Book picks similar to
Make it Count by Tamar Sloan


young-adult
romance
paranormal
fantasy

The Gates of Evangeline


Hester Young - 2015
    . . When New York journalist and recently bereaved mother Charlotte “Charlie” Cates begins to experience vivid dreams about children she’s sure that she’s lost her mind. Yet these are not the nightmares of a grieving parent, she soon realizes. They are messages and warnings that will help Charlie and the children she sees, if only she can make sense of them.After a little boy in a boat appears in Charlie’s dreams asking for her help, Charlie finds herself entangled in a thirty-year-old missing-child case that has never ceased to haunt Louisiana’s prestigious Deveau family. Armed with an invitation to Evangeline, the family’s sprawling estate, Charlie heads south, where new friendships and an unlikely romance bring healing. But as she uncovers long-buried secrets of love, money, betrayal, and murder, the facts begin to implicate those she most wants to trust—and her visions reveal an evil closer than she could’ve imagined.A Southern Gothic mystery debut that combines literary suspense and romance with a mystical twist, The Gates of Evangeline is a story that readers of Gillian Flynn, Kate Atkinson, and Alice Sebold won't be able to put down.

Forsaken


J.D. Barker - 2014
    Barker's Forsaken is a remarkable debut, a gripping tale of suspense in the tradition of Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and John Saul. Truly the birth of a new master in the genre.“J.D. Barker is a one-of-a-kind writer and that’s a rare and special thing. Stephen King comes to mind and Lee Child, John Sandford. All one-of-a-kinds. Don’t miss anything J.D. writes.” James Patterson #1 International Bestselling Author Bram Stoker Award Nominee - Superior Achievement in a First Novel “Barker’s ambitious debut is aimed squarely at fans of classic horror. Witches, spells, miniature demons, and personal doubt give plenty to latch on to… the plot moves at a brisk pace… a promising start to a planned series.” - Editorial Review, Publisher’s Weekly "A talented writer with a delightfully devious mind!" Jeffery Deaver #1 International Bestselling Author After reading Forsaken, I completely understand why Stephen King would grant this author permission to reference his world from Needful Things. Barker is that good. You do not want to miss this book! - The Haven Herald "Incredibly written, supremely creepy. I don't say this lightly: J.D. Barker is a force to be reckoned with." Tosca Lee NY Times Bestselling Author When horror author Thad McAlister began his latest novel, a tale rooted in the witch trials of centuries past, the words flowed effortlessly. The story poured forth, filling page after page with the most frightening character ever to crawl from his imagination. It was his greatest work, one that would guarantee him a position among the legends of the craft. But was it really fiction? He inadvertently opened a door, one that would soon jeopardize the lives of his family. She wants to come back. At home, his wife struggles to keep their family alive. Secretly wondering if she caused it all…a deal she made long ago. A deal with the Forsaken.

Siren


Tricia Rayburn - 2010
    Vanessa's parents want to work through the tragedy by returning to their everyday lives back in Boston, but Vanessa can't help feeling that her sister's death was more than an accident.  After discovering that Justine never applied to colleges, and that she was secretly in a relationship with longtime family friend Caleb Carmichael, Vanessa returns to Winter Harbor to seek some answers.But when Vanessa learns that Caleb has been missing since Justine's death, she and Caleb's older brother, Simon, join forces to try to find him, and in the process, their childhood friendship blossoms into something more.  Soon it's not just Vanessa who is afraid.  All of Winter Harbor is abuzz with anxiety when another body washes ashore, and panic sets in when the small town becomes home to a string of fatal, water-related accidents . . . in which all the victims are found grinning from ear to ear.  As Vanessa and Simon probe further into the connections between Justine's death and the sudden rash of creepy drownings, Vanessa uncovers a secret that threatens her new romance, and that will change her life forever.

Inspire


Cora Carmack - 2014
    To inspire. As an immortal muse, she doesn’t have any other choice. It’s part of how she was made. Musicians, artists, actors—they use her to advance their art, and she uses them to survive. She moves from one artist to the next, never staying long enough to get attached. But all she wants is a different life— a normal one. She’s spent thousands of years living lie after lie, and now she’s ready for something real. Sweet, sexy, and steady, Wilder Bell feels more real than anything else in her long existence. And most importantly… he’s not an artist. He doesn’t want her for her ability. But she can’t turn off the way she influences people, not even to save a man she might love. Because in small doses, she can help make something beautiful, but her ability has just as much capacity to destroy as it does to create. The longer she stays, the more obsessed Wilder will become. It’s happened before, and it never turns out well for the mortal. Her presence may inspire genius.But it breeds madness, too.

