Books like 'My Cruel Lover'

Readers who enjoyed My Cruel Lover by T.L. Smith also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

dark romance  dual-pov  from hate to love

  • The Keeper of Bees by Gregory Ashe

    The Keeper of Bees by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.74 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Emery Hazard has pretty much everything under control. He and his fiancé, John-Henry Somerset, are more in love than ever, despite the stress of wedding preparations hanging over them. His business as a private investigator is growing. He’s even enjoying time with his growing circle of friends...
  • The Rational Faculty by Gregory Ashe

    The Rational Faculty by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars
    · 23 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...
  • Sponsored links
  • Transactional Dynamics by Gregory Ashe

    Transactional Dynamics by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    Emery Hazard is ready for Valentine’s Day. He’s made reservations months in advance, he’s ordered flowers, and he’s got a boyfriend he wants to treat right—even if John-Henry Somerset occasionally lets the dishes sit in the sink a little too long. They even have an extra reason to celebrate this year: Somers has received a special commendation for his police work...
  • Police Brutality by Gregory Ashe

    Police Brutality by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    For the first time in a long while, Emery Hazard’s life is good. His new business as a private detective is taking off. Things are good at home. He loves his boyfriend, John-Henry Somerset; he loves their daughter. He might even love the new friends they’ve found. There’s only one problem: Somers has been talking about marriage...
  • Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

    Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · 70 ratings
    Sometimes you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same. Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act -- suicide. Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade...
    Categorized as:
    dual-pov  contemporary  dark  abuse  male-pov  length-epic
  • The Elite Kings Boxset Vol. II by Amo Jones

    The Elite Kings Boxset Vol. II by Amo Jones

    Rated: 4.74 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    The Elite Kings books 1-5MADSHIPMadison + BishopThe Silver SwanThe Broken PuppetTacet a MortuisNATILNate + TillieMalum: Part 1Malum: Part 2Riddle me this..
  • Make You Mine by Shantel Tessier

    Make You Mine by Shantel Tessier

    Rated: 4.78 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Dax's story from Make You Beg: A Dark High School Bully...
  • Drew by Siobhan Davis

    Drew by Siobhan Davis

    Rated: 4.65 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    The explosive finale in the highly addictive Rydeville Elite series. Mistakes and secrets. My life is littered with them. And it’s not always me who pays the price. So, I do something I swore I wouldn’t do—become the monster my father raised me to be. To shield my loved ones from the predators I hunt, I keep family and friends in the dark, but I won’t apologize for protecting them...
  • Unholy Bonds  by Maya Raine

    Unholy Bonds by Maya Raine

    Rated: 4.51 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Three serial killers connected by an unholy thread, tangled in a twisted chase for revenge and blood. In this game of hunters, who will become the ultimate prey?***He is every sin she wants to commit. Yara West spends her day as a Medical Examiner. At nights, she dons the mask of a twisted killer to satiate the demons in her head...
  • Remy by Jessica Gadziala

    Remy by Jessica Gadziala

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 18 ratings
    She’d never thought she would meet the hottest guy she’d ever seen while in the middle of committing a crime.As far as meet-cutes went, it was certainly a unique one.She also didn’t suspect she would ever see him again.You know, until that little crime she’d been committing ended up becoming a bigger mess than she could handle on her own...
  • Dare Series Collection by Shantel Tessier

    Dare Series Collection by Shantel Tessier

    Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 13 ratings
    Are you ready to swim with the sharks?I DARE YOUWhat do you do when the devil has you in his sights?You show him that you can play his game.Austin Lowes is new to town. She's running from a mom who hates her to her dad who cares nothing about her. Only a few months and she will be free, or at least, that's what she hopes ... until she meets him.Cole Reynolds is the devil disguised as a man...
  • Savage by Stoni Alexander

