Book picks similar to
The Pawn and The Puppet by Brandi Elise Szeker
romance
dark-romance
booktok
fantasy
Games We Play
Dana Isaly - 2021
He makes a living playing video games and using his gravelly voice to bring people’s sexual fantasies to life.When the top gaming site on the West Coast sends someone out to interview him, Quinlan walks into his apartment with her auburn curls and thick curves, and they’re instantly drawn to each other.Quinlan has no idea of the monster that lurks beneath the surface of his calm demeanor. Jack is quicksand, pulling her down into the dark underbelly of his desires. To get out unscathed, she’ll need to give into the hunger she has always tried to deny.
Together We Burn
Isabel Ibañez
People come for miles to see her father fight in their arena, which will one day be hers.But disaster strikes during their five hundredth anniversary show, and in the carnage, Zarela’s father is horribly injured. Facing punishment from the Dragon Guild, Zarela must keep the arena—her ancestral home and inheritance —safe from their greedy hands. She has no choice but to take her father’s place as the next Dragonador. When the infuriatingly handsome dragon hunter, Arturo Díaz de Montserrat, withholds his help, she refuses to take no for an answer.But even if he agrees, there’s someone out to ruin the Zalvidar family, and Zarela will have to do whatever it takes in order to prevent the Dragon Guild from taking away her birthright.An ancient city plagued by dragons. A flamenco dancer determined to save her ancestral home. A dragon hunter refusing to teach her his ways. They don't want each other, but they need each other, and without him her world will burn.
Beautiful Carnage
Caroline Peckham - 2020
Our fates were spun the night he tried to kill me and now he’s back to destroy me for good.It’s always been us versus them. The Calabresis against the Romeros.This city is ours but they vowed to take it from us. And when they couldn’t, they took me instead.Now I’m chained by the cruellest of them all; the man who wrapped his hands around my throat and tried to squeeze the life from me all those years ago.But I won’t fall prey to him. I’m older, fiercer and I’ve grown claws of my own.Rocco Romero thinks he can keep me captive, but he’s about to regret bringing a sleeping tiger into his home.ROCCOShe’s my greatest failure.The name that always haunts me.My dirty little secret.And when I had the chance to kidnap her from her wedding, nothing on God’s green earth could stop me.She’s mine. I could take her life, her body or her heart if I wanted to.But my brothers refuse to believe me.So when they bet I can’t make the little principessa fall in love with me, of course I step up to the challenge.And when she’s down on her knees, pouring her heart out, I’ll crush it in my fist.I’m lining the Calabresis up like dominoes. And she’ll be the first to fall.**Beautiful Carnage is a standalone mafia bully romance between one sexy guy and girl with hot scenes and alpha men causing havoc at every turn**
Ruthless Creatures
J.T. Geissinger - 2021
Geissinger.
Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and unanswered questions.Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town. Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding something, I’m drawn to him like a moth to flame.The intensity of our connection is addictive, unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Heat crackles between us with every look, desire flares into passion, and I fall hard, unable to resist.But when I discover how he’s tied to the darkness in my past, I learn what happens when you fly recklessly into fire:You get burned.
In The Dark
Rosie Alice - 2021
Except, Blackmore brings more than a placeholder life. It brings secrets, truths, games and them.Kaiden Thorne, Beckham Bentley and Vincent Donahue.They’re no strangers to the darkness - and this year, they’re taking Sage in the dark with them.**In The Dark is a dark, erotic romance novella introducing you to the Hallows Boys series and is for mature, 18+ readers only. This book has scenes that some readers may find triggering or offensive including menage with MM, BDSM and noncon themes.
Restore me
J.L. Seegars - 2022
He's arrogant, dismissive, and up until recently has only ever used those dark eyes of his to look right through me. For the last ten years, he's taken a sick pleasure in making me feel paper thin, like my entire existence is of no consequence to him at all.But now, things are different.After one drunken night, and a surprisingly sexy act of heroism, he's started to be...nice. Treating me like something other than the physical embodiment of his annoyance, which would be nice if it didn't make me feel all the things I swore to never feel for another man after my husband died.DominicSloane Kent is going to be my undoing.What's worse: I think I'm going to enjoy being unravelled by the gold flecks in her hazel eyes and the adorable little way she scrunches her nose up when we're arguing, which we've done a lot of over the past decade. She thinks it's because I hate her, and I've always let her think that because the alternative is...untenable.But something is changing between us, and I don't know how to stop myself from breaking every promise I've ever made to myself regarding my best friend's wife. Promises that include never telling her that there's a long list of things I feel about her, but hate isn't one of them.___________________________________Restore Me is an enemies to lovers romance about forbidden romance and love after loss. It is the first book in the New Haven Series—an interconnected, series of stand-alone novels.
