How is it already the last day of February? This month flew by so fast, which is great because it brings us closer to theses amazing-sounding upcoming releases. March is a hot month for releases, my friends. Here are the ones I’m most excited for:
March 7th: A Witch’s Guide to Fake Dating a Demon by Sarah Hawley
Page Length: 336
Publisher: Berkley
Synopsis: Mariel Spark knows not to trust a demon, especially one that wants her soul, but what’s a witch to do when he won’t leave her side—and she kind of doesn’t want him to?
Mariel Spark is prophesied to be the most powerful witch seen in centuries of the famed Spark family, but to the displeasure of her mother, she prefers baking to brewing potions and gardening to casting hexes. When a spell to summon flour goes very wrong, Mariel finds herself staring down a demon—one she inadvertently summoned for a soul bargain.
Ozroth the Ruthless is a legend among demons. Powerful and merciless, he drives hard bargains to collect mortal souls. But his reputation has suffered ever since a bargain went awry—if he can strike a bargain with Mariel, he will earn back his deadly reputation. Ozroth can’t leave Mariel’s side until they complete a bargain, which she refuses to do (turns out some humans are attached to their souls).
But the witch is funny. And curvy. And disgustingly yet endearingly cheerful. Becoming awkward roommates quickly escalates when Mariel, terrified to confess the inadvertent summoning to her mother, blurts out that she’s dating Ozroth. As Ozroth and Mariel struggle with their opposing goals and maintaining a fake relationship, real attraction blooms between them. But Ozroth has a limited amount of time to strike the deal, and if Mariel gives up her soul, she’ll lose all her emotions—including love—which will only spell disaster for them both.
March 7th: Conquer the Kingdom by Jennifer Estep
Series: Gargoyle Queen #3
Page Length: 432
Publisher: Harper Voyager
Synopsis: Magic reigns, plots abound, and a new love might not conquer all, in this must-read finale to the epic Gargoyle Queen trilogy by international bestselling author Jennifer Estep.
Time is running out for crown princess Gemma Ripley. Despite being a cunning spy and a powerful mind magier, Gemma hasn’t been able to track down the most dangerous enemy her kingdom of Andvari has ever seen. Adding to her worries is the Sword and Shield tournament. With gladiators flocking to the capital city of Glanzen, Gemma can’t tell who is friend—or foe.
Determined to protect Andvari at any cost, Gemma hatches a bold plan, but things aren’t what they seem. Soon, everything she holds dear is being threatened, including her burgeoning relationship with Prince Leonidas Morricone.
With the kingdom she holds dear slipping through her fingers, Gemma will have to conquer her fear and unlock the true secret of her magic—or watch her friends and family die and her beloved Andvari fall . . .
March 14th: The Heiress at Sea by Christi Caldwell
Page Length: 331
Publisher: Montlake
Synopsis: Perpetually unattached Lady Cassia McQuoid has accepted her fate as a spinster. But how can she be expected to lead a life confined to drawing rooms and royal balls when there’s a vast, exciting world to explore? Cassia can find but one solution: she masquerades as a thrill-seeking lad and stows away on a ship bound for open waters. Adventure awaits. So does notorious privateer Nathaniel Ellsby.
Nathaniel doesn’t want to be the Duke of Roxburghe. Instead, the second-born son relishes his freedom to do as he pleases: pursuing enemy ships in service of the war effort. But when his older brother dies, Nathaniel embarks on one last mission before he fulfills his ducal duties with an arranged marriage. That’s the intention, at least—until he discovers that his woefully green deckhand is a fetching but vulnerable woman in disguise.
Nathaniel’s new mission is to protect Cassia from the perils of the sea, both above and below the water, by sharing the close confines of the captain’s quarters. As roiling emotions turn to love, Nathaniel and Cassia realize the greatest risks—to the Crown, to their futures, and to the heart—still lie ahead.
March 16th: Songs of Vice by Nicole Bailey
Series: The Siren’s Call #1
Page Length: 320
Synopsis: A siren with death in her song
A con artist with dark magic at his fingers
And a heist only they can pull off…
… if they don’t betray each other first.
Lira has until the blood moon to escape her mother’s cruel siren troupe.
Attempting to flee, she gets mixed up with a handsome stranger set on a dangerous mission to reclaim stolen magic.
A heist that pays enough gold to disappear with.
As their group of magical misfits tumbles through unexpected obstacles, Lira is pushed deeper into a mystical world she wants no part of. A realm filled with wrathful fairy courts and dangerous creatures. But when attraction builds and twists are unveiled, Lira isn’t sure where she belongs anymore.
