Book picks similar to
Summer of Seventeen by Jane Harvey-Berrick


new-adult
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jane-harvey-berrick
young-adult

Ignite


Lily Paradis - 2014
    She’s used to living life for one person: herself. That is, until another family tragedy thrusts three children into her care and uproots her life in ways she could never imagine. Lauren's first instinct is to run, until she meets their striking, mysterious neighbor Dean Powell. Their immediate chemistry and his connection with her late father just might be enough to keep her in town long enough to uncover pieces of her past that she never had answers to. Dean’s shady past and her reluctance to trust him could cost her the life she's always been searching for, but will she run back to her old life? Or will she choose to stay and live the life her father always imagined for her?

Cut Too Deep


K.J. Bell - 2014
    A woman traumatized by her past, beaten, battered, and unwilling to trust.A man held captive by his greatest failure, lost, and self-destructive.Letters that unexpectedly bind them together.Is their bond strong enough to survive each other?As a web of deceit is revealed, will they be able to determine what’s real, and what’s worth fighting for? Or will they crumble under the weight of secrets that cut too deep?Can Miller forgive himself and move beyond his fear of failing the one he loves? Can Hadley accept the love she desperately wants but doesn’t believe she deserves?

Three Brothers


Nicole Williams - 2015
    They weren’t tied to me by blood, but our connection went beyond genetics or bearing the same last name. Our connection was forged the summer I turned thirteen, the summer my mom ended her life and left me in the custody of John Armstrong, a man I’d never met. Packing all I owned in a couple of boxes, I left the familiarity of the big city and headed west to Red Mountain Ranch, set in a lonely valley outside of Jackson Hole.Nothing was as it seemed at Red Mountain—it didn’t take long for me to figure that out. John was kind to me but distant, as if he was afraid to let anyone get too close. His three teenage sons had their own devices for keeping love as far away as they could. The eldest distracted himself with cheap relationships that had a shelf-life of one night. The middle son threw himself into the rigor of running a ranch, and the third wielded cruelty and mind-games in his quest to keep people from getting close.Time has gone by, and I’ve spent those years trying to forget the brother I’d fallen for—the biggest mistake of my life.Finally, I’ve moved on. Finally, I’m back. But what I didn’t realize was that running away from the wrong brother meant I’d also run away from the right one. The one who’d been there for me all along, waiting in his brother’s shadow for the day I either would or could move on.But a decade is a long time to wait. Has the brother I should have chosen all of those years ago moved on too? Am I about to discover that my biggest mistake wasn’t falling in love with the wrong brother, but failing to return the love of the right one sooner?Does unrequited love have an expiration date?I’m about to find out.Author’s Note: This book is a “sweet” romance that isn’t overly sexy. Fans of Lost & Found will be interested in Three Brothers.

Apolonia


Jamie McGuire - 2014
    Z, the eccentric college professor who has taken her under his wing; not Benji, the endearing, attractive classmate who insists on following her around; and certainly not Cy, the beautifully dark and mysterious boy who sits in the first row in Dr. Z’s Astrobiology class and asks far too many questions. When Rory witnesses Cy being abducted by soldiers in the middle of the night, she finds herself immersed in a world that holds more secrets than she could imagine, even darker secrets than her own. From #1 New York Times Bestseller Jamie McGuire, experience the perfect combination of her bestselling books Providence and Beautiful Disaster. This New Adult Sci-Fi Romance is an action-packed, whiplash-inducing roller-coaster ride. Page after page, this unpredictable, dark, and sexy nail-biter will keep readers guessing until the very end!

Ink Is Thicker Than Water


Amy Spalding - 2013
    Combine her hippie mom and tattooist stepdad, her adopted overachieving sister, her younger half brother, and her tough-love dad, and average Kellie’s the one stuck in the middle, overlooked and impermanent. When Kellie’s sister finally meets her birth mother and her best friend starts hanging with a cooler crowd, the feeling only grows stronger.But then she reconnects with Oliver, the sweet and sensitive college guy she had a near hookup with last year. Oliver is intense and attractive, and she’s sure he’s totally out of her league. But as she discovers that maybe intensity isn’t always a good thing, it’s yet another relationship she feels is spiraling out of her control.It’ll take a new role on the school newspaper and a new job at her mom’s tattoo shop for Kellie to realize that defining herself both outside and within her family is what can finally allow her to feel permanent, just like a tattoo.

