#BookReview: Rise of the Vicious Princess (Rise of the Vicious Princess #1) by C.J. Redwine

Synopsis: The first in a YA political fantasy duology about a fierce princess determined to bring lasting peace to her kingdom regardless of the cost to her heart.

Princess Charis Willowthorn is the dutiful sword of Calera. Raised to be ruthless and cunning, her only goal is to hold her war-torn kingdom together long enough to find a path toward peace with their ancient foe, Montevallo, even if the cost is her own heart.

When violence erupts in the castle itself and an unseen enemy begins sinking Calera’s ships, Charis realizes a threat much greater than Montevallo is coming for her people. So she forms a plan. By day, she is Calera’s formidable princess intent on forging an alliance with Montevallo. By night, she disguises herself as a smuggler and roams the sea with a trusted group of loyalists, hunting for their new enemies. And through it all, there’s the one boy she can’t have—who guards her life but steals her heart.

But her enemies are much closer than Charis realizes, and her heart isn’t the only thing she has left to lose.

#BookReview: The Chemistry of Love by Sariah Wilson

Synopsis: True love requires a little research and development in a funny, heart-racing romance by Sariah Wilson, the bestselling author of The Paid Bridesmaid.

How can Anna Ellis, a geeky, brilliant, and hopelessly smitten cosmetic chemist possibly win over Craig Kimball, the man of her dreams—who also happens to be her boss? The answer is Craig’s empathetic (and handsome) CEO half brother, Marco. The makeup mogul knows Craig for the ridiculously competitive rival he is. Whatever Marco has, Craig wants. That can be Anna, if she’s game to play.

All Anna and Marco have to do is pretend they’re falling in love and let the rumors begin. If the experiment in attraction works, a jealous Craig will swoop in and give Anna her happily ever after—if it weren’t for one hitch in the plan. There’s more to Marco than meets the eye. With every fake date, Anna’s feelings are starting to become dizzyingly real.

Blame it on chemistry. It’s unpredictable, exciting, and occasionally combustible. If Anna and Marco are really falling in love, who are they to argue with science?

This title will be released on February 1, 2023.

#BookClub: Spellbound (Spellbound #1) by Cara Lynn Shultz

Synopsis: What's a girl to do when meeting The One means she's cursed to die a horrible death?

Life hasn't been easy on sixteen-year-old Emma Connor, so a new start in New York may be just the change she needs. But the posh Upper East Side prep school she has to attend? Not so much. Friendly faces are few and far between, except for one that she's irresistibly drawn to— Brendan Salinger, the guy with the rock-star good looks and the richest kid in school, who might just be her very own white knight.

But even when Brendan inexplicably turns cold, Emma can't stop staring. Ever since she laid eyes on him, strange things have been happening. Streetlamps go out wherever she walks, and Emma's been having the oddest dreams: visions of herself in past lives— visions that warn her to stay away from Brendan. Or else.

#BookReview: Song of Silver, Flame Like Night (Song of the Last Kingdom #1) by Amélie Wen Zhao

Synopsis: In a fallen kingdom, one girl carries the key to discovering the secrets of her nation’s past—and unleashing the demons that sleep at its heart. An epic fantasy series inspired by the mythology and folklore of ancient China.

Once, Lan had a different name. Now she goes by the one the Elantian colonizers gave her when they invaded her kingdom, killed her mother, and outlawed her people’s magic. She spends her nights as a songgirl in Haak’gong, a city transformed by the conquerors, and her days scavenging for what she can find of the past. Anything to understand the strange mark burned into her arm by her mother in her last act before she died.

The mark is mysterious—an untranslatable Hin character—and no one but Lan can see it. Until the night a boy appears at her teahouse and saves her life.

Zen is a practitioner—one of the fabled magicians of the Last Kingdom. Their magic was rumored to have been drawn from the demons they communed with. Magic believed to be long lost. Now it must be hidden from the Elantians at all costs.

