Book picks similar to
Bright Midnight by Karina Halle


romance
contemporary
contemporary-romance
second-chance

Runaway Road


Devney Perry - 2020
    She ran away from home at sixteen, escaping parents more interested in drugs than their daughter. She doesn’t have loving siblings or an adorable pet. Her only family is the five other runaway kids who shared her junkyard home. Life pulled them all in separate directions, taking her to Boston. For a short time, she thought she’d found something permanent. But after a devastating divorce, she’s running away again, this time to find a lost friend. She’s driving across the country in her convertible. As a teenager, the rusty car was her shelter. As an adult, it’s her ride to freedom. Except one flat tire derails her trip. Her life collides with Brooks Cohen. They walked away from the first crash. The second might destroy them both.

Someone Else's Ocean


Kate Stewart - 2018
    Thomas, I was six years old and we shared a summer beneath the stars.The second time I met Ian Kemp, he was a shell of the boy I once knew. Turbulent and infuriating, he refused my friendship at every turn. Like me, he was a casualty of life’s cruelty, but we were planets apart. We’d both sought refuge on the island, hoping to find our anchor. Instead, we found each other and managed to reclaim our stars...until we both got swept away.

Rookie Move


Sarina Bowen - 2016
    But on the first day he’s called up to the newly franchised Brooklyn Bruisers, Leo gets checked on both sides, first by the team’s coach—who has a long simmering grudge, and then by the Bruisers’ sexy, icy publicist—his former girlfriend Georgia Worthington.Saying goodbye to Leo was one of the hardest things Georgia ever had to do—and saying hello again isn’t much easier. Georgia is determined to keep their relationship strictly professional, but when a press conference microphone catches Leo declaring his feelings for her, things get really personal, really fast....

Up in the Treehouse


K.K. Allen
    Then again, she never imagined she would fall in love with him either. When she finally reveals her feelings, rejection shatters her, rendering her vulnerable and sending her straight into the destructive arms of the wrong guy.The Rhodes twins never saw the betrayal coming. Chloe has always been their forbidden fantasy--sweet, beautiful, and tempting. But soon the lines between family, friendship, and love become as tangled as the roots of the treehouse they once shared.Now it's too late . . .Four years after a devastating tragedy, Chloe and Gavin find themselves crashing back into each other's lives. Haunted by the past, they're forced to come to terms with all that has transpired to find the peace they deserve. Except they can't seem to get near each other without combatting an intense emotional connection that brings them right back to where it all started . . . their childhood treehouse.Chloe still holds her secrets close, but this time she isn't the only one with something to hide. Can their deep-rooted connection survive the destruction of innocence?

Slip of the Tongue


Jessica Hawkins - 2016
    Nathan Hunt has her coffee waiting every morning. He holds her hand until the last second. He worships the Manhattan sidewalk she walks on. Until one day, he just…stops. And Sadie finds herself in the last place she ever expected to be. Lonely in her marriage.When rugged and sexy Finn Cohen moves into the apartment across the hall, he and Sadie share an immediate spark. Finn reveals dreams for a different life. Sadie wants to save her marriage. Their secrets should keep them apart, not ignite a blistering affair. But while Sadie’s marriage runs colder by the day, she and Finn burn hotter.Her husband doesn’t want her anymore.The man next door would give up everything to have her.Slip of the Tongue is a standalone contemporary romance. The second book in the series, The First Taste, is a standalone about a different couple.

Talk Bookish to Me


Kate Bromley - 2021
    Kara Sullivan’s life is full of love—albeit fictional. As a bestselling romance novelist and influential bookstagrammer, she’s fine with getting her happily-ever-after fix between the covers of a book. But right now? Not only is Kara’s best friend getting married next week—which means big wedding stress—but the deadline for her next novel is looming, and she hasn’t written a single word. The last thing she needs is for her infuriating first love, Ryan Thompson, to suddenly appear in the wedding party. But Ryan’s unexpected arrival sparks a creative awakening in Kara that inspires the steamy historical romance she desperately needs to deliver. With her wedding duties intensifying, her deadline getting closer by the second and her bills not paying themselves, Kara knows there’s only one way for her to finish her book and to give her characters the ever-after they deserve. But can she embrace the unlikely, ruggedly handsome muse—who pushes every one of her buttons—to save the wedding, her career and, just maybe, write her own happy ending?"A fun and sexy romp, with chemistry that gave me all the feels!" —Jennifer Probst, New York Times bestselling author of Our Italian Summer"Add this book to your TBR list immediately!" —Sarah Smith, author of Faker

Worth the Wait


Claudia Connor - 2017
    When he finds out just how badly, it will break his too. Nick Walker found the love of his life when he was just nineteen.Found her.Loved her.Lost her.It's been ten years since Nick watched the only woman he ever loved walk out of his life. Now this FBI Special Agent will do anything to win her back.But it won’t be easy…Mia’s heart was shattered by Nick. They'll have to face their painful past if they want a future, including Mia's own secret about that day it all fell apart. Do you believe in second chances?