Worth It


Nicki DeStasi - 2014
    The last thing she needs right now is a guy, especially one as sweet and sexy as Jed. When the attraction becomes too strong to resist, she gives into it. Even when she knows it’ll only end in disaster and leave her even more her scared and broken than she was before.Jed wants to find the right woman and he’s drawn to Anna by carnal magnetism, but she also brings out an Alpha side of him that he’s never known. When his alpha rears its head, it triggers memories in Anna and her carefully crafted wall of protection begins to show cracks.When fate and misunderstandings threaten the already delicate relationship, can they survive? When Anna’s demons threaten to be unearthed and Jed’s inner alpha only seem to make them worse, can they overcome?Is it even worth it?Warning: This book contains graphic violence, sex, and adult language

Tomorrow's Lies


S.R. Grey - 2015
    . . or anyone?Jaynie Cumberland has no idea how to trust again, so she’s given up on trying. Dumped in to the state foster care system at age fourteen, Jaynie spent three years treading water, just trying to get by. Still, Jaynie always knew she was broken in some way. After all, why did her own mother abandon her? And following a harrowing experience at her first foster home, Jaynie’s worst fears are confirmed, leaving her feeling worthless and shattered. Now Jaynie counts the days till she turns eighteen and can go out on her own. All she wants is to be free of everyone and everything. But before that can happen, she must make it through the next few months at one final foster home. There Jaynie meets a gorgeous, albeit rough-around-the-edges, boy who is dealing with the repercussions of his own turbulent past.Flynn O'Neill is immediately taken with this new, fragile girl. He becomes determined to show Jaynie there is more to life than hurt and pain. Unfortunately, this new home they live in, one that promised to be a haven for unwanted kids, is more like a living hell.So what do you do when you’re trapped and there’s no way out?What if you fall in love and protecting the other person becomes the most important thing in your life?What if something unthinkable happens, testing your love, and the stakes are raised higher than ever? Will you come out unscathed? Can today’s promises be kept? Or will they simply become more of tomorrow’s lies? Tomorrow’s Lies is a beautiful story of an all-consuming love and broken people building a family out of nothing. It's about never giving up, even in the face of adversity.*mature content and possible triggers*New Adult/Coming of Age Romance***2016 RWA RITA entry***NO cliffhanger!!

Down the Shore


Kelly Mooney - 2011
    One final summer with her best friend, Makenna down on the Jersey Shore is supposed to be her last hurrah before college. Her new job on the boardwalk, and their summer rental is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened in her follow the rules boring life. A fairytale believer of true love, and not the one night stand, Abby vows to keep her virginity until she meets the one. That is easier said than done when she has two boys competing for her time and affection. Never being inclined to be a notch on someone's bed post, the thought didn't bother her...much. She has no idea that Colin Murphy, a boy from Ireland had every intention of changing that from the moment he laid eyes on her. Knowing that he can break her heart, she tries to stay away from his Irish charms knowing it can’t last. Can their love survive the obstacles of one summer down the shore?

The Brave Line


Kate Stewart - 2017
    With a fresh perspective on life, she trades her tragic past in California for the coastal waters of Charleston. Fueled by a new career as a dispatcher, she’s determined not to let her scars weigh her down. She apologizes for nothing, especially her insatiable need for a certain police officer.Rowdy is a newly minted sergeant dedicated to his job, but the life of a Charleston police officer has never been more dangerous. With his need to take order of a city spiraling out of control, the last thing he wants is an entanglement with a mouthy dispatcher. But, there’s just one problem. He can’t get enough of her.As the heat rises between the unlikely pair, so does the tension.Three months of summer was all it took to shake their foundations, rattle their walls, and bring them crashing down.It was lust.It was love.It was real.And it would have been perfect . . . if it wasn't already over.Note to reader:This book has several elements and explores topics that some may consider triggers. For mature audiences only. Explicit sex, violence and language. (less)

Life's A Cappella


Yessi Smith - 2013
    How I lived without regrets. With constant laughter. Without any tears. I want to tell you how I lived each moment to the fullest. How each breath I took was fresh and full of life. With eagerness. Without any fear.I want to tell you all of that, but then my story would be masked with lies and not worth telling.My life didn’t start until I left my past. And I left everything. My mother, my friends, my name.My new name, the name everyone knows me by is Erin Lewis.Four years after finding the courage to leave her hometown in Alabama, Erin is finally happy with where her life has led her. Not only is she secure in her environment, but the relationships she has formed center her, making her forget how damaged she once was. Before she can fully settle into her new life, her past crashes into her present, unraveling a set of events that destroy the very foundation she has built her new life on.

