Book picks similar to
The Bride Thief by Isabella Starling
dark
mafia
romance
contemporary-romance
Nightfall
Nicole Fox - 2019
I just discovered the don’s darkest secret. Wait ‘til he finds out mine… The Bratva don and I made a deal: Spare my father. Take me instead. But Dmitry Tsezar wasn’t satisfied with my body. He wanted everything else, too. My obedience. My submission. My heart. My soul. And when that still wasn’t enough, he came to take my life. But then I found something. Something twisted. Something wrong. Something hidden in a locked room of his mansion, in a wing he warned me never, ever to wander near. When I opened the door and discovered Dmitry’s secret… Everything changed forever.
This is book 1 of the Tsezar Bratva duet! The second and final book, Daybreak, is available now!
Lies We Share
Ella Miles - 2020
The girl who would change everything. She hunted; I killed. Granted it was only a spider, but it was a lifetime pact. She hunts for me. I kill for her. But nothing good lasts. She hates me. I loathe her. Until I can barely recognize the friendship we once had. The only thing we still share are the lies…Lies We Share is a short prologue novella that introduces you to Langston & Liesel. Their story continues in Vicious Lies. Ends on a cliffhanger.
Antony
Bethany-Kris - 2015
Not the ones that mattered, anyway. In the world of La Cosa Nostra, justice was served with a single word and a bullet, not a courthouse and a judge. When he was told to jump, there was only one appropriate response: How high, Boss? Some rules are worth bending. La famiglia has been Antony’s goal for longer than he cares to remember. Getting his button is everything alongside family, honor, God, and loyalty. Meeting Cecelia Catrolli puts what he thought he knew upside down as the mafia, friendship, secrets and love carry him through life. Nothing is ever easy. Some rules are worth the killing. When Cosa Nostra, the one thing he has always known and trusted, takes away his best friend, leaving Antony to pick up the pieces, he’ll have to decide if the rules are finally worth breaking. He didn’t start out as the boss, he began as just Antony. Sometimes, you have to learn how to be filthy. A Filthy Marcellos Prequel
Dirty Angels
Karina Halle - 2014
Please see the bottom of this description to see if this is the kind of book that you'll love or piss you off**For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just out of her reach. Sure, she’s had men at her feet since she was a young teenager but she’s never had the one thing she’s craved – security. Having grown up in near poverty, her waitressing job in Cabo San Lucas can barely let her take care of herself, let alone her ailing parents. Every day is another unwanted advance, every day is a struggle to survive.When Salvador Reyes, the depraved leader of a major Mexican cartel, takes an interest in her, Luisa is presented with an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. She’ll become Salvador’s wife and exchange her freedom and body for a life of riches – riches she can bestow upon her deserving parents. But Luisa quickly finds out that even the finest wines and jewels can’t undo the ugliness in her marriage, nor the never-ending violence that threatens her every move.Soon, Luisa is looking for an escape, a way out of the carefully controlled life she’s leading. She finally gets her wish in the worst way possible.As it is, being the wife of Salvador makes her an ideal target for rival cartels and there’s one particular man who needs Luisa as part of his cartel’s expansion. One particular man whose quest for power has destroyed lives, slit throats and gotten him out of an American prison. One particular man who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.That man is Javier Bernal. And he wants Luisa. He wants to take her, keep her, ruin her.Unless she ruins him first.***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains...well, they're even worse. If this sort of thing bothers you, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. This ain't no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book. If you are even a bit squeamish about violence, brutality and rape, this is your warning to stay away from a book that you certainly will not like (and why read books that you know you won't like?)******While this is a spin-off of The Artists Trilogy, prior knowledge of the books is not needed. DIRTY ANGELS is the first in a trilogy, however each book can standalone and follows or introduces different characters***
Stolen Innocence
Julia Sykes - 2019
I’d thought his death would set me free, but I’d never truly understood what it meant to have all my freedoms stripped away. Until that day, I’d been living in a child’s fantasy.Then, my brother sells me, and I don’t have the luxury of being a child anymore. I’m taken to Vicente Rodríguez’s estate, to be kept as his plaything. When I’m old enough, he’ll claim my innocence.My only reprieve from my hellish reality is in the strained companionship I share with his son, Adrián. Sometimes, I think he hates me. He can be cold and cruel, his burning green eyes glowering when he looks at me. But the longer I’m trapped in his home, the more heated those looks become, and not just with hatred. They make something burn within me, too. My innocence is no longer mine to give, but Adrián might be the first one to claim it for himself.Note: Stolen Innocence is the prequel to Stealing Beauty.
Ignite You
Diana A. Hicks - 2018
It is book one in the Cole Brothers series. Previously released as Love Over Logic.
