Book picks similar to
The Assassin's Tale by K.L. Jones


fantasy
abandoned
female-lead
scifi-fantasy

The Young Elites


Marie Lu - 2014
    A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. Adelina’s black hair turned silver, her lashes went pale, and now she has only a jagged scar where her left eye once was. Her cruel father believes she is a malfetto, an abomination, ruining their family’s good name and standing in the way of their fortune. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all. Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen. Adelina wants to believe Enzo is on her side, and that Teren is the true enemy. But the lives of these three will collide in unexpected ways, as each fights a very different and personal battle. But of one thing they are all certain: Adelina has abilities that shouldn’t belong in this world. A vengeful blackness in her heart. And a desire to destroy all who dare to cross her.It is my turn to use. My turn to hurt.

No Man Can Tame


Miranda Honfleur - 2018
    A dark-elf prince. A kiss of fire and powder.After a failed courtship in an ally kingdom, twenty-one-year-old Princess Alessandra returns home to a land torn apart by mutual hatred between the humans and the dark-elves. The "Beast Princess," as Aless is known by courtiers, confidently sets her mind to ways of making peace, but her father has already decided for her: she is to marry one of the mysterious and monstrous dark-elves to forge a treaty, and go on a Royal Progress across the kingdom to flaunt their harmonious union. While she intends to preserve the peace, the Beast Princess has plans of her own.Prince Veron has been raised knowing his life is not his own, but to be bargained away by his mother, the queen of Nozva Rozkveta, to strengthen the dark-elf queendom. When his mother tells him he is to marry a self-absorbed, vile human, he is determined to do his duty regardless of his personal feelings. After arriving at the human capital, he finds the "Beast Princess" rebellious and untamed—and not to be trusted.Aless and Veron face opposition at every turn, with humans and dark-elves alike opposing the union violently, as well as their own feelings of dissonance toward each other. Can two people from cultures that despise one another fall in love? Can a marriage between them bond two opposing worlds together, or will it tear them apart for good?If you like the fantasy and politics of Danielle L. Jensen’s Malediction Trilogy and the romance of Elizabeth Vaughan’s Chronicles of the Warlands, No Man Can Tame will lure you into its world and not let you go.Buy No Man Can Tame today, and journey into a medieval world of magic and Immortals, masquerades and games, love and blood, and a tale as old as time...

Mark of the Mage


R.K. Ryals - 2013
    Medeisia is a country in turmoil ruled by a blood thirsty king who has outlawed the use of magic and anything pertaining to knowledge. Magery and scribery are forbidden. All who practice are marked with a tattoo branded onto their wrists, their futures precarious. Sixteen year-old Drastona Consta-Mayria lives secluded, spending her spare time in the Archives of her father's manor surrounded by scribes. She wants nothing more than to become one of them, but when the scribes are royally disbanded, she is thrust into a harsh world where the marked must survive or die.

Apprentice of Magic


K.M. Shea - 2019
     Her time in the magical academy has been a long chain of criticisms, reprimands, and punishments. Her war-like ability to control any weapon has earned her nothing but the fear and scorn of fellow students and instructors. And now, she finds herself before the highest council just one vote away from having her magic sealed forever. Until Enchanter Evariste appears. The mysterious prodigy is one of the few with the authority to go against the Council. Which is exactly what he does when he takes Angelique as his apprentice. Though his lessons are challenging and eccentric he shows her more kindness than she ever hoped to receive. Everything seems perfect. But things are changing in the world. Dark things. Evil things. Once upon a time is about to become very real… Apprentice of Magic is an epic fantasy fairy tale adventure mixed with clean romance and humor. This new series is a companion to the bestselling Timeless Fairy Tales series.

Friendzoned


P.S. Power - 2013
    The only problem is that to him she's always just been one of the gang, if that. Now with the end of her high school career coming fast she has very little time to change the situation at all, before all hope is gone.Unfortunately Mitch loves Keeley Thomson, the new girl in school who's everything a guy could want. Thin, pretty and smart, all rolled into one perfect Mitch fantasy fulfilling package. It would be enough to make a girl hate her, if it weren't for the fact that Keeley is one of Becky's new best friends, and willing to do some truly outrageous things to help her get the man of her dreams.In the end this is a story about coming of age in the modern world, dealing with the fact that adulthood hits us all, and the knowledge that love, while powerful, can sometimes be far different than what it first seems.

