Book picks similar to
Twisted by Esme Devlin


dark-romance
dark
romance
dystopian

The Scorpion's Mate


Susan Trombley - 2018
    The last thing she expects is to be abducted by aliens and dropped into a research facility, where a genetically-engineered alien soldier chooses her as his life-mate. Thrax’s pheromones are compelling, and his status as a fellow unwilling test subject makes them allies, but Claire isn't certain she can trust someone who is convinced she belongs to him, when all she wants to do is find a way to return home to Earth—a place that her devoted alien can never follow, because there’s no way the scorpion-like alien would ever be able to pass for human. Still, she’ll accept help where she can find it, so she doesn't hesitate to escape with Thrax from the facility, though their time running from their pursuers in the warrens beneath the research facility will forever change Claire, and could make it impossible for her to return to Earth. But will there be anywhere else in the galaxy they can go where their love will be accepted? Plus a BONUS Full-length novel: Into the Dead Fall Though she was raised by a survivalist, Alice was not prepared to be ripped from her dimension and dropped without ceremony into the massive junkyard of a parallel dimension. She’s wounded, alone, and lost in a world her mind struggles to comprehend. When a strange, four-armed alien comes to her aid, saving her life, she has no choice but to accept his help. She finally starts growing comfortable around her leonine companion, until another warrior intervenes to save her when creatures from the Dead Fall attack them during their exploration, making everything much more complicated. Alice still doesn’t understand what either of the warriors is saying, and if she can’t find the right words to soothe her beastly new protectors, they’ll end up killing each other. Author’s Note: 18+ These books contain scenes that are not suitable for younger audiences. It should also be noted that the alien heroes in these books look alien in many ways, and their cultures and mating habits might not be for everyone.

Cards of Love: The Pope


L.P. Lovell - 2018
    At least that’s what I would have them all believe. She’s a lost lamb, cast adrift from her flock and seeking shelter from the wolves snapping at her heels. She’s looking for salvation, protection, forgiveness for her sins. I’m not the man to give it to her. But for the first time in my life, I want to be. Little does she know… For even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

Elemental


Antony John - 2012
    . . Sixteen-year-old Thomas has always been an outsider. The first child born without the power of an Element—earth, water, wind or fire—he has little to offer his tiny, remote Outer Banks colony. Or so the Guardians would have him believe. In the wake of an unforeseen storm, desperate pirates kidnap the Guardians, intent on claiming the island as their own. Caught between the plague-ridden mainland and the advancing pirates, Thomas and his friends fight for survival in the battered remains of a mysterious abandoned settlement. But the secrets they unearth will turn Thomas’ world upside-down, and bring to light not only a treacherous past but also a future more dangerous than he can possibly imagine.

Dark Queen


Ker Dukey - 2021
    He was my boss.Rich, ambitious, dominating.I was a waitress, struggling to pay the fees for ballet school.Poor, talented, desperate.He needed to marry to appease his dying father, to inherit the family empire.It wasn’t supposed to be real, or forever.Until he changed the rules.What Mafia king Luca Leto wants, he gets, and he’s crowned his queen.Me.I’m under his rule now.And his reign is cruel and toxic.They call him the dark king and to gain my freedom I’m going to have to become a dark queen. #Standalone Mafia romance.

Moxyland


Lauren Beukes - 2008
    Kendra, an art-school dropout, brands herself for a nanotech marketing program; Lerato, an ambitious AIDS baby, plots to defect from her corporate employers; Tendeka, a hot-headed activist, is becoming increasingly rabid; and Toby, a roguish blogger, discovers that the video games he plays for cash are much more than they seem. On a collision course that will rewire their lives, this story crackles with bold and infectious ideas, connecting a ruthless corporate-apartheid government with video games, biotech attack dogs, slippery online identities, a township soccer school, shocking cell phones, addictive branding, and genetically modified art. Taking hedonistic trends in society to their ultimate conclusions, this tale paints anything but a forecasted utopia, satirically undermining the reified idea of progress as society's white knight.

