever he wants and after kissing Tegan once, he knows one thing…he wants more. But Tegan isn’t rock star girlfriend material. She has ambitions of her own and refuses to let anything stand in the way of her plans. And when Jax and Tegan’s relationship becomes public knowledge life becomes a hell of a lot more complicated.Ruby Riot is a spin-off from the Blue Phoenix books but the two series can be read separately. All the Ruby Riot books are standalone.*Releases November 5th 2015*

My Beautiful Neighbor


Piper Rayne - 2021
    But I’m positive, I’m the only one in Sunrise Bay undressing the pretty blonde in my head. Everything about her, from her make-up to her high heels says she’s a fish out of water. Whispers and speculations run rampant until the secret of who she is gets uncovered. Then the rumor mill goes into overdrive when she announces she’s staying to open a bookstore in the building next to mine—throwing a big wrench into my plans to buy that empty building.I quickly find myself in a tug-of-war since my business partner/brother is upset she’s ruined the opportunity to expand our business. I try to keep my distance, but I’ve got one sister with a gossip column on the local radio station and two meddling grandmas setting me up as a tour director.And now I kind of like the idea of our new neighbor staying. But small-town life isn’t for the weak—time will tell if she has what it takes to be one of us.

Train Wreck


Elise Faber - 2017
    A chaotic or disastrous situation. 2. An utter catastrophe or mess. 3. A devastating calamity or source of trouble. 4. Pepper O’Brien. As the daughter of a famed film producer, Pepper O’Brien is Hollywood royalty. Also, her life sucks. Because, unfortunately for her, the old adage is true: money can’t buy everything—including grace, true love, or the ability to not screw up every single opportunity her life has brought her. After her latest disaster, Pepper moves across the country to start over but, as usual, her life has other plans, namely in the form of Derek Cashette, her former teenage crush and now ridiculously handsome friend of her older brother. Derek is determined to salvage the train wreck of her life and Pepper’s determined not to let him. Her life is her problem and, dammit, why can’t she be her own hero? But sometimes fate has other plans. Or maybe it’s hormones. Especially when her rescuer comes with a killer smile, a chest Thor would be jealous of, and a butt that any girl just wants to—

Desire


Ava Alexia - 2014
    She would like nothing better than to engage in a 'friends with benefits' relationship with Jules. The hotter and more erotic the friendship the better. Jules was the most handsome man she had ever seen. The past ten years sat well on him. He was taller, more muscular and fit and he carried himself with a confident, casually elegant swagger. He was all male and she itched to get her hands on every part of him."What's in it for me?" she asked boldly.He raised his eyebrows in surprise. She had definitely changed from the quiet, tongue-tied child of ten years ago. She had grown into a beautiful young woman who was daring enough to ask for what she wanted...just his type of woman. "I think I can make it worth your while. Are you interested?" he murmured.Jaime knew exactly what he intended. Here was the opportunity she longed for. Was she courageous enough to take it?

Boots


Megan Erickson - 2017
    That's why I'm here. His dark eyes promise a good time, and I take him up on it. Maybe I'm weak, or maybe I'm just lonely. Except it isn't only one night, because with one touch, we're addicted.We're both in town for a different purpose. I want to save a life, and he wants to end one. The truth won't set us free--it will destroy us. Unless he keeps his promise, and I give up mine.HIDDEN TRUTHS is a standalone romance that was originally published as a newsletter serial. It has since been revised and expanded. Enjoy the ride!

Hard Glamour


Maggie Marr - 2014
    Honoring her mother's last wish, Lane Channing vows to follow her dreams. She takes the 'big risk' and leaves her small Kansas town behind and heads to LA, the city of dreams. She's got a stellar job lined up, an old jeep, and 20 bucks to last her to her first paycheck. Her hopes shatter when she arrives to find her job's been given to someone else. Now she's broke and if she doesn't do something fast will soon be living on the streets. Welcome to cutthroat -- Lane is most certainly not in Kansas anymore. On the cusp of success... Dillon MacAvoy has one goal -- to become a star -- whatever it takes. Even if it means honing his bad-boy can't-be-tamed-and-forever-single image. Besides the image isn't far from the truth. Dillon cares only about his younger brother and his career. He's on the brink of superstardom if he can just decide on the next right script. But for that, he needs a script reader he can trust. In a strange twist of fate... Lane Channing is Dillon's last chance. If Lane lasts the summer without becoming MacAvoy's latest conquest, she's guaranteed a job in entertainment. No problem, as long as she can ignore the heat that pulses through her every time Dillon is in the room. After all, love and commitment with a sweet, hometown girl would only ruin the Dillon MacAvoy brand.

The Art of Submission


Ella Dominguez - 2012
    When her very private and naughty-natured artwork is sold without her permission, she sets out to try and retrieve her precious paintings, unaware that the buyer has dark sexual tendencies. Dylan Young is an eccentric businessman and art collector with very specific tastes in women and sex, and serious trust issues. When he comes upon a very erotic set of paintings, he purchases them and they ignite a want and need for the alternative lifestyle he was forced to give up. When the two meet, Dylan immediately picks up on Isabel's submissive nature and hatches a wicked plan to teach Isabel about his alternative lifestyle. He wants nothing more than to get his hands on more of her paintings and to dominate the submissive beauty. Their affair is intensely physical and despite Dylan's wanting only a sexual relationship with distinct boundaries, he can't resist her spirited nature, her eagerness and lack of fear to learn BDSM, and most of all - her immense talent. But Isabel has a hidden dominant streak of her own that only Dylan brings out and as they're drawn closer together, their unconventional relationship is threatened as they each struggle with their pasts and for control.Written in 1st person from both his and her perspective.Warning: Written for mature audiences and includes profanity, graphic sexual encounters and mild BDSM themes.

