Book picks similar to
The Nature of Cruelty by L.H. Cosway


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contemporary-romance

Beautifully Damaged


L.A. Fiore - 2012
    A little tomboyish from being raised by her father, Ember packs a punch when a stranger gets pushy with her in a bar, catching the steely blue eyes of a tall, gorgeous tattooed man—Trace Montgomery. Still damaged from her last disastrous relationship and warned off the bad boy by friends, Ember fights the smoldering heat that Trace sparks in her when he begins shadowing her like a dark angel.Burdened by a lifetime of horror and heartbreak, amateur fighter Trace doesn’t want to want Ember. His deep self-loathing keeps him from having any meaningful relationships, but Ember is an itch he can’t scratch. The two push and pull, slowly crumbling their walls, seemingly brought together by fate, because the turmoil that haunts their pasts is interlinked in undeniable ways. But can these two fighters finally lay down their arms?In Beautifully Damaged, L.A. Fiore delves into deep scars and lets love and forgiveness uncover redemption.

The Dark Light of Day


T.M. Frazier - 2013
    Two broken souls that can't be healed, they can't be saved. Abby and Jake have to decide if they can accept the darkness not only within one another, but within themselves. If they can accept each other for who they really are they might learn that love isn't always found in the light...WARNING: This is NOT your typical romance. The story of Jake & Abby contains disturbing situations, graphic violence, sex, strong language, drug use, and all types of abuse.The Dark Light of Day is a King series prequel.

Pretty When She Cries


A. Zavarelli - 2020
    Ours was baptized in fire.I was the new girl trying to find her place.Landon was the brooding neighbor I tutored over the summer.I didn’t know he was a legend at Black Mountain Academy.I didn’t know they worshipped him like a religion.But I fell for him before I knew those things.To me, he was just the tortured soul who drew me in like a magnet.And then he did something so unspeakable, so unforgivable, it shattered me.I ran away then because I was weak, but I’ve shed my tears.He stole my heart and my dignity, and I’m here to take it back.The only problem is… he’s not giving it up without a fight.

Up in Flames


Nicole Williams - 2012
    One smokejumper with a dark past. One summer that will forever change them both. They’re going . . .Up In Flames. Elle’s life couldn’t possibly get any more small town than it already is. She was raised in the same home as the two generations before her were, her family owns the iconic downtown cafe, and she’s been dating the pastor’s son since she was allowed to go on her first date at sixteen. Cole’s life couldn’t possibly get any larger. He’s tried. Roaming from town to town for the past three summers as a smokejumper, Cole dreads the thought of putting down roots. The only thing he avoids more than that is settling down with one woman, especially when there are as many willing women as there are trees in the forest he jumps out of planes to save.Elle Montgomery’s life is going one way. And Cole Carson’s is going the opposite. There’s no reason their paths should ever intersect, even in a small town in central Washington. But summer in the Methow Valley has other plans for Elle and Cole. After an awkward run-in at the local swimming hole, Elle tries to keep away from the guy who looks at her like she’s already lying beneath him in bed. She fails. Cole is about as successful at staying away from the girl who seems immune to his charms.As the summer heats up, and tensions between Elle and Cole run high, he begins to realize there’s more he’s attracted to than Elle’s body, and she discovers there’s a lot more to the man that jumps out of planes into raging forest fires than meets the eye.UP IN FLAMES is a New Adult Romance intended for mature readers due to steamy content and saucy language.

