Books like 'Water for Elephants'

Readers who enjoyed Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  forbidden love  love triangle  suspense  mystery  fem-dom  20th century  bdsm  friends-benefits  other-man-woman 

  • State of Shock by Marie Force

    State of Shock by Marie Force

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    They never saw this coming… Hold on to your hat for the next First Family book, coming December 20, 2022...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  m-f  contemporary  death  audiobook
  • State of Suspense by Marie Force

    State of Suspense by Marie Force

    Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A high-profile murder has Sam and her team chasing an elusive killer…Just back from their anniversary trip to Dewey Beach, there’s no slow roll back to work for the first couple as Sam is immediately thrust into a baffling new case that has everyone on edge. The FBI wants in on this one, and she’s determined to figure out what happened before they can take over her investigation...
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  • State of Denial by Marie Force

    State of Denial by Marie Force

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Denial: refusing to admit the truth or reality of something unpleasant… His mother has been arrested, his government is under new threat, the relentless media is driving him mad, and denial becomes the word of the day for President Nick Cappuano. Meanwhile, his wife, DC Metro Police Lt. Sam Holland Cappuano has caught a big new case with suspects everywhere she looks...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  m-f  contemporary  death  audiobook
  • State of the Union by Marie Force

    State of the Union by Marie Force

    Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    It’s the biggest night of President Nick Cappuano’s life. Will his first lady make it to the Capitol in time for his speech?President Cappuano has been working for months on his first State of the Union address, his highest profile moment yet as the country’s new president...
  • Fatal Frenzy by Marie Force

    Fatal Frenzy by Marie Force

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Inauguration day is almost here… Lieutenant Sam Holland is on leave, recovering from an attack that shook her to the core. With no case to distract her, she's trying to stay busy—even voluntarily meeting with her new White House staff. But it's not enough to keep the horrific memories at bay, and her family is worried…especially her husband, Vice President Nick Cappuano...
  • Adore Me by Jillian Dodd

    Adore Me by Jillian Dodd

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Join Keatyn on Thanksgiving Break in this Keatyn Chronicles novella. I’ve finally become the kind of girl my little sisters could look up to. Except for the lies. Lying to my friends is killing me. And the longer I’m there—the closer we get—the more I feel like I’m being eaten from the inside out. If I go back to Eastbrooke, I’ll end up nothing but a shell. So I'm not going back...
  • Ashes by Chelle Bliss

    Ashes by Chelle Bliss

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Dylan Walsh left his small town behind and vowed to never return. But when his brother needs help, Dylan steps back into the memories he tried so hard to forget. He thought there was nothing there for him anymore until a woman he knew as a little girl catches more than Dylan’s eye.Rosie Gallo is known for her kind spirit, good-girl vibes, and her loyalty to the ones she loves...
  • Seven Up by Janet Evanovich

    Seven Up by Janet Evanovich

    Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 105 ratings
    BLOWN UP All New Jersey bounty hunter Stephanie Plum has to do is bring in semi-retired bail jumper Eddie DeChooch. For an old man he's still got a knack for slipping out of sight--and raising hell...
  • Forgotten Secrets by Christy Barritt

    Forgotten Secrets by Christy Barritt

    Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    FBI Special Agent Jesse Marx doesn’t know which is worse—waking up in a horse stable with no memories of the past two weeks or waking up to discover he’s wearing a wedding band. Not only has he been injured, but he’s also married—something he vowed to never do.Dakota Fleming refuses to feel a connection to any man, much less be tied down to one...
  • Something Nice by Tiffany Reisz

    Something Nice by Tiffany Reisz

    Rated: 4.51 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 16 ratings
    It's July, a couple months after Nora returns to Søren at the end of THE SIREN, and while in bed, Søren makes a trade with Nora. He'll do something nice for her and she'll do something nice for him. Of course Nora picks something sexual. But Søren surprises her with his "something nice" request. Read the excerpt below to find out what it is.This story if for mailing list subscribers only...
  • Shock and Awesome by Camilla Chafer

