Book picks similar to
Elastic Heart by Mary Catherine Gebhard
romance
dark
arc
dark-romance
Sins & Needles
Karina Halle - 2013
The daughter of a grifting team, Ellie spent her childhood being used as a pawn in her parents' latest scam. Now she’s much older, wiser and ready to give her con artist life a rest. But returning to the dry desert town of Palm Valley, California means one more temptation than she bargained for – Camden McQueen. Once known as the high school weirdo, Camden is bigger and badder than the boy he used to be and a talented tattoo artist with his own thriving business. Ellie’s counting on Camden still being in love with her but what she’s not counting on is how easily unrequited love can turn into obsession over time. When Camden discovers Ellie’s plan to con him, he makes her a deal she doesn’t dare refuse, but her freedom comes with a price and it’s one that takes both Ellie and Camden down a dangerous road.
Prisoner
Annika Martin - 2014
He’s dangerous. He’s wild. He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.So I hide behind my prim glasses and my book like I always do, because I have secrets too. Then he shows up in the prison writing class I have to teach, and he blows me away with his honesty. He tells me secrets in his stories, and it’s getting harder to hide mine. I shiver when he gets too close, with only the cuffs and the bars and the guards holding him back. At night I can’t stop thinking about him in his cell.But that’s the thing about an animal in a cage—you never know when he’ll bite. He might use you to escape. He might even pull you into a forest and hold a hand over your mouth so you can’t call for the cops. He might make you come so hard, you can’t think.And you might crave him more than your next breath.
Ghostface Killer
M. Never - 2017
Hungry, abandoned, wandering, and alone. An adolescent street rat fighting for crumbs. Then a chance encounter changed my entire world. A man in an expensive suit asked me how much my life was worth. I didn't have an answer, because I didn't know. He asked if I thought it was worth killing for.Impulsively, I said yes... He found me, then fostered me, and in the interim turned me into a killing machine. A modern day La Femme Nikita. Now, I only have one mission. To avenge the death of the man who saved me. There's an invisible war on the streets. Us against them. Family against family. Power against power. They call me Ghostface Killer because they never see me coming.I understand the weight of that danger. The hazard. The jeopardy. Because now here I stand, three months pregnant with the barrel of a gun pressed to my head cause I never saw him coming...
Want You
Jen Frederick - 2018
It’s Leka Moore. I don’t care that he took me in when he was barely more than a kid himself. I don’t care that he raised me. I don’t care everyone thinks being with him is wrong. I know we belong together, and the only person I need to convince is him. Leka I found her in the corner of a dark alley. If I hadn’t taken her with me, she would’ve died that night—or maybe worse. Before I knew it, she became the light in my dark life, the haven from the madness. I watched her grow up. I tried to teach her right from wrong. Now that she’s an adult, I’m feeling things that no good man should ever feel. But then…I’ve never been a good man. I have a chance at redemption by saving her from the greatest danger of all—me. A stand alone novel.
Hard
Cheryl McIntyre - 2015
Watching her. Memorizing her. For ninety-two days, I’ve looked into those lifeless green eyes. And for ninety-two days she has inspired me in ways I never knew possible. A muse, unbeknownst to her. Motivating me. Encouraging my darkest desires. I’m a man who knows what he wants. And what I want is the beautiful and broken Holland Howard. My name is Jensen Payne—photographer, autocrat, lecher, Scopophiliac. I am who I am and I will not—cannot—change. WARNING: THIS BOOK CONTAINS POSSIBLE EMOTIONAL TRIGGERS FOR SOME READERS. PLEASE TAKE THIS WARNING SERIOUSLY. Recommended for readers 18+ ONLY.
Waterfall Effect
K.K. Allen - 2018
Allen comes a new and suspenseful small town mountain romance.Lost in the shadows of a tragedy that stripped Aurora June of everything she once loved, she’s back in the small town of Balsam Grove, North Carolina, ready to face all she’s kept locked away for seven years. Or so she thinks.As one of the victims of a string of mysterious disappearances in the small, picturesque Appalachian Mountain town, darkness has become her home—her safe blanket when the world reveals its true colors. But as the walls of darkness start to move in on her, she knows the only way to free herself from her past is to face it, head-on. She just needs to figure out how.Upon arrival, Aurora isn’t expecting her first collision to be with the boy she left all those years ago. The boy who betrayed her trust with no regrets. The boy who is no longer a boy, but a man with the same stormy eyes that swept her into his current before she ever learned to swim.She’d thought he was safe. He’d thought their path was mapped out. Turns out neither of them was ready for the crash at the bottom of the cascade.
VIP
M. Robinson - 2013
I went to Miami to discover myself; never in my wildest dreams, did I think home would become a three-letter word. VIP. I was the dream. I was the illusion. I was the fantasy. Until him… Everything went to hell in hand basket the moment we laid eyes on each other. I wanted him. He wanted me. Sebastian I have always been a man who made decisions based on other people’s feelings, wants, and desires. I was selfless. I never wanted to hurt anyone. Especially her. The moment I met her… I wanted her. I loved her. For the woman she was. For the woman she wanted to be. But most of all… For the woman she was, when she was with me. This isn’t a love story, but a story about love. Warning sex/drugs/language. Mature readers only.
