Book picks similar to
Within Reach by Sarah Mayberry


romance
contemporary-romance
contemporary
harlequin

Once Upon a Real Good Time


Lauren Blakely - 2018
    Oops. But I didn't know that the night I met Campbell. All I knew was he played my body the same way he played a guitar — like he owned it. My libido is still high-fiving me after being self-served for too many years, and we’re both ready for another night or two of fun, especially since we don’t just have chemistry in bed — we connect over everything. That is, until I learn he’s the man who’ll be coming to my house twice a week to teach my son — the best music lessons money can buy. Time to turn down the volume on our shenanigans. Only that’s easier said than done. *** I can rock a guitar solo in front of thousands, I can write chart-topping tunes, and I can absolutely stop thinking about my student’s mother naked. After all, I’m a single parent too, and I know what it’s like to put your kid first. That’s what I do every damn day. Trouble is, now that I’ve had Mackenzie, it’s hard — and I do mean hard — to stop wanting her. Harder too when I get to know her, and learn she’s an awesome mom, a great friend, and, oh yeah, she happens to get along perfectly with my daughter. All we have to do is set some rules. No dating, no nookie when the kids are around, and no one gets hurt. It’s all working out beautifully. Until we start breaking the rules, one by one. Making music with her in the bedroom is easy. But will we be more than just a real good time when the music stops?

Inevitable


Angela Graham - 2013
    Logan will never be able to give her what she wants…love.

The Story of Us


Tara Sivec - 2017
    That's how long I survived in that hellhole. They tried to break me, but I resisted. And I owe it all to the memory of warm summer nights, the scent of peaches, and the one woman who loved me more than I ever deserved to be loved. Now, I'll do anything to get back to her. Only Shelby Eubanks isn't the girl I left behind all those years ago. She's someone else, a stranger. My Shelby-my little green-eyed firecracker-would never give up her dreams, would never disappear into her mother's ambitions. But I won't give up on her. On us. I may be broken, and scarred, and not the man I used to be, but I will do whatever it takes to remind her of the story of us.

Time Out


Jill Shalvis - 2012
    Everyone welcome!NHL coach Mark Diego's plan to spend his off-season volunteering in his hometown goes awry when he learns that not only is he coaching teenage girls, but that the program is coordinated by energetic (and five feet two inches of trouble) coordinator Rainey Saunders, his childhood friend—and the woman he could never stand to see dating any other guy….When their tempers flare, Mark and Rainey discover their fireworks don't just burn angry—they burn very, very hot! But that'll just sweeten the victory. Because Mark always plays to win. And with Rainey, he's planning on playing very dirty, too…

Happily Letter After


Vi Keeland - 2020
    It was from his daughter.  A sweet little girl named Birdie Maxwell who’d written to the magazine that I worked for.You see, once a year, my employer fulfilled a few wishes for readers. Only that column didn’t start up again for months.So I fulfilled some of her wishes myself. It was harmless…so I thought. Until one day I took things too far.While anonymously granting yet another of Birdie’s wishes, I got a look at her father. Her devastatingly handsome, single dad father. I should have stopped playing fairy godmother then. I should have left well enough alone. But I just couldn’t help myself.  I had a connection to this girl. One that had me acting irrationally.Like showing up on their doorstep.

A Place to Call Home


Deborah Smith - 1997
    No one in Dunderry, Georgia--least of all Claire's family--could understand the bond between these two mavericks. But Roan and Claire belonged together...until the dark afternoon when violence and terror overtook them, and Roan disappeared from Claire's life. Now, two decades later, Claire is adrift, and the Maloneys are still hoping the past can be buried under the rich Southern soil. But Roan Sullivan is about to walk back into their lives....By turns tender and sexy and heartbreaking and exuberant, A Place to Call Home is an enthralling journey between two hearts--and a deliciously original novel from one of the most imaginative and appealing new voices in Southern fiction.

Once Upon a Rose


Laura Florand - 2015
    That old, half-forgotten heritage in a valley of roses seems like a good place to soothe a wounded heart. She certainly doesn’t expect the most dangerous threat to her heart to pounce on her as soon as she sets foot on the land.He wants them back.Matt didn’t mean to growl at her quite that loudly. But—his roses! She can’t have his roses. Even if she does have all those curls and green eyes and, and, and…what was he growling about again?Or maybe he just wants her.When an enemy invades his valley and threatens his home, heart, and livelihood, Matthieu Rosier really knows only one way to defend himself.It might involve kissing.

The Perfect Play


Jaci Burton - 2011
    But a sexy, determinedly single mom just might be the one to throw him off his game...For years Mick has been taking full advantage of the life available to a pro athlete: fame, fortune, and a different girl in every city. But when he meets and beds confident, beautiful event planner Tara Lincoln, he wants much more than the typical one-night stand. Too bad Tara's not interested in getting to know football's most notorious playboy any better.As the single mother of a teenage son, the last thing Tara needs is the jet-set lifestyle of Mick Riley; even though their steamy and passionate one-night stand was unforgettable. Tara's life is complicated enough without being thrust into the spotlight as Mick's latest girl du jour. Tara played the game of love once and lost big, and she doesn't intend to put herself out there again, especially with a heartbreaker like Mick.But when Mick sets his mind to win, nothing will stop him. And he has the perfect play in mind.

