Book picks similar to
Fragile Scars by Lilian Harris


romance
arc
contemporary
contemporary-romance

Bloodstained Beauty


Ella Fields - 2018
     Fresh out of college and headed straight for my dream job, I didn’t think things could get any better.
 Then I met my dream man. 
In an instant, my happy ever after had begun.
 The life I’d stumbled into was beautiful, and the man I loved was perfect.
 But perfection comes at a cost, and I’d slumbered through all the alarms.
 Then I met my nightmare. 
 The man whose bright eyes held untamed darkness. 
 The man who disarmed me with his peculiar behavior. 
 The man whose cold, merciless hands shook me awake.  
In an instant, questions started to dismantle my happy ever after.
 But whoever said the truth would set you free was wrong. 
It wasn’t going to repair the cracks in my naive heart. 
 It wasn’t going to caress my face with comforting hands and reassure me it was all just a dream.
 No, the truth shoved me down a rabbit hole, and I landed in the lair of a real-life monster.

Halo


R.C. Stephens - 2016
     I fell in love with Thomas Wells and knew he was my forever. I was sixteen when I gave him my heart. Our love was the kind to last a lifetime. But Thomas was broken. The first day we met he told me he was going to become a Navy SEAL. At nineteen he enlisted. At twenty he married me. At twenty five he left me pregnant and didn't turn back. I knew he was suffering…. I also knew I couldn't save him. He left me broken. I was scared and alone. Until I met Ryder St. John a wounded soldier… He was lost. I was lost. Together we made sense. I fell in love again… What Ryder forgot to mention was that he held a secret so explosive that it could shatter both our worlds. ***This is a full length novel and is intended for a mature audience.***

Bang


E.K. Blair - 2014
    But I’m not innocent. I haven’t been for a very long time. My innocence was stolen from me. Taken was the life I was supposed to have. The soul I was born with. The ruby heart embedded in a life full of hopes and dreams.Gone.Vanished.I never even had a choice. I mourn that life. Mourn the what-ifs. Until now. I’m ready to take back what was always meant to be mine.But every plan has a fatal flaw. Sometimes it’s the heart.**Due to the dark and explicit nature of this book, it is recommended for mature audiences only as some scenes may be particularly disturbing.**

Micaden's Madness


V.F. Mason - 2019
    She is an artist seeking solace. He is a serial killer seeking vengeance.She doesn't remember.He remembers it all.She is broken.He is obsessed.She wants truth.He wants revenge.One of them is guilty.One of them is innocent.Both of them want to win.And for that one of them has to die.Warning: Dark Romance

Sicko


Amo Jones - 2020
    He swore to protect me.He failed.They all failed.I’m an open box of passé photographs, snapped in chaste daylight, but filtered in sepia. I’m the past that he tried to forget, and he was the future I needed. When he left six years ago, I screamed for him every night. But then it all stopped. My screams were suddenly muffled by cruelty, and further coaxed by pain.But he has come back. He’s not the cute big brother I had a furtive crush on, or the bad boy, rich brat that I hated to love.He’s the ruthless vice president of Wolf Pack MC, and he doesn’t answer to Royce Kane anymore.He answers to Sicko.

Safe


Ryan Michele - 2013
    An escape—from him.After being brutally abused for years, Sadie seeks sanctuary and safety. But can she ever be safe when evil has his eyes on her from afar.Landon doesn’t want a relationship. He’s been burned too badly to want anything more from a woman than the physical, but one look at Sadie and he’s rethinking everything. Can trust be formed when it’s been so beaten down? Can love conquer fears? What happens when evil doesn’t give up? Can Sadie ever really be safe? **Please note. This book contains the very difficult subject of physical abuse and has a non-consensual sexual scene. It also has a very strong woman who learns to heal from these acts and finds the kind of love we all dream of having.

