Since the Smart Girls Love SciFi blog is ceasing operations after this week, I’ve taken over this weekly reporting of new and upcoming releases in science fiction and fantasy romance. These releases are as reported to me by the authors, and I have not read them. I always recommend sampling before you buy!
I put them in the order in which they come to me from authors or I find them myself in the previous week, so it’s a mix of the genres…usually giving priority to the books brought to my attention by the authors.)
(NOTE: If the author provides me with buy links I insert those; otherwise I default to Amazon.)
Leading off with a New Release in which I have an all new STAR CRUISE short story:
ROMANCING THE STARS by various authors
With eight short stories of romance and adventure, you’re sure to find a happily ever after. From space pirates to cyborgs, alien planets to psi sex, we’ve got you covered at every heat level.
New to Science Fiction Romance? This collection is the perfect introduction! Lots of romance balanced by sci-fi elements. Strap yourself in, fire the boosters, and enjoy your transport to our futuristic worlds!
EYE OF THE MOTHER by Greta van der Rol
A distant star has exploded. The ripples of its passing will rock the Empire.
When fate throws Brent Walker and Tian Axmar together, it’s strictly a business arrangement. She’s an Imperial agent with a problem to solve, he’s a space jockey with an empty bank balance and a tramp freighter for hire.
Somebody’s murdering Yrmaks and Humans, and leaving a mysterious calling card. Somebody wants interspecies war. Tian hires Brent to help her investigate, delving into Yrmak customs and beliefs to understand what’s going on. It’s an increasingly dangerous game, with more than just lives at stake. Before it’s over Brent and Tian will be faced with choices which will change both of them forever.
BRYCE (GALACTIC DEFENDERS BOOK 1) by Jessica E. Subject
Bryce fell in love once, but after Lalia was ripped away from him, he locked his heart from feeling anything for anyone else. Instead, he devotes his life to the Galactic Alliance, killing every bloodthirsty Erebus he comes across.
A shunned princess…
Lalia Comosova fell in love with the wrong man. When her parents learned of her transgressions, they sent her to Earth to hide her error in judgment from the rest of the kingdom.
A second chance?
When these lovers are reunited after many years apart, they have a chance to find happiness together. But fate steps in and threatens to rip them apart as it did years ago.
Amazon iBooks Google Play All Romance eBooks
ALIENS IN THE BARN: 4 SHORT STORIES OF MECH ALIEN LOVE AND MISADVENTURE by Kyndra Hatch
Four short stories of romance between Bazin and Miaxa, two alien beings from the planet Beryll. Finding themselves on a previously unknown planet, Earth, they grow fond of a human family. Cultural misunderstandings are a constant, the day-in-the-life misadventures of Bazin and Miaxa and their human friends.
Amazon iBooks Barnes & Noble Kobo
HATHOR LEGACY: REVELATIONS by Deborah A. Bailey
An enemy returns to spark new tensions between the Guardians and Novacorp. In the midst of the crisis, Nadira is given information about her parents that threatens to destroy her relationship to the Guardians and to Jonathan.
While Nadira searches for answers, Jonathan is enticed into the hedonistic world of the Novacorp executive class. His entertainment club attracts the elite of Hathor, but his notoriety comes with a price.
The worlds of the Guardians and Novacorp are put on a collision course where only one side may come out on top. Nadira is called on to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the legacy of the First Families, the original settlers of Hathor, while Guardians, Kasema and Deshtu PSI groups are faced with the choice to unite or be brought completely under Novacorp control.
PLAGUE CULT by Jenny Schwartz
In a small Texas town a desire for love becomes a curse that could unleash a deadly plague.
Ruth Warner is estranged from her family. She loves them, but her magic makes her an outsider in Bideer, Texas. Ruth has built a new life in New York. She’s a healer at the Collegium, respected and…lonely. Sometimes, you have to go home.
Ruth’s boss orders her to Bideer after a local coroner reports a suspicious death. Could the new cult in town, a lonely hearts club, be playing reckless games with a death curse?
But if Ruth is going home, she’s not going alone.
Shawn Jackson is a Collegium guardian, a mage trained to fight evil. He’s also a man accustomed to keeping secrets. He’s a hollerider, a huntsman; one of those who birthed the legend of the Wild Hunt. When he unleashes his magic, terror rides with him.
