Happy Tuesday! Today’s such a fantastic day for new releases, and I have a bunch on my radar: romantasies, a murder mystery, a highly anticipated second book in a dystopian series, a swoon-worthy dark contemporary romance, and some great YA reads. Let’s check them out!
The Cannibal by I.V. Ophelia
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Alina Lis is plunged into a Manhattan mansion that’s equal parts gilded cage and war room, finding that she is no longer the woman she was…and in fact may no longer be human at all. It is here where Alina prepares for “The Appraisal”—an ancient, high-stakes trial where her vampiric lover Silas must answer for the mass murder of his father’s Nest—as old rivalries and new alliances threaten to splinter them. However, Alina’s only hope lies with Luka, a former enemy with a knack for keeping the peace. But something is festering inside of Alina, as a hunger she’s never felt before threatens to boil to the surface, imperiling both friends and enemies alike. Betrayals mount, uncovering chilling truths that have been brewing for years, plunging Alina, Silas, and Luka into a waking nightmare from which they must escape, lest they succumb to the darkness for good.
Hawk & Sparrow by Ayana Gray
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Nineteen-year-old Vesper Evans has always resented Basalton’s high society, and the sorcery that provides them with a luxurious life unimaginable to most. Orphaned as a child and rescued by the editor of The Basalton Globe, Vesper is now an ambitious reporter determined to keep her newspaper afloat.
While covering a lavish society gala, Vesper happens upon a shocking the murdered body of an inventor whose new machine promised to bring the benefits of sorcery to everyone. Several of the powerful magical elite may want the man dead, but the prime suspect is wealthy industrialist Maximilian Kite.
Max soon makes Vesper a tempting Find the culprit and restore his reputation in exchange for a substantial fee. Despite her distaste for Max’s world, Vesper agrees—the money would save the Globe, and the story would be the scoop of a lifetime. There’s only one In order for her to infiltrate society, the two must pose as a courting couple.
Their investigation takes them from the highest echelons of privilege to the seediest backstreets of Basalton. As they unearth the city’s secrets and scandals, Vesper finds herself in grave danger—while falling for one of the most infuriating, arrogant, handsome men she has ever met . . .
The Heart Trials by J. Elle
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
In a world where love is forbidden, one girl must fight for her heart and freedom through deadly trials in the first book of a new dystopian romantasy duology from New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Elle.
Welcome to The Heart Trials.
The prize is love.
The cost is everything.
In Ethyria the highborn may love; the lowborn may only feel what the Benevolent allows.
Saltblood lowborn Axira Merreri survives the decaying districts by keeping her heart locked tight, couriering goods by day — and smuggling the ruler’s euphoric Heartfillers to the highborn by night. Until a drop goes wrong and her execution looms.
When she strikes a dangerous bargain to steal something from the Tournament of Hearts, a ruthless dating competition for highborn citizenship, she enters. Not for love. For freedom. But as the twisted allure of the competition turns deadly, an unexpected connection cracks her defenses, forcing her to confront a truth she In a regime built on engineered happiness, the most dangerous weapon she has is her heart.
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author J. Elle delivers a breathless series opener that is bold, bone-chilling, and wholly original. For fans of the cutthroat competition of The Hunger Games, Love Island, and Powerless, this dystopian romantasy explores what happens when the heart becomes the empire’s sharpest blade.
The Hocus Pocus Handbook by Ann Aguirre
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Thea Winter has been stolen. She’s the other side of the changeling story, and she’s been raised by a hobgoblin named Mudge, who taught her wildcraft, how to know when the coin-sith would attack and how to get one to show its belly. Unfortunately, Mudge didn’t teach Thea how to stay out of trouble. Which is why she’s facing an unwanted marriage of convenience.
Or would be, but her spouse bolted. Now she has to hunt down Devan J. Fenelon, but she’s been saddled with a taciturn, humorless hunter known as Winter’s Hound. He answers only to his cousin, and she’s not looking forward to this quest at all.
Kerboros has never known freedom. His life is an endless series of ceaseless commands from his reprehensible cousin, Lord Liskaal. Since his father’s failed rebellion, Kerboros has been permitted to survive only as an example to others, an object lesson as to how far one may fall. Certainly, he has his own hidden dreams and secret schemes, but they’re not what anyone would expect. What he wants most, he will most likely never attain.
But then, he receives his next assignment. Escort Thea Winter, protect her during the search. And it’s a glorious torment to travel with her.
She is sunshine. He is shadow.
Their love is forbidden, but when irresistible force sweeps up an immovable object, the resulting reaction might be magical…
I Hope This Email Finds You in Hell by Mackenzie Reed
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
When staying late at the office leads to witnessing an exorcism, Brie Benson’s mundane life takes a hellish turn…literally.
After her parents’ death, twenty-seven-year-old Brie has mastered the art of compartmentalization to survive her mind-numbing routine as a receptionist at a life insurance company. But when she accidentally catches her hot, uptight boss, Luke, performing an exorcism on Debra from accounting, her carefully ordered world implodes.
Swearing Brie to secrecy, Luke reveals he’s from a line of demon hunters and that demonic activity is spiking. But when her emotional support coworker vanishes, Brie is determined to find her. With nothing left to lose, she convinces Luke to let her join his rescue mission.
