Books like 'What We Were'

Readers who enjoyed What We Were by Jen Samson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  gay romance  dark romance  secret-relationship  angst  forbidden love  second chances  hurt-comfort  forced proximity  queer 

  • This Other Country by John Wiltshire

    This Other Country by John Wiltshire

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 26 ratings
    Nikolas is the sanest, straightest, person Ben knows, so can anyone tell him, why is he on a gay therapy course?Nikolas Mikkelsen could make a very long list of unpleasant things he's endured in his life. Then order it from 'nearly killed me' to 'extremely horrific and don't want to do again'...
  • The Rational Faculty by Gregory Ashe

    The Rational Faculty by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 26 ratings
    Three months have passed since Emery Hazard and John-Henry Somerset faced a madman and lived to tell about it. Three months have passed since Emery Hazard resigned from his job as a detective. Three months can be too long and too short, all at the same time. On Halloween, a professor at the local college is murdered in his apartment, in front of dozens of witnesses. Then the killer disappears...
    Categorized as:
    angst  hurt-comfort  queer  mystery  m-m  contemporary  suspense  dark
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  • The Scent of Winter by Tiffany Reisz

    The Scent of Winter by Tiffany Reisz

    Rated: 4.66 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    The 2016 Original Sinners Christmas story, free on December 20th.Kingsley Edge thought he was being driven to the airport. He never expected he'd be kidnapped and relocated to a cabin in the middle of nowhere, Maine to help Søren celebrate his birthday. But it's not quite the sexy party Kingsley hoped for...
  • Twittering Birds Never Fly, Vol.1 by Kou Yoneda

    Twittering Birds Never Fly, Vol.1 by Kou Yoneda

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 32 ratings
    Yashiro is the young leader of Shinseikai and the president of the Shinseikai Enterprise, but like so many powerful men, he leads a double life as a deviant and a masochist. Chikara Doumeki comes to work as a bodyguard for him and, although Yashiro had decided that he would never lay a hand on his own men, he finds there's something about Doumeki that he can't resist...
    Categorized as:
    age difference  angst  queer  m-m  dark  bdsm  mafia  contemporary
  • The Bright and Hungry Future of Hawks by John Wiltshire

    The Bright and Hungry Future of Hawks by John Wiltshire

    Rated: 4.68 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 17 ratings
    The FINAL book in the addictive, best-selling "More Heat Than The Sun" M/M Thriller seriesBen and Nikolas know that if they were to compare recollections of their life together, they’d remember things very differently. Ben never asks about their time together in the Department, because he doesn’t want to hear Nikolas lie...
  • Unbroken by Sloane Kennedy

    Unbroken by Sloane Kennedy

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Everything was supposed to go back to normal when I was rescued. It hasn't. And I'm starting to think it never will because I don't even know what normal is anymore... It's been two years since Aleks Silva was rescued by his older brother from the dark underworld of sex trafficking and every day since then has been a battle...
  • Death's Ink-Black Shadow by John Wiltshire

    Death's Ink-Black Shadow by John Wiltshire

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 25 ratings
    It takes a certain kind of courage to live as if favoured by the gods, ignoring the ever-present ghosts of your past—or perhaps not bravery, but arrogance. And maybe not even that. Ben genuinely believes that the past is behind them—that they deserve to enjoy the life they have created. So it’s not hubris that leads him to overlook the signs that Nikolas does not share his faith, it’s love...
  • Tango Down by Cara Dee

    Tango Down by Cara Dee

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    The Renegades #4 Romantic Suspense Enemies to Lovers Action MM“This is it, baby. Run.”The murder in Joel Hayward’s eyes wasn’t merely a reflection of the rage within. It was a promise to the men who had kidnapped his daughter. The one person—this amazing slip of a girl—who showed Joel every single day that there was good left in the world.He was running on fumes. He was desperate...
  • Deep Spiral by Cole McCade

    Deep Spiral by Cole McCade

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE A deadly, unstable shooter. A trap Malcolm and Seong-Jae can't escape. And more than one life on the line as they find themselves facing down one of the Golden Ratio Killer's proxies in a high-stakes hostage situation that could ramp up the serial murderer's mathematical body counts exponentially. And if Malcolm and Seong-Jae aren't careful, they'll be among the tally...
  • Olive Juice by T.J. Klune

