Book picks similar to
Captive Bride by Alta Hensley


dark
dark-romance
cliffhanger
romance

Underestimated


Jettie Woodruff - 2013
    She's never had anyone to look up to or help guide her in the right direction. She had it rough and never dreamed that it could get worse. However, she finds that it can and it does.She learns what real hell is when she meets the husband that she doesn't want to marry but isn't given a choice. Can she escape? She can and does, only to wake up and find herself right back at square one._____________Warning! This is not your everyday fall in love romance. This book contains disturbing situations, strong language, graphic, sexual content - some forced, some not. If it's a happily ever after love story that you are looking for, you should probably move on. If you are up for the ride, stick around and it may just turn into a love story after all.

Captive in the Dark


C.J. Roberts - 2011
    Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible. Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Caleb is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.Eighteen-year-old Olivia Ruiz has just woken up in a strange place. Blindfolded and bound, there is only a calm male voice to welcome her. His name is Caleb, though he demands to be called Master. Olivia is young, beautiful, naïve and willful to a fault. She has a dark sensuality that cannot be hidden or denied, though she tries to accomplish both. Although she is frightened by the strong, sadistic, and arrogant man who holds her prisoner, what keeps Olivia awake in the dark is her unwelcome attraction to him.WARNING: This book contains very disturbing situations, dubious consent, strong language, and graphic violence.

Twisted Love


R. Linda - 2018
    What I've always done. For fitness. For fun. And now for fear.He took me. Trapped me. Destroyed me. Broke me down, little by little. His captive.His slave.His pet.But...something unleashes.Something forbidden. The passion. The pleasure.It's wrong. Unforgiving, and I should do what I do.Run like Hell.From this Twisted Love.

The Brit


Jodi Ellen Malpas - 2021
    Numbing herself to fear and pain is the only way she can survive in this cruel world. So when she’s taken as collateral by the notorious Danny Black in a deadly game of power, she’s thrown by the deep fear she feels rising within her. And, worse than fear, a profound desire. She’s heard tales of The Brit. He’s callous. Coldblooded. But no one ever said he was wickedly beautiful and darkly captivating. He sees past her mask, giving her a cruel sense of hope. But she must fight their twisted attraction or risk losing the one thing she survives for.When Danny Black took an enemy’s beautiful lover as security, he never anticipated the repercussions. Or the warped attraction they would share. Rose Cassidy pushes Danny to the brink of madness with her impenetrable façade and savage allure. He has to remind himself that she’s bait. A solution to a problem. Yet she evokes powerful feelings in Danny, and feelings are risky when you’re wanted dead by endless enemies.The most dangerous game is about to be played.But can either of them win?*This story is gritty, dark, edgy, and contains scenes that some people may find uncomfortable to read. It is NOT for the fainthearted.

Feyness


E.S. Carter - 2016
    I don't see dead people.I see you.I see every incarnation of you.I see the history of your soul.I can see your aura soaked in the blood of your previous lives.Most people are inherently good or evil.Some flit between darkness and light.Few can change the fabric of their essence; it's a fight that most are too weak to win.He was once darkness.An evil so pure that his very soul is black and yet I am drawn to him like a moth to a flame.Some days, I feel like I am drowning, the waves of my feelings stealing the very air from my lungs.Other days, I feel nothing at all.I'm unsure which is worse; gasping for air or dying from this thirst.Can you learn to breathe underwater when you find someone worth drowning for?Feyness is a dark standalone.Readers of a sensitive disposition may want to step away from the book.Step away, nothing to see here.Readers who like to dance on the dark side, come on in and enjoy the ride.

The Risk


S.T. Abby - 2016
    Collecting the debts that are owed to me.Ten years ago, they took from me. They left me for dead.They should have made sure I stayed dead.Now I'm taking from them.One name at a time.I've trained for too long.I've been patient.I can't stop now.Revenge is best served cold...They never see me coming, until I paint their walls red.Logan doesn't know how they hurt me. He doesn't know about the screams they ignored. He doesn't know how twisted that town really is.He just knows people are dying.He doesn't know he's in love with their killer.No one suspects a dead girl.And Logan doesn't suspect the girl in his bed.They're looking for a monster.Not a girl who loves red.Not a girl in love.I'm a faceless nightmare.At least until I tell them the story they've pretended never happened.But in the end, will Logan choose them? Or will we watch them burn together?**Graphic**Adult language**Some triggers could be too much for the easily disturbed reader**Sexual content**Fucked up moral compass; read at your own risk.

The Bastard's Betrayal


Katee Robert - 2021
    Violently over-protective parents. A giant extended family, all ready to kill anyone who looks at her wrong. Learning to run a business that isn’t exactly on the right side of the law. So, naturally, when she meets a nice guy who isn’t in the life, she falls hard… Right up until the she discovers her new boyfriend isn’t a civilian at all.But he betrayed her.When Dante Verducci was sent on an undercover mission to evaluate the Romanov family for weakness, he never expected to have an instant connection with their unlikely heir. There’s something fierce and feral about Rose that calls to him. They’re alike, even if they’re both lying to each other during the months they date. Before he could figure out a new plan, Rose finds out who he really is, dumps him, and immediately enters an engagement with the heir of a rival family. Yeah, no, that’s not going to work for Dante.Now he’ll do anything to reclaim her. Even go to war.Author's Note: For all tropes, tag, and CWs, please check the author's website.