Finding Us


Megan Smith - 2014
    If you're looking for a fantastic NA read, look no further than Finding Us. ~ #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Bet Rachel Van DykenFinding Us is sweet and romantic with a twist of suspense all wrapped into a summer romance.~ Heidi McLaughlin, USA Today Best Selling Author of The Beaumont SeriesMegan Smith's Finding Us will take you on a rollercoaster ride of angst, love and even hate. Jasmine and Knox's story will grab you on page one, so hang on tight, folks! ~ Ilsa Madden-Mills, AUTHOR OF VERY BAD THIGNSJasmine Jennings is running from her past, something she never wants to deal with again. Starting out fresh in a new city, life is finally looking up.That is until she meets him — Knox Mitchell. She tries to elude him, but he’s everywhere. When she finally gives in, he begins to avoid her.One tragic night, Knox’s future was ripped away. His body and soul crave revenge from the man who took everything away from him, but when Jasmine crashes into Knox’s muddled life, he’s torn. What is he supposed to do about falling for the girl who was to be part of his plan for retaliation?When all secrets are revealed can they move forward without the past destroying any hopes of having a future?

Watch over Me


Tara Sivec - 2013
    She has a family that loves her, friends that make her laugh, and she's wrapped up in the excitement of graduating high school and going off to college to pursue her dream of becoming an author. When her mother, who also happens to be Addison's best friend, dies unexpectedly, her world comes to a crashing halt. Death changes everyone... To make the pain go away, Addison and her father travel down separate, dark paths. She chooses to end her grief forever, while he drowns his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. How do you learn to live again when the most important person in your life is gone? Addison struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. Instead of getting back to being the carefree teenager she once was, she's stuck handling all of the responsibilities that should have been her father's. She has no time to grieve, no time for emotions, and no time for happiness...until Zander Reinhardt walks in. All it takes is one little handwritten note on a napkin to kick-start her back to life and help her realize that maybe there's more to that life than pain. But can it really be that simple? Can she really trust this man who makes her feel alive again for the first time in a year?

I Like You, I Love Her


J.R. Rogue - 2018
    Before he kissed me in front of the entire school. As he danced with her the night of our senior prom.After his younger brother, Ben, made me smile through my tears.“It’ll never work with him. He will never leave her…”It’s been more than ten years since I let myself fall for the boy whose heart wasn’t mine. And the Prom King’s lips are finally mine to kiss.“When I came back here I wasn’t expecting to see you, and when I did, I felt this tumble…”But he’s still keeping me in the shadows.As his younger brother breaks me open in the day.BenYou shouldn’t covet whom your brother desires.Our pastor father would say he taught me better than that.But I knew over ten years ago my brother didn’t deserve her.And nothing’s changed since she came back into both our lives.“You think what you felt for my brother back then was love, but what I felt can’t be the same?”I’m still the one who makes her laugh—the one who challenges her.And he’s still the one treating her like a dirty little secret.“You really are a watercolor, Severin Thompson. I can read you…”You shouldn’t covet whom your brother desires.This summer, I’ll remind him of that.

Two Roads


L.M. Augustine - 2013
    Friendless and alone, she takes on the mean girl role in hopes it will make her feel better--and Logan serves as the perfect target. He infuriates her with his obnoxiously long lashes, his all too perfect dimpled smile, and his complete lack of personality outside of his intelligence. It doesn't hurt that he's part of the reason her brother is dead, either. So Cali hates him, and he returns the favor. Thus, their prank-filled, insult-driven rivalry is born, and torturing Logan quickly becomes the highlight of her life.But when Cali's parents set them up on a blind date, she begins to realize Logan might not be as boring as she always thought. He shares her love of poetry, takes a sadistic pleasure in making fun of crepes, and he makes her blush when he calls her smile pretty.And hey, maybe those long lashes of his aren't that obnoxious after all… Two Roads is New Adult Romance about finding love, standing out, and learning to embrace who you are. It contains some language and mild sexual content.

The Burning Star


Jessie Lane - 2012
    along with a monster. The chance encounter led her to an unbelievable world that shouldn't have existed, a place where myths and fairytales were real and, in some cases, deadly. Kay knew she would have to brave this new world if she hoped to find a cure for her terminal cancer. With a strange yet beautiful cast of characters, Kay uncovered truths that would change her life forever. However, before it was all over, she discovered she wasn't the only one with problems. Yet another seventeen-year-old young woman was fighting for her life. Kira had grown up in a magical world. Despite this, her life had not been filled with many good things. She considered her empty, emotional solitude the only positive aspect of her life and fought daily battles to escape abuse and torture. Trained to be an expert assassin, she was charged with kidnapping Kay and delivering her to Kira's master, Lord Donovan. As the two young women set forth on their journeys, their paths would cross in unimaginable ways. There was only one question that remained: who would come out alive? WARNING: This is a upper ya/young adult/new adult fictional story that includes some explicit language, graphic violence, and mild sexual situations. Recommended for ages sixteen and up.