Book picks similar to
Quiet Lies by R.L. Griffin


dark
abuse
mental-illness
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I, Porn Star


Zara Cox - 2016
    Rich. Entitled. By night, I'm the exclusive porn star only known as Q. Why? Because I love women. If I believed in an almighty being, I'd thank him for creating them. They're by far his most perfect creation… especially when I'm fucking one of them. Oh, did I mention I'm an asshole? Fuck yeah. According to my shrink, I'm one twisted motherfucker. And that's just the way I like it. Until she walks into my life…My name is Elyse Gilbert, nicknamed ‘Lucky' because according to my dad, I'm the unluckiest person alive, and I'll die the same way I came into the world: naked, screaming, and dirt poor.Yeah, my life is a twisted, seething mess. But that life changed the day I met HIM. He made me forget the cameras. He made me forget I was doing this for the money. He made me forget my shame.He made me forget everything. I was consumed by him. Only him.But now my past has caught up with me.

Waterfall Effect


K.K. Allen - 2018
    Allen comes a new and suspenseful small town mountain romance.Lost in the shadows of a tragedy that stripped Aurora June of everything she once loved, she’s back in the small town of Balsam Grove, North Carolina, ready to face all she’s kept locked away for seven years. Or so she thinks.As one of the victims of a string of mysterious disappearances in the small, picturesque Appalachian Mountain town, darkness has become her home—her safe blanket when the world reveals its true colors. But as the walls of darkness start to move in on her, she knows the only way to free herself from her past is to face it, head-on. She just needs to figure out how.Upon arrival, Aurora isn’t expecting her first collision to be with the boy she left all those years ago. The boy who betrayed her trust with no regrets. The boy who is no longer a boy, but a man with the same stormy eyes that swept her into his current before she ever learned to swim.She’d thought he was safe. He’d thought their path was mapped out. Turns out neither of them was ready for the crash at the bottom of the cascade.

Number Thirteen


Bella Jewel - 2014
    A master we've never seen.Obedience will become all we know in our shallow existence. It is the only emotion we're permitted to feel.When we're bad, we're punished. When we're good, we're rewarded. Our scars run deep. Yet we survive, because we have to... because HE teaches us to.All of us are special, we feel it with everything we are.He has us for a reason, but it's a reason we don't know.We've never seen his face, but we know that something deeply broken lies beneath the darkness. With every touch, with every punishment, we know it. Then something changed. He showed me who he truly is.Now I want him.I'll go against everything I know to be with him. A monster. My monster. Loving him is a sin, but a sinner I am. I won't stop until I see every part of him. Even the parts he keeps locked deep down inside. I am Number Thirteen, and this is my story.

Sugar Baby Beautiful


J.J. McAvoy - 2015
    Her present is detached and dull. And her future? Well, before meeting Theodore Darcy, the famed film director, writer, producer and CEO of Darcy Entertainment, she would have expected more of the same. Love is just a fantasy and she wants no part of it—even if she can’t deny the undeniable attraction between the two of them.So their arrangement is simple: sex with no strings attached.But as their intimacy becomes more powerful, so do Felicity’s demons. Can Theo really shoulder her past and his own? And could Felicity even let him?

Fear of Falling


S.L. Jennings - 2013
    Security seemed more like a luxury to me, reserved for those who were fortunate enough to have picture perfect childhoods. For those who didn’t bear the ugly scars that keep me bound in constant, debilitating fear. I’ve run from that fear my entire life. But when I met him, for once, I couldn’t run anymore.He scared the hell out of me in a way that excited every fiber of my being. It wasn’t the tattoos or the piercings. It wasn’t the warmth that seemed to radiate from his frame and blanket me whenever he was near. It was just…him. The scary beautiful man that threatened to alter 23 years of routine and rituals, and make me face my crippling fear.My name is Kami and I am constantly afraid. And the thing that scares me the most is the very thing I want.“Don’t worry,” he smiled, pulling me into the hard warmth of his chest. “I’ve got you. I’ll always catch you when you fall.”And just like that, Blaine had staked his claim on the untouched part of me that no living soul had ever moved. He had captured every fear, every reservation, and crushed them in the palm of his inked hand.Author Disclaimer: Abuse is real- verbal, emotional, physical and sexual. It takes place all around us; it doesn’t discriminate against race or gender, wealth or poverty. It affects us all- those of us who’ve had to live through it, or watch it happen, even those of us who’ve only heard about it. We are all affected. We are all forever changed. This is not a story for the faint of heart; this is the story of one woman’s very real struggle through a world against her, the people who hurt her, her real life demons and the people who showed her that every gray sky, no matter how dark, has a sun waiting to break through.***Inspired by true events***

Escape from Paradise


Gwendolyn Field - 2013
    One spontaneous choice whisks Angela across the world to the pseudo paradise of Spain’s Mediterranean Riviera where she has another choice to make: live cooperatively as one of billionaire Marco Ruiz’s slaves, or die.* * *Colin Douglas’s future was seized and choked when deliberate tragedy struck his Scottish family at the age of sixteen. He spent his remaining youthful years infiltrating the U.K.’s crime world, seeking power, control, and revenge, all leading to a position as an undercover agent. With nothing to lose, Colin accepts the seemingly impossible job of rescuing America’s famous missing girl, Angela Birch. Colin knows that to enter a snake lair, one must become a snake. It turns out to be a mission which will put his desire for control to the ultimate test, and make him wish for things he never knew he wanted.*AUTHOR'S NOTE* Escape from Paradise is a work of fiction intended for adult readers, containing graphic sexual scenarios and strong language.

