Tag: Small Town
Twisted Bargain by Alexandria Bishop
I’ve been cleaning up after my father for most of my life. Between his drug and gambling addictions, it seems like whatever I do, we’re always drowning. Until he does the unforgivable.
Trading me to the tortured billionaire in our small town. His debts are erased and I have to do whatever Marco Blackstone demands. I should have run screaming when the first task he gave me was to clean the blood stains from his expensive five piece suit.
When I overhear a conversation I shouldn’t, our bargain becomes even more twisted when Marco fakes an engagement to save my life. And I become even more trapped in this world I never wanted any part of.
I don’t know who I can trust. But I’m running out of time when my fake engagement turns into anything but and I just might have to say “I Do,” for real.
The Field of Wrongdoing by Lili St. Germain
How well can you really know someone?
The smallest towns hold the darkest secrets. And the people you least suspect are the ones you should fear the most.
When Cassie’s friend disappears, Cassie knows all too well the tragic end Jennifer has probably met. After all, Cassie is the one who found the last murdered girl in the field on her boyfriend Leo’s property nine years ago.
She never believed the love of her life was capable of such a brutal crime. Not even after Leo went to prison for an unrelated crime. But now he’s back, released on parole, and another girl has gone missing . . .
USA Today bestselling author Lili St. Germain delivers a terrifying, unpredictable thrill ride that explores how far one woman is willing to go to discover the truth – and the brutal betrayals she unearths along the way.
Perfect Secret by Molly McLain
A fake relationship with a sexy cowboy in a small town is never a good idea…
-Alana-
After high school, my plan was to leave the small town of Mason Creek and never look back. I thought I’d work my way through college while my long-time, bull rider boyfriend chased his rodeo dreams and took me along for the ride.
My own dreams of becoming his publicist and living the high life together on the ABR circuit were crushed when it became clear that my eight seconds was up. The buckle bunnies were suddenly more appealing than the girl with her nose buried in the books.
I’ve sworn off men, especially cowboys and bull riders.
That is, until I walk in on one in my shower, naked, wet, and built like he could break my heart… and my bed.
-Holden-
The rodeo has been my whole world, and all it took was one false accusation to bring it crumbling down. I cleared my name, but the organization I’ve given my life and my body to for the past seven years doesn’t give a damn. They don’t want the drama and right now they don’t want me.
That’s how I ended up in Mason Creek, hiding from the cameras while the dust settles and I can reclaim my reputation and my rank in the ABR. The last thing I need is to get messed up with a local girl, especially one who hates cowboys–bull riders in particular.
Our relationship may be just for show, but I see the opportunity for what it is…The chance to keep my secret a little longer and prove to Alana that maybe her problem with bull riders is simple…
She hasn’t ridden the right one yet.
The Outlaw by Jennifer Millikin
Bestselling author Jennifer Millikin delivers an emotional small-town romance about a misunderstood man and the woman who can set him free.
There’s a thin line between being a hero and a villain, and I’m well aware I walk right down the middle of it. My reputation precedes me, even when I’m making a bad choice for the right reason. This is how I wind up in the back of a police car late one night.
My infamous last name keeps my record clean, with a single caveat: community service at a ranch recently purchased by Jo Shelton. I think I’d rather go to jail than serve time with the woman who has made it clear she can’t stand me, even though we used to be friends.
Despite the tense atmosphere and how she keeps me at arms’ length, I show up every day, ready to work. Quickly I learn a valuable lesson: while it’s difficult being around someone I don’t like, it’s far more difficult being around someone I find myself intensely attracted to, but cannot have.
Because Jo, the woman who’s driving me crazy with her quiet strength and beautiful face, is in a relationship. With a man who, I’d like to point out, is not out there getting his hands dirty on his girlfriend’s ranch. Possession is 9/10th’s of the law, and as far as I’m concerned, I’m currently in possession of Jo’s time and attention.
One day, the unexpected happens. Her blue eyes pierce my callused exterior, seeing deep down into a wound I work hard to hide. It’s in this moment, and so many that follow, that I become certain there’s no hope left for me. I’m in love with Jo, and I’m desperate to show her I’m someone worthy of her love in return.
Lucky for me, nobody rises to the occasion quite like an outlaw.
*Author’s Note: The Hayden Family series is standalone, but for maximum enjoyment it is recommended they are read starting with book one.
A Greene Family Summer Bash by Piper Rayne
Catch up with the Greene family during their annual summer party.
There’s sure to be surprise announcements and unexpected guests!
I can’t refuse, which involves me pretending we’re happily married for three months.
Yeah, a lot of things can change in that short amount of time, most importantly catching feelings for a man whose lifestyle I despise.
Bayou Beauty by Lexi Blake
Love returns to Louisiana’s Butterfly Bayou in a new small-town contemporary romance sure to charm hearts, from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake.
