Book picks similar to
Virtue & Vanity by Astrid Jane Ray


dnf
romance
dark
marriage-of-convenience

No Prince


Stevie J. Cole - 2020
    He was the top of the food chain. And I was next in line to be dragged into the lion’s den. At least that’s what he thought… Good girls wanted to tame him. Bad girls want to be tainted by him. Everyone bowed down to him. And me?I hated Zeppelin Hunt with every fiber of my being.Which was why I stayed away from the arrogant bad boy with tattoos and a rap sheet.Until I couldn’t.Until we traded favors, and I owed him three months of my life. I never thought I would end up in his bed, and when I did, I had to remind myself that he hated me as much as I hated him.Until I didn’t. Zepp Hunt was no prince, and I absolutely refused to be his damsel in distress…

Separate Beds


LaVyrle Spencer - 1985
    It seemed like a page out of a fairy tale. But everything about it–from the formal vows to the magnificent reception–was a lie, Catherine had reluctantly agreed to Clay's "marriage of convenience"...and the only thing that could threaten their arrangement was the unexpected arrival of love.

The Iron Tiara


Beth Flynn - 2017
    As a child, he ran away from his family and the Cherokee Indian Reservation to enter a life of crime. As an adult, he leads a multifaceted life managing his two businesses—his legitimate landscaping venture, and his loan shark and underworld dealings. Driven by anger and betrayal, Anthony begins the hunt for Christy’s father, Van Chapman, after he runs out on a loan.Christy’s privileged life is not as it seems. She has kept painful family secrets and hidden some of her own. She’s determined to find out the truth and expose Van, but her search delivers her right into Anthony Bear’s hands, adding kidnapping to his list of crimes.Their worlds are as contrasting as the color of their skin. The only thing they seem to have in common is their mutual disdain for Van Chapman…and each other.They couldn’t be more wrong.The Iron Tiara is a spin-off novel from The Minutes Trilogy. It can be read as a standalone, and does not contain a cliffhanger.

Show Me the Way


A.L. Jackson - 2017
    Jackson . . . Rex Gunner. As bitter as he is beautiful. The owner of the largest construction company in Gingham Lakes has been burned one too many times.His wife leaving him to raise their daughter was the last blow this single dad could take.The only woman he'll let into his heart is his little girl. Rynna Dayne. As vulnerable as she is tempting.She ran from Gingham Lakes when she was seventeen. She swore to herself she would never return.Then her grandmother passed away and left her the deed to the diner that she once loved.When Rex meets his new neighbor, he knows he's in trouble.She's gorgeous and sweet and everything he can't trust.Until she becomes the one thing he can't resist. One kiss sends them tumbling toward ecstasy.But in a town this size, pasts are bound to collide.Caught in a web of lies, betrayal, and disloyalty, Rex must make a choice. Will he hide behind his walls or will he take the chance . . .

The Pact


Karina Halle - 2014
    He’s also one of Stephanie Robson’s best friends and has fit into that box for as long as she’s known him.But some relationships can’t be boxed, can’t be classified, can’t be tamed.Back in their mid-twenties and tired of the competitive hit-or-miss dating scene of San Francisco, Steph and Linden made a pact to marry each other if neither one of them are in a serious relationship by the time they hit thirty.It sounds like fun and games but as the years to thirty tick past and lovers come and go out of their lives, the pact becomes larger than life.Sex is inevitable. Friendships are tested. Hearts are on the line.The pact is about to change everything.

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.

Dangerous to Know & Love


Jane Harvey-Berrick - 2013
    Moody, with an explosive temper, closed off and sullen, he’s also beautiful, tatted in delicious ways, with a pierced eyebrow and spiky black hair. It’s rumoured he has piercings in other places, too. Is he really mad, bad and dangerous to know?Daniel lives with his older brother, Zef, and their home is party central. You want drugs, a good time, liquor, no questions asked? Colton’s is the place to go.When Daniel and good girl Lisanne Maclaine have to work together on an assignment, Lisanne finds there’s a lot more to the college’s bad boy than his reputation. He’s intelligent and funny and good company. And then she discovers his secret, why he’s so closed off to everyone, and determined to keep people at arms’ length. But being his secret-keeper is harder than she ever dreamed.Recommended for readers 18+ due to sexual references and sex scenes, some coarse language, drug references and drug use.Word Count: 154,726

Resisting Her


Kendall Ryan - 2013
    Too vulnerable.I'm too rough. Too fu*ked up.I will ruin her.But you and I both know that won't stop me.Resisting her is harder than I ever imagined. My name is Cole, and this is my story of trying to do the right thing, and failing. Don't judge me too harshly until you've read the final page.Forbidden erotic romance. Read at your own risk. Full length stand alone. No cliffhanger.

