Book picks similar to
Dirty Hearts by Khardine Gray
mafia
dark
romance
second-chance
This Cruel Love
Nikki J. Summers - 2019
They trick you into believing true love will appear on the back of a white horse, in the form of a perfect, handsome Prince Charming. Most of the time Prince Charming turns out to be even more deceptive and evil than the wolf himself. I thought I’d met my soul mate at high school. Turned out my Mr Wright was so very wrong. Jackson.I live in a cruel and unforgiving world. I learnt from an early age how vicious life can be, but I’m a survivor. Life may have dragged me down to the depths of hell, but I know how to dance with the devil. Sometimes bad things happen to good people for no other reason than to remind us that this life is cruel. Sometimes good people are pushed to do very bad things to right the wrongs of another. But when all is said and done, we need to ask ourselves… how far would you go to protect the ones you love? Ryley thinks she has her whole life mapped out. Her happy ever after with her high school sweet heart Justin is already planned down to the very last detail. But life doesn’t always work out the way we expect it to, and when demons from Justin’s life threaten to destroy everything they’ve built up, Ryley finds herself thrown into a world of deception, lies and confusion. Truths get twisted, love and hate walk a dubious thin line and the enemy you think you know isn’t always what they seem.This book serves as a reminder that the first Prince Charming to cross your path isn’t always the hero in your happy ever after. *An enemies to lovers, second chance novel. Although this story isn’t a dark read, there are elements of darkness within, so please take note of the trigger warnings. There are cameos from Luca’s story in this book. However, you don’t have to have read Luca to enjoy this, it can be read as a standalone. **Warning: 18 years + recommended reader age due to sexual content. This story also contains scenes of drug abuse, suicide and sexual violence that may be upsetting to readers. Please proceed with caution.
Bad Apple
Selena . - 2021
If getting out of this hellhole town means spending my last two years of high school at an elite academy full of rich, entitled pricks, then bring it on.“Girls like you don’t belong.”The arrogant and infuriatingly gorgeous Dolce brothers reign supreme in the hallowed halls of Willow Heights, and they don’t welcome my kind. Especially when I get in their way, don’t play by the rules in their twisted games, and refuse to bow to the cruel tyrants who run the place.“Girls like you are bad news.”Royal, Baron, and Duke Dolce set their sights on me. They think a poor girl will be an easy target, that they can break me and bring me to my knees like the girls who came before me. But the Dolce boys underestimate me. In this town, even girls from the trailer park hide deadly secrets. Secrets that could destroy them.After all, it’s those from the wicked world of wealth and privilege with the most to lose.This book is not RH--the main character ends up with ONE love interest.This is the start of a brand new, dark high school bully romance/enemies to lovers story featuring a damaged anti-hero and a heroine who fights her own battles. It is not for the faint of heart. It is in *no way* safe. I don't want to list specifics bc they are spoilers IMO, so I'll just say this. If you have triggers or hard lines, avoid this book. 18+ readers only.
Truck Stop Tango
Krissy Daniels - 2020
I betrayed Slade Mason. Then disappeared. I’m home now. And I want her back. Trouble is, she’s lying. Keeping secrets. Pushing me away. What she doesn’t know is that not even her deception could make me leave her again. Five years ago, I made the toughest decision of my life. I did the unthinkable. Then covered my crime. Now, Tango Rossi is back. And I want him more than ever. Problem is, he wants answers I can’t give. What he doesn’t realize is that his betrayal is the very reason we can never be together.
The Boy Next Door
Jennifer Sucevic - 2021
I’ve spent more years than I care to admit crushing hard on Colton Montgomery. The blond, blue-eyed hottie leaves a trail of broken hearts in his wake wherever he goes. Mine being one of them. Just when I’d decided to cut my losses and move on, he appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. It had all seemed like a fairytale until he dumped me.Through text message, no less.Ouch.Eighteen months and one study abroad program later, I’ve returned to Wesley University to finish out my senior year.And Colton?He’s nothing more than a regrettable mistake I’d prefer to forget. Or so I tell myself. It only takes one run-in to realize that my feelings for him aren’t as dead and buried as I’d thought. Nope, they’re still there, simmering dangerously beneath the surface.He wants a second chance to make things right.That’s not going to happen.But Colton has other ideas.And part of me is afraid that if he actually puts his mind to it, he’ll end up changing mine.
