Here are 88 books that Ilahara fans have personally recommended if you like
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The theme of this list is so important to me as an independently published author. Ever since I was about 14 years old I knew I wanted to tell stories, and my way, so even then I was looking into indie publishing. The idea of offering my books up to the traditional publishing chopping block, to be edited and mulled into what’s most marketable, scared me so much! I didn’t want to tell my stories another person’s way. So here we are, and I’m giving you guys a list of indie recommendations whose authors feel very much the same way. We just want to tell our stories. And have control over how that’s done. ;)
So this book. Post the ending of Supernatural, I was of course deep in my Supernatural feelings and this book absolutely filled that road trip, paranormal adventure vibe the SPN television series had given me for so many years. Naturally, it helps that two of the main characters are also fan casted after Reylo. ;) But this book is the perfect mesh of adventuring, paranormal creatures, and a delicious rivals-to-lovers slow-burn romance that even after the second book I can’t get enough of.
For as long as she can remember, Eden has been on the run. The open road is the only freedom she’s ever known, the only life she’s ever had. But when the road ends in a backwater town, a mysterious phone call sends her on a new journey.
Lazarus is no stranger to ghosts. Shades and spirits are his constant companions, it’s the living that set him on edge. The decision to help a troubled mage will find him taking on more than he bargained for.
Becoming a hunter was never part of Zeke’s plan. He finds himself stepping into…
The theme of this list is so important to me as an independently published author. Ever since I was about 14 years old I knew I wanted to tell stories, and my way, so even then I was looking into indie publishing. The idea of offering my books up to the traditional publishing chopping block, to be edited and mulled into what’s most marketable, scared me so much! I didn’t want to tell my stories another person’s way. So here we are, and I’m giving you guys a list of indie recommendations whose authors feel very much the same way. We just want to tell our stories. And have control over how that’s done. ;)
I really love deep, living worlds. CE Clayton does such an amazing job of building you into her cyberpunk fantasy that you can easily believe you’re there. Add in the characters you can’t help but root for, and this book is a staple in my library. Ellinor, the protagonist, struggles with the very real emotions behind grief, loss, and the bitterness that comes with a life that feels entirely out of one’s control. Resistor has action, laughs, and again, a slow-burn romance that I simply inhaled.
Ellinor Rask has wanted one thing for the past eight years: vengeance. But when Ellinor is captured, she finds herself dragged back into the world she walked away from, entangled once more with friends she would rather forget.
As if that weren’t humiliating enough, Ellinor learns first hand that her magic can be stripped away by a piece of bio-tech—and her ex-boss is happy to leash her with the technology in order to get what he wants. If Ellinor behaves, the device will be removed. All she has to do is deliver a package. One containing a creature created from…
The theme of this list is so important to me as an independently published author. Ever since I was about 14 years old I knew I wanted to tell stories, and my way, so even then I was looking into indie publishing. The idea of offering my books up to the traditional publishing chopping block, to be edited and mulled into what’s most marketable, scared me so much! I didn’t want to tell my stories another person’s way. So here we are, and I’m giving you guys a list of indie recommendations whose authors feel very much the same way. We just want to tell our stories. And have control over how that’s done. ;)
If you like your fantasy a little darker, with more longing than spice (but still a little spice too ;) ) then this might be the book for you. Of Divine Blood features a main character who embraces her femininity and emotions and eventually manages to turn them into a fiery rage that leads her to take revenge on her abusers. It’s pretty glorious. And Corvina’s love interest is pretty amazing too; empowering without being dominating, and he’s the perfect mix of sweet and protective. Check the trigger warnings, then give her a read!
The Divine Gods may have been Corvina's patrons but she would tear them down from their thrones and ascend to claim their places - to claim her place - both in this world and the heavens above. For none would own her body again.
