Book picks similar to
The Painted Girl by D.K. Holmberg


fantasy
novellas-extras
complete-series
dark-ability-series

Trinity


Luke Romyn - 2016
    Prepare to have your nerves shredded in this pulse-pounding race for answers. "If you love suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat, can't-put-it-down-action-packed-thrillers ... the type of book where you can't wait to get up in the morning and read more as soon as you wake up, this is the book for you!" -- Tony Kaup A young man wakes up knowing nothing other than the fact that three killers are stalking the country, and they have now set their sights on him. Chance Ripley is not ordinary. He sees things others can’t see and knows things he cannot possibly know. As time goes on, and the tangled threads of his memory begin to unravel, the brutal truth of his past slowly seeps through, and Chance learns that to remain still is to face certain death. For the visions tormenting him are no mere fantasies, no flits of his imagination sent to plague his waking hours. They are real, just as the horrors they show him are real, and if he refuses to act, more people will die, himself among them. The problem is, he can't escape; he's locked in an asylum. "As usual, Romyn doesn't give the reader much chance to breathe once the action starts... If you're still thinking about a book several weeks later, it's done its job. I absolutely recommend this one!" -- Adina

*69


Blake Crouch - 2010
    Although the sound is muffled, the raised voices, suspicious thuds, and tortured gurgles lead them to believe that what they�re hearing is a brutal murder, unintentionally left as a voice message. As they try to decide what to do next, they are forced to consider a terrifying thought: What will happen when the killer realizes his mistake?

Already Gone (A Detective McDaniel Thriller Book 4)


Axel Blackwell - 2021
    It's a tense arrangement not helped by Jayda’s drug use and her new boyfriend’s frequent visits. One Friday night, an argument turns physical and the tensions boil over into bloodshed.The following morning, a neighbor finds the front door ajar, the house trashed, and a puddle of blood soaking into the bedroom carpet. Detective Darren McDaniel and his partner, Brent Vanderwyk, quickly determine it’s a case of domestic violence turned deadly. But both Levi and Jayda are missing – as is the little girl.As the detectives plunge into the hunt for a suspect, a body and a missing toddler, the case becomes increasingly bizarre. The couple have ties to money laundering, drug trafficking, organized crime, and even darker secrets. As much as Levi and Jayda hated each other, plenty of other people had reason to want either or both of them dead.With their suspect list steadily growing, and the missing toddler’s time slipping away, McDaniel and Vanderwyk race against the clock, piecing the puzzle together, hoping to save little Cami before her time runs out.

Reckless


Allison Brennan - 2013
    Sean Rogan, turns into a deadly nightmare when they come across two hikers looking for their lost son. But when Lucy and Sean split up to help find the missing child, each quickly realizes that the parents have a dark secret they'll kill to keep.

King’s Last Hope: The Complete Durlindrath Trilogy


Robert Ryan - 2017
     Brand is the youngest bodyguard to ever protect the king, but he may never grow any older. A horde of mankind’s ancient enemies lays siege to Cardoroth city. During the day, the clang of blades, the mad shrieks of the foe and the hiss of swift-flighted arrows cuts the air. At night, the sorcerous chanting begins. Brand ignores it all. His one duty is to guard the king. But the realm teeters on the brink of destruction and the king knows that his bodyguard, touched by fate in ways that neither of them understand, is the only man with the skills to save it. He asks Brand to undertake a last-chance quest to save all that they love. Brand accepts the mission. Soon, enemies track him across strange lands, beasts of foul magic stalk him and an emissary of evil hunts him. Amid it all, he meets a beautiful but deadly girl who aids him – for reasons of her own. She knows secrets that she will not tell, but she does reveal that more is at play than just the fate of kings and realms. Ancient forces, drenched in long-forgotten blood, seek to plunge the world into the dark. The odds pile against him, but not for nothing was he the king’s last hope. This boxed set contains the entire Durlindrath trilogy.

Behind the Vale


Brian D. Anderson - 2018
    And at its core the magnificent city of Troi. Here the mana flows from the great power station, bringing light and life to all. It is a beacon of hope in a sick and dying world. But all is not as it appears. Even as the Order of High Mages seeks to cure the land, sinister forces move to gain absolute control over The Vale and its citizens. Drake Sharazi, disgraced Royal Guard turned bounty hunter, has been exiled from Troi to the surrounding provinces, where resources are limited and starvation is commonplace. It is in this squalor and poverty he believes he shall spend his remaining days. But after years of labor and suffering, he has been given the chance to go home; to return to the life he has longed for since the moment he left his beloved city. But he quickly discovers that the life he desires is built on a foundation of lies. Now he must choose between what is right and what is easy. But what is right could cost more than he is willing to pay. And to save his home, he might have to destroy it…and all he has ever loved.

