Books like 'These Dark Hearts'

Readers who enjoyed These Dark Hearts by L.A. Cotton also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  romance  mystery  sports  high-school  dark  crime  steamy  friends-to-lovers  athlete 

  • Toxic Creek by K.C. Kean

    Toxic Creek by K.C. Kean

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    “It’s so nice when toxic people stop talking to you. It’s like the trash took itself out.”I had everything I ever wanted, until my life was flipped upside down. Now, I’m suddenly being forced to live in my parent’s hometown, with complete strangers. Like my heart isn’t broken enough. Could I fall any further?Yes. Yes, I could.Why might that be?The Allstars...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  high-school  sports  steamy  book  contemporary  cruel-mc
  • Awakened by Sin by Mia Knight

    Awakened by Sin by Mia Knight

    Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Carmen Pyre had it all until her husband was murdered by a madman who threatened everyone she loved. Now that her husband has been avenged, it's time to move on... she just doesn't know how. Two men who fill her husband’s former roles offer to help her move forward with her life...
  • Addicted to Love by A.M. Myers

    Addicted to Love by A.M. Myers

    Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    At sixteen years old, Carly Mills was taught a very valuable lesson about just how cruel people can be. In the years since, she's carried that with her, closing herself off from the world to avoid experiencing the same heartbreak she endured at such a young age. Enter Chance Turner...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  friends-to-lovers  adult  alpha-mc  biker  book
  • Hate Me by Jillian Dodd

    Hate Me by Jillian Dodd

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    I was told if I went away, he'd forget about me, lose interest, and move on. But he hasn't. In fact, my being gone has only made things worse. So it's time for me to take matters into my own hands. It's time for me to fight back. Hey, Vincent...
  • Twisted Creek by K.C. Kean

    Twisted Creek by K.C. Kean

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    I have nothing left to give this twisted town, not a single ounce. I’ve let them beat me down, almost break me, but it’s time I fixed my ‘Grady’ jersey, and show them I will do anything to protect what is mine.Trying to survive Knight’s Creek without Xavier, Hunter, and Tobias is harder than I care to admit. I have to give it my all and try again; I have to run...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  high-school  sports  steamy  book  contemporary  cruel-mc
  • Blame It on the Shame by Ashley Jade, Michael San

    Blame It on the Shame by Ashley Jade, Michael San

    Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned." I've fallen in love with Lou-Lou. And I'll stop at nothing to keep her away from you. But there's one thing I never counted on... The moment when our 'truths' would turn into lies. I thought Bruno DeLuca was our biggest threat. I was wrong. Because the fire burning between us—would end up destroying us. And killing me...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  sports  abuse  adult  alpha-mc  billionaire
  • Fighting Fate by S.M. Olivier

    Fighting Fate by S.M. Olivier

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Before fate found me, I was alone, lost, and struggling to find my path. Love was something I thought I’d never find. Family wasn’t something I thought I’d never have. Now that it’s all before me, unfolding and leading me forward, I would do everything in my power to keep what fate has given me. Walking this path has its roadblocks, mostly from people who want to throw me off...
  • Pocketful of Shame: A High School Bully Romance by Chloe Walsh

    Pocketful of Shame: A High School Bully Romance by Chloe Walsh

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    "Nothing in Pocketful is as it seems." Chris Capaldi's words of warning haunt my every waking hour. I know I'm in danger, even if I can't identify the threat. Telling Sketch about the night his brother died was a mistake that could prove fatal for all of us. Secrets of this magnitude should stay buried, but it's out now and I can feel the walls closing in on me...
  • Love Me by Jillian Dodd

    Love Me by Jillian Dodd

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    My mom says that you can’t love someone until you learn to love yourself. So even though Vincent is getting more and more scary. Even though he’s doing a nationwide search for me. I’m going to learn to love myself. Well, I’m going to try. Mostly, I want a boy to love me...
  • Torment by Chloe Walsh

    Torment by Chloe Walsh

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    * A heavyweight title up for grabs * * A family to protect * * Enemies closing in * With a baby on the way and a mob family hot on his heels, Noah must once again dust off his gloves and fight. This time, there's more on the line than ever before. With his best friend dead and the career he worked so hard to build crumbling around him, Noah must make some unfavorable decisions...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  sports  steamy  book  contemporary  fiction
  • Wicked Knight #1 (Knight's Ridge Empire) by Tracy Lorraine