    Savage by Stoni Alexander

    Rated: 4.75 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    REVENGE SERVED HARDMy friends call me Jericho. My enemies know me as Reaper. Ain’t nothin’ more important than family. So, when my baby bro is gunned down in front of me, I go on the hunt to settle the score. Fury drives me forward. Sleep becomes my enemy. I’m out for blood.I work alone. No spotter. No backup. I get you in my sniperscope, you’re already dead...
  • Mafia Kings: Valentino: Dark Mafia Romance Series #6 by Olivia Thorn

    Mafia Kings: Valentino: Dark Mafia Romance Series #6 by Olivia Thorn

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 13 ratings
    CaterinaIt was just a fling. Nothing serious.I was the girl who worked in his rich family’s kitchen…And Valentino was the mafia prince who looked like a movie star.But then his family went and set up an arranged marriage…To the daughter of a Cosa Nostra family in Sicily.Now I realize it was never a fling.I’m in love with him.And it feels like my whole world is ending.ValentinoIt was just a fling...
  • Copper by K. Webster

    Copper by K. Webster

    Rated: 4.54 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    From USA Today Bestselling Author K Webster, comes a new MC dark standalone novel!I’m a Fed.Rigid. Rule follower. One of the good guys. I uphold the law…when it suits me.My loyalty lies first with my brother, Koyn, and secondly with his motorcycle club.Jeremy Koynakov was the man I used to be. I’m Copper now. For a decade, I aided my brother in his quest for revenge. We thirsted for vengeance...
  • 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...
  • Torian by Eden Summers

    Torian by Eden Summers

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    From International bestselling author, Eden Summers, comes a seductive forbidden romance destined to leave you breathless. I fell for the enemy.A man whose actions resemble the devil so closely it frightens me.We were meant to hate each other.To despise and detest.But his appeal is so much greater than the playboy smile and body built for sin.What I'm doing is wrong.What I'm feeling is immoral...
  • Dragon by K. Webster

    Dragon by K. Webster

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 12 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...
  • Corrupt Gods Collection by Cora Kenborn, Catherine Wiltcher

    Corrupt Gods Collection by Cora Kenborn, Catherine Wiltcher

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    A thrilling arranged marriage mafia romance collection where every choice has a consequence…A Santiago is a lesson in ruin.A Carrera bleeds for revenge.Thalia Santiago is the daughter of my enemy.A beautiful rebel with a single cause.Impulsive.Fearless.And ripe for her father's undoing.I recognized her the moment she stepped into my casino...
  • Come Back To Me by Emily Catlow

    Come Back To Me by Emily Catlow

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    The life they've only ever dared to dream about is almost in Madison and Dean's hands.When a new player comes on the scene, Dean must move Rippers MC into new ventures to ensure peace is maintained with their rival club, the Sodom Saviours.Before any business is conducted though, threats are made, and trust between all parties is suddenly fraught...
  • Angel of Darkness: An Italian Mafia romance by Stephanie Amaral

    Angel of Darkness: An Italian Mafia romance by Stephanie Amaral

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Blood runs thicker than water, mine thicker than most. But my heritage weighs heavily on my sense of self, a misfit in a circle of Men of Honor.A Mafia princess without a crown. A queen without a reign.Great lessons come from ruin, as unraveled truths and shattered illusions break me beyond repair.But from ruin came bold decisions...
  • Captive Rival: Armani by Stella Gray

    Captive Rival: Armani by Stella Gray

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    I thought I could walk away…but Armani Bellanti wants me for keeps.My intentions were good.I thought I was on the side of angels.But all my plans led me straight to hell.There’s nowhere for me to turn.My whole world is his cage.I have no one.No one but him.He silences me with cruel kisses.I taunt him with his desire for me.We don’t trust each other, but we can use each other...
  • Black and Brown by A.E. Via

    Black and Brown by A.E. Via

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Grace’s composed, yet lethal disposition balances his partner Mirage’s impulsive nature, creating a duo—the second-generation Brown Ravens—with the potential for greatness. Grace was one of the most decorated sharpshooters in the Marines. He’s fiercely committed to righting the wrongs that plague the world and protecting the innocent...
  • Naked Truth by Lisa Renee Jones

