Book picks similar to
The Insiders by Tijan


romance
new-adult
contemporary
dnf

Killing Sarai


J.A. Redmerski - 2013
    Over time she forgot what it was like to live a normal life, but she never let go of her hope to escape the compound where she has been held for the past nine years.Victor is a cold-blooded assassin who, like Sarai, has known only death and violence since he was a young boy. When Victor arrives at the compound to collect details and payment for a hit, Sarai sees him as her only opportunity for escape. But things don’t go as planned and instead of finding transport back to Tucson, she finds herself free from one dangerous man and caught in the clutches of another.While on the run, Victor strays from his primal nature as he succumbs to his conscience and resolves to help Sarai. As they grow closer, he finds himself willing to risk everything to keep her alive; even his relationship with his devoted brother and liaison, Niklas, who now like everyone else wants Sarai dead.As Victor and Sarai slowly build a trust, the differences between them seem to lessen, and an unlikely attraction intensifies. But Victor’s brutal skills and experience may not be enough in the end to save her, as the power she unknowingly holds over him may ultimately be what gets her killed.This is their story…

Weightless


Kandi Steiner - 2016
     I remember I wanted to photograph them, the way the red and blue splashed across his cold, emotionless face. But I knew even if my feet could move from the place where they had cemented themselves to the ground and I could run for my camera, I wouldn’t be able to capture that moment. I had trusted him, I had loved him, and even though my body had changed that summer, he’d made sure to help me hold on to who I was inside, regardless of how the exterior altered. But then everything changed. He stole my innocence. He scarred my heart. He took everything I thought I knew about my life and fast-pitched it out the window, shattering the glass that held my world together in the process. I remember the lights. The passionate, desperate, hot strikes of red. The harsh, cruel, icy bolts of blue. They symbolized everything I endured that summer. And everything I would never face again.

For You


Kristen Ashley - 2011
    Everyone in their small town knew from the moment they met they were meant for each other. But something happened and Feb broke Colt’s heart then she turned wild and tragedy struck. Colt meted out revenge against the man who brought Feb low but even though Colt risked it all for her, Feb turned her back on him and left town. Fifteen years later, Feb comes back to help run the family bar. But there’s so much water under the bridge separating her and Colt everyone knows they’ll never get back together. Until someone starts hacking up people in Feb’s life. Colt is still Colt and Feb is still Feb so the town watches as Colt goes all out to find the murderer while trying to keep Feb safe. As the bodies pile up, The Feds move in and a twisting, turning story unravels exposing a very sick man who has claimed numerous victims along the way, Feb and Colt battle their enduring attraction and the beautiful but lost history that weaves them together.

Everything I Left Unsaid


Molly O'Keefe - 2015
    But the stranger with the low, deep voice on the other end of the line tempted me, awakened my body, set me on fire. He was looking for someone else. Instead he found me.   And I found a hot, secret world where I felt alive for the first time.   His name was Dylan, and, strangely, he made me feel safe. Desired. Compelled. Every dark thing he asked me to do, I did. Without question. I longed to meet him, but we were both keeping secrets. And mine were dangerous. If I took the first step, if I got closer to Dylan—emotionally, physically—then I wouldn’t be hiding anymore. I would be exposed, with nothing left to surrender but the truth. And my truth could hurt us both.

Crown of Lies


Pepper Winters - 2017
    Until he showed up and saved me. THREE DAYS Since I threw a drink at the man my father expected me to marry, then found myself slammed against a wall with Penn Everett’s seductive voice whispering a proposal I couldn’t refuse. THREE HOURSTo fall into hate with the man who reminded me of so many things and hid so much behind his lies. He couldn’t be the man who saved me three years ago…but there’s something so familiar…THREE MINUTESFor our relationship to switch from no-strings to marriage. He announced it to my father—he’s ecstatic. He told my friends—they’re shocked. But he didn’t ask me, he commanded me—and I’m livid. THREE SECONDSFor his lies to slowly steal my heart and make me believe, hope…trust. THREE BREATHS For his truth to destroy me.

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.

