Book picks similar to
Venerable by Laura B. Martínez


dark
freebie
contemporary-romance
romance

Bound by Lies


Hanna Peach - 2014
    He contacts me only through notes − unpredictable and untraceable. When we meet, he can touch me, but I’m not allowed to touch him. When we make love, it’s only after I have been bound and blindfolded. It’s the only time I truly feel alive. Which is why I play along with it. For now.Caden Thaine is the most sinfully beautiful man I have ever seen. But more than that, his touch sets me on fire. And dear God, do I ache for him. I don’t know where he lives or even what he does. But this doesn’t scare me. My only fear is that one day his messages will stop. I know he’s hiding something. But that’s okay. I am hiding things too. Like my real name and... who I really am. But the deeper I fall for him, the stronger my curiosity becomes. I could never have imagined just how much our lives are bound. And that pulling at his tangled web of secrets would cause my own dark past to come back to try and reclaim me. Will we survive? Will our love?Adult romantic suspense. +18 years.

Ruined


B.B. Hamel - 2017
    It’s a dangerous job, but I live for the thrill. I can’t get close to anyone. Women get one night and that’s more than enough.Until I go on a mission to take down a sex slave ring. That’s when I’m first given Riley. She’s innocent and gorgeous, and I know she’s never been touched like this before.She’s mine to train, bend, and break. I don’t want to hurt her. But to keep my cover, I’m going to have to push her limits.And she’s going to love it. She’ll learn to stay down on her knees, obeying my every command.I go easy on her at first, until I realize that she needs it hard almost as much as I do.The mission is complicated. Danger threatens to rip her away from me.But I won’t allow it.I can’t stop until I get everything I want, including her.Ruined is a dark romance with steamy scenes and bad language. It’s only recommended for readers 18+.Ruined is a STANDALONE, full-length novel. No cliffhanger. Guaranteed HEA. Includes bonus content!

Freeing Her


A.M. Hargrove - 2014
    the story of two people who were meant to be together. Why? Because unknown to them, they shared terrifying pasts and the cruel circumstances of their births doomed both of them to a life of hell. Two strangers ... one night ... one accidental meeting that changed their lives forever. Gabriella Martinelli, Manhattan psychiatrist had only one goal in life—to help abuse victims avoid the horrors she’d experienced herself. She worked late, volunteered, and donated her services to anyone who needed them. Life was good ... until her nightmare resurfaced. He found her, and began stalking her, and she knew he wouldn’t stop until he destroyed every ragged piece of her.Kolson Hart, Manhattan’s most eligible bachelor, was ruled by his dark past. He liked control, from the boardroom to the bedroom and didn’t care to be involved with someone whose life was just as screwed up as his was. But one look at Gabriella short-circuited everything. Want ... desire ... need ... will sometimes drive a man to do things he swore he never would.He freed her from a life of fear ... When he couldn’t even save himself.

Once a Myth


Pepper Winters - 2020
    A boy who wasn’t strong enough to save me when I was taken.”“There was a girl once. A girl called Tess Snow who sat with me in the dark waiting to be sold.”“There was an owner once. An owner who bought me, entrapped me, and made me his unwilling goddess.”Eleanor Grace is a naïve dreamer. Trusting and young, she believes her book-loving boyfriend can save her when her freedom is snatched and sold. Squirreled away to an island at midnight, delivered to a man even darkness won’t touch, she’s bound by a contract. Four men.Four fantasies. Four pieces of her soul.Sullivan Sinclair is the giver of fantasies. Any wish, any desire—he is the master at quenching even the filthiest appetites. His private paradise and perfectly trained goddesses are there for one purpose: to ensure every guest is extremely well satisfied. He bought her. He trapped her. She belongs to him.

