Book picks similar to
The First Tale by Icy Sedgwick


mystery
oh-no-zombies
probably-not
self-pub

The Fractured: Elena


Sarah Dalton - 2013
    Parents buy designer babies and those with genetic faults are labelled Blemished and shunned from society. Elena Darcey is just as perfect as the other clones, but there is something different about Elena, because she’s in trouble. After helping Area 14’s most famous criminals escape, Elena has to get out before her teacher-- the formidable Margaret Murgatroyd --finds out that she is a sympathiser for the Blemished. The perfect opportunity arises as a beauty pageant promises the winner a trip to London. Will Elena cope with the cut-throat world of a beauty pageant filled with sabotage, violence and betrayal? If she makes it to London, will she find the safe haven she craves? Does she discover more than she'd expected after meeting the mysterious Jake Bloom?The Fractured is the first part of a spin off series based on The Blemished, which will focus on some of the secondary characters and their stories. Part one follows the life of Elena as she experiences a life changing event.

Avatar: The Last Airbender The Lost Adventures Comics Book Nickelodeon Avatar


Charles Alexander - 2020
    

Hawthorne


Sarah Ballance - 2011
    She seeks peace in saying a proper goodbye, but what she finds is an old love, a sordid family history, and a wrong only she can right. Living in the shadow of Hawthorne Manor, Noah Garrett has never forgotten about Emma Grace. In a house full of secrets, his search for missing documents reveals a truth that can cost him everything. What he finds gave Emma the freedom to walk away from the mansion, her heart free and clear, but at what price to Noah?

The Blushing Bounder


Meljean Brook - 2013
    But before the events of that novel, Constable Newberry’s faced a danger of another kind: to his heart, by the woman forced to marry him. What will it take for this prudish bounder to convince his wife to stay?The Blushing Bounder was previously published in the anthology Wild & Steamy. The Blushing Bounder is a short story/novella of approximately 13,400 words (50 pages.)

The Adventures of Charlie Smithers


C.W. Lovatt - 2012
    Make way for Charlie Smithers.The time is the nineteenth century. The place, the Serengeti Plain, where one Charlie Smithers – faithful manservant to the arrogant bone-head, Lord Brampton (with five lines in Debrett, and a hopeless shot to boot) – becomes separated from his master during an unfortunate episode with an angry rhinoceros, thereby launching Charlie on an odyssey into Deepest Darkest Africa, and subsequently into the arms of the beautiful Loiyan…and that’s where the trouble really begins.Maasai warriors, xenophobic locals, or evil Arab slavers, the two forbidden lovers encounter everything that the unforgiving jungle can throw at them."A truly engaging read that will keep anyone’s attention from the hilarious beginning until the last word. I highly recommend this 5 star novel." ~ Chapters & Chats

Secret of the Ankhs: A Maggie Edwards Adventure (Maggie Edwards Adventures Book 2)


Nellie H. Steele - 2021
    

Devil in the Details


E.J. Stevens - 2020
    Stevens. Longtime fans and first-time readers will enjoy this tantalizing glimpse into the world of Ivy Granger, featuring Ivy, Sparky, Jinx, and Forneus.Originally published in The Final Summons anthology.The Ivy Granger series has won numerous awards, including the BTS Red Carpet Award for Best Novel, Imadjinn Award for Best Short Story, Raven Award for Best Urban Fantasy Novel, Independent Audiobook Award for Best Short Story, PRG Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Paranormal Fantasy Novel, Best Urban Fantasy Novel, and finalist for Best Urban Fantasy Series."I absolutely love this series!"-My Urban Fantasies"Ivy is one of my all-time favorite Urban Fantasy characters."-The Reading Diaries"Lose yourself in the world of Harborsmouth."-Reading Lark"The Ivy Granger series is fantastic!"-Book Bite ReviewsTake a trip to Harborsmouth where you'll encounter bloodsucking vampires, psychotic faeries, and our favorite snarky, psychic detective.

