Books Tagged With potential trigger - murder

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Summary: Beware the Gray People Each Seeking, the magic that protects the town of Carra must be renewed, which means the children of the Exalted Family must go into hiding. Whether through disguise or bribe, through trusted friends or perfect hiding places, every child of the Priest family must avoid capture for the full day of The Seeking. When things go wrong with the renewal, it’s up to seventeen-year-old Dahlia, the middle child of the Priest family, and her girlfriend, Bisa, to escape Carra and find the magical beings responsible for the protection. They must learn who would require such a cruel game every year and if the protection of the Gray People is really worth such a price. What they will discover is far worse.

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Summary: The daughter of a werewolf hunter will become so much more. Thirteen-year-old Mercy Pinkerton thought her days of cleaning house, fixing the barricade, and wiring electric prongs were over. She would finally get to train to be a werewolf hunter, what she has always wanted. She doesn’t know that there are worse monsters in Kanta than the werewolves that plague Kanta each night. Danger lurks around every corner. She’ll have to avoid her father’s temper and follow his orders, even if it means risking her life. It is supposed to be Mercy’s big day, but will take a drastic turn for the worse. She’ll have to keep her wits about her, remember her training, and prepare for the ultimate test of bravery if she hopes to survive. Book 1 of The Wolves of Kanta series

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Summary: The collection of the Stolen series, including Stolen, Broken, and Chosen. Dive into the heartwarming young adult fantasy series featuring faeries, dragons, and a magical world filled with cruel queens and shadow wolves. Bonus short story: Protector of Dreams featuring Mawr the Living Statue. Stolen In the garden, nothing is as it seems It’s difficult taking care of a delusional father by yourself. Sixteen-year-old Shaleigh Mallet would rather explore and photograph dilapidated buildings than cater to her father’s dark episodes. But when she is kidnapped by a creature who carries her atop a flying bicycle into another world, she realizes this wasn’t the escape she wanted. In a kingdom known as the Garden where minotaurs pull carriages and parties are held in hot air balloons, Madam Cloom and her faerie servant Teagan rule over the land with incredible but terrifying magic. Shaleigh must prove that she is the reincarnation of a long dead ruler, not because she believes it to be true, but because it’s her only chance at survival. With the help of a trespassing faerie, a stoatling, and a living statue, Sheleigh thinks she has outwitted everyone. She’ll break bonds of servitude and finally make her way home. What she doesn’t realize is that she’s played right into the hands of a far worse enemy. Broken A land has fallen. An escape was made. It’s a victory of sorts, but at what price? Shaleigh has made a terrible mistake, one she may not ever be able to fix. Lost and in a strange land with anger and death all around her, she must navigate her way through treacherous lands on her quest for redemption. Along the way she’ll have to negotiate with the mercurial Queen of the Fae, survive the dangers of the Masked King’s realm, and seek out a terrifying fire dragon. With two powerful beings hot on her trail, Shaleigh has no choice but to keep moving, or else face the dangerous magic of the Madness that has already caused so much pain and heartache. With her sights on helping her friends and her heart longing for home, Shaleigh is determined, but will it be enough? Chosen Can she stop what she unleashed? How in the world did Shaleigh Mallett find herself standing on a volcanic mountain facing the fire dragon, Tanwen? She isn’t supposed to be here. She’s supposed to be in high school, studying for classes and exploring abandoned buildings with her best friend. But no, she’s stuck on the Peak of Gwern, hoping that the dragon will somehow show mercy and stop the Madness that plagues them. There is still so much to do, so many wrongs to right. She can’t abandon her friends after she’s come so far. She won’t abandon them. Not even Talek, who is all but consumed by the Madness. She must take down Keriam the Magician, she must face the Bloody Forest, and she must lead if she ever wants to see home again.