    Olive Juice by T.J. Klune

    Rated: 4.51 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    It begins with a message that David cannot ignore:I want to see you.He agrees, and on a cold winter’s night, David and Phillip will come together to sift through the wreckage of the memory of a life no longer lived.David is burdened, carrying with him the heavy guilt of the past six years upon his shoulders.Phillip offers redemption...
    Categorized as:
    angst  queer  m-m  contemporary  mystery  dark  length-novella
  • Dangerous Breed by Onley James

    Dangerous Breed by Onley James

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 33 ratings
    PREACHER GRAVES made a fatal error in judgment when he was just sixteen years old, and it cost him twenty years. Now, he plans to live out his days in quiet isolation. For six months, he’s done just that. Until a favor for a friend finds him rescuing a twelve-year-old boy from a ruthless biker gang, putting him face to face with the boy’s beautiful and very damaged older brother, Memphis...
  • No Beginning, No End by Richard Rider

    No Beginning, No End by Richard Rider

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 19 ratings
    “What if that’s all there was? If I don’t need you looking after me no more are you still gonna want me?” The first time they were together was a messy, jagged jigsaw of interlocking flaws. Seven years later, Lindsay Brown and Pip Valentine have got back together and are taking a shot at normal life with 9-to-5s, family Christmas, and babysitting duties...
    Categorized as:
    age difference  angst  queer  m-m  contemporary  bdsm  dark  humor
  • 17 Black and 29 Red by Richard Rider

    17 Black and 29 Red by Richard Rider

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Second part in the Stockholm Syndrome trilogy:Some mistakes are too enormous and some people are too stubborn for anything to work except running away, but the world is never as big as you need it to be and eventually you can't help circling back to where you started...
  • The Air That I Breathe by Cara Dee

    The Air That I Breathe by Cara Dee

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 28 ratings
    The Game Series, Book 3.5 “In that moment, I stopped caring about right and wrong.” The only thing that stood between us were the boundaries set by others, by society, by our parents. But together we could knock them down. Together, we could find freedom and live life on our own terms. Screw the rest of the world. He was all that mattered. He was the air that I breathed...
  • Enemy Combatant by Cara Dee

    Enemy Combatant by Cara Dee

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    The Renegades #2 • Romantic Suspense • Stockholm Syndrome • Hurt Comfort • Action • MM“The best intelligence is the knowledge that your enemy doesn’t know you have.”Crew Finlay’s ego had taken a hit or two. He couldn’t lie. As a Marine, he’d been one of the best. As a private military contractor, he’d…messed up a bit. Or failed spectacularly. Whatever...
  • Hard Angle by Cole McCade

    Hard Angle by Cole McCade

    Rated: 4.60 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Unsettled tensions from the last case come to a head as Seong-Jae reveals his secrets — but will it be enough to repair the fractures in his relationship with Malcolm?Especially when their only promising lead on the Golden Ratio Killer's identity falls apart, along with any hope of returning home to Baltimore and to their life together.When their primary suspect turns up dead.....
  • Whiskey Nights and Neon Dreams by Ashley James

    Whiskey Nights and Neon Dreams by Ashley James

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 17 ratings
    The memory of Josiah DeMille has haunted me for close to a decade.The way he looked.The way he smelled.The way his lips felt pressed against mine, even when they shouldn’t have been.The one person I’ve never been able to get over.The one singular part of my past I’ve never been able to move on from...
  • The Sin Eater by Onley James

    The Sin Eater by Onley James

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Waylon Boone is no stranger to danger. As the headmaster of the Watch, an elite school hidden in the desert where the wealthy send their psychopathic children to become the perfect covert operatives, he's trained killers, spies, and manipulators...
  • The Dangerous Convenience Store Vol. 5 by 945

    The Dangerous Convenience Store Vol. 5 by 945

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    THE LONG GOODBYEIt's been three years since Eui-joon last saw Gunwoo and there have been a lot of changes. Eui-joon no longer works his punishing graveyard shift at the convenience store, but instead works in sales at a small company where, as the newest employee, he's constantly running errands for his boss...
    Categorized as:
    queer  age difference  angst  contemporary  m-m  mafia  dark
  • Strays by Garrett Leigh

