Book picks similar to
Promised by Elizabeth Knox
mafia
abuse
dark
romance
Rules of Protection
Alison Bliss - 2014
Unfortunately, she stumbles on the wrong kind, witnessing a mob hit. To protect her, she's entered into the Witness Protection Program with by-the-book Special Agent Jake Ward as her chaperone.When the location of their safe house is compromised, Jake stashes Emily deep in the Texas backwoods. The city-girl might be safe from the Mafia, but she has to contend with a psychotic rooster, a narcoleptic dog, crazy cowboys, and the danger of losing her heart to the one man she can't have.Jake's as hot as he is infuriating, and she can't help but push all his buttons to loosen him up. Their mutual, sizzling sexual attraction poses a dilemma: Jake's determined to keep her safe and out of the wrong hands; she's determined to get into the right ones—his.Each book in the Tangled in Texas series is a standalone, full-length story that can be enjoyed out of order. Series Order:Book #1 Rules of ProtectionBook #2 Playing With Fire
Prince of Hearts
L.A. Cotton - 2020
Hardworking. Honest.She’d rather spend her days helping at the local shelter than brushing shoulders with her vain and entitled classmates.Niccolò Marchetti is his father’s son.Dark. Dangerous. Deceitful.He’d rather spend his days getting bloody in the ring than attending class and keeping up pretences.When their paths cross at Montague University neither of them are willing to drop the walls they’ve spent so long building. But he can’t resist the girl with stars in her eyes, and she can’t forget the guy who saved her that night.There’s only one catch.Nicco isn’t Arianne’s knight-in-shining-armor, he’s the son of her father’s greatest enemy.He is the enemy.And their families are at war.*Prince of Hearts in the first book in Nicco and Ari’s duet. Due to mature content that some readers may find distressing, this book is recommended for readers 18+
His to Love
Stacey Lynn - 2016
Tyson Blackwell never saw it coming when his Mafia princess girlfriend dumped him and disappeared at the age of eighteen. He never forgot her, either, even after what happened next: the killing of his father, a Detroit PD officer, at the hands of one of her father’s men. Tyson swore revenge, and now, ten years later, the kid who dreamed of a pro football career is a hard-nosed FBI agent, back in town to take down the Galecki crime family once and for all. But Tyson’s mission gets complicated fast—because going undercover means seducing the only woman he’s ever loved. Gabriella “Blue” Galecki has been in hiding for a decade. She finally comes home to spend time with her terminally ill mother, only to receive a blast from the past when she runs into Tyson. His brooding eyes and electrifying touch still send chills down her spine. But as heir to the family empire, Blue has been promised to another. Caught in a web of deception, she is tempted to pull the trigger on the boldest risk she’s ever taken: trusting Tyson with her life, her body, and her heart. Includes a special message from the editor, as well as an excerpt from another Loveswept title.
Stone Cold Bad
Tess Oliver - 2015
A guy like him was the last thing I needed now. A guy like Colt Stone was the last thing I ever needed. -Colt-Emotion, feelings and, hell, even love had been turned off in all of us Stone brothers long ago. Then Jade landed in my life. It was the last thing I ever wanted, to feel this way about someone. Attachments like this were only followed by heartbreak, and I wasn't into heartbreak. I wasn't into f*cking attachments. Bad boy Colt Stone has a notorious reputation for being a tough and dangerous heartbreaker. A brutal childhood hardened him to the idea of any type of emotional attachment to anyone. When he becomes the unwitting accomplice in Jade Morrow's escape from an abusive boyfriend, he soon finds that he'll do anything to keep her safe. Has Colt found the one girl who can break through to his impenetrable heart?When she runs away from her monstrous boyfriend, Jade Morrow has no place to go and no one to turn to. She accidentally lands in the arms of a handsome, tattooed stranger. Colt Stone is as formidable as he is appealing and Jade soon finds that he's equally hard to resist. When her troubled past catches up to her, Jade discovers just how far Colt will go to save her.
