Book picks similar to
Lotus Petals by Gina Drayer


fantasy
paranormal
romance
shhhh-guilty-pleasures

The Healer


C.J. Anaya - 2013
    Keeping a secret like that isn’t easy, but a small town is the perfect place for her to heal those who can’t heal themselves, and an even better place for her father, James Fairmont, to hide his daughter from the rest of the world. Life takes an unexpected turn when two handsome strangers move into town and begin unearthing other secrets concerning Hope's future and past, revealing to Hope that her gift for healing may be the fulfillment of an ancient, Japanese prophecy gone wrong. Staying away from these mysterious newcomers would be the smart thing to do, but Victor's gentle, easy manner, and Tie's mixed signals and strange mood swings draw her hopelessly closer to revealing the secret she and her father have been so desperate to hide. Hope's life is complicated further with visions of a previous life and the arrival of a supernatural demon sent to assassinate her before she learns what she is truly capable of. With the support of her father, the fiery loyalty of her best friend Angie, and the child-like love of Kirby, a ten-year-old patient, Hope must fight against the forces of a relentless demon god while unwinding the tangled pieces of her past, proving to herself and those she loves that destiny isn’t determined by some cosmic reading of the stars, but by the individual choices one makes.

Pale Queen Rising


A.R. Kahler - 2015
    When the queen commands her to kill, Claire does the job and doesn’t ask questions. Her deadly skills and loyalty are soon tested when Claire is sent to the Immortal Circus, one of the many places where “Dream” is harvested from the imaginings of mortals. There she must find the culprit who is causing Dream to mysteriously disappear before the Winter Kingdom’s supply is depleted enough to threaten its very survival. But when she meets Roxie, a beautiful mortal singer with a strange link to the Dream thieves, Claire quickly recognizes an odd and unexplained connection that may cloud her judgment. As each new clue unveils another secret, Claire finds herself confronting the riddle of her own buried past—and a dangerous illusion that, as part of the Immortal Circus, is just another act in the show.

Smoke Rising


Craig Halloran - 2015
    The unexpected begins ... Agent Sidney Shaw is one of the FBI’s finest. Tough as nails with a calculating mind, she thought she was ready for anything. Enter John Smoke. His spirited arrest methods landed him hard time in prison. The decorated veteran, now branded an ex-con, just wants to serve his time in peace. The powers that be have other plans. When Sidney is assigned to be Smoke’s handler, both of their lives are turned upside down. She plays by the rules. He trusts his instincts. Fighting to control him, she finds herself chasing him down a secret, dark, supernatural path where a vast criminal network rears its head in the heart of Washington, D.C.

The Discovery


K.C. Neal - 2011
    Things take a strange turn when she uses her late grandmother’s food dyes for a bake sale, and her customers suddenly find her irresistibly alluring. Then she discovers she and Mason are haunted by the same dreams of a dark force that consumes everything in its path. Pursued by shadowy figures and a crazy woman with secrets from the past, Corinne must find out who her grandmother really was. In her quest to unravel her family’s history, she learns she is destined to protect this world--and the dark world of her dreams. She races to find the answers she seeks before her nightmares break free.

