Hard Magic


Laura Anne Gilman - 2010
    Recent college grad, magic user and severely unemployed. Until I got a call out of nowhere to interview for a job I hadn't applied for. It smelled fishy, but the brutal truth was I needed the work—so off I went.Two days later I'm a PUPI—me and Nick, Sharon, Nifty and Pietr. Five twentysomethings, thrown into an entirely new career in forensic magic.The first job we get is a doozy: proving that the deaths of two Talents were murder, not suicide. Worse, there are high-profile people who want us to close up shop and go away. We're sniffing out things they'd rather keep buried.Looks as if this job is gonna get interesting. The only problem is, we're making it up as we go along….

Breathless


Scott Prussing - 2010
    That’s when her mom started acting weird, refusing to go outside during the day and insisting the sunlight hurt her skin because she had been bitten by a one-fanged vampire…But fascinated doesn’t mean Leesa believes—any more than she believes in blue fire, people who live for centuries, and kisses that can kill. When her beloved older brother suddenly disappears, she is forced to confront all these and more.

44


Jools Sinclair - 2010
    She can't see colors, memories have been erased, and her friends all hate her. And then there's Jesse, who she loves, but who refuses to forgive her the one mistake she made long ago.Just when she thinks it can't get any worse, the visions begin. In them, she sees a faceless serial killer roaming the streets. While the police believe that there have been a lot of accidents in town lately, Abby knows differently. And she soon realizes that it's up to her to find him. But to stop him, she'll have to confront more than just the killer. She'll have to face something else that was lost in those dark waters: the truth.

The Taker


Alma Katsu - 2011
    . . but immortality comes at a price. . . . On the midnight shift at a hospital in rural St. Andrew, Maine, Dr. Luke Findley is expecting a quiet evening--until a mysterious woman, Lanore McIlvrae, arrives in his ER, escorted by police. Lanore is a murder suspect, and Luke is inexplicably drawn to her. As Lanny tells him her story, an impassioned account of love and betrayal that transcends time and mortality, she changes his life forever. At the turn of the nineteenth century, Lanny was consumed as a child by her love for the son of St. Andrew’s founder, and she will do anything to be with him forever, but the price she pays is steep--an immortal bond that chains her to a terrible fate.

Omens


Kelley Armstrong - 2013
    The only daughter of a wealthy, prominent Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech firm CEO with political ambitions.But Olivia’s world is shattered when she learns that she’s adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers serving a life sentence. When the news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, Olivia decides to find out the truth about the Larsens.Olivia ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her efforts to uncover her birth parents’ past.Aided by her mother’s former lawyer, Gabriel Walsh, Olivia focuses on the Larsens’ last crime, the one her birth mother swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel start investigating the case, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. Because there are darker secrets behind her new home and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her.

Dark Magic University


Jenna Edon - 2020
    As it turns out, I'm not quite human. My guidance counselor recognizes something in me--power--and enrolls me at Marcovian University where I can master my gift.I finally feel as though I belong even though I'm only a half blood by their estimation. Since I'm not pure, the chancellor insists on appointing protectors for my safety which is a joke. My so-called protector, Drax, clearly wants nothing to do with me and, believe me, the feeling is mutual. Trey all but balks at the notion of watching over me. And then there's Wyatt, lethal and sexy as hell, but he seems to have his mind on one thing. If I'm to survive potential threats, I need someone to focus on more than my body no matter how good it feels.I know I should be grateful, but I start to think I may be better off on my own. I've always looked out for myself. Why stop now?But when a student turns up dead and I'm the prime suspect, I have no choice but to rely on my protectors. I've already got a target on my back as a half breed, but if word gets out that I may have killed one of their own, it will put my life in peril.Dark Magic University book one is a medium burn, new adult, paranormal romance about a feisty FMC and the three hot guys sworn to protect her.

The Witch Squad


M.Z. Andrews - 2016
    Causing problems with the law in her hometown, she’s faced with two options. Go to a correctional institution or get shipped off to witch boarding school, or as her mother prefers to call it, finishing school. Choosing the latter, Mercy’s mother, Linda, drives her daughter cross country to the Paranormal Institute for Witches, situated high in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains in cozy, Aspen Falls, Pennsylvania. Upon arrival, Mercy is faced with cheerful smiles, friendly people, and a sticky sweet roommate who has turned their dorm room into an advertisement for the Pottery Barn. Mercy had hoped her fellow witches would be more like her, dark, dreary, and a little bit self-destructive. When the murder of a local teenager takes place on the first day of class, Sorceress Stone, headmistress of the college for wayward witches, takes the class on a consulting job to help the Aspen Falls Police Department solve the murder. Mercy and her mismatched classmates find themselves in the heart of the murder investigation and when the body of the murder victim suddenly goes missing and her roommate turns up abducted, Mercy must put aside her feelings of resentment about her gift and put her paranormal abilities to good use. Throw in a smokin’ hot cowboy wizard, a black cat that seems to be stalking her, and a Black Witch and you’ve got the first book in the new Witch Squad Cozy Mystery Series where the twists and turns just don’t stop!

