Books like 'By a Thread'

Readers who enjoyed By a Thread by R.L. Griffin also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  dark romance  young adult  suspense  mystery  college  cliffhanger

  • Inferno by Catherine Doyle

    Inferno by Catherine Doyle

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 29 ratings
    Romeo and Juliet meets The Godfather in the second installment of Catherine Doyle's Blood for Blood series. Sophie's life has been turned upside-down, and she's determined to set things right. But Nic, the Falcone brother who represents everything she's trying to forget, won't give up on their love - and it's Luca's knife she clutches for comfort...
  • Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

    Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 207 ratings
    Check out the #1 New York Times bestseller Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty, called “a surefire hit” by Entertainment Weekly. "The secrets burrowed in this seemingly placid small town. .. are so suburban noir they would make David Lynch clap with glee. .
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  contemporary  abuse  dark  young adult  humor  rape
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  • Still Jaded by Tijan

    Still Jaded by Tijan

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 41 ratings
    Sheldon, Bryce, and Corrigan ruled their school until a killer wanted to rule them. Three years later, Bryce’s back home from Europe the local celebrity jock. Corrigan’s busy running his fraternity and Sheldon's about to be pulled back into the social world of drama. With the killer killed, who's trying to hurt Sheldon this time? Or maybe it's someone closer than she wants to admit?
  • Elicit by Rachel Van Dyken

    Elicit by Rachel Van Dyken

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 42 ratings
    Cursed, numb, rejected, scorned, wicked, sinister, dark, twisted. .. my name is Tex Campisi and this is my legacy. I killed my father in cold blood and lost my soul right along with him. I crave war more than peace, and I'm about to take my place in history as the youngest Capo dei Capi in the Cosa Nostra. .. that is until someone stops me, saves me from myself...
  • Almost Broken by Portia Moore

    Almost Broken by Portia Moore

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 35 ratings
    Lauren Brooks fell in love with Cal Scott at 21, married him at 22 and had her heart broken at 23 when he walked out of their marriage. At 25, though raising his daughter on her own, Lauren was finally moving on with her life. Until, she learned the reason for Cal's abandonment, the walls she’d carefully built around her collapsed.
  • Always Crew by Tijan

    Always Crew by Tijan

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    For the longest time, I was Bren Monroe. I lived in Roussou, California. I had no parents, no brother, but I had a crew. Then things started to change. I never planned for any of it. I didn’t think I’d fall in love. I didn’t think I’d have a relationship with my brother again. I didn’t think that he’d come back. Now I’m in Cain. My crew is in college...
  • Pieces for You by Genna Rulon

    Pieces for You by Genna Rulon

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Samantha Whitney survived unimaginable tragedy only to discover she had been betrayed by a man who claimed to love her. Shattered, Sam spends months at a safe haven trying to piece herself back together. Ready or not, the time has come for her to return home. As Sam struggles to resume a life that no longer feels familiar, she finds unwavering support in an unexpected, familiar face...
  • Reckless Dynasty by Tracy Lorraine

    Reckless Dynasty by Tracy Lorraine

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 19 ratings
    USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author Tracy Lorraine brings you the next installment of her dark mafia, high school bully romance story set in the Knight's Ridge Empire world. My life has been full of half-truths tangled in lies—I’d been to hell and back more times than I could count...
  • Out of the Dark by Danah Logan

    Out of the Dark by Danah Logan

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 18 ratings
    Lilly. My name is the only truth they didn’t take from me. Betrayed by my family, my desperate need for answers put me back on his radar. The one person who was never supposed to find me. Again. I was unprepared for the world I got thrust into—the connection we shared. The deeper I dug, the more unstable my future became. With Rhys as my anchor, I will fight to bring my past out of the dark. Rhys...
  • Enforce by Rachel Van Dyken

    Enforce by Rachel Van Dyken

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 34 ratings
    There’s two sides to every story…. And ours? Isn’t pretty… Then again,. what’s pretty about the mafia? Trace Rooks, that’s what. But she only wants one of us, and I’ll kill him before I let him have her. The only problem ? We’re cousins . And she may just be our long lost enemy. Whoever said college was hard, clearly didn’t attend Eagle Elite University...
  • Game by Barry Lyga