Sylvie Martine was prepared to take Washington D.C. by storm, but she put that dream on hold when her beloved hometown of Papillon, Louisiana, needed her most. Now Sylvie’s the mayor of the tiny town on the bayou that holds her heart. But for Sylvie, this can only be a pit stop on the way to bigger and better things. The last thing she needs is an old love to resurface and threaten her goals.
Rene Darois’s whole life has been about serving his family–no matter how much it hurts. He’s used to sacrificing for his large extended family and the company his grandfather created. But he can’t believe the latest demand: he needs to find a wife and quick or he could lose it all. It would be a horrible situation. But he has just the solution: his high school sweetheart. Sylvie is everything he wants in a wife–smart, funny, and caring–and he planned to woo her anyway.
Now he just has to convince Sylvie that their love is worth it all, or he and the bayou will lose her forever.
Beneath the Surface by Emily McIntire
Lily
We all have scars.
Mine are hidden beneath ink and smiles,
hard to see and easy to feel.
But the most painful ones are deeper.
Branded on my soul, reminding me of what I’ve lost.
I’m broken.
Sick.
Disturbed.
Then he shows up, and loves my jagged pieces.
But monsters linger long after they’re gone,
and sometimes you can’t outrun their shadows.
No matter how much you ache to forget.
Mason
We all have secrets.
Mine are hidden beneath ink and lies,
hard to find and easy to fake.
But the most painful ones are bigger.
Branded on my soul, reminding me of what I’ve lost.
I’m an enigma.
A mirage.
A liar.
Then I find her, and she loves my hidden pieces.
But history lingers long after you’ve gone,
and sometimes you can’t outrun your past.
No matter how much you want to give her forever.
*Beneath the Surface is a full-length, interconnected standalone and book four in the Sugarlake Series. The series can be read in any order, however it is highly recommended to start with book one (Beneath the Stars) to enhance your reading experience.*
*Beneath the Surface features strong language, explicit sexual scenes, and mature/disturbing situations that are triggering for some. Reader discretion is advised.*
My Vegas Groom by Piper Rayne
Waking up next to a stranger wearing a wedding ring was not on the itinerary.
I came to Las Vegas for a quick girl’s trip, but somehow ended up a married woman. What I thought would stay in Vegas followed me back to my small town of Sunrise Bay, Alaska.
Of course, my new husband—MMA champion fighter, Logan Stone—couldn’t find me alone at my house to tell me he wants to give our impromptu nuptials a shot. He has to tell me in front of my entire family and half the town.
The two of us couldn’t be more opposite, but he offers me a deal I can’t refuse which involves me pretending we’re happily married for three months. Yeah, a lot of things can change in that short amount of time, most importantly catching feelings for a man whose lifestyle I despise.
Befallen by Dr. Rebecca Sharp
From bestselling author, Dr. Rebecca Sharp, comes an emotional, second-chance standalone romance in the Carmel Cove series.
It took only a matter of moments to turn Cambria Mariano into a survivor.
Moving back home, a ghost of her former self, Cammie hoped family and a familiar routine would help her find a new normal.
But months and miles couldn’t erase the trauma that had befallen her.
Something needed to change. Cammie knows she needs to fight for a stronger version of herself before she loses everything. Unfortunately, the only way to hone that fight has a name: Bennett Covington, her new martial arts instructor and the golden boy whose heart she broke.
Benny has always had his eye on the shy baker’s daughter. Though the spark between them burns hotter than ever, he sees Cammie’s heart is even more guarded. But Benny is a patient man; He’ll give her time to trust herself—and him.
As Cammie’s confidence returns, so do the demons from her past. To stop the crimes in town, she’ll have to speak up against those who will do anything to keep her silent. And when she does, she’ll risk not only her new life but her second chance at love.
Warning: This novel contains references to subjects that may be sensitive to some readers.
Crazy for You by Lea Coll
She’s living her dream, his job is to make it come true – but can one renovation change the future?
Nolan
The job was to renovate a bed and breakfast, not to fall head over tool belt for the sexy proprietor and single mom. Juliana Breslin is sassy, witty, determined and has the two most amazing twin daughters. Two girls that have wrapped their way around all my fingers.
The only problem is -I don’t do relationships and I don’t like being tied down. She’s stubborn and feisty and it doesn’t make sense at all. My defenses were firmly in place but Juliana and her daughters have scaled the walls and landed firmly in my heart.
I’ll do anything for Juliana and her girls, except for being the man in her life.
Juliana
When I finally waved goodbye to my cheating ex, I couldn’t wait to live my dream. Renovating a bed and breakfast with two girls is no easy task, especially after the first contractor ran off with my money leaving me literally in the trenches.
Nolan Morison was not what I had in mind when I hired on a new contractor. He’s stubborn, irritable and completely irresistible. I’ve fallen for the sawdust, tool belts and sexy scruff before…I won’t do it again.
