Books like 'If There Be Thorns'

Readers who enjoyed If There Be Thorns by V.C. Andrews & The Real Virginia Andrews also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  dark romance  suspense  mystery  horror  m-f

  • Can't Go Back by Debra Webb

    Can't Go Back by Debra Webb

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    The past and the present collide in the final installment of USA Today bestselling author Debra Webb’s Devlin & Falco series, threatening everything these two detectives care about.Birmingham detectives Kerri Devlin and Luke Falco arrive at the scene of a double homicide to discover that nothing makes sense...
  • Heartbreak Bay by Rachel Caine

    Heartbreak Bay by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    They’re hunting a killer so silent, so invisible, that his unspeakable crimes are the only proof he exists.A car submerged in a remote pond. The bodies of two girls strapped into their seats. The mystery of their mother, vanished without a trace, leads Gwen Proctor and Kezia Claremont into dangerous territory...
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  • Tool by K.L. Savage

    Tool by K.L. Savage

    Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Being the VP of the Ruthless Kings has made me jaded and scarred, a savage bloodthirsty beast.Grit, pain, blood, the three constants in my life.Love?I wouldn't burden anyone with loving me. I'm a hard man to love.Until she walks through the garage doors, looking perfect in her little blue dress and high heels.She's neat and clean and too damn good for me, but I'm determined to get her filthy...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  dark  bikers  contemporary  length-short
  • Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine

    Bitter Falls by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    She’s investigating a cold case no one else could—by going places no one else would dare.In spite of a harrowing past still haunting her, Gwen Proctor is trying to move forward. Until a new assignment gives her purpose: the cold-case disappearance of a young man in Tennessee. Three years missing, no clues. Just Ruth Landry, a tortured mother in limbo...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  horror  contemporary  dark  queer  f-f  abuse
  • Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Killman Creek by Rachel Caine

    Rated: 4.24 of 5 stars
    · 59 ratings
    Every time Gwen closed her eyes, she saw him in her nightmares. Now her eyes are open, and he’s not going away.Gwen Proctor won the battle to save her kids from her ex-husband, serial killer Melvin Royal, and his league of psychotic accomplices. But the war isn’t over. Not since Melvin broke out of prison. Not since she received a chilling text…You’re not safe anywhere now...
  • Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose

    Beneath Dark Waters by Karen Rose

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Deadly secrets lie beneath the murky waters of the Louisiana bayou in this pulse-pounding new romantic suspense novel from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Karen Rose. There's no safe place for a child to hide when danger comes from every direction. Public prosecutor J.P...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  contemporary  dark
  • Code Name: Pisces by Janie Crouch

    Code Name: Pisces by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    My code name is Pisces. The stars say I’m independent, wise, and intuitive.Still waters run deep. I’m the leader of Zodiac Tactical’s guardian unit. We’re the bodyguards—the ones who stand toe to toe with danger and refuse to give any ground. We protect people who need it most.But what if who needs it most is a spoiled diva?I don’t normally take on movie stars...
  • Extreme Risk by Jane Blythe

    Extreme Risk by Jane Blythe

    Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Can she accept an offer of help from a patient she’s attracted to?Dr. Piper Hamilton is used to keeping on the fringes. She knows what it's like to be responsible for the death of someone you love and she'd do anything to protect herself from feeling that pain again...
  • Obsession by T.K. Leigh

    Obsession by T.K. Leigh

    Rated: 4.88 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    One week. No names. No expectations.That was our agreement. We were supposed to walk away after our time in Hawaii was over. No matter what.That was before…Before I learned who she is.Before I realized how interconnected our lives are.Before I fell in love.But our love isn’t the stuff fairy tales are made of.Demons lurk around every corner.Good doesn’t necessarily prevail over evil...
  • Bed of Roses by D.V. Fischer

