Why am I passionate about this?

Iā€™ve studied various mythologies in-depth since my teens, and Iā€™m in my fifties, so thatā€™s a lot of research. Any author who can successfully merge those mythologies into our present day and make it believable, who can suspend reality for a short time while making me fall in love with their characters, will easily become one of my favorite authors. I had my own world and characters in my head for decades, but didnā€™t expect to ever write it. Life has a strange way of working out, and now I have a completed seven-book urban fantasy series, and more than thirty PNR books surrounding it, giving secondary characters in the main series their HEAs. 


I wrote

Only Human

By Candace Blevins,

Book cover of Only Human

What is my book about?

Book one of the Only Human urban fantasy seriesā€¦

Someone is abducting women and killing men in a way toā€¦

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

The books I picked & why

Book cover of Magic Bites

Candace Blevins Why did I love this book?

The Kate Danielā€™s series has everythingā€”great world building, an interesting backstory that grows with each book, and writers (a husband and wife team) who understand the craft of writing enough to draw you in so you forget youā€™re reading.

Have you ever wondered why magic happened in the bible, but doesnā€™t happen now? Burning bushes and all that?

This series has an explanationā€”the magical pendulum swings back and forth, and weā€™re heading back into a time when magic rules. Unfortunately, technology and magic donā€™t work well together.

By Ilona Andrews,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Magic Bites as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kate Daniels is about to enter a world of gritty magic and dangerous mystery! Vampires, necromancers and mages abound on the city streets, with one kickass heroine in the middle

Future Atlanta is an interesting place to live: one moment magic dominates, and cars stall and guns fail. The next, technology takes over and the defensive spells no longer protect your house from monsters.

Here skyscrapers topple under the onslaught of magic; the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, prowl through the ruined streets; and the Masters of the Dead, necromancers driven by their thirst for knowledge and wealth, pilotā€¦


Book cover of Moon Called

Candace Blevins Why did I love this book?

A Volkswagen mechanic named Mercedes?

A coyote shifter living next door to the alpha werewolf?

But what I like best about the Mercy Thompson series is the focus on how all the supernatural beings work (and donā€™t work) together. Vampires, werewolves, and fae.

Also, Mercy has a complicated backstory (donā€™t they all?) and the more we learn about it, the more problems arise because of it. Mercy is practical and smart and scrappy, and I adore her.

By Patricia Briggs,

Why should I read it?

14 authors picked Moon Called as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

The first novel in the New York Times bestselling Mercy Thompson series - the major urban fantasy hit of the decade

'I love these books!' Charlaine Harris

The best new fantasy series I've read in years' Kelley Armstrong

MERCY THOMPSON: MECHANIC, SHAPESHIFTER, FIGHTER

I didn't realize he was a werewolf at first. My nose isn't at its best when surrounded by axle grease and burnt oil . . .'

Mercedes Thompson runs a garage in the Tri-Cities. She's a mechanic, and a damn good one, who spends her spare time karate training and tinkering with a VW bus that happensā€¦


Ad

Book cover of Everything We Had: A Novel of the Pacific Air War November-December 1941

Everything We Had by Tom Burkhalter,

War is coming to the Pacific. The Japanese will come south within days, seeking to seize the oil- and mineral-rich islands of the Dutch East Indies. Directly astride their path to conquest lie the Philippines, at that time an American protectorate. 

Two brothers, Jack and Charlie Davis, are part ofā€¦

Book cover of Halfway to the Grave

Candace Blevins Why did I love this book?

Iā€™ve been telling you about the main female character, so far, but for this one, I have to talk about Bones.

Oh, how I love Bones. My favorite line of his, when someone has to be told about vampires, and told that Bones is one, is, ā€œAsk me if I sparkle and Iā€™ll kill you where you stand.ā€ 

I also love that Jeaniene Frost gave us Cat and Bonesā€™ full story in the Night Huntress series, and then gives us a bunch of PNR books in the same universe, so the other characters in their series also find their HEA. 

By Jeaniene Frost,

Why should I read it?

11 authors picked Halfway to the Grave as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Kicking off the sexiest, smartest, most badass paranormal romance series out there. You won't be able to stop turning the pages.

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of those deadbeats is her father - the guy responsible for ruining her mother's life.

But when she's captured by Bones, a bounty hunter and a vampire, she finds herself forced into an unholy partnership.

