Book picks similar to
Malice by Lisa Clark O'Neill


romantic-suspense
mystery
georgia
contemporary-romance

Down & Dirty #1


J.H. Croix - 2018
    Croix & Ali Parker A small town can hide many secrets. It can also expose every secret you have. I’ve spent almost my entire life in Cypress Creek. My family was once a pillar of the community, but times have changed – for the worse. One look at Marie Nix, and I’m determined to have her. She’s everything I want and then some. She may be too pure for me, but I can’t help myself. Unfortunately, like me and our small town, she has skeletons in her closet. Her past isn’t staying in the shadows. Regardless of the things she’s done, once I have a taste of life with her, all I want is more. Even if it puts me face to face with the threats surrounding her, I’ll do whatever I have to in order to make her mine. This is Book 1 of the Down & Dirty trilogy. You will have to purchase book 2 and 3 to continue the saga. The next trilogy, Slow and Steady will tell the story of Sonny, one of the other brothers.

Chasing Justice


Danielle Stewart - 2013
    But her plans of settling into a normal life are derailed when she witnesses a prominent judge in her community committing a violent assault. Running from her own past and fueled by a passion to make the judge answer for his crimes, Piper is forced to decide if she’ll play by the rules or achieve justice in her own way.Complicating things further, Piper finds herself fighting a powerful attraction to rookie cop, Bobby Wright. Although she’s increasingly enamored with Bobby, his staunch belief in the justice system is in stark contrast to her own. She may not share his opinions about the effectiveness of the law, but she certainly can’t deny how safe she feels when she’s in his arms or how every kiss leaves her desperate for more.For Piper, the idea of finally living an ordinary life with a man to love is tempting. However, fate keeps placing the judge, quite literally, in her path. Will she decide the only way to win is to be as wicked as the judge, but with righteous intentions? And more importantly, will Bobby choose to let her go, or follow her as she crosses the line and takes justice into her own hands?

Love and Protect


Lori Ryan - 2014
    He's providing refuge. Together, they'll fight for new love and survival...Laura Kensington is desperate to give her unborn child a fresh start. On the run from her late husband's ruthless family, she takes refuge on a Texas ranch. As her twisted mother-in-law hunts her down, she has one reason to be hopeful: a loving man who believes in second chances.Cade Bishop has dedicated his life to protecting injured and neglected animals. He didn't hesitate to protect the strong, beautiful Laura when she showed up on his doorstep, but he never expected the passion he feels for her. As the truth comes out, Cade dedicates himself to guarding the woman he's falling for.When the powerful family draws near, Laura and Cade will need more than a refuge to preserve their love and their lives. Love and Protect is the first standalone book in the Heroes of Evers, TX romantic suspense series.Love and Protect was previously published as Ever Hopeful.

Diamonds and Cole


Micheal Maxwell - 2013
    In the past, Cole a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, worked for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. Now, he’s returned to the paper where he started his career, The Chicago Sentinel. Instead of writing the big stories, he’s doing the work of a rookie reporter. His “big story of the day” is a cat caught in a tree. During its rescue, the cat’s owner takes her Good Samaritan neighbor hostage. Cole witnesses something so disturbing it reawakens the journalist’s desire to write again.Returning to the paper, Cole finds a desperate message asking for help from Ellie, one that got away. The one that has continually haunted his life. Cole drops everything and flies to California. He must find what would make her so desperate, she would call him after so many years. Cole finds her terminally ill, and abandoned by her husband. He discovers while Ellie was heavily medicated, she mistakenly signed a Power of Attorney. Now her estranged daughter Erin’s inheritance, won’t go to her, but her abusive step-father. Cole vows to find the girl and right the situation.The path to keeping his word is blocked at every turn by the husband who abandoned her, his shady real estate deals, violent con men, street thugs and the lure of a fortune in diamonds that unite them. The anger, sorrow, and crippling guilt of twenty years fires Cole's drive to keep a promise, that in the end, will heal and return the soul to the great journalist.Beaten, bloody but determined, Cole Sage conquers greed and hatred with a strength that only love, and a will as hard as diamond, can achieve.

Perfect Evil


E.C. Sheedy - 2003
    For five years, Hannah Stuart has taken refuge from the horrors of her past inside Kenninghall, the hundred-year-old Washington estate of her dear friend, Milo Biehle. But now, Milo has died, and in his will he has left the reclusive beauty everything, including possession of three mysterious letters that he warns her will change everything...NO PLACE IS SAFEFor the letters are more than an inheritance; they are evidence of dark crimes--a tangled web of secrets and lies that the powerful would kill to protect. As Milo's long-lost relatives and business partners arrive at Kenninghall, Hannah can't be sure who can be trusted and who can't--especially when it comes to the rugged, intense Yates Lang, a man who seems to be hiding his own dark secrets. Now, with danger closing in, Hannah confronts the letters' shocking revelations of murder, sin, and depravity, each word a chilling proof that those we love best are sometimes far from innocent--they can be perfect evil...

Broken Build


Rachelle Ayala - 2012
    He doesn't need blood on his car, threatening phone calls, and Jen wrapped in broken code and blackmail.A gang of thugs hunts Jen, and she takes refuge in Dave’s protective arms. Together, they must thwart a killer and rescue an innocent victim from their past. Love blossoms, but a damaging revelation points straight at Jen, threatening to tear them apart forever.Content advisory: language, sexual situations

A Cutthroat Business


Jenna Bennett - 2010
    But Savannah doesn’t think she’s supposed to take the warning literally ... until an early morning phone call sends her to an empty house on the ‘bad’ side of town, where she finds herself standing over the butchered body of a competitor, face to face with the boy her mother always warned her about. Rafe Collier is six feet three inches of testosterone and trouble; tall, dark, and dangerous, with a murky past and no future—not the kind of guy a perfect Southern Belle should want to tangle with. In any way. But wherever Savannah turns, there he is, and making no bones about what he wants from her. Now Savannah must figure out who killed real estate queen Brenda Puckett, make a success of her new career, and avoid getting killed—or kissed—by Rafe, all before the money in her savings account runs out and she has to go back to selling make-up at the mall.