    Bed of Roses by D.V. Fischer

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 13 ratings
    I never thought I'd fall for a murderer. As an old employee at a funeral home, Tegan's life had been full of corpses. When her parents died, she couldn't take being surrounded by death anymore. She had to get away, and to do that, she moved to a small, sleepy town in Utah. When Tegan rented a house sight-unseen, she had been told it would need a lot of work...
  • Savage by K.L. Savage

    Savage by K.L. Savage

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    I'm on the road, but there's only one thing on my mind.Eden...Problem is, this isn't me.I don't chase.I don't pursue.But I can't help myself.Eden is stubborn.Headstrong.The toughest woman I know.My mistake was letting myself have a taste.It wasn't enough.I'm addicted.I'm breaking my own rules.I don't care how complicated it is.But the complications keep coming..
  • Raven by K.L. Savage

    Raven by K.L. Savage

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Not even the holidays can make a bastard like me feel better.The guys are all gone for Christmas, but I decide to stay.I'm hunting a horrific serial killer and I can't afford to lose him.I'm regretting that decision when I find her:Beaten, bloodied, and left out in the snow to die.Who is she?That's the problem. Not even she knows...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  m-f  dark  contemporary  bikers  bad boys  christmas
  • Never Look Back by Mary Burton

    Never Look Back by Mary Burton

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    Expect the unexpected in this gritty, tense, and page-turning mystery from New York Times bestselling author Mary Burton.After multiple women go missing, Agent Melina Shepard of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation makes the impulsive decision to go undercover as a prostitute...
  • Code Name: Gemini by Janie Crouch, Danielle M. Haas

    Code Name: Gemini by Janie Crouch, Danielle M. Haas

    Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 11 ratings
    Tasha Volkov has been on the run for three years from a brutal cartel who want her her family.She already paid a heavy price for crossing them, and has the scars to prove it. Her only choice is to keep running, even if the tiny town of Pine Valley feels more like home to her than anywhere else she's ever been...
  • A Dark Mind by T.R. Ragan

    A Dark Mind by T.R. Ragan

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    A serial killer is terrorizing Sacramento, preying on happily married couples and unleashing unspeakable cruelties upon his victims. The ordeal rekindles disturbing memories for private investigator Lizzy Gardner, who barely escaped a serial killer clutches only years ago...
  • Layered Lies by Kaylie Hunter

    Layered Lies by Kaylie Hunter

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Two years after her son was abducted, Kelsey Harrison rebuilds a new life for herself. She opens a store, makes new friends, and settles into a peaceful existence. At least, that’s what she hopes the world believes.Behind closed doors, Kelsey hunts her enemies, living a life of lies. She hasn’t forgotten, hasn’t forgiven. She searches for answers still...
  • The Last Party by A.R. Torre

    The Last Party by A.R. Torre

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    A loving mother. A notorious murderer. They both have reasons to hide their secrets in a novel of escalating shock and suspense by New York Times bestselling author A. R. Torre.Perla Wultz lives with her husband, Grant, and their precious daughter, Sophie, in a gated Pasadena community. Affluent, sociable, and accomplished, Perla plays the part of loving wife and mother to perfection...
  • Key to Hell by Alex Grayson

    Key to Hell by Alex Grayson

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    The highly anticipated conclusion of the Hell Night Series. Emo's story.Death. Destruction. Pain. A soulless void. It's his life. It's his reality.Emo doesn't feel. Anything. His soul is dark and filled with hatred. People in the small town of Malus watch him with fear, with reverence. Exactly the way he prefers it.Guilt surrounds him, caging him in an ominous past he refuses to let go...
  • Blackout by Janine Infante Bosco

    Blackout by Janine Infante Bosco

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Every fairytale is just a tragedy with a twist. And happily-ever-after is a fantasy.Give me the real, ugly love of two people battling their demons to make it work. Two people like us. When the stakes have never been higher, I turn to my past. After all, it's our favorite sins that always do us in.But even in the midst of my blackout, there she is. The beacon of light I don't deserve...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  contemporary  dark  length-long
  • Texas Bodyguard: Chance by Janie Crouch

