Books like 'When They Burned the Butterfly'
Readers who enjoyed When They Burned the Butterfly by Wen-yi Lee also liked the following books featuring the same tropes, story themes, relationship dynamics and character types.
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Deosil by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsWhyborne, Griffin, and their friends have faced down cultists, monsters, and sorcerers. But their greatest challenge is now upon them.On the return voyage from Balefire Manor, Whyborne receives the worst news possible: Widdershins has fallen before the onslaught of the Fideles and their servants. There’s still time to stop the return of the Masters, but that window grows shorter by the hour... -
Draakenwood by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsSomeone is killing members of the old families…and the evidence points to Whyborne. Widdershins has been unusually quiet for months. But now a mysterious creature from the Outside is on the loose, assassinating members of the town’s old families by draining their blood... -
Balefire by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.43 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhyborne’s Endicott relatives have returned to collect on the promise he made to help them take back their ancestral manor from an evil cult. In exchange, they’ll give him the key to deciphering the Wisborg Codex, which Whyborne needs to learn how to stop the masters... -
Bloodline by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsBetween his bullying father and dissolute brother, Percival Endicott Whyborne has quite enough problematic family members to deal with. So when his sister returns to Widdershins asking for help solving the mystery of a derelict ship, Whyborne is reluctant to get involved. Until, that is, a brutal murderer strikes, leaving Whyborne and his lover Griffin no choice but to take the case... -
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Babel, or The Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution by R.F. Kuang
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 67 ratingsTraduttore, traditore: An act of translation is always an act of betrayal. 1828. Robin Swift, orphaned by cholera in Canton, is brought to London by the mysterious Professor Lovell. There, he trains for years in Latin, Ancient Greek, and Chinese, all in preparation for the day he'll enroll in Oxford University's prestigious Royal Institute of Translation — also known as Babel... -
Necropolis by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsan alternate cover edition can be found hereIntroverted scholar Percival Endicott Whyborne has spent the last few months watching his lover, Griffin Flaherty, come to terms with the rejection of his adoptive family. So when an urgent telegram from Christine summons them to Egypt, Whyborne is reluctant to risk the fragile peace they’ve established...Categorized as:
dark historical-fiction lgbtq magic action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
Hexslayer by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.31 of 5 stars · 13 ratingsHorse shifter Nick has one rule: never trust a witch.Nick has devoted his life to making his saloon a safe haven for the feral familiars of New York. So when a brutal killer slaughters a feral under his protection, Nick has no choice but to try and catch the murderer. Even if that means bonding with a handsome Irish witch...Categorized as:
historical-fiction lgbtq magic poc-mc action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day by Jonathan L. Howard
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsJohannes Cabal has faced down the undead, ghosts, monsters, and Satan himself. But before all that, he fought the terrifying Bonewind, a supernatural being that devours life itself, and he did it all without leaving his house. "Johannes Cabal and the Blustery Day" was the story that first introduced the necromancer of some little infamy back in 2004... -
Fallow by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsWhen Griffin’s past collides with his present, will it cost the lives of everyone he loves?Between the threat of a world-ending invasion from the Outside and unwelcome revelations about his own nature, Percival Endicott Whyborne is under a great deal of strain... -
She Who Waits by Daniel Polansky
Rated: 4.29 of 5 stars · 14 ratingsThe third novel in the brilliant dark fantasy Low Town seriesLow Town: the worst ghetto in the worst city in the Thirteen Lands. Good only for depravity and death. And Warden, long ago a respected agent in the formidable Black House, is now the most depraved Low Town denizen of them all... -
Murder on Hunter's Eve by Morgan Stang
Rated: 4.50 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsA werewolf terrorizes the city of Lamplight!It's the week of Hunter's Eve, a yearly celebration of monsters, ghosts, and things that go bump in the night. But for Huntress Isabeau Agarwal, the event is a stark reminder that in her line of work, there is never a day's rest.Murders rock the city, and Isabeau is charged with solving them before the killer strikes again... -
Before the Devil Breaks You by Libba Bray
