Book picks similar to
Hard to Love by W. Winters
romance
dark
mafia
dnf
Enigma of Life
Shandi Boyes - 2016
. . I don't see how this will end well. After a chance meeting, Isabelle was falling at Isaac Holt's feet--literally. His enigmatic personality set her pulse racing, but no matter how much Izzy craves Isaac's touch, she can't have him. Morally and ethically, he is off limits. He is the enemy. Her astute brain understands this, but her lust-driven heart needs a little more convincing. Join a fast-paced story based on forbidden love. Can two people on opposing sides of the team work together for love? Or will outsider influences force their cart off the tracks before the fireworks truly begin? This is a story about two people NOT destined to be together. This is not your typical love story. Not everything is black and white: there is a whole heap of gray no one pays any attention to. Lovers of Meghan March's Beneath Series and Sylvia Day's Bared to You are devouring Enigma of Life! Scroll up to one click this suspenseful romance now! Please note: Book 1 and 4's covers were recently switched.
Bang Bang
Rachel Van Dyken - 2014
Lines are blurred. Choices are never black and white. And the life you thought you knew is... one giant lie.He was dead.And I didn't want his life to be in vain, so I tried to make something of myself. I tried and failed.Now he's back. Alive. And he wants something...Me.Nobody ever said the mafia played fair.Welcome to The Family.
Tragic
J.A. Huss - 2013
Some girls get parents. Rook got the foster care system. Some girls get Prince Charming. Rook got an abusive frog. Some girls get lucky…Rook got a second chance.And she took it. Because when fate throws you a bone – you grab it with both hands and run.Antoine Chaput knows the minute he spies Rook in his photography studio that she’s got The Look. The dark and desperate look he must have to land the exclusive TRAGIC media contract.Rook is paired up with top model, Ronin, and he’s everything her abusive ex-boyfriend wasn’t. Patient, gentle, happy, attentive, and sexy! He knows exactly what to do to make Rook blush for Antoine’s camera. Rook’s luck changes in an instant and suddenly she’s the darling of the modeling world. It’s a dream job to go with a dream guy and all she has to do is look pretty and follow directions. But there’s always a price to pay – and Rook is about to get the bill.New Adult Contemporary Romance *Mature Content* Recommended for ages 17+ due to sexual situations and language usage
Passion & Venom
S. Williams - 2016
Respect. Wealth.He is a savage beast of a man - dominant in every way.Soon after, he makes you an offer that you can't refuse.All you have do is submit to him, and in return you won't be punished.He will reward you handsomely.But if you disobey, you must be prepared to face the consequences.What do you do when the most wanted man in the world . . . wants you?**Please Note: This story contains dark elements that may not be suitable for everyone. If you are sensitive to darker matters or if they make you feel uncomfortable in anyway, please consider that before reading Passion & Venom. I will be the first person to tell you that this story is NOT for everyone. To all the others that are eager to read it . . . The Jefe awaits.**
Shameless
M. Malone - 2017
I am a liar, a protector...a killer... I am Noah Blake. There is only one light in my darkness, one bright ray in the storm of my life. Lucia DeMarco. And I’ll do anything for her. Anything except show her who I really am...an assassin. Well, former assassin. I don’t really do that anymore...usually. It would be easier if she didn’t call me names. Asshole, control freak … shameless. It would also be easier if she didn’t look at me with those trusting gray eyes. If I didn’t dream about the perfect curve of her — never mind all that. The point is she’s digging into my world, my secrets, and it’s going to get her killed. But first, we have another more immediate concern. Lucia is going on a date—With someone else... And I’m not allowed to kill this one. Noah’s Cliffhanger Warning: Ladies, I know you want to see the full package. But I have to tease you first. So I’m just going to open a few buttons so you can take a peek. And while you’re at it, hold onto your panties because I like it dirty. (The Shameless series unfolds over the course of three books)
Ivan
Sophie Lark - 2020
Through pleasure or through punishment.I captured her and now she belongs to me…“Ivan” is a dark and dominating mafia romance, Book 1 in the Underworld series. It’s a stand-alone novel, full of intrigue, danger, and sexy bedroom scenes. Contains spanking, so if such material offends you, do not read.
30 Days
K. Larsen - 2013
Dealing with the loss of her only sister. A suicide attempt that doesn’t end in death and a husband who wants her inheritance. Elle’s life is a catastrophe. But she has a list and thirty things she’s determined to accomplish. Love isn't on that list but it comes crashing unexpectedly into her life. Boxing coach and personal trainer at the gym he co-owns, Colin’s content with his life. Until a chance meeting with a woman eating alone at a restaurant sets his heart in motion. As secrets unveil themselves his only goal becomes holding on to what he’s found.
Bad Billionaire
Julie Kriss - 2016
To me, he’s Mister Hot, Dark, and Handsome, the neighbor I watch from the window, wondering what he’s really like.Turns out, he’s a thief. A getaway driver. He gives me the hottest night of my life before he’s put away for taking the wrong job. When he’s gone, I try to forget about him and get on with my normal, unexciting life.Until he gets out, and an inheritance makes him a billionaire.Now Devon is back. He’s the richest ex-con you’ve ever seen. He doesn’t care about penthouses, fancy dinners, or private jets. He doesn’t care that his enemies are after him. He doesn’t care that everything is about to go up in flames.In his world of chaos, Devon Wilder says he only cares about one thing.Me.
