Book picks similar to
Dazzle by Amber Garza


young-adult
paranormal
fantasy
romance

Stirring Up Trouble


Juli Alexander - 2012
    She's working hard to find a substitute for toad slime. Since fat-free margarine has been found to be a substitute for dead man's toe, she's hopeful that she'll find one. Then there's all the so-called normal stuff. Like high school, her annoyingly selfish "friend" Anya, and her crush on Anya's ex-boyfriend Jake. Now, Zoe's dad is dating Jake's mom, and things are getting more and more complicated. If only Zoe could brew a potion or two and set everything straight. Zoe can't. If she brews a self-serving potion, bad things will happen to her appearance. Like a crooked nose, giant wart, green skin, rotting teeth--the whole ugly witch stereotype. Zoe's tired of fate interfering so cruelly in her life. Can you really blame her for putting her potions to not-so-good use and stirring up trouble? ****************************************Excerpt: "Should we leave?" I whispered to Jake to distract him. "No," he said, leaning closer to me. Suddenly, he didn't seem as stressed but more like his old self. "I think I should kiss you." "What? No!" Oh my God! "Why not?" he asked in a low voice that sent shivers through me. I made myself look at him as I whispered, "Because you don't want to kiss me, you just want to bother Anya. And she's my best friend." "Right," he said, backing away. "I guess we shouldn't then." Of course, I'd really hoped that he would say that he did want to kiss me and not only to bother Anya. "Would it help that it would also drive our parents nuts?" Hmmm. "Let me think for a minute," I said. It would really mess with Dad's head. And that excuse would be good enough for Anya. I already had a major crush. How much worse could it get? Glancing at Anya and quickly judging how dark the theater was, I said, "Okay." Stirring Up Trouble is a Young Adult Romance.

Forgotten


Sarah J. Pepper - 2012
    Jace waited patiently for me to join him. Like he knew my defiance would crumble under his intense gaze, which was exactly why I avoided him…until twilight. He hijacked my dreams and proved to be a different kind of nightmare – unhinged, rebellious, and dangerously mouth-watering. “Escape from reality, Gwyneth. Sometimes life can be too painful to live in, even for immortals,” Jace whispered in my dream. His heat, fervor, and unrelenting confidence resonated around me when he closed the gap between us. His lips hovered above mine, waiting for me to give into him. *** Gwyneth’s chronicle began long before she witnessed her family being brutally murdered and lost her sight. Living as an orphan, her world is anything but black and white. She sees her vivid future that promises suffering and death. Cursed with these visions, Gwyneth pretends to be like everyone else, until a dangerously charismatic, young man walks into her life. From the moment Jace lays eyes on her, he refuses to believe Gwyneth is normal. He knows information about her past that only a psychopathic stalker could dig up. He reveals her dirty secrets. Unbeknownst details of Gwyneth’s former life unfurl.Unsure of what to believe, Gwyneth searches for answers that lead to her inconceivable fate. However, the ancient truth she uncovers is more dangerous than any high school romance she’d bargained for. Gwyneth is drug into an inevitable battle brewing between immortal Gods and ageless Hunters – both of which have sworn to swear to kill her if deemed necessary.

Jenny Pox


J.L. Bryan - 2010
    A lifetime of avoiding any physical contact with others has made her isolated and painfully lonely in her small rural town.Then she meets the one boy she can touch. Jenny feels herself falling for Seth...but if she's going to be with him, Jenny must learn to use the deadly pox inside her to confront his ruthless and manipulative girlfriend Ashleigh, who secretly wields the most dangerous power of all.* * *Not recommended for readers under eighteen.BONUS: Includes an excerpt of Glimpse by Stacey Wallace Benefiel.

Inescapable


Amy A. Bartol - 2011
    I’d been hoping that once I’d arrived on Crestwood’s campus, the nightmare that I’ve been having would go away. It hasn’t.I may be an inexperienced seventeen-year-old, but I’m grounded…sane. I look for rational explanations to even the strangest circumstances. Since meeting sophomore Reed Wellington, however, nothing makes any sense. Whenever he’s near, I feel an attraction to him–a magnetic kind of force pulling me towards him. I know what you’re thinking…that sounds fairly awesome. Yeah, it would be…if he liked me, but Reed acts as if I’m the worst thing that has ever happened to Crestwood…or him. But get this, for some reason every time I turn around he’s there, barging into my life.What is the secret that he’s keeping from me? I’m hoping that it’s anything but what I suspect: that he’s not exactly normal…and neither am I. So, maybe Crestwood won’t be the making of me, but it could be the breaking of me. I’ve been left to wonder if the dark future my dream is foretelling is…inescapable.

