Book picks similar to
The Cardinal Gate by Amy Cissell


urban-fantasy
fantasy
paranormal
romance

Open Minds


Susan Kaye Quinn - 2011
    Zeros are outcasts who can’t be trusted, leaving her no chance with Raf, a regular mindreader and the best friend she secretly loves. When she accidentally controls Raf’s mind and nearly kills him, Kira tries to hide her frightening new ability from her family and an increasingly suspicious Raf. But lies tangle around her, and she’s dragged deep into a hidden world of mindjackers, where having to mind control everyone she loves is just the beginning of the deadly choices before her.TOP 5 FINALIST for 2012 Best Indie Book, Young Adult Fiction - The Kindle Book ReviewMINDJACK SERIES READING ORDEROpen Minds (Book 1)Closed Hearts (Book 2)Free Souls (Book 3)Locked Tight (Book 4)Cracked Open (Book 5)Broken Wide (Book 6)Mindjack Short Story Collection (Book 7)The Locksmith is a standalone novella that can be read independently of the trilogy and novellas.

The Immortal Mark


Amy Sparling - 2017
    College isn’t an option for a poor girl with average grades, so when her best friend Riley finds them a mysterious job opportunity that includes room and board, Cara is interested but thinks it sounds too good to be true.The night before their interview, Cara has an epic night out with Theo, an impossibly handsome guy she just met. He’s charismatic, a little mysterious, and it feels like she’s known him her whole life.When she runs into him at her interview, he’s cold and elusive. He makes it very clear that he doesn’t want her working with him, which only makes their mutual attraction burn hotter. Cara takes the job for Riley’s sake and promises herself she’ll avoid this jerk and his mood swings, no matter how hard it is to keep away from him.Soon she finds out her millionaire employers aren’t normal guys who live and travel in luxury. They’re immortals. Theo wasn’t trying to ruin her job prospects. He was trying to save her life, because the girls they hire never make it out alive.

The Road to Farringale


Charlotte E. English - 2017
    New World. In the 21st century, little remains of magick save scattered, beleaguered pockets of magickal community and scholarship - and a vast, but rapidly decaying, heritage. How can any of it survive the pace of modern life? As an agent of the Society for Magickal Heritage, Cordelia “Ves” Vesper has an important job: to track down and rescue endangered magickal creatures, artefacts, books and spells wherever they are to be found. It’s a duty that takes her the length and breadth of Britain, and frequently gets her into trouble. But somebody’s got to keep magick alive in the modern world, and Ves is more than equal to the job. In this first adventure, Ves meets her new partner, the Waymaster Jay. Their mission? Find the source of a magickal disease that’s decimating Britain’s troll enclaves - and fix it. Simple in theory, tricky in practice, for the only place that might hold the information they need is the ancient and inconveniently lost enclave of Farringale... From the author of The Malykant Mysteries: The Road to Farringale is episode one of the contemporary fantasy web serial, Modern Magick.

Creatus


Carmen DeSousa - 2013
    Seeing no future in her worthless existence, she attempts to force her protector out of the shadows the only way she knows--killing herself.Ignoring his family's disapproval, Derrick continues to safeguard the girl he rescued from a vicious attack years earlier. The one thing he can't protect her from, however, is herself. When Kristina jumps off a bridge, he must reveal himself, even if saving her means she will now be in danger from his kind.To make things worse, a video revealing Derrick's supernatural ability when he saved Kristina is now in the possession of a government agency, and someone in his family will do anything to keep their existence a secret, even kill Kristina, the woman Derrick can no longer live without.

Firebolt


Adrienne Woods - 2013
    Right. Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales, and sixteen-year old Elena Watkins was no different.Until the night a fairy tale killed her father.Now Elena’s in a new world, and a new school. The cutest guy around may be an evil dragon, a Prince wants Elena’s heart, and a long dead sorcerer may be waking up to kill her. Oh. And the only way Elena’s going to graduate is on the back of a dragon of her own.Teenage girls don’t believe in fairy tales. Now it’s time for Elena to believe – in herself.

Dreamthief


Tamara Grantham - 2015
    Forget the fairies and unicorns, most people come back with lost memories and mental problems. Olive Kennedy knows. She's the therapist who treats patients suffering from Faythander's side effects. Despite her empty bank account, she takes pride in her job as Houston’s only Fairy World medical doctor. She's never failed to cure a client—until now.Traveling back to Faythander wasn't on Olive's to-do list. But she has no choice. The fate of both Earth and Fairy depends on her ability to stop an ancient being called the Dreamthief. To complicate matters, she may be losing her heart to someone who can’t love her in return. Saving the world, she can handle. Falling in love—not so much. As if battling the forces of evil wasn't difficult enough…

Rebirth


Gayle Parness - 2011
    She’s too strong, too fast and her senses are way too acute. Not knowing her real parents and passed around from family to family, she’s never fit into the mundane world she’s grown up in, making it impossible for her to put down real roots or form permanent friendships.So waking up in the forest in the middle of the night covered in blood and having no memory of how she got there, pisses her off and makes her even more confused. Who is this guy who’s kidnapped her and tells her that she is more than human and needs to be trained? And who’s the hot guy in the room next door who she’s supposed to train with? And why has Garrett, a compellingly seductive vampire, been her silent guardian for the last few years, saving her life when she was brutally attacked by thugs?As the days pass and Jackie is confronted with the strange truth of who and what she is, she begins to put the pieces of her splintered life back together to feel whole for the very first time. Becoming acquainted with a world spinning with a mysterious energy and populated by shapeshifters,vampires, weres, and even the powerful fae, Jackie learns to pull strength from the magic, her new friendships and even love.

