Book picks similar to
The Tollkeeper by Mark R. Vickers
4-location-paperwhite
4plus-double-digits
contemporary
free-reads
Skye City: The Trials of Arturo collection
R.D. Hale - 2014
If you have purchased these Episodes separately, you do not need to purchase this product.My name is Arturo Basilides. I am an orphan living in the slums of Medio City – the capital of a nation ravaged by a war which was won by extremists. Offered a choice between slavery and disenfranchisement, we exist in an underclass so disconnected we effectively inhabit a different era. Daily life involves scavenging, theft and substance abuse with a bunch of misfits who are somehow still in one piece after years of abandonment. I am a natural born fighter and although I despise warfare, I must witness the downfall of those bastard elites whilst fulfilling my romantic intentions with the forever unattainable girl of my dreams.Skye City is a biopunk adventure set in a world where science is indistinguishable from magic and oppression is near-inescapable. Technology has created a newer, 'superior' form of human and genetically engineered monstrosities are as terrifying as anything encountered in your nightmares. The underclass have been underestimated and as they fight back the boundary between freedom fighter and terrorist becomes increasingly blurred. Meanwhile, the drug-induced haze of a traumatised mind places a question mark over the meaning of reality.'Skye City interweaves heavy social issues and philosophy, milking the sci-fi genre for all its worth. The slum dog's efforts to maintain their humanity in such a heartless age, when everything is going against them is palpable. The 99% versus 1% theme focuses our minds on where society might be heading and forces us to look at things how they are, if we wish them to be truly different.' Dean C. Moore – Author of Renaissance 2.0
Rune Scale
Devin Hanson - 2016
In a world where all the power is held by the secretive Alchemists Guild, Andrew must scrounge for scraps of knowledge as he sets out on the most dangerous quest imaginable.When dragons fly the skies, the gods hold no sway over the fates of men.
MAYA: Symbiogenesis Book One
Pete Barber - 2016
The last-resort treatment transforms Maya's genetic fingerprint. While Lauren struggles to disguise the reason for her daughter's miraculous recovery, Maya develops unique abilities that may signal a new, more hope-filled future for humankind, or perhaps sound its death knell.
Devil's Hand
M.E. Patterson - 2011
For years, his strange and unnatural luck made him the king of the Las Vegas poker scene. After years on the blacklist, despised by every high roller, he finds himself returning, with his wife, Susan, to his former stomping ground, only to be caught between a serial kidnapper, vengeful angels, poker-playing demons, and a magic-wielding thirteen year-old girl who stands unwittingly at the center of a fallen angel's plot to end all of mankind in an unholy blizzard. As Las Vegas grinds to a halt, Trent is forced to make terrible sacrifices and must ultimately choose his role in the coming War, or watch our world fall to ruin beneath a blanket of shadow and ice.
The R.E.M. Effect: A Science Fiction Thriller
J.M. Lanham - 2016
And the results are a nightmare. From J.M. Lanham comes a heart-pumping thrill ride that puts a sci-fi twist on the future of medicine, technology, and philosophy. It’s 2021 and Paul Freeman just landed a job with Asteria Pharmaceuticals, a world leader in revolutionary drug development. Paul knows the company’s future is riding on the success of their latest product—a sleeping pill designed to interact with the human genome to deliver the perfect eight-hour sleep cycle. Just a few blocks from Asteria’s Atlanta headquarters, troubled self-help guru Donny Ford is selling a different kind of drug, empowering followers to take control of their lives using a sacred meditation technique skeptics believe may have already taken his mind to a dangerous place. 3,000 miles away, war-hardened journalist Claire Connor sits captive in a top-secret facility hidden deep in the Costa Rican jungle, guilty of two offenses: seeking help for a sleep disorder, and asking too many questions. When these worlds collide, the three will discover just how far some companies are willing to go to protect the bottom line. --------------------------- The debut novel by J.M. Lanham, The R.E.M. Effect is a new addition to the science fiction tradition of Michael Crichton, Preston & Child, Marcus Sakey, and Dean Koontz. Dive into fast-paced suspense that explores Big Pharma corruption, clandestine government experiments, and the mysteries of the human mind to create a world where taking a pill could mean taking lives. Want to download the first few pages of this book for FREE so you can try before you buy? Click the 'Send a free sample' button and start reading now! And if you like this title, don't miss out on The R.E.M. Project (The REM Series Book 2) available now!