Stay with Me
Nicole Fiorina - 2019
Mia didn’t care. She needed feelings to care. She’d keep her head down, ignore everyone, and make it through the next two years effortlessly. Though Mia never anticipated Ollie Masters.With green eyes, tattoos, and the voice of a poet, she is quickly drawn to him. But because of her sociopath tendencies, she knows it could only end in one of two ways. Either he will be the one to free her from her past, or she will be the one to destroy him.
Untitled
Cassandra Clare
It will have two main characters, Kit and Ty Blackthorn. More information to come...Cassandra Clare said about writing more books in the Shadowhunter World:My plan at the moment is to do five Shadowhunter series, total. I don’t know if I’ll do any series in the Shadowhunter world beyond that. I don’t know why five exactly — maybe because one of my major literary idols has always been Tamora Pierce and she did five series set in Tortall. :) Maybe I think I have five stories to tell in this world. Maybe I’ll get to the end and want to tell more. Maybe not — I have a stockpile of other worlds and stories in my head; I’m writing one of them by writing Magisterium now, but there are many others.There is a special sort of enjoyment in developing stories in a created world, because you can take the rules you yourself have invented, and bend them or break them. You can create connections and history — the story of Isabelle’s ruby necklace stretches back all the way to Vampires, Scones and Edmund Herondale. Then again, with a brand new world, you get to make everything up again. It’s like: brand-new baby or adorable five-year old? They’re both good.(The five Shadowhunter series are TiD, TLH, TMI, TDA, and very far down the road, TWP. Don’t even ask about that one! It’s too far in the future! There are other Shadowhunter projects like The Bane Chronicles and the graphic novel project about the Circle, currently in planning stages and known as TST, but I’m not counting them: I’m only counting book series/trilogies written solely by me.)
Shadow's Kiss
T.M. Hart - 2017
Unending night . . . Violet Archer is running through the darkness, for her very life. A single spark blazes, calling to her. It is her chance at salvation. It is a connection beyond any she could have ever imagined. And it leads her to a lonely cabin in the woods.But when Violet wakes, she has no memory of how she got there. She is disturbingly ill. And a chilling evil creeps through her veins. Worse still, her host, the tall and powerful Elijah Stone, is intent on killing her. Yet a cataclysmic bond, neither can deny, stays Elijah’s hand. Radiants, immortals of the Light, have been warring with their enemies, the Shadows, for millennia. Now, twisted together by fate, the two adversaries must embark on a journey. One on which their very lives depend. Unfortunately for Violet, she does not know who she can trust, especially when it comes to her guide, Elijah. But it turns out that Violet and Elijah are not alone on their quest. They soon realize they are being hunted along the way. It seems Violet has a dark debt to settle.And someone very dark, indeed, is about to collect his due.
Periculum
Natalie Bennett - 2020
But they didn’t know that until it was too late.Now stranded with two friends and a group of apprehensive strangers, Liliana Serpine must decide who and who not to trust as they navigate their way through hell in the form of an opulent city.There’s one person who stands out among the others. He’s got a gorgeous face and darkly enigmatic aura. Being drawn to him is inevitable but staying by his side becomes necessary to survive.When secrets start being revealed in blood, everything changes. From dabbling in the taboo, being tempted by the forbidden, and falling in lust with the carnage.For those that make it out of this alive, they’ll never be the same people they once were.**Warning**Devil's Playground is a dark new adult (not high-school) series. There are graphic situations and content some readers may find objective. If you need fluff and sweet romance this is not the series for you. Books 1 & 2 tie together. The remaining books in the series are individual standalones.
