The movie 365 Days is a big hit currently on Netflix and we had quite a few people reaching out asking for similar romance book recommendations. The film is after all an adaptation of the Polish romance series 365 DNI.

We came up with this list of novels featuring ruthless and relentless alpha male heroes, often with ties to organised crime or the mafia, who go to great lengths to secure the heroine and a plot that is both a bit dark and steamy.

A warning: Some of the stories can get quite dark, though not all of them are.

• #1 Filthy King - Serena Akeroyd

  

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  I'm nothing like my father. My brothers don't realize I'm a thousand times worse. Grief fuels my every action. Vengeance burns through my veins, dictating every decision I make. I'll shatter allegiances to please him.
  
  I'm nothing like my father.
  You don't realize that I'm a thousand times worse. I have Savannah at my side—a ruthless partner capable of raining hellfire upon her enemies—until she realizes I lied to her...
  
  My house of cards is tumbling down, and I've underestimated my Queen. more

• #2 Violent Things - Callie Hart

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  You’re never really out until you’re dead. That’s what the mob bosses, gunrunners and car thieves of Seattle will tell you, anyway.
  
  Zeth Mayfair, ex mafia enforcer, has other ideas. Since falling for Sloane, he’s managed to turn her life upside down. Now, he’s determined to give her a stable, happy and, most importantly, safe life. If that means he has to sleep with one eye open and one hand on a shotgun, then that’s what he’ll do.
  
  Mason Reeves is just looking for a way to take care of his sick sister. Since their mother left, things have been hard, and they’re only getting harder. Prescription meds don’t come cheap, and working as an auto mechanic only pays so well. If he wants to give Millie the life she deserves, he’s going to have to earn it with his fists.. more

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• #3 Bad Girl - Willow Winters

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  I’m not a good man, but I’ve never claimed to be. I’m the muscle for the Valetti crime family, and I fit the part with my hard, ripped abs, broad shoulders and cocky attitude.
  
  I’ve never wanted for anything, until I met her. A woman I can never have.
  
  She’s a cop, and I’m a suspect in her case. Just being seen together would put a target on both our backs.
  
  She may be a sweet little thing, but she’s a badass at heart with a spitfire attitude. She’s f*cking perfect. I can’t help imagining those lush, sassy lips wrapped around the one part of me that doesn’t give a damn she’s off-limits.
  
  All I wanted was a taste of her tempting, forbidden curves. One moment of hot, wild passion, and I’m f*cking addicted.. more

• #4 The Professional - Kresley Cole

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  Mafiya enforcer Aleksei “The Siberian” Sevastyan’s loyalty to his boss knows no bounds, until he meets the boss’s long-lost daughter, a curvy, feisty redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Aleksei will do anything to possess her as well—on his own wicked terms.
  
  Grad student Natalie Porter had barely recovered from her first sight of the dark and breathtaking Sevastyan before the professional enforcer whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. Every day under his protection leads her deeper under his masterful spell. more

• #5 Ruthless King - Meghan March

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  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.
  It’s time to collect what I’m owed.. more

• #6 Tears of Tess - Pepper Winters

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  “My life was complete. Happy, content, everything neat and perfect. Then it all changed. I was sold.”
  
  Tess Snow has everything she ever wanted: one more semester before a career in property development, a loving boyfriend, and a future dazzling bright with possibility.
  
  But paradise is shattered. Kidnapped. Drugged. Stolen. Tess is forced into a world full of darkness and terror. Captive and alone with no savior, no lover, no faith, no future, Tess evolves from terrified girl to fierce fighter. But no matter her strength, it can’t save her from the horror of being sold.. more

• #7 Beautifully Cruel - Meghan March

  contemporary billionaire dark romance mafia alpha male

  Alpha (noun):
  1) Having the highest rank in a dominance hierarchy
  2) The most powerful man in a group
  3) Dominic Black
  
  He was a stranger to me, a dark and dangerous presence who materialized from the shadows one rainy night to save me from a vicious attack. I didn’t know his name or where he was from. All I knew was that the only place I’d ever felt safe was in his arms.
  