    Shock and Awesome by Camilla Chafer

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    When a thief who preys on the super rich women of a high-end dating website turns up in Montgomery, it’s up to Private Investigator, Lexi Graves, to lure him out before he goes to ground. To make matters worse, he's evaded capture numerous times, and this might be the last chance to catch him before he retires altogether from the high stakes game...
  • Lost in You by Lexi Blake

    Lost in You by Lexi Blake

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Robert McClellan was forced to serve as a soldier in a war he didn’t understand. Liberated by McKay-Taggart, he struggles every day to reclaim the life he lost and do right by the men he calls his brothers, The Lost Boys. Only one thing is more important – Ariel Adisa. The gorgeous psychologist has plagued his dreams since the day they met...
  • Targeted by Kendra Elliot

    Targeted by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    All Detective Mason Callahan wanted was a quiet fishing trip with the guys—a chance to get away and unwind before Halloween. Until he finds the body of his boss, Denny Schefte, near their remote Oregon cabin. Now all he wants is to catch the sadist who slit Denny’s throat and covered his face with a mask...
  • Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

    Hot Six by Janet Evanovich

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 108 ratings
    Low-rent bounty hunter Stephanie Plum reaches depths of personal experience that other women detectives never quite do. In Hot Six , for example, a sequence of new and hideous cars bite the dust; she finds herself lumbered with a policeman's multiply incontinent dog; and she has several bad skin days...
  • Lucas by Elle James

    Lucas by Elle James

    Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Former Delta Force Operator, Lucas LeBlanc, has lost everyone he’s ever loved and is afraid to commit his heart to anyone. He believes he’s the black cloud, the bad luck killing off the people he dares to love as family, friend or lover. After leaving the military, he joins Brotherhood Protectors where he hopes he can put his combat training and skills to work helping others...
  • Tied Bond by Emma Hart

    Tied Bond by Emma Hart

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Holly Woods is going to hell in a handbasket—but this time, Satanists aren’t to blame. Halloween is. Nonna doesn’t understand why there are skeletons and demons everywhere. Mom is threatening to stitch a devil into Nonna’s pillowcase if she doesn’t shut up. Bek is bumbling over a date with Jason, the handsome FBI agent who conveniently got himself relocated to Austin, and I… Well...
  • Jenner by Dale Mayer

    Jenner by Dale Mayer

    Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Heading to Ashland, Kentucky, where his ex-wife’s family lives, is not in Jenner’s plans anytime soon. But, given a War Dog is potentially in trouble, well, Jenner will even face his past. Arriving at a small bed-and-breakfast, he meets a woman more interesting than anyone he’d met in a long time...
  • Count to Ten by Karen Rose

    Count to Ten by Karen Rose

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 38 ratings
    In all his years in the Chicago Fire Department, Lieutenant Reed Solliday ahs never experienced anything like this recent outbreak of house fires - devastating, vicious and in one case, homicidal. He has another problem - his new partner, Detective Mia Mitchell. She's brash, bossy, and taking the case in a direction he never imagined...
  • Four to Score by Janet Evanovich

    Four to Score by Janet Evanovich

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 110 ratings
    Stephanie Plum, Trenton, New Jersey's favorite pistol-packing, condom-carrying bounty hunter, is back - and on the trail of a revenge-seeking waitress who's skipped bail. With the help of 73-year-old Grandma Mazur, ex-hooker Lula, a transvestite musician named Sally Sweet, and the all-too-hospitable, all-too-sexy Joe Morelli, Stephanie might just catch her woman...
  • Burning Bond by Emma Hart

    Burning Bond by Emma Hart

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    BURNING BOND is book six of the HOLLY WOODS FILES series. While it can technically be read as a standalone, it's advised to read the first five books prior to this for full enjoyment. -- Two men, both determined to protect me. I think I love one. I’m almost sure I’m in love with the other. Ride or die just got a whole lot realer...
  • Sail by M. Mabie