The worst part (or best part) is that he’s drawn my shy daughter out of her shell when no one has managed that before.
But Nolan isn’t looking for a happily ever after, and I’m not willing to waste time on anything else.
The Maverick by Jennifer Millikin
From bestselling author Jennifer Millikin comes a heart-warming story about a single-father trying to start over, and the woman he falls for along the way.
I know you’ve heard about me.
The middle Hayden brother, the one whose wife ran off.
I’m not the short-tempered new owner of the Hayden Cattle Company, like my big brother. I’m not the wild stallion with a mystery ax to grind, like my little brother.
I’m Warner Hayden. Single-father, second-in-command of my family’s ranching dynasty, and my steady, secure world is about to get rocked by America’s sweetheart.
I’d heard Tenley Roberts was coming to our small town to film her latest movie, I just didn’t think she’d be driving a 1976 Bronco. So, no, I didn’t know the identity of the beautiful stranger I helped on the side of the road, but I figured it out a few days later. And I haven’t been the same since.
Tenley is unexpectedly funny, and complicated. I’m recently divorced, fearful of the way she makes my heart beat double-time, and gun-shy.
Despite all this, we’re too wrapped up in each other to care.
But then things with Tenley take an unforeseen turn, and everyone assumes I’ll take my licks the way I always have.
Not this time.
Maybe I am the nice, dependable brother.
But I’m also a Hayden, born and bred.
And this bull has horns.
Perfect Love by A.M. Hargrove
Jessie Phillips loves her life in Mason Creek and wouldn’t change a thing now that she’s the proud owner of Java Jitters, the popular local coffee house.
What she doesn’t love is the brooding doctor she meets at the local pub.
His rude comments about her coffee house leave her seething. If she never sees him again, it will be too soon.
Only an accident forces her kicking and screaming, metaphorically speaking, into his office in desperate need of his services.
Miles Carlson remembers the sexy brunette who reminds him why he’s sworn off women.
He moved to this sleepy town to provide a perfect life for his wife and son.
Only said wife didn’t appreciate the blue skies and picturesque landscape, and abandoned him and their five-year-old son, leaving him to forever renounce love.
So, even though he’s forced to treat the sassy woman he’s undeniably attracted to, he has no plans on acting on it.
Except, there is one problem. The miniature version of himself has other plans. His playful interference melts Jessie’s outrage and Miles’s misery.
They say home is where the heart is …
These two clashing hearts may end up forging a perfect love.
All Rhodes Lead Here by Mariana Zapata
Losing people you love is hard.
Aurora De La Torre knows moving back to a place that was once home isn’t going to be easy.
Starting your whole life over probably isn’t supposed to be.
But a small town in the mountains might be the perfect remedy for a broken heart.
Checking out her landlord across the driveway just might cure it too.
Frayed by Laura Pavlov
Bad boy football star. Innocent girl next door. Two different worlds.
One small town. A million reasons why they should have stayed away from one another.
My life was mapped out for me before I even entered the world.
Who I’d date, where I’d attend college, what I’d be when I grew up.
But there was a time in everyone’s life when they’d face a fork in the road.
Should I go left, or should I go right?
It didn’t matter as long as I didn’t remain stagnant any longer.
Jett Stone opened me up to a whole new world.
Reminding me that it was okay to find my own way.
I could have roots in Willow Springs and still spread my wings and fly.
What I didn’t expect was to fall in love with the broody football player.
The boy I’d known since kindergarten.
The boy who had somehow become my everything.
Temptation at the Lake by Erin Swann
It was to be two months of recuperation. My massage therapist was supposed to be a woman.
Jordan
Being a woman on the force was tough enough. Then, I caught a bullet in the leg while taking down the bad guy. The Captain pulled my badge. Internal Affairs will be fair, he said. Fat chance of that. To avoid the media, I packed up to recuperate in the place I remembered being the happiest: the small town of Clear Lake.
My doctor’s orders were two months of physical therapy before my next checkup. The stretching, massage, and exercise would be tough if I was going to get in shape to be back on the force by then.
I expected the sunshine and clean air away from the city to make it all bearable. What I didn’t count on was him. Casey Benson became the devil driving my therapy. I alternated between hating the man and being seduced by him.
His pull was magnetic, but I didn’t understand the danger of a fling with this devil.
When I get pulled into his orbit and the town feud, everything changes.
Casey
Life had settled down. People in town had mostly forgotten about my past. I was the go-to guy when they needed help with fitness goals or injuries. Even the feud between our family and the Pollocks had cooled off.
Jordan’s arrival however upset the balance in my life. It was my job to help her recover from her injuries. She needed the right therapy, including daily massages, and I was the man for the job. Was it my fault that she thought Casey was a woman’s name when she booked me?
