Debra Dunbar's Blog
January 28, 2026
Five Funny Urban Fantasy Novels to Escape the Doomscroll
If you’ve already laughed and loved your way through Ilona Andrews, Darynda Jones, and Patricia Briggs, and you’re hunting for something new to rescue you from the doomscroll, this list is your portal out. Below are 5 funny, fast-paced urban fantasy series starters from some bestselling urban fantasy authors featuring smart, funny heroines, found family feels, and supernatural shenanigans.
#1
It’s Buffy meets The Big Bang Theory… binge this hot, hilarious new series now!
Okay, look, being a seventeen-year-old child genius working my way through Harvard was supposed to be the hardest part of my life.
I’m Marie—smart mouth, zero impulse control, laser-focused on one goal: getting custody of my baby brother to keep him out of foster care. Oh, and building an Iron Man suit and eventually taking over the world. One thing at a time, though.
But when a gorgeous older man at a museum tempts me with a combination of mansplaining and faulty math, I find myself tied up in the basement of an abandoned dentist school. Standard serial killer, right?
Not quite. Turns out, he was a vampire. And he’s turned me into a bloodsucker on the way out.
Bye-bye, Harvard. Hello, tiny, creepy night college in Eternity, Louisiana. I've got a place in a dorm room at Noctiluna House because, get this, the previous occupant was brutally murdered in what is now my room.
Common sense would dictate I should try and find her killer, just in case they come for me and try to carve my heart out like they did to her. So, I’m on the case, and it should be easy. After all, I’m something of an expert on serial killers.
But I’m about to discover that interviewing suspects can be tricky when all you can think about is chewing on their neck.
https://mybook.to/alittlebite
#2
Kit McCafferty's life is quiet, unremarkable and filled with cat hair. In the magical city of Coldstream, located on the border between Scotland and England, Kit is viewed as little more than mildly eccentric and mostly harmless. She passes her days caring for her family of five cats, feeding the local feral moggies, and maintaining relatively good relations with her neighbours.
All that changes, however, when a teenage werewolf shows up at her door in the desperate hope of renting out a nearby vacant flat. Kit knows that the smart move is to tell him to leave. The last thing she needs is to become embroiled in complicated shapeshifter politics. But something about the secretive young werewolf tugs at her heartstrings.
It's not long before Kit ends up caught in a maelstrom of mysterious crime and magical wrong-doing. Fortunately, there's far more to Kit McCafferty than meets the eye and she has a few dark secrets of her own.
Of course, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that you underestimate a cat lady at your own peril. Read this after Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch!
mybook.to/waifs
#3
Burn through this complete, multi-award-winning series! I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.
I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers.
When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone.
Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampyrs and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies…
Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves.
I need to find the girl.
I need to discover who killed my parents.
And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone… Read this after Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series.
https://readerlinks.com/l/1928018
#4
*SERIES COMPLETE*
Welcome to Chipping Cheddar, where supernaturals are hidden in plain sight...
Annoying but loving family? Check.
Picturesque small town with a hot police chief? Check.
A rescue hellhound, a black cat with attitude, and a pet python that thinks he’s a puppy? Triple check.
My story has all the hallmarks of a sweet and cozy supernatural tale, but there’s a twist— I am evil.
Well, I’m supposed to be evil thanks to both nature and nurture, but I fight it with every fiber of my being. I just want to live a normal life. I even joined the FBI instead of the Federal Bureau of Magic, until my powers reared their ugly head and the agency sent me packing back to my hometown to fight magical crimes instead. Now I’m back in Chipping Cheddar, living with my evil family, with a new job and all my old baggage.
Oh, and there’s a dead body, which was definitely not an accident. So there you have it.
Welcome to my world.
Great Balls of Fury is the first book in the Federal Bureau of Magic series.
http://mybook.to/GreatBallsofFury
#5
The mission: kill demons. The distraction: one hot-as-hell slayer. Welcome to urban fantasy’s funniest, spiciest, demon-hunting trial by fire.
Nava Katz is an expert at lowering expectations. She’s cynical, aimless, and perfectly content to let her twin brother, Ari, be the family’s golden boy. He’s the one who trained his whole life to join the Brotherhood.
He’s also the one the magical induction ring was supposed to choose. But when Nava crashes the ceremony, the ring doesn’t fit Ari. It snaps onto her finger.
It’s her worst nightmare: a purpose.
Stuck with powers she doesn't want or know how to use, and a Brotherhood that’s just waiting for her to fail, Nava needs a crash course in survival. Unfortunately, her teacher is Rohan Mitra—an ex-rock god turned slayer whose inner demons earn nods of respect from actual ones. He’s dangerous, tempting, and the best bad decision ever.