Jack Ryder Mystery #4-6


Willow Rose - 2019
     Mystery, love, suspense, and action these books have it all. The hit series from #1 Bestselling author Willow Rose is impossible to put down. - BLACK JACK:  Welcome to the Blackwood House. Enter if you dare. It is said about a house in Savannah that all who have ever lived there have gone insane. When Kimberly and Joseph inherit the house from an unknown aunt, they don’t know the house’s murderous history. They move in and soon a series of strange events occur. It’s like the house doesn’t want them there. Little by little, Joseph starts to change, and soon Kimberly begins to wonder: is the house haunted or is her husband just going mad? Jack Ryder and Shannon King have run away from the press and paparazzi to Savannah to get married. They are preparing for their wedding when they stumble upon a young girl sitting alone on the docks at the harbor at night. She doesn’t seem to have any parents, nor does she know where she lives. Her feet are bare, and she has nowhere to go. They take her in for the night, but as they try to pull out information from her, bizarre stories are revealed, and soon they start to speculate about the girl. Is she telling the truth or hiding unsettling secrets of her own? - THE GIRL NEXT DOOR: He came in the morning when they were still making lunches and getting ready for school and work. He killed them all. Mother, father, children. Brutally slaughtered them in the comfort of their own home. They called him the Monday Morning Killer. That was forty years ago, but now it is happening again. A mother and her daughter are brutally murdered in their house, on a peaceful Monday morning in Cocoa Beach, Florida. Home alone with six children while his wife - country superstar Shannon King - is on tour, Detective Jack Ryder gets the most terrifying case of his career, chasing a deranged serial killer, unlike anyone he has ever seen. No one feels safe, especially not the girl next door, who just bought the house where the first family was killed forty years ago. Who is capable of such cruelty? And why? Could one person be responsible for these brutal killings of entire families so many years apart? Or is Jack dealing with a copy-cat? You’ll never guess the shocking answer. - HER FINAL WORD: Ella Maria Chauncey walks home after a night out with her friends, hurrying to get back before her parents realize she's been out with the boy they don't want her to date. Living in the gated community of Lyford Cay, in one of the world's wealthiest neighborhoods, she believes it is safe. Ella Maria never makes it home. She is found the next day floating in her family's pool, her tongue cut out.. Seven months later Jack Ryder is visiting the Bahamas with his adopted daughter Emily. They're trying to find Emily's relatives, but it turns out to be easier said than done. The only living relative they can track down is a woman…in jail. She's doing time for murdering Ella Maria Chauncey, but as Jack digs into the case, he starts to wonder if she was wrongfully convicted and the murderer is still out there, hunting for his next prey. As the shocking investigation unfolds, and secrets are revealed, no one in in the lucrative Lyford Cay can be trusted.

A Hint of Magic


Claire Chilton - 2013
    If she can find some magic in the world, then maybe she will find a place she belongs. When she comes across a coven of witches, she takes on their trials to try and join them. But the witches aren’t all they appear to be, and Dora finds herself slipping into a darker world than she imagined. She has to make a choice to do the right thing, but Dora’s never been very good at doing anything right…

Zachary Zombie and the Lost Boy


John H. Carroll - 2011
    She sent him to fetch newts from the forest. Along the way, he finds a lost boy named Tobias who had been following an emo bunny in the hopes of holding it and making it feel better. When the boy asks nicely for help getting to his home in the village, Zachary agrees.Along the way, they run into a cranky stag and a pretty woman who dreams of meeting a prince. A party in the cemetery isn’t the proper place to take a boy, but zombies aren’t always proper and one of the worst things about villagers is that they always seem to have a supply of pitchforks and torches.Will the boy make it home? Will Zachary give in to the craving for brainsss?Caution: This story is not for normal children. If you have any intention of raising a well adjusted child, this is not the right tale for you.

The Flight


Caleb Cleek - 2015
    Time is short as they fear he will settle his grudge by adding their families to the mounting number of bodies left in the wake of his destruction.Meanwhile, Connor’s brother, Zeke, faces his own obstacles as he attempts to escape Atlanta before the virus unleashed in the Chinese bio-attack infects the entire population, turning people into ravenous, infected monsters.The brothers face overwhelming odds as they fight to protect the people they care for and do the right thing in the face of crumbling humanity. Will Connor and Matt find their families and will Zeke make it across the country to reunite with his brother? Or will they be added to the mounting casualties piling up at the feet of ruthless outlaws and the infected?

Will Allen and the Great Monster Detective (The Chronicles of the Monster Detective Agency)


Jason Edwards - 2007
    But cleverness alone isn't enough to help him when monsters infest his room! Together with his friend Jeannine Fitsimmons, Will searches fruitlessly for help, until a strange business card appears, instructing them how to summon Bigelow Hawkins, the Great Monster Detective. With Bigelow's help, along with the use of his very special monster-fighting instruments, the RevealeR and the MonsterScope, Will must learn how to conquer his monsters and reveal the secret of the dreaded HIDDEN BEAST before it's too late...

Secret of Her Own


Shawn McGuire - 2020
    The only foreseeable problem is insuring they applied enough sunscreen to their pasty-white Wisconsinite skin. This is Jayne O’Shea’s plan for her Hawaiian vacation. The one thing, the biggest thing that wasn’t on her agenda was solving any kind of crime. Which means she shouldn’t have told the woman across the street she was a small-town sheriff in her real life. Gemi Kittredge is the top-ranked women’s bantamweight MMA fighter on the island. She’s capable of taking down a man twice her size in under thirty seconds. When Gemi begs for her help, how can Jayne possibly say no?

The Island in the Mist


C.G. Mosley - 2012
     Angus assembles a team to accompany him to the island but keeps the details to himself. After tricking a paleontologist and his girlfriend to join them on the expedition, things begin to spiral wildly out of control. The secret hidden on the The Island In The Mist has kept the prehistoric beasts from extinction. Man will not be able to claim it without a fight!

The Modeen Factor


Frank H. Jordan - 2014
    When she is contacted by her old CO, she knows it’s not a social call. Victoria Cross recipient Ben Logan doesn’t ‘do’ social calls, at least not to the members of his old squad now living in the ‘real’ world.Hearing from Ben means a mission, no exceptions.When he asks, ‘You in, JD?’ she replies without hesitation, ‘You bet, Ben,’ not realising what’s about to eventuate from those words.Or how her own civilian life will be caught in the ripples….