Book picks similar to
Matters of the Blood by Maria Lima


urban-fantasy
paranormal
vampires
paranormal-romance

Strange Neighbors


Ashlyn Chase - 2010
    But when Merry MacKenzie moves into the ground floor apartment, the playboy pitcher decides he might just be done playing the field...A girl just wants to have fun...Sexy Jason seems like the perfect fling, but newly independent nurse Merry's not sure she's ready to trust him with her heart...especially when the tabloids start trumpeting his playboy lifestyle.Then pandemonium breaks loose and Merry and Jason will never get it together without a little help from the vampire who lives in the basement and the werewolf from upstairs.

Brimstone Bound


Helen Harper - 2020
    A paranormal murder. How many times can Emma Bellamy cheat death?I’m one placement away from becoming a fully fledged London detective. It’s bad enough that my last assignment before I qualify is with Supernatural Squad. But that’s nothing compared to what happens next.Brutally murdered by an unknown assailant, I wake up twelve hours later in the morgue – and I’m very much alive. I don’t know how or why it happened. I don’t know who killed me. All I know is that they might try again.Werewolves are disappearing right, left and centre.A mysterious vampire seems intent on following me everywhere I go.And I have to solve my own vicious killing. Preferably before death comes for me again.

Shadow's Messenger


T.A. White - 2016
    That ended when I met tall, dark and handsome in a bar and wound up in a dumpster sporting a nice set of fangs and my life flipped on its head. Now I'm a messenger for Hermes Courier Service trying to make enough to support my ice cream habit while staying below vampire radar. When this newest job of mine goes disastrously awry, it puts me on the hook to be indentured to a sorcerer for the next fifty years unless I can find a way to fix things. What's hidden can't stay in the shadow's forever and my life will never be the same.

Shadow Sight


E.J. Stevens - 2012
    Ivy and her best friend Jinx may not be raking in the dough, but their psychic detective agency pays the bills—most of the time. Their only worry is the boredom of a slow day and the occasional crazy client—until a demon walks through their door.Demons are never a good sign...A demon attorney representing the water fae? Stranger things have happened. And things are about to get very, very strange as a bloodthirsty nightmare hunts the city of Harborsmouth.There's blood in the water...Kelpies have a reputation for eating humans. Unfortunately, Kelpies are the clients. When an Unseelie faerie this evil stalks the waterways of your city, you have to make hard choices.The lesser of two evils...

Bittersweet Blood


Nina Croft - 2013
    Everyone else wants her dead. Tara’s eccentric aunt raised her to be fearful of the world and follow the rules. But after her aunt’s death, Tara is ready to take control and experience life for the first time. But she quickly discovers that everything she’s been told is a web of lies. Determined to solve the mystery of who she is truly, she hires private investigator to help her uncover the truth. Christian Roth is more than your average PI. A vampire and ex-demon hunter, Christian lives among the humans, trying to be “normal.” But recently, things seem to be falling apart. There’s a crazed demon hell-bent on revenge hunting him down, and a fae assassin on the loose with an unknown target. And the Order he abandoned desperately needs his help. As the secrets of Tara’s past collide with the problems in Christian’s present, she finds herself fighting her attraction to the dark and mysterious investigator. Falling in love does not fit into her plans at all, but Tara soon learns that some rules are meant to be broken.

To Kill A Warlock


H.P. Mallory - 2010
    A shape-shifting, ravenous creature on the loose. A devilishly handsome stranger sent to investigate. Sometimes working law enforcement for the Netherworld is a real bitch.Dulcie O’Neil is a fairy. And not the type to frolic in gardens. She’s a Regulator—a law-enforcement agent who monitors the creatures of the Netherworld to keep them from wreaking havoc in the mortal world. When a warlock is murdered and Dulcie was the last person to see him alive, she must uncover the truth before she’s either deported back to the Netherworld, or she becomes the next victim.Enter Knight Vander, a sinfully attractive investigator sent from the Netherworld to work the case with Dulcie. Between battling her attraction to her self-appointed partner, keeping a sadomasochistic demon in check, and fending off the advances of a sexy and powerful vampire, Dulcie’s got her hands full. As the body count increases, Dulcie finds herself battling dark magic, reconnoitering in S&M clubs and suffering the greatest of all betrayals.

First Drop of Crimson


Jeaniene Frost - 2010
    But her family’s dark past is wrapped in secrets and shrouded in darkness – and a demon shapeshifter has marked Denise as prey. Now her survival depends on an immortal who craves a taste of her.He is Spade, a powerful, mysterious vampire who has walked the earth for centuries and is now duty-bound to protect this endangered, alluring human – even if it means destroying his own kind. Denise may arouse his deepest hungers, but Spade knows he must fight his urge to have her as they face the demon nightmare together…Because once the first drop of crimson falls, they will both be lost.

Semi-Charmed


Isabel Jordan - 2014
    It could go either way, really…Psychic and paranormal PI Harper Hall isn't that surprised when her business partner skips town. She never really trusted the jerk anyway. But if Harper wants to consult for the police on a high-profile case, she'll need a new partner-- preferably one with some supernatural talents of his own.Noah Riddick, a slayer left jobless when vampires went public and earned human rights, is perfect for the gig. Too bad he’s grumpy, anti-social, and completely resistant to the idea of working with her.Riddick's dark secrets and shady past forced him into exile from human society--an exile he was comfortable with until gorgeous and exasperating Harper waltzed into his life. Now, all too aware of how unlifelike his life has been, he realizes partnering with her might be the best thing that could ever happen to him…even though it might be the worst for her. Fighting vampires, making immortal enemies, staging daring rescues...it's all in a day's work. But falling in love? Well...that's a little trickier. Even for the Semi-Charmed Harper Hall.The Harper Hall Investigations series is perfect for fans of strong, smart, kickass heroines, grumpy, brooding alpha heroes, paranormal mystery and hijinks, and snarky humor. Get it today!

