Book picks similar to
Frostbite by Joshua Bader


fantasy
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Blood and Magic


Melissa Sercia - 2018
    Dhampir. Undead. Cursed. With supernatural powers and an insatiable need for blood, her existence is cursed. When Gray awakens from a three-year spell induced coma, she not only discovers her lover as the one responsible, but that he has joined with a dangerous organization known as the Consilium to help them create a new breed of hybrid demons. Humans and Witches are being taken against their will, and fear is growing throughout the covens.Gray never had a choice—forced to become a monster, the Dhampir. Yet after four hundred years, she still yearns for her humanity, like a long-lost echo from another life. She cannot allow the Consilium to do this to anyone else. With a renewed lust for vengeance, and a target on her back, Gray must use the one thing she swore never to in order to stop them—blood magic.Armed with a magical pirate ship, an immortal monk, and a flower plucked from the Underworld, Gray will stop at nothing to start a war. Yet in her quest to track down her enemies, she uncovers a dark family secret that threatens to destroy the last shred of humanity she has left."Melissa Sercia packs a punch with her debut novel with its rich world building and unique interpretation of gothic literature. It’s a must read if you’re looking for a fresh take on gothic fantasy.” – Science Fiction Author, Samantha Huewagen ★★★★★ AUTHOR INTERVIEW Q: Why do you write? A: When I was a kid, reading was a way for me to escape into magical worlds. I was about twelve years old when I first started writing and making up my own stories. It made me feel like I had a connection to the literary greats. Like I was in some sort of secret magical club. Today, I write to try and capture that magic in hopes to inspire writers and readers alike. To take my readers on a journey. An adventure. An escape. I write to breathe life into characters, to transport readers to fantasy settings, and to hopefully make people believe in magic again. Q: What books do you write? A: I write Fantasy and Science Fiction and all of its sub-genres. My current series, Blood and Darkness, is adult Urban Fantasy. I love playing with the real world and spinning it on its head, adding magical elements and creatures to it, and creating worlds within worlds. I keep a very long notebook of story ideas filled with everything from Portal Fantasy, Steampunk, and High Fantasy to Dystopian, Hard Sci-Fi, and Space Opera. BLOOD AND DARKNESS BLOOD AND MAGIC (book 1) FLESH AND BONE (book 2) GODS AND DEMONS (book 3) Q: Why should readers pick up your books? A: Blood and Darkness is a fast paced, page turning Urban Fantasy series. If you are a fan of Gothic settings, sexual tension, ancient prophecies, dark magic, and deep rooted mythology, then you will love this series. Ultimately, Blood and Darkness is about love and betrayal, revenge and redemption, and all-out war. From the first page of Blood and Magic to the last, you will not be able to put this series down. These characters will haunt you, their stories will stay with you, and they will leave you wanting more.

The Memory Collectors


Kim Neville - 2021
    She can feel the emotions people leave behind on objects and believes that most of them need to be handled extremely carefully, and—if at all possible—destroyed. The harmless ones she sells at Vancouver’s Chinatown Night Market to scrape together a living, but even that fills her with trepidation. Meanwhile, in another part of town, Harriet hoards thousands of these treasures and is starting to make her neighbors sick as the overabundance of heightened emotions start seeping through her apartment walls. When the two women meet, Harriet knows that Ev is the only person who can help her make something truly spectacular of her collection. A museum of memory that not only feels warm and inviting but can heal the emotional wounds many people unknowingly carry around. They only know of one other person like them, and they fear the dark effects these objects had on him. Together, they help each other to develop and control their gift, so that what happened to him never happens again. But unbeknownst to them, the same darkness is wrapping itself around another, dragging them down a path that already destroyed Ev’s family once, and threatens to annihilate what little she has left. The Memory Collectors casts the everyday in a new light, speaking volumes to the hold that our past has over us—contained, at times, in seemingly innocuous objects—and uncovering a truth that both women have tried hard to bury with their pasts: not all magpies collect shiny things—sometimes they gather darkness.

