Here are 87 books that Filthy fans have personally recommended if you like
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When I was about 8 years old, I read a book called Tom and the Two Handles by Russell Hoban. It’s a children’s book designed to teach that every story has two sides. This book stuck with me for some reason. So, when I started writing novels, I always made sure my villains had pure motives. Remember, no well-written bad guy THINKS he’s a bad guy. He thinks he’s doing the right thing. This is true of all the classic Bond villains right up to Thanos in the MCU. Plus, and I’m sure most writers would agree, the bad guys are always more fun to write.
As shocking as I felt Kubrick’s film was, I think the book is possibly more startling. Some scenes Kubrick played for laughs are described as violent and sadistic in the novel. If, like me, you are a fan of the film, it’ll fill in some blanks for you. Ever wonder why Alex and his friends drink milk?
The book is written in futuristic teen-speak that did take me a while to get my head around, but this ultimately adds to the strangeness of the insular world these ‘droogs’ inhabit. Though it was first published in 1962, I think this is still a very relevant and unflinching look at the place of violence in society.
In Anthony Burgess's influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, a teen who talks in a fantastically inventive slang that evocatively renders his and his friends' intense reaction against their society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess's introduction, "A Clockwork Orange Resucked."
I am passionate about fierce female protagonists in fiction because I believe that fiction is a great way to highlight real-life issues. Before becoming an author, I was a lawyer. It was tough navigating the challenges of maternity leave and trying to have a career whilst being a mum to a young family. The reality is that there’s still plenty of gender inequality remaining in the world at large, so I made sure that I always write strong, competent female main characters to lead by example. As you can imagine, my reading tastes are the same as my writing ones, making me an excellent curator of strong female fiction.
If I were ever to face a zombie apocalypse, I would want Mercy Thompson by my side. Mercy is a scrappy coyote shifter, and despite often being physically outmatched by the myriad supernatural creatures surrounding her, it is her intelligence, independence, and resourcefulness that truly sets her apart for me. I also just love that she is a mechanic, as Patty has taken that gender expectation and turned it on its head.
I adore that when Mercy believes in something, she stands her ground, no matter the consequences. Her unwavering moral compass and fierce loyalty make her an awesome heroine. In a world filled with chaos, Mercy Thompson is the kind of fierce female companion every reader would be fortunate to have. And as I said, I totally call dibs on her for the apocalypse.
The first novel in the New York Times bestselling Mercy Thompson series - the major urban fantasy hit of the decade
'I love these books!' Charlaine Harris
The best new fantasy series I've read in years' Kelley Armstrong
MERCY THOMPSON: MECHANIC, SHAPESHIFTER, FIGHTER
I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first. My nose isn't at its best when surrounded by axle grease and burnt oil . . .'
Mercedes Thompson runs a garage in the Tri-Cities. She's a mechanic, and a damn good one, who spends her spare time karate training and tinkering with a VW bus that happens…
I’m Kai Storm, author of reality-based urban fiction and erotica, erotica blogger, YouTuber, and Podcaster. I love reading books that feel real, that make you feel, and that teach you something as they entertain you.
This book was given to me as a gift, and the lessons it taught me as I read those ancient pages.
It had me clutching my pearls, and it disgusted me at other parts, but at the same time, I wanted/needed to read that book in order to write a book in that style.
The classic French erotic bestseller that preceded Fifty Shades of Grey
A beautiful young French woman, known only as 'O', is taken by her lover Rene to a splendid mansion near Paris. Here, she is initiated into an elite secret society, where she must learn to serve the sexual fantasies of Rene and his fellow members. But she must also explore the nature of her own darkest desires - and confront just how far she is willing to go for love...
I was always a peculiar child with no friends, so I found my friends in books. As I got older I turned to writing my own. I wrote many stories, until one night I wrote my first book. It was paranormal fiction. Quite horrid actually. However, it started my obsession with crime romance. I love romance, but I find them a bit dull at times, but a crime novel never leaves me wanting. I decided to join the two worlds, and create my own. It's the reason even after 20 books published, my books are all linked to the biggest crime of all. But that is a secret you need to figure out for yourself.
When all is not as it seems, and you fall in love with what you don’t know. Faced with a choice, what will you choose?
I chose Ruthless Creatures because it is a crime fiction about love, desire, and growth. Our first choice is not always our best. We sometimes fail to understand why. The more you read, the deeper your understanding grows.