Now she must master her magic and survive the demons hunting her long enough to stay alive.
The Brotherhood wants her gone. The demons want her dead. She’s already nailing it.
Read this complete series after Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson for more laugh-out-loud humor.
https://deborahwildebooks.com/collect...
And if you haven't yet, read:
I never wanted to save the world... or these damned werewolves.
Life was pretty sweet until my hellhound bit one of them. Then I accidentally killed him—the werewolf, not my hellhound. Now I need to help the local alpha track down and destroy a rogue angel or I’ll lose everything that's important to me, like my Corvette, and my awesome house with a pool.
I might wind up dead. I might wind up back in Hel. Or I might just pull something impish and manage to wiggle my way out of the whole mess.
WARNING: This series has laugh-out loud antics, an OCD werewolf, and a sexy angel. Get ready to binge read this bestselling antihero urban fantasy series! This is the perfect series to read after Jenn Stark's Immortal Vegas Series!
https://books2read.com/u/mY6xnw
#1
It’s Buffy meets The Big Bang Theory… binge this hot, hilarious new series now!
Okay, look, being a seventeen-year-old child genius working my way through Harvard was supposed to be the hardest part of my life.
I’m Marie—smart mouth, zero impulse control, laser-focused on one goal: getting custody of my baby brother to keep him out of foster care. Oh, and building an Iron Man suit and eventually taking over the world. One thing at a time, though.
But when a gorgeous older man at a museum tempts me with a combination of mansplaining and faulty math, I find myself tied up in the basement of an abandoned dentist school. Standard serial killer, right?
Not quite. Turns out, he was a vampire. And he’s turned me into a bloodsucker on the way out.
Bye-bye, Harvard. Hello, tiny, creepy night college in Eternity, Louisiana. I've got a place in a dorm room at Noctiluna House because, get this, the previous occupant was brutally murdered in what is now my room.
Common sense would dictate I should try and find her killer, just in case they come for me and try to carve my heart out like they did to her. So, I’m on the case, and it should be easy. After all, I’m something of an expert on serial killers.
But I’m about to discover that interviewing suspects can be tricky when all you can think about is chewing on their neck.
https://mybook.to/alittlebite
#2
Kit McCafferty's life is quiet, unremarkable and filled with cat hair. In the magical city of Coldstream, located on the border between Scotland and England, Kit is viewed as little more than mildly eccentric and mostly harmless. She passes her days caring for her family of five cats, feeding the local feral moggies, and maintaining relatively good relations with her neighbours.
All that changes, however, when a teenage werewolf shows up at her door in the desperate hope of renting out a nearby vacant flat. Kit knows that the smart move is to tell him to leave. The last thing she needs is to become embroiled in complicated shapeshifter politics. But something about the secretive young werewolf tugs at her heartstrings.
It's not long before Kit ends up caught in a maelstrom of mysterious crime and magical wrong-doing. Fortunately, there's far more to Kit McCafferty than meets the eye and she has a few dark secrets of her own.
Of course, anyone with an ounce of intelligence knows that you underestimate a cat lady at your own peril. Read this after Rivers of London by Ben Aaronvitch!
mybook.to/waifs
#3
Burn through this complete, multi-award-winning series! I can tell when you’re lying. Every. Single. Time.
I’m Jinx. As a private investigator, being a walking, talking lie detector is a useful skill – but let’s face it, it’s not normal. You’d think it would make my job way too easy, but even with my weird skills, I still haven’t been able to track down my parent’s killers.
When I’m hired to find a missing university student, I hope to find her propped up at a bar – yet my gut tells me there’s more to this case than a party girl gone wild. Firstly, she’s a bookish soul who’s as likely to go off the rails as Mother Theresa. Secondly, I’m not the only one on her trail; she’s also being tracked by the implacable and oh-so-sexy Inspector Stone.
Stone and I team up, and he shoves me into a realm where magic is real – a place where there are vampyrs and werewolves, dragons and trolls. And where my skills are more than just detecting lies…
Oh, and my dog? He’s a freaking hellhound who can manipulate the magical realms themselves.
I need to find the girl.
I need to discover who killed my parents.
And I need to find out more about the attractive but mysterious Zachary Stone… Read this after Ilona Andrews' Kate Daniels series.
https://readerlinks.com/l/1928018
#4
*SERIES COMPLETE*
Welcome to Chipping Cheddar, where supernaturals are hidden in plain sight...
Annoying but loving family? Check.
Picturesque small town with a hot police chief? Check.
A rescue hellhound, a black cat with attitude, and a pet python that thinks he’s a puppy? Triple check.
My story has all the hallmarks of a sweet and cozy supernatural tale, but there’s a twist— I am evil.
