Book picks similar to
Through the Pain by C.A. Rene
dark
dark-romance
high-school
dnf
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.
Vicious
L.J. Shen - 2016
The man who comes to me in my dreams also haunts me in my nightmares. He is a brilliant lawyer. A skilled criminal. A beautiful liar. A bully and a savior, a monster and a lover.Ten years ago, he made me run away from the small town where we lived. Now, he came for me in New York, and he isn’t leaving until he takes me with him.ViciousShe is a starving artist. Pretty and evasive like cherry blossom. Ten years ago, she barged into my life unannounced and turned everything upside down. She paid the price.Emilia LeBlanc is completely off-limits, my best friend’s ex-girlfriend. The woman who knows my darkest secret, and the daughter of the cheap Help we hired to take care of our estate. That should deter me from chasing her, but it doesn’t. So she hates me. Big fucking deal. She better get used to me.
Wicked Idol
Becker Gray - 2020
Iris Briggs gets under my skin. With her demure skirts and braided hair, she flits around the periphery until she runs right into me, hot coffee soaking me as she looks up with wide, innocent eyes.We start off scalding.In the library, we reach lava levels.And then in the city? She burns me to the ground.I’m Keaton Constantine. My duty is to my family. At least, it was until I started unbraiding the good girl and realizing there’s more to life than duty.
7th Circle
Tate James - 2021
The streets outside the Wolves HQ ran red with the blood of the old guard, and not one of those members loyal to my father were spared mercy. Not a single one. I let the media twist and distort the story. My new recruits eagerly proved themselves in spreading false news, in covering our tracks. To the general public, the Tri-State Timberwolves were extinct. But that couldn’t have been further from the truth. We changed, we grew, we evolved and came out stronger than ever. Now, I live, eat, sleep and breathe Timberwolves. I’ll do anything to keep my empire safe and thriving. To keep the people depending on me safe. So, what do I do, when it’s my own weakness that places us all in danger? When I let sex cloud my judgment, and my people pay the price? Simple. Kill the distractions. I’m called Hades for a reason, after all.
King of Spades
Steph Macca - 2022
Literally.This town was run by violent gangs and I lived a quiet life as the criminal prosecutor's daughter. But the day of my 18th birthday, everything changed. Suddenly I was on the radar of both gangs. I should be scared. I should be fearful.But my desire for danger has taken over.I could be walking into a trap. But Reed, Colton and Grayson, the infamous Spades Trio are dragging me into the darkness...And down the rabbit's hole I go....Please note this is a dark contemporary gang novel. It contains violence, adult themes and a minor reference to birth trauma. Readers should proceed with caution and take care if they have known triggers.KING OF SPADES is a full length mature dark high school gang related adult romance with some enemies-to-lovers themes. This is a reverse harem novel, meaning the main female character has more than one love interest. KING OF SPADES is book one in the Black Spades Trilogy.
Things I Wanted To Say (But Never Did)
Monica Murphy - 2021
Dark and thunderous, furious and fierce. Cold, heartless and devastatingly beautiful, like the statues in our prep school gardens. The school with his family name on the sign. He can do no wrong here. This is his domain. He’s a menace on campus. Adored and feared. Hated and respected. His taunting words carve into my skin, shredding me to ribbons. Yet his intense gaze scorches my blood, fills me with a longing I don’t understand. When I stumble upon him one night alone, I find him broken. Bleeding. My instincts scream to leave and let him suffer, but I can’t. I sneak him into my room. Clean him up. Fall for his lies. Let him possess every single part of me until I’m the one left a gasping, broken mess. When he leaves me alone in the dead of night, he takes my journal with him. Now he knows all my secrets. My hate. My truth. And he promises to use my words against me. I’ll be ruined if my darkest secret gets out. That’s when I strike a bargain with the devil. I’ll let Whit Lancaster ruin me behind closed doors instead.
Outcast
Sofia Daniel - 2019
According to the Kings of Mercia Academy...they aren't for Americans, either. Blake, Edward, and Henry rule my new school. They're aristocratic. Old money. Brutal as hell They'll do whatever it takes to break my spirit and make me leave. If I survive Mercia, I'll get a free ride to college. My future will be set. My past will be forgotten. All I have to do is survive their dirty tricks. Their dangerous games. Their seductive kisses. They’ve opened hunting season and put a target on my back. What they don’t know is that one day, the prey will become the hunter. Mercia Academy – it ain't no cup of tea. Outcast is book one of a reverse harem, high school bully romance that contains cursing, dark themes, and sexual situations.
Cruel
Raven Kennedy - 2019
Savannah, Georgia is full of debutantes and greed. The Heirs own this town. They own me, too. I don’t know what I did to ruin what we had. But their kindness turned cruel almost a year ago. I was prepared to leave it all behind and start over at a new school. But Rogue Kelly, the king of the Heirs, ruined that. He doesn’t want me anymore but doesn’t want anyone else to have me either. I know too much to be set free, but not enough to stay. The Heirs aren’t through with me yet. And I crave their cruelty too much to give up now.
