Book picks similar to
The Black Dog of Lyme by J.A. Ironside


urban-fantasy
fantasy
family-dysfunction
paranormal-supernatural

Witch Woods Funeral Home Books 1-4: Ghost of a Chance / Nothing to Ghost About / Make the Ghost of It / Ghost Stories


Morgana Best - 2017
    When she inherits a funeral home, she is forced to return from the city to the small town of Witch Woods to breathe life into the business. It is a grave responsibility, but Laurel is determined that this will be no dead-end job. There she has to contend with her manipulative and overly religious mother, more than one ghost, and a secretive but handsome accountant. When the murder of a local woman in the funeral home strangles the finances, can Laurel solve the murder? Or will this be the death of her business? Book 2: Nothing to Ghost About Laurel Bay is conducting a funeral when someone is strangled in the bathroom. Now that there have been two deaths in the funeral home, business is as dead as a doornail. As Laurel sifts through the clues, she is faced with too many suspects, a wisecracking ghost, and a woman journalist who appears to be after more than Basil’s files. Laurel thought that inheriting the funeral home was an opportunity to die for, but it seems to be quite an undertaking. Book 3: Make the Ghost of It Laurel Bay has discovered Basil’s secret, but there are soon more important things on her mind. Lewis Lowes, an old friend of Basil’s, is dying to go skydiving with him. Basil agrees, although he is up in the air about it. It soon turns out to be a grave mistake. When Lewis’s parachutes don’t open, he urns his place as the funeral home’s next body. The police suspect murder, and their main suspect is Basil. Laurel buries herself in sifting through the clues. Can she solve the crime before she becomes the next victim? Book 4: Ghost Stories When Laurel’s mother, Thelma, hosts a group of writers in the belief they are writing about the Holy Ghost, she is horrified to find they are, in fact, writing ghost stories. Thelma decides to go on a road trip. Her GPS cannot get her there, so she hires an escort to show her the way. This turns out to be a grave mistake. Things go south when the escort’s naked body is found in Thelma’s bedroom. Will Laurel be able to steer the police in the right direction before they arrest her mother? Or will she come to a dead end?

Love Is Hell


Melissa Marr - 2008
    But it,s totally worth it.In these supernatural stories by five of today's hottest writers—Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely), Scott Westerfeld (Specials), Justine Larbalestier (Magic or Madness), Gabrielle Zevin (Elsewhere), and Laurie Faria Stolarz (Blue is for Nightmares)—love may be twisted and turned around, but it's more potent than ever on its quest to conquer all.From two students who let the power of attraction guide them to break the hard-and-fast rules of their world to the girl who falls hard for a good-looking ghost with a score to settle, the clever, quirky characters in this exciting collection will break your heart, then leave you believing in love more than ever.

Knight School


Andrew Mayne - 2013
    To win, they have to battle for control of the forest and obey a code of conduct to keep their war from spilling into the outside world.The woods between the schools are filled with dangers and dark secrets. Central among them is Venn Maddox, the youngest student to ever lead a clan in the game. Brilliant and manipulative, some think he’s a sociopath who may have killed to protect his own secrets.New kid, Marv Whitlock, already dealing with his own troubles, finds himself in the middle of the decade old conflict and has to use his wits to avoid being one more pawn.Bestselling author Andrew Mayne, brings you Knight School, an adventurous cross of Friday Night Lights and Game of Thrones.

Dead Spell


Belinda Frisch - 2011
    Damaged and determined, she'll take you to the wrong side of the tracks and you'll love it.Harmony's darkest secret has clawed its way back from the grave and only her best friend, Brea believes her. Adam, Harmony's boyfriend, fears for her safety. Her mentally ill mother is too busy tending her own demons to care. Brea's family, who has denounced Harmony's for years, buried the truth about their shared tragic past along with their former friendship.Harmony looks for answers about the monster's identity in the wreckage of her abandoned childhood home but when her search leads her down a dark path, Brea and Adam must pick up the crumbs to get much needed closure.Some secrets you keep, even from yourself. Dead Spell is about a ghost with a past and a girl who would die to forget it.A Young Adult novel intended for older teens and fans of YA fiction. Some mature themes.

