Book picks similar to
Burned by Jennifer Bene
taboo
dark
abuse
contemporary
Tainted
N. Isabelle Blanco - 2019
- Mark 7:20-23The streets of Boston are running red with blood.It isn’t the first time, either.Forget the history of this city; it’s what happened nearly nine-years-ago that continues to haunt us all.Especially me.They say obsessions can destroy you.Well, I’m here to tell you that’s a fact.A serial killer played games with us once, leaving our heads spinning.I chased them down, threw my whole life into chaos. From the very first kill, I was there.Watching.Analyzing.Losing myself.My career nearly ended before it ever began.Then, suddenly, the killer vanished. Gone into the shadows. Never to be heard from again.Until now.They’re back, fiercer and bolder than ever. An obsession reawakened that threatens my sanity and leads me towards a collision with a new fixation.One more dangerous.One much more vile.She’s everything my religion warns man to stay away from—the quintessential temptress sent to ruin our lives.I thought the case would be what ended me.Turns out, I’d sell my soul for just another taste of her.Disclaimer: The St. Cecilia Slayings series a series of 6 short novelettes, roughly 25,000 words each, that are being released one month apart.
Confess
A. Zavarelli - 2018
Two signatures. A marriage of inconvenience. Lucian West is one of the most hated men in America. He’s a ruthless attorney who gets what he wants in the courtroom, and outside of it. Now, he wants me. For reasons I can’t fathom, he’s determined to make me his wife. He makes it clear he’s not above blackmailing me to put a ring on my finger. But he should know I can’t be domesticated. I don’t know how to love men. I only know how to leave them… with everything I want. ***I don't do love. I don't even do relationships. But all of that changes when I stumble upon the tragic, beautiful woman confessing her sins in the dark of night. She’s a thief. A con. The essence of everything I loathe. And yet she lures me in with her lying eyes.I want to protect her. I want to bring her to heel. I want to teach her a lesson she’ll never forget. She belongs to me, she just doesn’t know it yet. I've already made her mine in name. Now it’s time to claim the rest of her.
The Beast and Me
D.S. Wrights - 2014
For four days she had nothing to keep herself sane, until she promised to be obedient. In return, she received a diary, not knowing which terrors she would be writing down soon.Because Meg has been taken to this unknown place for one purpose only: to support her abductors in 'socializing' one of their subjects.Ten, as they call him, seems to be far more than a primitive beast, fighting battles of his very own. Meg soon realizes that she is the only one able to tame him. And that, apparently, is the sole reason she is more or less treated as a human being.As Ten's humanity resurfaces Meg has to accept the truth that the real beasts aren't behind bars.This is Meg's diary. Will you read it?This story is written in diary format and vaguely inspired by Beauty and the Beast and is part one of an unfinished series.Warning: This book is not suited for minors or the faint hearted. It contains dark themes such as abuse and forms of psychological torture.
The Unrequited
Saffron A. Kent - 2017
She is suffering from unrequited love. But it’s time to move on. No more stalking, no more obsessive calling. What she needs is a distraction. The blue-eyed guy she keeps seeing around campus could be a great one—only he is the new poetry professor—the married poetry professor.Thomas Abrams is a stereotypical artist—rude, arrogant, and broody—but his glares and taunts don’t scare Layla. She might be bad at poetry, but she is good at reading between the lines. Beneath his prickly façade, Thomas is lonely, and Layla wants to know why. Obsessively.Sometimes you do get what you want. Sometimes you end up in the storage room of a bar with your professor and you kiss him. Sometimes he kisses you back like the world is ending and he will never get to kiss you again. He kisses you until you forget the years of unrequited love; you forget all the rules, and you dare to reach for something that is not yours.NOTE: Please be aware that this book deals with sensitive topics like cheating. 18+ Only.
Queen of Diamonds
Natalie Bennett - 2018
His partner. His whore.His mind games. Her morals.The road to hell...Well, there is no road to hell.I already live there.I was forced to partake in a rigged game of seduction, manipulation, and murder.Mateo Remmington is my formidable opponent.He makes the devil look like a saint.He’s immoral.He's ruthless.He's a goddamn king. King of a clandestine empire who sits on a throne covered in innocents’ blood.I’ve become his obsession.He’s becoming my deadly addiction.And if I make one wrong move he’ll end my life.
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.
Distorted
Nyla K.Nyla K. - 2021
And trust me, you’ll wish you were. We’re the stain on society. The freaks, the creeps, your favorite Netflix documentaries come to life. They lock us up and throw away the key, because we deserve it. But not me. I’m just a lowly bank robber. I don’t belong here, surrounded by psychopaths and killers with no remorse… At least, I don’t think I do.Getting by unscathed is my top priority. Unfortunately for me and my fellow prisoners, those in charge are more dangerous than we are. You see, the guards run the show, and I seem to have caught the attention of the most twisted one. He has a name, but it might as well be Officer. We move around one another like a sun and a moon, revolving in an axis of confused lust and torment until the truth is distorted, and the thing I once feared becomes that which I crave; my vile addiction, somehow so exquisite.
