Book picks similar to
Venerable by Laura B. Martínez


dark
freebie
romance
contemporary-romance

Lead Me Not


A. Meredith Walters - 2014
    She knows what rock bottom looks like, and she is determined to crawl back up to the top after the sudden death of her younger sister. She blames herself for her part in the tragedy, convinced that she could have done something, anything, to help her.In her effort to gain redemption, Aubrey starts fresh at Longwood University and facilitates an addiction support group, hoping she can support someone else in the way she failed her sister. But what she doesn’t count on is an all-consuming fascination with group member Maxx Demelo, a gorgeous, blond, blue-eyed enigma who hides dark secrets behind a carefully constructed mask. He only reveals what he wants others to see. But Aubrey glimpses another Maxx hidden below the surface—a Maxx who is drowning in his own personal hell.As Aubrey and Maxx develop an attraction too intense to ignore, he pulls her into the dark underbelly of the city club scene, where she is torn by her desire to save him and an inexplicable urge to join him in his downward spiral. Worst of all, she is beginning to love everything she should run away from—a man who threatens to ignite in her a fire that could burn her alive…

Her Dom (Beauty and the Captor #3)


Nicole Casey - 2018
     Scar Wouldn't you give up everything for the one you love? I don't own my mind or my body anymore. Now, my name is Pet, and I am the submissive to the most beautiful man the world has ever seen. My purpose in life is to please him, to kneel in front of him, to serve his every whim without question. He saved my life, but put himself in danger. I’m supposed to follow everything my master commands, but I can’t watch him die. So I made a decision that I might regret for the rest of my life… Derek She is my weakness, my obsession, and my world is falling apart without her in it. Everyone dreams about the fairytale ending. But I can’t promise her happily ever after. Because I am a beast, just like they are. It’s wrong to want her. She's too fragile, too broken, and too beautiful to resist. What’s worse? She wants me to take her. We thought we were past the worst of it. We thought we finally had a chance. …We thought wrong. The demon is still out there, waiting to put both of us in hell. I swear on my life to protect her … and the little secret she now carries inside her. WARNING: Dark, dirty, forbidden, and hot as hell. It is intended for mature audiences due to sexual content. ***This is part three in the Beauty and the Captor Trilogy. HEA Guaranteed! *** Reading Order: Her Beast (Beauty and The Captor Book 1) Her Savior (Beauty and The Captor book 2) Her Dom (Beauty and The Captor book 3)

Addicted


S. Nelson - 2015
    With the recent passing of her grandmother there is nothing holding her back from starting over. She dreams of a normal life, one which isn’t constantly plagued by nightmares. Everything seems to be going her way until a gorgeous stranger walks into her shop, turning her world upside down. Although Alek Devera is not the relationship type, everything changes once he comes face to face with Sara. Never having met someone quite like her, he starts to question everything he knows. She intrigues him. She challenges him. She threatens the secret he’s been hiding for years. Will a promise made long ago be the very same thing that destroys their chance for happiness? **Author's note** This book ends with a cliffhanger but the second book in the Addicted trilogy will be available a month later, in June 2015.

The Deal


Stella Gray - 2019
     The man of my dreams, and the wedding to match. Stefan Zoric is heir to an elite worldwide modeling agency. Practically a prince. My arrangement is simple, as far as sham marriages go. I give him my virginity, behave as the perfect wife and he'll pay for the college degree my father found irrelevant. But I don't want to be the perfect wife. I want him to want me the way I want him. I want him to confide in me. But Stefan has secrets that he holds close, dangerous secrets. And soon I'm wondering what kind of devil have I made a deal with?

Dark Lessons


Julia Sykes - 2017
    That’s all it was supposed to be. So when my darkly domineering one-night stand turns out to be one of my instructors at Quantico, my life becomes far too complicated. I’m training as an FBI agent, but Jason has other forms of training in mind. Like bending me over his desk for a spanking.I try to resist him, but soon we’re stealing forbidden hours of lust when no one’s watching. It could cost us both our careers, but I can’t help myself. He’s broken, and I want to be his salvation.In return, he says he wants to protect me, to love me. But can he save me when my new job puts me directly in the path of danger?