The Ones We Burn
Rebecca Mix
Butcher. Bloodwinn. Ranka is tired of death. All she wants now is to be left alone, living out her days in Witchik’s wild north with the coven that raised her, attempting to forget the horrors of her past. But when she is named Bloodwinn, the next treaty bride to the human kingdom of Isodal, her coven sends her south with a single directive: kill him. Easy enough, for a blood-witch whose magic compels her to kill. Except the prince is gentle, kind, and terrified of her. He doesn’t want to marry Ranka; he doesn’t want to be king at all. And it’s his sister—the wickedly smart, infuriatingly beautiful Princess Aramis—who seems to be real threat. But when witches start turning up dead, murdered by a mysterious, magical plague, Aramis makes Ranka an offer: help her develop a cure, and in return, she’ll help Ranka learn to contain her deadly magic. As the coup draws nearer and the plague spreads, Ranka is forced to question everything she thought she knew about her power, her past, and who she’s meant to fight for. Soon, she will have to decide between the coven that raised her and the princess who sees beyond the monster they shaped her to be. But as the bodies pile up, a monster may be exactly what they need.
Gods & Monsters
Janie Marie - 2012
In fact, she's a sad sight to behold. Afflicted by the sorrow of her tragic past and failing marriage, the young mother of two is as terrified as every other soul when humanity faces doom. Yet, when hope seems lost, Jane does something even her estranged husband fails to--she fights. And she's not alone.David and his companions are what our world has dismissed as mere legend. Their duty to the human race brings them across the country, and they all know it is no coincidence when they cross paths with Jane.As it happens, Jane is special. She's destined to rid the world of darkness.With monsters from every nightmare seeking her out, a noble immortal knight showing her what love truly feels like, a secret past that even Jane can't remember, and even more powerful beings wagering the fate of her soul, Jane will embark on an epic journey to save her family and the world.So what will happen when they realize she's the greatest monster of them all? ***If you want an instant, fearless heroine, Jane won't be your gal. If you actually want to read a deep, epic story and witness every character grow throughout their journey, give this story a chance but be prepared for realistic pacing for character growth.Book One is 155,000 words, but the entire trilogy is over 700,000. This is just the beginning. Each book completes a part of the whole journey and should be read in its entirety.Warnings: Triggers for abuse, mental health disorders. Heavy violence, horror, strong language, emotional and controversial themes, sex, rape(not praised), will have multiple loves for the heroine(stressful but worth the wait and makes sense when it's meant to)*Please do not criticize the mental health disorders in this story or how the character copes with these disorders as well as grief, trauma, and confliction. This book was written for a very specific group of readers in mind, and bashing Jane's path to heal, how she reveals her tragedies, and how she raises her children with these disorders may cause distress to these readers. Be considerate. Everyone grieves differently, loves differently, and heals from trauma in their own ways. Criticizing a survivor in any way is awful, so please be mindful with your reviews. READING ORDERThe Gods & Monsters NovelsThe Gods & Monsters Trilogy1. Gods & Monsters2. The Fallen Queen3. The Light BringerStandalone but best read as fourth Gods & Monsters Novel:Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Standalone Alternate reality: Jane's Team: A High School Reverse Harem Romance
Moon Touched
Elizabeth Briggs - 2021
Gaining my wolf form and my fated mate is my only chance to change packs and hope for a better life.Except when my fated mate is revealed, he's the future alpha of the Leo pack—our worst enemies. He rejects me in front of everyone, just before the Leos slaughter my entire pack and murder my family.I manage to escape, but then I'm kidnapped by a far greater threat: the alpha of the mysterious lost pack. The 13th sign was banished from the Zodiac Wolves years ago, and I thought they were just a myth.They're real. They're holding me captive. And the dark, dangerous alpha is offering me something I can't refuse—revenge.Moon Touched is the first book in the scorching hot Zodiac Wolves series.
Beautiful Assassin
Skyla Madi
I fall in love with the man who comes in the night. He watches me down the scope of his rifle and it’s terrifying, and exhilarating, not knowing when he’ll squeeze the trigger. If he’ll squeeze the trigger.Maybe I’ll die tonight……maybe I’ll die next week. It’s a sick and twisted game, but it’s ours. And just when I think our story ends at a distance, he comes in close, thrusting himself into my life. We are at war, him and me, and eventually, he’ll have to kill me. If he doesn’t, someone else will.
King of Corium
C. Hallman - 2021
Assassins, mafia leaders, arms dealers and art thieves.You name it, this college houses them.Here nothing can touch them.Upon arriving I knew Aspen would be here, she was the daughter of our enemy, a snake in the grass like her father. I had no intention of sparring with her. That is until she opened her pretty little mouth. One sentence and she became my next target, and a woman that I would do anything to see on her knees at my feet.If she thought the university was the only nightmare she would have to face, she was wrong.I was the king, and this was my kingdom.**King of Corium is a dark romance novel, that contains dark themes, including dub-con, non-con. It is not a standalone novel.**