    Wicked Knight #1 (Knight's Ridge Empire) by Tracy Lorraine

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Tracy Lorraine brings you a new dark mafia, high school bully romance series.The truth is meant to set you free… but not my truth.Mine has sent me deeper and darker, feeding my need for revenge. I want blood for those who wronged me and my family. And my so-called truth is ripping me apart, in a way lies never could...
  • Divine in Lingerie by Penelope Sky

    Divine in Lingerie by Penelope Sky

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    I'm Carter Barsetti. Son of Cane Barsetti. I made my fortune in the automobile industry. I've always preferred to live life in the fast lane. My father hoped I would settle down in Tuscany and join the family business in wine making. Maybe someday. I know I'm supposed to stay away from the Underground. I promised my father I would. But then I get an offer that I can't refuse...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  steamy  adult  alpha-mc  anti-hero  audiobook
  • Real Girl by Sheridan Anne

    Real Girl by Sheridan Anne

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Lucien Valentine must die.It’s the thought that’s kept me going for four long years. I’ve imagined it, dreamed about it, relished in it. I want it so bad, but the question is, do I have what it takes to make it happen?Taking a life isn’t for the faint-hearted. Just ask Lucien, he knows.He’s taken me back to where it all started and I know exactly how it’s going to go...
    Categorized as:
    high-school  dark  sports  angst  steamy  crime  romance  contemporary
  • Forever Golden: Dark High School Bully Romance by Rachel Jonas, Nikki Thorne

    Forever Golden: Dark High School Bully Romance by Rachel Jonas, Nikki Thorne

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    West Golden—Fierce protector. The one.The cocky jock I once wanted to kill with my bare hands is now the only one I trust with my heart.In a city full of corruption and dark secrets, knowing who’s on your side gets harder to determine every day. Especially now that Vin’s on the warpath, passing out threats he fully intends to see through to the end...
  • The Game by Callie Rose

    The Game by Callie Rose

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Book two of three in the Kings of Linwood Academy series...
  • Favorite Mistake by Lisa Suzanne

    Favorite Mistake by Lisa Suzanne

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The boy next door isn’t next door anymore.He’s in Vegas, preparing for the upcoming NFL season, and I’m still stuck in the small Midwestern town where we grew up.We should be together, but people wanted us apart. They won. Secrets are uncovered and lives are forever torn apart.Maybe it was a mistake to try to recapture what we once had after everything we’d been through...
  • Reckless Dynasty by Tracy Lorraine

    Reckless Dynasty by Tracy Lorraine

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    My life has been full of half-truths tangled in lies—I’d been to hell and back more times than I could count. But nothing could have prepared me for the fear in her voice, and then the sight of that building going up in flames. After the way I treated her, the way I hurt her, I’d earned that pain back tenfold. I deserved to lose the only bit of light in my dark, twisted life...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  high-school  sports  steamy  alpha-mc  anti-hero
  • War by Stevie J. Cole, LP Lovell

    War by Stevie J. Cole, LP Lovell

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    The kind of life I’ve lived, it haunts you. Stains you. Destroys you. It took everything from me. My love. My family… my transgressions were paid with Tor and Cayla’s blood and I want revenge. Blood. Death. His head in my hands.I’ve lost everything, and all that’s left to do is end the men who took them from me. Betrayal. Secrets. Vengeance.This is war...
    Categorized as:
    crime  dark  steamy  adult  book  contemporary  fiction  mystery
  • Grand Slam by Lisa Suzanne

    Grand Slam by Lisa Suzanne

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Alexis’s father tells me he’s going to ruin me. He does not want his pop star daughter or her brand associated in any way with the bad boy of baseball.I make it my mission to prove to her father that I’m not the bad guy he thinks I am. But he takes things a few steps too far, causing major issues that will affect my upcoming baseball season...
  • Nolan by Jane Henry

    Nolan by Jane Henry

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    She’s my nemesis.My prisoner.I‘ll make her beg for mercy.I’ll make her scream my name.I’ll make her mine.Sheena Hurston’s been a thorn in my side for years.But when she tries to bring my family to ruin, I’m done playing games.She will pay for what she’s done.No one comes before my family.Sheena belongs to me...
  • In Chaos We Reign by Amo Jones

