Book picks similar to
Catalina by Danny Fahey
first-reads
fantasy
fiction
young-adult
This Vicious Grace
Emily Thiede
Three funerals. Alessa’s gift from the gods is supposed to magnify a partner’s magic, not kill every suitor she touches.Now, with only weeks left until a hungry swarm of demons devours everything on her island home, Alessa is running out of time to find a partner and stop the invasion. When a powerful priest convinces the faithful that killing Alessa is the island’s only hope, her own soldiers try to assassinate her.Desperate to survive, Alessa hires Dante, a cynical outcast marked as a killer, to become her personal bodyguard. But as rebellion explodes outside the gates, Dante’s dark secrets may be the biggest betrayal. He holds the key to her survival and her heart, but is he the one person who can help her master her gift or destroy her once and for all?Emily Thiede's exciting fantasy debut, This Vicious Grace, will keep readers turning the pages until the devastating conclusion and leave them primed for more!
The Girls from Corona del Mar
Rufi Thorpe - 2014
Mia and Lorrie Ann are lifelong friends: hard-hearted Mia and untouchably beautiful, kind Lorrie Ann. While Mia struggles with a mother who drinks, a pregnancy at fifteen, and younger brothers she loves but can't quite be good to, Lorrie Ann is luminous, surrounded by her close-knit family, immune to the mistakes that mar her best friend's life. Until a sudden loss catapults Lorrie Ann into tragedy: things fall apart, and then fall apart further-and there is nothing Mia can do to help. And as good, kind, brave Lorrie Ann stops being so good, Mia begins to question just who this woman is and what that question means about them both. A staggeringly arresting, honest novel of love, motherhood, loyalty, and the myth of the perfect friendship that moves us to ask ourselves just how well we know those we love, what we owe our children, and who we are without our friends.
Mask of the Fallen: A Cultivation/Progression Fantasy Series: (War Priest Book One)
Harmon Cooper - 2021
Hero's Song
Edith Pattou - 1991
But his peaceful life is shattered when his sister, Nessa, mysteriously disappears. He sets off to find her and soon realizes that he and his traveling companions, including the feisty young archer Breo-Saight, have become involved in something much larger and more sinister than he had imagined.
Benefactor, The
Erin Fry - 2013
But they have one thing in common: they need a scholarship to college. And they're ready to battle seven other contestants on a reality TV show to get it. There's Mei, a budding artist with a secret disability; Henry, not in it for the money but for the chance to follow his true dream; Lucy, a tough Texan from a new kind of family; Tyrell, an injured football star with a sick sister at home; Sam, a musician with no family to fall back on; Allyson, a devout Christian with a good reason to pray; Cassidy, a beauty with a secret; and Hiroshi, a varsity swimmer who left behind his true love. But only one contestant can win on The Benefactor. Who will take home the big prize? Tune in to find out.
Shadow Magic
Patricia C. Wrede - 1982
While the kingdom’s noblemen squabble, on their borders an ancient enemy, the Lithmern, raises an army. As the head of the Noble House of Brenn attempts to organize an alliance, the princess Alethia celebrates her twentieth birthday. She is a remarkable woman: quick-witted, beautiful, and handy with a throwing knife. But on the next night, she passes through a dark corridor on her way to the banquet hall, and never emerges from the shadows. The Lithmern have kidnapped the princess. When Alethia regains consciousness, an evil Lithmern with a face made of shadows is carrying her through the forest. These are magic woods, home to fabled creatures whose existence she has always doubted. To find her way home, Alethia will have to learn to trust in the old tales, whose legends of magic and daring hold the only hope of saving her kingdom.
Courting the Clearwaters
Jill Penrod - 2013
When an acquaintance introduces him to God and invites him to a college youth group, the changes in his life are immense and unsettling. The most unsettling part is Jenny Clearwater, his boss's daughter. He can't deny his attraction, but she courts instead of dating, and courting seems all about keeping the Shawn Carpenters of the world away from the Jenny Clearwaters.Danger and heartache seem to come around every bend, from a cave trip gone wrong to a friendship that goes up in flames to an accusal of crime at work. Seems God has put events in motion to lead Shawn back into a life of community and growth, assuming, of course, they don't kill him first.Get set for this first book of the Christian series Boys of Summer, for teens and anyone else who appreciates the challenges of stepping into adulthood.
Transformed
E.V. Fairfall - 2014
She would've kept that promise if it weren't for Brice. He's handsome and confident, but above all he's merciless. He's also a hunter who has tormented Thea for years. She believes if she could teach Brice compassion, she might finally be able to save her creations and herself from his savage ways. Then she meets Chamber: another hunter.She soon finds herself fascinated by−and torn between−the two boys: Brice and Chamber. Lost within a torrent of human emotions, Thea starts to lose who she is as she falls in love with the one thing that she's always hated: a hunter… a human.