Let Me
K.V. Rose - 2019
“I don’t need to love you for this, Riley. Let me.”Love and hate are merely two sides of the same coin. And I hate Riley Larson. She's responsible for my little brother's death. She played us both, all those years ago. And she drove him to the edge.I've spent all this time avoiding her, loathing her, wishing to get her back for what she did.And now, she's back in my city. And finally, I can get vengeance for my brother.She did always like to be scared. No cliffhanger, can be read as a stand-alone. Dark romance, only suitable for those 18+.
Forbidden
Julie Kriss - 2015
He was my first. And now he’s back.I met Bram Riordan when we were teenagers. I was shy, and Bram was dark and wild, untameable. He was also off-limits because his mother had married my father.It didn’t stop him from becoming my greatest mistake.Now, six years later, Bram has been released from prison. Our parents are divorced, but he’s back in my life. Big, tatted, and terrifying. I should have nothing to do with him, and he should never touch me.But the way he looks at me, I’m tempted to make the same mistakes all over again.We’re still forbidden. But now we just might break the rules — if we don’t break each other first.NOTE: This book was originally published under the title BREAK ME.
Dark Legacy: The Complete Series
Jaymin Eve - 2020
Includes Broken Wings, Broken Trust, Broken Legacy, and a BONUS never before seen epilogue. They rule my new town, my school, and with more money than God, there's very little out of their reach.Four gorgeous, perfect, scary boys. There used to be five, but one of them died, leaving a fifth position that I now fill. I didn't ask for this. I didn't want to be part of this billionaire-boys-club. But no one cares about what I want.Sebastian Beckett is the worst of them. Their leader. He draws me in, and strips me of every defense I have. He calls me Butterfly, but it's not a pet name, it's a threat. Beck wants nothing more than to break my wings, pin me to a board and watch me writhe.He wants to see me broken. Body, heart and soul.And what these elite want, they get.Only they've never met Riley Jameson.Let the battle begin.*This dark contemporary romance features one girl and four sexy, dangerous boys but is NOT a reverse harem.*
Dead Man's Ink Boxset
Callie Hart - 2017
Sometimes the choice is made for you, and pretending is the only thing that keeps you going. When Alexis Romera is taken and her kidnappers find her fake ID in her purse, she must become Sophia in order to keep her family safe. Revealing her real identity to the man she's sold to would be easy enough, but can she trust him? Hell bent on revenging the murder of his uncle, Rebel doesn't seem all that interested in playing things safe. In fact, nothing about the secretive, dark and brooding MC president seems safe at all. Rebel What do you do when the man who raised you is murdered, and the only witness is kidnapped girl who's being sold as a sex slave? You buy her, of course. As president to the most powerful motorcycle club in America, Rebel isn't lacking in power. There are strings the man can pull, and entire criminal organisations and corporate businesses alike would fall to their knees. However, along with such power comes intense interest. The DEA have their eye fixed solely on the MC...and they're just waiting for Rebel to trip up. Getting Sophia to testify is the only way to bring the Los Oscuros cartel down. The beautiful, dark haired, dark eyed woman is belligerent and uncooperative and unlikely to bend to his will, but Rebel has a few tricks up his sleeve to make her compliant--he'll charm her until she's bending over backwards to please him. Of course, falling for her might cause a few hiccups along the way... * The Dead Man's Ink series contains strong ties with the Blood & Roses series, but you do not have to have read those works in order to read this one. The Dead Man's Ink series is contemporary romance story with occasional dark themes that some people might find confronting. *
Addictive
Lola Finn - 2020
Gorgeous. Frustrating. Sculpted perfection.Years ago, he claimed me as his best friend and then left, never to be heard from again—or so I thought until he showed up last year.We both spent the summer working at his father's luxury resort. Except he pretended not to know me, ignored me, managed to not even look at me for twelve weeks.Now we're both back again for another season, and a lot has changed since last year.He isn't just my secret obsession anymore. He isn't just my boss for the entire summer.Knox Cabot is about to become my stepbrother.And given the scorching stares, forbidden touches, and downright dirty things he says, Knox plans to claim me again...only in a hotter, sinful, and much more scandalous way.Welcome to Haven Cove. Elite, sexy, scandalous—and that's just the guests and staff. At one of the world's most exclusive resorts, someone's always doing something they shouldn't. Or, more likely...someone.Don't forget the sunscreen. It's amping up to be one long, hot summer.
