Book picks similar to
Smoke and Rain by V.S. Holmes


fantasy
dark-fantasy
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science-fiction-fantasy

Knights: Defenders of Ollanhar


Robert E. Keller - 2014
    They vow to restore and defend the ancient keep, even as an old enemy returns stronger than ever and creatures of darkness close in on them. Meanwhile, King Verlamer continues to expand his colossal, brutal empire, and Dremlock Kingdom remains his primary target. Yet the key to Dremlock's survival may exist in distant lands.

Rise of the Forgotten Sun (The Sun and the Raven #1)


Jon Monson - 2017
    A life of scholarly solitude and adventure was more than enough for me. I never wanted to play politics. I never wanted to get married. I most certainly never dreamed of becoming a god. Yet when I ventured into the depths of the Soulless Desert, I found... something- a power so ancient it has been forgotten by mankind. That day unleashed a chain of events that, once started, cannot be stopped. It is the Rise of the Forgotten Sun. It is the beginning of the end.

The Night Universe Collection


Selene Charles - 2018
    I’m one of the seven deadly sins, they call me Lust, but you can just call me Pandora. This is a story of darkness. Redemption. Hope. And betrayal I never saw coming. A reaper’s found me—deadly to my kind—and though I know I shouldn’t be I’m as drawn to him as a moth is to flame. But I don’t have time to indulge in my fantasies of stripping him down naked and having my dirty, dirty way with him. Because there’s a prophecy going round. Real end of the world type stuff. And somehow this little demon is at the heart of it all. I’m thousands of years old, but I’m starting to feel like my numbers finally come due...Book 1: Crimson NightMy name is Pandora, and I'm a Nephilim-half demon-what's my other name? Lust. I'm the dark craving that drives you mad, makes you reckless and stupid. But I'm not all bad. I fight for light. People are starting to disappear and lately I've felt a dark presence lurking around me. I think it might be a death priest. And before the night is through I'll be betrayed by the one person I thought I could trust.Book 2: All Hallows NightSecrets and truths, lies and red herrings… which is which? That’s what Pandora’s trying to figure out. And there's no better time to do it than during Mexico's annual Dia de Los Muertos festival. There's just one problem... Zombies. Book 3: Howler’s NightLies. Half-truths. A zombie Queen. And a really freaking dark entity known only as the Triad. The more Pandora learns the worse things seem to get. "And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him..." Book 4: Red RainWelp... this is it. The end of the world. Somehow, I don't think I made anything better, only worse. But now I've got allies, people I call friends and maybe, just maybe I might come out of this nightmare alive... or maybe I'll turn into something darker than anything the world could ever imagine. Guess, you'll just have to wait and see.The Night Series was originally written as Marie Hall, now writing as Selene Charles.

Soul Stealer


Joseph J. Bailey - 2015
     The legions of Chaos have overrun the world. Uërth is in ruins. With the Heavenly Host’s fall, Angel Swords rained from the heavens, littering the world in what was. Only the most honorable and purest of heart are able to take up the Angel Swords and wield them against the throngs of Chaos. These mighty Empyrean Knights are all that stand between Uërth and annihilation. Saedeus is neither pure of heart nor honorable. Nor does he wish to wield an Angel Sword. He just wants to be left alone with his mushrooms. And his pet rock. But he might not have a choice. When he inadvertently takes the soul of a dying Empyrean Knight into himself, his world, and his obligations, grow forever larger. With the help of his pet rock, the spirit of a heavenly knight, and the sword of a fallen angel, he might be able to make all the difference. If he doesn’t die first.

Whispers in Autumn


Trisha Leigh - 2012
    They enslaved humanity not by force, but through an aggressive mind control that turned people into contented, unquestioning robots. Except sixteen-year-old Althea isn’t content at all, and she doesn’t need the mysterious note inside her locket to tell her she’s Something Else. It also warns her to trust no one, so she hides the pieces that make her different, even though it means being alone. Then she meets Lucas, everything changes. Althea and Lucas are immune to the alien mind control, and together they search for the reason why. What they uncover is a stunning truth the Others never anticipated, one with the potential to free the brainwashed human race. It’s not who they are that makes them special, but what.And what they are is a threat. One the Others are determined to eliminate for good.

Hidden Monster


Amanda Strong - 2014
    That is, until the day a morning run turns into a living nightmare. When Samantha wakes up to find herself bound to a dirty, pinstriped mattress, she realizes she’s anything but free. With a masked abductor repeatedly injecting her arm with an unknown substance while holding her captive, Samantha tries in vain to find out what he wants, but he refuses to speak. Until the day he breaks his silence and his twisted words are worse than what she’d imagined. He promises her one day she will fall in love with him but the best part will be that she won't know who he is... until it's too late. Finding herself freed from captivity, with her captor still at large, Samantha is on guard against everything and everyone around her. Unfortunately, walling up her heart proves difficult when eighteen-year-old Blake Knightley moves in next door. When Samantha starts experiencing strange changes within her, she realizes her captor may have left her more damaged than she originally thought. Now she must turn to Blake for help in order to unearth the truth behind the monster who started this all... or risk experiencing worse things than just falling in love.

