Books like 'Rising'
Readers who enjoyed Rising by Holly Kelly also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
contemporary fantasy urban fantasy paranormal young adult science fiction m-f disabilities and marks tortured heroine fighters
-
Bone Crossed by Patricia Briggs
By day, Mercy is a car mechanic in the sprawling Tri-Cities of Eastern Washington. By night, she explores her preternatural side. As a shapeshifter with some unique talents, Mercy has often found herself having to maintain a tenuous harmony between the human and the not so human. This time she may get more than she bargained for...Categorized as:
non-human-heroine m-f contemporary urban fantasy fantasy strong heroine demons suspense -
Magic Stars by Ilona Andrews
From award-winning author, Ilona Andrews, an original novella, set in the New York Times #1 bestselling Kate Daniels World and featuring fan-favorites, Derek, and Curran and Kate’s very independent ward, Julie. Scarred, solitary Derek Gaunt has separated from his Pack, and is truly a lone wolf. With no family he answers to no one; but is fiercely loyal to a chosen few...Categorized as:
m-f disabilities and marks virgin heroine fighters fantasy urban fantasy science fiction paranormal -
Blood Bound by Patricia Briggs
Under the rule of science, there are no witch burnings allowed, no water trials or public lynchings. In return, the average law-abiding, solid citizen has little to worry about from the things that go bump in the night. Sometimes I wish I was an average citizen... Mechanic Mercy Thompson has friends in low places-and in dark ones. And now she owes one of them a favor...Categorized as:
non-human-heroine non-human-hero m-f contemporary fantasy urban fantasy vampires demons -
River Marked by Patricia Briggs
Being a different breed of shapeshifter-a walker-Mercy Thompson can see ghosts, but the spirit of her long-gone father has never visited her. Until now, on her honeymoon with the Alpha werewolf Adam. An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River-and innocent people are dying...Categorized as:
non-human-heroine m-f contemporary fantasy urban fantasy strong heroine suspense demons -
-
Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare
The Shadowhunters of Los Angeles star in the first novel in Cassandra Clare’s newest series, The Dark Artifices, a sequel to the internationally bestselling Mortal Instruments series. Lady Midnight is a Shadowhunters novel.It’s been five years since the events of City of Heavenly Fire that brought the Shadowhunters to the brink of oblivion... -
Persuasion by Jane Washington, Jaymin Eve
Willa Knight: Dweller? Bad-ass? Notorious pet to five magical beings? In Blesswood, there are rules, and someone is trying to teach her how to follow them. The only problem is Willa. Which shouldn’t be anything new, since she has been a problem since birth—something her pseudo-sister Emmy would agree on. So it definitely shouldn’t be new … but it is... -
Glimmer of Hope by Heather G. Harris
I’m Jinx, a run-of-the-mill private investigator … except I’m also a walking, talking lie detector. Oh, and I belong to magical realm known as the Other. Murder isn’t usually my gig, but when I’m hired to investigate the death of a dryad called Reggie, I agree to help out because I know his grieving widow... -
Vital Found by Kaydence Snow
Bradford Hills feels more like home than any other place Evelyn Maynard and her mother lived while on the run. But with everyone reeling from the violent clash between Variants and humans, her new home doesn’t feel safe any more. Navigating four increasingly complicated supernatural bonds in secret doesn’t help. Ethan and Josh can’t keep their hands off her... -
Sparks Rise by Alexandra Bracken
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 31 ratingsDon’t miss the thrilling novella that connects the last two novels in the New York Times best-selling Darkest Minds trilogy. Sam didn’t think things could get worse at Thurmond rehabilitation camp. Then the Reds arrive. Everyone assumed the kids with firepower had been killed years ago. Instead they were taken away, brainwashed, and returned as terrifyingly effective guards... -
The Power by Jennifer L. Armentrout
With any great change, there is always strife, and the Covenant University has become the frontline between pure-bloods who want the Breed Order reinstated and the half-bloods who want the right to control their own destinies. Fate has other plans. The violence is escalating and war between the races seems inevitable, and it couldn’t come at a worse time...Categorized as:
fighters virgin heroine non-human-hero m-f non-human-heroine futuristic urban fantasy bad boys -
Twilight by Meg Cabot
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 76 ratingsSuze has gotten used to ghosts. She's a mediator, after all, and communicating with the dead is all in a day's work. So she certainly never expected to fall in love with one: Jesse, a nineteenth- century hottie. But when she discovers that she has the power to determine who becomes a ghost in the first place, Suze begins to freak. It means she can alter the course of history .. -
Of Blood and Bone by Nora Roberts
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of the epic Year One returns with a new tale of terror and magic in a brand new world. They look like an everyday family living an ordinary life. But beyond the edges of this peaceful farm, unimaginable forces of light and dark have been unleashed... -
