Book picks similar to
Dark Ever After by M. Merin


post-apocalyptic
great-heroines
contemporary
kids

The Good, the Bad, and the Undead


Bonnie Gill - 2020
    Zombies are here. Will Raven and her misfit friends survive?Raven Murphy is a prepper, but not for the same reason most other folks do it. She’s the reason her ex-boyfriend went to jail. If he ever gets out, she’ll need to grab her sister and head off grid. In the meantime, she’s a top-notch auto mechanic with an entire arsenal of her much loved firearms in the closet of her trailer. She’s ready to go to war with the ex if she ever needs to. The people in her trailer park in Fox Lake are a unique community. A little quirky, and some are downright weird, but for Raven, they’re family. But when a plague hits the country, victims of a creepy virus, are headed toward them, Raven teams up with pals, including a couple of ex-Army guys, to protect her neighbors. Whatever’s coming, the good, the bad, or the undead, Raven and her gun-shooting, bomb-making, booby-trap-setting team aren’t going down without a fight.

Escape From Armageddon


Darrell Maloney - 2013
    His beloved Hannah is a beautiful scientist. Pragmatic, intelligent and analytical, she longs for the family she never had, and a change from her horrific childhood. Mark offers that change, and her life is finally complete.Then Hannah discovers that mankind is doomed. Suddenly their lives become a mad scramble, to find a way to save themselves and everyone they love.

It Hit The Fan: Piney River Apocalypse


John Sullins - 2019
    When a Missouri school teacher is fired from his job, he heads to a small river to get away from his problems and the virus. It might be the best decision he ever made.

Girl Under Glass


Monica Enderle Pierce - 2012
    Rachel Pryne, a trained medic, is struggling to protect her seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, from the sexual predation of their penal colony’s leader. Having fathered the girl by rape, he now intends to take her on her eighth birthday, only six weeks away. Then Rachel finds her unlikely champion - an injured Ohnenrai soldier who appears in her yard one stormy evening. She knows she may be choosing death over the devil in trusting this warrior, but she doesn’t know that her trust, and her DNA, will make her one of the most important and endangered people to ever set foot aboard an Ohnenrai starship. *** Equal parts science fiction, suspense, and romance, Girl Under Glass moves from a post-apocalyptic wilderness in the American Pacific Northwest to a high-tech world aboard an alien starship furnished with all the stolen comforts of Earth. Readers meet Rachel Pryne, whose parents' lifelong and life-ending connection to the Ohnenrai has set her upon a path she never wanted to travel. And they're introduced to Ehtishem, an Ohnenrai soldier who exists to save his dying people, but who faces enemies from within and without his own military. The only possible solution to the Ohnenrai’s extinction lies within Rachel, but all she wants to do is protect her daughter and see Earth’s alien conquerors go straight to hell.

Into the Flames


Liz Bradford - 2021
    Conflicting evidence puts him at odds with others on his team—especially the newest team member, his brother’s ex-girlfriend, Jacq Sheppard. As the case heats up, so does Dylan’s affection for Jacq. She's independent, adventurous, spunky. All the qualities he could hope for. But exactly the ones that his mother opposes. Living up to her standards is hard enough, especially in his brother's shadow, but tying his life to Jacq means existing as a disappointment to his mom forever. Sparks fly and disastrous choices are made as Jacq and Dylan fight to save the vulnerable girl from human trafficking. When the situation explodes, Dylan must douse his fears and go into the flames.You aren't going to want to miss this novel, the first in a four book (plus a prequel) series!

Anarchy (Deathstalkers MC Book 10)


Alexis Noelle - 2018
    Naive. And completely clueless. Mary is everything I shouldn't want. I like them fun, crazy, ready & willing. She’s pure, innocent, and fears us all. But there's something there, Something brewing... We all know the truth, A secret that could destroy her, A fact that she's got a damn right to know. But when she does, The sweet little thing just might be ready for a crazy ride, A ride with me, on the wild side a life, A ride that will damn near start an all-out war, Anarchy all over again.

The McClane Apocalypse, Book 1


Kate Morris - 2014
    It takes slightly longer than that but not by much. Research projects, Gross Anatomy class, tests and fancy coffee drinks will cease to be important. The fight for her life will become the only thing that matters.”Reagan McClane is a prodigy med school student on the brink of a brilliant career, but the United States and the rest of the world are headed towards total economic and social collapse. And it doesn’t take more than a few hours for mass crime, looting and pillaging to spread across the country like a plague. A brutal attack at her university leads to a fight for her life before Reagan barely makes it home to the safety of her awaiting grandparents and sisters on their family farm in Tennessee. Three sexy Army Rangers, one of whom is married to Reagan’s eldest sister, will join the McClane family to build their farm into an impenetrable fortress that they will fight to keep, no matter the cost. Reagan will find that defending her hardened, scarred heart against ever letting anyone in again will prove even more difficult than survival as one Ranger in particular tries to invade it.The McClane Apocalypse is a story of love, survival and the importance of family during the worst of times imaginable.