March 16th: The Foxglove King by Hannah Whitten
Series: The Nightshade Kingdom #1
Page Length: 400
Publisher: Orbit Books
Synopsis: In this lush, romantic new epic fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Hannah Whitten, a young woman’s secret power to raise the dead plunges her into the dangerous and glamorous world of the Sainted King’s royal court.
When Lore was thirteen, she escaped a cult in the catacombs beneath the city of Dellaire. And in the ten years since, she’s lived by one rule: don’t let them find you. Easier said than done, when her death magic ties her to the city.
Mortem, the magic born from death, is a high-priced and illicit commodity in Dellaire, and Lore’s job running poisons keeps her in food, shelter, and relative security. But when a run goes wrong and Lore’s power is revealed, she’s taken by the Presque Mort, a group of warrior-monks sanctioned to use Mortem working for the Sainted King. Lore fully expects a pyre, but King August has a different plan. Entire villages on the outskirts of the country have been dying overnight, seemingly at random. Lore can either use her magic to find out what’s happening and who in the King’s court is responsible, or die.
Lore is thrust into the Sainted King’s glittering court, where no one can be believed and even fewer can be trusted. Guarded by Gabriel, a duke-turned-monk, and continually running up against Bastian, August’s ne’er-do-well heir, Lore tangles in politics, religion, and forbidden romance as she attempts to navigate a debauched and opulent society.
But the life she left behind in the catacombs is catching up with her. And even as Lore makes her way through the Sainted court above, they might be drawing closer than she thinks.
March 21st: Ellie is Cool Now by Victoria Fulton & Faith McClaren
Page Length: 352
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: In this laugh-out-loud romantic comedy, one woman finds that to keep her dream job, she’ll have to face her worst nightmare: high school.
Ellie Jenkins definitely didn’t peak in high school. She was an outsider, an invisible girl with a desperate crush on Mark Wright, a guy who hardly knew her name. Ten years later, she’s living in Los Angeles, trying to write a hit show about cool high school kids, when an invitation for her high school reunion arrives. She doesn’t want to go, but her writing has been suffering and her boss makes her an ultimatum: go to this reunion or lose her big break forever. He even gives her a list of challenges to complete! Ellie takes the bait and returns to the school determined to find friends, fun and to prove to Mark Wright, once and for all, that Ellie is cool now.
March 21st: Strange Arithmetic by Kerrin Willis
Page Length: 315
Synopsis: Massachusetts, 1944. When Maggie O’Callaghan takes a job at Camp Myles Standish, the last thing on her mind is falling in love. She’s there to help the war effort so that heroes like Charlie Morris, the young man her family wants her to marry, can be brought home to safety. But when Maggie meets Carporale Leo Castiglione, a chivalrous being held at the camp, she is soon swept away by the intensity of her feelings. Will her family ever accept her love for a man who was once an enemy, or will Maggie be forced to fight for everything she holds dear?
Massachusetts, 2015. Kindergarten teacher Niamh Reilly longs to start a family with her wife, Christine. Since the death of her mother, Niamh hasn’t known any blood relatives, and she yearns for a biological child of her own to help fill the void in her heart. But when Niamh’s struggles with fertility lead her to search for her biological family, will she be able to come to terms with her past in order to embrace her future?
Strange Arithmetic is a fast paced, gripping historical fiction novel, filled with love, loss, and learning hard lessons. Although Maggie and Niamh can’t always control their circumstances, only they can control how their stories end.
March 21st: Beyond That, the Sea by Laura Spence-Ash
Page Length: 368
Publisher: Celadon Books
Synopsis: As German bombs fall over London in 1940, working-class parents Millie and Reginald Thompson make an impossible choice: they decide to send their eleven-year-old daughter, Beatrix, to America. There, she’ll live with another family for the duration of the war, where they hope she’ll stay safe.
Scared and angry, feeling lonely and displaced, Bea arrives in Boston to meet the Gregorys. Mr. and Mrs. G, and their sons William and Gerald, fold Bea seamlessly into their world. She becomes part of this lively family, learning their ways and their stories, adjusting to their affluent lifestyle. Bea grows close to both boys, one older and one younger, and fills in the gap between them. Before long, before she even realizes it, life with the Gregorys feels more natural to her than the quiet, spare life with her own parents back in England.
As Bea comes into herself and relaxes into her new life—summers on the coast in Maine, new friends clamoring to hear about life across the sea—the girl she had been begins to fade away, until, abruptly, she is called home to London when the war ends.
