Book picks similar to
The Ugly Duckling by Annabelle Costa
romance
chick-lit
contemporary
ebook
A Beautiful Kind of Love
Ellie Wade - 2015
Why? Because I have one and his name is Jax Porter.I have known Jax my whole life and I have loved him with every breath I’ve ever taken. The fact that we were born a mere month apart to mothers that are best friends has made us inseparable since birth.What we have is so rare, one would think our story would be written, our fate sealed. But, unfortunately that’s not how life works. Life offers us many choices that can turn destiny into chance.I now find myself heading toward a destination that I could have never imagined and I have to figure out where to go from here. Will the choices that have been made change our path forever or will fate find its way?
Adventurous Proposal
Laura Barnard - 2016
So much so, that if she has to survive another guy standing her up she might just do something crazy ... like accept the first proposal she gets. So when she finds herself alone in the bar, again, Florence can hardly believe her eyes-or ears-when Hugh Humphreys swoops in and presents her with a proposal so adventurous she can't believe she's actually considering saying yes.Because, after all, twenty five days to plan a wedding is some feat and that’s while getting to know your fiancé, their disapproving Mother and dealing with a jealous ex. Throw in the small matter of where they should live and you have Florence wondering what the hell she's gotten herself into.Can you really countdown to a wedding like an advent calendar? Fall in love with a stranger and make them your husband? Because if she's going to make it down the aisle Christmas morning, Florence has to find out and fast.
All Are Welcome
Liz Parker - 2021
Not because she didn’t want to, but because she didn’t think girls from Connecticut married other girls. Yet here she is with Caroline, the love of her life, at their destination wedding on the Bermuda coast. In attendance—their respective families and a few choice friends. The conflict-phobic Tiny hopes for a beautiful weekend with her bride-to-be. But as the weekend unfolds, it starts to feel like there’s a skeleton in every closet of the resort.From Tiny’s family members, who find the world is changing at an uncomfortable speed, to Caroline’s parents, who are engaged in conspiratorial whispers, to their friends, who packed secrets of their own—nobody seems entirely forthcoming. Not to mention the conspicuous no-show and a tempting visit from the past. What the celebration really needs now is a monsoon to help stir up all the long-held secrets, simmering discontent, and hidden agendas.All Tiny wanted was to get married, but if she can make it through this squall of a wedding, she might just leave with more than a wife.
The Princess and the Pizza Man
Cassie Mae - 2017
Twelve years of tossing pizzas in his hometown in Alabama is like a dream come true for William Monroe, but his sister is ready to leave the Podunk place, desperate to find herself a man and get hitched. He’s not too thrilled to hear about the mansion she’s dragging him to, claiming it’s haunted with the spirit of Cupid, and it’s his job to make sure she doesn’t fall for the first guy who looks her way.Winter’s been running the Frostville Murder Mysteries ever since she inherited a hefty sum of cash, wanting to give back in a fun and profitable way for her home city. Noticing a lot of puppy-eyed patrons, she gives herself the job of matchmaking, picking out the ones who seem best suited for one another. But when the outspoken and grumpy man from Alabama arrives with his eager-to-be-matched sister, her focus starts to falter, and she wants nothing more than to prove to Will that her mansion can feel like home, too.
What's Left of Me
Amanda Maxlyn - 2013
He is persistent, and he knows what he wants. Me.He doesn’t treat me like I’m fragile.But he doesn’t know, and I’m not ready to tell him.What if it changes everything?Tragedy found me when I was seventeen.Love found me when I was twenty-one.My name is Aundrea McCall, and this is my journey.
