Book picks similar to
The Beautiful People by E.J. Fechenda
mafia
romance
new-adult
crime
Deception and Chaos
S.M. Soto - 2018
With her older brother being her only living relative and her anchor, Sophia is sure she's destined for a brighter future. But that was until she was taken.Stolen from her mundane, orderly life, she was drugged, and woke to every woman's worst nightmare.With only four grimy basement walls and a rancid mattress, she loses her sense of time, and preserves what's left of her dignity by hurtling herself into the safety of her mind. The men, the beatings, they come and go with no reaction, until she hears one word that sends an arctic chill through her body. Sold.On the eve of Sophia's bidding, all hell breaks loose in the mansion of horrors. Gunfire and screams erupt all around her, as panic rises.Snatched by one monster only to be taken by another, Sophia slowly starts to learn that not everything is as it seems. When secrets unravel, and the twisted game of cat and mouse ensues, The Puppeteer pulls his favorite strings and chaos brews. Lives are lost while the clock ticks, and only time will tell who will be killed next... WARNING: This book contains very disturbing situations, dubious content, strong language, and graphic violence. May contain triggers for abuse victims.
Nanny and the Beast
Georgia Le Carre - 2018
Two months ago she completely stopped speaking. Her psychiatrist thought a gentler presence around the house might be good for her. She suggested a nanny for the child. Naturally, I would do anything that would help her regain her happy childhood.But I didn't expect the woman who stepped into my office. Yeah, she's got my attention, all right, but for all the wrong reasons. I sure as hell don't need this ripe fruit to distract me day and night in my own home.I tell her she hasn't got the job, and watch her leave my study, but Fate has other plans. Resistance is futile.AprilHe lives in a white mansion in London's Knightsbridge, a magnet for playboys and Russian billionaires. Big, burly bodyguards look at me as if I've not come for a job interview, but to steal the family silver. Whatever. I maintain my professionalism, I'm determined to get this intriguing job of caring for the girl who refuses to speak. A prim woman leads me to his study. She knocks, and a deep, smooth voice beckons us to enter. The door opens and I set eyes on Yuri Volkov.OMG.His eyes are like a wolf's. Pitiless. Mesmerizing Dangerous. Obviously he Is drop dead wrong but, I can't stop imagining his big, tanned hands caressing every inch of me. After the briefest interview in the history of interviews he informs me I haven't got the job. As I walk away, humiliated, from his study, it happens. The unthinkable.And I'm suddenly back in the game.
Machiavellian
Bella Di Corte - 2020
I hungered to be seen. There were three things I knew about Capo Macchiavello: He was gorgeous. He was reclusive. He was considered one of New York’s most savage animals. And he wanted me as his wife. A simple arrangement – you do for me, I do for you. Nothing owed, no expectations. Except for one: never leave. Life was never that simple, though. By the age of twenty-one, I was parentless, jobless, and homeless, and I had come to learn the hard way that nothing was ever free. Even kindness comes with strings. Capo might’ve been the only man to ever see me, but I had made a vow to myself: I would never owe anyone anything. Most of all, the man I called boss. I killed to stay hidden. Mariposa Flores thought she owed nothing to no one, but she owed everything…to me, the ghost the world had once called The Machiavellian Prince of New York.
Cloak and Dagger
Nenia Campbell - 2012
When a hacker breaks into their computer's mainframe, they send Michael out to finish off the loose ends. But so far, there's just one lead to go on. The hacker's daughter, Christina Parker.Christina seems like any other high school senior. And she is — until she gets kidnapped by a group of people who think she's the key to the malicious code that has infected their mainframe system and she is plunged into a world where the lines between right and wrong are blurred beyond all recognition and terror knows no bounds. What do you do when the odds are against you, and the stake is your life?As she quickly learns, there are good guys and there are bad guys. Sometimes Michael's one, sometimes he's the other--but usually he's both. And right now he's the only one who can save her.Cover design by Louisa.
Taken by My Best Friend
Logan Chance - 2018
Sometimes not for the better.Xavier is no longer the maid’s son. Or my best friend. Now he’s wealthy and powerful--the dark don, in charge of one of the largest corporations in the world.I never expected the boy who always saved me to be the man who kidnaps me.XavierSome things never change.Rhiannon is still as fiery and beautiful as the day I walked away. Now I'm back, ready to seek vengeance against the one man who wronged me. My rival. Her father.If her father wants war, he'll get a war.Kidnapping his daughter is the key to my ultimate revenge.
Wrong
L.P. Lovell - 2015
I knew exactly what I wanted and where I was going, until I was thrust into his world and ripped from mine. In the blink of an eye everything shattered, proving to be nothing more than a cheap illusion. Now I’m living in this twisted form of hell, where enemies and friends are one and the same. I thought I wanted perfection. Now I don’t know what I want - perhaps not even my own freedom. Jude I'm the definition of wrong. I'm violent, I'm greedy, and I stop at nothing to win. I'm a notorious bookie and in my game paying with your life is not just a figure of speech. You lose, I collect. I take whatever you have. She’s collateral for a debt, and if that debt's not paid someone will die. This should be just business, so why can’t I kill her? Everything is not always as it seems. Lust. Blood. Lies.Nothing this wrong should feel so right.
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?