Fragile Scars


Lilian Harris - 2019
    But that all changed when I met Lilah, my new neighbor. One look at her deep blue eyes and shy, teasing smile, and all I want to do is take her in my arms and protect her forever. The attraction between us is undeniable. The passion she stirs in me is like nothing I've ever experienced.There's only one thing stopping me--the man who calls himself her boyfriend. The one who lies to her. The one who hurts her. I'll do anything to get her away from him. If only I can get her to trust me first.LilahI may appear to have it all--a great job, a cool apartment, a gorgeous boyfriend . . . but underneath that perfect exterior are bruises left by a monster who claims to love me. I'd lost all hope of escaping, until I met Damian.I know I shouldn't want him. I know I shouldn't cling to him like he's my last hope of survival. But I do it anyway. And it may cost us everything. Fragile Scars is a steamy contemporary romance with suspenseful undertones and isn't suitable for those under 18. It contains strong language, sexual situations and references. It is the 1st book in the Fragile Hearts series. All the books in the series are interconnected standalone romances with a different couple, but past couples and characters do make an appearance in later books.Author Note: Below is a trigger warning for those who may need it. Please stop reading now if you don’t want one. This story contains realistic depictions of domestic violence, as well as sexual and emotional abuse. If these are triggers for you, please proceed with caution.

Lost & Bound


Tara Hart - 2016
    Captive. Frightened. Alone. The little human contact I receive is not what I crave. It's not a friend’s comforting arm or my mother’s swift kiss. It's rough contact—forced, and familiar for all the wrong reasons. I don’t want him there, but I’m powerless to stop him. He says that he owns me and that I am his.“Emmy,” he calls me. That’s not my name, but as more time passes I’m starting to forget things. What is my name? Where am I from? Who was I before I came here?6 days11 hours14 minutesThat’s how long I’ve known Callum, and already, I trust him with my life. I was so sure I would never crave another man, but he challenges everything I thought I knew— everything I felt. He says that he’ll save me. I believe him.He calls me “Leila.” It sounds like a name that belongs to me and it reminds me of a past I was starting to forget. The escape is planned and my fate is in his hands, but if this doesn’t work, what will become of me? WARNING: This book contains disturbing situations, graphic depictions of rape, strong language and violence.

His to Take


Stella Noir - 2016
     The boy I’d always compared all the others to. But now he’s a man and he’s holding me captive. I’d heard the stories for years but I didn’t believe them. My Adrian couldn’t have done the things they say he did to all the other girls. But now that I’m with him I see that it’s true. I know he’s a monster … and I’m terrified of him. But I’m also terrified of the feelings I still have for him … and what those feelings mean about me. Adrian … Brooklyn was the only one who ever saw my true self. But that was seven years ago … and it might as well have been a dream. I had to leave her behind. It was the only way I could protect her from the truth about my family and our business. But now a debt must be paid and she’s been brought here. And my father has ordered me to break her … to ruin her. If I follow his orders it will destroy me. But if I don’t … my father will. His to Take is the first part in a series with a HFN ending. Although there is some closure with the main characters, there are also many unanswered questions that will ultimately be revealed. For a limited time His to Take includes the dark romance novel Colin: A Serial Killer Romance.

Twisted


Aleatha Romig - 2019
    It’s a world where knowledge means power, power money, and money everything. While I paid the ultimate price to have it all, it wasn’t my decision to give my life.. That doesn’t mean I ceased to exist, only to live.Going where the job takes me and living in the shadows, with deadly accuracy I utilize the skills inherent to me, not knowing from where they came, not recalling what I’d lost. And then I saw her.Laurel Carlson.I shouldn’t want her, desire her, or need her, yet with each sighting I know she is exactly what I have to have. Laurel has the ability to do what I thought was impossible. She sees what others don’t. My gut tells me that it’s a deadly mistake to change my plans and open my world to her. My mind says she’ll be repulsed by my twisted existence. None of that matters, because my body won’t take no for an answer. I’ve made dangerous mistakes before.This time, will the price be too high?From New York Times bestselling author Aleatha Romig comes a brand-new dark romance bringing us back to the same dangerous underworld as SECRETS. You do not need to read the Web of Sin trilogy to get caught in this new and intriguing saga, Tangled Web. TWISTED is book one of the TANGLED WEB trilogy which will continue in OBSESSED and conclude in BOUND.Have you been Aleatha’d?