Long Time Coming
Edie Claire - 2003
But back at home, the past is ready and waiting to haunt her...Eighteen years have passed since Joy's childhood best friend, Jenny, met her death in a tragic car accident just a few days after their senior prom. A broken Joy left their small Kentucky hometown shortly after - determined never to come back. But when her father's illness forces her to return, she realizes that neither time nor distance have truly healed her troubled soul.Plagued with nightmares of the accident and crippled by a vague fear whose source she can't identify, Joy realizes that in order to move on she must face the truth behind several disturbing gaps in her memory of that fateful spring. But the only person who can help her is a man she despises - Jenny's erstwhile boyfriend Jeff, now a respected doctor, whose carelessness as a teenager was the cause of Jenny's horrendous death - and Joy's own emotional destruction. Can she ever forgive? She may have no choice but to try. Because both the danger she sensed - and the childhood friendship she treasured - now suddenly seem very much alive...
The Cinderella Arrangement
Vanessa Waltz - 2016
Real Romance. Luke Pardini is many things: playboy, tabloid fodder, ridiculously attractive billionaire. He’s the Prince Charming every woman dreams of. And he wants me to be his fake girlfriend. I don't want a relationship, even a make-believe one, but I do need the money. Writing isn't paying the bills, and I hardly have time for a second job, let alone a romance. But he's offering me a dream-come true. I'll get the fancy dresses, the formal dinners, the full Luke Pardini experience. I get to be Cinderella for a few weeks, then I'll trade in the shoes. No problem, right? Except I don’t have to pretend when he touches me, but he’s made it clear I only get to play his girlfriend for a few weeks. When midnight strikes, our Cinderella Arrangement is over. He promised the arrangement would be simple. I promised I wouldn’t fall in love. Author's Note: The Cinderella Arrangement was previously published as Break and Crash. The books have been re-edited and some elements of the story changed. Both stories are standalone novels with HEAs. As a bonus, your copy of The Cinderella Arrangement includes the first chapters of my unreleased romantic comedy, and Dirty Prince, another romantic comedy!
Good Wood
L.G. Pace III - 2014
It takes heart to use a twisted bit of scrap and make something from it as if it were good wood.”Somehow Joe survived the unlivable, and now he's just going through the motions. An endless string of one night stands does little to dull the ache from all he's lost. Even though he distracts himself daily with back-breaking work, his violent rage still simmers just under the surface.Then along comes Molly, the feisty baby sister of his two best friends. Joe hasn’t seen her in years, and he's unprepared for his reaction to her when she falls out of the food truck and into his arms. Molly is still as mouthy as ever, and now she's as delicious as the food she's serving up. It's totally against "The Bro Code", but he just can't seem to keep his hands off of her.Molly has come back home to Austin to mend fences and feed a whole new crowd. Dealing with Joe's demons doesn't figure into her business model. Something is very different about him and she craves the ‘Old Joe’ she used to have a crush on.Still, the broody carpenter's swagger is damn near irresistible. And all work and no play makes Molly a cranky girl.
The Awful Mess
Sandra Hutchison - 2013
All she wants is peace and quiet and maybe a cat. But an unhappily-married Episcopal priest who's trying to save her heathen soul might be susceptible to more earthly temptations. And the handsome local cop who's also an excellent kisser confuses her by being in favor of gay rights, but opposed to sex before marriage.Soon Mary's keeping a scandalous secret at great cost to her own happiness. Worse, her disintegrating ex-husband threatens what little she has left. But in this witty and affectionate tale of small town life, Mary discovers that the connections she's made can result not only in terrifying risks, but in unexpected blessings.
Issued to the Bride: One Navy SEAL
Cora Seton - 2016
Navy SEAL Brian Lake is out of luck. Going rogue on his last mission landed him on a fast track out of the Navy — years too soon to have saved up enough money to buy the ranch he’s always wanted. Without a career — or the cash to start over — Brian’s options are few, until Army general Augustus Reed steps in with an intriguing new mission — a permanent one. Ignored by her absentee father, duped by the thief he appointed to oversee her family’s ranch, Cass Reed is done with men for good. From now on she’s determined to run Two Willows herself, so when her father sends a Navy SEAL to fix up her house, she vows to run him off her land as soon as possible. But Brian’s just as determined to stay, and he’s in a far different league than the men she’s met before. Brian’s ready to do anything that will earn him a share of a prosperous ranch — even take a chance on marrying the General’s daughter. And he soon realizes it won’t be a hardship to marry Cass. She’s everything he’s ever dreamed of in a woman — and Two Willows is everything he wanted in a ranch. But he’s not the only one who wants Two Willows — and Cass. Will falling in love be the most dangerous mission of all?