Justice for All (A Holt Foundation Story Book 1)
Chris Patchell - 2019
But all that changes when, after a romantic birthday with her fiancée, Elizabeth returns home, unaware a secret watcher has unimaginably horrible plans for her. Left for dead . . . Days after the attack, Elizabeth emerges from a coma, but she is irrevocably changed. Compelled to find her attacker and find justice, she travels down a dark path that forces her to choose between love and her obsession--not just for herself, but other survivors. Justice or vengeance... Forced to choose between obsession and love, Elizabeth doggedly pursues justice for the victims of other crimes, while her attacker remains at large. Until finally she gets a call with the news she’s been waiting twelve years for. But what Elizabeth learns could tear her life apart...
Monte Rio
Mark Joseph - 2018
The Pirates rely on high-tech electronics, vintage technology, and old-fashioned nerve — just for fun, because they can.And when they are co-opted by the FBI to help improve security at the Grove, they stumble across a cell of genuine terrorists in the most unlikely of places. As the suspense builds, the Pirates' true mettle is put to the test.
Fracture
Craig Andrews - 2013
As a first year associate at a prestigious Portland law firm, his professional life is on the rise. All that is turned upside-down by a mysterious attack on his life by strange people with stranger abilities. Thrust into an underground world of magic where rival Families are on the brink of war, Allyn wants only to return to his normal life and thriving career. But distancing himself from this new reality is nearly impossible. Haunted by the attack and questioning why he was targeted to begin with, Allyn's questions only deepen with the sudden disappearance of his sister. The only place to turn for answers, and for help, is a Magi Family whose agenda he wants no part of. Yet with his sister's life on the line, he may have no choice but to pick a side.
The Scarlett Smith Chronicles
Selene Charles - 2018
Not too long ago she was just a regular Southern Belle in love with her soldier, dreaming of a life full of babies and white picket fences. Then she died. Now she's a vampire in a shifter's world trying to make sense of her sudden thirst for blood and her strange ability to read the emotions off of others. Especially as it pertains to death—she and death have a strange affinity for one another now, but best not to dwell on that subject too long. She's still totally just a normal girl, except now she solves murders and drinks a little type-O on the side. No big deal, she's certainly nothing special or amazing...right? Except every once in a while she senses something stirring inside of her. Something dark. Something ancient. And something very, very powerful. But for now it's just easier to pretend she's nothing more than a vampire with a badge and a gun who just so happens to have the hots for not one, but two different shifters one of whom is her step-brother. No one ever said being dead would be easy. Book 2 My name is Scarlett Smith. And I’m a vampire who was raised by a pack of wolves. Little crazy, I know. But let’s not get hung up on semantics here. Because I’ve got a story to tell. There’s something inside of me. A darkness. And she’s really starting to make herself known, think Harley Quinn on ’roids and you might get the picture. She’s powerful and definitely unhinged, but I don’t have time to focus on that right now because I’ve got bigger fish to fry. From the Alpha shifter on trial for breaking the unbreakable oath to a local vampire clan wanting me to party like it’s 1699, I’m in neck deep—pun intended. Have no fear though. I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeves and some unexpected allies in my corner. Sure, there are bound to be a few surprises along the way, and I’m guessing they aren’t all good. But, no one ever said being dead would be easy… Book 3, Scarlett Smith is back, but this time the stakes couldn’t get any higher… Mercer and I we shouldn’t have done what we did at the Infantes Castle, not killing the vampires, cuz…let’s face it, they totally deserved to die. No, the other thing. Binding ourselves to each other. Mating. The cost was too high. And now, our love might make us lose everything we hold dear. Now we've been summoned to Georgia to meet with the Alpha Council. Clarence is guilty of conspiracy to commit murder against his pack, but somehow he’s only gotten a slap on the wrist for it. Something’s just not right. I know it and so does Merc, but we’re helpless. We have to go to Georgia, we have to fight to save Silver Creek. But when we get there and I find out what the council really wants me to give up, I’m not sure I can. I’m not sure I will. But a betrayal is coming for me. A big one, one that will shatter all the things I’ve ever believed in or held sacred. And before three days are up, the world as I know it will never be the same again. Join me on the explosive finale that you are sure to never forget… (Included bonus short story content set in the Southern Detective universe!) COMPLETED SERIES! CLIFFHANGER FREE!
