Book picks similar to
Spearwood Academy: Episode One by A.S. Oren
fantasy
dragons
young-adult
short-story
Surviving Year One
Cara Wylde - 2019
Just like all little girls, I hoped I was special and that one day my powers would be revealed. My parents would be bewildered, my friends would equally worship and envy me, and my bullies would run away in terror! Nothing happened when I turned 10. I didn’t grow wings at 12, still wasn’t able to make things move with my mind at 14, and at 16 I was already too old to believe in such nonsense. Well, what do you think happened the day I turned 18? I got the confirmation that I was only human. In the mail! Oh, and also an invitation to apply to the Grim Reaper Academy. Because, apparently, humans can be Grim Reapers, too. Fast forward to day one, semester one, year one. There’s a test! No one told me I’d have to take a test to enter! But there are only 22 Grim Reapers in the world, the competition is tough, so I guess it makes sense? If I pass, then I will be sorted according to what kind of Death I’ll make if I survive the rigors of the Academy. Merciful Death? Neutral Death? Oh, please God, don’t let me be sorted into the Violent Death Cabal! All the A-holes are there! And I don’t think I can compete with Holier-Than-Thou Sariel (cause he’s an archangel, you see), Jerkface-No-1 Pazuzu AKA Paz (cause all demons are major morons), Mr. Bow-To-Me GC Apis (ugh, false gods are the worst), and Francis (no idea what his deal is, he doesn’t talk much). But this is my chance, dammit! This is what I’ve been waiting for all my life! Okay, so I’m not a princess, or a mermaid, or Sailor Moon. But I can be a Grim Reaper one day. I’ll take it! ***Author's Note: This is book 1 in the Grim Reaper Academy series, intended for mature audiences. Please be advised that it may contain situations that are triggering to some, including explicit language and a lot of steam.
Blood Awakening
Wenona Hulsey - 2011
Kat looking to have a good time and Nicole hoping to escape the pain of losing her mother for a little while. Little did Nicole know, the escape would awaken a ancient power that is hidden in her blood. A power that evil wants for its own and will do whatever it takes to have it.This short story is a look into best friends', Nicole and Kat, life before a centuries old grudge and Nicole's emerging powers rips them apart. A power that Nicole wants no part of as it brings her to her knees and forces her to walk away from her small town life and everyone she loves.
Reborn in Flames
M. Sinclair - 2019
My sadistic mother and god-fearing father believe I have the devil inside of me because I heal after their abuse. I’d accepted long ago I would die in the very place I’d been born without ever feeling the sun on my skin. Then one day, my mother took me from my father’s religious cult in the wake of his death. Nearly a week later, and after countless hours with her boyfriend Jed’s creepy remarks, I find myself in Washington State. I had only ever interacted with my parents and now Jed, so you can imagine my surprise when I ran smack dab into possibly the most handsome man in the world. He’s not alone though, there are intriguing and handsome men popping up everywhere in my life.Except I shouldn’t be focusing on that. I should be preparing for my mother’s cruel hits. Preparing to run the minute I turn 18. Preparing to hide from Jed’s leering comments and uncomfortable stares. One interaction with this man and I feel like my entire life has been altered.Five days until I turn 18. Five days until my mother realizes what happens when you keep a bird cooped up for too long, only to open its cage. Five days until I am out of here.My problem? Everything inside of me tells me that those intriguing men are mine… and they seem to think the same.This is a slow/medium burn fantasy RH that features a naive but strong MFC with a troubled past and a secret about what she really is. Come meet Maya and her protective and possessive dragon shifters! This book will be part of the Reborn series.Warnings: Please be advised that the book contains darker themes such as child abuse, PTSD, swearing, and violence. Additionally, sexual themes are suitable for mature audiences +18. This book will end on a slight cliffhanger.
The Nine Lives of Chloe King
Celia Thomson - 2004
She goes to class (most of the time), fights with her mom, and crushes on a boy... or two. But around her sixteenth birthday, Chloe finds that perhaps she isn’t so normal after all. There’s the heightened night vision, the super fast reflexes – oh, and the claws.As she discovers who she is – and where she comes from – it is clear she is not alone. And someone is out to get her.Chloe has nine lives. But will nine be enough?
