Books like 'Return to Zero'

Readers who enjoyed Return to Zero by Isobel Starling also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

contemporary  gay romance  queer  suspense  military  mystery  queer-awakening  age difference  bdsm  angst 

  • Armed & Dangerous by Abigail Roux

    Armed & Dangerous by Abigail Roux

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 79 ratings
    Left alone in Baltimore after his unpredictable lover bails, Special Agent Zane Garrett takes his frustration out on everything in his path until he is ordered to Chicago to back up an undercover operative. When he gets there, though, he finds himself face to face with his wayward partner, Special Agent Ty Grady...
  • Interlude: First Noel by Tal Bauer

    Interlude: First Noel by Tal Bauer

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 27 ratings
    Before Ethan returns to DC… Before he becomes Jack’s first gentleman… Jack and Ethan share their first Christmas together. Step back to Jack and Ethan’s first Christmas season and the tentative early months of their relationship under the world’s spotlight...
  • The Grave Between Us by Tal Bauer

    The Grave Between Us by Tal Bauer

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 36 ratings
    It was just one moment.It was just one mistake.For years, men have been disappearing. A father in North Carolina. A boater in California. A hiker in Arkansas. And more, scattered across the United States. The FBI knows who’s responsible: a serial killer they caught, a man they sent young profiler Cole Kennedy to interrogate...
  • Domestic Animals by Gregory Ashe

    Domestic Animals by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 17 ratings
    Sometimes, the most dangerous animals are the ones you let inside.When a man hires Emery Hazard to track down a teenager who, he claims, robbed him, Hazard isn’t convinced. The story has holes in it, and the client seems eager—too eager—to keep the authorities from getting involved. But Hazard is willing to play along; he suspects something much darker is going on, and he wants to know what it is...
  • King Me by Lucy Lennox

    King Me by Lucy Lennox

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 42 ratings
    Falcon: Three years ago I arrived at the scene of an art heist to find Kingston Wilde tied to a radiator, claiming to be an innocent bystander in the wrong place at the wrong time. It was only later I learned he was actually, the elusive art thief I’d been tracking for years. And I was the one who’d let him sweet-talk his way out of my grasp...
  • But For You by Mary Calmes

    But For You by Mary Calmes

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 35 ratings
    Jory Harcourt is finally living the dream. Being married to US Marshal Sam Kage has changed him—it’s settled the tumult of their past and changed Jory from a guy who bails at the first sign of trouble to a man who stays and weathers the storm. He and Sam have two kids, a house in the burbs, and a badass minivan. Jory’s days of being an epicenter for disaster are over. Domestic life is good...
  • The Bruise-Black Sky by John Wiltshire

    The Bruise-Black Sky by John Wiltshire

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 18 ratings
    Ben usually overlooks Nikolas's occasionally jarring dissonance. Not this time. A deep rift, a terrible lie, separates them. Eleven thousand miles from Nikolas, in New Zealand, it's bitter winter as Ben films the tragic story of a post-apocalyptic gladiator, a victim of his own personal darkness. But on receiving a death threat, Ben suspects the truth of actor Oliver Whitestone's suicide...
  • The Magnolia Murders by Aimee Nicole Walker

    The Magnolia Murders by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Rated: 4.68 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 12 ratings
    Everything old is new again in love and murder.Work together, live together, and play together is the name of the game for Royce Locke and Sawyer Key. But one of those things changes when Chief Mendoza taps Sawyer to lead the newly formed cold case unit. His first task: solve the Magnolia Murders that spanned three decades and suddenly stopped in 2000...
  • Breaking Cover by Kaje Harper

    Breaking Cover by Kaje Harper

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 36 ratings
    For homicide detective Mac, it's been a good year. Having Tony to go home to makes him a better cop and a better person. For Tony, it's been hard being in love with a man he can't touch in public. Evasions and outright lying to friends and family take a little of the shine off his relationship with Mac, but Tony is determined to make it work...
  • Body and Soul by Lucy Lennox, Sloane Kennedy

