slowburn

15 books found

Circus of Souls, Book One: Vitalia

Circus of Souls, Book One: Vitalia

by Eliza Benner

The circus welcomes you, but will you survive? The King's Circus doesn't come to villages like hers. Or, at least, it didn't until now. Naevyn just wishes she'd stayed the hell inside. When the performers lock the crowd in place and shift into dragons, ripping souls from bodies to feed an immortal king, Naevyn should be dead alongside everyone else. Instead, she's dragged into a centuries-old rebellion because her blood does something it shouldn’t—it kills. She's supposed to be human. A girl from the southern quarter who just wants to keep her family safe. But in the fae realm, nothing about her makes sense, and the prophecy everyone whispers about marks her as their salvation. Then there's Cairos—a dragon-shifter with centuries of blood on his hands and a smirk that makes her want to strangle him. Cursed to collect souls for the very king he used to serve, Cairos is powerful, lethal, and, unfortunately, the only one who can help Naevyn survive. She should hate him for the atrocities he’s committed. She should definitely fear him. So why does he feel like the one thing she can’t stop wanting? To save her family and shatter the cycle of death, Naevyn will have to trust a monster, face what she really is, and get close enough to a king to destroy him. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes that everything she thought she knew about herself was a lie. Love has a price. Prophecies have power. And this one demands blood. [Read More]

Proof by Contradiction

Proof by Contradiction

by Alex W. Wells

First week of an economics degree. Ewan Carrick is eighteen, three days off the train from Lewisham, already certain he's leaving. The halls smell of damp. The grey is non-negotiable. Then Dr Laurence Haldrey walks into a lecture theatre and uncaps a marker. Haldrey is thirty-one. Oxford-trained. Held together by rolled sleeves and rigid self-control. He doesn't bend rules. He doesn't look twice at the boy in the back row who sees the answer before anyone else and refuses to raise his hand. Except he does. And Ewan looks back. Office hours become dangerous. Problem sets become pretexts. And what neither of them can prove on paper could end one career and unmake the other. -- Slow burn. Single POV. UK English. HEA. ~107k words. Note for ARC readers: please re-download the ARC before reading or reviewing. I accidentally updated from an older draft, and the current file is now the correct version. [Read More]

Hell's Refuge

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]

Carve My Heart: A Steamy Forbidden Olympic Sports Romance

Carve My Heart: A Steamy Forbidden Olympic Sports Romance

by Mara J. Ova

The tension between them crackles and sizzles in every stolen moment. But they can't. Both their careers depend on it. Katharina Berger crashes into Austria's golden boy, Thomas Kern, on a glacier half on purpose, just to feel his eyes on her: sharp, amused, and hungry. One reckless dinner turns into a night of desperate moans, whispered commands, and breathless surrender that leaves her aching for days. Katharina is a PR manager who fought tooth and nail for her career and swore she'd never lose herself to an athlete, as her mother did. But one look at the way he moves, at the dangerous confidence in his voice, at the hunger in his eyes, and she's never wanted to break her own rules so badly. Austria's ski champion, Thomas Kern, isn't just good. He's the best in the world, and he knows it. But Katharina isn't just another distraction. Her sharp mind cuts straight through his defenses, and her body, the way she takes control, the way she comes apart for him, he's obsessed. When Katharina lands her dream job as the Austrian team's new PR manager, they're forced to work side by side. They know exactly how the other tastes. No one else on the team can ever know. As Thomas struggles under Olympic pressure, Katharina is the only one who sees the man under the legend: the exhaustion under the arrogance, the flicker of fear behind his grin. And he can't stop picturing the heat of her skin, the taste of her lips, the way her gaze cuts straight through every defense he's built. [Read More]

Always Us

🌶️🌶️🌶️

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]

Almost Honest

🌶️🌶️🌶️

Almost Honest

by Ava Ardyne

I can survive Pritzker. I can survive Quinn Ozler. Both are lies. Quinn Ozler is arrogant, dangerous, and completely off-limits—the billionaire heir who rules Pritzker’s elite campus like it was built for him. I’m a scholarship pre-med student one bad grade away from losing everything. Falling for Quinn would be reckless. Wanting him anyway could ruin me. Because behind the rivalry, the attraction, and the moments I pretend mean nothing, his family is hiding secrets. So is mine. And the closer we get, the more certain I am of one thing: Love makes liars of us both. A steamy new adult enemies-to-lovers romance featuring elite campus drama, dark family secrets, and a slow burn with plenty of heat. [Read More]

Flesh and Blood

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

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]

