Book picks similar to
A Brutal Betrayal by D.C. Renee
new-adult
contemporary
dark
romance
A Different Blue
Amy Harmon - 2013
She doesn't know her real name or when she was born. Abandoned at two and raised by a drifter, she didn't attend school until she was ten years old. At nineteen, when most kids her age are attending college or moving on with life, she is just a senior in high school. With no mother, no father, no faith, and no future, Blue Echohawk is a difficult student, to say the least. Tough, hard and overtly sexy, she is the complete opposite of the young British teacher who decides he is up for the challenge, and takes the troublemaker under his wing. This is the story of a nobody who becomes somebody. It is the story of an unlikely friendship, where hope fosters healing and redemption becomes love. But falling in love can be hard when you don't know who you are. Falling in love with someone who knows exactly who they are and exactly why they can't love you back might be impossible.
Unbreakable
Rebecca Shea - 2013
She’s a good daughter, makes excellent grades, and always strays on the safe side of life. The last thing she thought would ever happen was falling in love with her best friend’s brother. But sometimes fate just has a way of bringing two people together. Wide receiver for the University of Arizona, Gabe Garcia, seems to have it all. When his feelings for Jessica come to surface, Gabe will give up everything to be with her. But what happens when a tragedy abruptly changes the course of your life? For Jessica and Gabe, everything they thought they knew about each other will be questioned. Sometimes, there are scars in life that are cut too deep to completely heal. Will their love prove to be unbreakable, or will it shatter and prove fate is just another lie?*This book contains mature subject matter and is not intended for those under 17 years of age.*
Blood of Zeus
Meredith Wild - 2020
A forbidden love. The only thing worse than being a demon is being a Valari. As an undergraduate at Los Angeles’s Alameda University, Kara Valari can sometimes succeed at forgetting she’s both. Lost between the pages of the classics and tucked into the shadows of lecture halls, she can dodge the paparazzi’s lenses as well as her family’s publicized dramas—not to mention their private expectations. She has one more year to feed her true passions. Then she’ll be expected to fulfill a much darker destiny. Cursed with inexplicable strength and god-like stature, literature professor Maximus Kane knows all about darkness. Every day he’s reminded of the missteps of his childhood and the devastating consequences they’ve had on those dearest to him. To atone, Maximus spends his nights alone and his days submerged in the quiet life of academia. His existence has become a study in control, and he’s become a master at it—until Kara Valari walks into his toughest course. Viscerally, Kara’s everything he craves. Logically, she’s everything he rejects. She’s a starlet of privilege. She’s also a student. And after one touch, he can’t deny that she’s awakened something in him that may never go dormant. Nothing about her makes sense, but everything about her feels right. Especially in the deepest strands of his DNA, which are still shadows of mystery to him—a mystery Kara seems determined to uncover. She’s Hollywood royalty. She’s forbidden fruit. And he’s pretty sure she could be the answer to everything.
Forgiving Lies
Molly McAdams - 2013
To catch a serial killer, he needs to stay focused, yet all he can think about is the feisty, long-legged coed whose guarded nature intrigues himA matter of lies...Deceived and hurt before, Rachel would rather be a single, crazy cat lady than trust another guy, especially a gorgeous, tattooed bad boy with a Harley, like Kash. But when his liquid-steel eyes meet hers, it takes all of Rachel's will-power to stop herself from exploring his hot body with her own.A matter of love...As much as they try to keep it platonic, the friction between them sparks an irresistible heat that soon consumes them. Can Kash keep Rachel's heart and her life safe even as he risks his own? Will she be able to forgive his lies ... or will she run when she discovers the dangerous truth?
Ruthless Creatures
J.T. Geissinger - 2021
Geissinger.
Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and unanswered questions.Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town. Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame.The intensity of our connection is addictive, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, unable to resist.But when I discover how he’s tied to the darkness in my past, I learn what happens when you fly recklessly into fire:You get burned.
Bound by Lies
Hanna Peach - 2014
He contacts me only through notes − unpredictable and untraceable. When we meet, he can touch me, but I’m not allowed to touch him. When we make love, it’s only after I have been bound and blindfolded. It’s the only time I truly feel alive. Which is why I play along with it. For now.Caden Thaine is the most sinfully beautiful man I have ever seen. But more than that, his touch sets me on fire. And dear God, do I ache for him. I don’t know where he lives or even what he does. But this doesn’t scare me. My only fear is that one day his messages will stop. I know he’s hiding something. But that’s okay. I am hiding things too. Like my real name and... who I really am. But the deeper I fall for him, the stronger my curiosity becomes. I could never have imagined just how much our lives are bound. And that pulling at his tangled web of secrets would cause my own dark past to come back to try and reclaim me. Will we survive? Will our love?Adult romantic suspense. +18 years.
