Books like 'If Only He Knew'

Readers who enjoyed If Only He Knew by Kelsey Hodge also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  romance  small town  friends-to-lovers  mlm  found-family  lgbtq  friendship  grief  forced-proximity 

  • To Catch a Firefly by Emmy Sanders

    To Catch a Firefly by Emmy Sanders

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    He was my beginning. And my never-ending. EllisThere’s a lot I’ve never told my best friend. The fact that I love him. That I miss him every day he’s gone. That, sometimes, I ache for him with a ferocity that leaves me breathless.Lucky Buchanan tore into my life as a boy, wild and daring, my opposite in every way. He drew me in, stole my heart without trying...
  • Broken Harbor by Catherine Cowles

    Broken Harbor by Catherine Cowles

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Since the moment our lives fell apart, the only thing that mattered was making a good life for my son. A life where he was happy and safe. I just never expected to find that safety with a hockey player known for his brutal dominance on the ice and his recklessness off it.But Cope Colson is so much more.The gentle way he makes sure we’re okay. The playful care he shows my son...
  • How to Say I Do by Tal Bauer

    How to Say I Do by Tal Bauer

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Opposites attract, sure. But when Manhattan glitz collides with Texas grit, will love be enough?Noël:Manhattan is my heart and soul. In the cutthroat world of elite public relations, I’m one of the princes. I manage global superstars, predict the up-and-coming trends, easy. And social media? That’s my specialty. I can make you, hon, and launch you straight to the stratosphere...
  • Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann

    Catch the Sun by Jennifer Hartmann

    Rated: 4.71 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    "Kissing you feels like catching the sun…" At seven years old, Ella Sunbury and Max Manning were inseparable—until life scattered them in different directions, forcing Ella to abruptly leave town. A decade later, she returns for their senior year of high school, moving in across the street from her childhood best friend. But she's not the same girl Max once knew...
  • Anti-Hero by Kelly Fox

    Anti-Hero by Kelly Fox

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Spoiler This isn't some sad exploration of my tragic past. I have a list of the people who bought and sold me. And they aren't getting a redemption arc. I was luckier than most. I was rescued by a team of guys who search out people like me, and now I get to work with them. But I'm not the hero of this story. I don't forgive. I don't forget...
  • If There's a Way by Jessie Walker

    If There's a Way by Jessie Walker

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    He was all I ever needed. Desperate. Shattered. Lost.I was a shell of who I once was.Until him...I was a fool to come back to Shiloh.An even bigger fool to stay.But when it comes to Waylon McAllister, I never stood a chance.He's damaged. Reckless. Toxic.A walking, talking grenade to my heart.But no matter how hard I try, I can't shake him...
  • The Art of Husbandry by Jay Hogan

    The Art of Husbandry by Jay Hogan

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    When life drowns you in lemons, to hell with making lemonade. I wanted to burn the whole world. But eighteen months from the day my life was torn apart, I’m tired of the anger. Tired of the nightmares. Tired of putting one foot in front of the other just trying to survive. Three months on a high country sheep station in the middle of nowhere is exactly the reboot I need. A chance to break free...
  • Romeo Falling by Jesse H. Reign

    Romeo Falling by Jesse H. Reign

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    What happens when he’s your Romeo…but you’re no Juliet? Romeo and I were friends long before we were lovers. Best friends. Ride or die. What started as an innocent kiss slowly unraveled and shattered, giving way to years of tears and total obsession.Now I’m back in the small town I call home, staring straight into the face of the only man I’ve ever loved…or hated...
  • The Fire by May Archer

    The Fire by May Archer

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    JAMIE Parker Hoffstraeder is gorgeous, cocky, and totally irrational. He also broke my heart when he left town eleven years, four months, and twenty-eight days ago. Not that I’m counting. I don’t mind admitting it: I was young. I got burned. I learned my lesson...
  • If Only In Our Dreams by Fae Quin