    Naked Truth by Lisa Renee Jones

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Jax North. He's handsome, brutally so, and wealthy. Our first encounter is intense and sex is my escape. I go with it. I go with him and what a ride it is. And then, I say goodbye. Only you don't say goodbye to a man like Jax if he doesn't want you to. I've challenged him without meaning to. He wants me. I don't want to want him, and yet, I crave him. And he tears me down, my resistance, my walls...
  • Annoyed At First Sight by Lani Lynn Vale

    Annoyed At First Sight by Lani Lynn Vale

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    The first time Cassius Ulysses Costas met Alice Paradis, she was in a string bikini and filling up a long line of boats that were there just to see her. She was eighteen and every man’s wet dream. Even his. For the longest time, he went out of his way to stay as far away from her as he could get without actually taking his eyes off of her. For years, he was the better person...
  • Phoenix by Helen Hardt

    Phoenix by Helen Hardt

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Don't miss the gripping conclusion to the Wolfes of Manhattan/Gems of Wolfe Island series!A threat. A ghost from the past. A murder.And two tortured souls who find solace in each other.Ex-Navy SEAL Leif Ramsey—known as Phoenix—has fallen hard for spitfire Kelly Taylor, but the first order of business is to protect her from whoever is sending her threatening texts...
  • Summer Sparrow: by Emmerson Hoyt

    Summer Sparrow: by Emmerson Hoyt

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    Rylee Adder left Eden thinking she’d put the worst day of her life behind her.She was wrong.Separated from her new family and Colton—the man she never thought she’d have to live without—Rylee finds herself in Boston facing her biggest challenge yet: surviving the Vipers’ Den...
  • Boss's Vendetta by Via Mari

    Boss's Vendetta by Via Mari

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 7 ratings
    A ruthless mafia boss with a score to settle. A sassy heroine who’s not getting away. Will any chance at love survive the aftermath?We knew the bloodbath was possible, just not when or how our enemies would strike. In a heart-wrenching minute of blazing guns, the responsibility of getting retribution for the savage Italian Crime Family falls to me, Salvatore Larussio...
  • Andrei by Nicole Fox

    Andrei by Nicole Fox

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    She thinks she owns me. She’s never been more wrong. My second-in-command sold me out.Stabbed me in the back.Betrayed me to our sworn enemies.Now, I’m the prisoner of the Irish mob.Their don wants to beat me down.But his daughter would rather tie me up.Jamie buys me off the auction stage to star in her pet photography project.“The Beast,” she calls me. A fitting title...
  • Vengeful by Kristen Luciani

    Vengeful by Kristen Luciani

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    One single gun shot threw my life into upheaval. An assassination that will bring my family to its knees.It’s up to me to avenge the murder.An eye for an eye…that’s my MO.I have one job to do, and it may be my last.Find my father’s killer and make him payBefore he finds me.But there’s one problem - one incredibly sexy obstacle I never saw coming.Tali Severinov.I’ve met my match with this woman...
  • Grace by Dee Palmer

    Grace by Dee Palmer

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Surprise is the understatement of the year and it hits Sam and Jason like a freight train.Rocked and shocked, Sam needs to determine if this is a really good surprise, because as much as she loves Jason, any future they may have together could be doomed if he’s not 100 percent all-in. She can’t afford to settle for anything less since there’s so much at stake now...
    Categorized as:
    dual-pov  bdsm  dark  contemporary  length-medium
  • Here Lies a Saint: A Dark Bully Academy Romance by C.L. Matthews

    Here Lies a Saint: A Dark Bully Academy Romance by C.L. Matthews

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Being rich is great until you become the saint of Arcadia.Gentleman.Charmer.All-star.They call me a saint, but if they knew the lies, the fallacies,and what truths I hide, I’d be labeled a proclaimed sinner.I lie, do all the bad deeds, especially if it does right by her.She’s the darkness but also the light. He’s my downfall but also my redemption...
  • Jaded Devil by Nicole Fox

