Book picks similar to
When Heroes Fall by Giana Darling


mafia
romance
mafia-romance
dark-romance

Just Like Heaven


Trilina Pucci - 2021
    š–šžā€™š«šž š°š«šØš§š  š¢š§ šžšÆšžš«š² š°ššš². If only I couldā€™ve convinced my heart.We were gorgeously young and desperate for one another. His lips whispered promises of all the stars in the sky. While I dreamt of a love that would last forever. But weā€™re star-crossed.Fate had decided our course.Leaving us to cling to each other as we crumbled to ash.His need became possession. My innocence turned jaded.Our families declared war.All that remained was hate. But Calder was raised by wolves. The rules didnā€™t apply. I was his until he said otherwiseā€”for better or for worse.Our love storyā€™s bathed in crimson and drenched in bullets.Because sometimes, Romeo comes with tattoos, guns, and a taste for blood.

Tramp


Mary Elizabeth - 2020
    After fleeing a tragic past, Lydiaā€™s determined never to go back to the life she left behind at any price. She lands in Grand Haven, Californiaā€”a city booming with billion dollar corporations and tech moneyā€”and everything changes. Armed with the only lesson she learned from her mother, Lydia builds a life of routine, solitude, and success. Nothing is out of reach when youā€™re beautiful. Nearly a decade after her arrival, Lydia's the highest paid escort in the city, and only the most influential people in Grand Haven can get near her. She's a goddess among her clients, and out of reach to everyone else. Lydia's created the perfect illusion, and no one will take it from her again.Until a misunderstanding lands her in the office of the cityā€™s most eligible bachelor. Talent Ridge is Grand Haven royalty. Despite running in the same circles as Lydiaā€™s clients, heā€™s scandal-free and on his way to being the most powerful man in the area. Their chemistry is undeniable, but a relationship has the potential to destroy everything theyā€™ve worked for. Especially when Lydia is running from her past, and Talent is running toward a future she can never be a part of. Beauty and money canā€™t save them this time. Are Lydia and Talent willing to give it all up for each other, or will their differences cost too much?

Give Me a Reason


A.L. Jackson - 2021
    Jackson comes a single-dad, enemies-to-lovers stand-alone romance about a jaded club owner and his sonā€™s teacherā€¦ Eden Murphy came into my club looking to make some extra cash.A girl like her didn't belong in a place like this. She'd get ripped to shreds.Most likely by me.There's nothing but sweetness dripping from her sexy little body, and I'm the monster who's salivating to get a taste. Trent Lawson is the last man I should want.Dark.Dangerous.So wickedly gorgeous he makes my knees weak. He's also an arrogant jerk who happens to be my new boss. When I discover his adorable son is also in my kindergarten class, I know I have to keep my distance. But neither of us can ignore the attraction that flames.One glance, and our hearts race. One touch, and weā€™re aching for what we canā€™t have. One night, and weā€™re falling fast.Dragging her into my sordid world is wrong.It doesnā€™t matter. Eden Murphy is mine.

Close Quarters


Kandi Steiner - 2021
    So when his steel gray eyes first meet mine, I expect him to pass right over me, to not give so much as a second thought to my presence.ā£ā£Instead, he sees me. ā£Truly sees me. ā£And for a girl who prefers to hide behind her camera lens, itā€™s the most unnerving experience of my life.ā£ā£Until he asks me to stay on his yacht for the summer.ā£ā£All I have to do to earn my keep is be Theoā€™s on-call photographer when he has guests, and Iā€™ll get a free ride through the Mediterranean with my boyfriend. Easy peasy.ā£ā£Still, my skin prickles in warning when I say yes.ā£ā£As the humid days fade into balmy nights, I canā€™t seem to avoid Theo. And when he finds me, itā€™s like a rabbit running into a wolf.ā£ā£His intense gaze immobilizes me. The way he speaks strips me bare. Every brush of his skin sears me like a violent flame.ā£ā£My boyfriendā€™s billionaire boss always gets what he wants.ā£ā£And this time, I think he wants me.

