Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.
Today is a freebie, and I’m going to focus on recent paranormal romances I enjoyed. I don’t read a lot of horror, but I do love a swoon-worthy paranormal love story! lol Let’s check them out!
Title: A Werewolf’s Guide to Seducing a Vampire
Author: Sarah Hawley
Series: Glimmer Falls #3
Page Length: 448
Publication Date: Aug. 13, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: Ben Rosewood never meant to be bound to a vampire succubus, especially one as sexy-yet-terrifying as Eleanora Bettencourt-Devereux, but he has to admit there are some fang-tastic perks….
Werewolf Ben Rosewood is happy with his life. One hundred percent. Everything is fine. His business, Ben’s Plant Emporium, is thriving, and he’s even expanding the shop. His anxiety disorder is…well, it’s been better, but that comes with the territory of running a business and having beastly urges every full moon, right? As for romance—who has the time? Though his family is desperate to see him settled, Ben is fine approaching forty as a single werewolf. But after drunkenly bidding on and winning a supposedly-possessed crystal on eBay one night, he finds himself face-to-face with a beautiful but angry vampire.
Eleanora Bettencourt-Devereux is a rare breed—a vampire succubus born from two elite European bloodlines during medieval times. But thanks to an evil witch, she’s been stuck in a crystal since she was thirty, forced to obey orders from the possessor of the rock. Eleanora’s been dreaming of breaking the spell and severing the witch’s head for centuries. But did this witch really sell her to someone new, and for only ninety-nine cents?
Eleanora would claw this werewolf’s heart out and eat it, if only the binding spell would allow her to. But Eleanora and Ben soon realize they can help each other with both vengeful and less hostile needs. And why not have a little fun along the way?
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Review
Title: Lightning in Her Hands
Author: Raquel Vasquez Gilliland
Series: Witch of Wild Things #2
Pub. Date: Oct. 15, 2024
Page Length: 352
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: Gifted—or cursed—with the power to influence the weather, one woman must embrace her wild heart in the next electric romance from the author of Witch of Wild Things.
Teal Flores is desperate for two things—control over her gift of weather, and a date to her ex’s wedding. The first isn’t possible until she finds her long-lost mother, but the second has a very handsome last-ditch solution: Carter Velasquez.
Carter needs Teal too. His chance at receiving an inheritance is dependent on him being married by age thirty (blame his traditional Cuban grandmother), so who better to pose as his wife than Teal? But fake marriage and cohabitation prove tricky when mutual attraction charges the atmosphere—quite literally for Teal, whose volatile emotions cause lightning strikes.
Together, Teal and Carter embark on a quest to find her mother and the answers she’s searching for. But along the way, they’ll discover something even better: a love that can weather any storm.
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Review
Title: Eclipse
Author: Kat Kinney
Series: Blood Moon, Texas Shifters #6
Pub. Date: Oct. 3, 2024
Page Length: 327
Synopsis: Gifted hacker and vampire resistance leader Rowan Finley has lived her entire life caught between two worlds, divided by the dual bloodlines that flow through her veins. Her vampire family exploited her as a child for her rare varewolf blood. Now she may be the only person the werewolves, united with her brother Vlad’s rebel vampire faction, trusts to send in as a spy to gain intelligence on the movements of the Vampire Nation at a time when a dangerous rogue operative threatens to destabilize the werewolf military. But allying with shapeshifters will require betraying her mother Zara, leader of the Vampire Nation.
Software engineer August Caldwell has been tasked by the Blood Moon pack with dual missions. He has to locate Matteo Rossi, an unstable neural manipulator and projectionist before he can cause irreparable harm to the werewolf pack structure. Even more daunting, he must find Guillermo Montemayor, leader of the North American werewolves, who has gone missing. Rowan Finley is a complication. She can’t know he still bears her claiming mark from a mission where she bound him to her temporarily in order to save his life. In order to keep her safe, he’ll have to conceal his feelings for her, as well as the true reason he walked away.
As a chilling communication throws the werewolf community into revolt, August and Rowan must race against the clock to stop a madman intent on destroying the Vampire Nation and countless innocents, while holding werewolves across the nation hostage.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
Title: Tempting the Black Wolf
Author: N.J. Walters
Series: Lone Wolf Legacy #3
Page Length: 276
Pub. Date: Sept. 9, 2024
Synopsis: The wrath of the black wolf is unleashed…in this scorching finale of New York Times bestselling author N.J. Walters’s enticingly sexy Lone Wolf Legacy series
I am an immortal predator, driven to hunt and protect the wolf packs from danger—especially rogue wolves. This destiny is my blood, my bone. My will.
