Books like 'This Bitter Earth'

Readers who enjoyed This Bitter Earth by ikorous also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

fantasy  dark romance  bdsm  war

  • Clear and Muddy Loss of Love / 泾渭情殇 by 请君莫笑

    Clear and Muddy Loss of Love / 泾渭情殇 by 请君莫笑

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    A natural moat called the Luo river split the great land into two. Jing of the north, and Wei of the south.One was the Prince of the grass plains who had no worries nor sorrow. One was a lawful Princess who received exclusive favour of the Emperor...
    Categorized as:
    war  queer  historical  fantasy  from hate to love  f-f  angst  dark
  • 泾渭情殇 [Jīng Wèi Qíng Shāng] by Qing Jun Mo Xiao, 请君莫笑

    泾渭情殇 [Jīng Wèi Qíng Shāng] by Qing Jun Mo Xiao, 请君莫笑

    Rated: 4.61 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    A natural moat called the Luo river split the great land into two. Jing of the north, and Wei of the south.One was the Prince of the grass plains who had no worries nor sorrow. One was a lawful Princess who received exclusive favour of the Emperor...
    Categorized as:
    war  queer  historical  fantasy  f-f  from hate to love  angst  dark
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  • Knight of Shadows by Kel Kade

    Knight of Shadows by Kel Kade

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Rezkin’s army has been defeated and he is among the dead. Rising in the shadows, Rezkin is free from the shackles of power. But the darkness is his home, and there he stalks his foes. His friends, alone and scattered, face the war with an empty throne. Rumors of Rezkin’s survival spawn hope and discord on the Souelian. Unable to put Rezkin to rest, Azeria chases answers...
  • Meet Fifty Shades Continued - Fifty Shades of Grey by G.E. Griffin

    Meet Fifty Shades Continued - Fifty Shades of Grey by G.E. Griffin

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Converted to ebook format, Cover UpdatedFifty Shades of Grey from Christian's POVGet inside Christian Grey's mind, as you read the complete Fifty Shades trilogy retold from his point of view, carrying on where E L James left off at the end of 'Fifty...
  • Perfectly In Pieces by CDLynn

    Perfectly In Pieces by CDLynn

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 14 ratings
    A Golden Girl missing.A Slytherin Prince trapped.An Order holding secrets.And a Dark Lord ruling.Warning: Dark AU (not dark main character) with deep discussions of trauma caused by physical, emotional, and sexual abuse...
  • Of Tides and Snow by Darva Green

    Of Tides and Snow by Darva Green

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 6 ratings
    A spicy f/f Snow White retelling… On the night Gwen is meant to commit herself to the Moon Coven, a murder attempt has her running for her life. She flees the only home she’s ever known, running straight past the cottage in the woods and into the arms of a ruthless pirate captain...
  • Lady of Istok by Isabelle Olmo

    Lady of Istok by Isabelle Olmo

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    “The lies we tell to protect ourselves are the most important lies we ever tell."A heavily pregnant Almira forces Hira to return to Istok and lead her people. When Hira boards the Sea Wife, she doesn’t expect Commander Justan to be combative and surly. He questions her every decision and challenges her authority. He’s also clearly keeping his own secrets...
    Categorized as:
    war  fantasy  historical  new adult  dark  horror  length-epic
  • Six by Evie Rae, Poppy Flynn

    Six by Evie Rae, Poppy Flynn

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    A Dark 'Why Choose' Romance Inspired by "Peter Pan & The Lost Boys"First there were Five. Now they are Six.BeckThe sun has dawned on a new day and after a grim fight with a notorious serial child killer, the future looks bright. Even for me.But not everything is as it seems. The man killed in that brutal struggle? He’s not the man I remember as my kidnapper...
  • Wild by Sara Fields

    Wild by Sara Fields

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    She's going to scream for me and I don't care who hears it.I traveled to this city to disrupt the plans of the Brotherhood's enemies, not tame a defiant omega, but the moment Revna challenged me I knew punishing her would not be enough...
  • From Wiltshire, With Love by Mistresslynn

    From Wiltshire, With Love by Mistresslynn

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 19 ratings
    Hermione convinces Draco to spy for the Order and she becomes his handler. But what are Draco’s true motivations? Hard to say when he's still figuring that out himself. A story of reaching adulthood during war...............................................................Draco cut her off before she repeated the question...
  • A Taste for Poison by Aleksandr Voinov

