Book picks similar to
The Contortionist by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
fantasy
romance
paranormal
dark
Rhapsodic
Laura Thalassa - 2016
For the last seven years she’s been collecting a bracelet of black beads up her wrist, magical IOUs for favors she’s received. Only death or repayment will fulfill the obligations. Only then will the beads disappear.Everyone knows that if you need a favor, you go to the Bargainer to make it happen. He’s a man who can get you anything you want... at a price. And everyone knows that sooner or later he always collects.But for one of his clients, he’s never asked for repayment. Not until now. When Callie finds the fae king of the night in her room, a grin on his lips and a twinkle in his eye, she knows things are about to change. At first it’s just a chaste kiss—a single bead’s worth—and a promise for more.For the Bargainer, it’s more than just a matter of rekindling an old romance. Something is happening in the Otherworld. Fae warriors are going missing one by one. Only the women are returned, each in a glass casket, a child clutched to their breast. And then there are the whispers among the slaves, whispers of an evil that’s been awoken. If the Bargainer has any hope to save his people, he’ll need the help of the siren he spurned long ago. Only, his foe has a taste for exotic creatures, and Callie just happens to be one.
Savage Lands
Stacey Marie Brown - 2020
A battle for dominance is brewing between the elite fae and the privileged humans in Eastern Europe. The prejudice between the sides is bubbling with hate and violence. Nineteen-year-old human, Brexley, has grown up in privilege, but not without heartbreak. After being orphaned, she is taken in by General Markos, living in a walled city rife with power grabs and ruthless political games. Then one night the course of her life changes, and Brexley is thrown into the most feared prison in the east. Halalhaz, the House of Death—where you go in but don’t come out. She must learn to live with the worst of fae and human criminals. The rule of hierarchy puts humans on the bottom, where the only way to survive each day is to make alliances with the fae.Here she meets the sexy, vicious legend, Warwick Farkas. A myth among man and fae. He is as brutal, cruel, arrogant, and as lethal as the lore says he is, ruling the prison with unchallenged authority. Brexley can’t deny an intense draw to him, one that might cost her life.If The Games don’t take her out first—A fight to the death where only one survives.
Black Sunshine
Karina Halle - 2021
Unfortunately, fate has other plans for her. A week before her birthday, she’s kidnapped by the brooding and dangerous stranger with cold eyes and a lethal touch, who has been stalking her on San Francisco’s fog-shrouded streets. Absolon "Solon" Stavig isn’t your average criminal though. He’s a centuries-old vampire who’s caught between wanting to kill Lenore and wanting to save her. You see Lenore, too, is a vampire.She just doesn’t know it yet.Taken by a pair of vampire slayers when she was just an infant, Lenore was raised never knowing her true nature. All Lenore knows is that she has (normal) parents who love her, that she’s exceptionally smart, and she’s squeamish around blood. But once she turns twenty-one, she’ll fully turn into a vampire, and Solon hopes he’ll be there to guide her, opening her eyes to her deepest hunger...both sexual and otherwise. But this turning can’t be kept a secret. Soon both slayers and vampires are hunting Lenore, with only Solon and his unpredictable motley crew of vampires to save her.If they don’t kill her first.Black Sunshine is a dark adult romance with a paranormal twist, about sex, love, secrets, and revenge, set in contemporary San Francisco.
Hollow Heathens: Book of Blackwell
Nicole Fiorina - 2020
Cold and hollow.They said I shouldn’t go near him.Still, there was this aching pull to Julian Blackwell that I couldn’t escape.A nostalgic pull as if we’d been here before.
Playing with Monsters
Amelia Hutchins - 2016
We’ve avoided the ‘real world’ altogether; hiding from monsters and other creatures we share this planet with. We found protection in the Colville National Forest, nestled in a town protected by magical barriers. Our powers are locked by an ancient curse, one meant to protect us from being found. Until now. The past has a way of repeating itself. A new game is beginning. No one is safe. He’s coming for me. He’s hunting. The monster we’ve run from for centuries has found us. How far will this deadly game go? How far will I be able to take it, or will he destroy me and everything I care about? Will the one thing I can’t live without, be the key to destroying and undoing the past? Or will the past destroy me before I can save the people I love from what I’ve done. Warning: About the hero: chances are you may not fall instantly in love with him, that’s because I don’t write men you instantly love; you grow to love them. I don’t believe in instant-love. I write flawed, raw, caveman-like assholes that eventually let you see their redeeming qualities. They are aggressive, assholes, one step above a caveman when we meet them. You may not even like him by the time you finish this book, but I promise you will love him by the end of this series. About the heroine: There is a chance, that you might think she’s a bit naïve, or weak, but then again who starts out as a badass? Badasses are a product of growth and I am going to put her through hell, and you get to watch her come up swinging every time I knock her on her ass. That’s just how I do things. How she reacts to the set of circumstances she is put through, may not be how you as the reader, or I as the author would react to that same situation. Everyone reacts differently to circumstances and how Magdalena responds to her challenges, is how I see her as a character and as a person. I don’t write love stories: I write fast paced, knock you on your ass, make you sit on the edge of your seat wondering what happens next books. If you’re looking for cookie cutter romance, this isn’t for you. If you can’t handle the ride, un-buckle your seatbelt and get out of the roller-coaster car now. If not, you’ve been warned. If nothing outlined above bothers you, carry on and enjoy the ride!