Stepbrother Untouchable


Colleen Masters - 2015
     He also happens to be stunningly handsome, popular, intelligent, and captain of both the Crew and Lacrosse teams at UVA. I hate him for thinking he’s untouchable—not because he’s a narcissistic, privileged, borderline-misogynistic heartbreaker—but because he’s right. His first words to me were at a Crew House party, and he literally invited me to have a threesome with him and a random girl. I could’ve died from the embarrassment, he didn’t even know my name at the time, and he didn’t care to. After that night, I promised myself to never waste another second thinking about Nate Thornhilll. My world becomes a nightmare when I realize my mom’s new husband Pierce has a son who’s my age…and he’s a junior at UVA too. I can’t believe my eyes when Nate walks over and sits down next to us at dinner, introducing himself like he’s never seen me before in his life. Then I feel his hand on my thigh, underneath the tablecloth with our parents sitting across from us, inching closer and closer to my panties. My mind goes fuzzy, my heart starts racing, and my body does exactly what I don’t want it to do. And then they hit me with the worst news of all… Pierce has an internship lined up for me at his firm, and we’re going to live at his Eastern Shore mansion for the summer. I’ll be sleeping down the hall from my new stepbrother…arguing with him at every breakfast, sitting across from him at every dinner, watching as he brings an endless string of girls back to his room…secretly wishing I was one of them. Stepbrother Untouchable is a Stand-alone novel. It contains adult themes, harsh language, and graphic sexual content.

The Final Piece


Maggi Myers - 2012
    From the moment a trusted family friend steals her innocence until the moment another rescues her, she struggles to just survive.Surrounded by the comfort and protection of her extended family, Beth embarks on a journey of healing far from the horrors of her home. In her darkest moments, she meets a boy named Ryan. For one incredible summer, Ryan shows Beth what it’s like to act her own age.To feel free and let go.If only for a while.Years later, another tragedy threatens to shatter the life Beth has carefully crafted. When faced, yet again, with more pieces to pick up, Beth begins to question what her choices have cost her.Leaving her old life behind, she sets forth on a pilgrimage that will bring her back to the boy she could never forget. He wants to help her pick up the pieces of her life, but is she willing to do what it takes to become whole again?Can she trust him with a piece of herself?

Fighting to Breathe


Aurora Rose Reynolds - 2015
    They never imagined the future could hold anything other than together-forever. When Lea's father dies in a tragic fishing accident, she's crushed under the weight of her grief and catches a glimpse of another type of future, one she knows she's not strong enough to face. Austin is angry. For the past fifteen years, he's believed the woman he loved with every ounce of his soul left him without so much as a backwards glance. When Lea unexpectedly returns to their hometown, all the years of heartache inside Austin bubbles to the surface and presents itself as blinding rage. Faced with the truth about the past, a newly discovered secret, these former lovers will learn that if they want to have any chance at the future they'd given up on all those years ago, they will have to rescue one another from drowning in pain so debilitating it will leave them both fighting to breathe. Contains mature themes.

Complicate Me


M. Robinson - 2015
    That one moment where you could have chosen a path that would lead you down a certain road. A different life. It was easier to pretend that we were still best friends, and that she was my girl and I was her boy. Pretending was better than knowing the truth...I. Ruined. Us.I had her. I lost her. I love her.All I did was complicate us.STANDALONE series. New Adult Contemporary Romance: Strong language and sexual content, not intended for readers under 18.

Stripped


Jasinda Wilder - 2013
    When you're faced with being homeless and hungry or taking off your clothes for money, the choice is easier than you'd imagine. That doesn't make it easy, though. Oh no. I hate it, in fact. There's nothing I'd like more than to quit and never go into another bar again, never hear the techno beat pulsing in my ears again, never feel the lecherous gazes of horny men again.Then, one day, I meet a man. He's in my club, front and center. He watches me do my routine, and his gaze is full of hunger. Not the kind of desire I'm used to though. It's something different. Something hotter, deeper, and more possessive. I know who he is; of course I do. Everyone knows who Dawson Kellor is. He's People Magazine's Sexiest Man alive. He's the hottest actor in Hollywood. He's the man hand-picked for the role of Rhett Butler in the long-awaited remake of Gone With the Wind. He's the kind of man who can have any woman in the entire world with a mere crook of his finger. So what's he doing looking at me like he has to have me? And how do I resist him when he looks at me with those intoxicating, changeable, quicksilver eyes? I'm a virgin, and he's an American icon of male sexuality. I'm a stripper, and he's a man used to getting anything and everything he wants. And he wants me. I know I should say no, I know he's the worst kind of player…but what my mind knows, my body and my heart may not.And then things get complicated.