Steel King


Devney Perry - 2019
    Everyone but Bryce Ryan. There’s more happening at the club’s garage than muscle car restorations and Harley rebuilds. Her instincts are screaming there’s a story—one she’s going to tell.As the new owner of the small town’s newspaper, Bryce is hungry for more than birth announcements and obituaries. When a woman is brutally killed and all signs point to the club, Bryce is determined to expose the members and their leader, Kingston “Dash” Slater, as murderers.Bryce bests Dash match after match, disappointed her rugged and handsome opponent turns out to be an underwhelming adversary. Secrets are exposed. Truths defeat lies. Bryce is poised to win this battle in a landslide.Then Dash breaks all the rules and tips the scales.One kiss, and she’s fighting to save more than just her story. She’s fighting to save her heart from the Steel King.

Ruthless


Michelle St. James - 2015
     But all of that changes the night she’s kidnapped. Thrown into a windowless room, Angelica is positive there’s been some kind of mistake — until she meets Nico Vitale. Gorgeous and frightening, Nico became the boss of New York City’s Vitale crime family after the execution style murder of his parents two years earlier. Since then he’s turned the old-school mob into a sleek, modern army of ruthless men who understand that physical violence — while always an option — isn’t the only way to get what you want. Now Angel is forced to face the truth; Her father is not the man she believed him to be. Nico Vitale is dangerous, possibly lethal. She is falling in love with Nico Vitale. This is not your mother's mob. ★★★★★ "Nail-biting, heart-pounding romance!”★★★★★ "Everything a mafia romance should be."★★★★★ "Nico is not your daddy's mob boss… the kind of serious bad boy you can't help but root for." ★★★★★ "Written flawlessly and hotter than sin!" ★★★★★ "Perfect for readers who like their romance steamy with a shot of adrenaline and intrigue!" ★★★★★ "Nico could kidnap me any day!" ★★★★★ "The kind of mob boss I love to read about." ★★★★★ "The tension and chemistry between the two were off the charts... I could not put these books down."

Crash


Drew Jordan - 2015
    Not a traditional romance, but a love story with a twist, this is book one in a three part series. The greatest love stories begin with blood… There is blood. There is pain. And there is him. These are the first things I register when I wake up, the lone survivor in an Alaskan plane crash. He carries me to safety over rough terrain and brings me to his cabin in the woods. He has no name. Or none he will tell me. As snow creeps across the harsh and isolated landscape, he is my only company. My protector, my caretaker. A fascinating enigma, with mysterious eyes, gentle hands, and a rough voice that demands more from me than I ever expected to give. I make up different stories, different names for him depending on his mood, because I know nothing about him except that he is my only connection to the real world I want to return to. So I work to please him, plotting my escape, yet all the while I start to crave him and every touch of his dominating body. He has saved me from the cold. From death. But in taking me and my body, will he destroy me?

His To Have: A dark romance novel


Devon Birchley - 2017
    One thing I sure as hell don’t need is Adler Montgomery crashing into my world and telling me what I need.   C@ck-sure, tattooed, moneyed, too sexy for his own good. Not my type—at all. And yet…   When his hand tightens in my hair, suddenly, all I need is him.  He opens my eyes to a whole new world, possesses me in every possible way, sets me on fire with his sweet, filthy words. And then he pushes me away. I know I should run, keep my heart safe, but I’m his and he knows that. I’m way out of my depth.   Adler   She thought I was giving her a line. And that’s probably for the best, because the truth is dangerous. No-one’s eyes have ever looked so vulnerable, made me want to break all my rules. They make me chase her when I know I shouldn’t. They make me cruel; they make me soft. But more than that, they make me feel. And I don’t like that. She’s crazy smart, beautiful, doesn’t take crap from anyone. Every man would be lucky to call Reagan Lockhart his. But I’m not every man, and there’s a reason why I don’t do relationships.   I tell myself she’s only a sub, that I’m helping her to discover her darkest, wildest desires. But the more she gives me of herself, the deeper I fall. And letting her in could mean ruin for both of us.  His to Have is a standalone, full-length novel, with a HEA. It’s very steamy, smart, fun, and more than a little dark. If you enjoy reading about secret dark rooms, sexy, dominant men, and sassy women who make them break all the rules, this is the book for you!

Deviant


Callie Hart - 2014
    She wants me to be her hero, But I'm not a good man.I am her damnation.

Sworn


Maria Luis - 2018
     The words are tattooed on my skin, just as they’re branded on my heart. But I never planned for Sergeant Lincoln Asher, a man as deceptive as he is cold. His dominance sets my teeth on edge . . . and my body on fire. He won’t stop until I’m his, but I’m not his to take. My secrets bind me—and blind me. I live in the shadows of New Orleans. Hidden and protected in the underworld I call home. I know who I am. I vow never to kneel before a man... Save one. And he will be my downfall.