Top 15 sexy anti-heroes in romance that you’ll LOVE to hate

8/10/2018

I don’t know about you, but I’ve often found myself rooting for the bad guy in a story. I often find them WAY more interesting than the good guys. Crowley on Supernatural did horrific things and I still adored him. I was sad when Jessica Jones offed Kilgrave at the end of season 1 because I was REALLY hoping he’d be back for season 2. And I think Captain America is as boring as a beige wall, but The Winter Soldier? I’m ALL IN. That’s probably why I often find anti-heroes in romance to be even sexier than their nice-guy counterparts. We’re talking about guys who’ve done and said horrible things (things I’d NEVER be OK with in real life), and I still find myself wrapped up in their story and wishing for them to find their happily ever after. It’s a sickness, I know. But if loving the guys on today’s list is wrong, I don’t even want to be right…

(WARNING: Some of these books have pretty dark themes. Read the blurbs and author warnings carefully before 1-clicking to make sure you understand what you’re getting yourself into!)

Equal Parts by Emma Winters

Nobody knows happiness better than nineteen-year-old Felicity Eastwood. For years now, she’s been ‘gifted’ with the ability to collect and transfer happiness to anyone at will. Well, everyone except herself.

That is until Achilles - renowned criminal mastermind with a face painted like Death and enough charm to cause hormonal riots – crashes into Felicity’s world and her feel … something.

Determined not to let such a coveted superpower slip beyond his reach, Achilles kidnaps Felicity, hoping to use her ability to brave his own skeletons. Felicity is only a half-unwilling prisoner though, forgoing escape to learn more of the man behind the mask and pursue the inexplicable spark between them.

As the lines between hero and villain begin to blur, Felicity finds herself wondering if Achilles might be the key to her own happiness at long last. Is it possible to be so happy with someone so dangerous?

But Achilles isn’t the only villain in the town, and the pursuit of happiness can be a deadly hunt…

Vandal by Carian Cole

She takes my breath away; she is so beautifully damaged. Yes, I had broken her, ravished her life and destroyed her happiness. I brought her to the ultimate despair.

I was responsible for all the pain and suffering that now brought her to her knees in front of me.

Broken.
Hopeless.
Reckless in her agony.

She is a mirror of my own tortured soul.

But what I took away I can give back, in ways she cannot even begin to imagine .

She is everything right in all my wrongs.

She loves me. She needs me.

She has no idea I’m the one who wrecked her life.

Surviving Raine by Shay Savage

As the captain of a schooner catering to the elite on the Caribbean Seas, Sebastian Stark does his best to avoid any human encounters. Interacting with people isn’t his thing, and he prefers the company of a bottle of vodka, a shot glass, and maybe a whore. There’s no doubt he’s hiding from a checkered past, but he does well keeping everything to himself…

…until the night his schooner capsizes, and he’s stuck on a life raft with one of the passengers.

Raine’s young, she’s cute, and Bastian would probably be into her if he wasn’t suffering from alcohol withdrawal. As the days pass, DTs, starvation, and dehydration become the norm. Even the most closed person starts to open up when he thinks he’s going to die, but when she realizes their traumatic pasts are connected, it’s no longer the elements that have Bastian concerned.

He has no idea how he’s going to Survive Raine.

Scandalous by L.J. Shen

They call him The Mute for a reason.
Hard, cold and calculated, he rarely speaks.
When he does, it’s with disdain.
When he does, his words aren’t meant for me.
When he does, my stomach flips and my world tilts on its axis.
He is thirty-three.
I am eighteen.
He’s a single dad and my father’s business partner.
I’m just a kid to him and his enemy’s daughter.
He’s emotionally unavailable.
And I am…feeling. Feeling things I shouldn’t feel for him.
Trent Rexroth is going to break my heart. The writing isn’t just on the wall, it’s inked on my soul.
And yet, I can’t stay away.
A scandal is the last thing my family needs. But a scandal is what we’re going to give them.
And oh, what beautiful chaos it will be.

NOTE: You can check out our 5-star review of Scandalous here!