The Return by Jennifer L. Armentrout
The Fates are cackling their bony asses off...It's been a year since Seth made the deal with the gods that pledged his life to them. And so far, the jobs they've given him have been violent and bloody--which is kind of all right with him. But now Apollo has something else in mind for Seth... -
Minimum Wage Magic by Rachel Aaron
Making a living is hard. In a lawless city where gods are real, dragons are traffic hazards, and buildings move around on their own, it can feel downright impossible.Good thing freelance mage Opal Yong-ae has never let little things like impossibility stop her... -
-
Millennium Snow, Vol. 2 by Bisco Hatori
Seventeen-year-old Chiyuki Matsuoka was born with heart problems, and her doctors say she won't live to see the next snow. Toya is an 18-year-old vampire who hates blood and refuses to make the traditional partnership with a human, whose life-giving blood would keep them both alive for a thousand years.Now that her bond with Toya has healed her heart, Chiyuki wants to live her life to the fullest... -
Defy Me by Tahereh Mafi
The gripping fifth installment in the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling Shatter Me series. Will Juliette’s broken heart make her vulnerable to the strengthening darkness within her? Juliette’s short tenure as the supreme commander of North America has been an utter disaster... -
Whisper by Lynette Noni
“Lengard is a secret government facility for extraordinary people,” they told me. I believed them. That was my mistake.There isn’t anyone else in the world like me.I’m different. I’m an anomaly. I’m a monster. For two years, six months, fourteen days, eleven hours and sixteen minutes, Subject Six-Eight-Four — ‘Jane Doe’ — has been locked away and experimented on, without uttering a single word...Categorized as:
m-f disabilities and marks tortured heroine young adult fantasy science fiction mystery paranormal -
Akarnae by Lynette Noni
The first of the five-part MEDORAN CHRONICLES offers a new slant on magical parallel worlds.With just one step, 16-year-old Alex Jennings's world changes - literally.Dreading her first day at a new school, Alex is stunned when she walks through a doorway and finds herself stranded in Medora, a fantasy world full of impossibilities... -
Invincible by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 48 ratingsNick Gautier's day just keeps getting better and better. Yeah, he survived the zombie attacks, only to wake up and find himself enslaved to a world of shapeshifters and demons out to claim his soul... -
Glimmer of Death by Heather G. Harris
I’m Jinx, a private investigator, a truth seeker and an empath. Even with all that magic at my fingertips, I don’t know if I can save my best friend.And she’s not the only ill one. The magical creatures of the Other Realm are falling sick – even the supposedly immortal ones. The illness is striking two by two like a plague filled Noah’s Ark... -
The Luckless by A.M. Sohma
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 23 ratingsWelcome to Retha, the full submersion video game where you can be the hero of your own adventure. Unfortunately for Kit, it only takes one moment to turn the game into a nightmare.When Chronicles of Retha experiences a software malfunction, Kit—a disenchanted veteran player—is stuck in the game without a way to log off... -
Let the Wind Rise by Shannon Messenger
The breathtaking action and whirlwind adventure build to a climax in this thrilling conclusion to the “remarkably unpredictable” (BCCB) Sky Fall trilogy from the bestselling author of the Keeper of the Lost Cities series.Vane Weston is ready for battle. Against Raiden’s army. Against the slowly corrupting Gale Force. Even against his own peaceful nature as a Westerly... -
Glimmer of the Other by Heather G. Harris
I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time. I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers... -
The Awakening by Nora Roberts
#1 New York Times bestselling author of the epic Chronicles of The One trilogy returns with the first in a brand new series where parallel worlds clash over the struggle between good and evil.Breen Kelly had always been a rule follower. So when her father left when she was twelve years old, promising to return, she waited. Now, more than a decade later, she needs to move forward... -
-
Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi
Juliette Ferrars thought she'd won. She took over Sector 45, was named the new Supreme Commander, and now has Warner by her side. But she's still the girl with the ability to kill with a single touch—and now she's got the whole world in the palm of her hand...Categorized as:
fighters tortured heroine m-f science fiction dystopian young adult futuristic paranormal -
Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier, Anthea Bell
Gwyneth Shepherd's sophisticated, beautiful cousin Charlotte has been prepared her entire life for traveling through time...Categorized as:
m-f contemporary magic young adult fantasy legends & fairy tales insta-love urban fantasy -
Dandadan, Vol. 3 by Yukinobu Tatsu