Memory's Wake


Selina A. Fenech - 2011
    All versions of the book (ebook, paperback, hardcover) include 44 interior black and white illustrations by the author and artist.In a culture of cravats and corsets, a troubled sixteen-year-old stands out in her t-shirt and torn jeans. She takes the name “Memory” because hers are stolen, and she’ll do anything to get them back. Lost in a world not her own, where magic and monstrous fairies are real, Memory has enough to handle just trying to stay alive.Chased by wizard hunters, hunted by a dragon, stalked by a strange, handsome savage, despised by the fae and wanted by the king himself – everyone is after Memory, and she suspects it’s not just for her eye-catching outfit. Her forgotten past holds dangerous secrets that will change everything.Memory will fight to get back to a family and home she can’t remember but desperately desires, even at the cost of new friendships and romances. On the run with no name and no memories, she thinks she has nothing left to lose. She couldn’t be more mistaken.

Demon Girl


Penelope Fletcher - 2010
    Rae Wilder has problems. Supernatural creatures swarm the earth, and humanity is on the brink of extinction. Stalked by a handsome fairy who claims she is like him, demonkind, Rae thinks maybe it was a mistake breaking the rules by going over the Wall into demon territory. Plunged into a world of dark magics, fierce creatures, and ritual sacrifice, she is charged with a guarding a magical amulet. The changes to her mind and body are startling, but rather than accept her purpose she struggles against who she is destined to be. Throw in a big lust for a vampire who can't keep his hands off her, and life starts to get complicated. Rae is forced to make the ultimate choice: to live and die human, or embrace her birth-right and wield magics that could turn her into something wicked, a force of nature nothing can control. BrE.

Vampire Shift


Tim O'Rourke - 2011
    Investigating a series of horrific murders, grave desecrations, and missing persons, Kiera uses her unique ability of seeing, and soon realizes her own life is in danger. When Kiera falls for police officer Luke Bishop, not only are her mind and heart opened to a terrifyingly new world, she comes to suspect that Luke might be involved in the killings. In a race against time to unearth the truth, Kiera must discover the identity of who - or what - is behind the gruesome deaths on her Vampire Shift. "Vampire Shift" is Book One of The Kiera Hudson Series One.

Beyond the Veil


Pippa DaCosta - 2014
    Her real name is Muse, she's half demon, and her attempt at a normal life is about to go up in smoke. When an assassin walks into her life, leaving a trail of destruction in his wake, Muse must return to the one man she hoped never to see again and ask for help. The Prince of Greed isn’t known for his charity. His price is high, and the cost could tear her apart. Trapped between the malevolent intentions of a Prince of Hell and an assassin with ulterior motives, Muse must embrace the lure of chaos at her core—the demon inside her—in order to survive.

The Acropolis


R.K. Ryals - 2012
    Reinhardt."These words are not comforting to me. At eighteen, I am a gargoyle who has been demoted because I broke the rules. Now I have a new mission, a new mark to protect. But I don't expect Emma Chase. I don't expect to question my own race. I don't expect to care for my own mark. And I am not prepared for what I find at The Acropolis.

Shifters


Jaime Johnesee - 2012
     This detective's got an ace up her sleeve in the form of her ability to shift into the guise of a were panther. As she tracks down the cold-hearted murderer she also has to contend with an anti-shifter group determined to destroy her. Not to mention the black jaguar who turned her decides to come sauntering back into her life.

Stroke of Fire


Kira Nyte - 2019
    She has fun new friends and the promise of a showing at a small New Orleans art gallery. The fact she can listen in on other people’s thoughts and has the occasional, freakily accurate premonition is the little secret that inspires her work. Syn Terravon is content with his vagabond life, never staying in one place too long. It’s a good way to forget about the horror that drove Syn and his fellow Firestorm dragons from their homeland three decades ago. He’s ready to leave the Big Easy when he spots her. His lifemate. And she’s in danger.Briella is more annoyed than afraid when a tall, dark and dangerously attractive man with flames — actual flames — in his eyes accosts her outside her apartment. Yeah, sure he’s there to protect her. She’s shocked to learn the safe life she enjoys is nothing more than an illusion. For a woman to whom hard-won independence is sacred, putting her faith in a chivalrous stranger might just be riskiest challenge she’s ever taken on.

My Sweet Vampire


Arabella Holmes - 2020
    I will always hunt you down, baby. I will hunt you down to the ends of the Earth, walk through the fires of Hell to bring you back to me...One hot night with a vampire is an experience no woman will ever forget.Meet Dr Nick Craven - a renowned hypnotherapist who works in London's affluent Harley Street. Tall, dark and debonair, Nick is everything a woman could want. Except for one thing - Nick Craven is a vampire with an insatiable blood lust.When the beautiful Carly Singleton books a session with him to help her quit smoking, Nick is overwhelmed by desire and will do anything to get her into his bed. Can Carly resist Nick's devilish charms and will she live to tell the tale?My Sweet Vampire is a steamy page turner that will keep you guessing right until the end.Reader Warning: This book contains hot sex that will make your Kindle sizzle. If this is not the kind of stuff you like to read, skip this book. However, if you like sensual scenes, feisty heroines and swoon-worthy Alpha Males then this is right up your street!