Book picks similar to
Forbidden Blood by Kristen Painter


vampires
paranormal
urban-fantasy
fantasy

Secret Santa


Sierra Dean - 2011
    " "Secret McQueen, book 2.5"It's the most wonderful time of the year. The season for mistletoe, Christmas lights...and a killing spree. When Secret's friend, Detective Mercedes Castilla, asks for help to solve a series of murders longer than a string of lights, Secret resigns herself to the fact her holidays will be anything but peaceful. It seems someone is killing New Yorkers in an unusually gruesome way, and as the bodies pile up faster than presents under the tree, the police are no closer to finding the killer than Secret is to finding the perfect present for one of her boyfriends, Lucas. Tracking down a monster in Manhattan the week before Christmas is almost as difficult as shopping for her ever-expanding collection of loved ones. When tragedy strikes close to home, Secret must do everything in her power to put an end to the horror in time for Santa to come down the chimney. Warning: Contains a less than merry McQueen with a sword and a reason to use it; a festive new use for mistletoe; and a promise that will haunt Secret like the Ghost of Christmas Future.

Grave Matters


Jana Oliver - 2013
    So when she travels to Scotland to meet up with her hunky boyfriend, and celebrate her eighteenth birthday, she’s thrilled at the chance to leave Atlanta and its troubles behind. Denver Beck, who has been studying for months to become a Grand Master – a rare and highly dangerous job -- is just as eager to see his girl. He’s anticipating a romantic reunion, keen to take their relationship to the next level. But Riley’s twisted history with Hell has garnered unwelcome interest by people willing to use her for their own purposes. Trouble is brewing in the land of the heather, the kind that will drive a wedge between her and Beck, and prove the ultimate test of their love . . . and their survival skills. Bonus content includes demon illustrations and two Demon Trappers short stories.

Two Lines


Melissa Marr - 2011
    Though Eve knows she is a Glaistig, and that hunger for sex and death – preferably together – runs in her blood, she is determined to keep herself human. She will turn full Glaistig only in the event that she engages in both sex and murder within one month – and so far she’s managed to avoid both. But staying away from temptation is harder than ever before. A mysterious man – as seductive as he is dangerous -- has been drugging and taking advantage of girls in the local night clubs and Eve’s determined to stop him, even as she’s finding it increasingly difficult to control her warring instincts around him. When her grandmother calls in alluring mortal to watch over Eve, Eve may be pushed beyond her limits.Can Eve hang onto her mortality when Glaistig instincts run in her blood? Can she keep herself safe and human, both? Two lines are all that stand between who she is and who she wants to be . . . and Eve will need all her self-control not to cross them both.

Kiss of Death


Jayme Morse - 2011
    There, she falls head over heels for the dark and mysterious Gabe, despite warnings to stay away from him. In an effort to learn more about the cousin she barely knew, Lexi uncovers details that make her question what really happened the night Austin died - details that could be putting her own life in danger.

Twin Souls


K.A. Poe - 2012
    What generally means a step into adulthood instead opens its way to a terrifying truth about not only her family, but herself. She comes from a long line of vampire hunters, and her real dad wants her to carry on the family quest. At the same time, she is falling for a new boy at school who has his own secret. He is a vampire. Alexis is forced to make a decision from which there is no turning back. - Will she deny this newly discovered heritage, or embrace it.

Dead Over Heels


MaryJanice Davidson - 2008
    With her trademark "sassy dialogue, lusty lovemaking [and] irreverent humor"* New York Times bestselling author MaryJanice Davidson delighted fans with her wickedly sexy and wildly funny anthology, Dead and Loving It-stories in which the worlds of the Wyndham Werewolves and Undead Queens collided. Now she returns to that sensual and irresistible after-dark realm of werewolves, vampires, and mermaids in three more original novellas--including an all-new Betsy Taylor novella.

Captive: A Guard's Tale from Malachi's Perspective


Sarah Fine - 2013
    Malachi can tell she isn’t, but she’s not an ordinary citizen of the dark city, either. He only knows one thing for sure—she’s dangerous, and to more than just his mission. The captive’s fate is in his hands—will he end her afterlife or save her?

Darkness Falls


Jessica Sorensen - 2012
    The Colony is hidden deep underground, far away from the vampires—humans that were transformed by the disease. The vampires are hideous, starving, and they will kill any human they come across.Seventeen-year-old Kayla is a Bellator, a warrior that protects The Colony. In order to survive, there are three rules she must follow:Rule #1—Never go out after dark.Rule #2—Always carry a weapon.Rule #3—No matter what, never EVER get bitten.But what happens when the rules Kayla has always lived by can no longer apply? The Highers run The Colony and accept nothing less than perfection. One slip up can mean death. Kayla has always worked hard to follow the rules and strive for perfection. But during a moment of weakness, she lets her imperfections show. Her punishment is worse than death. She is chosen for The Gathering and is thrown out into a world full of starving vampires. No one has ever survived The Gathering, at least that’s what Kayla’s been told. But when she runs into a group who insist they were once part of The Gathering, Kayla discovers the Highers have been keeping secrets. Secrets that could lead to a cure.

Carpe Noctem


Katie Salidas - 2010
    Newly-turned vampire, Alyssa got a lot more than she bargained for when Lysander saved her from a pair of rapist on the college campus of UNLV. Immortality is not as pretty as all the books and movies had portrayed it, and Alyssa's having a hard time with the change."Becoming a vampire is easy. Living with the condition, that's the hard part."With danger looming on the horizon and the vampire hunters closing in, Alyssa will have to find the strength to accept this terrifying new reality. There's no turning back now. It's either, Carpe Noctem (seize the night), or final death.