    Game by Barry Lyga

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Billy grinned. “Oh, New York,” he whispered. “We’re gonna have so much fun. ”. I Hunt Killers introduced the world to Jazz, the son of history’s most infamous serial killer, Billy Dent. In an effort to prove murder didn’t run in the family, Jazz teamed with the police in the small town of Lobo’s Nod to solve a deadly case...
  • The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

    The Storyteller by Antonia Michaelis

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 37 ratings
    Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own...
  • The Old Wheel by Gregory Ashe

    The Old Wheel by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.64 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 11 ratings
    Blackmail. Breakups. Boys. Trouble always comes in threes. Life is different for Jack Moreno. Good. Definitely good. Well, better, anyway. He’s back in school (although classes are harder than he expected). And his dad is healthy (which means he’s worrying again about things like Jack’s curfew and, oh yeah, grades)...
  • Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan

    Barely Breathing by Rebecca Donovan

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 84 ratings
    Emma’s struggle with an abusive home life came to a heart pounding conclusion in the final chapters of "Reason to Breathe". Now everyone in Weslyn knows Emma’s secret, but Carol can’t hurt Emma anymore. Some are still haunted by the horror of that night, and some must face the repercussions of their choices...
  • Before I Break by Portia Moore

    Before I Break by Portia Moore

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Out of the past six years of my life, I only remember about half of it. After a dozen doctors and thousands in medical bills, I was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder--one that causes me to lose track of time. Sometimes it’s hours, days or even weeks with no recollection of anything. The good thing is it's been almost two years since I had my last ‘black out’...
  • The Havoc We Wreak by Becca Steele

    The Havoc We Wreak by Becca Steele

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 38 ratings
    The final part of Caiden and Winter's story. .. Secrets and lies are being revealed. Loyalties are being tested, and betrayal cuts deep. My mother needs to be stopped, but at what cost? At the end, who will be left standing? And. .. Who. Will. Fall…. Eeny, meeny, miny, mo. You underestimated the Four and Snow. You thought you were on a winning streak...
  • Devotion by Cassie Hargrove, Story Brooks

    Devotion by Cassie Hargrove, Story Brooks

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 36 ratings
    ɪᴛ’ꜱ ᴇᴀꜱʏ ᴛᴏ ʙᴇ ᴅᴇᴠᴏᴛᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴏʙꜱᴇꜱꜱɪᴏɴ ᴡʜᴇɴ ʟᴏᴠᴇ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴅʀɪᴠɪɴɢ ꜰᴏʀᴄᴇ…. Danger is lurking around every corner while my guys are fighting to survive. Dad is still missing, and everything is going to sh*t faster than we can grasp it. It feels like anyone and everyone has become an enemy. The more unknown we’re surrounded by, the more the darkness tries to claim my mind, but I won’t give in...
  • Salvation and Secrets by L A Cotton

    Salvation and Secrets by L A Cotton

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Chastity Falls was supposed to be Ana Parry’s fresh start. But what started as her salvation soon became her undoing. Four months after losing the very thing that gave her reason again, Ana is back at Chastity Falls. Holding on by a thread and trying hard to forget about Jackson isn’t easy when she’s determined to uncover the Donohue’s biggest secrets...
  • Persuasion by T.K. Leigh

    Persuasion by T.K. Leigh

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    I came to Hawaii to get answers about my sister’s death. But that all changes when I meet her. Beautiful. Charming. Haunted. And the last thing I need in my life. But that doesn’t mean I can stay away from her, a powerful force pulling me toward her when all rationale tells me to keep my distance. So we make an agreement. One week. No names. No falling in love. It’s the perfect plan...
  • Tarnished Crown by Caitlyn Dare

    Tarnished Crown by Caitlyn Dare

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Waking up the morning after the night before, Bexley soon realizes his life will never be the same. He’s Electi now. One of them. Everything that Mia despises. She says she’s done, that his betrayal is too much of a burden to bear, but Bexley refuses to let her go. When Mia wakes up the morning after the night before, she realizes she has two choices: accept her fate or fight. She’s stronger now...
  • I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

