Book picks similar to
Pretty Vicious Things by J.S. Madden


bully
contemporary-romance
academy
0wn-y0u

Riot Hearts


Livy North - 2021
    Crow is awaiting my fall so they can trample over me.Everyone’s competing over taking her down—but I’ll be damned if I let anyone catch my prey.Our lives entwine and when we’re shipped off to New York together, I figure out just how much River Sinclair gets under my skin.Emory Lauder has always been stuck under my skin.River thinks he’s invulnerable, but everyone has that one fatal flaw.I know everyone has a soft spot. I guess I just didn’t think mine would look so much like her.Note: This book is the first in a duet and ends with a cliffhanger.

The Evolution of Ivy: Poison


Lauren Campbell - 2017
    But they know the old me well—the me she harmed, and the me he loved. She thinks she has him. But I'm going to take him back. He thinks she's the one. But I'm going to show him he's wrong. I thought it was over. But now I have a chance.

Pocketful of Blame


Chloe Walsh - 2019
    Chris and Sketch. As different as night and day. One my best friend. One my lover. Inseparable since childhood, I always assumed that we would grow up, escape our sleepy hometown of Pocketful, and live out a life of adventure together, away from our powerful fathers and the lure of money. But life as I know it changed two years ago when reckless Sketch broke my heart and dependable Chris picked up the pieces. Except now Chris is dead, and I’m the only one with the answers to what happened that night. I’m the only living witness. My connection with Sketch has been severed. He thinks I killed his brother and I’m determined to let him believe it. Because the truth could put us both in the grave. Pocketful of Blame is the first in a four-book series, and contains a cliffhanger ending that runs into the next book. Because of its explicit sexual content, mature themes, bully themes, potential triggers, and bad language, this book is suitable for mature readers. Series in order: Pocketful of Blame Pocketful of Shame Pocketful of You Pocketful of Us

Low Over High


J.A. DeRouen - 2016
    It’s not a gift, but rather, all skill, honed to a razor’s edge after one too many trips down the rabbit hole.Some may dismiss my talent as misplaced and misguided cynicism, but they’d be wrong. Cliches about hope and faith in mankind are concocted unicorn farts, an effort to keep the dreamers dreaming. Experiences don’t lie—people do.While I’m not proud of the circumstances that led me to this way of thinking, I respect the journey. The road to enlightenment can be dark and foreboding, but the destination makes it all worthwhile.But funny thing about the past—it’s a defiant child refusing to stay in time out. No matter how deeply buried, it can always pop up when least expected, and sink its fucking claws into the flesh of your heart. No, not my heart—I no longer have one. I foolishly gave it away years ago, but I still feel the ripping in my chest as I fist the crumpled note left on my porch.I’ve avoided this day, ran from it, for the past eight years.And still we meet again.But to truly understand … to feel my dread and fear my future as I do, it’s important to know what happened in my past.Or who…My name is Marlo Rivers, and this is my story of corrupted love.MATURE AUDIENCES ONLY 18+Warning: This book contains graphic content which may not be suitable for sensitive readers.

Tripping Me Up


Amber Garza - 2013
    No one in my high school seems to notice me at all. When they finally do it's because the popular Tripp Bauer accidently smacks me in the face with a wad of paper. Talk about humiliating.Only now he keeps talking to me.At first it was to apologize, and I figured once I forgave him he'd go away. But he doesn't, and now my feelings for him are starting to grow. And that scares me. Guys like Tripp Bauer don't fall for girls like me. Or do they?

Savage Rose


Leila James - 2021
    All the guys wish they could be him.He’s a savage.He plays with my heart, but I can’t tear myself away.I’ve made a mistake in coming here.He holds the key to everything.And I’m afraid of the truth he hides.Welcome to Rosehaven Academy.This is a mature new adult high school series and contains situations that some readers might find offensive.This Book 1 of a duet and ends on a CLIFFHANGER. Book 2, Tainted Rose releases Feb 2021.

My Boss’s Daughter (Bossed by the Billionaire #1)


Kelli Walker - 2020
    No Cliffhangers and a HEA!

Take My Crown


Louise Rose - 2020
    Like in all the pretty pictures, King Town looks perfect. But underneath the cracks, that a painting can never altogether hide, lies and sins rule the town with the Academy right in the middle of it.Kidnapped and forced from my latest foster home into the dangerous world of King Academy and the games they play, I find out I’m from here and now there is no escaping this world. I’m born to play the same games they do. Four houses rule this small gated town, and they always have done, poisoning the waters with their sins and darkness. And their heirs? Well, they think they rule everything and everyone. They use their money and good looks to charm the academy into calling them their kings.But I’m not falling for that bullshit. Romeo Navarre, Archer Knight and Declan Dauphin may think they own the academy, own the town, and get everything they want…but then they have just met me.They will soon find out I’m not falling for the sexy boys of King Academy. Recommend for 18+ readers due to content. This is a full-length book and the first of five books in this series and a reverse harem romance which means the main characters has more than one love interest.Release dates for the series-Take My Crown #1- July 10thTake My Place #2- August 10thTake My Throne #3- September 10thBe My Traitor #4- October 10thBe My Heart #5- November 10th

Fortune Academy: Year One


J.R. Thorn - 2019
    I have a feeling he was supposed to take me to the monster holding arena to fight and die. Instead, I'm Fortune Academy's newest student. I can relate to the monsters in ways the other students can't. My mentor, who is way too hot for his own good, tells me my behavior is the result of my memory loss and that I'm just trying to identify with a past pain that I've buried too far to feel. I think he's wrong. I think the reason I can't relate to any of the students is because I'm one of the monsters they're trained to kill. I don't fit into any of the supernatural cliques, but that doesn't stop me from collecting bullies. A brawny alpha shifter, a moody dark mage, and a playboy demi-god have decided to break me. They think I don't have any powers and that I was recruited by mistake. It'll be their funeral if they push me too far, because this girl isn't taking any of their shit. My name is Lily Fallen, but don't let my pretty face fool you. I'm a monster in a school uniform and it's only a matter of time before I teach my bullies a lesson they won't forget.  Fortune Academy: Year One is the first of three novels in an upper YA/NA paranormal academy series. Expect a slow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance where there are five guys and no choosing required!