Jaguar Sun


Martha Bourke - 2012
    Unfortunately.Maya Delaney is just an average sixteen-year-old. She’s busy dealing with exams, her soon to be ex-boyfriend and fitting in.But Maya’s got bigger problems. She’s hiding a major secret from her dad and having strange visions she can’t control.In her struggle to figure out who she is, she learns that she is meant to fulfill an ancient Mayan Prophesy and bring forth a New Age on earth.Will the spirit magic Maya wields be enough to defeat Toltec, an evil society bent on keeping her from her destiny?Or will that destiny destroy her?

Deception


Lee Nichols - 2010
    Throw some parties, get a tattoo (or maybe just a piercing), and enjoy the first few weeks of her junior year. Then her best friend stops talking to her, the cops crash her party, and Emma finds herself in the hands of a new guardian-her college-age knight in J.Crew armor, Bennett Stern-and on a plane to his museum-like mansion in New England.After enrolling at Thatcher Academy, Emma settles in by making friends with the popular legacy crowd. But she can't shake the strange visions that are haunting her. She has memories of Thatcher she can't explain, as if she's returning home to a place she's never been. Emma doesn't trust anyone anymore-except maybe Bennett. But he's about to reveal a ghostly secret to Emma. One that will explain the visions . . . and make Emma fear for her life.

Tainted Crimson


Tarisa Marie - 2015
    At four years old she witnessed her mother's surreal murder, and then years later on her eighteenth birthday, while attending her high school prom, her school catches aflame with her father trapped inside. With both of these tragedies come unexplainable supernatural circumstances. The series of unfortunate events that seemingly make up Ariella's life, manifest into millions of questions that desperately crave answers. Soon does she not only receive the answers she seeks, but she discovers that the world around her isn't as she's always thought it was-supernatural creatures exist among humans and her own father is one of them. What does that make her? Trust turns to betrayal and knowledge turns to danger in this thrilling paranormal romance as Ariella ventures out into a world where witches, vampires, and immortals exist among humans, and a power hungry witch is out to kidnap her and force her to become as dark and wicked as he is. Will love prevail or will it be her undoing?

Forever Blue


Jennifer Edlund - 2011
    Alexa Moore is just a regular teenager seeking acceptance from her peers. With heartbreak and humor, these two friends expose a world of secrets and learn to survive in the face of life’s contradictions. When Carter’s dark life suddenly unveils before Alexa’s eyes, she witnesses her best friend be beat down mercilessly by his stage mother’s antics. And the truth about his father is exposed after he’s accused of domestic abuse. Its Alexa’s strong will and determination that helps Carter pull through his darkest hours. The two are bonded by a love that only deepens as they grow. However, the closer they get, the more Carter’s mother will do what she can to keep her son from being distracted, going as far as trying to rip their friendship apart. The two are forced keep their childhood romance hidden from prying eyes. Then, Alexa’s world shatters the day she comes home and discovers Carter’s family packed up and gone without a word.Fifteen years later Carter Storm resurfaces as a Grammy award winner. While he’s living life in the Hollywood fast lane, Alexa struggles to keep it together after her parents are killed simultaneously in two very tragic accidents. Just when all seems lost, Alexa is sent to Las Vegas for a job that requires her to do celebrity makeup. It is here she unexpectedly reunites with the boy she never stopped loving: Carter Storm. When an inexplicable attraction leads to a shocking betrayal, Alexa faces the hardest question of her heart: When does love cross the line of moral obligation. And how far will she go to hold on to her past?Above all, this is a story about friendship--its risks, twists, turns and complications---and how it weathers the challenges of love, and most of all, growing up.

The Thought Readers


Dima Zales - 2014
    Everyone thinks I’m a genius. Everyone is wrong. Sure, I finished Harvard at eighteen and now make crazy money at a hedge fund. But that’s not because I’m unusually smart or hard-working. It’s because I cheat. You see, I have a unique ability. I can go outside time into my own personal version of reality—the place I call “the Quiet”—where I can explore my surroundings while the rest of the world stands still. I thought I was the only one who could do this—until I met her. My name is Darren, and this is how I became entangled with all the Russians and learned that I’m a Reader.