The Hunter


L.J. Shen - 2020
    Like Stonehenge, Police Academy 2, and morning glory clouds.It just happened.Now my ball-busting father is sentencing me to six months of celibacy, sobriety, and morbid boredom under the roof of Boston’s nerdiest girl alive, Sailor Brennan.The virginal archer is supposed to babysit my ass while I learn to take my place in Royal Pipelines, my family’s oil company.Little does she know, that’s not the only pipe I’ll be laying…SailorI didn’t want this gig, okay?But the deal was too sweet to walk away from.I needed the public endorsement; Hunter needed a nanny.Besides, what’s six months in the grand scheme of things?It’s not like I’m in danger of falling in love with the appallingly gorgeous, charismatic gazillionaire who happens to be one of Boston’s most eligible bachelors.No. I will remain immune to Hunter Fitzpatrick’s charm.Even at the cost of losing everything I have.Even at the cost of burning down his kingdom.

Poughkeepsie


Debra Anastasia - 2011
    And morning and evening, the beautiful commuter acknowledges him—just like she does everyone else on the platform. But Blake Hartt is not like the others . . . he’s homeless. Memories of a broken childhood have robbed him of peace and twisted delusions into his soul. He stays secluded from the sun, sure the world would run from him in the harsh light of day. Each day, Livia McHugh smiles politely and acknowledges her fellow commuters as she waits for the train to the city. She dismisses this kindness as nothing special, just like her. She’s the same as a million other girls—certainly no one to be cherished. But special or not, she smiles every day, never imagining that someone would rely on the simple gesture as if it were air to breathe.

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?

Easy Virtue


Mia Asher - 2014
    Are you ready for mine?

Deeper


Robin York - 2014
    Suddenly her once-promising future doesn’t look so bright. Caroline tries to make the pictures disappear, hoping time will bury her shame. Then a guy she barely knows rises to her defense and punches her ex to the ground.West Leavitt is the last person Caroline needs in her life. Everyone knows he’s shady. Still, Caroline is drawn to his confidence and swagger—even after promising her dad she’ll keep her distance. On late, sleepless nights, Caroline starts wandering into the bakery where West works.They hang out, they talk, they listen. Though Caroline and West tell each other they’re “just friends,” their feelings intensify until it becomes impossible to pretend. The more complicated her relationship with West gets, the harder Caroline has to struggle to discover what she wants for herself—and the easier it becomes to find the courage she needs to fight back against the people who would judge her.When all seems lost, sometimes the only place to go is deeper.

Where the Blame Lies


Mia Sheridan - 2019
    Zach was just a rookie on the perimeter of that case, but he’s never forgotten the traumatized woman with the haunted eyes.As more information emerges, the crimes take on an even more sinister similarity. But Josie’s attacker died by suicide. Does the city have a copycat on its hands? A killer who picked up where the original perpetrator left off? Or are they facing something far more insidious?Josie has spent the last eight years attempting to get her life back on track, but now there’s a very real chance she could be the unknown suspect’s next target. As Zach vows to keep her safe, and Josie finds herself responding to him in a way she hasn’t responded to any man in almost a decade, the investigation takes on an even more complex edge of danger.As past and present collide, Josie and Zach are thrust toward a shocking and chilling truth. A revelation that threatens not only Josie’s life, but everything she’s been fighting so desperately to reclaim.

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.

Best Laid Plans


Stylo Fantome - 2015
    Together, they'll learn that sometimes even the best laid plans can fail.If this NOVEL were a MOVIE, it would have an R rating from the MPAA. Contains: Violence, Grisly Images, Strong Language, Nudity, and Graphic Sexual Content

One is a Promise


Pam Godwin - 2017
    My dark rebel in leather. My powerhouse of passion, devastating smiles, and impulsiveness.When his job sends him overseas, he promises to return to me.A promise that’s destroyed in the most irrevocable way.Two years later, an arrogant suit invades my heartbroken loneliness.Clean-cut and stern, Trace is everything Cole wasn’t.At first, he’s a job that will rescue my dance company. But as he intrudes on my life, our hostile relationship evolves.He knows I’m still in love with Cole, but his dedication is my undoing.Then a catastrophic moment changes everything.Promises resurface.Lies entangle.And an impossible choice shatters my world.I love two men, and I can only have one.The TANGLED LIES series must be read in order.One is a PromiseTwo is a LieThree is a War