Book picks similar to
Smoke by Val St. Crowe
fantasy
urban-fantasy
magic
vampires
Lost Secret
Emily Reed - 2019
She’s dead. After months of fighting, Megan finally...I hadn’t felt it though. Wouldn’t I know if the only person I ever loved—I stumbled out of bed, tangling in my blankets, then raced to her room. Empty. The sheets were folded aside. She must be close. I moved down the hall toward our shared bathroom. The door stood open, but Megan wasn’t there. Backtracking, I checked the living room with its slouchy couches, and the kitchen with its worn countertops. No Megan. I pushed through the French doors out onto our balcony. The music district of Crescent City, a night owl’s paradise, lay still in the soft morning light. Megan’s flowers overflowed their boxes, spilling riotous colors down the wrought iron rail. I stood alone, a gentle breeze lifted a lock of my hair, and tears stung my eyes. Megan was gone.The police assumed she left of her own free will—there was no evidence of a break-in or struggle. "Maybe she was done fighting and couldn't tell you," the detective said, his brown eyes sympathetic."You didn't know her, she would never give up.""Often when people go missing, the loved ones they leave behind come to realize," he paused and took a breath, "that they didn't know them as well as they thought. Everyone has secrets, Darling," his voice drawled over my name. "Megan could barely walk," I ground out. "Somebody must have taken her.""But who would kidnap a dying young woman? How did they leave no evidence? Why didn't you hear them?" He asked. I didn't have any answers.It didn’t make sense. Nothing did anymore. Strange, exhilarating dreams began haunting my nights. A new hunger, an unquenchable thirst that felt almost…dangerous...ruled my days.Scared and alone, I couldn’t imagine the dark secrets my hunger hid. They’d been lost for so long—locked away, buried by time, and twisted by whispered lies—but when Megan was stolen everything began to unravel… Before it did, before I saw the dead rise, witnessed vampires feed, or visited the warlocks’ library, before I held a life at the edge of my lips, I was just Darling Price—a musician like so many others in this vibrant city. I struggled to pay bills, practiced with my band, and grieved for my missing sister. I was innocent and naive.I’d barely even been kissed. **Beware: This series is for adults who enjoy steamy paranormal romance with strong urban fantasy vibes and who don't mind a few f-bombs.**
Rune Gate
Mark E. Cooper - 2012
She isn't a clairvoyant, she's a witch unlike any other she has ever met. For years she has struggled to control her gifts, but years living inside one serial killer's head after another has taken its toll, and Alex has reached the end of the road. Barely able to control her gifts any longer, Alex retreats from the world to live at her grandparents farm where she grew up. Seclusion is her answer, but the world will not leave her alone. A few months of peace is all she has before a friend calls her in need of help and Alex can't say no. A body has been found, and evidence points to a connection with witches. Who is it that everyone just knows is a witch? Why, that strange woman who just moved back from the big city of course. What a coincidence!
The Cardinal Gate
Amy Cissell - 2017
Destroy the world of her birth or the world in which she was raised? Sent away from the Fae court and raised as a human, Eleanor never knew of the Fae realm. Now, the summer before her 35th birthday, the man she thought was her best friend reveals her destiny – to open the gates that prevented free and easy passage between the land of the Fae and the human realm.As Eleanor and Finn begin their quest, they face their first threat. The shifters are watching and waiting, unsure if Eleanor and her quest are a threat to their way of life. They are assigned a watcher—Isaac Walker, a shifter with a mysterious past. Eleanor knows she should be frightened, but cannot explain the draw she feels for this secretive werewolf. With Finn by her side and Isaac at her back, Eleanor begins the journey that will either destroy the world or save it. Will Finn’s jealousy or Isaac’s past be the bigger barrier to completing the quest?
