Character Driven tagged booklist

Carve Me Golden

by Mara J. Ova

Trapped alone with your ultimate daydream crush while a storm rages around you… do you dare take the chance? Forced proximity · She’s also an athlete · Celebrity athlete and his fan · European alpine settings · High‑stakes sport · Overcoming traumatic past · Exotic settings and fresh sports After seven years with a toxic ex, Czech language teacher Zlata knows a new relationship is the last thing she needs. She’s finally thrown herself into ski racing, the real kind, with after-hours training and no rewards but the rush. But a girl is allowed to dream… and sometimes, dreams come true. A broken gondola. A violent storm. And Fabio Baier, her untouchable, world-famous ski racing crush, close enough to feel, to touch, to make her feel alive, if only for an hour. This was never supposed to be real. But when fantasy collides with reality, it doesn’t come softly. It burns. Because Fabio isn’t just every woman’s dream. He has demons of his own to outrun. And until they both face their pasts, all they have is craving. Carve Me Golden is a standalone in the Carve series, a high-heat sports romance filled with forced proximity, emotional scars, explosive chemistry, and a compelling couple who know that love must be earned. If you crave intense attraction, high-stakes passion, and a fantasy that refuses to stay just a fantasy, this book is for you. [Read More]

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Carve Me Free: A Steamy Enemies‑to‑Lovers, Forbidden Ski Romance

by Mara j. Ova

She is ice and scandal. He is speed and sin. When they meet, they turn heat into a weapon they can’t stop using. But can that last? Having spent her life as a decoration for her scandalously rich father, Élise Moreau finds her rebellion in a reckless downhill racer. Escaping an Olympic gala, she takes him up on his offer to be free and wild in his arms. One reckless Olympic night. No names. Just escape, freedom, and the kind of sex that brands itself into your bones. Nico Reiner is the golden, reckless Super-G talent of Austria, hurling himself down the ice like he’s furious at the mountain and flirting his way through camera crews and fan girls. He’s used to casual hook-ups, easy worship, and being the wildest thing in any room—until one perfectly polished princess looks at him like he’s beneath her, then kisses him like she wants to burn her whole life down. They were not supposed to meet again. But months later, Austria’s new speed hero locks eyes with his mystery girl at a World Cup sponsor party—and finds out the wild stranger from his bed is the Moreau heiress whose disgraced dynasty now quietly owns his skis. What starts as a filthy, anonymous rebellion turns into a season-long obsession they can’t tame. As the stakes climb, they learn lust is easy; love is brutal. When crashes threaten careers, tabloids circle like vultures, and her father moves in for the kill, Nico and Élise have to face something far scarier than breaking rules: sacrifice, letting go of each ot [Read More]

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Hell's Refuge

by Miren Kairne

Retiring from Hell was the easy part. Two years ago, Kira Alvarez walked away from a centuries-long career as a succubus, opened a burlesque studio in a small Nebraska town, and tried to build a quiet life among other retired demons who keep their heads down and their powers dormant. The arrangement works until a visiting historian makes her want things she swore off, and something from her past arrives with a grudge that's been building for centuries. The historian is temporary. He's human, he keeps finding excuses to visit, and he has no idea that the woman he's falling for used to destroy kingdoms for a living. Kira should keep her distance. But she's not great at should. With the supernatural wards that protect the town weakening and Midsummer closing in, Kira has a choice: accept that her past disqualifies her from happiness, or fight like hell for the life she's trying to build. Paranormal romantic suspense set in a demon retirement community in rural Nebraska, because someone had to write that book. [Read More]

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Always Us

by Jenni Chris

**This is book two of a duology and the books must be read in order. I have book one available to read on here as well** She escaped him once. She won't get a second chance. Faith Lewis thought she'd buried her past and built something real—a new name, a new life, a man who saw her clearly and loved what he found. But Richard Lewis doesn't let go of what he considers his, and when he comes to collect, everything she's fought for is stripped away. Seven James has spent months clawing his way back from the wreckage of what he did—and what it cost. Getting Faith out is the only thing that matters now. But the plan is dangerous, the window is narrow, and the woman he's trying to save may not survive the rescue. This is a dark romance, trauma romance that is about two messy, complicated characters who are willing to risk everything for eachother. Always Us is book two of the Almost Us duology and should be read after Almost Us. This is a dark read. Please check the content warnings if you have any doubts. [Read More]

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Almost Us

by Jenni Chris

Seven There's no forgiving the things I've done. Or failed to do. But there was a time I was a good man. I had a family. A life that was more than breaking bones and following orders. It was my own fault I lost it all. The night I met her I was done. Done with the emptiness. Done with the guilt. Done with everything. But then she was there and I had a choice to make. Step in or walk away. I couldn't walk away. Molly I've been running for a long time. From myself. From my past. From the truth. My life has never been what it looks like from the outside. I've always been what I needed to be, done what I needed to do. Even now, my life isn't really mine. All I'd wanted was a few hours of normal. Instead I ended up somewhere I never should've been. He could've walked away. Instead, he risked his life to save mine. Seven and Molly are two people with nothing left to lose and secrets that can destroy them. One chance meeting, one choice changes everything. Almost Us is book one of a high stakes, slower burn, dark romance duology featuring deeply human and flawed characters trying to find their way back to themselves and each other. [Read More]