The Bad Guy by Celia Aaron

My name is Sebastian Lindstrom, and I’m the villain of this story.

I’ve decided to lay myself bare. To tell the truth for once in my hollow life, no matter how dark it gets. And I can assure you, it will get so dark that you’ll find yourself feeling around the blackened corners of my mind, seeking a door handle that isn’t there.

Don’t mistake this for a confession. I neither seek forgiveness nor would I accept it. My sins are my own. They keep me company. Instead, this is the true tale of how I found her, how I stole her, and how I lost her.

She was a damsel, one who already had her white knight. But every fairy tale has a villain, someone waiting in the wings to rip it all down. A scoundrel who will set the world on fire if that means he gets what he wants. That’s me.
I’m the bad guy.

NOTE: You can check out our 5-star review of The Bad Guy here!

Twist Me by Anna Zaires

I never thought this could happen to me. I never imagined one chance meeting on the eve of my eighteenth birthday could change my life so completely.

Now I belong to him. To Julian. To a man who is as ruthless as he is beautiful—a man whose touch makes me burn. A man whose tenderness I find more devastating than his cruelty.

My captor is an enigma. I don’t know who he is or why he took me. There is a darkness inside him—a darkness that scares me even as it draws me in.

My name is Nora Leston, and this is my story.

Blood Submission by LE Wilson

Her blood saves his life.
Her embrace slays his soul.

Dante Gabor has survived many things since becoming a vampire, but jumping from a plane and crash landing in the desert without a parachute was pushing it, even for him. To survive the relentless sun, he buries his broken body in its own sandy grave. But healing is painfully slow, and he's forced to rise and hunt for larger prey. Half mad with thirst, he's brought to his knees by the seductive taste of a lone female whose sweet blood heals his body, but leaves him craving still more.

MINE.

Laney Moss loves the Mojave desert that surrounds her home and hikes the upper trails often, prepared for anything she might run across. But nothing prepared her for the monster that comes with the setting sun to stalk her. In the moments before he attacks, one word crashes through her terrified mind — Vampire. She manages to get away, but he tracks the call of her blood and ignites a passion in her that frightens her nearly as much as it thrills her.

Dante is left with no choice but to take her home to his secret lair.
Now he just needs to convince her to stay.

NOTE: You can check out our 5-star review of Blood Submission here!

Shade's Lady by Joanna Wylde

Looking back, none of this would’ve happened if I hadn’t dropped my phone in the toilet. I mean, I could’ve walked away from him if I’d had it with me.
Or maybe not.
Maybe it was all over the first time he saw me, and he would’ve found another way. Probably—if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that Shade always gets what he wants, and apparently he wanted me.
Right from the first.
Shade's Lady is a stand-alone story. There is no need to have read any prior Reapers MC stories to enjoy Shade's Lady.

NOTE: You can check out our review of Shade’s Lady here!

The Professional by Kresley Cole

Meet the Professional.
Mafiya enforcer Aleksandr "The Siberian" Sevastyan's loyalty to his boss is unwavering, until he meets the boss's long-lost daughter, a curvy, tantalizing redhead who haunts his mind and heats his blood like no other. Ordered to protect her, Aleksandr will do anything to possess her as well--on his own wicked terms.

He makes the rules.
Grad student Natalie Porter has barely recovered from her first encounter with the dark and breathtaking Siberian when he whisks her away to Russia, thrusting her into a world of extreme wealth and wanton pleasures. Every day under his protection she falls deeper under his masterful spell.

In the game of obsession, two players are better than one.
Yet all is not as it seems. To remove Natalie from an enemy's reach, Aleksandr spirits her into hiding. From an opulent palace in Russia to the decadent playgrounds of the mega-rich in Paris, the two lovers tempt each other's boundaries to discover whether their darkest--and most forbidden--fantasies really can come true....

Killing Sarai by J.A. Redmerski

Sarai was only fourteen when her mother uprooted her to live in Mexico with a notorious drug lord. Over time she forgot what it was like to live a normal life, but she never let go of her hope to escape the compound where she has been held for the past nine years.

