Books like 'The Expected One'
Readers who enjoyed The Expected One by Kathleen McGowan also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
historical mystery action / adventure alternate history thriller europe western-central-europe france urban italy
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A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsA Breath of Snow and Ashes continues the extraordinary story of 18th-century Scotsman Jamie Fraser and his 20th-century wife, Claire.The year is 1772, and on the eve of the American Revolution, the long fuse of rebellion has already been lit. Men lie dead in the streets of Boston, and in the backwoods of North Carolina, isolated cabins burn in the forest...Categorized as:
drama female-mc historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal suspense action-adventure adult -
The Good, The Bad and The History by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.63 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsSt Mary's is under investigation. Their director has been shot and Max is Number One Suspect. Can things get any worse? We all know the answer to that one.Max needs to get away - fast - and a Brilliant Idea soon leads her to a full-scale uprising in twentieth-century China. If she can come by a historical treasure or two in the process, even better. That is, if she makes it out alive...Categorized as:
historical-fiction suspense magical-realism female-mc time-travel fantasy fiction audiobook -
Hope for the Best by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.56 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe tenth book in the bestselling Chronicles of St Mary's series which follows a group of tea-soaked disaster magnets as they hurtle their way around History. If you love Jasper Fforde or Ben Aaronovitch, you won't be able to resist Jodi Taylor.You can't change History. History doesn't like it. There are always consequences.Max is no stranger to taking matters into her own hands... -
11/22/63 by Stephen King
Rated: 4.32 of 5 stars · 79 ratingsOn November 22, 1963, three shots rang out in Dallas, President Kennedy died, and the world changed. What if you could change it back? Stephen King’s heart-stoppingly dramatic new novel is about a man who travels back in time to prevent the JFK assassination—a thousand page tour de force... -
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What Could Possibly Go Wrong? by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 21 ratingsMax is back! New husband, new job, and a training regime that cannot fail – to go wrong! Take one interim Chief Training Officer, add five recruits, mix with Joan of Arc, a baby mammoth, a duplicitous Father of History, a bombed rat, Stone Age hunters, a couple of passing policemen who should have better things to do, and Dick the Turd...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
Plan for the Worst by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.55 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsThe eleventh book in the bestselling Chronicles of St Mary's series. If you love Jasper Fforde, Ben Aaronovitch or Doctor Who, you won't be able to resist Jodi Taylor.You know what they say. Hope for the best. But plan for the worst.Catch up with the tea-soaked disaster magnets in their latest madcap adventure as they hurtle their way around History... -
Lies, Damned Lies, and History by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.44 of 5 stars · 34 ratings'I've done some stupid things in my time. I've been reckless. I've broken a few rules. But never before have I ruined so many lives or left such a trail of destruction behind me.'As Max would be the first to admit, she's never been one for rules. They tend to happen to other people. But this time she's gone too far and everyone is paying the price...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal suspense action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
A Second Chance by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe third book in the bestselling British madcap time-travelling series, served with a dash of wit that seems to be everyone’s cup of tea.Behind the seemingly innocuous facade of St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research, a different kind of academic work is taking place. Just don’t call it “time travel”—these historians “investigate major historical events in contemporary time...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal suspense urban action-adventure adult -
Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey
Rated: 4.28 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsMighty Kushiel, of rod and wealLate of the brazen portalsWith blood-tipp'd dart a wound unhealedPricks the eyen of chosen mortalsThe land of Terre d'Ange is a place of unsurpassed beauty and grace. The inhabiting race rose from the seed of angels and men, and they live by one simple rule: Love as thou wilt.Phèdre nó Delaunay was sold into indentured servitude as a child... -
Christmas Present by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.35 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIt's Christmas Eve at St Mary's And all through the house Nothing is stirring ... Except for Max, Peterson and Markham, sneaking out at midnight for an assignment that is very definitely off the books. It's ten years ago tonight that Senior Historians Bashford and Grey went missing in 12th century Jerusalem. So how did they end up in AD60 Roman Colchester? Max has a theory... -
Ships and Stings and Wedding Rings by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.34 of 5 stars · 27 ratingsIt’s Christmas again at St Mary's and time for Max’s obligatory illegal jump. On this occasion, however, they’re right up against it. A loaded gun has been left behind in Ancient Egypt and it’s up to them to retrieve it before anyone accidentally blows their own head off, thus affecting the timeline for centuries to come...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal urban action-adventure adult africa -
Snow Wolf by Glenn Meade
