Book picks similar to
Last Light by J.N. Baker


urban-fantasy
dnf
first-in-series
amazon-book-purchases

Heiress of Lies


Cege Smith - 2012
    Called from her studies to return to her father's side, the Crown Princess is kidnapped en route by Connor, a mysterious rogue who has been waiting a long time for the chance to change his destiny.Facing the consequences of a freak accident that even Connor could not prevent, Angeline is forced to travel a dangerous path to regain control of her fate and her kingdom. Her impossible choice requires her to rely on Connor, who epitomizes everything generations of her family tried to destroy.As the last of the Robart bloodline, Angeline discovers that enemies she thought long conquered have been lying in wait for just such an opportunity as her father's death to turn events to their advantage. Worse yet, by uncovering those secrets, Angeline must confront the possibility that no one ever expected her to take the throne in anything but title alone.As her bond with Connor grows stronger, she realizes they have far more in common than she ever expected, and that could make him just the ally she needs.

Red Moon


Elizabeth Kelly - 2013
    Now, humans and supernaturals alike have learned how to survive in the new world. For Avery Hendrin, the eldest daughter of the man who brought light back to the world, life has taken a turn for the worse. Sold into slavery after her father’s death, Avery’s only concern is keeping her younger sister safe. Branded as a witch and rejected by her own kind because of her red hair, Avery resigns herself to a life in the slave house until a chance meeting with a powerful Lycan named Tristan Williams.Although Tristan does not believe the human’s tales of the Reds being witches, he has no need for Avery. He’s in search of a nanny for his young children and after an impassioned plea from the redhead, agrees to hire her younger sister as his nanny. However, his beloved daughter Sophia has an immediate connection with Avery and Tristan cannot deny her request to purchase Avery as well, despite the discord it will bring to his household.Struggling to accept her new life as a slave and to ignore her almost immediate attraction to Tristan, Avery tries to hide her healing powers from him but exposes her gift when she saves Tristan’s adopted brother from death.Tristan believes his obsession with Avery is nothing more than lust. Determined to bed her despite her strange powers, will he convince her to accept her new life or give her the freedom she craves?

Godhunter


Amy Sumida - 2013
    I've trained with sword and magic to be strong enough to kill them. Except now, on the cusp of my greatest battle, everything I know has been turned upside down by one man and his offer of an alliance. One man who is also a god.

Vampire in Denial


Dale Mayer - 2011
    But try as she might, she can't get a handle on the vampire lifestyle and all the...blood.Turning her back on the vamp world, she embraces the human teenage lifestyle—high school, peer pressure and finding a boyfriend. Jared manages to stir something in her blood. He's smart and fun and oh, so cute. But Tessa's dream of a having the perfect boyfriend turns into a nightmare when vampires attack the movie theatre and kidnap her date. Once again, Tessa finds herself torn between the human world and the vampire one. Will blood own out? Can she make peace with who she is as well as what?

The Royal Companion


Tanya Bird - 2017
    He is the prince she is forbidden to love.Companions are the kingdom’s most beautiful and educated women — possessions of Syrasan’s royal men.Aldara is sixteen when she is sold to the obnoxious crown prince as a gift for his brother. Forced to leave the only life she has ever known, Aldara is sent to Archdale Castle, where she is mentored to become Prince Tyron’s perfect Companion. But no amount of lessons can prepare her for the troubled man marked by war. He sees straight through the polished exterior presented to him. He sees her.Prince Tyron has just returned from war. All he wants is privacy to grieve the men who died at the border. So when his brother gifts him a Companion upon his return, he is forced to embrace a tradition he has so far managed to avoid. Except Aldara is not like the others. She walks with her face to the sun and arms swinging. Her laughter makes him forget the lie. But if they ignore the rules that safeguard them, there will be consequences…This is book one in The Companion series. If you enjoy dark medieval romance, then this epic tale of love against all odds is for you. Please note: This is part one of Tyron and Aldara's story. Their story continues in books two and three.Trigger warning: This book contains sexual violence, death and dark themes.