Fissure


Nicole Williams - 2012
    Cursing at and writing off love after the only woman he let himself fall for wound up marrying his older brother, Patrick enrolls himself at Stanford hoping college life, the California girls, and the epic surf will get him back to his free-spirited, ladies-man-extraordinaire self. Just when Patrick feels the shadow of himself returning, Emma Scarlett enters his life, seeing through his shenanigans and calling him on his crap. Intrigued by this fascinating creature who is ignorant to his charm, surrounded by four older brothers that look at Patrick like he's a bug to squish, and dating the same guy for the past six years who gives new meaning to the term territorial boyfriend, Patrick gravitates to Emma, knowing she's everything he shouldn't fall for.So, of course, he can't help himself.It doesn't take long for Patrick to discover Emma has as many secrets as he does. And hers may be just as dark as his.This time, falling for the girl could not only break his heart, but his spirit. FISSURE is the first installment in the two part series, THE PATRICK CHRONICLES, and is a side story to the best-selling YA series, THE EDEN TRILOGY. The final installment, FUSION, will be released in the summer of 2012.

Cornerstone


Kelly Walker - 2012
    Anything. Even marry a mysterious prince she knows nothing about in order to rally the strength to arrange a rescue. During her journey to Torian's foreign castle, Emariya comes face to face with her mother's killers--and a deadly secret.Not only does Emariya possess a powerful but unexpected magical gift passed down through each of her families, the prince she's promised to marry possesses a third, and an ominous prophecy has warned the three gifts must never be combined.If she breaks her promise to marry Torian, she won't be able to save her father and if she keeps it, she may bring a curse upon everything she holds dear. Determining which choice is best won't be easy, but when she meets the gorgeous prince who may desire more than just her heart, she realizes she will have to fight just to have a choice at all.Her heart wants him desperately. Her head begs her to run. If she doesn't want to share her mother's fate, she'll have to find a way to untangle the truth from the lies in time to save herself.Discover the heartbreaking betrayals, fascinating magic and fated love of Cornerstone.

Wide Awake


Daniele Lanzarotta - 2011
    She lives a normal life, with great friends, loving adoptive parents, and well... a not-so-great boyfriend. But the reason why she was given up for adoption was far from any usual reason. She was meant to be kept away from the Academy and anything else related to the supernatural beings that could hurt her.Unfortunately for Kayla, it was only a matter of time before she encountered the creatures from the Otherworld, and there is just no running away from the beings that she can now see.In trying to protect Kayla by keeping her away from the Academy, she may have just been put in even more danger.

The Ghost and the Goth


Stacey Kade - 2010
    Is it my fault I was born with it all-good looks, silky blond hair, a hot body, and a keen sense of what everyone else should not be wearing? But my life isn’t perfect, especially since I died. Run over by a bus of band geeks—is there anything more humiliating? As it turns out, yes—watching your boyfriend and friends move on with life, only days after your funeral. And you wouldn’t believe what they’re saying about me now that they think I can’t hear them. To top it off, I’m starting to disappear, flickering in and out of existence. I don’t know where I go when I’m gone, but it’s not good. Where is that freaking white light already?Will Killian–Senior in high school, outcast, dubbed “Will Kill” by the popular crowd for the unearthly aura around him, voted most likely to rob a bank…and a ghost-talker.I can see, hear, and touch the dead. Unfortunately, they can also see, hear and touch me. Yeah, because surviving high school isn’t hard enough already. I’ve done my best to hide my “gift.” After all, my dad, who shared my ability, killed himself because of it when I was fifteen. But lately, pretending to be normal has gotten a lot harder. A new ghost—an anonymous, seething cloud of negative energy with the capacity to throw me around—is pursuing me with a vengeance. My mom, who knows nothing about what I can do, is worrying about the increase in odd incidents, my shrink is tossing around terms like “temporary confinement for psychiatric evaluation,” and my principal, who thinks I’m a disruption and a faker, is searching for every way possible to get rid of me. How many weeks until graduation?

Crossroads


Mary Ting - 2011
     Claudia Emerson's life is about to change when her good friend, who coincidentally shares the same first and last name, dies in a tragic accident. Distraught at the loss of her friend, Claudia's dreams become tumultuous, and through them she mysteriously travels to another world called Crossroads. There, she unexpectedly meets Michael, a nephilim--half angel, half human. Now that she's been there, fallen and demons are after her, suspecting she must be special, and it is up to Michael and the other nephilim to protect her. Her dream becomes a nightmare as more secrets are revealed about who she really is, and the true identities of the people she loves most.

