Book Recommentations; Ten Dark LGBT Reads

Happy Pride month, everyone. As I'm bisexual and a lover of all things dark and spooky, I thought it would only be fair that I posted a list of ten dark LGBT reads I would recommend.


Come, My Pet by Keira Michelle Telford

Description from Goodreads
In a secretive chthonic cult, young and beautiful witch Mistress Coralie yearns for her ascension to the High Council—an opportunity which presents itself upon the untimely death of her aunt.

With a coveted position on the Council comes more power over the coven and the opportunity to breed, thus furthering her bloodline. But first, she must select a mate.

For this purpose, an elite group of anatomically gifted women are bound in servitude to the coven. These magically-enhanced companions, upon forming a lifelong bond with a Mistress, exist only to serve her sexual needs and sire her offspring, speaking only when spoken to, and obeying her every command without question.

As per coven tradition, Coralie must take her pick from a coterie of willing playmates who’ve yet to secure their permanent bonds, but events seem set to take a turn for the murderous when she instead pins her sights on Pet: an inexperienced companion who’s already irrevocably—but unhappily—tied to another Mistress.


Blood Born by Renee Lake

Description from Goodreads
Maddie is excited about the new adventures college life will bring. She dreams of rallies, weird roommates and exciting courses of study.

She's living with her girlfriend and making new interesting friends while watching out for her terminally ill brother.

What she doesn't expect is mystery, tragedy, and heartbreak to befall her within the first semester.

Is there a monster preying upon the people at her college?

Will she betray her friends and succumb to temptation?

Can they band together and fight the darkness?

Or is the darkness that surrounds her not the enemy...but her only ally?


Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

Description from Goodreads
Carmilla is the original vampire story, steeped in the sexual tension between two young women and gothic romance.

In an isolated castle deep in the Austrian forest, teenaged Laura leads a solitary life with only her father, attendant and tutor for company. Until one moonlit night, a horse-drawn carriage crashes into view, carrying an unexpected guest—the beautiful Carmilla.

So begins a feverish friendship between Laura and her entrancing new companion, one defined by mysterious happenings and infused with an implicit but undeniable eroticism. As Carmilla becomes increasingly strange and volatile, prone to eerie nocturnal wanderings, Laura finds herself tormented by nightmares and growing weaker by the day...


Romancing the Inventor by Gail Carriger

Description from Goodreads
Imogene Hale is a lowly parlourmaid with a soul-crushing secret. Seeking solace, she takes work at a local hive, only to fall desperately in love with the amazing lady inventor the vampires are keeping in the potting shed. Genevieve Lefoux is heartsick, lonely, and French. With culture, class, and the lady herself set against the match, can Imogene and her duster overcome all odds and win Genevieve's heart, or will the vampires suck both of them dry?

This is a stand-alone LBGTQ sweet romance set in Gail Carriger's Parasolverse, full of class prejudice, elusive equations, and paranormal creatures taking tea.

Delicate Sensibilities? This story contains women pleasing women and ladies who know what they want and pursue it, sometimes in exquisite detail.


Horseman: A Tale of Sleepy Hollow by Christina Henry

Description from Goodreads
Everyone in Sleepy Hollow knows about the Horseman, but no one really believes in him. Not even Ben Van Brunt's grandfather, Brom Bones, who was there when it was said the Horseman chased the upstart Crane out of town. Brom says that's just legend, the village gossips talking.

Twenty years after those storied events, the village is a quiet place. Fourteen-year-old Ben loves to play Sleepy Hollow boys, reenacting the events Brom once lived through. But then Ben and a friend stumble across the headless body of a child in the woods near the village, and the sinister discovery makes Ben question everything the adults in Sleepy Hollow have ever said. Could the Horseman be real after all? Or does something even more sinister stalk the woods?


Scarlet Assassin by Jett Abbott/Isabella

Description from Goodreads
Selene Hightower is a killer for hire. A vampire who walks in both the light and the darkness, but lately darkness has a stronger pull. Her unfinished business could cost her the ability to live in the light, throwing her permanently back into the black ink of evil.

Doctor Francesca Swartz led a boring life filled with test tubes, blood trials, and work. One exploratory night, in a world of leather and torture, she is intrigued by a dark and solitary soul. She surrenders to temptation and the desire to experience something new, only to discover that it might alter her life forever. Will Selene allow the light to win over the darkness threatening the edges of her life? Two women wonder if they can co-exist despite vast differences, as worlds collide and threaten to destroy any hope of happiness.

Who will win?


The Well by Marie Sexton

Description from Goodreads
Twenty years after prom queen Cassie Kennedy is brutally murdered, six teenagers break into the house where she was killed to hold a séance. Haven knows his cousin Elise only wants to scare the crap out of him and his friends, but he’s willing to put up with one of her pranks if it means a chance to spend a few hours with the new kid in town, Pierce Hunter.

But when morning comes, Elise has disappeared without a trace.

Twelve years later, Pierce and his twin brother Jordan are professional paranormal investigators, starring in their own ghost-hunting TV show. When Pierce calls Haven, insisting they return to the supposedly haunted building one last time, Haven reluctantly agrees. He’s nervous about seeing Pierce again, but he’s determined to get some answers. Did they really speak to Cassie’s ghost that night? What happened to Elise? And the biggest mystery of all – how did she know the secret of the well?


Carmilla & Laura by S. D. Simper

Description from Goodreads
In the late 19th century, Laura lives a lonely life in a schloss by the forest, Styria, with only her doting father and two governesses for company. A chance accident brings a new companion, however – the eccentric and beautiful Carmilla.

With charm unparalleled and habits as mysterious as her history, Carmilla’s allure is undeniable, drawing Laura closer with every affectionate touch and word. Attraction blossoms into a temptation Laura fears to name, a tantalizing passion burning brighter than the fires of hell. But when a mysterious plague begins stealing the lives of young women in her home and the village beyond, Laura wrestles to reconcile the truth – that the gentle, fragile woman she loves may be a monster cast out of heaven.

Carmilla, the classic vampire novella written by J Sheridan LeFanu, receives new life in this gorgeous retelling, centered on the provocative, controversial leads of the original, Carmilla and Laura.


Blood Countess by Lana Popović

Description from Goodreads
A YA horror novel based on Countess Elizabeth Baathory, the infamous, real-life inspiration for Countess Dracula.

In 17th-century Hungary, Anna Darvulia has just begun working as a scullery maid for the young and glamorous Countess Elizabeth Bathory. When Elizabeth takes a liking to Anna, she’s vaulted to the dream role of chambermaid, a far cry from the filthy servants’ quarters below. She receives wages generous enough to provide for her family, and the countess begins to groom Anna as her friend and confidante. It’s not long before Anna falls completely under the Countess’s spell—and the Countess takes full advantage. Isolated from her former friends, family, and fiancee, Anna realizes she’s not a friend but a prisoner of the increasingly cruel Elizabeth. Then come the murders, and Anna knows it’s only a matter of time before the Blood Countess turns on her.


Harkworth Hall by L. S. Johnson

Description from Goodreads
“Ask him about his wives.”

Caroline Daniels must marry, and marry well. But in her remote corner of England eligible suitors are few and far between, and none hold a candle to her closest friend, Diana Fitzroy.

When Sir Edward Masterson arrives, he seems the answer to Caroline’s financial worries, though she instinctively dislikes the reticent, older merchant. Soon Sir Edward has set his sights on acquiring both Caroline and the decaying Harkworth Hall.

Caroline’s future seems secure, save that his enigmatic secretary hints at a dark secret, and Sir Edward shows an unusual interest in tales of monsters … and the blood in Caroline’s veins.

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