    In Chaos We Reign by Amo Jones

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    I was the trick that they could never play.She was the greatest game of all…There is elegance that comes from being carved from the ashes of all the darkness that surrounds you in the world. You start as dust, and you end as dust. At least that’s what I always thought. Crowned Princess Mayhem all my life became old fast, and I found myself forging my iron crown with the blood of our enemies...
  • Vicious Hate by Thandiwe Mpofu

    Vicious Hate by Thandiwe Mpofu

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Devastation tastes a lot like ash in your mouth. It feels like looming death hanging over your bones. It sounds like the violent shattering of your soul. It has an acrid smell much like that of rotting hearts. . . But most of all, devastation looks a lot like the beautiful, fiery girl with her fake sincerity and lies...
  • Broken and Screwed 2 by Tijan

    Broken and Screwed 2 by Tijan

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    New school. New friendships. New life. Not so much. Alexandra is pissed about her parents abandoning her. She's beyond pissed that her friends did the same. She's enraged because things are unclear about her brother's death now. So her first stop is at Jesse's house to demand answers...
  • Nice Guys Collection With Added Bonus Material by Kindle Alexander, Reese Dante

    Nice Guys Collection With Added Bonus Material by Kindle Alexander, Reese Dante

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Have you met the Nice Guys? Available for a limited time! Here's your chance to get the complete Nice Guys collection with an additional 30,000 words of bonus material for the low price of $2.99 for fourteen days only...
  • Loving You by Allie Everhart

    Loving You by Allie Everhart

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Since meeting Garret on her first night at college, Jade’s had to overcome many obstacles to be with him, including interference from Garret’s father. Now, months later, it seems that Mr. Kensington has finally accepted Jade dating his son, but the reason for that is unclear. After what Jade witnessed at the Kensington mansion, she’s not sure what his acceptance of her means...
  • Stolen Crush by C.M. Stunich

    Stolen Crush by C.M. Stunich

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Finding out you’re the daughter of a millionaire true crime novelist isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.When I was two, I was kidnapped. Kidnapped by a loving family, sure, but still kidnapped.Now, my biological mom wants me to live with her on the opposite side of the country.Her … and my new stepdad and his jerk of a son: Parrish.Wannabe tattoo artist, languorous rich boy, pouty mouth...
  • The Sinners: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance by Ruby Vincent

    The Sinners: A Reverse Harem Bully Romance by Ruby Vincent

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    I knew when I started this path it would lead to destruction......but nothing could have prepared me for this.Drugs flooding campus. Tensions brewing between the factions. Old enemies reappearing. New secrets taking over my life. Love awakening a soul I long thought was dead.Cassius, Clay, Hiro, and Royal have named me one of them, but sharing a title is easy...
  • Come / Come Back by J.A. Huss

    Come / Come Back by J.A. Huss

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    ***THIS IS A TWO-BOOK BUNDLE*** COME – Dirty, Dark, and Deadly Book One THIS IS BOOK ONE OF A SERIES. THIS IS A NOVELLA. YOU WILL GET MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS IN THIS BOOK. IF YOU HATE THAT - SKIP THIS WHOLE SERIES COMPLETELY. (It's twisty, complicated, dark, dirty, and ALL the main characters are killers.) My name is James Fenici and you will never see me coming...
  • Black Light: Suspicion by Measha Stone

    Black Light: Suspicion by Measha Stone

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    “I have my own suspicions about you, Sophie.”   Sophie Nelson knows her kinky interests are no more than fantasy, definitely not something that’ll ever happen in the real world. So the sexual playground Black Light is the best place to turn. A safe place to play. Until Scott. Detective Scott Russo knows better than to get sexually involved with his partner...
  • Caged by Bella Matthews

    Caged by Bella Matthews

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Why are the cocky ones always the hardest to resist?Because this man . . . this man is temptation personified. He’s six feet, four inches of rock-solid, golden muscles that are inked to perfection and proudly displayed every time he steps into the cage. And I’m the idiot who agreed to stay with him for the next few days...
  • No Mistake by Lisa Suzanne

