A mind-bending, psychological thriller from Freida McFadden, the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of The Housemaid!
Lesson #1: trust no one
Eve has a good life. She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except…
Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye.
Addie can't be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that's what everyone says.
But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.
From the New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a story of twisting secrets and long-awaited revenge.
Lesson #1: trust no one
Eve has a good life. She gets up each day, gets a kiss from her husband Nate, and heads off to teach math at the local high school. All is as it should be. Except…
Last year, Caseham High was rocked by a scandal involving a student-teacher affair, with one student, Addie, at its center. But Eve knows there is far more to these ugly rumors than meets the eye.
Addie can't be trusted. She lies. She hurts people. She destroys lives. At least, that's what everyone says.
But nobody knows the real Addie. Nobody knows the secrets that could destroy her. And Addie will do anything to keep it quiet.
From the New York Times bestselling author Freida McFadden comes a story of twisting secrets and long-awaited revenge.
Listen to me very carefully. I've read A LOT of books and I'm at the point where I don't really think that there's anything that can shock me. I've basically seen it all in a sense and I've started this game with myself where I try to figure out the plot twist before I'm half way through a book. Unfortunately I'm mostly correct in guessing the suspects and I pat myself on the back and continue to read. This story was the typical open and shut case for me because it was blatantly obvious who the real deceivers were. I knew it, I had it and I was ok with it. So here I go minding my own business and trying to wrap everything up when I get sucker punched in the face with not one, but TWO twists!!!
I cannot make this shish up! This nearly took me out and I'm so shook right now.
How????!
What??!
Some of these characters had no morals so you would think that there's nothing they wouldn't do to save their own skin or charm their way out of certain situations and you've accepted that but… man I didn't see this coming and quite frankly if I'm being honest, I'm scared to read anything else from this author. I want to know what goes into her bloodstream when she decides to sit down and write a book!! The shock value doesn't do it justice and I'm really curious to know how she sets out to give her readers anxiety and heart problems.
While this story might not be for everyone because it crosses the line of student/teacher, I still highly recommend it. It's a forbidden dangerous thriller that will leave you shocked until you've read the final words “ The End”.
Title: Soft Tissue Damage
A Boyfriend's Dad Dark Romance
Series: Deadly Hearts #2
Author: Lilith Vincent
Genre: Dark Romance
Tropes: Forbidden Romance/Boyfriend's Dad
Release Date: September 24, 2025
BLURB
His obsession for me is deadly, and I’m falling prey to his pleasure.
There’s never been any security in my life. After being dumped on indifferent relatives as a child, it hurt when I realized that no one was ever going to protect me.
But Cullan, my boyfriend’s father, makes me feel safer than any man I’ve ever known. He’s twice my age and totally forbidden, but his protective embraces, deep voice, and inked muscles have awoken things in me that I shouldn’t want.
When darkness swallows me, it’s Cullan who pulls me into his strong arms and leads me back into the light. He gives me protection, and a job as a nanny to his very young child. But I suspect that Cullan is drenched in his own darkness. There’s a killer on the loose in the city, and I think I know the identity of the man behind the red mask.
My instincts tell me to run from Cullan as fast as I can, but my boyfriend’s father has stolen my heart with hands that are soaked in blood.
And though it should be impossible, I think I’m having his baby.
Author’s note: Soft Tissue Damage is a standalone boyfriend’s father MF romance with dark themes, a twenty-year age gap, the hero as the other man, breeding, a jealous and possessive alphahole, and a sweet but strong virgin heroine. This book features appearances of characters from Fear Me, Love Me. The story is dark, dirty and delicious, so please read at your discretion.
This book was hot on my radar from the moment that I read the blurb. I needed it badly because it had the promise of a dark and gritty storyline that toed the line with not only the forbidden relationship between the main characters, but we also had to check our moral compass in a sense. While I was left a bit disappointed in certain things, I still liked that we were introduced to these messed up characters.
The only thing that Elena has always wanted was to be loved. Raised by two women that has a disdain for her because they had to give her the bare minimum, she knows that she's missing the warmth of being loved. Trying her best to work and keep her head down while making time for her boyfriend is not easy. But having his support and someone to call her own, means everything to her. That all changes when a 6’5 handsome older man enters her life and she discovers that he's her boyfriend's father with a deadly secret.