    Sail by M. Mabie

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    This isn’t just a two-year long one-night stand. It’s my life. This is my life. Our life. It isn’t just some careless affair. I’ve made the worst decisions a woman could, but I’ll earn my second chance. She can try keeping all the guilt for herself, but I’m just as much to blame. Loving Casey wasn’t my biggest mistake. Fighting it for so long was...
  • Shattered Oath by Lisa Lovell

    Shattered Oath by Lisa Lovell

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The Bratva Boss wants me dead.Too bad I’m pregnant with his baby.I’ve run far and wide to escape the Devil’s rage.But it wasn’t long before he caught me.Now I’m standing in front of him bound and naked.About to face the consequences of my betrayal.With every inch of my skin exposed to his will,And my life flashing before my watery eyes,He draws my traitorous body under his spell...
  • Alexander: Alexander's Story by E.L. Stevens

    Alexander: Alexander's Story by E.L. Stevens

    Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Alexander Palomino is a man defined by the ghosts of his past, of which there are his parents, his daughter, his wife…, and Jess.He’s a man defined by the promises he’s made. To never be like his abusive father, to never love again, never trust again, and to sever their ties for good.In the wake of their heart-wrenching end, Alex’s rash decision throws lives into chaos, including his own...
  • Alexander: Alexander's Story by E.L. Stevens

    Alexander: Alexander's Story by E.L. Stevens

    Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Alexander Palomino is a man defined by the ghosts of his past, of which there are his parents, his daughter, his wife…, and Jess.He’s a man defined by the promises he’s made. To never be like his abusive father, to never love again, never trust again, and to sever their ties for good.In the wake of their heart-wrenching end, Alex’s rash decision throws lives into chaos, including his own...
  • Levi: Driverton 2 by Ruth Cardello

    Levi: Driverton 2 by Ruth Cardello

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Driverton’s bad boy is falling in love with his best friend’s cousin and it just might cost him everything.Levi has always had a sweet spot for Katie, but she’s not his type. He likes his women wild, willing, and from out of town so they’re easy to move on from when his interest wanes.Katie is opinionated and off-limits...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  m-f  contemporary  humor  length-short
  • Romeo by R.J. Gray

    Romeo by R.J. Gray

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    She’s twenty years younger than him.And his best friend’s baby sister.He had no right claiming her as his.Author note: Romeo is a age gap romance with steamy heat in and out of the bedroom for mature readers...
  • The One for Forever by Hannah Shield

    The One for Forever by Hannah Shield

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    He's the older man I've always wanted. An ex-Special Forces hero. My best friend’s dad.And now, he's the bodyguard assigned to protect me while I prosecute a killer.I’ve wanted Rex Easton since I was eighteen, yet he’s never looked at me twice. I’m determined to finally get over this crush. But after he swears to protect me from the faceless thugs who are after me, I can’t avoid him...
  • Spiraled by Kendra Elliot

    Spiraled by Kendra Elliot

    Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    FBI Special Agent Ava McLane solves crimes; she doesn’t witness them. When she’s trapped in a mall without her weapon as a shooter picks off victims, she hides with a wounded teen and prays for her survival. But that’s only the beginning… An epidemic of mass shootings has swept across Oregon. The young shooters terrify the public, committing random murders before taking their own lives...
  • Find Me by Tiffany Snow

    Find Me by Tiffany Snow

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    As the head of the government’s secret Vigilance spy program, computer guru China Mack already has her hands full when her billionaire boyfriend, Jackson Cooper, asks for one of them in marriage. Thrown for a loop by the sudden proposal, China’s usually well-ordered life takes another hit when someone tries to assassinate the president...
  • See No Evil by Allison Brennan

    See No Evil by Allison Brennan

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    A cunning killer hides in plain sight.A troubled teenage girl has been charged with the grisly murder of her stepfather. The evidence is damning: Emily was found alone at the scene with blood on her hands, and an incriminating e-mail she wrote outlines a murder plot identical to the method of the brutal slaying...
  • Ashes of Black Oak by Monique Edenwood