Ten Tiny Breaths


K.A. Tucker - 2012
    Now she’s working hard to bury the pieces left behind—all but one. Her little sister, Livie. Kacey can swallow the constant disapproval from her born-again aunt Darla over her self-destructive lifestyle; she can stop herself from going kick-boxer crazy on Uncle Raymond when he loses the girls’ college funds at a blackjack table. She just needs to keep it together until Livie is no longer a minor, and then they can get the hell out of Grand Rapids, Michigan.But when Uncle Raymond slides into bed next to Livie one night, Kacey decides it’s time to run. Armed with two bus tickets and dreams of living near the coast, Kacey and Livie start their new lives in a Miami apartment complex, complete with a grumpy landlord, a pervert upstairs, and a neighbor with a stage name perfectly matched to her chosen “profession.” But Kacey’s not worried. She can handle all of them. What she can’t handle is Trent Emerson in apartment 1D.Kacey doesn’t want to feel. She doesn’t. It’s safer that way. For everyone. But sexy Trent finds a way into her numb heart, reigniting her ability to love again. She starts to believe that maybe she can leave the past where it belongs and start over. Maybe she’s not beyond repair.But Kacey isn’t the only one who’s broken. Seemingly perfect Trent has an unforgiveable past of his own; one that, when discovered, will shatter Kacey’s newly constructed life and send her back into suffocating darkness.

Talented


Sophie Davis - 2012
    Talia Lyons has one goal at the McDonough School for the Talented: learn to use her Talent as a Mental Manipulator to kill the man who murdered her parents.Block out pain. She'll deal with anything. The brutal physical demands. The emotional toll. Whatever it takes to reach her objective.Block out friendship. With only one year left in the program, though, seventeen-year-old Talia is suddenly finding it harder than ever to ignore the rest of her life.Block out love.Even worse, she can't seem to turn off her psychic connection to her first love...or quit thinking about her fascinating new teammate.Feel only vengeance.Ian Crane. The man who destroyed Talia's life. The one she's determined to eradicate.Now focus.It's time to kill.THE TALENTED SAGA is a #1 Bestselling Dystopian Romance series about the life of a girl with extraordinary psychic powers, and what happens when a heart is torn between love and rage...

Tempestuous


Kim Askew - 2012
    When the worst winter storm of the season causes mall workers and last-minute shoppers to be snowed-in for the night, Miranda seizes the opportunity to get revenge against the catty clique behind her social exile. With help from her delightfully dweeby coworker, Ariel, and a sullen loner named Caleb who works at the mall’s nearby gaming and magic shop, Miranda uses charm and trickery to set things to right during this spirited take on Shakespeare’s The Tempest.

The Harder I Fall


Jessica Gibson - 2014
    For most of her life, she’s had to take care of herself, her younger brother Chad, and her drunk mother. She’s lived under the shadow of what her father did when she was ten years old. Forever branded by his actions.College was her escape, she could get away and finally live. Her dream was to make it in the New York Ballet Company one day. That for her meant a long road full of hard work and dedication. She didn't have time for distractions, and Levi Klein was definitely a distraction.Will Levi be able to crack through her tough exterior and really see the wounded soul underneath? Becca needs to be loved, but the question is, will she let Levi love her?

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.

Game of Gods


Staci Hart - 2013
    Just don’t ask her to figure out her own heart. Instead, she toys with the hearts of humans. It’s a little game the gods play, and this time it’s Aphrodite’s turn to defend the domain of love. The battleground is New York City, and the stakes are high—the winner receives a token, a favor the loser must fulfill. But every god has secrets. Every god lies. And no god can be trusted.Apollo is no exception. He killed Aphrodite’s love, and for that, he can never be forgiven. But Apollo is on a mission to win. For thousands of years, Aphrodite has kept him from the one he loves, but the wind has shifted, and now is his chance.God and goddess will choose their players. The clock will start. Two humans will fall in love, or they won’t—their fates are intertwined with the gods, their hearts slave to their circumstance, a slave to the game.And in this game of love, Aphrodite never loses.*Formerly titled Paper Fools