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Summary: What would you do to protect what’s yours? Donnie’s whole world changed the day he met Nate at The Stop, a cruising spot outside a small Texas town. Nate saw him, knew him, cared for him, and then one day, in an incomprehensible act of violence, Nate was taken from him. Broken but not beaten, Donnie steps into Nate’s role at The Stop with one goal in mind: find the man who murdered his lover and see justice served no matter the cost. “Breathless and brutal, THE STOP is an unflinching Texas revenge noir awash in moral complexity and the coded lives and languages of the marginalized. W. Dale Jordan’s insistent, riveting prose and imminently relatable cast of characters, force the reader to confront the inconvenient reality of who society chooses to preserve and defends against who is abandoned to slip through the cracks.”--Mark Wheaton, author of Emily Eternal "THE STOP by W. Dale Jordan is raw and honest and gripping. In this exciting suspense/revenge tale, Jordan explores an aspect of gay culture that is often overlooked, but he does so with compassion and a lack of judgement that humanizes his characters to a thrilling degree."--Mark Allan Gunnells, author of 2B and BEFORE HE WAKES

Word Count: Click here to reveal75000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Be careful what you wish for … After eleven years trapped in the Spadros crime syndicate, 23-year-old private eye Jacqueline Spadros is an independent woman, free to run her investigation business. But her problems are only beginning. Deeply in debt, Jacqui is in danger from both the rogue Spadros men calling themselves “The Ten of Spades” and the ruthless Red Dog Gang — who may be one and the same. Jacqui is determined to find Black Maria, the key to the identity of the Red Dog Gang’s secretive leader. To survive long enough to do that, Jacqui needs a paying case. The one she's offered may put her in the most danger of all …

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Summary: As a private eye closes in on her city's secrets, there are those who will go to any lengths to stop her. After the horrific events of our last chapter, Jacqui's in a medical predicament. If she wants to stay free from the Spadros crime syndicate, she has to find the cure for her condition - and time's running out. But just when Jacqui thinks she's found what she's after, she finds herself instead in a much bigger - and deadlier - situation. She's getting closer to discovering what mechanisms really lie beneath the city. And the Red Dog Gang isn't the only one who wants her stopped. Warning: on-screen death, captivity, child murder, terror, blood, bad language, smoking.  

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Summary: Jacqui faces her biggest mystery yet - and her greatest fear. A drive-by shooting leaves Jacqueline Spadros with little remaining support for the life she's built apart from her estranged husband Tony. As evidence grows that the Hart Family is behind the attacks, which up to now have been laid on the doorstep of the notorious Red Dog Gang, Tony brings formal charges against the Harts before the Commission. Jacqui wants to stop the Red Dog Gang and learn the truth about Charles Hart's obsession with her. But the truth is stranger than she ever imagined. And what she learns changes everything. This is chapter 7 of a 13-part future steampunk noir series. Please begin with The Jacq of Spades and read the books in order.

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Summary: Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine it could happen to us... In the years since the Twelve-Minute War, the world has fallen into darkness and chaos. The combined impact of nuclear, biological, and chemical agents has rendered the majority of the world's water unfit for human consumption. Only the bravest men and women dare to venture out into the desolate, radioactive wasteland to collect this precious commodity. Matt Freeborn is one such man... a weller. A lone drifter, Freeborn's gaze is fixed ever east, away from the horrors of his past. Danger is always one step behind, however, as the weller's precious cargo makes him a prime target for attack. Savage road pirates, grotesque mutants, ravenous cannibals, and ruthless private armies all lurk behind every dune. Armed with his trusty sidearm, the Well Digger, Freeborn is fully prepared to handle any of these terrors, but there are still things even the weller fears: the bogeymen of the wastes... distillers. A high-octane, post-apocalyptic thrill ride from the author of Birthright and War of the Worlds: Goliath!

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Summary: In The Wrath of Leviathan, the second book of the BetterWorld trilogy, Waylee faces life in prison for daring to expose MediaCorp's schemes to control the world. Exiled in São Paulo, her sister Kiyoko and their hacker friends continue the fight, seeking to end the conglomerate's stranglehold on virtual reality, information, and politics. But MediaCorp and their government allies may quash the rebellion before it takes off. And unknown to Kiyoko and her friends, a team of ruthless mercenaries is after them, and is closing in fast.

