Book picks similar to
The Quiet Game by Cassandra Hallman
young-adult
dual-pov
contemporary-romance
high-school
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+.
Naked or Dead
A.E. Murphy - 2019
Already she hates it despite its beautiful landscape.Between riding her dirt bike through the sacred lands of the natives, plotting against those she meets, and holding greasy truckers at gunpoint, Lilith makes no time for love or friendship. Forever the walking mystery (read misery) of her new home and school.That is until Nokosi Locklear catches her eye with his arrogance and a hard, toned body that she’s certain she doesn’t want to climb.Shoved up against a locker by him in her first week, she sets him in her wicked sights.Life is only fun when you have somebody else’s pain to focus on. So long as you stay detached. Something Lilith will find is impossible to do when it comes to Nokosi. A guy with looks but no charm. Strength but no power. Love but no morals. With a serial killer roaming the States, taking victims one by one, a past in Nokosi’s eyes that he tries to hide, and a mother that would rather work than keep her daughters happy, Lilith finds plenty of time to spare and plenty of things to keep herself occupied. Note: This is your only trigger warning. Read at your own risk.
His to Hold
S.L. Sterling - 2019
But that was about to change. Getting dumped at the start of my much overdue vacation was not how I planned to spend my time off. Neither was running into someone from my past. It was the last thing I expected.... but just what I needed.My brother’s best friend was headed home when our paths collided at the airport during a massive storm. Twenty years of chemistry crackles around us like lightning, and we give in to what’s been a long time coming. From stranded old friends to insatiable lovers, spending a week together at his lake house, I'm reminded what it’s like to live in the moment. When I realize I didn’t really know him at all, I can’t help but think... I might have been his to hold, but could I be his to keep? Bryce I guess there are worse things than being forced into taking a vacation. I can think of a few. But being fresh out of a bad relationship, and in the middle of a huge merger, is not the ideal time to be jetting off for two weeks. One week in, I decide to cut my trip short, only to end up stranded at the airport. Just my luck. Everything changes when I run into my best friend’s little sister. Twenty years later, she’s all grown up and very much available. One thing leads to another, and we find ourselves back at my place riding out the storm and reconnecting in ways I never imagined. Feelings that had been delayed are finally able to take flight. The girl who held my attention all those years ago is now the woman holding my heart. I’m falling fast, but when we end up face to face in the boardroom, will our vacation romance go from pleasure to business?
Sempre
J.M. Darhower - 2014
DEATH... LOVE... FREEDOM. THIS IS A STORY ABOUT FOREVER. Haven Antonelli and Carmine DeMarco grew up under vastly different circumstances. Haven, a second-generation slave, was isolated in the middle of the desert, her days full of hard work and terrifying abuse. Carmine, born into a wealthy Mafia family, lived a life of privilege and excess. Now, a twist of fate causes their worlds to collide. Entangled in a web of secrets and lies, they learn that while different on the surface, they have more in common than anyone would think. In a world full of chaos, where money and power rule, Haven and Carmine yearn to break free, but a string of events that began before either of them were born threatens to destroy them instead. Murder and betrayal are a way of life, and nothing comes without a price-especially not freedom. But how much will they have to sacrifice? Can they escape their pasts? And, most of all, what does it mean to be free?
Ugly Girl
Sheridan Anne - 2020
His eyes draw me in while his vicious smirk screams at me to run and never look back. I’m a toy to him, a pawn to use in his devilish games.I’ve already suffered through hell and back and if it’s games he wants then it’s games he’ll get, but he should be warned, this time it’s my turn to play the lead.This time, I get to be the devil.Aston Creek High was supposed to be my fresh start. This was my one shot at freedom, but he had other plans for me. Slade Cruz was never a part of my plan, but he sure as hell made me part of his. I thought I was through with fighting to survive, but it seems as though the games have only just begun.Give it your best shot, Slade. I’m ready.
Reckless Hate
Thandiwe Mpofu - 2019
The results? Reckless Hate & Catastrophe."Westbrook had four boys that ruled my life once.They were hell raisers.Cunning Athletes.Skilled Manipulators.Hateful Assholes.Gorgeous gods.Heartbreakers. . .Only I never counted on them breaking my heart as savagely as they did, sending me away when I needed them the most. Making me spiral into a vicious abyss of darkness where I'm haunted by a pair of frosty blue eyes filled with hate.But now I'm back and this time around, for a reason that makes breathing almost completely impossible.And if they think I won't get revenge for my brother--one of the Blue Boys--then they have another kind of hell to face.Because I'm no longer their little Blue girl from four years ago. . .
Blood & Agony
Elizabeth Knox - 2021
There’s no point in denying it. You see what you get and what you get is a bastard who doesn’t give a fuck about what’s going on around him, unless it’s beneficial to me of course.I work for Katya, the owner of an elite tattoo parlor called Pins & Needles. There are five locations across the world: Moscow, London, Miami, Los Angeles, and Sydney. The front of Katya’s business is the parlor, but what she’s actually done is set up an underground shop for the arms dealing business she inherited from her dead husband, in addition to other nefarious activities. No one has a clue about what’s really done here, not even the damn feds and for the first time in the seven years I’ve been working for her we fuck up. One of the tattoo artists, Dema, sees something she shouldn’t. As Katya’s right hand man I can’t let this get out. I know what I have to do, and it’ll either be me throwing her body in the woods, or locking her up and selling her to the highest bidder, ensuring she’ll never see the light of day again. Funny how neither of those happen and I end up putting my own neck on the line for her. I’ve never cared about anyone in my entire fucking life, yet here I am, craving something more than blood and agony.
Travesty
Carrie Thomas - 2016
How can she not know who she is? How has she ended up chained in a basement? Trying to work through her fear, she sets her sights on escaping. When an opportunity arises, she puts her trust in a boy she doesn’t know, praying he will save her life.At age four, Abram Scott learned life owes him nothing, while fourteen taught him how to throw a punch—and take one. Seventeen though… seventeen provides him with the best and worst year of his life. Before he is old enough to fight for his country, he will escape his own personal hell, save a life, live a lie, break the law, fall in love, betray that love… then lose it.Letting Sophia go while not knowing if she will return, turns into the scariest decision Abram will ever make. But that’s the problem with living a lie; at some point, you have to decide which one is your truth.
Drumline
Stacy Kestwick - 2017
Especially in the South. College football. Rivalries. Tailgating. Halftime shows. Some things just don’t change. Until Reese Holland shows up with her long legs and no-bullsh*t attitude to audition for the prestigious all-male Rodner University snare line. It doesn’t matter how much hazing she has to endure from Laird Bronson, with his narrowed green eyes and arrogant smirk. She wants that damn spot, and she’s more than good enough to earn it. She expects there to be tension. Even friction. But not sparks hot enough to burn the entire campus down. ***Drumline is a standalone college romance.
Heartless Savage: A High School Bully Romance (Valley High Book 1)
Ivy Blake - 2021