Here are 69 books that Dark Spirits fans have personally recommended if you like
Dark Spirits.
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I’ve always loved both the fantasy and romance genres. (CS Lewis may or may not be directly responsible.) Discovering paranormal romance was the best day of my life. Since then, many years ago, I’ve read thousands of PNR books, both popular and less well-known, and love sharing my favorites with anyone who will sit still for five seconds. I even worked on a degree in English Literature for a while before switching to a more “practical” major. Blah. Because of those years of analyzing why some books are truly loved, I know you’ll enjoy these titles as much as I do.
I love Chosen One books. But I love them even more when, like Forsythia, they know why they’re chosen and what their destiny is.
What Forsythia didn’t see coming was her fated mates. Between the three of them… can they bring all the factions of supernaturals together to defeat the Creatori?
Yes, yes they can!
Loreweaver’s characters are hilariously real. They have deep emotions, wit, and sarcasm. What more could you ask for in main characters? Great sex? Check. Defeating the bad guy… check (though not in this book).
This series has everything you crave from a great PNR.
Saving the world would be so much easier without two left feet…
When her magick returns, Forsythia must face the creature that killed her mother. Fortunately, a yummy monster hunter offers to help. Too bad she got off on the wrong foot by breaking his nose…
The most powerful witch in a generation, she’ll need his help to survive. So maybe she should quit thinking about his cute butt.
The first of a series, Noctifer Magick is a slow-burn paranormal menage romance intended for readers over 18. If you enjoy competent but clumsy heroines and the men they love, you’ll…
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
I’ve always loved both the fantasy and romance genres. (CS Lewis may or may not be directly responsible.) Discovering paranormal romance was the best day of my life. Since then, many years ago, I’ve read thousands of PNR books, both popular and less well-known, and love sharing my favorites with anyone who will sit still for five seconds. I even worked on a degree in English Literature for a while before switching to a more “practical” major. Blah. Because of those years of analyzing why some books are truly loved, I know you’ll enjoy these titles as much as I do.
This is an “episode”; three episodes make a “season”. Yep, this series is patterned off of a tv show. What else would you expect from a series that was inspired by two different monster hunting shows: SupernaturalandScooby-Do?
Humor. Epic levels of teamwork… and drama in the team. A revolving door of baddies. Moments that make you want to just wrap our hero/heroin up and hold them forever.
The Hunter Chronicles series has all of that. This first episode is an excellent introduction to Val and all of her guys… Some of whom aren’t human. The whole team’s delightful.
And sexy. Don’t forget sexy.
These shorter stories—that make a much longer one—are like rich little snacks that I love to savor.
So there I am, minding my own business, trying to exorcise a ghost who likes to take her unsuspecting victims for a joyride, when said ghost sets her eyes on me. Now I’m faced with fighting off an unwanted spirit and I have to deal with my four teammates, my four best friends, pushing for more.
Can we make it through to the other side unscathed or will our relationship fall casualty to the girl in the sequined dress?
The first episode in The Hunter Chronicles, The Girl in the Sequined Dress kicks off…
I’ve always loved both the fantasy and romance genres. (CS Lewis may or may not be directly responsible.) Discovering paranormal romance was the best day of my life. Since then, many years ago, I’ve read thousands of PNR books, both popular and less well-known, and love sharing my favorites with anyone who will sit still for five seconds. I even worked on a degree in English Literature for a while before switching to a more “practical” major. Blah. Because of those years of analyzing why some books are truly loved, I know you’ll enjoy these titles as much as I do.
Nothing is ever truly what it seems. That’s certainly true for Delilah and the bar where she works with her uncle. But when her uncle sells to a new business partner, Delilah finds herself in much more trouble than she’d originally thought.
Because vampires are real… and one of them is now her boss.
I love the depth of background on these characters. All three of them have so much at stake. They’ve all lived very hard lives where nothing has gone their way. But maybe, the three of them together can find the peace that they’ve all been searching for.
My favorite thing about this series is just how much each of them grow. There’s nothing like a great character arc. And three is better than one.
Two vampires want me, but they want to destroy each other more.
Now, I’m trapped in the middle.
After discovering there was more to the secret dealings in the back of Midnight, my uncle’s bar, I’m thrust into a supernatural turf war between two powerful men. Viktor and Strain—two sexy leaders of rival corporations—not only fight over the city, jeopardizing humanity, but they also want to claim me. Neither wants to share—the city or me—and this feud might be the end of life as I know it.
My trust in Viktor weakens as things stop adding up and secrets threaten…
Coyote weather is the feral, hungry season, drought-stricken, and ready to catch fire. It’s 1967, and the American culture is violently remaking itself while the country is forcibly sending its young men to fight in a deeply unpopular war.
Jerry has stubbornly made no plans for the future because he…
I’ve always loved both the fantasy and romance genres. (CS Lewis may or may not be directly responsible.) Discovering paranormal romance was the best day of my life. Since then, many years ago, I’ve read thousands of PNR books, both popular and less well-known, and love sharing my favorites with anyone who will sit still for five seconds. I even worked on a degree in English Literature for a while before switching to a more “practical” major. Blah. Because of those years of analyzing why some books are truly loved, I know you’ll enjoy these titles as much as I do.
