Book picks similar to
Red: The Untold Story by Angela M. Hudson
fantasy
retelling
young-adult
reviewed
Into the Fire (Birth of the Phoenix #1)
Ashelyn Drake - 2014
Cara is inexplicably drawn to him, but she’s not exactly complaining. Logan’s like no boy she’s ever met, and he brings out a side of Cara that she isn’t used to. As the two get closer, everything is nearly perfect, and Cara looks forward to the future.But Cara isn’t a normal girl. She’s a member of a small group of people descended from the mythical phoenix bird, and her time is running out. Rebirth is nearing, which means she’ll forget her life up to this point—she’ll forget Logan and everything they mean to one another.. But that may be the least of Cara’s problems.A phoenix hunter is on the loose, and he’s determined to put an end to the lives of people like Cara and her family, once and for all.
Venom
Adrienne Woods - 2014
A novelette that should be read with Thunderlight, The Dragonian series part two.
Sacrificed
Emily Wibberley - 2014
But when her entire family is murdered by Mannix, the king's adviser, Clio inherits the Oracle’s power, a power she never wanted and doesn't understand.Hunted by Mannix, Clio is forced to flee her home in Sheehan and seek refuge in a foreign city where oracles are forbidden. If she's found out, she will be executed. Clio has no choice but to win the trust of Riece, an enemy warrior. Despite the undeniable attraction between them, Clio knows that if he finds out who she really is, he won't hesitate to execute her.Clio tries to hide her budding powers, but the Visions she keeps having of Mannix and his army slaughtering her people torture her conscience. She alone has the strength and foresight to stop him, but only if she can embrace her destiny and sacrifice everything.
Stand by Your Wolf
V. Vaughn - 2018
She’s been acclimating herself into the human world just to avoid the cocky-as-all-get-out type of men who break her heart. But when she meets Roman, her life without a true mate is about to change.
Roman is the alpha of his pack, and with pressure from all sides, he’s in search of a mate who can handle the challenge of a strong leader. When he finds her in Juliet, he discovers the very woman who can steal his heart and help lead a pack is also the kind who will challenge him in ways that could cost one or both of them their lives.*This is an expanded and revised version of V. Vaughn's previously published book, Bite My Sass written in Milly Taiden's Sassy Mates World.
Goddess Ascending
Heather Hildenbrand - 2019
Hunted by the Dark. Two things happen the night Elidi Brant is attacked. She learns she's not human, and she is saved by the impressive and, also definitely not human, Kol Valco. Kol tells her something big and world-breaking is after her, but he promises to protect her until she “ascends.” Elidi doesn't know what ascending means or how to access the abilities Kol insists she has, but she trusts him. The claws and fur he can sprout at will make her feel safe. However, safety is a fragile thing and the force after her is more powerful than Elidi can imagine. With the clock on Elidi’s mortality ticking, she must find a way to access her gifts or kill them both in the process.
Dark Veil
S.L. Naeole - 2011
Then Liam appeared, all teeth and venom, with a warning to stay away from his sister Audrey and from him. It was a warning that she was not going to heed, no matter what the strangely attractive boy said.Liam Mace was used to seeing the tourists on the Rock, and looked especially forward to them leaving. But Fallon wasn't leaving. In fact, she was staying. Worse, his sister was growing attached to her, and that was never a good thing... You never become attached to your food.Black Cat Rock, or the Rock as it is called, is the home of the Panthus, shape-shifting cats of magnificent size and strength who live in their human skins only to protect their secret. During the day they catch fish to sell, or wait on and serve the tourists who come to visit their island, but at night, the fangs come out and the hunt begins as tourist becomes prey.
Night Life
Caitlin Kittredge - 2008
Welcome to Nocturne City, where werewolves, black magicians, and witches prowl the streets at night…Among them is Luna Wilder, a tough-as-nails police officer whose job is to keep the peace. As an Insoli werewolf, Luna travels without a pack and must rely on instinct alone. And she's just been assigned to find the ruthless killer behind a string of ritualistic murders—a killer with ties to an escaped demon found only in legend…until now.But when she investigates prime suspect Dmitri Sandovsky, she can't resist his wolfish charms. Pack leader of a dangerous clan of Redbacks, Dimitri sends her animal instincts into overdrive and threatens her fiercely-guarded independence. But Luna and Dimiri will need to rely on each other as they're plunged into an ancient demon underworld and pitted against an expert black magician with the power to enslave them for eternity…
Blood Warrior
H.D. Gordon - 2011
She soon learns that she is the last known member of an elite race of supernatural warriors, and is thrust into a world full of vampires and werewolves who all seem to regard her as some sort of savior. Meanwhile, Alexa battles a monster within herself that seeks to gain control—a monster that seeks blood. The hidden city she finds herself in appears perfect, but Alexa's instincts tell her that all is not right within its walls. When she is asked to attend a school of fighters, whose exams consist of gladiator-style competitions, she must decide who she can trust among the smiling faces. And, when she meets Kayden, a vampire she feels undeniably drawn to, she must decide if she can trust herself.
