Book picks similar to
Assassin by Maryam Durrani
indie-published-sff
diversity-in-lit
high-fantasy
lts
Catling's Bane
D. Wallace Peach - 2017
Love and fear, pain and pleasure, healing and death mark the extremes of their sway, but it’s the subtle blends that hook their victims’ hearts. They hide behind oaths of loyalty and rule the world. A child born in the grim warrens beneath the city, Catling rues the rose birthmark encircling her eye. Yet, it grants her the ability to disrupt the influencers’ sway. Established methods of civil control disintegrate before her. She’s a weapon desired by those who reign and those who rebel. To the Influencer’s Guild, she’s an aberration, a threat. They order her death and thus the betrayals begin. One woman protects and trains her, plotting to use her shield to further imperial goals. No longer a helpless child, Catling has other plans. As chaos shakes the foundations of order and rule, will she become the realm’s savior? Or its executioner? The Rose Shield Tetralogy – a blend of science fiction and fantasy. Welcome to a world of three moons, a sentient landscape, rivers of light, and tier cities that rise from the swamps like otherworld flowers. A planet of waterdragons, where humans are the aliens living among three-fingered natives with spotted skin. Where a half-blood converses with the fog and the goddess plans her final reckoning. Follow Catling’s journey as she grows from childhood into the deadly force that shapes the future. She is the realm’s shield, an influencer, assassin, healer, mother, and avenger. And all she wants is to go home.
Still You
Claire Allan - 2015
When summer arrives to Temple Muse in 1963, the big house Áine Quigley shares with her mother is brought to life with the arrival of her sister Charlotte, home from Italy with her two children and adoring husband. A free spirit, and fiercely protective of her little sister, Charlotte brings with her a sense of adventure which rubs off on Áine – setting off a chain of events which will frame the rest of their lives. From the fragrant flowerbeds of their luscious gardens to a sun-soaked terrace in Italy, Áine finds her life moving in a direction she had never thought possible. But in her older years, when dementia threatens to steal those memories and when, with the help of her carer Georgina, she looks back on all that has passed, will she regret her choices in life or will she realise that everything worked out just as it always should have?
Meghan's Dragon
E.M. Foner - 2016
Her sole ambition is to bring a warrior’s soul from Dark Earth to become her dragon and protect her while she develops into a mage. When her interpretation of a Dark Earth death vision goes awry, Meghan gets both more and less than she bargained for.
Birthmarked: Chapters 1-5
Caragh M. O'Brien - 2012
In the future, in a world baked dry by the harsh sun, there are those who live inside the wall and those, like sixteen-year-old midwife Gaia Stone, who live outside. Gaia has always believed it is her duty, with her mother, to hand over a small quota of babies to the Enclave. But when Gaia's mother and father are arrested by the very people they so dutifully serve, Gaia is forced to question everything she has been taught to believe. Gaia's choice is now simple: enter the world of the Enclave to rescue her parents, or die trying.
The Shattergrave Knights
David M. Haendler - 2011
The Merriwether family traditions are dark magic, devil worship and insurrection. Jack and Olive Merriwether thought they were two ordinary teenagers until they learned they were descended from the murderous sorcerer Gorgyaz. Now that the truth about their ancestry is out, the government wants to take their freedom, a witchfinder wants to take their lives and the shadowy leader of the Thirteenth Division wants to take their souls. Jack and Olive didn't intend on following in their infamous forefather's footsteps, but they'll have to learn the family traditions to survive.