The Charmed Sphere


Catherine Asaro - 2004
    Chime is living an idyllic life with her family in the rural hamlet of Jacob's Vale. But her life is turned upside down when one of the King of Aronsdale's most trusted advisers, searching the kingdom for shape-mages, identifies her as a promising mage with powerful undeveloped ability. Chime reluctantly agrees to travel to Castle Suncroft, where she is to be trained in the art of magecraft -- and also groomed for her marriage to Prince Muller, the heir to the throne of Aronsdale! Muller is the nephew to the king, and the last thing he wants to do is get married and rule a kingdom. He's more concerned with fashion than affairs of state. When the King of Aronsdale dies and Muller continues to postpone his royal ascension, the leader of a neighboring kingdom -- along with an insane mage bent on destroying Aronsdale -- sees the transition as the perfect time to strike.Simply put, The Charmed Sphere is a novel of superlatives. If a reader were to choose only one new romantic fantasy to read, it should be Catherine Asaro's unforgettable gem. Paul Goat Allen

Sunset


Garon Whited - 2006
    blood?Eric didn't ask to be a vampire.In fact, he didn't even believe in them. Then he meets a beautiful woman, wakes up with a hangover, and bites his tongue with his own fangs.Which pretty much settles the question.Now he's trying to hold down his day job while learning the rules of the Undead -- the most important being that bloodthirsty urges and predatory instincts are a real bitch.Upside; Eric has the beautiful Sasha to teach him the ropes, including the magic he'll need to survive.Downside; it turns out being a vampire is the least of his problems.When Sasha is killed, Eric is thrust into an alternate world in his quest to avenge her death. There he becomes a Nightlord, fights a dragon with the help of his magical steed, Bronze, and upchucks a sword named Firebrand.But things get really interesting when Eric finally finds Tobias, head of the Church of Light. Soon Eric finds himself at the center of an epic battle at the literal edge of the world in a fight to keep a terrible darkness at bay."When you fall off the Edge of the World into hordes of demonic 'Things from the Outer Darkness,' you really start to wonder about your life choices."--Eric, part-time undead, expectant father, and short-term astronaut.

Shadow


Jenny Moss - 2010
    . . . In a kingdom far away and long ago, it was prophesied at her birth that the queen would die before her sixteenth birthday. So Shadow, an orphan girl the same age as the young queen, was given the duty to watch her every move. And as prophesies do tend to come true, the queen is poisoned days before her birthday. When the castle is thrown into chaos, Shadow escapes with a young knight, whom she believes was betrothed to the queen.Unsure of why she is following Sir Kenway, but determined to escape as far as possible from the castle, her long-time prison, Shadow sets off on an adventure with the handsome knight who has been charged with protecting her. As mystery builds, and romantic tension does, too, Shadow begins to wonder what her role in the kingdom truly is. Soon, she learns, it is up to her to save her land.Jenny Moss's novel is a lyrical, fast-paced adventure filled with mystery, magic, honor, and romance that will lead readers on an incredible journey.

Captured Sunlight


Raven Flanagan - 2021
    Taken as a captive, she's swept up in an adventure of darkness.... and a dangerous desire for the enemy.The King of Shadows, Caliban Mor'gen, doesn't know what he's getting himself into when he takes Adora as his captive. For the first time in his life, he craves the kiss of the sun.

The Soprano Sorceress


L.E. Modesitt Jr. - 1997
    When Anna Marshall, a singer and music instructor at Iowa State University, is drawn into Erde, she becomes a sorceress - potentially their strongest. Her power soon makes her the target of ruthless political factions.

For the Wolf


Hannah F. Whitten - 2021
    But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn't the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he'll return the world's captured gods.Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can't control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can't hurt those she loves. Again.But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole. The author has provided a list of content warnings here.

The Luthier of Keman


Elizabeth C. Mock - 2011
    Arbitrating judgments for horse breeders in Isfaridesh can't compare to his journeymen circuit riding the disputed Nabosian border, and his partner, Gisa Protz, can't stand him. His thoughts are with his troubled sister Ella as he arrives in the small town of Keman, but what awaits him in a luthier's shop will change his life forever."The Luthier of Keman" is a short story that takes place twenty years before Shatter (The Children of Man, #1).

First Truth


Dawn Cook - 2002
    Her father's stories about the Hold, a legendary fortress where human Keepers learn magic from the enigmatic Maters, are just that―stories. But her mother insists that Alissa has inherited her father's magical ability, and so she must go to the Hold―the only place her talents can be trained. On her way, she crosses paths with Strell, a wandering musician from the plains. And though Alissa is not sure she can trust a plainsman, Strell has something she needs―one of her father's old maps. Travelling together, they can reach the Hold before the snow sets in. But they don't know that the Hold is nearly empty. Something is very wrong and someone believes that Alissa and Strell knows about a book called First Truth.

Witch Myth: A Yew Hollow Christmas- Book 1


Alexandria Clarke - 2018
    With help of her two best friends and her cousin Morgan, Noelle discovers that an evil witch has plans to abduct all of the kids in town. Can she find her student in time to save him and the rest of Yew Hollow’s children?

Tinker


Wen Spencer - 2003
    She runs her salvage business, pays her taxes, and tries to keep the local ambient level of magic down with gadgets of her own design. When a pack of wargs chase an Elven noble into her scrap yard, life as she knows it takes a serious detour. Tinker finds herself taking on the Elven court, the NSA, the Elven Interdimensional Agency, technology smugglers and a college-minded Xenobiologist as she tries to stay focused on what's really important — her first date. Armed with an intelligence the size of a planet, steel-toed boots, and a junkyard dog attitude, Tinker is ready to kick butt to get her first kiss.