Book picks similar to
The Queen's Librarian by Carole Cummings
fantasy
m-m
mm
magic
The Fire's Stone
Tanya Huff - 1990
Clan Heir, he has fled his people when his beloved was slain by his own father's command, abandoning his training, duty and beliefs to become a thief. A master of his trade, he now dared the odds in Ischia, city of the volcano, where the price of being caught was death.DARVISH. Prince of Ischia, third son of a king who had no intention of giving up his throne. The prince was a drunkard, a lover, and a wastrel, yet was gifted with sword skills and with the ability to charm all around him. But not even his charm could free him from the political marriage now being planned.CHANDRA. Born a princess, she had chosen to become a Wizard of the Nine, that rarest of beings, able to master all the forms that sorcery could take. Now, promised as Darvish's bride, she undertook a desperate journey to Ischia to convince him they must not wed.Aaron, Darvish, Chandra—three strangers whose fates were about to become interwined. For someone had stolen The Stone, the magical talisman which stood between Ischia and the volcano's wrath. And unless the three could learn to work together on a quest to find the Stone, Ischia would drown in a sea of lava.
A Companion to Wolves
Sarah Monette - 2007
Isolfr is deeply drawn to the wolves, and though as his father's heir he can refuse the call, he chooses to go. The people of this wintry land depend on the wolfcarls to protect them from the threat of trolls and wyverns, though the supernatural creatures have not come in force for many years. Men are growing too confident. The wolfhealls are small, and the lords give them less respect than in former years. But the winter of Isolfr's bonding, the trolls come down from the north in far greater numbers than before, and the holding's complaisance gives way to terror in the dark. Isolfr, now bonded to a queen wolf, Viradechtis, must learn where his honor lies, and discover the lengths to which he will to go when it, and love for his wolf, drive him.
Consorting With Dragons
Sera Trevor - 2014
Or rather, his father has the problem, but since he's gambled away everything that was rightfully Jasen's, it's become his problem, too. With no money and no skills to earn a living, his best bet for getting away from his father is to present himself for marriage at Court in the Draelands, the kingdom at the center of the Allied Realms. Jasen's courtly manners aren't the most refined (to say the least), but he hopes he's still capable of attracting at least a minor lord.He isn't looking to cause a scandal, but that's exactly what happens when he immediately attracts the attention of both a powerful dragon and King Rilvor himself. The King serves as the mystical link between the magic of the dragons and humankind; since the death of his wife two years before, magic in the Allied Realms has suffered. He must take a spouse this year, and the fight for his favor has gotten downright vicious.No one, including Jasen himself, thinks he's a proper match for the king. But the growing affection between them can't be denied. Jasen loves Rilvor, but he's petrified about becoming lord consort to a king. Unfortunately, the two can't be separated, and Jasen must decide if true love is worth all the trouble. Consorting With Dragons has been nominated for three awards at the M/M Romance Group's 2014 Member's Choice Awards:Best DebutBest FantasyBest Love's Landscapes StoryThis story was written as a part of the M/M Romance Group's "Love’s Landscapes" event. Group members were asked to write a story prompt inspired by a photo of their choice. Authors of the group selected a photo and prompt that spoke to them and wrote a short story. This story may contain sexually explicit content and is intended for adult readers. It may contain content that is disagreeable or distressing to some readers. The M/M Romance Group strongly recommends that each reader review the General Information section before each story for story tags as well as for content warnings.
Woke Up in a Strange Place
Eric Arvin - 2011
Before he knows it, he's off on the last great journey of his life. With his soul guide Baker and a charge to have courage from a mysterious, alluring, and somehow familiar Stranger, Joe sets off through a fantastical changing landscape to confront his past.The quest is not without challenges. Joe's past is not always an easy thing to relive, but if he wants to find peace—and reunite with the Stranger he is so strongly drawn to—he must continue on until the end, no matter how tempted he is to stop along the way.
Brute
Kim Fielding - 2012
He is seven and a half feet of ugly, and of disreputable descent. No one, including Brute, expects him to be more than a laborer. But heroes come in all shapes and sizes, and when he is maimed while rescuing a prince, Brute’s life changes abruptly. He is summoned to serve at the palace in Tellomer as a guard for a single prisoner. It sounds easy but turns out to be the challenge of his life. Rumors say the prisoner, Gray Leynham, is a witch and a traitor. What is certain is that he has spent years in misery: blind, chained, and rendered nearly mute by an extreme stutter. And he dreams of people’s deaths—dreams that come true. As Brute becomes accustomed to palace life and gets to know Gray, he discovers his own worth, first as a friend and a man and then as a lover. But Brute also learns heroes sometimes face difficult choices and that doing what is right can bring danger of its own.