Warped
Maurissa Guibord - 2011
Or Fate. But there's something weird about the dusty unicorn tapestry she discovers in a box of old books. She finds the creature woven within it compelling and frightening. After the tapestry comes into her possession, Tessa experiences dreams of the past and scenes from a brutal hunt that she herself participated in. When she accidentally pulls a thread from the tapestry, Tessa releases a terrible centuries old secret. She also meets William de Chaucy, an irresistible 16th-century nobleman. His fate is as inextricably tied to the tapestry as Tessa's own. Together, they must correct the wrongs of the past. But then the Fates step in, making a tangled mess of Tessa's life. Now everyone she loves will be destroyed unless Tessa does their bidding and defeats a cruel and crafty ancient enemy.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Fade
A.K. Morgen - 2019
She’s forced to leave her old life behind and move in with her father.Dace Matthews, a teaching assistant at Arionna's new college, is torn in two, unable to communicate with the feral wolf caged inside him.When they meet, everything they thought they knew about life unravels. Dace has intimate access to Arionna’s mind, and something deep within her fights to rise to the surface. They don’t understand what’s happening to them or why, and they’re running out of time to sort out the strange occurrences around them.Their meeting sets an ancient Norse prophesy of destruction in motion, and what destiny has in store for them is bigger than either could have ever imagined. Unless they learn to trust themselves and one another, they may never resolve the mystery surrounding who they are to one another, and what that means for the world.
When Gargoyles Rise
Ashley C. Harris - 2017
Created by magic, the gargoyles were able to do and take whatever they wanted... Until the vampires came, and with them, they brought a curse.Almost five hundred years later, Rose awakens from stone in Washington DC, to a world that's very much changed. The kingdom of the gargoyles is no more; instead, the same group of blood suckers that cursed Rose's family now rule a hierarchy of shades and shadows.Desperate to awaken her loved ones and break the spell, Rose learns she must convince Sean Noble, a human, to fall in love with her. Something that should have been easy... if he and Rose weren't only seventeen, and required to attend school.Sean and his high school girlfriend dislike Rose as much as they do homework. And to make things worse, the handsome vampire prince, Adamus, who betrayed Rose in the year 1556, he and his bad boy brother have surfaced...Rose, before graduation, must find a way to keep her identity secret from Adamus, not let him get too close, and trick Sean into falling in love. Easy if you have wings, right? Not so much.Readers of Twilight, Vampire Diaries, and Shadow Hunters will love this story's female hero who brings a new level of fierce into a supernatural game.
An Apple for the Creature
Charlaine HarrisFaith Hunter - 2012
P. Kelner, editors of Home Improvement: Undead Edition? Your worst school nightmares—taking that math test you never studied for, finding yourself naked in school assembly, not knowing which door to enter—will pale in comparison to these thirteen original stories that take academic anxiety to whole new realms. In #1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris’s story, "Playing Possum," Sookie Stackhouse brings enough birthday cupcakes for her nephew's entire class but finds she's one short when the angry ex-boyfriend of the school secretary shows up. When her guardian, Kate Daniels, sends her undercover to a school for exceptional children, teenaged Julie learns an all-new definition of "exceptional," in New York Times bestselling author Ilona Andrews's "Magic Tests." For those who like fangs with their forensics, New York Times bestselling author Nancy Holder offers "VSI," in which FBI agent Claire is tested as never before in a school for Vampire Scene Investigation. And in New York Times bestselling author Thomas Sniegoski's "The Bad Hour," Remy Chandler and his dog Marlowe find evil unleashed in an obedience school. You'll need more than an apple to stave off the creatures in these and nine other stories. Remember your first lesson: resistance is fruitless! Includes stories by: ILONA ANDREWS, AMBER BENSON, RHYS BOWEN, MIKE CAREY, CHARLAINE HARRIS, DONALD HARSTAD, STEVE HOCKENSMITH, NANCY HOLDER, FAITH HUNTER, TONI L.P. KELNER, MARJORIE LIU, JONATHAN MABERRY, THOMAS SNIEGOSKI
Liam Takes Manhattan
Thea Harrison - 2015
If readers do not want to be spoiled, they should read the stories in order of their release dates.This is a short story (15,000 words or 50 pages) intended for readers of the Elder Races who enjoy Liam Cuelebre as a character.Reeling from a deep loss, the magical prince of the Wyr, Dragos and Pia’s son Liam Cuelebre, turns inward and withdrawn as he struggles to come to terms with who he is, along with the challenges that lie before him.Hoping to ease his heartache and offer comfort, a concerned Dragos and Pia offer him a gift, something he has desired for a long time. Liam’s response has a ripple effect across all of New York. Soon miracles of all kinds start arriving just in time for Christmas, along with a visit from a mysterious person who gives Liam hope and a vision of his future.LIAM TAKES MANHATTAN is the third part of a three-story series about Pia, Dragos, and their son, Liam. Each story stands alone, but fans might want to read all three: DRAGOS GOES TO WASHINGTON, PIA DOES HOLLYWOOD, and LIAM TAKES MANHATTAN.