Rated: 4.23 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsNew York City.1927.Lights are bright.Jazz is king.Parties are wild.And the dead are coming...After battling a supernatural sleeping sickness that claimed two of their own, the Diviners have had enough lies. They're more determined than ever to uncover the mystery behind their extraordinary powers, even as they face off against an all-new terror...Categorized as:
dark historical-fiction lgbtq magic urban action-adventure alternate-history audiobook -
A Long Way from Ordinary by Ann Charles, Sam Lucky
Rated: 4.38 of 5 stars · 8 ratings“There’s gold in them there hills!” … and something deadly, too. Danger the likes Boone McCreery has never seen is brewing in the Black Hills. Fresh in from Santa Fe, he’s returned to Deadwood to seek justice for his uncle, and maybe to see about a girl. Little did he know his search for justice would have him stumbling into a hornets’ nest beyond his worst nightmare...Categorized as:
romantic-love magic historical-fiction paranormal mystery historical fantasy western -
Undertow by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNote: This novella takes place at the same time as events in Fallow (Whyborne & Griffin 8). Shy secretary Maggie Parkhurst knows there’s nothing special about her. She’s neither sorceress, nor fighter, nor scholar... -
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The Book of Magic by Alice Hoffman
Rated: 4.19 of 5 stars · 36 ratingsMaster storyteller Alice Hoffman brings us the conclusion of the Practical Magic series in a spellbinding and enchanting final Owens novel brimming with lyric beauty and vivid characters.The Owens family has been cursed in matters of love for over three-hundred years but all of that is about to change... -
The Finality Problem by G.S. Denning, Robert Garson
Rated: 4.33 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsWarlock Holmes is dealing with a jerk, who just so happens to be a stockbroker. There may be a link. He's also trying to hunt down some tokens to control something magical (it's all rather complicated), and Moriarty just won't stop taking over people's bodies. And of course Dr. John Watson is by his side (mostly), but not quite as useful as he once was.. -
The Girl with No Face by M.H. Boroson
Rated: 4.25 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsThe adventures of Li-lin, a Daoist priestess with the unique ability to see the spirit world, continue in the thrilling follow-up to the critically-acclaimed historical urban fantasy The Girl with Ghost Eyes.It’s the end of the Nineteenth Century. San Francisco’s cobblestone streets are haunted, but Chinatown has an unlikely protector in a young Daoist priestess named Li-lin...Categorized as:
historical-fiction magic poc-mc romantic-love urban action-adventure adult audiobook -
Unseen by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.22 of 5 stars · 9 ratingsLibrarian Sebastian Rath and his lover Vesper Rune are tasked with seeking and containing the evil Books of the Bound. But one of the Books has been freed from its prison—and is in the hands of a killer.As more bodies turn up, Sebastian finds himself tempted to use forbidden magic to locate the Book and stop the murderer... -
The Witching Hour by Anne Rice
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 66 ratingsFrom the author of the extraordinary Vampire Chronicles comes a huge, hypnotic novel of witchcraft and the occult through four centuries... -
The Witch of Tin Mountain by Paulette Kennedy
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsIn Depression-era Arkansas, something wicked has come to a haunted mountain town in a novel of uncanny suspense by the author of Parting the Veil.Blood and power bind three generations of women in the Ozark Mountains. So does an evil that’s followed them across the decades.1931. Gracelynn Doherty lives peacefully on Tin Mountain, helping her adoptive granny work her cures... -
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...Categorized as:
dark historical-fiction lgbtq magic urban action-adventure alternate-history audiobook -
A Forgery of Roses by Jessica S. Olson
Rated: 4.21 of 5 stars · 7 ratingsFrom the author of Sing Me Forgotten comes a lush new fantasy novel with an art-based magic system, romance, and murder… Myra has a gift many would kidnap, blackmail, and worse to control: she’s a portrait artist whose paintings alter people’s bodies. Guarding that secret is the only way to keep her younger sister safe now that their parents are gone... -
My Soul to Keep by Tananarive Due
Rated: 4.16 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsWhen Jessica marries David, he is everything she wants in a family man: brilliant, attentive, ever youthful. Yet she still feels something about him is just out of reach... -
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... -
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Guardian Spirits by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.36 of 5 stars · 11 ratingsPsychic medium Vincent Night and his lover Henry Strauss have spent months striving to uncover the dark secret harbored by Vincent’s dead mentor, James Dunne. Their only clue comes from a journal: Dunne was seeking to restore the Grand Harmonium, an artifact meant to breach the walls between life and death... -
