Books like 'Tainted'

Readers who enjoyed Tainted by Vanessa Nelson also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.

fantasy  paranormal  urban fantasy  dark romance  fae  demons  mystery  high fantasy  magic  horror 

  • Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop

    Turns of Fate by Anne Bishop

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    A young detective investigating crimes of the uncanny will learn that bargains can change your fate—for good or ill—in this darkly enthralling fantasy from the New York Times bestselling author of the Others and the Black Jewels series. Words have power. Intentions matter. Most people come to Destiny Park for entertainment. They come to have their cards read to tell them a bit about their future...
  • Ascension Day by Vanessa Nelson

    Ascension Day by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 29 ratings
    Caught in the middle of two powerful forces, can Thea find a way to survive? The Archon has ordered a day of celebration to mark her ascension to power. While most people in the city are looking forward to a day off and an excuse to drink and eat too much, Thea and the rest of the city's Watch are on high alert...
  • Sponsored links / Remove ads
  • It's a Matter of Midlife and Death by Robyn Peterman

    It's a Matter of Midlife and Death by Robyn Peterman

    Rated: 4.49 of 5 stars
    · 31 ratings
    Midlife is madness—magical, messy and one freaking crisis after another. With a new job I didn’t apply for and an extended family I didn’t know I had—midlife has become somewhat problematic. Gluing ghosts back together is easy compared to my new celestial occupation. The Grim Reaper wants to put a ring on it. Tim wants to be a father...
  • Witches Brew by Shayne Silvers, Cameron O'Connell

    Witches Brew by Shayne Silvers, Cameron O'Connell

    Rated: 4.58 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    ***OVER ONE MILLION READERS HAVE BEEN PLEASURED BY THE TEMPLE VERSE NOVELS. NOW IT’S YOUR TURN…***. Fae are missing all over Boston, and apparently, no one else is suicidal enough to look into it. Good thing Quinn MacKenna—black magic arms dealer and Fae half-breed—has been searching for a way to earn back some of Boston’s goodwill after almost destroying the city…twice...
  • Assassin's Noon by Vanessa Nelson

    Assassin's Noon by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 31 ratings
    One dead man. A fortified house full of innocent people. One of the city's wealthiest and most powerful residents is found dead in his own home. Murder is suspected, but the house was supposed to be absolutely secure against any intruder. Thea is faced with a hostile group of household servants inside the house and demands for swift justice outside its walls...
  • Salty Dog by Shayne Silvers, Cameron O'Connell

    Salty Dog by Shayne Silvers, Cameron O'Connell

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Abductions rarely go as planned…but this is just ridiculous. Torn from the Faeling Games on the beaches of Scotland, Quinn MacKenna suddenly finds herself doggie-paddling in a turbulent sea of blood with no land in sight. And that’s the highlight of her day so far, because her abductors seem perfectly content to simply leave her in this strange Otherworld...
    Categorized as:
    magic  fae  witches  urban fantasy  fantasy  paranormal  vampires  dark
  • Morning Trap by Vanessa Nelson

    Morning Trap by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 29 ratings
    Beneath the unrelenting sun of Accanter's summer, an ugly conspiracy is underway. A desperate mother asks Watch Officer Thea March for help. Her daughter has gone missing. No one else at Thea's Watch Station will help the mother. More bad news follows when a body is found. A young man who had gone missing some time before and whose death her superior officer wants to write off as natural causes...
  • Chosen by Vanessa Nelson

    Chosen by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.47 of 5 stars
    · 29 ratings
    Demons on the loose. Ritual murders. An ancient vampire breathing down her neck. Some days Max just doesn't know where to start. The problems facing her city are piling up, and there seems no end or solution in sight. Max's job used to be dealing with supernatural creatures...
  • Bound by Benedict Jacka

    Bound by Benedict Jacka

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 38 ratings
    Mage Alex Verus is caught between a rock and a hard place in the eighth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned. Right now I wasn’t seeing Richard as the teacher out of my nightmares, he was just another Dark mage, and I looked into the future to see what would happen if I turned that knife on him instead. .
  • Hunted by Vanessa Nelson

    Hunted by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 32 ratings
    Unsolved murders, supernatural creatures and civil unrest. Just another day. Problems keep piling up around Max. No sooner has she dealt with one set of supernatural creatures, than she's called to the city's mortuary to an unusual death. The city's most senior spiritual leader is also trying to get hold of her. On top of that, Bryce cancelled their date and hasn't been seen for days...
  • Dark Hope by Christine Feehan

