Book picks similar to
Drowning by Marni Mann
arc
abuse
suspense
romance
The Fall of Legend
Meghan March - 2019
We come from two different worlds. I’m from the streets. She might as well live in an ivory tower. I made my living with my fists. I doubt she could even throw a punch. Our paths never should have crossed. We never should have met. That doesn’t change the facts. I would sell my soul to taste those red lips. Fight the devil himself to hear her laugh. Burn in hell to have a single night. Scarlett Priest shouldn’t even know men like me exist, but sometimes temptation is stronger than will. If this is how I go down, it’ll be worth every second of the fall.
Predator
Michelle Horst - 2017
I'm tortured and beaten within an inch of my life when he walks right into my hell.No one knows who he works for, only that he leaves no one alive. But for some unknown reason, he doesn't end my miserable life.Instead, he takes me, and I don't know which is worse... the death sentence hanging over my head or being at his mercy.Previously published as 'PREDATOR.'(Rewritten with a new cover and title 2021)WARNING:This book contains subject matter that may be sensitive for some readers. There is dark and triggering content between these pages. 18+ only. Please read responsibly.This is Cara's story. Her trauma and her journey of healing are the main focus of this book.
Hard Core
Tess Oliver - 2016
But I'd taken the opposite side of the forked road and headed off looking for even more trouble, like a junkie constantly searching for the next high. Never would I have guessed that turn would lead me to
her
. I couldn't stop thinking about her. She was
an angel, a hard core, bone-fide angel
and in her short life, she'd already had a taste of
hell
.-JACY-Despair. Heartbreak. Silence. That was all I'd grown to know, until
he
showed up next door.The handsome, tattooed stranger had the kind of eyes that were hard to look away from, and he gazed at me as if we'd been friends or even lovers in a different life. He looked at me as if he knew me, and
suddenly I had this flash of feeling as if I was right where I was supposed to be.
Hard Core is a full-length, standalone novel.Contains mature content. Intended for readers 18+
Sick Fux
Tillie Cole - 2017
Ellis was loud and beautiful – all blond hair, bright laughs and smiles. Heathan was dark and brooding, and obsessed with watching things die.The pair forged an unlikely friendship, unique and strange. Until they were ripped apart by the sick cruelty of others, separated for years, both locked in a perpetual hell.Eleven years later, Heathan is back for his girl. Back from a place from which he thought there was no return. Back to seek revenge on those who wronged them.Time has made Heathan’s soul darker, polluted with hatred and the thirst for blood.Time has made Ellis a shell of her former self, a little girl lost in the vastness of her pain.As Heathan pulls Ellis out of her mental prison, reviving the essence of who she once was, down the rabbit hole they will go.With malice in their hearts and vengeance in their veins, they will seek out the ones who hurt and destroyed them.One at a time.Each one more deadly than the last.Tick Tock.Dark Contemporary Romance. Contains explicit sexual situations, violence, disturbingly sensitive and taboo subjects, offensive language and very mature topics. Recommended for ages 18 and over.
Ricochet
Keri Lake - 2015
I wish they had. Now I'm cursed by the memories of that night, and the words I whispered to my dying wife.A promise—to avenge the wrong and set it right.I’m no longer Nick Ryder. I’m a masked vigilante. Faceless. Loveless. Fearless. A man with nothing left to lose—one who's seen the dark and violent truth behind the city’s flawless veneer.Michael Culling doesn’t know who I am. Or what I want. All he knows is that I’ve kidnapped his beautiful wife.An eye for an eye—isn’t that how the saying goes? And Aubree Culling is the perfect pawn to destroy him.If she doesn’t destroy me first.
Lilith
Willow Aster - 2017
this is a story of unconditional love. Beautiful, intelligent, independent, strong-willed, wealthy—Lilith Fontenot seems by all appearances, to have it all. But that’s not how the highest paid prostitute in New Orleans sees herself.A stain on society. A scourge. A waste. Outsider. Prisoner…Any idyllic dream of the normal life she may have once imagined, Lilith buried long ago. Her only plan now is survival.But mob boss Nico Santelli and community center owner Soti Christos have not given up on Lilith. Each has his own very specific, very opposing, plans for her, and neither will rest until it becomes a reality.LILITH is a singularly bracing take on an ancient tale of tireless love, betrayal, and the possibility of redemption.(This book was formerly titled WHORE)
Lovesick
T.L. Smith - 2017
Broken is what he was. Broken is what I will always be.To his eyes, that held so much despair, I couldn’t look for long. To his fist, that clenched so tightly, like he was locking away the sorrow. To his lips, that never uttered a word, from the years of heartbreak. And despite it all, I couldn’t stay away from him. It was like he was drowning in an ocean, and I wanted to grab his face, and whisper to his lips, “Don’t forget to breathe.”This was how I fell for a man. A man who was so lovesick, I was afraid he would drown me in that same ocean he was lost in.***Standalone***
Scars
Jaimie Roberts - 2016
At least, that’s what I thought. But you changed all that. You are always there ... Always watching ... Always waiting in the shadows. You send me flowers and messages. You stalk me, trace my every movement... Until that one day, in a silly game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, when I finally get to feel you—have a taste of you ... It left me wanting more. One catastrophic day, my wish is granted. Just past my eighteenth birthday, tragedy strikes and I watch my family die before my eyes. You are there. You rescue me. You choose my life over my older sister’s, and I hate you for that. I hate you for taking me and imprisoning me. You say it’s for my sake, but I know it’s for your own. You make me see that my life could be much worse without you in it... You make me see true darkness. It is in that darkness you make me desperate for your presence, your touch, your caress. You make me need you... You make it impossible for me to live without you… And then, eventually… You make me fall in love with you. Secrets will always wound the ones twisted within their web of lies... But the ones I’m tangled in ... are deadly. WARNING: Although this book (overall) is not a dark read, one chapter is an exception, and contains the following triggers: childhood sexual/emotional abuse with some intensity in one particular scene.