Sudden Chaos


T.L. Payne - 2019
    A desperate race. So much at stake. Erick Wynn is about to be a new father. He and his wife, Amy, have prepared for nationwide financial collapse, but they never planned for coordinated EMP and Cyber Attacks to leave them separated, without power, communications or transportation. Erick had just arrived at the airport to head off on a business trip when the lights went out. Now, he must fight his way through the violent streets of Chicago to make it home to his wife and unborn child before the violence reaches them. Could you survive sudden chaos storming through the windy city to get home to your family? Sudden Chaos is a post-apocalyptic EMP survival short story of The Days of Want Series and contains a FREE two-chapter preview of Turbulent, book one in the series.

The First 30 Days


Lora Powell - 2019
    It was out in the open, that word that I had been avoiding for days. Now that it was out, there was no putting it back.” No one saw it coming. No one could have guessed that the vaccine that was supposed to save lives would take them instead. Once the death toll started to climb, it took less than a day for the world to change forever. When Bri's roommate suddenly develops a taste for cannibalism, she finds herself trapped in her upstairs bathroom, unable to comprehend the horrors that she sees through the small window. That limited view of the outside world doesn't begin to show Bri just how much danger she's going to be in when she finally escapes her home. Running for her life, Bri won't be alone for long. With the help of a bat-wielding stranger, she barely escapes the overrun city. Together, they just might survive long enough to find a safe haven. The zombie apocalypse is a strange time to be alive. The dead walk and eat the living, but they're not the most dangerous thing this new world has to offer. There are other survivors out there. And not all of them can be trusted.

Escape With Me: A Midlife Love Story (Love With Me Book 1)


Krista Lakes - 2020
    I’d give it all up again for you.” They say life begins after 40, but Cassie ain’t feelin’ it. Divorced and feeling trapped by her job, she wants to let loose for her friend’s tropical beach wedding. She decides to let her hair down and get a little unpredictable. That’s when she meets a handsome bartender, Wyatt. Despite a few grey hairs, Wyatt’s the liveliest man that Cassie has ever met. She knows that there’s got to be more to his life story than just being a bartender, but this is just supposed to be a vacation fling. And after sunny days spent breaking all the rules on the beach together, Cassie realizes that nobody has ever listened to her the way that Wyatt does. His carefree life is enviable, his kisses are intoxicating, and she can almost imagine a life with him. But all vacations come to an end. And when Cassie invites him to visit her hometown, Wyatt reveals that he can never go back. Not to her town. Not to America. Not to civilization. Cassie leaves, confused and heartbroken, wondering just who she got herself involved with. Suddenly, her predictable life gets turned upside down when she sees her picture splashed across the Internet. And when the tabloids come looking for the mature woman who found the lost billionaire, she has no idea what to do… …until he comes back.

I'm With You


Bijou Hunter - 2020
    The only problem is she’s the bastard daughter of the club president the Reapers pushed out of Shasta leadership months earlier. Romancing her will stir up a whole lot of hurt feelings and dueling loyalties. Shane, though, refuses to be denied.I’m With You contains graphic sexual content, violent situations, harsh language, and drug use. The book is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+. Trigger warning topics: depression and suicide.

The Spider Queen


Emma Slate - 2017
    Girl starts hearing a voice in her head. Girl winds up in a mental institution. Okay, maybe you don’t know the story. I meet the perfect guy and fall in love. But then I start to hear someone else’s voice in my mind and think I’m going crazy. Not good. Turns out, the voice belongs to Thane. Okay, hold on— Who’s Thane? Thane is a super hot, shape-shifting immortal who’s stuck in a magical prison, and apparently I’m the only one who can free him. Bonus, if I don’t free him, mankind is doomed and Earth will fall into darkness. Did I mention Thane is supposedly my fated mate? My new boyfriend isn’t gonna like that. Humanity’s future is in the hands of one nerdy college girl. This is so not third date material. --- Please Note: This book was originally a multi-part work with the following titles: Web of Innocence, Web of Deception, and Web of Shadows. All three books have been combined, and have now been re-released as The Spider Queen.

Desperate for You


Weston Parker - 2020
    The last thing I need is to be falling in love with him.Him of ALL people. Ugh.There has to be more than meets the eye. And the eye is very, very happy.This single-father lawyer is willing to save my career and what does he want in return?Me. Nothing much, right?It would be easier to stay frenemies with this handsome hunk, but I find myself in the one place I hoped I’d never be.Desperate for him.

Stray Magic


Jenny Schwartz - 2019
    Survival becomes the only game in town, and college girl, Amy Carlton, learns she’s a more ruthless player than she ever imagined. Magistrate Istvan signed up for the Faerene Migration knowing that the price of Earth’s future would be paid for in hellfire and blood. But the black griffin hadn’t anticipated humans accessing magic. Now, a new and impossible bond must be forged between a Faerene invader and a human familiar. But first Istvan and Amy must survive to form the bond. *Note: “Faerene” refers to the many peoples of another world: the griffins, dragons, unicorns, werewolves, elves and ogres who've crossed to Earth. No prepper or survivalist could have been prepared for their arrival.

After the Virus


Simon Archer - 2020
    Sure, he’s an engineer who served his country, but, well, when the virus hit, he soon finds himself alone in a nearly empty world.And that’s the key. Nearly empty.And there’s no one left with the technical know-how to make the world run again.Well, no one but Henry.And for humanity to survive, he will have to rebuild society out of the motliest crew of survivors the world has ever seen.It might be impossible, but at the same time, Henry has always loved a challenge.