    I Hunt Killers by Barry Lyga

    Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars
    · 49 ratings
    What if the world's worst serial killer. .. was your dad? Jasper "Jazz" Dent is a likable teenager. A charmer, one might say. But he's also the son of the world's most infamous serial killer, and for Dear Old Dad, Take Your Son to Work Day was year-round. Jazz has witnessed crime scenes the way cops wish they could—from the criminal's point of view. And now bodies are piling up in Lobo's Nod...
  • These Dark Hearts by L.A. Cotton

    These Dark Hearts by L.A. Cotton

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Harleigh Wren Maguire has loved Phoenix Wilder for as long as she can remember. He's everything she isn't. Brave. Reckless. One-hundred percent unapologetic. But it's Halloween. .. the perfect excuse to dress up and be someone you're not. To step out of your comfort zone and do things you wouldn't usually do. And Harleigh is determined to make her best friend notice her for once...
  • Remember Me Forever by Sara Wolf

    Remember Me Forever by Sara Wolf

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 41 ratings
    Isis Blake hasn’t fallen in love in three years, forty-three weeks, and two days. Or so she thinks. The boy she maybe-sort-of-definitely loved and sort-of-maybe-definitely hated has dropped off the face of the planet in the face of tragedy, leaving a Jack Hunter–shaped hole. Determined to be happy, Isis fills it in with lies and puts on a brave smile for her new life at Ohio State University...
  • Pretty When You Lie by Anne Roman

    Pretty When You Lie by Anne Roman

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Juniper Wild is a liar. With her full lips, pretty blue eyes, and angelic face, she might have fooled everyone else in our small town, but not me. I know the truth about her - that she's a spoiled, selfish liar. Five years ago, she shattered my dreams with a single lie. And just when I thought she was gone for good, she shows up again, still hiding something...
  • Hometown Girl Memories by Kirsten Fullmer

    Hometown Girl Memories by Kirsten Fullmer

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    "I was crying one minute and laughing the next. A definite must read! ". Winnie is content in her role as the reining matriarch of Smithville, but when a letter arrives from a long-lost friend, the door to her past is reopened. Memories come flooding in, drawing her back to 1968, her college days; a time filled with people and events she hasn’t allowed herself to recall...
  • Shattered Legacy by Caitlyn Dare

    Shattered Legacy by Caitlyn Dare

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Mia Thompson wants only one thing: to survive Gravestone University, graduate, and get far far away from her hometown and its archaic traditions. But she’s about to become a pawn in a game she doesn’t understand. Bexley Danforth wants only one thing: to keep his head down, survive four years at college, and get far far away from his past and the mistakes that haunt him...
  • Get Bent by C.M. Stunich

    Get Bent by C.M. Stunich

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    Naomi Knox is missing. I don't even f*cking know whether she's dead or alive. What I do know is that she's the air I need to breathe. She's my redemption, an all consuming fire that burns in my blood. And I'll do anything to find her. Anything. Even if it means the end for me. & & &. Turner Campbell is searching. But he has no f*cking clue what it is he's searching for...
  • Tough Luck by C.M. Stunich

    Tough Luck by C.M. Stunich

    Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    * This is NOT the last book in the series. There will be later books featuring Turner and Naomi again, and they also appear in this volume quite a bit. ;). Ronnie McGuire is my target. But I wish he wasn't. I didn't sign up for this destruction, this pain. In his music, I hear his soul crying out for me...
  • Scarred, Part 3 by Kylie Walker

    Scarred, Part 3 by Kylie Walker

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    After agreeing to attend a Gala in New York with Derek, Chloe stumbles into her worst nightmare. Vince Donovan. .. District Attorney of New York. .. Jesse Donovan's father. RUN. .. is the only thought firing in her head. When Derek finally catches up with her, she realizes that her world has been flipped upside down and out of control. Chloe now decides to let the flood gates open...
  • Unstable by Alexandra Ivy

