Loreful
HomeDiscover
Search series, authors…⌘K
Loreful

Reading orders for SF/F series and shared universes — with your place kept in every one.

Explore

UniversesSeriesWorksAuthorsAtlas

Help

FAQAboutSite map

Account & legal

Sign inCreate accountPrivacyTerms

Data

Built on ISFDB, Wikipedia, Wikidata and Open Library. Curated reading orders carry their reasoning on the page; the rest follow publication order. Data sources & licenses

© Loreful · data: ISFDB · CC BY

More like Shadow Touch

anchored on:paranormal romancepsychic powersour worldcontemporaryshapeshiftersenemies to lovers+1 more

but

Mood

The mood the book leaves you in.

  • The reading experience is propelled by journeys, exploration, and physical risk; excitement and forward momentum dominate over dread or introspection.
  • Joy and loss are deliberately mixed; the resolution grants characters something real while taking something else away, leaving warmth and sorrow together.
  • The book demands work from the reader — dense prose, difficult structure, unfamiliar ideas, or morally uncomfortable material — as part of its intended effect.
  • Grim events, cruelty, or despair dominate the atmosphere, and the book does not soften them with comfort or comic relief.
  • The atmosphere is quietly unsettling — wrongness, unease, and the uncanny pervade the book without necessarily escalating into overt horror.
  • The book is built to move the reader; character feeling is foregrounded and major scenes aim at a strong emotional response.
  • Humor is a primary aim and the prose plays for laughs — comic situations, wit, or dialogue produce sustained comedy, not occasional levity.
  • The book insists that things can improve; effort and decency are shown to matter, and the arc bends toward better outcomes even through hardship.
  • The book teaches as it goes — real facts, history, science, or craft are conveyed in enough depth that learning is part of the reading experience.
  • The book is designed to uplift and motivate, presenting perseverance or achievement in a way that invites the reader to aspire or act.
  • The overall register is cheerful and easygoing; stakes are kept gentle and the book avoids dwelling on pain or dread.
  • Withheld information drives the experience; the book sustains enigmas and secrets the reader wants resolved, whatever its genre.
  • The book is contemplative and inward-looking, giving more weight to thought, memory, and meaning than to external events.
  • The book works as comfort reading — low tension, a soothing pace, and an atmosphere the reader can unwind in.
  • Grief, loss, or melancholy set the dominant register, and the book lets sorrow stand rather than resolving it into comfort.
  • Sustained suspense is the point; the book keeps the reader braced for what happens next through danger, pressure, or impending revelation.
  • Playful invention and charm define the register — fanciful conceits, light absurdity, and a narration that delights in its own oddity.

About

What the story runs on.

  • Stories in which extraterrestrial beings are central — as characters, cultures, or the object of the plot.
  • Stories structured as a quest — a journey undertaken to find, deliver, or destroy something of great import.
  • Stories in which staying alive against nature, catastrophe, or scarcity is the central problem.
  • Stories of lovers kept apart by law, family, faith, or station, where the obstacle to love is the plot.
  • Stories in which a friendship — its making, testing, or loss — is the emotional center.
  • Stories of growing up — a young protagonist crossing from childhood into adult knowledge and responsibility.
  • Stories about who a character truly is — self-discovery, doubled lives, and the search for a self.
  • Stories about mourning — living through the death of a loved one and what loss does to the survivors.
  • Stories in which a buried family truth — hidden parentage, crimes, or shames — surfaces and reorders the present.
  • Stories driven by maneuvering for power — factions, conspiracies, and statecraft conducted in shadow.
  • Stories in which war itself is the subject — combat, occupation, and what warfare does to soldiers and civilians.
  • Stories organized around investigating a killing — the case, the clues, and the pursuit of the killer, in any genre's clothing.

Shelf

Where it sits in the library.

