Books like 'Cruel When He Smiles'
Readers who enjoyed Cruel When He Smiles by Avery Collins also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
gay romance dark romance from hate to love sports soccer new adult bdsm forced proximity queer college
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Max and Frankie by Elizabeth Dear
One cold December night, I let myself enjoy a beautiful stranger I’d met in the cage at my Family’s seedy fight club. Afterwards, I kissed him goodbye and sent him away, content to cling to memories of the out-of-towner who’d pleased me so thoroughly. Except that beautiful butterfly wasn’t who he claimed to be, and our lives would soon intertwine in a much more permanent way... -
Wilder by Leila James
The protector is spiraling, and I’m his anchor.Life at Kingston University has only gotten worse. Secrets, lies, and death surround SIN. But nothing is as it seems.We each have pasts that haunt us; our futures are uncertain.One thing is clear, these brutal boys of SIN will protect me—and Chase—with their lives. But I’m terrified I’ll lose them as our unknown enemy tracks closer...Categorized as:
queer new adult cruel hero from hate to love college forced proximity bad boys possessive hero -
Beckham by Leila James
The stalker is watching, and I’m his obsession.Enrolling at Kingston University and joining my mother’s sorority was the worst idea ever. Someone’s been in my room. They’re taunting me, leaving horrific photographs and chilling notes on my mirror.My past has caught up to me, and it’s tangled in my present.These brutal boys of SIN have me twisted up...Categorized as:
queer cruel hero from hate to love new adult college forced proximity bad boys possessive hero -
Bitter When He Begs by Avery Collins
LucaI’ve built my life on control. On the field, in my reputation, and in keeping my demons buried where no one can see.Sage Blackwell was never supposed to be a part of that. The nerdy prodigy overheard something that could ruin my entire career, so I do the only logical thing. I don’t threaten him. I don’t scare him off.I claim him.I tell myself it’s about survival, about keeping my secret safe...Categorized as:
sports from hate to love queer forced proximity new adult college athletes possessive hero -
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BJ Alex 9 by Mingwa
Every night at 10, Dong-gyun locks himself up in his room, grabs a box of tissues, and watches a live cam boy show hosted by Alex, a BJ (broadcast jockey). Timid Dong-gyun admires not only Alex’s ripped body, but his candor in sharing his sexual experiences with viewers. One night, Dong-gyun downs too many drinks at a school networking event and passes out... -
Hide and Seek by Willow Dixon
JaxIt was supposed to be an easy keep an eye on Myles until I’m sure he’s not a threat to us, then forget he exists and go back to living my life.But there’s something different about him. Something that speaks to my dark side and turns an easy job into an obsession. I want things from him I’ve never wanted before, and the more I watch him, the more I’m sure he wants them too... -
Beautifully Savage Butterfly by K.M. Neuhold
Being savage in the ring is one thing. The way Elio Moretti craves my violence outside the ring is another. I feel like I’ve been fighting my whole life, and tapping out has never been an option. I can live with owing money to the Morettis. I can even live with the constant guilt that my brother is the one paralyzed in a hospital bed while I live his dream... -
Cruel When He Smiles by Avery Collins
Liam Callahan likes to break things.... and Nate Carter was made to be broken.LiamI was trained not to feel. Taught to observe, manipulate, and control.Nothing prepared me for Nate Carter.He’s stubborn and beautiful in his resistance. The harder he fights, the deeper I sink my teeth in. I engineered the therapy sessions so I could get closer and watch him unravel... -
Anti-Valentine by T. Ashleigh, Ashlyn Drewek
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... -
WTF by Cambria Hebert
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsI don’t do commitment. And though I swing both ways, I don’t do men either.It’s too messy, too stressful, and just asking for trouble.I’d rather shine bright like the sun than drown in the rain, so I adopt a pounce-and-bounce lifestyle for which my sparkling charm keeps me from being hated.When I show up in Sweden for a semester abroad, I expect a roomie. What I don’t expect is Lars... -
Devil by Silvia Violet
A Dark Mafia Romance Devil is a mobster with a dangerous secret... There's a cop who hates him. A cop he caught and released. A cop he can't get out of his mind after the one forbidden night they shared... -
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...Categorized as:
from hate to love bad boys sports forced proximity new adult queer contemporary bisexual -
In These Words: Chapter 6 by Kichiku Neko, Guilt Pleasure
