Book picks similar to
Her String of Pearls by Ella Burns
dark-romance
dark
revenge
bang-challenge
Sins of a King
Emma Slate - 2016
Billionaire. Criminal.I should hate him for what he’s done to me, but I’m powerless to resist him.His touch engulfs me. His demands conquer me.But Flynn Campbell isn’t who I thought he was.Suddenly, I’m thrust into a world of seduction and sin.Ensnared by danger and power, foreign desires burn within me.It's time to embrace the darkness...And become a queen.
Debt Inheritance
Pepper Winters - 2014
I have the piece of paper to prove it. It’s undeniable and unbreakable. You belong to me until you’ve paid off your debts.” Nila Weaver’s family is indebted. Being the first born daughter, her life is forfeit to the first born son of the Hawks to pay for sins of ancestors past. The dark ages might have come and gone, but debts never leave. She has no choice in the matter. She is no longer free.Jethro Hawk receives Nila as an inheritance present on his twenty-ninth birthday. Her life is his until she’s paid off a debt that’s centuries old. He can do what he likes with her—nothing is out of bounds—she has to obey. There are no rules. Only payments.
Hunter
Eden Summers - 2018
I've been running for ten years - fleeing my past and clawing my way toward an inescapable act of vengeance. Until he walks into my life, sure and strong and full of secrets. He dilutes my thirst for retribution with his touch. He obliterates my need for solitude with his kiss. But it's his hidden agenda that makes the hair on the back of my neck prickle. He wants something. Something that doesn't revolve around sweaty skin and tangled silk sheets like he'd have me believe. I have to stop falling for him, otherwise the last ten years will all be for nothing. I need to keep running, keep fighting for vengeance, even though I know he will track me down. But trying to escape him is just another problem. Because now I crave the hunt.
Diamonds in the Dust
Charmaine Pauls - 2020
Then she came along like a pretty wildflower pushing through the cracks on a dirty pavement—fragile yet resilient, a breath of beauty among the filth. She was supposed to be just another job, a nameless person I was to pluck from her life and hand to my brother, nothing but a pawn in the gamble of our diamond business. There’s a psychological label for men like us.We lack empathy and guilt.We do things to have what we want, things that make flowers wilt.(This is Book 1 of the Diamonds are Forever Trilogy and ends on a cliffhanger. Diamonds in the Rough (Book 2) will be released on 14 July 2020, and Diamonds are Forever (Book 3) on 15 September 2020.)
Waking Kiss
Annabel Joseph - 2013
When Rubio drags her to a private BDSM party at his friend’s house in the ritzy part of London, she meets Liam Wilder, a lifestyle dominant and frighteningly seductive man. Liam pursues Ashleigh, attracted by her strength and talent, but she has secrets—an abusive past and a crippling fear of intimacy that prevents her from connecting to anyone, especially a kinky playboy reputed to be legendary in bed.Eventually he wins her trust and sets out to heal the troubled dancer, awakening her to a world of erotic obedience and sensual abandon in a series of “sessions” at his home. But how pure are his motives? Is he helping her or endangering her fragile soul? Liam hides his own destructive secrets, and so does Fernando Rubio, their temperamental friend. Over time the three become embroiled in a tangle of artifice, fears, and lies that threaten to undo everything they’ve worked for.Will Ashleigh and Liam find the strength to defeat their demons? Or are they cursed to sleepwalk through life forever, afraid to experience the passion and intimacy of love?Note: This 81K word romantic novel contains reflections on childhood abuse and violence which may disturb some readers.
With Visions of Red
Trisha Wolfe - 2015
Dark and light battle. This explosive first installment of the Broken Bonds series sets the exhilarating pace for a cat and mouse game where no one knows who’s really pulling the strings.Criminal profiler Sadie Bonds knows blood. Her affair with the gruesome, dark world of killers began long before she started applying her analytical skills to investigate gory crime scenes. She gets inside the killers’ heads, breaks them down, relates to them on an arcane level. She prefers it this way—because it’s safer to ally herself with the villain than the victim. At least, that’s how she’s coped ever since she was abducted and tortured as a teen.She will never be a victim again.Now, she’s honed her skills in order to bring justice to these ritualistic offenders. Working alongside her colleagues, armed with sharp wit and a SIG, Sadie always catches her sadist. Until one ruthless serial killer gets inside Sadie’s head, turning the tables. He knows her secrets. Her obsessions. The darkest, most deviant part of her soul.When she meets Colton Reed, dangerous stakes are raised as he threatens to unravel her control and reveal her darkest fantasies. The sexy-as-sin bondage rigger at an exclusive BDSM club pushes her boundaries, forcing her to acknowledge that side of herself she fears. Plunged into a realm of torture and suffering, pain and pleasure, Sadie balances on the razor-sharp edge of two intersecting worlds threatening to swallow her.