Overflow
Brynne Asher - 2014
Just when she forced herself to move on with life after tragedy touched her family, she finds herself thrown into a tailspin so swift, she can’t find her bearings.Being cuffed and patted down by Special Agent Jude Ortiz is enough to wake anyone up. With his dark chocolate eyes and commanding ways, Gabby can't resist. And between battling criminals, flooded basements, fantasy football drafts, and her crazy Italian family, Jude also finds himself unable to resist her charms. That doesn’t mean he isn’t wrestling feelings he hasn't allowed in years. Nightmares that are his reality have paralyzed him from living a full life. Yet, he can’t help himself when it comes to her and Jude moves in to watch over Gabby.But just when life seems to be settling down, demons surface from the past. Horrific ones that carry a vengeance so evil, no one saw them coming.
Marry Me, Maddie
Rita Herron - 2001
Neither can resist the attraction they feel for one another and everything else takes second place.
Drawing Free
Elena Aitken - 2011
Between dealing with her youngest’s never ending tantrums, her teenager’s attitude and her ailing father’s rapidly failing memory, Becca doesn’t have time to worry about who she used to be--let alone remember.She loves her family, but deep down Becca knows she wants more than the daily chaos and the quick fixes her self-help books have to offer. It's just another day when finally the pressure proves to be too much and Becca makes a split second decision that will change everything.Leaving her crumbling life in the rear-view mirror and fleeing to a remote mountain town may feel like the perfect way to reconnect with herself, but will her choices come at the expense of everything she left behind? Or can Becca find herself before it's too late?
Crazy for the Boss
Ashlee Mallory
Black sheep. Aimless playboy.For most of his life, James Thornhill accepted that his family would never see him as anything but a failure. But as the new CEO of Thornhill Management, he’s been given another chance to set things right. First order of business? Settling a nuisance lawsuit and bringing the pesky but dedicated employment attorney on board as part of his team. Second order of business? Resisting the prim but fiery new employee who has somehow become utterly indispensable in his life.Ice Queen. Good girl. Uptight do-gooder. Quinn Taylor has grown up always doing what was right and, since graduating from law school, likens herself to a modern-day David taking on the Goliaths of the world. Goliaths such as the CEO of Thornhill Management. Playing babysitter and muse to the overindulged CEO was not what she had in mind, but with mounting debt making even a cup of coffee a luxury, Quinn’s ready to swallow her pride and get in bed with the devil. Something that, the more time she spends with the man, becomes increasingly enticing.But the stakes are too high for either of them to risk an interoffice fling…until an unexpected trip to Quinn’s hometown brings a long-denied simmering attraction to a boil. They’ll have to decide what they’re willing to risk and how far they’re willing to fall if love doesn’t conquer all.
His Bought Fiancée
Holly Rayner - 2018
This time, she’s the fake fiancée, and he’s paying! Alyssa: High school reunions are bad enough, But seeing my ex with his wife and baby pushed me over the edge. I grabbed the first guy I could find on the street outside A Middle Eastern god, just out for a stroll Well, it turns out he’s a sheikh And he wants me to convince his royal parents that we’re in love, and I’m his fiancée! I didn’t realize I’d be playing the part of a princess! Ali: A fiancé for one night only—now there’s an idea. Maybe we can keep up the pretense a little while longer. I need the perfect American princess to fool my pushy parents I was hers for one night. Will she be mine forever? This is the first book in Holly Rayner’s Wedded To The Sheikh series.