Wide Awake
K.B. Anne - 2018
They’re her story. Fans of Linsey Hall and M. Lynn will love Wide Awake. Druids live among us. They worship the forgotten Celtic gods that once ruled the Earth. For centuries, they’ve practiced in Vernal Falls without incident. Gigi knows nothing of Druids or Celtic gods. She only knows the visions began when Breas, the new foreign exchange student, moved in next door. She also knows her best friend Lizzie is obsessed with the spell book they found in her attic. And someone is following her, which she finds oddly comforting. Breas provokes her. Her friends protect her. And a mysterious stranger wants her. But evil forces are at work. Gigi needs to decide if she’s the one to save them all. WIDE AWAKE is the enthralling first installment in The Goddess Chronicles. A YA contemporary fantasy with paranormal romance full of smart dialogue, rebellion, and fierce friendships that will keep you captivated until the very last page. If you love Scorpio Races, Twilight, Mortal Instruments, and The Shade of Vampire, you'll love WIDE AWAKE. Scroll up & click the buy button now!
Crescent Calling
Nicole R. Taylor - 2017
Or so she thought. When she receives news of her estranged mother’s death, she must go to Ireland to claim her inheritance, but when she arrives in the tiny village of Derrydun, she isn’t prepared for what she finds nestled amongst the rolling hills of the Emerald Isle. Lumped with a funeral, her mother's crystal shop, a moody goth girl for an employee, and a crumbling cottage with horrible floral curtains, selling up and getting out sounds like a great plan, but everything and everyone seems determined to keep her from going home. Skye doesn’t want any part of her mother’s life or the people of Derrydun until she sees the hot Irishman she’s been crushing on turn into a fox. More absurdly, he tells her her dead mother was a witch who battled evil fairies, there’s magical trees growing in the centre of the village, there’s a parallel universe where the fair folk live, and she’s meant to be the last defense of the magical peoples of Ireland. Turns out Skye Williams was never an ordinary woman. Not by a long shot. She’s the last Crescent Witch and has a destiny to fulfil. Whether she likes it or not. The Crescent Witch Chronicles is a series stuffed full of Irish charm, myth and mayhem. Come on an adventure fraught with danger and forbidden romance...and the ultimate battle to save magic before it's gone forever.
Ashes on the Earth
Sarah Ashwood - 2020
Monsters are real. And no good deed goes unpunished. Nursing student Ellie St. James didn’t mean to get involved in a war between rival gangs of shifters, but saving the life of a local mob boss’s child has dragged her into one. When Ellie’s life is threatened because of her involvement, she’s forced to go on the run, protected by Carter Ballis, head of security for the mobster’s family, and a lethal shifter himself.Blood, fire, and warfare weren’t part of Ellie’s plans, but even if she survives, her life will never be the same. The world is more than she knew, and she’s seen too much. People capable of morphing into deadly creatures from legends and folklore around the globe are coming for her.The cost of staying alive means trusting Carter to defend her, and he’s every bit as frightening as the creatures that want her dead…
The Immortal Mark
Amy Sparling - 2017
College isn’t an option for a poor girl with average grades, so when her best friend Riley finds them a mysterious job opportunity that includes room and board, Cara is interested but thinks it sounds too good to be true.The night before their interview, Cara has an epic night out with Theo, an impossibly handsome guy she just met. He’s charismatic, a little mysterious, and it feels like she’s known him her whole life.When she runs into him at her interview, he’s cold and elusive. He makes it very clear that he doesn’t want her working with him, which only makes their mutual attraction burn hotter. Cara takes the job for Riley’s sake and promises herself she’ll avoid this jerk and his mood swings, no matter how hard it is to keep away from him.Soon she finds out her millionaire employers aren’t normal guys who live and travel in luxury. They’re immortals. Theo wasn’t trying to ruin her job prospects. He was trying to save her life, because the girls they hire never make it out alive.
A Ritual of Fire
J.L. Hendricks - 2017
The only dragon.But when her latest investigation turns up not only foul play, but sacrificial rites, she'll find herself racing to stop a murderer intent on sacrificing her friends.Worse, if she doesn't stop it in time, the gates of Hell will reopen and demons will walk the Earth.
The Alpha
Chrissy Peebles - 2016
The Falcar, half demon and half vampire, destroyed his life when they killed his entire pack. He's the last royal prince werewolf, and the Falcar were determined to end his bloodline once and for all. Logan goes on a mission to find the Falcar and destroy them forever. When he meets an Ankh witch named, Sophia, his world is turned upside down. Can she save Logan from himself? This is a 9 book series.