  But safety is an illusion.
  And not every savior is a hero.
  And—as I’d soon find out—having an alpha save your life comes with a price.
  
  Dominic Black wanted something from me in return.. more

• #8 Twisted Pride - Cora Reilly

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  Remo Falcone is beyond redemption.
  As Capo of the Camorra he rules with a brutal hand over his territory – a territory the Chicago Outfit breached.
  Now Remo is out for retribution.
  A wedding is sacred, stealing a bride sacrilegious.
  Serafina is the niece of the Boss of the Outfit, and her hand has been promised in marriage for years, but kidnapped in her wedding dress on her way to church by Remo, Serafina quickly realizes that she can’t hope for saving. Yet, even in the hands of the cruelest man she knows, she is determined to cling to her pride, and Remo soon understands that the woman at his mercy might not be as easy to break as he thought.. more

• #9 Twist Me - Anna Zaires

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  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. My name is Nora Leston, and this is my story.. more

• #10 GHOST - A. Zavarelli

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  I have always been a bird. Caged by one prison or another when the only thing I ever wanted was to fly away. Sold. Beaten. Starved. Drugged. Nothing scares me anymore. Until him.
  
  He makes the numbness go away. He is hazardous to me. It has nothing to do with his mafia lifestyle, and everything to do with what he offers.
  
  A gilded prison. A retreat from everything that I once knew. The reality I have no desire to return to. He thinks he’s caged me, but soon… I’m going to fly.. more

• #11 With Us - Layla Frost

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  More than just a dimpled smile and chiseled jaw, Theo Amato’s quick-thinking and bold confidence made him successful. Heavy responsibilities left time for close friends and family, but nothing more. It wasn’t until he looked into a pair of big green eyes that his focus changed.
  
  Full lips, a gorgeous face, and an endearing personality had him hooked from the start.
  
  There was nothing Dahlia Kincaid enjoyed more than a good book, a funny movie, and a full night’s sleep. Long workdays meant she rarely had time for any of them, but the sacrifice was worth it to live in the city.. more

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

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  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

• #13 The Devil - Ashley Jade

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  They'll tell you I seduced them. Used my looks and body to lure them into my playground. They'll tell you I'm a sinner. A demon who held them captive with temptation and lust. They'll tell you I'm evil. A monster obsessed with the both of them. They'll tell you they made a deal with the devil.
  What they won't tell you...is how much they liked it.. more

• #14 King - T.M. Frazier

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  Homeless. Hungry. Desperate. Doe has no memories of who she is or where she comes from.
  
  A notorious career criminal just released from prison, King is someone you don’t want to cross unless you’re prepared to pay him back in blood, sweat, pu$y or a combination of all three.
  
  King’s future hangs in the balance. Doe’s is written in her past. When they come crashing together, they will have to learn that sometimes in order to hold on, you have to first let go.. more

• #15 The Skull King - Penelope Sky

  suspense contemporary erotic romance forbidden love billionaire

  My husband is cruel, ruthless, and despicable. I hate him with every fiber of my being. The only reason I haven't killed him or tried to run away is because of the promise I made.
  
  I was sitting alone in a bar when the most handsome man walked inside. Striking blue eyes, cheekbones as sharp as glass, and a muscular body fit for a war. He was gorgeous. I noticed the peculiar ring on his right hand, a diamond carved into a skull. If only I'd known what that meant, I would have known who this man was. The Skull King. A man more cruel and ruthless than my own husband.. more

• #16 Sparrow - L.J. Shen

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  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.
  
  He caged me. Kidnapped me. And killed every chance I had to runaway from the place where we grew up.
  
  Put simply, Troy Brennan clipped my wings.
  
  I have dreams, big ones, but I doubt he'd ever let me chase them. I have no idea why he'd decided to take me as his wife. But I do know this: pissing off this man will not do me any good. At all.. more