When Zen comes across Lan, he recognizes what she is: a practitioner with a powerful ability hidden in the mark on her arm. He’s never seen anything like it—but he knows that if there are answers, they lie deep in the pine forests and misty mountains of the Last Kingdom, with an order of practitioning masters planning to overthrow the Elantian regime.

Both Lan and Zen have secrets buried deep within—secrets they must hide from others, and secrets that they themselves have yet to discover. Fate has connected them, but their destiny remains unwritten. Both hold the power to liberate their land. And both hold the power to destroy the world. 

Now the battle for the Last Kingdom begins.

This title will be released on January 3, 2023.

#BookReview: Babel by R.F. Kuang

Synopsis: From award-winning author R.F. Kuang comes Babel, a thematic response to The Secret History and a tonal retort to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell that grapples with student revolutions, colonial resistance, and the use of language and translation as the dominating tool of the British empire.

Traduttore, 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.

Babel is the world's center for translation and, more importantly, magic. Silver working—the art of manifesting the meaning lost in translation using enchanted silver bars—has made the British unparalleled in power, as its knowledge serves the Empire’s quest for colonization.

For Robin, Oxford is a utopia dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge. But knowledge obeys power, and as a Chinese boy raised in Britain, Robin realizes serving Babel means betraying his motherland. As his studies progress, Robin finds himself caught between Babel and the shadowy Hermes Society, an organization dedicated to stopping imperial expansion. When Britain pursues an unjust war with China over silver and opium, Robin must decide…

Can powerful institutions be changed from within, or does revolution always require violence?

#BookReview: The Maiden & The Unseen by Jeanette Rose, Alexis Rune

Synopsis: God of the Dead. King of the Underworld. The Unseen. The Renowned...The Glorified Babysitter.

Zeus has finally decreed that the gods may leave Olympus and mingle - anonymously - with the mortals of the present. With zero warning or waiting for him to consent to this arrangement, Hades is placed in charge of not only helping the gods assimilate but also financing them. Unlike the other gods, Hades never withdrew from the mortal world. Instead he spent six months of every year among them, building a fortune befitting one of his many names. As long as the gods follow his strict rules for living among mortals, they have access to a generous monthly stipend. Break the rules, lose the privileges. No allowances. Ever.


Goddess of Spring. The Maiden. The Mistress. The Venerable One...The Social Media Manager.

For the last two years, Persephone has lived among the mortals, enjoying everything the world she was so sheltered from has to offer. It took years of begging since Zeus's decree to get her mother to allow her to go, and she imparted some strict rules to follow. Rule 1: No fraternizing with other gods. As far as Demeter is aware, Persephone's closest friend is definitely not Helios, the Titan of the Sun. Rule 2: No men. The mortal she's casually dating doesn't even know the gods exist. Rule 3: Every six months, Demeter comes by for a visit. This one Persephone can't get out of, and if it keeps her mother from investigating Persephone's life, what's the harm?


Destiny. Fate. Fortune. Kismet...An absolute bitch.

Fate has other ideas for Hades and Persephone, and it does not take lightly to being denied. Struggle and fight all they want. But the threads of destiny have wrapped tightly around them and tugs them tighter and tighter, no matter what the gods themselves have to say about it.

#BookReview: Edited: Mike & Phil & All the World (Un/Edited #1) by Barry Lyga

Synopsis: The companion piece to Mike and Phile and All the World in all its +1,000 page glory.

This is a book. It is written by Barry Lyga. Yes, we know it's a very long book. We tried to get him to cut it, but he wouldn't. So there was nothing we could do about it. We understand if the length turns you off. A long book like this one represents a commitment, and if it isn't good, you'll feel like you've wasted your time and your money. Still, we published it because we think it's a good book. Could it be shorter? Maybe. That's a very difficult call. Each person will have his or her own opinion. Some will read it and think, "It could have been shorter." Others will think, "It was just right." And maybe some people will wish it was longer. Isn't that the highest compliment you can pay a book, to wish it would never end?