    Jaded Devil by Nicole Fox

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    I’LL SHOW HER WHAT A DEVIL DOES WHEN AN ANGEL FALLS INTO HIS LAP.I met her the day I killed her father.She stood there, soaked in his blood, and swore she’d make me pay when the time was right.Twenty years later, that day has come.She’s beautiful now.A dark temptation I never expected.But Renata Lombardi is in far over her head.Because she thinks this is a game of kill or be killed.She’s wrong...
  • Savage Beauty by Rosa Milano

    Savage Beauty by Rosa Milano

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    : an enemies-to-lovers mafia...
  • Valetti Crime Family: Those Boys Are Trouble by Willow Winters

    Valetti Crime Family: Those Boys Are Trouble by Willow Winters

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Five steamy, contemporary romance books.One binge worthy collection.Valetti Crime Family includes all five of the full-length, standalone romances from the Valetti Mafia series, featuring filthy-mouthed, possessive bad boys. Happily Ever Afters and no cliffhangers...
    Categorized as:
    from hate to love  bdsm  dark  mafia  angst  length-epic
  • The Wolf and the Sheep by Penelope Sky

    The Wolf and the Sheep by Penelope Sky

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 28 ratings
    Till death do us part. My father married me off to one of the most powerful men in Italy. Maverick DeVille. But I call him the wolf. He calls me his sheep. The arranged marriage was detested by us both, but we had to make sacrifices for the right reasons. He needed to avenge his mother and I needed protection from the mobs that want to torture me...
  • Court High: The Complete Series by Eden O'Neill

    Court High: The Complete Series by Eden O'Neill

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    A town full of secrets. A dark elite.A girl who crossed the wrong king.They call them the Court, an elite boys club who rule Windsor Preparatory Academy like gods among men. And, of course, they're led by Hercules himself.Royal Prinze--yes, that's actually his name--walks around both the school and the town like he owns them. His affiliation to the prestigious Court only gives him more clout...
  • Thick Skinned by C.M. Wondrak

    Thick Skinned by C.M. Wondrak

    Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 13 ratings
    The Black Hand. The criminal organization that owns everyone in Cypress, a group of people who rule the city in blood and blackmail. My plan is to take them down. Whether it’s one by one or all together, I will watch the Black Hand burn for what they did to my family five years ago. For my parents, for my brother… this vengeance is for them. I have both Jameson sons wrapped around my fingers...
  • Stalking Ginevra by Gigi Styx

    Stalking Ginevra by Gigi Styx

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 17 ratings
    Ginevra: A masked man killed my fiancé, so I offered him anything in exchange for my life.He demanded my mouth, but he’s taken my body... and my soul.At night, he comes to my room to degrade and humiliate me for fun.When he murders my date, I turn to the only person strong enough to defeat my stalker.My ex-fiancé, Benito—the man I ruthlessly dumped for another guy...
    Categorized as:
    from hate to love  dark  mafia  suspense  length-epic  m-f
  • Enforcing the Rules by Nicole James

    Enforcing the Rules by Nicole James

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    From Wall Street Journal bestselling author, Nicole James, comes a standalone, enemies-to-lovers, steamy biker romance.Utah—I’m the Enforcer for the RBMC’s Durango Chapter, hunting down the two-bit scumbag who stole from my club.He’s a dead man walking.The problem is a sexy little hellcat named Kate keeps getting in my way.She’s a bounty hunter and after the same trash as me...
  • Sixth Sin by Cora Kenborn, Mollie Stark

    Sixth Sin by Cora Kenborn, Mollie Stark

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Previously published as Starlet by Cora KenbornHollywood. Mafia. Love. Lust. Secrets. Corruption.From USA Today best-selling author Cora Kenborn comes a dark and twisted enemies-to-lovers retelling of Anastasia.They call me America's Sweetheart. Hollywood royalty. The last of an era. Sole survivor of LA's most infamous crime. I'm not any of those things.He forced me into the spotlight...
  • Savage Hero by Logan Fox