Modern Sorcery


Gary Jonas - 2011
    There are dozens of witnesses, and the crime is captured on the security cameras. To the police, it’s an open-and-shut case.To Naomi, the daughter of the couple, it’s evidence of dark magic. She hires her ex-lover, a private investigator named Jonathan Shade to prove her father is innocent.Shade specializes in paranormal cases, but he isn’t buying it. Still, he takes the case, hoping to rekindle their relationship. Instead, Shade finds himself mixed up in supernatural intrigue with wizards, magically engineered assassins, and an ancient sorcerer returned to life who’s willing to kill anyone who stands in his way.Too bad Shade doesn't have any magic. The Jonathan Shade series so far: Modern Sorcery Acheron Highway Dragon Gate Anubis Nights Sunset Specters Wizard's Nocturne

A Reason to Live


Matthew Iden - 2012
    Twelve years later, the victim's daughter begs for help: the killer is stalking her now. But Marty has retired to battle cancer. A second shot at the killer - and a first chance at redemption - Marty has A Reason to Live.

Shadow of Time


Jen Minkman - 2012
    She joins her brother Ben for the summer in their mom’s log cabin in Arizona. There, she meets Josh again, Ben’s childhood friend from the Navajo reservation. The little boy from the rez has grown up fast, and Hannah can’t help but feeling more for him than just friendship. But fate apparently has something else in store for her. And it’s not peace and quiet. Night after night, Hannah is plagued by strange nightmares about the past of Navajo Nation and terrifying shadows chasing her. They seem to come closer – and why is Josh always present in her dreams? Sometimes, the past has a way of catching up with you.

Agent of Enchantment


C.N. Crawford - 2017
    And one of them is a serial killer. I thought this would be a simple profiling case. Just another Jack-the-Ripper wannabe, prowling London’s streets, searching for easy kills. I was wrong. This killer is fae, and he’s as elusive as smoke on the wind. But I’m an FBI profiler, and it’s my job to track him down. It doesn’t matter that one of the main suspects--a lethally alluring fae--is trying to seduce me… or kill me, I’m not sure which. I won’t be stopped, not even when panic roils through the streets of London, or when the police start to suspect me. As I close in on the killer, I follow him to a magical shadow realm that’s like nothing I ever expected, where I’m hunted like prey. Fine. Bring it on. I’m an FBI Agent. And it turns out I have magical powers of my own. A new adult urban fantasy with romance, perfect for fans of Karen Marie Moning and Ilona Andrews.

Shadows in the Water


Kory M. Shrum - 2017
    They didn't kill her — and they'll soon regret it.When DEA agent Jack Thorne's house is stormed by vengeful drug lords, both he and his wife are shot dead. Only his daughter Louie survives — by using a terrifying power that defies reason.Piecing together a life in his absence, Louie embraces her gift and her rage under the force of a single need: revenge.She will destroy the men that took her family. No matter the cost, no matter how many bullets, she won't stop until justice has been well and truly served.

The Third Eye of Jenny Crumb


Martina Dalton - 2013
    She’s smart, beautiful, and... normal. But, on the inside, she struggles to keep a dark secret from her friends and family. Jenny is psychic—and she fears that if people find out, she’ll be labeled as a loser and a freak. Jenny falls in love with the handsome new guy in school. But her visions are becoming jarringly intense and she is having trouble hiding her gift. Not only is she having premonitions about a creepy man with a knife, but she also learns a girl in her school has gone missing. Will her premonitions about the kidnapper put herself and the people she loves in danger as she tries to find the missing girl? Even if Jenny survives, her life will change forever.

Magic for Liars


Sarah Gailey - 2019
    She is perfectly happy with her life. She has an almost-sustainable career as a private investigator, and an empty apartment, and a slight drinking problem. It's a great life and she doesn't wish she was like her estranged sister, the magically gifted professor Tabitha.But when Ivy is hired to investigate the gruesome murder of a faculty member at Tabitha’s private academy, the stalwart detective starts to lose herself in the case, the life she could have had, and the answer to the mystery that seems just out of her reach.

Magically Poisoned


Joynell Schultz - 2020
    There’s no way I could have snuck a murder into my busy schedule, but obviously, someone I know did. They stole a plant from my garden and poisoned the Mayor. It couldn’t be my hard-working assistant, the delivery driver, or my gardener, could it be? And I’m sure it wasn’t the sexy water witch who spends an absurd amount of time staying at my little Bed & Breakfast…but he does know way more than he should about magical plants. When the police ask for my cooperation, I begin to investigate myself. Who would steal from me? Frame me? None of my friends look like they could murder anyone…but what does a murderer look like? But don't worry, I have this all under control. I’m a potion witch and have a few tricks up my sleeve. You’ll love this new paranormal witch cozy mystery because it has everything you want to read about: magic, witches, potions, murder, and romance. Download it now. This is a novella prequel to a new series coming this June. Books in the series: Magically Poisoned (Prequel Novella) Magically Murdered (Book 1) Magically Attacked (Book 2) & More!