    Texas Bodyguard: Chance by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    She has secrets she prefers to keep hidden.Too bad he’s so good at getting to the truth.When a violent attack puts Maci Ford in the hospital, security expert Chance Patterson learns that she’s carrying his baby. Even though she ended their relationship, he’s determined to do whatever it takes to protect her and their child...
  • Pretty Evil by Stella Andrews

    Pretty Evil by Stella Andrews

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    When the cage door opens, freedom is a difficult temptation to ignore.Serena VieriMafia princess, protected her entire life for a very good reason.There is a target on her back.Her family believed she was better off not knowing but with knowledge comes a certain kind of power that she could sure use right now...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  mafia  dark  contemporary  length-medium
  • Last Resort by Janie Crouch

    Last Resort by Janie Crouch

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    From USA TODAY Bestselling Author Janie Crouch. Previously published as Texas ChanceShe has secrets she prefers to keep hidden.Too bad he’s so good at getting to the truth.When a violent attack puts Maci Ford in the hospital, security expert Chance Patterson learns that she’s carrying his baby...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  dark  pregnancy  contemporary  military
  • The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

    The Ink Black Heart by Robert Galbraith

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    The latest installment in the highly acclaimed, internationally bestselling Strike series finds Cormoran and Robin ensnared in another winding, wicked case.When frantic, dishevelled Edie Ledwell appears in the office begging to speak to her, private detective Robin Ellacott doesn't know quite what to make of the situation...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  contemporary  death  dark  length-epic
  • A Shade of Evil by Stella Andrews

    A Shade of Evil by Stella Andrews

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Revenge is a dish best served cold.Shade Vieri has no mercy. No compassion and no empathy.He is cruel, enigmatic, and deliciously dark.His instructions are clear.Find the Achilles heel of the enemy and destroy it.The enemy is a woman who slides across his soul like spun silk.A breath of fresh air in a dark, depressing world...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  mafia  dark  contemporary  length-medium
  • I'm Watching You by Karen Rose

    I'm Watching You by Karen Rose

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 43 ratings
    I Know Their Crimes. Star prosecutor Kristen Mayhew has a dangerous secret admirer. He seems to know her every thought, her every move. He sends her letters. And he kills the criminals she herself is powerless to stop. I Hunt Down the Guilty...
  • Say You're Sorry by Karen Rose

    Say You're Sorry by Karen Rose

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 38 ratings
    Introducing the first novel in the pulse-pounding Sacramento series from New York Times bestselling author Karen Rose. There is a serial killer on the loose, preying on vulnerable women. The only identifiable mark the killer leaves are letters—sometimes one, sometimes two—all carved into the torsos of his victims. Together they spell “Sydney...
  • Adrenaline Rush by C.M. Owens

    Adrenaline Rush by C.M. Owens

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 22 ratings
    There was a time when I was a princess with no power. I had no choice but to run, because I wanted control over my own life. However, when you spend your life planning your next escape, you forget to do the living stuff. At least until the past comes back to remind you why you ran in the first place...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  contemporary  bikers  dark  length-medium
  • Wishing Well by Lily White

    Wishing Well by Lily White

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The perfect timing of a fairy tale is tied to its tragedy… Journalist, Meadow Graham, is invited to interview death row inmate, Vincent Mercier. Given three days to hear his sordid confession, Meadow seeks to learn why a wealthy hotel owner killed four people, including her twin sister...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  dark  contemporary  bdsm  length-medium
  • Bitter Sweet Hell by Alex Grayson

    Bitter Sweet Hell by Alex Grayson

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    The Hell Night Series continues with JW's story! As the Sheriff of Malus, Texas, JW takes his oath to protect its citizens very seriously. Born from an ugly past, he swears no child, woman, or man will ever endure what he and his brothers have. As he seeks retribution of the ones who have wronged him, his past and his present finally collide. Secrets are laid open...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  contemporary  dark  length-medium
  • Damaged Kingdom by MJ Crouch