Sunshine and Bullets
Coralee June - 2018
It’s a nickname I haven’t heard since I lived on Woodbury Lane, where the houses were pretty but the secrets? Deadly. It was a pet name known only to the Bullets. Rough, violent, and ruthless, they laid claim to the town — and my heart. I wasn't supposed to fall for a boy from the wrong side of the tracks—especially not four of them. But they were the only ones who understood that sometimes hell hides in plain sight. I was the girl with all the conveniences a privileged upbringing could provide. The world only saw two loving parents and a pristine home life, but I knew the truth. And it was going to get me killed. So, I disappeared, from everyone and everything I’d ever known. I changed my name and my appearance, but the scars I carry, they’re still the same. The Bullets are all grown up now, too — a crime boss, a pro fighter, a bounty hunter, and a federal agent. Life took them in different directions, but they once shared the bonds of a brotherhood forged under the harshest conditions. Together they were fearless. Brutal. Unstoppable. I'm praying they can find that unity again. If I'm going to survive this, it'll take everything they have. Because that's the thing about running from the past. Eventually, it catches up to you.
Assumption
Aurora Rose Reynolds - 2014
Kenton Mayson learned this lesson firsthand when he made assumptions about Autumn Freeman and the kind of woman she is based on what little information he had. What he finds out is she’s not only beautiful, but also smart, funny, a fighter, and exactly the kind of woman he wants to share his life with. Autumn made assumptions of her own about Kenton, and now he needs to prove her wrong in order to protect her and their future.
Until I Break
Michelle Leighton - 2013
Tempted beyond what I’ve ever been before. To know her, to open her up. To break her."In love, sometimes what you fear most is exactly what you need.Laura Drake is an author. She writes bestselling paranormal romances that continue to top the charts. She is sharp. She is confident. She is in control. And she doesn’t exist.Samantha Jansen is the woman behind the wig, the woman most of the world doesn’t know exists. She is shy. She is insecure. She is nothing like her main character or her alter ego. She is scarred—deeply scarred—by a past she can’t let go of and a present she can’t make peace with.Samantha’s dreams are consumed by one man, the broken hero from her books. Mason Strait is both her wildest fantasy and her most terrifying nightmare. When Samantha meets Alec Brand, a corporate consultant, it is as though Mason has come to life. Alec is handsome to a fault, as elegant as he is arrogant, and more intense than any man has a right to be.Samantha is soon sucked into a world that mirrors the fiction she writes. Just like her main character, Daire Kirby, Samantha finds herself unable to resist the forbidden lure of Alec. And just like Daire, she also finds that she is faced with taking a chance on a man who could either set her free or destroy her.The scale tilts toward destruction when Samantha finds out that Alec is as much a work of fiction as Mason. And he has scars of his own, scars that could ruin them both.**This book may be read as a stand-alone, as the story of Alec and Samantha comes to a conclusion in this book**
Devil You Know
L.A. Fiore - 2017
One look into his sad green eyes and I was hooked. I wanted to be the one to make him laugh, to make him smile. I hadn't expected him to be the one to make me blush, to make me hot...to make me fall in love. He was my first kiss, my first love, my first everything. I wanted forever with him, but life got in the way.He enlisted, I went to college, and for years we were never in the same place long enough to pick up where we left off.Thirteen years after he left, tragedy brings him home. The stoic boy I fell in love with grew into a quiet, dangerous and wildly sexy man. He still tugs on all the right strings for me, but he seems determined to keep me at arm's-length. However, when trouble comes knocking at my door, he is the one to put himself between that trouble and me. Spending time with him might drive me insane, or it might be our second chance at first love.
Black Sheep
Meghan March - 2019
Every family has a black sheep. In the infamous Casso crime family, that black sheep is me—Cannon Freeman. Except I’m not a free man. I’ve never been free. Not since the day I was born. I owe my loyalty to my father, Dominic Casso, even if he won’t publicly acknowledge me as his blood. I’ve never had a reason to go against his wishes… until I met her. Drew Carson turned my world upside when she walked into my club looking for a job. Now, my honor and my life are on the line. Going against my father’s wishes might buy me a bullet straight from his gun, but black sheep or not, it’s time to make my stand. She's worth the fallout.