    Body and Soul by Lucy Lennox, Sloane Kennedy

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 38 ratings
    Oz: Escaping the international modeling scene to design my own fashion collection is the first step to shucking my bobble-headed supermodel reputation and proving to the world I’m more than just a pretty face. But the minute I have to accept roadside help from the sexy man next door, I feel like the airhead people think I am...
  • Father Complex by Gregory Ashe

    Father Complex by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    Having a father can be hard. Being a good one might be even harder.The call-out for the double homicide, when it comes, is a strange one: two men gunned down in a motel room, no witnesses, no real clues. Even stranger, the men were enemies, and no one seems to know why they were in that motel room together...
  • Ball & Chain by Abigail Roux

    Ball & Chain by Abigail Roux

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 60 ratings
    Home from their unexpected deployment, the former members of Marine Force Recon team Sidewinder rejoin their loved ones and try to pick up the pieces of the lives they were forced to leave behind. Ty Grady comes home to Zane Garrett, only to find that everything around him has changed—even the men he went to war with...
  • A Chosen Man by Jaime Reese

    A Chosen Man by Jaime Reese

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    For Wall McCormack, actions speak louder than words. He’s giving and protective, loyal to his friends, and devoted to his job. While confident and powerful enough to conquer any challenge, his greatest strength lies in his calm nature. Until an unexpected assignment sends his world into a loud and colorful chaos he never could have anticipated. Rejection...
  • Killer Honeymoon by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Killer Honeymoon by Aimee Nicole Walker

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 12 ratings
    Honeymoon, happily ever after, and…homicide?Newlyweds, Royce Locke and Sawyer Key, embark on a honeymoon road trip where their biggest threat should be dodging drunk tourists on golf carts. But their arrival on South Bass Island lands them in the middle of a contentious battle between lifelong islanders and a property developer who won’t accept no for an answer...
  • Christmas in Suite 37A by Tiffany Reisz

    Christmas in Suite 37A by Tiffany Reisz

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Originally available as a rough draft on Tiffany's website, this short story has now been fully revised and is now collected in the print, ebook, and audio collection Michael's Wings...
  • Ignite by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Ignite by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 15 ratings
    Two of Noah’s Army buddies are dead. Someone has taken shots at Noah. And now Noah’s former lover, JB, is a target. Noah, Rowe, and JB team up to track down a killer trying to take out all of Noah’s old Army team in hopes of covering up a dark secret. But this trip to Washington, D.C. threatens to unravel the perfect life that Rowe and Noah have built over the past three years...
  • Blaze by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Blaze by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 17 ratings
    The rings have been selected. The champagne placed on ice. The cake decorated. And the pre-wedding sex is off the charts... Lucas Vallois and Andrei Hadeon are finally ready to walk down the aisle. There’s just one small problem. A ghost from Lucas’s past shows up days before the wedding, desperate for help...
  • Attraction by Carly Marie

    Attraction by Carly Marie

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 5 of 5
    Explicit and plentiful [?] · 12 ratings
    An M/M Neighbors to lovers Romance. Could satin, lace, and sass be enough to break through the ice? Dexter has never hidden his sexuality, and doesn’t blend into the background. From his fiery red hair to the panties he likes to wear, everything about him is vibrant. He’s the complete opposite of his new neighbor, and shouldn’t care if the grouchy man likes him… but he does...
  • The Spoil of Beasts by Gregory Ashe

    The Spoil of Beasts by Gregory Ashe

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    A jailhouse slaughter. A relentless killer. And way too much jackassing around. When word comes that two key witnesses in an investigation are dead, North and Shaw are surprised—and pleased—to learn that their friend, John-Henry Somerset, is interested in hiring them as freelance contractors for the Wahredua police department...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  queer  suspense  m-m  contemporary  length-short
  • Shut Up and Drive by L.M. Krier