A nerd must fight powerful spirits and aliens all vying for the secret power of his “family jewel,” so who better to fight alongside him than his high school crush and a spirit granny?!Momo Ayase and Okarun are on opposite sides of the paranormal spectrum regarding what they’ll believe in and what they won’t... -
Millennium Snow, Vol. 1 by Bisco Hatori
Seventeen-year-old Chiyuki Matsuoka was born with heart problems, and her doctors say she won't live to see the next snow. Toya is an 18-year-old vampire who hates blood and refuses to make the traditional partnership with a human, whose life-giving blood would keep them both alive for a thousand years... -
Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire
Cryptid, noun: 1. Any creature whose existence has been suggested but not proven scientifically. Term officially coined by cryptozoologist John E. Wall in 1983. 2. That thing that's getting ready to eat your head. 3. See also: "monster." The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity--and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price... -
Friday Night Bites by Chloe Neill
Vamps in Chicago! You’d think headlines like that would have provoked the fine citizens of the Windy City to take up arms against us bloodsucking fiends. Instead, ten months later, we’re enjoying a celebrity status reserved for the Hollywood elite—fending off paparazzi only slightly less dangerous than cross and stake-wielding slayers...Categorized as:
non-human-hero m-f contemporary fantasy vampires paranormal strong heroine alpha male -
Shadowland by Jenny Carroll, Meg Cabot
Shadowland is the first book in the thrilling, romantic Mediator series, from the New York Times bestselling author of the Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot. Suze is a mediator—a liaison between the living and the dead. In other words, she sees dead people. And they won't leave her alone until she helps them resolve their unfinished business with the living...Categorized as:
m-f non-human-heroine young adult mystery urban fantasy contemporary high-school fantasy -
Let the Storm Break by Shannon Messenger
Vane Weston is haunted. By the searing pull of his bond to Audra. By the lies he’s told to cover for her disappearance. By the treacherous winds that slip into his mind, trying to trap him in his worst nightmares. And as his enemies grow stronger, Vane doesn’t know how much longer he can last on his own.But Audra’s still running. From her past. From the Gales... -
The Rise of Magicks by Nora Roberts
The #1 New York Times bestselling author of Year One and Of Blood and Bone concludes her stunning trilogy that the New York Times Book Review praised as "A match for end-of-the-world classics like Stephen King's The Stand." After the sickness known as the Doom destroyed civilization, magick has become commonplace, and Fallon Swift has spent her young years learning its ways...Categorized as:
m-f science fiction dystopian fantasy urban fantasy paranormal futuristic young adult -
Contagious by Emily Goodwin
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 25 ratings"I wasn’t afraid of death. If I died, it would be over. My worst fear wasn’t of dying, it was of living. Living, while everyone around me had their flesh savagely torn from their bodies to be shoved into the festering and ever-hungry mouths of zombies. It terrified me, right down to my very core, to be alive while the rest of the world was dead...Categorized as:
tortured heroine dystopian science fiction strong heroine paranormal futuristic fantasy alpha male -
-
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
IT BEGAN WITH A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Historian Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, and long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont have broken the laws dividing creatures. When Diana discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library,she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to Matthew... -
Mortal Gods by Kendare Blake
Ares, God of War, is leading the other dying gods into battle. Which is just fine with Athena. She's ready to wage a war of her own, and she's never liked him anyway. If Athena is lucky, the winning gods will have their immortality restored. If not, at least she'll have killed the bloody lot of them, and she and Hermes can die in peace. Cassandra Weaver is a weapon of fate...Categorized as:
m-f contemporary fantasy young adult strong heroine legends & fairy tales magic paranormal -
Found by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Rated: 4.00 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsFrom the author of the Zellie Wells trilogy comes FOUND (Penny Black #1)the first book in a whole new NA trilogy set in the Society world. Discover what happened to Zellie, Avery, Melody, and Ben! And meet Penny Black, a girl with a past that can see the future. Penny Black hasn’t had it easy... -
If You Could See the Sun by Ann Liang
In this genre-bending YA debut, a Chinese American girl monetizes her strange new invisibility powers by discovering and selling her wealthy classmates’ most scandalous secrets. Alice Sun has always felt invisible at her elite Beijing international boarding school, where she’s the only scholarship student among China’s most rich and influential teens...Categorized as:
m-f tortured heroine virgin heroine fantasy young adult contemporary from hate to love paranormal -