Flock
Kate Stewart - 2020
I gave into temptation and fed the beating beast, which grew thirstier with every slash, every strike, every blow.Triple Falls wasn’t at all what it seemed, nor were the men that swept me under their wing. But in order to keep them, I had to be in on their secrets.Secrets that cost us everything to keep.That’s the novelty of fiction versus reality. You can’t re-live your own love story, because by the time you’ve realized you’re living it, it’s over. At least that was the case for me and the men I trusted my foolish heart to.Looking back, I’m convinced I willed my story into existence due to my illness.And all were punished.
Wanted
Amanda Lance - 2013
Desperate to rid the crime of its only witness, one of the thieves kidnaps Addie. Yet surprisingly, when a renegade thief attempts to silence her for good, Addie is saved by the very man who abducted her. Now, forced on board a cargo ship in the middle of the ocean, Addie finds herself surrounded by international smugglers who want nothing more than to throw her overboard. All except the artistic and intriguing Charlie Hays, whose strange protectiveness convinces Addie to trust him, even when common sense tells her otherwise. Yet, despite her doubt, and his unrelenting temper, their relationship develops into something much more. But, Charlie’s scorned colleague has stowed away, and as he seeks revenge against his coworker, Addie and Charlie are forced to put their new love—and lives—at risk.
Skin
B.B. Easton - 2017
. . perhaps on the entire planet. He hated everyone, except for BB Easton—the perky, quirky punk chick he couldn’t avoid.BB, on the other hand, liked everybody . . . except for Knight. She was scared to death of him, actually. All she wanted was to marry Little Mermaid’s Prince Eric-lookalike and king of the local punk scene Lance Hightower.But Knight was patient. Persistent. Unexpected. And once he got under BB’s skin, her life would never be the same.A forbidden love story overflowing with '90s nostalgia, dark humor, and heart-wrenching angst, and based on a true story.
Bang
E.K. Blair - 2014
But I’m not innocent. I haven’t been for a very long time. My innocence was stolen from me. Taken was the life I was supposed to have. The soul I was born with. The ruby heart embedded in a life full of hopes and dreams.Gone.Vanished.I never even had a choice. I mourn that life. Mourn the what-ifs. Until now. I’m ready to take back what was always meant to be mine.But every plan has a fatal flaw. Sometimes it’s the heart.**Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only as some scenes may be particularly disturbing.**
Killing Sarai
J.A. Redmerski - 2013
Over time she forgot what it was like to live a normal life, but she never let go of her hope to escape the compound where she has been held for the past nine years.Victor is a cold-blooded assassin who, like Sarai, has known only death and violence since he was a young boy. When Victor arrives at the compound to collect details and payment for a hit, Sarai sees him as her only opportunity for escape. But things don’t go as planned and instead of finding transport back to Tucson, she finds herself free from one dangerous man and caught in the clutches of another.While on the run, Victor strays from his primal nature as he succumbs to his conscience and resolves to help Sarai. As they grow closer, he finds himself willing to risk everything to keep her alive; even his relationship with his devoted brother and liaison, Niklas, who now like everyone else wants Sarai dead.As Victor and Sarai slowly build a trust, the differences between them seem to lessen, and an unlikely attraction intensifies. But Victor’s brutal skills and experience may not be enough in the end to save her, as the power she unknowingly holds over him may ultimately be what gets her killed.This is their story…
Menace
J.M. Darhower - 2017
So fucking bored. Most people either annoy him or avoid him, afraid to face him. Figuratively. Literally. With his face partially disfigured, scarred, he looks every bit the monster the stories make him out to be: the notorious menace they call Scar. They say he's a sociopath. Maybe he's a psychopath. Whatever path he's on, people tend to stay far away from it.Until one day, a young woman bumps right into him--a woman just as fed up with life, but for much different reasons. With a Scarlet Letter inked on her wrist and secrets buried deep in her soul, Morgan Myers is running from something... or maybe somebody. Lorenzo isn't quite sure.You can bet your ass he's going to figure it out, though.
Empathy
Ker Dukey - 2014
They say some people are born with decreased activity in the front central lobe causing them a deficiency in empathy. Maybe that’s true about me but whether I was born this way or created in a moment of evil, empathy was something I didn’t possess until her green eyes met mine in the mirror and I couldn’t take her life. I didn’t want to feel, didn’t want this woman in my life complicating how I lived but she was there at every turn. Sent to haunt me for my sins. Her light so bright she provoked a shadow from everyone she touched. When a job turns bad quickly altering my life forever I’m forced to feel. When nothing is making sense I’m forced to face truths I never would recover from. When life drowns you in its cruelty you don’t know which way the current will drag you or who you’ll become once you re-surface. Melody:I was a daughter I was a studentI was a victimDid I have his love? Did I make him feel?Did I have his empathy?When the actions of a soulless killer forces sorrow into my veins I never dreamed the man healing my wounds would be the one to leave the worst scar. His love would scar my soul. Scars are permanent; I will never feel the relief from them. Will I learn to live with them, remember why I have them and learn never to let him close enough to inflict more? Will I eventually cover them… like tattoos coating them with new memories, new love and new starts? I didn’t know these answers because the pain was too suffocating, the only thing I knew was they will always be under the surface lingering. He had scars too, from his sins. There is nothing that can cover them, they were too deep, too ugly, too dark and they marked us both forever.Warning: This book will mess with your mind. It is a very dark, sexy, twisted romance novel. 18+ only.