Books like Vicious
Vicious by L.J. Shen reads as intense, angsty. These 12 books share its genome — matched by how they actually read, not just their shelf label.
What Vicious is like to read
A dual-POV hate-to-love romance driven by a cruel, morally-gray hero and the artist heroine he tormented a decade earlier, freighted with class resentment and buried secrets. Best for: readers who want a dark bully-romance with enemies-to-lovers heat and a best-friend's-ex forbidden dynamic.
Twisted Love
Ana Huang · 2021
A possessive-alpha contemporary romance built on the brother's-best-friend and opposites-attract fantasy, mixing steamy explicit tension with a light suspense thread.
The Hating Game
Sally Thorne · 2016
A snappy, banter-driven office rivalry that slow-burns into swoon — first-person Lucy is neurotic, funny, and painfully self-aware, and the tension is all in the glances, games, and one very charged elevator ride.
It Ends with Us
Colleen Hoover · 2016
An accessible, first-person contemporary romance that curdles into a raw portrait of intimate-partner abuse and the courage it takes to break the cycle.
Sinner
Shantel Tessier · 2022
A feverish, power-drenched dark romance built on obsession, secret-society menace, and submission dynamics — plot moves fast while the emotional pitch stays cranked to intense.
Kill Switch
Penelope Douglas · 2019
A dark-romance revenge fantasy told in alternating first-person from victim and tormentor, propulsive and airless as Damon methodically dismantles the Ashby family's defenses.
Brutal Prince
Sophie Lark · 2020
A propulsive mafia romance where the sparks are as much combat as chemistry — Aida's fire against Callum's cold ambition, delivered in short punchy dual-POV chapters with high heat and a HEA contract.
Hooked
Emily McIntire · 2021
A dark, steamy Peter Pan retelling that leans hard into mafia-romance tropes: villainous antihero, sheltered heroine, revenge-turned-obsession.
Corrupted Chaos
Shain Rose · 2022
A steamy, banter-driven forced-proximity romance where the only-one-bed cabin setup and workplace-rivals sparks do the heavy lifting.
Wicked Devil
Daniela Romero · 2020
A dark, obsessive romance that leans into possessiveness and moral ambiguity, with love and control tangled inseparably.
Hunting Adeline
H.D. Carlton · 2022
A dark, brutal conclusion to the Cat and Mouse duet — alternating first-person present between a traumatized captive and her obsessive hunter, propelled by short chapters, on-page violence, and heavy explicit heat.
The Predator
RuNyx · 2020
A dark mafia romance built on hate-heat-history collision: two lethal rivals from warring outfits bound by a twenty-year secret, circling each other while a larger threat closes in.
Silent Vows
Jill Ramsower · 2022
A propulsive mafia romance built on forced-alliance heat: a possessive Irish enforcer, a bride with no exit, and danger closing in around them.
About Vicious — what the genome says
Is Vicious a complete story or a cliffhanger?
It's a complete, standalone-satisfying story.
Who is Vicious for?
readers who want a dark bully-romance with enemies-to-lovers heat and a best-friend's-ex forbidden dynamic
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