    Dark Hope by Christine Feehan

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 27 ratings
    The next captivating novel in Christine Feehan’s #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series.
  • Bring the Pain by Michael Anderle

    Bring the Pain by Michael Anderle

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    The Harriken have decided James Brownstone is an unacceptable dishonor to their clan. This time, Grandfather has hired the best assassins in the business and Shay knows them. Shay won't allow Brownstone to go to Japan without backup. Her backup...
  • Forged by Vanessa Nelson

    Forged by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 28 ratings
    Blood may be thicker than water, but not all families are meant to stay together. Struggling to maintain her independence, and the life she has fought so hard to build, Max finally learns the truth about her own origins and her family. Max has no time to absorb the shocking news...
  • Dead Wrong by Annie Anderson

    Dead Wrong by Annie Anderson

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 25 ratings
    Never make a deal with a demon. There are two things Darby Adler wants more than anything: to take a vacation, and to find who is responsible for the rash of witch abductions in Knoxville. With an ancient vampire in town and a slew of fugitives on the loose, her suspect pool is vast. But Darby has a sneaking suspicion she knows the culprit all too well...
  • Double or Nothing by Craig Schaefer

    Double or Nothing by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Daniel Faust – sorcerer, thief, and newly-minted Las Vegas crime boss – has debts to pay. One of those debts has just come due, an IOU to be paid in the form of a high-risk heist, and it’s a job he can’t refuse. The mark? Daniel’s arch-nemesis, a man with a Cheshire smile and the powers of a living god...
  • Gray Dawn by Hailey Edwards

    Gray Dawn by Hailey Edwards

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Black Hat Bureau, Book 10. In this tenth and final installment of The Black Hat Bureau series, Rue races the clock to find her little moth girl before it’s too late. As much as she wants to believe that Clay will protect Colby, he isn’t himself when he’s under the director’s thrall. And the director would toss a loinnir back like a shot of pure magic if he got his hands on her...
    Categorized as:
    magic  fae  witches  demons  mystery  horror  urban fantasy  fantasy
  • Tangled Echoes by Meghan Ciana Doidge

    Tangled Echoes by Meghan Ciana Doidge

    Rated: 4.52 of 5 stars
    · 16 ratings
    I never got involved in the dirt and the details of an investigation. I never let my preconceptions muddy a reconstruction. And I steadfastly refrained from ever allowing my past to dictate my future. At least until the one person I couldn’t lose went missing...
    Categorized as:
    witches  magic  fae  fantasy  urban fantasy  paranormal  vampires  dark
  • Cloaked by Vanessa Nelson

    Cloaked by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 15 ratings
    The world itself in peril. Arrow’s sleep is being disturbed by nightmares that she cannot remember when awake. Her days are spent trying to build her new, simple, life in the human world and helping the shape-changers track down the last conspirators that tried to destroy the Erith. But the Erith want her help one last time...
    Categorized as:
    magic  fae  demons  high fantasy  mystery  witches  horror  fantasy
  • Moon Cursed by McKenzie Hunter

    Moon Cursed by McKenzie Hunter

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 24 ratings
    Between life and death, there’s magic. Our secrets have been exposed and now we have to deal with the consequences: Friends of the Midwest Pack are missing. Alliances are forming between enemies whose sole intent is to destroy the pack. And a mysterious group is trying to make a power grab using any means possible...
    Categorized as:
    magic  fae  witches  demons  horror  fantasy  paranormal  urban fantasy
  • Idols and Enemies by Meghan Ciana Doidge

    Idols and Enemies by Meghan Ciana Doidge

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    I knew that opening the letter from the sorcerer Azar would have deadly consequences. So we had prepared. We’d planned. We knew we might have to defend ourselves, our freedom. And that I might finally get a chance to exact the revenge I kept telling myself I wasn’t interested in exacting...
  • Marked by Benedict Jacka

    Marked by Benedict Jacka

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Mage Alex Verus is hanging on by a thread in the ninth urban fantasy novel from the national bestselling author of Burned. When Mage Alex Verus ends up with a position on the Light Council, no one is happy, least of all him. But Alex is starting to realize that if he wants to protect his friends, he'll need to become a power player himself...
  • Kelpies Don't Fly by Kim McDougall

