Book picks similar to
Colour My Ugly by Ashleigh Giannoccaro
dark
romance
freebie
abuse
There is No Light in Darkness
Claire Contreras - 2013
Her present cloaked in secrets. The future holds the only truth that cannot be escaped.After the mysterious and violent death of her parents, Blake Brennan finds comfort with an unconventional family. As the dramatic loss of her parents continues to haunt her—and hinders her from reciprocating love that others give freely—Blake embarks on a harrowing journey in search for the truth.Living in a constant state of fear and need for control, vivid nightmares reveal details that lead to perilous situations. The past begins to collide with the present, and Blake must decide if the truth is worth losing the ones she loves. Can love conquer all as her past comes to light? Or will Blake realize that there is no light in darkness?Book contains: Explicit language & sexual content.
Among the Echoes
Aly Martinez - 2014
Including sexual abuse, graphic language, and adult situations. Intended for readers 18+.*My name was Dr. Erica Hill. I was a victim, then a witness, and then I ceased to exist altogether.I may still be breathing, but stripped of my identity, I have long since stopped living. I am invisible, and my life depends on my ability to stay in the shadows.But he sees me.Slate Andrews is the embodiment of everything I have been taught to avoid. He’s rich and famous, and one image of him with a woman would earn millions for any paparazzi lucky enough to snap it. He has vowed to protect me with his life, yet he exposes me with his every breath. I should be stronger and walk away. I should disappear. But I’m terrified he would come after me.I’m on the run, determined not to take him down with me but absolutely unable to let him go.My name is Riley Peterson… at least for today.
Beautifully Broken
Alex Grayson - 2014
A place to take a deep breath after months on the run.What Bailey didn’t count on were the people welcoming her with open arms. Making her feel safe and protected for the first time in her life.Especially Jaxon Walker. The tattooed bar owner who’s determined to get under her skin and force her to reveal her deepest secrets. Even if it puts everyone she cares about in danger.Just when Bailey finds the love she’s been searching for her whole life, her past blazes its way into the dream world she’s been living in.Will Jaxon save Bailey before it’s too late? Or will the evil that is her husband finally finish her off?
The Italian
T.L. Swan - 2019
Travel the world. And fall hopelessly in love. I aimed to do all three. I went to Italy to find myself. But he found me. It was like a story book, our eyes met across a crowded room. He asked me if I needed help reading the menu. We ate, we laughed, we danced, and I fell. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan, and we parted ways. Two years later, our eyes meet across a room again. Only this time I was on a date with another man. He went crazy in a jealous fit. But the man I met then is different now. He’s colder, harder, and officially one of the most powerful men in Italy. Dare I say it, even more enticing. But if you dance with the devil, you get burnt. And the fires in Italy are scalding hot.
Made of Steel
Ivy Smoak - 2020
The only thing she knew for sure was that she was going to marry him. Just as soon as she could convince him that she didn't have cooties. But tragedy tore her away from him before they ever got a chance at their happily ever after. And the worst part? He forgot all about her.Ten years after Summer lost everything, she's given a fresh start in the witness protection program. The only rule: don't speak to anyone from her past. A rule that's hard to follow when she finds out that the boy next door is living right down the hall. Unlike him, she never forgot. But she knows that the future she once dreamed of is no longer an option. And if she reveals her identity, she could get them both killed.Miles fell in love with the girl next door when he was eight-years-old. When she disappeared in the foster care system, it felt like a piece of him was missing. So when she shows up in his life again with a different color hair and a new name? It doesn’t fool him. And this time he'll do whatever it takes to keep her.
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...
The Tied Man
Tabitha McGowan - 2013
But Lilith has an artist’s eye, and a gift for seeing what lies beneath the skin. She soon discovers that Blaine is more gaoler than lover, and if the price is right, depravity has no limits.As the weeks pass, Lilith finds that she too is drawn into the malign web that her patron has spun, yet against the odds she forges a strong friendship with the damaged, dysfunctional Finn. In a dark, modern twist to an age-old story, Lilith Bresson proves that sometimes it’s the princess who needs to become the rescuer.Please note that this storyline contains depictions of drug abuse, violence and non-consensual sexual activity.
Otherwise Alone
Shay Savage - 2012
Other than his loyal Great Pyrenees, there's no one around to break up the monotony. The tedium is excruciating, but it is suddenly interrupted when a young woman stumbles up his path. He has two choices - pick her off from a distance with his trusty sniper-rifle, or dare let her approach his cabin and enter his life.Why not? It's been ages, and he is otherwise alone...
