Book picks similar to
Burn to Ash by K.C. Kean
dark
abuse
high-school
dark-romance
Shunned
Steffanie Holmes - 2019
I should have let them win. Now the kings of the school are out for my blood, ... and they’re not the only ones. The fire took everything. My parents. My best friend. My life. Now I have a second chance. I only have to endure one year at this prestigious academy for rich snobs. One year of being the charity case no one wanted. One year of taunts and insults and bullying. Then I’m free. But I didn’t count on Trey, Ayaz, and Quinn. Arrogant, privileged, dangerous. Drop-dead fucking gorgeous. They want me gone. They want me to suffer. They’re determined to make my nightmares real. Tough luck, bully boys – I won’t hide away. I’m not afraid. But maybe… I should be. HP Lovecraft meets Cruel Intentions in this dark paranormal reverse harem bully romance. Warning: Not for the faint of heart – this story of three broken bad boys and the girl who stood her ground contains dark themes, crazed cultists, books bound in human skin, high-school drama, swoon-worthy sex, and potential triggers.
Little Liar
Willow Winters - 2018
That’s how stories like these get started. But every lie I told, he saw through it. I think in his heart he knew I was broken; he felt my pain as if it was his. And that’s what changed everything. He’s the reason it all fell apart.Sometimes it’s a single moment that alters everything in existence.Sometimes it’s the fall of dominoes, lined up in a pretty little row and designed so that each one will cause more and more pain.In a single day, it’s all changed, and there’s no way to take it back.I didn't know what would happen. But secrets and lies ruin everything.“I was captivated from the very beginning, and I couldn't let go until the very end. Winters wove an outstanding tale, which has an even better message within its pages.” - Kendra @ Reads and Treats** It's Our Secret was previously titled Little Liar **
Hood River Rat
K. Webster - 2020
Approachable. I make friends easily.Cool car. Nice clothes. Good attitude.Everything will be fine.School is school.I’ll keep my head down until graduation and try not to stick out.College will be here before I know it.Yet my first day proves to be anything but easy.The Hood River Hoodlums—our school’s most notorious group of bad boys—have put a target on my back.Their leader, Roan, hates me.He calls me Rat.To him and his friends, I’m a loser who doesn’t belong at their school.I could pretend I don’t care about their hate.If only Roan wasn’t so hot.He’s mean, cruel, and sexy as hell.My nemesis is impossible to ignore…and a secret part of me doesn’t want to.Here I thought being gay was the worst of my problems.Turns out, being gay and crushing on your enemy takes the cake.This is a full-length high school enemies-to-lovers and new adult romance with high angst, suspense, and gutting emotion. It's book one in the Hood River Hoodlum series that will have interlinking storylines. Hood River Rat can be read as a standalone and starts off a four-book planned series that gives each Hoodlum a book. This is the only MM story. The others are MF.
Weightless
Kandi Steiner - 2016
I remember I wanted to photograph them, the way the red and blue splashed across his cold, emotionless face. But I knew even if my feet could move from the place where they had cemented themselves to the ground and I could run for my camera, I wouldn’t be able to capture that moment. I had trusted him, I had loved him, and even though my body had changed that summer, he’d made sure to help me hold on to who I was inside, regardless of how the exterior altered. But then everything changed. He stole my innocence. He scarred my heart. He took everything I thought I knew about my life and fast-pitched it out the window, shattering the glass that held my world together in the process. I remember the lights. The passionate, desperate, hot strikes of red. The harsh, cruel, icy bolts of blue. They symbolized everything I endured that summer. And everything I would never face again.
Normal
Danielle Pearl - 2014
Starting at a new high school, in the middle of my senior year, in a new town, in a new state. I know no one. No one knows me. That's what I'm counting on.A year ago, Aurora "Rory" Pine was just a normal teenage girl - just as sweet and naive as the fairy tale princess she was named after.But this isn't a year ago.Rory is broken, and now suffering from a debilitating anxiety disorder, wrought with precarious triggers, she moves across the country to escape the source of her troubles. Her plan is anonymity, but that's easier said than achieved for the new girl having a panic episode outside of calculus. The worst part? There's a witness - and a gorgeous one at that.Sam is a walking trigger for Rory. Incredibly handsome, built like the star athlete he obviously is, and undoubtedly popular, Sam outwardly represents everything Rory despises about high school. But as the fates keep throwing them together, a connection sparks that neither ever expected, and certainly couldn't ignore.But Sam has issues too, and Rory's past won't just stay in the damned past. When friendship evolves into something deeper, can a girl utterly destroyed by the worst kind of betrayal and a boy battling demons of his own ever have a normal relationship? Is that even what they want? Find out in NORMAL, a gritty story of trust and abuse, heartbreak and salvation, and if they're lucky - love. This is not a flowery romance - not for the faint of heart.
A Vow Of Hate
Lylah James - 2021
We were poison together and there was no antidote.Our story began like any other fairy tale ended.With a beautiful wedding.One kiss.Two rings.Three vows.Killian Spencer became my lawfully wedded husband and I, his dutiful wife.But he was no Prince Charming. He didn’t come to save me… and he vowed there would be no happily ever after.And me?Just like the legends I'd read as a little girl, I always thought I’d be the princess in my fairy tale.Well, I was the villain of our love story.“Till death do us part…”
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.
