Book picks similar to
The Innocents by Riley Lashea
fantasy
lesbian
paranormal
dark
When Witches Wake (The Bancroft Coven #1)
Hilary Foxhill - 2019
And then she met her. Emily Quinn led a lonely and mundane life. Until the dreams started. Naked bodies lit only by candlelight, dancing and chanting in a smoke-filled room. Then there was the woman in her bed. Whose kiss felt like nothing she had ever felt in her waking life. In her dreams, she loved this woman, and those dreams led Emily right to her. Claire was an artist and the High Priestess of a coven of witches. If only there was some way to tell this beautiful stranger that they were meant to be together. Getting involved with witches couldn’t have come at a worse time. There were a lot of them in the city, and they were being hunted and murdered one at a time. Would Emily’s dreams save her life and the life of the woman she loved, or would they send her running blindly into danger?
Hainted
Jordan L. Hawk - 2012
Not everyone can help the restless dead cross over, especially when the haunting threatens the Living. But the death of his parents six years ago forced Dan to give it up in exchange for raising his brother and sister, all the while struggling to keep their rural NC farm afloat.So when the flamboyantly goth Leif Helsvin shows up on Dan’s doorstep looking for help with an evil necromancer named Runar, Dan’s first instinct is to turn him down. With two teenagers to look after, he’s already got all the trouble he can handle. Besides, the sexy Leif is too much of a temptation, and Dan is firmly in the closet.The Bad Boy: Pierced, tattooed Leif never has sex with the same guy twice. It keeps things simple, especially since his oath to stop Runar has him constantly drifting from one town to the next.But this time, it looks like Leif is going to need help, in the form of the very down-to-earth Dan. Since Nice Guys are off the menu, Leif just has to keep his hands to himself for as long as it will take to stop Runar’s latest scheme. But as Leif finds himself drawn deeper into Dan’s life, he quickly realizes he’s not just in danger of breaking the rules, but breaking his heart as well.
The Sea
K.L. Hughes - 2018
She isn’t human. Her evergreen body harbors a weathered soul, jaded and no longer thriving. That is, until fascinating student Nicole Stark walks into her classroom and awakens something within.Nicole is different and alluring in ways Louise can’t quite put her finger on. Who is this mysterious, enticing woman? What is she hiding? Louise would love to lose herself in those knowing eyes and that teasing smile, and find out everything.A supernatural lesbian romance about embracing secrets and being true to ourselves.approx. 4,000 words; short story
Bearly a Lady
Cassandra Khaw - 2017
The only issue in Zelda's almost-perfect life? The uncontrollable need to transform into a werebear once a month. Just when Zelda thinks things are finally turning around and she lands a hot date with Jake, her high school crush and alpha werewolf of Kensington, life gets complicated. Zelda receives an unusual work assignment from her fashionable boss: play bodyguard for devilishly charming fae nobleman Benedict (incidentally, her boss's nephew) for two weeks. Will Zelda be able to resist his charms long enough to get together with Jake? And will she want to? Because true love might have been waiting around the corner the whole time in the form of Janine, Zelda's long-time crush and colleague. What's a werebear to do?
The Long Weekend
Clare Lydon - 2014
Fresh air, sandy beaches and historic friendships - what could possibly go wrong? The catch is, university sweethearts Vic & Stevie are on the rocks, their three-year marriage floundering, while Kat & Abby’s combustible relationship looks set to ignite at any second. Meanwhile, Tash & Laura have downed responsibilities & kids for the weekend and are ready for some fun; single CID sergeant Geri can’t wait to get away from the London scene to reboot her slumbering love life and that’s not to mention Stu & his boyfriend Darren who bring their own man-sized baggage… Add in laughs, simmering tension, romance & no shortage of wine and you’ve got all the ingredients for a rollercoaster ride of a long weekend…
Withered + Sere
T.J. Klune - 2016
Purposefully cutting himself off from what remains of civilization, Cavalo resides in the crumbling ruins of the Northern Idaho Correctional Institution. A mutt called Bad Dog and a robot on the verge of insanity comprise his only companions. Cavalo himself is deteriorating, his memories rising like ghosts and haunting the prison cells.It’s not until he makes the dangerous choice of crossing into the irradiated Deadlands that Cavalo comes into contact with a mute psychopath, one who belongs to the murderous group of people known as the Dead Rabbits. Taking the man prisoner, Cavalo is forced not only to face the horrors of his past, but the ramifications of the choices made for his stark present. And it is in the prisoner that he will find a possible future where redemption is but a glimmer that darkly shines.The world has died.This is the story of its remains.Illustrated by Blake Dorner.
The Salbine Sisters
Sarah Ettritch - 2010
But when Maddy nearly dies while trying to draw forth elemental fire, she learns that Salbine has withdrawn from her the gifts every sister works to master. Feeling trapped in an order to which she no longer has any right to belong and believing herself unworthy of the love of Lillian, one of the most powerful mages in the sisterhood, Maddy begs the abbess to let her travel to another monastery to research her condition. On her journey, Maddy’s faith in both herself and Salbine are tested to their limits.