Flight of Magpies by K.J. Charles, KJ查爾斯
Rated: 4.20 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsDanger in the air. Lovers on the brink.With the justiciary understaffed, a series of horrifying occult murders to be investigated, and a young student flying off the rails, magical law enforcer Stephen Day is under increasing stress. And the strain is starting to show in his relationship with his aristocratic lover, Lord Crane... -
Darkness on his Bones by Barbara Hambly
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsSimon. Something frightful has happened to Jamie. Please come...When James Asher is found unconscious in the cemetery of the Church of St. Clare Pieds-Nus with multiple puncture-wounds in his throat and arms, his wife, Lydia, knows of only one person to call: the vampire Don Simon Ysidro... -
The Devil You Know by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsPREVIEW AVAILABLE at vampwriter-dot-com/DevilYouKnowEXCERPT.htmVampire PI Jack Fleming travels to Long Island to attend a funeral.Problem: There's more than one body in the grave.Delving into his past, Jack follows clues leading to an old murder, new betrayals, and a hard look at the man he was vs. the vampire he's become... -
Crow's Fate by Kim Fielding
Rated: 4.17 of 5 stars · 6 ratingsYou can’t fly away from destiny.Crow Rapp assumes he’ll spend his life growing corn in rural Illinois, like the grandparents who raised him. But during a visit to a traveling carnival, he encounters a handsome stranger named Simeon Bell—and receives a prophecy of a horrifying future... -
Banished by C.J. Archer
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsAn infestation of evil ghosts is too much for spirit medium Cara to handle alone. She summons Quin, and together they attempt to discover where the ghosts came from, and why they refuse to leave this realm. To protect the residents, Cara and Quin must work closely together, leading to old feelings resurfacing between them... -
The Kindred of Darkness by Barbara Hambly
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsWhen James Asher and his wife Lydia's baby daughter Miranda is kidnapped by the Master Vampire of London, the stakes are high: blindly follow the Master Vampire's instructions, keep out of the way of the human networks that serves the vampires, destroy the interloper who seeks to seize control of the London Nest, and find the key to the Nest's tortuous inner workings: The Book of the Kindred of... -
Song in the Dark by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.13 of 5 stars · 8 ratingsP. N. Elrod's novels of "The Vampire Files" blend the seductive shadows of classic noir into a sanctuary for a most unusual private investigator-vampire Jack Fleming. In Elrod's newest novel, Jack is under the gun when the New York mafia wants his hide, and the love of his life is wanted for murder... -
Ghost Girl by C.J. Archer
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsCara Moreau is dying from a supernatural curse. Her only chance of survival lies with the warrior, an enigmatic man who comes from a realm "in between." Quin St. Clair lived hundreds of years ago, but now exists solely to protect the world he once called home. That's all he will tell Cara, the woman he must keep alive by remaining close to her. Very close... -
Cold Streets by P.N. Elrod
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 10 ratingsVampire detective Jack Fleming's latest venture-the Lady Crymsyn nightclub-has become the favorite haunt for Chicago's elite. But amongst his patrons lurk a smarmy blackmailer and a dangerous up-and-coming mobster from New York-both unaware how deadly Jack can be when blood is spilled.. -
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Song of Oestend by Marie Sexton
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsOn the Oestend prairie, only the strong survive.Artist Aren Montrell has heard tales of the Oestend wraiths – mysterious creatures that come in the night and kill anyone who’s not indoors. Aren’s never believed the stories, but when he takes a job as a bookkeeper on the BarChi, a dusty cattle ranch in the furthest reaches of Oestend, he learns the wraiths are very real... -
The Hell-Hound of the Baskervilles by G.S. Denning
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsThe game s afoot once more as Holmes and Watson face off against Moriarty s gang, the Pinkertons, flesh-eating horses, a parliament of imps, boredom, Surrey, a disappointing butler demon, a succubus, a wicked lord, an overly-Canadian lord, a tricycle-fight to the death and the dreaded Pumpcrow. Oh, and a hell hound, one assumes... -
Heart Burn by C.J. Archer
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsTime is running out for Hannah. With her life hanging by a thread and Tate trying to kidnap her, she finds help in an unusual quarter - the man who put the narcoleptic memory block on her as a child. Yet the powerful hypnotist may not be all that he seems... -
Carousel by Jordan L. Hawk
