Book picks similar to
Hurt to Love by Nikki J. Summers


dark
dark-romance
contemporary-romance
romance

Last (Copperslane, #1)


Garnet Christie - 2021
     BiancaI heard “nothing lasts” when my father first said it.I understood “nothing lasts” when my mother died and my dreams of becoming a romance author also withered away.Now, I find myself begging that “nothing lasts” with the arrival of the town’s newest alphahole, Brett. Every word out of his foul mouth and every smirk on his handsome but cruel face, ignites contempt. I dish the misery right back at him, and in those few moments of triumph, I relish those gritted teeth, and the red glow on his face. But beneath the biting comments, there’s something we share. A yearning for something to endure and to hurt those who have wounded us.However, it may be too late.Our rough start might override our new fire filled connection, and when he starts to challenge all my beliefs, I might be too scared to give myself over. But if we do work past it all, something unusual may happen––we might fall in love. Now if he can only make me believe that it will last.Last is a new adult romance intended for readers 18+Content warning includes strong, frequent language, mature situations, explicit sexual scenes, mentions of alcoholism, abuse, and suicide.

Haunting Adeline


H.D. Carlton - 2021
    Especially not when I plead for him to leave.He's always there, watching and waiting.And I can never look away.Not when I want him to come closer.The ShadowI didn't mean to fall in love.But now that I have, I can't stay away.I'm mesmerized by her smile, by her eyes, and the way she moves.The way she undresses...I'll keep watching and waiting. Until I can make her mine.And once she is, I'll never let her go.Not even when she begs me to.While not required, it is highly suggested to read the novella, Satan's Affair, first.This book was previously banned on Amazon due to the trigger warning. Please read reviews or go to the author's website.

Beautiful Carnage


Caroline Peckham - 2020
    Our fates were spun the night he tried to kill me and now he’s back to destroy me for good.It’s always been us versus them. The Calabresis against the Romeros.This city is ours but they vowed to take it from us. And when they couldn’t, they took me instead.Now I’m chained by the cruellest of them all; the man who wrapped his hands around my throat and tried to squeeze the life from me all those years ago.But I won’t fall prey to him. I’m older, fiercer and I’ve grown claws of my own.Rocco Romero thinks he can keep me captive, but he’s about to regret bringing a sleeping tiger into his home.ROCCOShe’s my greatest failure.The name that always haunts me.My dirty little secret.And when I had the chance to kidnap her from her wedding, nothing on God’s green earth could stop me.She’s mine. I could take her life, her body or her heart if I wanted to.But my brothers refuse to believe me.So when they bet I can’t make the little principessa fall in love with me, of course I step up to the challenge.And when she’s down on her knees, pouring her heart out, I’ll crush it in my fist.I’m lining the Calabresis up like dominoes. And she’ll be the first to fall.**Beautiful Carnage is a standalone mafia bully romance between one sexy guy and girl with hot scenes and alpha men causing havoc at every turn**

Brutal Prince


Sophie Lark - 2020
    He’s ruthless, arrogant, and he wants to kill me.We got off on the wrong foot when I set a (very small) fire in his house.Our families believe a marriage pact is the only thing that will prevent all-out warfare.I think I might need to murder him while he sleeps.This would all be a lot easier if Callum wasn’t so damned good-looking.But I’ve got a lockbox around my heart. Because even if I’m forced to marry him…I could never love a brutal prince.“Brutal Prince” is the explosive first act in the epic “Brutal Birthright” series. It’s a stand-alone Dark Mafia Romance, complete with HEA and no cliffhangers. It contains blazing hot bedroom scenes for mature readers only!!!

Ruthless Saint


S. Massery - 2021
    His gaze steals my breath.Even if my heart thinks this could work, my brain knows better.We say “I do” with his brother’s blood on our clothes,and the bars of my gilded cage slam closed.Our wedding vows are forever – ’til death do us part.But with enemies closing in from all sides, death might be closer than we think.Please note: this book contains dark content that some readers may find distressing.