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Summary:

“Wanna know what sucks most about an apocalypse? You don’t get to pick which kind you get!”

Surviving a worldwide plague can lead to unlikely alliances, especially in Hanning County.

It's hard enough for Ashley Korrs keep the tribe of young survivors alive and together, but the pressure is on to learn all she can from their unlikely sage, Toby Cracken, the handyman, before he succumbs to his mental decline. When Toby is snatched by a violent gang, Ashley must consider cozying up with old adversaries to rescue him. Adversaries like the notorious MacKenzie Tanner—a girl as manageable as a wolverine stuck in a water bucket with the lid on—and her twin outlaw boyfriends who may be the chaos needed to free Toby... if Ashley can keep the whole thing from going off the rails.

Dirty secrets are exposed as the truth comes to light in this story of small town reputations, rivalries, and survival.

“Rich with pulpy apocalyptic dysfunction, ‘gritty’ is not a raw enough description—put on your grown-up pants before taking this journey.”

Reader Advisory: This novella contains violence, explicit language, graphic sexual content, and gritty, adult situations; kinda like life.

Word Count: Click here to reveal63,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: There are vipers in Arajon, from the Valley to the Bronze. Grace Harrington, the Dowager Archon of Arajon, is approaching her first anniversary on the throne she claimed following the death of her husband, slain at her own hands. But her position is so precarious that even the unwelcome presence of the former assassin Nathaniel Morgenstern, watching over her at her father’s behest, cannot protect her from her enemies. The city’s press has turned against her, the Bronze is rallying behind Odessa White, and her last hope of support from the Druids has gone up in smoke. The lies are adding up. A coup is coming for Grace, and she is running out of people in the city to trust…

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Summary:

Withrow Surrett, the most sarcastic vampire for a country mile, makes an annual Appalachian pilgrimage to keep tabs on nocturnal colleagues and his last living friend from mortal days. What should be a quiet week among familiar faces quickly fills with undead rednecks, folk magic, murder, a rookie detective and Withrow's own psychotic cousin who insists on trying to help. Because even vampires have cousins, and Southern ones especially so.

As Withrow chases the phantoms of conspiracy and paranoia across moonlit forests, abandoned factories, shadowy back roads and seedy bars - all the quiet little places humans fear to tread - Withrow also struggles with who he wants to be. Can a monster find a place among family and friends?

Fans of The Black Knight Chronicles, The Tome of Bill, and Fred, the Vampire Accountant will love this series!

Word Count: Click here to reveal31600 (Click here to hide)

Summary: Can love last when one won’t leave, and the other can’t stay? Fear of moving farther away from his family had cost Eer the love of his life, but now, after twenty-five turns, Kat has returned…with a son, and Eer’s feelings resurface as if it had been only yesterday since they’d first kissed. But any hope Eer has of rekindling their love seems doomed to fail when a murderer’s taste for revenge forces Kat to choose between endangering their family or running… and leaving Eer behind, again. ___________________________ wordcount: 31,600 words TALES OF THE FOREST is an ongoing series of standalone stories linked by a forest world. Content warnings are available in the book's front matter and on the author's website.

Word Count: Click here to reveal123,000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: This city of fools will be brought to order! Deposed, her father presumed dead, her friends slaughtered and the cavern in chaos, Grace Harrington is on the run and entirely alone. The only ally she has left is the man she hates most in the world: Nathaniel Morgenstern, the assassin who murdered her mother and seduced her father. Grace’s only hope of reclaiming the throne and saving her people is to seek the aid of Éamon Tadhg, the High Druid of Arajon. But she needs to survive the hostile streets of Iole City before she can even think about fleeing to the Violet Valley. Nathaniel made a vow to Doran to protect Grace, but he could never have imagined how quickly and horrifically their lives would fall apart. Grieving the dual losses of the man he loved and his new friend Tsa Lien, Nathaniel devotes himself to the service of the overthrown Lady Archon who despises him – even if it costs him everything he is.

