Book picks similar to
Deadly Illusion by Kathy Lockheart
romance
contemporary
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All the Little Lights
Jamie McGuire - 2018
Both Elliott and Catherine feel like outcasts, yet they find an easy friendship with each other. But when Catherine needs him most, Elliott is forced to leave town.Elliott finally returns, but he and Catherine are now different people. He’s a star high school athlete, and she spends all her free time working at her mother’s mysterious bed-and-breakfast. Catherine hasn’t forgiven Elliott for abandoning her, but he’s determined to win back her friendship…and her heart.Just when Catherine is ready to fully trust Elliott, he becomes the prime suspect in a local tragedy. Despite the town’s growing suspicions, Catherine clings to her love for Elliott. But a devastating secret that Catherine has buried could destroy whatever chance of happiness they have left.
The Scars Between Us
M.K. Schiller - 2017
Just one problem. Why Texas and who the hell is Aiden Sheffield? The only clue is a faded piece of her mother’s stationary. Emma imagines Aiden is a former love of her mother’s, but when she meets the beautiful, damaged stranger, she realizes her assumptions couldn’t be more wrong. He’s hot and young. And Emma is as confused as ever.Aiden Sheffield would rather go to hell than Linx. Who does Emma think she is disrupting his carefully built life? The last thing the Marine needs is to slice open the sealed wounds of his painful past. Yet, as he gets to know the lovely Emma, a woman who manages to smile even though she’s lost everything, he changes his mind. He will not let her go to hell alone.But neither is prepared for the devastating evil waiting for them at the end of the road. It might just destroy them.
Get off on the Pain
Victoria Ashley - 2015
Memphis is all that and more…I live for the pain; it’s what drives me to keep moving. But there comes a time when one has to push the demons aside in order to survive. I thought I buried them deep. I thought I was ready to finally live. Until… my brother, Alex; he throws me into the fire—right into the place I could never control myself, the one place I never want to be again. When I put my hands on people, they get hurt. Things happen that bring me back to that night. The one that will forever torment me. I’m doing fine, keeping to myself in order to ensure no one gets hurt by me. Then along comes Lyric, and all I want to do is touch her, to put my hands in places that I know will only lead to her being crushed by me. She’s the rush that I crave. The darkest of poison running through my veins, killing me bit by bit; like a drug I can’t get enough of even though I’m almost down to my last breath. And being around her only hurts more, but what she doesn’t understand is that I welcome the pain; I get off on it, which in the end leaves me with the hardest decision of my life—one that might get us all killed…
Trigger
L.P. Dover - 2017
. . that’s what I am. It’s what I do. It’s what I live for. I’m no longer the Preston Hale everyone knew. I left that life and the people in it a long time ago the second I made my first kill. I wasn’t going to give in, but when I heard the screams there was no going back. It triggered the pain, the need. I knew what I had to do, and I did it well. But I never expected for Emma Turner – the only link to my past – to come back into my life. She triggers a different emotion inside me, something I hadn’t ever felt. It’s not a want to kill . . . but a need to CLAIM.
Throne of Power
Rina Kent - 2021
In the mafia world, women don’t reign.I’m the exception of that rule.I didn’t choose this life, it chose me.I have a legacy to protect, a power to snatch, and no one will stop me.If an arranged marriage is what it’ll take to lead, then so be it.What I don’t count on is that my chosen husband is a ghost from my past.Kyle Hunter.He was once my guard, my protector. Now, he’s after my kingdom.The road to the throne is paved with thorns, blood, and casualties.To win, I’ll risk it all. My heart included.This book is part of a duet and is not standalone.
Method
Kate Stewart - 2019
I married an A-list player, knowing I come second place to his craft. But Lucas and I are a golden couple, a modern-day fairy tale.I’ve never doubted what we built...until the sudden death of Lucas’s best friend has scandal rocking the Hills and shaking the foundation of our relationship.I chose Lucas as my safe haven...he chose the role of a lifetime.For the next three months, I’ll share my nights with a stranger, watching as he buries his pain, immersed in his role and living as someone else.We’ve done this before. I tell myself it’s just another movie, and he’ll return to me.I should’ve known this time would be different.To get my husband back, I’ll need the strength of ten men.As it turns out, I’ll have to go through two.
Flip Trick
Amo Jones - 2018
I had a one-night stand. Then in true me fashion, I left my phone at his house during my desperate venture to escape. I tried hard to ignore the texts sent to my best friend’s phone... Amethyst: Sup, these selfies are cute as shit, but your lips looked better wrapped around my… I did NOT text him back. I DID vow to never speak of him, or that night again... I’m Amethyst Lily Tatum, and up until this point, I’d managed to maintain a fairly low-key life. I’m what you would call a socially unacceptable hot mess. Instead of partying, I’m skating, flipping ollie’s over guys who loved to underestimate me. Then I started college, met a wild girl who I would soon call my best-friend, had my first drunk one-night stand, left my phone at his house, and then, when I finally managed to meet my mom’s new boyfriend, I found out that my one-night stand, was now my new stepbrother. *this is a standalone novel*
Still Beating
Jennifer Hartmann - 2020
This book contains subject matter that may be sensitive for some readers, including rape, as well as strong language and explicit sex. 18+ only. Please read responsibly. When Cora attends her sister’s birthday party, she expects at most a hangover or a walk of shame. She doesn’t anticipate a stolen wallet, leaving her stranded and dependent on Dean—her arch nemesis and ultimate thorn in her side. And she really doesn’t anticipate waking up in shackles in a madman’s basement.To make matters worse, Dean shares the space in his own set of chains.After fifteen years of teasing, insults, and practical jokes, the ultimate joke seems to be on them. The two people who always thought they’d end up killing each other must now work together if they want to survive.But Cora and Dean have no idea their abductor has a plan for them. A plan that will alter the course of their relationship, blur the line between hate and love, and shackle them together with far more than just chains.
