Book picks similar to
The Concubine by Francette Phal
romance
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Claiming the Courtesan
Anna Campbell - 2007
Men fight duels to spend an hour in her company. And only he comes close to taming her. Flying in the face of society, he decides to make her his bride; then, she vanishes, seemingly into thin air.Dire circumstances have forced Verity Ashton to barter her innocence and change her name for the sake of her family. But Kylemore destroys her plans for a respectable life when he discovers her safe haven. He kidnaps her, sweeping her away to his hunting lodge in Scotland, where he vows to bend her to his will.There he seduces her anew. Verity spends night after night with him in his bed ... and though she still dreams of escape and independence, she knows she can never flee the unexpected, unwelcome love for the proud, powerful lover who claims her both body and soul.
Sea of Ruin
Pam Godwin - 2020
Wanted for piracy, she fears neither God nor death nor man. Except Priest Farrell. The unfaithful, stormy-eyed libertine hunts her with terrifying possessiveness. Nothing will stop him from coming for her. Not his unforgivable betrayal. Not when she's captured by the ice-cold pirate hunter, Lord Ashley Cutler. She must escape Ashley's prison and Priest's deceit. But can she walk away from their twisted desires? Two gorgeous captains stand on opposite sides of the law. When they collide in a battle to protect her, the lines blur between enemies and lovers. Passion heats, secrets unravel, and hearts entangle until they break. Can love prevail in the sea of ruin?
Amore, Part 1
Bella Jewel - 2016
It is love that destroys us.”I’m just a normal girl. Or so you would think. I’ve never thought of myself as anything different. Until I met him.He doesn’t think I’m normal. He thinks I’m special. Special enough to be in his life. Special enough to enter his world. Special enough for his bed. Rafael Lencioni. Dangerous. Beautiful. Terrifying. My story is the one that’s never told. I’m not the daughter. I’m not the wife. I’m not the forbidden lover. I’m not a sister or a mother. I’m not who you think I am. So for me to fit into their world, I have to do something I never wanted in my life. Something I would have frowned upon until I met him. I have to change who I am. I have to shut down my heart. I have to accept my place. My body belongs to him. My heart isn’t permitted to.Those are his rules. But rules were made to be broken…right?
Run
Eve Vaughn - 2014
A man known and feared for his ruthlessness, his word was law. The last word he ever expected to hear was no. Until he met her.The Prey…Aya Smith despised the ruling class who looked down on hardworking people like her. Sick of being treated unfairly by laws that protect the wealthy and punish the poor, she takes a stand but soon realizes, she might have crossed the wrong man.The Game…Created as a government program to assist in the repopulation of the country when an untested drug wipes out millions of women, The Run eventually evolves into something much more sinister. Now played for the amusement of the super rich, women down on their luck find themselves the prizes of sadistic masters.Aya is forced to volunteer for The Run, and Dare, the most sadistic of all, places her in his crosshairs. She will belong to him, body and soul. But when he catches her will she succumb to his mastery, or will he find more trouble than he bargained for?
How The Warrior Fell
Nicole René - 2016
Each passing day renews Leawyn's longing to escape, but when a new threat from a mysterious foe puts the tribes in jeopardy, everything changes...including her feelings for Xavier. Bound between duty and honor, Leawyn must make the decision that could change everything. Can she stay and accept her new life, and her husband? Or is Xavier's heart too cold for her to melt? Lines will be broken. Blood will be shed.With love being their biggest battle of all, only time will tell, if it will be enough...to make her warrior fall.
December
Merel Pierce - 2019
Her botched burglary attempt leaves her at the mercy of the Bratva and its leader Nikolai Petrovski, and after an incident with one of his men lands her in the hospital, the horrible truth is revealed. Nikolai wants to punish the tiny female who wreaked havoc in his holding pens, but after catching the scent of the girl his enforcer almost strangled to death, instinct prompts him to alter his course. When doctors confirm what was believed to be a sickly beta woman is actually a chemically sterilized omega, a plan to secure himself an heir becomes his first priority. When December awakes, it is Nikolai himself who breaks the devastating news. The faulty device that the state implanted in her when it deemed her unworthy of breeding has been removed, and she will soon experience her first true heat as an omega. December owed a debt, and she'd pay with her body, or her life. But what would happen when the alpha Nikolai discovered just how valuable a prize he'd caught? Would he honor the terms of their arrangement once he realized she was one of “The Sacred Omegas”? This is a Dark Omegaverse Fantasy Novel. Omegaverse often features themes of noncon, dubcon, power exchange, and more. If you enjoy these tropes, please continue. If you don't, this book may not be for you. *****WARNING***** This book is set in a world where criminal regimes reign. There will be strong language, violence, and scenes of assault that may trigger some readers. You may cringe, you may cry, you may rage, but I promise, if you can bear to fight through that darkness, light and a HEA wait for you on the other side. PROCEED WITH CAUTION. You have been warned.