Buttons & Lace


Penelope Sky - 2016
     A big one. The payment can't be settled with money or favors. He only wants one thing. Me. Every action gets a reward. A button. Once I fill his jar with three hundred and sixty-five buttons, he'll let me go. He'll let me walk away. But I have to earn every single one. By submitting to the darkest, cruelest, and most beautiful man I've ever known. ** TRIGGER WARNING ** There are some dark and disturbing scenes of abuse and punishment.

Bad Blood


Cora Kenborn - 2021
    A Carrera bleeds for revenge.Thalia Santiago is the daughter of my enemy. A beautiful rebel with a single cause.Impulsive. Fearless. And ripe for her fatherā€™s undoing.I recognized her the moment she stepped into my casino.I watched her start the fires that burned her pretty fingers, and then I poured gasoline on the flames. Now sheā€™s in my debt, and her dues are a shiny gold ring and a vow of deception. Iā€™ll bend her. Iā€™ll break her. Iā€™ll turn our mockery of a marriage into a battlefield.And that river of bad blood that flows between our two families? Iā€™ll make it an ocean of hate. *This is book 1 of a new dark romance duet, releasing May 12th. Tainted Blood, book 2, releases June 9th. **Bad Blood is set in the Santiago and Carrera worlds, but it is not necessary to have read either trilogy beforehand.

El Diablo


M. Robinson - 2016
    ROBINSONI was ruthless. I was feared. I had sacrificed. Myself. Her. Everything... Living in a world where I was worth more dead than alive was a choice. I was a bad man, never claimed to be anything else. Iā€™ve done things Iā€™m not proud of. Seen things that canā€™t be unseen. Iā€™ve caused pain that I canā€™t undo. It was all my choice. Every decision. Every order. Right and wrong never mattered. Until her. She was under my protection, until she became my obsession. But who was going to save her... From. Me. The devil himself. Fate brought us together. Destiny destroyed us. STANDALONE: Romance Suspense full-length novel.

Dark Protector


Celia Aaron - 2017
    Charlie shone like a beacon in a world that had long since lost any light. But she was never meant for me, a man that killed without remorse and collected bounties drenched in blood.I thought staying away would keep her safe, would shield her from me. I was wrong. Danger followed in my wake like death at a slaughter house. I protected her from the threats that circled like black buzzards, kept her safe with kill after kill.But everything comes with a price, especially second chances for a man like me. Killing for her was easy. It was living for her that turned out to be the hard part.Author's Note: This is a full-length romance novel. It's not a super-dark read, no trigger warning. Explicit violence and hot sex included. HEA, no cheating.

Sweet Cruelty


Zoe Blake - 2020
    Mine. If I were a better man, I would've just let her go. But I'm not. I'm a cruel bastard. I ruthlessly claimed her virtue for my own.It should have been enough. But it wasn't. I needed more. Craved it. She became my obsession. Her sweetness and purity taunted my dark soul. The need to possess her nearly drove me mad. A Russian arms dealer had no business pursuing a naive librarian student. She didn't belong in my world. I would bring her only pain. But it was too lateā€¦She was mine and I was keeping her.

Addicted to You


Krista Ritchie - 2013
    Heā€™s addicted to boozeā€¦the only way out is rock bottom.No one would suspect shy Lily Callowayā€™s biggest secret. While everyone is dancing at college bars, Lily stays in the bathroom. To get laid. Her compulsion leads her to one-night stands, steamy hookups and events she shamefully regrets. The only person who knows her secret happens to have one of his own.Loren Haleā€™s best friend is his bottle of bourbon. Lily comes at a close second. For three years, theyā€™ve pretended to be in a real relationship, hiding their addictions from their families. Theyā€™ve mastered the art of concealing flasks and random guys that filter in and out of their apartment.But as they sink beneath the weight of their addictions, they cling harder to their destructive relationship and wonder if a life together, for real, is better than a lie. Strangers and family begin to infiltrate their guarded lives, and with new challenges, they realize they may not just be addicted to alcohol and sex.Their real vice may be each other. New Adult Romance recommended for readers 18+ for mature content

