Book picks similar to
Lurking in the Woods by Anne Stryker


fantasy
beauty-and-the-beast-theme
some-swearing
arc

Sage it Out


Shereen Vedam - 2021
    Sage Tanton is her BFF with a psychic sense for trouble.Protective of her family and friends, Rose is confident she can handle any situation without Sage's supernatural intervention. But then the unthinkable happens. Rose's action triggers one of Sage's visions about a child in danger. And once again, her life is turned upside down. Getting the police involved throws Rose an unexpected romantic curveball. So, she does what she does best - jumps in feet first and finds herself out of the proverbial herbal teapot and into the flames. Liar, liar, pants on fire, Detective Nathan Bryant knows that gorgeous woman he just met is not only deceitful but could be entirely insane. Now he can’t stop lusting after her. Can a determined police detective help Rose achieve her long sought-after redemption or will they both retreat behind their yellow tape and lose out on love? Trust is a gift either has yet to give.

Of Curses and Kisses


Sandhya Menon - 2020
    When the loathsome Emerson clan steps up their centuries-old feud to target Jaya’s little sister, nothing will keep Jaya from exacting her revenge. Then Jaya finds out she’ll be attending the same elite boarding school as Grey Emerson, and it feels like the opportunity of a lifetime. She knows what she must do: Make Grey fall in love with her and break his heart. But much to Jaya’s annoyance, Grey’s brooding demeanor and lupine blue eyes have drawn her in. There’s simply no way she and her sworn enemy could find their fairy-tale ending…right?His Lordship Grey Emerson is a misanthrope. Thanks to an ancient curse by a Rao matriarch, Grey knows he’s doomed once he turns eighteen. Sequestered away in the mountains at St. Rosetta’s International Academy, he’s lived an isolated existence—until Jaya Rao bursts into his life, but he can't shake the feeling that she’s hiding something. Something that might just have to do with the rose-shaped ruby pendant around her neck…As the stars conspire to keep them apart, Jaya and Grey grapple with questions of love, loyalty, and whether it’s possible to write your own happy ending.

Cruel Beauty


Rosamund Hodge - 2014
    And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle—a shifting maze of magical rooms—enthralls her.As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

The Treachery of Beautiful Things


Ruth Frances Long - 2012
    Now seventeen, she revisits the woods where Tom was taken, resolving to say good-bye at last. Instead, she's lured into the trees, where she finds strange and dangerous creatures who seem to consider her the threat. Among them is Jack, mercurial and magnetic, with secrets of his own. Determined to find her brother, with or without Jack's help, Jenny struggles to navigate a faerie world where stunning beauty masks some of the most treacherous evils, and she's faced with a choice between salvation or sacrifice--and not just her own.

Of Beast and Beauty


Stacey Jay - 2013
    In the desert outside Yuan, Gem, a mutant beast, fights to save his people, the Monstrous, from starvation. Neither dreams that together, they could return balance to both their worlds.Isra wants to help the city’s Banished people, second-class citizens despised for possessing Monstrous traits. But after she enlists the aid of her prisoner, Gem, who has been captured while trying to steal Yuan’s enchanted roses, she begins to care for him, and to question everything she has been brought up to believe.As secrets are revealed and Isra’s sight, which vanished during her childhood, returned, Isra will have to choose between duty to her people and the beast she has come to love.

The Rose Gate: A Retelling of Beauty and the Beast


Hanna Sandvig - 2019
     All Isobel wants is a quiet place to read, but apparently that's too much to ask. She only needs to make it through one last summer with her broken family before she can leave for university and get on with her life. At least she has her books and the solitude of the woods. But there are wolves in these woods. Caught out in the forest after dark, Isobel is pursued by a disturbingly intelligent pack of wolves. When the grizzly bear who rescues her turns out to be a cursed fae prince, she realizes her life isn’t the only thing in danger. She could lose her heart. Trapped by the wolves at the prince’s home in Faerie, Isobel tries to unravel the mystery behind the surly prince’s scars. Because time is running out for the castle’s inhabitants, and if Isobel can’t find a way to break the spell and save the prince from the Unseelie Queen, she may lose everything she’s come to love. If you love magic, adventure, and a clean romance, try The Rose Gate. This is a stand-alone story that kicks off the Faerie Tale Romances series ** The e-book edition does not include the illustrations done for the paperback edition**

What Is Hidden


Lauren Skidmore - 2014
    It is our duty to warn you—do not trust the masks alone.”In Venesia, your mask is your life. It is your face, your rank, and your identity. Without a mask, you are nothing. Which makes the Chameleon the most dangerous criminal in the land. When the Chameleon attacks the talented mask maker Evie, he not only strips away Evie’s mask, destroys her home, and kills her father, but he also brands her face with his own criminal mark that would incriminate her for his wrongdoings should it be discovered. Her only choice is to go into hiding—at the royal palace. But as she creates a new identity —and plans to exact revenge— Evie soon learns that masks hide more than just faces ...Unmask the secrets that Venesia holds in this unique and romantic spin on the classic tale of Cinderella.