The Bargain
Lisa Cardiff - 2015
One moment I had Evan, the man I thought I’d marry. The next moment shattered the illusion.Now I have no one.Except him. Ryker Vargas, and I don’t really have him. He’d never belong to any one but himself. He sucked me into a web of lies and now it’s too late. I took the bait. I’m a prisoner of the Vargas Cartel.I never thought I’d be another statistic, another girl abducted in a foreign country, my entire future washed away by an impulsive, split second in time.But it’s true. My name is Hattie Covington and I’m a statistic, but statistics never tell the whole story.
Honor
Jay Crownover - 2016
Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I've fought and I've survived. I've had to.The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.I'm here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She's disappeared. But don't worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.Like I said, don't be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise… I'm the one front and center.
Condemned to Love
Siobhan Davis - 2021
Will one life-altering night unite or destroy them? Bennett Mazzone grew up ignorant of the truth: he is the illegitimate son of the most powerful mafia boss in New York. Until it suited his father to drag him into a world where power, wealth, violence, and cruelty are the only currency.Celebrating her twenty-first birthday in Sin City should be fun for Sierra Lawson, but events take a deadly turn when she ends up in a private club, surrounded by dangerous men who always get what they want.And they want her.Ben can’t believe his ex’s little sister is all grown up, stunningly beautiful, and close to being devoured by some of the most ruthless men he has ever known. The Vegas trip is about strengthening ties, but he won’t allow his associates to ruin her perfection. Although it comes at a high price, saving Sierra is his only choice.The memory of Ben’s hands on her body is seared into Sierra’s flesh for eternity. She doesn’t regret that night. Not even when she discovers the guy she was crushing on as a teenager is a cold, calculating killer with dark impulses and lethal enemies who want him dead.Understanding the risks, she walks away from the only man she will ever love, stowing her secrets securely in her heart. Until the truth becomes leverage and Sierra is drawn into a bloody war—a pawn in a vicious game she doesn’t want to play.As the web of deceit is finally revealed, Ben will stop at nothing to protect Sierra. Even if loving her makes him weak. In a world where women serve a sole purpose, and alliances mean the difference between life and death, can he fight for love and win?A STAND-ALONE DARK MAFIA ROMANCE.
Tough Love
Skye Warren - 2015
My father’s guards don’t see me. My sister doesn’t see me.No one sees me, except him.He’s the son of a mafia foot soldier. My father is the boss. I shouldn’t even know Giovanni. And I definitely shouldn’t kiss him. Our relationship is doomed to fail, but that won’t stop me from trying.Not every girl wants to be a princess. I just want to be free.
Sweet Mercy
K.A. Tucker - 2019
Tucker comes the dark and steamy Empire Nightclub series.One visit to my father in prison—convicted for a murder he didn’t commit—and I’ve attracted the attention of the last man I’d ever want knowing that I exist.Gabriel Easton.Son of an infamous crime boss. Deplorable womanizer. Scoundrel to the core.Worse, he has figured out how desperate I am to protect my father from brutality behind bars. He has the power to grant that protection, and he has offered it … for a price.Me.I'll do anything for my father, including agree to Gabriel's cruel game. But I won't comply with his every whim and wish. Unfortunately for me, I think my loathing for him is what he’s enjoying most.That's fine. By the time I’m through with him, he’ll be crying my name.Mercy.
Dark Russian Angel
Odette Stone - 2019
I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,And I witnessed a crime.The police are failing to protect me.And my chance of survival isn't looking good.Andrusha, is the cold and dangerous leader of the Vancouver Russian mafia,He's also my best chance to make it to trial alive.The only thing we have in common,Is our shared enemy.This man is everything your mom warned you about.He's ruthless.He's cold.And he likes to be in control.I should be afraid of him.I should keep my distance.So why is he the only one who makes me feel safe?Who will protect me from my protector?
Always Cambridge
H.K. Carlton - 2013
He is a tall, muscular, God-like force in the young, impressionable and lonely girl’s life. He is her friend, her confident, her conscience, and the older man she adores beyond reason.Randy Phillips is fully aware of his young charge’s adolescent crush on him. Although he is flattered by the adulation, he maintains a safe distance and professional demeanour until Holly is wounded in a rival family blood feud, and the course of both their lives is changed forever.Advisory : This is a six book series. The first five installments end with To Be Continued...But the good thing about this series is you won’t have to wait years between installments. eXtasy Books will release a new book, the first of every month until the conclusion in September.
Destino
Sienna Mynx - 2012
In 1989, she is the first prominent African American fashion designer redefining change for both beauty and style among the renowned in Italy. That happens until the evening she meets a tall, mysteriously charming Sicilian businessman who orchestrates a friendship that awakens a wicked sexual heat she has long forgotten. Who is he really? What harm could a little fling in one of the most beautiful countries in the world bring?Plenty.Don Giovanni Battaglia is a man who knows how to get his way. He lives his life on the razor edge of control as he balances family and his dark legacy. He is the leader of a ruthless crime family, and those who intercept his purpose are swiftly made to pay. Mira’s design house opens in Napoli, and unbeknownst to her, the property she occupies is one for which the Battaglia family has big plans. Giovanni’s designs for her business set them on a collision course of heated passion, spine chilling danger, and an unspeakable act of murder.