Personally, I love the thrill of an idea, of loving someone who is dark and mysterious. Kage was that for Nat, and he hid a big secret, whether they overcame it or not. Well, you would need to find out for yourself.
This book taught me that we don’t really know to who we open our hearts to until it’s too late.
An Amazon Top 10 bestselling series with more than 2 million copies sold worldwide Winner of the Holt Medallion for Best Erotic Romance
Five years ago, my fiancé disappeared. He left me with a wedding dress I’d never wear. Left me with the kind of scars that can’t be healed. The man I built my future on vanished like a ghost. All that remained were my broken heart and a million unanswered questions.
Until a mysterious stranger arrives in town.
Tall, dark, and dangerous, Kage is as full of secrets as he is sex appeal. Though I know he’s hiding…
K is an INTJ, 5w4, and a cat person. She loves a pulse-thudding plot and a heat level hotter than a gun barrel on a battlefield. She enjoys accurate action sequences, scary villains, and smokeshow heroes with redemption arcs. T is an ENTJ, an 8w7, and a dog mom. She writes villains who square up, heroes who step up, and heroines who level up. She prefers her romance with a side of high-stakes geopolitical brinkmanship, because the only thing better than saving the world is celebrating the win afterward. K and T are long-time readers of high heat dark romances and look forward to sharing their writing with other spice aficionados.
He’s heir to a violent legacy. She’s on the hunt for a story that’ll launch her career from Page Six to the six o’clock hour. When their paths cross, she knows she’ll follow this lead anywhere.
I love it because Miller’s really good at writing dark romance. It’s a tricky genre to get right because of the subject matter, but if you can nail it you get a sort of grim satisfaction from the underworld justice. But then one has to ask: what happens when someone comes around asking questions? What happens when emotions get in the way of objectivity or professionalism? And what do you do when someone you’re falling for is revealed to be a monster amongst monsters?
Karina Ashworth is willing to pay any price to be with the man she loves—a notorious fixer and the only man capable of making her walk away from everything she has ever known.
But power corrupts the soul too easily, and once Uilleam Runehart has his taste of it, there’s nothing he craves more. And when it comes to what he wants most, there is no line he won’t cross to get it.
With secrets plaguing them, and truths becoming harder and harder to tell, the things left unsaid between them might be their ruin.
Crime fiction, true crime, mystery, and suspense books allow us to brush up against the worst society has to offer without getting hurt. There’s a lot to be said for vicarious thrills, isn’t there. I am just a simple man telling simple stories about good vs. evil. And sometimes, in my stories, fiction or not, the bad guys win. But I do love telling stories, and when I find a good one, I can’t wait to tell you aboutit. That’s what I have done here.
The two books in the Sinners Duet series—There Are No Saints (Book 1), and There Is No Devil (Book 2)—are fascinating and mind-bending crime thrillers.
How could you not love this:
You’ve got two artists, both murderers, competing with each other in San Francisco’s hotbed of art and in the world of murder.
Add in a young, beautiful woman, an artist, who is desired by both artists for different reasons.
The Sinner Duet books—and you do have to read both to get the whole story—are sexy, romantic, blood-soaked crime thrillers that you will never forget.
Cole Blackwell values control. He’s the hottest sculptor in San Francisco, wealthy, successful, and respected. His only weakness is the dark impulse he carefully conceals…
Mara Eldritch is a nobody. Broke and damaged, she works three jobs while creating paintings no one will ever see.
A chance encounter throws Mara into Cole’s path. When Mara escapes what appears to be certain death, Cole is intrigued. He starts stalking her, realizing there’s more to the struggling misfit than he ever would have guessed.
Cole becomes obsessed with Mara, breaking the rules that keep his true nature hidden. Mara knows he’s dangerous,…
I’m a huge fan of paranormal and dark romance, and these books definitely check all my boxes. Great world-building, plots that engage, and in most cases, a heavy dollop of smut. They also explore the unexpected and take into account real-world concerns in a fashion where you can absolutely justify the decisions the main characters are making.
Serena Akeroyd is the absolute goddess of MC books, as far as I’m concerned. They’re gritty, sexy, hardcore, and totally believable. I went through this series ravenously and then everything else she’s ever written.
My favorite thing about her books is though all her characters are deeply flawed, they are all redeemable, even when they don’t think so themselves. The women especially aren’t there just to lift the men up; they’re fully-fledged characters in their own right, working through their own issues.