    Unstable by Alexandra Ivy

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 10 ratings
    WHEN IT COMES TO KILLING. A dead man in a cemetery isn’t news—unless he’s found on top of a grave, with a bullet through his head. The body belongs to Jude Henley, who was supposed to be buried below. Instead, the grave contains the remains of Staci Gale, thought to have run away nearly three decades ago...
  • Whiteout by Dyan Layne

    Whiteout by Dyan Layne

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Dear Miss Dalton,. On behalf of our client, your presence at Dalton House is kindly requested. She’d been summoned. By the grandmother she’d never met. After missing twenty-one years of her life, why did she want to see her now? Please make arrangements to travel before the arrival of winter weather in the Sierra Nevada. Breanna had questions. Grandmama had the answers...
  • Half Truths by Claire Contreras

    Half Truths by Claire Contreras

    Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 30 ratings
    You’ve heard of these groups – the secretive ones that only the crème de la crème are invited into, the ones outsiders speculate about for centuries – I’m the second in my family invited to attend, but to them, I’m fresh meat. New blood. New money, too. They think they’ll elbow past me, that I’m here for their amusement, for them to walk all over, they’ll find out soon enough that I’m not...
  • A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

    A Rose for Emily by William Faulkner

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 44 ratings
    Faulkner’s most famous, most popular, and most anthologized short story, “A Rose for Emily” evokes the terms Southern gothic and grotesque, two types of literature in which the general tone is one of gloom, terror, and understated violence...
  • Born Wrong by C.M. Stunich

    Born Wrong by C.M. Stunich

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    When you're born wrong, sometimes you get bent and you get f*cked. Sometimes your life takes you places you don't want to go. Sometimes, it does. Dax McCann is as cold as ice. I'm intrigued by him. But I can't get close to him either. His music strokes my soul, butchers my broken heart. I wish he'd see me, but he only sees her...
  • Wrong Crowd by Lisa Helen Gray

    Wrong Crowd by Lisa Helen Gray

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    My entire world was turned upside down the day my mum died. I feared what my life would become when an aunt I never knew about came swooping in and threw me into the unknown. She was rich. I couldn’t even afford a pack of gum. We were complete opposites, yet I wanted a fresh start in life, and she was promising to give me that. I just had to live with her for a year, until I graduated college...
  • Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

    Surrender Your Sons by Adam Sass

    Rated: 4.01 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    Connor Major’s summer break is turning into a nightmare. His SAT scores bombed, the old man he delivers meals to died, and when he came out to his religious zealot mother, she had him kidnapped and shipped off to a secluded island. His final Nightlight Ministries, a conversion therapy camp that will be his new home until he “changes. ” But Connor’s troubles are only beginning...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  young adult  queer  contemporary  horror  m-m  dark
  • Heart Sick by Monica James

    Heart Sick by Monica James

    Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Piano has always been my one true love. So when the music stops, I do whatever I can to hear it again. But when I wake, all I hear is his heart and the memories that come with it. This is my body. My mind. But not my heart. Each beat hides a secret, and his voice now replaces the music, demanding I uncover the truth. I’m sent to a place to get better, and that’s when I meet her...
  • Ómorphi by C. (Cody) Kennedy

    Ómorphi by C. (Cody) Kennedy

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    "Hauntingly beautiful, a book that you never wanted to end because you were so much a part of the characters lives. When you finish the book you want to know more, to pick up the phone and call Christy. Magically written, the voices and setting of the story were so clear you lived each moment with the characters. "~Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention, 2014...
  • The End of Gods by Con Template

    The End of Gods by Con Template

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    In every Kingdom, every government entity, and every secret society, there is an epic era that defies the boundaries of times and immortalizes itself in the history books. These unforgettable eras are unpredictable by nature and rare in occurrence. The centuries may come and go and such an extraordinary era may never grace the lives of those who live for it...
  • Nanny Dispute by Shandi Boyes