Dirty Angels


Karina Halle - 2014
    Please see the bottom of this description to see if this is the kind of book that you'll love or piss you off**For Luisa Chavez, a twenty-three year old former beauty queen, a better life has always been just out of her reach. Sure, she’s had men at her feet since she was a young teenager but she’s never had the one thing she’s craved – security. Having grown up in near poverty, her waitressing job in Cabo San Lucas can barely let her take care of herself, let alone her ailing parents. Every day is another unwanted advance, every day is a struggle to survive.When Salvador Reyes, the depraved leader of a major Mexican cartel, takes an interest in her, Luisa is presented with an opportunity she can’t afford to pass up. She’ll become Salvador’s wife and exchange her freedom and body for a life of riches – riches she can bestow upon her deserving parents. But Luisa quickly finds out that even the finest wines and jewels can’t undo the ugliness in her marriage, nor the never-ending violence that threatens her every move.Soon, Luisa is looking for an escape, a way out of the carefully controlled life she’s leading. She finally gets her wish in the worst way possible.As it is, being the wife of Salvador makes her an ideal target for rival cartels and there’s one particular man who needs Luisa as part of his cartel’s expansion. One particular man whose quest for power has destroyed lives, slit throats and gotten him out of an American prison. One particular man who will stop at nothing until he gets what he wants.That man is Javier Bernal. And he wants Luisa. He wants to take her, keep her, ruin her.Unless she ruins him first.***WARNING*** This book deals with drug cartels and as such it contains a lot of sex and violence and some violent sex. It can get pretty ugly, pretty dark and pretty crazy. There is drug use, abuse, a bit of torture and dubious consent. The hero is not a hero and the villains...well, they're even worse. If this sort of thing bothers you, PLEASE DO NOT READ IT. This ain't no cupcake farting unicorn kind of book. If you are even a bit squeamish about violence, brutality and rape, this is your warning to stay away from a book that you certainly will not like (and why read books that you know you won't like?)******While this is a spin-off of The Artists Trilogy, prior knowledge of the books is not needed. DIRTY ANGELS is the first in a trilogy, however each book can standalone and follows or introduces different characters***

Slave to the Rhythm


Jane Harvey-Berrick - 2016
    Guns.MUSIC. Bullets.RHYTHM. Pain.Music in my head, dance in my body, the rhythm of my heart. How far can you fall in just one month? How quickly can the human spirit be broken? Where does evil hide in plain sight?Ash wants to dance. Needs it. To leave behind a life of expectation and duty, to set his soul free. But life is never that simple. Every step is a journey on a new road.For every action, there is a reaction.Every choice has a consequence.And when you meet the wrong person, all bets are off.Laney tolerates her limitations, pushing quietly at boundaries. But when Ash crashes into her world through rage and violence, it sets off a chain reaction that neither of them expected.♫♪ ♫♪ ♫♪ ♫ ♫ ♪ ♫ ♫ ♪♫♪

The Boy on the Bridge


Sam Mariano - 2021
    I saw someone hurting and wanted to help. I saw someone possibly in danger and wanted to make sure he was safe.There’s nothing safe about Hunter Maxwell, though. I thought there might be. I fell under his spell. Whatever the world saw when they looked at him, it wasn’t what he showed me. The bond we formed was real. I know it was real. But with Hunter, when the tides turn, you’d better hope you’re safely on the shore and out of his reach.I thought I was a strong enough swimmer to keep my head above water. I thought if it came down to it, I could resist his pull.I didn’t know, but now I do.Once Hunter sets his sights on you, there’s no such thing as out of his reach. Whether it’s today, tomorrow, or five years from now, he’s coming for me—and when he does, he won’t stop until he’s destroyed me.***The Boy on the Bridge contains mature, adult content and is only recommended for adult readers.

Healing the Broken


K. Street - 2017
    Monsters didn’t just exist in nightmares.They were real; they lived among us.As the sole witness to a brutal murder, Ryann Sinclair knew that better than anyone.He’d been burned once, and Cash Donovan swore it was the last time.That all changed when Ryann stumbled back into his life.She was fiercely protective of her heart, and he was hell-bent on protecting her.Never one to back down from a challenge, Cash was determined to break her.Just so he could be the one to put her back together.