Half Truths
Claire Contreras - 2019
New blood. New money, too.They think they'll elbow past me, that I'm here for their amusement, for them to walk all over, they'll find out soon enough that I'm not.I may look like one of them, with my designer bags and clothes straight from the Parisian runways, but I'm not. I'm here for answers, to take revenge for blood spilled on their centuries-old Persian rugs.I transferred here in search for answers about what happened to my older brother, who hightailed out of here, and my friend who seemingly disappeared into thin air. I certainly wasn't here for the attention of the star hockey player, regardless of how much he willed my eyes his way. I wasn't here for his scrutiny or his judgment or to read into his mysterious aura. I was here for the society, because only they held the answers I needed. That was, until I found out that in order to get those answers, I needed to to go through him. He's saying if I want in, I have to play by their rules, follow their lead.It's a game I'm willing to play.I may be the second person I know of to be invited into their society, but I'll be the first to make it out intact.
Reckless Hate
Thandiwe Mpofu - 2019
The results? Reckless Hate & Catastrophe."Westbrook had four boys that ruled my life once.They were hell raisers.Cunning Athletes.Skilled Manipulators.Hateful Assholes.Gorgeous gods.Heartbreakers. . .Only I never counted on them breaking my heart as savagely as they did, sending me away when I needed them the most. Making me spiral into a vicious abyss of darkness where I'm haunted by a pair of frosty blue eyes filled with hate.But now I'm back and this time around, for a reason that makes breathing almost completely impossible.And if they think I won't get revenge for my brother--one of the Blue Boys--then they have another kind of hell to face.Because I'm no longer their little Blue girl from four years ago. . .
Twisted Love
Ana Huang - 2021
Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape. Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart. But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:A crack.A melt.A fire that could end his world as he knew it.***Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want. Her brother’s best friend. Her neighbor.Her savior and her downfall.Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen—but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.
Twisted Love is a brother’s best friend/opposites attract romance with a hint of suspense. It's book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.WARNING: This book contains a possessive, morally gray alphahole; explicit sexual content, and profanity. No cheating or menage, but if you're looking for a traditionally sweet, loveable hero, this is not the book for you. Recommended for 18+.
When Art Rises
Lorrain Allen - 2020
When I was fifteen, the course of my life changed—one second was all it took. The truth about what happened that summer night is driving me to the brink of insanity. I’m an ex-drug addict and suicide survivor who’s been deemed a lost cause. No one can control me. I don’t give a damn about anything—until I meet her.She’s a “Cin” worth committing. Cinnamon “Cin”I have a life most would envy—a track star with a full scholarship lined up after I graduate high school. My boyfriend and I are looking forward to our future together. I’m content—until I meet him. He’s dangerous, damaged, and I know it’s best to keep my distance, but damn I’m drawn to him. Art is a beautiful disaster, tearing my carefully laid plans apart, causing havoc. Little did I know my choice would set in motion the destruction of my perfect world. The consequences will be catastrophic once the dust settles.WARNING: This book features an out-of-control, jealous antihero, abuse, graphic language, explicit sex scenes, and other subject matters some readers might find triggering. Arthur King is not a comfortable antihero to read about. If you expect a redeemable antihero this book is not for you. He does NOT grovel or beg. While the setting of the book is in a high school environment, its recommended reading age is eighteen+. Read at your own risk.This is the first book in a duet and cannot be read as a standalone.
Rival
Ketley Allison - 2020
Recommended for readers 17 and over. It is NOT a standalone and ends on a cliffhanger with a happy-for-now (but a happily ever after will happen … in the end.)
Skin
B.B. Easton - 2017
. . perhaps on the entire planet. He hated everyone, except for BB Easton—the perky, quirky punk chick he couldn’t avoid.BB, on the other hand, liked everybody . . . except for Knight. She was scared to death of him, actually. All she wanted was to marry Little Mermaid’s Prince Eric-lookalike and king of the local punk scene Lance Hightower.But Knight was patient. Persistent. Unexpected. And once he got under BB’s skin, her life would never be the same.A forbidden love story overflowing with '90s nostalgia, dark humor, and heart-wrenching angst, and based on a true story.
Not My Hero: Black Mountain Academy
Michelle Heard - 2020
Dark. Broody. Dangerous.He didn’t care where I cared too much.Then the rumors started.He failed his senior year at his previous school. His brother committed suicide. It’s his fault.And for one blessed week, I wasn’t the topic of discussion. You see, I’m the daughter of a socialite who has no soul. I’m the one paying for her sins. They never let me forget where I come from, and she never stops telling me what a failure I am.But then Colton Lawson looks at me, and unlike the other students, his dark gaze seems to see through the lies spun around me.He starts appearing out of nowhere, fighting my battles for me only to stalk away, making me feel like I’m nothing but a nuisance.My name is Brie Weinstock, and this is my story of how a boy walked into my hell and fought for me, even though I never expected him to. The question is, am I strong enough to repay the favor?This is a high school romance that deals with sensitive subjects. Adult readers only.