Book picks similar to
Vicious by A.E. Murphy
bully
romance
favorites
second-chance
Bitter Heat
Mia Knight - 2019
He was the flame. After this, they would be ash. A cruel twist of fate leaves Jasmine Hennessy stranded in a remote cabin with her worst nightmare—her ex-husband, James Roth, who she hasn’t seen in five years. He isn’t acting like the man she married, but did she ever really know him? One night together kicks off a series of events that threatens her freedom as Roth seeks vengeance on those who ruined him seven years ago. He’s determined to bring her back into the world she left behind where money is king, reputation is everything, and people will kill to keep their secrets. Author's Note: This is a dark romance novel with triggers and mature themes that may make some readers uncomfortable.
Swear on This Life
Renee Carlino - 2016
As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?
All for Maddie
Jettie Woodruff - 2013
because I am a mother.Living a complete lie, holding on to a secret that could cost me the most important thing in my life was about to surface. I couldn’t breathe without Maddie. Maddie was my life. The saying about dying for your child is the absolute truth. The other things you would do are comparable to that of death. I know, I did those things. I did unthinkable things, all for Maddie. I continued the lie, the secrets with the one man who had no right. People say you always have options. That’s a lie. I had no choice. I did it all for her... for my Maddie. Adult content...Sex /adult language.
Drowning Erin
Elizabeth O'Roark - 2017
She and Brendan have waged a war of mutual disdain for years, but when Brendan picks up the pieces after her world unravels, they’ll be forced to admit that beneath their dislike is something else entirely—something they’re not supposed to feel. Because Brendan isn’t just her nemesis…He’s also her fiance’s best friend.
Wait for Me
Tia Louise - 2019
Her brother Sawyer would kick my ass if he knew how many times we made out that summer, how close we got.Everything changed when Sawyer and I joined the military.We were honorably discharged, but I didn’t go to her.Instead, I went back to the city… where no amount of money, no amount of pills can heal this wound.Only her whiskey eyes and dark hair, her slim arms and her sweet scent, give me hope. I broke her heart just as surely as I broke mine, but I’m going back to make it right.If she’s still waiting…
(WAIT FOR ME is a STAND-ALONE second-chance, military romance with a guaranteed HEA. No cheating. No cliffhangers.)
Chasing the Moon
S.M. Soto - 2020
A love like theirs was never destined to last. Selene Drake has always been the girl that blends into the background.The wallflower.Quiet.Unnoticed.Sweet as can be.It never bothered her, she preferred slinking into the shadows.When she first laid eyes on Endymion Black, she fell irrevocably in love with him.The bad boy.Cold.Distant.Handsome as ever.For years, she pined after the unattainable boy who had somehow burrowed his way into her heart.Until everything changed.One unforgettable night bridled with passion and forbidden lust destroyed her naïve heart and reshaped her innocent soul. It sent her fleeing from the only town she’d ever truly known.Six years later, Selene is back in Dunsmuir and the boy she spent years loving in silence, has now turned into a man. A man with his sights set on her. Somehow, the tables have turned, and this time around, he’s the one doing the chasing, determined to claim her heart as his. Only, he doesn’t realize, she has a secret of her own. One with the potential to change their lives forever.Chasing the Moon is a full-length standalone romance with a guaranteed HEA.
Silenced
Leddy Harper - 2017
Silenced and scarred, he keeps to himself, spending his time with his notebook in the woods behind his aunt’s house. Until Rylee Anderson…When Rylee spots Killian hopping over a fence next door, she follows him, unprepared for the boy she’d find—or the relationship that would unfold over the next seven years.Or the silence that would follow.Fighting between the hate of his past and the promise of his future, Killian must make choices—ones that would affect more than himself. Choices that would test the lines of right and wrong. Decisions that could break the bond of the only love Killian knew.Hate or love.Revenge or forgiveness.Silence or his voice.
Trailer Park Heart
Rachel Higginson - 2018
It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And that’s how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out. Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape. Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here. Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow. Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago. He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from. I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.
