Book picks similar to
Submerged by Lacey Black


romance
second-chance
contemporary
romantic-suspense

Secret Maneuvers


Jessie Lane - 2013
    One ‘Dear John’ letter haunted Bobby Baker’s every living moment. It was the letter he’d stupidly written to his high school sweetheart, Belle, right after he had left to join the Army. The letter in which he’d told her that he wasn’t so sure they were ready for forever yet. Before he could let her know that the letter, and his second thoughts, were nothing more than a mistake, she disappeared from the small Georgia town they had both been raised in. Fifteen years after the letter, Belle unknowingly walked back into Bobby’s life when her job as an ATF Agent forced her to work with a group of men secretly headed by the CIA to help her track down whoever was involved in funneling black market weapons to a drug cartel in Mexico. Bobby planned to use this mission to try to soothe Belle’s hurt feelings while proving to her that their love was meant to be forever. He would use every dirty trick he’d learned since he had joined the Army to maneuver her back into his life for the long haul. Belle was not making it easy, though, as she continued to keep him at arm’s length in the hopes that mistakes of her own would never come to light. Warning: Mature themes and a secret baby! <- You've been warned.

Where I Belong


J. Daniels - 2014
    One person that she’d do anything to avoid.Benjamin Kelly. World’s biggest dickhead.Mia hates him with a fury and has no desire to ever see him again. When she decides to start her summer off with a bang and finally give away her v-card, she unknowingly hands it over to the one guy that excelled at making her life miserable, learning a valuable lesson in the process.Always get the name of the guy you’re going home with.Ben can’t get the girl he spent one night with out of his head. When she leaves him the next morning, he thinks he’ll never see her again. Until he sees her lounging by the pool with his sister.Mia is determined to hate Ben, even though she can’t forget him.Ben is determined to prove he’s not the same guy he used to be.What happens when the one person you wish never existed becomes the one person you can’t imagine being without?

Best Laid Plans


L.K. Farlow - 2018
    In a big way. Too bad that the next morning he had no memory of our night together, leaving me heartbroken, and as I later discovered...pregnant.For the last four years, I've been rocking the single mom thing, making sure my daughter comes first. In fact, everything is going fine--until Alden storms back into my life, as my new boss.His reappearance wasn't something I planned for. Add my nosy, meddlesome three-year-old and an overprotective brother, and I'm obviously in way over my head.My only hope now is that I can sway Alden to see things my way...but you know what they say about the best laid plans...

Forgiving Reed


C.A. Harms - 2014
    She had no choice but to move forward and give her son the best life she could. Which meant moving back home. Except there was one problem.Home was where Reed would be...The man who once held her heart, then shattered it into a million pieces. Grieving the loss of Rhetts dad, and learning to forgive those who have betrayed her, Kori was battling it all.But will she ever have the strength to forgive Reed?

Mine


Natasha Knight - 2020
    She was never supposed to walk into my club.  But she did.  I shouldn’t have looked twice at her.  But I did.  The criminal underworld is no place for a girl like her.  One night with Katerina isn’t enough, but men like me can’t afford to be weak.  So, I tell her to leave me behind.  She does, but not before she sees something she shouldn’t.  When she goes into hiding, it’s my duty to hunt her down.  I have a job to do, and she needs to disappear for good.  But four years later, Kat isn’t alone anymore.  And the little boy right beside her looks just like me.

Come Back for Me


Corinne Michaels - 2020
    I left for the military that day, vowing never to return to Pennsylvania.When my father dies, I’m forced to go home to bury him. At least I'll finally be rid of his farm, which is grown over and tangled with memories I've fought to forget.And that’s when I find her. She’s even more beautiful than I remember and has the most adorable kid I’ve ever seen.Years have passed, but my feelings are the same, and this time I refuse to let her go. They say you can't bury the past, and they're right. Because when long-ago secrets are exposed, rocking us both to the core, I have no choice but to watch her walk away again....

Cheat Codes


Emily Goodwin - 2018
    Since the moment he saw her, he’s been denying his feelings for her, ignoring the void in his heart he knows only she can fill. Everything about them was wrong, the kind of wrong that felt so right. But none of it mattered. Not the terrible timing. And definitely not the mess it would create if Archer made a move on his best friend’s baby sister.It was supposed to be one night, but one night is all it takes to make everything more complicated, and they only have nine short months to sort it all out.No, none of it mattered. Until it did.

It's Not Over


Kaylee Ryan - 2019
    I had it all. The house, the job, the husband. Until one day, I didn't. I don't know when exactly things started to change between us, only that it did, and in a big way. So much so, I found myself standing before a judge and signing off on the end of my marriage. To the only man I've ever loved. Now, he's back, fighting, and ready to prove to me that we made a mistake, that our love is worth giving this another chance. I'm not sure if he's right, but I know what my heart wants, and it wants him. My ex-husband.HarrisonWhy is it that you don't know the depths of your mistakes until you've already made them? I knew signing those papers was a bad idea, but I thought that's what she wanted. The minute we stepped foot out of that courtroom, it hit me. She's no longer mine.That's when I also realized that I would do anything to change the past. I have so many regrets. Not her. I could never regret her, but how we ended. We never should have ended. I'm in for the battle of my life to convince her to give us another shot. I have a plan, one that will prove to her that it's not over.