    Strays by Garrett Leigh

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 35 ratings
    !! SECOND EDITION WITH EXTENDED CONTENT !!Award winning MM romance. A grumpy hero with the sweetest heart as forced proximity and found family give two damaged men the HEA they deserve.Work, sleep, work, repeat. Nero’s lonely life suits him just fine until his best friend, Cass, asks him to take on a new apprentice—a beautiful young man who’s never set foot in a professional kitchen...
  • A Love Song for the Sad Man in the White Coat by Roe Horvat

    A Love Song for the Sad Man in the White Coat by Roe Horvat

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 19 ratings
    Simon had always expected love to feel different than this. Whether it was his Catholic upbringing or the poetry he'd read - Simon had thought that true love would be uplifting, fulfilling, that it would give a meaning to his loitering, and add joy to his leisure. But not this kind of love. This love was a flesh-eating monster, sharp-clawed and evil-eyed, ravishing his mind with medieval cruelty...
  • Anti-Valentine by T. Ashleigh, Ashlyn Drewek

    Anti-Valentine by T. Ashleigh, Ashlyn Drewek

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 20 ratings
    This Valentine’s Day…the bad boys come out to play…Get ready for an anti-Valentine to remember in this limited release M/M romance anthology. Sixteen authors have come together to bring you a collection of brand-new short stories with a combination of dark, enemies to lovers, and bully themes...
  • Garron Park: Special Edition by Nordika Night

    Garron Park: Special Edition by Nordika Night

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 35 ratings
    *This is the same book with the same content as Garron Park [the original] but with special edition formatting and illustrated cover.*Garron Park, where hope dies and no one ever gets ahead. Until… When Devon Sawyer desperately searches for his brother in the middle of the night, beaten and broken, he finds Maddox Kane instead...
  • Divine Proportion by Cole McCade

    Divine Proportion by Cole McCade

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    While Captain Anjulie Zarate y Salazar faces a crisis of loyalty at home, Malcolm Khalaji faces another crisis in Los Angeles—one that will test him to his absolute limits.And that crisis is named Yoon Eun-Ji...
  • Prepared by Cara Dee

    Prepared by Cara Dee

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Book 6 • Family • Humor • Action • Bachelor Party Fun It’s time for the happily ever after Gray and Darius have fought so hard for…once they get out of this darn jungle in Belize. “You have to understand, I thought I wasn’t going to make it. I said goodbye to everyone in my head.” Three years ago, Gray Nolan lost all hope of ever seeing his friends and family again...
  • A Single Bright Candle's Flame by Cole McCade

    A Single Bright Candle's Flame by Cole McCade

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 19 ratings
    ABOUT THIS EPISODE Detective Malcolm Khalaji is at a loss. For the second time in his life, he wasn't there when his lover needed him. And with Seong-Jae Yoon on leave pending an internal investigation, Malcolm doesn't know what to do with a shattered partner and boyfriend who's retreated from him into a dark and broken place. It's Gabrielle all over again..
  • Kiss Your Scars by Avril Ashton

    Kiss Your Scars by Avril Ashton

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Being the king of Atlanta’s underworld used to have its perks, but lately all undercover agent Renzo Vega has seen is the downside. Someone is auctioning off women in his city, and he’s damn sure not about to let that offense stand. Just as he’s set to make a move, Renzo’s club is ambushed and he’s shot. Unsure of who to trust, he turns to the one man he definitely knows wants him dead...
  • All We Are by Jessie Walker

    All We Are by Jessie Walker

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Pride.Will and Waylon have been through hell and back—more than once. But they’re still standing, still loving each other, still embracing their found family. And that’s something Will is stupidly proud of. He’s happier than he’s ever been, and more in love than he ever thought possible. He just hopes he can find a way to make Waylon believe in them as much as he does.Pride...
  • Rogue Launch by Cara Dee

    Rogue Launch by Cara Dee

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    The Renegades #1 Romantic Suspense Enemies to Lovers Action MM“We will find you, darling. Stay strong. We will find you.”This was exactly what Elliott Jones needed. A nice barbecue with family and friends. The moving trucks were parked outside his new ranch, and he was ready to start fresh. Again. Despite the regrets he lived with, he tried to focus on the good things in life...
  • Demon by Joel Abernathy

