Heart of Smoke (Heart of Smoke, #1)


Megan O'Russell - 2021
    One will save her. One will destroy her world.Do the work, steal the goods, keep her sister alive―a simple plan Lanni has been clinging to. With the city burning around her and vampires hiding in the shadows, making it until morning is the best she can hope for.But order in the city is crumbling, and the thin safety that’s kept Lanni alive won’t be enough to protect her family. The people who live in the glittering glass domes―lording over the city, safe from the dangers of the outside world―have grown tired of the factory filth marring their perfect apocalypse.When the new reign of chaos threatens her sister, Lanni faces a horrible choice―accept the fate she was born to, or join the enemy she’s sworn to destroy.

Beyond the Red


Ava Jae - 2016
    She’s the first female ruler of her territory in generations, but her people are rioting and call for her violent younger twin brother to take the throne. Despite assassination attempts, a mounting uprising of nomadic human rebels, and pressure to find a mate to help her rule, she’s determined to protect her people from her brother’s would-be tyrannical rule.Eros is a rebel soldier hated by aliens and human alike for being a half-blood. But that doesn’t stop him from defending his people—at least until Kora’s soldiers raze his camp and take him captive. He is given an ultimatum: be an enslaved bodyguard to Kora, or be executed for his true identity—a secret kept even from him.When Kora and Eros are framed for the attempted assassination of her betrothed, they flee. Their only chance of survival is to turn themselves in to the high court, where revealing Eros’s secret could mean a swift public execution. But when they uncover a violent plot to end the human insurgency, they must find a way to work together to prevent genocide.

Anax


Kate Stevens - 2021
    She's being forced to marry his brother. Can this star-crossed couple claim their chance at love?Lexi Seymour never expected to be in an arranged marriage—much less to an alien prince as part of a treaty with Earth. But when she discovers her husband-to-be is an awkward teenager during the engagement ball, the only thing worse is her immediate attraction to his cocky, blue-scaled, seven-foot-tall brother.Crown Prince Anax Yio’hyra has never spent more than a single night in a female’s bed. When the playboy attends the engagement ball of his younger brother, he doesn’t expect to meet an intoxicating human that he can’t forget. Even worse, she’s his brother’s new fiancée.Lexi refuses to betray her engagement despite her attraction, but Anax isn’t one to surrender what he wants—not when he suspects Lexi is his fated mate. Anax needs to convince Lexi to give their love a chance. But can they build a happy life when an intergalactic war is brewing?ANAX is the first book in the Bride to an Alien Prince series. This full-length story has on-the-page heat, a guaranteed happily-ever-after, no cheating, and no cliffhanger. Each book can be read as a standalone, but should be read in order for maximum enjoyment.

Midnight City


J. Barton Mitchell - 2012
    The human adult population is gone, having succumbed to the Tone---a powerful, telepathic super-signal broadcast across the planet that reduces them to a state of complete subservience. But the Tone has one critical flaw. It only affects the population once they reach their early twenties, which means that there is one group left to resist: Children.Holt Hawkins is a bounty hunter, and his current target is Mira Toombs, an infamous treasure seeker with a price on her head. It’s not long before Holt bags his prey, but their instant connection isn’t something he bargained for. Neither is the Assembly ship that crash-lands near them shortly after. Venturing inside, Holt finds a young girl who remembers nothing except her name: Zoey.As the three make their way to the cavernous metropolis of Midnight City, they encounter young freedom fighters, mutants, otherworldly artifacts, pirates, feuding alien armies, and the amazing powers that Zoey is beginning to exhibit. Powers that suggest she, as impossible as it seems, may just be the key to stopping the Assembly once and for all.

The Body Electric


Beth Revis - 2014
    Her government recruits her to spy on a rebel group, using her ability to experience—and influence—the memories of traitors. But the leader of the rebels claims they used to be in love—even though Ella’s never met him before in her life. Which can only mean one thing…Someone’s altered her memory.Ella’s gift is enough to overthrow a corrupt government or crush a growing rebel group. She is the key to stopping a war she didn’t even know was happening. But if someone else has been inside Ella’s head, she cannot trust her own memories, thoughts, or feelings.So who can she trust?

