Books like Death — picked by fans

I was obsessed when I read ACOTAR, but this book brought my obsession to a whole new level. Why am I recommending this book? Rhysand. I love a complex, layered character, and he is one complicated male.

What I loved most about this book is that it started out going in one direction but then spun on its axis and went in a totally different direction than I anticipated. When a book can surprise me in every way, that’s special.

I. Love. This. Book.

Imagine if Rapunzel was kidnapped by a vampire king but then hunted the people who could kill her with one bite.

This is a fantastic book with vampires, magic, wings, and a female main character that’s realising not everything is as she was led to believe. There wasn’t a moment that I doubted it would be 5 stars. 

One of my favourite things is how she struggles to accept the truth about the people she thought were her family. She also has to ally with a vampire who has a dangerous curiosity for her, and I loved trying to work out why.

This is a RH, urban fantasy academy setting book about a girl seeking vengeance for her brother, whom she believes was murdered by someone at the school.

The interesting part to this story is that the FMC’s main suspects are the men she ends up desiring. It’s a delicate balance of getting closer while investigating them, and other strange/horrible shenanigans going on around the school.

I do warn you, dear reader, that book 1 ends on a super cliffhanger, and the mystery is not solved. I’m currently reading the third book and everything just goes deeper (that’s what she said).

One of the book boyfriends is a literal dragon shifter, it counts, and the other one is a harpy shifter, big black feathery wings. Dreamy.

This is a first world post-apocalyptic dark romantasy that is the fluffiest of the bunch.

It’s not going to make you think too hard, but it’s loaded with spice, fun action scenes against a horde of demons, and heartwarming character growth.

You’ll definitely be able to relate to the FMC’s struggles with this huge hunk flaring his wings and unaliving everyone who touches her.

I loved that we got to the main story so quickly and its unique beginning.

A man kidnaps his pretty neighbor and locks her in a cage in his basement to keep her safe from a deadly virus. This is chapter one. Her rage-fueled reaction to this felt authentic, and until the pandemic kills almost everyone, bringing about the end of the world, we are on her side.

I love the banter and dynamics between the two main characters, who might have dated before the end of the world if they’d been brave enough to connect, but only met because of the abduction. When they emerge into the new world together, I love that they choose to stick together, rebuild, and include others.

This book could have been bleak, but instead, like the wildflowers, it is surprisingly sweet and hopeful. 

I love fantasy books; the escapism is unbelievable and I love the way Sandra can bring the smut, the love, Arch-angels, vikings, immortality, and Satan into a series. I could not order these quickly enough and it was because I can't hold more physical copies that I picked up Kindle Unlimited. And realised just how many brilliant Indie Authors there are and I was hooked.

Imagine The Little Mermaid but the mermaid is actually a killer siren and the prince is actually a siren hunter/pirate, and you’ve got To Kill A Kingdom.

If you’re not sold by that alone (because I certainly was) well, this standalone fantasy also has seafaring action, a variety of vibrant kingdoms, strong character arcs, morally grey characters, dashing pirates, siren magic, and of course, a slow burn enemies to lovers romance (you may have noticed I’m a sucker for those.)

I only wish this was a series and not a standalone.

This is the book that made me want to write a historical romance. The protagonist, Miss Jane Fairfield, is outlandishly rich. But she can’t get married and leave her younger sister, who has epilepsy, to the well-meaning but cruel treatments recommended by their uncle, who is also their guardian. Since her money makes her an appealing target for many an impoverished rake, Jane has to work extra to become unappealing while still seeming like she’s trying to attract a man. She wears obnoxiously bright clothing, insults people with the kindest tone, and—in one desperate attempt to make a man be mean to her—takes the food right off his plate. This is a book about people trying to put you in your place and keep you small. And let me give you a hint: it’s a romance, so there’s definitely a Happily Ever After, and that includes small-minded people getting their… show more.

In 1950s Sewanee, Chang and Katherine slowly fall in love and find that the Souths of Korea and Tennessee are not that different after all, both subject to lingering issues of class, family, race, and civil war. I love the poetic language in this novel, as well as its ambitious story and the complexity invested in every relation.

West Virginia’s Jayne Anne Phillips made a noisy arrival on the literary scene with her triumphant collection of short stories, Black Tickets. One of the first of the “dirty realists,” Phillips paints the backroads and forgotten lives of rural West Virginia during a time when that state, and many like it, were on no one’s radar. As one of her characters says, “This ain’t the South…this is the goddam past.” Phillips captures the loneliness and the disconnected lives of young women and men in a way few books have done.