Desperate as she is not to leave this life behind, Bea dutifully retraces her trip across the Atlantic back to her new, old world. As she returns to post-war London, the memory of her American family stays with her, never fully letting her go, and always pulling on her heart as she tries to move on and pursue love and a life of her own.
As we follow Bea over time, navigating between her two worlds, Beyond That, the Sea emerges as a beautifully written, absorbing novel, full of grace and heartache, forgiveness and understanding, loss and love.
March 28th: Yours Truly, the Duke by Amelia Grey
Series: Say I DO #1
Page Length: 368
Publisher: St. Martin’s
Synopsis: Fredericka Hale needs a husband, and fast. She’s been caring for her deceased sister’s three young children, and now a childless cousin has petitioned the court for custody. Fredericka is powerless to stop her, but having a husband might sway the ruling. The last thing Fredericka wants is a hurried-up marriage to a man she doesn’t know—much less love, but she’ll do it for the children. So when the handsome Duke of Wyatthaven shows up with a proposal, she accepts. He’ll help her, and in return, they’ll lead separate lives. But distance cannot keep them from their powerful attraction.
At the top of his game in London, the Duke of Wyatthaven has no interest in marriage. However, if Wyatt doesn’t marry by week’s end, he’ll lose a sizable inheritance from his grandmother. When Wyatt’s solicitor finds Miss Fredericka Hale, Wyatt considers this little hiccup solved. Miss Hale is lovely, and intelligent. Most importantly, she prefers country life to London, so he’s free to continue his life as usual. But when circumstances force Fredericka and the children to show up at the duke’s door, Wyatt can’t deny he’s always been under her spell. Will the duke give up his bachelor lifestyle and give into the fiery passion growing between them?
March 28th: Chaos & Flame by Tessa Grafton & Justina Ireland
Series: Chaos & Flame #1
Page Length: 336
Publisher: Razorbill
Synopsis: Darling Seabreak cannot remember anything before the murder of her family at the hands of House Dragon, but she knows she owes her life to both the power of her Chaos Boon and House Kraken for liberating her from the sewers where she spent her childhood. So when her adoptive Kraken father is captured in battle, Darling vows to save him–even if that means killing each and every last member of House Dragon.
Talon Goldhoard has always been a dutiful War Prince for House Dragon, bravely leading the elite troops of his brother, the High Prince Regent. But lately his brother’s erratic rule threatens to undo a hundred years of House Dragon’s hard work, and factions are turning to Talon to unseat him. Talon resists, until he’s ambushed by a fierce girl who looks exactly like the one his brother has painted obsessively, repeatedly, for years, and Talon knows she’s the key to everything.
Together, Darling and Talon must navigate the treacherous waters of House politics, caught up in the complicated game the High Prince Regent is playing against everyone. The unlikeliest of allies, they’ll have to stop fighting each other long enough to learn to fight together in order to survive the fiery prophecies and ancient blood magic threatening to devastate their entire world.
March 28th: The Prospector’s Only Prospect by Dani Collins
Page Length: 352
Publisher: Entangled Amara
Synopsis: After eight days in a cramped stagecoach, divorcée Marigold Davis already regrets her decision to come to Denver City to marry. She certainly didn’t realize she’d signed up for mosquitoes, mud, and scores of rough men eyeing her like a hot meal on a cold day. But with her life in Kansas all but incinerated, Marigold needs a husband. Even if she’s not the bride that gold prospector Virgil Gardner is expecting…
Virgil Gardner has a reputation as a grumpy hard-ass, and he’s fine with it. He’s also no fool—this is not the woman he agreed to marry. It takes a tough-as-nails woman to survive the harshness of a Rocky Mountain gold claim, and this whiskey-eyed, gentle beauty is certainly not the type. Now it’s just a matter of how quickly she’ll quit so he can find a wife who will stick. Someone who can care for the only thing he values even more than gold–his children.
But Marigold isn’t about to give in. Cramped in a one-room shack. Berry picking turned into a bear escape. Or cooking for an entire crew of bottomless pits. She’s got more grit than most. And just when Virgil starts to realize his replacement bride might be the treasure he’s been looking for, an unannounced guest arrives…to change everything.
March 28th: What Happens in the Ballroom by Sabrina Jeffries
Series: Designing Debutantes #2
Page Length: 288
Publication Date: March 28, 2023
Publisher: Zebra Books
Synopsis: rom one of the best-known names in historical romance, New York Times bestselling author Sabrina Jeffries, comes the second in her dazzling Designing Debutantes series featuring a talk-of-the-ton trio of young women who’ve eschewed working as governesses to utilize their talents for fashion, food, and music, by running their own party planning enterprise, Elegant Occasions. And if they, and their wealthy clients, happen to find love along the way, it just makes their efforts all the more rewarding!