A Different Model


Heather Killough-Walden - 2019
    The handsome and dangerous man is the perfect machine, tall and strong, fast and brilliant, a strategist and tactician capable of out-thinking anyone on the planet. With his wealth and power, he can have anything, and with his intelligence he can outsmart anyone. Except the one person he actually desires: Samantha Hart. Androids are not only human-like, they have become so real they’ve waged a war to win their freedom from slavery and servitude, much like their human predecessors had centuries ago. Their sole aspiration is equality. To this goal, the rebel group Prometheus is formed, with the beautiful and genius human inventor and android sympathist Samantha Hart at its core. The androids are slowly winning, and they have hope. However, one day a different model of android emerges from the shadows, one whose designed purpose is not uniformity or egalitarianism – but to reign supreme. This captivating model is a mystery; no one knows who designed or created him. Within Zero’s enigmatic programming lies the ability to bend the world’s most influential people to his will. He is endlessly cunning, ruthless and cold. And unfortunately for Prometheus, he’s on the wrong side – that of the human oppressors. To make matters worse for the rebel group, who must now attempt to outwit a machine perpetually one step ahead, the new model’s main goal has become patently clear: He wants the heart of their operation, the source of every winning idea they’ve ever had. He wants Sam. He will stop at nothing to obtain her. For in her own mysteriously unique make-up lies the miraculous ability to make a machine feel emotions. What’s more, within the confines of her priceless mind hides a well-kept secret that means the difference between kneeling as a slave… and ruling the world.

Kiss Me With Lies


S.M. Soto - 2019
    One unsolved murder. A sickening plot for revenge. When Mackenzie Wright attends her first real high school party, held somewhere deep in the woods of her small California town, no one expects to wake up the next morning to news of a gruesome murder. Especially not her own sister’s. No suspects.No motive.No convictions.Just one unsolved murder and whatever’s left of the now deserted town. Mackenzie has spent years with her sister’s death weighing heavily on her shoulders, but it isn’t until she stumbles across a photograph that changes everything for her. The memories, everything from that night, come flashing back in high-speed technicolor and Mackenzie soon finds herself obsessed with the truth. Determined to find out what really happened to her sister, Mackenzie relies on that one photograph to give her the answers she needs by embedding herself into the lives of five of the wealthiest men in Los Angeles. Consumed by her need for revenge, Mackenzie infiltrates the world of the rich and elite, only to come face-to-face with an alluring complication in the form an elusive playboy. When enemy lines are drawn, Mackenzie has to choose between her loyalty to her sister and the man who has stolen her heart.

Saved by Alpha Bear


Sarah J. Stone - 2016
    Seizing the mantle of alpha from the tyrant bear shifter responsible for the carnage, he works to rebuild his broken pack. His elders insist he find a mate to calm the animal raging inside him, but Luke doesn’t believe it’s possible. Cassie has been on the run her entire life. As a special type of bear shifter, her old pack will stop at nothing to find her. The last thing she needs is an alpha digging into the secrets of her past. One stolen moment is all they needed, but an unexpected pregnancy binds their fates and Luke develops feelings he’s never had. When another pack shows up at his doorstep in search of the one he loves, an impending battle looms. Will Luke be able to save Cassie and win her over for good, or is it too late? Content Warning: Explicit love scenes, and piles of sexy shifters. Intended for mature audiences only.

Twisted Love


C.M. Wondrak - 2021
    I’ve lived with my aunt for the last ten years, after my father killed my mother and turned the gun on himself, and I find myself craving only one thing: the darkness. The darkness is my only friend, the only comfort I have.At least, it was, until my life is turned on its head. It starts with weird phone calls, a stranger asking me if I’d been a good girl. When my memories begin to return, I’m faced with the fact that everything I thought I knew is wrong. I’ve been lied to, coddled and protected.In the dark, there’s only one god—and it’s him. Ruthless, malicious, monstrous. He would do anything to get me back. I should hate him, but I don’t.I can’t.Some loves are written in the stars. Ours? Ours was written in the darkness the very day I was born.**Twisted Love is a dark romance that centers around many things some readers might find triggering. This is an age gap, dark romance novel and touches on subjects such as violence, kidnapping, and stalking.**

Claiming the Enemy: Dustin


Jamie Begley - 2018
    They used to play and get in trouble together, shared a playpen, and their mothers used to be best friends. But that was before their fathers made them enemies and changed the course of their lives. Now the Porters stayed on their side of the mountain while the Hayes stayed on theirs. Believing it was easier to coexist as frenemies with Jessie Hayes rather than changing the Porter stubborn ways, Dustin was content with booty calls, raising his son, and growing weed as a side business … until he heard her screams. Now he was going to show a murderer just how much they had underestimated this Porter brother. And he was going to have to break his father’s last rule: Leave no enemy standing … to claim the enemy that held his heart.