Apolonia
Jamie McGuire - 2014
Z, the eccentric college professor who has taken her under his wing; not Benji, the endearing, attractive classmate who insists on following her around; and certainly not Cy, the beautifully dark and mysterious boy who sits in the first row in Dr. Z’s Astrobiology class and asks far too many questions. When Rory witnesses Cy being abducted by soldiers in the middle of the night, she finds herself immersed in a world that holds more secrets than she could imagine, even darker secrets than her own. From #1 New York Times Bestseller Jamie McGuire, experience the perfect combination of her bestselling books Providence and Beautiful Disaster. This New Adult Sci-Fi Romance is an action-packed, whiplash-inducing roller-coaster ride. Page after page, this unpredictable, dark, and sexy nail-biter will keep readers guessing until the very end!
Gothikana
RuNyx - 2021
An enigmatic man. An ancient castle. What could go wrong?An outcast her entire life, Corvina Clemm is left adrift after losing her mother. When she receives the admission letter from the mysterious University of Verenmore, she accepts it as a sign from the universe. The last thing she expects though is an olden, secluded castle on top of a mountain riddled with secrets, deceit, and death.An enigma his entire life, Vad Deverell likes being a closed book but knowing exactly everything that happens in the university. A part-time professor working on his thesis, Vad has been around long enough to know the dangers the castle possesses. And he knows the moment his paths cross with Corvina, she's dangerous to everything that he is.They shouldn't have caught each other's eye. They cannot be. But a chill-inducing century-old mystery forces them to collide. People have disappeared every five years for over a hundred years, and Corvina is getting clues to unraveling it all, and Vad needs to keep an eye on her.And so begins a tale of the mystique, the morbid, the macabre, and a deep love that blossoms in the unlikeliest of places.
Nico
Sarah Castille - 2016
But when he meets his match in the gorgeous, headstrong Mia Cordano, the daughter of a rival crime lord, all bets are off . . . Sexy computer hacker Mia struggles to break free of her ruthless father's Mafia ties . . . but she can't resist the powerful and seductive Nico, who will stop at nothing to possess her. With their families locked in a brutal war for control of the city, Mia and Nico enter into a forbidden game. Will they surrender to the passion that burns between them and risk tearing apart their families? Or will Nico be forced to betray the only woman who sets his blood on fire? Contains mature themes.
Bad Idea
Nicole French - 2017
The beautiful girl. The f**king ray of sunshine in the middle of your delivery route. Layla Barros is everything I never knew I wanted. Everything I'll never have.She's an innocent young student. I'm a convicted felon. She's rich girl from a nice family. I've got nothing but a broken home.But if I'm an addict, she's my drug. I can't stay away, even though I know I'll ruin her in the end. She might be the girl of my dreams, but I was always a bad idea.
Therapy
Kathryn Perez - 2014
I’m needy. I’m broken. Cutting breaks through my numbness, but only opens more wounds. Depression, self-harm, bullying....that's my reality. Sex and guys....that's my escape. The space between the truth and lies is blurred leaving me torn, lost and confused. And while the monsters that live in my head try to beat me-- the two men that I love try to save me. This is my story of friendship, heartache, and the grueling journey that is mental-illness.Warning: Due to possible triggering subject matter and some sexual situations this book is not recommended for anyone under the age of 17 years old.
Wanted
Amanda Lance - 2013
Desperate to rid the crime of its only witness, one of the thieves kidnaps Addie. Yet surprisingly, when a renegade thief attempts to silence her for good, Addie is saved by the very man who abducted her. Now, forced on board a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, Addie finds herself surrounded by international smugglers who want nothing more than to throw her overboard. All except the artistic and intriguing Charlie Hays, whose strange protectiveness convinces Addie to trust him, even when common sense tells her otherwise. Yet, despite her doubt, and his unrelenting temper, their relationship develops into something much more. But, Charlie’s scorned colleague has stowed away, and as he seeks revenge against his coworker, Addie and Charlie are forced to put their new love—and lives—at risk.
Dark Notes
Pam Godwin - 2016
Maybe I am.Sometimes I do things I despise.Sometimes men take without asking.But I have a musical gift, only a year left of high school, and a plan.With one obstacle.Emeric Marceaux doesn’t just take.He seizes my will power and bangs it like a dark note.When he commands me to play, I want to give him everything.I kneel for his punishments, tremble for his touch, and risk it all for our stolen moments.He’s my obsession, my master, my music.And my teacher.
Bad Saint
Monica James - 2019
But they didn’t realize I wasn’t a victim…not anymore.The open sea was my backdrop for nine torturous days. During that time, glimmers of my fate were revealed by a man with the mysterious chartreuse-colored eyes. He should have scared me, but he didn’t.He intrigued me. And I intrigued him.He punished me when I didn’t listen, which was every single day. But beneath his cruelty, I sensed he was guarding a grave secret.I was sold. And in a game of poker, no less. My buyer? A Russian mobster who likes to collect pretty things. Now that I know the truth, I only have one choice.Sink or swim.And when one fateful night presents me the opportunity, I take it. I just never anticipated my actions would leave me shipwrecked with my kidnapper.He needs me alive. I want him dead.But as days turn into weeks, one thing becomes clear—I should hate him…but I don’t.My name is Willow.His name is Saint.Ironic, isn’t it? He bears a name that denotes nothing but holiness yet delivers nothing but hell. However, if this is hell on earth…God, save my soul.