Glitch


Heather Anastasiu - 2012
    Implanted computer chips have wiped humanity clean of destructive emotions, and thoughts are replaced by a feed from the Link network.When Zoe starts to malfunction (or “glitch”), she suddenly begins having her own thoughts, feelings, and identity. Any anomalies must be immediately reported and repaired, but Zoe has a secret so dark it will mean certain deactivation if she is caught: her glitches have given her uncontrollable telekinetic powers.As Zoe struggles to control her abilities and stay hidden, she meets other glitchers including Max, who can disguise his appearance, and Adrien, who has visions of the future. Both boys introduce Zoe to feelings that are entirely new. Together, this growing band of glitchers must find a way to free themselves from the controlling hands of the Community before they’re caught and deactivated, or worse.In this action-packed debut, Glitch begins an exciting new young adult trilogy.

Arclight


Josin L. McQuein - 2013
    . . except for one girl who doesn’t remember who she is, where she came from, or how she survived. A harrowing, powerful debut thriller about finding yourself and protecting your future—no matter how short and uncertain it may be. The Arclight is the last defense. The Fade can’t get in. Outside the Arclight’s border of high-powered beams is the Dark. And between the Light and the Dark is the Grey, a narrow, barren no-man’s-land. That’s where the rescue team finds Marina, a lone teenage girl with no memory of the horrors she faced or the family she lost. Marina is the only person who has ever survived an encounter with the Fade. She’s the first hope humanity has had in generations, but she could also be the catalyst for their final destruction. Because the Fade will stop at nothing to get her back. Marina knows it. Tobin, who’s determined to take his revenge on the Fade, knows it. Anne-Marie, who just wishes it were all over, knows it.When one of the Fade infiltrates the Arclight and Marina recognizes it, she will begin to unlock secrets she didn’t even know she had. Who will Marina become? Who can she never be again?

Awakening


J.D. Demers - 2015
    But they are not the worst monsters to come from this plague. There is hope, though. Christian Hunt is immune. But how many lives will it take to bring his gift to what’s left of mankind?

The Murder Complex


Lindsay Cummings - 2014
    For fans of Moira Young’s Dust Lands series, La Femme Nikita, and the movie Hanna.Meadow Woodson, a fifteen-year-old girl who has been trained by her father to fight, to kill, and to survive in any situation, lives with her family on a houseboat in Florida. The state is controlled by The Murder Complex, an organization that tracks the population with precision.The plot starts to thicken when Meadow meets Zephyr James, who is—although he doesn’t know it—one of the MC’s programmed assassins. Is their meeting a coincidence? Destiny? Or part of a terrifying strategy? And will Zephyr keep Meadow from discovering the haunting truth about her family?Action-packed, blood-soaked, and chilling, this is a dark and compelling debut novel by Lindsay Cummings.

Flowertown


S.G. Redling - 2012
    Those who survived contamination were herded into a US Army medically maintained quarantine and cut off from the world. Dosed with powerful drugs to combat the poison, their bodies give off a sickly sweet smell and the containment zone becomes known simply as Flowertown. Seven years later, the infrastructure is crumbling, supplies are dwindling, and nobody is getting clean. Ellie Cauley doesn’t care anymore. Despite her paranoid best friend's insistence that conspiracies abound, she focuses on three things: staying high, hooking up with the Army sergeant she's not supposed to be fraternizing with and, most importantly, trying to ignore her ever-simmering rage. But when a series of deadly events rocks the compound, Ellie suspects her friend is right—something dangerous is going down in Flowertown and all signs point to a twisted plan of greed and abuse. She and the other residents of Flowertown have been betrayed by someone with a deadly agenda and their plan is just getting started. Time is running out. With nobody to trust and nowhere to go, Ellie decides to fight with the last weapon she has—her rage.Flowertown is a high-intensity conspiracy thriller that brings the worst-case scenario vividly to life and will keep readers riveted until the final haunting page.