Witch Way? Can't Say - (Book One): Paranormal Comedy Romance
M.L. Briers - 2019
It wasn’t too much to ask, was it? Well, fate seemed to have other plans for her in the form of a big, bad, bear shifter name Dale. If only she’d listened to Aunt Harriet and hadn’t acted in haste, then she might have done her witchy due diligence and checked the area to make sure there weren’t any shifters, vampires, or troubles on the horizon. From the moment she stepped into her barn and found that sexy bear shifter naked, she knew deep down that she was in trouble, and trouble just loved company. That company came in the form of Dale’s sister, Lynn, and she had man troubles of her own. What else could go wrong? As a witch, Ami knew not to ask, and now there was a vampire out for blood, but whose? Hold on for a fast-paced, laugh-out-loud, rollercoaster ride of fun and wooing in this crazy paranormal comedy from the author of the Howl’s Series. Can you keep up?
Unstoppable Liv Beaufont Boxed Set Two
Sarah Noffke - 2019
But fighting for justice is always worth it.
Continue the exciting adventure and magical intrigue of The Unstoppable Liv Beaufont with books 5 - 8 in this Urban Fantasy series today!
The Loyal Friend:
The truth would change everything.
But no one knows it.
Except for Liv Beaufont and those who have been hiding it for centuries.
Fueled to uncover the facts and restore the House of Seven to what it’s supposed to be, Liv starts searching for resources. However, the Council has different plans for her. They put her on a case that is sure to keep her busy…if not get her killed.
Werewolves are real. And they have their own secrets.
Liv ventures to the village where werewolves originated and learns who she can trust and who needs to be taken out. But doing so won’t be easy.
And just when Liv thinks she’s finally conquered evil, an old nemesis comes back to haunt her.
The Stubborn Advocate:
Some people won’t rest until they get to the bottom of things.
That’s Liv Beaufont.
And some want to kill her for her persistence.
To try and keep Liv from finding out the truth, Adler brings back an ancient evil that the Warriors exterminated long ago. Now, alone, Liv will have to battle monsters so dark, they frighten even the strongest magical creatures.
But she can’t be deterred from her quest for the truth.
While trying to take down evil beasts, Liv also works to uncover why mortals can’t see magic. Her journey takes her to the last place she wants to go: where her parents died.
What she finds, changes everything.
The Unrelenting Fighter:
When saving the world is your job, it’s impossible to get a day off.
Liv Beaufont wouldn’t want one anyway.
It’s a good thing because being Father Time’s only employee is demanding.
Liv can hardly believe she has to carry a chicken around while fighting villains. However, the chicken is supremely important. She just doesn’t know how. Or what the bird wants to eat…
And then there’s Sophia’s dragon egg.
Whoever stole it is going to pay big time when Liv gets ahold of them. In the meantime, Subner helps Liv to track down the elf who made Inexorabilis. Unlocking the memories Liv’s mother sealed into the sword is crucial.
What she finds is supposed to change everything.
Mortals have never been more at risk.
Adler Sinclair wants them gone, once and for all.
However, there’s a long list of things Liv Beaufont won’t allow to happen.
First, mortals can’t die. Secondly, the brainwashing has to stop. And thirdly, the person who killed her family is going to pay. Badly.
The stakes have never been higher.
Fallen Prince
Tess Williams - 2012
Their loyalty is about to be tested.When the peaceful kingdom of Shaundakul is betrayed by its allies, Princess Ellia Solidor and her protector, Cyric Dracla, are taken into slavery to the kingdom of Akadia. Their only goal is to stay safe, and stay together. But in this new land that values power over everything, all Ellia can see is the captivity of her people, while Cyric sees a chance to finally become the great warrior he was never allowed to be. Temptation becomes betrayal, and Ellia must travel to the legendary Isle of Yanartas to gain the ability to defeat the dark power her best friend has become.
The Girl of Fire and Thorns
Rae Carson - 2011
But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.Most of the chosen do.
Court of Fives
Kate Elliott - 2015
But away from her family, she can be whomever she wants when she sneaks out to train for the Fives, an intricate, multilevel athletic competition that offers a chance for glory to the kingdom’s best competitors.Then Jes meets Kalliarkos, and an improbable friendship between the two Fives competitors—one of mixed race and the other a Patron boy—causes heads to turn. When Kal’s powerful, scheming uncle tears Jes’s family apart, she’ll have to test her new friend’s loyalty and risk the vengeance of a royal clan to save her mother and sisters from certain death.In this imaginative escape into an enthralling new world, World Fantasy Award finalist Kate Elliott’s first young adult novel weaves an epic story of a girl struggling to do what she loves in a society suffocated by rules of class and privilege.