SLOW BURN

SLOW BURN

by Dani Skye

He's loved her since high school. He just had to make 94 PowerPoint slides to say it. A small-town firefighter romance about the firefighter who waited seventeen years, the artist learning to come home to herself, and the Colorado town that refuses to let either of them do it alone. Harlow Green came back to Collins, Colorado with a chocolate lab named Cassidy, an MFA she stopped using, and three years of bruises she is finally done carrying. She is not looking for a love story. She is looking for somewhere safe enough to start painting again. Then her Victorian decides to murder her with a chandelier. Captain Jake Bowers has been in love with Harlow since junior year of high school. He has 94 PowerPoint slides on the subject. Charts. Graphs. A risk-assessment matrix. He also has the only crew in town qualified to keep responding to her possibly-haunted house, and a barn studio he built on faith before she even knew she needed one. In six weeks, Harlow’s first solo gallery show opens in Denver. On her ex-husband’s territory. Jake promised to stand beside her, not in front. It might be the hardest promise he has ever kept. And the 247-member town group chat, plus one peacock named Kevin in a tactical vest, has decided these two have waited long enough. The odds were low. But that was always going to be okay. Book 1 of the Station 12 series. Standalone with HEA. Open-door heat. No cliffhangers. ✦ He falls first (and has been falling since 1994 American History class) ✦ Slow burn that earns every page of the wait ✦ Small-town firefighter romance · Forced proximity · Found family ✦ Survivor heroine finding her voice, and her paint colors, again ✦ Patient hero who built her a studio on faith and learned which coffee she drinks ✦ Open-door heat · Standalone HEA · Kindle Unlimited For readers who love Lyla Sage, Elsie Silver, Lena Hendrix, and Hannah Grace’s Wildfire. [Read More]

Of Ice and Innocence

🌶️🌶️🌶️

Of Ice and Innocence

by Karen Hunter

She fought for her freedom. He's dying without her. Fate doesn't care what either of them wants. Book 2 of The Dragon's Flame Series. This story stands on its own, set within the world of The Dragon’s Flame. While returning characters make appearances, no prior reading is required. Though readers familiar with the first book may recognise a few extra layers. Laya survived four brutal Chases to remain unclaimed — the only free female wolf in a generation. She chose scars over submission and solitude over a mate who would strip away everything she'd bled to protect. The last thing she needs is a diplomatic mission into dragon territory. Kaeldric, advisor to the Dragon King, has been fading for months — his dragon slowly dying because he refused a mate bond he couldn't accept. When he finally finds her, she's everything he dreamed of and nothing he prepared for: a wolf warrior with claws already extended, who would sooner gut him than acknowledge what they both know. One crumbling railing. One frozen river. One impossible bond neither can outrun. Stranded in the wilderness with broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, and only each other, enemies have no choice but to survive together. But surviving is the easy part. When they return to civilisation, their bond will either become the bridge between two warring peoples — or the spark that ignites the war that destroys them both. A wolf who refuses to be claimed. A dragon who's running out of time. And a mate bond that will demand the one thing neither of them is willing to give. [Read More]

The Fractured Wing

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

The Fractured Wing

by Zenna Lake

This is Book 2 of The Shackled Oath series. She survived captivity. But survival was never the same thing as healing. Azaria Sylvenhart was freed from captivity. What they could not free was her mind. Broken by what was done to her and driven by something darker than grief, Azaria descends into a war of her own making—one her squad watches helplessly, caught between reaching for her and fearing she may no longer want to be reached. Dain fights to hold her together. And Quinton Thornvale, the blood mage who would burn kingdoms to keep her alive, is learning that saving Azaria’s life and reaching her are not the same thing—and that whatever is growing between them was never going to survive unscarred. But darkness does not wait for her to heal. Hunted by the same forces that have tried to destroy her from the beginning, Azaria is forced to confront what she is willing to become in order to survive. And the arrival of a stranger from across the continent—one bound to her by something neither of them understands—threatens to unravel everything further. Because Torven Kaelor is not finished with her. And this time, the cost of stopping him will not be measured in blood alone. Perfect for fans of: 🖤 Morally gray heroes & obsessive devotion 🔥 Dark fantasy romance & escalating tension ⚔️ Found family pushed to the breaking point ✨ Praise kink, dominant MMC & emotional intimacy 🩸 Trauma, vengeance & dangerous loyalty ⚠️ This book contains heavier themes than Book 1, including graphic violence, torture, death, grief, trauma, and explicit intimate scenes between consenting adults. The Shackled Oath (Book 1) is currently available on Kindle Unlimited and for £0.99 on Amazon for readers wishing to catch up before release. [Read More]

