Hell for Hire has excellent worldbuilding plus great characters (especially the love interest witch who spent most of the book nurturing a magical forest). I definitely recommend this series-starter!
A hulked-out wrath demon who eats gamer rage and loves cats, a shapeshifting lust demon who enjoys their food a bit too much, and a void demon who doesn't see the point of any of this. They're not the sort of mercenaries you hire on purpose, but Bex wouldn't trust her life to anyone else.
Ever since the ancient Mesopotamian king Gilgamesh decided death wasn't for him, killed the gods, and conquered the afterlife, times have been rough for a free demon. But the denizens of the Nine Hells aren't the quitting sort, and Bex and her team…
This is technically other-world fantasy, but it reads like a mix between urban fantasy and a very slow-burn regency romance. The combination of complicated families, a strong female protagonist, a gentle yet powerful love interest (with wings!), and interesting worldbuilding were exactly what I was craving.
Plus the series is complete, so there's no need to wait for new books. (Although, once you're done, you may find yourself hitting the author's follow button and hoping she'll hurry up and write some more books --- you have been warned.)
The Lord of Stariel is dead. Long live the Lord of Stariel. Whoever that is.
Everyone knows who the magical estate will choose for its next ruler. Or do they?
Will it be the lord’s eldest son, who he despised?
His favourite nephew, with the strongest magical land-sense?
His scandalous daughter, who ran away from home years ago to study illusion?
Hetta knows it won’t be her, and she’s glad of it. Returning home for her father’s funeral, all Hetta has to do is survive the family drama and avoid entanglements with irritatingly attractive local men until the Choosing. Then…
Winter Lost has more points of view than usual for this series, and it took me slightly longer than usual to get hooked as a result. But, in the end, the story turned out to be one of my favorites (in part because of the extra points of view --- very fun to hear more from Adam).
This is book 14 in a series that should be read in order. So, in case it isn't obvious, start with Moon Called if you've never met Mercy.
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, must stop a disaster of world-shattering proportions in this exhilarating entry in the #1 New York Times bestselling series.
In the supernatural realms, there are creatures who belong to winter. I am not one of them. But like the coyote I can become at will, I am adaptable.
My name is Mercy Thompson Hauptman, and my mate, Adam, is the werewolf who leads the Columbia Basin Pack, the pack charged with keeping the people who live and work in the Tri-Cities of Washington State safe. It’s a hard…
Infiltrate a rotten pack? Easy until I fall for the alpha.
I'm Elspeth, the petite werewolf enforcer no one sees coming. My mission: shut down a dangerous pack steeped in dark blood magic, a pack that just happens to be led by the alpha who surprised me yesterday with an out-of-the-blue offer to mate.
Accepting Orion's offer is the only way in, and I figure a mate bond can be broken as easily as it's created. This mate bond, however, immediately spirals out of control. Mysterious tattoos pop up on both of our arms, awakening lethal new powers within me and threatening to destroy everything I once believed in.
Because Orion's pack isn't rotten, and Orion is no criminal. He's my fated mate. Now the corrupt Council I once served hunts both of us while we race to unlock the mate bond's powers. Will embracing our connection be our salvation, or will it hasten the bloody end for my pack and my mate?
Don't miss this first book in a new romantic urban fantasy series by the USA Today bestselling author who has been described as a “good choice for Patricia Briggs fans.”
