Book picks similar to
Pickpocket by Christa DeClue
abuse
action
dark
suspense-thriller
Holding on to Forever
Siobhan Davis - 2019
Neither was becoming her dealer… ADAMReturning to my drug-dealing past wasn’t on the agenda when I accepted the full ride to play ball at Cypress U. But Mom lost her job. And my sister’s medical bills are mounting. So, I’ve no choice but to change the playbook.When Emily walks into my life, like a fallen goddess with the ultimate power to destroy me, I know I’m screwed. I should steer clear, but I’m the one supplying her poison of choice. Falling for her is a complication I don’t need, but the more she’s around, the harder it gets to walk away. She needs me, and I crave her more than the sport I love.Now, it’s all on the line. Including the NFL career that’s tantalizingly close. The stakes are high, but family means everything, so I’ll take my chances.EMILYIt’s only a problem if it’s out of control. And I have it in hand.Except a certain a-hole discovers I’m using again, and he threatens to rat me out to my folks. Mom’s president of Cypress U, and Dad’s the illustrious football coach. Appearances mean everything to them, and I’m a continuous disappointment. They told me I’d be out on my ass if I fell off the wagon, so keeping it a secret is my number one priority.Until the super-hot all-star QB takes more than a passing interest in me. Adam gets me, in a way no guy ever has, filling my head with ideas of forever—and now, I want more.Dating my dealer is a recipe for disaster, especially when it’s forbidden, but I can’t help myself.Because I’ve fallen too deep. And the hole is too large to crawl out of.
Wounded
Jasinda Wilder - 2012
My family. My home. My innocence. In a country blasted by war and wracked by economic hardship, a young orphan girl like me has very few options when it comes to survival. Thus, I do what I must to live, to eat, and I try very hard to not consider the cost to my soul. My heart is empty, and my existence brutal. The one impossibility in my life is love.And then I meet HIM.War is hell. It takes a chunk out of a man's very soul to do the kinds of things war demands of you. You live with fear, you live with guilt, and you live with nightmares. If you haven't been through it, there's no understanding it. War leaves no room for love, no room for tenderness or softness. You gotta be hard, closed off, and ready to fight every moment of every day. Lose focus for a split second, and you're dead.Now the only thing that can save me is HER.
Cry No More
Linda Howard - 2003
Traveling to a small village in Mexico on a reliable tip, Milla begins to uncover the dire fate of countless children who have disappeared in the labyrinth of a sinister baby-smuggling ring. The key to nailing down the organization may rest with an elusive one-eyed man. As Milla’s search for him intensifies, the mission becomes more treacherous. For the ring is part of something far larger and more dangerous, reaching the highest echelons of power. Racing into peril, Milla suddenly finds herself the hunted—in the crosshairs of an invisible, lethal assassin who aims to silence her permanently.
Rooke
Callie Hart - 2017
Car thief. Heartbreaker extraordinaire.Rooke Blackheath has spent enough time in juvie to know that he really doesn’t want to go to jail. The food sucks, the clothes itch, and there are absolutely no women in sight. Well…none he wants to fuck, anyway. He should probably stop boosting cars, but the money is stellar and the high is out of this world. And why should he turn his back on something that sets his soul on fire anyway? The answer to that question comes in an unexpected form: a petite five-foot-three firecracker named Sasha who refuses to give him the time of day no matter how thick he lays on the charm. Rooke’s not easily deterred, though. Just like the watches he builds from scratch, Rooke knows all too well how women tick. Women are a game to him. A game he always wins. Sasha doesn’t stand a chance.***Sasha Cross’s life has been permanently derailed since her son died five years ago. You wouldn’t know it to look at her, of course. She has a great job, a beautiful house, and caring friends. Every week, she hosts a book club featuring the sexiest, most romantic stories on the planet, and every week she falls for a new fictional knight in shining armor. Fictional men are perfect, though. They don’t hurt you. They don’t break your heart. They don’t cheat on you after your child dies, and they rarely ever leave the toilet seat up. When Rooke Blackheath shows up at Sasha's workplace, it’s clear he’s nothing like the men who grace the pages of Sasha's favorite books. Dangerous, arrogant, sharp-tongued and sarcastic, Rooke’s not the kind of guy she needs in her life. Not to mention the fact that he’s eleven years her junior. They don’t live in different worlds. As far as Sasha is concerned, Rooke lives in a different galaxy altogether. She’d like to keep it that way, but fate appears to have other plans.When Cinderella lost her shoe, Prince Charming showed up at her door. When Sasha Cross loses her book, an entirely different kind of rogue comes a-knocking.