Richer Than God


Amelia Wilde - 2020
    And I'm the only one who can save her.In a life like mine, there is only danger dressed up in money and power. I'm a monster in expensive suits and an opulent home. Brigit is an innocent angel with only the clothes on her back.She's on the run from a nightmarish arranged marriage, and I'm her only hope in the city. If she works my business she'll be able to buy herself a new life.But the moment she steps into my life is the moment she's trapped forever.She thinks she can tempt me and slip away like a thief in the night. She thinks I can make her mine and then let her go.She's never been so wrong.Richer Than God is an intense dark billionaire romance. It is the first in a breathtaking new trilogy.

Someday Girl


Melanie Shawn - 2014
    Going away to college meant a fresh and new start for the girl who lived locked away in a prison of insecurities. She was ready to experience new things and meet new people. But she wasn’t ready for him…Jace Butler had experienced things that no person should have to. Trying to come to terms with his past and live in the present was a constant struggle for the man whose demons lie dormant beneath the skin of his rippling body and sexy smile. But when she walked into his life, the chance for a better life came with her…After finding each other, Cat and Jace also find that both past and present issues are trying to ruin their chance for a better future. Issues that will have to be dealt with for once and for all…together or apart.

Serial, Volume One


Lily White - 2014
    Born with everything, wanting for nothing, murder has become his addiction. He kills women who entice him. He immortalizes them while they’re still young and beautiful. How will he manage to save the one woman he loves?Ronnie Lapierre is a survivor. Born with nothing, she’s struggling in a dead end job with an abusive bastard for a boyfriend. Jude offers her a way out, salvation beyond her wildest dreams. What will happen when she learns his terrible secret?Donovan Blake is the brightest mind to come out of Quantico in years. Charged with finding the Cascades Butcher, he’s perfect for this game of cat and mouse. Will his own dark past lead him to success, or drag him into the depths of hell with the most dangerous man he’s ever encountered?Hearts will be broken, families destroyed, and good men will turn evil. In the end, only one will remain. Find out who survives in this intense story of love and ruin.***Explores dark themes of murder, violence, sexuality, BDSM, the nature of evil...basically all the good stuff.

For Fallon


Soraya Naomi - 2014
    Fallon’s mask is real, what you see is what you get. Growing up with two loving parents in Chicago, graduating in Chicago, and now working a job she loves, she enjoys her life. Her untarnished world is shaken when Luca crosses her path. Luca’s mask is tightly controlled. Distrust, rivalry, and violence rule his life.When confronted with insecurities, when the one you love wears his mask perfectly, when your life unravels and you don’t know why, do you keep trusting the person you love? Everyone has a façade. Everyone has an ulterior motive.A contemporary romance/ romantic thriller in dual point of view. Contains sexual content and violence.

Corrupted


Alicia Taylor - 2014
    He is my everything. He manipulates people for fun. He takes over their lives, consuming them. He dominates and crushes, ruling them, claiming their souls. No one has survived the games of Damon Hunt, so far. Before now. Before me. I am Ella Knight. I am corrupted. My sister was a victim of Damon's games. It’s my turn to play now. Damon Hunt has been my sole focus, my everything for three years, since my sister’s death. I'll manipulate him. I'll take over his life, consuming and crushing him. I am going to take away his soul. Damon Hunt will not survive my games. I will win. I hope.

Provoked


Sarah Bailey - 2020
    He was my downfall.They say your parents are the two people who are meant to love you and keep you safe.So what does that say about mine?My father gave me to a man as a gift.A man who wears many masks.A man who terrifies me.Why then do I want to know what lies beneath?Why does a single touch send shivers down my spine?I know what he wants.My body. My words. My mind.I can’t run. I can’t hide. And I can’t give in to him.My name is Liora Stewart.And Dante Benson is my Master.A dark captive romance set in Sarah Bailey's Dark Universe.This is a DARK romance and therefore comes with a content warning. Please see authors website for full details.