As evil stalks an innocent town, the dedicated healer and battle-hardened marine must heal their own broken hearts to prevent a devastating plague.
EXILE by Colleen Vanderlinden
Two races fight for what remains of a dying planet.
For generations, the Maarlai, an alien race who fled the destruction of their own home world, have lived silently, hidden, exiled on Earth. They watched, year by year, as humanity destroyed what was once a planet full of hope and promise.
Unable to idly watch as the planet dipped further into destruction, the Maarlai left their hidden villages and went to war with what was left of humanity. With the death of the last great human king, the Maarlai found themselves victorious and vowed to protect and restore the planet that had sheltered them for so long.
A treaty made, an alliance formed.
Shannen of House Lyon is a member of the last of the human royal families…..
THE CURSE OF 10TH GRAVE by Darynda Jones
If one door closes and another one opens,
your house is probably haunted.
—Bumper Sticker
As a Part-time PI and fulltime grim reaper, Charley Davidson has asked a lot of questions throughout her life: Why can I see dead people? Who is the hot supernatural entity following me? How do I get gum out of my sister’s hair before she wakes up? But, “How do I trap not one malevolent god, but three?” was never among them. Until now. And since those gods are on earth to kill her daughter, she has little choice but to track them down, trap them, and cast them from this dimension.
There’s just one problem. One of the three stole her heart a very long time ago. Can the Razer, a god of absolute death and destruction, change his omniscient spots, or will his allegiances lie with his brothers?
RUNES OF FATE by Lana North
It’s the annual midwinter gathering, and Sissa Raudulfsdatter is locked into a shed – bound, gagged and waiting to be led out to the altar where she will be sacrificed.
There has never been any human sacrifice in the village before, but this year Jarl Ingolf decided that the gods require one to give their good graces back.
Sissa is determined to face her fate with dignity and courage but as she waits for them to bring her out to the altar, the herbs her mother has put in her final meal makes her dizzy and finally, she faints.
The morning after the sacrifice she wakes up, still alive and still in the shed. After shouting for help, Sissa’s brother opens the door, but he’s shocked to see her because they all thought Sissa was killed the evening before. It’s soon discovered that another girl was sacrificed instead. The village is in uproar and Jarl Ingolf, who performed the sacrifice himself, is devastated.
SHADOW RIDER By Christine Feehan
Whether it’s fast cars or fast women, Stefano Ferraro gets what he wants. When he’s not fodder for the paparazzi, he commands Ferraro family businesses—both legitimate and illegitimate.
While their criminal activity is simply a rumor yet to be proven, no one knows the real truth. The Ferraros are a family of shadow riders capable of manipulating light and dark, an ability Stefano thought ran in his family alone—until now…
With little left to her name, Francesca Cappello has come to Chicago in hopes of a new life. She wasn’t expecting to attract the attention of a man with primal hunger in his eyes, driven to claim her as his to protect and to please. And if he discovers her secret, it could ruin her…
PROJECT HELL- PART FOUR – A SERIAL SCIFI ROMANCE by Felicity Kates
It’s been three days since the truths about Hell’s origins at The Factory were revealed. Three days of being trapped with Peyton’s family inside a cramped transport, the space feeling even smaller when full of awkward glances and unspoken words. When the team finally arrives at its destination, it’s almost a relief to get off the ship and do something productive.
But the danger that has stalked Hell since she ran away from The Factory isn’t far behind. And even as Peyton begins to face his true feelings for Hell, will love be the tie that binds them…or tears them apart?
This book is part 4 of a serial story and is not a standalone novel. It is meant to be read in sequence following Project Hell parts 1, 2, and 3. This series contains cliffhangers.
THE DARKEST MAGIC: A BOOK OF SPIRITS AND THIEVES by Morgan Rhodes
Modern-day Toronto: Sisters Crystal and Becca Hatcher are reunited after reclaiming the Bronze Codex and narrowly escaping death. They have no one to trust but each other, and the only thing keeping them safe is the book that sent Becca’s spirit to Ancient Mytica–the same book that their enemies would kill them for.
Ancient Mytica: Maddox grapples to keep his newly discovered powers under control, while the ruthless goddess Valoria hunts him down.