That Thing Between Eli & Gwen


J.J. McAvoy - 2016
    McAvoy**Eli Davenport thinks he’s found the perfect woman to be his wife. She’s a doctor, like he is. She’s brilliant, like he is. And she’s wealthy, like he is. Guinevere 'Gwen' Poe thinks her fiancé is the perfect man. He’s handsome, successful and he was her first… But when Eli’s bride runs off with Gwen’s fiancée on his wedding day, they are left to pick up the broken pieces of each other...

Waiting for You


Shey Stahl - 2013
    Everything about her life has been organized and lived out to the expectations set of her parents. She is the class valedictorian, has perfect grades, the perfect friends, a perfect boyfriend, basically perfect life...or so everyone thought. That's when she realizes the path planned isn't always the path chosen. On graduation day she makes a decision. One that changes everything she thought she knew about her intended future.On a whim, she runs away with the town rebel, Dylan Wade, in search of the unknown.Dylan Wade isn't looking to run away from anything.He knows what he wants as he's been waiting on it for years.On a journey to find the unknown, they discover a friendship they once knew along the open highway and have not a care in the world. Between the yellow and white lines of the heated summer asphalt, a spark draws them together as Dylan's past and Bailey future try to rip them apart.Could it be that Dylan and his GTO are exactly what her perfectly planned life needs?

Unbroken


Melody Grace - 2013
    Emerson Ray was my hurricane...." Juliet McKenzie was an innocent eighteen-year old when she spent the summer in Beachwood Bay—and fell head over heels in love with Emerson. Complicated, intense Emerson, the local bad boy. His blue eyes hid dark secrets, and just one touch could set Juliet ablaze. Their love was demanding and all-consuming, but when summer ended, tragedy tore them apart. Juliet swore she’d never go back, and she’s kept that promise… Until now. Four years later, Juliet’s done her best to rebuild the wreckage of her shattered life. She’s got a great boyfriend, and a steady job planned after she graduates. Returning to Beachwood to pack up her family’s beach house to prepare it for sale, Juliet is determined that nothing will stand in the way of her future. But one look from Emerson, and all her old desire comes flooding back. He let her go once, but this time, he’s not giving up without a fight. And Emerson fights dirty.A heartbreaking history. An unstoppable passion. Torn between her past and future, Juliet struggles to separate love from desire. But will they find a way to overcome their tragic secrets—together? And after so much damage has been done, can a love remain unbroken? *This book contains adult situations and explicit content.*

The Hurricane


R.J. Prescott - 2015
    A gifted mathematician, she is little more than a hollow, broken shell, trying desperately to make ends meet long enough to finish her degree. Through an unlikely friendship with the aging, cantankerous owner of an old boxing gym, Em is thrown into the path of the most dangerous man that she has ever met.Cormac “the Hurricane” O’Connell is cut, tattooed and dangerous. He is a lethal weapon with no safety and everyone is waiting for the mis-fire. He’s never been knocked out before, but when he meet Em he falls, HARD. Unlike any other girl he’s ever met, she doesn’t want anything from him, but just being around her makes him want to be a better person. They are polar opposites who were never meant to find each other, but some things are just worth the fight.

Play It Safe


Kristen Ashley - 2012
    Play it safe. These were the rules Ivey lived her life by.Until she hit Mustang, Colorado, a perfectly imperfect town where the citizens were welcoming and one of them included the tall, beautiful, macho man rancher cowboy, Grayson Cody.On the run for a decade, Ivey knew she was supposed to play it safe. But she was tired of being on the run. She wanted a normal. She wanted real. She wanted a home.And she wanted Grayson Cody.And Grayson Cody wanted Ivey.No one who looked at them couldn’t see they belonged together. There was one man in this world for Ivey and one woman in this world for Grayson Cody.So they fell in love.But just as quickly as they fell together, they were betrayed and torn apart. Separated for years, Ivey was certain her life would not include her rancher cowboy. Until the town of Mustang reached out to her when Gray was in trouble. Even though she thought he broke her heart, she charged in to help. Then Gray and Ivey discovered they were betrayed and, not only that, Gray had an enemy who would stop at nothing to defeat him.

Swear on This Life


Renee Carlino - 2016
    As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?