Book picks similar to
Venerable by Laura B. Martínez


dark
freebie
contemporary-romance
romance

Perdition House: Part 1


Bonnie Edwards - 2007
    Previously published under the title Midnight Confessions... Ghost stories are not always frightening. Sometimes they’re cheeky, naughty and often erotic… When Faye Grantham inherits Perdition House, her family’s secret shame, she expects to sell the property for millions and marry her long time fiancé. But the spirits who still reside in the mansion have other ideas. Trapped in the bordello, the women who lived and worked there wait to tell their stories to Faye. The “girls” don’t just hang around waiting. They control Faye’s libido, influence her decisions and drive her into the arms of two very different men. Liam Watson wears comfort like most men wear cologne. With an interest in adventurous sex, he’s more man than he first seems. Mark McLeod is a strong, decisive businessman who was not meant to be more than a hot one-night stand. But Mark is in no hurry to end their liaison, and hopes to continue Faye’s lessons in sensuality. As Faye becomes enthralled with the mansion, she’s embroiled in a life-changing situation that has her re-examining her engagement, her business decisions, and her beliefs about herself. As the spirits reveal themselves one by one, Faye learns their stories: how they came to Perdition House, why they joined the women there and some of the secrets that only a high-class bordello could hold. But can decades-old secrets affect Faye’s life today?

Fixing Fate


Anna Brooks - 2017
    My brother’s friend and ex-partner is everything I’ll never be. Sexy, confident, and perfect. He calls me sunshine and tells me I’m beautiful. He asks me to stay. When my past come back with a vengeance, he proves just how much he’d risk to shield me from the demons that were never supposed to resurface.

Unhinged


Nicole Edwards - 2014
    Never would I have expected her to step right into my reality, though. But she did. Although I can’t explain why, Payton Fowler makes me want things I never imagined I could have. She soothes the chaos in my head. But she doesn’t know who I really am, and she doesn’t see the darkness that lives inside of me.She’s supposed to be off limits to me. But that’s not a problem because I’ve perfected the art of breaking the rules. My name is Sebastian Trovato and this is the story of how I met the woman who unhinges me.

A Date with Fate


Tracy Ellen - 2012
    She’s twenty eight, owns a bookstore, and is one determined, control freak of a woman. She’s decided to take the entire weekend off to have some fun. Except Anabel’s unapologetically single and perfectly uncomplicated life is suddenly upside down with problems! The cheating love of her life is back in town. Her family is meddling in her personal business. An adulterous wife of a good friend has gone missing. She’s been targeted for death by a homicidal serial rapist. An evil aunt has gone fanatic. Her sociopathic cousin has stolen her gun. The macho police chief is driving her nuts. And one not-too-tall, deliciously dark, and definitely not handsome stranger is enticing her to break all her ironclad rules on dating in the most intriguing of ways. Strange things are happening in Northfield, Minnesota. But Anabel’s never met the challenge she won’t stare in the eye while daintily spitting sideways in the dirt. Will Anabel begin to believe that life is never simple, some rules are meant to be broken, and a certain mesmerizing complication may be worth the trouble--even if it kills her? (Adult Content)

Pretty Monsters (Pretty Monsters Trilogy, #1)


Kimberly Carrillo - 2020
    Here we don't hide in the shadows. I am vengeance wrapped in a pretty package, but you can call me Sin, everyone else does. I’m a weapon and as such I live for one thing only, to bring death where I’m aimed. That is until the night she walks into the moonlight. Raven Blackthorne taunts me with her beauty and innocence. She doesn’t belong in my world, even if it is her father who’s trapped me here. I’m not good for her, but maybe I’m exactly who she needs to help her escape it. Unless I break her first.

Forever His


Violet Haze - 2015
    Simone Winston is twenty-two, a single mother, and in love with a faceless man who kept her for two months before setting her free.After the mysterious, intriguing stranger Isaac Toft leaves her a generous tip, she’s drawn to him despite her reservations and soon he takes over her life all in the name of helping.When Isaac’s secrets endanger the life of her as well as her child, will he lose the chance to make her forever his?

Stanton Adore


T.L. Swan - 2014
    Sensual, sweet, and as annoyingly perfect as she was when I left 7 years ago. My body remembers the way she felt underneath me, and wants her again. My heart remembers the way she crushed it and wants as far away as possible. But she’s everywhere, haunting me, torturing me, driving me past all logical reason. I need to forget her, move on and get her out of my system, but to do that, I need to have her one. Last. Time. It started as a kiss. We never meant to fall in love. But I was 17 and carefree, And he was 19, beautiful and forbidden. Our families never would have accepted it… And I broke his heart to save his future. Now the boy I loved 7 years ago is the man I can’t have. He’s grown into everything my body craves, my heart demands… and my sense of decency rejects.

