Book picks similar to
Torn Apart by J.M. Riddles


fantasy
spfbo
self-published
netgalley

Briarley


Aster Glenn Gray - 2018
     During a chance summer shower, an English country parson takes refuge in a country house. The house seems deserted, yet the table is laid with a sumptuous banquet such as the parson has not seen since before war rationing. Unnerved by the uncanny house, he flees, but stops to pluck a single perfect rose from the garden for his daughter - only for the master of the house to appear, breathing fire with rage. Literally. At first, the parson can't stand this dragon-man. But slowly, he begins to feel the injustice of the curse that holds the dragon captive. What can break this vengeful curse?

Fate of the Fallen


Kel Kade - 2019
    So naturally, when he discovers it’s his destiny to save the world, he dives in head first, pulling his best friend Aaslo along for the ride.Mathias is thrilled for the adventure! There’s nothing better than a road beneath his feet and adventure in the air. Aaslo, on the other hand, has never cared for the world beyond the borders of his sleepy village and would be much happier alone and in the woods. But, someone has to keep the Chosen One’s head on his shoulders and his feet on the ground.It turns out saving the world isn’t as easy, or exciting, as it sounds in the stories. Mathias is more than willing to place his life on the line, but Aaslo would love nothing more than to forget about all the talk of arcane bloodlines and magical fae creatures. When the going gets rough, folks start to believe their only chance for survival is to surrender to the forces of evil, which isn’t how the stories go. At all. To make matters worse Aaslo is beginning to fear that he may have lost his mind…

Ishtar's Blade


Lisa Blackwood - 2016
    King’s confidant. Avenging blade of the Goddess Ishtar. Iltani asked to be none of these things. Yet fate does not ask permission when she weaves souls upon destiny’s loom. On the day of Iltani’s birth, an assassin tried and nearly succeeded in ending the line of the gryphon kings. Out of that bloodshed, an unbreakable bond was forged between child-king and goddess-chosen infant, and from that pivotal moment forward, Iltani was never farther from King Ditanu than his shadow. Not until her training to become Ishtar’s Blade required her to leave. After four brutal years of training, Iltani now returns to court as Ishtar’s Blade and takes up her role of king’s shadow—a dangerous position in a court where the threat of another assassination is but a blade’s width away. But for the chance to stand at the side of her beloved king, she will endure the dangers of court intrigues, assassins, and political maneuverings. Author's Note: Ishtar's Blade is a Fantasy Romance loosely based on early Sumerian and Mesopotamian religion. Ishtar's Legacy Reading Order: Ishtar's Blade A Blade's Beginning (short story) Blade's Honor Blade's Destiny (coming later in 2018)

Power of Lies


Auryn Hadley - 2019
     When working for a sex mage, it's the only way to stay safe. That's the first thing Jaeda learns when she's named as the Chosen.  The mage needs a sacrifice, and she's willing to give it.  Maybe too willing.  After all, this man is lust incarnate; a woman would have to be insane not to want him, even if he is dangerous. But desiring someone's body is very different from falling in love.  In her line of work, the two must never be confused.  She doesn't even know his name!  He's simply The Jackal, a terrifyingly powerful sex mage, and she's his altar.  Her lust fuels him.  He needs it. And that puts her in control. Now, she gets to spend her days with a mage who wields sex like a weapon and his assistant who's as irresistible as some long-lost god brought to life.  The things they do to her body are amazing, and the rest? These men want to spoil her with the kind of riches she's always dreamed of.  It's the best job she can imagine. Unfortunately, it's never that easy.  This is supposed to be about making magic - that's it.  Feelings have no place in a mage's temple.  Affection is a curse.  But when the enemy decides she'll make the perfect weapon to steal the Jackal's power, what's she supposed to do?  After all, she's just a stupid girl caught in the middle.  Her job is to just lie back and take it. Except, someone's been lying. It might even be her. POWER OF LIES is a complete novel with a reverse harem, polyamorous story line.  It is intended for a mature audience due to the presence of consensual sex, group sex, M/M scenes, and plenty of vulgar language - as well as some potentially triggering violence since the bad guys don't always play nice.  While this is a love story, it may not be right for all readers.

The Unbroken


C.L. Clark - 2021
    Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought.Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet's edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren't for sale.

Light Mage


Laurie Forest - 2018
    Sage’s affinity for light magery, a rare skill among Gardnerians, makes her the perfect protector for the one tool that can combat the shadows spreading across Erthia. But in order to keep the Wand safe from the demonic forces hunting for it, Sage must abandon everything she once knew and forge a new path for herself…a dangerous course that could lead to either triumph or utter ruin.

The Grendel Affair


Lisa Shearin - 2013
    Things that go bump in the night, the monsters you thought didn’t exist? We battle them and keep you safe. But some supernatural baddies are just too big to contain, even for us…   When I moved to New York to become a world famous journalist, I never imagined that snagging a job at a seedy tabloid would change my career path from trashy reporter to undercover agent. I’m Makenna Fraser, a Seer for SPI. I can see through any disguise, shield, or spell that a paranormal pest can come up with. I track down creatures and my partner, Ian Byrne, takes them out—usually saving my skin in the process.   Our cases are generally pretty routine, but a sickle-wielding serial killer has been prowling the city’s subway tunnels. And the murderer’s not human. The fiend in question, a descendant of Grendel—yes, that Grendel—shares his ancestor’s hatred of parties, revelry, and drunkards. And with New Year’s Eve in Times Square only two days away, we need to bag him quickly. Because if we don’t find him—and the organization behind him—by midnight, our secret’s out and everyone’s time is up.