CONFISCATED BRIDE – A BBW SCIFI ROMANCE by Yamila Abraham
Ambassador Janel is proud to have finally brokered an alliance with the powerful Haraden. What cinched the deal? The Haraden warriors want brides. Since war ravaged her planet’s male population they actually have a surplus of women looking for husbands. It seems like a win-win.
General Kordan, the austere Haraden negotiator Janel spent days wearing down, approaches her out of the blue. She’s not married—and the warrior general has his eyes on her. For some reason, she feels compelled to go to him.
Unfortunately her timing for a visit to a Haraden home world could not have been worse. Was she being courted or confiscated?
JAGUIN’S LOVE (DRAGON LORDS OF VALDIER BOOK 8) by S. E. Smith
(Note: Missed this one when it came out on June 19th)
Jaguin is one of the finest trackers on Valdier. To date, there is only one thing he has never been successful at finding – his true mate. That failure is eating away at him and his dragon. Even his symbiot is feeling the drain as the centuries crawl by with no end to the emptiness gnawing away at them. Hope flares with the discovery of a species that is compatible with their own. The Lords of Valdier have found their true mates on a distant planet, bringing hope to the warriors of Valdier where females are few and true mates almost non-existent.
PRE-ORDERS:
ABILITY (TO BE SINCLAIR BOOK 9) by Eva Caye
Lieutenant Princess Brielle Sinclair, the first female navigator in the Sinclair Demesnes Service, can be sharp, sassy, classy, and determined, and oh-so-aware of her impact on the men! She’s ace as can be, but her weird cyborg navigation implants represent her unique ability to visualize stelluric waves, the building blocks of wormholes and stargates.
A technological disaster shortens Brielle’s liberty on the planet Venturi, and leads to the retrieval of her sophomore chemistry lab partner, Lord Zak Ellison, a deep undercover agent dealing with the disaster while enslaved by a mysterious being. When her ship gets embroiled in that puzzling energetic influence from Venturi, the Emperor needs her to handle the situation.
DECADENT MOON by Shona Husk (Note: Three Previously Published Novellas Now Bundled)
Decadent Moon is a resort where alien species come together for pleasure and business. There are only three rules:
No interspecies hate.
No violence.
No debts.
Enjoy your visit to Decadent Moon.
RECKLESS REMEDY by Rinelle Grey
Alien supersoldier Kugah is on the run. He needs the human’s wormhole technology to find a new home, far away from anyone his genetically engineered presence can hurt. Then he meets Amelie. Her gentle, caring nature opens the possibility of a future with someone by his side.
Amelie is too busy being doctor to a spaceship full of pregnant women, she doesn’t have any time to regret being alone. But when the passengers begin to show signs of unnaturally rapid ageing after a desperate trip through a wormhole, she has no one else she can rely on other than the strong, silent alien. The things she’s starting to feel for him must be just a product of the fact that they could soon be the only two left alive on the ship.
Their species aren’t even compatible. They couldn’t possibly be falling in love.
MAGIC AND MAYHEM: A COLLECTION OF 21 FANTASY NOVELS by Various Authors
Tortured by her mixed heritage, Trinity Blair has enjoyed little human touch in her life, let alone intimacy. Even the most innocent contact fills her mind with a person’s deepest, darkest secrets—except for Ramsay. Her immunity to his thoughts sparks a fragile hope that she might finally experience the passion of her Dark Spiritu brethren…unless he’s the dangerous crossroads her father predicted.
VENTURI PART ONE ALIEN ROMANCE (CRASHLANDER) by Annie NicholasI grew up in space.
Never been on a planet, let alone an alien one.
We crashed—I crashed—our ship on a huge green world.
Communications were down, the ship was broken in two, the crew mostly injured, and there were things out there. Animals with razor sharp teeth.
The emergency beacon lay on the other side of the jungle, our only way to call home, and I drew the short straw.
I was doomed before I ever stepped out of the airlock.
But we weren’t alone…
Full serial in one boxset will be available in October.
Thank you so much for continuing this feature, and for including Bryce. Great new releases this week!
What a variety of SFR releases. And I see you have a new one–the anthology. Wow. You are quite the powerhouse!