There are two other lone wolves—one gray, one white—but I am the strongest. The most powerful. And we all share an enemy, who set a trap for each of a woman with our coloring who will draw us into danger and make our wolves howl with need.
But I won’t give in to lust or passion.
I already know the face of the woman who is my supposed a stunning and powerful mage named Onyx. We’ve been circling each other, wary, fueled by deeply intense attraction and fierce distrust.
But the enemy of my enemy is my ally…for now. It’s a brief truce, laced with raw, primal hunger.
Because when this is over—if we survive—we’ll have to go head-to-head one last time.
And I never lose.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Review
Title: Haunted Ever After
Author: Jen Deluca
Series: Boneyard Key #1
Page Length: 352
Publication Date: Aug. 13, ,2024
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: It’s love at first haunting in a seaside town that raises everyone’s spirits.
Small Florida coastal towns often find themselves scrambling for the tourism dollars that the Orlando theme parks leave behind. And within the town limits of Boneyard Key, the residents decided long ago to lean into its ghostliness. Nick Royer, owner of the Hallowed Grounds coffee shop, embraces the ghost tourism that keeps the local economy afloat, as well as his spectral roommate. At least he doesn’t have to run air-conditioning.
Cassie Rutherford possibly overreacted to all her friends getting married and having kids by leaving Orlando and buying a flipped historic cottage in Boneyard Key. Though there’s something unusual with her new home (her laptop won’t charge in any outlets, and the poetry magnets on her fridge definitely didn’t read “WRONG” and “MY HOUSE” when she put them up), she’s charmed by the colorful history surrounding her. And she’s catching a certain vibe from the grumpy coffee shop owner whenever he slips her a free slice of banana bread along with her coffee order.
As Nick takes her on a ghost tour, sharing town gossip that tourists don’t get to hear, and they spend nights side-by-side looking into the former owners of her haunted cottage, their connection solidifies into something very real and enticing. But Cassie’s worried she’s in too deep with this whole (haunted) home ownership thing…and Nick’s afraid to get too close in case Cassie gets scared away for good.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Review
Title: The Vicious King
Author: Gina L. Maxwell
Series: Deviant Kings #3
Page Length: 429
Publication Date: July 23, 2024
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: In a war where shadows and light collide, only the vicious can be victorious.
After Finnian Verran, the exiled Dark Fae prince, rescues Taryn Emory, estranged daughter of the One True Queen, his fate becomes entwined with hers as they embark on a mission to find the Spear of Assal—a powerful weapon of the gods—before the ruthless Day Court King can use it to destroy Faerie.
Thrown together on their quest, an undeniable attraction ignites, burning even hotter when Finn introduces Taryn to the seductive pleasures of shibari. But when the spear slips through their fingers and lands in the hands of their enemy, they must put past hurts behind them and help the one person they both resent—Taryn’s mother—for a chance to save Faerie.
Venturing across the veil, they face the ultimate test of their loyalty and love. With the fate of faekind hanging by a thread, they must rally their strength and allies. The odds might be stacked against them, but for his people and the female he loves, this Dark prince will fight like the most vicious of kings.
In the breathtaking finale of the Deviant Kings trilogy, witness the epic battles for power and love as the youngest Verran fights to restore his people’s honor and claim the heart of his queen.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
Title: The Undermining of Twyla and Frank
Author: Megan Bannen
Series: The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy #2
Page Length: 464
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Publisher: Orbit Books
Synopsis: The entire town of Eternity was shocked when widowed, middle-aged Twyla Banneker partnered up with her neighbor and best friend, Frank Ellis, to join the Tanrian Marshals. Eight years later, Twyla and Frank are still patrolling the dangerous land of Tanria, the former prison of the Old Gods.
Twyla might look like a small town mom who brings cheesy potatoes to funerals and whips up a batch of cookies for the school bake sale, but her rewarding career in law enforcement has been a welcome change from the domestic grind of mom life, despite the misgivings of her grown children.
Fortunately (or unfortunately) a recent decrease in on-the-job peril has made Twyla and Frank’s job a lot safer … and a lot less exciting. So when they discover the body of one of their fellow marshals covered in liquid glitter–and Frank finds himself the inadvertent foster dad to a baby dragon–they are more than happy to be back on the beat.
Soon, the friends wind up ensnared in a nefarious plot that goes far deeper than any lucrative Tanrian mineshaft. But as the danger closes in and Twyla and Frank’s investigation becomes more complicated, so does their easy friendship. And Twyla starts to realize that her true soul mate might just be the person who has lived next door all along…
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Review
Title: Sweet Nightmare
Author: Tracy Wolff
Series: The Calder Academy #1
Page Length: 496
Publication Date: May 7, 2024
Publisher: Entangled
Synopsis: The scariest school on earth
Is about to experience real fear…
Most schools are about being the best. This school? It’s about being the worst. Calder Academy is where the rogue paranormals go. The ones who break the rules or lose control. And when that happens for vamps, werewolves, witches, and dark fae? It gets pretty freaking scary.