    • Fiction built on magic or other supernatural elements that have no scientific explanation.
    • Secondary-world fantasy at large scale, where the fate of nations or the world turns on the protagonists' struggle.
    • Fantasy set in a recognizably modern city or contemporary world where the supernatural intrudes on everyday life.
    • Fantasy that blends in horror's atmosphere and imagery, keeping a fantastical frame around grim or frightening material.
    • Action-driven fantasy following warriors or rogues with personal stakes against sorcerous threats, rather than world-spanning conflicts.
    • Fantasy set in a real historical period or a close analogue of one, with magic woven into the era.
    • Fantasy in which protagonists cross from the ordinary world into another world through a portal or similar passage.
    • Fiction that retells or reworks a traditional fairy tale in a new form or setting.
    • Fantasy drawing directly on myths, legends, and folklore, retelling them or building on their figures and logic.
    • Fantasy of ghosts, vampires, shapeshifters, psychics, and similar phenomena, usually set in an otherwise ordinary world.
    • Fiction mixing science-fictional trappings with overtly magical or impossible elements in one setting.
    • Low-stakes fantasy emphasizing comfort, community, and everyday pleasures over conflict and peril.
    • Speculative fiction of pervasive moral ambiguity, violence, and cynicism that rejects heroic conventions — fantasy and SF alike.
      • Fiction that extrapolates from science and technology — future societies, space travel, or speculative inventions — within at least nominally natural laws.
      • Science fiction of interstellar scope — starships, galactic polities, and adventure across star systems.
      • Science fiction committed to scientific rigor, where technical plausibility constrains the story.
      • Science fiction centered on armed forces and warfare, told largely from a military point of view.
      • Science fiction of networked, corporate-dominated near futures, pairing high technology with social decay.
      • Science fiction styled on nineteenth-century steam-powered technology, often in a Victorian or pseudo-Victorian setting.
      • Fiction depicting an oppressive or catastrophic society, presented as a warning.
      • Fiction set after civilization's collapse, following survivors in the ruins of the old world.
      • Fiction in which characters move between past and future, and the mechanics or consequences of that travel drive the plot.
      • Fiction exploring a world where a historical event went differently and history diverged from ours.
      • Science fiction about humanity's first encounter and communication with an alien intelligence.
      • Science fiction in which extraterrestrial forces attack or occupy Earth and humanity resists.
      • Fiction whose primary aim is to frighten or unsettle the reader through dread, menace, or the monstrous.
      • Horror of vast, indifferent, incomprehensible entities before which humanity is insignificant, in the Lovecraft tradition.
      • Horror of decaying houses, buried family secrets, and oppressive atmosphere in the Gothic literary tradition.
      • Horror centered on hauntings and the returning dead.
      • Horror located in the mind — paranoia, obsession, and unreliable perception rather than external monsters.
      • Horror built around the reanimated dead and survival amid their outbreaks.
      • Horror defined by explicit, transgressive gore that refuses to cut away from violence.
      • Speculative fiction of the strange and uncanny that resists both natural explanation and standard genre categories.
      • Fiction organized around solving a crime or puzzle, typically following an investigator toward the identification of a culprit.
      • A puzzle-first mystery that lays out clues so the culprit's identity can be deduced before the reveal.
      • Crime fiction of moral ambiguity, fatalism, and hard-edged style, set among the corrupt and the doomed.
      • A mystery following the realistic routines of police work — forensics, interviews, and case-building.
      • A gentle mystery with an amateur sleuth, a small community, and violence kept off the page.
      • A mystery set in a past era, where the investigation works within that period's methods and society.
      • Fast-paced fiction driven by imminent danger, pursuit, or high-stakes conspiracy, built to sustain tension.
      • A thriller of espionage — agents, tradecraft, and intelligence services in conflict.
      • A thriller centered on lawyers and the courtroom, where litigation carries the suspense.
      • A thriller driven by detailed contemporary or near-future technology, often military or scientific.
      • A thriller whose tension comes from mental states and manipulation between characters rather than external action.
      • Fiction whose central plot is a romantic relationship and its development toward an emotionally satisfying resolution.
      • Romance in which one or both partners are supernatural beings, blending fantasy elements into the love story.
      • A fantasy-romance hybrid in which the romantic arc and the fantasy plot carry equal weight.
      • Romance set in a past era, with courtship shaped by the period's society and manners.
      • Romance set in the present day, without supernatural or historical elements.
      • Fiction set in a real past period, where the historical setting materially shapes characters and events.
        • General and literary fiction emphasizing prose style, character interiority, or formal ambition over genre plot conventions.
        • Fiction in a realistic world where magical events occur and are treated as ordinary, in the tradition of Latin American literature.
        • Fiction that ridicules people, institutions, or society in order to criticize them.
        • Fiction of dreamlike, irrational imagery and logic that breaks from realistic representation.
        • Fiction that plays with narrative convention through metafiction, fragmentation, and self-reference.
        • Fiction propelled by journeys, exploration, and physical peril, where action and survival carry the plot.
        • Adventure fiction of ships and seafaring — naval engagements, voyages, and life at sea.
        • Fiction of the American frontier West — gunmen, ranchers, and lawmen, typically in the late nineteenth century.
        • Fiction centered on soldiers, campaigns, and the experience of warfare, historical or imagined.
          • Fiction written primarily to amuse, using comedic situations, wit, or parody as its organizing principle.
            • Multi-generational fiction following a family or dynasty across decades, with inheritance and kinship as the through-line.
              • Fiction whose world runs on explicit game mechanics — levels, stats, and skills that characters can see and exploit.
                • Fiction about costumed or superpowered heroes and their conflicts with comparable villains.

