Book picks similar to
Checkmate by Lindsey Powell
mafia
romance
spicy
dark-romance
Freestyle
Bea Paige - 2020
Dance is in my blood.It’s what keeps me sane, out of trouble. It used to keep them out of trouble too. A group of boys I grew up with.Xeno, York, Zayn and Dax.We were a crew once and we ruled the clubs.Separate we were insanely good, together we were unbeatable. F*&ing on fire. I was their girl and they were my Breakers.Until they did something they promised they never would; break my heart.We were sixteen when they left me.You see, for kids like us, dance was all we had.Growing up in a rundown housing estate in London with no prospects can make you view the world differently.It can make you choose the wrong path.I chose dance, and they chose crime.Three years later I’ve won a scholarship to Stardom Academy. I try to forget my past.But how can I do that when the four boys who hurt me are back?And this time they won’t walk away even when I ask them too.Freestyle is book one of this new gritty, contemporary reverse harem academy trilogy for 17+ readers and deals with adult themes and some subjects you may find upsetting. If you love dance, your men on the criminal side, alpha hot holes and the enemies-to-lovers trope, this is for you. Contains foul language and sexual scenes.
Iron Crowne
C.D. Reiss - 2019
Byron Crowne is a gentleman on the outside, and a pure savage on the inside. I detest him. I can't resist him. He’s awakened desires I didn’t know I had. When he touches me, I need to fight him . . . and I need him to win. Our one night stand bruises my skin and leaves dents in the walls, but the sheets aren't the only thing we shred that night. And suddenly, the stakes are higher than ever. Olivia Monroe lights a fire in me that died a long time ago. I’m a different man when I’m with her. I need to own her, take her, mark her as mine. Everything changes when she might be pregnant and for the first time in my life…I’m powerless against this stubborn, untamable woman. She’s the one in control and I have an impossible job: Prove I’m worthy to be a father.
Absolution
L.P. Lovell - 2016
Please take that into account before reading. ***Evie All sins are equal in the eyes of God, but I'm not God. One sinner made me his sin, and I can't let men like him live. I want to kill them. Every. Last. One. Ezra James is no different. I was going to kill him, but then I found myself obsessed and possessed in the most reverent of ways. I became his sinner, and he became my sin, but the wages of sin is death, so I must kill him. Ezra The son of a whore, raised by criminals, molded to fit into a world without morals. I've never given a shit about anything until the night I watched a man drop dead at the feet of my little killer. She called to my depravity, and everything in me demanded that I take her, possess her, own her. Some monsters hide behind the faces of angels. Damned. Broken. Irredeemable. Through blood, absolution shall be found.
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.
Tell Me Pretty Lies
Charleigh Rose - 2020
A brand new Tiffany's ring. 2. A lavish home on Heartbreak Hill. 3. Three privileged stepsons.The last thing I expected was to fall for one of them, least of all Thayer Ames.Beautiful, brooding, and untouchable. I knew it was a bad idea. He warned me himself. But he was a thunderstorm, and I never could resist the rain. It was perfect…Until it wasn’t. One night was all it took for our world to crumble, leaving only secrets and lies between us. Now, I have to face him again, but the boy I used to know has become the man who loves to hate me.
Wolf
Penelope Black - 2020
So when she invites me to stay with her for the summer, I don't hesitate.And I make a new summer plan: skip the vacation, take online courses, and dig up dirt on Mom's new fiancé.What I didn't plan for was Wolf Fitzgerald--and his brothers. Dangerously good-looking with tattoos and bad attitudes.And my new stepbrothers.
The Doctor
Nikki Sloane - 2018
I watched him rush to the hospital countless times, his beautiful surgeon hands racing to save lives.After all this time, I can’t escape the truth. I want Dr. Lowe. Lust chokes each moment we’re together. He promises to fulfill my fantasies—every dirty, naughty desire we can dream up.Only, I can’t have him.He’s confident. Experienced. Seductive.And he’s my ex-boyfriend’s father.
Inevitable
Kristen Granata - 2021
Her feisty attitude and caring heart kept me there. Her pain called out to mine and out souls entwined. Now I’m in so deep, I don’t know which way is up.If my father finds out, we’ll be next on his list.I’ll do anything in my power to protect her, but how can I keep her safe when I’m the one I need to keep her safe from?Eva doesn’t know it yet, but she’s playing the part of Juliet in this twisted tragedy.And our final act is inevitable.