Tales Out of School Collection
Natasha LarryArizona Tape - 2019
To humor her bestie, Remy goes to the interview and surprises even herself.Now her options are stay with a mother that resents her or brave the Academy’s privileged freshman class. Maybe along the way, she’ll even decide to pick up the white hat and put it on, but in doing so she may lose her best friend.Melanie Karsak - The Princess Of Hearts (Wonderland Academy #0.5)Margo Bond Collins And Fionn Jameson - Matriculation (Shifters U. #0.5)Margo Bond Collins And Deb Christie - Hell Hath No Fury (Dark Harvester University #0.5)Laura Greenwood - Curses Start Somewhere (Grimalkin Academy; Kittens #0.5)All curses start somewhere, and it's not always where you expect.With graduation approaching, Ronnie and Magda need to finish writing their spell book so they can receive the ultimate reward: a place on Grimalkin Academy's honour roll.But when things start to go wrong, it turns out that more than their friendship is on the line, and if Ronnie can't fix it, the consequences won't be worth thinking about.Curses Start Somewhere is the prequel to the Grimalkin Academy: Kittens series, which follows Ronnie's daughter, Mona.S.K. Gregory - The Fall Of Crestwood (Academy For Lost Souls #0.5)Solo Storm - Rising Prince (Faerie Princess Spy Academy #0.5)He Has No Choice But to Take His Family’s Throne Back From the People Who Murdered His Parents...Twenty-year-old Flynn Cormac has his younger sister to protect. To keep her safe, he has to reclaim what was once theirs - the throne to the leprechaun clan, one of the ten clans of the Alliance of Faeries.The only safe place to announce their survival is at the presenting ceremony at Alanza School of International Faerie. Once they have gone public and officially become students of the school, the Fitzgerald family, who currently holds the throne, has no chance of touching them...But when Flynn takes a quick detour before he takes off for school, he runs into much more than he bargained for - and it’s only going to cost him once he learns the truth...If he can’t take back his family’s throne, he may lose everything that matters to him. So why can’t he stop thinking about her?A companion short story to the Faerie Princess Spy Academy prequel novella, Rising Princess, which is told from Darby Fitzgerald’s perspective.Arizona Tape - Wings Of Grief (Afterlife Academy Story #?.5)Skyler Andra - Witch Hunt (To The Guild Of Guardians Academy Series#0.5)Ivy Hearne - Dog Days Of Summer (Hunters’ Academy Summer 1 #?.5)Angela Kulig And Angela Sanders - Mystic Manor (Halloween Academy #0.5)B.C. Palmer And Marie Robinson - Admission To Rosewilde Academy Of Magical ArtsKat Parrish - Wixsted Academy (Full Moon High #0.5)
Revenge School San Francisco
Myles Knapp - 2014
This guy’s so timid, I wonder if anyone can teach him the stuff he needs to learn. “Revenge School clients have to be seriously violated. We don’t help people with little stuff. Last week a guy wanted us to kill his neighbor for making a pass at his wife. That guy needs testosterone injections, not us. My team will help you destroy whoever beat you and your friend, but we aren’t free. Your first payment is $10k.” “Ten-thousand dollars,” Richard blinked. The hand stirring his Chai Tea shook and the spoon created a wave that slopped onto the Formica table. “If we succeed we’ll pay you back from the funds we take from your enemies.” “So then it costs me nothing?” “Revenge won’t cost you a dime. It won’t make you a dime. It will make you a man.”