Broken
W. Winters - 2016
Ruthless. Stone Cold Killer.That’s me. I destroy anything in my path to get what I want.Then she showed up. Olivia Bell. She’s sweet and innocent, and in the wrong place, at the wrong time. Now she’s mine. My property. I own her. Given to me as a bargaining chip.She’s not a part of my plans, but plans change. Her pouty lips and gorgeous curves beg me to break her. Taking her lush curvy body, and ravaging it for all its worth would be easy, but I want to earn her submission. It’s addictive. I want it. I want her.They wanted me to break her. I am. And I’m enjoying it. Now they want to take her from me. Over my dead body.Let them come for us. I’ll kill them all.By the time I’m done, everyone will know. She belongs to me.**This is a DARK romance. A full-length standalone novel with HEA and no cheating**
Heat
R. Lee Smith - 2009
A world quarantined since its discovery by the Far-Reachers of Jota's history. And where the fortunes of slavers and chemists have been made ever since.It was to Earth that Kanetus E'Var, the son of Jota's most ruthless slaver, escaped to make Vahst, a powerful drug manufactured from the human brain. And it was to Earth that Tagen Pahnee, Fourth-ranking officer of the Jotan Off-World Security Fleet, was sent to bring the criminal back to justice. Neither of them could have anticipated that at that moment, E'Var's hunting grounds were experiencing the worst heat wave in years, triggering the Jotan breeding cycle in both males.Home is not an option for either of them. Both are determined to find a way to work on this hostile planet, surrounded by humans, surrounded by dangers, surrounded by Heat.Adult readers only, due to graphic gore, violence, and explicit sexual situations.617 pages, 285,862 words
Keeping Lily
Izzy Sweet - 2016
One night and everything in my life changed. Two words and my world turned dark. “Take her”.Owing the most ruthless crime lord in Garden City five million dollars, my husband chose to trade me and my children away to save himself. I was on the cusp of freedom, so close to divorcing that scumbag I was married to. Now I’m enslaved to a man who is obsessed with me. A man so wicked and beautiful, they call him Lucifer. So alluring, he makes the angels weep with envy. He’s so powerful, I can’t stop myself from bending to his will. He’s determined to master me, and he won’t rest until I give him all. He wants my light, and he wants my dark. He wants my body, and he wants my heart. But most of all, he wants the one thing I can’t give him. The one thing I can’t bear to part with…
Bloodraven
P.L. Nunn - 2007
Only grim tales of the barbaric giants had reached the forest, but Yhalen soon learns that even the darkest fireside story only hinted at the brutality of these Northern warriors. He discovers the meaning of true fear at their hands, and only the awakening of ancient magic saves him from destruction.Surviving ogre viciousness, he finds himself given to Bloodraven, the half ogre, half human war leader as a slave. Yhalen, refusing to bend, soon pays the price for offending prickly ogre pride.But Bloodraven is no mindless, violent ogrish beast. Bloodraven has an agenda and Yhalen finds himself drawn in the wake into human and ogre politics, into bloodshed and cruelty and into the forbidden magic that is damnation in the eyes of his own people, but which might mean the difference between death and salvation.Note: Lulu's page count of 287 is for the PB (and PDF) versions. But 220,735 words equates to approx 663 pages.
The Decimation of Mae
D.H. Sidebottom - 2014
Not in the physical sense, you must understand, but very much literally. He was persistent, resolute and tenacious. His ruthless greed to annihilate me was utterly disturbing. I am sure if he had hierarchy, the man at the top would have dragged his arse into Hell’s prison for his unscrupulous methods. I was just fifteen when I first became aware of what he was capable of. This initial taste of him set the playing field for how my life was to be lived – for want of a better word. He mocked me, showed me mercilessly how he played the game and how he liked to cheat at said game. He ridiculed and taunted me until, six months later, he won and took something of so much importance from me that I would never be the same again. His second visit was, in my eyes, so much more cruel and heartless. I know we’re talking about the Devil here, and yes, you have a right to say he had no heart but even then, even when I was so utterly broken, I begged to differ and hoped – no, prayed – that somewhere deep in the caverns of his black, tortured soul there was something that beat and confused his emotions once in a while. The third visit was somewhat different than the other two. He tried, and at first succeeded to bring me to my knees once and for all, but then something happened. God finally intervened and altered Satan’s intention; he sent hope and morphed the Devil’s minion into an Angel, hoping to break and shatter the anguish and suffering. He gave the ability for me to feel pleasure in pain, order in the chaos and light in the darkness. But in giving me a reprieve, he also gave me something that would finally and ultimately obliterate me. He gave me the capability to love, therefore giving me the ability to be destroyed. And Satan made sure that I was destroyed. Cruelly, viciously and sadistically. I am Mae Swift, and this is the story of my decimation. ***WARNING*** This story doesn’t contain hearts and flowers, it doesn’t even contain the word ‘love’. It isn’t for the fainthearted, nor those who want romance and happy ever afters. It’s dark, in fact it goes beyond the dark realms of misery and despair. It contains disturbing scenes of sexual violence, cruelty and torture. It also includes self-harm, pain addiction and brutalisation. Please bear this in mind before purchasing this book. Thank you.