    If Only In Our Dreams by Fae Quin

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Sometimes a meet-cute, a long nap, and a sexy-ass bicep is just what the doctor ordered.Ben Montgomery - I’m not sure if I’ve ever believed in love at first sight. In my forty-five years on this earth, the only sort of love I’ve known is the unconditional, soul-healing kind I have for my twin daughters...
  • Thick as Thieves by Lucy Lennox

    Thick as Thieves by Lucy Lennox

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Julian:I've been in love with my best friend since forever. Okay, fine. Like, kindgergarten. It started out platonic, obviously, but then became... nope. Still platonic. The problem is that Parker Ellis has been straight since forever. And that makes it difficult to convince him the two of us are meant to be together.And now there's no point. All is lost...
  • Right as Raine by Lucy Lennox

    Right as Raine by Lucy Lennox

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    Tiller:As the first openly gay professional football player, I can’t afford to make any mistakes, on or off the field. And the absolute biggest mistake I could make right now would be to fall for Mikey Vining, my best friend, employee and, more importantly, Coach’s baby boy. I might fantasize about Mikey at night-—every night—but actually touching him would be a serious personal foul...
  • The Punk by Kelly Fox

    The Punk by Kelly Fox

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Punk Rock Superstar Collapses In Front Of Record CrowdHendrix Cavanaugh Rushed To Hospital In Mexico CityCavanaugh Leaves Hospital AMAI've loved Hendrix Cavanaugh since his high school mascot days, and seeing him grind himself down like this has been driving me up a wall. Now that he's collapsed on stage, I can't watch from the sidelines for a second longer...
  • The Skeptic by Kelly Fox

    The Skeptic by Kelly Fox

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    From USA Today Bestselling Author Kelly Fox comes a new series set in one of Central Texas's fastest-growing river towns.You've heard of those romances where the priest is seduced by the worldly outsider? Yeah, this isn't that.I'm a gay preacher with more tattoos than sense and more notches on my bedpost than years in the ministry. I'm also not totally settled on the existence of God...
  • Tide Over by Eve Holmes

    Tide Over by Eve Holmes

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The storm will always pass…Desperate to escape his pain, Liam Fraser returns to his home province of Nova Scotia—but not to the place he once called home. Instead, he finds himself in Torrin Cove, a tiny, remote fishing village that seems like the perfect place to hide from the painful memories he can’t outrun...
  • The Beautiful Mess by Aimee Nicole Walker

    The Beautiful Mess by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    A heroic, sworn bachelor risks his neck to save lives, but his heart needs a daring rescue.Kerry likes his beer cold, his coffee hot, and sex without strings. Running an emergency response crew takes up most of his time, and he reserves the rest for his family. Besides, he’s experienced enough heartache for two lifetimes and isn’t looking for more misery...
  • The Renegade Billionaire by Avery Maxwell

    The Renegade Billionaire by Avery Maxwell

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    He’s got two reasons for getting out of bed every morning: Running his family’s empire and ruining his father. Braxton Reyes doesn’t have time for anything else in his life. At least not until his grandfather’s will is read. The only man Braxton ever trusted has just derailed everything he’s worked for...
  • Sundae's Best by Riley Hart

    Sundae's Best by Riley Hart

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Grady Dalton is in a rut. He’s thirty-eight, without a boyfriend, and has yet to find the place that feels like home. The closest he ever got was his best friend, Nathan. But it’s been seven years since he passed, and life isn’t getting easier. That’s how he ends up in Briar County, hoping to grow roots in the place Nathan had loved...
  • Life after Love by J.J. Harper

    Life after Love by J.J. Harper

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    All he wanted was a new life, not a new love.MerrickMerrick has the perfect life: a husband, a baby, and a great future ahead of him. Until all that is ripped away, and he’s left alone with his daughter. After two years, he knows it’s time to move on. To find a new life for him and Willow. It comes in the shape of a derelict mill house nestled in the hills above a Devon seaside town...
  • Relief Pitcher by Lee Blair