Shadow's Kiss
T.M. Hart - 2017
Unending night . . . Violet Archer is running through the darkness, for her very life. A single spark blazes, calling to her. It is her chance at salvation. It is a connection beyond any she could have ever imagined. And it leads her to a lonely cabin in the woods.But when Violet wakes, she has no memory of how she got there. She is disturbingly ill. And a chilling evil creeps through her veins. Worse still, her host, the tall and powerful Elijah Stone, is intent on killing her. Yet a cataclysmic bond, neither can deny, stays Elijah’s hand. Radiants, immortals of the Light, have been warring with their enemies, the Shadows, for millennia. Now, twisted together by fate, the two adversaries must embark on a journey. One on which their very lives depend. Unfortunately for Violet, she does not know who she can trust, especially when it comes to her guide, Elijah. But it turns out that Violet and Elijah are not alone on their quest. They soon realize they are being hunted along the way. It seems Violet has a dark debt to settle.And someone very dark, indeed, is about to collect his due.
Fortune Favors the Cruel
Kel Carpenter - 2019
But with her dark powers on the rise and her ascension nearing, Quinn's blood retribution will have to wait in favor of her immediate survival. Lazarus Fierté is a nobleman without equal. He’s as controlling as he is stubborn, and for the last six years he’s been waiting for a woman to appear—but not just any woman. A Maji of great power, capable of terrible things. She could be the key to everything he holds dear. His savior … or his destroyer. The only thing he didn’t predict was that she would become both.
Nightshade
Keri Lake - 2021
I had only to look for the signs. Well, I’ve spent my whole life investigating the inexplicable, and all I've found are the unsettling vestiges of iniquity - the evidence of another world shrouded by the obscure. Purgatory to some, where depravity hides in shadows, and girls like me are little more than delicious bites of temptation. Others call it Nightshade. This peculiar place is where I first met the cold and callous recluse living in a decaying cliffside cathedral. Jericho Van Croix is the epitome of everything I’ve been told to fear. A raven-winged harbinger who wears intrigue like a warm black cloak. An enigma that I’m determined to unravel – even if it means getting closer than I should. One touch is forbidden. Even so much as a kiss would be my demise. But the sin on his lips burns me up like a wild flame, and his growing infatuation weakens my resolve. Giving him what he wants, though, will mean no chance for redemption, or escape. What's worse is, the signs I’ve followed yet failed to see all these years begin to unmask a terrifying reality: That falling may be my only saving grace.
Her Soul to Take
Harley Laroux - 2021
Killer, they called me, and killing is what I'm best at.Except her.The one I was supposed to take, the one I should have killed - I didn't.The cult that once controlled me wants her, and I'm not about to lose my new toy to them.RaeI've always believed in the supernatural. Hunting for ghosts is my passion, but summoning a demon was never part of the plan. Monsters are roaming the woods, and something ancient - something evil - is waking up and calling my name.I don't know who I can trust, or how deep this darkness goes.All I know is my one shot at survival is the demon stalking me, and he doesn't just want my body - he wants my soul.Her Soul to Take is book 1 in the Souls Trilogy. Although all the books are interconnected, they are stand-alone and can be read in any order.Content WarningThis book contains graphic sexual scenes, violence, kink/fetish content, horror elements, and depictions of hard kink/edgeplay. This book is strictly fictional and is not meant to represent realistic expectations of BDSM or kink.Kinks/Fetishes Within: consensual non-consent (CNC), breathe play/choking, bloodplay, spit, needle play (body modification fetish), pain play, fear play, public play, bondage, restraint, spanking/impact play.