A brother in my dad’s MC. Everything Mom told me to avoid. Everything I shouldn’t want. But his dark, his dirty, and his dangerous are like catnip to me. He stirs fear into the hearts of men, but I hear his rage. I feel it like it’s my own.
He’s a killer. Shameless. Some might even call him a psycho.
I just call him soul mate.
We were born to raise hell together, born to make sick b*stards pay for their sins, born to be the king and queen of darkness…
I’m a huge fan of paranormal and dark romance, and these books definitely check all my boxes. Great world-building, plots that engage, and in most cases, a heavy dollop of smut. They also explore the unexpected and take into account real-world concerns in a fashion where you can absolutely justify the decisions the main characters are making.
Sky Warren is another author whose books I absolutely devour. The sex is incredibly hot, the men are all morally grey, and the women have problems of their own.
This series will have you clutching your pearls in all the best of ways.
"I've always been a fan of Skye Warren ever since I read Wanderlust. Her writing is flawless and tales captivating. Love The Way You Lie is no exception. 5 Stars." ~ Pepper Winters, New York Times bestselling author of Tears of Tess
I'll do anything to stay hidden, even if that means working at the scariest club in town. Then he shows up, mysterious and yet strangely familiar. And so damn sexy.
When he looks at me, I forget why I can't have him. He's beautiful and scarred. His body fits mine, filling the places where I'm hollow, rough where…
I have been a complete history nerd since childhood—since I opened a Christmas present to reveal one of the books I recommend here, People in History. Since then I’ve written 21 children’s books, and published more by other authors as the founder of Goosebottom Books. All these books touch on some aspect of history or culture in one way or the other. There’s always an emphasis or insight into custom, time, or place. Even the adult novels I’m currently working on are historical fiction. I’m still completely enthralled by the many worlds of the past. I even listen to history podcasts when I’m doing the dishes!
History is not only about famous people and kings and queens; it’s about all people, and how all lives were lived. This book presents one of the many remarkable people who live unremarked amongst us. It’s about the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world, alone. That anybody can undertake such an adventure is something all children should know. That a woman did it deserves to be emphasized. But what I love best is how this story is told. The writing is lyrical, dreamy, and captures for me the magic carpet ride of travel. And I love how it’s interspersed with practical tips in high contrast—about how to change a tire, how to drink tea in India. The illustrations enhance the vibe. This book is a fabulous ride.
A picture book biography by an award-winning team about the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world
One day, a girl gets on her motorcycle and rides away. She wants to wander the world. To go . . . Elsewhere. This is the true story of the first woman to ride a motorcycle around the world alone. Each place has something to teach her. Each place is beautiful. And despite many flat tires and falls, she learns to always get back up and keep riding.
Award-winning author Amy Novesky and Governor General's Award-winning illustrator Julie Morstad have teamed…
In the past ten years, I have had to guide my young children through two unexpected and tragic deaths of loved ones. Both times, I was struggling with my own grief and wasn’t sure what my kids understood or didn’t. I made a lot of mistakes (as my son’s therapist can attest) but through it all, I learned a great deal about how much children notice, how deeply they feel a loss, and how to tend to our own grief and our children’s. From that pain, I wrote You’ll Find Me, and since then, have been able to use that book as a jumping-off point to discuss grief with others.
When I picked up Rabbit and the Motorbike, I didn’t know it had a death in it. I grabbed it for the beautiful cover and artwork. But the story inside deeply resonated with me, especially so soon after releasing my own grief book. Rabbit has a friend, Dog, who rides all over on his motorbike and comes back and tells Rabbit all his great adventures. Rabbit never goes anywhere but he loves Dog’s stories. One day, Dog dies and leaves his motorbike to Rabbit. Rabbit is mystified. Why would Dog leave him his motorbike? Rabbit never goes anywhere. But then one day he does, and the whole world opens up and now Rabbit has stories of his own to tell.
A beautiful book about how life goes on after grief and learning to live fully and make our own stories.
Rabbit isn't sure he'll ever be brave enough to go on an adventure. He's a homebody who lives in a quiet field of wheat he dreams of leaving every night. His world is enlarged by his friend Dog and Dog's tales of motorbike adventures. But one day, Dog is gone, and with him, go the stories Rabbit loves so much. Dare Rabbit pick up the motorbike and live his own story? This timeless fable of the journey from grief to acceptance will touch every reader. For those confronting loss and those eager to explore and experience, Rabbit's bravery in the…