    Kelpies Don't Fly by Kim McDougall

    Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 24 ratings
    Critter wrangler rule #15: Always look a gift horse in the mouth. And if it has sharp teeth, never, never get on its back. For ten years, Kyra Greene thought she was the only Valkyrie this side of the rainbow bridge. Until she gets a stunning message from her cousin, Gunora, asking for bail money. But facing the ghosts of her past isn’t on Kyra’s to-do list...
  • Walking in the Dark by Donna Augustine

    Walking in the Dark by Donna Augustine

    Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars
    · 25 ratings
    Some people find power in the light. Others are meant to walk in the dark. Ollie Wit left it all behind: a new home, friends who saw her as something more than a fragile shadow walker and a budding relationship with Kane. She did it all in an effort to shield Asher, who should’ve never been able to escape the Shadowlands...
  • A Broken Contract by Vanessa Nelson

    A Broken Contract by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.53 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    A promise broken. Her future torn up. But she still has a job to do. Betrayed by her blood family, all Hallie's plans for her future are in ruins. She has no time to lick her wounds as Special Investigator Girard wants her help looking for some members of the elite who have gone missing in Hallie's territory...
  • Betrayed by Vanessa Nelson

    Betrayed by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 1 of 5
    Glimpses and kisses [?] · 14 ratings
    A missing war mage. Death in the heartland. Settling into her new life in the human world, the last thing Arrow expects is a request for aid from the Erith. The Erith’s favourite war mage is missing and Arrow is asked to investigate. For the first time in her life, she is allowed into the Erith’s fabled heartland...
  • The Neon Boneyard by Craig Schaefer

    The Neon Boneyard by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    Daniel Faust has clawed his way from the gutter to a penthouse suite, carving a bloody swath across the Las Vegas underworld. He's buried his enemies and more than a few friends along the way. If there's one thing a modern-day sorcerer knows for certain, though, it's that the past never stays buried forever...
  • Academy of Shadowed Magic: The Complete Series by S.W. Clarke

    Academy of Shadowed Magic: The Complete Series by S.W. Clarke

    Rated: 4.62 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Five books, over 2,000 pages of urban fantasy epic adventure, slow-burn romance, and magic and mayhem fill this dark academy box set. Witches, wizards, and one judgmental, talking cat. Welcome to my new life. I'm Clementine Cole. I thought I was a normal nineteen-year-old with anger issues, but I was wrong. I’m not angry, I'm just a witch...
  • The Castle Doctrine by Craig Schaefer

    The Castle Doctrine by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Out of prison and back on the streets, Daniel Faust returns home to a city on fire. The Chicago mob is making their play for control of Las Vegas, with an army of gunmen and a lethal shapeshifter on their side, while Daniel's friend Jennifer marshals the forces of the Vegas underworld...
  • Bring the Fire by Craig Schaefer

    Bring the Fire by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    “We brought you here to answer a single question. God is dead. Vanessa Roth and Marie Reinhart are responsible. We want to know how they did it. ”. That was where the story began. This is where it all ends. Believing her lover has been killed, Nessa — the living archetype of the wicked witch and a fairy tale brought to murderous life — flies across the Mojave Desert on a mission of vengeance...
    Categorized as:
    witches  magic  demons  mystery  horror  urban fantasy  fantasy  queer
  • Hellcrossed by McKenzie Hunter

    Hellcrossed by McKenzie Hunter

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 4 of 5
    Explicit open door [?] · 10 ratings
    My rules for survival: Never trust a demon or make a deal with one. But trapped in the demon realm, I have no choice but to break both rules if I want to escape. What’s waiting for me on the other side? A bloodthirsty god who wants to kill me—did I mention it’s my mother? An unforgiving fae who doesn’t care that we’re related and wants me gone, at any cost...
  • The Last Witch: Vol 3.5 by M.J. Lawrie

    The Last Witch: Vol 3.5 by M.J. Lawrie

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    It's been six months since Lilly Hooper reunited with her family, friends, and magic. The Arcane Realm offers freedom and safety for all the witches who are rebuilding their lives and healing. But things are not as straightforward or as easy as they all hoped they would be...
  • Driven by Kelley Armstrong