Twisted Love
Ana Huang - 2021
Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape. Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart. But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest:A crack.A melt.A fire that could end his world as he knew it.***Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember.But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world…including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want. Her brother’s best friend. Her neighbor.Her savior and her downfall.Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen—but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both…and everything they hold dear.
Twisted Love is a brother’s best friend/opposites attract romance with a hint of suspense. It's book one in the Twisted series but can be read as a standalone.WARNING: This book contains a possessive, morally gray alphahole; explicit sexual content, and profanity. No cheating or menage, but if you're looking for a traditionally sweet, loveable hero, this is not the book for you. Recommended for 18+.
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**
A Kiss to Tell
Willow Winters - 2018
I didn’t need anyone to tell me; I knew he was forbidden with a single glance. He was a boy I should’ve been afraid of, and definitely a boy I should’ve never wanted. No matter how much neither of those statements were true. From the first time I saw him, Sebastian had a hard stare that pinned me in place. And years later, it hasn’t softened. We lived on the same street and went to the same school, although he was a year ahead. Even so close, he was untouchable. He was bad news and I was the sad girl who didn’t belong. One night changed everything. We both had secrets. We both saw the pain in each other’s eyes. The gaze that gave me chills turned to a lust-filled haze that heated every inch of me. But that didn’t change who he was. A man who would take everything from me.
When Heroes Fall
Giana Darling - 2021
A disappointment to my family. Haunted by my childhood traumas. I felt so much all my life that I resolved to feeling nothing at all. Until I met my match. As the most infamous mafioso of the 21st century, Dante Salvatore was madly passionate, unequivocally bad, and entirely too dangerous to know. He was everything I abhorred, yet I found myself representing him in the biggest criminal trial of the decade. I was so focused on winning and achieving the success I deserved that I didn't notice the gorgeous black-eyed man's effect on me until it was too late. My icy heart had been held too close to his flame and now I wouldn't let Dante go down without fighting with everything I had in me. Even if the cost of a new life with him meant the loss of my old life and everything I thought I held dear.
Lords of Pain
Angel Lawson - 2021
In high school, they knew my secrets and I knew theirs. They had power and I had nothing. The night everything fell apart, my stepbrother allowed his two best friends to take their rage out on me while he watched. While they laughed.But what happened that night wasn’t my biggest secret. So I ran, planning on never coming back.Three years later I’m standing on their doorstep like a stray. They’re more powerful than ever now, having risen to the rank of Lords at Forsyth University. But I’m still on the run and there's another monster chasing me down.What could bring me back into their lives, their homes, and ultimately, their beds?Fear.Shame.Desperation.Killian, Rath, and Tristian aren’t the only ones who want me. There’s someone far more dangerous out there who's been stalking me since I left town the first time. Someone who makes the evil I know feel less dangerous than the evil I don’t.But being their Lady is more than just fancy clothes and reputation.I might be under their protection, but I’m also at their mercy.And there's nothing a Lord loves more than taking control.
Savage Prince
Meghan March - 2018
* * *I do what I want and who I want. I don’t follow anyone’s rules—even my own.I knew I shouldn’t touch her, but it didn’t stop me. Didn’t stop me the second time either. Only made me want a third. My lifestyle suits the savage I am, and she doesn’t. But Temperance Ransom is my newest addiction, and I’m nowhere near ready to quit her yet.I’ll have her my way, even if it means dragging her into the darkness.Hopefully it doesn’t kill us both. * * *Savage Prince is book one of the Savage Trilogy, set in the same world as Ruthless King, however you do not need to read the Mount Trilogy to devour this scandalously hot new trilogy.
Mercy
Debra Anastasia - 2017
Murder is in my blood now. It runs through my veins and though I hide the monster I see in the mirror with ink, it doesn’t keep him from coming out. My street name is Mercy, but I never show any. Except for her. I watch Becca, though she doesn’t know. She saved me a long time ago; the day my father killed my mother. Her bravery turned her into a target.My father holds a grudge and knife with the same proficiency, and Becca is the focus of his hatred. And I’m the only monster who can save her.