Each book in the Haven Cove series is a complete standalone with no cliffhangers, no cheating, and a guaranteed HEA.
Redlined
Cala Riley - 2021
That is, until one of them sends me far away, making me lose the other.Now, stuck with a cousin I’m not sure even wants me here trying to pick up the scattered pieces of my life, all I want to do is find my own way.Who cares if I’m slightly attracted to the asshole who seems to run these parts? Or that I’m starting to find his little tests exciting?Who cares that the abandonment I felt from the people I thought were my family fades as I find a new group to grow close to.It doesn’t mean anything. In the end, I’ll be gone, right?RomanI knew she was going to be trouble the minute I got the call she was coming. I didn’t expect her to light my blood on fire, though.Now, she’s slowly integrating herself into my life, one irritatingly yet sexy glare at a time.It doesn’t matter that I think the fact that she knows her cars is a huge turn on. Or that I crave having her near me.The fact that I’m itching to protect her has nothing to do with the way she makes me feel.There’s no room in the inner circle for new blood. So why does she seem to fit right in?
The Trouble With Bullies
Ruby Vincent - 2019
they hate when you stand up to them.
I used to be on top. I used to rule the school. Then one cruel act knocked me off my pedestal and Christian was more than happy to ride me down.Christian Moreau: resident bad boy, former best friend, now my tormentor. Nobody dared to stand up to him until one girl, a bottle of vodka, and a shove changed everything.Yeah, that girl was me.If only I had known what that shove would set off.A war with the Queen Bee of Meadow Creek. Long-hidden dark secrets revealed. And Christian Moreau moving in down the hall.Christian lures me into his game, but he's not the only bully that came to play.Can I handle the price of playing when winning may grant me his heart... but losing could cost me my life?
The Trouble With Bullies is a high school bully romance. This book features language and sexual scenes. If you're cool with that, dive in!
A Lovely Obsession: The Complete Debt of Passion Duet
Coralee June - 2020
A Thousand Cuts
Melissa Toppen - 2020
But then I grew up and I realized that life isn't like the books I once loved so much. There are no princes riding in on their white horses. No magic wands or fairy god mothers. And no happily ever afters. Ryland Thorpe taught me the hard way that good doesn't always win and sometimes the people we trust the most are the ones that can hurt us the deepest. At fifteen, my world began and ended with him. He was my older brother's best friend. He was my protector. He was the boy I had loved since I was old enough to understand what loving someone meant. And he was a liar… It's been five years since I've seen him. Five long years and the memory of him still haunts me like it was yesterday. Only he's not just a memory anymore. Prison has hardened him, changed him, altered him in ways I never expected. But beneath it all I can still see a glimmer of the boy I used to love. When lies are exposed and secrets are revealed, I find myself questioning everything I thought I knew. They say the first cut is the deepest. They were wrong… A Thousand Cuts is a complete standalone novel in the Cell Block C Series. A five book series- each book written by a different author in The Romance Collaborative.
Hate Struck
Nikki Ashton - 2020
The scars she carried constantly reminded her of what she'd suffered, but she was determined to move on. If only the boy who ruled the school corridors didn't hate her so much.
I played, I taunted, and I went in for the kill
Adam Hudson was the Captain of the school football team and the boy that every girl in the school wanted. He was also the one they feared, but now Sarah Danes was in his sights. Now she was the girl he wanted to break - before she broke him.Girl meets boyGirl hates boyBoy hates girlAnd we all know what happens next…Hate Struck a story of secrets, lies and fear
This book is based in a British high school and ends on a cliffhanger and may contain triggers with mentions of suicide, rape and violence. There are also some scenes of bullying
Cross Check
Colleen Masters - 2016
We grew up together, me the bookish nerd, him the rich popular jock. To make matters worse, my parents worked for his, they were the groundskeeper and housekeeper of the King estate my entire life. But now that Jamison’s parents are gone, he needs me to run his father’s company—his father’s dying wish was that we get married to align our interests… I have a feeling we’ll be aligning much more than that if Jamison gets his way. And he always does. Includes BONUS BOOK Stepbrother Billionaire!!!! This novel is a full-length contemporary sports romance novel. Contains harsh language and graphic sexual content. Readers 18++ No Cliff.