Red.
London Miller - 2016
Seven years ago, Niklaus "Red" Volkov was offered an opportunity, one that would give him the ability to even the score with the Albanian mobsters that had tortured him for days and took the life of the only girl he'd loved. But that gift came with strings... Molded into the perfect soldier, Niklaus joined an elite group of mercenaries, loyal to a mysterious man known only as The Kingmaker. He willingly paid the price for means to fulfill the vendetta that plagued him each day. Vengeance was all he knew... And death was all he lived for... Until it wasn't... Until her...
Love the Way You Lie
Skye Warren - 2015
Except give him up. When he looks at me, I forget why I can’t have him. He’s beautiful and scarred. His body fits mine, filling the places where I’m hollow, rough where I am soft.He’s the one man who wants to help me, but he has his own agenda. He has questions I can’t answer. What are you afraid of?You.
For Fallon
Soraya Naomi - 2014
Fallon’s mask is real, what you see is what you get. Growing up with two loving parents in Chicago, graduating in Chicago, and now working a job she loves, she enjoys her life. Her untarnished world is shaken when Luca crosses her path. Luca’s mask is tightly controlled. Distrust, rivalry, and violence rule his life.When confronted with insecurities, when the one you love wears his mask perfectly, when your life unravels and you don’t know why, do you keep trusting the person you love? Everyone has a façade. Everyone has an ulterior motive.A contemporary romance/ romantic thriller in dual point of view. Contains sexual content and violence.
Dark Mafia Prince
Annika Martin - 2016
So trusting.
Like you think I’m not a monster.
Like I won’t wrap your hair in my fist and bend you to my will.
Like I won’t sacrifice you, piece by piece, to save my brother.I’m the most dangerous enemy you’ll ever have because every time you look at me, you see somebody good. That friend who died.And when you look at me like that, I die again.MiraI spent years making myself invisible.A good girl, apart from the noise.
Then you came back, beautiful and deadly in your Armani suit.
Don’t look at me like you still know me, you say.
But I remember your smile and those sunny days.Before they lowered your small casket into the ground.
Before they told us the prince was dead.
Punishing Thirst
Olivia Fox - 2021
It’s a stand-alone in the Rough Redemption Series complete with HEA and no cliffhangers. There are fiery hot scenes in and out of the bedroom!
Feather
Fawn Bailey - 2018
But there's a villain preying in the darkness, and he's almost ready to strike. Ophelia Sokolov. Innocent, beautiful and spoiled. The daughter of a Russian mafia kingpin, I get everything I want with the click of my fingers. Except for him. I've been in love with Ryker for years, but I'm supposed to marry his brother, Max. Until that one fateful day, celebrating my eighteenth birthday when everything changes. There's evil lurking in the shadows, just like Papa said. And this time, I won't be able to hide...
Forsaken
B.B. Hamel - 2016
And I couldn’t resist. I’m not a good man. I’m a hired killer, and damn good at what I do. Raised to be ruthless and forced into this life, I never had a choice. Until she was thrown into my lap. I didn’t want to take the hit. It’s too dangerous, and I can’t afford these kinds of risks. I turned my employers down, but they sweetened the deal. Gifting her to me. She’s scared, beautiful, and all mine. She gazes at me with her gorgeous baby blues, and I can hardly resist taking her. She makes me want to break my rules… all because of the desire hidden in those stolen glances. I’m addicted to her seductive curves and the soft moans that spill from her lips. She’s tempting in ways she doesn’t even realize. I’m practically obsessed. They’re going to want her back, but I’ll kill them all to keep her. *Forsaken is a full-length standalone DARK romance with an HEA, no cheating, and no cliffhanger. Includes expanded content and a deleted scene!
The Endgame
Cleary James - 2016
Now he's become her worst nightmare.Trapped in an abusive relationship with her controlling, obsessive boyfriend, Lisa is secretly saving the money to leave him and start a new life. Until then, she is resigned to playing the part of Mark's living sex toy. But with no job, she knows freedom is a long way off ... until she meets wealthy and devastatingly handsome architect Grayson Fielding.Lisa and Grayson are instantly drawn to each other, but Lisa keeps him at a distance, determined to ignore their magnetic attraction. She can't afford to get attached.However, when Mark's demands become intolerable, she proposes a deal that will give them both what they want. In exchange for the money she needs, she offers Grayson the only thing she has to give: herself.Will Grayson want her badly enough to agree to her terms? And if she lets herself get close to him, will she ever be able to walk away? With her life rapidly spiraling out of control, it's a chance she has to take.The Endgame is the first book of a two-part story, but works as a standalone novel. If you like Sylvia Day and E.L. James, you'll love this intensely erotic romance.