Book picks similar to
Contrite by Kathy Coopmans
dark
favorites
romantic-suspense
suspense
Enemies and Playmates
Darcia Helle - 2009
Lauren Covington's family maintains a grand facade that belies the life they live behind closed doors. Alex Covington, Lauren's father, keeps a tight rein on his family through dominance, abuse, and obsessive control. Consequently, Lauren doesn't believe she could ever trust a man, much less fall in love with one. When Lauren meets Jesse Ryder, her carefully constructed protective wall shatters. She falls hopelessly and completely in love. It's only fitting that Jesse is a private detective who had once worked for her father, had defied him, and was now the subject of Alex Covington's wrath. Amidst devastating loss, betrayal, and her father's destructive pursuit of Jesse, Lauren finds the trust and love she had always longed for.
The Seduction 1
Roxy Sloane - 2014
But trust me, I’ll have you wet and begging for it before you can think of all those bullshit, good girl reasons why not.I'm your darkest secret. Your dirtiest fantasy.Who am I?The Seducer.And I’ve never lost a case.Until her. Keely Fawes. My mysterious new target.Someone wants to destroy her -- and I’m their weapon of choice.Her secrets could be my undoing. Her innocence will ruin me.But I don’t care.I’m going to show her how fucking good it feels to be bad. She’ll come screaming my name if it’s the last thing I do.***Part 1 of a filthy, seductive new serial***
Feyness
E.S. Carter - 2016
I don't see dead people.I see you.I see every incarnation of you.I see the history of your soul.I can see your aura soaked in the blood of your previous lives.Most people are inherently good or evil.Some flit between darkness and light.Few can change the fabric of their essence; it's a fight that most are too weak to win.He was once darkness.An evil so pure that his very soul is black and yet I am drawn to him like a moth to a flame.Some days, I feel like I am drowning, the waves of my feelings stealing the very air from my lungs.Other days, I feel nothing at all.I'm unsure which is worse; gasping for air or dying from this thirst.Can you learn to breathe underwater when you find someone worth drowning for?Feyness is a dark standalone.Readers of a sensitive disposition may want to step away from the book.Step away, nothing to see here.Readers who like to dance on the dark side, come on in and enjoy the ride.
Clarity
Loretta Lost - 2014
She did not expect a traumatic event to devastate her life and force her to drop out of college. Disillusioned by the cruelty of people, Helen retreated from society to live by herself as a reclusive writer in the woods--where no one could ever hurt her again.When a brilliant young doctor shows up on her doorstep, promising her that his new research can give her the ability to see for the first time, Helen stubbornly refuses. She has learned not to trust anyone, and to rely only on herself. But Dr. Liam Larson will not take no for an answer. He makes it his personal mission to rescue Helen from her loneliness, and bring joy into her world once more--the joy she has denied herself for so long.When Helen's demons come racing back into her life, threatening to rip her apart and destroy the strength she has carefully rebuilt, Liam is the only one who might be able to save her. Can he reach the broken girl in time, helping her to heal and see the world in a different light? Or will Helen's grief send her spiraling out of control, lost to him forever?**********This is the first book of a three-part series.**********
Stone Cold Bad
Tess Oliver - 2015
A guy like him was the last thing I needed now. A guy like Colt Stone was the last thing I ever needed. -Colt-Emotion, feelings and, hell, even love had been turned off in all of us Stone brothers long ago. Then Jade landed in my life. It was the last thing I ever wanted, to feel this way about someone. Attachments like this were only followed by heartbreak, and I wasn't into heartbreak. I wasn't into f*cking attachments. Bad boy Colt Stone has a notorious reputation for being a tough and dangerous heartbreaker. A brutal childhood hardened him to the idea of any type of emotional attachment to anyone. When he becomes the unwitting accomplice in Jade Morrow's escape from an abusive boyfriend, he soon finds that he'll do anything to keep her safe. Has Colt found the one girl who can break through to his impenetrable heart?When she runs away from her monstrous boyfriend, Jade Morrow has no place to go and no one to turn to. She accidentally lands in the arms of a handsome, tattooed stranger. Colt Stone is as formidable as he is appealing and Jade soon finds that he's equally hard to resist. When her troubled past catches up to her, Jade discovers just how far Colt will go to save her.