    No Mistake by Lisa Suzanne

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    All I want is my happy ending with the boy next door.Every time we get close, something threatens to break us. Half-sisters, town gossips, and jealous exes throw punch after punch, but we hold on tight to each other as we attempt to navigate the chaos.With his life in the spotlight as a professional football player, I start to feel like it might always be like this...
  • Pocketful of You by Chloe Walsh

    Pocketful of You by Chloe Walsh

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    "Nothing in Pocketful is as it seems."
 Evil is lurking all around us and Sketch and I cannot escape the secrets of our past. A past that, up until now, neither one of us knew existed. Torn apart by our cruel, vindictive fathers, we face our biggest challenge yet; staying alive.
 Pocketful of You is the third in a four-book series. Therefore, the storyline continues into the fourth book...
  • Repentance: The Story of Kace Haywood by Meghan Quinn

    Repentance: The Story of Kace Haywood by Meghan Quinn

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Every choice you make in life comes with a consequence, which dictates the outcome of your future. I was once on top, I was living the life I dreamt of, I had everything I could possibly hope for. I was happy, satisfied, content…until one night. One off day. One moment in time I wish I could take back. My biggest regret...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  friends-to-lovers  sports  steamy  adult  alpha-mc
  • Cruz  (Diablo's Throne MMA) by H.J. Bellus

    Cruz (Diablo's Throne MMA) by H.J. Bellus

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    She hates fighting. He lives for it. Layla's vicious past drove her away from her hometown. She couldn't live with all the reminders surrounding her--so she ran. Cruz Felix found a new home, a place where he could get his head on straight, train, and fight match after match toward the end goal--the championship in Las Vegas...
    Categorized as:
    athlete  crime  dark  sports  steamy  adult  book  contemporary
  • Defiance Falls by Ali Dean

    Defiance Falls by Ali Dean

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    *99 Cent SALE for Preorder only! Will go up to full price upon release.* All I wanted was a little trouble. Okay, so maybe choosing Cruz Donovan’s 18th birthday party wasn’t the way to go about it. Three years ago, I fell for him. I thought he fell for me too. But when he broke it off, he took my heart and, as if that wasn’t enough, he took my best friends too...
  • Blame It on the Shame: Part 3 by Ashley Jade

    Blame It on the Shame: Part 3 by Ashley Jade

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    There's something lurking in all of us. Something we hide and shelter from those we love in order to protect them. A darkness we try to suppress because we're ashamed of who that makes us. Because that's the thing about Shame. It wounds us. It damages us. Or, for the few poor souls out there like me...it defines us. It's there—in the shadows, beneath the surface...just waiting...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  sports  steamy  abuse  adult  alpha-mc
  • Fragile Things by Samantha Lovelock

    Fragile Things by Samantha Lovelock

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Poe Halliday was an accident. A chance meeting that changed my life forever.My mother didn't have secrets; her secrets had her. After she disappeared, I had nothing.Or so I thought.When the invitation arrived, the opportunity to learn about my mother's past was too great to pass up. Heading west to meet an aunt I had never heard of, I knew I was taking a risk, but I craved answers...
  • On Deck by Lisa Suzanne

    On Deck by Lisa Suzanne

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    When a family emergency reminds us all how short life can be, Alexis’s father moves up the wedding date. She’s forced to wrestle with her father’s emotional manipulation as we fall harder and harder for one another and her wedding day moves closer. We’re keeping a huge secret from her father and her rabid fan base, and we both feel the walls closing in on us...
  • Pocketful of Blame by Chloe Walsh

    Pocketful of Blame by Chloe Walsh

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The Capaldi twins. Chris and Sketch. As different as night and day. One my best friend. One my lover. Inseparable since childhood, I always assumed that we would grow up, escape our sleepy hometown of Pocketful, and live out a life of adventure together, away from our powerful fathers and the lure of money...
  • Corrode by Ella Fields

    Corrode by Ella Fields

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    A standalone second chance romance. It didn't matter how young we were. We just knew. Forever was stamped on our hearts, no matter what forces tried to keep us apart. They tried, and they failed. We were happy. We lived, we loved, and we made plans. But as the years went by, we watched helplessly as those plans faded into dusty aspirations. Yet we endured...
    Categorized as:
    angst  coming-of-age  crime  dark  high-school  steamy  abuse  alpha-mc
  • Jason by Nyssa Kathryn

