Book picks similar to
Sanctum by K. Michelle


dark
contemporary
dnf
cliffhanger

Traded


Rebecca Brooke - 2015
     When you’re done with me, you can walk away with no regrets. That’s how my husband sees me. I try to be the best wife possible for him. After all, he took me on when no one else would. Now--he’s in debt and owes more money to the loan shark than we can possibly repay. But, don’t worry, he’s come up with a solution, it’s just not one I was expecting. ...I’ve been TRADED. **Content Warning: this book contains adult language, Sexual situations and situations of emotional abuse. Please use caution when reading. **THIS BOOK IS MEANT FOR ADULTS 18+ ONLY**

Beneath the Lies


Riann C. Miller - 2016
    When the unthinkable happens and Kate is left all alone in the world, and set to inherit her parents’ fortune, she discovers the evils that truly exist.Gavin Loman has a tumultuous past: losing his father at a young age, a mother with a destructive personality, and buried secrets even he does not truly understand the depths of. Striking out on his own, he is finally making a name for himself . . . until a green-eyed girl who haunts his dreams comes crashing into his life.When hidden truths are unveiled and pasts collide, Gavin must protect those he loves from becoming victims to the terrors of his childhood. However, not everything is as it seems . . .What would you do if everything you held dear was threatened? When the truth you believed is weaved with lies?Adult Contemporary Romance: Due to language and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.

Owned by the Badman


Hayley Faiman - 2016
    Raised to be no more than the ballerina her mother could never be, she eats, sleeps, and breathes dance. Then, when she is blindsided by the news that her parents have arranged for her to be married, she does as she has always done—exactly as she is told. However, despite the fact that the man she is to call her husband is a complete stranger, Haleigh cannot help but hope that maybe, just maybe, she will finally get the chance to know love. Maxim is not a good man. His strength is foreboding and his handsome features are merely a distraction for the dangerous person that lies beneath. When he collects a debt by way of a beautiful, ballerina bride, he relishes in the fact that he owns something so pure, so innocent—so undeniably his. Yet, Haleigh is better than he ever expected, and it is not long before his ownership begins to turn into something much, much more. But when the darkness of Maxim’s past comes back to haunt him, the illusion of love’s safety is shattered. Maxim’s demons seek to destroy everything he holds dear. Suddenly, being owned by the badman is worse than Haleigh imagined. In order to protect her, Maxim has to decide just how bad he can be, and if letting go is the best choice. ** Recommended for readers 18+ due to graphic sexual content, violence, language and sexual abuse - possible triggers.

Reckless Hate


Thandiwe Mpofu - 2019
    The results? Reckless Hate & Catastrophe."Westbrook had four boys that ruled my life once.They were hell raisers.Cunning Athletes.Skilled Manipulators.Hateful Assholes.Gorgeous gods.Heartbreakers. . .Only I never counted on them breaking my heart as savagely as they did, sending me away when I needed them the most. Making me spiral into a vicious abyss of darkness where I'm haunted by a pair of frosty blue eyes filled with hate.But now I'm back and this time around, for a reason that makes breathing almost completely impossible.And if they think I won't get revenge for my brother--one of the Blue Boys--then they have another kind of hell to face.Because I'm no longer their little Blue girl from four years ago. . .

Interim


S. Walden - 2015
    That space is called the INTERIM.~High school seniors Jeremy Stahl and Regan Walters aren’t friends. Not even close. He’s a picked-on, picked-apart loser outcast. She’s a cool kid running with the popular crowd. It’s unlikely they’d ever speak to one another. Too bad he’s madly in love with her. But what does it matter anyway? He’s got no time for love. Only revenge.Meticulously detailed in the pages of his battered red notebook is his master plan: April 14, 9:30 A.M., two guns, eighty rounds of ammo, backup knives, eleven victims. He’s finally ready to answer every single taunt, jeer, and flying fist—unwarranted abuse that’s spanned six years of his lonely life. He’s justified. He’s ready. But he never readied himself for her.Regan finds his journal. She reads it, and when he discovers her intrusion, he has to switch tactics. She’s a liability now.Better fix that.Interim is a New Adult Standalone. It contains explicit language and disturbing images of violence, including gun violence. If school shootings are an especially sensitive subject for you, I encourage you to refrain from reading this book. - S. Walden

Even Money


Alessandra Torre - 2018
    A connection of eyes across a room, a quickened heartbeat, and everything changes. I was a cocktail waitress with a fondness for partying and meaningless hook-ups. He owned half of Vegas, with the reputation to match. I should have turned away. Instead, I stepped closer. Then, the lies started. Rumors spread. Stalking commenced. And someone died. It didn't stop me from falling in love. *This is book 1 in a duet. The second book, Double Down, will release on June 18th*

Infinitely


Cheryl McIntyre - 2014
    He was her first—everything. Her first friend, her first kiss, her first love, and her first heartbreak. The day Benji left was the worst day of her life. Until the day he came back.Benjamin Borelli always knew he’d find a way back to Briar—he just couldn’t foresee the devastating circumstances that would pave his way home. A lot has changed in the three years since he’s left. Benji is no longer the sweet, easygoing kid he once was. A lifestyle of drugs and violence has hardened him, leaving him hollow and despondent. But his feelings for Briar have always been his one constant.When a series of wrong choices and bad decisions force Benji to flee back to his childhood home, he knows he has to clean himself up and straighten out the mess he’s made before he’ll be worthy of Briar again. The only problem with his plan—there’s no outrunning the danger of his past. With the threat so close to home, he must do whatever it takes to protect the girl he’s always loved—no matter the risk. *Due to harsh language, violence, drug use, and sexual situations, this book is recommended for 17+.