Gods and Monsters Box Set 1


Quinn Blackbird - 2020
    “I could kill you a thousand different ways where you sit.”The nail cut deeper. Blood beaded, then spilled down my front, over my breasts. I choked on a whimper.“Now tell me everything.”1. Prince PoisonFew knew Valissa's secret but it already carried a death toll. One.If the Gods ever discovered what she was, they would capture and flay her alive.But in the land of Gods and Monsters, no secret stays hidden for long.Lissa—drunk on the high of a midnight party that's rife with mysterious pirates—gets too close to one of the pirates, who turns out to have secrets of his own.Jasper is no pirate. He is a servant of the Gods. And the moment she touches him, she steals his power.He kidnaps Lissa, and he's taking her to one of the most brutal Gods in all the lands ... He's taking her to Prince Poison.Prince Poison's mere touch kills and his cruelty is said to stretch beyond even the darkest pits of Lissa's soul. But when she's standing in front of this fearsome God, ready to face her gruesome fate, the Prince might see more in her than she ever thought possible.2. CaptiveValissa is an abomination among Gods and Monsters.She's cursed with the unexplained ability to steal power from the children of the Gods. It's a curse worthy of death, but her fate is much worse than that.Prince Poison, the cruelest of them all, keeps her captive in the stardust palace, where she's forced to train her abilities into something that terrifies her, while evading the malicious interest of those around her.What's worse than holding the interest of a God whose touch kills and whose lips enchant?Becoming his captive...3. PhantomValissa’s death toll is on the rise:One—before she was stolen away to the cruel Prince Poison. Seven—under the Prince’s malicious watch.The worst part? Valissa just doesn’t care anymore, not about the lives of those she doesn’t know when her own life is falling apart all around her.Ava’s not speaking to her. Jasper pushes her in training to the point of exhaustion. And though Valissa does everything he wants, the Prince grows distant.Valissa finds the closest thing to a friend in the mysteriously dark stranger who haunts her in the stardust palace. Damianos; a God or aniel she most definitely knows better than to trust.In the Land of Gods, is it really ‘better the devil you know’? And what about when the devil you don’t know is just so damn intoxicating?What’s worse than being the prisoner of a God?Abandoning all hopes of freedom.This is Box Set 1 of 2. It includes the first three books in the Gods and Monsters 6-book series.Box Set 2 is available for preorder, release date: January 2020.Disclaimer: Please read content warnings.

Beyond the Veil


Pippa DaCosta - 2014
    Her real name is Muse, she's half demon, and her attempt at a normal life is about to go up in smoke. When an assassin walks into her life, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Muse must return to the one man she hoped never to see again and ask for help. The Prince of Greed isn’t known for his charity. His price is high, and the cost could tear her apart. Trapped between the malevolent intentions of a Prince of Hell and an assassin with ulterior motives, Muse must embrace the lure of chaos at her core—the demon inside her—in order to survive.

Keeper


Ingrid Seymour - 2014
    And she’s sort of right, except about being ordinary…oh…and human. She also won’t be full around the hips for very long, not with the inevitable metamorphosis coming her way. In her oblivious existence, all she can think about is going to culinary school, away from her uncaring, bordering-on-hateful parents. But all that is about to change when Greg—an otherworldly, amazing-looking guy—saves her from an unexpected magical attempt on her life and informs her that he is her Keeper, compelled to protect her even at the cost of his own life. Oh, and by the way, that she isn’t human, after all. The attempts on her life become commonplace and secrets and threats from a dark, forgotten past reveal themselves and send her life into turmoil. As Samantha tries to come to terms with this new reality, she must rediscover herself and face the possibility of being the key to the survival of a dying race.

Shattered Blue


Lauren Bird Horowitz - 2015
    From the start, sixteen-year-old Noa senses that the mysterious transfer student to her Monterey boarding school is different. Callum unnerves and intrigues her, and even as she struggles through family tragedy, she’s irresistibly drawn to him. Soon they are bound by his deepest secret: Callum is Fae, banished from another world after a loss hauntingly similar to her own.But in Noa’s world, Callum needs a special human energy, Light, to survive; his body steals it through touch—or a kiss. And Callum’s not the only Fae on the hunt. When Callum is taken, Noa must decide: Will she sacrifice everything to save him? Even if it means learning their love may not be what she thought?

Deceived


L.A. Starkey - 2014
    But what if you had two soul mates, which would you choose? What if your choices had eternal ramification?Deceived, the debut novel in the Soul Keeper Series, is a modern day love story about the implications of having more than one soul mate, and having to choose between the two of them. The decisions of the gods has left the next generation, their heirs, torn between fate and reality, and the balance of the future hangs in anticipation of what's to come.