The Spark


Vi Keeland - 2021
    A deep, velvety voice answered, and as luck would have it, he had my suitcase, too.Donovan and I met at a coffee shop to do the exchange. Turned out, it wasn’t just his voice that was sexy. The man holding my luggage was absolutely gorgeous, and we had an immediate spark. He got me to admit that I’d snooped in his bag and then convinced me to make it up to him by letting him buy me coffee. Coffee led to dinner, dinner led to dessert, and dessert led to spending an entire weekend together. Donovan wasn’t just handsome with a panty-dropping voice. He was also funny, smart, and surprisingly down to earth for a man who wore seven-hundred-dollar shoes. Did I mention he also did my laundry while I slept?Definitely too good to be true.So what did I do to repay him for his kindness?I waited until he was in the shower, then ghosted him.My life was too complicated for such a great guy.In the months that passed, I thought about Donovan often. But New York City had eight million people, so what were the chances I’d run into him? Then again, what were the chances I’d run into him a year later…when I’d just started dating his boss?

One-Eighty


Marie James - 2019
    He loves what he can't remember —she can't forget the truth...PIPERArrogant, controlling, and an absolute jerk.He's everything I loathe, and everything I want to forget.But he doesn't remember a bit of it.One accident, one misstep, changed everything.Changed him.Now, he's different and unbelievably sexy.But I refuse to fall for a bully.DALTONSexy, smart, feisty, and perfect.She's everything I want, and nothing that I remember.What she says I am, I refuse to believe.For her, I will be anything.I will do anything.Even destroy the bully from before.

Torn


Carian Cole - 2016
    When I turned eighteen, I made it clear I still felt the same. The problem? He's fifteen years older than me, and he's my father's best friend.Toren Grace. My pseudo-uncle. He's always been my rock--the one I should never, ever want. But I do want him, and I love him. I always have.Tor's one of the good guys. He's loving and devoted with a strong moral compass. One unexpected kiss between us rocked him clear off his axis. Now, we can't forget how that kiss felt, and what it changed. Nothing will ever be the same between us.But I'm not a little girl anymore, and he's everything I want.I'm everything he wants, too.I know he's struggling, but I'm determined. With a last name of Valentine, I've got cupid in my veins. The heart wants what the heart wants, and it doesn't care about age or how we met. My father cares, though. And he's the one person neither one of us can stand to betray or hurt.We're all being torn apart, and I don't know how to make everyone see that the wrongs are actually right.* Torn can be read as a single book.

Rich Prick: A Shy Girl Bad Boy Sports Romance


Tijan - 2020
    I guess that's what happens when you're a prick, rich, and you're best friends with the ruling school's king. Also didn't hurt he's drop dead gorgeous. That's all fine. I mean, I have nothing to do with them. I'm a loner, invisible, and that's how I wanted it to be. I was even proud of it, until I wasn't. Until I saw a girl kneel before him.Until I couldn't look away.Until he caught me watching. His name is Blaise Devroe. My name is Aspen Monson. He only knew how to get, command, and demand attention. I knew how to do everything but that. And this is our story. *Rich Prick is a full 100k standalone.

Back to You


Priscilla Glenn - 2012
    But Lauren saw something in him that caused her to question his bad-boy persona, and against her better judgment, she took a chance. She had no way of knowing that the unlikely friendship they formed would become so important to her.Or that it would end so painfully.Eight years later, when Lauren begins her new job at Learn and Grow Day Care, Michael is the last person she expects to see. Refusing to revisit the hurt and confusion of their past, Lauren vows to keep her distance from him. But staying away from Michael proves to be more difficult than she thought, despite her lingering grief and her instincts for self-preservation.As Lauren and Michael recall the friendship that changed them forever and the events that tore them apart, will they finally be able to heal? Or will the ghosts of Michael’s past prove to be too much to overcome?

Marek


S. Nelson - 2016
     Everything was falling into place until one unexpected, fateful night. With an attack on his fellow brothers, Marek had no choice but to retaliate against their sworn enemy. The Savage Reapers. Swarming their compound, he comes face-to-face with the infamous daughter of his rival club, making an astonishing decision which would change his life forever. She was the enemy.She was the prize.She was a game changer.Sully Brooks led a desolate life, her entire existence dictated first by her father, then by the man who’d claimed her when she was only fourteen. Years of abuse shaped her into the woman she became, but she longed for something more. Craving an existence where she was free to live a life of simplicity, she wanted release from the harsh realities she’d known since childhood. Will her prayers be answered when the enemy strikes?

Fearless


Lauren Gilley - 2015
    Welcome to the mother chapter of the Lean Dogs Motorcycle Club; meet the girl raised by outlaws, and the fearsome man who will always hold her heart. Ava Teague left for college with a busted heart and a deeply ingrained love for her biker family. She returns home to Knoxville for grad school, just in time for her father to accept the burden of president…and for Mercy Lécuyer to roll back into town, looking to patch into the Tennessee chapter once more. Felix Lécuyer left the swamps of Louisiana for a life as an outlaw biker named Mercy, but it was his family, and the retribution he dealt because of it, that made him famous within the club. Fourteen years ago he fled New Orleans for Knoxville, to become an extractor and bodyguard within the mother chapter, guarding Ghost Teague’s family, becoming a constant companion to little Ava. When she was seventeen, he finally crossed the line. Now she’s twenty-two, and he’s back in town as an old nemesis rears its ugly head, and puts the entire club in danger. The fate of the club is uncertain, but Mercy has no doubts about his heart; it still belongs to Ava. Now available as a complete novel, 'Fearless' launches a thrilling new series about the Lean Dogs MC of Tennessee, and the women tough enough to love them. Look for Book II, Price of Angels, coming March 2015.