Rip
Rachel Van Dyken - 2015
But I broke her, and now we both have to pay the price.I'm her nightmare. I'm her savior. And now that I have her signature on an ironclad contract, I own her body and soul. She doesn't remember me. She will. It's inevitable. Because as much as I know I need to stay away, for fear of unlocking the memories I helped her father bury--I can't. She was the apple in the Garden, dangled in front of me, her core so tempting and sweet. A voice whispered. Just. One. Bite. I bit. I tasted. I fell. Welcome to the world of the Russian mafia, where death, is your only future.
'Til Death: Volume One
Bella Jewel - 2014
There is. I married a douchebag.I didn't know it at the time. He came in like a handsome stranger and blew me off my feet. I fell madly in love, like the naive girl I am. Then he left me high and dry. Turns out, I was nothing more than a business plan for billionaire playboy, Marcus Tandem. He needed to be married in order to obtain his grandfathers business, and I was the poor victim in his path. I believed in what we had, until the truth reared its ugly head. I never meant anything to Marcus. Not a damned thing. With my world spinning on its axis, the girl I once was has long since died. Instead he left me as this empty, emotionless shell.I may have made a vow before God to love and cherish him ‘Til Death do we part, but it’s time for me to give back to Marcus, exactly what he gave me. He has to pay.And pay he will. This is part of a two book series and it will contain a HEA – Readers over 18+
Provoke
Missy Johnson - 2014
I knew of the crowd he ran with, and they were bad news. But beyond that tough, biker exterior was a sweetheart, and one that treated me like his princess.I liked being the good girl with the bad boy, but I never expected this. What I saw on his computer…I thought I knew him. But I was wrong. So wrong…If there was ever a bad time for me to fall for a chick it was now, but from the moment I saw Leeta, she had me. There was something special about her, and I had to have her. But I also had a job to do, and I couldn’t let her distract me from that. I couldn’t let her discover that side of me either. But she’s not stupid, and I know she’s getting close. God knows what she’ll do if she discovers the truth. Or what she thinks is the truth.
Last Hit: Reloaded
Jessica Clare - 2015
His tattoos alone promised danger, but it was the look in his eyes that delivered on it. A contract killer since he was just a boy, Nick has now forged a new life and a new identity with the woman who followed him, captured him, and changed him.He terrified Daisy. Once. But she couldn't resist, and she ignored every warning. It paid off. Now she's part of a new beginning, a fresh start in America helping him to leave behind a reckless and violent past as a professional killer. But the past is never easy to outrun, especially when so much of it thrives on revenge.A new threat has emerged from the shadows, and now Nick and Daisy have no choice but to rely on Nick's killer skills to protect them from everything they've tried so hard to escape.
Married to the Don
Nicole Fox - 2020
My baby’s father wants me dead.I didn’t ask to carry a mobster’s baby.But he never gave me a choice.The man who gave me my son stole my innocence in return.And now, his Bratva brother is coming to finish what he started.Viktor Kornilov is a cold-blooded beast.His name alone makes my blood run cold.But his cruel touch makes my heart beat faster and faster.We’re trapped in a high-stakes game of lies and violence.One wrong move, and he’ll take my son away.So when he gives me his sinful offer—become his fake wife or become his latest victim—The only answer I can give is yes.
When I Was Yours
Samantha Towle - 2015
“I love you, Evie. I look into the future, and the only thing I see clearly is you. Marry me.”What’s an eighteen-year-old girl who was madly in love with her nineteen-year-old boyfriend say? Of course, I said yes.Twenty-four hours later, I married Adam Gunner at a Vegas chapel to the sounds of “Livin’ on a Prayer” by Bon Jovi. Not the best omen. I get that now.Then, exactly one week later, I left him. I walked out, leaving behind my wedding ring, annulment papers, and my heart, and he never knew why. I haven’t seen him since. Not in ten long years.Now, he’s here, standing before me. Looking at me with nothing but hurt and hatred in his eyes, he wants answers. Answers I can’t give.