I was prepared for the crazy, dark and sexy for this story and even though some things were right on point, I still felt like I was missing a lot. The dark themes felt very tamed and it didn't live up to the intensity that was teasing us throughout the book. I did love the main characters as a couple and you really saw how much Cullen loved Elena and vice versa.
If you're looking for a forbidden romance with a light dark theme, you should give this one a try.
AUTHOR BIO
Lilith Vincent is a steamy romance author who believes in living on the wild side! Whether it’s reverse harem or M/F romance, mafia men and bad boys with tattoos are her weakness, and the heroines who bring them to their knees.
AUTHOR LINKS
Title: The Heart We Guard
Series: Iron Outlaws MC: Colorado #4
Author: S. Cole
Genre: MC Romance
Tropes: Forced Proximity
Accidental Pregnancy, Hurt/Comfort
Release Date: August 7, 2025
BLURB
From USA Today best selling author, Scarlett Cole, writing as S. Cole, comes a forced proximity, grumpy versus guarded, electrifying small town MC romance.
Greer
The night I quit as a surgeon, a dying man told me a secret I wasn’t supposed to hear.
Now someone wants me quiet—and a biker bleeding out in the parking lot might be my only escape.
I didn't plan to take him home and remove his bullets on my dining table.
Yet, for seven days, he’s the calm in my chaos.
We break rules. Cross lines.
Then he’s gone.
But five weeks later, I find him at the clubhouse—and hand him a note with two words that change everything.
Butcher
I should’ve bled out.
Instead, I ended up in the care of a woman with haunted eyes and hands that didn’t shake—even when mine did.
But Dr. Greer Hansen is too soft for a man like me. Too bright. Too good.
So I leave while she sleeps.
Yet five weeks later, she finds me with news that hits harder than any bullet ever could.
And the only way to keep her breathing… is to drag her into my world.
Even if she hates me for it.
Even if it costs me the club.
She walked into my world by accident, and now I'll rip it apart to keep what's mine safe.
PURCHASE LINKS
Well..I practically begged for this book and I definitely got what I asked for. Messy, complicated, sexy, with a splash of danger. The Heart We Guard showed us the very good and dark side and what it takes to be the leader of a notorious MC.
After reading Smoke’s story and being introduced to Butcher, I knew that I needed to know more about his character. He was very complexed and he messed up a lot in his past. Selfish at times, he had this ability to make you want to be in his orbit and just surrender to everything. Good or bad. When he gets close to knocking on death's door, his brothers bring in an outside force that is not only tough, she's a force to be reckoned with.
Dr. Greer Hansen knows how to do one thing right and that's to save lives. Known as a brilliant surgeon, she goes above and beyond for patients and that causes her to bump heads with her superior at times. Forced to take a leave of absence for pushing the limit, Greer now has to reevaluate everything about her life and career. When an opportunity arises to save another life, she doesn’t hesitate to jump into action. But little does she know that saving Butcher's life, is going to turn hers completely upside down.
Despite some hiccups with a few storyline, I really enjoyed this one and I liked that Butcher and Greer were completely opposites of each other because it worked better. Greer knew what she wanted and had no problem doing anything for herself and Butcher just genuinely wanted to take care of her which was different for him. They brought out the best in each other and I loved seeing their worlds blend together.
Even though this is the second book from the series that I've read, it was very easy to follow along and I can't wait for the next book in the series! If you're looking for an opposites attract biker romance, this one is definitely for you.
EXCERPT
“Can you turn that down a bit?” Greer asks. “I’m trying to concentrate.”
“Sorry, Doc.”
“You know,” she says, pushing her chair away from the table and walking towards me, “films like this are part of the problem.”
I glance up at her. “And what problem is that, Greer?”
“Eighty percent of violent crime is committed by men. And there’s a whole”—she gestures in a circle with her hands—“infrastructural, societal, patriarchal…whatever the right word is…mess that causes it.”
I roll my eyes. “Doc, I’m not drunk enough or high enough for that kind of conversation.”
“Doesn’t make it less true though.” She reaches for the tape holding down the gauze over my abdomen wound and lifts one corner to peer beneath it. “It’s healing well.” The words are muttered. Like they aren’t for me but for her. “Women have been cleaning up men’s trail of destruction since time began.”