Running on Empty


L.B. Simmons - 2013
     Beautiful and loving husband.Three gorgeous little girls. Successful career. The only thing missing was the white picket fence. I really wanted that fence. Three years ago, I lost that life. I lost my husband. And I lost myself. But, eventually, I found my way through the darkness. I’ve made peace with my new life. I have my girls, and that’s all that matters. They are my world. I have no illusions of ever falling in love again or getting whisked away on a white horse. But then he came back into my life. On a freakin’ motorcycle.There’s no way I’ll let him turn my life completely upside down. Absolutely no way. The question is…How long can I keep pretending that I’m happy with my life being right-side up?

In Too Deep


Tracey Alvarez - 2013
    He broke her heart to save his own.As an elite police diver tormented by her father's fatal drowning accident, Piper Harland is forced back to the one place she'd sworn never to return. Her tiny hometown on New Zealand’s isolated Stewart Island hasn’t much changed in the nine years she’s been gone. But she soon comes face to face with everything she ran from — grief, regret, and the scalding pain of a love lost.The one place Ryan "West" Westlake belongs is a hundred feet below Stewart Island’s dangerous waters with one breath of air and only a line to guide him to the surface. Down deep he can forget his mentor’s death. Down deep he can forget the one woman who seared his heart when she left. Only now she’s back, and as it turns out, he hasn’t forgotten a thing.Desire and tempers flare when West and Piper cross paths again. Can they face their past and be together? Two hearts. A second chance. Everything on the line...IN TOO DEEP is the first story in Tracey Alvarez's best-selling Stewart Island books set against the stunning backdrop of Aotearoa, New Zealand. If you like heartwarming, sexy and sweet small town romances with a touch of comedy, you'll love sharing the journey with these authentic men and women struggling to find their special someone.Intended for mature 18+ aged readers who enjoy their feel good romance on the steamier side.

Have My Baby


Taryn Quinn - 2017
    But Seth is a workaholic millionaire and doesn't have time to meet someone. Someone who won't screw him over, like his kid's mother.  Only problem is this someone has secretly been in love with him since high school. I've been hiding it forever, not wanting to risk our friendship. Sleeping with him is my biggest fantasy. And I've fantasized plenty, being a virgin. Another thing he doesn't know.Now I have to make the biggest decision of my life.Is having a no strings attached affair just to make a baby better than never having him at all?Author’s note: this case of insta-love and insta-naked-time has been brewing for over a decade. Babymaking has never been so hot…or so funny…or so complicated.Author’s Note part deux: Have My Baby is a standalone rom com with a romantic HEA ending and no cliffhanger.

Abruption


Riley Mackenzie - 2016
    Guy Hunter secures his dream fellowship with a beautiful free spirit by his side. Two unexpected blue lines don't even shake his resolve—he is on his way to having it all. Until he isn’t.Abruption: a sudden breaking offJules Chiappetti loves her boisterous over-involved Italian family but is determined to pave her own way. An MBA and boardroom job is her ticket out. Until it isn’t. Abruption: an unexpected eventFour years later, Guy is consumed by the challenges of being a single father, still struggling with the aftermath that derailed his life and left his son with special needs. He doesn't realize his world went dark the same day his wife's did, until Jules, his son's new nurse, shows him the light.

Left Drowning


Jessica Park - 2013
    Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family’s traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning. *This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.Note: due to mature content recommended for Ages 17+

The Best Kind of Trouble


Lauren Dane - 2014
    After a turbulent childhood and her once-wild ways, life is now under control. But trouble has a way of turning up unexpectedly—especially in the tall, charismatically sexy form of Paddy Hurley…. And Paddy is the kind of trouble that Natalie has a taste for. Even after years of the rock and roll lifestyle, Paddy never forgot the two wickedly hot weeks he once shared with Natalie. Now he wants more… even if it means tempting Natalie and her iron-grip control. But there's a fine line between well-behaved and misbehaved—and the only compromise is between the sheets!

Paradise


Judith McNaught - 1991
    A long way from the country club where, feeling like an outsider, he had dared to fall in love with a beautiful blonde named Meredith Bancroft, and known a once-in-a-lifetime passion and betrayal that still haunted his memory... Now world leaders courted him, the media watched his every move, and he was ready to move in on the Bancroft empire.A cool, poised executive in her family's legendary department store chain, Meredith had once defied her father for the sexually magnetic, intense Matt Farrell -- and their brief, ill-fated marriage was the disastrous outcome. Now, as the Bancroft firm is threatened by a hostile takeover, Meredith is forced to confront Matt. As tensions build between them, bittersweet memories rise to the surface, leaving them suspicious, restless, and uncertain. Will they be able to believe in each other -- and grasp the tender miracle that is before them?