Tears of Tess


Pepper Winters - 2013
    Happy, content, everything neat and perfect.Then it all changed.I was sold.”Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility. For their two year anniversary, Brax surprises Tess with a romantic trip to Mexico. Sandy beaches, delicious cocktails, and soul-connecting sex set the mood for a wonderful holiday. With a full heart, and looking forward to a passion filled week, Tess is on top of the world.But lusty paradise is shattered.Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror. Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can’t save her from the horror of being sold.Can Brax find Tess before she’s broken and ruined, or will Tess’s new owner change her life forever?A New Adult Dark Contemporary Romance, not suitable for people sensitive to grief, slavery, and nonconsensual sex. A story about finding love in the strangest of places, a will of iron that grows from necessity, and forgiveness that may not be enough.

Loyalty and Lies


L.A. Cotton - 2015
    Especially when she catches the eye of the captain of The Fallen football team for all the wrong reasons.Determined to keep her head down and survive, Ana swears off guys. Until she meets the gorgeous, yet mysterious, Jackson. He sees past her walls, her pain and secrets, and slowly, Ana finds herself unable to fight their undeniable connection.But Jackson harbors a dark secret too...One that might destroy her.*Loyalty and Lies is the first book in Ana and Jackson’s trilogy. Due to mature content this book is recommended for readers aged 17+

Asher


Jo Raven - 2014
    She’s here to start again. Go to college and have fun. Make new friends. Get over the past.But the past won’t let go. Asher is here – her first kiss, her first heartbreak. More handsome and distant than ever, he’s still the boy who used to be her best friend. That was before he changed into someone she hardly knows anymore – the boy who started getting into fights and gave her the cold shoulder for years.Asher isn’t what she needs. In fact, she hates him and should try her best to keep away from him. Yet her body doesn’t seem to care about how she feels, and maybe, just maybe this time her body got it right. Not that she has much of a choice. Asher draws her like a bright flame, and if she isn’t careful, she’ll burn.And that may not be such a bad thing after all...This is New Adult erotic romance, dual POV. Warning: this book contains graphic language, sex, and violence. Mature readers only. Not intended for young adult readers.

White Trash Beautiful


Teresa Mummert - 2012
    . . Cass Daniels isn’t waiting for her knight in shining armor. She knows that girls like her don’t get a happily ever after. Not if you live in a trailer with your mom, work at a greasy spoon diner, and get leered at by old men. Maybe that’s why she puts up with Jackson—her poor excuse for a boyfriend, who treats her like dirt. Cass has learned to accept her lot in life. That is, until he walks into her diner. . . . His name is Tucker White, and he’s different from any man Cass has ever known. Tall, tattooed, and bad-ass gorgeous, he’s the lead singer of the rock band Damaged. From the moment they meet, Tucker sees something in Cass he just can’t shake. Something beautiful. Something haunted. Something special. And he’s determined to find out what it is—if only he can get her to open up and let him in. . . .

In Harmony


Emma Scott - 2018
    The happy, driven girl is gone, and she is left wracked by post-traumatic stress her body remembers even if she does not. When her father suddenly uproots the family from their posh penthouse in New York City to the tiny town of Harmony, Indiana, Willow becomes more untethered and lost under the weight of her secret. On a whim, she auditions for a part in the community theater’s production of Hamlet and unexpectedly wins the role of Ophelia—the girl who is undone by madness, and her love of Hamlet… Isaac Pierce is from the ‘wrong side of the tracks.’ The town bad boy. Girls pine for his attention and guys are in awe of him. That he’s an acting prodigy only adds to his charisma. Isaac utterly disappears into his characters; the stage is the only place he feels safe from his own traumatic home life. He wants nothing more than to escape to Broadway or Hollywood, and leave Harmony behind for good. No one can play Hamlet but Isaac, and when the director pairs him with Willow in acting class, they clash again and again—neither willing to open their hearts to anyone. But clashing leads to breaking, breaking leads to the spilling of terrible secrets, and soon Isaac and Willow find Shakespeare’s words mirroring their lives. When they are cruelly torn apart, neither know how this play will end—with madness and heartache? Or healing, love, and the discovery of who they are truly meant to be. In Harmony is a standalone NEW ADULT love story, and is intended for readers 18 and up. PLEASE NOTE, this book contains sensitive material such as physical abuse, and the aftermath of sexual assault (off the page). Reader discretion is advised.