In exchange for his help in finding her father, and still astonished she hasn't ended up as his dinner, Cat agrees to train with the sexy night stalker until herā€¦


Book cover of Guilty Pleasures: An Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Novel

Candace Blevins Why did I love this book?

People have a love/hate relationship with the Anita Blake series, and if you donā€™t like a lot of sex in your books, then you should probably only read the first nine books (when Anita returns home after Obsidian Butterfly, youā€™re done).

The first books are so well written ā€” plot, character, world building. However, a few books in the teens, I skip when re-reading because they are mostly sex without a plot. Later books, however, get back to plot and world building, and I enjoy them once again.

I donā€™t mind sex in my books, though, so your mileage may vary. There are often two main plots in these books: Anitaā€™s work with the police, plus whatever is going on in the supernatural world.

Sometimes these plots turn out to be the same plot in the end, other times, they remain two plots, woven together to create a cohesive story. 

By Laurell K. Hamilton,

Why should I read it?

9 authors picked Guilty Pleasures as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Meet Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter, in the first novel in the #1 New York Times bestselling series that "blends the genres of romance, horror and adventure with stunning panache"(Diana Gabaldon).

Laurell K. Hamilton's bestselling series has captured readers' wildest imaginations and addicted them to a seductive world where supernatural hungers collide with the desires of the human heart, starring a heroine like no other...

Anita Blake is small, dark, and dangerous. Her turf is the city of St. Louis. Her job: re-animating the dead and killing the undead who take things too far. But when the city's most powerful vampireā€¦


Ad

Book cover of The Sailor Without a Sweetheart

The Sailor Without a Sweetheart by Katherine Grant,

Enjoy this Persuasion-inspired historical romance!

Six years ago, Amy decided *not* to elope with Captain Nate Preston. Now, he is back in the neighborhood, and he is shocked to discover that Amy is unmarried. Even more surprising, she is clearly battling some unnamed illness. Thrown together by circumstances outside theirā€¦

Book cover of Slave to Sensation

Candace Blevins Why did I love this book?

The Psy-Changeling series is technically more paranormal romance than urban fantasy, because each book is a different couple.

However, the books traverse the world with an overarching plot that ties them all together beautifully, and most of the women are as kickass as their men. Itā€™s my favorite series of all on my list, with a glorious twenty-one books thus far.

The world building is fantastic, the character depth makes you feel as if you are hanging out with old friends, and the plots are pure magic. 

By Nalini Singh,

Why should I read it?

4 authors picked Slave to Sensation as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

THE FIRST PSY/CHANGELING NOVEL from the New York Times bestselling author of Shards of Hope, Shield of Winter, and Heart of Obsidian...
The book that Christine Feehan called "a must-read for all of my fans."
In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of "rehabilitation"-the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was...Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a Changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuriesā€¦


Explore my book šŸ˜€

Only Human

By Candace Blevins,

Book cover of Only Human

What is my book about?

Book one of the Only Human urban fantasy seriesā€¦

Someone is abducting women and killing men in a way to get Kirsten Oā€™Sheaā€™s attention. Luckily, sheā€™s made some formidable friends and allies in the supernatural world, and she isnā€™t without her own defenses, either. A powerful master vampire romances her while the alpha werewolf flirts with her, and an ancient being who used to be worshipped as a god wants her dead, but Kirsten survives, even if she is Only Human.

Book cover of Magic Bites
Book cover of Moon Called
Book cover of Halfway to the Grave

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

2,009

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

šŸ“š You might also likeā€¦

Book cover of Hayley and the Hot Flashes

Hayley and the Hot Flashes by Jayne Jaudon Ferrer,

Country music diva Hayley Swift has fallen off the charts and into a funk. Desperate to regain her place in the limelight, she agrees to a low-budget tour of Southern venues, starting with her 35th high school reunion.

There, in an unexpected but fortuitous reconnection, The Girls Next Door ā€”whoā€¦

Book cover of The Fornax Assassin

The Fornax Assassin by J.C. Gemmell,

In 2038 a devastating pandemic sweeps across the world. Two decades later, Britain remains the epicenter for the Fornax variant, annexed by a terrified global community.

David Malik is as careful as any man to avoid contact with the virus. But when his sister tests positive as an asymptomatic carrier,ā€¦

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in vampires, romantic love, and Atlanta?

Vampires 306 books
Romantic Love 957 books
Atlanta 52 books