    Relief Pitcher by Lee Blair

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    I thought I was helping him get his groove back. Turns out he’s helping me fall in love.TylerI have one rule when it comes to matters of my one and done. Consensually, of course. Fun with no complicated romantic feelings. Not that I’m built to experience those, anyway.After my car breaks down on a remote road, I follow a lumbersnack back to his creepy cabin for the cell service...
  • Starts With a Bang by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Starts With a Bang by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The best way to get over a cheating jerk is to get under someone new. Dominic isn’t looking for love or salvation at the Thirsty Cowboy. He needs a temporary escape from the drudgery his life has become, and the universe provides him with the sexiest distraction he’s ever seen. Sven is a sucker for sad eyes, thick thighs, and a Royal Cosmopolitan...
  • Oyster by Fearne Hill

    Oyster by Fearne Hill

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Low tides threw up all kinds of unexpected and random treasures. Wedding bands, hauls of driftwood, old bones worn smooth. Jaded oyster fisherman, Nico La Forge, had seen them all. Or so he believed. Until cold, bedraggled, beautiful Éti Salvador washed up on the shore. Nico had never been in love. Wasn’t even looking for love...
    Categorized as:
    mlm  lgbtq  sports  angst  slow-burn  grief  found-family  romance
  • Levi's Love by K.C. Wells

    Levi's Love by K.C. Wells

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Unrequited love hurts like hell Levi Brown has loved Noah White since he was a teenager, but Noah isn’t looking for a relationship. Every time Levi sees him, his heart aches for what it cannot have. Because dear Lord, he wants Noah, in his life, in his bed.Especially in his bed. The only reason Levi is still a virgin is because he was waiting for Noah. Except Noah doesn’t want him...
  • Hot Zone by Jacki James

    Hot Zone by Jacki James

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    If there is one thing Mars Allen knows, it’s that his best friend’s father, Samuel Sheridan, is totally off limits. Too bad the sexy fire chief would be the perfect Daddy. The release date on this book may change...
  • Black by Quin, Perin.

    Black by Quin, Perin.

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    “Meow!”There it was.The sound that made my knees buckle.He purred, neck stretched, eyes half-lidded.With those cat ears, in his hair.And the tail, that he flicked.A ray of sun in the drizzling rain. I’d been a traveler, floating adrift, while he’d stayed in one place. How was I supposed to know he’d become my anchor? My light. My everything...
  • The Contractor by Raleigh Ruebins

    The Contractor by Raleigh Ruebins

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    He’s my best friend, my best worker, and it was just a silly crush.Then he kissed me. Now it feels like he's mine…I’ve shown my best friend Tristan everything: how to use a circular saw, how to lay grout, and how to do a kitchen renovation right. On the job, we became close friends—then even closer as we learned to share a camping tent.It was all harmless. Just like my crush on him...
  • Healing the Twin by Nora Phoenix

    Healing the Twin by Nora Phoenix

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Everyone thinks they know me. Hell, I don’t even know who I am anymore.We were at the top. Tomás and Tiago Banner, the most famous twins in the world. The sexiest men alive. My whole identity was rooted in being the older brother, in taking care of my twin, in being a model.Until Tiago fell in love and left me on my own. Now I’m lost, drifting without an anchor. Hurting...
  • Take Me to the Edge by Kaci Rose

    Take Me to the Edge by Kaci Rose

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    This Storm's Story!A Mountain Man, Small Town, Military Romance...
  • Like I Needed by Charlie Novak

    Like I Needed by Charlie Novak

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    One night isn’t supposed to lead to love.Jamie Stone is rich, beautiful, and bored out of his skull. The past few years have been an endless round of parties, and the decadence has lost its lustre. When a late night decision to get away lands him in the small seaside town of Heather Bay, Jamie's convinced he's made a mistake.Heather Bay is no Ibiza, but it does have Will...
  • Friends Like Them by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Friends Like Them by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Owen Doyle’s rough beginnings taught him not to form attachments, yet he’s drawn to Tyler Booth like a magnet. Their relationship has blossomed from strangers to the best friends, with each twist in the journey weaving their connection tighter. But Owen has a six-year secret that’s become unbearably painful to keep...
  • Pure Country by Kelly Fox

