Sonia is looking for recommendations, and I know we’ve read a bunch like these (especially the arranged marriage ones). Let’s see if we can make a new “best of” list. 
These are the genres that make me FURIOUS… and yet I can’t out ‘em down. Definitely tends towards “bully” anti-heroes.
She asks:
Hi Maryse,
I hope you could help me out. I’ve already searched goodreads. But came up with reads with hero’s that were so-so cruel not truly cruel.
I’d like to read a book . Where for some reason . The hero married and has rejected his wife. But before doing so he’s been very cruel towards her. Which is showed throughout the book. Or a book where the hero raped the heroine and now regrets it.
Now he’s trying to repent.
Books that I’ve read so far are The Unwanted Wife (The Unwanted Series Book 1) and A Husband’s Regret (The Unwanted Series Book 2).
I read The Unwanted Wife!!! I remember how popular that one was back in our early indie-days. Another that comes to mind is Aleatha Romig’s “Consequences” series. OMG!!!!! Perfect recommendation for this.
Anyone have more to suggest?
Robyn: OMG! You so need to read Unbreak My Heart by Nicole Jacquelyn. The H and h aren’t married in the first half of the book, but he is married to her best friend. She has loved the H all her life and he is sooooo mean to her even though the h helps take care of his 4 kids with her BF while he deploys. EEEEEK! I totally love this book!!
Maryse: YES Robyn!!!! HE WAS SUCH AN A$$!!!!!! Great suggestion, I read and loved that one!
Karen: Life Without You by S.P. West. Just finished this one. It was hard to give the husband a second chance on this one.
Tessa: Accidental Witness (Morelli Family, #1) by Sam Mariano is one. She witnesses him kill someone and he has to marry her to prevent her death.
Dena: Accidental Witness (Morelli Family, #1) by Sam Mariano The series is full of that.
Charity: Consequences of Deception by Ella Fox. They aren’t married but the h was always in love with the H but misunderstandings and events took separated them. Then the H comes back and the H is cruel and mean to the h until the truth comes out.
Jen: there is another book where they are forced to marry each other but i can remember the name of it. he brings another woman into their bedroom and sleeps with her and her makeup gets all over the wall and that is how the wife finds out. does that sound familiar to anyone?
Maryse: GASP!!!!! JEN!!! That would have made me throw my eReader!!!!!
Billie: Jen. Yours is Sparrow
Jen: Billie, Yes! Sparrow! That was a good one! Thank you for helping me!
Maryse: YES!!! I read that one. That’s true, and I think there was extreme ranting and raving by me. How did I forget that??
D.G.: Maryse …Sparrow was one of my five stars!!! I just LOVED it! It got the emotions going!!! Oh and Virtue & Vanity by Astrid Jane Ray!!!!! Arranged marriage, total misconceptions, and he does hurt her…so definitely has triggers.
Melinda: 53 Letters For My Lover. I loved that book. It’s Arranged marriage and Shayda gets raped. Then the husband won’t have anything to do with her. And then she meets someone else while she’s married.
Carla: Ohhh I crave these books as well. Acually I read a bunch these last days. I’d recommend you:
- Unbreak My Heart (Fostering Love) by Nicole Jacquelyn (amazing book)
- The Contract (The Contract Series Book 1) by Melanie Moreland (I never expected it to be so so good)
- Kiss an Angel by Suzan Elizabeth Phillips (he’s so cruel to her)
- Sparrow by L.J. Shen
- Duncan’s Bride by Linda Howard
Cicely: Wrecking Ball by B.N Toler is a good one too!!! Made me cry buckets 
LOVED that one, and the second (A Husband’s Regret (The Unwanted Series Book 2)) was pretty good as well. But something about The Unwanted Wife was extra touching and still sticks with me to this day. GAH!!! I have Sparrow but I can’t do the whole forgiving-the-H-after-cheating thing.Dangit!! And now I have Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus stuck in my head…
I am happily addicted to reading but I need to expend my book energy (especially when one puts me in an emotional frenzy - SO fun!). So, I release my feelings about the stories, by writing them down here. It's my book therapy. 