Watchtower


Elizabeth A. Lynn - 1979
    But when Tornor is overrun by raiders, a young prince is the tower's last hope-in an enchanting story of a time far removed from ours, and a land alive with warriors, lovers, war and honor. The Watchtower is the first in the memorable Chronicles of Tornor Trilogy by one of speculative fiction's most honored and exciting voices.

Nevernight


Jay Kristoff - 2016
    Alone and friendless, she hides in a city built from the bones of a dead god, hunted by the Senate and her father’s former comrades. But her gift for speaking with the shadows leads her to the door of a retired killer, and a future she never imagined.Now, Mia is apprenticed to the deadliest flock of assassins in the entire Republic—the Red Church. If she bests her fellow students in contests of steel, poison and the subtle arts, she’ll be inducted among the Blades of the Lady of Blessed Murder, and one step closer to the vengeance she desires. But a killer is loose within the Church’s halls, the bloody secrets of Mia’s past return to haunt her, and a plot to bring down the entire congregation is unfolding in the shadows she so loves.Will she even survive to initiation, let alone have her revenge?

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.

Breaking the Storm


Sedona Venez - 2013
    If the fae witch ever finds true love, the man is sure to die a terrible death. Five years ago, she left her sexy rock star of a boyfriend Knox to save his life.When her escort service for paranormals puts her face to face with Knox again, her passion grows like never before. Can she possibly keep it together when Knox insists that she be his escort? Will her curse make it all fall apart?Breaking the Storm is the first book in the Credence Curse Saga, a series of adventure-packed shifter romance tales. If you like dark magic, powerful women, steamy love scenes, heart-pounding romance, and piles of sexy shifter secrets, then you'll love the latest romp from author Sedona Venez.

Witch Please


Ann Aguirre - 2021
    After a messy breakup that included way too much family “feedback,” Danica made a pact with her cousin: they’ll keep their hearts protected and have fun, without involving any of the overly opinionated Waterhouse matriarchs. Danica is more than a little exhausted navigating a long-standing family feud where Gram thinks the only good mundane is a dead one and Danica’s mother weaves floral crowns for anyone who crosses her path. Three blocks down from the Fix-It Witches, Titus Winnaker, owner of Sugar Daddy’s bakery, has family trouble of his own. After a tragic loss, all he’s got left is his sister, the bakery, and a lifetime of terrible luck in love. Sure, business is sweet, but he can’t seem to shake the romantic curse that’s left him past thirty and still a virgin. He’s decided he’s doomed to be forever alone.Until he meets Danica Waterhouse. The sparks are instant, their attraction irresistible. For him, she’s the one. To her, he’s a firebomb thrown in the middle of a family war. Can a modern witch find love with an old-fashioned mundane who refuses to settle for anything less than forever?

The Wolf in the Whale


Jordanna Max Brodsky - 2019
    Alone at the edge of the world, hope is all they have left.Desperate to save them, Omat journeys across the icy wastes, fighting for survival with every step. When she meets a Viking warrior and his strange new gods, they set in motion a conflict that could shatter her world...or save it.

Ghost


Carole Cummings - 2012
    Ghost. Assassin. Mad. Fen Jacin-rei is all these and none. His mind is host to the spirits of long-dead magicians, and Fen's fate should be one of madness and ignoble death. So how is it Fen lives, carrying out shadowy vengeance for his subjugated people and protecting the family he loves?Kamen Malick means to find out. When Malick and his own small band of assassins ambush Fen in an alley, Malick offers Fen a choice: Join us or die.Determined to decode the intrigue that surrounds Fen, Malick sets to unraveling the mysteries of Fen's past. As Fen's secrets slowly unfold, Malick finds irony a bitter thing when he discovers the one he wants is already hopelessly entangled with the one he hunts.First Edition published by Dreamspinner Press, February 2012

Dragons Realm


Tessa Dawn - 2015
    Identified by the king’s witch as one of the rare, invaluable females in Dragons Realm who can give birth to a dragon’s son, she was stolen from her parents as a child and taken to the Keep to be reared in the ways of the Ahavi. As one of the few, the elect ~ the Sklavos Ahavi ~ Mina is expected to feed her master’s fire, reanimate his blood, and above all else, give him strong dragon offspring: children who will one day rise to power. But Mina, to her great misfortune, is far too intelligent for her own good: She has a stubborn sense of justice, and she is wholly incapable of blind submission.Dante Dragona is as cunning as he is lethal, as methodical as he is dangerous, and as terrifying as he is powerful. As the eldest of three dragon princes, he is destined to succeed his merciless father to the throne of Castle Dragon. But first he must do his duty to the Realm by governing one of its harsh, unforgiving districts and claiming a Sklavos Ahavi. Hardened by the sadistic abuse he endured as a child and shaped by the tragic suicide of his twin, the prince lives only to fulfill his obligations to the monarchy: to maintain law and order in a bestial land, to contain its magical inhabitants, and to keep the kingdom safe from its mortal enemies, the Lycanian shifters across the sea. Like all primordial dragons, he rules with an iron fist, dominates with absolute power, and punishes with fire. Those who oppose him die a swift and brutal death ~ subject, enemy, or slave ~ the Realm has no tolerance for weakness. When the iron resolve of a dragon prince clashes with the stubborn will of a slave, bonds will be broken, alliances will be tested, and a kingdom will be set ablaze. DRAGONS REALM by Tessa Dawn