Yes, Master


Simon Archer - 2020
    What if you had a genie who wanted your every last desire to come true? What if you had two? And what if they were competing to see who could do a better job?What would you wish for?

Courts and Cabals 3


G.S. D'Moore - 2021
    

The Scarlet Thread


D.S. Murphy - 2016
    After I saw my little brother’s death but failed to stop it, my parents abandoned me to a juvenile detention facility. I don’t let people touch me anymore. Not my fingertips, not my skin, not my heart. I make my own clothes by stitching together the donations we get; usually a bunch of crap that fits like a parachute. My sweater is a patchwork of different shades of inky, dark squares. I make plain gray skirts that hang to my knees, with cute or funny T-shirts sewed in. They clash ironically with my unsmiling face. My Allstar high-tops are black and frayed, like my soul. I also wear a chunk of brightly colored legos around my neck. My little brother was working on it the day he died. The day I failed to save him. It’s unfinished, so I’ll never know what it was meant to be. Most days, I just try to get by. But then I got a visit from a cute guy, who tricked me into giving up my secrets. He said I was special. That he needed me. For a while, I believed him. But once I found out what I could really do, I learned everybody wanted the power I possessed. The power to destroy deities. To kill gods. To end the world... or to save it. My heart is torn, and those I loved most betrayed me. I'm trying so hard to do what's right, but nobody can tell me what that is anymore, and the moral boundaries I'd always let define my life have been shattered. Whose rules should I obey now? Or do I have to make my own? The Scarlet Thread is a dark fantasy for fans of Greek mythology and Gothic romance. Fans of Fallen and Percy Jackson will be captivated by this mashup of fallen angels and forgotten gods.

The Bonds of Blood


Becca Andre - 2016
    It’s an insecurity his abusive brothers reinforced daily, and with his very existence bound to theirs through the alchemically altered blood they share, James has always been at their mercy. All that changed when James found a home within the magical community and fell in love. Elysia Mallory doesn’t mind that he is technically dead. The only thing standing between them is her lethal magic. As her health continues to deteriorate, James searches for a cure, determined to save her and give them a chance at a life together. But his brothers aren’t willing to let him go, not when the Huntsman legacy is dependent on James. They will stop at nothing to capture their wayward brother, and that includes using Elysia as leverage. James is left to decide how far he is willing to go to save the family he has chosen from the family he was created to serve. (The Bonds of Blood is a 62,000 word novel.)

Breath of Air


Katie Jennings - 2012
    She was born with a gift she didn’t understand. A gift so strange, so remarkable that she had kept it secret for as long as she could remember, despising that it made her different when all she wanted was to be normal, to belong. As an orphan, belonging to someone, anyone, would have been an incredible blessing, one she would have given up all that she had just to get a taste of. But the truth was that she didn’t belong in the orphanage in Virginia, or even in the United States. In fact, she didn’t belong with human beings at all. Because she wasn’t one of them, not really. She was something much more extraordinary. She could shift the direction of the wind, create billowing clouds out of nothing, and charm birds into dancing on her open palm. She belonged to an elite group of beings, responsible for preserving the balance of nature and the safety of Earth from an underworld that deserved to be feared, and needed to be controlled. And after years of being lost, she had at last been found, and now the truth of how she had ended up so far from home was becoming horribly clear to her. But there’s someone who doesn’t want her to return; someone who knows Capri was the only witness to an act of heinous treason and violent murder. And when she begins to search her memories for details of the night she was taken from her home, details that will implicate a killer, she finds herself the unwary target of an otherworldly dark force intent on silencing her by any means possible.

Ruined


Paula Morris - 2009
    She's staying in a creepy old house with her Aunt Claudia, who reads Tarot cards for a living. And at the snooty prep school, a pack of filthy-rich girls treat Rebecca like she's invisible. Only gorgeous, unavailable Anton Grey seems to give Rebecca the time of day, but she wonders if he's got a hidden agenda. Then one night, in Lafayette Cemetery, Rebecca makes a friend. Sweet, mysterious Lisette is eager to talk to Rebecca, and to show her the nooks and crannies of the city.