All her life she spent caged like an animal. The shackles the Elder Priest cast over her held her prisoner to the chantry. She had once been devoted to her lessons, to harnessing each of the seven magics the Divine had bestowed upon her. She had once loved…
The theme of this list is so important to me as an independently published author. Ever since I was about 14 years old I knew I wanted to tell stories, and my way, so even then I was looking into indie publishing. The idea of offering my books up to the traditional publishing chopping block, to be edited and mulled into what’s most marketable, scared me so much! I didn’t want to tell my stories another person’s way. So here we are, and I’m giving you guys a list of indie recommendations whose authors feel very much the same way. We just want to tell our stories. And have control over how that’s done. ;)
Jesikah Sundin is one of my absolute favorite indie authors. Not only are her pages rich with easter eggs and factual knowledge, she weaves them together in a magical way that makes her stories utterly impossible to put down. Of Heart and Stone is technically the second book in the Ealdspell Cycle, but as they’re standalones, you can read them out of order just fine. And this Snow White retelling is so worth the read. Not only does she intermingle a world of technology and magic, she does it so seamlessly it feels completely natural. Add in that she writes delightful slow-burn romance, and add in the feminist vibes that make her stories deeper still, and truly, you’ll inhale the whole series.
She has a heart of stone. A heart he is fated by the faeries to break.
Eirwen Blackvein grew up in a dwarven mining camp at the edge of the map. A perfect place to hide an elven princess destined to destroy a queen and save a kingdom at war, as foretold in a seer’s magic mirror. Except, Eirwen doesn’t know she is the lost princess. Only that she was found as a newborn with her heart carved out. And why she now possesses a heart of stone in her chest.
As host of ImmerseOrDie, I've tested over 600 indie novels so far, searching for books that can hold me in their spell for at least 40 minutes. Unfortunately, self-publishing is rife with the quirks and gaffs that burst such glamours: bad spelling, bad formatting, ludicrous dialogue... Even allowing three failures before bailing, only 9% survived. And reading those to completion whittled the herd still further.
So here then are the surviving 1%. A glittering few, plucked from the muck so that you don't have to. I don't promise you'll love them, but I do make one guarantee: they do not suck.
And in the Swamps of Indie, that is high praise indeed.
The books that grab me most firmly are the ones where the premise itself gets me in a headlock and screams: "READ ME!" at the top of its lungs while twisting my ear until I give in. Case in point: Catskinner's Book.
After years of failure, long-time loser James Ozwrycke has finally assembled a life. Sort of. He's got a tiny apartment and a crappy job, which might not be much to you, but it's enough to pay the bills and fuel his video game habit, and that's the best life James has ever known. So how did he manage to score this skid row utopia? By entering an unusual agreement. All he has to do is let a demon use his body every now and then. You know, to kill people. But that's not so bad. Is it?
Catskinner's Book is a science fiction/urban fantasy novel set in a surreal world unlike any that you have seen before. James Ozryck has a monster in his head. All of his life the entity that he calls Catskinner has made him a fugitive, afraid to get too close to anyone, afraid to stay in one place for too long. Catskinner kills, without compassion and without warning, and is very good at it. Now James has learned that Catskinner is not the only monster in the world, a world that has suddenly become a far stranger and more dangerous place than…
I have been a published indie author since 2011, and I enjoy reading and studying the craft to make my work the best it can be. I have a passion for indie authors and indie publishing, and I love the flexibility this type of authorship gives me while I homeschool my two young boys, run a non-profit organization, and volunteer at my church.
This book gets down to the nitty-gritty of planning your novel and explains the difference between scenes (where the action happens), and sequels (where the reactions happen). Great for meticulous planners and haphazard pantsers alike, this book will help any writer learn some tried and true techniques to organize their story in a professional way.
Craft your fiction with scene-by-scene flow, logic and readability.
An imprisoned man receives an unexpected caller, after which "everything changed..."
And the reader is hooked. But whether or not readers will stay on for the entire wild ride will depend on how well the writer structures the story, scene by scene.
This book is your game plan for success. Using dozens of examples from his own work - including Dropshot,Tiebreaker and other popular novels - Jack M. Bickham will guide you in building a sturdy framework for your novel, whatever its form or length. You'll learn how to:
I am, have always been, and always will be a realist. Therefore I find ‘Faction’ books, biographies, and memoirs more interesting, as I can learn from them and know that some or all of the events are true. They say ‘write what you know’ and so when it came to writing A Rather Unusual Romance I did just that. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer back in 2005, and decided to weave the 15-year journey back to health I undertook into the pages of a fictional romance, with Alan and Erin similarly affected by thyroid cancer. Every procedure they had to endure was true because I had to go through it as well (without the romance)!
Because it is another ‘Faction’ novel. Martha found the inspiration to write this book from dreams, from watching a TV show featuring Oprah Winfrey interviewing various men suffering from an addiction to pornography, and from information given to her by 8 wives whose marriages were affected by their husbands’ addictions. Addiction to porn is a very real problem in these modern times.