Promises and Pomegranates


Sav R. Miller - 2021
    Hades incarnate.They say he stole me.Usurped my fiancé and filled the cracks in my heart with empty promises.Imprinted his crimson fingerprints on my psyche and tried to set me free.They’re not wrong, per se.Except it was my choice to stay.KalTo most, Elena Ricci is an innocent.Goddess of springtime, lover of poetry, angel of my nightmares.Little one. Persephone personified.They say I ruined her.Shattered her virtue and devoured her soul like a succulent pomegranate.Embedded my evil as deep as I could possibly get and tried to set her free.They’re not wrong, per se.Except it was she who ruined me.**Promises and Pomegranates is a full-length, standalone, dark contemporary romance based loosely on the framework/characters from the Hades and Persephone myth. It features mature themes, explicit scenes, triggers, and strong language. If you’re not a reader of the genre, this book may not be suitable for you. Reader discretion is advised.

Den of Vipers


K.A. Knight - 2020
    Their deals are as sordid as their business, and their reputation is enough to bring a grown man to his knees, forcing him to beg for mercy. They are not people you mess with, yet my dad did. The old man ran up a debt with them and then sold me to cover his losses.Yes, sold me.They own me now.I’m theirs in every sense of the word. But I’ve never been meek and compliant. These men, they look at me with longing. Their scarred, blood-stained hands holding me tight. They want everything I am, everything I have to give, and won’t stop until they get just that. They can own my body, but they will never have my heart.The Vipers? I’m going to make them regret the day they took me.This girl? She bites too.18+ Reverse Harem Romance. Warning this book contains scenes and references of abuse/assault that some readers may find triggering. Along with graphic sex scenes and violence. This is a dark book.

Sweet Obsession


Callie Rose - 2020
    I risked my life for a man I didn’t even know and nearly died for it.I’ve tried to forget him. To forget that whole night.But he hasn’t forgotten me.He’s been watching.Obsessing.Craving.And when he crashes back into my life like a wrecking ball, accompanied by two dark shadows—men he calls his brothers—the life I’ve been trying to rebuild for myself shatters into a thousand sharp-edged pieces.He believes our souls are bound by blood, and he’s come back to claim what’s his.Two years ago, I saved Marcus Constantine’s life.Now I wish I hadn’t.This is the first book in the Ruthless Games series, a dark reverse harem romance. It contains sexual situations, violence, and dark subject matter.

The Predator


RuNyx - 2020
    As the only non-blooded member in the high circle of the Tenebrae Outfit, he is an enigma to all - his skills unparalleled, his morality questionable, and his motives unknown. He is lethal and he knows it. As does Morana Vitalio, the genius extraordinaire daughter of the rival family. What Caine does with weapons, Morana does with computers. When a twenty-year old mystery resurfaces, Morana infiltrates Caine's house, intent on killing him, unaware of a tie that binds them together. Hate, heat, and history clash together with unexpected sparks. But something bigger, something worse is happening in their world. And despite their animosity, only they can fight it down.

Little Dove


Layla Frost - 2020
    Yeah.Once upon a time.Isn’t that how all good fairy tales start? And Maximo and I, we were definitely a fairy tale.Not the cleaned-up, sanitized ones where life’s problems were solved with a smile and a song. We were the old-school kind. The twisted tales packed with murder, violence, and tragic beginnings.Okay, so maybe we weren’t a traditional fairy tale. After all, Maximo was more villain than prince. He was scarily sexy. Devilishly charming. Controlling, possessive, and dangerous.Especially when it came to me. His little dove.And heaven help anyone who tried to free me from my gilded cage.Warning: Recommended for readers 18+. This book features graphic language, sex, violence, and a Daddy obsessed with his little dove. If this doesn't sound like your kind of fairy tale, this may not be the book for you.

