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12 of the Best Dystopian, Urban Fantasy, and Paranormal Romance Books 

 January 5, 2019

By  Michael J. Allen

Guest Post prepared by Alison Ingleby (www.alisoningleby.com)
What was your favorite book of 2018? And, more importantly, what are you planning to read in 2019?

All our Cursed Lands authors are avid readers, and while we love keeping on top of new releases, we also get really excited when we discover an old series that’s new to us. After all, there’s nothing better than finding a new author you love and being able to binge read a series from start to finish!

If you’re looking for some new stories to read in 2019, here are some of our favorite dystopian, urban fantasy and paranormal romances books…

The Iron King (Julie Kagawa)

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school. . . or at home. When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change. But she could never have guessed the truth— that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war.

Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face. . . and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

The first book in The Iron Fey series is a PARANORMAL FANTASY ROMANCE story packed with enchantment, imagination, and adventure.

If you loved The Iron King, why not try…
Iron & Wine by Candace Osmond

Three mythical races. Decades of ancient war. And the love of one girl to save them all.

Read Iron & Wine in Cursed Lands.

​The Elementals (A.L. Knorr)

The summer is over and the promised get-together results in an epic sharing of the transformational adventures that have gifted Akiko, Saxony, Georjayna, and Targa with their elemental powers.

When the Elementals are recruited by Petra to execute a super-secret global project that is supposed to change humanity for the better, it seems as though the girls will be rocketed to fortune and glory. But when they accidentally unleash a dark and terrible force, things deteriorate rapidly into death and destruction…

The sixth and final book in A.L. Knorr’s captivating Elemental Origins series is a YA URBAN FANTASY novel featuring elemental lore, simmering romance, and strong female lead characters.

If you loved The Elementals, why not try…
War of the Rose Covens by Lee French

Magic turned sixteen-year-old Sophie into her mother's favorite disappointment, and the feeling is mutual. After fleeing the Petal Society Coven, she's forced to learn the dark truth of why she's now being hunted down, and why even her new friends can't save her.

Read War of the Rose Covens in Cursed Lands.

Red Queen (Victoria Aveyard)

The Reds are commoners, ruled by a Silver elite in possession of god-like superpowers. And to Mare Barrow, a seventeen-year-old Red girl from the poverty-stricken Stilts, it seems like nothing will ever change.

That is, until she finds herself working in the Silver Palace. Here, surrounded by the people she hates the most, Mare discovers that, despite her red blood, she possesses a deadly power of her own. One that threatens to destroy the balance of power.

But this is a world of betrayal and lies, and Mare has entered a dangerous dance - Reds against Silvers, prince against prince, and Mare against her own heart . . .

The final book in the #1 bestselling DYSTOPIAN FANTASY Red Queen series was released in 2018, bringing Mare’s tale to a thrilling conclusion.

If you loved Red Queen, why not try…
Among Shadows by Nina Walker

Tristan thought becoming a Royal Officer would be exciting, but it’s turning out to be nothing more than glorified babysitting. That is, until he meets a Color Alchemist with wicked magic—things are finally getting interesting.

Read Among Shadows in Cursed Lands.

The Trials of Apollo: The Burning Maze (Rick Riordan)

The formerly glorious god Apollo, cast down to earth in punishment by Zeus, is now an awkward mortal teenager named Lester Papadopoulos. In order to regain his place on Mount Olympus, Lester must restore five Oracles that have gone dark. But he has to achieve this impossible task without having any godly powers and while being duty-bound to a confounding young daughter of Demeter named Meg.

With the help of his demigod friends, Lester must unravel the riddles or the Oracle to prevent a Dark Prophecy coming true.

The third book in the mythology-laced YA URBAN FANTASY series, The Trials of Apollo, blends Roman and Greek Mythology with a modern-day setting.

If you love The Trials of Apollo, why not try…
Orion's Kiss by Claire Luana

Meriah will do whatever it takes to save her sisters from a deadly ancient curse. Even if it means killing the cutest guy she's met all year. Unless she can find another way…

Read Orion’s Kiss in Cursed Lands.

This Savage Song (V.E. Schwab)

Kate Harker and August Flynn's families rule opposite ends of Verity, a grisly metropolis where violent acts summon real monsters: bloodsucking Malchai; clawing Corsai; and soul-stealing Sunai. The truce that keeps the families at peace is crumbling, and August is sent to spy on Kate. But when Harker's men try to kill her and pin it on the Flynns, August and Kate find themselves running from both sides, in a city where monsters are real…

The first in a two-part series from the bestselling author of A Darker Shade of MagicThis Savage Song is an action-packed YA URBAN FANTASY story about a monster who wants to be good and a girl who is his sworn enemy.