Not a Whisper


Donna B. McNicol - 2013
    She thought her biggest issue would be adapting to life in the middle of a National Forest, so very different from her upbringing in the deserts of Arizona.But that was before she met State Trooper Fire Marshall Jamison "Jazz" Maddox at the scene of a mysterious fire. As they both become acquainted with the close-knit Klondike residents, things get complicated as Cherie and Jazz find themselves in the middle of a local crime wave where arson, kidnapping, embezzlement and a decades old murder are just the tip of the iceberg.Be sure get your free copy of the Klondike Kompanion from the author's website and read the "Meet the Characters" interviews

Either Side of Midnight


Tori de Clare - 2013
    I rate this book as a ten-star and expect to see it as number one on the best selling list for many, many weeks.” Reviewed by Trudi LoPreto for Readers'Favorite.WHAT IF THE BEST DAY OF YOUR LIFE TURNED INTO YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE?When nineteen-year-old Naomi Stone is snatched from her husband at knifepoint on the night of their wedding and taken to a deserted cemetery, she knows her life is finished. Drugged and disorientated, she loses consciousness as she lies in an open grave with a gun to her head. But the following day, she mysteriously awakes to find herself unharmed and secured to a bed. She's in a beautiful bedroom in a secluded cottage in open countryside. Only one person knows she’s there – the man in the balaclava who’s holding her, feeding her, revealing nothing. Naomi senses the unfolding of a plan. She should be on honeymoon in the Caribbean. Instead, she’s trapped with an emotionless psycho with no hope of escape . . . And his voice is chillingly familiar.Who is he? What does he want? What's happened to her husband? Where is she? Will anyone find her before it's too late?

Silver Cascade Secrets


Rachelle J. Christensen - 2015
    If you're interested, copy and paste this link into your browser http://rachellechristensen.com/free-b... Take one park in autumn, mix in a handsome stranger, a daring heroine, murder, chocolate peanut butter brownies, mystery, and a few kisses and you'll see why Silver Cascade Secrets has everything you need to satisfy your cravings for a great story. In this romantic suspense novella, Jillian is the master landscaper at a beautiful park. Meeting Travis there soon after breaking up with her boyfriend, Jillian is wary at first. Travis seems like a great guy, but Jillian has fallen for great guys before. When she learns that his brother, Craig, was murdered six months before, her heart goes out to Travis. True to her curious nature, she starts asking questions and learns about Craig’s close connection with the park. But finding the answers puts Jillian’s life in danger, and she must decide who she really trusts.

Open Secret


Fiona Quinn - 2019
    The FBI focuses its secret weapon, ex-Army Ranger Rowan Kennedy, at the crisis.With a PhD in propaganda, Kennedy puts everything on the line to expose the wealthy and high-powered schemers threatening our way of life……and to protect Avery.To beat the enemy at their own game, Rowan and Avery must break the rules.It only complicates things that they’re falling in love.The game is on. The set is in play. Who will win the match?Grab your copy now and join the race for the finish line in this friends to lovers, military romance action adventure thriller filled with spies, conspiracies, and political corruption.

A Single Step


Georgia Rose - 2014
    “Answer it...but don’t tell him I’m here or he’ll get to listen to you die.” That concentrated my mind considerably, and as I reached for my phone I came up with a plan...’ Emma Grayson was left devastated when her life was torn apart by tragedy and betrayal. Now someone believes it’s time for her to start again and puts an advert for a job through her door which leads her to the Melton Estate. Despite her desire for a solitary existence she finds herself discovering a life she could never have imagined, challenging her independence, her fears and her resistance to love.

Playing With Fire


Taylor Lee - 2012
    OVERVIEW• A rookie firefighter accused of setting the fire that kills her husband and his mistress.• “A bad-assed cop falls for the beautiful firefighter only to discover she is his #1 suspect in a double murder.• Can Nate find the real murderer before the murderer finds her?

Anti Hero


Skye Warren - 2016
    After losing his team in a fiery betrayal, he left the army. Now he works for cold hard cash.And the girl he loves? She's better off without him.Until her story makes her a target.Then he'll protect her. He'll kill for her. He just won't let himself fall for her again. That would be dangerous, for both of them.WARNING: Contains an inked military man, a plucky reporter on a mission, and explosive chemistry!ANTI HERO is a full-length standalone novel with plenty of heat and suspense!!

Low Tide


Dawn Lee McKenna - 2015
    Maggie Redmond is called to a crime scene on St. George Island, where she is met with the body of Gregory Boudreaux. The medical examiner calls it a suicide, but no one knows that Maggie has a horrible connection to the dead man. When Gregory’s uncle, Bennett Boudreaux, the richest and scariest man in town, takes a sudden interest in Maggie, people start to wonder, Maggie included. Maggie knows he may suspect her of killing his nephew, but she finds herself slowly drawn to the man. As Maggie fights to help a young girl escape the clutches of a volatile drug dealer who’d love to see Maggie dead, she also struggles to hide her dark link to a dead man, and her burgeoning relationship with her boss, Sheriff Wyatt Hamilton. Unfortunately, secrets have a way of revealing themselves at low tide. About the Forgotten Coast Florida Series:The first four books of the series, Low Tide, Riptide, What Washes Up, and Landfall, lay the foundation for the entire series. There are subplots resolved in each book, but there is also an overarching plot that is not resolved until Landfall, so they should be read in sequence. Later books can be read in any order.