    Shut Up and Drive by L.M. Krier

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    A serial sex attacker is spreading fear in Stockport and DI Ted Darling and his team are on the case.The man randomly targets young women and abducts them from busy supermarket car parks. He's armed with a knife and is clearly highly trained in how to handle it.Ever-dwindling police resources make the manhunt harder, even though the attacker clearly doesn't care whether or not he's caught...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  queer  suspense  m-m  contemporary
  • Craft Brew by Layla Reyne

    Craft Brew by Layla Reyne

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 11 ratings
    Assistant US attorney Dominic Price is staring down the barrel of his father’s debts. The bull’s-eye on his back makes him a threat to everyone he cares about, so when his lover wants to go public with their relationship, he bolts. Not because he isn’t in love—he can’t stomach the thought of putting Cam in danger...
  • Somebody to Cherish by April Wilson

    Somebody to Cherish by April Wilson

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 10 ratings
    Tyler and Ian are embarking on their new venture as private investigators. After they solve their first case, they celebrate by taking a road trip to Key West. Their objective: fun and relaxation in the sun. Unfortunately, fate has something else in store for them. When a guest at the hotel where they're staying goes missing, they can't just sit by and do nothing...
  • Taking It Slow by Reese Knightley

    Taking It Slow by Reese Knightley

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    Can two men from opposite sides of the tracks find love?Colonel Liam Cobalt has it all. He is content being a successful colonel in the Army and a billionaire with enough money at his disposal to help others. It takes only one glimpse of Spencer Turner to change all that. When a headlong clash sets him back, he must rethink his strategy...
  • Shades of Gray by Brooke McKinley

    Shades of Gray by Brooke McKinley

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    Miller Sutton, a by-the-book FBI agent, is starting to see some troubling shades of gray in his black-and-white world. He comes face-to-face with his doubts in the person of Danny Butler, a mid-level drug runner Miller hopes to use to catch a much larger fish: Roberto Hinestroza, a drug lord Miller has pursued for years...
  • Wilde Fire by Lucy Lennox

    Wilde Fire by Lucy Lennox

    Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 40 ratings
    Otto: Seth Walker was my first love and I always swore he’d be my last. Even after he moved away our senior year in high school, we vowed to reunite after graduation. But when he suddenly broke things off without explanation and crushed my heart, it was my turn to run. After a decade in the navy, I’ve finally come home ready to move on with my life as Hobie’s newest firefighter...
  • Rialto by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Rialto by Jocelynn Drake, Rinda Elliott

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 11 ratings
    Someone has it out for Rialto.  Ian Banner is loving his hectic life. He’s newly married, ready to start a family, and opening a new restaurant. All his dreams are coming true. The last thing he needs is a problem with his restaurant.  But when one attack after another comes, he grows convinced he has another enemy...
  • Off Course by Nicole Edwards

    Off Course by Nicole Edwards

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    From New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Nicole Edwards comes the ninth installment in her Brantley Off the Books series. With wedding plans underway, Brantley Walker and Reese Tavoularis are attempting to create some balance between work and life. After a busy summer, they’ve finally slowed down enough to take a breather. At least until the hacker extraordinaire—a.k.a...
  • Chain Reaction by Nicole Edwards

    Chain Reaction by Nicole Edwards

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    From New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Nicole Edwards comes the tenth installment in her Brantley Off the Books series.During the two years since they created the Off the Books Task Force, Brantley Walker and Reese Tavoularis have had their share of difficult cases, but their next one hits close to home. Too close...
  • Castiel by Annabella Stone

    Castiel by Annabella Stone

    Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    What once was strong is broken.Can what was broken be repaired?Former SEAL and Operative for the US Government’s elite Red Squadron, Castiel Cunningham Clark has defied the odds more times than he can count. He learned the hard way how fickle fate can be and he’s made it his business to live his life at one speed and one speed only… full steam ahead. Except when it comes to one person...
  • Noble Hops by Layla Reyne