If you love This Savage Song, why not try…
Loving the Legend by B. Kristin McMichael

Andrew Lucan wanted nothing more than to get out of the night human world, but all that has changed. Now he only wants one thing in life, Arianna to notice him, but first she needs to learn that monsters do exist and he’s one of them.

Read Loving the Legend in Cursed Lands.

Sanctuary (Matthew Mather)

In the Day of the Nomad, oceans flooded the continents, the earth split open and poured darkness into the skies. A mass extinction event as the Earth hadn't witnessed in more than two hundred and fifty million years, the planet flung into a radical new orbit around the Sun.

Jessica Rollins survived, hidden away in a mountaintop in Italy, and has made radio contact with other survivor groups scattered around the wrecked globe—but the destruction is only just beginning.

The key to humanity's survival may lie in a backpack she recovered from her father, in the data he collected more than thirty years before as Harvard's preeminent astrophysicist. Information he died trying to protect. His final words to her circle around and around in her head...survive, no matter what. But at what cost?

The second book in The New Earth Series is a gut-wrenching post-apocalyptic DYSTOPIAN adventure – plausible, gritty and realistic.

If you love Sanctuary, why not try…
Icehaven by Kim Cresswell and M.K. Chester

Survival is only the beginning when August Madison finds herself resurrected in a frozen wasteland ruled by an iron-fisted dictator. He sees an opportunity he can exploit. She sees an evil she must destroy.

Read Icehaven in Cursed Lands.

Otherworld: Thirteen (Kelley Armstrong)

A war is brewing and the first battle has already been waged. After rescuing her half brother from supernatural medical testing, Savannah Levine—a young witch of remarkable power and a dangerous pedigree—is battered, but still standing. The Supernatural Liberation Movement took him hostage, and they have a maniacal plan to expose the supernatural world to the unknowing.

Savannah is fighting to save her world as witches, werewolves, necromancers, vampires, half-demons, and all the forces of good and evil—including the genetically modified werewolves known as hell hounds—enter the fray.

Uniting Savannah with Adam, Elena, Clay, Paige, Lucas, Jaime, Hope, and other denizens of the Otherworld, Thirteen is a thrilling conclusion to this blockbuster PARANORMAL ROMANCE series.

If you love Otherworld, why not try…
Shadows and Light by Krista Street

Being a supernatural healer isn’t easy, especially when a stalker wants you burned at the stake…

Read Shadows and Light in Cursed Lands.

The Dark Artifices: Queen of Air and Darkness(Cassandra Clare)

Innocent blood has been spilled on the steps of the Council Hall, the sacred stronghold of the Shadowhunters. In the wake of the tragic death of Livia Blackthorn, the Clave teeters on the brink of civil war.

One fragment of the Blackthorn family flees to Los Angeles, seeking to discover the source of the disease that is destroying the race of warlocks. Meanwhile, Julian and Emma take desperate measures to put their forbidden love aside and undertake a perilous mission to Faerie to retrieve the Black Volume of the Dead. What they find in the Courts is a secret that may tear the Shadow World asunder and open a dark path into a future they could never have imagined.

Caught in a race against time, Emma and Julian must save the world of Shadowhunters before the deadly power of the parabatai curse destroys them and everyone they love.

Dark secrets and forbidden love threaten the very survival of the Shadowhunters in the final novel in the #1 New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling URBAN FANTASY The Dark Artifices trilogy.

If you love The Dark Artifices, why not try…
Ashes of Raging Water by Michael J. Allen

After the fall of the Morning Star, a second angelic host was created. Organized into Shields throughout creation, five phoenixes work together to restrain the Sidhe Courts and protect humanity. Should they fail and humanity learn that wishes and magic are only a bargain away, the world will be plunged into panic and pandemonium.

Read Ashes of Raging Water â€‹in Cursed Lands.

The Reckoners (Brandon Sanderson)

Ten years ago, Calamity came. It was a burst in the sky that gave ordinary men and women extraordinary powers. The awed public started calling them Epics. But Epics are no friend of man. With incredible gifts came the desire to rule. And to rule man you must crush his wills.

Nobody fights the Epics... nobody but the Reckoners. A shadowy group of ordinary humans, they spend their lives studying Epics, finding their weaknesses, and then assassinating them.

And David wants in. He wants Steelheart - the Epic who is said to be invincible. The Epic who killed David's father. For years, like the Reckoners, David's been studying, and planning - and he has something they need. Not an object, but an experience.

He's seen Steelheart bleed. And he wants revenge.