I bite down on the grin that’s threatening. “Since time began, huh?”
“Yeah. I mean, let’s take white women in the middle ages. They were only ever involved in war because of their husband’s alliances. And after battle, they’d be sent out to steal anything of value from dead or fallen soldiers. They had to nurse the wounded, but not be the doctor, because god forbid a woman gets educated. With the exception of a rare few like Joan of Arc and Margaret of Anjou and Aoife MacMurrough, that’s all they could do. And there are even more examples around the world. Like Fu Hao, a Chinese Empress, and Ahhotep, Queen of Egypt”
“But violence is a man’s game. If someone broke into your house now, I would expect to fight off whoever it is, and I’d expect you to hide.”
Greer laughs at that. “For the record, if someone broke into this house right now, I would not go and hide. That’s what women do in movies, and then they end up being dragged from beneath the bed by one foot and then kidnapped or worse. I’d find a weapon. Your gun. A knife from the kitchen. Whatever. And I’d fight. And, also for the record, I would be able to do everything so much better and faster than you. I’d beat you to your gun right now.”
I like how feisty she gets. Pink flushes her cheeks, and outrage sparks in her eyes. Bet it would be fun to tame a woman like that. “So, you’re more of a Joan of Arc and whoever those other broads were?”
“Broads?” Greer’s mouth drops open for a moment. “Broads?”
I simply grin.
“Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England, was known as the she-wolf queen. She helped end the Hundred-Year War and led the Lancastrians into the famed Battle of Tewkesbury. She dared to rule at a time when it wasn’t seemly for the queen to be anything other than the consort of the king. And Aoife, also known as Red Eva…she led her troops into battle in a Norman society that was not ready for the Celtic warrior. They were not broads. They were incredible women who refused to conform to the misogyny and patriarchy of their time and place.”
When she’s done, her chest heaves like she just ran a sprint. She’s not a particularly curvy woman, but I still find myself transfixed by the rapid rise of her small yet round breasts.
“Hate to point out the obvious, but they were each just one woman on the battlefield. I’m guessing their armies were wholly male.”
“I wasn’t there, so I wouldn’t know.”
Her answer makes me laugh. “Jesus, Greer. Sure. None of us were there. For all we know, none of our historical records are true. But if you had to make a hypothesis, you’d agree they were likely all men.”
She shrugs. “Fine. Probably. They all were. But they relied on their leader for training, payment, food, and advanced military tactics and precision. And they—”
“Fine. I get it. They provided.”
Greer lets out a sound akin to a growl. “No. Listen, if we were talking some famed male knight leading troops, you’d be game to discuss their strategic might, their fearlessness, how brave they were. But a woman leader, you’re like, oh, think about all the men who fought.”
“You’re a feisty little thing when you get going.”
“And you’re an asshole.” She glares at me for a second. “Actually, I don’t know you well enough to declare you an asshole just yet. But this conversation is putting you well on the path.”
I start to laugh but have to throttle it and hold a cushion across my abdomen as I do. “Only you could make an apology become a non-apology so quickly.”
“I wasn’t apologizing. I’m sorry if I made you think I was. Oh, and that was an apology.”
I chuckle again, and she smirks, a self-satisfied expression that says she somehow just won our conversation. “I like you, Greer. You’re a good sparring partner. A little on the wrong side of the rules, but not enough that you aren’t liked by those who are rule abiding. You make brave calls without thinking of yourself first. I was worried when Smoke dumped me in your car. Wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into. But I like you. Think my club would too.”
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AUTHOR BIO
Scarlett Cole is a contemporary romance author that calls both Toronto, Canada and Manchester, England home. A born city dweller, she periodically quashes the urge to live in the country by hiking up a mountain to remind herself that living away from people would terrify the pants off her.
She believes everybody deserves their love story to be told and loves her heroes on the rough and rugged side…and usually tall (because she married one of those 6ft 6” men you read about in romance books!). She’s an A-type personality and Scorpio star sign, so good luck getting her to do anything she doesn’t want to.
