Book picks similar to
Water Rites by J.R. Pearse Nelson


fantasy
mermaids
1st-book-in-series
romance-paranormal

Blades of Magic


Terah Edun - 2014
    War is raging between the mages and seventeen-year-old Sara Fairchild will be right in the middle of it.She just doesn't know it yet.Sara is the daughter of a disgraced imperial commander, executed for desertion. Sara is also the best duelist and hand-to-hand combatant in Sandrin. She lives quietly with her family’s shame but when challenged about her family’s honor, her opponent inevitably loses.On the night she finds out her father’s true last actions, she takes the Mercenary Guilds’ vows to serve in the emperor’s army. Using her quick wits and fierce fighting skills, she earns a spot in the first division. There she discovers secrets the mages on both sides would prefer stay hidden. Dark enemies hunt her and soon it's not just Sara questioning the motivation behind this war.While fighting mages, blackmailing merchants and discovering new friends, Sara comes across something she’s never had before - passion. The question is - can she fight for her empress against a mage who might unwittingly claim her heart?This is year one of the Initiate Wars. Sara is hoping it doesn't become the year she dies.

The Homecoming Masquerade


Spencer Baum - 2012
    Show up to Homecoming in a black dress and you’ve entered yourself in a contest where the winner lives forever, and the loser becomes the winner’s first meal.Only the wealthiest, most connected students can hope to win, so when new girl Nicky Bloom wears a black dress to Homecoming, everyone assumes she has a death wish. They don’t know that Nicky has her own agenda. As the dance continues into the night, they will find out that Nicky Bloom is far more than she seems.

Bound by a Dragon


Linda K. Hopkins - 2014
    Keira is content in her small, medieval village - well, sort of. Her mother is pressing her to marry, but her suitors are less than desirable. So when handsome Aaron Drake arrives in the village and focuses his attention on Keira, she cannot help but be interested. But Aaron is not the only new arrival in the area - a fire-breathing dragon has also taken up residence in the mountains, not far from the remote alpine castle that Aaron calls home. What exactly is the connection between Aaron Drake and the dragon? Why is his arrival coincident with the arrival of a beast? And when the dragon rescues her from the unwanted attentions of some village boys, who will set out to rescue her from the huge, scaly, fire-breathing monster? Bound by a Dragon sweeps the reader far from the modern world into a world of castles, medieval markets and fantastical romance.

Tides of Time


Luna Joya - 2019
    Or at least as normal as a life in a family of witches can be. She can’t tell her sisters about her violent ex. Or that she broke the first rule of magic to “harm none.” When her youngest sister asks for help unraveling the death of a 1930’s star abused by those she loved, Cami can’t say no. A reformed bad boy who doesn’t know his own family’s secrets…Sam lives for his restaurant and coveted screenplay expertise of Hollywood history. He avoids the entanglements of relationships since even his own parents didn’t want him. But when the enchanting Cami needs his help to crack an unsolved mystery, he can’t resist. The closer they come to finding a killer, the more they crave each other. But someone is determined to stop them.Can they solve the mystery before history repeats itself?

Rae of Hope


W.J. May - 2011
    Her mother and father died when she was young and it is only when she accepts a scholarship to the prestigious Guilder Boarding School in England that a mysterious family secret is revealed. Will the sins of the father be the sins of the daughter? As Rae struggles with new friends, a new school and a star-struck forbidden love, she must also face the ultimate challenge: receive a tattoo on her sixteenth birthday with specific powers that may bind her to an unspeakable darkness. It's up to Rae to undo the dark evil in her family's past and have a ray of hope for her future.