Tortured
Nicole Williams - 2017
She didn’t realize how right she was. When Lance Corporal Brecken Connolly gets taken as a POW, Camryn hopes for the best but steels herself for the worst. In the end, steel was what she needed to survive when he didn’t. She moves on the only way she knows how—gilding herself in more steel. Years go by. She builds a new life. She leaves the old one behind.Until one day, she sees the face of a ghost on the news. Brecken seems to have risen from the dead, but she knows she can’t perform the same miracle for herself. While Brecken was held in a torture camp for the past five years, she’s been trapped in her own kind of prison. One she can't be saved from.The man she mourned comes back to join the living, but the girl he wanted to spend his life with isn’t the same woman he comes back for. Brecken isn’t the same person either. The past five years have changed them both. While he’s determined to put the pieces back together, she’s resolved to let hers rot where they shattered. Broken or not, Brecken wants her back. He’ll do anything to achieve that. Even if it means going against the warden of Camryn’s personal prison—her husband.
Sacrifice
Adriana Locke - 2015
I was left with a shattered heart, a heap of bills, and our daughter, EVERLEIGH. I don’t want to rely on anyone, least of all CREW GENTRY. He’s my first love and the man who almost destroyed me, the man who has let me down every time I’ve needed him. But when tragedy strikes a second time, Crew just might be my only hope. My life changed forever the night my brother died.I was left with a guilty conscience, a pile of mistakes, and little else. I take care of JULIA GENTRY, my brother’s widow and the love of my life, and their daughter. I know she doesn’t want my help, but she gets it anyway. I owe her that.When another disaster hits, I’m given the opportunity to make things right. I’m taking it. I'm willing to sacrifice it all.
Seek
Mia Sheridan - 2018
She's even more heartbroken and confused when a hired private investigator tracks him half a world away, to a seaside town in Colombia. But the country has recently been ravaged by a massive earthquake and deadly tsunami, shutting down outside communication and making travel all but impossible. Still, Olivia is determined to make it to Colombia to find the answers she so desperately seeks. What she needs is a guide—a mercenary.The man named Thomas arrives in shadows, an unmistakable air of danger about him, promising to help lead her through the ruined, crime-infested country. But when Thomas and Olivia find themselves fighting an undeniable attraction, danger takes on a whole new meaning. Then again, in the lush jungles of South America, all the rules are different and Thomas and Olivia are about to discover that sometimes the thing you seek, isn't necessarily the thing you find.Seek is a STANDALONE novel with a small, fun connection to the Sign of Love Collection
Lost Boy
M. Robinson - 2018
Robinson comes this standalone contemporary romance full of feels and angst... In a world where I had no say, violence became my refuge, and nothing else mattered. Not even my own life. Until her. Skyler Bell. It all started the first time I heard that voice. Giving me hope for tomorrow. My first love was everything all at once. Consuming. Maddening. Forever. Mine. Except, I never imagined there were secrets that needed to be shared. Lies that needed to be confessed. Truths that needed to be told. Demons that needed to be buried. Once I realized the depth, the longing, the sadness and sorrow in her eyes mirrored mine, it was too late. Love didn't come to me as heartbreak, it came as everything I've ever wanted. Walking away wasn't an option, but it was the only choice I had. I finally found the price of love and it cost me... My soul.
Razing Kayne
Julieanne Reeves - 2012
Memories haunt his days and lay siege to his nights, leaving him questioning his reasons for living.Jessica Hallstatt became a widow and single mother the night her firefighter husband died in a fiery explosion at an accident scene. While her husband may have died a hero, he left Jessica with deep emotional scars that haven't begun to heal. When Kayne accepted a transfer to the mountain town of Payson, Arizona, he never expected to meet anyone like Jessica. From the moment he pulled her over for speeding, he was drawn in by her whiskey colored eyes and sassy dimple. But she and her children are a forever type package, and he's vowed never to give anyone the power to destroy him again. Yet fate has other ideas, throwing Kayne and Jessica together in a fight against an unknown enemy to save the life of a child—and hopefully one another.Warning: Contains graphic language, explicit sex and one very hot man in uniform.
Haunting Adeline
H.D. Carlton - 2021
Especially not when I plead for him to leave.He's always there, watching and waiting.And I can never look away.Not when I want him to come closer.The ShadowI didn't mean to fall in love.But now that I have, I can't stay away.I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.The way she undresses...I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.And once she is, I'll never let her go.Not even when she begs me to.While not required, it is highly suggested to read the novella, Satan's Affair, first.This book was previously banned on Amazon due to the trigger warning. Please read reviews or go to the author's website.
Birds of Paradise
Anne Malcom - 2018
I was all of the hideous and ugly realities of the world packaged into one broken human being.He came to kill me.That was his business.Death.He ripped me out of my natural environment, the prison I'd created, and locked me away with all of his beautiful dead things.I hated him.I still hate him.But if I was given the choice and the ability to leave this cage, come back to life, I'd stay dead.In all of my hideous splendor.Because my murderer can only possess dead things.And I can only be possessed by someone more broken and ugly than me.