    Pure Country by Kelly Fox

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    I’d sooner cage a wild bird than try to pin that cowboy down. But God, I want to make him mine.Our sizzling banter and filthy texts are the stuff of legends, but Rowdy is the king of one-night stands, and one night with him will never be enough.I crave a future with him, which is exactly why I’ve kept him at arm’s length...
  • The Creek by Riley Hart

    The Creek by Riley Hart

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Divorced for two years, August Reynolds needs a change. He and his teenage son, Reese, pack up and move to Briar County, the home August left at fourteen. He’s hoping it’ll help him and Reese connect again, that Reese will come into his own there the way August did. For him, it was all because of Clint Jones, his childhood best friend and first crush...
  • Navarro by Kelly Fox

    Navarro by Kelly Fox

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    My late wife made a bet with me: if I marry her brother, I have to take his last name. “That's the rule. You marry two Navarros, you become one of us.” Renée always did have a sense of humor—even as she was dying—but I’ll never love anyone the way I loved her. Falling for my brother-in-law? Psh. Desi’s almost twenty years younger than me and far too pretty. Besides, my son would never forgive me...
  • Tristan by Karla Sorensen

    Tristan by Karla Sorensen

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    There's one thing you should know about Tristan Whitfield: he’s been in love with Anna for years. There are two problems with that: she has no idea, and she's married. Or at least, she was. Anna Callahan knows three things about her brother’s friend, Tristan: he's quiet, incredibly handsome, and has a smolder that could set the room on fire...
  • Drawn to You by Jaclyn Quinn

    Drawn to You by Jaclyn Quinn

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Leaving his enormous family behind, native New Yorker, Elijah, decides to move to Brighton Pier for a fresh start. Being part of a large LGBTQ community and landing his dream job at Inkubus, a local tattoo shop, is too big of a draw for him to turn down...
    Categorized as:
    angst  friends-to-lovers  lgbtq  mlm  adult  audiobook  book  children
  • Meet Me in the Blue by A.M. Johnson

    Meet Me in the Blue by A.M. Johnson

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Meet me… in the place where the sun kisses the horizon and sinks into blue shades of you and me.Meet me there… where everything was always perfect. You and me and the damp grass at dawn and the gray dirt in the late evening rain.Meet me where we were ourselves and not these two people who can’t even say I love you...
  • Blank Canvas by E.M. Lindsey

    Blank Canvas by E.M. Lindsey

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    When a car accident changed the trajectory of his life at fifteen, Sam Braga set out to find his own way in the world. It never occurred to him he’d find home in Fairfield, Colorado, working with a childhood friend at a tattoo shop, and the legal guardian of a gorgeous little girl who was abandoned by her mother at birth. Sam has his life organized exactly the way he needs it...
  • Griff's Place by Riley Hart

    Griff's Place by Riley Hart

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    GRIFFINI always felt I wasn’t wired like my peers, but when my brother, Kellan, gave me three terms—ace, aromantic, and demi—I had possible names for it. Those three words have been on my mind ever since, as has my brother’s best friend, Josh Westbrook. It’s been cool getting to know him and spending time together, just us. He makes me feel something I never thought I’d be able to feel...
  • A Lifetime Kissing You by Riley Hart

    A Lifetime Kissing You by Riley Hart

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    CharlesI have a great family, a successful career, and never struggle to find the company of a man when I want it, and I do—often. The loss of my brother years ago is the one dark spot in an otherwise perfect life. But at forty-three, my world suddenly feels emptier than it should. Something’s missing...
  • Rear Ended by K.M. Neuhold

    Rear Ended by K.M. Neuhold

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Love is a highway, and Henry just got Rear Ended I’ve spent my entire adult life working eighty hours a week, chasing money, security… success . When my recent start-up went under, leaving me with nothing to show for years of grinding myself down to the bone, I’m not sure who I am anymore...
  • Blooming by Sean Ashcroft