                Practical

                How long a commitment, whether it stands alone, and whether it has finished.

                Tap a chip to ask for it · tap again to rule it out · once more to clear. Numbers show what would be left.

                • Cover of Taken
                  Taken

                  Lilith Saintcrow · standalone novel · 2011

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryemotionalshapeshifters+1 more

                  "Sophie never believed she was special. Avoiding a violent ex, she can't remember the last time she truly felt safe. Then vampires murder her best friend and Sophie is kidnapped by a dangerously sexy shape-shifter. Zach insists that Sophie is a Shaman--someone with a rare gift for taming his savage side--and he needs her to help him save his pack. Now, with a malevolent enemy closing in, Sophie and Zach must risk everything on a bond that may be their only salvation"--Publisher.

                • Cover of Phoenix Fire / Phoenix Fury
                  Phoenix Fire / Phoenix Fury

                  series · 3 books · 2014

                  similar byparanormal romancetensecontemporaryour world+4 more

                • Cover of Dirk & Steele
                  Dirk & Steele

                  series · 12 books · 2005

                  similar byparanormal romancecontemporaryour worldemotionalshapeshifters+2 more

                  Marjorie M. Liu's Dirk & Steele series opens with Tiger Eye: in Beijing, a young psychic acquires an antique riddle box and discovers she can free the shapeshifting warrior trapped inside it, setting off a perilous adventure and an unlikely romance. Liu continues the series across many further novels and novellas, including The Red Heart of Jade, Shadow Touch, Soul Song and The Wild Road, each following different agents connected to the same world of hidden paranormal gifts.

                • Cover of The Wolf's Surrender
                  The Wolf's Surrender

                  Kendra Leigh Castle · standalone novel · 2013

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryemotionalshapeshiftersenemies to lovers

                  "As the leader of the Blackpaw werewolf pack, Nick Jenner had spent years protecting his people from dark outside forces. When the victim of a feral drifter turns up on Blackpaw territory, he thinks nothing of bringing her home while her attacker is hunted down and destroyed. But Jenner soon finds that nothing about his alluring new houseguest is what it seems. Mia D'Alessandro, a dark beauty with abilities she would rather forget, was mortified to find herself the victim of a man she thought she could trust. As the full moon approaches, his bite will unleash an inner wolf that can destroy her unless she bonds with a pack. But the darkness now stalking her threatens to destroy far more, including her strong, silent guardian."-- P. [4] of cover.

                • Cover of The Night Prince
                  The Night Prince

                  series · 5 books · 2011

                  part of Night Huntress

                  similar byparanormal romanceour worldcontemporarytenseemotional+2 more

                • Cover of Breeds
                  Breeds

                  series · 35 books · 2003

                  similar byparanormal romancecontemporaryour worldemotionalshapeshifters+2 more

                • Cover of Psy-Changelings
                  Psy-Changelings

                  series · 38 books · 2006

                  similar byparanormal romanceour world+6 more

                  Nalini Singh's long-running paranormal romance series imagines a future where the emotion-suppressing Psy, animal-shifting Changelings, and ordinary humans share an uneasy world. It opens with Slave to Sensation, pairing a Psy telepath and a Changeling leopard alpha as a string of murders pushes their two peoples toward war, while a slower arc across the books tracks the Psy's emotional-control system fraying. The series has grown across two decades into more than twenty novels plus spin-off novellas.

