Book picks similar to
Absolution by L.P. Lovell
dark
dark-romance
romance
dnf
Bennett Mafia
Tijan - 2019
The wealthiest of the wealthy sent their kids to our boarding school, and Brooke Bennett had been at the top, though I never quite knew why. She was fun and outgoing, but she kept quiet about her family. The only things she showed me were photographs of her brothers. I became fascinated with her second-oldest brother. Kai Bennett. He was the most of them all. Smoldering. Hypnotic. Alluring. Kai had eyes that pulled me in and a face that haunted my dreams. Then I met him. He came to our school with their father, and that’s when I learned what kind of family Brooke came from. They were mafia, and Brooke’s oldest brother was dead. Her father said accident, but Brooke said murder. Three months later, her father died, and Kai became the head of the Bennett Family. Brooke left Hillcrest for good, and that was the last time I saw her. Fourteen years later, I’m staring at her face on the television. Brooke is missing. Two days later, Kai Bennett kidnaps me. ** This is a 120k complete standalone. ** There is a bonus chapter from another book at the end.
Tight
Alessandra Torre - 2015
In my life as a single, thirty-two year old woman. I had a good job, wonderful friends, my independence.I also hadn't got laid in three years. Hadn't been on a date in two. Had stopped counting calories and wearing makeup... a while ago.Then Brett Jacobs waltzed in. Caressed my thigh, dug rough fingers into my hair, lowered his soft mouth to my skin, took sexual control of my mind and stirred it all around with what he packed in his pants. He flipped my quiet life upside down and crawled into a place in my heart I thought was dead.The issue is his secret.The issue is her.The issue is that I don't even know she exists, and he thinks she's dead.The issue is that shit is about to hit the fan and I can't hold on to him tight enough.
Because You're Mine
Claire Contreras - 2018
They're the ones with experience. The ones with secrets. The ones that exude sex just by saying your name.From the minute I laid eyes on Lorenzo, I knew he wasn't just bad news. He was the headline.My opinion didn't change on our second meeting. Or our third. But my head and my heart are at war. He’s too mysterious, too gorgeous, too wild, and now, he wants me. I should run far away. So why am I racing toward him? I’m totally going to get burned. I know it. A man like Lorenzo won’t leave me unscathed.He'll make ashes of me.
Bad Saint
Monica James - 2019
But they didn’t realize I wasn’t a victim…not anymore.The open sea was my backdrop for nine torturous days. During that time, glimmers of my fate were revealed by a man with the mysterious chartreuse-colored eyes. He should have scared me, but he didn’t.He intrigued me. And I intrigued him.He punished me when I didn’t listen, which was every single day. But beneath his cruelty, I sensed he was guarding a grave secret.I was sold. And in a game of poker, no less. My buyer? A Russian mobster who likes to collect pretty things. Now that I know the truth, I only have one choice.Sink or swim.And when one fateful night presents me the opportunity, I take it. I just never anticipated my actions would leave me shipwrecked with my kidnapper.He needs me alive. I want him dead.But as days turn into weeks, one thing becomes clear—I should hate him…but I don’t.My name is Willow.His name is Saint.Ironic, isn’t it? He bears a name that denotes nothing but holiness yet delivers nothing but hell. However, if this is hell on earth…God, save my soul.
Four
Sara Cate - 2021
They say family is a circle of strength. But when mine is ripped away from me at the hands of a monster, My strength is all that’s left. I’ll give my last breath before they take anything else from me. Even if I’m the one they wanted all along. Find Silas Black. Those were my father’s last words. So I did. Only, I found so much more than just a man who was prepared to help me get my revenge. I found a tortured soul who in return gave me hope. But I also found his broken sons. One hates me. One desires me. And Silas wants to save me. They say revenge is a dish best served cold, but If I keep getting caught up in the heat of the moment, I’ll be my own demise.