    A Taste for Poison by Aleksandr Voinov

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Even a king gets stung when he reaches for a scorpion.After barely surviving an assassination attempt, King Adrastes is a changed man—one who mistrusts even his allies and friends. He readies his Empire for war against an enigmatic enemy, the Elder of Vededrin, but not everyone approves...
    Categorized as:
    war  m-m  fantasy  military  historical  queer  suspense  mystery
  • Lying with Scorpions by Aleksandr Voinov

    Lying with Scorpions by Aleksandr Voinov

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    If you lie with scorpions, you’d better have a taste for poison.Now that Kendras’s lover Adrastes has claimed the throne of Dalman, Kendras is tangled deeper than ever in politics and intrigue. As the new leader of the Scorpions and Adrastes’s one true friend, he and his men stand between Adrastes and those who wish him dead.And many do...
    Categorized as:
    war  m-m  fantasy  military  historical  queer  dark  suspense
  • Break So Soft by Stasia Black

    Break So Soft by Stasia Black

    Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 26 ratings
    I’ll do whatever it takes to get her back.She was mine and it was everything.That month with her was as near to perfect as I’ve ever had in my whole f’ed up life.But then I lost it all and I still don’t know why.Though I suspect it had something to do with that rat b@stard, Bryce Gentry.One thing I do know: I’m not letting go of Callie Cruise without a fight...
  • The German by Lee Thomas

    The German by Lee Thomas

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    At the height of World War II, a killer preys on the young men of a quiet Texas town. The murders are calculated, vicious, and they are just beginning. Sheriff Tom Rabbit and his men are baffled and the community he serves is terrified of the monster lurking their streets. The only clues the killer leaves behind are painted snuffboxes containing notes written in German...
    Categorized as:
    war  mystery  historical  m-m  suspense  fantasy  dark  queer
  • The German by Lee Thomas

    The German by Lee Thomas

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Set during the height of World War II, The German examines the effect a series of ritualistic murders has on a small, Texas community. A killer preys on the young men of Barnard, Texas, leaving cryptic notes written in German. As the panic builds all eyes turn toward a quiet man with secrets of his own, who is trying to escape a violent past.Ernst Lang fled Germany in 1934...
    Categorized as:
    war  mystery  historical  m-m  suspense  fantasy  dark  queer
  • The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth

    The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth

    Rated: 3.94 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    Dortchen Wild fell in love with Wilhelm Grimm the first time she saw him.Growing up in the small German kingdom of Hessen-Cassel in the early Nineteenth century, Dortchen Wild is irresistibly drawn to the boy next door, the young and handsome fairy tale scholar Wilhelm Grimm. It is a time of war, tyranny and terror...
  • The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

    The Monster Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson

    Rated: 3.89 of 5 stars
    · 30 ratings
    A breathtaking geopolitical fantasy as fraught as Game of Thrones, The Monster Baru Cormorant is the long-anticipated sequel to Seth Dickinson gut-wrenching debut, The Traitor Baru Cormorant.Baru Cormormant's world was shattered by the Empire of Masks...
  • We're All Mad Here by Richard Rider

    We're All Mad Here by Richard Rider

    Rated: 3.86 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    A golden afternoon, a nightmare, and how sometimes you can only make sense of a thing through the looking-glass. (A Stockholm Syndrome short story...
    Categorized as:
    bdsm  m-m  contemporary  dark  fantasy  age difference  queer
  • Breathless: An F/F Hades and Persephone Short Story by Lianyu Tan

    Breathless: An F/F Hades and Persephone Short Story by Lianyu Tan

    Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 5 ratings
    Hades steals her breath away.A few weeks into their marriage, Persephone is still learning how to please Hades, dreaded goddess of the underworld. As her fear wars with desire, Persephone must learn how to satisfy her captor and steel her own heart in order to survive...
  • Love After Never: A Steamy, Enemies to Lovers Dark Romance: Empire Bay Book 1 by Melanie Kingsley

    Love After Never: A Steamy, Enemies to Lovers Dark Romance: Empire Bay Book 1 by Melanie Kingsley

    Rated: 3.56 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Even the blackest souls need love… Seedy underbellies and dark depravities don’t scare me. I’ve seen the worst and survived. I’ve never seen a man like him before. Gabriel Blackwell, the raven-haired demon of the underworld. He’s the sickest bastard of them all. He might also be a murder suspect. If I’m going to do this job and see him behind bars, then I need to use my wits...
  • Shamed by Emily Tilton