Usually, this text here (it's called "flap copy") is sexy marketing-talk, designed to get you to buy the book. Did you know that most people look at the cover, then the back cover, then the flap copy, and only then do they bother even to flip to a page in the book? So you probably haven't even read any part of the book yet, but you might decide to buy or not buy it anyway. Without having read a word of it.

So, we'll just say this: This book is a love story. We hope you'll give it a shot. 

#BookReview: Hex Appeal by Kate Johnson

Synopsis: It’s just a bunch of hocus pocus…

Essie Winterscale lives in a huge and ever-changing house in the village of Good Winter, in deepest, darkest Essex. She lives with various witches of various ages, one of whom is still a bit salty about having been burned at the stake in 1635, one who keeps accidentally casting fertility spells, and one who knits things that create the future.

All Essie ever wanted was to have a normal life but in the end she found herself drawn back to Beldam House because she just can’t stop her witchiness (although the ability to instantly chill wine is pretty awesome, even she has to admit).

Into this coven of chaos stumbles gorgeous, clueless Josh, their new landlord – and he’s just discovered his tenants haven’t paid rent since the 1700s! As Josh is drawn further into the lives of the inhabitants of Beldam House, Essie is determined to keep him at broomstick’s length. That is, until a family secret, lying hidden for centuries, puts Josh firmly under her spell… 

This title will be released on January 17, 2023.

#BookReview: Neon Gods (Dark Olympus #1) by Katee Robert

Synopsis: He was supposed to be a myth. 
But from the moment I crossed the River Styx and fell under his dark spell... he was, quite simply, mine.

Society darling Persephone Dimitriou plans to flee the ultra-modern city of Olympus and start over far from the backstabbing politics of the Thirteen Houses. But all that’s ripped away when her mother ambushes her with an engagement to Zeus, the dangerous power behind their glittering city’s dark facade.

With no options left, Persephone flees to the forbidden undercity and makes a devil’s bargain with a man she once believed a myth... a man who awakens her to a world she never knew existed.

Hades has spent his life in the shadows, and he has no intention of stepping into the light. But when he finds that Persephone can offer a little slice of the revenge he’s spent years craving, it’s all the excuse he needs to help her—for a price. Yet every breathless night spent tangled together has given Hades a taste for Persephone, and he’ll go to war with Olympus itself to keep her close…

A modern retelling of Hades and Persephone that’s as sinful as it is sweet. 

#BookReview: Half-Witch by John Schoffstall

Synopsis: In Lizbet Lenz’s world, the sun goes around the earth, God speaks directly to his worshippers, goblins haunt cellars and witches lurk in forests. Disaster strikes when Lizbet's charming scoundrel father is thrown into a dungeon by the tyrant Hengest Wolftrow. To free him, Lizbet must cross the Montagnes du Monde, globe-girdling mountains that reach to the sky, a journey no one has ever survived, and retrieve a mysterious book. 

Lizbet is desperate, and the only one who can help her is the unpleasant and sarcastic witch girl Strix. As the two girls journey over the mountains and into the lands of wonder beyond, on the run from goblins, powerful witches, and human criminals, Lizbet discovers, to her horror, that Strix's magic is turning Lizbet into a witch, too. Meanwhile, a revolution in Heaven is brewing.

#BookReview: Nine by Zach Hines

Synopsis: In an alternate world startlingly close to our own, humans have nine lives—and they can’t wait to burn straight through them.

As you shed lives, you shed your awkward phases: one death is equal to one physical and mental upgrade. Julian’s friends are obsessed with the idea of burning lives, but Julian is determined to stay on his first for as long as he can. His mother, the ultimate cautionary tale, burned through her first eight in just a few years, and Julian has no intention of succumbing to the debilitating rebirth sickness that she inflicted on herself.