    Demon by Joel Abernathy

    Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    Falling in love with an obsessive serial killer was the last thing on my to-do list.I was born into a world of villains, so it came as no great surprise when my brothers fell for the most twisted monsters of all. A sociopathic fixer. A psycho sadistic cop whose name belongs in the dictionary next to corruption.Maybe I’m the one who’s crazy, thinking I could have any semblance of a normal life...
  • Chip's Forever Daddy by Sammi Cee

    Chip's Forever Daddy by Sammi Cee

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Chip’s had a good example of a Daddy—and the absolute worst. Ollie’s determined to give him the best…forever. If Chip didn’t have bad luck, he’d have no luck at all. All he’s ever wanted is a man to see him, truly hear him, and love him. Ollie is the definition of protective, with the muscle to back it up...
  • Safe by Taylor McNiff

    Safe by Taylor McNiff

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    A sex trafficking victim and a police officer walk into a gas station... it sounds like a sick joke. Or maybe, just maybe, it'll be the best thing to ever happen to them. Huxley "Huck" Scott just wants a damn cup of coffee. He has too much to deal with already between his demotion to patrol officer, his struggle with his sobriety, and his lingering survivor's guilt...
  • Reigniting Chase by Jeanne St. James

    Reigniting Chase by Jeanne St. James

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    An unexpected collaboration between two authors that’s hot enough to spark a fire... ChaseAfter an excruciating loss, I’m desperate for a fresh start.Away from the painful memories.Away from everyone I know and anyone who knows my story.That’s how I end up in Eagle’s Landing, Pennsylvania...
  • Dragon by K. Webster

    Dragon by K. Webster

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    From USA Today Bestselling Author K Webster comes a new motorcycle club dark standalone MM romance novel!They created this monster when they took me as a teen.Abused me, tortured me, psychologically ruined me.I was once innocent, fragile, and good.Now I’m older and everything wicked.The worst of the worst...
    Categorized as:
    angst  age difference  queer  suspense  m-m  dark  abuse  bikers
  • How Much for a Broken Heart? by R.J. Scott

    How Much for a Broken Heart? by R.J. Scott

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    When the game turns deadly for a SEAL and his Ranger, love becomes the most dangerous mission of all.In a single devastating morning, August's life crumbles. His covert assignment derails disastrously as the family he's meant to safeguard falls prey to the ruthless Cooper River cartel...
  • Unquiet by Melanie Hansen

    Unquiet by Melanie Hansen

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Loren Smith has been in love with Eliot Devlin almost his entire life. During their turbulent childhood and teen years, Loren didn’t always understand Eliot, and sometimes he could be a challenge, but Eliot was the only one to ever truly ease Loren’s deep loneliness and accept him...
  • Cold Calculation by Cole McCade

    Cold Calculation by Cole McCade

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    How do you profile a serial killer who keeps changing his pattern? A body encased in ice and a cryptic message make Malcolm, Seong-Jae, and Aanga Joshi question everything they thought they'd learned about the Golden Ratio Killer. If their suspect can change his methods and alter his patterns, he could easily disappear... ..
  • Boxed In by Rachel Haimowitz, Heidi Belleau

    Boxed In by Rachel Haimowitz, Heidi Belleau

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    In the exciting final season of the Flesh Cartel . . .With the help of the FBI, Mat Carmichael has let himself be re-taken by the Flesh Cartel. Objective? Rescue his brother, exact revenge, and destroy the entire organization from the inside...
    Categorized as:
    hurt-comfort  angst  queer  m-m  dark  bdsm  abuse  contemporary
  • The Fishermen by C.P. Harris

    The Fishermen by C.P. Harris

    Rated: 4.12 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 34 ratings
    At the age of twenty-five, Leland Meadows has his whole life mapped out in front of him, with four rules to live by: No new friends.No dreams or aspirations.No repeat hookups.And definitely no committed relationships.Leland’s looking for safety, not heartbreak and disappointment. Then one day he receives an offer he can’t turn down...
  • Nightingale by Laura Lascarso

    Nightingale by Laura Lascarso

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    An accountant and an assassin set off on a homicidal mission to avenge the wrongs of the past…Since the moment we met as children at Saint Bernadine’s School for Boys, Julien has held my heart hostage. Now, he’s a ruthless and cunning assassin, known to many only by his code name Nightingale, and I am again at his mercy when he forces me to accompany him on his next hit...
  • King's Virtuous Son by Ki Brightly

