Book picks similar to
Dark Horse by Michelle Diener


sci-fi
romance
science-fiction
aliens

Shielder


Catherine Spangler - 1999
    In the hopes of finding a cure, the Shielders need a human host to get the deadly virus past Controller checkpoints and to a medical lab on the planet Santerra. With her people facing extinction, outcast Nessa dan Ranul volunteers to be the host and is injected with the virus. She has only four weeks to make it to Santerra before it kills her. When her ship breaks down in deep space, she’s rescued by her most dangerous enemy—a shadower, a bounty hunter who tracks down Shielders. She can’t tell him the truth about her dilemma, or he will turn her in to the Controllers. Shadower Chase McKnight has an agenda more pressing than claiming bounty rewards—vengeance. He doesn’t have time for a homeless waif who ignites emotions he buried long ago. He refuses to allow anything to deter him from his mission, which results in traveling away from Santerra—while the time bomb inside Nessa is ticking down. But she doesn’t dare trust this man who is an enemy of Shielders. Their secrets and agendas don’t prevent the growing attraction between them, even as they fight their individual demons—even as time runs out for Nessa. Only love can bring them full circle, offering Chase redemption, and the chance to save Nessa—and ultimately, her people.

Chaos Station


Jenn Burke - 2015
    Felix Ingesson is dead."The war with the alien stin is over, but Felix Ingesson has given up on seeing his lover, Zander Anatolius, ever again. Zander's military file is sealed tighter than an airlock. A former prisoner of war, Felix is attempting a much quieter life keeping his ship, the Chaos, aloft. He almost succeeds, until Zander walks on board and insists that Felix isn't real.A retired, broken super soldier, Zander is reeling from the aftereffects of his experimental training and wants nothing more than to disappear and wait for insanity to claim him. Then he sees footage of a friend and ally—a super soldier like him—murdering an entire security squad with her bare hands and a cold, dead look in her eyes. He never expected to find Felix, the man he'd thought dead for years, on the ship he hired to track her down.Working with Felix to rescue his teammate is a dream come true…and a nightmare. Zander has no exit strategy that will leave Felix unscathed—or his own heart unbroken.

All Our Yesterdays


Cristin Terrill - 2013
    Finn is in the cell next door. The Doctor is keeping them there until they tell him what he wants to know. Trouble is, what he wants to know hasn't happened yet. Em and Finn have a shared past, but no future unless they can find a way out. The present is torture - being kept apart, overhearing each other's anguish as the Doctor relentlessly seeks answers. There's no way back from here, to what they used to be, the world they used to know. Then Em finds a note in her cell which changes everything. It's from her future self and contains some simple but very clear instructions. Em must travel back in time to avert a tragedy that's about to unfold. Worse, she has to pursue and kill the boy she loves to change the future.

Broken Earth


S.J. Sanders - 2020
    Wandering the fringes of space as a salvager, he comes across a planet beyond the boundaries of the federation, rich in metals remnant of a dead civilization. Or so he thought. Confronted by cannibalistic mutations of the indigenous species, his salvage has suddenly become a lot more complicated. Even more so when he encounters a female surviving on her own. She is strong and fearless, begrudgingly earning his admiration. Terri is hardened by a life of hunger and watchfulness, and yet is moved by a compassion that he’s never possessed. When his admiration turns into the first signs of a forming mate-bond, he knows his fate is sealed. Unlicensed mating is forbidden—if his malfunctioning wasn’t already a death sentencing, taking her for her mate would be. Yet, he finds that letting her go is no longer an option. Please be advised that this book has graphic sex and violence that may not be appropriate for all audiences.

Ruwen


Kate Rudolph - 2016
    The curse of his alien species has put a countdown on his life, and he'll be dead before the month is out. Unless he finds his denya, the only woman in the universe who can save him.Down on her luck and lost in space...Lis Jaynx just wants to go home. Kidnapped from Earth by unknown foes, she's dropped on a inhospitable planet with little food and no hope. She'll do anything to find a ship to take her back to Earth, but Polai is hostile to all alien life, and Lis is running out of places to hide.An unexpected chance...From the moment he sees her, Ru knows Lis is his denya. But she's already wounded and distrustful of aliens, even those who claim they want to help.Will the explosive chemistry between them be enough to topple Lis's fears? Or will their bond break before it even forms, leaving Ru a dead alien walking and Lis all alone in the black of space.(Complete story, no cliffhanger!)

Venomous


Penelope Fletcher - 2014
    When she is weak, I shall be her strength. She was stolen from her world by our captors. Now her survival is my responsibility. It is her duty to endure my lust, respect my nest mates and honour our union with offspring. I revere this giver of life, as is the way."~ Venomous One, formerly of Rök, enslaved gladiator "Six things a woman should not have to deal with: 1) More than one barbaric alien lover/life mate. 2) Long term stay on a slave planet where you’re one female amongst thousands of 'needy' males. 3) Killer space pirates. 4) Psychotic mother-in-law. 5) Putting your alien lover/life mates’ species under the threat of annihilation because you ticked off the wrong Slave Chieftain. 6) A marauding overlord with a harem four hundred strong who is determined to make you concubine number four hundred and one. My name is Lumen. I am stranded in a galaxy far, far away and here be huge f***ing aliens."~ Lumen Young, formerly of Earth, lost in space Abducted from Earth and transported to a slave planet in an unknown galaxy, Lumen finds herself, shackled, naked and put on display before an alien horde. Told the males will battle for the right to slake their lusts with her body, she would become the slave of slaves. Venomous One, a proud warrior enslaved, has given up hope of returning to his home world and finding a life mate. When a female is tossed into the arena his soul demands he claim her. Winning his mate by Right of Might, he vows to protect Lumen and be a good provider, no matter how ugly her human appearance. Rescued by Venomous’ people, the couple face space pirates, the condemnation of an alien government, galactic war, and a deadlier threat from within the warrior’s own kindred. Warning: violence, profanity and sexual situations with multiple partners.

