Book picks similar to
The Dark Room by Natalie Banks


suspense
contemporary-romance
romantic-affairs
contemporary-fiction

The Protector


Gennita Low - 2004
    Navy SEAL Jazz Zeringue soon discovers that his lovely savior is a covert agent and mistress of disguise who needs Jazz and his men to help her complete her most important and dangerous mission.

Fatal Judgment


Irene Hannon - 2011
    . . a not-to-be missed reading experience.” —RT Book Reviews on Against All Odds (41/2 stars, Top Pick)U.S. Marshal Jake Taylor has seen plenty of action during his years in law enforcement. But he’d rather go back to Iraq than face his next assignment: protection detail for federal judge Liz Michaels. His feelings toward the coldhearted workaholic haven’t warmed in the five years since she drove her husband—and Jake’s best friend— to despair... and possible suicide. As the danger mounts and Jake gets to know Liz better, he’s forced to revise his opinion of her. And when it becomes clear that an unknown enemy may want her dead, the stakes are raised. Because now both her life— and his heart—are in danger. Full of suspense and romance, Fatal Judgment is a thrilling story that will keep you listening late into the night.

Catch Me If You Can


Nina Bruhns - 2000
    Kit Colfax knew the parish sheriff always got what he wanted, but to protect her future she couldn't let him have his way... or her.Kit sought to put Beau's thieving cousin behind bars. Beau sought to stop her. And painful experience had taught Kit how powerful men operated... and manipulated. Well, not this lady. Not this time. Sure, Beau made her FEEL as she never had before. Made her WANT to trust him as he so unwaveringly trusted in his cousin's innocence. But was that a lover talking, or a deceiver bent on saving his family... whoever paid the price?

Dangerous Passage


Lisa Harris - 2013
    Suspecting a serial killer, Avery joins forces with medical examiner Jackson Bryant to solve the crimes and prevent another murder. But it doesn't take long for them to realize that there is much more to the case than meets the eye. As they venture deep into a sinister world of human trafficking, Avery and Jackson are taken to the very edge of their abilities--and their hearts.Dangerous Passage exposes a fully-realized and frightening world where every layer peeled back reveals more challenges ahead. Romantic suspense fans will be hooked from the start by Lisa Harris's first installment of the new Southern Crimes series.

Dangerous Lies: Sawyer and Amethyst (An Emerald Falls Romance, Book Two): Clean and wholesome small town romance


Christine Kersey - 2016
    Then a handsome stranger moves in next door. Wanting him to feel welcome in Emerald Falls, she attempts to befriend him. But when he is less than friendly, she becomes more determined to get to know him.Sawyer Cooke is in hiding. Wanting to remain as anonymous as possible, when his gorgeous red-headed neighbor stops by with a plate of cookies and a welcoming smile, it takes all of his will-power to turn her away. When she doesn't give up, he finds he enjoys her company much more than is safe. To keep his secret from being discovered--and to keep his enemies from finding him--he's forced to lie to Amethyst about all aspects of his life.Will a relationship built on lies destroy them both, or keep them safe from those who would do them harm?

Long Time Coming


Edie Claire - 2003
    But back at home, the past is ready and waiting to haunt her...Eighteen years have passed since Joy's childhood best friend, Jenny, met her death in a tragic car accident just a few days after their senior prom. A broken Joy left their small Kentucky hometown shortly after - determined never to come back. But when her father's illness forces her to return, she realizes that neither time nor distance have truly healed her troubled soul.Plagued with nightmares of the accident and crippled by a vague fear whose source she can't identify, Joy realizes that in order to move on she must face the truth behind several disturbing gaps in her memory of that fateful spring. But the only person who can help her is a man she despises - Jenny's erstwhile boyfriend Jeff, now a respected doctor, whose carelessness as a teenager was the cause of Jenny's horrendous death - and Joy's own emotional destruction. Can she ever forgive? She may have no choice but to try. Because both the danger she sensed - and the childhood friendship she treasured - now suddenly seem very much alive...