{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
OMG! You so need to read Unbreak My Heart by Nicole Jacquelyn. The H and h aren’t married in the first half of the book, but he is married to her best friend. She has loved the H all her life and he is sooooo mean to her even though the h helps take care of his 4 kids with her BF while he deploys. EEEEEK! I totally love this book!!
Life Without You by S.P. West
Just finished this one. It was hard to give the husband a second chance on this one.
YES Robyn!!!!
HE WAS SUCH AN A$$!!!!!! Great suggestion, I read and loved that one!
Consequences of Deception by Ella Fox. They aren’t married but the h was always in love with the H but misunderstandings and events took separated them. Then the H comes back and the H is cruel and mean to the h until the truth comes out.
there is another book where they are forced to marry each other but i can remember the name of it. he brings another woman into their bedroom and sleeps with her and her makeup gets all over the wall and that is how the wife finds out. does that sound familiar to anyone?
Accidental Witness by Sam Mariano is one. She witnesses him kill someone and he has to marry her to prevent her death.
Jen. Yours is sparrow
GASP!!!!! JEN!!! That would have made me throw my eReader!!!!!
Maryse …Sparrow was one of my five stars!!! I just LOVED it! It got the emotions going!!!
Oh and Virtue and Vanity by Astrid Jane Ray!!!!! Arranged marriage, total misconceptions, and he does hurt her…so definitely has triggers.
53 letters for my lover. I loved that book. It’s Arranged marriage and Shayda gets raped. Then the husband won’t have anything to do with her. And then she meets someone else while she’s married.
Billie, Yes! Sparrow! That was a good one! Thank you for helping me!
Accidental Witness by Sam Mariano
The series is full of that.
Wrecking Ball by B.N Toler is a good one too!!! Made me cry buckets
My first thought was The Unwanted Wife but…great minds and all.
LOVED that one, and the second (A Husband’s Regret) was pretty good as well. But something about The Unwanted Wife was extra touching and still sticks with me to this day.
GAH!!! I have Sparrow but I can’t do the whole forgiving-the-H-after-cheating thing. Dangit!!
And now I have Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus stuck in my head…
Ohhh I crave these books as well. Acually I read a bunch these last days.
I’d recommend you:
Unbreak my heart by Nicole Jacquelyn (amazing book)
The contract by Melanie Moreland (I never expected it to be so so good)
Kiss an angel by Suzan Elizabeth Phillips (he’s so cruel to her)
Sparrow by L.J. Shen
Duncan’s Bride by Linda Howard
Maryse thanks for the email reminder. Gals thanks for the help.
Some of the books I’ve already read like consequences series, 53 letters to my lover, unbreak my heart.
But I’ll definitely be added the rest xxxx
My pleasure Sonia!!!! I’m so glad you asked us.
Dena I have a question for you.
I know you have to read the seriws in order. But the other book seems about other characters. So can I read accidental Witness then resisting Mateo? Then so on or do I have to read the whole lot.
I thought I could skip because one book about Mateo right man another about his sister.
I read Duncan bride and frankly I never found him that cruel.
I feel unbreak my heart hero was worse. Also the hero in virtue and vanity.
I read both books last year. I’m not sure about Life without you by S.P West.
I read the reviews on gd and it seems like the hero cheated. But heroine took him back minus any grovelling. In cheating I prefer grovelling.
I would like to add Take this regret on the list.
Because the hero was mean at the start which caused the heroine alot heartache. But he grovelled alot.
I’m looking for this book where the H and h are married and he treats her very badly. And I don’t remember the whole thing but she gets amnesia and can’t remember how he treated her. She gets nightmares and also the H’s driver (I think his name is Drew) raped her. I think the h’s name is Skye?
Ann I found it I’ve read this book. In it the girl moves and escapes the hero. Then later remembers what happens. When she escaped she made a life where she worked at a hippy cafe. She had a police officer bf and a loud/bossy neighbour.