Tasting Never


C.M. Stunich - 2012
    She doesn't need any complications in her life, especially not when they're attached to a man that could be her emotional twin.Ty McCabe can't stand Never the first time he meets her. He's aware that the feeling's mutual and the two don't think they'll ever see each other again, but when fate takes a hand and puts them both in the wrong place at the wrong time, Ty and Never form a tentative friendship that opens the door on their dark sides and shows them what it's like to live in the light."Sometimes, the only way to go forward, is to take a few, careful steps back."READING LIST#1: Tasting Never#2: Finding Never#3: Keeping NeverOR Books #1-#3 in one volume: "Tasting, Finding, Keeping: The Story of Never"#4: Never Can Tell#5: Never Let Go#6: Never Did SayTASTING NEVER EXCERPT:Ty's hot mouth is on my neck, and I find myself taking short, sharp, little breaths as I press my shaking hands to his chest. If I sleep with him again, I'll be making the biggest mistake of my life. He's the first real friend I've ever had, and I don't want to cheapen the feelings that are simmering between us. We made that mistake once before, and we survived. We've been through a lot since then, and I know that if I lose him now, I will never be whole again. Ty is my other half, lover or no, and just being around him is enough for me. “Ty,” I say, trying my best to sound stern. Instead, my voice comes out like a butterfly, flutters against Ty's hair and swirls it gently against my lips. I moan and find that my fingers are now curled in the fabric of his T-shirt. “Never,” he says back to me, the word like fire against my skin. In those two syllables, I hear how he feels about me. He thinks he's in love. Ty McCabe thinks he's in love with me. He doesn't say it aloud, but I can tell. Sex isn't the best way for me to show my feelings; I've abused it for far too long that it has somehow lost some of its meaning. I try to tell Ty this, but I can't speak with his lips on my throat and his hand sliding across the nape of my neck. I run my own hands down his chest and put them beneath his shirt, on the hard plane of his belly. His muscles contract as I press my fingers into them, touching, feeling, absorbing the man, the complication, that is Ty McCabe. All the while, my mind is racing in circles trying to talk me out of this.“Kiss me,” Ty says and it's not a question, it's a request, albeit a gentle one. His voice is softer than I've ever heard it. His words are naked, stripped of all the bullshit that's happened to him, all of the horrible things that mirror my own life. Ty and I are like twins, like two halves of the same whole. They say that opposites attract, but Ty and I are very much the same and the attraction between us burns brighter than the sun. “Kiss me,” he says again and I do.

Where I End and You Begin


Andra Brynn - 2013
    It may tangle, it may knot, it may stretch or fray, but it will never break. It is a future as indelible as the past.I hope that isn't true. I pity anyone destined to meet me.----For Bianca Ray, the past is always catching up, one way or another. Now in her third semester at college, it's doing it again. Too much drinking has led to plummeting grades and rising absences, putting her scholarships in peril. When she makes it clear that she needs help—all over the floor of her history class—she’s given one last chance to shape up: seek therapy and bring her grades up by the end of the semester, or she’s out.Enter Catholic seminarian Daniel McGuire. The last thing Bianca wants is an aspiring priest to counsel her on how to live her life, but the handsome graduate student is different from the holy rollers she fled from at home. Gentle and unobtrusive, he helps her pick up the pieces and find a new way to live: not running from the past, but facing it head on. But opening up her heart to release the pain means that something else can come in. As Bianca and Daniel grow closer, their relationship moves onto dangerous ground and the fragile courage Bianca has built up threatens to fail her. Can she exorcise the ghosts of her past, or will they catch hold and drag her down where not even Daniel can reach her?

Because of You


Jessica Scott - 2011
    But for Sergeant First Class Shane Garrison, there’s no one waiting when he arrives back at Fort Hood, unconscious and barely hanging on. The IED that nearly took his life took something more important - something he’s afraid he’ll never get back. Working as nurse at Fort Hood’s busy hospital, Jen St. James has seen her share of wounded warriors pass through her hallways. But there’s something about Shane that draws her close, even when she knows her own brush with death has left her scarred. As Shane struggles to recover, Jen is the only one who can see what’s happening to him. As the wounds of war drag him further away from healing and everyone around him who matters, Jen is there, pushing him, demanding that he continue to fight to get back to the only thing he believes he’s good at. Along the way, Shane learns the hard truth about life without the uniform and discovers that maybe, there’s someone for him to come home to after all. ★★Includes the bonus short story ANYTHING FOR YOU★★

Written on my Heart


Cole Gibsen - 2015
    Six months since she stood up to her abusive stepfather and got a busted rib—and seeing all her things set ablaze in a backyard bonfire—for her trouble. Never going back. She doesn't need trouble...especially if trouble is tattoo artist Lane Garrett, who's six-feet-plus of tattooed hotness and a complete ass.Lane has spent the last decade fighting to support his family. To protect them. There's no room for romance, even with a fragile (yet amusingly feisty) stunner...even if she somehow manages to invade his world and his heart.But while some secrets are as visible as ink on the skin, others must remain hidden at all costs...