Rebel
Callie Hart - 2015
This novel contains a small snippet which has already been released in the Owned: An Alpha Anthology, however it is followed by a full story installment.SophiaSometimes, you don't mean to become another person. 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.RebelWhat 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...
Raw
Belle Aurora - 2014
This is a story of love gone wrong.***Growing up the way I did, you’d think I’d be more screwed up than what I actually am.Soon as I turned sixteen, I left that bump in the road I called home and took my chances on the street.Best decision I ever made.Now, at the age of twenty six, I’m educated, employed and damn good at my job.My friends have become my family. Like me, they know what it’s like to grow up unloved.But the saying is true.The world makes way for those who know where they are going.That’s me.I know where I’m going and I’ll get there eventually. On my own terms and at my own pace.But then there’s him.I feel his eyes on me. I see him hiding in plain sight. He watches me.He makes me feel.It’s unconventional.But it’s real.I’m sure you’re wondering how a person falls in love with their stalker.So am I.This isn’t a story.This is my life.
Canary
Tijan - 2021
Names didn’t exist.I joined anyway. I had no other choice because they took my sister.Join. Find her. Try and make it out alive.Then he won me in a poker game.I hated him instantly, thinking he was like my other bosses before him.He wasn’t. He was worse.He wasn’t just cold. He was dead inside.It didn’t matter that he was gorgeous.He was the most lethal thing I’d ever met.He was also the only person who could keep me alive, if he didn’t kill me himself.A/N This is a 102k mafia/cartel standalone.This is the most violent book Tijan has ever written.Trigger warning: references to sexual violence“Canaries sing to save lives. I sing and people die.”
Collision
Evie Harper - 2015
That day I learned cruelty wasn’t only within the walls we had just escaped. It hasn’t been easy growing up in the middle of a war. A struggle to find shelter. Fighting to protect our bodies against the corruption of the streets. Nobody cared about the street kids who had to beg and steal to eat. Now we are the Portland Street Kings – A family forged through loyalty not blood. To get through this life of broken dreams alive, we’ve become hard, uncaring and merciless. We do what must be done to keep our family safe, we will harm those who stand against us. We have it all, feared and respected by those on the streets. Then she collided into my world, and with her came demons from my past, back to haunt us all.
Married to the Bad Boy
Vanessa Waltz - 2015
A man-whore. Whatever the hell you want to call it, I get around. During the day, I crack heads and extort businesses. At night, I find girls to f*ck. I live to hear them moan for me, but one night is all they get. No one ever made me want more. Until her.Elena.The moment her lips wrapped around me, I was done. All day, I think about running my tongue all over those curves. Too bad those curves are off limits. She's running from a man who will kill me for touching her.Well, she's tired of running and needs my help.She thinks I'm doing it for money.I'm doing it to make her mine.
Getting Dirty
Cheryl McIntyre - 2014
This is my number. It’s the exact sum of reasons I continue to go on.
One:
To strengthen my body. Make it strong. Make it a machine. Make it so that what happened before can never, ever, happen again.
Two:
To help others find their own strength so that what happened to me, what happened to my Olivia, doesn’t happen to them.And
three:
My favorite—to find the bastards that took my life away and make them pay for what they did. This is what my life is now. A dead man, inside a scarred body, living only for revenge.*This is part one in a five part novella serial.
**Due to sexual situations and violence, this series is recommended for 18+.
Corrupt
Penelope Douglas - 2015
My nightmares, however, became my obsession. His name is Michael Crist. My boyfriend’s older brother is like that scary movie that you peek through your hand to watch. He is handsome, strong, and completely terrifying. The star of his college’s basketball team and now gone pro, he’s more concerned with the dirt on his shoe than me. But I noticed him.I saw him. I heard him. The things that he did, and the deeds that he hid…For years, I bit my nails, unable to look away. Now, I’ve graduated high school and moved on to college, but I haven’t stopped watching Michael. He’s bad, and the dirt I’ve seen isn’t content to stay in my head anymore. Because he’s finally noticed me. MichaelHer name is Erika Fane, but everyone calls her Rika.My brother’s girlfriend grew up hanging around my house and is always at our dinner table. She looks down when I enter a room and stills when I am close. I can always feel the fear rolling off of her, and while I haven’t had her body, I know that I have her mind. That’s all I really want anyway. Until my brother leaves for the military, and I find Rika alone at college. In my city. Unprotected. The opportunity is too good to be true as well as the timing. Because you see, three years ago she put a few of my high school friends in prison, and now they’re out. We’ve waited. We’ve been patient. And now every last one of her nightmares will come true. ***Corrupt can be read as a stand-alone. No cliffhanger.