Escaping Me


Elizabeth Lee - 2013
    Forget the memory of walking in on her boyfriend in the middle of, well, another girl. Forget how she had her entire life planned out. And, forget about being perfect all the time. Unfortunately, she was Whitney Vandaveer and despite the fact that she moved to the middle of nowhere – she couldn't. He always knew he would never be more than nothing. No job, no money, no future. Cole Pritchett had accepted the fact that he would always be the screw up and he was okay with it. Until he met her. Here's the thing they quickly found out – sometimes we all need a little help escaping who we think we are.

Lost and Found


Lori L. Otto - 2010
    I was so taken by Nate and Emi’s love for each other. It’s the kind of love that few have and many desire but never get to experience.” - Megan, Reading Books Like a Boss Independent and sensitive, idealistic and hopeful, Emi Hennigan lives her life with optimism and an open mind. Between sharing a tiny Manhattan apartment with her fun-loving roommate and spending most of her free time with her heart-breaker friend, Emi’s seen enough failed relationships to know what to avoid in her quest to find her true love. Not only that, but a single moment from her past lingers in her mind, setting high expectations for every man she dates. Emi’s best friend, artist and hopeless romantic Nate Wilson, has been her closest companion all of their adult lives. After swearing off love with Emi in a silly high school pact, Nate has been seeing other women in hopes of finding one that evokes stronger feelings than the ones he’s been harboring for Emi since he was a teen. Over the span of a year, boundaries are crossed, feelings are confessed, and their unique friendship begins to blossom into something more. Through Nate’s eyes, an atypical romance unfolds, disrupting the comfortable safe haven their friendship has provided. With a promising future ahead of them both, fate intervenes to bring two soul mates together. Photography and cover design by Christi Allen Curtis, assisted by Katrina Boone

Feels like Home


Evelyn Adams - 2014
    But when her carefully constructed life crumbles around her, Autumn's forced to return to the small southern town that never let her forget she came from the wrong side of the tracks. Jude Southerland, the town doctor, is used to taking care of people and with a pedigree that has the Ladies Auxiliary reaching for their fans, he’s easily the town’s most eligible bachelor – a status he has no intention of changing. That is until he almost runs down the Maddox girl he never noticed in school and suddenly finds her lush curves, dark curls and blue eyes consuming his thoughts, day and night. Autumn would like nothing more than to live happily ever after with Jude. But with every local matron in the valley trying to marry him off to their own daughters, she knows they won’t let her forget that she's not good enough and never will be. With the chance to finally find happiness, can she overcome her family history and find the confidence she needs to believe in herself or will she let love pass her by?

Prime Minister


Ainsley Booth - 2016
    She’s also an intern in my office. The office of the Prime Minister of Canada.* That’s me. The PM. She calls me that because when she calls me Sir, I get hard and she gets flustered, and as long as she’s my intern, I can’t twist my hands in her strawberry-blonde hair and show her what else I’d like her to do with that pretty pink mouth.** Ellie: How much I like the PM varies on a daily basis. He’s intense, controlling, and a perfectionist in every way—and he demands the same of his staff. How much I want him never wavers. There’s something about him that tugs at me deep inside, and makes me wish that just once he’d cross the line in a late night work session. I’d take that secret to the grave if it meant I got a taste of the barely restrained beast inside him.*** . . . FOOTNOTES: * This is a fictional erotic romance. No prime ministers or interns were harmed in the making of this book. ** Except it’s a BDSM romance, so they were hurt a little. *** Spoiler alert: she gets more than a taste. And she likes it.

Wanted


Demelza Watts - 2015
    Although she is open to love, she wants to be sure the man she finally sleeps with is the One. She envisions a perfect union; just like her parents. She isn’t worried and she certainly isn’t looking. She is free now and has plenty of time. Or so she thought. Then she goes to work for Theo Steele and her life is turned upon its head... Theo is an arrogant American, bursting to take the London market by storm. He plays by the rules… his rules. Only his rules. People could either live with them or go. He doesn't care. Until he finds himself toe to toe with a beautiful blonde. All he knows it that he wants her… now. Join Beth and Theo as they navigate the treacherous journey of love in Wanted, the first book of the Love in London Series. This is a complete novella with no cliffhangers. The following novellas will feature friends and family who weave into each other's lives. Please note this is written by an English author so there may be some phrases different to that in the US.

One More Day


M. Malone - 2012
    I only have one rule: hands off the neighbors.The single ladies on the block have tried it. I mean, come on. I'm a rich, single dad with a big house and an even bigger... lawn. But playing where you live is a recipe for trouble. Especially since I've got nothing to offer beyond one night/ and a hell of a lot of bitterness.Then the girl-next-door gets locked out and I can't exactly leave her outside, right? This is a bad idea. But it's going to feel oh so good.