The Adorned
John Tristan - 2013
With nowhere to turn after my father died, I tried my luck in the capital city. Little did I know how quickly I would be robbed, beaten and forced to sell myself into servitude. But I was lucky enough to gain the attention of Roberd Tallisk, an irascible but intriguing tattoo artist who offered to mark me with enchanted ink for the enjoyment of the nobles. I was given a chance to better my station in life, and I could not refuse.But the divine rulers want not only the art but the body that bears it. In their company I can rise above the dregs of society and experience a life most only dream of, at the cost of suffering their every desire as a pawn in games of lavish intrigue. Their attention is flattering, but I find I'd rather have Tallisk's. Caught between factions, I learn that a revolution is brewing, one that could ruin Kered—and Roberd and myself along with it…
A Marvellous Light
Freya Marske - 2021
Norrell in debut author Freya Marske’s A Marvellous Light, featuring an Edwardian England full of magic, contracts, and conspiracies.
Robin Blyth has more than enough bother in his life. He’s struggling to be a good older brother, a responsible employer, and the harried baronet of a seat gutted by his late parents’ excesses. When an administrative mistake sees him named the civil service liaison to a hidden magical society, he discovers what’s been operating beneath the unextraordinary reality he’s always known.Now Robin must contend with the beauty and danger of magic, an excruciating deadly curse, and the alarming visions of the future that come with it—not to mention Edwin Courcey, his cold and prickly counterpart in the magical bureaucracy, who clearly wishes Robin were anyone and anywhere else.Robin’s predecessor has disappeared, and the mystery of what happened to him reveals unsettling truths about the very oldest stories they’ve been told about the land they live on and what binds it. Thrown together and facing unexpected dangers, Robin and Edwin discover a plot that threatens every magician in the British Isles—and a secret that more than one person has already died to keep.
Spirit
John Inman - 2014
One wouldn’t think being saddled with his precocious four-year-old nephew for four weeks would be enough to throw him off-kilter. Wrong. Timmy, Jason’s nephew, is a true handful. But just when Timmy and Uncle Jason begin to bond, and Jason feels he’s getting a grip on this babysitting business once and for all, he’s thrown for a loop by a couple of visitors—one from Tucson, the other from beyond the grave. I’m sorry. Say what? Toss a murder, a hot young stud, an unexpected love affair, and a spooky-ass ghost with a weird sense of humor into Jason’s summer plans, and you’ve got the makings for one hell of a ride.
Marked by Death
Kaje Harper - 2020
The voices in his head are getting louder, weirder, and more numerous. But tattoos appearing on his skin say that there might be a magical reason, something other than his own brain going around the bend. He's worked up the nerve to ask the local necromancer for help. Now he just has to survive his encounter with tall, dark, and talks-to-ghosts.Necromancer Silas Thornwood doesn't appreciate being woken out of his bed by a stranger pounding on his door. But when that stranger turns out to be a half-frozen young man with an unexpected appeal, Silas can't turn him away. Even Grim, his cat-familiar, agrees— in a world of death and demons, protecting gorgeous, ghost-ridden Darien is Silas's next difficult job.
The Vanguard
T.A. Chase - 2008
His men fight not only for their country and Prince, but they fight for each other. Launioc’s King sends the army into war against Villious and their Queen. As his men die, Rathian’s heart breaks and he longs to find the one person to help him survive the war and the loss of his men.Stakel is a Queen’s Consort and is abandoned by his fellow Consorts during a battle with the Vanguard. Taken prisoner, he finds himself learning about the enemy he’d been taught to hate. Stakel has been forced to do things he hated and fight for a ruler he owes no loyalty. In Rathian, Stakel finds not only a ruler, but a lover to whom he can give all of himself.Contains: M/M sexual practices and voyeurism.
Dash and Dingo: In Search of the Tasmanian Tiger
Catt Ford - 2009
It has been hunted to the edge of extinction, and Henry would love nothing more than to help the rare creature survive.Then a human whirlwind spins through his door. Jack "Dingo" Chambers is also on the hunt for the so-called "Tasmanian Tiger," although his reasons are far more altruistic. Banding together, Dingo and the newly nicknamed Dash travel halfway around the globe in their quest to save the thylacine from becoming a footnote in the pages of biological history.While they search high and low, traverse the wilds, and fight the deadliest of all creatures—man—Dash and Dingo will face danger and discover another fierce passion within themselves: a desire for each other.