Promises and Pomegranates


Sav R. Miller - 2021
    Hades incarnate.They say he stole me.Usurped my fiancé and filled the cracks in my heart with empty promises.Imprinted his crimson fingerprints on my psyche and tried to set me free.They’re not wrong, per se.Except it was my choice to stay.KalTo most, Elena Ricci is an innocent.Goddess of springtime, lover of poetry, angel of my nightmares.Little one. Persephone personified.They say I ruined her.Shattered her virtue and devoured her soul like a succulent pomegranate.Embedded my evil as deep as I could possibly get and tried to set her free.They’re not wrong, per se.Except it was she who ruined me.**Promises and Pomegranates is a full-length, standalone, dark contemporary romance based loosely on the framework/characters from the Hades and Persephone myth. It features mature themes, explicit scenes, triggers, and strong language. If you’re not a reader of the genre, this book may not be suitable for you. Reader discretion is advised.

Aries


Gemma James - 2019
    A virgin queen. One arranged marriage. The first time I met the boys of the Zodiac Brotherhood, I was forced to my knees for the introduction. Still grieving the death of my parents, I was a child queen, a pawn in my uncle’s agenda for wealth and gain. As my guardian, he had the authority to arrange a marriage upon my eighteenth birthday. That meeting took place six years ago. Now those boys are powerful men. Twelve virile men that want to own me. And I must spend a month with each one. Bending and yielding to their desires and commands. Shedding pieces of my innocence so long as my virtue remains intact. Because they want a virgin queen after the last month concludes, and my uncle plans to auction me off to the highest bidder. Out of the twelve men, only one has my heart. And only one can claim my hand in marriage. If only it were up to me to decide. Part 1 of The Zodiac Queen.

Hate Me


Ashley Jade - 2021
    The bully you can't run away from. I'm the tormentor who makes your life a living hell. The villain you love to hate.I'm the vicious stepbrother sleeping in the next room.The one who knows all your secrets. And I'll stop at nothing to make you pay.WARNING: This book is recommended for mature readers due to graphic language, sexual content, and dark elements.

Deceptive Innocence: Part 1


Kyra Davis - 2014
    Kyra Davis, the New York Times bestselling author of Just One Night, returns with book one in the thrillingly erotic Pure Sin series featuring a beautiful young woman out for revenge—until she falls in love with the one man whose secrets are as dangerous as her own.Ever since Bell’s mother died while serving time for a murder she didn’t commit, Bell’s been focused on one thing: revenge. She knows her mother was set up by Jonathon Gable, the head of both the powerful Gable family and an international banking corporation. Now she’s determined to take him down—from the inside. Bell needs access to the Gable home and offices, so she poses as a bartender to seduce her way into the bed—and life—of Jonathon’s rebellious youngest son, Lander. He’s not a typical Gable, spending more time in the dive bars of Harlem than the posh cocktail lounges of the Upper East Side. He has an attraction to danger, a vulnerability Bell isn’t shy about exploiting. It should be easy to uncover the secrets she needs to destroy his family and clear her mother’s name. But it turns out Lander is much more complicated than she ever imagined. He’s enticing, intelligent, mysterious—plus their sexual chemistry is off the charts. Even though Bell knows he’s the enemy, she can’t help but be moved, both physically and emotionally, by the man she swore was just a target. When he finds out the truth she’s sure both their hearts and her plan will be crushed...until she begins to realize that Lander might be hiding his own secrets, darker than she ever imagined.

Passion & Venom


S. Williams - 2016
    Respect. Wealth.He is a savage beast of a man - dominant in every way.Soon after, he makes you an offer that you can't refuse.All you have do is submit to him, and in return you won't be punished.He will reward you handsomely.But if you disobey, you must be prepared to face the consequences.What do you do when the most wanted man in the world . . . wants you?**Please Note: This story contains dark elements that may not be suitable for everyone. If you are sensitive to darker matters or if they make you feel uncomfortable in anyway, please consider that before reading Passion & Venom. I will be the first person to tell you that this story is NOT for everyone. To all the others that are eager to read it . . . The Jefe awaits.**