    Ashes of Black Oak by Monique Edenwood

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 11 ratings
    I watch the blood as it seeps from him, pooling like crimson flame around his neck, trickling in rivulets of liquid fire onto the dense body below.The body I've touched. I've held. I've kissed. I've felt wrapped around me for so long, holding me possessively, protecting me from those who wanted me lost...
  • Daimon by Jessica Ames

    Daimon by Jessica Ames

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    DaimonAs Treasurer of the Untamed Sons MC, I don't have time to deal with a bratty kid. Briella is nineteen. I'm thirty-one. I'm too old for her tantrums, but I'm sure there's something more to her acting out than a late teenage rebellion. When I look in her eyes, I see her demons glaring back at me, and I want to know who put them there...
  • Twisted by Laura Griffin

    Twisted by Laura Griffin

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 32 ratings
    Motive, opportunity, and no alibi - it seems close to a slam-dunk. But while rookie detective Allison Doyle’s department has ID’d a suspect in a young woman’s vicious murder, she is uneasy. Then legendary FBI profiler Mark Wolfe shows up with a startling theory: if he’s right, the real murderer is an elusive psychopath just days away from another kill...
  • The Hunt by Allison Brennan

    The Hunt by Allison Brennan

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 30 ratings
    Touched by a killer, she feels the fire of revenge. Twelve years ago, Miranda Moore miraculously survived the torture of a serial killer who was never caught. Since then, Miranda, a former FBI trainee and now a member of a local search-and-rescue squad, has witnessed with horror the recovery of the mutilated bodies of seven young women, all victims of her tormentor, known as The Butcher...
  • Stone Sober by Gwyn McNamee

    Stone Sober by Gwyn McNamee

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Stone Hawke is precisely the kind of man women are warned about—handsome, intelligent, arrogant, and intricately entangled with some dangerous people. I should stay away, but he manages to strip my soul bare with just a look and dominates my thoughts. Bad decisions are in my past. My life is (mostly) on track, even if it is no longer the one to medical school...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  m-f  contemporary  length-medium
  • Pursuing Dace by Stephanie St. Klaire

    Pursuing Dace by Stephanie St. Klaire

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The O’Reilly brothers are back with a vengeance in another riveting novel overflowing with mayhem and murder. Dace O’Reilly is in for the fight of his life to clear the name of the woman who stole his heart...
  • Shadow by Ivy Nelson

    Shadow by Ivy Nelson

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    A Dark Romantic SuspenseCannon Ripley has spent his life in the shadows, but he's always been able to count on Olivia being there for him on the rare occasions he was able to come home. That is until he couldn't. When she walked away from their casual arrangement to marry someone else, he knew he'd stayed away too long. But she's divorced now and he's ready to come home for good...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  bdsm  m-f  contemporary  length-medium
  • Cherry Brandy by L.J. Evans

    Cherry Brandy by L.J. Evans

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Being on the run with only one bed is no excuse to touch her…until touching is the only choice. A quirky rock star and her fierce Secret Service agent fight a forbidden attraction.As the Vice President’s daughter and his current assignment, Leya Singh is completely off-limits...
  • Long Way Down by Lauren Gilley

    Long Way Down by Lauren Gilley

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    When she was six, a horrific crime against a family member determined the course of Melissa Dixon’s life. It eventually drove her away from her tiny, Mississippi home town, away from her family, and into a career in law enforcement. Living and working in NYC, she keeps the past locked away tight, memory relegated to rare nightmares...
  • A Little Like Destiny by Lisa Suzanne

    A Little Like Destiny by Lisa Suzanne

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Reserved and responsible Reese Brady refuses to miss her chance with bad boy rock star Mark Ashton. After one steamy night, she's convinced the emotional connection they shared was just a figment of her imagination. After all, he’s a womanizer whose affairs are highly publicized. Reese strives to leave that night behind her after a handsome business mogul asks her to dinner...
  • Iron by Harley Wylde