Little Doll
Melissa Jane - 2014
What I would find was something belonging to nightmares.What I would lose would unknowingly become my fight for survival.An escape from the clutches of evil seemed almost an impossible task. Warring with Mexico’s leading cartel would only see me closer to my grave. Or worse, used as a bargaining chip to seal a sickening deal my brother had unwillingly played a part in. But then there was one man who ruled over me. A man who promised to destroy my world at every turn. Juan Florez. Taking on the notorious cartel son was a battle I was bound to lose.This series continues with:Book 2: Ruthless SonsBook 3: Savage KingBook 4: Wicked GamesThis book contains themes and situations some may find confronting.
Borden
R.J. Lewis - 2015
After a crime-filled upbringing in a very harsh neighbourhood, Borden leaves his hometown, returning four years later mysteriously rich and unrecognizable, with one woman on his mind. A woman he'll never have. Pained by his devastating loss and filled with rage and guilt, Borden's world turns dark. * As a fiercely independent woman, Emma Warne knows all about hard living. Having kept to herself most of her life, the last thing she expects is to be thrust into the world of infamous criminal Marcus Borden, the dangerous man the entire city fears and loathes. But the more she pushes him away, the more he comes back, taking over her life and stripping her of her control she desperately clings to. Once Borden has his sights on her, Emma is going nowhere anytime soon, and what she doesn't expect least of all... is that she may not want to either. Book 1 of 2. ******* WARNING: This is NOT a love triangle. This book contains sexual situations - of a very rough nature - violence, and strong language that may be offensive to some.*******
Slade
Alaska Angelini - 2014
What better way to exact retribution from Governor Hagen and force him to bring Lily back, than to steal his own daughter and threaten to sell her as a sex slave, too? But, even the best laid plans don’t always go smoothly. Slade ends up falling for his captive, and is faced with a decision that might just cause him to lose the one thing he doesn’t want to let go.SLADE is every bit the animal he portrays. Dominant, dark, unbending, and possessive—her own personal predator. Mary can’t help but be drawn to the soul deep darkness in him. It calls to her like nothing she’s ever felt before. When her father bends to Slade’s will and releases Lily, will Mary be allowed to walk away and follow her father's plans to marry another, or will Slade make her a captive to the dark…forever? Warning: This book contains very graphic violence, disturbing situations, dubious consent, and very strong language.
Selling Scarlett
Ella James - 2013
Dragged out of seclusion by her best friend Suri, Elizabeth is merely playing dress-up, rubbing elbows with a crowd that banished her troubled family years ago.Hunter West is tired. Tired of parties, tired of pretending, and tired of trying to right a wrong that haunts him every day. Bourbon heir and professional poker player by day, by night Hunter is gambling with his life in a high-stakes game of crime and blackmail. When Elizabeth stumbles into Hunter's den of vices, she's a light in the darkness, a flame in the void. And, just like everything he touches, Hunter mars her in a record time. To rectify the damage done, Elizabeth needs money she doesn't have, and she's come up with a foolproof way to get it.Follow Elizabeth - code-named Scarlett - to the lush Nevada brothel where she'll auction her virginity and risk the only thing that's not for sale: her heart. The highest bidder is a familiar face, with wicked hands and the devil's mouth. And a secret so dark that it could cost her life.
Brutally Beautiful
Christine Zolendz - 2013
With blood still on her hands, Samantha Matthews is on the run, running from dark secrets and a man she prays to God will never find her. Running and hiding, just to stay alive. She had no choice but to run, to leave, to hide and forget about her life before. When Samantha believes she's gained enough distance from her past and her demons, she stops running, hoping to find her future in the heavily wooded area of the Adirondack Mountains, a place she never expected to encounter a man with secrets as dark and as sordid as hers. Kade Grayson is hiding, not from the demons after him, but from himself and from the entire outside world, wishing every day he could have just died. Arrogant and domineering, he’s tormented and terrorized by his past, seeing nothing good for his future. With the ghosts of his past still haunting him, he has exiled himself to a life of solitude, only living for his words and through his stories.Until her.An undeniable attraction, turns into hate and then ultimately obsession, an obsession that grows into a powerful story of love and redemption.Will the bond they have begun to build between them grow stronger than the tragedies that have scarred both of their lives? Or will they allow their demons to consume them?
