The Best of Women In Fantasy and Paranormal Romance
Discover the best women in fantasy and paranormal romance with this curated list of must-read books, featuring gripping series from authors like Patricia Briggs, Kim Harrison, and Charlaine Harris. From dark urban fantasy in Dead Witch Walking to epic romance in Lord of the Fading Lands, explore unforgettable heroines and worlds filled with magic, vampires, and werewolves. Perfect for fans of strong female leads and sizzling paranormal love stories, this collection spans classics like Twilight and modern gems like Magic Bites. Dive into the ultimate guide to women-authored fantasy and paranormal romance today!
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Grimspace
by Ann Aguirre
When he is accused of murder, Jax's job as a jumper for the Corp seems in jeopardy until March offers her an escape from prison in exchange for establishing a new kind of jumper and ending the Corp's monopoly on outer space travel.
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Lord of the Fading Lands
by C. L. Wilson
With the charm and accessibility of a fairytale, C. L. Wilson tells the Cinderella romance of a simple woodcarver's daughter whose dreams come true when she is claimed as the truemate of a powerful fey lord and discovers passion and magic CA be dangerous bedfellows.
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Queen of the Orcs: King's Property
by Morgan Howell
“Original and vivid. I was captivated.”—Nancy Kress, author of Beggars in Spain Born into hardship, Dar learns to rely on herself alone. When her family betrays her, Dar is conscripted into King Kregant’s army and its brutal campaign to conquer a neighboring country. Now she is bound as a slave to a dreaded regiment of orcs, creatures legendary for their savagery and battle prowess. Rather than cower, Dar rises to the challenge. She learns the unique culture and language of the orcs, survives treachery from both allies and enemies, and struggles to understand a mystical gift that brings her dark, prophetic visions. As the war escalates—amid nightmarish combat and shattering loss—Dar must seize a single chance at freedom.
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The Scent of Shadows
by Vicki Pettersson
When she was sixteen, Joanna Archer was brutally assaulted and left to die in the Nevada desert. By rights, she should be dead. Now a photographer by day, she prowls a different Las Vegas after sunset—a grim, secret Sin City where Light battles Shadow—seeking answers to whom or what she really is . . . and revenge for the horrors she was forced to endure. But the nightmare is just beginning—for the demons are hunting Joanna, and the powerful shadows want her for their own . . .
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Jaran:
by Kate Elliott
Tess had been cursed by an accident of birth, cursed to be the sister of the one man honored by the alien conquerors of human-run space. Her brother, Charles Soerensen, the leader of Earth’s rebellion, had been given a dukedom after his defeat and now ruled over far-distant worlds. And Tess was his only heir, a position and a responsibility she was not yet willing to assume. So she fled to a world in her brother’s domain, a world where—she was soon to discover—the alien conquerors were themselves involved in some covert and dangerous mission. And despite herself, Tess was suddenly forced to become both player and pawn in an interstellar game of intrigue and politics, caught between protecting her brother’s interests, and her own growing involvement with Ilya the leader of the nomadic tribe with whom she had taken shelter. But it soon became apparent to Tess that whether Charles or the aliens were the victors here, Ilya and his people were balanced at a crucial point in their history—a point at which they must either learn to adapt to the incursions of more advanced civilizations or, by remaining rooted in their own traditions, face inevitable extinction.
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The Decoy Princess
by Dawn Cook
The Princess Contessa of Constenopolie has just learned of her true identity-that of an orphan adopted and raised as a decoy to protect the real princess. That doesn't make Contessa less of a royal target.
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Moon Called
by Patricia Briggs
THE FIRST MERCY THOMPSON NOVEL! Moon Called is the novel that introduced Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson to the world and launched a #1 bestselling phenomenon... Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State. But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance. But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her... “In the increasingly crowded field of kick-ass supernatural heroines, Mercy stands out as one of the best.”—Locus
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Alanna
by Tamora Pierce
From Tamora Pierce, the first book in the Song of the Lioness Quartet, honored with the Margaret A. Edwards Award. “From now on I’m Alan of Trebond, the younger twin. I’ll be a knight.” In a time when girls are forbidden to be warriors, Alanna of Trebond wants nothing more than to be a knight of the realm of Tortall. So she finds a way to switch places with her twin brother, Thom. Disguised as a boy, Alanna begins her training as a page at the palace of King Roald. But the road to knighthood, as she discovers, is not an easy one. Alanna must master weapons, combat, and magic, as well as polite behavior, her temper, and even her own heart. Filled with swords and sorcery, adventure and intrigue, good and evil, Alanna’s first adventure begins—one that will lead to the fulfillment of her dreams and make her a legend in the land.
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Summers at Castle Auburn
by Sharon Shinn
A woman blessed, or cursed, with a talent for witchcraft returns to Castle Auburn where she spent her childhood in joy-only to find an aura of dread awaiting her.
