Book picks similar to
Last Shadow by Pepper Winters


dark
new-adult
not-yet-released
waiting-for-release

Slave


Sherri Hayes - 2011
    After several rebellious teenage years, it gave him the stability and control he had been seeking after his parent's death. As president of a not-for-profit foundation, he knows what his future holds and what he wants out of life. All that changes when a simple lunch with his college friend and mentor, Daren, leads him to buying a slave.Thrust into a situation he never thought he'd be in, Stephan can't walk away. He is compelled to help this girl in the only way he knows how. Brianna knows only one thing: she is a slave. She has nothing. She is nothing. Can Stephan help Brianna realize that she is much more than just a Slave?***This is book 1 of a 4 book series.***

Combative


Jay McLean - 2015
    A way to escape. And he found it in the most unlikely friendship. But at seventeen, tragedy struck, and he made himself disappear. Now, at twenty-four, Kyler’s past is knocking on his door, offering a deal he has no choice but to take… a deal that will help bring justice—not just for him, but for his brothers.The problem?He’s distracted by the girl across the hall. Madison comes with her own past, her own secrets... and her own deal. And those deals? They’re ticking time bombs.Ones they didn’t know existed.Tick.Tock.

Topping from Below


Laura Reese - 1995
    Only one returns. Successful, attractive, and in control, Nora seemed so different from her shy, terribly vulnerable younger sister. Grieving for Franny, Nora reads her diary and is stunned when it reveals a secret sadomasochistic affair with a mysterious professor known only as M. Nora vows to seek justice for the sister she never really knew and undertakes a daring scheme to seduce this lethal and manipulative man in the hope of uncovering information about the murder. Instead, she finds herself in thrall to his bizarre sexual magnetism, trapped in a passion so dark and perverse, and yet so compelling, that she is willing to risk her life. And she is in danger, although it may be from someone much closer to her than M., someone so close she might not see it until it is too late. With an ending as startling as it is haunting, Topping From Below is unlike any novel you’re ever read. Ever.

Dream On


Angie Hockman
    The only problem? Devin doesn’t exist. But everything she remembers about him feels so real, like the precise shade of his coffee-brown eyes; the texture of his favorite hand-me-down scarf; even the slightly crooked angle of his pinkie, broken after falling off a trampoline in third grade. She knows he’s a figment of her imagination—friends, family, and doctors confirm it—but she still can’t seem to get him out of her head.So when she runs into the real Devin a year later in a Cleveland flower shop, she’s completely shocked. Even more surprising is that Devin actually believes her story, and soon they embark on a real-life romance. With her dream man by her side and an upcoming summer job at a prestigious law firm, Cass’s future seems perfect. But fate might have other plans...

The Devil's Pawn


Elizabeth Finn - 2012
    A secret untold. One dark and handsome man determined to despise. One inexperienced, innocent, shy woman swept into a life she cannot control. Both pawns in a torturous game that will bind them together or tear them apart . . . forever.When Ashton is left orphaned after her parents are murdered, her life becomes a hell she could never have imagined. Left to fend for herself, and responsible for a debt she doesn’t owe, she is swept into a life as a gentleman’s escort at a private men’s gaming hall. Her new manager makes it abundantly clear he doesn’t appreciate her inexperience, innocence, and shyness. On the contrary, he despises everything about her.Derek can be “difficult,” she’s been told. And however dark and handsome he may be, he terrifies her in a way that chills her to the bone, but leaves her begging to understand him. As they are pulled along together, more secrets and threats than either one could ever conceive are revealed, and a common enemy emerges. This enemy will stop at nothing to bring Derek to his knees while using Ashton as the greatest pawn in his torturous game.Will Derek be able to let down his shield of cold, harsh emotion before it’s too late? Will he be able to sacrifice himself to save Ashton, or will they both be destroyed by the secrets of their pasts?

Honor


Jay Crownover - 2016
    Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I've fought and I've survived. I've had to.The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.I'm here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She's disappeared. But don't worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.Like I said, don't be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise… I'm the one front and center.

Pieces of Autumn


Mara Black - 2014
    But before you say I deserved whatever happened to me, you should know. I was desperate. I was alone. I was afraid for my life. You would have done the same thing.I thought things couldn’t possibly get any worse.But then, I woke up in darkness, unable to move. There was only one thing I was sure of: I wasn’t alone anymore.And then I heard HIS voice...Pieces of Autumn is a work of dark romance, intended for adult readers who will not be offended by themes of kidnapping, human trafficking, and violence.

Therapist


Jaden Wilkes - 2014
    I know this because I diagnosed myself.I have a PhD in Clinical Psychology from a very prestigious university.I am charming, attractive, and you probably want to sleep with me.I take what I want, when I want, and I enjoy picking the most tragic of all my patients to experiment with.I have no remorse, I am unrelenting in my pursuit of tragedy, and I am about to meet my match.Her name is not important, I am only allowed to call her Mistress. She is a femme fatale, a patient, and now an obsession.She will destroy me, I will do anything to get inside of her.I can already feel her inside of me.**Trigger warning. This novel contains situations of perversity and dubious consent. It is not a love story, but more of a journey through a few short days in the life of a madman. What you see is not always what you get, reality is altered through his eyes and sometimes there is no happily ever after.