Trouble
Samantha Towle - 2013
Running from a person she doesn’t ever want to find her. Running from a past she doesn’t ever want anyone to know. Desperate to find a future, that yesterday, she could only dream of having. Jordan Matthews likes easy. Easy women. Easy life. Then he meets Mia. She’s damaged, troubled and has more baggage than any person can carry. But the more Jordan gets to know Mia-for the first time in his life-he finds himself wanting to try hard for something … for someone … for her.And then life isn’t so easy anymore. Jordan is everything Mia shouldn’t want. A whole bunch of dirty hotness, tattooed, cocky bad boy, who made his money at poker tables and picked his women up in bars. Yet, Mia finds herself falling for him. Then the past Mia was running from, quickly starts to catch up with her. Because that’s the problem with running … you have to stop sometime. And when you stop, you get caught.Full length New Adult Contemporary Romance.Recommended Reading Age 18+
Monster
Jessica Gadziala - 2015
And all was going to plan until one night, a huge mammoth of a man breaks into her apartment and kidnaps her,holding her hostage for the very man she was bent on bringing down.Breaker has one rule: he doesn't deal in women. But when he's conned into a job for the city's most ruthlesscrime lord, he finds himself in charge of a fiery-temperedhacker who he can't seem to keep his hands off of. When passions ignite and feelings emerge, will Breaker beable to reconcile his loyalties before it is too late or will their shaky foundation of trust start crumbling beneaththeir feet?This is a stand alone with a HEA.* For possible triggers, go here: http://www.jessicagadziala.com/trigge... *
Seven Sons
Lili St. Germain - 2014
As the leader of the Gypsy Brothers MC, he was guilty of many things. But he died for a crime that he didn’t commit, framed by an enemy within who then stole his club and everything he had ever worked to protect.Including my innocence.When Dornan Ross framed my father, he set into motion a series of events that could never be undone. My father was murdered by Dornan Ross and his sons when I was fifteen years old.Before my father died, Dornan Ross and his seven sons stole my innocence, branded my skin and in doing so, ensured that their lives would be prematurely cut short. That they would suffer.I’ve just turned twenty-one, and I’m out for blood. I'm out for revenge.But I didn't expect to fall for Jase, the youngest brother in the club.I didn't expect that he would turn my world upside down, yank my heart out of my chest and ride away into the sunset with it.Now, I'm faced with an impossible choice - Jase, or avenging my fathers death?
The Risk
S.T. Abby - 2016
Collecting the debts that are owed to me.Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.They should have made sure I stayed dead.Now I'm taking from them.One name at a time.I've trained for too long.I've been patient.I can't stop now.Revenge is best served cold...They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.He just knows people are dying.He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.No one suspects a dead girl.And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.They're looking for a monster.Not a girl who loves red.Not a girl in love.I'm a faceless nightmare.At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?**Graphic**Adult language**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader**Sexual content**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.
Asking for It
Lilah Pace - 2015
This is what I want. Now I need a man dangerous enough to give it to me.”
Graduate student Vivienne Charles is afraid of her own desires—ashamed to admit that she fantasizes about being taken by force, by a man who will claim her completely and without mercy. When the magnetic, mysterious Jonah Marks learns her secret, he makes an offer that stuns her: they will remain near-strangers to each other, and meet in secret so that he can fulfill her fantasy.Their arrangement is twisted. The sex is incredible. And—despite their attempts to stay apart—soon their emotions are bound together as tightly as the rope around Vivienne’s wrists. But the secrets in their pasts threaten to turn their affair even darker...Reader Advisory: Asking for It deals explicitly with fantasies of non-consensual sex. Readers sensitive to portrayals of non-consensual sex should be advised.