I should know. Because I’m trapped here.
Look, every seventeen-year-old girl thinks their mom is a tyrant. But mine just happens to run Calder Academy, which paints a giant target on my back. The way I make it through these dark halls is by steering clear of the things―and kids―who go bump in the night.
Especially Jude Abernathy-Lee.
But when a freak storm hits our isolated island, I’m stuck without a backup plan. The power is gone. The lights are out. And our worst nightmares are suddenly real―and out for blood.
Now the only way to survive is to align myself with one evil to avoid the other.
And the only thing worse than the idea of getting close to Jude? Secretly loving every minute of it.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Review
Title: Happy Medium
Author: Sarah Adler
Page Length: 416
Publication Date: April 30, 2024
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: A clever con woman must convince a skeptical, sexy farmer of his property’s resident real-life ghost if she’s to save them all from a fate worse than death, in this delightful new novel from the author of Mrs. Nash’s Ashes .
Fake spirit medium Gretchen Acorn is happy to help when her best ( wealthiest) client hires her to investigate the unexplained phenomena preventing the sale of her bridge partner’s struggling goat farm. Gretchen may be a fraud, but she’d like to think she’s a beneficent one. So if “cleansing” the property will help a nice old man finally retire and put some much-needed cash in her pockets at the same time, who’s she to say no?
Of course, it turns out said bridge partner isn’t the kindly AARP member Gretchen imagined—Charlie Waybill is young, hot as hell, and extremely unconvinced that Gretchen can communicate with the dead. (Which, fair.) Except, to her surprise, Gretchen finds herself face-to-face with the very real, very chatty ghost that’s been wreaking havoc during every open house. And he wants her to help ensure Charlie avoids the same family curse that’s had Everett haunting Gilded Creek since the 1920s.
Now, Gretchen has one month to convince Charlie he can’t sell the property. Unfortunately, hard work and honesty seem to be the way to win over the stubborn farmer—not exactly Gretchen’s strengths. But trust isn’t the only thing growing between them, and the risk of losing Charlie to the spirit realm looms over Gretchen almost as annoyingly as Everett himself. To save the goat farm, its friendly phantom, and the man she’s beginning to love, Gretchen will need to pull off the greatest con of her being fully, genuinely herself.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
Title: Protecting the Gray Wolf
Author: N.J. Walters
Series: Lone Wolf Legacy #2
Publication Date: Feb. 12, 2024
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Synopsis: If they want his immortality—they’ll have to take it…in the second deeply sexy and bold Lone Wolf Legacy series from New York Times bestselling author N.J. Walters
I’m used to other wolves coming for me. They want their chance to try and take out the infamous Gray Wolf. And every single one of them fails—because lone wolves aren’t like the others…we’re stronger. Harder. Meaner. Immortal.
But it also means I’m alone. No pack. No alpha. Just the three of us—white, gray, and black. Two too many, if you ask me. But with power-hungry mages gunning for us, I don’t have the luxury of reflection. They’re in New York City, and I Will. Hunt. Them. Down. Which is when I see her, and every cell in my body is on alert, filled with the kind of primal longing I never knew I was capable of. Luna West may be human, but there’s some kind of thread connecting us. Call it destiny, fate…or voracious animal hunger.
I know she’s bait. She’s meant to tempt me, to make me weak. But even if I could resist her, I’m not sure I want to. Because I’ve never denied my wolf anything…especially the chance to raise some serious hell. And I’m not about to start now.
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Review
Great list, Julie! I also focused mine on paranormal romances (and monster romances, witchy/vampy/wolfy romances, etc.) today! 😍 I was just waffling over whether I wanted to read Hawley’s third book cos I didn’t end up loving the first as much as everyone else… But that purple cover and werewolves has me really tempted, lol.
Thanks, Dini! I liked all three, but I think the first was my fave. lol
Great list!! I always love a good paranormal romance. Undermining of Twyla and Frank is such a great one.
Yes! I really enjoyed that one too. I don’t read a lot of romances with older characters, and I adored their relationship.
Great list! The only one I’ve read so far is the Jen DeLuca book — I love the cozy/paranormal/romance vibe!
Thank you! 🙂
Good choices, Julie. I don’t normally read horror either, so paranormal is a good fit here. I need to read Haunting Ever After, that is my comfort zone.