Book picks similar to
Returning to Rockport by Kelsey Clayton
second-chance
contemporary
dnf
romance
Burnout
Coralee June - 2019
Maybe if I were older. Maybe if he wasn’t my brother’s best friend. Maybe if he wasn’t my teacher. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Having my dirty little secret living down the hall had me obsessing over alternate endings and happily ever afters. I’d never wanted someone so badly, but his hot and cold behavior was giving me emotional whiplash. In the classroom, he practically ignored me. But here? In my brother’s loft? It felt like we were a thick rubber band, pulled so tight we’d snap. Falling for Decker Harris made me realize that life wasn’t as serendipitous as everyone liked to think. We weren’t just a collection of maybes thrust into the world with hope and good intentions. Everything started with a choice, and somewhere between grief and redemption, I chose to make him mine.
Bigger Than the Sky
Harper Bentley - 2014
No, I’m not an idiot.Yes, I had my reasons. Now I’ve made a new life for myself working at a large firm in Richmond and I’ve left the past behind. Or so I thought.Upon returning to my hometown of Serenity Point, Virginia, to take care of some business, I find that Kade’s now home for good and he’s none too happy about my being here. Two months. That’s all I’m staying then I’m out of here. Unless I believe the town’s pink-haired psychic’s prediction. Or embrace the sense of belonging I feel at being back home. Or give in to the emotions stirring inside when Kade's attention is suddenly on me. He scares the crap out of me. He thrills me. He used to tell me our love was bigger than the sky. I always knew ours was a once-in-a-lifetime love. So how can he be so sure it can happen again?
The Billionaires and the Book Nerd
Harper West - 2019
. .
Brooklyn
Surrounded by books is the only place I’ve ever felt like I belonged. From grade school to college, it’s where I found myself. Enjoyed myself. Hid myself. Unfortunately, my favorite thing also made my life hell. I remember the constant teasing like it was yesterday. But now, I’m a grown woman. I’m a BookNerd and I’m damn proud. Between the pages of great read will always be home to me—and I’m done defending myself for it. When my perfect, popular sister, Peyton, begs me to attend her latest masquerade charity ball, I know I can’t decline. Besides, it’ll be fun for one night to pretend I’m someone else without all my usual baggage. I’m actually having a decent time—until I see them. The two guys who most recently tormented me in college, and boy, have they changed. They’re still unbelievably good-looking. But now, there was something else there. Seduction. Yearning. Dominance—and it was all aimed at me. It’s the perfect chance for revenge. I’ll lure them in, seduce them, and leave them high and dry with a heavy set of blue balls. Instead, one night spirals into a dozen more—and suddenly revenge is the last thing on my mind—because the things they are doing to my body are better than any fantasy I could conjure up . . . The Billionaires and The BookNerd is a standalone, thigh-clenching, MFM Billionaire Menage Romance from your new favorite author Harper West. If Savage billionaires filled with wild desire and big . . . egos . . . sounds like a good time, this book is for you! Guaranteed HEA & No Cheating.
Hold My Breath
Ginger Scott - 2016
One decision can ruin lives. A blink can be tragic. And loving a Hollister…can hurt like hell.I would know.They say the average person can hold their breath under water for two full minutes when pushed to the extremes. Will Hollister has been holding his for years. The oldest of two elite swimming brothers, Will was always a dominant force in the water. But in life, he preferred to let his younger brother Evan be the one to shine.Evan got the girl, and Will…he got to bury all of the secrets. A brother’s burden, the weight of it all nearly left him to drown.The daughter of two Olympians, my path was set the day my fingertips first touched water. My future was as crystal clear as the lane I dominated in the pool—swim hard, win big, love a Hollister.My life with Evan burned bright. He gave me arms to come home to, and a smile that fooled the world into believing everything was perfect. But it was Will who pushed me. Will…who really knew me.And when all of the pieces fell, it was Will who started to pick them up.In the end, the only thing that matters are those few precious seconds—and what we decide to do while we still have them in our grasp.
Swear on This Life
Renee Carlino - 2016
As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?
Ache
Marley Valentine - 2021
But falling in love with my soon-to-be-married-to-a-woman best friend is nothing but heartache.Through all the years, and all the men I’ve fooled around with, he’s always been at the back of my mind. An unrequited crush I wish I could shake. A dream that was never going to come true.When I whisk him off to a surprise bachelor party weekend in Vegas, I surrender to the idea that this is an opportunity for me to finally let go of my feelings for him and say goodbye.But after a heated exchange and an even hotter kiss, everything I thought I knew about our friendship changed.Maybe I had it wrong. Maybe, after all this time, we were more than best friends. Maybe, just maybe, he felt it too.
Gods & Monsters
Saffron A. Kent - 2018
She was his muse.To everyone in town, Abel Adams was the devil's spawn, a boy who never should have been born. A monster.To twelve year-old Evie Hart, he was just a boy with golden hair, soft t-shirts and a camera. A boy who loved taking her picture and sneaking her chocolates before dinner. A boy who made her feel special.Despite her family's warnings, she loved him in secret for six years. They met in empty classrooms and kissed in darkened church closets. Until they couldn't.Until the time came to choose between love and family, and Evie chose Abel.Because their love was worth the risk. Their love was the stuff of legend.But the thing about legends is that they are cautionary tales. They are made of choices and mistakes. And for Abel and Evie, the artist and the muse, those mistakes come in the form of lights, camera, sex.NOTE: This is NOT a paranormal or a priest romance.