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn the heart of the Cold War, they sent him to plot the ultimate assassination. Now they want him dead...It is 1953. Joseph Stalin, the world's most tyrannical dictator, is teetering on the edge of insanity, and about to plunge the world into nuclear chaos. Only one man and one woman can penetrate the Iron Curtain and stop this madman, before it's too late.But someone inside the Kremlin knows...Categorized as:
historical-fiction thriller suspense political-intrigue fiction espionage mystery crime -
Red Storm Rising by Tom Clancy
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 58 ratings"Allah!"With that shrill cry, three Muslim terrorists blow up a key Soviet oil complex, creating a critical oil shortage that threatens the stability of the USSR...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction political-intrigue suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure adult -
Roman Holiday by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsAnother rollicking short story from the Chronicles of St Mary’s author Jodi Taylor. Question: What sort of idiot installs his mistress in his wife’s house? Especially when that mistress is Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator, Queen of Egypt and the most notorious woman of her time? Answer: Julius Caesar – poised to become King of Rome. Or as good as... -
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Miss Bennet's Dragon by M. Verant
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsRoyal Dragonfly Award Winner for Fantasy. Foreword INDIE Finalist for Fantasy.An unforgettable fantasy retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice that is romantic, funny, and more relevant than ever.Elizabeth Bennet is hiding a forbidden power. She can speak to draca, the fire-breathing creatures kept as status symbols by English gentry. If only Mr...Categorized as:
drama female-mc historical-fiction paranormal action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
The Shadow of Water by Jacquelyn Benson
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsLily Albright can see the future, and it looks like hell. In an England on the brink of war, Lily is plagued by visions of the cataclysmic destruction of London. An ancient prophecy is coming to fruition, and it starts with the gruesome discovery of a corpse in the sewers.To save her city, Lily must untangle a web of conspiracy and violence... -
In Plain Sight by Dan Willis
Rated: 4.37 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsWhen a magical plague is released in a Depression-era New York soup kitchen, private detective Alex Lockerby finds himself in a desperate hunt to catch a madman before he can strike again.His investigations lead Alex to a famous thief, a daring heist, and the search for a mythic book of ancient magic, but none of that brings him any closer to finding the man responsible for the massacre... -
The Language of Bees by Laurie R. King
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn a case that will push their relationship to the breaking point, Mary Russell must help reverse the greatest failure of her legendary husband's storied past--a painful and personal defeat that still has the power to sting...this time fatally. For Mary Russell and her husband, Sherlock Holmes, returning to the Sussex coast after seven months abroad was especially sweet...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction religion spirituality suspense thriller 20th-century action-adventure -
Moseh's Staff by A.W. Exley
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsAll things must come to an end... London is in the frozen grip of an unnatural winter and Queen Victoria wants answers. Cara and Nate know who - the Curator. The queen's artifact hunters just don't know what is responsible. Cara is on the trail of an ancient and powerful artifact capable of freezing a city and stirring demons. First she must confront her past and her father's history...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Powdered Gold: Templars and the American Ark of the Covenant by David S. Brody
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIn this stand-alone novel in the "Templars in America" series, Cameron Thorne and Amanda Spencer continue their investigation of ancient artifacts which reveal the true, secret history of North America. Cam and Amanda don’t for a second believe the Ark of the Covenant is hidden in a cave in the Arizona desert...Categorized as:
historical-fiction thriller action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook book fiction -
Φάκελος Ανάσταση by Og Mandino
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsIn front of eight million TV viewers, "The Greatest Mystery Writer in the World" bragged he could prove Christ was actually stolen from the tomb and never really rose from the dead . . . if he were given just one week back in ancient Jerusalem. That night author Matt Lawrence got his wish. A knock-out punch took him right out of this world and landed him in Biblical Judea in 26 A.D...Categorized as:
christian historical-fiction religion spirituality action-adventure adult alternate-history book -
Wolf by Wolf by Ryan Graudin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsHer story begins on a train.The year is 1956, and the Axis powers of the Third Reich and Imperial Japan rule. To commemorate their Great Victory, Hitler and Emperor Hirohito host the Axis Tour: an annual motorcycle race across their conjoined continents. The victor is awarded an audience with the highly reclusive Adolf Hitler at the Victor’s Ball in Tokyo... -
When a Child is Born by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsIt's Christmas Day 1066 and a team from St Mary's is going to witness the coronation of William the Conqueror. Or so they think. However, History seems to have different plans for them and when Max finds herself delivering a child in a peasant's hut, she can't help wondering what History is up to...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction magical-realism paranormal urban action-adventure adult alpha-mc -
The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 32 ratingsA corrupt countessA spy in dangerAnd an assassin at largeThe fifth title in Genevieve Cogman's witty and wonderful Invisible Library series, The Mortal Word is a rollicking literary adventure.Peace talks are always tricky, especially when a key diplomat gets stabbed. This rudely interrupts a top-secret summit between the warring dragons and Fae... -
