Book picks similar to
Brutal & Raw by Sonya Jesus


mafia
dark-romance
romance
suspense

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.

A Harmless Little Game


Meli Raine - 2016
    Of course it would. A Senator’s daughter on camera? Wouldn’t you click “share”? Besides, that’s what three of the four guys in the video did.Share.They shared me.But that fourth guy? The nondescript one in the background in the upper left corner of the screen, just sitting on the couch? The only one who did nothing?Not one single thing.That was my boyfriend, Drew.And that was the last time I saw him.Until today, when my father—now on a path to the White House—hired him as head of security for my new team as I return home after four years of “recovering” in an undisclosed location that involved white lab coats, needles, pills and damage control.You see, the other three guys never went to jail. Never had charges pressed.Never faced consequences.Until today.Game on.* * *A Harmless Little Game is the first in this political thriller/romantic suspense trilogy by USA Today bestselling author Meli Raine.

Lies We Tell


Jeana E. Mann - 2018
    One crazy, dark, dirty lie turned my world upside down. It dug its claws into my life, altered my future, and clouded my past.I thought I was over him. The one who lied. I thought I’d moved on with a successful career, a fat bank account, and a sexy boyfriend.All that changes when Owen Henry walks back into my life. He’s out on parole, standing on my front porch, looking sexier than ever. I want to hate him for what he’s done, but all I can do is think about how great his lips felt on mine the last time we kissed.I’m so screwed.*This book was formerly released as Monster Love and contains new content.

Slammer


Tabatha Vargo - 2015
    Ten years later, the boy he used to be is gone. In his place is the shell of a man with murder under his belt. Any emotion he once had was left under the gavel when he was given life in prison. That is until the new nurse in the infirmary joins the block. Putting your hands on a prison employee will get you the hole, but some things are worth their punishment, and something tells him Lyla will be worth more than he bargained for. Lyla Evans isn’t sure about her new job at a maximum security prison, but showing uncertainty and weakness isn’t an option. Taking care of murderers and rapists isn’t ideal, but survival is key. She’s warned ahead of time about a prisoner named X, but when she’s attacked, it’s the dangerous X that saves her. Fraternizing with the prisoners is forbidden, but sometimes the most forbidden things are the sweetest.

Waste of Worth


Bethany-Kris - 2017
    A criminal, the son of a traitor, and a mafia Capo who can’t be trusted. His past has shaped his life, creating demons he can’t escape from that live in his mind day and night. He is all too aware of just how people see him. Closed off. Cold. Different. He doesn’t care—keeping people out means no one can get close enough to hurt him again, and he already has one too many monsters with their claws stuck in his back that he’s still fighting off. His walls are so high, no one is climbing over them. Or so he thinks … Karen came into his life like a spring shower, her light shining through the darkness and making him see something other than the hell that surrounded him for so long. She doesn’t know who he is or what he has done to become the man he is today. If he can help it, she’ll never know, and his monsters will never hurt her. She sees his differences as beauty. She never asks for more. She is perfect. The problem with happiness for Dino DeLuca is that his monsters don’t mind taking away what makes him happy. After all, what isn’t given cannot be kept. These lessons will be the hardest he has ever learned. AUTHOR’S NOTE: The DeLuca Duet is a two book tale following the same couple through their journey. It is a standalone Duet that can be read independently with a HEA ending.

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?

The Price of Honor


Aleatha Romig - 2018
    An epic tale of devotion and sacrifice spanning thirty years, bidding the characters, as well as readers to ponder the questions...What price is too high?What prize too big?What sacrifices too many?On the day Oren Demetri approaches Carmine Costello, the don of one of the most powerful crime families in New York, to ask for his niece’s hand in marriage, Oren gives his word, his life, and his loyalty. But is the cost his soul?Follow this journey set within the dangerous life of New York’s dark and infamous Mafia world as fidelity is tested and the price of honor negotiated. Is true love enough when everything that is held dear is on the line?How much can be gained and how much lost when a man’s honor is at stake?Have you been Aleatha’d?Formally titled Respect, this is a stand-alone novel.

