Book picks similar to
On a Hot August Afternoon by Bridget Straub


cheating
romance
marriage-and-family
trust-issues-in-review

Battlescars: A Rock & Roll Romance


Sophie Monroe - 2013
    She’s a sarcastic smartass that has no problem telling you where to go. She also despises rock stars…but that’s all part of the story. Her Granny Jean is spy and will have you laughing out loud. In comes Jake Parker, the twenty-five year old lead singer of Battlescars. His reputation is the untamable bad-boy. He’s completely “balls to the wall” in everything that he does. Two days after returning home from a month long tour across Europe he gets a visit from Bruce, an executive from the record label. He informs Jake that Battlescars is going back on tour for three months. What everyone doesn’t know is that Jake is worn down and sick of the same old shit. His record label hires Aubrey’s dads company to fly him around for the last minute tour. In order to keep her dad's company afloat they will have to learn to play nice. When Jake first meets Aubrey she refuses to even acknowledge his existence. He sees her as refreshing and a challenge. Both of them have some pretty heavy scars from their pasts holding them back. Can Jake get Aubrey to let him in? Or will she shoot him down based on his outlandish reputation? Will her fear of getting hurt again keep him out for good? Are the two of them a match in heaven or hell?

Callie's Heart


Kathleen Ball - 2012
    She wants neighboring rancher, Garrett O'Neill, to marry her seventeen year old daughter. It's not supposed to be a conventional marriage.Garrett O'Neill would keep Callie's ranch safe and Callie would go away to college. Four years later, Callie comes home with stars in her eyes and happily ever after in her heart. She plans to make their marriage real until finds the new housekeeper, Sylvie in Garrett's arms. Heartbroken, Callie takes off to her own house, which they closed up four years ago. She stays there with Old Henry, a longtime friend and ranch hand, until her new horse injures her. Garrett forces Callie to move back in to his house. Callie finally gets her heart's desire. Alone in a line shack, they make sweet love for the first time. Unfortunately the love light is gone from Garret's eyes the next morning.

Entice


S. Layne - 2015
    When the most difficult decision of Laurie Baker’s life needed to be made, she took off for a weekend alone to weigh her pros and cons and consider all her options.What she didn’t expect was to run face first into one more complication her life didn’t need.Distracting, sexy, and British, Liam Parker offered Laurie exactly what she needed when she was desperate for attention.One night of pleasure.She wanted it.She craved it.She took it.And when the sunlight dawned and the lusty haze of one night of passion disappeared and reality revealed itself…Laurie returned home knowing that everything she had once believed, everything she had once loved and desired, was about to be tossed upside down and shaken in a way she could never imagine.

Before You


Lisa Cardiff - 2014
    Luckily, she has Camden… Her childhood friend. Her savior. Her boyfriend.Even after Camden leaves their hometown to chase his dream to be a musician, Aubrey can’t imagine her life without Camden and his family.Before starting a job search for her own dream job, Aubrey decides to visit Camden in California for a month. But when she arrives, something unexpected happens…she meets Jax Carmichael, the lead singer in Camden’s band. Jax Carmichael doesn’t have time for a relationship…much less love. Even if Aubrey is irresistible, she’s a complication he doesn’t want or need. He has spent the last few years building Chasing Ruin, and the band is on the verge of being signed. Pursuing Aubrey could destroy his band, and he’s worked too hard to be successful without his family’s money, or connections, to let that happen. Aubrey feels an attraction to Jax like something she’s never experienced before. Confused, she tries to resist, but when her relationship with Cam begins to unravel, she realizes that Jax might just be the one thing she needs.

Tangled Up In You


Lara Ward Cosio - 2016
    Every day is filled with music and every night is a party. He's living his rock star dreams.Sophie Kavanaugh is settled into American college life. Every day is filled with classes and every night is spent avoiding the grabby hands of boys who can never quite measure up to her first love.When Gavin's band lands in Los Angeles, he and Sophie suddenly have the second chance they never thought they would and their very public reunion sets them off on a decade-long roller-coaster journey where, for better or worse, they hold tight to each other through all the ups and downs.Because all Gavin has ever wanted is Sophie and music.And all Sophie has ever wanted is Gavin--and to somehow be the one to soothe his tortured soul.But getting everything you've ever wanted isn't always enough.A love like theirs was destined to either burn bright . . . or go up in flames.Tangled Up In You is a second-chance rock star romance full of addictive angst. Gavin and Sophie's epic love story starts here and continues through the now complete Rogue Series.

Ever Enough


Stacy Borel - 2013
    After muddling through the next ten years-including immersing herself in a lifeless marriage-she is brought to her knees when she encounters Finley at her high school reunion. Long ago buried emotions and feelings bubble to the surface and when Finley kisses her, Emilyn flees the scene. Arriving home to find her husband in the arms of another woman, Emilyn is forced to return to her hometown and start again. But is it possible to start afresh when the past just won’t seem to let you go?Finley has spent the ten years since high school focused on his career. As a songwriter, he has never had a problem getting women. But when he realizes that the woman he let go a decade ago could be his happy ever after, he decides to do whatever it takes to get her back. But are some hurdles too great to overcome?