    Savage Hero by Logan Fox

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    I should have killed her. Instead, I kept her.What does the son of a drug lord usually do with the assassin who tried to kill his father?I'll tell you what they don't do.They don't kidnap them. They don't lock them up and keep them as a pet.But I've always been ruled by my impulses, by my need for violence and release.Nyx Gray only has herself to blame for landing on my radar...
  • The Thief by Zoe Blake

    The Thief by Zoe Blake

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    I will stop at nothing to get the information I need. No matter how much she fights me… I will win in the end. My little thief cannot steal away, I don’t care how hard she tries. Daddy’s in charge now. She either follows my rules, or there will be consequences… painful ones. This is a dark romance daddy dom series. There are no sweet hugs and kisses from these domineering daddies...
  • The Firm by Erin Mc Luckie Moya

    The Firm by Erin Mc Luckie Moya

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Josh and Raquel have known each other for years - The Society placing them in the same circles, each watching the other as they grow into someone that sparked their attention.It was no surprise when The Society paired them together, slating them as a match for the breeding program. But the more Raquel discovers about The Society, the faster she backpedals from them and Josh...
  • The Afterthought by K.M. Baker

    The Afterthought by K.M. Baker

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    I never planned to return to Dune Valley. The drugs. The gangs. The life people lead. It's something I thought I left in the past when I packed up and set off to the unknown. For seven years I was free from all the painful memories that come with that town. Until now.When the Sheriff called to tell me, I have a 17-year-old-sister, I had no choice. I had to return.My plan was simple...
  • THE TEST: Secret Society Dark Romance by Elena Monroe

    THE TEST: Secret Society Dark Romance by Elena Monroe

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    I woke up to my roommate and best friend missing. In her place was a note on my bedside table that read: You can only find me with your eyes closed.No one thinks a note like that is meant for them. I knew it was meant for me, a clue, a way to seek Justice. Whoever left me that note was hoping I didn’t let my parent’s legacy die when they did...
  • Falling for the Enemy: A Charity Anthology by K.M. Scott, Taryn Quinn

    Falling for the Enemy: A Charity Anthology by K.M. Scott, Taryn Quinn

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    He’s cocky. Arrogant. Infuriating. The bane of my existence. But his touch makes me burn with need. Every time we come together it’s like a collision of fire and ice—intense, all-consuming, and utterly unstoppable. We’re all wrong for each other… yet so very right...
  • Wayward Son by Jay Crownover

    Wayward Son by Jay Crownover

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    She’s the only girl he’s ever loved.Zowen Archer has been in love with Aston Wheeler for as long as he can remember.She’s perfect, except for the glaring fact that she fell in love with his best friend instead of him. For years, he loved her from afar with zero expectation. He told himself that as long as Aston was happy, his feelings for her didn’t matter...
  • Gilded Fake by Selena .

    Gilded Fake by Selena .

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    What happens when the truth doesn’t set you free? Once again, I have it all. My friends tell me I’m popular, that my name makes me a king. My girlfriend is queen. All I lost has been restored. But nothing is the way it used to be. I can’t play football. People are wary of me after treating me like shit for years. And Gloria Walton is now the ghost that haunts the halls of Willow Heights...
  • Lost in Life by Kitty Rose

    Lost in Life by Kitty Rose

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    Loss.One word that can turn your entire life upside down.I never truly understood what it meant to lose someone until I experienced it firsthand. But I won't let the grief define me. I'll use it to mold me, to shape me into someone who is strong enough to take back my life.I am stronger than the pain and I will find myself again.Or die trying.*Lost in Life is book 1 in the Inked Souls Duet...
  • Crossfire by Kathy Lockheart

    Crossfire by Kathy Lockheart

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    In my defense, I didn't know he was sent to kill me when I fell in love with him. Grayson. Dark. Dangerous. Irresistible.One moment, he's making me feel alive for the first time since Dad died. The next? He's got a cold steel blade to my throat. Turns out, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Homicidal is actually an assassin ordered to kill me.Now I'm his prisoner...
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
Find out more about romance.io.


Get recommendations by genres & tropes

Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

romance book finder

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.


Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.