It turns out her husband would abuse sexually/verbally neglect her. Leave her in a room locked with no food.
It’s His Indecent Proposal
Lynda Chance
Sonia, I just finished His Indecent Proposal and it wasn’t the one I was looking for
Sonia, In the book I’m looking for the h was married to the H and he hated her for some reason I can’t remember. So he treated her very badly.
Then I think the h runs away and gets in an accident and gets amnesia. By then, the H, who’s a millionaire regrets hurting her and finds her and brings her back. She gets her memories in the form of nightmares and she tells him in the end that she was raped by his best friend( or driver).
Hi Ann!!
I just posted your reader question here:
https://www.maryse.net/reader-questions/reader-question-the-book-about-the-abused-wife-that-gets-amnesia-and-cant-remember-how-he-treated-her.html
Keep and eye on it and let us know if you see the correct one.
Thank you so much Maryse!!!
Hi Ann!
We have 4 guesses so far and we’re dying to know if any of them are right!
https://www.maryse.net/reader-questions/reader-question-the-book-about-the-abused-wife-that-gets-amnesia-and-cant-remember-how-he-treated-her.html
Let me know if you see it.
*hug*
Maryse
Ann i looked at the list Maryse suggested im 1000% sure its Underestimated by Jettie Woodruff .
i know it wasnt indecent proposal . I checked it out after suggesting you it. The problem was i had read Underestimated by Jettie Woodruff on unlimited kindle so i gave both books back. But had thought the book would still be in my library which it wasnt and i confused it for indecnt proposal. it deffo Underestimated by Jettie Woodruff.
Spoilers in that book what happens is the author shows us that a girl called Morgan lives in a shitty trailer with her drunk mother and dad Morgan neglected . i think her mum takes drugs i cant remember . Morgan mum leaves her and runs off . I think Morgan dad a drunk and beats her she has a brother too . We find this on later on in the book. Morgan basically marries Drew who is verbally abusive of her , he uses her like a sexual toy, does bdsm but without consent . He shared her with his driver . Locked her up in a cold gym room after beating the shit out of her . At the same time when she would go out with the driver he raped her in the car but Morgan didint tell Drew because she thought he wont believe her. Anyway the driver took advantage and then would threaten her that if she didint have sex with him he would tell Drew. After that one time Morgan got beaten up by Drew she decided enough is enough. Drew house keeper was trying to convince Morgan to leave but Morgan kept saying no. The house keeper transfered money that Drew thought was donation money since he donated alot . Into a private account got Morgan a fake id , money from the account and got her out.
Morgan moved made a life for herself where she had a wild/bold neighbour who would come over to her house everyday. Morgan started dating a sherif and she worked at cafe with the owner who was a hippi . she was still scared Drwe will find her but she eventually started living her life. She didnt tell anyone about her past.
Her boss told Morgan to come with her to New York for a hippy market fair where they could buy stuff to sell . Morgan tried to make excuses not to go because NY was where Drew stayed. But she went anyway everything went fine and she came back no incident a few months later they went again this time the owner could not go with her . But told Morgan that her sister will meet her at NY . But morgan would have to travel back and forth by herself. So Morgan went everything was fine one day Morgan told her owner sister you can do your thing i’ll just go around and we will meet later . Morgan was walking around when she stopped at a jewellers shop. Drew owned lots of jewellery shops. it was his shop Morgan froze then moved away but before she could leave a man shouted her real name Morgan ( she used a fake Reily name where she lived) and Morgan turned only to come face to face tothe drew driver. She tried to run he grabbed her arm she screamed run away from him got into her car and drove very fast with the driver chasing her . thats when she had the accident . But got amensia Drew decided not to tell her how their marriage was and pretended everything was normal. She later got dreams of past vile Drew which never added up to the new loving Drew.
There is more but i dont want to spoil the whole series. this is my review on it https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17913288-underestimated