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Ill Wind
by Rachel Caine
Someone's finally doing something about the weather...in the first in this series by the New York Times bestselling author of Ink and Bone and the Morganville Vampires series. It's "A FUN READ" (Jim Butcher) from "A FIRST-CLASS STORYTELLER" (Charlaine Harris)... The Wardens Association has been around pretty much forever. Some Wardens control Fire, others control Earth or Water or Wind—and the most powerful can control more than one. Without wardens, Mother Nature would wipe humanity off the face of the earth... Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now, Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So, she’s resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life… Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful warden known. Unfortunately, he’s also on the run from the Council. It seems he’s stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn—making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne’s chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in—well, a place she may be headed. So, she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him—because there’s some bad weather closing in fast... “[Ill Wind’s] forecast calls for murder, mayhem, magic, meteorology—and a fun read. You’ll never watch the Weather Channel the same way again.”—Jim Butcher, bestselling author of The Dresden Files Rachel Caine is the author of several bestselling series, including the Revivalist and Outcast Season novels. Among her many popular novels are Daylighters, The Dead Girls' Dance, Terminated, and Black Dawn.
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Green Rider
by Kristen Britain
Magic, danger, and adventure abound for messenger Karigan G'ladheon in the first book of the New York Times-bestselling Green Rider fantasy series On her long journey home from school after a fight that will surely lead to her expulsion, Karigan G'ladheon ponders her uncertain future. As she trudges through the immense Green Cloak forest, her thoughts are interrupted by the clattering of hooves, as a galloping horse bursts from the woods. The rider is slumped over his mount's neck, impaled by two black-shafted arrows. As the young man lies dying on the road, he tells Karigan he is a Green Rider, one of the legendary messengers of the king of Sacoridia. Before he dies, he begs Karigan to deliver the “life and death” message he bears to King Zachary. When she reluctantly he agrees, he makes her swear on his sword to complete his mission, whispering with his dying breath, “Beware the shadow man...” Taking on the golden-winged horse brooch that is the symbol of the Green Riders, Karigan is swept into a world of deadly danger and complex magic, her life forever changed. Compelled by forces she cannot understand, Karigan is accompanied by the silent specter of the fallen messenger and hounded by dark beings bent on seeing that the message, and its reluctant carrier, never reach their destination. With memorable characters, unique magic, and a story that will keep readers on the edge of their seats, this action-packed, feminist fantasy is a must-read for lovers of the genre.
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Dead Until Dark
by Charlaine Harris
Sink your teeth into the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling Sookie Stackhouse series—the books that gave life to the Dead and inspired the HBO® original series True Blood. Sookie Stackhouse is just a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Bon Temps, Louisiana. She's quiet, doesn't get out much, and tends to mind her own business—except when it comes to her “disability.” Sookie can read minds. And that doesn’t make her too dateable. Then along comes Bill Compton. He’s tall, dark, handsome—and Sookie can’t hear a word he’s thinking. He’s exactly the type of guy she’s been waiting for all her life... But Bill has a disability of his own: he’s a vampire with a bad reputation. And when a string of murders hits Bon Temps—along with a gang of truly nasty bloodsuckers looking for Bill—Sookie starts to wonder if having a vampire for a boyfriend is such a bright idea.
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Dark Lover
by J. R. Ward
When one of his most trusted fighters is killed, orphaning a half-breed daughter, Wrath, the only purebred vampire left on Earth, finds Beth Randall and ushers her into the world of the undead where she must fulfill her destiny by his side. Original.
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Obernewtyn
by Isobelle Carmody
Born with enhanced mental powers, Elspeth Gordie faces persecution by her own post-holocaust world, but she must resist dark forces who hope to use her powers to resurrect the apocalypse.
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Kitty and the Midnight Hour
by Carrie Vaughn
Kitty Norville is a midnight-shift DJ for a Denver radio station-and a werewolf in the closet. Sick of lame song requests, she accidentally starts 'The Midnight Hour', a late-night advice show for the supernaturally disadvantaged. After desperate vampires, werewolves, and witches across the country begin calling in to share their woes, her new show is a raging success. But it's Kitty who can use some help. With one sexy werewolf-hunter and a few homicidal undead on her tail, Kitty may have bitten off more than she can chew...
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Dead Witch Walking
by Kim Harrison
All the creatures of the night gather in "the Hollows" of Cincinnati, to hide, to prowl, to party ... and to feed. Vampires rule the darkness in a predator-eat-predator world rife with dangers beyond imagining -- and it’s Rachel Morgan's job to keep that world civilized. A bounty hunter and witch with serious sex appeal and an attitude, she'll bring 'em back alive, dead ... or undead.
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Bitten
by Kelley Armstrong
On the eve of her marriage, Elena Michaels learns that her fiance has been concealing his secret life as a werewolf, and, as a bonus, he has made her into one also.
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Heart Choice
by Robin D. Owens
On the planet of Celta, where psychic talents thrive and desires flourish, Straif Blackthorne is the last of his kind. After his family dies due to a genetic disorder, Straif is determined to find a cure and rebuild his heritage. Nothing else matters--until he meets Mitchella Clover. But Straif cannot give Mitchella his heart, for she is unable to bear children. Only when tragedy threatens to destroy them do they realize what truly matters, and what they truly mean to each other.