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDr. Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to profile a serial killer via the victims' data. Based on Asano's profile and recommendations, a suspect has at last been caught! Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is in police custody and has promised a thorough confession, provided that Asano is the one to receive it... -
Crashing Hearts by K.A. Knight
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsPine Valley is a school that’s both rich in history and legacy, and it’s once more opening its doors to another year of students.Skylar Warren owns the streets of Pine Valley and everybody in it. From cars to people, there is nothing he wants that he can’t get—until now...Categorized as:
from hate to love sports new adult queer possessive hero grumpy sunshine dark mystery -
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Cleansed by Romilly King
Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsSometimes you have to go back in order to go forward – Gray is going back to handle the man who saw him as an angel, and unleashed the demon in him.I am a Handler; I deal with serial killers, legally, ruthlessly, and in the presence of my Witness, because justice must be seen to be done.Handling is an intimate procedure... -
Matchstick Men by Adira August
Sometimes it's the cop who needs to hit the floor... Haunted by the worst case of my career, I knew only one way to exorcise the images from my mind, the victim from my soul ... Inside the club, I scanned the room. He was here—Camden Snow—a sex god in the guise of unpretentious youth... -
Happy Krampus Xmas & The Meet Not Cute: Two Xmas Novellas by Paulina Ian-Kane
-Happy Krampus XmasHappy Krampus Day!Krampus who? Santa’s evil brother, duh.The horned demon sort of cursed me, and I need to find a way to appease him.Otherwise, I won’t be able to proceed with my donor initiation: blood, torture, death, screams—not in that order.All I need is to follow my three-step groveling plan... -
Demon by Joel Abernathy
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsFalling 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... -
The Interrogation (Hunt&Cam4Ever) by Adira August
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHunter’s most twisted killer. Cam’s most dangerous case.A STAND-ALONE PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERIf you like a master gamesman for a detective and a few twists in your criminal cocktail, you want to read this... -
In These Words: Chapter 7 by Kichiku Neko, Guilt Pleasure
Rated: 4.67 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDr. Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to profile a serial killer via the victims' data. Based on Asano's profile and recommendations, a suspect has at last been caught! Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is in police custody and has promised a thorough confession, provided that Asano is the one to receive it... -
Deviant by Cora Rose, Lark Taylor
In my defense, this is all Brad’s fault.I had one very important job: kidnap Brad.I’ve never kidnapped someone before but how hard could it be? Find Brad. Snatch Brad. Deliver Brad to the very scary people who hold my fate in their hands.So when a handsome, flirty stranger at the bar drops his name, I think my luck has finally turned. No chase. No fight... -
In These Words: Chapter 3 by Kichiku Neko, Guilt Pleasure
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDr. Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to profile a serial killer via the victims' data. Based on Asano's profile and recommendations, a suspect has at last been caught! Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is in police custody and has promised a thorough confession, provided that Asano is the one to receive it... -
In These Words: Chapter 2 by Kichiku Neko, Guilt Pleasure
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsDr. Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to profile a serial killer via the victims' data. Based on Asano's profile and recommendations, a suspect has at last been caught! Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is in police custody and has promised a thorough confession, provided that Asano is the one to receive it... -
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Psycho Punks by Madeline Fay
This is it.The moment it's come down to... the end of my new beginning.My veins were once frozen, that if you cut me open, it would have been so cold. So very cold that I felt nothing.Now, my blood flows with fire, a purpose to fight back. To keep living and to love.The evil that exist around me doesn't know what they have unleashed.Psycho isn't even the right word to describe me...Categorized as:
from hate to love new adult forced proximity cruel hero queer mafia contemporary multicultural -
Playing with Fire by L. Eveland