Texas Gothic


Rosemary Clement-Moore - 2011
    But she also understands that "normal" doesn't mix with magic, and she's worked hard to build a wall between the two worlds. Not only to protect any hope of ever having a normal life.Ranch-sitting for her aunt in Texas should be exactly that. Good old ordinary, uneventful hard work. Only, Amy and her sister, Phin, aren't alone. There's someone in the house with them—and it's not the living, breathing, amazingly hot cowboy from the ranch next door.It's a ghost, and it's more powerful than the Goodnights and all their protective spells combined. It wants something from Amy, and none of her carefully built defenses can hold it back.This is the summer when the wall between Amy's worlds is going to come crashing down.

The Messengers Menagerie


Joey Anderle - 2017
      Now, Sterling Booker Wells hasn't been in charge of her for 24 hours and they have already busted up one effort on her life, and even worse, there is a crossbow bolt hole in Alphonse's prized, painstakingly accurate, exquisitely restored, vintage replica of Steve McQueen's 1968 Mustang from the hit movie Bullitt.However, Booker argues in his defense, the Princess hasn't suffered a scratch. The Messengers Menagerie continues the first weekend when Sterling Booker Wells meets the Royal Elven Princess Auralee, what (else) could possibly go wrong? How about a new crew sent to do him in? And the Princess who will be by his side. Join Runner Sterling Booker Wells as he attempts to keep the Elven Princess out of harm's way... Again.

King of Sin: A Dark Lord Urban Fantasy Mashup


Nick Freo - 2019
    Villains want to be him.Tired of nice guy heroes?Want to tear the flesh from the bones of your enemies? Plunder their riches and return home to celebrate with your loyal band of warrior women?If that's you, indulge yourself in a guilt-free trip to the dark side.After a great battle, Cain awakens to find himself in a new world, the modern age of man.All traces of his former kingdom are gone. Of his personal guard, only one, the majestic elf-queen Pride, remains.This soft world seems ripe for the taking, and Cain wastes no time in making it his own. But Cain quickly discovers that the world is not as defenseless as it first appears, and he will have to content with powers, old and new, who stand in his path. When might and magic are not enough, Cain must adapt, gaining allies and resources to once again become the true King of Sin.Come, join Cain, and learn how you can be the next great dark lord.Sauron plays Grand Theft Auto with a harem in this dark lord reverse portal fantasy. This book contains adult themes.

Teen Spirit


Francesca Lia Block - 2014
    It's perfect for fans of supernatural stories with a touch of romance like the Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.After Julie's grandmother passes away, she is forced to move across town to the not-so-fancy end of Beverly Hills and start over at a new school. The only silver lining to the perpetual dark cloud that seems to be following her? Clark—a die-hard fan of Buffy and all things Joss Whedon, who is just as awkward and damaged as she is. Her kindred spirit.When the two try to contact Julie's grandmother with a Ouija board, they make contact with a different spirit altogether. The real kind. And this ghost will do whatever it takes to come back to the world of the living.Francesca Lia Block's latest young adult novel is a haunting work about family, loss, love, and redemption.

The Weight of Souls


Bryony Pearce - 2013
    She has three weeks to find their murderer and pass the mark to them – letting justice take place and sending them into the Darkness. And if she doesn’t make it in time? The Darkness will come for her…She spends her life trying to avoid ghosts, make it through school where she’s bullied by popular Justin and his cronies, keep her one remaining friend, and persuade her father that this is real and that she’s not going crazy.But then Justin is murdered and everything gets a whole lot worse. Justin doesn’t know who killed him, so there’s no obvious person for Taylor to go after. The clues she has lead her to the V Club, a vicious secret society at her school where no one is allowed to leave… and where Justin was dared to do the stunt which led to his death.Can she find out who was responsible for his murder before the Darkness comes for her? Can she put aside her hatred for her former bully to truly help him? And what happens if she starts to fall for him?