Well, I’m supposed to be evil thanks to both nature and nurture, but I fight it with every fiber of my being. I just want to live a normal life. I even joined the FBI instead of the Federal Bureau of Magic, until my powers reared their ugly head and the agency sent me packing back to my hometown to fight magical crimes instead. Now I’m back in Chipping Cheddar, living with my evil family, with a new job and all my old baggage.
Oh, and there’s a dead body, which was definitely not an accident. So there you have it.
Welcome to my world.
Great Balls of Fury is the first book in the Federal Bureau of Magic series.
http://mybook.to/GreatBallsofFury
#5
The mission: kill demons. The distraction: one hot-as-hell slayer. Welcome to urban fantasy’s funniest, spiciest, demon-hunting trial by fire.
Nava Katz is an expert at lowering expectations. She’s cynical, aimless, and perfectly content to let her twin brother, Ari, be the family’s golden boy. He’s the one who trained his whole life to join the Brotherhood.
He’s also the one the magical induction ring was supposed to choose. But when Nava crashes the ceremony, the ring doesn’t fit Ari. It snaps onto her finger.
It’s her worst nightmare: a purpose.
Stuck with powers she doesn't want or know how to use, and a Brotherhood that’s just waiting for her to fail, Nava needs a crash course in survival. Unfortunately, her teacher is Rohan Mitra—an ex-rock god turned slayer whose inner demons earn nods of respect from actual ones. He’s dangerous, tempting, and the best bad decision ever.
Now she must master her magic and survive the demons hunting her long enough to stay alive.
The Brotherhood wants her gone. The demons want her dead. She’s already nailing it.
Read this complete series after Darynda Jones' Charley Davidson for more laugh-out-loud humor.
https://deborahwildebooks.com/collect...
And if you haven't yet, read:
I never wanted to save the world... or these damned werewolves.
Life was pretty sweet until my hellhound bit one of them. Then I accidentally killed him—the werewolf, not my hellhound. Now I need to help the local alpha track down and destroy a rogue angel or I’ll lose everything that's important to me, like my Corvette, and my awesome house with a pool.
I might wind up dead. I might wind up back in Hel. Or I might just pull something impish and manage to wiggle my way out of the whole mess.
WARNING: This series has laugh-out loud antics, an OCD werewolf, and a sexy angel. Get ready to binge read this bestselling antihero urban fantasy series! This is the perfect series to read after Jenn Stark's Immortal Vegas Series!
https://books2read.com/u/mY6xnw
January 12, 2021
New Release!
California Demon is finally here! You can now get the e-book and paperback versions. Audio is in production, and I’ll announce as soon as it’s finished and available (most likely in February). In New Hell, only the monsters survive. Eden … Continue reading →
November 18, 2020
Dystopia in the midst of Dystopia
No one is going to argue with the fact that 2020 is one giant dumpster fire. I’m not going to even detail the shitshow because you guys are living it too and there’s no need to rub salt into those … Continue reading →
October 12, 2020
Demonic Snack Foods
I got a comment asking about the recipe for those roasted beaks the Lows love so much, and wanted to oblige so everyone in my demon household can enjoy the delicacy. Honestly, when writing about them, I was thinking about … Continue reading →
July 20, 2020
Fiends and Familiars
Guess what’s available on Amazon RIGHT NOW? If you’re ready for a fun, light weekend read, then look no further. *Paperback will most likely be out in the next 10 days, and audio August/September. Hellhounds and squirrels and vultures, oh … Continue reading →
June 3, 2020
Cougar On A Hot Tin Roof
I met Robyn Peterman a few years back at a writers convention, introduced by a mutual friend. She’s quirky and funny, a whirlwind of energy, and full of creativity. Her books are chaos-filled, comedic PNR, so of course we instantly … Continue reading →
March 26, 2020
Update on With This Ring
I dreaded having to do this, but I need to push the release of With This Ring back until the 29th of April. This is an amazing, funny book, and I know you’re all going to love it. We all … Continue reading →
September 2, 2019
New Release!
Minions and Magic is now available on Amazon. Glenda’s magic might be in healing, but she’s more proud of her non-witch talents. When it comes to crafting culinary delights, everyone inside and outside of Accident knows that Glenda is the … Continue reading →
April 14, 2019
Light, fun, cozy paranormal romance
The Accidental Witches Series is rocking with book 4, Hell and Hexes, set to release May 2nd. This is Sylvie’s story, and I think you all are going to love Ophelia’s twin and her rather unorthodox love interest! If you’re … Continue reading →
March 28, 2019
Death and Divination
Ophelia Perkins faces death’s reapers every day—she never thought she’d fall in love with one of them. As an oracle, Ophelia divines the future—and sometimes there is no future for the people she fights to keep alive in her job … Continue reading →