Golden Prophecy
Paulina Vasquez - 2021
The one they fear. The one they whisper about. The one they call The Rogue King. Every King needs his Queen and Cassiopeia happens to be at the right place at the right time. They can't help who they are - He's the Rogue King and she's unlike anything he's ever met.The golden prophecy has been passed down for nearly a century in the LaRue family and is coming to fruition. The Moon Goddess has really outdone herself this time as a tangled past clashes with this unlikely mating. With the fate of shifters in their hands, they must connect the pieces of the prophecy delivered to four corners of the world.Warning: This series is not intended for anyone under the age of 18 or anyone who doesn't enjoy a good spank. It will take you on adventures around the world, make you laugh, fall in love, and possibly leave you drooling. Side effects can only be cured by reading the next book in the Golden Series, Golden Wolf coming in August 2021.**The Golden Series is a spinoff from the Broken Trilogy, but can be read separately.**
Woven in Moonlight
Isabel Ibañez - 2020
Her people lost everything when the usurper, Atoc, used an ancient relic to summon ghosts and drive the Illustrians from La Ciudad. Now Ximena’s motivated by her insatiable thirst for revenge, and her rare ability to spin thread from moonlight.When Atoc demands the real Condesa’s hand in marriage, it’s Ximena’s duty to go in her stead. She relishes the chance, as Illustrian spies have reported that Atoc’s no longer carrying his deadly relic. If Ximena can find it, she can return the true aristócrata to their rightful place.She hunts for the relic, using her weaving ability to hide messages in tapestries for the resistance. But when a masked vigilante, a warm-hearted princess, and a thoughtful healer challenge Ximena, her mission becomes more complicated. There could be a way to overthrow the usurper without starting another war, but only if Ximena turns her back on revenge—and her Condesa.
Doon
Carey Corp - 2013
But why can't anyone else see the mysterious blond boy who keeps popping up wherever she goes? When her best friend, Mackenna, invites her to spend the summer in Scotland, Veronica jumps at the opportunity to leave her complicated life behind for a few months. But the Scottish countryside holds other plans. Not only has the imaginary kilted boy followed her to Alloway, she and Mackenna uncover a strange set of rings and a very unnerving letter from Mackenna's great aunt—and when the girls test the instructions Aunt Gracie left behind, they find themselves transported to a land that defies explanation. Doon seems like a real-life fairy tale, complete with one prince who has eyes for Mackenna and another who looks suspiciously like the boy from Veronica's daydreams. But Doon has a dark underbelly as well. The two girls could have everything they've longed for...or they could end up breaking an enchantment and find themselves trapped in a world that has become a nightmare.DOON is loosely based on the premise of the musical Brigadoon, with permission from the ALan Jay Lerner Estate and the Frederick Loewe Foundation. Follow the journey at http://www.DoonSeries.com ~Destiny awaits!
The Vishakanya's Choice
Roshani Chokshi - 2015
A real Choice.”Who would you be if you had a choice? What would you do?Early in her life, Sudha's fate was divined to be a lonely, fruitless future of young widowhood. So, it was considered a blessing when she was brought to the Hastinapur harem to become a vishakanya--a weapon, an assassin, a poison maiden whose very touch is toxic. Sudha has never had a choice, has never known anything except the cold beauty of the harem's stone walls.After years of living in isolation with her vishakanya sisters, Sudha is given her first mission: to end the life of a great man. Someone who, unlike her, leads a life full of glittering Choices fit for an emperor.In their fateful encounter, a vishakanya meets a conqueror and a weapon creates a legend.