Bastards and Scapegoats
Coralee June - 2020
Handsome. Cruel. Twisted.I was drawn to him like fists to glass. We had an angry sort of relationship. There was nothing kind about the broken man that stole my heart and crushed it in his fist. He was all sharp edges. One touch could ruin me. One kiss could end our happy little family.When my mother married Joseph Beauregard, son of the governor of Connecticut, I never imagined I’d fall in love with my stepfather’s younger brother. I never imagined I’d uncover the truth about his family’s bloody legacy.Hamilton escaped with scars to his name and a ruined reputation. And now? I wanted out, too. I guess the scandal of our relationship was the least of our family’s problems.
Dominic
L.A. Casey - 2014
If she doesn't befriend people, talk to them or acknowledge them in any way they leave her alone just like she wants. When Dominic Slater enters her life, ignoring him is all she has to do to get his attention. Dominic is used to attention, and when he and his brothers move to Dublin, Ireland for family business, he gets nothing but attention. Attention from everyone except the beautiful brunette with a sharp tongue. Dominic wants Bronagh and the only way he can get to her, is by dragging her from the boxed off corner she has herself trapped in the only way he knows how... by force. Dominic wants her, and what Dominic wants, Dominic gets.
Drowning in Stars
Debra Anastasia - 2020
She blew bubbles through my window. I shot my Nerf gun through hers. We both had secrets, but one of us was fated to get hurt. I wanted it to be me.Pixie: When I was afraid of the dark, he would shine a light in my window. We shared our popsicles and I taught him how to get a good swing on the playground. I never imagined I’d have to decide who got to live and who didn’t. I chose him --and he could never know.She walked a tightrope five stories up just to save my life…★☆★ Drowning in Stars is a full 100k standalone. ★☆★
Rising
Jessica Ruben - 2018
Anonymity is key in my neighborhood—particularly as a lone female walking at night. All I want is to leave my crime-ridden shadow of a home in New York City. I’ve done everything I can to keep my head down and focus on my studies. College is my only goal; love has never been on the map… That is, until my sister brings me to an underground fight, where I meet a gorgeous and mysterious man: Vincent. He is the ghost in my shadows, showing up to feed me pieces of his upper-crust life, then evaporating into darkness until his next visit. I’m falling hard and fast. How can I trust him amidst the depth of his secrets? Vincent may be even more dangerous than the dark world I’m trying to escape.
Finding Fate
S.M. Olivier - 2019
I live in a beautiful mansion on top of a hill and want for nothing. My father’s successful, and my mother’s devoted to seeing me and my siblings succeed… Oh, wait…that’s not my life at all. That’s my half-sister’s life. Until recently, I had no family, aside from my mom and dad. My life consisted of secrets, escape, two best friends, and most importantly, dance. But when my mom drops a bombshell on me, that we’re moving to her hometown hours away, all the secrets come out, including the fact that the man who I’ve called dad my whole life, is really my uncle. So now it’s a new school, new life, new town. And let me tell you, this town hates me. My life has never been a bed of roses, to begin with, but being here? It’s hell. My best friends are far away, my dance career is on hold, and the family drama is movie-worthy. The only thing that’s worth getting up for in the morning is my new friends, a group of guys who have made it their mission to put me under their wing. They bring me into their circle, determined to protect me and help me on my new path. But sometimes, we get in our own way. Sometimes, you can’t walk alone. Sometimes, the only way to live your life is to lean on the ones who love you. ***Peyton’s Path is a Contemporary Reverse Harem. This book contains some triggering content that may be sensitive to some readers. ***
Untouchable
Sam Mariano - 2018
See, I got a player suspended from the football team for harassing me, and in my small Texas town, you don’t mess with the football players—even if they mess with you first. I didn’t care if it was an unpopular thing to do; I stood up for myself… and in doing so, opened Pandora’s Box. I never dreamed I would attract the attention of locally worshipped star quarterback, Carter Mahoney. Never imagined his coveted attention would turn out to be such a nightmare. Beneath his carefully constructed façade lurks a monster, a predator looking for the perfect prey to play with. Now, since I’m the girl no one likes or believes, I guess I’m the perfect target for his dark games and twisted desires. After surviving my first encounter with his casual depravity, all I really want is for Carter to leave me alone. But all he seems to want is me. Warning: This book is provocative. It is categorized as DARK ROMANCE for a reason. It will not be for everyone. If you are a reader with certain triggers or sensitivities common to the dark romance genre, please heed the author’s note at the beginning of this book.
Skin
B.B. Easton - 2017
. . perhaps on the entire planet. He hated everyone, except for BB Easton—the perky, quirky punk chick he couldn’t avoid.BB, on the other hand, liked everybody . . . except for Knight. She was scared to death of him, actually. All she wanted was to marry Little Mermaid’s Prince Eric-lookalike and king of the local punk scene Lance Hightower.But Knight was patient. Persistent. Unexpected. And once he got under BB’s skin, her life would never be the same.A forbidden love story overflowing with '90s nostalgia, dark humor, and heart-wrenching angst, and based on a true story.
Noble Savages
Natalie Bennett - 2019
Brutal. Vicious. Lawless. Merciless.Maybe you’re the new girl.Maybe you’ve always had it coming.Maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.Either way, you’re about to become the victim.You’re about to bow, break, and bend the knee. You’re about to kneel at my feet.I’ll destroy your credibility.I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you by my side.I’ll make you learn the hard way there is only one way out.And when all is said and done, I’ll leave you begging for me to do it again...Five possessive, controlling bullies. Five strong, spirited heroines. Welcome to their Savage Kingdom.Noble Savages by Natalie Bennett, Nicole Cypher, Esme Devlin, Logan Fox and Rina Kent is a five books dark high school romance boxset.All standalone. All full length. No cliffhangers. All the angst, the steam, and HEA you've been looking for.