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 

  • Ascension Day by Vanessa Nelson

    Ascension Day by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.59 of 5 stars
    · 28 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...
  • 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...
  • Sponsored links
  • 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...
  • The Sundering by Vanessa Nelson

    The Sundering by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.57 of 5 stars
    · 23 ratings
    Nowhere and no one is safe. Stripped of her rank and her calling by some of her most trusted friends, Yvonne is left shocked and bleeding. Worse is to come. Not only are children still going missing, but she learns that the death of an old friend might not have been natural. With old friendships torn apart, Yvonne must work out who she can trust if she is to find the truth...
  • 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: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 37 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..
  • Dark Hope by Christine Feehan

    Dark Hope by Christine Feehan

    Rated: 4.45 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    The next captivating novel in Christine Feehan’s #1 New York Times bestselling Carpathian series...
  • Hunted by Vanessa Nelson

    Hunted by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 31 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...
  • 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...
  • 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
    · 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
    · 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
  • Shadowmark by McKenzie Hunter

    Shadowmark by McKenzie Hunter

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 20 ratings
    When a god wants you dead, it’s safe to assume life can’t get any worse. Wrong. I’m enemy-number-one to a powerful fae and I’ve ticked off the Master of the vampires one too many times. Life—or rather, death—is coming at me fast. I definitely didn’t expect a demon placing a bounty on me to be added to the what-the-hell-else-could-go-wrong Bingo card...
  • 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...
  • 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
    · 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...
  • A Usual Suspect by Vanessa Nelson

    A Usual Suspect by Vanessa Nelson

    Rated: 4.40 of 5 stars
    · 17 ratings
    She can see the truth, but when she's accused of murder, no one believes she's innocent.Hallie works as a skip tracer - hunting down people wanted by the law, for one reason or another. It's not glamourous, and it doesn't pay all that well. But it's legal work, and that's hard to come by in the cramped quarters of old town...
  • 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
    · 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...
  • 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..
  • Catching Echoes by Meghan Ciana Doidge

    Catching Echoes by Meghan Ciana Doidge

    Rated: 4.26 of 5 stars
    · 21 ratings
    I preferred it when life came in tidy packages. When it didn't -- when something went awry -- I was exceedingly skilled at packaging it back up. It was my job to do so after all.  I was a reconstructionist. I collected the puzzle pieces, then I gave those pieces to an investigative team to sort out. I didn't ask questions. I didn't offer answers. I saw. I recorded. I moved on...
  • 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...
  • 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...
  • Destiny by K.N. Banet

    Destiny by K.N. Banet

    Rated: 4.27 of 5 stars
    · Steam rating: 3 of 5
    Open door [?] · 17 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...
  • 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...
  • Lay the Ghost by Debbie Cassidy

    Lay the Ghost by Debbie Cassidy

    Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars
    · 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
    · 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
  • Ink, Blood, and Other Afflictions: Episode One by Kristen Coar

    Ink, Blood, and Other Afflictions: Episode One by Kristen Coar

    Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars
    · 9 ratings
    Do not read this book. Seriously. It’s completely unhinged....Still here? Well, crap. Fine. Just remember. I warned you.Vera would have been a typical librarian—except for that one time she opened the wrong book and got possessed by a dark goddess. Now, every time she ends a life, she experiences the kind of mind-blowing orgasm that could crack the foundations of her apartment...
  • Midnight Shadows by Emerson Knight, McKenzie Hunter

    Midnight Shadows by Emerson Knight, McKenzie Hunter

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 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
    · 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...
  • The Most Wanted Witch by Donna Augustine

    The Most Wanted Witch by Donna Augustine

    Rated: 4.30 of 5 stars
    · 13 ratings
    A darkness has settled over Xest, as roaming hordes of grouslies prey on the vulnerable. Witches and warlocks fear walking the streets, as lines are being drawn, and sides are taken. There’s only one way to stop the destruction coming, but tracking down an evil that doesn’t want to be found isn’t easy...
  • Red Rain by R.S. Black

    Red Rain by R.S. Black

    Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars
    · 10 ratings
    Red Rain Pandora has been through hell and back. Literally. She’s been kidnapped and tortured, found freedom, and then lost it all over again. She’s now the newest pawn in the age-old war between Heaven and Hell. The Triad owns her mark, Asher owns her heart, but the demon Wrath might just own her soul. Death—aka Dean—is her constant companion in these final days...
  • False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

    False Value by Ben Aaronovitch

    Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars
    · 39 ratings
    Now in hardcover, the eighth book of the bestselling Rivers of London urban fantasy series returns to the adventures of Peter Grant, detective and apprentice wizard, as he solves magical crimes in the city of London.Peter Grant is facing fatherhood, and an uncertain future, with equal amounts of panic and enthusiasm...
  • Ghost at the Feast by Debbie Cassidy

    Ghost at the Feast by Debbie Cassidy

    Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars
    · 15 ratings
    Yuletide is almost upon us. The season of cheer. My favourite time of year. It's a shame danger doesn’t take a vacation.The shimmer man is back, and he’s making his presence known. The binding keeping me safe is still intact, but I don’t think that’s going to stop him.Not this time.A kick ass Urban Fantasy Adventure filled with fey, demons, vampires, gargoyles and golems...
    Categorized as:
    witches  magic  demons  mystery  fae  horror  urban fantasy  fantasy
  • Silver Staked by Shannon Mayer, D.G. Swank

    Silver Staked by Shannon Mayer, D.G. Swank

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 27 ratings
    From NYT & USAT bestselling authors Shannon Mayer and D.G. Swank comes a new vision of supernatural suspense. Only these two authors could deliver two such complex heroines and their undaunted courage in a tale of unexpected twists of fate. Escape into the city that never sleeps and where nightmares live in the darkness with "Silver Staked".My name is Leah, and I am a Cazador...
  • Howler's Night by Marie Hall

    Howler's Night by Marie Hall

    Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars
    · 12 ratings
    The Priest was back. Her home was safe. And Pandora had even managed to secure a powerful ally in the Zombie Queen. But in one fell swoop none of it mattered. She’s been abducted by a secret organization known only as the Triad, and they’re conducting experiments, treating her like a lab rat: cutting her open, dissecting her, and keeping her hostage. And she’s slowly going mad...
  • The Dread by Gail Z. Martin

    The Dread by Gail Z. Martin

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 24 ratings
    In the epic conclusion to the Fallen Kings Cycle, set in the world of The Chronicles of the Necromancer, war has come to the Winter Kingdoms. Summoner-King Tris Drayke takes what remains of his army north for a war he is ill-prepared to fight, as reports from spies confirm Tris's worst fear...
  • Kissed by the Dark by Donna Augustine

    Kissed by the Dark by Donna Augustine

    Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars
    · 22 ratings
    Life with Kane is wonderful, right up until it’s not. People like me, Shadow Walkers, who know that monsters are real and nightmares don’t only happen when you’re sleeping, are always waiting for the worst. But no one believes me when I tell them disaster is looming, not even Kane, the man who has seen more than I can imagine. When the worst does happen, I’m not prepared...
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.