The problem? Their destination is hell. And the entrance is in Times Square.
Now Brie and Luke must navigate a corporate underworld of monsters and bureaucratic nightmares while racing to save their colleague and repair a tearing veil between worlds. All before their growing feelings become irrelevant and hell claims them forever.
The Knave and the Moon by Rachel Gillig
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
Aisling Cathedral is in ruins. Rodrick Myndacious, Bartholomew, and Maude Bauer are rumored to be dead—and the king has taken Sybil Delling as his bride. To show off their union and solidify his power over Traum, Benji proposes a series of tournaments throughout the hamlets. Captive and drugged, Sybil remains determined to vanquished him as she once did the Omens, even if she destroys the kingdom’s faith—and herself—in the process.
But then a mysterious knave rises to the top of the lists, a man with no name and no memory who may just be Sybil’s ticket to undoing Benji’s power. For in a land where stories repeat themselves, where a king can prove as cruel as a god, the only way to truly destroy the Stonewater Kingdom’s faith is to save it.
Land of Oz
LINKS: Goodreads | Amazon | BookBub | Bookshop.org
13 original stories of dark fantasy inspired by the classic tales of L. Frank Baum and the land of Oz, from the masters of fantasy and science fiction, including M. R. Carey, Christina Henry and Adrian Tchaikovsky.
Journey beyond the yellow brick road, click your heels together and enter the dark heart of the tornado… if you dare.
Join the award-winning Marie O’Regan & Paul Kane as they bring together some of genre fiction’s bestselling and acclaimed authors as they explore the wild imagination of L. Frank Baum and his wonderful Land of Oz.
Reign by Bethan Croome
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Found family, forbidden love, and a heroine who refuses to kneel― from Cosmopolitan’s book imprint comes REIGN, a fierce feminist romantasy about choosing freedom over fear and setting fire to the throne.
The Kingdom of Lyonesse is absent of magic but not of rain.
In the rain-soaked Kingdom of Lyonesse, magic is outlawed―punishable by death.
So when Niamh’s forbidden witchcraft is exposed, she flees her rainy village disguised as a man.
She never meant to end up on a battlefield.
Mistakenly conscripted into a brutal war engineered by a paranoid king against a vengeful sorceress determined to reclaim the throne, Niamh now hides another secret―her womanhood. Between fighting terrifying beasts and confronting arcane powers she once believed were merely folklore, Niamh is thrust into a world where survival relies on more than luck―it demands alliances.
In battle, Niamh must obey Prince Fitzroy, the king’s infuriatingly handsome illegitimate son and sharp-tongued commander tasked with eradicating magic. He is everything she despises…and everything she struggles to resist. Back at camp, she forges a complicated friendship with Bash, a fellow soldier who sees her like no one else does and stirs forbidden feelings that could shatter her disguise.
As war tightens its grip on the kingdom, Niamh is forced to choose: obey the prince who could expose her, trust the soldier who could love her, or embrace the forbidden magic that could save them all.
But war is merciless, and not everyone will live to see which side prevails.
Stalkers Anonymous by Dana LeeAnn
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Cole Matthews definitely isn’t a stalker. Probably.
Sure, he used company resources and crossed some lines to “have a conversation” with his sister’s abusive ex. But that was a one-time thing. Now, Cole has to attend a group therapy program with a long, clinical name…but the participants? They call it Stalkers Anonymous.
Hailey Brigham is definitely dating the perfect man. Probably.
She’d love to focus more attention on Cole, the smoking hot, ex-military sweetheart whose idea of a casual second date is tandem skydiving. But a drug-seeking patient at the ER where she’s a second-year resident knows too much about Hailey’s personal life, and his fixation on her is getting harder to ignore.
When threats against Hailey escalate, Cole’s protective instincts go into overdrive. To keep her safe, he would do anything―even if it means becoming the monster he’s kept so carefully locked up inside.
Stalkers Anonymous is a dark rom-com with a morally gray hero, a fierce heroine, and a found family of misfits you won’t see coming (unless they want you to).
Storm Caller by Nisha J. Tuli
LINKS: Goodreads | BookBub | Amazon | Bookshop.org
Poet Graves has only ever wanted to be free. But no matter where she turns, she’s held captive―by a power she doesn’t understand, a truth she no longer believes in, and a love she can’t deny.
As Poet is drawn further into Rook’s world, his secrets force her to question who she can trust. But when friends turn into enemies, enemies prove to be allies, and the place that was once a safe harbor is revealed as the eye of the storm, Poet’s only choice is to fight for what she believes in.
When New Manhattan’s darkest secrets refuse to stay hidden, the cause Poet and Rook fight for will be called into question. The answers are out there…and they could destroy everything.
Don’t miss out on the stunning DELUXE LIMITED EDITION while supplies last. This breathtaking collectible is only available on a limited first print run in the U.S. and Canada only, a must-have for any book lover.
Don’t miss the thrilling continuation to a thrilling upper YA romantasy by Nisha J. Tuli, where Divergent meets The Cruel Prince in a glittering, storm-wrecked Manhattan where the elite rule through legacy―and one forbidden romance could tear it all apart.