Stone Cold Bad
Tess Oliver - 2015
A guy like him was the last thing I needed now. A guy like Colt Stone was the last thing I ever needed. -Colt-Emotion, feelings and, hell, even love had been turned off in all of us Stone brothers long ago. Then Jade landed in my life. It was the last thing I ever wanted, to feel this way about someone. Attachments like this were only followed by heartbreak, and I wasn't into heartbreak. I wasn't into f*cking attachments. Bad boy Colt Stone has a notorious reputation for being a tough and dangerous heartbreaker. A brutal childhood hardened him to the idea of any type of emotional attachment to anyone. When he becomes the unwitting accomplice in Jade Morrow's escape from an abusive boyfriend, he soon finds that he'll do anything to keep her safe. Has Colt found the one girl who can break through to his impenetrable heart?When she runs away from her monstrous boyfriend, Jade Morrow has no place to go and no one to turn to. She accidentally lands in the arms of a handsome, tattooed stranger. Colt Stone is as formidable as he is appealing and Jade soon finds that he's equally hard to resist. When her troubled past catches up to her, Jade discovers just how far Colt will go to save her.
Protector
Michelle Horst - 2016
A Stand Alone Suspense Romance I’ve always been a hunter, ruthless to the core. I don’t take prisoners and I show no mercy. Then my best friend and his family are taken. Only one member of his family survives the assault. Riley. Her wounded eyes beg me to keep her safe, but she’s only a reminder of the failure I am. Being stuck in the same house, I’m forced to acknowledge her. Her hot body. Her sweet smile. Her seductive mouth.I can only lie to myself for so long before I have to face the truth. It’s not just her forgiveness I want. I want to make her mine. All of her. The broken pieces as well. I want to feel her trembling under my touch. I want to hear her breaths racing as I take her. But there’s still someone out there hunting us. He’s taking out my team and now he’s coming after Riley. Let him come. I’ll make him suffer for threatening to hurt her. I’ll kill him for murdering those closest to me. The killing comes easy. But loving is hard. I’ll always have enemies and to protect Riley I might just have to let her go. ** A Stand Alone Romance. Not recommended if you don't enjoy dark romance with sensitive scenes. +18 Only. All books have HEA and no cheating. **
Hooker
J.L. Perry - 2016
One night of passion with a sinfully hot stranger will change everything ...Jade Jade’s young life was tough. After her mother died during childbirth and her father could no longer look after her, she was placed in foster care where she stayed for the next ten years. She grew up feeling unloved and unwanted as she was passed around from one screwed up home to the next. Things began to look up for her when she was adopted by a wealthy socialite at the age of eleven. Sometimes though, things aren’t always what they seem. Jade didn’t know it at the time, but her new adoptive mother had big plans for her, and spent the next seven years grooming Jade for that role. Jade learnt early in life that she couldn’t rely on anyone but herself. Instead of letting her circumstances beat her, she took all the negatives she’d been dealt, and used them to her advantage. She grew up to be a strong, successful, determined and independent woman. She was a loner by choice. The only thing lacking in her life was companionship and love. She’d never experienced it, so she didn’t know what she was missing, until she had a one-night-stand with a handsome stranger. One night, that would change everything.Brock Brock grew up privileged. He had everything going for him. Money, looks, charm, success and an endless array of beautiful women. He wasn’t interested in commitment. To him women were easy. They practically threw themselves at his feet. All they wanted was to do something nobody had ever managed before. Snare the hot, rich bachelor. Then he met Jade. She was like a breath of fresh air. A challenge. Nothing like the women he was used too. Their one night together ignited something within him. A burning desire to own her, possess her, but Jade had other plans. Nobody says no to Brock Weston, nobody.He’s left wondering about a woman he knows he can never have. But, when fate brings them together again, will he get what he wants? Will he be able to claim the unattainable? Or will her secrets crush him, and destroy any chance they have of being together?