    Jason by Nyssa Kathryn

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Danger throws them together. Attraction keeps them from parting. Having lost her best friend, Courtney Davies lives every day like it's her last. Because if life has taught her anything, it's that some are cut far too short without warning. So when sexy former soldier Jason moves to Cradle Mountain, she shouldn't hesitate to express her immediate interest...
  • In Chaos by K.G. Reuss

    In Chaos by K.G. Reuss

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    A Dark High School Bully RomanceSome things are better left unsaid. Others demand chaos. Good thing I excel at both.Everything fell apart before we were able to pull ourselves together. When tragedy demands my silence, I have no choice but to give it because losing a life also means saving so many more.I finally have everything I want. Having my best friend back is a dream come true...
    Categorized as:
    angst  coming-of-age  crime  dark  high-school  sports  steamy  abuse
  • Aggro by Carrie Gray, Coralee June

    Aggro by Carrie Gray, Coralee June

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Two boys.One tragedy.Grief bonds us.The mystery of this murder will break us.My best friend was brutally ripped from this world, but her brother and boyfriend are still here.One of them wants to use me.The other wants to forget me.Both of them make me feel alive.We’ll find Violet’s murderer, no matter the cost.Two boys.One tragedy.Grief bonds us.Love will tear us apart...
  • Broken Hate by Thandiwe Mpofu, Thandie

    Broken Hate by Thandiwe Mpofu, Thandie

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    What’s wrong Baby Blue? Did you mistake his forced sincerity for love?Every kiss will fade in time.Every memory will fade in time.Every smile, every teardrop, every wound—it’ll all dry up—in time.But every lie? That shit only gets bigger and more devastating with time.In time..
  • Renata Vitali by Parker S. Huntington

    Renata Vitali by Parker S. Huntington

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Damiano De Luca: a curse with no cure. Before he ruled the De Luca family, before he became the man everyone feared, before he scoured an empire in search of me, he chose me to ruin. I was an innocent. An untainted princess. The heiress to the Vitali mafia throne. And I was in the wrong place at the wrong time when I met the wrong boy...
    Categorized as:
    angst  crime  dark  high-school  sports  abuse  audiobook  billionaire
  • Wild Girl by Sheridan Anne

    Wild Girl by Sheridan Anne

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Have you ever known what it feels like to die?It’s not great. Trust me, I don’t recommend it.I’ve always said that my life is about surviving, but I didn’t realize how true that was until the devil sent me soaring off a bridge with the love of my life and lodged a bullet through my thigh.It’s not my time to die...
    Categorized as:
    high-school  dark  sports  angst  crime  steamy  coming-of-age  romance
  • Sinful Hearts by Jagger Cole

    Sinful Hearts by Jagger Cole

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    My first mistake was sleeping with the most dangerous man in New York, without him knowing who I was.My second was believing he never would...It was supposed to be easy: one night of sin with a beautiful stranger to forever cut ties with my Bratva past.But I didn’t pick a stranger. I picked him...
    Categorized as:
    dark  steamy  angst  crime  romance  contemporary  suspense  fiction
  • The Angels by Ruby Vincent

    The Angels by Ruby Vincent

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    My parents forgot something when they ran… me.After scamming most of our town out of their life savings, my folks disappeared in the middle of the night.Forced to take me in, my estranged aunt and uncle shipped me off to Raven River Academy the first chance they got.In my town, the line between the haves and the have-nots is actually a twelve-foot gate that keep the unwanted where they belong...
  • Falls Boys by Penelope Douglas

    Falls Boys by Penelope Douglas

    Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    The HELLBENT Series—a spin-off to the Fall Away series—is coming! “The kids are growing up—different from their parents but the same in so many ways…” ARO Hawken Trent. So polite. So sweet. Such an upstanding young man. A virgin, too, I hear. He never gets naughty with a girl. Probably because Jesus told him not to. And now here he is, trying to be the hero by protecting another girl from me...
  • Jaden by Tijan

    Jaden by Tijan

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Being framed for murder sucks. Being framed for the murder of your old friend-turned-enemy-turned-ma...
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