Last Line
Harper Fox - 2011
He's trying to hide it, because the man he loves is also his partner in a renegade counterterrorism agency, and John loves the job too. Michael, the most loyal of friends and partners, doesn't return John's passion. Nor that of anyone else, as far as John can see. Sexy and handsome as hell, Mike is a chained-up man, haunted by memories of a mission gone wrong during his time in Russia for MI5. Their one sexual encounter only drives them apart: Mike's guilt has left him needing a violence John isn't prepared to deliver.Enter Anzhel Mattvei, a charismatic secret-service agent who held Mike captive in Russia and has now apparently changed sides. The psychological programming he instilled soon has Mike in sexual thraldom, fighting for possession of his will and his soul. Only John's love can call him back from the brink. The Russian war criminal Anzhel serves has hidden a nuclear device in London, and Anzhel has set Mike up to detonate it. John must find a way to help Mike overcome his programming, or millions of lives will be the price.Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Dubious consent, male/male sexual practices.
Real Vampires Don't Sparkle
Amy Fecteau - 2013
Quin didn’t care. A seventeen-hundred old Roman, Quintus Livius Saturnius had a different view of morality than most people. Killing Matheus and hijacking his undead existence seemed perfectly acceptable to him.Now, Matheus spends his nights running for his life, questioning his sexual orientation, and defying a mysterious new threat to the vampires within his city. Not that he set out to do any defying; he just wanted to be left alone.Unfortunately, that was never going to happen.Volume One of Real Vampires Don't Sparkle
The Immortal Rules
Julie Kagawa - 2012
By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for
again.Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.
Blood Witch
Naomi Clark - 2015
She's the only blood witch in Fort Rosser, mistrusted by other witches and happier working solo. But when her dark practices make her the prime suspect in a brutal murder investigation, she's forced to turn to others for help. Not that she has many allies—her ex-girlfriend thinks Lola is the killer, and the local coven leader thinks Lola will corrupt them all if she gets too close. Help comes in an expected—and alluring—form. Tristesse is a demon on the run, beautiful, enigmatic, and suspiciously keen to assist Lola while she chases down the real killer. How can Lola refuse? With the police breathing down her neck, accusations flying, and inhuman monsters on the streets, Lola needs all the help she can get. The killer is angry, desperate, and determined. But so is Lola Guntram. And she doesn't care how dark or bloody the magic has to get—she's going to stop them.
Cobb Island
Blayne Cooper - 2002
Marcy and Doug have had only sporadic contact since Marcy's family moved away a year ago. Their older sisters agree to supervise the lovesick teens during a week-long stay in an eerie island house that has been in Marcy's family since the late 1600s. But who will chaperone the chaperones? Sparks fly between them almost from the beginning, growing into lightning-size bolts when Liv notices that Kayla is answering her questions before she has even voiced them. It is Liv's training in translating foreign languages, however that proves to be the key that unlocks the house's secret history - and the story of a tragic love begun and ended four centuries earlier.
The Smell of Rain
Cameron MacElvee - 2018
Once back home in DC, her fiancée leaves, her military career ends, and her faith in humanity evaporates. With prescription drugs and alcohol her only relief from the pain, Chrys is on her way to becoming a statistic. That is until the State Department calls and offers her an important assignment—to serve as a diplomatic liaison and interpreter for a Turkish national living in exile. Reyha Arslan, a wise and elegant woman with a tragic past, shows Chrys that there’s still beauty to embrace and reason to hope despite the world’s cruelty. With Reyha’s help, Chrys’s broken spirit starts to heal and she learns that the most significant love is often the shortest lived.
Iron & Velvet
Alexis Hall - 2013
I’m a paranormal private investigator, which is like a normal private investigator except—and stop me if you’re having trouble following this—more paranormal. This business comes with a few basic rules: don’t start drinking before noon, don’t get your partner killed, don’t sleep with the woman who killed him.Last year I broke all of them.The only rule I didn’t break was the one that said don’t work for vampires. But then a dead werewolf showed up outside the Soho shag palace of Julian Saint-Germain—a bloodsucking flibbertigibbet who’s spent the last eight centuries presiding over an ever-growing empire of booze, sex and hemoglobin. I shouldn’t have taken the job. The last thing I needed was to get caught in a supernatural smackdown between a werewolf pack and a vampire prince. Even if the vampire prince was dangerously my type. But what can I say? I was broke, I’m a sucker for a pretty face and I gave up on making good decisions a long time ago.This book is approximately 77,500 words
Hearts and Flowers Border
L.T. Smith - 2005
some funny . some heart wrenching . but she needs to deal with all of them before she can open the door to allow her past to shape her future. A story starting in the present day, narrated by a woman who needs to retell her past before she can move on with her future. There is no fantastic underlying plot, just a simple retelling of events leading to the present day. Most of us will recognise the uncertainty of youth and the first flush of love.