Dark Lessons
Julia Sykes - 2017
That’s all it was supposed to be. So when my darkly domineering one-night stand turns out to be one of my instructors at Quantico, my life becomes far too complicated. I’m training as an FBI agent, but Jason has other forms of training in mind. Like bending me over his desk for a spanking.I try to resist him, but soon we’re stealing forbidden hours of lust when no one’s watching. It could cost us both our careers, but I can’t help myself. He’s broken, and I want to be his salvation.In return, he says he wants to protect me, to love me. But can he save me when my new job puts me directly in the path of danger?
The Brave Line
Kate Stewart - 2017
With a fresh perspective on life, she trades her tragic past in California for the coastal waters of Charleston. Fueled by a new career as a dispatcher, she’s determined not to let her scars weigh her down. She apologizes for nothing, especially her insatiable need for a certain police officer.Rowdy is a newly minted sergeant dedicated to his job, but the life of a Charleston police officer has never been more dangerous. With his need to take order of a city spiraling out of control, the last thing he wants is an entanglement with a mouthy dispatcher. But, there’s just one problem. He can’t get enough of her.As the heat rises between the unlikely pair, so does the tension.Three months of summer was all it took to shake their foundations, rattle their walls, and bring them crashing down.It was lust.It was love.It was real.And it would have been perfect . . . if it wasn't already over.Note to reader:This book has several elements and explores topics that some may consider triggers. For mature audiences only. Explicit sex, violence and language. (less)
The Man in the Black Suit
Sylvain Reynard - 2017
When her superior, Marcel, is attacked in a supposed random mugging, she is tasked with serving one of the hotel’s most mysterious and attractive guests.Nicholas Cassirer checks into the hotel under an assumed name every three months. Usually, he stays in the penthouse suite with a beautiful female companion but on this occasion, he arrives alone and is displeased in having to deal with someone new. A match of wits ensues as he tests Acacia’s expertise with a series of almost impossible demands. Her intelligence and creativity rise to the challenge, earning his respect.They strike a tenuous accord until Acacia discovers a famous stolen painting in his suite, she contacts a former boyfriend who works for the elite BRB, a unit of French law enforcement that deals with art thefts.Nicholas is questioned by police and released when it is revealed the painting is a reproduction. Irked with her behavior, Acacia’s supervisor demotes her threatening dismissal and the cancellation of her work permit.But Acacia has already attracted Nicholas’s attention. Remorseful that she may lose her job on his account, he offers her a choice – she can wait until her supervisor dismisses her, or she can leave the city of lights behind and become his personal assistant.Acacia initially refuses his offer, but Nicholas is persistent. He reveals himself as a man who quietly acquires stolen art in order to restore it to its rightful owners. Faced with mounting familial debts and the possibility of dismissal and deportation, she agrees to work for him.Nicholas opens up a whole new world of beauty and intrigue to Acacia as they travel the globe. Soon the line between employer and assistant is blurred, and the two lonely people embark on a passionate relationship.
Perfection
Kitty Thomas - 2020
But if Conall Walsh were perfect, I wouldn't have killed him.I thought I got away with it until I received an anonymous note at the ballet company I dance for:You were a very bad girl. If you don't want me to report what I know about last night, meet me at the old opera house after rehearsal. I will tell you the price of my silence when you arrive. If you speak of this or bring anyone with you... no deal.But his price isn't money. It's me.THIS IS A STANDALONE contemporary dark romance.
Rules of Engagement
J.T. Geissinger - 2020
And one thing the sweet Southern belle knows for sure is that the foundation of wedded bliss is built on similarities: opposites might attract, but they don’t stay together. Enter Mason Spark.Rude, arrogant, and notoriously allergic to monogamy, the hottest quarterback in the NFL is Maddie’s polar opposite. He’s also her new client. Her gorgeous, infuriating new client who’s paying her an outrageous sum of money to find him a wife. With his multi-million dollar contract on the line due to his behavior on and off the field, bad boy Mason is willing to pretend to settle down. But when he starts to fall for the adorkable matchmaker who can’t stand him, the playboy finds himself in the game of his life to keep something he never thought he’d lose—his heart.