Blood and Bones


A.D. Starrling - 2022
    The world's foremost yet least celebrated expert on all things ancient and arcane. A metalsmith with unusual skills. The owner of an antique shop and a switchblade that is more than just a knife. What he doesn’t want to be is a hero. When the monster he first met on the night he turned six appears on his doorstep, Artemus suspects his life is about to go from strange to hell in a handbasket. And he isn’t too happy about that.Callie Stone arrives in Chicago with one purpose in mind: to sell one of her dead husband’s prized possessions. When the auction house gets attacked by fiendish creatures and the relic goes missing, Callie realizes that the life she has known is a lie and the world is full of frightening things straight out of her worst nightmares.Moments after snatching a priceless artifact from one of the most securely guarded private functions in the country, Drake Hunter is confronted by enemies he thought he’d left in his past. Brought face to face with the mysterious organization after the relic, Drake knows he is dealing with something evil. Because the devil inside him is stirring once more.With no option but to join forces with a pair of ruthless mercenaries, the reluctant associates are cast into a race to uncover the organization’s dark intentions and the true nature of the artifact. To survive, they will need more than brute strength and wit. They will have to figure out what twisted Fate links them. And they will have to embrace powers they never knew they possessed.From the author of bestselling supernatural thriller series Seventeen comes a spin-off series like no other. Get the spellbinding book fans have been waiting for and enter a world you won’t want to leave!

Once Bitten


Kalayna Price - 2009
    She was expected to accept her role as her father’s successor whether or not her cat was up to the task of leading the clan. She disagreed. Now she’s less than a step ahead of the hunters, bone-tired, cold, and living hand-to-mouth in the city of Haven. And that’s the high point of her day. She’s also drugged, "accidently" turned into a vampire, and sentenced to death for recklessly creating a rogue shifter who tortures its human prey. She’s got seventy-two hours to find the rogue, evade a city full of hunters, prove she’s not responsible for the rogue, and keep the vampire council from killing her. All while sorting out an apprentice mage, a married ex-boyfriend shifter-hunter, and the vampire who made her.

Ransom


Maggie M. Lily - 2021
    Peace is the worst superpower... Luke Trellis is Lord Peace, also known as Puking Peace. And no, he doesn't love the nickname any more than he loves the power. His siblings have psychic powers that let them travel through time, control the elements, and make billions of dollars.Luke's just Peace. Boring, non-sexy Peace.When a friend goes missing, Luke will make his way into the shifter community to rescue her.And, to the shifters, Peace is anything but boring. Shifter bonds of power, family, and love are like nothing Luke's ever seen.Ransom is the first book in the complete Peacekeeper’s Harmony series of psychic shifter romance novels.

The Ghost Hunter


Lori Brighton - 2010
    But soon after taking ownership of the decrepit building, Ashley realizes she’s in for far more than she bargained. Not only has she inherited answers to many sought-after questions, she’s also inherited spirits, demons and even fallen angels! Then Cristian arrives, a gorgeous man who insists he merely needs a room to rent. She believes him, until one by one her ghosts start disappearing...As a fallen angel destined for a life of servitude, Cristian Lucius is relegated to protecting earth from unwanted spirits. But he can’t accomplish this daunting task alone. He requires assistance from the very woman who frustrates him as much as she intrigues him. Cristian is determined to ignore his intense attraction for Ashley, and focus on his mission. If they don’t work together, they won’t have a chance in hell of defeating the demon threatening their lives. The problem is getting Ashley to trust him. No easy task, considering Cristian is the very man responsible for her father’s disappearance.

The Librarian's Vampire Assistant


Mimi Jean Pamfiloff - 2018
    NOBODY MESSES WITH HIS LIBRARIAN. . . Who killed Michael Vanderhorst’s maker? It’s a darn good question. But when the trail brings Michael to hellishly sunny Phoenix, Arizona, his biggest problem soon becomes a cute little librarian he can’t seem to stay away from. He’s never met a bigger danger magnet! Even her book cart has it out for her. And is that the drug cartel following her around, too? “Dear God, woman! What have you gotten yourself into?”Things go from bad to worse when local vampires won’t play nice.Can this four-hundred-year-old vampire keep his librarian safe and himself out of hot water? Can he bring his maker’s killer to justice? Yesterday, he would’ve said yes. But yesterday, he didn’t have a strange connection with a librarian. Yesterday, people weren’t trying to kill her.

Touched


A.J. Aalto - 2011
    Twice-Touched by the Blue Sense--which gives her the ability to feel the emotions of others, and read impressions left behind on objects--Marnie also has a doctorate in preternatural biology and a working knowledge of the dark arts. She is considered without peer in the psychic community. Then her first big FBI case ended with a bullet in one shoulder and a chip on the other, a queasy heart and a serial killer in the wind, leaving her a public flop and a private wreck. When the FBI’s preternatural crimes unit tracks her down at a remote mountain lodge for her insight on a local case, her quiet retirement is promptly besieged by a stab-happy starlet, a rampaging ghoul, and a vampire-hunting jackass in tight Wranglers. Marnie figures the only real mystery is which one will kill her first. Too mean to die young, backed up by friends in cold places, and running with a mouth as demure as a cannon’s blast, Marnie Baranuik is about to discover that there’s no such thing as quitting time when you’re Touched.

