Fans pick 81 books like Blood Kissed

I am passionate about fierce female protagonists in fiction because I believe that fiction is a great way to highlight real-life issues. Before becoming an author, I was a lawyer. It was tough navigating the challenges of maternity leave and trying to have a career whilst being a mum to a young family. The reality is that there’s still plenty of gender inequality remaining in the world at large, so I made sure that I always write strong, competent female main characters to lead by example. As you can imagine, my reading tastes are the same as my writing ones, making me an excellent curator of strong female fiction. 

Found family is my favorite trope. You can change up the genre but give me a cast of loveable characters and you got me. It hits close to home, since when I left home to go to college, I created my own family. They are my Albany family, and we all still meet up at least twice a year no matter that we all live across the country. The bonds we created as we figured out who each of us was, are still strong to this day. I write stories that contain those same elements so everyone can experience the joys and tribulations of these bonds. 

Found family is my favorite trope. You can change up the genre but give me a cast of loveable characters and you got me. It hits close to home, since when I left home to go to college, I created my own family. They are my Albany family, and we all still meet up at least twice a year no matter that we all live across the country. The bonds we created as we figured out who each of us was, are still strong to this day. I write stories that contain those same elements so everyone can experience the joys and tribulations of these bonds. 

Found family is my favorite trope. You can change up the genre but give me a cast of loveable characters and you got me. It hits close to home, since when I left home to go to college, I created my own family. They are my Albany family, and we all still meet up at least twice a year no matter that we all live across the country. The bonds we created as we figured out who each of us was, are still strong to this day. I write stories that contain those same elements so everyone can experience the joys and tribulations of these bonds. 

I'm passionate about ghost stories, classic gothic literature, and horror comics, and I have always felt that October is too short to contain the atmospheric chills and versatility of horror stories. I am also passionate about graphic novels and have worked as a professional illustrator, comic artist, and colorist for 7 years. I love the camp, the fun, and the macabre invoked by Summerween. Now that I have written and published my own cozy, spooky graphic novel, which made both the American Book Association's Indies Introduce List for Summer 2024 and People Magazine's Summerween 2024 Book List, I want to shine the spotlight on other comics with the feeling of October.

I grew up with Irish folklore, Lord of the Rings, and X-Men comics as my bedtime stories, but I am also a domestic violence survivor twice over with c-PTSD. I was never able to get justice for anyone who hurt me. I created my stories as a way to cope and understand my feelings and triggers by making them their own personalities. So, I made my trauma available for everyone in a fantasy setting with two love interests to adore the heroine who had to endure so much but never gave up on giving people someone to root for when they couldn’t for themselves anymore.

I have always been a reader, and with Irish and Scottish families, I’ve grown up hearing beautiful stories of magic and the fair folk. When I discovered romance novels, I was able to combine my love of happily ever afters and the myth and legend of my childhood. I even took classes on the Mythology of Ireland and Britain while I was obtaining my degrees. With a specialty in British Literature, I have been able to ensure my stories, while full of myth and magic, are also steeped in historical accuracy. The lush and vivid descriptions in my stories are paired with magic and time travel, with every story leaving the reader satisfied with the happily ever after the characters have earned.

An avid reader, I began a project in 2012 to read one short story a week in supernatural mysteries, ghost stories, and quiet horror genres. I began with the classic authors: Poe, MR James, Lovecraft, Shelley, Stoker, du Maurier, etc. I began a blog, Reading Fiction Blog, and posted these free stories with my reviews (I’m still posting today). Over the years, it turned into a compendium of fiction. Today, I have nearly 400 short stories by over 150 classic and now contemporary authors in the blog Index. I did this because I wanted to learn more about writing dark fiction and who better to learn from than the masters?

Fantasy romance is a broad genre that simply captivates and enthralls me. The combination of romance, passion, action, humor, magic, mystery, and drama ignites this spark in my heart, filling my metaphorical cup of happiness. But what makes these books so amazing is the strong female perspective they are told from. It’s not making tough decisions or embodying their masculine energies that make them strong. It’s their ability to balance dealing with external conflicts while struggling with self-confidence and loving others so completely that makes them such incredible women to read. Those are the stories I want to read, and those are the stories I want to tell.

My name is Kelly Fernández (she/her) and I’ve been making comics since 2014. I’ve always been fascinated by stories about ghosts, monsters, and witches because I grew up in a family that believes in them. While writing my graphic novel Manu, I researched and spoke to Latinx friends and colleagues about their personal experiences with brujería (the Spanish word for witchcraft) to try and learn more about it across different cultures. I love comics because, like oral storytelling, it’s just another way for people to share their stories with each other!