Rain of Terror


Donna Cummins - 2014
    Clad in hooded black robes, carrying torches that blazed with evil fury, they came. With chanting—at first a distant murmur, then growing and building, louder and louder—incessant, demanding, hideous chanting, they came.Mother had been rocking both Jeremiah, my four-year-old little brother, and me on our rickety rocking chair, its swaying motion in itself a soothing comfort on a dark night. But more than that, mother sang to us in her clear and lilting voice as she often did, chasing away the ghosts and goblins that sometimes haunt a young boy’s mind. As I was about to drop off to sleep, the noise and the clatter from outside our cabin startled me back to consciousness. Mother’s voice mixed with the incessant chanting that came closer and closer. Her voice faded. We could see the lights from their torches through the window panes, and mother rose quickly from the rocker and hurried Jeremiah and me into our bedroom. She cautioned us in whispery tones to stay quiet, to stay in our room, pretend to be asleep; and then on tiptoe, she rushed out the door, closing it quietly after herself.Within minutes, I heard Mother scream a piercing wail that emitted both terror and defeat. They came through our bedroom door, robes rustling, wild eyes searching, hands reaching, and carried Jeremiah and I from our beds. They dragged Mother out the front door, through the dark forest, up the mountainside, our captors pulling my brother and I close behind. I remember the brittle sound of the fallen leaves under our feet, the cold chill of the night air brushing against my face, the pale moonlight frosting the tips of the last remaining leaves on the black, skeletal oak trees that rose above us. And we kept climbing, climbing, farther and farther up through the forest. And as we walked, a cold wind came up, turning the leaves; and the racing clouds changed into thunderheads. And then the first bolt of lightning lit the sky and illuminated the hellish scene around us—the shadowy, dark figures stomping through the bushes and underbrush, the swaying glow of lanterns through the trees. All the while their chanting reverberated across the landscape, mixing with the sound of the howling, barking, snarling, pawing dogs that followed in their midst."

Sanctuary Tales


Robert J. Crane - 2014
    Those who live in this world are faced with two choices: live an ordinary life or become an adventurer and seek the extraordinary. The guild of Sanctuary is replete with an amazing cast of adventurers, wanderers and rogues. In their pasts linger secrets that define them and shape the course of their lives. For every one of them has a tale, each with something different to show - and even in the most honorable guild of Sanctuary, not everyone is exactly what they seem to be.

Unforgettable Danger: Love and Trouble (The Unforgettables Book 6)


Mimi BarbourRachelle Ayala - 2018
    Bite your nails as a hooker turned nanny, a determined princess, a ghostly bride, a single mother and more turn up the passion and heat while escaping killers, thieves, and dangerous situations. Meet their brave and protective heroes who prove that love is most UNFORGETTABLE when lives and hearts are on the line. Thrills and heart-melting romance await you in Unforgettable Danger: Love and Trouble. SWEET FAITH, Mimi Barbour, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author: From hooker to nanny, is her transformation possible? CHASING THE TIARA, Leanne Banks, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author: A missing tiara, a handsome investigator, a Princess determined to save her sister.... Big trouble... MAGGIE’S REVENGE, Jacquie Biggar, USA Today bestselling author: DEA Special Agent Maggie Holt is fierce, smart, beautiful-- and in over her head. FOR SARAH’S SAKE, Mona Risk, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author: A two-year-old orphan faces danger and complicates the life of her rescuer and his estranged wife. THE FRAGRANCE FACTOR, Alicia Street, USA Today bestselling author: When Wesley discovers she is the unwitting keeper of a murdered friend’s secret, she is swept into a race to find the killer—before she becomes his next victim. DANGEROUS MEMORIES, Donna Fasano, USA Today bestselling author: Waking with amnesia, she wonders what kind of woman she is when two men claim to be her unborn baby's father. LADY HENRIETTA’S DILEMMA, Katy Walters, USA Today bestselling author: How can she marry without love? HIDE MY HEART, Rachelle Ayala, USA Today bestselling author: Single mother Amber McKay must hide her baby from danger, and there’s only one man she trusts.

The Doors at Dusk and Dawn


Bradley P. Beaulieu - 2017
    All is thrown in doubt, however, when Sukru the Reaping King arrives unannounced from Sharakhai and puts forth a champion of his own.For a young woman named Leorah, the more important matter is the fabled amethyst ring offered up as a prize. She knows of the ring, and becomes obsessed with winning the race. This horrifies her twin sister, Devorah, who knows more of the ring’s secrets than Leorah, and is desperate to hide them from the Reaping King.As the race unfolds, and King Sukru’s champion comes closer and closer to winning the prize, Devorah stumbles upon a secret that puts not only the ring’s future in doubt, but her sister’s as well.