Not Your Villain by C.B. Lee
Rated: 3.88 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsBells Broussard thought he had it made when his superpowers manifested early. Being a shapeshifter is awesome. He can change his hair whenever he wants, and if putting on a binder for the day is too much, he’s got it covered. But that was before he became the country’s most-wanted villain...Categorized as:
m-f young adult fantasy science fiction superheroes dystopian bisexual urban fantasy -
Mistress Fortune by Arina Tanemura
Rated: 3.87 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsFourteen-year-old Kisaki Tachikawa has psychic powers. She works for PSI, a secret government agency that fights aliens. She’s in love with her partner Giniro, but PSI won’t allow operatives to get involved... -
The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern
From the New York Times bestselling author of The Night Circus, a timeless love story set in a secret underground world--a place of pirates, painters, lovers, liars, and ships that sail upon a starless sea.Zachary Ezra Rawlins is a graduate student in Vermont when he discovers a mysterious book hidden in the stacks... -
Let the Sky Fall by Shannon Messenger
Vane Weston should have died in the category-five tornado that killed his parents. Instead, he woke up in a pile of rubble with no memories of his past — except one: a beautiful, dark-haired girl standing in the winds. She swept through his dreams ever since, and he clings to the hope that she's real. Audra is real, but she isn't human... -
Only a Monster by Vanessa Len
It should have been the perfect summer. Sent to stay with her late mother’s eccentric family in London, sixteen-year-old Joan is determined to enjoy herself. She loves her nerdy job at the historic Holland House, and when her super cute co-worker Nick asks her on a date, it feels like everything is falling into place.But she soon learns the truth...Categorized as:
fighters tortured heroine paranormal fantasy mystery young adult time travel from hate to love -
Alice in Zombieland by Gena Showalter
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever. Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone. Her father was right...Categorized as:
m-f contemporary young adult fantasy love triangle strong heroine insta-love suspense -
-
Playing with Fire by Gena Showalter
Earth, Wind & Fire aren't just a band anymore . . . Used to be my greatest achievement was holding a job more than three days. Now suddenly I can shoot fireballs, chill your drink, or blow-dry your hair at fifty paces with a blink of my eye! It all started when this crazy scientist dropped something in my Grande Mocha Latte. Of course I got wicked sick...Categorized as:
m-f suspense paranormal contemporary strong heroine shapeshifters magic urban fantasy -
Elemental by Brigid Kemmerer
Rated: 3.80 of 5 stars · 34 ratingsEarth, Fire, Air, Water – they are more than you dream. As an air Elemental, 17-year-old Emily Morgan doesn’t have much power. That’s okay—she knows what happens to kids who do. Like Michael Merrick. He’s an earth Elemental, one with enough power to level cities. Which makes him sexy. Dangerous. And completely off limits. At least according to Emily’s family... -
Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder
The apprenticeship is over—now the real test has begun. When word that Yelena is a Soulfinder—able to capture and release souls—spreads like wildfire, people grow uneasy. Already Yelena's unusual abilities and past have set her apart... -
Of Metal and Wishes by Sarah Fine
Rated: 3.74 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsThere are whispers of a ghost in the slaughterhouse where sixteen-year-old Wen assists her father in his medical clinic—a ghost who grants wishes to those who need them most. When one of the Noor, men hired as cheap factory labor, humiliates Wen, she makes an impulsive wish of her own, and the Ghost grants it. Brutally... -
Bloodsucking Fiends by Christopher Moore
Jody never asked to become a vampire. But when she wakes up under an alley Dumpster with a badly burned arm, an aching back, superhuman strength, and a distinctly Nosferatuan thirst, she realizes the decision has been made for her. Making the transition from the nine-to-five grind to an eternity of nocturnal prowlings is going to take some doing, however, and that's where C...Categorized as:
non-human-heroine vampires contemporary paranormal humor urban fantasy fantasy witches -
The Ill-Made Mute by Cecilia Dart-Thornton
This first title in a new trilogy, set in a world of legendary creatures, introduces the least of the lowly--a mute, scarred foundling, unaware of who she is or why she is wandering the dangerous landscape. Fortunately, an old female servant takes her in and protects her. As she grows, she finds friends in this strange land, and together, they set out to find her name, her past, and her future...Categorized as:
m-f disabilities and marks tortured heroine contemporary paranormal legends & fairy tales fae magic
Find out more about romance.io.
Get recommendations by genres & tropes
Use the romance book finder to mix and match over 100 content keywords to find the books that match your preferences

Or - use our amazing romance book finder to get recommendations based on your favorite content tropes and themes. Mix and match at will.