Some Kind of Magic
R. Cooper - 2011
Los Cerros is famous for its fairy village and its supposedly welcoming attitude toward magical beings like Ray, but Ray is one of only two beings on the police force. While dealing with human prejudice, Ray and his partner have to solve crimes relating to magic, and are forced to rely on the department’s part-time magical consultants, something Ray tries to avoid—and not only because werewolves are uncomfortable around magic. Enter Cal Parker, the son of the department’s most admired detective. Cal is brilliant, contemptuous of the police, and half-fairy. He’s also Ray’s mate, a fact that Ray has kept secret despite his every instinct screaming for him to claim and worship, because weres mate for life, and fairies… don’t. Everyone knows that. Fairies are beautiful, flighty, and fickle. But perhaps it’s not only the humans who have prejudice about beings. Cal isn’t shy about his desire for Ray—not that fairies ever are—and Ray’s resistance is crumbling. But the situation is growing more dangerous as they get closer to the killer, and by the time Ray accepts the truth of a fairy’s heart, it might be too late. A Being(s) in Love StoryMagical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.
Found at Sea
Jaclyn Osborn - 2018
All men fear him, and even more so, they fear what the myths make him out to be. The demon of the sea who sails with no mercy and who won’t hesitate to slit a man’s throat if challenged. But there is more to him, and the curse upon him will someday consume him whole. Unless he finds the key to breaking it. Fletcher has always dreamed of adventure, of sailing the high seas. But he’s never even left his town of Helmfirth. He spends his days atop his favorite hill overlooking the sea and strumming his lute, wishing for another life. He spends his nights working in the tavern, listening to sailors weave tales of adventure he yearns to experience for himself. That is, until pirates make port and enter the tavern one night. After being press-ganged to join the crew, Fletcher is both afraid and intrigued by what awaits him aboard the Crimson Night. And it is aboard this legendary ship that he finds something he never expected to find: a pirate captain who awakes desires he’s never felt. Captain Flynn is captivated by the auburn haired beauty, but he doesn’t want his wickedness to taint someone as innocent and pure as Fletcher. Fletcher knows the captain is dangerous, and yet he can’t stay away. Life on the sea puts every man to the test, and with time running out, sacrifices have to be made. Can two men who are so different ever find their happily ever after? *This is an adult m/m romance based in a fantasy world. You'll find pirates, romance, mermaids, and adventure.*
Rhapsody for Piano and Ghost
Z.A. Maxfield - 2011
His mother’s out of town, his piano teachers have backed off, and he gets to spend time at a school where he only has to be adequate for an entire year before all his responsibilities comes crashing back in again. With this freedom comes the realization that he’s lonely, but his first attempt at dating goes horribly awry.Fitz’s new -- but possibly imaginary -- friends, Julian and Serge, want to help him find happiness. His used-to-be-stepbrother Ari Scheffield wants to help him gain confidence and a little much-needed cool. His housekeeper Marguerite wants to keep fowl in the back yard for butchering because duck confit is expensive and she has pillows to re-stuff. And his possible new boyfriend Garrett wants to prove he didn’t mean for their first date to end with Fitz lying unconscious in a dumpster.All Fitz wants is someone who cares about him, and suddenly there seems to be a glut. How’s a shy guy to know what’s real when he’s confronted by crazy ghosts, a less than truthful boyfriend, and relatives with hidden motives? It's a Rhapsody For Piano And Ghost.
Escaping Exile
Sara Dobie Bauer - 2018
During a storm, a ship crashes off shore. After rescuing a sailor from the cannibals native to the land, Andrew becomes fascinated with his brilliant, beautiful new companion, Edmund. Edmund is a British naturalist who has sailed the world seeking new species. Intrigued by creatures that might kill him, immortal Andrew is this scientist’s dream—but so is making his way back home. Edmund will fight to survive, even while wrapped in the arms of a monster.As light touches and laughter turn to something much more passionate, the cannibals creep ever closer to Edmund. Can the ancient vampire keep his human alive long enough to escape exile and explore their newfound love, or will Andrew’s bloodlust seal his own doom?Word Count: 21400.