                • Cover of GhostWalkers
                  GhostWalkers

                  series · 20 books · 2003

                  similar bytenseparanormal romancecontemporaryour worldpsychic powers+2 more

                  Christine Feehan's GhostWalkers novels follow soldiers subjected to a covert military program that enhanced them with psychic and physical abilities, then follow them as they go rogue from the program that made them and pair off in romance-driven, danger-filled storylines. Each book generally centers a different GhostWalker couple while advancing an ongoing conspiracy plot about the program's origins and enemies. The series began with Shadow Game in 2003 and has continued for two decades as one of Feehan's longest-running paranormal romance lines.

                • Cover of Heart of Stone / Gargoyles
                  Heart of Stone / Gargoyles

                  series · 6 books · 2013

                  similar byparanormal romanceour worldcontemporaryshapeshifters+2 more

                • Cover of Wolf Slayer
                  Wolf Slayer

                  Linda Thomas-Sundstrom · standalone novel · 2017

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryemotionalenemies to lovers

                  Descended from a long line of werewolf trackers, Tess Owen knows everything there is to know about hunting the big, bad beasts -- except what to do when you find yourself falling for one. Solitary, preternaturally powerful Jonas Dale is a legend among his own kind -- and among those who want to destroy his kind. He's also undeniably sexy. Longing intensifies Tess's hunt for this lone wolf, and her prey's passion matches her own. Meanwhile, a common enemy stalks them both. Will desire save Tess and Jonas, or will it destroy them?

                • Cover of Leopard
                  Leopard

                  series · 15 books · 2002

                  similar byparanormal romancecontemporaryshapeshifters+3 more

                • Cover of The Talions
                  The Talions

                  series · 3 books · 2008

                  similar byparanormal romancetensecontemporaryour worldenemies to loverspsychic powers+1 more

                • Cover of Evernight Universe
                  Evernight Universe

                  series · 7 books · 2008

                  similar byparanormal romanceour worldcontemporarytense+1 more

                • Cover of Back to Life
                  Back to Life

                  Linda O. Johnston · standalone novel · 2009

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryemotionalpsychic powers

                  From the second she reaches for his hand, Skye Rydell feels compelled to save the SWAT officer from the brink of death. Skye senses Trevor has something more to accomplish in life. Something disquieting. Important. Something involving her. Skye makes a split-second decision and, with her choice to use her Valkyrie powers to bring Trevor back to life, everything changes. For her act causes her to accidentally impart her deadly powers to Trevor.... And now, with a murderer hot on their heels, Trevor must grapple with his new gift, his fierce desire for Skye-and a monumental decision that will put all that he holds most dear on the line!

                • Cover of Soul Fire
                  Soul Fire

                  R. F. Long · standalone novel · 2009

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryemotionalenemies to lovers

                  "Iron born and iron bred. Trust not iron, it will see you dead. Rowan Blake could really use a magic wand to keep her struggling art gallery afloat. But the faerie key she stumbles across is far from a lucky charm. It's a magnet for danger, and by touching it she's unwittingly put herself in the middle of a war between the forces of light and dark. And in the arms of its rightful owner, Prince Daire. While searching for his brother, Daire finds himself trapped in the Iron World with a mere mortal woman who ignites his passion like no other. Each stolen kiss deepens their attraction and sends him spiraling closer and closer to the edge of his inherent dark desires. Desires that act as a homing beacon for the Dark Sidhe, who are intent on forcing him to fight on their side. The longer he lingers in her arms—and in her bed—the closer his enemies get to her door. And the greater the risk that the gateway to the Faerie Realm will shift, destroying not only his power to protect her, but his very life." — from this book's product page on Samhain's website as of 2016-11-11.