Dr. Stanton


T.L. Swan - 2017
    Then Cameron Stanton is my Santa Claus. I can’t tell you the exact moment I fell in love with him. Only that I did. With every glance, every touch, every minute…. he stole a little more of me. They say that all men are created equal. Well that’s a blatant lie! I know because I met Gods gift to women in Vegas, I pretended he was my husband to get rid of another man. He took our fake marriage seriously and it became his personal goal to consummate. He spoke to me in French and I lied to him in German. His laughter was addictive. But I thought what happens in Vegas would stay in Vegas. Until it didn't. Dr. Stanton turned up where I least expected and my lies came back to haunt me. The attraction is palpable. The secrets unchangeable. I need him more than air. This is a stand alone, contemporary romance.

Shelter Me


Kathy Coopmans - 2014
    She had the love of her life, her high school sweetheart, and a bright future ahead of her. That is, until one day he just disappeared, leaving a note as his only goodbye. With her heart shattered and broken, Shayne did the only thing she could. She left her small town on the shores of Lake Michigan to start her life over, needing to distance herself from the memories she and Luke had made. At that time, she vowed to herself that she would never return to her hometown again. Seven years later, Shayne realizes that fate is not on her side as she returns home for her aunt’s funeral, bringing back the one secret she swore to protect. Luke Schavone has regretted every day that he had to leave Shayne behind. Though he didn’t have a choice, his heart still bore the scars from the impact. After five years, Luke returned only to find that Shayne was gone. His best friend was the only lifeline he had to finding her, but Adam wasn’t talking. When the one thing Luke has wanted everyday for the past seven years runs right into him one night, he becomes determined to make sure he doesn’t lose her again. At first, Shayne is hesitant. She wouldn’t be able to survive losing him again, but the pull toward him is so fierce, she can’t deny herself the chance. With the decision to start over, Luke and Shayne must admit truths and come to terms with the events that forced them apart in the first place. When secrets are revealed and old threats come to pass, will Luke be able to shelter Shayne from the destruction, or will she become lost to him forever?Shelter Me is a full length novel. You will notice that the story ends at approximately 75%. The remaining 25% you will be able to enjoy the first few chapters from four incredible Authors: Kristin Kitchen, A.M. Madden, Kate Stewart and A.D. Justice.

Good Girl Gone Plaid


Shelli Stevens - 2013
    In high school Sarah fell for her best friend’s older brother—one of the sexy, Scottish McLaughlin boys. But a painful betrayal showed her she’d been a fool to give her heart to a bad boy. At least it made it easier to leave him and move halfway around the world when her Navy dad got stationed in Japan. Eleven years later, the death of her grandmother has forced Sarah back to Whidbey Island for a month. It’s the length of time she must stay in her inherited house before she’s allowed to sell it, take the money and run. But when she sees Ian, bad as ever and still looking like sin on a stick, she can’t keep her mouth from watering. One look at Sarah stirs up the regret lingering in Ian’s heart—and never-forgotten desire lingering in his body. He should walk away, especially since divorced single mothers aren’t his style. But when she starts showing up at his family’s pub, he can’t resist a little casual seduction for old time’s sake. One thing quickly becomes clear, though. The heat between them is causing an avalanche of secrets and betrayal and nothing will ever be the same.Product Warnings: A bad-boy hero who’s good with his hands, a heroine who’s trying to be good. Contains liberal consumption of Scotch whisky, a Highland Games competition, men in kilts wielding large poles, and a potential Sarah McLaughlin of the non-musical kind.

Enticed by His Forgotten Lover


Maya Banks - 2007
    Even when she's very pregnant and facing down the father of her unborn child. She fell for wealthy hotelier Rafael de Luca when he courted her for her beachfront real estate. Then he disappeared. Now, she's in New York for answers--and she won't accept a brush-off.But selective amnesia after a crash has Rafael puzzled. How could he ever forget a combustible beauty like Bryony? Solution: return to the island where they met, and relive the unforgettable nights in question--until he remembers everything...

My [Mostly] Secret Baby


Penelope Bloom - 2020
    I apparently missed out on that one.Because Damon Rose came, and instead of running, I got pregnant.DamonYes. I remember Chelsea Cross.I remember five years ago when she thought she could handle me.Proving her wrong was… enjoyable.With hair I wanted to fist. A mouth that only stopped when I kissed it. A body that I needed to press against the nearest wall and claim.And now she wants a job.A smart man would say “no”.Or, I could teach her the same lesson I taught her five years ago.She can’t even begin to handle me.Author’s Note: Buckle up for the ultimate bosshole in this steamy, workplace romantic comedy with a sassy heroine and a stubborn grump who wants to ruin her day.

Trailer Park Heart


Rachel Higginson - 2018
    It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And that’s how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out. Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape. Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here. Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow. Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago. He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from. I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.

Written with Regret


Aly Martinez - 2019
    The one where the white knight rushes in to save her from the clutches of evil. They fall in love, have babies, and live happily ever after. By that definition, my life should have been a fairytale too. When I was eight years old, Caven Hunt saved me from the worst kind of evil to walk the Earth. It didn’t matter that I was a kid. I fell in love with him all the same. But that was where my fairytale ended. Years later, a one-night stand during the darkest time imaginable gave us a little girl. It was nothing compared to the pitch black that consumed me when I was forced to leave her with Caven for good. At the end of every fairytale, the happily-ever-after is the one thing that remains consistent. It wasn’t going to be mine, but there hadn’t been a night that passed where I hadn’t prayed that it would be hers. I owed Caven my life. However, I owed that innocent child more. And that included ripping the heart from my chest and facing her father again.