Shards of Honour


Lois McMaster Bujold - 1986
    Aral and Cordelia survive countless mishaps while their mutual admiration and even stronger feelings emerge.

Illuminae


Amie Kaufman - 2015
    This afternoon, her planet was invaded.The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra — who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents — including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more — Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Date Night on Union Station


E.M. Foner - 2014
    After swallowing her pride and purchasing a subscription to the dating service that’s rumored to be powered by the same benevolent artificial intelligence that runs the huge station, Kelly decides to give love a shot. But as her dates go from bad to worse, she can only hope that the supposedly omniscient AI is planning a happy ending.

Darkfever


Karen Marie Moning - 2006
    I'm a sidhe-seer, one who sees the Fae, a fact I accepted only recently and very reluctantly.My philosophy is pretty simple - any day nobody's trying to kill me is a good day in my book. I haven't had many good days lately. Not since the walls between Man and Fae came down. But then, there's not a sidhe-seer alive who's had a good day since then."When MacKayla's sister was murdered, she left a single clue to her death, a cryptic message on Mac's cell phone. Journeying to Ireland in search of answers, Mac is soon faced with an even greater challenge: staying alive long enough to master a power she had no idea she possessed - a gift that allows her to see beyond the world of man, into the dangerous realm of the Fae.As Mac delves deeper into the mystery of her sister's death, her every move is shadowed by the dark, mysterious Jericho...while at the same time, the ruthless V'lane - an alpha Fae who makes sex an addiction for human women - closes in on her. As the boundary between worlds begins to crumble, Mac's true mission becomes clear: to find the elusive Sinsar Dubh before someone else claims the all-powerful Dark Book - because whoever gets to it first holds nothing less than complete control both worlds in their hands.

Jane's Warlord


Angela Knight - 2004
    The next target of a time traveling killer, crime reporter Jane Colby finds herself in the hands of a warlord from the future sent to protect her--and in his hands is just where she wants to be.

Chosen


K.F. Breene - 2014
    Shanti has grown up under the constant threat of war. Since she helped her people defeat a raiding party by using a special power, she's been a hunted woman. Carrying rare abilities and an uncanny fighting aptitude, Shanti is the only hope of salvation for her people. The problem is, she doesn't believe in her own divinity, and when she flounders, she nearly fails in the duty hanging so heavy on her shoulders. It seems like any other day when Sanders and his band of misfit boys find a foreign woman clinging to life in the wastelands. Oblivious to the weapon they now have in their possession, they are content to harbor the mysterious woman until she is well enough to continue her journey. But when the war spreads its arms and lands on her borrowed doorstep, Shanti has no choice but to reveal her secrets, plunging her saviors into danger. If they band with her, they will face certain death. But to trade her to Xandre, the warlord desperate to add her to his war machine, would be to give up their entire way of life.

Mama and the Alien Warrior


Honey Phillips - 2019
    But she certainly never expected to find herself and her girls abducted by aliens who intend to sell them as breeders. When they are rescued by a massive alien and his crew, desires she has long suppressed start to surface. She finds herself unexpectedly drawn to the captain who treats both her and her daughter with unwavering devotion. Until his ship intercepts an illegal Vedeckian trader, Captain Hrebec is resigned to spending his life alone. The Cires lost their females to a plague many years ago. Now for the first time, this luscious human female has him longing for a mate and a family. But Abby has to get her girls back to Earth, and Hrebec may have one last chance to save his race. Will their duties force them apart? Or will they finally find a family of their own? Mama and the Alien Warrior is a standalone science fiction romance. This sweet and steamy HEA is intended for adults only.

Fluency


Jennifer Foehner Wells - 2014
    They kept the Target under intense surveillance for decades, letting the public believe they were exploring the solar system, while they worked feverishly to refine the technology needed to reach it. The ship itself remained silent, drifting. Dr. Jane Holloway is content documenting nearly-extinct languages and had never contemplated becoming an astronaut. But when NASA recruits her to join a team of military scientists for an expedition to the Target, it’s an adventure she can’t refuse. The ship isn’t vacant, as they presumed. A disembodied voice rumbles inside Jane’s head, "You are home." Jane fights the growing doubts of her colleagues as she attempts to decipher what the alien wants from her. As the derelict ship devolves into chaos and the crew gets cut off from their escape route, Jane must decide if she can trust the alien’s help to survive.

Close Encounters


Katherine Allred - 2009
    But she turned out stronger, faster, smarter, and more impervious to harm than anyone anticipated. A reluctant "superhero," Kiera wishes she were normal, but it is not to be.On Orpheus Two, the indigenous Buri race faces extinction, a prospect the powerful Dynatec corporation welcomes and, in fact, may be actively hastening. It is Kiera's job to protect these beautiful, exotic aliens . . . and to discover what there is on Orpheus Two that Dynatec feels is worth killing for.But the magnetic allure of Thor, the breathtaking Buri leader, is proving a dangerous distraction. And now, to save Thor's people, Kiera will need a power she's never before possessed—something hidden in the unexplored recesses of her heart.