The best dark and twisted romance books featuring cruel heroes and suffering heroines in a contemporary setting. The books explore themes of captivity and abuse, BDSM and non-consent.

• #21 Consequences - Aleatha Romig

  

  suspense slavery age gap enemies to lovers vengeance

  Waking in an unfamiliar bedroom in a luxurious mansion, Claire Nichols is terrified to discover that a chance encounter led her into the cruel hands of her abductor, Anthony Rawlings. Claire has no understanding of why she's there, but it's been made abundantly clear--she is now his acquisition and every action has consequences.
  
  Facing incomprehensible circumstances, Claire must learn to survive her new reality--every aspect of her livelihood depends upon the tall, dark-eyed tycoon who is a true master of deception. Driven by unknown demons, he has no tolerance for imperfection, in any aspect of his life, including his recent acquisition... more

• #22 Going Under - S. Walden

  contemporary take-charge heroine mystery suspense rape

  Brooke Wright has only two goals her senior year at Charity Run High School: stay out of trouble and learn to forgive herself for the past. Forgiveness proves elusive, and trouble finds her anyway when she discovers a secret club at school connected to the death of her best friend. She learns that swim team members participate in a “Fantasy Slut League,” scoring points for their sexual acts with unsuspecting girls.
  
  Brooke, wracked with guilt over her friend’s death, decides to infiltrate the league by becoming one of the “unsuspecting girls,” and exact revenge on the boys who stole away her best friend... more

• #23 Push - Claire Wallis

  suspense contemporary bad boys mystery abuse

  Emma Searfoss has spent a lifetime trying to escape her abusive stepfather. It's why she moved far away from home. It's why she's kept no ties with her remaining family. And it's why she's got a major rage problem. When her neighbor shows up to fix the kitchen in her new apartment, his enigmatic charm calms the fire in her. David is cool and collected, and he makes Emma feel safe for the first time ever. But David has his own chilling past—his six previous girlfriends have all disappeared without a trace. Emma's walking a dangerous line, but David's pull is intoxicating... more

• #24 Blaire - Anita Gray

  contemporary dark romance abuse suspense abduction

  Bought. Conditioned. Sold to the enemy.
  My name is Blaire. I'm head of security to a man who controls the Russian underworld in Europe. His name is Maksim and he's my master. He bought me ten years ago and conditioned me with brutality to worship and protect him. And I have protected him. I've slain everyone who has tried to do him harm. Everyone but a man he loans me to; a man who threatens to break me and everything I believe in.
  You're going to need a strong stomach and a strong heart to follow my story, because take my word for it, it's no fairy tale.. more

• #25 Nine Minutes - Beth Flynn

  pregnancy virgin heroine rape abduction forbidden love

  On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida. From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world much like the swamps themselves, where everyone has an alias and loyalty is tantamount to survival.
  
  And at the center of it all is the gang’s leader, Grizz: massive, ruggedly handsome, terrifying and somehow, when it comes to Ginny, tender... more

• #26 Deliver - Pam Godwin

  suspense erotic romance alpha male menage virgin hero

  His name was Joshua Carter. Now it's whatever she wants it to be. She is a Deliverer. She lures young men and delivers them to be sold. She delivers the strikes that enforce their obedience. She delivers the sexual training that determines their purchase price.
  
  As long as she delivers, the arrangement that protects her family will hold.
  
  Delivering is all she knows. The one thing she can't deliver is a captive from slavery. Until him.. more

• #27 Escape from Paradise - Gwendolyn Field

  contemporary suspense bad boys alpha male slavery

  When college sophomore Angela Birch sneaks from Texas to Mexico for Spring Break, she believes the worst that can happen is her parents finding out. Wrong.
  
  The worst is falling for the ruse of handsome, alluring Fernando. One spontaneous choice whisks Angela across the world to the pseudo paradise of Spain’s Mediterranean Riviera where she has another choice to make: live cooperatively as one of billionaire Marco Ruiz’s slaves, or die.. more

• #28 Captive in the Dark - C.J. Roberts

  tortured heroine enemies to lovers virgin heroine vengeance forbidden love

  Caleb is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible. Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Caleb is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.
  
  Eighteen-year-old Olivia Ruiz has just woken up in a strange place. Blindfolded and bound, there is only a calm male voice to welcome her... more

• #29 Buttons and Lace - Penelope Sky

  suspense dark romance contemporary abduction slavery

  I owe him a debt. A big one. The payment can't be settled with money or favors. He only wants one thing. Me.
  
  Every action gets a reward. A button. Once I fill his jar with three hundred and sixty-five buttons, he'll let me go. He'll let me walk away. But I have to earn every single one. By submitting to the darkest, cruelest, and most beautiful man I've ever known.. more

• #30 Tormentor Mine - Anna Zaires

  military suspense contemporary dark romance alpha male

  He came to me in the night, a cruel, darkly handsome stranger from the most dangerous corners of Russia. He tormented me and destroyed me, ripping apart my world in his quest for vengeance. Now he's back, but he’s no longer after my secrets. The man who stars in my nightmares wants me... more

• #31 Boomtown - Lani Lynn Vale

  funny contemporary bad boys alpha male abuse

  Her:
  I wanted to have a pity party of one when I went for that beer. I never imagined I would meet a dark and dangerous man. That man took me on the wildest ride of my life. Literally and Figuratively. He quickly became my entire world.
  