Immortal Stories: Eve
Gene Doucette - 2015
“…if your next question is, what could that possibly make me, if I’m not an angel or a god? The answer is the same as what I said before: many have considered me a god, and probably a few have thought of me as an angel. I’m neither, if those positions are defined by any kind of supernormal magical power. True magic of that kind doesn’t exist, but I can do things that may appear magic to someone slightly more tethered to their mortality. I’m a woman, and that’s all. What may make me different from the next woman is that it’s possible I’m the very first one…” For most of humankind, the woman calling herself Eve has been nothing more than a shock of red hair glimpsed out of the corner of the eye, in a crowd, or from a great distance. She’s been worshipped, feared, and hunted, but perhaps never understood. Now, she’s trying to reconnect with the world, and finding that more challenging than anticipated. Can the oldest human on Earth rediscover her own humanity? Or will she decide the world isn’t worth it?
Atlas
Becca C. Smith - 2013
But during an emergency mission aboard Air Force One, Kala is shocked to discover that the real threat is none other than the President himself. Defying her commanding officer, Jack Norbin, Kala takes the shot, and her life changes forever. The moment the President is killed, a supernatural force speaks to Kala, telling her that she has to commit one act of atrocity every four days… or the world will end. Thrown into a reality she never could have imagined, Kala faces off with creatures of legend; from demons determined to make her fail and plunge the Earth into chaos, to angels who don’t trust her to do the job and are willing to kill her to claim it for themselves. Pitted against the forces of good and evil, Kala must choose whether to save the world by doing the unthinkable, or sit back and let it burn. And four days later, she’ll have to do it again. The Atlas Series is the next series from Becca C. Smith, author of The Riser Saga.
Germination
Jamie Thornton - 2015
Powerful enemies, twisted memories, a government willing to do anything for control. Find out how it all began…
ONCE UPON A TIME A PLAGUE ENDED THE WORLD.
Mary knows how to thrive on the street. She makes it her mission to keep other kids away from everyday monsters. But when she’s attacked by a crazed man clutching a bloody heart she realizes—there’s a new kind of monster in town.A single drop of blood, and now Mary’s one of the infected. Unless she can stop the virus and save her friends, the new monster in town might just be her.
"Thrilling...keeps you reading and wanting more.""I couldn't put this down.""This left me hungry for the next book."
Interview with the Author
Q - What makes the Zombies are Human series special?
An epidemic ravaging the human population. A world spiraling into chaos. People doing whatever it takes to survive. I wanted to write something I would love to read. I've always been drawn to the post-apocalyptic genre and thought about end-of-the-world books I’ve loved--Stephen King's The Stand, Octavia Butler's Parable of the Sower. But also recent stories like The Girl With All the Gifts, The Passage, and even Stranger Things. I’ve always found stories with big epidemics/events that reinvent the world so thrilling. I also love getting into some of the science, like the genetic engineering, that would make the situations plausible.
Zombies are Human gives you some of that classic Walking Dead zombie fare, but...without giving too much away...I guarantee you've never read a zombie series like Zombies are Human before.
Even though my cast of characters are teenagers I’ve definitely had plenty of adults write me about how much they’ve enjoyed the series. I think Zombies are Human hits the sweet spot of older Young Adult that will appeal to plenty of adults too. No matter what your age, the Zombies are Human series is designed to keep you furiously turning those pages.
Q - What order should I read the books in?
I think the complete series would be most enjoyable in the following sequence:--Germination (prequel short novel) --Contamination--Infestation--Eradication
Q - Why should readers give these books a try?
The prequel hit #5 on the New York Times and #8 on the USA Today bestseller lists. I've gotten tons of emails from readers letting me know how much they loved Zombies are Human (stay-up-all-night-even-with-work-the-next-day love). But more than that, as a reader myself, I am always looking for the next Stranger Things, The Passage, The Girl With All The Gifts. THAT'S the kind of story I hope you'll find in Zombies are Human. Smart. Dangerous. Gritty. With rip-your-heart-out intensity (literally and figuratively in some cases). Zombies are Human is a fast, dark apocalyptic ride. Just remember...nothing is what it seems.