Moon Bitten
C.S. Churton - 2020
When she got bitten, everything changed. Jade’s not ready to accept her new reality, but she had better come to terms quickly, because it’s her only way out.There are rules at the shifter academy.They’ll keep her locked up if needed.Facing the realities of her new life, her strange powers, and the fact that she’s more prisoner than student, Jade has some tough decisions to make. What she doesn’t know, though, is that there's something sinister going on.People are in danger.Another gets bitten.The adventure has just begun.
Super Dark
Tanith Morse - 2013
Ten years ago on Halloween night, grotesque creatures snatched her best friend Elliot and Sam narrowly escaped with her life. Now a decade on, the police investigation has ground to a halt and Elliot’s whereabouts remains a mystery. Traumatized by her ordeal, Sam finds it hard to make friends. She is mistrustful of authority and changed schools more times than she cares to remember. To her, the world is cruel and unforgiving. Then she meets the enigmatic Lee Weaver. With his gorgeous face and magnetic presence, he turns heads wherever he goes. Sam has never wanted anyone as much as she wants Lee, but there are things about the alluring stranger that don’t add up, leading Sam to ask unsettling questions about her past. Soon she discovers the boy of her dreams is keeping a terrible secret: one that threatens to destroy everything Sam holds dear . . .Super Dark is a seductive love story that will keep you guessing right until the final page ...
The Flawed Legacy
E.G. Bateman - 2020
Working as a private investigator, her latest case takes her and her partner to Palm Springs, where a shifter is being harassed by a local businessman. But with pack politics and rivalries, this is far more than a property deal gone bad.Far worse, for Lexi, is that her local contact is her long-time nemesis, the gay vampire detective Dick. If the case doesn’t kill her, working with him again might!Note: This book was previously released as part of the Legacy of the Shadow’s Blood.
Code Black
Tina Moss - 2015
Gossip mag reporter Sera Benenati knows a thing or two about unearthing secrets...and burying them. As an unregistered supernatural, her freedom depends on keeping her fire-wielding abilities contained. Yet, the threat of a little flame isn’t enough to snuff out her journalistic pursuits. She’s determined to claw her way to the top and land a spot with a real paper. When she tracks a lead on a string of gruesome paranormal murders to the small town of Buckhorn, Arizona, she’s certain she’s landed the perfect scoop. But, as the crime scene reveals victims with bite marks, torn flesh, and battered bodies, Sera may have smoked out more than she can burn. As the investigation grows hot and Sera winds up in the crosshairs, she’ll need the help of a sexy shifter, special agent Talon Rede, to unmask the murderers before she becomes the next victim.
Knowledge Revealed
D.S. Williams - 2012
The unexpected kindness of the residents catches her by surprise, and one day, a fateful accident introduces her to Lucas Tine.Charlotte finds herself drawn to this man for reasons she cannot understand. What is it about Lucas that she finds so difficult to ignore?As time passes, she uncovers Lucas’s ancient past — and reveals secrets of her own.
Rebirth
Gayle Parness - 2011
She’s too strong, too fast and her senses are way too acute. Not knowing her real parents and passed around from family to family, she’s never fit into the mundane world she’s grown up in, making it impossible for her to put down real roots or form permanent friendships.So waking up in the forest in the middle of the night covered in blood and having no memory of how she got there, pisses her off and makes her even more confused. Who is this guy who’s kidnapped her and tells her that she is more than human and needs to be trained? And who’s the hot guy in the room next door who she’s supposed to train with? And why has Garrett, a compellingly seductive vampire, been her silent guardian for the last few years, saving her life when she was brutally attacked by thugs?As the days pass and Jackie is confronted with the strange truth of who and what she is, she begins to put the pieces of her splintered life back together to feel whole for the very first time. Becoming acquainted with a world spinning with a mysterious energy and populated by shapeshifters,vampires, weres, and even the powerful fae, Jackie learns to pull strength from the magic, her new friendships and even love.