    Noble Hops by Layla Reyne

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 9 ratings
    Everything Dominic Price has worked hard to uphold is about to come crashing down on everything he holds dear. So much for the quiet life. Just as assistant US attorney and brewery owner Dominic Price is settling into a comfy new chapter with his partner, FBI agent Cameron Byrne, the sudden death of Nic’s father puts their happily-ever-after in jeopardy...
  • Rebel by Reese Knightley

    Rebel by Reese Knightley

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    One man on a journey of redemption and the other out to prove himself.Cohen “Ace” Gray – Pegasus Commander.He’d buried one lover; he wasn’t going to take the chance of that ever happening again. Ace had his own demons to work on, but working closely with Jacob and having his friendship— despite their twenty-year age difference—had made life a bit easier...
  • Bulletproof by Mary Calmes

    Bulletproof by Mary Calmes

    Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 38 ratings
    Jory Harcourt doesn't have to go looking for trouble. Wherever he goes, it seems to find him—particularly when his partner, Sam Kage, is working undercover on a federal task force. After the recession forces him to close his business, Jory goes to work as a matchmaker and event planner...
  • Enduring Night by John Wiltshire

    Enduring Night by John Wiltshire

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting. Nikolas has always liked art. You'd have thought that Ben and Nikolas would have learnt that their romantic holidays inevitably end up as disasters. A short break on the polar ice sees them trapped in a nightmare of murder and deceit...
  • Whatever It Takes by Reese Knightley

    Whatever It Takes by Reese Knightley

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    One man’s temper may be the other’s salvation. Dillon Gannon went from almost getting kicked out of the Army to being a revered member of a Special Forces unit. When his commanding officer orders him on a protection detail, it’s the last thing he wants to do. He’s a weapons expert, not a babysitter. Luke Rhine worked his way up through the Army and retired as a general...
  • When I'm Old and Grey by L.M. Krier

    When I'm Old and Grey by L.M. Krier

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    DI Ted Darling doesn't like coincidences. There are too many for comfort surrounding his latest case. They're spilling over into his private life, too, when some toxic family secrets are uncovered. A serial killer appears to be targeting vulnerable elderly people in care homes and despatching them in the most cynical way. Ted and his team are struggling to get a lead on who the killer really is...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  queer  suspense  m-m  contemporary  length-medium
  • Body and Soul by Patricia Logan

    Body and Soul by Patricia Logan

    Rated: 4.46 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    More than ten years ago, a series of train bombings devastated railways throughout Europe. Strange poetry sent to local newspapers right before each bombing, confounded investigators at the time. In one of only a handful of failed covert missions, Jarrett had been sent into North Korea to take out the bomber...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  queer  m-m  contemporary  length-medium
  • Thunder and Lightning by Patricia Logan

    Thunder and Lightning by Patricia Logan

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Jarrett Evans and Thayne Wolfe have been partnered in the ATF for nearly two years and their love and commitment to each other has grown over time. Now faced with one final challenge, the boys are headed to Arizona to help Thayne’s mom, stumbling headfirst into a brand new case...
    Categorized as:
    suspense  mystery  angst  queer  m-m  contemporary  length-long
  • Red Flagged by Elle Keaton

    Red Flagged by Elle Keaton

    Rated: 4.42 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Ex-US Marshal turned Cooper Springs Chief of Police, Andre Dear isn’t looking for love. He’s too busy hunting a killer. The last person Andre expected to see in Cooper Springs was Dante Castone. He left Dante and the rest of his old life behind him when he moved to Washington State and what he thought would be a quiet job in a small town by the ocean...
  • Protecting the Soul by Annabella Michaels

    Protecting the Soul by Annabella Michaels

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    For Landon Greene, managing the band Carter’s Creed is more than just a job. It also means being there to keep his brother safe. When someone begins sending threatening letters to Carter, Landon feels overwhelmed with the need to protect him...
    Categorized as:
    military  bdsm  queer  m-m  contemporary  length-short
  • In Dog We Trust by Neil S. Plakcy