The Black Parade


Kyoko M. - 2013
    21. New Yorker. Waitress. Mild alcoholic. Murderer.Two years ago, Jordan accidentally shot and killed a Seer: a person who can see, hear, and talk to ghosts with unfinished business. Her crime came with a hefty price, too. She has two years to help a hundred souls cross over to the afterlife or her soul is bound for hell. Tough break. As if that weren’t bad enough, two days before her deadline a handsome pain-in-the-ass poltergeist named Michael strolls into her life. His soul is the key to her salvation, but the cost just might be more than she can handle. Solving his death puts her right in the crosshairs of Belial: a vain, bloodthirsty archdemon who won’t rest until she’s his slave. Can she rescue Michael and save her own soul, or will they both be dragged down into the clutches of the eternal black parade?

Death Trace


Zoe Cannon - 2020
    Five years since the god Hades dragged her from the underworld and forged her, through blood and pain, into his living weapon. And in five minutes, the only other agent of Hades she trusts will die.Someone is assassinating Hades’s agents all over New York City. If Mal can’t find the one responsible, she’ll be next—if she’s lucky. If not, she’ll watch everything she cares about go up in flames first.Mal didn’t choose this life. But now it’s all she has. And she’ll be damned if she lets anyone—human or god—take what is hers.

Stranger


Heather C. Myers - 2012
    A peculiar one. By the time she gets to the Academy for Peculiars, she's already killed a man. From there, she learns that the superhuman strength she was born with and abandoned because of means she's a peculiar - a human with abnormal DNA - yet that same strength alienates her from her peculiar peers because of its rarity. As she settles into her new home, she makes friends with her dorm mates, stresses out about catching up with schoolwork, and starts dating one of the most popular guys at the academy. Normalcy is what Sophie wants more than anything, but she can't change the fact that she's different, even among peculiars. She starts falling for her infuriating trainer, a rugged shifter named Will, despite the fact that it's forbidden. When she finds out there's only one other man with her physical strength, she yearns to learn more about him - yet he's someone everyone refuses to discuss. She starts to realize that being a peculiar means more than just being strong, and that just she shares her ability with her mysterious counterpart, it doesn't mean he isn't a threat.

Seeker’s World


K.A. Riley - 2019
    Prove yourself worthy, and you may just save the world.”
 On her seventeenth birthday, Vega Sloane receives a strange and puzzling gift: a key in the shape of a dragon’s head, along with a note that claims she’s destined for greatness. When the handsome and mysterious Callum Drake enters her life, she finds herself inextricably drawn to him, and more questions begin to arise. Who is the boy beyond the exquisite façade and charming smile? Is he an ally, or the very enemy she needs to fight off? Vega soon discovers that she’s being recruited to attend a magical Academy in a world beyond her own—a school where those known as the Blood-Born train and compete to see who comes out on top. The only problem? Everyone seems to want her dead.

Runes


Ednah Walters - 2013
    The last thing she needs is Torin St. James—a mysterious new neighbor with a wicked smile and uncanny way of reading her. Raine is drawn to Torin’s dark sexiness against her better judgment, until he saves her life with weird marks and she realizes he is different. But by healing her, Torin changes something inside Raine. Now she can’t stop thinking about him. Half the time, she’s not sure whether to fall into his arms or run. Scared, she sets out to find out what Torin is. But the closer she gets to the truth the more she uncovers something sinister about Torin. What Torin is goes back to an ancient mythology and Raine is somehow part of it. Not only are she and her friends in danger, she must choose a side, but the wrong choice will cost Raine her life

Mutts Like Me


Keri Armstrong - 2017
    Unfortunately, with my mother dead, my grandmother drunk most of the time, and my dad... well, who knew who he was, much less where he'd disappeared to. No brothers, sisters, or cousins that I knew of. Until now. I just found out there's a whole other world out there that I'm a part of, thanks to my dad. Who it turns out is a freakin' werewolf. And still missing, by the way. But now it seems I might be able to track him down - if I can just survive long enough to learn the truth about what happened to him, and somehow resist the pull of the silver-eyed fox who kidnapped me. Happy flippin' holidays to me. Mutts Like Me. The stand alone first in a series set in the world of The Awakening, where every supernatural creature you ever heard of is not only real, they're coming out of the closet and into the streets.