Inspired by an episode on Oprah from years ago that dealt with men addicted to porn, a dream, and 8 women's lives, Portrait of Our Marriage, a fictional memoir, is one woman's story you don't want to miss. Nicky, embarks on a journey to find herself and become her own person despite the legacy of a domineering father and an emotionally—and often physically—distant husband. Reminiscing events from her life, she looks at pictures and remembers the romance, falling in love, marriage, and her family. When her husbands interest in pornography becomes an obsession. She wonders how she will compete? Some…
As host of ImmerseOrDie, I've tested over 600 indie novels so far, searching for books that can hold me in their spell for at least 40 minutes. Unfortunately, self-publishing is rife with the quirks and gaffs that burst such glamours: bad spelling, bad formatting, ludicrous dialogue... Even allowing three failures before bailing, only 9% survived. And reading those to completion whittled the herd still further.
So here then are the surviving 1%. A glittering few, plucked from the muck so that you don't have to. I don't promise you'll love them, but I do make one guarantee: they do not suck.
And in the Swamps of Indie, that is high praise indeed.
What would you get if Stephen King fathered a love-child on the corpse of HP Lovecraft? You'd get Rust, a full-throated scream of confusion and despair expressed in the chaotic afterlife of one Kimberley Archer. Is she single and dead? Or is she trapped in a living hell populated by the devoted husband and loving child she cannot remember knowing? This one creeped me out completely.
After being pushed in front of the subway C-Line, Kimberly Archer finds herself in an impossible town with a husband she's never seen before and a life she can't remember. The rain never stops, the phones don't work and the doctors think she's delusional.
Kimberly only wants to get back to her fiance in New York. But for that, she needs the help of Fitch, a madman who believes something dark lives at the heart of Rustwood. He'll help her, so long as she joins him on his mission to burn…
I am, have always been, and always will be a realist. Therefore I find ‘Faction’ books, biographies, and memoirs more interesting, as I can learn from them and know that some or all of the events are true. They say ‘write what you know’ and so when it came to writing A Rather Unusual Romance I did just that. I was diagnosed with Stage 4 thyroid cancer back in 2005, and decided to weave the 15-year journey back to health I undertook into the pages of a fictional romance, with Alan and Erin similarly affected by thyroid cancer. Every procedure they had to endure was true because I had to go through it as well (without the romance)!
If you were a teenager (like I was) at the same time as the book’s main character, John Burton, you will be swept away on a journey of nostalgia back to your youth in the 1970s. Memories will come flooding back about that special time in your life when you were young and finding out about love, sex, loss, and death. Recommended!
John Burton is seventeen, it’s the long hot British summer of 1976 and his life is about to change, in ways he has carefully planned, and ways he cannot yet know, as he embarks on a roller-coaster journey to maturity.
John’s world is populated by those who have helped mould his character. His parents, proof that opposites attract; Penny, his girlfriend, evidence that persistence can sometimes pay off; his grandmother, incorrigible and unshockable; Craig, his best friend, confidant, and sounding board; Alan, who holds a secret only John knows; Katie, object of John’s pubescent fantasies; Deborah, who collects underpants; Graham,…
I have been a published indie author since 2011, and I enjoy reading and studying the craft to make my work the best it can be. I have a passion for indie authors and indie publishing, and I love the flexibility this type of authorship gives me while I homeschool my two young boys, run a non-profit organization, and volunteer at my church.
I can never read too many books about how to structure the overall plot of a novel because I’m a by-the-book plotter. K.M. Weiland brilliantly explains in a down-to-earth way how to make your story work so you are never confused about which plot points should go where in your story, no
matter if you plot to the nth degree or like to see where the story takes you with minimal planning.
Is Structure the Hidden Foundation of All Successful Stories?
Why do some stories work and others don’t? The answer is structure. In this award-winning guide from the author of the acclaimed Outlining Your Novel, you will learn the universal underpinnings that guarantee powerful plot and character arcs. An understanding of proper story and scene structure will show you how to perfectly time your story’s major events and will provide you with an unerring standard against which to evaluate your novel’s pacing and progression. Structuring Your Novel will show you:
How to determine the best techniques for empowering your unique and…