Roma King


Callie Hart - 2018
    The second and final book in the series, Roma Queen, will be released early February 2019** ā€œ911. What is your emergency?ā€ Every night, Zara Llewelyn picks up the phone and assists people in distress. House fires. Assault. Motor vehicle accidents. Home invasions... Between the hours of six and two, she is the answer to a thousand cries for help. But when the payphone outside Zaraā€™s apartment building mysteriously begins ringing night after night, the very last thing she wants to do is pick it up. And yet, she canā€™t seem to help herself... Pasha Rivinā€™s trying to outrun fate. Heā€™s been running from it for years now, but escape isnā€™t in his cards. As the oldest son of the oldest Roma family in the country, heā€™s not just a member of a proud and fiercely traditional clan. He is their reluctant king...and now heā€™s expected to find a wife. The fiery redhead that shows up on his doorstep, following a trail of breadcrumbs, hunting for a missing little boy, is the last person Pashaā€™s mother has in mind, however. Sheā€™s an outsider, an intruder, and as far as his family are concerned, sheā€™s not welcome on their land, let alone in their kingā€™s bed. Pasha has never allowed his destiny to stand in the way of what he wants, however. And heā€™s never wanted anything more than he wants the girl with the burning green eyes. *** Zara Llewelyn picked up the phone and learned a secret. Falling in love has never been so dangerous...

Don't Kiss the Bride


Carian Cole - 2021
    He was my own personal hero who seemed to be in all the right places at the right times. Like when my car broke down and I needed a ride home, and when I face planted on the sidewalk right in front of him and had to be taken to the emergency room.Those werenā€™t exactly my best moments, but they were his. We became friends, and it didnā€™t matter that he was sixteen years older than me. We had a lot in commonā€”like our love of old rock music and vintage fast cars, and our aversion to relationships.When he approached me with a crazy idea to help me out, I couldnā€™t say no.The arrangement was supposed to be temporary. A marriage on paper and nothing else.It shouldā€™ve been easy, but it wasnā€™t.Because here I am, eighteen years-old, still in high school, and married to a man I was never supposed to fall in love with.We had just one ruleā€”no kissing the bride.But we broke that rule, and it sealed our fate forever.

Vicious Prince


Lili St. Germain - 2018
    A brutal abduction.And a love so forbidden, it might destroy them both.Avery Capulet is missing.Taken by a madman. Kept in the dark.She might not survive.Heā€™ll use her body. Destroy her mind. All before he ever lays a hand on her.Rome Montague is a drug dealer. A criminal. A thief.And he needs the secrets Avery and her family are keeping ā€“ even if it means cutting them out of her pretty Capulet flesh.Rome Montague is missing ā€“ but nobody will miss him.Not that it matters; After the things heā€™s done to this girl, he doesnā€™t deserve to be found.Vicious Prince, set in the criminal underbelly of San Francisco, follows two warring families who are ruled by blood, power and twisted desire.Please note this book was formerly titled Verona Blood.

Priceless


Miranda Silver - 2020
     Maybe you like the dark more than you think. I just quit the cheer squad. Iā€™m about to dump my musician boyfriend. Iā€™m partying harder than ever. I let money run through my fingers because Iā€™m done reaching for standards Iā€™ll never meet. Soon, Iā€™m broke. And I donā€™t want anyone to know. The more you hide your true self, the more youā€™re going to let it out with me. I'm bubbly and outgoing. He's icy and alone. I stay away. I touch myself, thinking of him. When I finally seek out Patrick Caruthers, he has a proposition. Mind games. Humiliation. Control. Schedules. Him. Me. I think youā€™re going to be the perfect playmate. I'm not perfect. I'm not stunning or noble. Iā€™m not a heroine. Youā€™re priceless. I'm just a girl . . . You were made for me. And heā€™s a cold bastard Who is paying me for sex.