The Huntress


Dorothy McFalls - 2009
    Her prey, ex-special forces officer Grayson Walker, is ruthless, a killer. She shouldn't feel attracted to him. Even so, the closer she gets to finding Grayson, the louder her instincts shout that things are not what they seem.It's only murder...Grayson Walker is dangerous...and determined. Someone is killing those closest to him, and he's desperate to find out why. When a firecracker of a bounty hunter comes close to capturing him, he fights back and ends up shooting her. Yet not even a gunshot wound can cool the sparks that fly between them whenever they're together. Soon, his life turns into a deadly race to earn Vega's trust, track down a killer, and avoid falling in love.

30 Days


K. Larsen - 2013
    Dealing with the loss of her only sister. A suicide attempt that doesn’t end in death and a husband who wants her inheritance. Elle’s life is a catastrophe. But she has a list and thirty things she’s determined to accomplish. Love isn't on that list but it comes crashing unexpectedly into her life. Boxing coach and personal trainer at the gym he co-owns, Colin’s content with his life. Until a chance meeting with a woman eating alone at a restaurant sets his heart in motion. As secrets unveil themselves his only goal becomes holding on to what he’s found.

Redemption River


Lindsay Cross - 2015
     Until one mission turns his world upside down. He left Mercy to fight for his country and escape a broken heart. Years later, he is hard. Cold. A man without mercy. Part of an elite Task Force, he tracks a brutal terrorist to his home town. And runs into the woman who betrayed him… Evangeline Videl was destroyed when Hunter left. Determined to move on, she finds another man, but discovers too late the monster hidden beneath his smooth smile. Struggling to find the conviction to live, Evie finds her life spinning out of control. Then Hunter returns… Forced to band together to find the terrorist before its too late, Hunter and Evie must learn to forgive or risk losing the promise of redemption and their lives…

Stone Investigations: The Complete Series


Harper Maguire - 2019
    When Tucker’s fiancée goes missing a week before their wedding, Zoe has her own ideas as to why the trailer-park-queen disappeared, but she keeps those opinions to herself… That is until she hires Stone Investigations, and Greg Stone specifically, to hunt down the missing woman. Greg Stone is determined to find the missing fiancée before anything bad happens to her. But Zoe keeps getting in his way, and before long, he sees her as more than the overly intelligent, know-it-all lawyer who hired him. Greg begins to see Zoe as his perfect match. Part 2 Jennifer Langdon is a workaholic G.P. who lives in a beach-side bungalow and enjoys the lazy rhythm of Harper’s Bay when she isn’t giving flu shots or trying to figure out the source of her patients’ odd rashes. She comes from a big family, and family is important to her, but somehow she’s never managed to meet the right man to settle down with and start a family of her own. The baby bug has bit her, though. She wants one and because of it, she jumps at the chance to babysit her two-year old niece any time the occasion arises, which is often. But one day when she’s babysitting and checks her cell phone while her niece is playing on the beach side playground, that’s all the time it takes for the little girl to disappear into thin air. Part 3 Cara loves her father more than anyone in the world. She runs Fancy’s, the best seafood restaurant in Harper’s Bay, and while her father owns the place, he gives her free reign and full control, breezing in only for dinner each night in his crisply tailored suits. But one night when Cara’s father doesn’t show up for his steak and merlot dinner as always, she instantly knows something is terribly wrong. And soon her budding relationship with Tom shifts away from romantic flirtation and into the mysterious territory of trying to figure out what happened to Joseph “Fat Joe” Conway. Part 4 Professional surfer, April Chase has traveled the world from Hawaii to Indonesia. Along the way, she developed a close friendship with fellow surfer, Bethany Waterbury, who falls in love with the next town they arrive at to compete—Harper’s Bay. But the night before the big surfing competition, Bethany goes missing. The media flies into a frenzy and soon people start to suspect that April had something to do with it in an attempt to ‘knock out the competition’. Nothing could be further from the truth, which is why April needs the help of Stone Investigations and William specifically to help find her missing friend. Part 5 Matthew Stone has always been a loner, but a lone man would be nothing without man’s best friend, and Matt’s best friend is Rudy, a Rottweiler whose bark is far worse than his bite. Rudy has never bitten anyone and Matt knows he wouldn’t, but he’s been getting dirty looks and a complaint or two about Rudy’s daytime whining. He’s never thought to hire a dog walker, but when he does, he quickly discovers that there’s at least one woman in Harper’s Bay who isn’t afraid of his intimidating dog. Could it be a sign? Meanwhile, Hurricane Jane presses in on Harper’s Bay and the brothers of Stone Investigations work tirelessly to close in on Abigail Gardner’s real killer, but what Greg, Luke, Tom, Will, and Matt discover is far more disturbing than any of them could’ve ever imagined.