A youthful widow, Eliza Pierce is enjoying both freedom and financial success as part of Elegant Occasions. Then her late husband’s best friend, Nathaniel Stanton, the Earl of Foxstead, hires Elegant Occasions to help another young widow of an officer become part of high society, and Eliza wonders why. Is the woman a relative? Or is she the earl’s mistress and her adorable toddler his child? If so, why does he take Eliza in his arms every chance he gets . . .
Foxstead’s family situation makes it difficult for him to marry, so his visceral attraction to Lieutenant Pierce’s widow is an unwelcome complication. Sworn to secrecy concerning his friend’s life in the army, Foxstead is trying to honor the man’s last wishes, even when it means being around Eliza every day. But how can he resist when the fetching Eliza keeps tempting him to break his own rules? For if he dares to expose the truth, will she ever forgive him? Or will she banish him from her life forever . . .
March 28th: A Spinster’s Guide to Danger and Dukes by Manda Collins
Series: A Lady’s Guide #3
Page Length: 352
Publisher: Forever
Synopsis: Miss Poppy Delamare has been living a lie. To escape an odious betrothal, she hid as the quiet and unassuming Flora Deaver, secretary to London’s most infamous female crime reporter. When her beloved younger sister is accused of murder, however, Poppy returns home to keep her sibling from the hangman’s noose.
But a collision with the most unexpected—and unwelcome—of travel companions interrupts her journey. To her surprise, the arrogant, albeit handsome, Duke of Langham offers to help clear her sister’s name . . . in exchange for a favor of his own.
Despite his rakish reputation, Joshua Fielding, the Duke of Langham, has no intention of abandoning a lady—or ladies—in need. A fake betrothal will benefit both him and Poppy. Langham will have protection from the society misses flocking to his grandmother’s birthday celebration, and Poppy will have the power of the dukedom when proving her sister’s innocence.
Only the longer the ruse goes on, the less pretend the engagement feels, until neither are acting at all. But before Langham can propose in truth, their search reveals a tangled web of lies and betrayals leading back to his own family. With time running out to save Poppy’s sister, can Poppy and Langham find the true murderer before the curtains fall?
March 28th: Nevermore Bookstore by Kerrigan Byrne & Cynthia St. Aubin
Series: Townsend Harbor #1
Synopsis: Cadence “Cady” Bloomquist knows two things for sure: First, shelving books at her shop, Nevermore Bookstore, totally counts as cardio. Second, staying late every Thursday night to take a certain mysterious customer’s order is not the same as waiting by the phone for some man.
Until.
Until the calls with the man who identifies himself only as “Fox” last for hours, and become the highlight of her week. Which leaves her to wonder, if his jagged velvet voice can kindle her fire over the phone, what sort of alchemy might it inspire if they met in person?
There’s nothing Roman Fawkes wants more than the brilliant, beautiful bookstore owner, but Roman Fawkes knows it can never happen. Secreted in his mountain hideaway high above sleepy little Townsend Harbor, his hermit’s existence shields him–and those around him–from the pain of his past.
Until.
Until one of their weekly calls is interrupted by a break-in, and Fawkes is powerless to protect the woman who has become his one link to the world. Orchestrating a trap for the fool who dared harm her, Fawkes finds himself not just ensnared, but beguiled by her. Now so close to Cady, he discovers she’s fallen for “Fox”, and yet he’s unable to reveal her heart’s desire is closer than she thinks.
Can Fawkes resist the temptation to get between Cady’s covers, knowing they’ll never have a happily ever after?
Which books are you excited for? Comment below!
I really want to read The Foxglove King and Chaos and Flame sounds really good too. So many amazing books being published soon. And April is even worse (or better) 😃
Ahhh – my TBR is a mile long and just keeps growing! lol
Well, have to wait for October for the book I am anticipating
Oooh, what book is that?
Silverborn: Mystery of Morrigan Crow
So many of these look really good! I can already vouch for Conquer the Kingdom though – it’s the perfect ending to the trilogy.
Nice! So glad you enjoyed it!
Love the cover for The Heiress at Sea!
A lot of good looking books coming out this month. I can’t believe I forgot to include Songs of Vice on my list. It looks so good!!
Yes!! I love Nicole Bailey’s books!
It looks like some great books coming out in March. So many great covers too.
Yes!! Too many good ones. My TBR is a mile long. lol