Book picks similar to
Fool Me Once by Nicole Williams


romance
second-chance
contemporary
second-chance-romance

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...

Call Her Mine


Melissa Foster - 2019
    He’s been in love with his best friend—saucy, smart-mouthed Aurelia Stark—forever. But Ben’s a planner, and timing has never been on his side. When he finally decides to make his move, Aurelia beats him to the punch with a move of her own—to a different town.Aurelia loves her new life in the charming town of Harmony Pointe. She has a great apartment and her very own bookstore, and best of all, the sinfully hot, commitment-phobic friend she’s crushed on for years is no longer just around the corner. Maybe she’ll finally be able to leave her unrequited love behind and move on.But when a baby is left on Ben’s front porch—a baby that is presumably his—Aurelia is there for him. Neither one knows the first thing about babies, but how hard can it be? Ben and Aurelia are catapulted into a world of love, laughter, and tracking down the baby mama, and it might even add up to a very happily ever after… just not one either of them expects.

Words I Couldn't Say


Tessa Teevan - 2016
    The dumbest thing I've ever done. I loved her. I lost her. Hell, I let her go. And then spent five miserable years without her. To cope with the loss, I put pen to paper and wrote her a love story, knowing when she was ready she’d hear the words I couldn’t say all those years ago. Turned out, not only would she hear them, but when Hollywood came calling, I made sure she got the lead role. After all, no one else could portray the character whom she’d inspired. Now she's within arms' reach and finally, she'll know the truth in my heart. Because that other cliché, “Actions speak louder than words?” I’m going to prove it. My words may have brought Ava Banks back into my life; I have to be enough to make her stay.

Cherry Beats


Vicki James - 2019
    Bryan Adams. Presley West. My favourite men of music. Only one of them within reach. The night before Presley West was due to leave our small town of Hollings Hill, all of my high school fantasies came to life. He finally wanted me. Eight years I’d spent pining, and now I, bar-tending Tessa Lisbon, was going to make damn sure I made that night count before the music industry stole him. Never screw your idols. That’s what they say, right? Well, I did, and I did it well. So well, I somehow managed to screw my own heart in the process. He gave me one night to convince him to stay. In the end, I begged him to go. Forever. But that’s the thing about rock stars: they do what they want, when they want, and forever didn’t end up being as long as I expected. Presley was back, and with his face, voice, and music now everywhere I turned, I officially had nowhere left to run.

Boyfriend Bargain


Ilsa Madden-Mills - 2019
    Broke and desperate, Sugar Ryan has no use for arrogant, bad boy athletes . . . until she’s forced to bargain with the cockiest of them all.If only he knew she was alive. Her mission? Get on this hockey player’s radar any way possible. Zack Morgan is the king of the ice and the bedroom—but nothing prepares him for the mystery girl who shows up everywhere he does—frat parties, his favorite bar, and finally his front door with an offer he can’t refuse. The only rule in her boyfriend bargain: no falling in love.But after one (um, two) smoking-hot hookups, he’s done with pretending and vows to make their fake relationship real. Too bad she can’t trust a player with a reputation for breaking hearts. Will this hockey star score his forever girl or will their Boyfriend Bargain end in heartbreak? A standalone hockey romance.

After Care


L.B. Dunbar - 2018
     Breast cancer survivor Edie Williams is ready to live. Divorced. Mother of two. She’s planned the vacation of a lifetime for a reboot, only to encounter an awakening adventure—Tommy Carrigan. Manager of the band Collision, Tommy Carrigan has his plate full. Independent. Carefree. He’s on an annual holiday with his band family, when the unexpected happens—Edie Williams. Love might be just what the doctor prescribed, but can it survive the world of rock-n-roll? +++ If you enjoyed The Sex Education of M.E., you’ll love After Care, another romance for the over-forty from L.B. Dunbar. Continue the adventure previously published in Love Notes, the newsletter of L.B. Dunbar.

Release


Aly Martinez - 2020
     Growing up, Ramsey Stewart branded my soul in ways time could never heal. At twelve, he asked me to be his girlfriend. At thirteen, he gave me my first kiss. By sixteen, we’d fallen in love, planned a future together, and had our eyes set on the horizon. Love never fails, right? But for Ramsey, it did. Love failed him. I failed him. The entire world failed him. At seventeen, Ramsey was convicted of killing the boy who assaulted me. Move on, he wrote in his first and only letter from prison. Start a new life, he urged. I don’t love you anymore, he lied. There was no such thing as giving up on Ramsey. Love may have been our curse, but he was mine—then, now, and forever. So here I am, twelve long years later, waiting for a man I don't even know to emerge from between the chain link gates.

The Words


Ashley Jade - 2022
    Eight weeks. Forty shows.Countless opportunities to make him pay.The world thought he was a God...But I knew the truth.