Unauthorized Affair


Lisa Ladew - 2014
    She finds herself in a new city with a new job as a cop, something she never could have imagined in her former life. After landing her dream job, she now finds two men vying for her attention. One a cop, the other a criminal. She has to make a choice, before all choices are ripped from her. 18+. Swearing and sexual content. This is a spin-off of the Edge of the Heat eeries. The characters from the Edge of the Heat will weave lightly in and out of the Unauthorized series.

The Fireproof Girl


Loretta Lost - 2016
    When the constant danger became too much to bear, she ran away, thinking she could survive on her hacking skills alone.That was until she met Cole Hunter. He became the only person she could trust: her family, her friend, her partner-in-crime. Her everything. After struggling through college and starting their lives together, she believed that nothing could ever tear them apart. Until it did.When news of a brutal murder reaches Sophie, she’ll do everything in her power to fix what is broken. If it isn’t too late…---------When Cole was nine years old, he watched his whole family burn to death in a house fire. Fueled by years of obsession, he started one of the world’s leading architectural firms, with a mission to design homes resistant to fire, earthquakes, floods, and every threat known to man. Sophie was his secret weapon. She was his purpose. Since they were teenagers, he was determined to build a better life for her, so she could finally be safe, and they could be together. But disaster has always followed Cole around, ripping away everything he loves. This time, if he isn’t careful…His enemies might just take him down.

Zack


Cheyenne McCray - 2014
    Then he comes striding back into her life—bigger, badder, and sexier than before. Zack Hunter never thought his job as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent would lead him back to his small hometown, and he never thought he’d set eyes on Sky again. Leaving her behind had been the stupidest thing he’d ever done, but this time he isn’t going to let her go. And as soon as Zack lays eyes on Sky, he makes it clear that he intends to make her his all over again. When Sky becomes entangled in the case he’s investigating, Zack can’t help but take the threat personally. As the danger mounts, their passion burns even hotter. **Please note: Zack was published in print only with St. Martin’s Griffin. Zack was originally published in eBook and print with Ellora’s Cave under the title "Wildfire". Character names were changed at St. Martin's request, and the Armed & Dangerous versions were expanded considerably from the original "Wild" series.

Intimate Strangers


Laura Taylor - 2011
    Nevada wilderness. Ignoring posted No Trespassing signs and the property's angry owner, she dismisses his threats and demands that he reveal her missing brother's location.Nicholas Benteen, ex-mercenary and former CIA covert operative, assumes she is yet another adversary intent on exacting lethal revenge for his past deeds. He will fight to the death to protect the sanctuary he has created for himself and those from his past he has vowed to safeguard. Even as Hannah penetrates Nicholas's isolation and melts the ice that encases his weary heart, she is seduced by the sensual, battle scarred veteran and the dark secrets of his past.

Castle Cay


Lee Hanson - 2010
    Who could have killed rising artist Marc Solomon, and what does Castle Cay, the Solomon's mysterious Caribbean island, have to do with it? Before long, Julie's sixth-sense pulls a hidden string that unravels a deadly conspiracy...and her own troubled past.