Awaken


Sarah M. Ross - 2012
    In a split second, everything changed. A drunk driver ended Lucy’s mortal life.Lucy opens her eyes to a world she never imagined possible and a new destiny: as a Patronus, a guardian of spirits. Adjusting to her new role and abilities while negotiating this confusing realm will test her limits and push her further than she ever dreamed she would go. From wayward spirits who don’t want her help to soul stealing vampires, and even a stuck-up British royal, Lucy must brave them all to save one spirit she can’t bear to lose.Further complicating her life is an inexplicable yet growing connection she feels to a member of her team, Max, whose mysterious behavior leaves her both confused and intrigued.Waking up dead was just the beginning of her problems. Lucy’s death is about to become the greatest adventure of her life.

Dangerous


Alycia Linwood - 2011
    Even when she falls for Michael, a boy whose element is different from hers, she is determined to make their forbidden romance work. But when she starts experiencing the symptoms of magic disease that could rob her of her element, turn her into a cold-blooded killer, and shatter her life, all of her beliefs are put to the test. The only one who might be able to help her is Adrian, a mysterious, charming, and dangerous magic disease carrier, who also happens to be her least favorite person in the world. YA Fantasy/Romance for mature teens. The Element Preservers series reading order (complete): DANGEROUS (Book 1) RUNAWAY (Book 2) DIVIDED (Book 3) NO ONE (Book 3.5) RESTLESS (Book 4) INDESTRUCTIBLE (Book 5)

Spider’s Nemesis


Jennifer Estep - 2011
    It is told from the point of view of Mab Monroe and shows how the Fire elemental grew up, including her first meeting with Eira Snow, Gin’s mother.

Nightfall


L.H. Cosway - 2012
    None of them, however, have anything on the handsome stranger who comes in one night and helps her fend off an armed robber. He looks the thief directly in the eye and without confrontation convinces him to turn around and walk out the door.Tegan has never seen anything like it, nor does she understand why he then lays those mesmerising eyes on her and tells her to forget they ever met. She shrugs it off as just another weird night shift encounter, until the following evening when her best friend produces free passes to a new club in the city. Tegan agrees to go and is pleasantly surprised by the tasteful, classy décor and oddly beautiful, intensely ethereal clientele. To her surprise, her mysterious stranger is sitting smack dab in the VIP section. What are the chances?!Tegan is struck by the coincidence of bumping into him again so soon, while he is furious that she remembers him when he insisted she forget their meeting. Tegan has no idea that she’s taken a misstep into a whole new world inhabited by vampires, slayers, dhampirs, witches and warlocks. All of whom display a wholly disconcerting interest in what makes her unique from the rest of the clueless humans who populate the city. On top of this, her handsome stranger keeps turning up at her work and seems intent on getting to know her a whole lot better.Nightfall is book one in L.H. Cosway’s Blood Magic Series. A previous, unedited version of this story was published under the title Tegan’s Blood.

Naked City


Ellen DatlowJohn Crowley - 2011
    In Jim Butcher’s ”Curses”, Harry Dresden investigates how to lift a curse laid by the Fair Folk on the Chicago Cubs. In Patricia Briggs’ “Fairy Gifts,”, a vampire is called home by magic to save the Fae who freed him from a dark curse. In Melissa Marr’s “Guns for the Dead”, the newly dead Frankie Lee seeks a job in the afterlife on the wrong side of the law. In Holly Black’s “Noble Rot”, a dying rock star discovers that the young woman who brings him food every day has some strange appetites of her own.Featuring original stories from 20 authors, this dark, captivating, fabulous, and fantastical collection is not to be missed!Contents:Curses / by Jim Butcher --How the pooka came to New York City / by Delia Sherman --On the slide / by Richard Bowes --The Duke of Riverside / by Ellen Kushner --Oblivion by Calvin Klein / by Christopher Fowler --Fairy gifts / by Patricia Briggs --Picking up the pieces / by Pat Cadigan --Underbridge / by Peter S. Beagle --Priced to sell / by Naomi Novik --The bricks of Gelecek / by Matthew Kressel --Weston walks / by Kit Reed --The projected girl/ by Lavie Tidhar --The way station / by Nathan Ballingrud --Guns for the dead / by Melissa Marr --And go like this / by John Crowley --Noble rot / by Holly Black --Daddy longlegs of the evening / by Jeffrey Ford --The skinny girl / by Lucius Shepard --The Colliers' Venus (1893) / by Caitlín R. Kiernan --King pole, gallows pole, bottle tree / by Elizabeth Bear.

Twilight / Life and Death


Stephenie Meyer - 2015
    Packaged as an oversize, jacketed hardcover "flip book," this edition features nearly 400 pages of new content as well as exquisite new back cover art. Readers will relish experiencing the deeply romantic and extraordinarily suspenseful love story of Bella and Edward through fresh eyes.Twilight has enraptured millions of readers since its first publication in 2005 and has become a modern classic, redefining genres within young adult literature and inspiring a phenomenon that has had readers yearning for more. The novel was a #1 New York Times bestseller, a #1 USA Today bestseller, a Time magazine Best Young Adult Book of All Time, an NPR Best-Ever Teen Novel, and a New York Times Editor's Choice. The Twilight Saga, which also includes New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn, The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella, and The Twilight Saga: The Official Illustrated Guide, has sold nearly 155 million copies worldwide.