Some monsters hunt in darkness. Others play with fire.I've always known what I am—a monster who uses flame to deliver justice, who gets off on breaking pretty things. Leo Astrada is everything I shouldn't want: a brilliant programmer with an innocent soul and forbidden desires that match my own.For two years, I've kept him close but untouched, telling myself that friendship was enough...Categorized as:
forced proximity bdsm queer possessive hero bad boys praise-kink mafia friends to lovers -
Pretty When He Bleeds by Avery Collins
Roman Bishop hides his pain behind bruises and penalties, using the ice to escape the ghosts of his past. But when Damon Ward, the brooding, tattooed art major with a grudge and a sharp tongue, returns to campus, Roman’s carefully constructed world begins to crack.Damon is Caleb’s brother—the boy Roman loved and lost in the most devastating way possible... -
Griffin in Wonderland by Tiffany Reisz
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsHard partying trust fun baby Griffin Fiske wakes up after a hard night with a King's boots on his chest and gets an invitation he can't refuse...This Original Sinners short story takes place approximately six years before The Siren... -
A cruel god reigns, Vol. 1 (残酷な神が支配する (小学館文庫全10巻) #1) by Moto Hagio
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsJeremy, un quindicenne sensibile ma estroverso è deliziato dalla notizia del nuovo matrimonio della madre nevrotica con un ricco inglese. Il suo nuovo patrigno, Greg, si dimostra una presenza inquietante… È un sadico e uno stupratore, e non perde tempo a fare di Jeremy la sua vittima. Mesi di orribili abusi portano il ragazzo alla disperazione, spingendolo a meditare l’omicidio del patrigno... -
In These Words: Chapter 4 by Kichiku Neko, Guilt Pleasure
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsDr. Asano Katsuya is a US trained psychiatrist who has been recruited by the Tokyo Police Department to profile a serial killer via the victims' data. Based on Asano's profile and recommendations, a suspect has at last been caught! Now, after three years and twelve victims, Shinohara Keiji is in police custody and has promised a thorough confession, provided that Asano is the one to receive it... -
Save Me by Ariana Nash
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe 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... -
No Honor Among Thieves by R.E. Bond
Everyone assumes rich girls are spoiled brats.They don’t see us locked in our towers, being kept as pawns and nothing more.I’ve spent my life being caged, hidden from society to avoid shaming my father.I always knew the day would come that he’d try to marry me off in a business deal.His plans are ruined when he finds out I’ve been sneaking out and I’m not as pure as he thought...Categorized as:
cruel hero bdsm new adult forced proximity from hate to love bad boys queer reverse harem -
In These Words: Chapter 1 by Kichiku Neko, Guilt Pleasure
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsAsano Katsuya is the spirit of the United States experienced pathologist, He is recruited to police stations in Tokyo to accept a serial murder suspect for personality profiling work... -
Merry Mayhem by Angel Lawson, Samantha Rue
Rated: 4.15 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsMerry Mayhem is a three part bonus collection from the Princes’ perspectives from November-Christmas that takes place during the Dukes of Peril timeline, before Princes of Chaos. If you’re wary of spoilers, make sure to read after Dukes of Peril... -
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Shattered Secrets by Kris Butler
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThey had tried to come for me. They thought I was still weak, damaged. Someone had tried to kill me...again. I was getting tired of this. They hadn’t been prepared for me to build relationships, to no longer be alone. They continued to underestimate me. I loved proving them wrong. Secrets threaten to shake me, to break me and as I uncover more of my past, each step leads me closer to the Council... -
Damaged by Hayden Hall
Welcome to Black Diamond Resort & Spa… I’m left on this strip of sand after my second round of rehab. Father says I should rest and build my strength back, but I know better. I’m a toxic asset. Father is launching his campaign of hate and bigotry in a presidential bid and I am the black hole for his reputation. And not because I’m an addict. Oh no...Categorized as:
new adult forced proximity from hate to love bdsm queer contemporary mental illness hurt-comfort -
The Pet's Play by M.D. Gregory
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsSloan and Conall make a bet. Who will win? This is a Killough Company novella. It takes place as book 3.5 (between The Assassin and The Apprentice)... -
Polished by Romilly King
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsHow deadly do you have to be to kill a killer?Handlers are hard to kill, and to be fair most of us like the challenge when people try, but now someone is killing off handlers in bloody and complex ways.Not my problem.Not anymore.I got out, I got free, and I don’t want to go back... -