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A Symphony of Echoes by Jodi Taylor
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsBook Two in the madcap time-travel series based at the St Mary's Institute of Historical Research that seems to be everyone's cup of tea...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction paranormal suspense urban 21st-century action-adventure adult -
A Flight of Arrows by A.J. MacKenzie
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsTwo kings. Two nations. One crown. 1328. After years of civil unrest between England and France, Charles IV dies, leaving no apparent heir. His closest heir to the throne is Edward III of England, but it passes instead to Charles' cousin, Phillip, spurring both countries on to war.1346... -
Byzantium by Stephen R. Lawhead
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsAlthough born to rule, Aidan lives as a scribe in a remote Irish Monastery on the far, wild edge of Christendom. Secure in work, contemplation, and dreams of the wider world, a miracle bursts into Aidan's quiet life... -
Dark Triumph by Robin LaFevers
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 46 ratingsI lean forward, pushing my body out past the battlements. The wind plucks at my cloak, buffets against me, as if it would carry me off in flight, just like the birds or the knight's soul. Let go, it cries, I will take you far, far away. I want to laugh at the exhilarating feeling, I will catch you, it whistles seductively.The convent has returned Sybella to a life that nearly drove her mad...Categorized as:
drama female-mc historical-fiction paranormal political-intrigue religion spirituality abuse -
The Dark Archive by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsA professional spy for a mysterious Library which harvests fiction from different realities, Irene faces a series of assassination attempts that threaten to destroy her and everything she has worked for.Irene is teaching her new assistant the fundamentals of a Librarian's job, and finding that training a young Fae is more difficult than she expected... -
Refuge for Masterminds by Kathleen Baldwin
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsIt’s 1814. Napoleon has escaped his imprisonment on Elba. Britain is at war on four fronts. And at Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, five young ladies are secretly being trained for a world of spies, diplomacy, and war…Napoleon’s invasion of England is underway and someone at Stranje House is sneaking information to his spies. Lady Jane Moore is determined to find out who it is... -
Exile for Dreamers by Kathleen Baldwin
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsIt’s 1814. Napoleon has escaped his imprisonment on Elba. Europe is in shambles. Britain is at war on four fronts. And at Stranje House, a School for Unusual Girls, five young ladies are secretly being trained for a world of spies, diplomacy, and war.Tess Aubreyson can’t run far enough or fast enough to escape the prophetic dreams that haunt her... -
Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 43 ratingsThe longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams.After a supernatural showdown with a serial killer, Evie O’Neill has outed herself as a Diviner. With her uncanny ability to read people’s secrets, she’s become a media darling, earning the title “America’s Sweetheart Seer.” Everyone’s in love with the city’s newest It Girl…everyone except the other Diviners... -
The Secret Chapter by Genevieve Cogman
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsA Librarian’s work is never done, and once Irene has a quick rest after their latest adventure, she is summoned to the Library. The world where she grew up is in danger of veering deep into chaos, and she needs to obtain a particular book to stop this from happening... -
The Archer's Tale by Bernard Cornwell
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 39 ratingsFrom New York Times bestselling author Bernard Cornwell, now available in paperback—the first book in the Grail Series--a spellbinding tale of a young man, a fearless archer, who sets out wanting to avenge his family's honor and winds up on a quest for the Holy Grail... -
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Star Cursed by Jessica Spotswood
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsWith the Brotherhood persecuting witches like never before, a divided Sisterhood desperately needs Cate to come into her Prophesied powers. And after Cate's friend Sachi is arrested for using magic, a war-thirsty Sister offers to help her find answers—if Cate is willing to endanger everyone she loves... -
Celtic Empire by Clive Cussler, Dirk Cussler
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 33 ratingsAn ancient mystery becomes an all-too-real modern threat for Dirk Pitt and his colleagues, in an extraordinary adventure novel in one of suspense fiction's most beloved series.The murder of a team of U.N. scientists while investigating mysterious deaths in El Salvador. A deadly collision in the waterways off Detroit. An attack from tomb raiders on an archeological site along the Nile... -
All Clear by Connie Willis
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIn Blackout, award-winning author Connie Willis returned to the time-traveling future of 2060—the setting for several of her most celebrated works—and sent three Oxford historians to World War II England: Michael Davies, intent on observing heroism during the Miracle of Dunkirk; Merope Ward, studying children evacuated from London; and Polly Churchill, posing as a shopgirl in the middle of the...Categorized as:
drama female-mc historical-fiction paranormal suspense 20th-century 21st-century action-adventure -
The Secret of the Nagas by Amish Tripathi
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 60 ratingsToday, He is a God. 4000 years ago, He was just a man. The hunt is on. The sinister Naga warrior has killed his friend Brahaspati and now stalks his wife Sati. Shiva, the Tibetan immigrant who is the prophesied destroyer of evil, will not rest till he finds his demonic adversary. His vengeance and the path to evil will lead him to the door of the Nagas, the serpent people. Of that he is certain... -