Moonlit (Moonlit #1)


Jadie Jones - 2013
    She also knows not to venture beyond the trees that line the pasture. Things happen out there that can't be explained. Or undone. Worse, no one but she and the horses can see what lurks in the shadows of the woods.When a moonlit ride turns into a terrifying chase, Tanzy is left to question everything, from the freak accident that killed her father to the very blood in her veins. Broken and confused, she turns to Lucas, a scarred, beautiful stranger, and to Vanessa, a charming new friend who has everything Tanzy doesn't.But why do they seem to know more about her than she knows herself?

The Wolf's Shadow


Cecilia Dominic - 2013
    At the next full moon, the real trouble begins…Epidemiologist Joanie Fisher can’t catch a break. After her lab burns to the ground, her boss simultaneously fires her and ends their affair. And though she’s inherited her grandfather’s multimillion-dollar estate, Joanie’s shocked to discover the property comes infested with werewolves.Confronted by a ruggedly handsome shifter who begs her to continue her cutting edge research into the wolves’ physical changes, Joanie unearths a sinister conspiracy that puts her own life in danger. And as she pushes hard to find the cure, shadowy figures will do anything to make sure she never develops a treatment… including resorting to murder.Can Joanie end the wolfish disease before she’s next on a killer’s list?The Wolf’s Shadow is the first book in the pulse-pounding Lycanthropy Files urban fantasy series. If you like strong female characters, insidious cabals, and medical thriller-style storytelling, then you’ll love Cecilia Dominic’s hair-raising genre mashup.***This book was originally titled The Mountain's Shadow and was first published by Samhain Publishing in October 2013***

Divine and Dateless


Tara West - 2014
    Bad girls go all the way... What can be worse than electrocuting yourself while getting ready for your Internet date? Realizing the hot stud you’ve been fondling is the Grim Reaper? Being chased by a sex-crazed bloated, naked corpse? How about an eternity of more bad hair days and horrific dates? Or lusting after the one guy in all the afterlife whose hydrophobia rivals his fear of commitment? Yeah, that’s a whole lot worse.

Level One


Adam Drake - 2017
     Robert was content with his life as a night-shift janitor. No stress, no worries, and no responsibilities. But this idyllic existence is turned upside down when he suddenly finds himself trapped inside a fantasy Role Playing Game. Confused and alone he must find a way to escape back to his own world and, more importantly, to his daughter. But to do that he must take up the biggest responsibility of all: To rule a kingdom. The Kingdom Series:

Legacy


Michelle Dorey - 2017
    She’s flitted like a butterfly from one college program to another. The only thing she’s ever finished has been the last call at dance clubs. Everything changes in a New York minute when her parents decide it’s time for tough love and cut her off. No more credit cards, no more cash allowance and OMG they cancelled her apartment’s lease. On top of all that, she’s banished to her grandmother’s. A grandmother she never knew existed. Her grandmother is batty as hell—Pamela York lives in an antiquated manor, dresses for dinner like she’s the Queen of England and makes crazy talk about ghosts. Ghosts? As. If. Keira’s about to learn a few things. Haunted houses do exist and she’s living in one. Pamela isn’t psychotic; she’s a powerful psychic whose lifework has been assisting reluctant spirits pass through The Veil to a higher plane. When Keira discovers she has a lot more in common with the old woman than she ever imagined, her real education begins. But it’s not just reluctant spirits Pamela has had to contend with. There also exist malevolent forces; paranormal entities that crave the chaos of a Veil torn asunder. Keira finds out not only are ghosts real— so are demons. Uh oh. A supernatural thriller with danger and magic.

Taken


Victoria DeLuis - 2017
    The question is, who pays? I’m Summer Daniels. Friend. Foe. Witch.It was never going to be a simple day: visiting my childhood home and finding the murderer of a house fairy. Whose master happens to be a heartless goblin... Yet, as it turns out, the goblin is the least of my problems.A lover endangered. A friend betrayed. A memory taken. The cards are stacked against me but hell hath no fury like an angry Witch.I’m Summer Daniels and my life is about to change. Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed will love this modern take on witchcraft and Welsh mythology.