Four Psychos
Kristy Cunning - 2017
Like everyone else, I have life goals. Goal #1: Become a real girl instead of this invisible ghost thing I currently am. Goal #2: Convince the four men I've been haunting for the past five years to pick me to be their new toy after goal one is complete. Goal #3: Figure out who/what I am and why I can't remember anything past the five years I've been haunting this quad. Goal #4: Eat popcorn. See? Perfectly normal. Sort of. Gotta start small, after all. It's not like anyone else is perfect either. **Sexual situations **Reverse Harem **Dark humor galore **Language warning
Dark Fae
Caroline Peckham - 2019
Elise Callisto. Vampire. Angel of vengeance. And a girl on a mission to destroy one of them for murdering my brother. I just don't know which one did it yet.When I kicked the ass of a Werewolf who was high on a new and dangerous drug called Killblaze, his final words painted a dark reality for me. The King of Aurora Academy killed my brother. The trouble is, there's four kings at that school and each of them have motive and cutthroat natures.Aurora Academy isn't a place for the faint of heart. To put it lightly, my town is the asshole of Solaria where the dodgiest Fae in the kingdom reside. The school itself is divided by the two gangs who run this town. The Lunar Brotherhood and the Oscura Clan. And guess what? Two of the kings run the gangs at the school, their hatred for each other so fierce I hear a day doesn't go by without blood being spilled in the halls.I might be a petite, lilac-haired girl who looks like a fragile doll, but they haven't been introduced to my fangs yet. And they don't know why I'm really here. Or that I'll do whatever it takes to bring down the Fae who took my flesh and blood from me.I don't believe in fate, but I do know this... the King who killed my brother is a dead man walking. And I'm prepared to sacrifice my heart, body and soul to ensure I get my revenge .This is a reverse harem series set in the world of Zodiac Academy four years before the Vega Twins were Awakened. Expect some character cross-over, dark and hot romance, and a twisted murder mystery which will leave your head spinning.
The Bone Witch
Ivy Asher - 2020
I was counting on it.But now my Grammy Ruby is gone, and here the bones sit on my kitchen table.I thought bitter relatives would be my biggest problem. But I’ve barely had time to find a familiar before trouble comes a-knocking. The kind that possesses smoldering green eyes and a smile that can turn any woman dumb.His name is Rogan Kendrick, and he’s certain that someone is hunting down and taking my kind.According to him, I’m next.This is a world that I never wanted to be a part of, but magic gives no fucks and takes no prisoners... At least we have that much in common.I don’t know what my ancestors were thinking when they chose me, but I’m going to give them a run for their money. My name is Lennox Osseous, but you can call me the Bone Witch.
City of Thorns
C.N. Crawford - 2021
And yet when a sinfully sexy demon crashes happy hour, that's exactly what happens. He’s known as the Lord of Chaos, he’s mistaken me for my succubus doppelgänger. Happy birthday to me.When he tastes my blood, he finally understands I’m mortal. And I realize we have something in common: we both crave revenge. So we make a deal: I can stay in the forbidden city to hunt for my mom's killer. In return, I’ll help him get the vengeance he craves. I just have to pose as a sexy succubus. One problem--he's my number one suspect. And that’s increasingly hard to remember as he teaches me my role: seduction. With each heated touch I drift further into peril. And if I fall under his seductive spell, death awaits me. "I flew through this book... Hot demon lord—check, action—check, romance—check. And there's spice! If you love my books, you definitely want to read this one." -- Laura Thalassa
To Bleed a Crystal Bloom
Sarah A. Parker - 2021
Fragile.An enigma.Now ward to a powerful High Master who knows too much and says too little, I lead a simple life, never straying from the confines of an imaginary line I've drawn around the castle grounds.Stay within. Never leave.Out there, the monsters lurk. Inside, I'm safe ... though at a cost far greater than the blood I drip into a goblet daily.Toxic, unreciprocated love for a man who's utterly unavailable.My savior. My protector.My almost executioner.I can't help but be enamored with the arcane man who holds the power to pull my roots from the ground.When voracious beasts spill across the land and threaten to fray the fabric of my tailored existence, the petals of reality will peel back to reveal an ugly truth. But in a castle puddled with secrets, none are greater than the one I've kept from myself.No tower is tall enough to protect me from the horror that tore my life to shreds.To Bleed a Crystal Bloom is a dark Rapunzel reimagining full of immersive imagery and breathtaking angst. A unique new fantasy series perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Jennifer L. Armentrout, guaranteed to grip you from the very first page.
Vein Of Love
R. Scarlett - 2016
On the eve she turns nineteen, Molly leaves for her birthday party against her parent’s wishes, sick of their warnings about her “betrothal to a demon.”Except that she’s very much betrothed, and he’s very much a demon—one who’s only agreed to the nuptials to steal Molly’s ancient daemon powers. Brash, arrogant, and built like a Greek god, Tensley Knight keeps showing up to save Molly from otherworldly attacks, only to insult her a moment later.As Molly learns more about the demon world, she realizes two things: that her family’s safety depends on a successful marriage, while any chance of freedom she’ll ever have calls for Tensley’s demise.Yet sometimes Molly spots a tortured soul beyond those liquid grey eyes, and there’s no denying the way her skin tingles when Tensley touches it. In Vein of Love, safety requires sacrifice, foe becomes lover, and one must decide whether to kiss...or to kill.