Complementary Colors
Adrienne Wilder - 2014
Her greed made me a slave and circumstance left me with no way to escape.Trapped, the only way I could silence the nightmares driving me to insanity was to wrap them in color, hold them with shadow, and stitch them to negative space with line.But no matter how bright the pigments, no one could see my confession.Except for Roy Callahan.I thought he was just another nameless one-night stand in a long line of many. But I was wrong. Roy could see past the façade of my life and through the veil color over the canvas. He could see what the world couldn’t.And with him I’d find the courage to tell the truth about the boy.The boy who kissed me.The boy who loved me.The boy whose name I couldn’t remember.
Thursday Nights
Lisa N. Paul - 2013
But when fate brings two weak souls together, will the love they find mend the fragments that are barely holding them together, or will the weight of their past finally cause them to crumble?Max DeLucca has spent seven years trying to forget the betrayal of his past. He lives his life from day to day never looking forward and never looking back. The walls around his heart keep anyone from getting too close and prevent him from feeling too much…until he meets her.Her entire life, Janie Silver searched for the kind of love that wouldn’t leave her broken and more importantly, wouldn't leave her behind. She longs for a love that can heal the wounds of her past and give her the future she knows she deserves. She thought she was looking for something that just didn’t exist…until she meets him.Danny’s on Main is where their story begins. A neighborhood bar where strangers become friends, friends become family and some … become lovers… it all started on Thursday Nights
Aftermath
Cara Dee - 2013
One is a family man, works in a nice office, drives an expensive car, and is content to be content. The other one is an antisocial car mechanic with a short fuse.Some things don’t change. Others definitely do.After surviving a five-months long kidnapping together, they struggle to return to normalcy, all while realizing that they're more drawn to each other than they ever could've imagined."I know I'm not normal, but I'm not fucking stupid.""Define normal," Austin countered quietly, meeting Cam in the doorway. "And for not being normal, you're the only person in the world who makes sense right now. What does that say about me?"Warning: This story contains violence and scenes of an explicit, erotic nature between two men and is intended for adults, 18+.
Debt
Nina G. Jones - 2014
Maybe I was bored, or lonely, or there was a void so deep inside of me that I needed something explosive to fill it. It was supposed to be safe. A thrill. A way to break through the monotony of everyday life. It was an illusion of danger that I could walk away from as soon as it was over. Except that it wasn’t. Because I had been in danger long before I ever invited it into my life. ———————My mission is almost complete. The bubbling boil of vengeance that heats my blood might finally simmer. She is the last piece of the puzzle. Once I destroy her, everyone who ever hurt me will have paid their debt. It was supposed to be quick and easy, but as soon as I met her it got complicated. Very complicated.DEBT is a standalone novel. 118k words. Adult/graphic content that may be difficult for some readers.
Unbeautiful
Jessica Sorensen - 2014
Some might even say perfect. They say that I’m a pretty girl. They say I should be happy. They say that I have nothing to be angry about. That I’m popular. A cheerleader. That I’m perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. But all they see is what’s on the outside. On the inside I’m raw, open, bleeding. Scars that can’t seem to heal the wounds. Carrying dark secrets about who I really am.How afraid I am to tell the truth.And it’s slowly killing me. RylerTattoos. Piercing. Scars. The guy who can’t speak. Gothic freak. Mute. Punk. I’ve heard it all. They say that I’m probably dangerous. They say people should stay away from me. They say. They say. They say.But who are they anyway? To decide what I am. They don’t know what’s hidden beneath the scars. Beneath the piercings and tattoos. The secrets I keep hidden beneath the silence.Maybe if they knew, they wouldn’t fear me so much. Then again, maybe they’d fear me more.