An action-packed URBAN FANTASY series set in a post-apocalyptic world from one of the masters of fantasy fiction.

If you love The Reckoners, why not try…
RUNE: A Chosen Chronicles Novel by K.A. Parkinson

For seven years Rune has lived among a group Lost Ones, content fighting the Dark in his own way, the past left in the past. But his ruthless Watcher has found him once again and the choice she offers him leaves only two options: fight against the most dangerous woman in the world, or risk losing the only people he's ever truly loved.

Read RUNE: A Chosen Chronicles Novel in Cursed Lands.

Halfway to the Grave (Jeaniene Frost)

Half-vampire Catherine Crawfield is going after the undead with a vengeance, hoping that one of those deadbeats is her father - the guy responsible for ruining her mother's life. But when she's captured by Bones, a bounty hunter and a vampire, she finds herself forced into an unholy partnership.

But before she can enjoy her newfound status as confident kick-ass demon hunter Cat finds herself, and Bones, hotly pursued by a band of killers. She's is going to have to pick a side - and fast …

Full of dark supernatural goodness with flashes of brilliant dark humor and love that shouldn't be, the first book in the URBAN FANTASY Night Huntress Series is sexy, supernatural and very dark.

If you love Halfway to the Grave, why not try…
Salem 2317 by Angela Kulig and Taylor Haiden

Nineteen-year-old Arwyn Blake has two jobs: kill the last non-magical nomads who dare call Salem home, and continue her bloodline by marrying a man she hates. But when an easy hunt goes suddenly sideways, she begins to realize the beliefs of her coven are built on a lie, and the only one she can trust is the strange boy with violet eyes.

Read Salem 2317 in Cursed Lands.


A Court of Thorns and Roses (Sarah J. Maas)

Feyre's survival rests upon her ability to hunt and kill – the forest where she lives is a cold, bleak place in the long winter months. So when she spots a deer in the forest being pursued by a wolf, she cannot resist fighting it for the flesh. But to do so, she must kill the predator and killing something so precious comes at a price ...

Dragged to a magical kingdom for the murder of a faerie, Feyre discovers that her captor, his face obscured by a jewelled mask, is hiding far more than his piercing green eyes would suggest. Feyre's presence at the court is closely guarded, and as she begins to learn why, her feelings for him turn from hostility to passion and the faerie lands become an even more dangerous place. Feyre must fight to break an ancient curse, or she will lose him forever.

The start of a sensational romantic FANTASY trilogy by the bestselling author of the Throne of Glass series

If you love A Court of Thorns and Roses, why not try…
Bloodlines: The Dark Fae Chronicles by S. K. Gregory

Seventeen-year-old Nova had no idea about her Fae heritage. Now the Fae have escaped their earthly tomb and are intent on killing the humans. Nova is the only thing standing between them and the fall of humanity. Which side will she choose?

Read Bloodlines: The Dark Fae Chronicles in Cursed Lands.


The Young Elites (Marie Lu)

Adelina Amouteru is a survivor of the blood fever. A decade ago, the deadly illness swept through her nation. Most of the infected perished, while many of the children who survived were left with strange markings. But some of the fever’s survivors are rumored to possess more than just scars—they are believed to have mysterious and powerful gifts, and though their identities remain secret, they have come to be called the Young Elites.

Teren Santoro works for the king. As Leader of the Inquisition Axis, it is his job to seek out the Young Elites, to destroy them before they destroy the nation. He believes the Young Elites to be dangerous and vengeful, but it’s Teren who may possess the darkest secret of all.

Enzo Valenciano is a member of the Dagger Society. This secret sect of Young Elites seeks out others like them before the Inquisition Axis can. But when the Daggers find Adelina, they discover someone with powers like they’ve never seen.

This bestselling DYSTOPIAN FANTASY series features complex characters, heart-stopping fight scenes, and devastating betrayals.

If you love The Young Elites, why not try…
The Shadow City by Alison Ingleby

18-year-old Vesper's dreams of attending the Royal Academy are shattered when she's branded a criminal and dumped on the city floor to die. In the Shadow City, factions war and monsters roam the streets. But Vesper's biggest fear is the power she wields—a power she can't control.

Read The Shadow City in Cursed Lands.


Don’t Forget…

If you’re looking for some new books to read you can claim our bonus gift pack of 15 FREE dystopian, urban fantasy and paranormal romance eBooks when you pre-order Cursed Lands.

Michael J. Allen

The Delirious Scribbler. The Man with the Madness. The Star, Lord, and USA Today Bestselling Author of multi-level science fiction and fantasy

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