Catch Me
Claire Contreras - 2013
I've experienced a lot of things in my twenty-five years, everything except the one thing I want. It's the one thing that can’t be bought. It can't even be taken, it has to be given. And nobody has ever given it to me, not really anyway. Not until him.Music is the center of both our lives, but as he found his place in it, I lost my way. He soared, while I spiraled down a destructive path.I lost myself in more ways than I can count.The ironic thing is that I didn’t realize how lost I was until he found me. And now that he has, I have to wonder if he'll stay around long enough to catch me.
Bad Habit
Charleigh Rose - 2017
Even bruised and bloodied, he was the most beautiful boy I'd ever seen. We couldn't ever be together. I was too young, and he was too untouchable. He was too troubled, and I was too naive. But the heart is rebellious, and mine decided it didn’t care about any of those things. As I got older, harmless flirting turned to stolen moments in dark corners. Until one day, he was gone without a trace. Now, three years later, he’s back. Callous and cruel. He’s my brother’s best friend. My parents’ worst nightmare. I should hate him. But like a Bad Habit, I can’t quit him. ASHER I was drawn to Briar Vale from the first time she looked up at me with stars in her big, blue eyes. She was just a kid, nothing but elbows and knees, but she was the most beautiful creature I'd ever seen. We could never be together. I was too old and she was too off limits. She was too good and I was too fucked up. Eventually, the temptation became too much to resist. I risked everything for a kiss and she betrayed me. Three years have passed and I’m forced to see her again, but now she's all grown up. She’s my best friend’s baby sister. My downfall. I hate her for what she did. But she's always been my drug of choice
Play Along
T.L. Swan - 2017
I realize, to save my life I need to become valuable.My body is my only weapon.Pleasure and pain.28 days is a long time to Play Along with his perverted demands.He thinks I enjoy them.It disgusts me that I secretly do.I hate him.I crave him.When my captor becomes my savior, escape will be my reality.Publishers note....This is a full length, stand alone, romantic suspense. It is not a dark romance.
Raise Hell
Ashley Gee - 2020
And I will do anything to make it happen.Even pretend to fall in love.People like to say that revenge is a dish best served cold. But it takes planning and patience to seek true vengeance when you’ve been wronged.And the best revenge takes time. You have to smile when you want to scream. Laugh, when you want to cry.Play nice, while you dream about going for the jugular.For that, you need boiling rage.I am the cleansing fire that will burn St. Bart’s Prep to the ground.Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. But I can’t wait on heaven, so instead I’ll raise hell.Coming November 2020
Lachlan's Protégé
V.F. Mason - 2018
Until she became mine. She was a ballerina. He was a serial killer. She ran away from him. He caught her. She begged for mercy. He gave her none. She was an angel. He was a monster. She wanted to escape. He wanted to destroy her. They were at war. And only one of them would win. Warning: Dark Romance. 18+ due to sexual content, profanity, abuse, graphic violence, and adult subject matter.
Into the Light
L.B. Simmons - 2014
Trust me when I say, it's a breathtaking sight to see. You burn as bright as the sun."When Aubrey Miller begins her education at Titan University, she is no longer the beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of her youth. In fact, she's no longer even Aubrey Miller. Overcome with guilt and unable to cope with the loss of her beloved family, she has long since buried eight-year old Aubrey along with them and transformed herself into Raven Miller. Now with jet-black hair, multiple sets of eccentric contact lenses, and several facial piercings, she's veiled herself in complete darkness as a form of protection for herself, as well as others. As she enters her first year of college, her goal is simple: Earn a degree with the least amount of social interaction as possible. What she never anticipates is the formation of very unlikely relationships with two people who will change her life in ways she never believed possible: Quinn Matthews, the overtly cheerful pageant queen, and Kaeleb McMadden, a childhood friend who never really let her go. Over the years, as their connections intertwine and strengthen, a seemingly indestructible bond is formed between the three. And eventually, the ties of friendship and discovery of first love begin to coax her from her darkened path as they slowly bring Aubrey back to life. But when faced with the possibility of yet another death, one from which she may never recover, Aubrey finds herself lost again, burying herself deeper than ever before beneath the familiar abyss of her fears. Spanning the course of four years, this is the story of a young woman's plight to finally reemerge, finding strength within unbreakable bonds as she delivers herself from her own manufactured darkness and safely back . . . Into the Light. ****WARNING - Due to the graphic nature of some scenes, this book is not recommended for those who are particularly sensitive to the death of a child and/or suicide and is intended for mature audiences only. Contains adult language and themes.****
River Wild
Samantha Towle - 2019
A new identity. Pregnant and alone. And far away from a past that can never find me. River Wild.Moody. Sullen. Jerk.And my new neighbor.I have no interest in befriending River. And he definitely doesn’t want to be befriended by me.Then, he helps me rescue an abandoned dog. And, that day, I see something in his eyes that reflects back in my own. Sadness. Pain. Loneliness.I know all of those things well.An unwanted and unexpected friendship that somehow works. Then, without warning, it turns into something more.River and I both have our secrets, and that’s okay. Because I understand him. And he understands me.For the first time in my life, I have something I never thought I would have—happiness.But happiness isn’t forever. Not for people like me.Especially not when my past is waiting just around the corner, ready to come and take it all away.