  Him:
  I didn't know I was looking for her. I saw her warming that bar stool and knew she would be mine. A man like me doesn't deserve the likes of her. But damned if I didn't take it.. more

• #32 The Paper Swan - Leylah Attar

  contemporary abduction vengeance second chances mystery

  They say it takes 21 days to form a habit. They lie. For 21 days she held on. But on Day 22, she would have given anything for the sweet slumber of death. Because on Day 22, she realizes that her only way out means certain death for one of the two men she loves.
  
  A haunting tale of passion, loss, and redemption, The Paper Swan is a darkly intense yet heartwarming love story, textured with grit, intrigue, and suspense.. more

• #33 Debt - Nina G. Jones

  suspense enemies to lovers billionaire pregnancy tortured hero

  I don’t know what I was thinking when I hired someone to attack me. Maybe I was bored, or lonely, or there was a void so deep inside of me that I needed something explosive to fill it. It was supposed to be safe. A thrill. A way to break through the monotony of everyday life. It was an illusion of danger that I could walk away from as soon as it was over.
  
  Except that it wasn’t. Because I had been in danger long before I ever invited it into my life.
  
  My mission is almost complete. The bubbling boil of vengeance that heats my blood might finally simmer. She is the last piece of the puzzle. Once I destroy her, everyone who ever hurt me will have paid their debt.. more

• #34 Twist Me - Anna Zaires

  suspense contemporary virgin heroine bad boys rape

  Kidnapped. Taken to a private island. I never thought this could happen to me. I never imagined one chance meeting on the eve of my eighteenth birthday could change my life so completely. Now I belong to him. To Julian. To a man who is as ruthless as he is beautiful - a man whose touch makes me burn. A man whose tenderness I find more devastating than his cruelty.
  
  My captor is an enigma. I don't know who he is or why he took me. There is a darkness inside him - a darkness that scares me even as it draws me in.. more

• #35 Monster in His Eyes - J.M. Darhower

  suspense erotic romance billionaire insta-love tortured hero

  Ignazio Vitale is not a good man. I suspect it, the first time I see him, sense the air of danger that surrounds the man. He has a way of commanding attention, of taking control, of knowing what I'm thinking before I even do. It's alarming and alluring. It's dark and deadly. It's everything I've ever wanted but the last thing I truly need. Obsession. It doesn't take him long to draw me into his web, charming me into his bed and trapping me in his life, a life I know nothing about until it's too late. He has secrets, secrets I can't fathom, secrets that make it so I can't walk away, no matter how much I beg him to let me go... more

• #36 Sparrow - L.J. Shen

  suspense alpha male dark romance take-charge heroine contemporary

  Troy Brennan. Every southie in Boston knows that name. The son of a dead mobster. The heart throb with steel blue eyes. "The Fixer" who can make or break you in this city.
  
  Oh, and my new husband.
  
  Sparrow Raynes. That's me. No one seemed to remember my name up until he barged into my life. But then he caged me. Kidnapped me. And killed every chance I had to runaway from the place where we grew up.. more

• #37 Lucca - Sarah Brianne

  contemporary age gap friends to lovers love triangle abduction

  Lucca was made the underboss, being what nightmares are made of.
  Chloe was scarred by her past, learning too young that nightmares are real.
  He has waited long enough to claim her soul, but he must take it from the devil first.
  Her soul might have been better off claimed by the devil.
  The only way to save her from her past is to delve into his.
  The world as she knows it will come crashing down.. more

• #38 Ruthless King - Meghan March

  contemporary mafia suspense dark romance alpha male

  New Orleans belongs to me. You don’t know my name, but I control everything you see—and all the things you don’t. My reach knows no bounds, and my demands are always met. I didn’t need to loan money to a failing family distillery, but it amuses me to have them in my debt. To have her in my debt.
  
  She doesn’t know she caught my attention. She should’ve been more careful. I’m going to own her. Consume her. Maybe even keep her.. more

• #39 Broken - J.L. Drake

  military suspense alpha male abuse dark romance

  My name is Savannah Miller. My father is the mayor of New York. One day after my twenty-seventh birthday I was grabbed from behind. A cloth sack was quickly pulled over my head, and I was taken from everything I’d ever known. I was beaten, starved, treated like an animal, and forced to live in a room with no windows. With no sense of time and no dignity left I finally gave up hope and made a promise to myself to end it all. Unfortunately, it was going to be a slow process.
  
  Then one night an elite group of US Army soldiers came to my rescue. I was brought to a safe house and given two options: One—Stay under their protection and follow their rules or.. more

• #40 Fear You - B.B. Reid

  suspense contemporary abuse alpha male dark romance

  Lake Monroe has given in to her childhood tormentor too many times. She knows it, he knows it, and even their enemies know it. When he returned after being found guilty of a crime he didn't commit—a crime he thought she set him up for, he returned darker than ever, demanding her body and her submission. To survive him, she knew she had to give in to fear once more or suffer the deadly consequences...
  
  But Lake experienced what it was like to submit to the dark and demanding boy who invaded her dreams. Now she’ll experience what it’s like to fight him.. more