Book picks similar to
Flashes: Tom by Tim O'Rourke


young-adult
paranormal-fantasy
family-relationships
5-star-books

Alice in Zombieland


Gena Showalter - 2012
    Forever.If anyone had told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that's all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.Her father was right. The monsters are real.To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn't careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies.

Secrets


Tim Mettey - 2012
    Nicholas Keller emerges out of the devastation as a shining light of hope for all. But his newfound fame comes with a price that his aunt will not let him pay. They flee into the shadows in order to protect his secret. However, as Nicholas begins his sophomore year at his fifth school in five years, strange and unexpected things begin to happen. He soon tumbles into a web of doomed love, extraordinary talents and a secret past, which threatens the lives of everyone he cares about. It’s up to Nicholas to confront the truth, even if it means his own death.Stay tuned for the release of book 2 in the series coming October 10, 2013!

Insight


Jamie Magee - 2010
    That night, the figure in her nightmare marked her wrist with a star, giving her father no choice but to tell Willow a family secret that would abruptly change life, as she knew it, forever. Before Willow had time to absorb the shock of her father's secret, her soul mate that had shared every stunning dream with her, found her, and darkness captured her closest friends. In order to save them, she must weave through broken myths and the undeniable power of the Zodiac. In the end, Willow discovers that at the moment of our birth we are all given a divine gift.Special note to the reader:The Insight series is part of the “Web of Hearts and Souls Universe,” where several series combine into one large story. All series can be read independently or as one. The reading order for the Insight Series:• Insight• Embody• Image• Vital• Vindicate• Enflame• Imperial (Story of the Sovereigns)• Blakeshire (Drake’s Story)• Emanate Reading Order for the Complete Web of Hearts Universe • Insight• Embody• Image• See• Witness• Vital• Vindicate• Synergy• Enflame• Redefined• Rivulet• Imperial• Blakeshire• Derive• Emanate• Exaltation*• *If you are a fan of Adult Paranormal Edge can be read with the Web of Hearts, before or after Exaltation—the stories share the same characters.

The Soul Summoner


Elicia Hyder - 2015
    For twenty-seven years, she's kept her ability a secret, but eleven young women have been murdered in the mountains of North Carolina, and Sloan may be the only hope of finding their killer. She has just agreed to help Detective Nathan McNamara with the case, when a stranger—who is as alluring as he is terrifying—shows up at her doorstep with a dark past and another puzzling mystery: she can't see his soul at all. Now Sloan is on the hunt for a deadly psychopath with two irresistible men. One of them would die for her, and the other would kill to keep her safe.

You Can Never Go Home Again


Dyan Sheldon - 1993
    Part one of two.

Suspended


Sarah Noffke - 2016
    The once orderly grounds of the circus become riddled with hidden threats. And the ringmaster realizes not only are his circus and its magic at risk, but also his very life. Vagabond Circus caters to the skeptics. Without skeptics, it would close its doors. This is because Vagabond Circus runs for two reasons and only two reasons: first and foremost to provide the lost and lonely Dream Travelers a place to be illustrious. And secondly, to show the nonbelievers that there's still magic in the world. If they believe, then they care, and if they care, then they don't destroy. They stop the small abuse that day-by-day breaks down humanity's spirit. If Vagabond Circus makes one skeptic believe in magic, then they halt the cycle, just a little bit. They allow a little more love into this world. That's Dr. Dave Raydon's mission. And that's why this ringmaster recruits. That's why he directs. That's why he puts on a show that makes people question their beliefs. He wants the world to believe in magic once again.

Virals


Kathy Reichs - 2010
    When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.As the friends discover their heightened senses and animal-quick reflexes, they must combine their scientific curiosity with their newfound physical gifts to solve a cold-case murder that has suddenly become very hot if they can stay alive long enough to catch the killer's scent.Fortunately, they are now more than friends. They're a pack. They are Virals.

Unbreakable


Kami Garcia - 2013
    I never believed in ghosts. Until one tried to kill me.When Kennedy Waters finds her mother dead, her world begins to unravel. She doesn’t know that paranormal forces in a much darker world are the ones pulling the strings. Not until identical twins Jared and Lukas Lockhart break into Kennedy’s room and destroy a dangerous spirit sent to kill her. The brothers reveal that her mother was part of an ancient secret society responsible for protecting the world from a vengeful demon — a society whose five members were all murdered on the same night.Now Kennedy has to take her mother’s place in the Legion if she wants to uncover the truth and stay alive. Along with new Legion members Priest and Alara, the teens race to find the only weapon that might be able to destroy the demon — battling the deadly spirits he controls every step of the way.Suspense, romance, and the paranormal meet in this chilling urban fantasy, the first book in a new series from Kami Garcia, bestselling coauthor of the Beautiful Creatures novels.