    King's Virtuous Son by Ki Brightly

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    The “Innocent” Twin Hunter Tanner is a prospect for the Kings of Men MC. The club president, King, shocked Hunter with the news that he is Hunter’s biological father. King was the only man who had ever kept Hunter safe, and he’d taken King’s attention the wrong way—only to be devastated to learn they were related. Now he’s pissed off...
  • Promise by Rachel Haimowitz, Heidi Belleau

    Promise by Rachel Haimowitz, Heidi Belleau

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    In the exciting final season of the Flesh Cartel . . .With the help of the FBI, Mat Carmichael has let himself be re-taken by the Flesh Cartel. Objective? Rescue his brother, exact revenge, and destroy the entire organization from the inside...
    Categorized as:
    angst  hurt-comfort  queer  m-m  dark  bdsm  abuse  contemporary
  • Deliverance by Garrett Leigh

    Deliverance by Garrett Leigh

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 10 ratings
    Banished gangster Benito Martell is living on the edge. An explosive hook-up in a club gifts him the relief he craves, but nothing about his life is ever so simple. Complications abound, and before long, he’s falling for the only man who can save his family from eviction.Recovering addict Mickey Larwood has worked hard to leave his past behind...
  • White Rabbit, Part I by Cole McCade

    White Rabbit, Part I by Cole McCade

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    A tense standoff with Sila uncovers more than Seong-Jae ever wanted to know about the strings Sila's pulled in his past. The pain he's caused. The deaths he's responsible for.And he may be responsible for yet one more, as Sila uses his own life as a bargaining chip to keep Malcolm and Seong-Jae at bay...
  • Secrets & Lies by Nicky James

    Secrets & Lies by Nicky James

    Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 40 ratings
    I didn’t plan for him to come into my life. He came without warning. Without permission. I didn’t want him there, and a small part of me loathed his very existence. But then something changed. Overnight, he became everything to me. I loved him. I cherished him. He was mine. But they took him from me. They tore him from my life with such cruelty, my heart wept. My soul cried...
  • Resist by K.A. Knight

    Resist by K.A. Knight

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Sanctuary is more than a band—it’s a home for the lost and broken.No one knows that better than Ryker, the lead singer of the newly rising rock band. It seems he is unable to go even one day without being in the spotlight, and not always for good reasons. From run-ins with his label to arrests and a long line of broken hearts, it seems this rock god is determined to enjoy fame...
  • Hazardous by Charity Parkerson

    Hazardous by Charity Parkerson

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    Wulf and Beau have nothing in common. There’s no reason for them to see each other at all. So why can’t they stay away? Wulf’s friend married Beau’s brother. That’s it. They have no other common ground. Wulf isn’t certain they even like each other. They have nothing to talk about when Wulf finds himself on Beau’s couch. Neither of them calls or sends texts between unexpected visits...
    Categorized as:
    hurt-comfort  queer  m-m  dark  mafia  contemporary  abuse  grovel
  • Not What It Seems by Nicky James

    Not What It Seems by Nicky James

    Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 16 ratings
    They say I killed them. They say I’m sick. They’re wrong. Nothing is as it seems. Renowned psychiatrist Dr. Cyrus Irvine takes his job and his life very seriously. He is well-respected in his field and has worked hard to get where he is. But he’s lonely. When called in to do a mental health evaluation on a murder suspect, the last thing he expects to find is the man he slept with a few months ago...
  • Save Me by Ariana Nash

    Save Me by Ariana Nash

    Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    The third and final book in the outstanding mafia/priest MM Forgive Me series. Vitari Angelini knows selling a cache of Battaglia guns to a drug lord is not what Francis would call legal, but he’ll never find out. Besides, it’s for a good cause: Francis’s happy ever after...
  • If the Seas Catch Fire by L.A. Witt

    If the Seas Catch Fire by L.A. Witt

    Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Sergei Andronikov was a child when the Mafia wiped out his family, leaving him with nothing but a hunger for revenge. Years later, through ruthless strategy and tireless patience, he’s a contract killer working for the three families ruling Cape Swan… and he’s nearly in position to bring them all down from the inside.Domenico “Dom” Maisano is Mafia royalty, a made man… and a hitman...
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