Reckless Magic


Rachel Higginson - 2011
    She can't seem to stop herself from closing them down. Kingsley is her last chance to finish high school and the last private school willing to accept her. She is focused on just getting through graduation until she realizes Kingsley is not like the other private schools she's been to. The students may be different, but so is she. And after meeting Kiran Kendrick, the boy who won't leave her alone and seems to be the source of all her problems, she is suddenly in a world that feels more make-believe than reality. To top it off, she is being hunted by men who want to kill Kiran and her best friend Lilly is taken away to a foreign prison. Eden finds herself right in the middle of an ancient war, threatening everything she loves. She alone has to find a way to save her best friend and the boy who has captivated her heart. Reckless Magic is an intricate story about mystery, adventure, magic and forbidden love. Eden Matthews is an unlikely heroine determined to save the world and be with her one, true love before it's too late.

The Call of Fire


Sloane Calder - 2020
    A bodyguard hellbent on revenge. And a love that might cost them both everything… Elspeth Lennox knows dreams are foolish--including the dream to marry for love. Born without elemental power, she’s considered worthless except in the promise that she could produce a rare and superiorly gifted child free from the disease that is slowly killing her brother and so many other Natura.In exchange for a cure, she agrees to marry and join her bloodline with that of the Natura’s most powerful Russian family--a king very few have ever seen in person.The last thing the Lennox family needs is another powerful alliance. Fearing retaliation from other Natura families, Elspeth’s grandfather assigns her his most powerful bodyguard to make sure she survives to see her wedding day.Fire elemental Aleron Foussé has long dreamed of revenge for his father’s murder. Protecting Elspeth will give him the cover he needs to finally achieve that goal. Elspeth’s just a pawn. A distraction he doesn’t need. A dangerous distraction who makes him dream of things he’ll never have. Things he never thought he wanted.Now he wants it all. He wants her.But Elspeth holds a secret powerful enough to start a war, and if they’re not careful, their hearts may be the first casualties.For fans of classic paranormal romance series like Black Dagger Brotherhood, Immortals After Dark, and Psy/Changeling… with deep character development, intense relationships, and kickass action… oh, and hot sex… Dive into the Natura Elementals series...supernatural mafia romance at its hottest!

City in Embers


Stacey Marie Brown - 2015
    When she is placed in her “last-chance” home, she finds a reason to stay and turn her life around: her foster sister, Lexie, who is paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Zoey will do anything to keep her safe. After high school, Zoey is hired by a special government agency, the Department of Molecular Genetics (DMG), where she meets the other reason to remain: Daniel, her co-worker. The man she loves.But there is something unique about Zoey. She can see fae. Because of this, the DMG hires her to work as a Collector: catching, researching, testing, and using the fae to save human lives. The work never registers on her sympathy radar. She was raised to think of fae as beasts that feed on humans and want to destroy them.When devastation hits Seattle, Zoey's whole world is turned upside down. The electric storm connects her to a ruthless fae, a Wanderer named Ryker, whose dealings expose them to even more trouble and danger. They embark on a journey, running and hiding from both the government and fae, both of which threaten their lives and those they love.

Tempted by the Jaguar: Transformation and Revelation


Cristina Rayne - 2015
    However, when she is randomly attacked one night in her apartment complex's parking lot, that one violent act sets in motion events that reveal not only her long-dormant shifter heritage in the worst possible way, but could also railroad her efforts of finding out what really happened to her parents. Suddenly finding herself the center of attention among Riverford's shifter clans, Kylie's only hope of navigating such a dangerous minefield of politics and perpetual battles over territory is Hunter, a too-sexy-for-her-peace-of-mind jaguar shifter that might be her key to gaining insider access to the hidden and secretive shifter society. Now Kylie must decide whether to integrate more deeply into Hunter's jaguar clan in order to take advantage of this rare opportunity or to run while her secret still remains uncovered. To stay would mean deliberately putting herself in more danger than Kylie may be prepared to handle, especially when Hunter, the person she must rely on, may be hiding something as well. Contains strong adult content and language.