Shadow Hunter


B.R. Kingsolver - 2019
    They trained me as an assassin, spy, and thief. But when they sent me to steal a magical artifact that reveals Truth in all things, I discovered that I was working for the Dark and not the Light. The Illuminati trained me well, and paid the ultimate price for their deception. Thousands of miles away, I landed a job in a quirky little bar. But the scattered remnants of the Order still strive for world domination, and no one leaves the Illuminati alive.

Shadow Kin


M.J. Scott - 2011
    On one side, the Night World, ruled by the Blood Lords and the Beast Kind. On the other, the elusive Fae and the humans, protected by their steadfast mages. A city held together by nothing more than a treaty-and even then, just barely...I was born of a Fae mother, but I had no place amongst her kind. They called me "soulless." An abomination. Perhaps they're right...I'm a wraith, a shadow who slips between worlds. I was given into the service of a Blood Lord who raised me to be his most feared assassin. Still, I'm nothing more than a slave to my master, and to the need that only he can fulfill...Then he orders me to kill Simon DuCaine, a powerful sunmage. In the blaze of his magic, my own disappears. Instead of seeking revenge, Simon shows me mercy. He wants to free me. But that's one thing my master and his kind will never allow.And even if I thought I could trust Simon, stepping from the shadow into the light isn't as simple as it sounds...

Once Bitten, Twice Shy


Jennifer Rardin - 2007
    My boss is Vayl, born in Romania in 1744. Died there too, at the hand of his vampire wife, Liliana. But that's ancient history. For the moment Vayl works for the C.I.A. doing what he does best -- assassination. And I help. You could say I'm an Assistant Assassin. But then I'd have to kick your ass.Our current assignment seemed easy. Get close to a Miami plastic surgeon named Assan, a charmer with ties to terrorism that run deeper than a buried body. Find out what he's meeting with that can help him and his comrades bring America to her knees. And then close his beady little eyes forever. Why is it that nothing's ever as easy as it seems?

Staked


J.F. Lewis - 2008
    UNIMPRESSED. AND TOTALLY UNDEAD.Eric's got issues. He has short-term and long-term memory problems; he can't remember who he ate for dinner yesterday, much less how he became a vampire in the first place. His best friend, Roger, is souring on the strip club he and Eric own together, and his girlfriend, Tabitha, keeps pressuring him to turn her so she can join him in undeath. It's almost enough to put a Vlad off his appetite. Almost.Eric tries to solve one problem, only to create another: he turns Tabitha into a vampire, but finds that once he does, his desire for her fades—and her younger sister, Rachel, sure is cute. When he kills a werewolf in self-defense, things really get out of hand. Now a pack of born-again lycanthropes is out for holy retribution, while Tabitha and Rachel have their own agendas—which may or may not include helping Eric stay in one piece. All Eric wants to do is run his strip club, drink a little blood, and be left alone. Instead, he must survive car crashes, enchanted bullets, sunlight, sex magic, and werewolves on ice—not to mention his own nasty temper and forgetfulness.Because being undead isn't easy, but it sure beats the alternative.

Must Love Hellhounds


Charlaine Harris - 2009
    Angels’ Judgment: Seek out a traitor in the midst of a guild of nonlethal vampire trackers, one that intends to eradicate the entire species of bloodsuckers. Magic Mourns: Find out why the giant, three-headed dog that guards the gates of Hades has left the underworld for the real world—and whose scent he’s following. Blind Spot: Join a vampire’s butler in the perilous search for her employer’s niece, aided by a blind—and damn sexy—companion and a hellhound. Today’s hottest paranormal authors deliver four all-new adventures starring man’s worst friend…

Shifting Dreams


Elizabeth Hunter - 2013
    Work at her diner never ends, her two boys are bundles of energy, and she’s pretty sure her oldest is about to shift into something furry or feathery. Added to that, changes seem to be coming to the tiny town of Cambio Springs—big changes that not everyone in the isolated town of shapeshifters is thrilled about.Caleb Gilbert was looking for change, and the quiet desert town seemed just the ticket for a more peaceful life. He never counted on violence finding him, nor could he have predicted just how crazy his new life would become.When murder rocks their small community, Caleb and Jena will have to work together. And when the new Chief of Police isn’t put off by any of her usual defenses, Jena may be faced with the most frightening change of all: lowering the defenses around her carefully guarded heart.Shifting Dreams is the first novel in Cambio Springs, the new paranormal romance series from Elizabeth Hunter, author of the best-selling Elemental Mysteries series.

Blood Rights


Kristen Painter - 2011
    A finely wrought filigree of stars, vines, flowers, butterflies, ancient symbols and words ran from her feet, up her legs, over her narrow waist, spanned her chest and finished down her arms to the tips of her fingers.Born into a life of secrets and service, Chrysabelle's body bears the telltale marks of a comarré—a special race of humans bred to feed vampire nobility. When her patron is murdered, she becomes the prime suspect, which sends her running into the mortal world...and into the arms of Malkolm, an outcast vampire cursed to kill every being from whom he drinks.Now, Chrysabelle and Malkolm must work together to stop a plot to merge the mortal and supernatural worlds. If they fail, a chaos unlike anything anyone has ever seen will threaten to reign.