    Driven by Kelley Armstrong

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Cains are known for being big, brutish and not-too-bright. The mutt clan embodies all the supernatural world’s worst stereotypes about werewolves. But not even the Cains deserve to be hunted down and skinned like animals. When young Davis Cain comes to the Pack for help, Alpha Elena Michaels can’t refuse him. It isn’t about morality or justice...
  • The Killing Floor Blues by Craig Schaefer

    The Killing Floor Blues by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars
    · 26 ratings
    Nobody has ever escaped from the Iceberg. It's a privately-owned prison deep in the Mojave Desert, staffed by brutal guards and surrounded by desolate wasteland. Inside the walls, gangs and predators are constant threats; outside the walls, there's nothing but a sniper's bullet or a slow death in the desert heat...
  • Succubus Lord 8 by Eric Vall

    Succubus Lord 8 by Eric Vall

    Rated: 4.48 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    Jacob and his succubi have defeated Azazel, and now Jacob is the Demon King of the Fourth Circle. But that doesn’t mean the war’s over yet. Now that he’s king, Jake has to figure out how to rule in Hell, keep from being stabbed in the back by the other Demon Lords and Kings, and somehow stay under Lucifer’s radar. There’s no rest for the wicked, and certainly no rest for a Succubus King.
    Categorized as:
    magic  demons  horror  fantasy  harems  menage  dark  paranormal
  • Daughter of Souls & Silence by Annie Anderson

    Daughter of Souls & Silence by Annie Anderson

    Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 29 ratings
    A Council full of Ethereal Elders wants me dead. Yep, it’s a regular Tuesday. When you kill a demon there are consequences. Centuries-old witch, tattoo artist, half-demon… none of those titles are going to save me this time. The only way I’m going to get out of my death sentence is to take down the biggest, baddest demon there is… My father. And I thought being burned at the stake was bad. ..
  • The Bonds of Blood by Becca Andre

    The Bonds of Blood by Becca Andre

    Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Born without a heartbeat or a soul, James Huntsman has never felt part of the mortal world. It’s an insecurity his abusive brothers reinforced daily, and with his very existence bound to theirs through the alchemically altered blood they share, James has always been at their mercy. All that changed when James found a home within the magical community and fell in love...
  • The Raven Song by Luanne G. Smith

    The Raven Song by Luanne G. Smith

    Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars
    · 33 ratings
    Fleeing Victorian London, a witch finds her newfound independence comes with all-new perils—both mortal and immortal. Forever untangling the branches of her strange family tree, Edwina Blackwood is at a turning point. Her parents’ disappearances still strike her as unaccountably odd. Her sister’s questionable life and untimely death have left her shaken...
  • Sworn to the Night by Craig Schaefer

    Sworn to the Night by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    Marie Reinhart is an NYPD detective on the trail of a serial killer. When she sleeps, though, she dreams of other lives; she dreams of being a knight, in strange wars and strange worlds. On the other side of the city, Nessa Roth is a college professor trapped in a loveless marriage, an unwilling prop in a political dynasty...
  • The Nowhere Witch by Donna Augustine

    The Nowhere Witch by Donna Augustine

    Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    Getting back to Xest was the easy part. It’s staying here that seems to be the problem. I have three hags, also known as Xest Immigration, hot on my tail trying to deport me back to Salem. The wall I built in the Unsettled Lands is in jeopardy. Hawk, a man who was once my ally, can’t decide if he wants to lead the horde trying to drive me out or kiss me...
  • Wicked Hex by Megan Montero

    Wicked Hex by Megan Montero

    Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    Some powers come with a price… My life is unrecognizable. I’ve never been in more danger. I thought I was safe at Evermore Academy. I thought we were finally making progress in this war. I thought I had people I could trust. I thought I could always count on Tucker…I thought wrong. But now all that’s changed. Alataris is coming for me with everything he's got, and no one is safe...
  • A Plain-Dealing Villain by Craig Schaefer

    A Plain-Dealing Villain by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    It's hard to make a dishonest buck in Sin City, especially when a rogue FBI agent is gunning for your head. Flat broke and one step ahead of the law, Daniel Faust flees Vegas and lands in Chicago, where a risky heist promises to fill his pockets with cash...
  • Destiny by K.N. Banet

    Destiny by K.N. Banet

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 18 ratings
    This fight has always been my destiny. In a previous life, I had run from it, and that choice was the death of me. That mistake went down in history, becoming a story that haunted my people for centuries. I won’t run this time. I’ve regrouped, collected my allies, and sheltered my people. Now, I go hunting. I can’t rest until my people are safe. I can’t stop until the ones we lost are avenged...
  • Shield of Fire by Keri Arthur