This fantasy romance comes from a slightly different place than the rest of my recommendations. There isn't as much sex, but there's plenty of emotional angst... and growth.
Two young men meet and make a huge impact on each other's lives. But when one of them is beaten to death before the other can rescue him, the survivor gives up on ever being with his soul mate again.
Good thing he was reincarnated. Bad thing he forgot his previous life. The story begins 1300 years in the future when they finally run into each other again.
There is a lot of jumping back and forth between the present and past, but that only enhances the story. I cannot wait for the second book to come out.
I’m E.S. Luck, author of The Wastelander, a post-apocalyptic romance that blends the grittiness of post-apocalyptic fiction with steamy romance. I’ve always had a deep interest in the idea of living after the apocalypse. Fundamentally, apocalypse narratives are about human resilience, a concept that’s rich with storytelling opportunities. I’m also an avid romance reader. I love the tension, buildup, and deep exploration of love's many forms. Post-apocalyptic romance ratchets that tension up to eleven and introduces the possibility of love that transcends even the end of the world…and if that’s not compelling and deeply desirable on a basic human level, I don’t know what is.
I truly never thought I’d be into “why choose” romance, but here we are, and Rebecca Quinn converted me. What I love about this book is that despite having five (yes, five!) main male characters, each one is so distinct and fully formed that it never feels confusing or repetitive to hop between their perspectives.
The relationship between Eden and the Brutes, as well as the relationships between the Brutes themselves, are complex, layered, and often messy in a way that feels authentic and real. Quinn’s prose is lovely, and the spice…let’s just say several of those scenes live in my head rent-free. The sequel is just as memorable and may be even better than the first book (how often does that happen?!).
Even if the world did end, five men is far too many to handle. Isn’t it?
Since the Final War, I’ve been doing just fine. I have a lovely cave, a darling vegetable patch, forest views . . . and if loneliness sometimes squeezes my aching heart, well, my books have always kept me company.
That is, until a pack of hunters chase me from my home and right into the arms of several rather large, rather brutish ex-Army Rangers. And those brutes have the nerve to make me the rudest offer I’ve ever heard.
It has always been a tough question to answer because I'm many things and have a diverse range of loves. I live in Adelaide, South Australia and believe that we are all capable of great things. My grandchildren are important to me. I'm passionate about unleashing my imagination and translating the many stories in my mind into narratives. I paint, read, sing, garden, and cook and I hope, much more. My passion for fantasy began in the womb. I'm certain of this. I began reading this genre at 5 and for over 55 years; it has been a passion. Epic, dark fantasy enthralls me and I'm in a constant search for the next best read.
Odalisque blew me away. I did not expect this author to produce such a raw and dark series. Set in a time where brutality was the norm, I loved exploring Ana’s journey as she fought to regain not only her freedom from slavery, but the epic lengths she went to—to gain power in a world ruled by strength and deception. Fiona draws out the reader’s emotions and will cast you into a scene right out of history. Revenge and honour, sex and murder all take place in the desert, so keep your eye out for this book.
Fifteen-year-old Boaz is the new Zar, freshly ascended to his throne. In the turmoil following the old Zar's death, courtiers jostle and conspire to secure their positions - not least his scheming mother, the new Valide. It seems his only genuine friends are his late father's mad jester; Spur Lazar, head of Percheron's security; and a golden beauty - a new odalisque purchased in the foothills as a slave for the harem.
But can a madman, a soldier and a concubine be trusted to keep him safe from the Byzantine manoeuvres of his father's ambitious entourage?
Homeless following the death of his adoptive parents in a car crash and the subsequent loss of their farm tenancy, Seb decides to enrol as a residential student at the Asklepios Foundation, a College of Natural Medicine, boasting a sanctuary modelled on an ancient Greek healing temple. Spending a night…
As an immigrant, an Asian American, and a gender-questioning person, I’ve never fit comfortably anywhere. So perhaps it’s no surprise that my writing isn’t easily categorizable either: many have told me that my work is too literary to be considered SF/F and too SF/F to be strictly literary. But what is genre anyway? My favorite books have always been the ones that straddled genres, and every time I read a wonderful book that can’t be easily labeled or marketed, I grow even more sure that the future of literature lies in fluid, boundary-crossing, transgressive texts. Here are some of my favorites—I hope you enjoy them.
Is Fried’s short story collection The Great Frustration literary, science fiction, fantasy, absurdist, or something else? I have no idea, and I suspect neither does he, but that’s one of the reasons I love this book so much.
Whether Fried is writing about the animals in the Garden of Eden or a town that refuses to change its ways despite its pesky recurrent problem of massacres, these stories will make you laugh.
After you’re done laughing, when you’ve had some time to think, you’ll realize that you were only laughing because Fried is adept at pointing out those aspects of society and human nature that we find uncomfortable—which, of course, the best comedians have always done.