Blue Sky Black

🌶️🌶️🌶️

Blue Sky Black

by Lea Vale

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Zelda finds the man she's spent six years trying to forget — and loses him again hours later. Now she's searching the wreckage for two people: her best friend, and the one she never stopped loving. Zelda and her best friend Charlie have been trying to escape Philadelphia for as long as they can remember. Ari was never part of that plan – until he walked into the pawn shop where Zelda worked and refused to leave her alone. They fell in love too young. They fell apart too fast. Six years later, September 11th puts them face to face on a Manhattan street, hours before the world changes forever. When the towers fall, Zelda survives and realizes Charlie and Ari were both inside and are missing. She has to find them both. Blue Sky Black moves between Zelda's desperate search through the wreckage of September 11th and the years that made her: a lonely, furious girl learning the value of things in a back-room pawn shop, falling in love for the first time, and losing everything she wasn't ready to hold. Perfect for readers who love: Second chance romance · Slow burn with heat · Dual timeline · Found family · Female ambition · Emotionally devastating love stories Steam: Open-door emotionally driven intimacy with explicit detail Content note: Depictions of September 11, 2001; grief, loss, ambiguity and survival. [Read More]

Duskshade

Duskshade

by Madison Patershuk and Ebony Dobson

Ophelia’s life is anchored by the measurable laws of the universe. As a dedicated heliophysicist, she trusts what she can prove and she trusts Nick, the man she believes is her soulmate. But when an impossible fracture in reality violently tears Ophelia, Nick, and her loved ones out of the human world and plunges them into the untamed Fae realm of Fenraeis, all earthly logic shatters. Stranded in a world that shouldn't exist, Ophelia quickly realizes they aren't just lost. They are being hunted. The Crownless, a terrifying and relentless entity, doesn't want her dead; he wants her caged. He intends to enslave Phee to siphon the elusive, ancient power awakening in her blood. It is a dormant, near-endless well of magic that hasn't been seen in an age, and this scientist has no idea how to control it. Desperate to keep the people she loves alive, Ophelia must become the warrior she was never meant to be. To survive, she is forced into an uneasy alliance with Kane—the ruthless, infuriating High King who might be just as dangerous as the monsters hunting them. As her impossible abilities rise to the surface, Ophelia realizes her arrival in Fenraeis wasn't an accident. She doesn't believe in destiny, but to keep her power out of the hands of a monster and to save those she loves, she must forge her own. [Read More]

Shattered Edges

🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️

Shattered Edges

by Marion Thomas

A contemporary dark romance about forbidden love and ambition in elite competitive figure skating and what happens when survival leaves no safe choices. (warning: contains graphic, explicit language and mature themes) Richard Hale has spent his life on the ice, chasing precision, relevance, and a career that refuses to wait for anyone. When his skating partner walks away he’s left staring down the quiet, humiliating end of everything he’s built. His younger sister Holly faces the same erasure when her partner’s injury ends her season overnight, leaving her suddenly expendable. The solution is obvious, dangerous and unthinkable. Forced to skate together by circumstance and desperation, Richard and Holly form a partnership that some think shouldn’t exist. On the ice, their connection is undeniable. Off it, the pressure fractures restraint, blurring lines they were never meant to cross and leaving them scrutinized by a world eager to judge what it doesn’t understand. As Nationals loom, obsession threatens to eclipse reason, and desire threatens to destroy the very thing they’re fighting to save. [Read More]

Operation Black Horse

🌶️🌶️🌶️

Operation Black Horse

by N.J. Gervasi

The first rule of war: Never fall for the enemy. And if you do, well, be prepared for the fallout. Sixteen years into the Great World Famine of 2025, Dr. Caitlyn Svendsen’s patients are no longer hungry, thanks to America's classified growth formula designed to outsmart crop failure, but they are still dying. The cause of their illness is a mystery that Caitlyn seeks to unravel despite the risk to her career—and life. Meanwhile, Spetsnaz Commander Kaleb Volkov is as restless as his motherland. Russia is still starving, denied access to America's growing techniques. Caitlyn and Kaleb are the epitome of clashing personalities, raised to resent each other in a society teetering on the brink of destruction. She is Russia’s salvation. He is the eye of a storm heading for America, ready to tear her reality apart. While America blackmails enemies and allies alike into submission with the promise of food, Russia is desperate to restore its influence in the wake of America's agricultural domination. To level the playing field, Kaleb is tasked with a mission that leads him to Caitlyn, forcing the two natural enemies to work together in a world turned upside down. [Read More]

The Witch's Broken Crown

🌶️🌶️🌶️

The Witch's Broken Crown

by Calla Robin

An enemies-to-lovers romantasy with a slow-burn romance and court intrigue. Perfect for fans of star-crossed lovers and aching yearning. She should fear him. He should hate her. But a masquerade ball was all it took to bind them together forever. Her whole life, Elise Thornwall has wished for nothing more than to rid herself of the curse that has controlled her family for over five centuries and to claim her throne on her own terms. But hidden behind a white mask, she found the one man her heart could not refuse. Andrew Aistle is her enemy. And, apparently, her fate. With war threatening their kingdoms and treachery lurking in every shadow, Elise and Andrew must do the impossible. Trust each other. Trusting your enemy is a dangerous game. And falling in love, even worse. Five hundred years of bitterness cannot be undone by love… can it? [Read More]