Straightened Out (The Pastore Crime Family Book 1)


Janine Infante Bosco - 2020
    

Jett


Blair Grey - 2019
     So what is my plan to get into the MC? It's to start hooking up with the President, Jett, who comes into my bar. But as things progress, I start falling for him. But I get taken by a rival mc because they consider me his old lady and are determined to get the Steel Wings MC to stop dealing drugs. Will he save me if he knows who my father is?

Bloodstained Beauty


Ella Fields - 2018
     Fresh out of college and headed straight for my dream job, I didn’t think things could get any better.
 Then I met my dream man. 
In an instant, my happy ever after had begun.
 The life I’d stumbled into was beautiful, and the man I loved was perfect.
 But perfection comes at a cost, and I’d slumbered through all the alarms.
 Then I met my nightmare. 
 The man whose bright eyes held untamed darkness. 
 The man who disarmed me with his peculiar behavior. 
 The man whose cold, merciless hands shook me awake.  
In an instant, questions started to dismantle my happy ever after.
 But whoever said the truth would set you free was wrong. 
It wasn’t going to repair the cracks in my naive heart. 
 It wasn’t going to caress my face with comforting hands and reassure me it was all just a dream.
 No, the truth shoved me down a rabbit hole, and I landed in the lair of a real-life monster.

Indebted


J.L. Beck - 2014
    That all changed in a blink of an eye the moment Bree came home for break. She didn't expect to find her dad strapped to chair, a gun pointed at his head. Alzerro “Zerro” King wasn't a man to be messed with. Women flocked to him and men ran from him. He ruled the mafia with an iron fist and no one ever crossed him unless they wanted to pay the price. He believed the only way to pay for something, if unable to do so, was to do it in blood. Nothing got him harder than stringing someone up, and putting a bullet in their head. That is until Bree. One look is all it took for him to know she could pay for her father’s debt in many other ways… Ways that could get him hard. Could a big city mafia king fall in love with the small town country girl? Would she be able to handle his dark and demanding ways? When push comes to shove, would Bree end up running only to be killed? Or would she sacrifice herself for love?

XV


Lana Sky - 2019
    Armed with only her instincts, Ellen must resist her captor for as long as she can—which is easier said than done the more she's exposed to the complex man beneath the beast.Because Mischa Stepanov isn’t a mindless monster—he’s a wolf, and she’s the unwitting doe caught in his midst. Unraveling the torment of his past may be her only hope of salvation...Or the secrets uncovered may destroy them both.

Love the Way You Lie


Skye Warren - 2015
    Except give him up. When he looks at me, I forget why I can’t have him. He’s beautiful and scarred. His body fits mine, filling the places where I’m hollow, rough where I am soft.He’s the one man who wants to help me, but he has his own agenda. He has questions I can’t answer. What are you afraid of?You.

Keeping Her


Angela Snyder - 2017
    What I need.And what I need is the perfect woman. Perfect and pure in every way possible. And I'm willing to obtain that perfection...no matter the cost.So when I make my newest purchase, I expect Adeline's fate to be like all the others before her --- taking what I want and then never seeing her again.But she's different.Her beauty is disarming.And even though I promised to let her go after I took what I wanted...I slowly come to the realization that I can't.I have to break my promise to her, because she's mine now.And I'm keeping her.**Keeping Her is book one of the two-book dark romance Keep Me Series and ends with a cliffhanger. It contains adult content for mature readers.**

Evelina


Ally Vance - 2019
     About EVELINA: For four years, I was hidden from everyone and everything I knew. I became a toy; a slave to be played with on a whim. He locked me away, robbed me of light, and forced me to live in the darkness. He used me, abused me, and left me shattered. My screams went unheard, my tears went unseen, and my pleas went unanswered. When the chance to escape presented itself, I fled. All I wanted was my freedom. All I wanted was to see the light once again. But when your name means Light, it makes the monsters want to keep you in the Dark.