When she isn’t writing, she’s happy to talk about hot men and expensive shoes while drinking a cold gin and tonic. Don’t bring up olives. As far as Scarlett is concerned, they are the devil’s food. As long as you don’t bring up olives, she’s happy to hear from you any time.
She is represented by Louise Fury at The Fury Agency.
AUTHOR LINKS
Title: Someone Knows
Author: Vi Keeland
Publisher: S&S/Emily Bestler Books
Genre: Standalone Thriller
Release Date: June 17, 2025
BLURB
As a college English professor, Elizabeth looks forward to the start of each new semester teaching her creative writing seminar. At least until she reads chapter one of The Reckoning, a tale about a high school senior who has an affair with her teacher. To anyone else it would be the beginning of a great page-turner, but to Elizabeth it is the beginning of the end.
She knows this story. It’s all familiar because she lived it. The girl in the story was her best friend Jocelyn, and Elizabeth knows exactly how the story will end—with the teacher dead. Because she was the one who killed him.
Someone knows what Elizabeth did twenty years ago and her secret is about to be exposed, but who is the mystery student submitting the chapters? In an effort to find out, Elizabeth returns to her Louisiana hometown where it soon becomes clear that no matter how many years have gone by, she can’t escape her past.
PURCHASE LINKS
I felt like someone just mind f*cked me in the best way possible!! What was that???! Excuse me. Just when I thought that I had it all figured out, I got played and I wasn't even in the game!
Vi Keeland has taken a new turn recently and veered from the traditional romance read to exciting psychological thrillers and I'm here for it. I started this read a while back and due to real life interruptions, I had to put it down for a while but the minute I jumped back in, I was fully invested.
English Professor Elizabeth Davis loves her job and even more, she loves reading her student's work. Everything is perfect until one day she comes across a student's work called “The Reckoning”. The first two chapters were not only riveting, but it felt like it was made to be a movie. The only problem is that the story is very personal. So personal that she lived through every single word for it and it happened more than twenty years ago. Who would want to dig up her past and expose her most buried secret?
I really liked the premise of the story and I felt like I was on the edge of my seat trying to solve a puzzle that had a missing piece stuck at a place I didn't know about. I had this story all figured out and I was so proud of myself for being able to do that and do you know what happened? I GOT IT WRONG!!
I was not prepared for that type of madness and quite honestly, I think that this author should either release a novella or give us another book because I can't for the life of me wrap my head
around this mindf*ck! I am not okay right now and I need more!!
If you're looking for a summer thriller read, you should definitely try this one. You won't be disappointed.
AUTHOR BIO
Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles are currently translated in twenty-seven languages and have appeared on bestseller lists in the US, Germany, Brazil, Bulgaria, Israel, and Hungary. Three of her short stories have been turned into films by Passionflix, and two of her books are currently optioned for movies. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.
AUTHOR LINKS
Title: A Wreck, You Make Me
Author: Saffron A. Kent
Genre: Dark Forbidden Romance
Tropes: Bully Romance, Blackmail, Forced Proximity
Morally Grey Hero, Praise/Degradation Kink, Soccer
Release Date: August 8, 2025
BLURB
I have been in love with Shepard Thorne since I was twelve.
He’s my best friend’s hot older brother, and I am the weird redhead who low-key follows him everywhere. He’s soccer’s bad boy, and I am stuck in a dead end job, serving drinks at the local strip club.
Our paths aren’t meant to cross.
Until one day I catch him getting a lap dance at the club and jealousy makes me ruin his fun.
Now he’s made it his mission to make my life hell and no matter what I do, there is no escape.
Everywhere I turn, there he is, waiting for his payback.
He threatens to kiss me one second, and choke me the next.
He promises to bring me to my knees and make me beg.
What started as a little harmless prank turns into a twisted game of blackmail that’s toxic but oh-so-good.
But it has to end.
Because I have a secret...
That ties me to my tormentor in an irrevocable way, and if he ever finds out, it will wreck everything I now crave.
Even his revenge.
Note: This is a STANDALONE set in the world of Bardstown
PRE-ORDER LINKS
AUTHOR BIO
Saffron A. Kent is a USA Today Bestselling Author of Contemporary and New Adult romance.
She has an MFA in Creative Writing and she lives in New York City with her nerdy and supportive husband, along with a million and one books.
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