The Contradiction of Solitude


A. Meredith Walters - 2015
    He tells me that I'm beautiful.That I'm an enigma wrapped in irresistibly complicated skin.Elian says that he loves me.These words terrify me.I can't trust love.Or hope.Or truth.Because I fear the beast inside.It threatens to drown Elian and his sweet, unconditional love.It's a beast that will destroy everything.*This is a psychological thriller and very different than my previous books*

Insidious


Aleatha Romig - 2014
    When a powerful man is willing to risk everything for his own satisfaction, only one woman can beat him at his own game: his wife. Or so she thinks…“Let’s start with you calling me Stewart. Formalities seem unnecessary.”Stewart Harrington is rich, gorgeous, and one of the most powerful men in Miami. He always gets what he wants. Anything is available to him for the right price.Even me.Being the wife of a mogul comes with all the perks, but being Mrs. Stewart Harrington comes with a few special requirements. I’ve learned to keep a part of myself locked away as my husband watches me submit to his needs. But the more he demands of me, the more beguiled he becomes and that’s to my advantage. So I keep fulfilling his fantasies and following his rules because he doesn’t know that what he’s playing is really my game. And winning is everything, right?Insidious is a stand-alone novel and the first Tales from the Dark Side title. Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only.

Slammer


Tabatha Vargo - 2015
    Ten years later, the boy he used to be is gone. In his place is the shell of a man with murder under his belt. Any emotion he once had was left under the gavel when he was given life in prison. That is until the new nurse in the infirmary joins the block. Putting your hands on a prison employee will get you the hole, but some things are worth their punishment, and something tells him Lyla will be worth more than he bargained for. Lyla Evans isn’t sure about her new job at a maximum security prison, but showing uncertainty and weakness isn’t an option. Taking care of murderers and rapists isn’t ideal, but survival is key. She’s warned ahead of time about a prisoner named X, but when she’s attacked, it’s the dangerous X that saves her. Fraternizing with the prisoners is forbidden, but sometimes the most forbidden things are the sweetest.

Wife Number Seven


Melissa Brown - 2014
    Bright, red lipstick. Nothing but lipstick. Even though it’s against our faith to wear a color that screams of sexual promiscuity and deviant behavior, I’m not allowed to protest. But, I want to. So badly. You see, there’s more to me than the braid that spills down my back. More to me than the layers of heavy fabric that maintain my modesty. And so much more than the oppressive wedding band that adorns my finger--the same band that each of my sister wives wear. So much more. To protest would be sinful. I must keep sweet, that is my duty. So I’ll wear the lipstick. I’ll do as I’m told. And I’ll do my best to silence the resistance within me, to push him from my mind. If only my heart would do the same.

Bloodstained Beauty


Ella Fields - 2018
     Fresh out of college and headed straight for my dream job, I didn’t think things could get any better.
 Then I met my dream man. 
In an instant, my happy ever after had begun.
 The life I’d stumbled into was beautiful, and the man I loved was perfect.
 But perfection comes at a cost, and I’d slumbered through all the alarms.
 Then I met my nightmare. 
 The man whose bright eyes held untamed darkness. 
 The man who disarmed me with his peculiar behavior. 
 The man whose cold, merciless hands shook me awake.  
In an instant, questions started to dismantle my happy ever after.
 But whoever said the truth would set you free was wrong. 
It wasn’t going to repair the cracks in my naive heart. 
 It wasn’t going to caress my face with comforting hands and reassure me it was all just a dream.
 No, the truth shoved me down a rabbit hole, and I landed in the lair of a real-life monster.

Suit


Jettie Woodruff - 2015
    I woke from a coma unaware that I even had a twin and married to a man with two little girls. Although I fell madly in love with the children that I didn’t remember, I didn’t feel like I belonged with Paxton Pierce. I couldn’t be who he wanted me to be no matter how hard I tried. But things aren’t always as they seem. I fought my own demons, trying not to be the submissive he required me to be, yet I craved it like a drug. I wanted him.Once upon a time I was an identical twin.And then I wasn’t.

Inky


J.B. Hartnett - 2013
    While working as a bartender to pay her bills, she meets Cole, a sexy divorcee. She denies their mutual attraction and tries to put him out of her mind.When an abusive person from her childhood makes an unexpected visit, Inky’s world is turned upside down. Secrets are revealed and truths are exposed leaving Inky devastated and questioning what she thought was love. As she picks up the pieces and tries to move on, she finds her path crosses with Cole once again and this time, she cannot deny the passion between them.Once she opens her heart again, will she be able to move forward or will her past find a way to stop her?

Bury Me


Tara Sivec - 2015
    I see blood on my hands.When I look in the mirror I see a stranger.How is it that I can remember bits and pieces of my life, but nothing of any importance and nothing that makes any sense? Everything is twisted and nothing is right. I’m choking with every breath I take, suffocating on the unknown. Two days ago, everything changed. Two days ago, the people I should trust the most became strangers in my convoluted head. The dreams I have can’t be real. The fleeting memories that whisper through my mind are scary and wrong…they have to be. If they aren’t, I have something much worse to fear than my fractured mind. I need to find out the truth, even if it destroys me. I've been told my name is Ravenna Duskin. I’m eighteen years old and I live in a prison…

Veiled Innocence


Ella Frank - 2014
    Tick, tick, tock.Time.That’s all I have now.A small room, a photograph, and time.They want me to trust them and confess my sins.They told me they wouldn't judge me—they lied.I thought we could convince the world that this wasn't a crime.We were wrong.Time doesn't stand still.The clock keeps ticking, the world is unconvinced, and now…Now he is gone.