Never Say Never


Kailin Gow - 2012
    As the band's lead singer and manager, Never formed and shaped the band to where it is today, a band on the rise and on the brink of being signed by a label. As one of the guys, she knew each of the band members since they were all snot-nose ten-year-olds. While her boys were the cutest guys and they would protect her like knights, she couldn't date any one of them and ruin the chance at being signed with the record label of her dreams. That changes when one of the band members suddenly drops out of the band, and in walks Danny Blue, with his dreamy blue eyes, hot body, and British accent. Suddenly, Never's solid world has turned to mush, and her rule for not dating one of her band members is seriously challenged. Can she keep her head straight and get her band signed with a label without losing her heart?YA Mature/New Adult

Catch Me


Claire Contreras - 2013
    I've experienced a lot of things in my twenty-five years, everything except the one thing I want. It's the one thing that can’t be bought. It can't even be taken, it has to be given. And nobody has ever given it to me, not really anyway. Not until him.Music is the center of both our lives, but as he found his place in it, I lost my way. He soared, while I spiraled down a destructive path.I lost myself in more ways than I can count.The ironic thing is that I didn’t realize how lost I was until he found me. And now that he has, I have to wonder if he'll stay around long enough to catch me.

Inferno


Kathryn C. Kelly - 2015
    Waiting for my triumph or my downfall…just waiting. Most of my life is in my hands. My destiny? That’s another story. My destiny isn’t as debt free. My band, Phoenix Rising, arrives in Houston to cut a new album. Before we perform our first concert in the city and I choose my groupies of the night, I’m thrust into debauchery. Sleeping with a gorgeous woman twenty years older than me has its perks, especially when her husband orchestrated the encounter and eagerly watches. To me, performing is performing. If a man wants to share his wife, who am I to stop him?Unfortunately for me, I don’t make a clean getaway as I leave the McCall mansion. Georgie, their sixteen-year-old daughter, is in the midst of her own intrigue, sneaking home in the middle of the night after an evening of drugs and sex with her older brother’s best friend. In her, I see me. She’s lost and drifting. Her hedonistic parents insist she’s old enough to make her own decisions. Instead of time and love, they give her money and things. I’m a twenty-five-year old international superstar and I know better. I’m cocky and arrogant. I know it so I own it. Somehow, I’ve always bested the fates. I have all to lose—my reputation, my career, and my freedom. Her mother’s jealousy forces my hand and I take Georgie on the tour.This is our story and our secret relationship and the destruction of my life. You know the adage about secrets? Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead. Wise words from a wise man. If only I had listened. Secrets have a way of revealing themselves in the harshest way.

Fall into My Heart


Rebecca Elise - 2013
    Three months after finding her fiancé in bed with another woman, Chloe Carver decides she needs a change and relocates from New York to London. Her hope is that she will become more daring and impulsive. What she doesn’t expect is Jack, her hot rocker neighbor, who manages to turn her from a confident young woman into a bumbling fool at the sight of his crooked smile and gorgeous blue eyes. She makes the decision to avoid him at all costs, which seems like it could possibly work until she realizes that she is the new publicist for his band. Sparks quickly fly between Chloe and Jack and they jump head first into a relationship. Add in the never ending antics of Jack’s band mates, a high maintenance actress and a playboy surfer and Chloe’s life becomes more exciting than she ever thought it could be. Just when things seem to being going so well, a surprise visit from Chloe’s ex will bring everything to a screeching halt. Will Jack and Chloe’s relationship be strong enough to survive or will other factors be enough to tear them apart? ***This book DOES contain mature content.***

Inhale, Exhale.


C.L. Matthews - 2019
    In sickness and in health. For better or for worse. Til death do us part. And death dragged us apart. We both said those vows. But neither of us kept them. This is not one of those happy stories. Life isn't made of simple choices and happily ever afters. It's a dark place. It's not easy. It's full of mistakes and lessons. It hurts. And in the end, those two words said in love, are the same ones said in hate. "You want a divorce?" "I do."

Rock Country


K. Webster - 2014
    For two years they spent every waking moment together. And just as they started realizing they had potential to be more, Bobby was unexpectedly uprooted to Las Vegas. Fast forward fifteen years.Bobby is now a guitar hero of a very successful rock band. June is wasting away, working at a local diner, and married to an abusive man. Devastating events send Bobby back to Texas to deal with some unsettled issues. When he runs into June, she’s all grown up. No longer that blonde haired, pig-tailed little girl—now she’s the Queen of the South with tanned legs, sexy curves, and more beauty than all the groupies combined. Problem is, June is a shell of her former self—that is, until—Bobby brings the spark back into her life.What happens when a typical bad boy rocker comes across a sad country song? Why, you get the sweet sound of Rock Country.

Jaded


Mercy Amare - 2013
    It's supposed to be my dream come true. But, my life IS a fantasy, and I want real. I want exciting. I want ... NORMAL. So, I moved from California to Florida, hoping to obtain some normalcy. Instead I find...Stephan Montgomery.He's an arrogant jerk. Seriously, I hate him. I swear if he tells me one more blonde joke, I will punch him ... again ... Unfortunately I can't stop thinking about him, or his gorgeous green eyes. Trust me, I know that he's bad for me. If only my heart would listen.I also find out that my parents have kept a LIFE CHANGING secret from me. I need to know the truth.The harder I strive for normal, the stranger things seem to get.

Stay With Me


Elyssa Patrick - 2013
    Singing, acting, dancing—I’ve done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is.When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life.But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox.Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox.Caleb is the one man who doesn’t want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give him the same—or if he’ll stick around when he finds out my shameful secret that the tabloids haven’t managed to uncover.Dating him is risky enough, but loving him could break me.New Adult/Contemporary Romance with a HEA - Recommended for ages 17 and older.

Planning on Forever


Ashley Wilcox - 2012
    With graduation day nearing and college life on the horizon, Collin flirts with infidelity and loses everything he has with Alexa.Brokenhearted and single, Alexa meets sexy Nolan Pratt. She can’t deny the attraction and pull that he has over her.Not being able to accept the fact that he has lost Alexa forever, Collin focuses all his attention on his second love, football, in an attempt to move on.Will Collin be able to win Alexa’s heart back or will he find that his first love isn’t the love of his life?