Word Count: Click here to reveal73000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: “Your bullets can’t kill me. I’m already dead. Inside and out.” When his fiancée is brutally murdered on Valentine’s Day, Ash Corvus is unwittingly plunged into the nightmarish world of the Arpadeem, or as the movies call them… Vampires. What begins as a personal quest for revenge becomes a struggle for the fate of the city itself as Ash’s search takes him into Cedar Rapids’ secret criminal underworld. Ash must cast off his humanity and become a monster himself if he hopes to bring vengeance upon the monster who murdered his love… the man with the scar. A dark, violent thriller from the author of The Weller and War of the Worlds: Goliath!

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Summary: After suffering a savage assault in a bathroom as a girl, Gertie meets the man of her dreams. Her trauma soon vanishes as they begin to build a life together. However, with the sudden death of her beloved Jack, and the return of her school bully—Bea—years later, Gertie's long-buried trauma bubbles to the surface. All the think is one thing: Revenge. Inserting herself into Bea's life, nobody is safe—not her parents, not her children. Hell, not even the pTA members of her daughter's high school. Starting a sordid romance with Bea in a bid to destroy her life from the inside out, Gertie soon learns revenge is messier than she thought. BUT A GIRLS' GOTTA DO WHAT A GIRL'S GOTTA DO. “A vicious novella that promises to upset even the most seasoned horror reader in the best ways possible.” – Caitlin Marceau, award-winning author of This is Where We Talk Things Out ”Vicarious left me grinning and gagging. Violent, vile a d absolutely delightful.” – I.S. Belle, author of Zombabe

Word Count: Click here to reveal10000 (Click here to hide)

Summary: A Supernatural Noir Mystery Did faeries spirit away the young moonshiner? Sean Joye can’t help but wonder, yet he hopes for a more reasonable explanation. Fleeing to America in 1923 as soon as he’d mustered out of the army, Sean aims to put Ireland’s civil war, his assassin past, and faerie attention behind him. But his one-time lover, Caleb, is missing. As Sean treks through a November ice storm in search of his friend, the forest itself bristles with fae ill intent, and a strange old mountain woman would just as soon shoot Sean as feed him squirrel stew. Calamity reigns unless he cracks the secret of Otter Springs and its water of life.

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Summary: A man arrives at his new job. A woman lets one last customer into her shop. Two teens sneak away to a party. These all sound normal. But these simple actions are on worlds that it's unlikely you've seen before. Twenty short stories bring you twenty weird worlds you won't soon forget.

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Summary: Runa, alone, survives the massacre. But a traitorous mage has captured her king’s essence—his vital energy, linked to a long line of wolf-shifter rulers. Unless Runa can recover that power by dawn, the mage will command not only her, but also her kindred. Yet Runa is the weakest of the pack. Her quest will fail unless she finds help, and the dark winter woods is deserted but for a small dog and a young soldier.  Prince Paolo is eager for adventure and stirred to action by Runa’s ordeal. As they learn to respect each other’s unique skills, attraction blossoms. But the mage is a trusted figure from Paolo’s past. And he’s filled his lair with marvelous steam-powered machinery and ambitious plans for the prince’s future. Paolo can’t help but have second thoughts about Runa’s story and must choose between his promise to Runa and the life he’d hardly dared to envision. Can Runa recover the king’s essence and protect her kindred?  The answers lie in the wolf’s very heart.

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Summary: Courage. Honor. Loyalty. All fine things, but they’ve led John Ringo to kill a man. He was raised right and he knows he’s not a murderer, but otherwise he’s a mystery even to himself. Doc Holliday claims to have some insights, but Doc is too devoted to Wyatt Earp to spare much attention for the man who’s already lost his soul. Which leaves Johnny Ringo prey to the distractions of a demon. Imaginary or not, if this creature abandons him, too, then surely his sanity is forfeit – and what will his life be worth then? This Queer Weird West novel follows these three along the complex trails that lead into and out of Tombstone, Arizona in 1881.