The Bratva's Baby
Jane Henry - 2019
My orders are simple.Capture her.Marry her.Take her inheritance.Get rid of her.The bookish little recluse is worth more than she knows.She's an unassuming librarian.I'm the brigadier of the Russian Bratva.She has no friends.I command a small army.She's a modest virgin.And now she's mine.
Broken
Eva Dresden - 2019
Slinging drinks in a nightclub with a wicked reputation, she just wants to make it to the next day. Her world is rife with an array of dangers, but it's hers and she answers to no one.Until Tobias Kahler appears and ruins everything, including her.The man who owns the city has set his eyes on the waitress, and he won't be denied. Merciless and without remorse, he'll do anything to make her his and keep her by his side for a purpose Quinn could never have guessed at.Even when broken, she will fight to keep her sanity and herself alive, enduring whatever evils are thrown at her.For the spark of hope buried under all the pain, she'll do a lot more than that. Broken is the first book in the Omega's Destruction Trilogy, a raw and thrilling Omegaverse tale. It is not a traditional romance, containing dark themes and complete power exchange. Scenes are not glossed over, which may be distressing for some readers.
His Indecent Proposal
Lynda Chance - 2011
It doesn't take long before she realizes the business involved is only a smokescreen and she is the ultimate commodity.Excerpt:Jenna sat in first class and fiddled with the platinum band on her left ring finger. She watched David sitting next to her from the corner of her eye. His hand still held hers loosely even in sleep, his fingers laced between hers in a hold of ownership, a hold of possession that he had rarely allowed her away from the entire day.They were approaching the Greater Cincinnati airport and her mind raced over the day that had just passed. It was almost midnight, and everything had been accomplished in less than twenty-four hours. When they left his house that morning, the first thing they did was meet with his lawyer, and she had signed a pre-nuptial agreement. Then they had left to board a flight to Vegas, and the minute they had gotten there, he hustled her into a twenty-four hour wedding chapel. They were married quickly without benefit of rings, but he found a jewelry store when they left the chapel and had one on her finger with what to her now seemed to be an obscene lack of consideration and time. Leaving the jewelers, they went into a hotel restaurant and had a quick meal, and her mind shied away from what had happened next. They hadn't packed for an overnight stay, and she hadn't understood why he checked into the hotel after they ate. Her stomach had been tied in knots through the meal anyway, and apprehension and nerves screamed in her bloodstream as he pulled her by the hand up the elevators to a room.The minute the door had clicked shut, he turned to her and began unbuttoning her blouse. Panic attacked her and she put her fingers over his to stop him. "What are y-you doing?"He brushed her hands aside and continued to strip her. "Consummating the marriage." His voice was harsh."Why? Can't w-we wait?""No. I want it consummated now."Disturbed by what they were doing and his reasons for it, she tried to slow him down and lighten the atmosphere. "Why?" Her voice was soft, trying to soothe him. "I'm not going anywhere."His eyes lifted from her buttons and tangled with hers. "No. You can bet your ass you're not going anywhere." His voice dripped ruthless possession.Her pulse went spinning as he unhooked her bra and pushed it out of his way. He pulled her over to the king sized bed, and unhooked her skirt. "Step out of it."Her mind in a daze at the speed of his movements, she stepped from her clothes and moved onto the bed. He quickly stripped and pushed her legs apart and climbed on top of her. Her heartbeat going wild, she spoke in a whisper of defiance. "Just for two years."It was a mistake.His nostrils flared at her words and he grabbed her wrists and lifted them over her head. Holding her captive, he began to push into her. He stretched her completely, transferred her wrists to one strong hand, and lifted her face to his with the other. "When I'm good and goddamn ready. And not a day before."
Unforgiven
Elizabeth Finn - 2013
It does not mean she’s prepared to come face to face with the cruelest of those memories.Darren Cory’s life is a shell of what it once was, and when he’s forced to endure the cause of his agony, hatred abounds quickly. But hating Bailey destroys him too.Can Darren find a way to move past the pain and forgive the woman he once cared so much for before his anger consumes them both? Or will he drag them into the hell of an unforgiven past.