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Familiar Warmth

by Dae Storm

He can't get him out of his head. Cyrus has spent years bowing his neck to the rule of lesser Alphas in the Crimson Moon pack. Biding his time, growing his strength, and waiting for the night he’ll finally take what should have always been his. The Blood Moon Ritual is coming, and he’s ready to claim his place. No matter who he has to break to do it. Then Gabriel walks in. Younger. Reckless. Oddly familiar; and standing directly in Cyrus’s path to power. What starts as rivalry turns into something far more dangerous—heat, tension, a pull neither of them can ignore. Gabe awakens a hunger in Cyrus that’s been buried for years, raw and consuming. Forced into each other’s orbit, every touch lingers too long, every glance cuts too deep. As Cyrus’s past claws its way back into the present, he finds himself torn between the love he lost, the power he craves… and the man he can’t resist. Familiar Warmth is an M/M shifter romance featuring explicit 18+ content. [Read More]

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Flesh and Blood

by Marion Thomas

A Dark Historical Fiction Romance Set against the tumultuous backdrop of America’s Civil War, Flesh and Blood paints a stark portrait of a southern family torn apart as Jack and his sister Abigail navigate their secrets and treacherous circumstances in a salacious tale of forbidden love, loyalty and survival they struggle to save their farm and keep a buried treasure out of the hands of the crumbling Confederacy. Flesh and Blood offers a raw and unflinching look at the human heart in crisis. Brace yourself for a passionate tale that pushes boundaries and challenges societal norms. (contains explicit graphic language and mature themes) [Read More]

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The Unburied Sins

by Marion Thomas

New Release! The Sequel to Flesh and Blood A Dark Historical Fiction Romance After the shocking events of Flesh and Blood, Jack and Abigail Dalton have built their new life of wealth and respectability in Pittsburgh where they are admired, adored and trusted until a watchful enemy begins uncovering their secrets and the truth of what binds them together; their marriage is a sin that would ruin them, their fortune is built on blood and their past is a story they have sworn never to tell. They must decide how ruthless they are willing to become to protect the only truth that survived the past... they thought the worst thing they had done was fall in love... they were wrong. For readers who love dark historical drama, forbidden romance and psychological tension, Marion Thomas’ sequel to Flesh and Blood The Unburied Sins is a gothic tale of erotic obsession, secrecy, and the price of protecting the life you stole from fate. (contains explicit graphic language and mature themes) [Read More]

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Bare

by Alex W. Wells

Neil Ashworth has spent four years not being looked at. He teaches English at a Manchester comprehensive. Arrives at 7:20. Takes the back staircase, drinks his coffee before the staff room fills, and locks his office door twice before he leaves at night. His ex-wife knows he is gay. His five-year-old son does not know there is anything to know. His colleagues see a quiet, competent teacher. Neil plans to keep it that way. Then the school hires Rory Cavanaugh to paint a mural on the courtyard wall. Rory has paint under his nails and a lip ring that has no business in a Key Stage 4 briefing. He is warm and loud, and he has been raising his younger brother since the boy was eight. He paints what he sees. What he sees is Neil. One school year. A mural on the courtyard wall. A portrait in oil that nobody gave him permission to start. A Manchester gallery show that will hang Neil's face six feet tall, in public. If Neil lets him finish, his father will see it. His son. His colleagues. Neil himself. This is a contemporary literary MM romance featuring slow-burn intimacy, a closeted single dad, a warm artist, forced proximity in a school setting, explicit on-page scenes between adult men, and a hard-won HEA. 18+ only. Note: Bare is already live on Amazon, so you can post your honest review the moment you finish reading. [Read More]

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The Alpha's Healer: Rebirth and Revelation

by Marina Belle

Lucia survived the Wilds. Now she has to survive the beast who bled for her—and the truth of what she is. Separated from the Blackwood Pack, and from Kaelen, the Alpha who swore to protect her but kept her in a gilded cage, Lucia is stranded on the edge of the human world. Her only protector is Ragnar. The pack’s Enforcer is brutal, possessive, and dangerously intoxicating—and he has no intention of coddling a fragile human. He wants to teach her how to bite back. But as care turns into something darker, something territorial, Lucia is pulled into a war she doesn’t understand. The Wilds are waking. The creatures are calling her my lady. Her power is changing. And so is she. Because the truth of Lucia’s bloodline won’t just change her… it will tear the shifter world apart. Caught between the Alpha who holds her heart and the beast who demands her soul, Lucia must decide who she is willing to become. Because to survive what’s coming, the healer must die— and something far more dangerous must rise in her place. ------------------------------------- Series: Book II of III (continues into final installment/ cliffhanger) Genre: Dark Paranormal Shifter Romance / Dark Fantasy Tropes: Dark psychological love triangle • Fated mates (twist) • “Who did this to you?” Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️ (light–medium, high-heat moments, intense intimacy) Darkness: Medium — this is a dark PNR Content Warnings: Attempted SA • Graphic violence • Blood/gore • Injury detail (animal/shifter attacks) • Pregnancy struggles/infant loss POV: Alternating third person (Lucia, Kaelen, Ragnar) Vibe: Dark, gothic, wintery For readers who love monster heroes and heroines who embrace their darkness [Read More]

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character driven