Pale Queen Rising


A.R. Kahler - 2015
    When the queen commands her to kill, Claire does the job and doesn’t ask questions. Her deadly skills and loyalty are soon tested when Claire is sent to the Immortal Circus, one of the many places where “Dream” is harvested from the imaginings of mortals. There she must find the culprit who is causing Dream to mysteriously disappear before the Winter Kingdom’s supply is depleted enough to threaten its very survival. But when she meets Roxie, a beautiful mortal singer with a strange link to the Dream thieves, Claire quickly recognizes an odd and unexplained connection that may cloud her judgment. As each new clue unveils another secret, Claire finds herself confronting the riddle of her own buried past—and a dangerous illusion that, as part of the Immortal Circus, is just another act in the show.

The Time of the Dark


Barbara Hambly - 1982
    But now, they have emerged to ravage the land. Reissue.

Ashes


Paul J. Bennett - 2019
    On the day his village is burned to the ground, his magical potential is released by the very fire that nearly consumed him.Driven by revenge, he learns he may not be the only survivor!Now, she is on the run from her family, while he desperately hunts for his!Together, they journey across the continent, searching for clues of a conspiracy that has remained secret for years.Will their enemies destroy them before they discover the truth?Discover a land infused with magic and mystery as Paul J Bennett's newest series, The Frozen Flame, begins in Ashes.

Fallen


James Somers - 2012
    But that doesn't mean they don't have a plan for conquering the world. The Descendants of these Fallen heavenly creatures have been with us for so long, existing upon the fringes of human society, that few regard them as anything more than myths, legends and speculation. Outcasts for so long, and sure that God will not have them, they mean to take the world by storm and claim the inheritance they have always been denied.However, some of these Descendants have seen the madness of open war with the Heavenly Realm. These desperate few are searching for true allies to help them stop the coming conflagration that threatens both the mortal and spiritual worlds they inhabit. Now, a powerful young Descendant has unwittingly stumbled into this conflict and he may hold the key to restoring order before its too late.*Bonus Preview of "THE SERPENT KINGS" included*

The Call of the Crown


T.J. Garrett - 2013
    If he fails, a shattered fantasy will be the least of his worries.

The Wolf's Call


Anthony Ryan - 2019
    The sequels, Tower Lord and Queen of Fire were both New York Times bestsellers. Now, Anthony Ryan returns to the world of this acclaimed fantasy series with The Wolf's Call, which begins a thrilling new story of razor-sharp action and epic adventure.PEACE NEVER LASTSVaelin Al Sorna is a living legend, his name known across the Realm. It was his leadership that overthrew empires, his blade that won hard-fought battles - and his sacrifice that defeated an evil more terrifying than anything the world had ever seen. Yet he cast aside his earned glory for a quiet life in the Realm's northern reaches.Now whispers have come from across the sea of an army called the Steel Horde, led by a man who believes himself a god. Vaelin has no wish to fight another war, but when he learns that Sherin, the woman he lost long ago, has fallen into the Horde's grasp, he resolves to confront this powerful new threat.To this end, Vaelin travels to the realms of the Merchant Kings, a land ruled by honour and intrigue. There, as the drums of war thunder across kingdoms riven by conflict, Vaelin learns a terrible truth: that there are some battles that even he cannot hope to win

The Obsidian Tower


Melissa Caruso - 2020
    But her magic is broken; all she can do is uncontrollably drain the life from everything she touches, and Vaskandar has no place for a mage with unusable powers.Then, one night, two terrible accidents befall her: Ryx accidentally kills a visiting dignitary in self-defense, activating a mysterious magical artifact sealed in an ancient tower in the heart of her family’s castle.Ryx flees, seeking a solution to her deadly magic. She falls in with a group of unlikely magical experts investigating the disturbance in Vaskandar—and Ryx realizes that her family is in danger and her domain is at stake. She and her new colleagues must return to the family stronghold to take control of the artifact that everyone wants to claim—before it destroys the world.

The Destroyer


Michael-Scott Earle - 2016
    Their magic appears unstoppable and their hunger for conquest is insatiable. To protect the country of Nia, Duchess Nadea and Scholar Paug make a desperate journey to find a human legend: A man known to have destroyed these Ancient foes with a powerful army. But legends can lie. When Paug and Nadea revive their hero from sleep, his virtue is far from clear. Is he really their Savior or their Destroyer?

Scarlet Odyssey


C.T. Rwizi - 2020
    But in the coming battle, none of that will matter.Men do not become mystics. They become warriors. But eighteen-year-old Salo has never been good at conforming to his tribe’s expectations. For as long as he can remember, he has loved books and magic in a culture where such things are considered unmanly. Despite it being sacrilege, Salo has worked on a magical device in secret that will awaken his latent magical powers. And when his village is attacked by a cruel enchantress, Salo knows that it is time to take action.Salo’s queen is surprisingly accepting of his desire to be a mystic, but she will not allow him to stay in the tribe. Instead, she sends Salo on a quest. The quest will take him thousands of miles north to the Jungle City, the political heart of the continent. There he must gather information on a growing threat to his tribe.On the way to the city, he is joined by three fellow outcasts: a shunned female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and a deadly assassin. But they’re being hunted by the same enchantress who attacked Salo’s village. She may hold the key to Salo’s awakening—and his redemption.