Hopeful


Louise Bay - 2014
    . . and I can’t give up hope that it might have been true. How long does it take to get over your first love?Eight years should be long enough. My mind knows that, but there’s no convincing my heart.Guys like Joel weren't supposed to fall for girls like me. He had his pick of women at University, but somehow the laws of nature were defied and we fell crazy in love.After graduation, Joel left to pursue his career in New York. He wanted me to go with him but my life was in London. We broke up and my heart split in two.I haven’t seen or spoken to him since he left.If only I’d known that I’d love him this long, this painfully, this desperately. I might have said yes all those years ago. He might have been mine all this time in between.Now, he’s moving back to London and I need to get over him before he gets over here.But how do I forget someone who gave me so much to remember?

The Reunion


Meghan Quinn - 2022
    With their fiftieth wedding anniversary on the horizon, they’ve modeled a beautiful relationship for their three grown children. But to their dismay, that lesson hasn’t quite caught on—the three siblings just can’t seem to take a chance and find love in their own lives.There’s Ford, the eldest, devoted to his work and resistant to romance…or so he claims. Cooper, the middle child, can’t get past his divorce—until he reconnects with a feisty baker from his past. And Palmer, the baby of the family, is the free-spirited world traveler who always pictured herself with someone other than a handsome small-town family doctor.When the Chance siblings come together to plan the ultimate anniversary party for their parents, they’ll have to navigate romantic entanglements, sibling rivalries, and the definitive end of their childhood. Whatever happens, The Reunion promises to be a fun, flirty, wild ride.

Outside


Michelle Mankin - 2015
    No longer under the thumb of her domineering father, she’s made a simple quiet life for herself and her fluffy fourteen pound Havanese pup running a surf shop in her hometown of OB. Long ago she gave up her dreams for a future with Linc.But now the notorious lead singer of the Dirt Dogs has returned, and Simone is reluctant to admit that she’s still vulnerable to his killer dimpled smile and easy charm. She finds that although she’s stowed away the mementos, it hasn’t been as easy to erase the memories of their epic summer love.It seems he hasn’t forgotten, either.Is the recording contract he’s offering merely a pretense?Or does he have something more in mind?Does he really believe that they can just pick up where they left off, despite all the bad luck and heartache?And is she willing to risk everything again for one last chance at love?

Forever Red


Carina Adams - 2015
    Covered in tattoos, singing songs about drugs, drinking and heartache, Nate acts more like an out of control rock star than the grandson of one of the genres most influential and legendary stars. Every man wants to be him. Every woman wants just one night with the hard-rocking country rebel.Except me. I just want to know that the boy I used to love is happy and that I didn’t break his heart in vain. That’s why I buy every magazine that even mentions his name; at least, that’s the story I tell myself.When my friends gave me a birthday present any fan would die for, I was suddenly face-to-face with the man I never thought I’d see again. My body wasn’t supposed to react to him the way it did. And, Nate sure as hell wasn’t supposed to look at me the way he used to. Can someone you loved as a teenager really have a hold on your heart twelve years later? Is it ever too late to say you’re sorry and make up for past wrongs? I’m about to find out.

Cheater


Rachel Van Dyken - 2017
    All it took was a single moment—say, a certain disastrous incident on the night before his wedding—and boom. Reputation destroyed forever and always. So now he owns it. He has a lady friend for every night of the week (except Sundays—God’s day and all), and his rules are simple: No commitments. No exceptions.But a certain smart-mouthed, strawberry blonde vixen is about to blow that all to hell.Avery Black has never forgiven Lucas for cheating on her sister. And suddenly being forced to work with him is pretty much a nightmare on steroids. Of course, it does afford her the opportunity to make his life as difficult as possible. But no good revenge scheme comes without payback. Because he didn’t become the Lucas Thorn without learning a few things about women.Now Avery’s lust for vengeance has turned into, well, lust. And if Lucas stops cheating, it’s definitely not because he’s falling in love…

180 Seconds


Jessica Park - 2017
    For Allison Dennis, all it takes is 180 seconds…After a life spent bouncing from one foster home to the next, Allison is determined to keep others at arm’s length. Adopted at sixteen, she knows better than to believe in the permanence of anything. But as she begins her third year in college, she finds it increasingly difficult to disappear into the white noise pouring from her earbuds.One unsuspecting afternoon, Allison is roped into a social experiment just off campus. Suddenly, she finds herself in front of a crowd, forced to interact with a complete stranger for 180 seconds. Neither she, nor Esben Baylor, the dreamy social media star seated opposite her, is prepared for the outcome.When time is called, the intensity of the experience overwhelms Allison and Esben in a way that unnerves and electrifies them both. With a push from her oldest friend, Allison embarks on a journey to find out if what she and Esben shared is the real thing—and if she can finally trust in herself, in others, and in love.

All the Little Lights


Jamie McGuire - 2018
    Both Elliott and Catherine feel like outcasts, yet they find an easy friendship with each other. But when Catherine needs him most, Elliott is forced to leave town.Elliott finally returns, but he and Catherine are now different people. He’s a star high school athlete, and she spends all her free time working at her mother’s mysterious bed-and-breakfast. Catherine hasn’t forgiven Elliott for abandoning her, but he’s determined to win back her friendship…and her heart.Just when Catherine is ready to fully trust Elliott, he becomes the prime suspect in a local tragedy. Despite the town’s growing suspicions, Catherine clings to her love for Elliott. But a devastating secret that Catherine has buried could destroy whatever chance of happiness they have left.