    Iron by Harley Wylde

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Nari – Pain. Humiliation. Those are the things my father taught me, and every man I’ve met since. Running away from home didn’t fix anything. Now I’m nineteen and back in the town my family calls home. I haven’t told them I’m here, and I don’t plan to. But I also didn’t count on a biker giving me a ride, and leaving me at the Hades Abyss compound...
  • Beating Ruby by Camilla Monk

    Beating Ruby by Camilla Monk

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 32 ratings
    Life hasn’t been quite the same for computer engineer Island Chaptal since March, an OCD-ridden professional killer, burst into her life to clean her bedroom and take her on a global chase for a legendary diamond. Sadly, the (hit) man doesn’t just break bones; he breaks hearts, too...
  • Cypher by T.L. Drake

    Cypher by T.L. Drake

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Award Winning Author T.L. Drake's final book of the Road Demons seriesSicilyI had a life most people envied. Wealth, family, friends, and a future career I had dreamed of having since I was a little girl. My life was perfect, until it wasn’t. I lost everything thanks to a bottle of Jack and…him—a man I don’t even know! A man that I have no choice but to trust now...
  • Malcolm by Jessica Gadziala

    Malcolm by Jessica Gadziala

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    He was happy with his quiet life.With the club, with his family, with his cabin in the woods.He didn’t think he needed more than that.Not until he came across her.But when a string of unfortunate events starts to seem less like happenstance and more like something someone had planned...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  m-f  bikers  contemporary
  • The Kill by Allison Brennan

    The Kill by Allison Brennan

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    Her worst nightmare brought back to life, she risks everything for a second shot at justice. For thirty years, FBI scientist Olivia St. Martin has lived with guilt and one abiding certainty–that while she wasn’t able to save her sister’s life, she did testify and helped to convict the rapist and killer...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  m-f  contemporary  length-long
  • Break Me by Tiffany Snow

    Break Me by Tiffany Snow

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Just a few weeks ago, computer prodigy China Mack’s typical night in involved Endor Star Wars pajamas and a sensible bedtime. Now she’s dating gorgeous tech guru Jackson Cooper—one of Forbes’s Top Ten Eligible Billionaires—much to the Twitterverse’s delight. Turns out, going from socially inept hermit to poster girl for geek chic has its challenges...
  • Return to Red Castle by Dorothy M. Keddington

    Return to Red Castle by Dorothy M. Keddington

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Red Castle ... an ancient citadel of wine-red stone in the heart of Utah's primitive High Uinta Mountains. Hidden away near its rocky base, a small plane lies twisted and broken. The four men ... desperate, ruthless, will stop at nothing to retrieve the plane's valuable cargo, but their only clue to its location are the words ... Red Castle. Jesse Chisholm ..
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  m-f  contemporary  length-short
  • Rose in Bloom by Mia Michelle

    Rose in Bloom by Mia Michelle

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Secrets. There are many different reasons for having secrets. Sometimes we choose to keep those secrets to protect people, while other times, they are kept out of deceit and shame. Regardless of their purpose, secrets have the power to hurt us, like nothing else. When we risk losing someone we love, we will stop at nothing, to prevent the truth from ever being known...
  • Unforgivable by Laura Griffin

    Unforgivable by Laura Griffin

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Tracing Killers is Mia Voss's Business. And Her Work Just Got Personal.At first, Mia Voss thinks it’s just bad luck when her already lousy day ends with a carjacking, but what seems like a random incident is followed by another sinister episode. A DNA expert, Mia has made it her mission to put away vicious criminals. Suddenly, she’s become the target of one...
  • Save Me by Tiffany Snow

    Save Me by Tiffany Snow

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    In this fast-paced romantic suspense, China Mack will make one final choice. Computer genius China Mack may be the former head of Vigilance, the government’s clandestine spy program, but she can still be knocked off balance. And two back-to-back personal blows have thrown her into a tailspin...
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