The Hungry Dreaming by Craig Schaefer
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe discovery of lost letters between Alexander Hamilton and George Washington, describing historical events that never happened, sends shockwaves through the academic world. Meanwhile, a citywide surveillance program is coming to New York on a groundswell of dirty money and dead bodies. To hard-nosed Brooklyn reporter Nell Bluth, the two mysteries couldn't be more different...Categorized as:
conspiracies paranormal political-intrigue suspense urban action-adventure adult alternate-history -
Assassin's Creed: Black Flag by Oliver Bowden, Andrew Holmes
Rated: 4.14 of 5 stars · 30 ratingsIt’s the Golden Age of Piracy — a time when greed, ambition, and corruption overcome all loyalties — and a brash young captain, Edward Kenway, is making his name known for being one of the greatest pirates of his time... -
A Lady of Spirit by Shelley Adina
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsYou can choose your friends, but you cannot choose your family … or can you? Under normal circumstances, Maggie and Lizzie would be delighted to meet their long-lost relatives and be reunited with those who had believed them dead, but when are the Mopsies’ circumstances ever to be considered normal? With her half-brother Claude Seacombe, Lizzie travels to Cornwall to meet her mother’s parents... -
A Girl in Time by John Birmingham, Vanessa Johansson
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsThe past is another country. A dangerous one. On the eve of a huge, breakout success, a poor but brilliant young game developer is pulled out of her world, and time itself, by a cowboy desperately searching for the daughter he lost two hundred years ago. Cady McCall is ready to be rich and famous. She’s sacrificed everything, putting her work ahead of family and friends...Categorized as:
drama historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
Cabal of the Westford Knight: Templar's at the Newport Tower by David S. Brody
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsA modern-day mystery novel rooted in recently-discovered ancient artifacts left by Templar Knights during a secret mission to North America in 1398. Attorney Cameron Thorne is thrust into a bloody tug-of-war involving secret societies, treasure hunters and keepers of the secrets of the Jesus bloodline...Categorized as:
historical-fiction suspense thriller action-adventure adult alternate-history book fiction -
Red, White, and Blood by Christopher Farnsworth
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsThe Presidential Campaign Trail, 2012: A political operative and a volunteer are brutally murdered while caught in a compromising position. Written in their blood on the wall of the crime scene: IT’S GOOD TO BE BACK.And with that, a centuries-old horror known only as the Boogeyman returns to taunt Nathaniel Cade, the President’s Vampire...Categorized as:
conspiracies historical-fiction paranormal political-intrigue suspense urban action-adventure adult -
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Time's Divide by Rysa Walker
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 18 ratingsThe Cyrists are swiftly moving into position to begin the Culling, and Kate’s options are dwindling. With each jump to the past or the future, Kate may trigger a new timeline shift. Worse, the loyalties of those around her—including the allegiances of Kiernan and the Fifth Column, the shadowy group working with Kate—are increasingly unclear...Categorized as:
female-mc historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
A Longer Fall by Charlaine Harris
Rated: 4.05 of 5 stars · 20 ratings#1 New York Times bestselling author Charlaine Harris returns with the second of the Gunnie Rose series, in which Lizbeth is hired onto a new crew, transporting a crate into Dixie, the self-exiled southeast territory of the former United States. What the crate contains is something so powerful, that forces from across three territories want to possess it...Categorized as:
conspiracies drama historical-fiction paranormal political-intrigue religion spirituality suspense -
Time's Edge by Rysa Walker
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsTo stop her sadistic grandfather, Saul, and his band of time travelers from rewriting history, Kate must race to retrieve the CHRONOS keys before they fall into the Cyrists' hands. If she jumps back in time and pulls the wrong key--one that might tip off the Cyrists to her strategy--her whole plan could come crashing down, jeopardizing the future of millions of innocent people...Categorized as:
drama female-mc historical-fiction paranormal suspense action-adventure alternate-history audiobook -
Time and Time Again by Ben Elton
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsIt’s the 1st of June 1914 and Hugh Stanton, ex-soldier and celebrated adventurer is quite literally the loneliest man on earth. No one he has ever known or loved has been born yet. Perhaps now they never will be.Stanton knows that a great and terrible war is coming. A collective suicidal madness that will destroy European civilization and bring misery to millions in the century to come... -
Grass for His Pillow by Lian Hearn
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 26 ratingsPraised for its epic scope and descriptive detail, Across the Nightingale Floor, the first book in the Tales of the Otori series, was an international bestseller and critical success, named by the London Times as "the most compelling novel to have been published this year... -
Carter Beats the Devil by Glen David Gold
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 35 ratingsCharles Carter—a.k.a. Carter the Great—is a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeds even that of the great Houdini. But nothing in his career has prepared Carter for the greatest stunt of all, which stars none other than President Warren G. Harding and which could end up costing Carter the reputation he has worked so hard to create...
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