Tangled
Em Wolf - 2013
Strangely, it isn’t with the one who held her heart, but his asshole of a best friend, who will stop at nothing to keep them apart. “I’ll let you in on a little secret. Do you want to know why he’s sidelined you?” His gaze meandered over her head, sweeping the vicinity before bending down conspiratorially. His lips ghosted her ear. “Your type is merely the intermission before the grand finale,” he said in a low, smoke-rasped voice. “A dirty little secret. A warm hole to bang out and blow his load before moving on to something more refined. Stop wasting your time.” And on that note, he ambled off, leaving her adrift in a scrim of self-doubt and cannabis smoke. ***Due to strong language, drug use, and sexual content, this is not intended for readers under the age of 18.****
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.
Heartless Hero
Mary Catherine Gebhard - 2019
with cruel protection.Love is off limits with Abigail Crowne, but no one said anything about hate.Heartless Hero is the first book in the Crowne Point universe. You do not need to read any of the others to enjoy it, though it is recommended. It will enhance your reading experience as you will catch easter eggs and the timelines overlap.
Little Lies
H. Hunting - 2020
You mean nothing to me. I never loved you. I turned my words into swords.And I cut her down. Shoved the blade in and watched her fall. I said I’d never hurt her, and I did. Years later, I’m faced with all the little lies, the untruths, the false realities, the damage I inflicted, when all I wanted was to indulge my obsession. Lavender Waters is the princess in the tower. Even her name is the thing fairy tales are made of. I used to be the one who saved her. Over and over again. But I don’t want to save her anymore. I just want to pretend the lies are still the truth.A standalone angsty new adult romance. Heroine: Lavender Waters (Alex and Violet Waters’ youngest daughter, PUCKED and FOREVER PUCKED couple origin, Pucked Series )Hero: Kodiak (Kody) Bowman (Rook and Lainey Bowman’s son, A LIE FOR A LIE couple origin, All In Series )
Ecstasy
K.V. Rose - 2020
Eli is a star athlete with a secret. And Alex? He’s just a f*cking a**hole.Their paths collide one night at a party that quickly spirals out of control. A series of volatile moments follow, enveloping the three of them in a whirlwind of drama, drugs, and destruction.Zara feels like she’s slipping under, losing her grip on reality. And if she isn’t careful, one of the boys just might pull her all the way down.But the thing about almost dying at the hands of someone you hate?In the moment before you take your last breath, the fear can feel a lot like...ecstasy.And that’s a high you only get once in a lifetime.Dark romance, suitable for 18+.
Fighting Temptation
K.C. Lynn - 2014
Yet he’s also beautiful, strong and honorable. I unconditionally and irrevocably love every damaged part of him. And for the boy, who didn’t believe in love, he would always and forever have mine. ~Julia SinclairJulia was different from anyone I’d ever met. I never thought someone so good and genuine existed until her. The more I saw of her the more I became addicted to her. Every time I was around her she would destroy some of the darkness that lurked inside of me. She made the bad shit in my life seem not so terrible. Then, before I knew it, I had fallen for a girl from another world. ~Jaxson ReidTwo unlikely friends—the innocent, good girl and the notorious bad boy. One fateful night brought them together, and they formed a bond—one so strong it was unbreakable—until one night they gave into temptation.Fast forward five years and Jaxson is back to fix the mistakes he’s made with the only girl who’s ever mattered to him. Only someone isn’t happy with his return, someone who thinks Julia is theirs and they will stop at nothing to make sure it stays that way—forever.Jaxson will not only fight to protect Julia, but will also battle the new and existing demons that haunt his soul from death, corruption, destruction and war.This is Book One in the Men Of Honor series. It can be read as a standalone and has a HEA. It’s New Adult Romance and is told from both character’s POV. Due to strong sexual content, coarse language and mature subject matter this book is not suitable for anyone under the age of 18.
Waterfall Effect
K.K. Allen - 2018
Allen comes a new and suspenseful small town mountain romance.Lost in the shadows of a tragedy that stripped Aurora June of everything she once loved, she’s back in the small town of Balsam Grove, North Carolina, ready to face all she’s kept locked away for seven years. Or so she thinks.As one of the victims of a string of mysterious disappearances in the small, picturesque Appalachian Mountain town, darkness has become her home—her safe blanket when the world reveals its true colors. But as the walls of darkness start to move in on her, she knows the only way to free herself from her past is to face it, head-on. She just needs to figure out how.Upon arrival, Aurora isn’t expecting her first collision to be with the boy she left all those years ago. The boy who betrayed her trust with no regrets. The boy who is no longer a boy, but a man with the same stormy eyes that swept her into his current before she ever learned to swim.She’d thought he was safe. He’d thought their path was mapped out. Turns out neither of them was ready for the crash at the bottom of the cascade.