Machiavellian
Bella Di Corte - 2020
I hungered to be seen. There were three things I knew about Capo Macchiavello: He was gorgeous. He was reclusive. He was considered one of New York’s most savage animals. And he wanted me as his wife. A simple arrangement – you do for me, I do for you. Nothing owed, no expectations. Except for one: never leave. Life was never that simple, though. By the age of twenty-one, I was parentless, jobless, and homeless, and I had come to learn the hard way that nothing was ever free. Even kindness comes with strings. Capo might’ve been the only man to ever see me, but I had made a vow to myself: I would never owe anyone anything. Most of all, the man I called boss. I killed to stay hidden. Mariposa Flores thought she owed nothing to no one, but she owed everything…to me, the ghost the world had once called The Machiavellian Prince of New York.
Sweet Destruction
Paige Weaver - 2014
Rundown trailers and crime-ridden streets were my home. Drugs and alcohol were the norm and happiness was the exception. I lived from day to day never knowing if I would have a roof over my head or food in my stomach. My life sucked. It took from me and gave nothing back.But there was one certainty in my life. A black smudge on my window of hell.Cole Walker.He was a criminal. A thief. He brought hell and damnation with him wherever he went. He hurt and destroyed. He took and gave nothing in return. He was heartache and despair wrapped up in a perfect gorgeous package. Fast cars and fast women were his hobbies. His vices. But he had many.I was one of them.I was his addiction and his craving. His enemy on this earth. I feared him. I hated him. I loved him even more.
Puddle Jumping
Amber L. Johnson - 2014
Everyone thinks Colton Neely is special. Lilly Evans just thinks he’s fascinating. Once friends when they were younger, their bond is cut short due to her accident prone nature and they go their separate ways. Years later, they meet again and Lilly learns that there is something special about the boy she once knew, but she has no idea what it all means. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out. When he walks through the corridor of her school the first day of her senior year, she knows that it’s time to get to know the real Colton Neely. The more she learns, the deeper she falls. Their friendship grows into love, even as Colton does not express it in words. But one decision threatens to break down the world that Lilly has tried so hard to integrate into and she must figure out if the relationship can survive if they are apart.
Devious Little Liars
Elle Thorpe - 2020
Some of us are just better at not getting caught.”He murdered my uncle then covered it with fire. A fire that should have killed me, too. Instead, he hauled me from the floor while flames licked the walls, strong arms holding me close.He saved my life.Now I want to know why. I never saw his face. All I know is the letters on his shirt. SVH.Saint View High.The worst school in a hundred miles. Full of drugs and despair. Breeding ground for future criminals. Armed security guards and weapon checks at every door.A far cry from my privileged life of money, private school, and fancy vacations.With the police doing nothing, I take matters into my own hands. I enroll in a school I have no business being at.But the Untouchables are quick to let me know exactly how big a mistake I’ve made. They’re the group of boys even the teachers are scared of.Colt. Banjo. Rafe.Every teenage girl’s dream. Good looking. Popular. Powerful.And determined to break me.Thing is, I’m not that easily broken. And I’m coming for them, too.Devious Little Liars is the story of three bad boys and a girl who knows how to stand her ground. It is a mature high school/new adult, reverse harem, #whychoose romance, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This book contains enemies-to-lovers and bullying themes. It is the first book in an ongoing trilogy.
Game On
E.M. Moore - 2019
You see, the Ballers and I have a history. They play basketball. I play basketball. But they hate that I play basketball as good as them. And the only thing they hate more than that, is me. That’s right. I’m a girl, and I. Can. Play. Make no mistake about it. The Ballers can do their worst, but I will make it onto the RHS boys’ team. This is my last resort to make a name for myself, and I can’t let them interfere—even if the so-called kings of the school have declared war against me. Game On is a reverse harem high school bully romance novel.
Corrupt Idol
Dinah Harper - 2019
In every aspect of my life I’m a model citizen except when it comes to you." Once upon a time, he was her everything—protector, best friend, hero. She looked up to him and trusted him with her life. In one selfish move, he ruined everything and broke her in the process. It’s been five years and the moment she hoped to avoid is here. She’s about to come face to face with her step-brother, Jesse Sampson, corrupt idol and her personal nightmare. She’s going to show him how little he affects her. She’ll never let him back in. …But he has other plans. Author's Note: This is a dark, taboo romance novel with triggers and mature themes that may make some readers uncomfortable.