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throw up your fists, throw out your wits by Youcouldmakealife, Imogenedisease
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLuke doesn’t think he’s ever looked better than he does, right then, bleeding from wounds Luke gave him... -
The Assassin by M.D. Gregory
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsGabriel Mancini represents everything Ardan Murphy hates.He’s disloyal.Money hungry.‘Honor’ isn’t a word he knows.He is also too damn handsome for his own good.When mob boss Sloan Killough finally gives Ardan permission to find and kill Mancini, the job isn’t as straightforward as he expects... -
Collaring His Heart by Adara Wolf
Emil and Johan have settled into a routine. Johan's doing better, Emil thinks he's got everything figured out...Until his ex shows up. Until Johan's mother starts making demands. Until all his lies catch up to him. Everything is falling apart around him, and if he doesn't figure things out fast, he's going to be torn away from Johan for good... -
Nevermore by Addison Beck
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsReignMy life was impossibly normal. Living by honest means, working a regular job, and being a fumbling and awkward teenager were just the norm.Until Mama remarried. Being thrown into a world so different from mine is jarring. The parties, the people, the wealth-And my stepbrother.Santiago is everything I’m not...Categorized as:
forced proximity from hate to love college athletes queer m-m queer-awakening super rich hero -
Knock 'Em Down by Alisha Williams, Amber Nicole
A Dark Cheerleading Academy Bully RH Romance One week of hot, mind blowing passion was all it was supposed to be. Well, until a freak accident has the Widows in desperate need of a new flyer. I thought my wishes were coming true. I get to be on the national cheer team and see my guys again... Maybe not. I guess it's true what they say...be careful what you wish for...Categorized as:
cruel hero sports possessive hero from hate to love new adult queer athletes reverse harem -
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Struck by Charity Parkerson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsA seasoned killer meets a cuddly cinnamon bun. What could go wrong? When Ben first met Fedir, he thought Fedir was only a bodyguard to an old, retired shipping mogul. He enjoyed pushing the grumpy guard’s buttons, hoping to catch his eye. Now, he has and Fedir is so much more than Ben first thought. In fact, Fedir might be more than he can handle... -
Saints of the Syndicate by Natalie Nicole
Rated: 4.03 of 5 stars · 23 ratings"Honesty is a one way ticket to hell, Kitten."Sinclair BlackwellDeclan CarterGiovanni MartinelliKings of Campus.Walking Greek Statues of Sin and Lust.Influence Beyond Belief.Their Obsession?Me.After a Brutal Attack, These Powerful Empire Heirs Take Me In.They Saved Me From Potential Death.They Protect Me. Provide For Me.They All Become My.. -
Raging Ranger by Louise Collins
Ranger Keyes, assassin, occasional stripper and full-time hopeful (not hopeless) romantic is determined to get his happily-ever-after. His best mates, Donnie and Yates, have both found love, and he knows it’s finally his turn to step into the spotlight and star in his own love story.For that, he needs a co-star, and he sets his sights on one guy and one guy alone...Categorized as:
from hate to love forced proximity cruel hero possessive hero queer m-m grumpy sunshine suspense -
The Taker by Mae Malone
Becoming a soldier for Rocco Vettore is the worst mistake I ever made. Since day one, his cold-hearted, overbearing demeanor has made my life a living hell. I’m his glorified errand boy, and the whole crew knows it.He humiliates me—brings me to my knees—and I enjoy it. He illuminates a strange, twisted part of me I wish was still in the dark and makes me question everything I know about myself... -
Caste Heaven, Vol. 4 by Chise Ogawa
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsToday’s top could be tomorrow’s bottom when playing the caste game!School is hard enough as it is, but when students are forced to play a cutthroat game to determine their social ranks—and subsequent treatment—all bets are off. Ever since Karino betrayed him by dragging him off his kingly throne, dropping him to target, Azusa has sworn revenge... -
Pretty for Master by Skylar Sweeney
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsCan a sociopath learn to love? Master plans to find out, and his captive agrees to lend a hand. But will Pretty lend his heart, too? PRETTY They call him the Mad Master. A giant in fancy clothes with a flower on his lapel, he rules his world like a king. He’s as terrifying as he is enthralling and as cruel as he is kind. All I’ve ever known is pain, so the way he loves to hurt me is nothing new...
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