Where Good Girls Go To Die


Holly Renee - 2017
    He was my brother's best friend and the definition of unavailable. But I didn't care. I had loved him for as long as I could remember. He was worth the risk. He was worth everything. But then he broke my heart as easily as I fell for him. He watched me fall, spiraling out of control, and as I reached for him, he wasn't there to catch me. So I ran. Four years later, I never expected to see him again. He was still my brother's best friend, and he was more unavailable than ever. He looked every bit the bad boy I knew he was, covered in tattoos and a crooked smile. Guarding my heart from him was top priority because Parker James was where good girls go to die. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't a good girl anymore.

Coming Up Roses


Staci Hart - 2019
    Maybe it’s the day-to-day grind. Maybe it’s that client who never knows what they want, or the guy who always cooks fish in the microwave.But not me. I love every corner of the Longbourne Flower Shop, every flower, every petal, every stem. I love the greenhouse, and I love Mrs. Bennet, my boss. I love creating, and I love being a florist. I don’t hate anything at all.Except for Luke Bennet.The Bennet brothers have come home to help their mom save the flower shop, and Luke is at the helm. His smile tells a tale of lust, loose and easy. He moves with the grace of a predator, feral and wild. A thing unbridled, without rules or constraint. When he comes home to save Longbourne, I almost can’t be mad at him. Almost.He doesn’t remember that night I’ll never forget. That kiss, touched with whiskey and fire. It branded me like a red-hot iron. But it meant nothing to him.Everyone hates part of their job, and I hate Luke Bennet.Because if I don’t, I’ll fall in love with him.

The Ones Who Got Away


Roni Loren - 2018
    The man approaching was nothing like the boy she'd known. The bulky football muscles had streamlined into a harder, leaner package and the look in his deep green eyes held no trace of boyish innocence.It's been twelve years since tragedy struck the senior class of Long Acre High School. Only a few students survived that fateful night—a group the media dubbed The Ones Who Got Away.Liv Arias thought she'd never return to Long Acre—until a documentary brings her and the other survivors back home. Suddenly her old flame, Finn Dorsey, is closer than ever, and their attraction is still white-hot. When a searing kiss reignites their passion, Liv realizes this rough-around-the-edges cop might be exactly what she needs...

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.

Richer Than Sin


Meghan March - 2018
    Our family feud is the stuff of legends.Ten years ago, Whitney Gable caught me off guard with her long legs and grab-you-by-the-balls blue eyes.I didn’t know or care what her name was.Like any Riscoff worth the family name, I went after what I wanted. We burned like a flash fire until she married another man.She hates me, and she should.I objected on her wedding day.Now she’s home, with those same long legs and man-eater stare, but there’s no ring on her finger.They say a Riscoff and a Gable can never live happily ever after . . . but I’m not done with Whitney Gable.I’ll never be done with her.

The Good Luck Charm


Helena Hunting - 2018
    He might think they can pick up just where they left off, but she's no longer that same girl and never wants to be again. Ethan Kane wants his glory days back. And that includes having Lilah by his side. With her, he was magic. They were magic. All he has to do is make her see that. Just when Lilah might finally be ready to let him in, though, she finds out their reunion has nothing to do with her and everything to do with his game. But Ethan's already lost her once, and even if it costs him his career, he'll do anything to keep from losing her again.

Wicked Beautiful


J.T. Geissinger - 2015
    What she doesn’t have—and doesn’t want—is a husband. Fifteen years ago her high school flame broke her heart so badly she swore she’d never love again. Drop-dead sexy restauranteur and infamous playboy Parker Maxwell has only three rules for the women he dates: no questions about his past, no expectations for the future, and no spending the night. When he meets Victoria, however, he’s willing to break his own rules if it means sating the explosive desire she arouses in him. What he doesn’t know is that the alluring Victoria Price used to be the mousy Isabel Diaz, the girl he deflowered and dumped long ago. Presented with a perfect opportunity for revenge, Victoria decides the game is on. But when her connection with Parker proves more than just skin deep, she has to make a choice: continue with her plan for payback, or risk her career, her reputation, and her heart by taking a second chance on love?

Focused


Karla Sorensen - 2020
    requited. That day was bad enough, but things just got worse.Noah Griffin turned himself into one of the best football players in the country and a transfer to the Washington Wolves— the team I work for—lands him on my doorstep. The timing couldn't be worse, because my boss just handed me the opportunity of a lifetime. And that promotion rides squarely on Noah's big, muscular, condescending shoulders.He wants nothing to do with me, and the feeling is so very mutual. But for the sake of my career, I can ignore all those things about him that drive me insane. His eyes. His mouth. His big, big … hands. Until one day, we can’t ignore them anymore.You know what they say about the line between love and hate though? They’re so very right.