Vampin' Ain't Easy


Kimbra Swain - 2019
    A shift in the balance of power. And one reject.Malik Demonbreun, the rejected heir of the Southern Vampire Realm, is thrown in the center of a deadly controversy, which may cost him his life. Again.Malik sleeps during daylight and drives a wrecker at night. When his father forces him to return home, he becomes the focus of a deadly bid for a change of leadership within the realms. With no idea who is friend or foe, Malik searches for a way back to his disavowed life. But each step he takes moves him closer to his father's throne. A throne that Malik has never wanted.He had no claim to riches in the reject life. But at least he wasn't living in a sick game of fifty ways to kill a vampire. He never thought he'd miss licking the blood from the seats of wrecked vehicles. One thing was for sure, rich or reject, Vampin' Ain't Easy.Start this gritty and humorous series, Legend of the Vampire Reject, with Vampin' Ain't Easy by Kimbra Swain, author of the Fairy Tales of a Trailer Park Queen series. This is book one of four in the series plus a prequel which can be found in the Urban Magic Anthology.

Taking the Veil (The MatchUp Collection)


J.A. Jance - 2019
    Simon & Schuster has a great book for every reader.

Emergence


Denise Grover Swank - 2012
    The life she’d always wanted as a child—a loving mother and financial security. But another “incident” had has led to Jake’s expulsion from his second daycare center in two weeks, and now her accounting job with a high profile commercial firm is on the line. Soon Emma wishes losing her job was her only worry when it becomes evident that someone is not only watching her, but is determined to make contact with her son, forcing her to make the biggest decision of her life.

The Twelfth Imam Collection


Joel C. Rosenberg - 2014
    At extreme personal risk, Shirazi undertakes his assignment. A native Farsi speaker whose family escaped from Iran in 1979, he couldn’t be better prepared for the mission. But none of his training has prepared Shirazi for what will happen next. An obscure religious cleric is suddenly hailed throughout the region as the Islamic messiah known as the Mahdi or the Twelfth Imam. News of his miracles, healings, signs, and wonders, spread like wildfire, as do rumors of a new and horrific war. With the prophecy of the Twelfth Imam seemingly fulfilled, Iran’s leaders prepare to strike Israel and bring about the End of Days. Shirazi must take action, but the clock is ticking.The Tehran Initiative: The world is on the brink of disaster, and the clock is ticking. Iran has just conducted its first atomic weapons test. Millions of Muslims around the world are convinced their messiah—known as the Twelfth Imam—has just arrived on earth. Israeli leaders fear Tehran, under the Twelfth Imam’s spell, will soon launch a nuclear attack that could bring about a second Holocaust and the annihilation of Israel. The White House fears Jerusalem will strike first, launching a preemptive attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities that could cause the entire Middle East to go up in flames, oil prices to skyrocket, and the global economy to collapse. With the stakes high and few viable options left, the president of the United States orders CIA operative David Shirazi and his team to track down and sabotage Iran’s nuclear warheads before Iran or Israel can launch a devastating first strike.Damascus Countdown: 2014 “Christian Retailing’s Best” award finalist!All eyes are on the Middle East. Israel has successfully launched a first strike on Iran, taking out all of their nuclear sites and six of their nuclear warheads—and causing The Twelfth Imam to order a full-scale retaliation. U.S. President William Jackson threatens to support a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the Jewish State for unprovoked and unwarranted acts of aggression. Meanwhile, CIA operative David Shirazi has infiltrated the Iranian regime and intercepted information indicating that two Iranian nuclear warheads survived the attack and have been moved to a secure and undisclosed location. In danger not only from the ongoing missile strikes on Iran but also from the increasingly hostile and suspicious governments of multiple countries, David and his team are in a race against time to find the remaining nuclear warheads before disaster strikes.

Oak Avenue


Brandi Reeds - 2018
    Once she restores it to the attic, she starts hearing whispers, her loving husband becomes a stranger, and her baby daughter learns a chilling new word. Maybe Ana has unlocked the house’s secrets. Or maybe she’s becoming just a little unhinged herself.Brandi Reeds’s Oak Avenue is part of Dark Corners, a collection of seven heart-stopping short stories by bestselling authors who give you so many new reasons to be afraid. Each story can be read in a single sitting. Or, if you have the nerve, you can listen all by yourself in the dark.