Truth


Trilina Pucci - 2018
    But what starts a one-night stand with a gorgeous bombshell named Drew feels like it should become his forever.DominicI’m ruthless, powerful, and unforgiving. The kind of man that kills without remorse.But the moment I see her, I want her. No matter the consequence.It was supposed to be one night. No more.That’s what I told myself. It’s what we agreed. Then Drew walked away. It felt like she’d ripped my heart from my chest. One I didn’t even know existed until she’d made it beat. I warned her not to leave—that I’d never forgive her.She wouldn’t listen. She should’ve known better. If Drew wants my forgiveness. She’ll have to earn it. I will own her body and soul. Consume her until she begs. Because every King needs his queen. And Drew Matthews is mine. USA Today Bestselling author, Trilina Pucci, brings you and hot, fast-paced mafia romance with an instant connection between two flawed, stubborn people that fight like hell to ignore their fate.

The Devil's Kiss


Gemma James - 2013
    Instead, he issues an ultimatum—submit to him in the bedroom, or go to jail.Backed into a corner by a man with no shame, Kayla must find the strength to travel down the path of pain and pleasure. But when her past catches up to her, prompting a free fall into forbidden territory with a man she once loved, Kayla realizes nothing is black and white when everyone around her has secrets.NOTE TO READERS: THE DEVIL'S KISS is a dark billionaire romance with a BDSM edge that does NOT conform to safe, sane, and consensual practices. Includes explicit content and subject matter that may offend some readers. Intended for mature audiences. Book 1 in the Devil's Kiss series

Tap


Georgia Cates - 2015
    That’s all she was when I agreed to play a part in deceiving her. But then the unplanned happened.We met. And all I wanted from her was a dirty weekend . . . until that wasn’t enough and I longed for so much more.Lawrence Thorn suddenly means the world to me. And that’s a problem. She’s my business partner’s sister. Forbidden fruit. Pursuing her can mean trouble for me at Lovibond Brewery. But I don’t care.I yearn for her skin against mine.I crave her smell on my body.I want to make her laugh and then hear her moan my name.And she does for a brief moment in time.But Lawrence wants more than I’m able to give. And it’s a damn shame because there’s no one on earth I want more than her.An epic love.A miserable ending.Unless it’s not.

Safe Distance


Megan Green - 2015
    Growing up, she quickly learned to fend for herself, and after a hellish night in high school, she knows the only way to keep her heart safe is to keep everybody else out.Ryan Porter considers himself married to the military. After losing his father and brother at a young age and witnessing the subsequent downfall of his mother, Ryan has sworn off any semblance of love.After Ryan helps Haylee out of a sticky situation, the two find themselves growing closer, but with Ryan's impending deployment and Haylee's trust issues, they vow to never let it become something more.However, Ryan quickly finds himself falling for Haylee, and Haylee is unable to deny that Ryan makes her happier than she's been in a long time. Will the two of them be able to overcome their pasts and open their hearts? Or will they always be determined to keep everyone at a safe distance?Librarian's note: See alternate cover edition of ASIN B01075HQCM here.

Caged


Clarissa Wild - 2017
    An untamed beast. I was born in the cage. Born to fight. Born to carry its name. Locked away, I’ve spent years waiting for my mate. I'm pent up with need. Brimming with desire. All I want is her... That beautiful girl from the picture on my prison wall. Now she’s finally here, sharing a cell. So close. So hard to resist. But one thing’s for sure… Even if she doesn’t know it yet, she’s already mine. This book contains both CAGED and UNCAGED, originally meant as a duet. Note: This STANDALONE novel contains disturbing content that may be offensive to some readers. Complete at 120000 words. NO Cliffhanger. Book 1 in the Savage Men Series.