    Damaged Kingdom by MJ Crouch

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    Mari Marcosa always knew she would die young, so being left to bleed out on a warehouse floor is no shock to her. But as the blood seeps from her body, her thoughts aren’t of the Marcosa empire she's ruled for years, or the city she's given everything to protect. It's on the three men who’ve stood by her Greyson: her soul, her foundation. So hard and reserved, showing emotion only to Mari...
  • Judge of Hell by Alex Grayson

    Judge of Hell by Alex Grayson

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    The Hell Night Series continues with Judge's story!Fierce, loyal, controlled. Three things Judge became at a young age.Enduring unimaginable horrors no child should, he swore no person would dictate his or his brother’s lives again.Revenge fueled him, setting a path destined from the moment he and his brothers escaped their hell...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  contemporary  dark  length-novella
  • Consumed by Truths by Ella Miles

    Consumed by Truths by Ella Miles

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Enzo is my heart. My soul. My breath. I never thought I could be so dark. Never knew love meant losing myself and getting reborn. The lies and truths have finally caught up with us. We may have stolen an empire, but we aren’t ready to give it up. It’s ours. He’s mine. And our love will find a way to the truth. Consumed by Truths is book 6 and the final book in Enzo and Kai's story...
  • Reaper by Rachel Leigh

    Reaper by Rachel Leigh

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    They call me the reaper.Saying I have no soul. A heart that’s charred black. I tell them it’s true,because it is. I’ve been hiding in the shadows.Stealing secrets, destroying the lives of those who deserve it. But there’s one story to be told before this book closes. My story. Don’t be fooled, it’s not a fairytale. I’m no prince.And I certainly don’t want a princess...
  • Merciless Union by Faith Summers

    Merciless Union by Faith Summers

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Everything changed overnight.Truth became my enemy, and the sting of betrayal dragged me into a web of lies.I’m damned if I fight to live and damned if I die. Both will be dangerous for the child growing inside me. I can’t trust Lucca to save us.Love is a myth we shouldn’t have explored.He was always my enemy.Love just made me forget and blinded me to the truth...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  new adult  contemporary  dark  mafia
  • Gabby's Protector by Janie Crouch, Regan Black

    Gabby's Protector by Janie Crouch, Regan Black

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    After a heart-shattering tragedy, Tony Marino bottled up his emotions and gave more than twenty hard years to the SEAL teams. Now, he’s enjoying a later in life career in paradise in the Ellington Cove special security office.The best part? Working with their research expert, Gabby Ladd...
  • Blackness Within by Norma Jeanne Karlsson

    Blackness Within by Norma Jeanne Karlsson

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Fighting to find his worthy place in life… This is the story of a woman that has worked tirelessly to build her own life from nothing. While the task has been exhaustive, it’s been worth every drop of sweat to earn her own slice of normal. Natasha Reynolds has built a life beyond an absent mother and a drug addict brother to become a home-owning, dog-loving nurse...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  m-f  contemporary  dark  possessive hero
  • Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen

    Shadow Man by Cody McFadyen

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Once, Special Agent Smoky Barrett hunted serial killers for the FBI. She was one of the best–until a madman terrorized her family, killed her husband and daughter, and left her face scarred and her soul brutalized. Turning the tables on the killer, Smoky shot him dead–but her life was shattered forever. Now Smoky dreams about picking up her weapon again...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  contemporary  rape  dark  length-long
  • False Hope by Meli Raine

    False Hope by Meli Raine

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    She thinks she’s fooled me. But I’ve known all along.Almost.Lily is hiding something, a secret so big, she came out of a year-long coma and her first instinct was to lie.Who does that? Someone who is afraid. No—not afraid.Terrified. And it’s my job to take that fear away.My partner and I have spent countless man-hours hunting down the cold-blooded killer who did this to her...
  • The Sinister Silhouette by Alex Grayson, JW Photography