Trigger


L.P. Dover - 2017
    . . that’s what I am. It’s what I do. It’s what I live for. I’m no longer the Preston Hale everyone knew. I left that life and the people in it a long time ago the second I made my first kill. I wasn’t going to give in, but when I heard the screams there was no going back. It triggered the pain, the need. I knew what I had to do, and I did it well. But I never expected for Emma Turner – the only link to my past – to come back into my life. She triggers a different emotion inside me, something I hadn’t ever felt. It’s not a want to kill . . . but a need to CLAIM.

The Dominator


D.D. Prince - 2015
    He has 3 rules for me. 1) Obey. 2) Tell no one ANYTHING about him. Rule 3 gives me a peek into just how depraved, alpha and possessive he really is. My life is about to be twisted up in knots. He will hurt me. Love me. Set my body on fire with passion. He will kill for me.Full & complete story - bit.ly/tommyandtia Free in Kindle Unlimited.Book 2 - Dario Ferrano - bit.ly/dareandangelBook 3 - More Tommy & More Dare - bit.ly/dominator3unboundOR box set - bit.ly/dominatorboxsetAnd then Saved, a spin-off that's even darker - bit.ly/lexandholly

Nearly Broken


Devon Ashley - 2013
    Someone to notice. So why was I the one still here and she the one still gone? Nineteen year old Megan Smith has spent the past year working in a small town diner in the middle of nowhere. Life is quiet, simple, safe. Then comes the news that her look-a-like has gone missing. Claire.Still damaged both physically and mentally, Megan's not looking to be noticed. Wherever she goes from here, it's a road she needs to take alone. But when Nickolas Ellis takes the job as the new nightshift cook, it scares her how easily her defenses crumble down, down, down for him. But there are secrets she can't bear to share with just anyone, unspeakable acts that continue to haunt, and when the similarities of Claire’s abduction couples with the fear of an unwanted visitor in town, the urge to run before it all happens again intensifies, threatening the only happiness Megan's ever found.New Adult Romantic Suspense / Dark Realistic FictionRecommended for 17+ for mature and disturbing situations, language and sexual content.

His


Aubrey Dark - 2014
    Trying to find out his secret. His kiss was intoxicating, and I thought he was harmless.I was wrong.Nancy Drew never ended up in a basement, handcuffed to a radiator, teased to the edge of insanity, begging to be let go.Soon, I stopped begging to be let go.Soon, I started begging to be his.

Bullet to the Heart


Lea Griffith - 2013
    She has become everything but is no one. Known only as Bullet she was long ago forced to shed the name her parents gave her. Changed, molded and trained to kill with sharp-shooting efficiency she is one of The Collective’s most valuable assets. In a cadre of killers, Bullet is death waiting but her time for vengeance has come.He was loved and then he lost. He has become a hunter in search of revenge.Everything was taken from Rand the day a bullet ended the lives of his beloved wife and daughter. He has searched for their killer seven long years and may have her in his hands. Rand has suffered but now the time has come to make The Collective pay or die trying.Joy and sorrow are two sides of the same coin. Vengeance draws them together but before all is said and done they will learn love can either break you or make you stronger.

The Don: The Oath Duet


Serena Akeroyd - 2021
    How could my Lady be anything other than a silken promise taunting me with every breath she takes?A new Don reigns over Manhattan.But though I won the war, peace isn’t easily brokered.Over a decade of avenging my father’s death, I made many enemies.To each and every one, Jen’s a target.But I’ll paint NYC red before I let them harm her.I just never imagined I’d be in the line of fire first…  A heart broken by grief can feel no guilt or shame with the brutality in which vengeance is delivered. This is the first part of ‘The Oath’ duet in The Valentini Family series.

Only Pretend


Nora Flite - 2014
    I also had no family, no friends, and definitely no jerk of an ex-boyfriend who thought I was boring. I was tired of being me. In Vegas, I could be anything. And then I saw him. His hungry smile wanted a taste of the new me. Only a boring person would have said no. It was reckless to follow a stranger to his bed. Dangerous to take the drink he handed me. I thought the worst regret I'd have would be a hangover, a walk of shame through the hotel. Except I didn't wake up in the hotel. Or in Vegas. I doubt my face will end up in the news. “Woman missing,” the headline would say. “A stupid person who thought she could be someone else.” I'm not someone else. I was only playing pretend. Too bad he was playing for keeps. --Author's Note-- This is a dark romance novel, it contains themes of violence and mature situations that could make readers uncomfortable.

I Know What Love Is


Whitney Bianca - 2014
    I'll never forget the events of that night and the days that followed. I'll never be the same. He tried to break me, but now I'm stronger than ever.I want him to pay. I want him to suffer. I want to be just as much of a monster as he is.But maybe, deep down... I want him just as much as he wants me. Maybe we deserve each other. Maybe he knows me better than I know myself.Maybe.But I know what love is, and this is not it.Warning: This dark erotic tale contains violence, explicit sexuality, and adult situations. The content may be considered objectionable, so please read at your own discretion.