    Shamed by Emily Tilton

    Rated: 3.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Five men will teach this Earth girl her place in the most shameful way possible.Though Araminta Lourcy grew up looking down her nose at the colony planet of Draco and its people, when Earth falls into turmoil the beautiful, spoiled eighteen-year-old is left with nowhere else to go. But before she is allowed to join this new society, her arrogance must be dealt with..
  • The Ladybird Illustrated: The Ladybird Illustrated by D. H. Lawrence

    The Ladybird Illustrated: The Ladybird Illustrated by D. H. Lawrence

    Rated: 3.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    The Ladybird is a long tale or novella by D. H. Lawrence.It was first drafted in 1915 as a short story entitled The Thimble. Lawrence rewrote and extended it under a new title in December 1921 and sent the final version to his English agent on 9 January 1922...
    Categorized as:
    war  fantasy  dark  length-novella
  • Love After Never by Melanie Kingsley

    Love After Never by Melanie Kingsley

    Rated: 3.39 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Even the blackest souls need love… Seedy underbellies and dark depravities don’t scare me. I’ve seen the worst and survived. I’ve never seen a man like him before. Gabriel Blackwell, the raven-haired demon of the underworld. He’s the sickest bastard of them all. He might also be a murder suspect. If I’m going to do this job and see him behind bars, then I need to use my wits...
  • Night's Melody by Drake LaMarque

    Night's Melody by Drake LaMarque

    Rated: 2.80 of 5 stars
    · 5 ratings
    The opera house holds many secrets, but none are as frightening as the Opera Ghost.Matthieu has harboured a crush on his best friend, Christophe, since they started dancing together in the Paris opera ballet troupe, but he's never acted on it.When disaster strikes only hours before a gala performance, Christophe reveals a hidden talent for singing...
    Categorized as:
    bdsm  m-m  dark  fantasy  hurt-comfort  from hate to love  poly  queer
  • Winterlight by Kristen Britain

    Winterlight by Kristen Britain

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    This seventh novel of the Green Rider series follows the adventures of messenger, magic wielder, and knight Karigan G'ladheon as she fights to save king and country from dark magic and a looming war.After her capture at the hands of Grandmother and the Second Empire, Karigan G'ladheon is making halting progress towards recovery...
  • Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks

    Beyond the Shadows by Brent Weeks

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · 88 ratings
    A new queen has usurped the throne and is leading Cenaria into disaster. The country has become a broken realm with a threadbare army, little food and no hope. So Kylar Stern plans to reinstate his closest friend Logan as King, but can he really get away with murder?In the north, the Godking's death has thrown Khalidor into civil war...
  • Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

    Before They Are Hanged by Joe Abercrombie

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 80 ratings
    The second novel in the wildly popular First Law Trilogy from New York Times bestseller Joe Abercrombie. Superior Glokta has a problem. How do you defend a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, when your allies can by no means be trusted, and your predecessor vanished without a trace? It's enough to make a torturer want to run -- if he could even walk without a stick...
  • Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

    Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 42 ratings
    Kushiel's Avatar is the concluding volume in Jacqueline Carey's evocative novels about the enigmatic Phèdre nó Delaunay; the third in a triptych of beautifully constructed historical fantasies that combine passion and danger, great battles of the sword and soul, deep eroticism, and mystical enigmas.Phèdre nó Delaunay was chosen to forever experience pain and pleasure as one...
  • Fostering Faust 3 by Randi Darren

    Fostering Faust 3 by Randi Darren

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 24 ratings
    ((Minor Spoiler and Warning at the bottom of the blurb. Please read all the way through.)) The war with Gaelis has gone poorly for Alex’s foes and well for his allies. He’s enriched himself, empowered his county with that coin, and built his county ever higher. The war swings in favor of his Duchess. Yet the war still goes on...
    Categorized as:
    war  fantasy  harems  erotica  dark  western  science fiction  poly
  • Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

    Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 67 ratings
    The third book in a seafaring fantasy trilogy that George R. R. Martin has described as “even better than the Farseer Trilogy—I didn’t think that was possible.” As Bingtown slides toward disaster, clan matriarch Ronica Vestrit, branded a traitor, searches for a way to bring the city’s inhabitants together against a momentous threat...
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