She had a job to get back to, but until then we could forget our past problems in each other’s company. Every minute with her, every word, and every touch became a drug I couldn’t get enough of.
When my little sister re-ignited the feud between our families by dating Lee Pollock. The fights between my brother Waylon and young Pollock escalated from words to bruises, to blood. Then Lee went missing, and my family all became prime suspects.
Events soon force an impossible choice, but I have to find a way to save Jordan.
Check out Temptation at the Lake today and see if love can find a way.
The Clear Lake Series follows the backcountry Bensons of Clear Lake as they deal with a disappearance in town which shatters the tranquility of their community and puts them in the cross-hairs of the local police chief.
When the Storm Breaks by Emery Rose
Our worlds never should have collided, but it seemed our paths were always destined to cross.
Brody McCallister was only supposed to be a means to an end. My golden ticket to get me closer to what I really needed—a way to make peace with what I’d done when I was eighteen, dirt poor, and left to fend for myself.
I only had six weeks in the middle of a hectic world tour to do it.
So the last thing I needed was to fall for a cocky cowboy. A walking contradiction with a charming grin, a dirty mouth, and a gift for healing wild and broken things.
His life was in Texas.
Mine was on the road.
He guarded his privacy fiercely.
I was constantly hounded by paparazzi.
Everyone warned me it could never work, that ultimately I’d be forced to choose—my music career or him.
I didn’t listen. I fell for him anyway.
Hook, line, and proverbial sinker.
But Brody was hiding secrets.
And when the storm finally broke, it destroyed everything in its wake … including us.
The Experiment by Amy Alves
*** A fake dating, neighbors, small-town romance ***
Emma embraces small-town life after leaving her old life and baggage behind. Embodying the social skills of a pineapple and coping mechanisms that veer toward avoidance, the start of her new life journey is bumpy. Determined to have the life she’s always secretly desired, Emma sets her sights on self-improvement, fulfillment… and her hot neighbor. Delving into the dating world with a history devoid of emotional connections, how does a woman who has never had a boyfriend gain relationship experience?
Maybe the answer is right next door.
Jess just wants his family to stop trying to change the way he lives his life. They don’t know why he no longer commits, why feeling that spark of something real makes him run the other way. He can’t trust his heart, so it’s best to ignore it. Until his quirky neighbor proposes an experiment. He’ll be her dating coach, and she’ll be his fake girlfriend.
When that spark appears, it’s only a matter of time before their whole experiment explodes.
THE EXPERIMENT is a 100,000 word small-town, steamy, slow-burn romance, with no cheating, no cliffhangers, and a HEA. The Landry Love Series is a set of interconnected, standalone, small-town romance novels.
Bayou Dreaming (Butterfly Bayou, #3) by Lexi Blake
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New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake’s heartfelt contemporary romance set in Louisiana’s Butterfly Bayou.
Roxanne King left the big city looking for a simpler life, but after years of proving herself on a SWAT team in New York City, being deputy in a sleepy Louisiana parish is something of an adjustment. She’s settling in, but she knows she made some mistakes in the beginning–Zep Guidry being the worst of them. Zep drifts through life on his looks and Cajun charm. Roxie learned the hard way he’s not for her.
Zep is a man who knows what he wants, and what he wants is Roxie. He’s just not sure how to get her. They spent one hot night together a year before and now all the lovely deputy seems interested in doing to him is arresting him. He’s not used to a woman he can’t charm, but Roxie seems immune. He’s determined to win her back by any means necessary. Including becoming the kind of man she desires.
And when Roxie’s past comes calling, it might be the opportunity Zep needs to show Roxie that the town bad boy might just be the man of her dreams.
Lost Without You (Annapolis Harbor, #2) by Lea Coll
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Avery
Opening a law firm isn’t at all what I thought it would be. The landlord is arrogant and irritating. Despite his sexy voice and smooth demeanor, I want to fight him at every turn. Everything with him is a battle–a battle I intend to win. After all, I’m an attorney who never backs down. But when he needs my help, I can’t possibly refuse. Who could? Thrown into a role he knows nothing about can’t be easy.
Beneath his gruff nature is a broken man who needs to be put back together. The last thing I will ever do is let someone destroy him more.
Griffin
A cheating fiancée and a backstabbing best friend are not the worst of my problems. When my brother dies, I’m thrust into the life of a single parent. In over my head, I’m forced to seek help from the lawyer who fights me every chance she can. Avery Arrington is a smart-mouthed, feisty woman, who can win my case. Powerful, intelligent, and sexy, I want her in ways I’ve sworn off for good.
But right now, it’s all about my nephew. He’s my top priority–the only thing that matters. Now, I have to put all of my faith and hope in Avery to save me—save us. I rarely trust anyone. But the truth is, without Avery, I’d be lost.