Wrecked
Cassie Kay - 2021
I left Kings Court in the back of an ambulance and swore I would never come back. Now, with no job, no apartment, and no options, I catch the late bus back to the old neighborhood.Was I expecting anyone to welcome me back with open arms?Hell no.But I also wasn’t expecting Jasper Hayes.The tattooed man-child with the unkempt hair and the bad attitude isn’t anyone’s idea of prince charming. Jasper’s the first to offer up a poison apple. He’s not the man who saves the princess—he’s the one that ruins her.Maybe I don’t deserve a fairytale. Wrecked is a standalone NEW ADULT bully romance. This book contains dark themes that could be difficult for some readers.
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.
Lotus Effect
Trisha Wolfe - 2019
A silhouette of a man haunts her dreams, but there were only two people there that night—Lakin and her murderer. Is the phantom hero who pulled her from the water a delusion, or is he the only one who can unlock her dark memories?Buried in a watery grave of lotuses, the victim calls out to Lakin, unearthing painful memories of what was stolen from her that fateful night. For those that played a part, it’s now time to answer for their sins.
You Loved Me At My Darkest
Evie Harper - 2014
Kidnapped by a rich madman, Sasha is sold into slavery, while Lily is forced to join The Collection, a unique bevy of exotic beauties enduring frequent horrors at the hands of elite bidders. However, no amount of pain and suffering will break Lily, who will stop at nothing to save her younger sister. Possibly with help from an unlikely ally.Love is stronger than loyalty…Attempting to prove his allegiance to his employer, Jake is tasked with guarding the unruly and uncontrollable Lily. He can’t afford to help her in her quest to free Sasha—not if he hopes to fulfill his own agenda. But in their dark, gritty, tension-filled world, solace is taken wherever it’s found. Bonds are formed and hearts engage despite Jake’s resistance and both their attempts at self-preservation.When certain secrets come to light, the resulting explosion has breathtakingly bittersweet consequences that, by the end, may not leave everyone whole…or alive.
Sick Bastard
Jaci J. - 2015
He’s impatient, demanding, irrational, devious, and full of himself, just to name a few. It’s impossible to ignore him because he refuses to let me. Regardless of his behavior, his temper, his passion, and his lies, I want him. This man is making me lose my mind, but I’m ready to lose myself completely in him. Dante London is everywhere. She’s on my mind, in my face, and in my goddamn world. I don’t want to want her, but I do. I want her more than my next breath. I don’t know how to keep a woman like her because I’m no Prince fucking Charming. I can’t give her up, nor will I ever willingly do so. She’s my obsession―my whole goddamn world, no matter how much of a pain in my ass she is. Nothing in my life will ever again make sense without her. 18+ Due to language, sexual content, violence, and drugs. This book contains an element of stalking, which some readers may find upsetting. 90,000 plus words Cliffhanger (2 book series)
Pretty Little Things
Teresa Mummert - 2014
Colin became the one person that I could count on to protect me. He suffered for the both of us by carrying the burden of our secret.We were the lucky few that got a chance to start over. A fake family, a new home and a pretty little life built on lies. But while our lives continued to intertwine, we were put on very different paths. Now it was only a matter of time before they collide and the beast behind the beauty is exposed.
Resurrect
Astrid Jane Ray - 2020
Young and inexperienced, she couldn’t discern the danger lurking behind the beautiful stranger’s dark seductive eyes. Now a grown woman, she knew every single one of his tricks.For years, she hoped to be free from Alessandro Damiani’s clutches, and when the chance arose, she didn’t hesitate to take it. But when all of her plans fall through and her abusive husband is once again the charming stranger who swept her off her feet at only seventeen, what is Olivia to do?Destroyed once already, she refuses to let Alessandro do it again, but she can’t deny that her husband’s unwanted antics trap her in a dangerous battle between her cautious mind and her reckless heart.WARNING: This is not your typical "hearts and flowers" romance story. It will contain strong language, disturbing situations and in some parts sexual content. Please don't read this if you are under the age of 18, or find such things disturbing!
Assumption
Aurora Rose Reynolds - 2014
Kenton Mayson learned this lesson firsthand when he made assumptions about Autumn Freeman and the kind of woman she is based on what little information he had. What he finds out is she’s not only beautiful, but also smart, funny, a fighter, and exactly the kind of woman he wants to share his life with. Autumn made assumptions of her own about Kenton, and now he needs to prove her wrong in order to protect her and their future.