    Blooming by Sean Ashcroft

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Instagram crush. Instant fling.The last thing amateur food photographer Milo expects to find in the sleepy town of Otter Bay is the cute boy he’s been crushing on from Instagram. He’s in town to help his pregnant sister, not to look for a fling, but his best friend is right—it’s been so long since he got laid that they’ll be reissuing his v-card any day now...
  • The Wilderness by Rosalind Abel

    The Wilderness by Rosalind Abel

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Will Epstein had it all—playboy good looks, wealth and prestige, and a gorgeous fiancé to costar with him on a reality television show. But that was years ago, before he was abandoned at the altar on national television. In the aftermath, Will’s world crumbled, leaving him humiliated and lost. Andre Rivera married his first love and lived a dream life until tragedy stepped in...
  • Best Match by Pippa Green

    Best Match by Pippa Green

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    ...
  • Don't Date a DILF by D.J. Jamison

    Don't Date a DILF by D.J. Jamison

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    I have one rule to live by: Don't Date a DILF.I've seen the consequences of blurring the boundaries between teaching life and dating life, and I'm not about to take that kind of risk.But I didn't count on Hunter Rhodes walking into my school. Never expected that the broad-shouldered, stubble-jawed, absolute glory of a man would be such a sweet and caring father...
  • Meant To Be: A Prequel Daddy Novella by Sammi Cee

    Meant To Be: A Prequel Daddy Novella by Sammi Cee

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    PJ couldn't be more surprised that he needs a Daddy in the bedroom...Joel and PJ met as pre-teens at Takoda Outreach Center. They’ve shared every secret, first as best friends, then roommates. But now that they’ve graduated from college, adulting presents circumstances and unforeseen problems that they never saw coming...
  • System Overload by Saxon James

    System Overload by Saxon James

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    KellerBanging my son’s bestie was a total accident that will never, ever happen again. I’m sure of it.While he might be gorgeous and caught me in a weak moment, when it comes right down to it, my son has been my entire life for the last twenty-six years. I don’t know how to be anything other than his dad.But with Molly heading off to Seattle, he leaves me with a parting gift: Will.His best friend...
  • To Take a Quiet Breath by Fearne Hill

    To Take a Quiet Breath by Fearne Hill

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    This isn’t a romance about chiseled, lantern-jawed college kids boasting V-cut abs. There are no marathon steamy sex sessions, not without having at least one nebulizer on standby anyway. Marcel Giresse, the thirty-six-year-old Director of Finance at the French Ministry of Justice, is happy to leave all that nonsense to his oldest friend Lucien, the sixteenth Earl of Rossingley...
  • Pretty Dogs by Riley Nash

    Pretty Dogs by Riley Nash

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    It’s hard to imagine dating when I secretly share a bed with my best friend every night. When we can barely spend an hour apart. When he’ll kill anyone who tries to touch me.We finally escaped the trailer park, but maybe we weren’t ready for freedom. My best friend Beck doesn’t know how to leave the gang he’s always known, even if it costs him his life...
  • Jaxon by Ruby Raynes

    Jaxon by Ruby Raynes

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    ***Jaxon - Love in Ink - Book 2***AlexMy life is going fine. Okay, it was going fine until I found myself both homeless—my trusty car Trixie on her last leg—and in need of a fake fiancé. What I don't expect is for Jaxon, my long-time crush and the owner of Ink Me, to come swooping in like a knight in shining armor...
  • Drawn in by You by R.M. Neill

    Drawn in by You by R.M. Neill

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    One has endured a life of loneliness.The other is content in his solitude.Can the draw of epic love intertwine their lives?TravisWhen my grandfather died, I was swallowed by the system. Depression set in at a young age as I was bounced from foster home to youth shelter. For twelve years since, I’ve battled with my mental health issues, refusing to reveal to anyone how bad things truly are...
If Only He Knew by Kelsey Hodge
Fantastic book recommendations by book lovers for book lovers.
Find out more about thebooknaut.com.

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.

Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.

romance book finder preview 1
romance book finder preview 2
romance book finder preview 3