    In Dog We Trust by Neil S. Plakcy

    Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    an alternate cover edition can be found hereAfter a bad divorce and a brief prison term for computer hacking, 42-year-old Steve Levitan has returned to his home town of Stewart’s Crossing and taken a part-time job as an adjunct professor of English at his alma mater, Eastern College...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  queer  contemporary  m-m  length-medium
  • Fair Play by Josh Lanyon

    Fair Play by Josh Lanyon

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 29 ratings
    Fifty years ago, Roland Mills belonged to a violent activist group. Now, someone is willing to kill to prevent him from publishing his memoirs. When ex-FBI agent Elliot Mills is called out to examine the charred ruins of his childhood home, he quickly identifies the fire for what it is--arson...
  • Just Jory by Mary Calmes

    Just Jory by Mary Calmes

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    A ficlet which is set in the time period between Bulletproof and But For You...
  • Old-Fashioned Cupcake with Cappuccino by Sagan Sagan

    Old-Fashioned Cupcake with Cappuccino by Sagan Sagan

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Thirty-nine-year-old Nozue went from living a routine, melancholic life of sleep and work to spending his days in bliss with Togawa, his younger subordinate. Now six months into their relationship, the two have graduated from dates at a pancake shop to spending their nights together...
  • Noble by Annabella Stone

    Noble by Annabella Stone

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    Red Squadron is the tip of the spear in the war against global terrorism. Navy SEAL Commander, Noble Bauer, leads the JASOC Taskforce and knows his team won’t be complete until he finds a Communications Specialist. He knows just the man for the job. The only problem is can he get him to listen...
    Categorized as:
    military  suspense  angst  mystery  queer  m-m  war  contemporary
  • Ghost of Christmas Present by Pandora Pine

    Ghost of Christmas Present by Pandora Pine

    Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars
    · 6 ratings
    With only a week until Christmas, Detective Jude Byrne is wrapping up final preparations for his family’s celebration. He’s made a list and checked it twice, bought presents, planned the neighborhood cookie exchange, and hung mistletoe. Jude’s got a handle on everything, that is, until his son asks if his grandfather is coming to celebrate with them—a man Jude hasn’t seen in six years...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  queer  contemporary  m-m  length-short
  • Modern Warfare by Valerie Vaughn

    Modern Warfare by Valerie Vaughn

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Covert Affairs M/M Romance Book Two Navigating a new relationship is never easy, but Deputy Director Syler Perrin has the uniquely hair-raising privilege of doing it with one Special Agent Arthur Dufault, premiere CIA operative and all around menace...
    Categorized as:
    military  mystery  queer  m-m  contemporary  length-short
  • Common Ground by R.J. Moray

    Common Ground by R.J. Moray

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Why can't you have your cake and eat it too?Channon belongs to Jack—that's just a fact. But they aren't an island, and if Channon's going to get the happy-ever-after he wants, Jack's going to have to bury the hatchet with (and not in) the one other person in Channon's life whose disapproval matters...
  • Daddy Detectives Episode 1: A Tyler and Ian Jamison Story by April Wilson

    Daddy Detectives Episode 1: A Tyler and Ian Jamison Story by April Wilson

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    This is the first installment in a new series for private investigators Tyler and Ian Jamison. Our heroes are adjusting to life as a married couple and are now parents of newborn twins. While the guys are enjoying paternity leave, their administrative assistant, Kimi, comes to them with a personal emergency...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  suspense  queer  contemporary  m-m
  • Interwoven by Ripley Hayes

    Interwoven by Ripley Hayes

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 8 ratings
    Daniel Owen has spent the best part of ten years renovating his house when he finds the cellar. By falling into it. The mysterious cellar has a mysterious door, and behind the mysterious door is a mysterious box … and in the box … there are clues to the shocking history of Daniel’s beloved home town. A cold case is occupying Mal Kent’s time. A notorious car thief is released from prison...
    Categorized as:
    mystery  queer  suspense  m-m  contemporary  length-medium
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.