    The Sinister Silhouette by Alex Grayson, JW Photography

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    “Luca….”She whispers my name at night, filling my dreams with her haunting beauty. Her tormented amber eyes beg me for something I don’t understand, and her agonizing pain becomes my own.For years, she’s come to me, calling my name.For years, I’ve never known who she was.Until now…...
  • The Lucky One by Jessica Payne

    The Lucky One by Jessica Payne

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Ten years ago, I survived a serial killer. They called me the lucky one, but they don’t know the truth I’ve been hiding ever since…Then: We danced together that night, our dresses glittering in the swirling lights. We couldn’t have known that for one of us, it would be our last night alive...
  • Wrath by Gwyn McNamee

    Wrath by Gwyn McNamee

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    All I see is red.Blood.Pain.Rage.It consumes me.The moment he took her, wrath invaded my soul.I only have one purpose. End him and take back what’s mine. Love isn’t always clean, and wrath is the deadliest sin...
  • The Society by Erin Mc Luckie Moya

    The Society by Erin Mc Luckie Moya

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    What happens when you're born into a secret society? When your great-grandfather was a founding member? Do you have a choice whether you stay or not?And the benefits that befall you with such a position? The easy college access and high powered positions - the multinational firms...
  • Tink by D.M. Earl

    Tink by D.M. Earl

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Working to rid the world of human traffickers has been Tink’s life’s calling. It’s very close to her heart and only those in her inner circle know the real reason why...
  • Combative Trilogy by Jay McLean

    Combative Trilogy by Jay McLean

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    In a world full of secrets, heartache, and betrayals, they only have one thing on their mind: redemption.But with redemption comes destruction.And that destruction might cost them their hearts.*Kyler Parker is not one of the lucky ones.Abused and neglected until he was sixteen, Kyler needed an out. A way to escape...
  • Pleasure & Prey: vol. 1 by A.J. Merlin

    Pleasure & Prey: vol. 1 by A.J. Merlin

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    DepravedThere’s nothing out there.That’s what I keep telling myself while I walk back from a campfire to my isolated cabin.BrutalNothing bad happens at summer camp.That’s what my fellow camp counselors have convinced me of when the nights around the lake get a little eerie.ViciousOne, two, he’s coming for you...
  • Wicked Little Words by Stevie J. Cole

    Wicked Little Words by Stevie J. Cole

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Edwin Allen Mercer I want them all to read my words. And they do. Every last blood-stained sentence, they've read and praised me for. They love the gore and violence, the realness. And I get a sense of power with it all because I know a secret: the victims in my books—they’re real and have all died on my table. And maybe that’s why the last book had such awful reviews...
  • Darkness Lurks by J.L. Drake

    Darkness Lurks by J.L. Drake

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Emily McPhee has struggled to overcome her father’s death... It’s not easy, but Emily finally has the life she wants. She’s an A student at Orange University and has a comfortable home and a great circle of friends. She’s also in love with handsome Orange PD officer Seth Connors. He doesn’t seem to return her feelings, though, so she tells herself his friendship is enough...
  • Finding Claire Fletcher by Lisa Regan

    Finding Claire Fletcher by Lisa Regan

    Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Newly divorced and with his career in jeopardy, Detective Connor Parks takes solace in the arms of a beautiful woman he meets at a bar. The next morning, Claire Fletcher is gone, leaving nothing behind but an address and a decade-old mystery...
  • Have You Seen Her? by Karen Rose

    Have You Seen Her? by Karen Rose

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 42 ratings
    Special Agent Steven Thatcher has a lot on his hands. Not only is there a serial killer on the loose, stalking area high schools, but Steven's teenage son Brad is suddenly acting up and failing in school. His schoolteacher, Jenna Marshall, is also worried about Brad...
  • Murder Notes by Lisa Renee Jones

    Murder Notes by Lisa Renee Jones

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    New York Times bestselling author Lisa Renee Jones’s heart-pounding thriller of a woman’s secrets—and a past that’s about to come out of hiding… As an FBI profiler, it’s Lilah Love’s job to think like a killer. And she is very good at her job...
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