Indebted


J.L. Beck - 2014
    That all changed in a blink of an eye the moment Bree came home for break. She didn't expect to find her dad strapped to chair, a gun pointed at his head. Alzerro “Zerro” King wasn't a man to be messed with. Women flocked to him and men ran from him. He ruled the mafia with an iron fist and no one ever crossed him unless they wanted to pay the price. He believed the only way to pay for something, if unable to do so, was to do it in blood. Nothing got him harder than stringing someone up, and putting a bullet in their head. That is until Bree. One look is all it took for him to know she could pay for her father’s debt in many other ways… Ways that could get him hard. Could a big city mafia king fall in love with the small town country girl? Would she be able to handle his dark and demanding ways? When push comes to shove, would Bree end up running only to be killed? Or would she sacrifice herself for love?

Twist Me


Anna Zaires - 2014
    Taken to a private island. I never thought this could happen to me. I never imagined one chance meeting on the eve of my eighteenth birthday could change my life so completely.Now I belong to him. To Julian. To a man who is as ruthless as he is beautiful – a man whose touch makes me burn. A man whose tenderness I find more devastating than his cruelty. My captor is an enigma. I don’t know who he is or why he took me. There is a darkness inside him – a darkness that scares me even as it draws me in.My name is Nora Leston, and this is my story. WARNING: This is NOT a traditional romance. It contains disturbing subject matter, including themes of questionable consent and Stockholm Syndrome, as well as graphic sexual content. This is a work of fiction intended for a mature, 18+ audience only. The author neither endorses nor condones this type of behavior.

Bloodstained Beauty


Ella Fields - 2018
     Fresh out of college and headed straight for my dream job, I didn’t think things could get any better.
 Then I met my dream man. 
In an instant, my happy ever after had begun.
 The life I’d stumbled into was beautiful, and the man I loved was perfect.
 But perfection comes at a cost, and I’d slumbered through all the alarms.
 Then I met my nightmare. 
 The man whose bright eyes held untamed darkness. 
 The man who disarmed me with his peculiar behavior. 
 The man whose cold, merciless hands shook me awake.  
In an instant, questions started to dismantle my happy ever after.
 But whoever said the truth would set you free was wrong. 
It wasn’t going to repair the cracks in my naive heart. 
 It wasn’t going to caress my face with comforting hands and reassure me it was all just a dream.
 No, the truth shoved me down a rabbit hole, and I landed in the lair of a real-life monster.

Dirty Ugly Toy


K. Webster - 2016
    Things are looking up. She’s dirty and ugly. He’s wicked but handsome. Six months to toy with her. Six months of vacation and a ton of money. I’ll hurt her beyond repair. I’ve been through much worse. She's difficult to control and doesn't obey. I'm done submitting to anyone or anything in this life. I should hate her. I should hate him. The game has changed. I will win. Dirty Ugly Toy is a novel that blurs the lines of right and wrong, deals with abuse, contains dubious consent, and adult subject matter. If you are sensitive to violent sexual situations, the book may not be suitable for you. Some parts of this book are not easy to read and are not intended for everyone. However, those that keep an open mind and stick with it will not be disappointed.

Waking Up in Vegas


Stevie Kisner - 2014
    It doesn’t matter, and I won’t remember it, anyway.I’m Tack Morgan, and I’m Las Vegas Magazine’s Sexiest Man. I’m the host of the most listened-to morning drive-time show on Vegas’s FM dial. I’m also in therapy for sexual harassment.My therapist is the one making me write this. The doc says it’ll help me put things into perspective.To be clear, I don’t have sexual harassment issues. I have sexual frustration issues.And it’s totally not my fault.That responsibility rests squarely with the person I’m being accused of harassing. I see her each and every weekday morning at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m.Funny. I used to think that was the best time of the whole day. I lived for starting my mornings so early, not seeing my bed until many, many hours later.Unless it was for recreation.At the risk of sounding cocky, I recreated a lot.Sex is my sport of choice. Or at least it was, until Jen waltzed through the station door and announced she was my new morning-show co-host.I swear, she’s developed some sort of pheromone-canceling ESP that follows me around everywhere and cockblocks me at every turn. I haven’t gotten laid in… too long.Honestly, I haven’t been keeping track. Actually, yes, I have. It’s been two months. Coincidentally, that’s exactly how long Jensen MacKenzie has been my co-host.I don’t think my balls can get any bluer.

See You Yesterday


Rachel Lynn Solomon
    But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room. The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months. When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?

Nothing More to Tell


Karen M. McManus
    . . and your secrets closer. Four years ago, Brynn left Saint Ambrose School following the shocking murder of her favorite teacher—a story that made headlines after the teacher’s body was found by three Saint Ambrose students in the woods behind their school. The case was never solved. Now that Brynn is moving home and starting her dream internship at a true-crime show, she’s determined to find out what really happened. The kids who found Mr. Larkin are her way in, and her ex–best friend, Tripp Talbot, was one of them. Without his account of events, the other two kids might have gone down for Mr. Larkin’s murder. They've never forgotten what Tripp did for them that day. Just like he hasn’t forgotten that everything he told the police was a lie. Digging into the past is bound to shake up the present, and as Brynn begins to investigate what happened in the woods that day, she begins to uncover secrets that might change everything—about Saint Ambrose, about Mr. Larkin, and about her ex-best friend, Tripp Talbot. Four years ago someone got away with murder. The most terrifying part is that they never left.