The Brit


Jodi Ellen Malpas - 2021
    Numbing herself to fear and pain is the only way she can survive in this cruel world. So when she’s taken as collateral by the notorious Danny Black in a deadly game of power, she’s thrown by the deep fear she feels rising within her. And, worse than fear, a profound desire. She’s heard tales of The Brit. He’s callous. Coldblooded. But no one ever said he was wickedly beautiful and darkly captivating. He sees past her mask, giving her a cruel sense of hope. But she must fight their twisted attraction or risk losing the one thing she survives for.When Danny Black took an enemy’s beautiful lover as security, he never anticipated the repercussions. Or the warped attraction they would share. Rose Cassidy pushes Danny to the brink of madness with her impenetrable façade and savage allure. He has to remind himself that she’s bait. A solution to a problem. Yet she evokes powerful feelings in Danny, and feelings are risky when you’re wanted dead by endless enemies.The most dangerous game is about to be played.But can either of them win?*This story is gritty, dark, edgy, and contains scenes that some people may find uncomfortable to read. It is NOT for the fainthearted.

Hate


Tate James - 2020
    I wasn’t dead. But I was set up.After being charged with a string of offences--and made an example of by my political minded father--I’m eventually released back into Shadow Grove with one thing on my mind.Hate.Someone is going to pay for derailing my carefully laid out future. Someone is going to catch the full force of my hate. How very convenient that someone just moved into the bedroom down the hall from me.Archer D’Ath and his boys messed with the wrong chick and they’re about to learn just how cold Madison Kate’s hate can run.HATE is a full length mature college/new adult romance with enemies-to-lovers/love-hate themes. This is a reverse harem novel, meaning the main character has more than one love interest. This is book one of four in the series.

Priceless


Miranda Silver - 2020
     Maybe you like the dark more than you think. I just quit the cheer squad. I’m about to dump my musician boyfriend. I’m partying harder than ever. I let money run through my fingers because I’m done reaching for standards I’ll never meet. Soon, I’m broke. And I don’t want anyone to know. The more you hide your true self, the more you’re going to let it out with me. I'm bubbly and outgoing. He's icy and alone. I stay away. I touch myself, thinking of him. When I finally seek out Patrick Caruthers, he has a proposition. Mind games. Humiliation. Control. Schedules. Him. Me. I think you’re going to be the perfect playmate. I'm not perfect. I'm not stunning or noble. I’m not a heroine. You’re priceless. I'm just a girl . . . You were made for me. And he’s a cold bastard Who is paying me for sex.

Credence


Penelope DouglasPenelope Douglas - 2020
    The only child of a film producer and his starlet wife, she’s grown up with wealth and privilege but not love or guidance. Shipped off to boarding schools from an early age, it was still impossible to escape the loneliness and carve out a life of her own. The shadow of her parents’ fame followed her everywhere.And when they suddenly pass away, she knows she should be devastated. But has anything really changed? She’s always been alone, hasn’t she?Jake Van der Berg, her father’s stepbrother and her only living relative, assumes guardianship of Tiernan who is still two months shy of eighteen. Sent to live with him and his two sons, Noah and Kaleb, in the mountains of Colorado, Tiernan soon learns that these men now have a say in what she chooses to care and not care about anymore. As the three of them take her under their wing, teach her to work and survive in the remote woods far away from the rest of the world, she slowly finds her place among them.And as a part of them.She also realizes that lines blur and rules become easy to break when no one else is watching.One of them has her.The other one wants her.But he…He’s going to keep her.*Credence is a new adult standalone novel suitable for readers 18+.

Love at First Fight


Carrie Aarons - 2020
    Since the moment Smith Redfield laid eyes on me, he’s hated my guts. I’m serious, I think the raven-haired restaurateur gets physically sick just being in my presence. And he’s never been shy about hiding that fact. There was the time he cackled when I landed face first in a pile of Manhattan trash bags. Or the night I tried to throw my ex-boyfriend a surprise party, and Smith had strippers crash the bash. Or maybe it was New Year's Eve, when he got in my face and called me a sheltered goody two-shoes who wouldn’t know passion if it smacked me in the lips. He’s rooming right next door for the summer months, and I don’t think more animosity could exist than in the hallway of our vacation rental. As if I wasn’t already sporting a bruised ego and broken heart from the way his best friend left me. But the more midnight run-ins we have, the more I can’t help but think about the way his mouth would feel against mine. With each heavy-eyed glance over the dinner table, I’m starting to wonder if the damaged alpha male doesn’t harbor more than just loathing towards me. After all, they say hate is the closest emotion to love. And with the way we’re skating that thin line, it’s bound to burn this whole house down.