Unhinged


Nicole Edwards - 2014
    Never would I have expected her to step right into my reality, though. But she did. Although I can’t explain why, Payton Fowler makes me want things I never imagined I could have. She soothes the chaos in my head. But she doesn’t know who I really am, and she doesn’t see the darkness that lives inside of me.She’s supposed to be off limits to me. But that’s not a problem because I’ve perfected the art of breaking the rules. My name is Sebastian Trovato and this is the story of how I met the woman who unhinges me.

Broken Pretty Things


Amber Faye - 2021
    Heir to the biggest financial empire in the state. Smart, handsome, charismatic.And my best friend.Or he was.My most powerful ally has become my most devastating enemy.Devious, manipulative, cunning — it figures that the only thing in this world he can’t stand is a liar as good as him.Without our friendship, nothing is off limits anymore…Nothing.

I'm Your Bully


Andrea Tyse - 2014
    He was also Emma Benton’s childhood nemesis who lived next door. Emma’s life is filled with trying to make enough money to keep her family’s house from being foreclosed on and save up enough to eventually win her independence. To her dismay lately Jax has been hanging around his parent’s house and he’s started to take notice of something he hadn’t before. Emma has grown up. No matter how hot everyone thought Jax was, to Emma he was ugly. At least that’s what she kept telling herself every time she saw him watching her walk past his parent’s house when he visited from college. Jax relished his years as a bully, he’s completely unrepentant about the humiliation he served up to “Uggie” Emma in the past, but as he insinuates himself into her life, he starts to see her as a real person for the first time. He doesn’t like what he suspects is a bad situation in her home life either. The more he is around her, the more he sees how his past treatment may have made her life harder. Jax decides magnanimously that he is going to make things up to Emma, even if he has to bully his way into her life to do it. Soon Jax is all in and it’s up to him to show Emma how he feels and convince her that this isn’t just another cruel joke he’s playing.

Facing The Enemy


M.E. Clayton - 2019
    Growing up in an abusive household, she endured a life of violence that ultimately led to the murder of her mother. However, she's only a couple of months away from turning 18, so she's got it covered. At least, she thought she did until her guilt ridden aunt comes and takes her in. Now, living miles away, where money is worshipped like a deity, she realizes she's a far cry away from the trailer park she called home. ​ Ramsey Reed wasn't blinded by money, power or social standing, even though he had all three of those things in spades. He knew people with money were just as degenerate as people without it. The wealthy were just able to pay people to look the other way, while the poor could not. He was only 18-years-old, but he was already sick and tired of the people around him. They were nothing but tools he used for his entertainment, and he found himself not being entertained much these days. When Emerson shows up at a pre-school year party and meets Ramsey, their connection sparks a battle of wills so strong, neither is certain if they'll be able to hold on to their sanity. And, yet, neither of them cared. Warning: While the story contains a HEA, it is a dark romance, bully read. It contains triggers and can be offensive to some readers. Please do not purchase if sensitive to such materials.

When Rivals Fall


J.L. Beck - 2019
     Two years ago she set us up, tainted our family image, ruined my brother’s life. She made it personal. It was no longer just a rivalry between our parents. Now she’s here, at Bayshore University, without her family’s protection. There’s nothing to stop us from getting our revenge on her, no one to tell us enough is enough. And so my brothers and I have devised a plan. We’ll break her, have her falling at her knees for us in no time, and then we’ll send her back to her family with a warning… Cross the Bishops again and you’ll pay. *** HARLOW I’ve despised the smug, stupidly gorgeous Bishop brothers since I was a small child. Our families rivalry was one that started years before us and one that I wanted to end. I was tired of being my parent's puppet, tired of the games, of the hate. All I wanted was to enjoy college and move on with my life. But your past can never stay hidden, right? When the Bishop brothers turn up at my school I have no place to run. I know then they’ll make certain I pay for every single bad-mouthed remark I or my parents ever made about them. At Bayshore, I’m at their mercy and they won’t stop until my heart is a bleeding mess. AUTHOR NOTE: This is a reverse harem college bully romance that contains subject matter not suitable for all readers.

The Rules of Regret


Megan Squires - 2013
    Her boyfriend of six years just left for a high-powered summer internship, though in reality he’s been absent for much longer than that. This newfound freedom wasn’t a part of Darby’s plans, but as she’s come to discover, plans only exist on paper, not in reality.And guys like Torin Westbrook aren’t supposed to exist in reality, either. But he does, with his disheveled curly hair, irresistible dimples, and endearingly quirky habit of reciting quotes from classic movies and ancient thinkers. When Darby meets Torin as a fellow counselor at the survival camp she impulsively applies to, she’s certain his main goal is to turn her world upside-down. But Darby’s not sure she can adapt to Torin’s ways of viewing his past and the tragedies he's faced. Because she’s had her own share of heartache, too, and as much as she wants to believe that it’s all been for a purpose, her grief hasn’t allowed her to get to that point. Yet the more Darby is around Torin, the more she craves the freedom to break out of her carefully constructed routine and mindset and fall into something new. She’s just not sure that she should be falling for Torin along the way.(The Rules of Regret is a non-explicit, young/new adult romance.)