Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Hidden Gem Books in Urban Fantasy
Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly
meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week will be a different Top Ten list. Everyone
is welcome to
join and link up.
This week is: Ten Hidden Gem Books in
X Genre: Pick a genre and share with us some books that have gone under the radar
in that genre!
For this week I picked Urban
fantasy, and for those of you who don’t know it is a subset of contemporary
fantasy, consisting of novels and stories with supernatural and/or magical
elements set in contemporary, real-world, urban settings--as opposed to
'traditional' fantasy set in imaginary locations.
Many urban fantasy novels are told via a first-person narrative, and
feature supernatural beings such as vampires, shapeshifters, fairies, witches,
sorcerers, and demons. Urban fantasy stories tend to have a high amount of
suspense and action, and sometimes include mystery, romance, humor and/or horror
in the plotline.
*This list is no specific order*
*Click book title or series for
Goodreads link
Detroit
artist Meagan Kelly has had a strong sixth sense all her life, but that doesn't
mean the gorgeous stranger's crazy story—that she's a half-elf, half human heiress—is true. But Meagan can't deny the evidence of her own
eyes—he's Fae. A tall, blond, handsome, pointy-eared elf—and a man she just can't get enough of.
Ric
Thornhill's assignment just got a lot more complicated. The more time he spends
with Meagan, the harder it is to see her as a political tool to prevent an
all-out war between humans and Fae.
Now
Meagan's in a race to master her newly released powers in time to prevent the
conflict, convince a jealous Queen not to strip Ric of his powers, and find out
if she can build a life that straddles two worlds.
A sweeping
story of family, love, and friendship told against the devastating backdrop of
the history of Afghanistan over the last thirty years, The Kite Runner
is an unusual and powerful novel that has become a beloved, one-of-a-kind
classic.
Recent
college grad Alex Conner is thrilled to have landed a job as the Hughes County
coroner/medical examiner in Pierre, South Dakota. But when her first day on the
job ends with a missing corpse, Alex starts to wonder if she would have been
better off collecting unemployment...
When
the cops made some cryptic comments about being careful with the body they
brought in, Alex just thought the boys in blue were messing with her. That is,
until something freaky happens that no amount of med school could have prepared
her for. By the time Alex gets herself together, the body has disappeared and
the other residents of the morgue start talking her ear off.
After
working up the courage to report the missing body, Alex is transferred to the
mysterious Precinct 13 where she discovers that her new co-workers—including a
cute technomage named Jack—are paranormals just like her. Now, Alex is being
encouraged to use her ability to speak to the dead to solve crimes. And despite
being in the middle of nowhere, Hughes County sure does have a lot of
paranormal activity…
Some secrets
are dangerous. This Secret is deadly.
For Secret
McQueen, her life feels like the punch line for a terrible joke. Abandoned at
birth by her werewolf mother, hired as a teen by the vampire council of New
York City to kill rogues, Secret is a part of both worlds, but belongs to
neither. At twenty-two, she has carved out as close to a normal life as a
bounty hunter can.
When an
enemy from her past returns with her death on his mind, she is forced to call
on every ounce of her mixed heritage to save herself—and everyone else in the
city she calls home. As if the fate of the world wasn’t enough to deal with, there’s
Lucas Rain, King of the East Coast werewolves, who seems to believe he and
Secret are fated to be together. Too bad Secret also feels a connection with
Desmond, Lucas’s second-in-command…
For vengeance - would
you trust a vampire?
For justice - could
you betray your family?
For love - are you
ready to question everything you believe in?
Gifted with the ability to read the shadows
of ‘third species’ beings, Caitlin Parish is the Vampire Control Unit’s most
powerful agent. Despite that, her mission to hunt down Kane Malloy – a master
vampire – comes with a death wish. Many have tried, but few have survived.
For Caitlin, tracking Kane is about more than
just professional reputation. With her parents both mysteriously killed 7 years
apart to the day, Caitlin knows that without Kane’s help she is next.
She has four days to make a deal with the
wicked, the irresistible, the treacherous Kane Malloy. The vampire who despises
everything she stands for.
Or
die.
When nurse Tish Everett forced open the pesky
but lovely locket she found at an estate sale, she had no idea she was
answering the call of Criminy Stain, from the far off land of Sang. He’d cast a
spell for her, but when she’s transported right to him, she’s not so sure she’s
ready to be under the spell of another man. (It didn’t go so well last time
with controlling, abusive, domineering Jeff.) If only Criminy wasn’t so
deliciously rakish….
Half
the inhabitants of Sang are Pinkies—human—and the other half are Bludmen, who
in Tish’s world would be called vampires. But they don’t mess with any of the
bat/coffin/no sunlight nonsense. They’re rather like you and me, just more
fabulous, long living, and mostly indestructible. (They're also very good
kissers.) But when the evil Mayor of Manchester (formerly Bludchester)
redoubles his efforts to rid Sang of the Bludmen once and for all, stealing
Tish’s locket in hopes of traveling back to her world himself for reinforcements,
Criminy and Tish must battle ghosts, sea monsters, wayward submarines, a secret
cabal, and thundering Bludmares to get the locket back and allow Tish to return
home…but has she found love with Criminy? Could she stay in Sang forever?