Equal parts fable and wry satire, The Great Frustration is a sparkling debut. Seth Fried balances the dark--a town besieged, a yearly massacre, the harem of a pathological king--with moments of sweet optimism--researchers unexpectedly inspired by discovery, the triumph of a doomed monkey, the big implications found in a series of tiny creatures.
In "Loeka Discovered," a buzz flows throughout a lab when scientists unearth a perfectly preserved prehistoric man who suggests to them the hopefulness of life, but the more they learn, the more the realities of ancient survival invade their buoyant projections. "Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre" meditates on…
I am an author and avid reader of romance, especially those full of conflict in a world heavy with magic, shifters, vampires, and others. My dad was a great storyteller and sparked my interest in the paranormal. When I was a kid, he’d tell me stories about growing up in the mountains of Puerto Rico. The evil that lived there. My imagination took it from there. I wish I would’ve written down those stories. I can’t get him to talk about them anymore. It might be the reason why The Nine: Zane had started out as a contemporary romance story until Zane took over with all his paranormal drama.
Another one of Ariana Nash’s books. This one about a dragon shifter and an elf.
The elves are at war with the dragons. Their kind do not mix, which is the major conflict in the story. The elf hates the dragon while the dragon continues to prove that he’s not evil. It’s heartbreaking at times and satisfying in others.
A slow burn with an eventual HEA which is satisfying.
Duty demands they fight for their people but love has other plans.
Eroan, one of the last elven assassins, lives for one purpose: kill the queen.
He would have succeeded if not for her last line of defense: Prince Lysander. Now, captured and forced into the queen's harem, Eroan sees another opportunity. Why kill just the queen when he can kill them all? It would be simple, if not for the troubled and alluring dragon prince. A warrior, a killer, and something else... something Eroan finds himself inexplicably drawn to.
I am a scholar of international human rights and comparative genocide studies. My father was a refugee from the Holocaust. So I was always interested in genocide, but I did not want to be another Holocaust scholar. Instead, I introduced one of the first university courses in Canada on comparative genocide studies. From a very young age, I was also very interested in social justice: I was seven when Emmett Till was murdered in the US. So when I became a professor, I decided to specialize in international human rights. I read a lot of “world literature” fiction that helps me to empathize with people in places I’ve never been.
Fatima Mernissi was a Moroccan feminist. This book is her memoir of growing up in a harem (an enclosed all-female space) in Morocco in the 1940s and 50s.
It dispels many of the stereotypes and prejudices that many Westerners hold about how Islamic society treats women. The harem Mernissi grew up in was a warm and loving space. One of the elderly women living in it had been a slave, but was now cared for by the family. It was also a space where women could talk about their condition and consider ways of rebelling against it.
I assigned this book to a class on women’s human rights in the 1990s. It was very popular among the students, including the one man, whose background on his father’s side was Palestinian.
"I was born in a harem in 1940 in Fez, Morocco..." So begins Fatima Mernissi in this exotic and rich narrative of a childhood behind the iron gates of a domestic harem. In Dreams of Trespass , Mernissi weaves her own memories with the dreams and memories of the women who surrounded her in the courtyard of her youth,women who, deprived of access to the world outside, recreated it from sheer imagination. Dreams of Trespass is the provocative story of a girl confronting the mysteries of time and place, gender and sex in the recent Muslim world.
Marriage and Fatherhood in the Nazi SS
by
Amy Carney,
When I was writing this book, several of my friends jokingly called it the Nazi baby book, with one insisting it would make a great title. Nazi Babies – admittedly, that is a catchy title, but that’s not exactly what my book is about. SS babies would be slightly more…
My GameLit stories like The Mad Immortal are inspired by the fun I've had playing RPGs such as World of Warcraft and Dungeons & Dragons. It’s that same sense of adventure that I seek out in other stories and that I feel these five books I selected demonstrate. In their own way, each of them inspired my own series as I worked to develop the rules for its magic system and to come up with compelling ways the characters could interact within those established restrictions. I love reading about clever applications of magic to solve problems, especially when it’s not immediately obvious how a given spell would help!
Gamified puts its own unique twist on Isekai stories—unlike some of the other stories on this list, rather than the main character getting drawn into the game world, the game world is drawn to the main character.
When his life starts to become more like a video game, Felix has to team up with his friends to figure out what is going on and try to stop it. This setup provides for a number of fun interactions, such as random household items transforming into game powerups and gear.
However, I also appreciated some of the clever ways the characters find to use their powers (and in particular, how they thwart their final boss).
Ever wish your real-life was more like a video game?
Be careful what you wish for…
Felix thinks he is losing his mind when he starts getting game-like quest notifications on his phone. But then things get really strange when he realizes he is able to level-up in real life.
After gaining the rare Beastmaster class and bonding himself to a particularly bloodthirsty housecat, Felix finds himself in a race against time to defeat his high school nemesis - who may now be a 7-foot tall Ogre with anger issues - and save the world.