Forced


Cali MacKay - 2016
    Murdered. And I’m about to make a deal with the devil to keep my family safe and get the revenge my father deserves. *** Wren’s the only woman I’ve ever loved, but that doesn’t mean we’re right for each other. Don’t get me wrong… the sex was always crazy hot. That’s never been the problem.  But Wren and me? We’re explosive together, all sorts of wrong for each other—and sooner or later, someone’s going to get burned.  I walked away from Wren once, and broke her heart. She’s never going to forgive me or trust me again—but her mob boss father doesn't care. He's forcing me to marry her, and if I want to find out who’s threatening my family, this is my only option. As for Wren—she’s going to be pissed when she sees me, let alone when she finds out we’re getting hitched. Ask me if I care.  The deal is done. One way or another, I'm making her my wife. *** This is a darker adult romance with adult language and steamy sex scenes.  This story explores darker situations that may not be to everyone's tastes and some readers might find disturbing.  Though this story has a Happily Ever After for the couple and can be read as a stand alone, there are small plot points that will continue in upcoming books.  ***

Club Alpha


Marata Eros - 2015
    May contain triggers.Francisco “Paco” Castillo is a bilingual billionaire with unconventional ideas about love, sex and possession. He believes there is no other half to make him whole. Paco dreams of experimenting with a dangerous reality not of his own making. Club Alpha owner, Zaire Sebastian, can make Paco's vision a reality—for a price.Greta Dahlem is an extreme sports executive whose ambition masks a terrible secret. When her mentor Gia Township, sponsors her as a player in Club Alpha, Greta's unsure she can survive the inherent risk of the game Zaire weaves. But in her heart, Greta yearns for a man who will complete her, and erase the brutal tragedy of two years ago.As the fantasy progresses, Greta comes to realize she is the loose string in a plot of murder and deception that begins to unravel. Without knowing who to trust, Greta must decide between two men. When the three are thrown together, the lines of reality and fantasy blur.Is there any way for her to know what is real?Cliff-hanger freeStandalone novelHEAPsychological Dark Romantic Suspense.

Abuse


Nikki Sex - 2015
    It has been my joy and my great honor to help those who have lost their way. Not long after I began my journey, I met two such wounded souls. Renata Koreman, my little mouse. She came to me as a child—shy, mute, injured… broken. It took oh-so many years to start to bring her back to herself! Yet, I could not fully heal her. Years later, Grant Wilkinson, he too fell into my hands. The ex-Army Ranger was badly disfigured and saw himself as a monster. Isolated by secrets, solitary and self-contained, his colleagues affectionately named him ‘Frosty.’ Yet, how should one behave when besieged by a lifetime of confusion and guilt? The moment I saw him, I thought of her and I wondered. The eyes, they cannot always see clearly. And the heart? Ah, the heart can only guess at the truth. So it was that I remained uncertain. Could the mouse and the monster heal each other?

The Patron


Vivian Wood - 2021
    He's drawn to my provocative innocence, not realizing that I am also a ballerina in his dance company. When I dance for him, he feels something stir in his cold, dead heart.After Calum finds out my little deception, he should turn me in. After all, ballet requires sacrifice.But to my surprise, he makes me an offer I can't refuse.And now I am staring into his dark blue eyes as I dance for him privately. Trying desperately to remember rule number one of being an exotic dancer. Don't fall for your customers.

The Sweet Temptation of Whiskey


Charlene M. Martin - 2015
    He is broken-maybe even beyond repair. He has never been in a successful relationship, because he doesn’t let anyone get close enough. Anaya Cole has recently come into money and she is looking to invest. Mr. Black offers to help Anaya invest her inheritance so that she can open her abuse center. There attraction is overwhelming, but Anaya doesn’t want to want him. After all he is a man-whore. Ms. Cole has penetrated my mind and I just can’t seem to get her out of it. I have to have her, so have her I will. If it’s the last Goddamn thing I do. I will screw her until she can’t walk and then I will move on with my life just like I have always done.Once Anaya tastes the whiskey on his breath, she can’t stop. She craves more, and when her head and her heart collide, she is left with an important decision-Walk away or risk being burned? After all, Whiskey never felt so good.***********WARNING: This book has adult situations, including abuse. (Possible triggers) This book is a DARK EROTIC read not intended for the faint hearted. Due to content and situations this book is NOT intended for anyone under the age of 18.***************