But the regime has death incentives aimed at controlling overpopulation, and Julian realizes that he’s going to have to burn at some point—especially when he becomes a target for Nicholas, the manipulative leader of the Burners, the school’s suicide club. And when Julian eventually succumbs, he uncovers suspicious gaps in the rebirth system that may explain exactly why his mother went so far down the rabbit hole years ago. Along with a group of student dissenters, Julian sets out to find answers and is soon on the verge of exposing the greatest conspiracy ever unleashed on the world.

He has just eight more lives to uncover the brutal truth.

#BookReview: The Hating Game by Sally Thorne

Synopsis: Nemesis (n.) 

1) An opponent or rival whom a person cannot best or overcome;
2) A person’s undoing;
3) Joshua Templeman.

Lucy Hutton and Joshua Templeman hate each other. Not dislike. Not begrudgingly tolerate. Hate. And they have no problem displaying their feelings through a series of ritualistic passive aggressive maneuvers as they sit across from each other, executive assistants to co-CEOs of a publishing company. Lucy can’t understand Joshua’s joyless, uptight, meticulous approach to his job. Joshua is clearly baffled by Lucy’s overly bright clothes, quirkiness, and Pollyanna attitude.

Now up for the same promotion, their battle of wills has come to a head and Lucy refuses to back down when their latest game could cost her her dream job…But the tension between Lucy and Joshua has also reached its boiling point, and Lucy is discovering that maybe she doesn’t hate Joshua. And maybe, he doesn’t hate her either. Or maybe this is just another game.

#BookReview: Glass Town Wars by Celia Rees

Synopsis: All these Glass Town intrigues. No matter how long you'd been absent, how far you'd travelled, once you were back, it was as though you'd never been away.

Tom and Augusta are from different places and different times, but they meet in the virtual world to combine forces in battle, to save a kingdom, escape a web of deceit and to find love. In a place where fictions can be truths and truths fictions, learning who to trust is more than friendship, it is about about survival.

Glass Town Wars, inspired by the early writings of the Brontës, is a captivating, magical novel by the renowned Celia Rees.

#BookReview: The Enchanted Sonata by Heather Dixon Wallwork

Synopsis: Clara Stahlbaum has her future perfectly planned: to marry the handsome pianist, Johann Kahler (ah!) and settle down to a life full of music. But all that changes on Christmas Eve, when Clara receives a mysterious and magical nutcracker. 

Whisked away to his world—an enchanted empire of beautiful palaces, fickle fairies, enormous rats, and a prince—Clara must face a magician who uses music as spells…and the future she thought she wanted.

The Enchanted Sonata, a retelling of The Nutcracker Ballet with a dash of The Pied Piper, will captivate readers of all ages. 

#BookReview: Book of Dreams (The Donovan Legacy #3-4) by Nora Roberts

Synopsis: The Donovan legacy continues in these two classic tales of love and magic!

Charmed

Anastasia Donovan has sworn off romance. After a past boyfriend refused to accept Ana's gift of witchcraft, Ana decided she would move on and start fresh. So when Ana befriends her new next-door neighbor—six-year-old Jessie—she doesn't plan on falling for Jessie's protective single father, Boone Sawyer. Boone and Ana have an undeniable connection and their relationship blooms quickly, but Ana decides to keep her magical secret to herself. The only magic Boone is used to is the kind he writes about in his acclamied children's stories. How can Ana convince him that he's living in a real-life fairy tale?

Enchanted

Tired of her practical life, Rowan Murray escapes to a secluded, peaceful cabin on a whim for a much-needed adventure. Her only companions are her neighbor, the reclusive and mysterious Liam Donovan, and a wolf that lives in the woods around her house. Strange as it seems, Rowan befriends the wild animal, finding his presence comforting in the midst of such uncertainty in her life. Eventually, Liam warms to Rowan, too. But he's hiding a secret about his true identity—one that might scare Rowan away if he reveals it before she's ready…

#BookReview: Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

Synopsis: For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet fishing village. Kya Clark is barefoot and wild; unfit for polite society. So in late 1969, when the popular Chase Andrews is found dead, locals immediately suspect her.