    Nanny Dispute by Shandi Boyes

    Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    With an illustrious career and more ‘cool creds’ than he’ll ever need, Brodie Davis, seems to have the world at his feet. The sexy yet moody federal agent could secure the attention of any woman when he enters a room, but he only has eyes for one. His almost six-year-old daughter, Lucy. She’s the apple of his eye. His reason to breathe. And his recently recruited nanny’s biggest ally. ***...
  • The Debt by Molly O'Keefe

    The Debt by Molly O'Keefe

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    LOVE AND SECOND CHANCES ARE NOT FREE. For the five kids who live at St. Jude’s Home for Court Placed Juveniles, life is a nightmare. Carissa, the youngest, has been there the longest. And barely speaks. Rosa is sixteen and pregnant. Simon keeps his head down and studies, hoping to get back the life he lost...
  • Brake: A Serialized Dark Romantic Suspense by Skye Callahan

    Brake: A Serialized Dark Romantic Suspense by Skye Callahan

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    There's no stopping as the bitter feud between brothers, Colt and Devlin, speeds out of control. From Colt's pawn to Devlin's captive, Aubrey is caught even deeper in their pact to destroy one another. Imprisoned in darkness, she fights for her life--and her sanity. Her only hope is a cocky and sadistic car thief who is already wrestling with his own demons...
  • What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini

    What She Found in the Woods by Josephine Angelini

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Magda just wants to forget what happened. But there's a nightmare lurking —and it's coming for her. .. This is Magda’s last chance. Recovering from a scandal at her elite New York City private school that threw her life into a tailspin, she’s shipped off to live with her grandparents in the Pacific Northwest for the summer...
  • Conquer Your Love by J.C. Reed

    Conquer Your Love by J.C. Reed

    Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars
    · 45 ratings
    Meeting Jett was like bad luck. Dangerous. Unpredictable. And better avoided. In his game, the stakes are high. But are they worth the risk? Brooke Stewart, a realtor in New York, finds forgetting is hard, but forgiving is harder. When the man she trusted, betrayed her, the only way to forget is to move on...
  • Temper for You by Genna Rulon

    Temper for You by Genna Rulon

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    "Life is messy. Love is messier. " -Catch and Release. Meg Adeio has led a life of isolation—not by choice, by necessity—until one act of heroism forces her out of seclusion. Despite a past shrouded in mystery, Meg is “adopted” by an eclectic group of friends that become the family she never had. Life was good for the first time in… ever...
    Categorized as:
    college  suspense  contemporary  abuse  mafia  humor  young adult  dark
  • Hate List by Jennifer Brown

    Hate List by Jennifer Brown

    Rated: 3.96 of 5 stars
    · 59 ratings
    Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets...
  • Liar Liar by L.A. Cotton

    Liar Liar by L.A. Cotton

    Rated: 3.99 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    An angsty and gritty romance duet from USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Wicked Bay series and Rixon High series. Moving to Credence is supposed to be the fresh start Becca Torrence desperately needs. But it’s about to become her worst nightmare...
  • Marrow by Tarryn Fisher

    Marrow by Tarryn Fisher

    Rated: 3.95 of 5 stars
    · 43 ratings
    In the Bone there is a house. In the house there is a girl. In the girl there is a darkness. Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn’t spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible...
  • He Found Me by Whitney Barbetti

    He Found Me by Whitney Barbetti

    Rated: 3.97 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    When I was seventeen, I disappeared. I walked out the door of my apartment with a backpack and never looked back. I left the life of Cora Mitchell behind, seeking freedom from my real-life nightmare. But my freedom came with a cost. I lived a fictitious life for the next six years, never letting anyone close enough to see underneath the facade that was Andra Walker...
  • Clean Slate by E.J. Fechenda

    Clean Slate by E.J. Fechenda

    Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    In Clean Slate, Book Two of The New Mafia Trilogy, a battered and bruised Natalie Ross leaves her family and boyfriend behind in Philadelphia and makes her way to Los Angeles to seek forgiveness from her estranged best friend, Chelsea. Natalie wants to start over and forget all about the past year she spent as the girlfriend of an enforcer for the Philly Mob...
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