Victor is a cold-blooded assassin who, like Sarai, has known only death and violence since he was a young boy. When Victor arrives at the compound to collect details and payment for a hit, Sarai sees him as her only opportunity for escape. But things don't go as planned and instead of finding transport back to Tucson, she finds herself free from one dangerous man and caught in the clutches of another.

While on the run, Victor strays from his primal nature as he succumbs to his conscience and resolves to help Sarai. As they grow closer, he finds himself willing to risk everything to keep her alive; even his relationship with his devoted brother and liaison, Niklas, who now like everyone else wants Sarai dead.

As Victor and Sarai slowly build a trust, the differences between them seem to lessen, and an unlikely attraction intensifies. But Victor's brutal skills and experience may not be enough in the end to save her, as the power she unknowingly holds over him may ultimately be what gets her killed.

Push by Claire Wallis

Emma Searfoss has spent a lifetime trying to escape her abusive stepfather. It's why she moved far away from home. It's why she's kept no ties with her remaining family. And it's why she's got a major rage problem. When her neighbor shows up to fix the kitchen in her new apartment, his enigmatic charm calms the fire in her. David is cool and collected, and he makes Emma feel safe for the first time ever. But David has his own chilling past—his six previous girlfriends have all disappeared without a trace. Emma's walking a dangerous line, but David's pull is intoxicating. And impossible to resist…

This is a new adult romance with mature content for readers 17 and up.

NOTE: This one has a cliffhanger. Fair warning.

Honor by Jay Crownover

Don’t be fooled.
Don’t make excuses for me.
I am not a good man.
I’ve seen things no one should, done things no one should talk about. Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I’ve fought and I’ve survived. I’ve had to.
The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.
I’m here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She's disappeared. But don’t worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.
Like I said, don’t be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise... I’m the one standing front and center.

Ruthless King by Meghan March

New Orleans belongs to me.
You don’t know my name, but I control everything you see—and all the things you don’t.
My reach knows no bounds, and my demands are always met.
I didn’t need to loan money to a failing family distillery, but it amuses me to have them in my debt.
To have her in my debt.
She doesn’t know she caught my attention.
She should’ve been more careful.
I’m going to own her. Consume her. Maybe even keep her.
It’s time to collect what I’m owed.
Keira Kilgore, you’re now the property of Lachlan Mount.

Dirty Deeds by Karina Halle

As a flight attendant, Alana Bernal has had her share of suitors. She’s also had more than her fair share of tragedy within her messed-up family. But what she hasn’t had is love. Real, rip-your-heart-out, tear-your-clothes-off, all-consuming love.

At least that was the case until she met an American tourist, Derek Conway, a ripped ex-soldier with steely eyes and a commanding presence.

What started as a chance encounter between the two in Puerto Vallarta, a weekend full of hot sex and mindless passion, has led to something more.

Something deadly.

Because Derek isn’t the type of man to fall in love. He’s not a man who sticks around.

And he’s definitely not in Mexico on vacation.

Derek is a mercenary, a killer-for-hire, a man who does the ugly jobs for the highest bidder.

Unfortunately for Alana and Derek, the highest bidder has the power to destroy whatever worlds they have created for themselves.

The highest bidder can destroy everything.

Prisoner by Annika Martin and Skye Warren

He seethes with raw power the first time I see him--pure menace and rippling muscles in shackles. He's dangerous. He's wild. He's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

So I hide behind my prim glasses and my book like I always do, because I have secrets too. Then he shows up in the prison writing class I have to teach, and he blows me away with his honesty. He tells me secrets in his stories, and it's getting harder to hide mine. I shiver when he gets too close, with only the cuffs and the bars and the guards holding him back. At night I can't stop thinking about him in his cell.

But that's the thing about an animal in a cage--you never know when he'll bite. He might use you to escape. He might even pull you into a forest and hold a hand over your mouth so you can't call for the cops. He might make you come so hard, you can't think.

And you might crave him more than your next breath.

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