Reality warps in the dungeon, and I’m left wondering which prison is worse… the one holding my body, or my mind.
*DO NOT READ OR POST SPOILERS! I am begging you to think of your fellow readers, in your reviews, your posts… everywhere. Revealing plot twists is a dick move. And I promise, it’ll be fun to go in blind. **Distorted is the first book in the Alabaster Penitentiary series. It is a full M/M romance, with HEA. Each book in this series is technically a standalone, though they are interconnected, so it will be recommended to read in order, as references to this story will be made in future books. Distorted is intended for mature audiences and open-minded readers ONLY! If you prefer the same old story, this book won’t be for you. This story is dark, probably darker for some than others, so please proceed with caution, and if you’re easily triggered, steer clear.
You’ve been warned.
Hot Revenge
Simone Blue - 2021
I’m hateful, angry and out for vengeance against my wife and brat stepdaughter, both of whom have made my life a living hell. And now I’ve found the perfect means to carry out my retribution against them both. You see, my wife’s worst nightmare is for her daughter to become a teenage mother. Oh yes, my stepdaughter is going to be the perfect vessel for my payback. They say revenge is best served cold, but my stepdaughter is super hot...’**adult readers only: this is erotica, containing triggers, cheating and dirty daddy fantasies**
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.
Lucien
Silvia Violet - 2020
I never imagined the protector I longed for would be a mob boss who demanded complete control.I shouldn’t have gone to Lucien’s office.Once I looked into his eyes, I couldn’t leave.He commanded me to kneel.Beg.Obey.I couldn’t help myself.One taste, and I craved more.Lucien vowed to protect me from his enemies…But who’s going to protect my heart from him?This MM Mafia Romance is the first book in The Marchesi Family series.
The Tied Man
Tabitha McGowan - 2013
But Lilith has an artist’s eye, and a gift for seeing what lies beneath the skin. She soon discovers that Blaine is more gaoler than lover, and if the price is right, depravity has no limits.As the weeks pass, Lilith finds that she too is drawn into the malign web that her patron has spun, yet against the odds she forges a strong friendship with the damaged, dysfunctional Finn. In a dark, modern twist to an age-old story, Lilith Bresson proves that sometimes it’s the princess who needs to become the rescuer.Please note that this storyline contains depictions of drug abuse, violence and non-consensual sexual activity.
Devious Resolutions
Jennifer BeneL.P. Lovell - 2020
When a Good Boy shows his Aberrant Desires for Delicious Deviance, and being a Chew Toy can fulfill a wild fantasy. Step into the role of being a Muse that comes from decadent Champagne Dreams. Get enticed into being Bait as you enjoy the show of the Hung. And when all is said and done, prepare to end your night with a tempting Bang, Bang. Devious Resolutions: A Dark M/M Anthology.
Break Her
B.G. Harlen - 2012
How would you hold onto your sanity, your self-esteem, your very soul against someone determined to annihilate all three?In the psychological thriller BREAK HER, one woman will find herself in this almost unthinkable situation, and one man will discover that he has finally come up against someone unlike any of those he has destroyed before. On the surface, this intruder has all the advantages: strength, weapons, ruthlessness. The only way he can lose is if he finds himself responding to his victim on a human level. The only way she can win is if she rips away the protective lies she’s told herself, the hard shell of indifference she’s hidden in, and becomes again what she has not been since she lost everything that mattered to her, years ago: human.Warning: Includes graphic depictions of rape, sex, and violence and is for readers over the age of 18 only.
Taken
Natasha Knight - 2018
He’s the first-born son of the Scafoni family. And we have history.For generations, the Scafoni family have demanded a sacrifice of us. A virgin daughter to atone for sins so old, we don’t even remember what they are anymore.But when you have as much money as they do, you don’t play by the rules. You make them. And Sebastian Scafoni makes all the rules. The moment I saw him, I knew he would choose me. Even though the mark on my sheath declared me unclean. Even though my beautiful sisters stood beside me, offered to him, he still chose me. He made me his.And then he set out to break me. Note: Taken is book one of the Dark Legacy Duet.
Dishonored
Bethany-Kris - 2018
A woman with nothing to lose. Caesar Accardo is gasoline. Mostly harmless while stable, but Aria holds the match to set the dishonored Cosa Nostra prince on fire in more ways than one. And if he burns down everything in his path because of it—so be it. The problem is … she just wasn’t prepared for all of him. Aria De Rose is a hurricane. Amazing from afar, but destructive up close. Caesar keeps getting pulled into the Camorra queen’s plans in her effort to gain power, but he’s a better player than she knows. The thing is … women like her are the reason why rules are meant to be broken. Philadelphia isn’t ready for game these two are playing—the sacrifices they make might not be worth it in the end, and someone will always lose in a war. They’re broken, so very vicious, and they are not the good guys. But for every villain in the world, there’s a monster at his back who made him that way. And monsters like those hide in plain sight. Note: This is a standalone romance with content that some might find triggering. Be warned, and read with caution.