Unlocking Fear


Kennedy Layne - 2018
    Reese Woodward had returned to town with dark secrets, and he was determined to unravel them. While evil lurks in the darkness, seduction burns between them...only time was their enemy.Will her secrets destroy what they've built, or can he earn her trust before the killer strikes again?

Prisoned


Marni Mann - 2016
    A man who would kill me if he found out what that secret was.Someone wanted to torture me.Torture us.One of us deserved it.It wasn’t Garin.* * * * ** WARNING *"Prisoned" is an extremely dark novel. There are strong sexual themes, drug usage, physical abuse and torture that could trigger and/or cause emotional suffering. You have been warned.* * * * * * Note READING ORDER *The Prisoned series should be read in the following order, to ensure the best understanding of the overall stories:Book #1: PrisonedBook #2: AnimalBook #3: Monster

Praying for Rain


B.B. Easton - 2019
    People like Rainbow Williams. Rain isn’t afraid of dying. In fact, she’s looking forward to it. If she can just outrun her pain until April 23, she’ll never have to feel it at all. “Supplies. Shelter. Self-defense.”Wes Parker has survived every horrible thing this life has thrown at him with nothing more than his resourcefulness and disarming good looks. Why should the end of the world be any different? All he needs are some basic supplies, shelter, and a sucker willing to help him out, which is exactly what he finds when he returns to his hometown of Franklin Springs.As society crumbles, dangers mount, and secrets refuse to stay buried, two lost souls are thrust together in a twist of fate—one who will do anything to survive and one who can’t wait to die. Perhaps, together, they can learn how to live.Before their time runs out.

The Bandit


B.B. Reid - 2016
    She thought she could steal from me and get away with it, but I have no intention of letting her get away at all. Mian Ross has a lesson to learn, and I'm going to be the one to teach it to her.HE STOLE MY SONI'll never forget the night I made the second biggest mistake of my life. It was supposed to be a simple job, but it quickly became so much more--one that cost my freedom and cost my son. Angel Knight became my worst nightmare... and now, he'll never let us go.

Translucent


Erin Noelle - 2014
    The day I watched my husband murder the woman who was pregnant with his child, my point didn’t just break, it exploded like a full magazine’s worth of hollow points firing through the barrel of a fully-automatic AK-47. Literally. I am no longer his American Princess, nor am I his slave. Now, I’m a murderer in hiding. My name was Bryleigh Carter Oliveira, and that was my story. Translucent is one woman's story of breaking free, starting over, and learning to trust again through willful submission.

Shane


Jessica Gadziala - 2016
    And "trouble" was exactly what Shane freaking Mallick was. Knee-cap breaker, loan shark enforcer, panty-dropper. Trouble with a capital T. And the absolute last thing I needed in my life...* For possible triggers, please visit: http://www.jessicagadziala.com/trigge...

Broken


A.E. Murphy - 2014
    He is hers and she is his. Life can't get much better and their love can't get any stronger. That is until mistakes are made and their world comes crumbling down. She's left alone with no money, no home and a growing person invading her stomach. How will she survive? Forced to leave culinary school, the job she needs and the home they made together. Gwen finds a knight in the most unlikely source. Caleb's brother Nathan. A complex man with a phobia she doesn't understand and mannerisms that aren't of this day and age, will she be able to melt his seemingly frozen heart and become his friend? Or will he forever push her away and wallow in his loneliness and self loathing?

Serenade


Heather McKenzie - 2017
    But as she forms an unlikely connection with her abductor, Luke, her adventure takes a strange turn.There is nothing magical about growing up in a mountainside castle, when it’s your prison. Kaya’s ruthless and powerful father keeps her under lock and key, watched every second of the day–and Kaya’s not really sure why. She’s just a normal girl…no one special. She doesn’t understand her father’s obsession with her safety – until she is kidnapped. Dragged through a brutal wilderness, Kaya’s captor shows her the devastating truth, and even though he has dark secrets of his own, she is inexplicably drawn to him–when the stars are in your eyes, sometimes the line between right and wrong is blurred. Passion obliterates common sense. Love... makes you reckless. As Kaya's father’s men and her devoted bodyguard scour the woods to find her, she wonders if staying in the arms of her abductor is the safer place to be. At least, that’s what her heart is saying—her head is saying run… Dangerously passionate and darkly romantic, SERENADE is a page-turning thriller and seductive love story.