Winterspell
Claire Legrand - 2014
Clara Stole, the mayor’s ever-proper daughter, leads a double life. Since her mother’s murder, she has secretly trained in self-defense with the mysterious Drosselmeyer.Then, on Christmas Eve, disaster strikes.Her home is destroyed, her father abducted—by beings distinctly not human. To find him, Clara journeys to the war-ravaged land of Cane. Her only companion is the dethroned prince Nicholas, bound by a wicked curse. If they’re to survive, Clara has no choice but to trust him, but his haunted eyes burn with secrets—and a need she can’t define. With the dangerous, seductive faery queen Anise hunting them, Clara soon realizes she won’t leave Cane unscathed—if she leaves at all.Inspired by The Nutcracker, Winterspell is a dark, timeless fairy tale about love and war, longing and loneliness, and a girl who must learn to live without fear.
Soul Kissed
Courtney Cole - 2012
With all the beauty and charm of a Siren, but cursed as a blood-sucking succubus, Empusa longs for love and a normal life. Neither of these can ever be hers, because the only thing she brings to anyone she loves is death. Em lingers in the mortal world, hiding from her father and existing in a lonely life. Until she meets Brennan. With golden hair and a radiant smile, he captures her heart and awakens it from slumber. But Brennan is more than he seems. And in a relationship where life itself hangs in the balance, is love ever really enough?
Bewitched in Oz
Laura J. Burns - 2014
Zerie and two friends set out to find Glinda the Good, in the hope that she can help them defeat the evil Princess Ozma. But what they experience on their journey might just tear them apart. Will magic be enough to save these three friends?
The Surface Breaks
Louise O'Neill - 2018
On her first swim to the surface, she is drawn towards a human boy. She longs to join his carefree world, but how much will she have to sacrifice? What will it take for the little mermaid to find her voice? Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale is reimagined through a searing feminist lens, with the stunning, scalpel-sharp writing and world building that has won Louise her legions of devoted fans. A book with the darkest of undercurrents, full of rage and rallying cries: storytelling at its most spellbinding.
Tigers in the Cage
Rachel Caine - 2016
and mother to Scholar Christopher Wolfe. Keria's world is the Iron Tower, though she longs to fly beyond those walls and away from the hothouse intrigues of all those trapped with her. But her world is about to be turned upside down by the arrival of a new, unwilling Obscurist.Set in the world of The Great Library.
Elemental: The First
Alexandra May - 2011
Another town here, another school there, her ability to adapt is as easy as breathing. But everything changes when her parents go overseas and Rose moves in with her grandmother. She enjoys meeting new friends and catching up with old ones from her childhood holidays -- except now she must hide a precious secret from everyone, a gift from birth that defies modern day science.Her dreams become riddled with a warrior woman called Halíka Dacomé, but are they visions or messages from the future? She starts her own investigation but encounters more questions than answers. Living right on the edge of Warminster in Wiltshire doesn't help with its folklore and myths about strange lights in the sky and ghost stories of the Salisbury Plain.Not only that, her troubles really take hold one night when the mysterious Aiden Deverill with his alluring smile, his gorgeous dark looks and hypnotising blue eyes, saves her from a freak fire. Or did he?For Rose, her new life is beginning but she soon realises that despite assurances people are not always what they seem. What she always believed to be a happy family and a friendly town soon turns on its head when she discovers that her family secret, Aiden Deverill and the truth behind Halíka Dacomé is at the heart of the whole conspiracy.
The Beauty of Being a Beast
Jennifer Estep - 2021
. .Lady Griselle Mottern is cursed. On her sixteenth birthday, an evil wizard transformed Griselle into a wolflike beast because of a past misdeed by one of her ancestors. Now, with her twenty-first birthday approaching, Griselle has only a few days left to make a boy fall in love with her, or the curse will become permanent, and she will forever be a beast.But breaking the curse isn’t Griselle’s only problem. An evil is lurking in the forest, one that is creeping closer and closer to her castle. Griselle will have to summon all her beastly strength to defeat this evil, even if it means dooming herself forever . . .Note: This 7,000-word short story originally appeared in the Von Flusshexen und Meerjungfrauen German-language anthology in 2020.