Dirty Angels
Karina Halle - 2014
Please see the bottom of this description to see if this is the kind of book that you'll love or piss you off**For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just out of her reach. Sure, she’s had men at her feet since she was a young teenager but she’s never had the one thing she’s craved – security. Having grown up in near poverty, her waitressing job in Cabo San Lucas can barely let her take care of herself, let alone her ailing parents. Every day is another unwanted advance, every day is a struggle to survive.When Salvador Reyes, the depraved leader of a major Mexican cartel, takes an interest in her, Luisa is presented with an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. She’ll become Salvador’s wife and exchange her freedom and body for a life of riches – riches she can bestow upon her deserving parents. But Luisa quickly finds out that even the finest wines and jewels can’t undo the ugliness in her marriage, nor the never-ending violence that threatens her every move.Soon, Luisa is looking for an escape, a way out of the carefully controlled life she’s leading. She finally gets her wish in the worst way possible.As it is, being the wife of Salvador makes her an ideal target for rival cartels and there’s one particular man who needs Luisa as part of his cartel’s expansion. One particular man whose quest for power has destroyed lives, slit throats and gotten him out of an American prison. One particular man who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.That man is Javier Bernal. And he wants Luisa. He wants to take her, keep her, ruin her.Unless she ruins him first.***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains...well, they're even worse. If this sort of thing bothers you, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. This ain't no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book. If you are even a bit squeamish about violence, brutality and rape, this is your warning to stay away from a book that you certainly will not like (and why read books that you know you won't like?)******While this is a spin-off of The Artists Trilogy, prior knowledge of the books is not needed. DIRTY ANGELS is the first in a trilogy, however each book can standalone and follows or introduces different characters***
His Sacrifice
Emma Creed - 2021
That was until fate brought us back together. How can I sacrifice her again?*His Sacrifice is a standalone, mafia, dark romance for adult readers.*
Beautiful Ink
Nicole Reed - 2014
It elicits powerful thoughts and emotions for most people. Loving. Caring. Supportive. Togetherness. Forever.But not for me. The word family means so much more. Vicious. Harmful. Dangerous. Corrupt. Deadly.You can’t run forever from the ones who love you.Note: This novel is not a cliffhanger and can be read as a standalone. Warning: This book is real, beautifully raw, and not for the faint of heart. It is the story of a young girl’s loss of innocence while growing up around a motorcycle club. It is not suitable for children under the age of seventeen due to language, sexual content, and intense subject matter. Based on true events.
The Sect
Courtney Lane - 2014
This is not a love story.Keaton Mara ran away from a life that had become a nightmare to live on the streets. While the location she now calls home is a dangerous place, she is protected by an unlikely friendship. The streets provided her with the education she could’ve never earned from the prestigious university she attended. Regrettably, the term ‘educated fool’ becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Due to meeting a man with whom she shares a captivating chemistry with, her judgement is clouded, resulting in a fateful decision. The consequence of trusting the prepossessing stranger results in her being stolen away to a place unknown. Her deceptive new surroundings are just as beautiful as the people who reside there. She discovers that it’s a place where the culture of sex without limits or morals is their religion. Keaton quickly begins to realize that the beautiful scenery serves to hide a very dark truth. The seductive and enigmatic man—who lured her there—desires to save her soul. His intentions are sinister, because saving her soul is synonymous with breaking her. Because Keaton believes her soul was brutally stolen from her many years ago, she thinks he can’t save (or destroy) something she no longer has. She…was…wrong.
Sworn
Maria Luis - 2018
The words are tattooed on my skin, just as they’re branded on my heart. But I never planned for Sergeant Lincoln Asher, a man as deceptive as he is cold. His dominance sets my teeth on edge . . . and my body on fire. He won’t stop until I’m his, but I’m not his to take. My secrets bind me—and blind me. I live in the shadows of New Orleans. Hidden and protected in the underworld I call home. I know who I am. I vow never to kneel before a man... Save one. And he will be my downfall.
Birds of Paradise
Anne Malcom - 2018
I was all of the hideous and ugly realities of the world packaged into one broken human being.He came to kill me.That was his business.Death.He ripped me out of my natural environment, the prison I'd created, and locked me away with all of his beautiful dead things.I hated him.I still hate him.But if I was given the choice and the ability to leave this cage, come back to life, I'd stay dead.In all of my hideous splendor.Because my murderer can only possess dead things.And I can only be possessed by someone more broken and ugly than me.
Degrees of Control
Eve Dangerfield - 2015
The man who’ll do all the things she’s only fantasized about…James Hunter has never worked for a damn thing. Why would he? He’s got his daddy’s money, his pretty face, and more women than he knows what to do with. On paper, he’s a businessman, but his true profession is keeping girls from thinking he’ll ever marry them.“This book was crazy insanely blazingly dirty filthy hot!” - Mandy, Goodreads reviewWhen James’ cousin sets him up with her yoga teacher, he’s more than down. What man wouldn’t want to break in a starry-eyed submissive? Especially one as innocent and beautiful as Charlotte? But he hadn’t counted on her being perfectly suited to his needs. She does anything he wants, even better than he could hope for. He'll spend every dollar he has to keep her in his bed, but how can he protect his heart?“Sexy, sweet, steamy, erotic and perfect in every way!” - Beanimous, romance blogger
The Risk
S.T. Abby - 2016
Collecting the debts that are owed to me.Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.They should have made sure I stayed dead.Now I'm taking from them.One name at a time.I've trained for too long.I've been patient.I can't stop now.Revenge is best served cold...They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.He just knows people are dying.He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.No one suspects a dead girl.And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.They're looking for a monster.Not a girl who loves red.Not a girl in love.I'm a faceless nightmare.At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?**Graphic**Adult language**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader**Sexual content**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.
Keeping Lily
Izzy Sweet - 2016
One night and everything in my life changed. Two words and my world turned dark. “Take her”.Owing the most ruthless crime lord in Garden City five million dollars, my husband chose to trade me and my children away to save himself. I was on the cusp of freedom, so close to divorcing that scumbag I was married to. Now I’m enslaved to a man who is obsessed with me. A man so wicked and beautiful, they call him Lucifer. So alluring, he makes the angels weep with envy. He’s so powerful, I can’t stop myself from bending to his will. He’s determined to master me, and he won’t rest until I give him all. He wants my light, and he wants my dark. He wants my body, and he wants my heart. But most of all, he wants the one thing I can’t give him. The one thing I can’t bear to part with…