How to Date an Alien


Magan Vernon - 2011
    But Circe isn't your typical military base. It's an alien-run operation center and not all of the aliens are friendly, especially the one that tries to kill Alex on her first day. When Ace, a dark-eyed Caltian, enters and saves the day, she can't help but be drawn to him. Can these star-crossed lovers survive when they're on the brink of intergalactic war?

Lost Secret


Emily Reed - 2019
    She’s dead. After months of fighting, Megan finally...I hadn’t felt it though. Wouldn’t I know if the only person I ever loved—I stumbled out of bed, tangling in my blankets, then raced to her room. Empty. The sheets were folded aside. She must be close. I moved down the hall toward our shared bathroom. The door stood open, but Megan wasn’t there. Backtracking, I checked the living room with its slouchy couches, and the kitchen with its worn countertops. No Megan. I pushed through the French doors out onto our balcony. The music district of Crescent City, a night owl’s paradise, lay still in the soft morning light. Megan’s flowers overflowed their boxes, spilling riotous colors down the wrought iron rail. I stood alone, a gentle breeze lifted a lock of my hair, and tears stung my eyes. Megan was gone.The police assumed she left of her own free will—there was no evidence of a break-in or struggle. "Maybe she was done fighting and couldn't tell you," the detective said, his brown eyes sympathetic."You didn't know her, she would never give up.""Often when people go missing, the loved ones they leave behind come to realize," he paused and took a breath, "that they didn't know them as well as they thought. Everyone has secrets, Darling," his voice drawled over my name. "Megan could barely walk," I ground out. "Somebody must have taken her.""But who would kidnap a dying young woman? How did they leave no evidence? Why didn't you hear them?" He asked. I didn't have any answers.It didn’t make sense. Nothing did anymore. Strange, exhilarating dreams began haunting my nights. A new hunger, an unquenchable thirst that felt almost…dangerous...ruled my days.Scared and alone, I couldn’t imagine the dark secrets my hunger hid. They’d been lost for so long—locked away, buried by time, and twisted by whispered lies—but when Megan was stolen everything began to unravel… Before it did, before I saw the dead rise, witnessed vampires feed, or visited the warlocks’ library, before I held a life at the edge of my lips, I was just Darling Price—a musician like so many others in this vibrant city. I struggled to pay bills, practiced with my band, and grieved for my missing sister. I was innocent and naive.I’d barely even been kissed. **Beware: This series is for adults who enjoy steamy paranormal romance with strong urban fantasy vibes and who don't mind a few f-bombs.**

Awakened


Brenda K. Davies - 2012
    Traumatized by her past, and struggling to move on from it, Sera has spent the past three years of college hiding herself from the world and content to stay that way. A chance encounter with Liam shatters her sheltered world, leaving her stunned and shaken by the strange feelings and emotions he arises in her, feelings she never thought she would experience and that frighten her in their intensity. Harboring a dark and deadly secret of his own, Liam knows that he should stay away from Sera; that he will only bring her more hurt, but he is irresistibly drawn to her and unable to deny himself the pleasure that only she can bring to him. But when their pasts collide with their present, and Liam’s true nature is revealed, will their love for each other be enough, or will they be torn apart forever? Mature readers 18+ Cover art by www.EbookLaunch.com

Barren (Barren Trilogy #1)


G.P. Burdon - 2016
    However, they never reach it, instead crash landing on a barren and hostile planet that no human was ever meant to survive on. With no water, and no hope, they must find a way to keep the human race alive in the wastelands of Icarus. Mackenzie Miller leaves behind the only life she knows to join the Diviners in their search for water, wandering directly into the greatest dangers Icarus can offer. There’s more to worry about on Icarus than just dehydration. When Mackenzie learns what truly lurks in the deserts, dying of thirst is the least of her concerns.