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 12 ratingsNote: “Carousel” first appeared in the anthology Another Place in Time. It takes place between the events of Stormhaven and Necropolis. When a child goes missing in Widdershins, ex-Pinkerton detective Griffin Flaherty fears sinister forces are at work in the town...Categorized as:
dark historical-fiction lgbtq magic action-adventure adult anthologies cosmic-horror -
Jilo by J.D. Horn
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 16 ratingsAged Mother Jilo is wise in the ways of magic…but once upon a time, she was just a girl.1950s Georgia: King Cotton has fallen. Savannah is known as the “beautiful woman with a dirty face,” its stately elegance faded by neglect, its soul withering from racial injustice and political corruption... -
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:
dark historical-fiction magic urban action-adventure adult alternate-history audiobook -
The Raven Song by Luanne G. Smith
Rated: 4.06 of 5 stars · 17 ratingsFleeing Victorian London, a witch finds her newfound independence comes with all-new perils—both mortal and immortal.Forever untangling the branches of her strange family tree, Edwina Blackwood is at a turning point. Her parents’ disappearances still strike her as unaccountably odd. Her sister’s questionable life and untimely death have left her shaken... -
The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.18 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA story too secret, too terrifying—and too shockingly intimate—for Victorian eyes. A note to the Editor Dear Henry, I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide... -
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 44 ratingsA lyrical and dreamy reimagining of Dracula’s brides, A Dowry of Blood is a story of desire, obsession, and emancipation. Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king... -
The Haunting of Tram Car 015 by P. Djèlí Clark
Rated: 4.02 of 5 stars · 25 ratingsThe Haunting of Tram Car 015 returns to the alternate Cairo of Clark's short fiction, where humans live and work alongside otherworldly beings; the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities handles the issues that can arise between the magical and the mundane... -
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Dragon's Oath by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast
Rated: 4.07 of 5 stars · 38 ratingsThe first in an enthralling new mini-series of novellas from the #1 bestselling authors of the House of Night, Dragon’s Oath tells the story behind the House of Night’s formidable fencing instructor – the love that will transform him, and the promise that will haunt him In early 19th century England, long before he’s a professor at the Tulsa House of Night, Bryan Lankford is a troublesome... -
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Rated: 4.04 of 5 stars · 61 ratingsIn 1893, there's no such thing as witches. There used to be, in the wild, dark days before the burnings began, but now witching is nothing but tidy charms and nursery rhymes. If the modern woman wants any measure of power, she must find it at the ballot box... -
The Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your Home by Joseph Fink, Jeffrey Cranor
Rated: 4.09 of 5 stars · 29 ratingsFrom the New York Times bestselling authors of Welcome to Night Vale and It Devours! and the creators of the hit podcast, comes a new novel set in the world of Night Vale and beyond.In the town of Night Vale, there’s a faceless old woman who secretly lives in everyone’s home, but no one knows how she got there or where she came from...until now...Categorized as:
dark historical-fiction lgbtq urban action-adventure alternate-history audiobook book -
A Case of Possession by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.08 of 5 stars · 24 ratingsMagic in the blood. Danger in the streets. Lord Crane has never had a lover quite as elusive as Stephen Day. He knows Stephen’s job as justiciar requires secrecy, but the magician is doing his disappearing act more than seems reasonable—especially since Crane will soon return to his home in China... -
The Bone Key: The Necromantic Mysteries of Kyle Murchison Booth by Sarah Monette
Rated: 4.10 of 5 stars · 20 ratingsThe dead and the monstrous will not leave Kyle Murchison Booth alone, for an unwilling foray into necromancy has made him sensitive to--and attractive to--the creatures who roam the darkness of his once-safe world. Ghosts, ghouls, incubi: all have one thing in common. They know Booth for one of their own . .Categorized as:
dark historical-fiction lgbtq romantic-love 21st-century adult anthologies cosmic-horror -
Interlude with Tattoos by K.J. Charles
Rated: 4.11 of 5 stars · 19 ratingsA short story set just after the end of The Magpie Lord. Stephen Day and Lord Crane return to London. Neither is quite sure where their fledgling relationship is going. It seems unlikely that there can be much of a future for them, under the circumstances, with Stephen going back to work and Crane returning to China. Until they encounter an unexpected moment of magic..
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