But Kya is not what they say. A born naturalist with just one day of school, she takes life's lessons from the land, learning the real ways of the world from the dishonest signals of fireflies. But while she has the skills to live in solitude forever, the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. Drawn to two young men from town, who are each intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new and startling world–until the unthinkable happens.

In Where the Crawdads Sing, Owens juxtaposes an exquisite ode to the natural world against a profound coming of age story and haunting mystery. Thought-provoking, wise, and deeply moving, Owens’s debut novel reminds us that we are forever shaped by the child within us, while also subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps.

The story asks how isolation influences the behavior of a young woman, who like all of us, has the genetic propensity to belong to a group. The clues to the mystery are brushed into the lush habitat and natural histories of its wild creatures.

#BookReview: Forest of a Thousand Lanterns (Rise of the Empress #1) by Julie C. Dao

Synopsis: An East Asian fantasy reimagining of The Evil Queen legend about one peasant girl's quest to become Empress—and the darkness she must unleash to achieve her destiny.

Eighteen-year-old Xifeng is beautiful. The stars say she is destined for greatness, that she is meant to be Empress of Feng Lu. But only if she embraces the darkness within her. Growing up as a peasant in a forgotten village on the edge of the map, Xifeng longs to fulfill the destiny promised to her by her cruel aunt, the witch Guma, who has read the cards and seen glimmers of Xifeng's majestic future. But is the price of the throne too high?

Because in order to achieve greatness, she must spurn the young man who loves her and exploit the callous magic that runs through her veins—sorcery fueled by eating the hearts of the recently killed. For the god who has sent her on this journey will not be satisfied until his power is absolute.

#BookReview: Blood and Moonlight by Erin Beaty

Synopsis: Rising above the city of Collis is the holy Sanctum. And watching over its spires is Catrin, an orphan girl with unique skills—for she alone can spot the building’s flaws in construction before they turn deadly.

But when Catrin witnesses a murderer escaping the scene of his crime, she’s pulled into the web of a dangerous man who will definitely strike again. Assigned to capture the culprit is the mysterious, brilliant, and enigmatic Simon, whose insights into the mind of a killer are frighteningly accurate.

As the grisly crimes continue, Catrin finds herself caught between murderer and detective while hiding her own secret—a supernatural sight granted by the moon, destined to make her an outcast, and the only thing that might save her and those she loves from becoming the next victims...

In this medieval YA fantasy thriller, an orphan with a secret, magical sight gets caught between a mysterious genius and the serial killer he’s hunting.

#BookReview: The Bone Shard Daughter (The Drowning Empire #1) by Andrea Stewart

Synopsis: The emperor's reign has lasted for decades, his mastery of bone shard magic powering the animal-like constructs that maintain law and order. But now his rule is failing, and revolution is sweeping across the Empire's many islands.

Lin is the emperor's daughter and spends her days trapped in a palace of locked doors and dark secrets. When her father refuses to recognise her as heir to the throne, she vows to prove her worth by mastering the forbidden art of bone shard magic.

Yet such power carries a great cost, and when the revolution reaches the gates of the palace, Lin must decide how far she is willing to go to claim her birthright - and save her people.

#BookReview: Call Me When You're Dead by A.R. Taylor

Synopsis: Call Me When You're Dead is a darkly comic novel about payback gone wild, gone sour, maybe even sweet. "If anything bad happens to me, I want you to get him." That's what Eleanor Birch's glamorous friend Sasha Cole requests of her during a New York City dinner one hot August night. Something bad does happen, and Eleanor is forced to become another person altogether in the wilds of Manhattan, acting as her own little Pygmalion in the harsh world of advertising and its remorseless denizens. How she triumphs, and how her prey becomes first her ally and then her lover, makes her journey a tragic romp, a hilarious disaster, and even an all-out farce--but one with very serious consequences.