Heart of Marley


T.K. Leigh - 2014
    Having trouble coping with the loss of her soul mate, their mother tries to find comfort in drugs and alcohol… And an abusive man with a penchant for underage girls.No longer able to stand listening to his sister’s screams and cries every night for nearly three years, Cam takes matters into his own hands and they’re finally able to escape the nightmare.They’re finally able to start over…But the nightmare still haunts Marley. The years go on and she is forced to put on a smile, making everyone think that she is the perfect, well-adjusted teenager that she is supposed to be… Until she is faced with a painful reminder of her past during her senior year of high school and she’s no longer able to keep on the mask that she has been compelled to wear.Heart Of Marley is a prequel novel to T.K. Leigh’s Heart of Light.

Beautifully Broken


Alex Grayson - 2014
    A place to take a deep breath after months on the run.What Bailey didn’t count on were the people welcoming her with open arms. Making her feel safe and protected for the first time in her life.Especially Jaxon Walker. The tattooed bar owner who’s determined to get under her skin and force her to reveal her deepest secrets. Even if it puts everyone she cares about in danger.Just when Bailey finds the love she’s been searching for her whole life, her past blazes its way into the dream world she’s been living in.Will Jaxon save Bailey before it’s too late? Or will the evil that is her husband finally finish her off?

The Prelude


KaSonndra Leigh - 2013
    Burying the grief, silencing her demons, and living a life without any real attachments has worked well for her so far. But when Erin secures her first real job as a budding clothing designer, her controlled world is shaken to its core by the mysteriously sexy director of the local symphony.Alek Dostov is a man who knows what he wants and how to get it. He’s successful, hot, the son of a millionaire, and women all over the world flock to see one of his performances. For Alek, Erin represents the ultimate challenge: sexy, smart, and unaffected by his charms…or so she thinks. Just like Erin, Alek avoids attachments that leave him emotionally vulnerable. But unlike Erin, his pursuit of all things pleasurable is ruthless. Knowing how wary they both are concerning any kind of committed relationship, Alek finds a way to pursue Erin, satisfying the intense attraction between them without sacrificing the freedom they both enjoy. Sometimes the deepest passion brings out the darkest emotions. And Erin finds herself completely unprepared for the forbidden world of the young maestro and his truths and even his secrets, as she struggles to deal with her own.Music, passion, betrayal and forbidden love spun together in one of the most romantic cities in the world.

Shadowboxer


Cari Quinn - 2014
    I’ve faced the darkest parts of life and survived. But now I’m starting a new life with my baby sister. And that means I need cash.Quick. To get the money I need, I’m going to beat the reigning king of the male fighters in New York’s underground MMA circuit, Tray “Fox” Knox. Tray refuses to fight a woman, until he learns I’m not what he expected. At all. Then he makes me a bet I can’t refuse. He’ll fight me, but if he wins, I will spend the night in his bed. All night long, his rules. No tapping out. I agree, certain he will lose. Because I have to win. I have no choice. What I didn’t realize is that Tray loves to fight dirty…and that this match may end up being the most important one of our lives.Author’s note: Shadowboxer is a full-length MMA novel and is book 1 in the Tapped Out MMA series. It has a happily ever after ending and no cliffhanger, though it contains violent material that may be triggering. It was previously published by Cari Quinn in 2014 and has been lightly re-edited.

Breathe into Me


Amanda Stone - 2013
    Kane's reputation is far from perfect, but is there more to him than what everyone else sees?Kelsey soon learns that you can’t run from your past, no matter how hard you try. When her nightmares find her once again, Kelsey must find the courage to face the demons that have been haunting her and save the people she loves most.

Holding on to Forever


Siobhan Davis - 2019
    Neither was becoming her dealer… ADAMReturning to my drug-dealing past wasn’t on the agenda when I accepted the full ride to play ball at Cypress U. But Mom lost her job. And my sister’s medical bills are mounting. So, I’ve no choice but to change the playbook.When Emily walks into my life, like a fallen goddess with the ultimate power to destroy me, I know I’m screwed. I should steer clear, but I’m the one supplying her poison of choice. Falling for her is a complication I don’t need, but the more she’s around, the harder it gets to walk away. She needs me, and I crave her more than the sport I love.Now, it’s all on the line. Including the NFL career that’s tantalizingly close. The stakes are high, but family means everything, so I’ll take my chances.EMILYIt’s only a problem if it’s out of control. And I have it in hand.Except a certain a-hole discovers I’m using again, and he threatens to rat me out to my folks. Mom’s president of Cypress U, and Dad’s the illustrious football coach. Appearances mean everything to them, and I’m a continuous disappointment. They told me I’d be out on my ass if I fell off the wagon, so keeping it a secret is my number one priority.Until the super-hot all-star QB takes more than a passing interest in me. Adam gets me, in a way no guy ever has, filling my head with ideas of forever—and now, I want more.Dating my dealer is a recipe for disaster, especially when it’s forbidden, but I can’t help myself.Because I’ve fallen too deep. And the hole is too large to crawl out of.