Stray Souls


Kate Griffin - 2012
    It wants you to look back.’London’s soul has gone missing. Lost? Kidnapped? Murdered? Nobody knows – but when Sharon Li unexpectedly discovers she’s a shaman, she is immediately called upon to use her newfound powers of oneness with the City to rescue it from a slow but inevitable demise.The problem is, while everyone expects Sharon to have all the answers – from the Midnight Mayor to Sharon’s magically-challenged self-help group – she doesn’t have a clue where to start.But with London’s soul missing and the Gate open, there are creatures loose that won’t wait for her to catch up before they go hunting.Stray Souls is the first novel in the Magicals Anonymous series, set in the same fantastical London as the Matthew Swift novels.

A Study in Silks


Emma Jane Holloway - 2013
    In a Victorian era ruled by a ruthless steam baron council, mechanical power is the real monarch, and sorcery the demon enemy of the empire. Evelina has secretly mastered a coveted weapon - magic that can run machines. Should she trust the handsome, clever rake who speeds her breath, or the dashing trick rider who would dare anything she would ask?

Grasping at Eternity


Karen Amanda Hooper - 2012
    A romantic saga about a supernatural family, reincarnation, and soul mates. Before entering this life, Maryah did the unthinkable—she erased. Now, at seventeen years old, she’s clueless that her new adoptive family has known her for centuries, that they are perpetually reincarnated souls, and that they have supernatural abilities. Oh, and she's supposed to love (not despise) Nathan, the green-eyed daredevil who saved her life.Nathan is convinced his family’s plan to spark Maryah's memory is hopeless, but his love for her is undying. After spending (and remembering) so many lifetimes together, being around an empty version of his soulmate is heart shattering. He hates acting like a stalker, but has no choice because the evil outcast who murdered Maryah in their last lifetime is still after her.While Maryah’s hunter inches closer, she and Nathan make assumptions and hide secrets that rip them further apart. Maryah has to believe in the magic within her, Nathan must have faith in the power of their love. Both need to grasp the truth before they lose each other forever—and discover just how lonely eternity can be.

Seduced by Innocence


Karpov Kinrade - 2013
    Rose Wintersong will kill her first love--just as she's killed others. That is the dark prophecy that has guided her path for years. So she stays hidden with her coven of witches, raised a recluse by her despotic mother, hiding herself, and her powers, from the world. Until she meets Derek, the sexy martial arts instructor who teaches her more than self-defense.Derek O'Conner was born into wealth and power as a Druid Shifter whose family protects the wellspring of magic that has made them who they are. But he doesn't want that responsibility and is on the run from his own destiny when he meets Rose, a shy beauty who doesn't know her own inner strength. Neither of them realize they are from opposing families at war, or that their love could destroy everything. Until it's too late. Forbidden passions. Deadly secrets. A love that will stand against it all.

Lightning Rider


Jen Greyson - 2013
    When a record-setting storm arrives on the same night her father finds ancient ancestral documents, Evy is set aglow with mysterious tiny lightnings she can command. Even worse, she alerts some people in the universe who've been looking for her family for a very long time. Thrown back into ancient Spain and tasked with killing a Spanish legend, she must train alongside Constantine, a sexy yet obstinate Roman warrior. He teaches her how to wield her lightning as a weapon, through more errors than trials. With a relationship as explosive as their late-night training sessions, Evy and Constantine battle their push-pull relationship while trying to ignore the two-thousand-year difference in their birthdates. Ilif Rotiart, her quasi-mentor, is appalled at Evy's skill. He would prefer to train her father and keep Evy on the sidelines—where women belong. Evy has a feeling Ilif is keeping something from them, but she must play nice until she uncovers the truth. And if he's lying, it will be the worst day of his four-hundred-year life. Penya Sepadas claims she's Evy's rightful trainer, and she has the prophecy to prove it. Penya doesn't share Ilif's misogynistic attitude, but she does have her own agenda...and her own secrets. Evy must sort through the lies and find the truth behind her family's time-traveling past before the wrong history obliterates the future. She’s spent her whole life fighting for her place. Now, as the first female lightning rider, she'll dedicate her existence to fighting to save the world. But will Evy learn to manage her lightning and find the truth before it's too late?