Anew


Chelsea Fine - 2011
    Lost and confused, her life was a mystery...until she met a boy with a familiar voice. Gabriel Archer has a voice from her past, and Scarlet's determined to remember why. She immerses herself in his life only to discover he has a brother he's kept hidden from her: Tristan Archer. Upon meeting Tristan, Scarlet's world becomes even more muddled. While she's instinctively drawn to Gabriel, she's impossibly drawn to Tristan--and confused out of her mind. As she tries to piece together her history Scarlet realizes her past...might just be the death of her.

The Dark Divine


Bree Despain - 2009
    Despite promising Jude she'll stay away, Grace cannot deny her attraction to Daniel's shocking artistic abilities, his way of getting her to look at the world from new angles, and the strange, hungry glint in his eyes.The closer Grace gets to Daniel, the more she jeopardizes her life, as her actions stir resentment in Jude and drive him to embrace the ancient evil Daniel unleashed that horrific night. Grace must discover the truth behind the boy's dark secret...and the cure that can save the ones she loves. But she may have to lay down the ultimate sacrifice to do it--her soul.

Tears of the Broken


Angela M. Hudson - 2011
    Please see "Dark Secrets" by A.M. Hudson for this book and The Knight of the Rose, now combined. "Powerfully integrated vampire series." An epic romantic fantasy. The entire series is a journey to watch one girl grow and find that love is something you fight for, not a gift you can take for granted, combined with a sexy vampire and a deeper, darker mystery lurking underneath it all. Vampires do not care about the myths people believe. They feed on humans, walk in the daylight, and no, they certainly do not sparkle. The only problem is, they don't usually fall in love with their food, either. But David Knight is about to discover that love knows nothing of morals or laws.When Ara-Rose learns the truth about her boyfriend, David, she will be forced into a world of death and secrecy. Living each day on a path lit by predictability, Ara had never imagined such nightmares could exist. Now, her fate is measured by a choice between eternal love and a normal life, a decision she only has until the end of the summer to make.

Roam


Kimberly Stedronsky Adams - 2012
    In every lifetime that he has found her, he has set out to save her- and in turn, save our world. He has failed six times throughout history to protect her from an immortal evil. Now, in their last life together, seventeen-year-old Roam discovers a way to travel through time and try again, knowing she must save herself, the man that she loves… and the life of their unborn child.

Forbidden


Selene Charles - 2014
    Where the guys are hot. The girls are sweet. And nothing is what it seems... Flint DeLuca is sick and tired of moving. Her and her dad have moved three times in the past year. But that's the life of a carnie. Even an ex-carnie like her. Her father swears this is the last move. All Flint wants now is to graduate from High School and put the carnival life behind her. Unfortunately, one of the two ain't gonna happen. So now not only is she back in the life she can never seem to get away from, she's also met this guy who pushes all her "I totally hate you" buttons.Cain. No last name. Wears shades in school. Dresses entirely in black. And only speaks to her when he's insulting her. She hates him. Hates him. And yet... there's something about the Goth boy that draws her like a moth to flame. God, she can't wait to graduate and get away from Whispering Bluff, only problem is she's pretty sure her high school is infested by vampires. Cain might be one of them. And for some reason, she seems to be on their menu.Sometimes High School really sucks...

Gifts of the Blood


Vicki Keire - 2010
    Her parents are four years dead; everyday she watches her brother Logan fight his cancer diagnosis. Things get worse for Caspia the day she draws an angry stranger framed by planes of light and violent, bloody images. That exact same stranger walks up to her out of nowhere mere hours later knowing things he shouldn't, like her name, her brother's illness, and her strange ability. That's when Caspia discovers her hometown is a refuge for supernatural beings both Light and Dark, and she and her brother find themselves caught up in a war between the two that predates their very birth. In order to protect herself and her brother, she turns to the one who seems to have started it all: the man who walked out of her sketchbook calling himself Ethan. But Ethan has his own agenda, Logan's getting sicker fast, and Caspia finds that drawing the future isn't the only strange thing she can do. Meanwhile, someone really wants all of them dead. In a town where Dark doesn't equal Evil and Light isn't always Good, Caspia and Ethan find themselves making strange alliances and even stranger sacrifices in order to protect those they love.