Conjure


Lea Nolan - 2012
    But then a mysterious eighteenth-century message in a bottle surfaces, revealing a hidden pirate bounty. Lured by the adventure, the trio discovers the treasure and unwittingly unleashes an ancient Gullah curse that attacks Jack with the wicked flesh-eating Creep and promises to steal Cooper’s soul on his approaching sixteenth birthday.When a strange girl appears, bent on revenge; demon dogs become a threat; and Jack turns into a walking skeleton; Emma has no choice but to learn hoodoo magic to undo the hex, all before summer—and her friends--are lost forever.

Thirst No. 1: The Last Vampire, Black Blood, and Red Dice


Christopher Pike - 1998
    I do like that as well, warm and dripping, when I am thirsty.... Alisa has been in control of her urges for the five thousand years she has been a vampire. She feeds but does not kill, and she lives her life on the fringe to maintain her secret. But when her creator returns to hunt her, she must break her own rules in order to survive.Her quest leads her to Ray. He is the only person who can help her; he also has every reason to fear her. Alisa must get closer to him to ensure her immortality. But as she begins to fall in love with Ray, suddenly there is more at stake than her own life....

Strange Practice


Vivian Shaw - 2017
    In her consulting rooms, Dr. Helsing treats the undead for a host of ills - vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights, and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's been groomed for since childhood. Until a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human and undead Londoners alike. As terror takes hold of the city, Greta must use her unusual skills to stop the cult if she hopes to save her practice, and her life.

The Spookshow


Tim McGregor - 2014
    Drab even. That all that changed after an accident left her in a coma for three days. That's when the spookshow really began, when Billie realized that she could see the dead.And the dead could see her. Now, they won't leave her alone. Accompanying two friends through a haunted house, Billie uncovers a terrible secret that brings, not only the police, but the homicide detective responsible for putting her into the hospital in the first place. He's also the one man she sworn to stay away from.

Beautiful Creatures


Kami Garcia - 2009
    But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

Suck My Life


Andie M. Long - 2020
    He has a deal he says I can’t refuse. I can either a) die or b) become a vampire and Queen of the Damned.Great choices there, hey? Obviously, I choose option b.So here I am, trying to get used to not only being undead, but to my new royal role where I'm in charge of the Home of Wayward Souls. Yep, any newly dead spirits that are wild, unhappy, and out to cause trouble. All mine.Oh, and there's another tiny thing I need to get my head around. The guy who prevented my demise? He's Death himself. The grim reaper took a shine to me and wants to take me on a date.Suck. My. Life.

Once Bitten, Twice Shy


Jennifer Rardin - 2007
    My boss is Vayl, born in Romania in 1744. Died there too, at the hand of his vampire wife, Liliana. But that's ancient history. For the moment Vayl works for the C.I.A. doing what he does best -- assassination. And I help. You could say I'm an Assistant Assassin. But then I'd have to kick your ass.Our current assignment seemed easy. Get close to a Miami plastic surgeon named Assan, a charmer with ties to terrorism that run deeper than a buried body. Find out what he's meeting with that can help him and his comrades bring America to her knees. And then close his beady little eyes forever. Why is it that nothing's ever as easy as it seems?

Descension


B.C. Burgess - 2012
    Following a cryptic message to seek her birth family in Oregon, Layla uproots her life to find out the truth about her past. And herself.QuinQuin's natural charisma is attractive to plenty of women, but he longs for the one he's been dreaming of his entire life. When that day arrives, not only is he breathless, he's confronted with the challenge of a lifetime - an innate need to keep her safe and forever by his side.The EnemyThrough manipulation and dark magic, Agro uses the powers of others to elevate his supremacy and wealth. When he discovers Layla didn't die at birth, he sets out to find and possess her.Stretching from coast to coast and teeming with loathed villains and beloved heroes, The Mystic Series is rich with emotion, magic and intrigue. Whether the reader is laughing, crying or falling in love, they'll find themselves invested in Layla's fate through the rich dialogue and emotionally driven characters that weave the web of this fiery tale.