Like father, like son…
Sophie Thibodeau has been on the run from the
father of her son for more than fifteen years. Now her son, Joshua, is
changing, and her greatest fears are about to be realized. He’s going to end up
being just like his father—a man who can change into a wolf.
Dylan Black has been hunting for Sophie since
the night she ran from him—an obsession he cannot afford in the midst of an
impending war. Dylan controls Rhuddin Village, an isolated town in Maine where
he lives with an ancient Celtic tribe. One of the few of his clan who can still
shift into a wolf, he must protect his people from the Guardians, vicious
warriors who seek to destroy them.
When
Sophie and Dylan come together for the sake of their son, their reunion
reignites the fierce passion they once shared. For the first time in years,
Dylan’s lost family is within his grasp. But will he lose them all over again?
Are Joshua and Sophie strong enough to fight alongside Dylan in battle? Nothing
less than the fate of his tribe depends on it…
Fear has a scent. So does desire…
Ana Cordona has been a strong leader for the
lupine shifters who survived after all the males and most of the females in her
pack were mysteriously poisoned. As tough as she is, with no Alpha male, the
pack is vulnerable to the devious shifter Taggart, who wants to claim both
their ranch and Ana as his own. When Connor Armstrong comes back into her life,
promising protection, it’s almost enough to make Ana forget how he walked out
on her before—and reluctantly accept his offer to mate.
The minute Connor sees Ana again, it
reawakens a raw hunger. He must have her for his bondmate—his wolf cries out
for it. But his human side knows he must proceed with caution because of their
complicated past. If he is to truly have her body and soul, he must go beyond
his burning desire and win back her heart. Whatever it takes, he is determined
not to leave her side again.
But
Taggart and his rival pack are not their only enemies. A human element in town
is targeting shifters. Their plan not only threatens Ana and Connor’s future,
but the lives of the entire pack…
Leader
of an Otherborn clan, half-breed vampire Knox Devereaux would do anything to
find a cure for the anti-vamp vaccine slowly starving his people into
extinction. When the FBI contacts him about leading a team of hand-selected
Others on a mission to reclaim the stolen antidote, Knox accepts. His new
assignment places him in direct contact with Special Agent Felicia Locke, the
beautiful human he’s craved since their very first meeting.
Kill first
vampire. Check.
Get drunk. Check
Kiss a boy. Check.
Lose virginity . . .
Get drunk. Check
Kiss a boy. Check.
Lose virginity . . .
After the accident, my world turned
up-side-down.
I wanted to attend college on the East Coast,
but now I’m stuck hunting vampires in Alaska all because the agency saved my
life.
Agent Melcher says my rare blood type makes
me special. It’s toxic to vampires. He says I can help save mankind. But let’s
be real. Basically, I’m a glorified chew toy.
My BF’s avoiding me like the plague.
My new friends are misfit suck junkies.
My hunting partner is an overzealous action
junkie with a killer smile.
Then there’s Fane Donado. Crude, delinquent,
Mr. Joe Cool with the Cheshire grin, horrible dyed hair, and mismatched lips.
As if life weren’t cruel enough, I can’t stop staring at his mouth or
daydreaming about doing wicked things with him.
Clearly the old Aurora is gone forever.
Destroyed in the wreckage. I don’t know who I am anymore, only that I suddenly
have intense cravings and a V.I.P. pass into Alaska’s underworld.
If vampires
found out who I worked for it would be lights out forever. In the meantime, I
have some undead ass to kick.
Warriors of the Rift
Once a generation, the rift between the paranormal world and the human world opens, allowing supernatural entities to cross. Vampire, demon, or shapeshifter, they can save the world-or send it spiraling into chaos.
Once a generation, the rift between the paranormal world and the human world opens, allowing supernatural entities to cross. Vampire, demon, or shapeshifter, they can save the world-or send it spiraling into chaos.
Half-demon, half-human, Nix de la Fuente is
accepted by neither and mistrusted by both. Determined to prove she's more
human than not, she devotes herself to solving crimes between the world's
mortals and its most unsavory undead. But her latest case brings her face to
face with the one vampire she could never resist . . .
Called in
to investigate a string of violent murders, special agent Tobias Caine isn't
interested in rekindling his relationship with Nix. Yet one look and the
vampire knows his need for her is as strong as ever. Once, their all-consuming
passion nearly cost Nix her fragile hold on her humanity. Now, as their hunger
for one another intensifies, exposing them to an unimaginable danger, it could
cost them both their lives.
3 comments
I don't read Urban Fantasy, but these do look like they'd be fantastic reads! :-)
ReplyDeleteMy fave genre is urban fantasy and I loved Precinct 13 and the Secret McQueen sereis. Some of the others are alos on my TBR! Great list.
ReplyDeleteI've only recently gotten into Urban Fantasy- Richelle Mead, Patricia Briggs and Kevin Hearne, so I'll definitely check some of these out!
ReplyDelete