Curiouser and Curiouser: Steampunk Alice in Wonderland


Melanie Karsak - 2017
     Alice thought she’d turned over a new leaf. No more working for Jabberwocky. No more making deals with the ruthless Queen of Hearts. No more hanging around The Mushroom with tinkers, tarts, scoundrels, and thieves in London's criminal underbelly. But she’d been bonkers to dream. Hatter’s reckless behavior leads Alice back to the one person she never wanted to see again, Caterpillar. Pulled into Caterpillar's mad schemes, Alice must steal a very big diamond from a very royal lady. The heist is no problem for this Bandersnatch. But protecting her heart from the man she once loved? Impossible. Sometimes love is mad. See how NY Times bestselling author Melanie Karsak reimagines Lewis Carroll's classic fairy tale, Alice in Wonderland, with a steampunk twist! Join us at The Mushroom in gaslamp Victorian London.

Mismatch


Tracie Delaney - 2017
    Jayne’s sworn off men. Her lousy, backstabbing, cheating husband saw to that. The last person she wants to defend is too-hot-too-handle, software guru, Rupert Fox-Whittingham—criminal law isn’t even her field of expertise.No woman is immune to his charm, or so Rupe thinks, until he meets frosty, delectable, uber-lawyer Jayne. He wants her. He needs her... Challenge accepted!Except danger has come a-knocking—and it’s deadly. Mismatch is a fast-paced, sexy off-shoot to The Winning Ace series that can be read as a standalone.

Tempt Me, Bully


C.C. Piper - 2019
    It’s just depression. Michael is my shining knight in armor. He’s supposed to save me from the wicked witch. But he’s an asshole with a firm belief in tough love. And I’m both the witch and the heroine. Where will this story take me?

Ensnared


Rita Stradling - 2017
    He’s a genius and an inventor. When he’s hired to create the robot Rose, Alainn knows taking the money is a mistake. Rose acts like a human. She looks exactly like Alainn. But, something in her comes out wrong.To save her father from a five year prison sentence, Alainn takes Rose’s place. She says goodbye to the sun and goes to live in a tower no human is allowed to enter. She becomes the prisoner of a man no human is allowed to see. Believing that a life of servitude lies ahead, Alainn finds a very different fate awaits her in the company of the strange, scarred recluse.[This novel contains adult situations and is only suitable for readers who are 18+]

With This Ring


Alexx Andria - 2019
    If it weren’t for my business partner hiring her to redecorate our new office, our paths would never cross.But she’s here now and we’re forced to work together. I just need to get through the next couple of weeks without losing my mind…or my heart.EXCERPT:“Honestly, I don’t think we need much,” I started, trying to assert myself again. “Maybe some wall art or something? Nothing too flashy.”Her tinkling laughter stopped short when she realized I was being serious. “Oh tasty gravy, no. This place needs an overhaul. I can see why your business partner wanted a professional.”An overhaul? “What do you mean?”“Well, this place feels like a tomb. A cement box where dreams go to die,” she answered with another of those smiles. “Probably not the message you want to send to potential clients, right?”I stared, incredulous, sputtering a little as I said, “I hardly think that’s how people feel when they walk into our office.”“It’s how I felt when I walked in,” Kitt admitted, gesturing to the gray walls and steel furnishings. “There’s nothing inviting about a giant, gray blob of space. I mean, prisons are giant gray blobs. Let that sink in for a minute and you’ll get where I’m coming from. But don’t worry, I can fix that for you.” She tapped her head. “I’ve already got some ideas percolating.”I couldn't help but bristle a little. "Well we're not trying to impress the Queen of England. We work with blue-collar people and they don't much care about the froufrou stuff. They just want to know that we can do the job for them so that they can do theirs."“Yeah, I get that but first impressions are everything and this place is depressing.” Something oldSomething newWill you say “I do”? Fourteen best-selling Flirt Club authors are headed down the aisle with a new collection of steamy, sweet stories!

Heart of Hope: Books 1 - 4


Ajme Williams - 2020
    Four standalone romance novels that will melt your heart.Our Last ChanceI made a mistake.A huge mistake.I knew I shouldn’t have left.The town.My life.Him…Nick, my brother’s best friend, had me at first touch.It’s hard to resist a hot doctor like him.Even for an innocent girl like me.An Irish AffairI’d always found Irish men to be irresistible.And Devin?He’s the hottest one of them all.I had my chance with him.Heck, I even have a baby with him.A four-year old boy.My only secret.So WrongOne plan.One fake marriage.One big disaster.Everything about Dylan melts me.He’s more than that ripped chest… those strong arms.The best thing about him is his daughter.The daughter that I babysit.A fake marriage with me would win him the custody battle.The only hiccup?I let him take my V-card and get me pregnant.Imperfect LoveA broken marriage.A broken heart.A broken home.Brayden and I have everything going against us.There was a time when we were madly in love.Our laughter still echoes in my ears.They say marriage is built on trust.They said love is the foundation.I wonder if we have either of those now.

Another Backwards Christmas


Brooke Williams - 2017
    He takes his freelance writing career seriously and his claim to fame happens to be de-bunking Christmas festivities in towns across America. When he lands in South Pole, Alaska, he has one plan in mind...to get to the bottom of the whole 'Backwards Christmas' idea and spoil the holiday for as many people as possible. Holly Howard knows there's more to life than leading Backwards Christmas tours in South Pole, but she's happy with her job, town, and friends. The only thing missing is someone to share it all with, but in a small town, it's hard to meet new people. When a handsome writer comes into town, she's intrigued, and hopeful that he could be that person. But she has no idea he's the famous "Jolly Robber." It's not just any Backwards Christmas in South Pole, Alaska as the backwards celebrations rage and the town comes together to show their spirit in full force!

Apocalypse Cultivator: A Cultivation Fantasy Adventure for Men


Jack Bryce - 2021