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Some death related urban fantasy and paranormal fantasy that are perfectly appropriate for the Fall season.

These stories will both amuse and amaze.

The urban fantasy genre has so much to offer if you really think about it. It’s this brilliant blend of crime, action, adventure, mystery, fantasy.. it kind of makes the task of finding something interesting are borderline limitless.

All the books you’ll find here today are fantastic reads in their own way. They’re filled with mostly snarky, sarcastic, kick-butt women.. (because who doesn’t love a woman who can take care of herself.. and get into a whole lot of trouble doing it.)

Like ghosts, ghouls and, grim reapers? Good!
(And, okay, there might actually be a zombie or two..)

These books are positively packed with magic, mystery, and mayhem!

Read and Enjoy!

(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Any purchases made through my links may earn me a small commission at no additional cost to you.)

First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones:
Grim Reaper

First Grave on the Right is the smashing, award-winning debut novel that introduces Charley Davidson: part-time private investigator and full-time Grim Reaper.

Charley sees dead people. That’s right, she sees dead people. And it’s her job to convince them to “go into the light.” But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she’s been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life…and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

This is a thrilling debut novel from Darynda Jones, an exciting newcomer to the world of paranormal romantic suspense.

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Ember by Jessica Sorenson:
Predicts Death

What if you knew when someone was going to die?

For seventeen-year-old Ember, life is death. With a simple touch, she knows when someone will die. It’s her curse and the reason she secludes herself from the world. The only person who knows her secret is her best friend Raven.

Then she meets Asher Morgan. He’s gorgeous, mysterious, and is the only person Ember can’t sense death from. So when he pushes into her life, she doesn’t mind.

But when unexplained deaths start to haunt her town, Ember starts questioning why she can’t sense Asher’s death and what he may be hiding.

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Soul Screamers by Rachel Vincent:
Predicts Death

She doesn’t see dead people, but…

She senses when someone near her is about to die. And when that happens, a force beyond her control compels her to scream bloody murder. Literally.

Kaylee just wants to enjoy having caught the attention of the hottest guy in school. But a normal date is hard to come by when Nash seems to know more about her need to scream than she does. And when classmates start dropping dead for no apparent reason, only Kaylee knows who’ll be next…

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Born in Darkness by Julie Kenner:
Died and came back

Fight and redeem myself … refuse and suffer an eternity of torment.

I intended to kill him—to avenge my sister by destroying the vile human who’d tortured and broken her. My plan was simple. Foolproof.

Except somehow I ended up dead.

Now the joke’s on me, because I’ve been resurrected as an assassin and given a choice: Fight the forces of darkness and redeem myself … or refuse and suffer an eternity of torment.

The choice seems clear. But I’m unprepared for the depth of the evil I must face. And I’m unsettled by my attraction to the darkly sensual man whose words seduce me, but who is hiding secrets of his own.

All I know is what I’m told. I’m afraid I’m a pawn in a much larger game where I can’t tell my enemies from my allies. I just hope it’s a game I can win.

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Karma by Donna Augustine:
Died and came back

People say karma’s a…well, you know. Personally, I don’t think I’m that bad.
It’s not like I wanted this job. I wasn’t even in my right mind when I accepted
the position.

Now, I’m surrounded by crazy coworkers like Lady Luck, who’s a bit of a tramp,
and Murphy’s Law, who’s a bumbling oaf. But the worst is Fate. He’s got a problem with transfers like myself, and I have to see him constantly. It’s unavoidable. We’re hunting the same man, my murderer.

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Greywalker by Kat Richardson:
Died and came back

Harper Blaine was your average small-time P.I. until a two-bit perp’s savage assault left her dead for two minutes. When she comes to in the hospital, she sees things that can only be described as weird-shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist, snarling teeth, creatures roaring.

But Harper’s not crazy. Her “death” has made her a Greywalker- able to move between the human world and the mysterious cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night exist. And her new gift is about to drag her into that strange new realm-whether she likes it or not.

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Remember Me by Christopher Pike:
is Dead

Shari Cooper wakes up dead.

The last thing she can remember is falling from a balcony during her friend’s party. Her death has been ruled a suicide, but Shari knows she was murdered. All of her closest friends are now suspects. As she tries to find her killer from the other side, she discovers her friends may not have been so loyal to her after all.
Now, Shari is not just out for justice, she’s out for revenge

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Four Psychos by Kristy Cunning:
is Dead

I’m not so different from most people.
Like everyone else, I have life goals.

Goal #1: Become a real girl instead of this invisible ghost thing I currently am.

Goal #2: Convince the four men I’ve been haunting for the past five years to pick me to be their new toy after goal one is complete.

Goal #3: Figure out who/what I am and why I can’t remember anything past the five years I’ve been haunting this quad.

Goal #4: Eat popcorn.

See? Perfectly normal. Sort of.
Gotta start small, after all.
It’s not like anyone else is perfect either.

**Sexual situations
**Reverse Harem
**Dark humor galore
**Language warning

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Dying for a Living by Kory M. Shrum:
Death replacement

And you thought dying once would be hard…

On the morning before her 67th death, it is business as usual for agent Jesse Sullivan: meet with the mortician, counsel soon-to-be-dead clients, and have coffee while reading the latest regeneration theory. Jesse dies for a living, literally. Because of a neurological disorder, she is one of the rare people who can serve as a death surrogate, dying so others don’t have to.

Although each death replacement is different, the result is the same: a life is saved, and Jesse resurrects days later with sore muscles, new scars, and another hole in her memory. But when Jesse is murdered and becomes the sole suspect in a federal investigation, more than her freedom and sanity are at stake. She must catch the killer herself–or die trying.

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Grave Witch by Kalayna Price:
Talks to the dead

Grave witch Alex Craft can speak to the dead, but that doesn’t mean she likes what they have to say.

As a private investigator and consultant for the police, Alex Craft has seen a lot of dark magic. But even though she’s on good terms with Death himself, nothing has prepared her for her latest case. When she’s raising a “shade” involved in a high profile murder, it attacks her, and then someone makes an attempt on her life.

Someone really doesn’t want her to know what the dead have to say, and she’ll have to work with mysterious homicide detective Falin Andrews to figure out why….

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The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting:
Senses the dead

Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat left for her. But now that a serial killer is terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, Violet realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved by her hope that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself.

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Existence by Abbi Glines:
Sees souls

“I was supposed to die but I didn’t.”

Throughout her life, Pagan Moore has seen souls. They don’t speak to her but they know she sees them. It’s a part of her life she keeps hidden from everyone else. She’s different…

And he knows it.

Pagan begins seeing him everywhere. In her classroom and her bedroom. The soul is stalking her and she can’t make him go away. Everything is different with him. Beginning with the fact he speaks to her. Just when she thinks he’s gone, her world completely changes.

He is Death and he’s about to break all the rules.

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The Soul Summoner by Elicia Hyder:
Sees souls

Blessed or cursed with a connection to the souls of others, Sloan Jordan can see the best in people.

And the worst.

With nothing more than a glance at a photograph, Sloan can judge the living from the dead and the good souls from the evil ones. For twenty-seven years, she’s kept her ability a secret. Now eleven young women are dead, and she’s the only hope to stop their killer.

When she agrees to help Detective Nathan McNamara with the case, a stranger—both alluring and terrifying—shows up at her door with a dark past and another dangerous mystery: he has no soul at all.

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Looking to take a break from thrillers without giving up the dark fantasy of it all?
Here are some exciting reads that remain appropriate for the season.. But probably less disturbing.

What are you reading right now?

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