                • Cover of The Fallen (Cynthia Eden)
                  The Fallen (Cynthia Eden)

                  series · 4 books · 2011

                  similar byparanormal romancecontemporaryour world+4 more

                • Cover of Blood of the Pride
                  Blood of the Pride

                  series · 4 books · 2012

                  similar byparanormal romancecontemporarytenseour worldshapeshifters+1 more

                • Cover of Primal Instinct
                  Primal Instinct

                  series · 9 books · 2009

                  similar byparanormal romancecontemporaryour worldshapeshifters+2 more

                • Cover of Black Magic
                  Black Magic

                  Cherry Adair · standalone novel · 2010

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryemotionalpsychic powersenemies to lovers

                  SHE HATES USING MAGIC . . . Ever since the death of her parents, Sara Temple has rejected her magical gifts. Then, in a moment of extreme danger, she unknowingly sends out a telepathic cry for help—to the one man she is convinced she never wants to see again. HE’S A POWERFUL WIZARD . . . Jackson Slater thought he was done forever with his ex-fiancée, but when he hears her desperate plea, he teleports halfway around the world to aid her in a situation where magic has gone suddenly, brutally wrong. THEY’VE BEEN CHOSEN TO SAVE THE WORLD . . . But while Sara and Jack remain convinced they are completely mismatched, the Wizard Council feels otherwise. A dark force is killing some of the world’s most influential wizards, and the ex-lovers have just proved their abilities are mysteriously amplified when they work together. But with the fate of the world at stake, will the violent emotions still simmering between them drive them farther apart . . . or bring them back into each other’s arms?

                • Cover of Releasing the Hunter Universe
                  Releasing the Hunter Universe

                  series · 2 books · 2013

                  similar byparanormal romanceour worldcontemporaryemotionalenemies to lovers+1 more

                • TP
                  T-FLAC Psi Unit

                  series · 6 books · 2006

                  similar byparanormal romancetensecontemporarypsychic powers+3 more

                • Cover of Immortal Danger
                  Immortal Danger

                  Cynthia Eden · standalone novel · 2009

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporaryenemies to lovers

                  Being Bullet Proof Sucks—LiterallyOnce, Maya Black was a kick-ass cop patrolling the streets of L.A. She still keeps the city safe, but nowadays her bad guys of choice include demons, werewolves, and assorted nocturnal scum. Something Maya knows a thing or two about. She’s a vampire—and not thrilled about it. Payback meet bitch.Adam Brody hopes Maya is as dangerous as they say she is. He needs her to help rescue his niece Cammie from a ruthless band of vamps, and he’s willing to pay—in blood. Trusting her is another matter. Adam has never met a vampire who doesn’t lie. Then again, he’s never met anyone like Maya, who fills him with a desperate need that ignites into explosive, no-holds-barred encounters… “Highly sensual and definitely dangerous.” —Shannon McKenna on Hotter After Midnight

                • Cover of Primes
                  Primes

                  series · 12 books · 2003

                  completed

                  similar byparanormal romanceour worldcontemporary+3 more

                • Cover of Between the Devil and the Sea
                  Between the Devil and the Sea

                  Chani Lynn Feener · standalone novel · 2023

                  similar byparanormal romancetenseour worldcontemporarypsychic powersenemies to lovers

                  What happens when a devil claims a demon? Detective Shadow Yor hates his life. He spends all of his time, day after day, struggling against the demons in his head that tell him he’s a worthless, unlovable person. This doesn’t change when he’s sent on a new assignment with his partner to solve a series of murders. He’s good at his job and will find whoever did it, there’s no doubt there. The only question is whether or not he’ll be able to keep himself together, or if his empathic abilities will finally be the death of him. Apollo Orobas is bored. He’s bored of his secret nighttime proclivities and bored of playing the part of charming neighborhood do-gooder. Apollo isn’t good, never has been, but just when he’s starting to think life holds no interest, Shadow Yor stumbles into his sights. It doesn’t take long for him to figure out the detective is also hiding his true self, and suddenly coaxing Shade’s monster out into the light is all Apollo can think of. As obsession sinks its claws in, he decides it’s time for a new game, one Shade is going to play with him. Whether he likes it or not. Kidnapped and forced to endure whatever twisted plans Apollo has in store, Shade struggles to hold onto his idea of right and wrong, but the more he tries to resist, the more those lines start to blur. What chance does a mere demon have against an actual devil? Especially one who soothes those twisted voices in his head and makes him feel for the first time ever that maybe he isn’t as unlovable as he’s always believed. Trigger Warning: This is a stand-alone dark romance which means there are many themes that some might find disturbing. Some of these include, but are not limited to, dub-con, violence, a seriously obsessed male lead, a male lead who deals with low self-esteem, and explicit sexual content not suitable for all readers. Please be sure to read the Author's Note for a complete list of warnings! HEA guarantee!