Wicked Knight


Tracy Lorraine - 2021
    I want blood for those who wronged me and my family. And my so-called truth is ripping me apart, in a way lies never could.Everyone else has moved on, but I can’t. Not until someone pays.And it seems that fate is on my side this time, because the hellion girl from the graveyard is going to be my saving grace… and provide me with everything I crave.The pain.The vengeance.The blood.She has no idea what she’s been dragged into, but she’s going to regret every step she’s taken to get here.Stella Doukas isn’t like any other girl I’ve encountered before.She’s fierce, determined, and much stronger than I anticipated.I might have met my match.And that is not a good thing…Dear readers,Wicked Knight is the first to my new angst-filled new adult mafia series.This is my darkest bully romance yet. If the following doesn’t get your pulse racing in all the right ways, you might want to miss this one out…Dub/non-con, bullying, knife and blood play, mutilation, humiliation, somnophilia, sexual violence, exhibitionism/voyeurism. You have been warned. Enjoy!

Perfect Chaos


Nashoda Rose - 2014
    Have since I was sixteen and my world fell into chaos. But I found a way to endure, or rather it found me. Now I’m a prisoner of my own doing, hiding behind a false mask so no one sees the truth. Not even the man I want but can’t have—Deck. But I messed up and the lies are spilling over, out of control. Deck is unrelenting and will settle for nothing less than the truth. He demands everything from me—EVERYTHING—even if it rips me apart.DECKI kill for a living.Unyielding—It’s how I survive in my line of work. I bend people to my will…except Georgie.But that ends now.I've played her game for far too long. Now I think it's time we play mine.

Lost Without You


Molly O'Keefe - 2017
     I failed. And with that failure there's blood on my hands. I owe a dangerous man an equally dangerous debt. When he comes calling, I either pay or spend the rest of my life in jail. I’m ready for anything. Except seeing Beth again. BETH I’ve spent my life hiding behind disguises to protect myself from ever revealing too much. But now my life is falling apart around me, and the past I’ve tried to outrun has caught up. The only man I’ve loved has betrayed me. Again. And both our lives are on the line. Contains The Debt: A Prologue and 50,000 more words in the continuation of Tommy and Beth's story.

Black Sheep


Tabatha Vargo - 2016
    I can’t submit to her TEMPTATION no matter how sweetly she begs because she’s the GOLDEN CHILD and I’m the BLACK SHEEP.

Pickpocket


Christa DeClue - 2019
    She has escaped unspeakable evil by using her photographic memory and her skill. Now she moves from city to city, never staying too long. She’s a certified borrower of things. It is her classy way of calling herself a pickpocket. She borrows things to survive, and to stay off the grid. So the abuse from her past can’t catch up with her. She has never had an issue until St. Louis. She pickpockets the wrong man and finds herself in jail.Collin Reeves is a desperate man. He will do anything he can to rescue his kidnapped niece. Ex-Special Forces, now a self-made millionaire, he’s got a lot of resources at his disposal. He still hasn’t heard a single thing about her disappearance. Until the night he finally gets a tip on her whereabouts, the tip could only be opened alone. The only tip he’s gotten in six months. So it’s in his wallet until he can make it home. That is until it’s stolen from him.They must decide on whether to keep butting heads or to use their skills to team up to find an innocent girl who is going through hell. Maybe they’ll find each other along the way. Or will they let the demons from each other’s pasts destroy everything that could be?

Black Skies Riviera


Catherine Wiltcher - 2020
    I'm a black suit of spades:Determined to bury both her and my demons.I never asked to see the shape of her heart.I never asked for her to fill the blank spaces of mine. But the mafia wants her secrets.I'm not the first she betrayed.And Issa? Sweet, not-so-innocent Issa?She's now a debt no sinner can pay. Black Skies Riviera is a heart-stopping, enemies to lovers romance with NO cliff-hanger and a guaranteed HEA. For mature readers only.

Waiting for my Queen


Georgia Cates - 2020
    I was foolish enough to try to change the rules… and I lost.Luca—She was promised to me years ago.And he dared to take her from me.Dared to touch what was mine.I put an end to that.I hope he’s enjoying the view from his dirt room.Emilia—My beloved’s killer placed a ruby ring on my finger and called me his queen. But that red gem symbolizes something different for me. It represents the blood shed by those I love most.Hell was empty the day we wed.Because the devil was standing before me and said “I do.”Luca—I saw her as a possession.A shiny toy I didn’t want other boys to play with.But she’s so much more.Beautiful and brave and strong and broken all at once.She tastes like everything I’ve ever wanted.Emilia—Hidden and patient.I wait for the perfect time to seek my revenge.But slowly, I feel him possessing me.His heart is full of darkness… and I still want every inch of him.Hard as I try, I can’t escape loving this beautiful monster.Luca—I’m waiting patiently because I already know that she’s mine.Mine in a way that no one will ever understand.Even if she hasn’t yet realized it.For love, I’d do anything. For her, I’d do everything.

The Truth About Lies


Aly Martinez - 2018
    And I was helpless to save her. Consumed by hate and rage, I spent four years running from my memories. Until a shattered woman gave me a reason to stop. Cora lived in a nightmare, but through sheer force of will, she’d turned it into something beautiful. She had a smile that could pierce the darkest soul. And with one glance, she shredded mine. Lie: I was only there for a fresh start. Lie: I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Lie: There was nothing I could do to save her, either. But that’s the thing about lies—you never know who to believe.