    Shield of Fire by Keri Arthur

    Rated: 4.41 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    A New Relic. A new threat. .. Resident Relic Hunter for Deva’s Fae Council is a title Bethany Aodhán never wanted, but it isn’t like she has a choice. And in truth, the appointment might just aid her quest to find her mother’s murderers—because at least one of those responsible is a member of the council, and getting access to their records could give her the connection and their identity...
  • Power Mage 3 by Hondo Jinx

    Power Mage 3 by Hondo Jinx

    Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    THEY WERE HUMANITY’S LAST HOPE… AND HUMANITY WANTED THEM DEAD. Blamed for the Miami massacre, Brawley lays low with a Carnal biker gang, vowing to train hard and crack strands. Seven orders. Seven amazing powers. Seven beautiful teachers...
    Categorized as:
    magic  demons  horror  harems  urban fantasy  fantasy  paranormal  dark
  • Welcome to Heathen Row by Logan Jacobs

    Welcome to Heathen Row by Logan Jacobs

    Rated: 4.39 of 5 stars
    · 11 ratings
    No one knows why it started, but the monster invasion all began right here, in Heathen Row. Ever since, men all over the world have been on the menu. And women have been at the frontlines, hunting the predators. But in a world where women are over-armed, over-paid, and under-satiated, Chris Hart isn’t staying safe inside while the monsters come out to feast...
    Categorized as:
    magic  horror  demons  harems  fantasy  urban fantasy  survival  dark
  • Lay the Ghost by Debbie Cassidy

    Lay the Ghost by Debbie Cassidy

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 13 ratings
    Change is part of life, but so is death. And I’ve about had my fair share of it. The shimmer man’s threats are coming to pass. Question is, what the hell am I going to do about it? A kick ass Urban Fantasy Adventure filled with fey, demons, vampires, gargoyles and golems.
    Categorized as:
    magic  demons  witches  fae  mystery  horror  urban fantasy  fantasy
  • Detonation Boulevard by Craig Schaefer

    Detonation Boulevard by Craig Schaefer

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 14 ratings
    When NYPD detective Marie Reinhart met Nessa Roth, a Manhattan socialite and dabbler in the occult, sparks flew. Then came the gunfire. Nessa and Marie are the Witch and her Knight, characters from a fairy tale brought to life and trapped in an endless curse: to meet, fall in love, and be torn from each other’s arms by violent death, again and again for all eternity...
    Categorized as:
    witches  magic  demons  mystery  horror  urban fantasy  fantasy  queer
  • Tethers by Claire Farrell

    Tethers by Claire Farrell

    Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 8 ratings
    Ava’s been protecting her shifter friend from the alpha for months, but now he’s managed to come up with a brand new excuse to take Esther, and the Senate have turned their backs on her completely. While Ava works to find a way to keep Esther out of Mac’s reach for good, a series of violent murders put everyone in the cul-de-sac under suspicion...
    Categorized as:
    demons  fae  horror  urban fantasy  fantasy  vampires  paranormal  dark
  • Midnight Shadows by Emerson Knight, McKenzie Hunter

    Midnight Shadows by Emerson Knight, McKenzie Hunter

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 13 ratings
    I’m losing control. Past choices are coming back to haunt me, and an old curse threatens to drive me from the pack. Sky is the only person who can help me with the curse. To do so, she’ll have to perform forbidden magic that will draw the attention of the witches. They’ve been vying for a reason to kill Sky, and performing forbidden magic will give them one...
    Categorized as:
    magic  witches  fae  mystery  horror  fantasy  vampires  shapeshifters
  • Five Down by Stacia Kane

    Five Down by Stacia Kane

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 2 of 5
    Behind closed doors [?] · 13 ratings
    The Downside Ghosts series has been called "gripping and brilliant," "a must-read," and "one of the best paranormal fantasy series available. " Now all four previously published short stories set in this world are collected in one place, plus one new, never-before-seen novella. In this volume are:. RICK THE BRAVE (from HOME IMPROVEMENT: UNDEAD EDITION)...
Fantastic book recommendations by romance book lovers for romance book lovers.
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

romance book finder

Looking for more inspiration? Enter another book title to get more suggestions on what to read next.


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