The Taking


Kimberly Derting - 2014
    . . and then . . . nothing. When sixteen-year-old Kyra Agnew wakes up behind a Dumpster at the Gas ’n’ Sip, she has no memory of how she got there. With a terrible headache and a major case of déjà vu, she heads home only to discover that five years have passed . . . yet she hasn’t aged a day. Everything else about Kyra’s old life is different. Her parents are divorced, her boyfriend, Austin, is in college and dating her best friend, and her dad has changed from an uptight neat-freak to a drunken conspiracy theorist who blames her five-year disappearance on little green men. Confused and lost, Kyra isn’t sure how to move forward unless she uncovers the truth. With Austin gone, she turns to Tyler, Austin’s annoying kid brother, who is now seventeen and who she has a sudden undeniable attraction to. As Tyler and Kyra retrace her steps from the fateful night of her disappearance, they discover strange phenomena that no one can explain, and they begin to wonder if Kyra’s father is not as crazy as he seems. There are others like her who have been taken . . . and returned. Kyra races to find an explanation and reclaim the life she once had, but what if the life she wants back is not her own?

Expedition


Alexander Elliott - 2017
    Assisted by a sentient AI, the unsuspecting crew is awakened when a strange craft suddenly appears transmitting an appeal for help. Led to an underground sanctuary, they discover the remains of an entire alien civilization, preserved in stasis. While the newfound allies make preparations to leave, they are threatened by an aggressive race bent on acquiring the alien’s secrets for themselves. The looming confrontation will change the destinies of three disparate races, and give the victors a chance to spread their influence throughout the galaxy.

Extinction Point


Paul Antony Jones - 2012
    All that changes the day the red rain falls from a cloudless sky. Just hours after the first reports from Europe, humanity is on the brink of extinction, wiped from the face of the earth in a few bloody moments, leaving Emily alone in an empty city. As she struggles to grasp the magnitude of her situation, Emily becomes the final witness to the end of our world… and the birth of a terrifying new one. The world she knew and loved is dead and gone. Now Emily must try to find a way out of New York as the truth behind the red rain is revealed: the earth no longer belongs to humanity.

Shadow Fall


Audrey Grey - 2016
    Not that I'm counting or anything. Trapped inside a hellish prison with thieves and murderers, I have more current worries.Like the brother I left behind or the not-so-friendly inmates or the fact that I'm wanted by the most powerful man in existence.
Then a mysterious benefactor breaks me out and offers the impossible: a spot in the Shadow Trials. Win and I'll receive a coveted place for my brother and I on the space station in the stars.But the opportunity comes at a steep price. Partner with a dashing psychopath, enter the court that once condemned me to death, survive the ruthless trials created by my own mother, and kill the Emperor--the very man who's hunting me.In this cunning game of life and death, nothing is as it seems and everyone expects me to fail. But they forgot one tiny detail.Never underestimate the girl with nothing left to lose.

Dare to enter the gritty world of Shadow Fall where tyrants rule, misfits reign, and anti-heroes are tasked with saving the world. If you like enemies-to-lovers romance, high-octane action, and epic themes of good versus evil, you'll binge this rollercoaster of emotions late into the night!
WARNING. This series is dark, raw, and intense. If you prefer your books full of rainbows and unicorns and random sprinkles of happiness, this might not be your kind of story. But, if you like gritty stories with heart, I promise the ending of the final (third) book will have a happily ever after!

The Institute


Kayla Howarth - 2015
    Always looking over your shoulder. The source of your fear? The Institute.Allira Daniels will do anything to keep her Defective brother safe from the Institute. They claim to protect Defectives, but it’s human nature to fear the unknown. Defectives are dangerous, they possess abilities that no human should be able to. To Allira and the rest of her family, the Institute seems more like a prison than the safe-haven they promote themselves to be. Protecting Shilah from that fate is their number one priority.When Allira stumbles across a car crash involving two of her school classmates, she ignores all of her father’s warnings of laying low and not drawing attention to herself. By doing so, she may have just caught the eye of the Institute. She’s not Defective, but what seventeen-year-old girl has the ability to pull two teenage boys away from a fiery rubble and walk away without a scratch? It would definitely be seen as suspicious.Allira and her family need to make decisions. Do they stay, or do they flee again? Will they be coming for her? Will her whole family come under investigation? Will they discover Shilah and his ability to predict the future?Are you Defective? The Institute is coming for you.