Crave
Jennifer Dawson - 2015
I crave. I give in.I used to be a nice, normal girl. I had dreams. Good, happy dreams of a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, and a fairytale love that lasts forever. Nobody ever warned me that sometimes, the prince dies three weeks before the wedding. Like any addict, I swear this time is the last…. Now, I go through my days, a shadow of my former self. I pretend I’m okay, and the people in my life pretend to believe me. But, sometimes, when I can no longer stand the craving, I roam an underground sex club looking for my next hit. It’s dirty and wrong, but I can’t stop, and my only line of defense between them and me, is the rules I’ve designed to keep me safe. The men always abide by my rules. Until I meet him. And, like any addict, I’m wrong.I don’t question the instincts that tell me to run. One look at him, standing there, power radiating off him in waves, tells me all I need to know. He will make me crave those happy dreams I’ve left behind. And that is not an option.
Insanity
Lauren Hammond - 2012
Adelaide Carmichael and Damien Allen couldn’t be more opposite.Adelaide’s mother abandoned her when she was ten years old, leaving her to be raised by her abusive and alcoholic father.Damien on the other hand came from a wealthy family, was a local celebrity, and seemed to have a bright future ahead of him.Despite their differences, Adelaide and Damien were young, wild, and fiercely in love.And they had a plan.They were going to run away.Be together forever.And their plan was set in motion, until tragedy struck and for some reason, Adelaide wound up in The Oakhill Institution for the insane.Adelaide has no idea what she did to wind up at Oakhill, but she knows one thing for sure...She wants out.And after Damien follows her there to aid her in escaping, Adelaide slowly begins putting together the pieces of her memory that are missing.And it doesn’t take Adelaide long to figure out that sometimes...That one true love never dies.Warning:Do not read if you have a weak heart.
The Edge of Courage
Elaine Levine - 2012
. . Rocco Silas has come home to Wyoming after long years as a Red Team operative in Afghanistan. It isn't easy returning to civilian life, especially burdened as he is with a staggering case of PTSD or hunted as he is by an enemy determined to seek an eye-for-eye--neither of which can he battle until he confronts the truth of what happened one fateful day in the high mountain ranges of the Hindu Kush. . . . She alone holds the key to his sanity. Mandy Fielding's dream of opening a therapeutic riding center on her family's ranch is almost within her grasp--until she hires Rocco Silas, a dangerous ex-Spec Ops friend of her brother's. His haunted eyes and passionate touch promise a love she never dared believe possible. Can they confront the truth of his past and build a future together or will the enemy stalking him destroy them both?
He Found Me
Whitney Barbetti - 2014
I walked out the door of my apartment with a backpack and never looked back. I left the life of Cora Mitchell behind, seeking freedom from my real-life nightmare. But my freedom came with a cost. I lived a fictitious life for the next six years, never letting anyone close enough to see underneath the facade that was Andra Walker. I was content with my simple little life. Until I met Julian. And the moment I started allowing myself to open up, allowing someone to see through the superficial, was the very same moment the Monster from my past would return to find me.
Consequences of Deception
Ella Fox - 2014
Their future was assured until tragedy struck and deceptions were made. There are consequences to every action, and the Consequences of Deception are always the most punishing. Sloane Evans lost nearly everyone that she’s ever loved, but losing Killian Brandt left a scar that never healed. Four and a half years after turning his back on her, Killian steps back into Sloane’s life in the most shocking of ways, giving her no choice but to abandon her life and go with him. Why would a man buy a woman that he hates? Not everything is as it appears. Love is beautiful, revenge is ugly, and lies destroy lives. Prepare to discover the Consequences of Deception. Warning: This is NOT a sweet and happy romance. It's dark, twisted, and not for the faint of heart. If you prefer champagne, roses & easy romance, this is NOT the book for you. 18 & up ONLY due to erotic content.