The Awakening
M.L. Lacy - 2009
But at 32 years old, Bree Campbell is discovering that her entire life has been a secret. Like most people, it never occurred to her to question her mortality; that is until she learns that she is a mortal born into a family of Magicals and begins to question everything and everyone in her life. As the doors to Bree's new world fly open and she finally hears the prophecy told at her birth she must face the revelation that she is a Chosen One; the last and greatest of a long line of Chosen Ones. And if this were not overwhelming enough, she has been charged with saving the earth by repairing the cosmic tear that binds the mortal world she has always known and the Magical world she is just now discovering. But the real question lies in whether Bree will survive the long transformation into the powerful Druid Sorceress that is her destiny or die in the process as many before her have gone. Bree's journey will not be an easy one. She must face the realities of her new life and her new family; a clan of vampires who have been charged with protecting her for all of her mortal life. They have chosen her as a leader in their clan, a position that has really complicated things for her. For no sooner than Bree is finally reunited with her long lost love, Steven, Bree must learn how to navigate the jealousies and emotions within her new family. While Bree tries to free herself from her past, including her cruel and lethal husband, she must determine who she can truly trust. And while her clan loves her immensely, they will continually try to stand in her way; all in the name of protecting her from those set upon her death. Bree's arch nemesis is Esmeralda, a powerful sorceress in her own right who will stop at nothing until this Chosen One is dead. If Esmeralda can claim Bree's blood, heart and soul and restore her Demon to his body, she will be so strong that none will be able to oppose her and she will be free to rid the world of all mortals and rule as she chooses. But with the help of the Guardians and her dreams, Bree begins to awaken the powers hidden within her and begins to embrace the responsibility she has been born to. And even while these changes make her body weak, Bree begins to find an inner strength she never knew she had within herself. Will it be enough to save the world?
Showtime
Chloe Kayne - 2012
Behind the gates of the legendary Marvelle Circus, she is thrust into a mysterious world she never knew existed—a paradise populated with outcasts. It’s in this glamorous new home that Laila sparks a controversial romance with notorious sideshow performer, "The Disappearing Man," and learns just how dangerous her new life can be.Touring the picturesque eastern coast of America, Laila’s immersed in friendship, vaudeville, festivals, sequins, and serial killers. But behind the curtain, a sadistic plan is brewing that will crack the very foundation upon which she’s become so dependent.
Family Secrets
Jayant Swamy - 2020
At a prominent showroom in downtown Bangalore. A pregnant woman swoons. Glittering crystals disperse. Chaos reigns. Siddhartha, English teacher-turned-conman, pulls off a diamond heist. With unconditional support from his theatre-artiste wife. Abhimanyu, the authoritarian business baron, retaliates. With a policy master stroke that will push Siddhartha into financial jeopardy. And renew Siddhartha’s streak to wreak vengeance. A devious plot unfolds. Involving the royal heirloom belonging to Abhimanyu. Provoked beyond limits, Abhimanyu pulls out all the stops. Even as he confronts the identity conflicts of a hitherto unknown son that has appeared. Stage-managed bank deposits. Orchestrated raid. A hostile alliance. Until he faces a sordid truth revealed by the blue-blooded mother he worships. How does this dynastic drama play out?
Dispirited
Luisa M. Perkins - 2012
But when another being takes over his body, Blake watches this malevolent impostor live the life that should be his. After his father remarries, Blake seeks help from his stepsister, Cathy, who possesses unusual gifts of her own.Cathy sees things invisible to everybody else. A ghostly child. An abandoned house in the woods. Her new stepbrother's bizarre behavior. But she doesn't see how they're all connected. And what she doesn't see just might kill her.
Eleusis
Genevieve Fairbrother - 2013
When the stranger confesses himself to be an ageless sea-god and tells her she has been guarding a secret she never knew existed, her once simple life takes a drastic turn. Just when she thinks it can’t get any stranger, a back door to the Underworld opens up and it’s time to run like hell.Mythology and contemporary life collide as this fast-paced novel explodes and dark forces tracking Macy surface to capture her. In the transatlantic chase that follows, she learns of her forgotten past and a centuries-old connection to the sea-god who helps her escape. A tragic miscalculation derails Macy and in a moment of self-sacrifice she ends up where it all began, trapped in the Underworld.Has she learned enough about her past to forge a meaningful future? Utterly alone, she realizes that to gain real freedom, she must reject her assigned place in history and in doing so risk everything.Events challenge her whilst she comes to grips with her legacy and decides what she wants in life. Family betrayal, sinister plot twists, and unlikely friends fill this exhilarating story of one woman’s journey to shape her future as she learns her true identity and strives to become a force in her own right. Eleusis by Genevieve Fairbrother is one-of-a-kind contemporary paranormal adventure novel that narrates a unique perspective on women and relationships using the life of one immortal woman moving through time.
Melt
Selene Castrovilla - 2011
MELT will hit you like a punch in the face, and also seep through the cracks in your soul.MELT is a brutal love story set against the metaphorical backdrop of The Wizard of Oz (not a retelling). When sixteen year old Dorothy moves to the small town of Highland Park, she meets, and falls for Joey – a “bad boy” who tells no one about the catastrophic domestic violence he witnesses at home. Can these two lovers survive peer pressure, Joey’s reputation, and his alcoholism? Told in dual first person, Joey’s words are scattered on the page – reflecting his broken state. Dorothy is the voice of reason – until something so shattering happens that she, too, may lose her grip. Can their love endure, or will it melt away?
The Goblins of Bellwater
Molly Ringle - 2017
But some are about to find out. Skye, a young barista and artist, falls victim to a goblin curse in the forest one winter night, rendering her depressed and silenced, unable to speak of what happened. Her older sister, Livy, is at wit’s end trying to understand what’s wrong with her. Local mechanic Kit would know, but he doesn’t talk of such things: he’s the human liaison for the goblin tribe, a job he keeps secret and never wanted, thrust on him by an ancient family contract.Unaware of what’s happened to Skye, Kit starts dating Livy, trying to keep it casual to protect her from the attention of the goblins. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kit, Skye draws his cousin Grady into the spell through an enchanted kiss in the woods, dooming Grady and Skye both to become goblins and disappear from humankind forever.It’s a midwinter night’s enchantment as Livy, the only one untainted by a spell, sets out to save them on a dangerous magical path of her own.Content warnings for the book: Magic used nonconsensually on people's minds, including a lust/attraction spell; some violence; facing fears including heights, deep water, fire, and being underground.