The Crown & the Arrow
Renée Ahdieh - 2016
This dawn, Khalid would mark the loss of the seventy-second girl, Shahrzad al-Khayzuran. Khalid didn’t know how many more of these dawns he could take. And there was something about this latest girl that piqued his interest. Not only had she volunteered to marry him, but at their wedding ceremony, she had seemed not the least bit afraid. In fact, what he had seen in her eyes was nothing short of pure hatred. She was about to lose her life. Why wasn’t she afraid? Why did she hate him so? He had never before gone to his wife’s chambers before her death at dawn. Tonight would be different.The ebook is a free purchase via one of the online stores.
Paranormal Public
Maddy Edwards - 2011
. .Charlotte Rollins is an elemental, but she doesn't know it yet. Now, with the help of her old friend Cale and her new friend Keller, she will fight against an evil whose only goal is to consume her.From Kobo:There is no such thing as a mage. There is certainly no such thing as a vampire, pixie, werewolf, or fallen angel. And they certainly do not all attend a college together called Paranormal Public University.One minute Charlotte Rollins is a normal girl about to go to a normal college. She is at once excited and nervous, getting ready to start this new phase in her life. The next minute she is a freshman not at a normal college, but at Paranormal Public University, a school where paranormals of all kinds must co-exist. Charlotte must learn magic, that is, if she could actually do magic, which unlike every other mage at Public she can’t seem to manage.Her transition to this new and wonderful world is difficult. On top of trying to learn magic, make new friends, and confront forbidden love, the archenemy of the paranormals, the demons, are getting stronger. They are looking for something. It turns out that Charlotte might just hold the key to finding it.Can Charlotte get a handle on her powers in time to save the school she loves? Can she fulfill a destiny the paranormals scarcely dared to hope for? Or will she be too late?
Becoming Alpha
Aileen Erin - 2013
Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind. But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves. Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.When vampires attack St. Alibe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her newfound canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems.
First Flight
Sarah K.L. Wilson - 2017
Learn to Fly. Sixteen-year-old Amel arrived at Dragon School just like everyone else – with a dream to ride dragons and join the Dominion Dragon Riders. But Amel has a crippled leg and Dragon School training is grueling. Before she can even become an initiate, she must complete her First Flight on a dragon. Can Amel survive First Flight and become a Dragon School initiate or will her dreams dash on the rocks below?
Magic Born
Caethes Faron - 2016
Kat's birth mother was a powerful mage who has just been murdered...and now the killer is after Kat. The package contains her mother's talisman: an amber necklace that latches onto Kat's neck and attacks anyone who tries to remove it. Before she knows it, ice is shooting from her hands and she's on the run from an assassin.Kat must navigate a world of magic and intrigue, fight the forces who want her dead, and protect her friends from becoming collateral damage--all while coming to terms with her new identity. She's heir to a powerful legacy, but only if she lives long enough to claim it.
Broken Aro
Jen Wylie - 2012
What do you see? Does the darkness frighten you? Now imagine the darkness being the cargo hold of a slave ship. Your city has fallen. Your family is most likely dead. You don't know anyone around you, and some of them aren't even human. Giving up would be so easy to do, but not for Arowyn Mason. Not after being raised in a military family with seven brothers. Every great story should begin with a plan. Aro's was to escape and to survive.Escape comes, but at a price. As they reach the shore, Aro and the other survivors learn that freedom doesn't mean safety. The slavers want their property back and will do anything to get it. The party uses every ounce of their brute strength, a hearty helping of cunning, and even ancient magics to keep themselves alive. Sickness, danger, and even love surprise them at every turn. Dealing with danger becomes their way of life, but none of them ever considered that nothing can be quite as dangerous as a prophecy. Running turns into another race altogether as her world falls to pieces again and again.Novel length over 70k words.