Spellbinder


Helen Stringer - 2009
    It's a trait she's inherited from her mother's side of the family, like blue eyes or straight hair. And it's a trait she could do without, because what twelve-year-old wants to be caught talking to someone invisible?It is convenient, though, after Belladonna's parents are killed in a car accident. They can live with her the same as always, watching the same old TV shows in their same old house. Nothing has changed . . . until everything changes.One night, with no warning, they vanish into thin air--along with every other ghost in the world. It's what some people think ghosts are supposed to do, but Belladonna knows it's all wrong. They may not be living, but they're not supposed to be gone.With the help of her classmate Steve, a master of sneaking and spying, Belladonna is left to uncover what's become of the spirits and to navigate a whole world her parents have kept well-hidden. If she can't find her way, she'll lose them again--this time for good.

Ghost


Elle Andrews Patt - 2020
    Yet. No one believes six-year-old Billie Mae knows how she died. Archivist Andrea Kelley's best friend, police detective William Taka, doesn't believe Andrea is actually conversing with a ghost. And Andrea can’t believe Taka has been doubting her sanity, that she’s scared for the safety of a little girl’s ghost, and that she’s really discovered the trail of a serial killer. Until... She’s relying on strangers to help her investigate, being followed by both the local crime boss and the state cops, fielding phone calls from the dead, and skulking around in the dark, unsure of anyone who crosses her path. Did Billie Mae’s mom kill her? Has Andrea’s bestie run away when she needs him most? How many more kids and cops will die before everyone believes it’s murder?

A Talent for Trouble


Matteson Wynn - 2020
    A spy on a spree. And a pest on the prowl. As the temperature drops, things are heating up for the new Housekeeper.When a disaster gets dumped on her doorstep, new magic user Finn finds herself in the hot seat. Caught in the crossfire between two magical families, Finn frantically attempts to save a life, despite opposition on all sides. Adding fuel to the fire, new adversaries force Finn and Bayley to fight for their own safety.With trouble igniting on all sides, will Finn be able to put out all the fires before everything goes up in flames?Featuring a magical house, a feline familiar, and a female protagonist who people love to root for, A Talent for Trouble is an action-packed urban fantasy adventure. Fans of cozy paranormal mysteries that are loaded with suspense and humor will love this enchanting, immersive world.

The Spiritualist


Megan Chance - 2008
    In a cold January morning in 1856, Evelyn Atherton’s husband is found murdered after attending an exclusive séance. Having “married up” into New York society, Evie herself is the immediate suspect. Ostracized and vulnerable, she knows that to clear her name she must retrace her husband’s last steps. And so, joining forces with her husband’s best friend–and the only Manhattan lawyer who will accept her case–Evie dives into the mysterious underworld of the occult. Before long, the trail brings them to a charismatic medium, Michel Jourdain. Evie’s instincts tell her the smooth-talking Jourdain is a charlatan–and her only hope for exoneration. But getting close to Jourdain means embracing a seductive and hypnotic world where clues to murder come through the voices of the dead. Caught in a perilous game in which she is equal player and pawn, predator and victim, Evie finds there is no one to trust, perhaps not even herself. As her powerful in-laws build a case against her, and with time running out, Evie must face the real ghosts of her past if she is to have any hope of avoiding the hangman.

Hidden Truths


Kristin Coley - 2016
    What the hell I was going to do about it? Well, that had yet to decided. But the one thing I did know...she'd just sealed our fate."-JakeAddie wants to make it through high school without anyone discovering her ability. But when a local boy goes missing, she's forced to expose herself to the hottest guy she's ever met, knowing he's the only one that can help her rescue the kidnapped boy. Jake's determined to resist the cute, obviously crazy girl asking for help, but finds he can't when he realizes she knows more than she should. Their alliance reveals more than either could have anticipated, compelling Jake to keep her safe, because Addie's knowledge would get her killed if the wrong people found out.As their reluctant alliance turns into a forbidden love, Addie's dangerous knowledge threatens to destroy them both.

Faerie Blood


Emma L. Adams - 2016
     Twenty years after the faeries came and destroyed the world as we knew it, I use my specialist skills to keep rogue faeries in line and ensure humans and their magically gifted neighbours can coexist (relatively) peacefully. Nobody knows those skills came from the darkest corner of Faerie itself. When a human child disappears, replaced with a faerie changeling, I have to choose between taking the safe road or exposing my own history with the faeries to the seductively dangerous head of the Mage Lords. He’s the exact kind of distraction I don’t need, but it’s work with him or lose my chance to save the victims. It’ll take all my skills to catch the kidnappers and stop Faerie’s dark denizens overrunning the city — but if the faerie lords find out about the magic I stole last time I went into their realm, running won’t save me this time…

Breathing Lies


Jessica Sorensen - 2018
    They’re also twins, but where Foster is all light, Kingsley is darkness and danger. I’ve been in love with Foster for a while, but the night I finally get the courage to tell him is the same night I nearly drown.I don’t remember much about what happened, but when I come out of that lake, I’m not the same girl I was before I went in. I’m lost and confused, especially over how I was saved.Foster insists he’s the one who swam into the water to save me. I want to believe him, but I keep having these dreams where Kingsley is the one who pulls me out. But both brothers swear it was Foster.I’m not sure what to believe or why they'd lie, but I need to find out the truth. But the more I search for answers, the more I realize I don't know the Avertonson brothers as well as I thought.A prequel novel.