I have a new release of my own to report this week!
As always, I recommend sampling before you buy! I have not read most of the new releases listed (although I always end up one-clicking a bunch as I prepare these posts LOL).
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COLONY UNDER SIEGE: INTERSTELLAR PLAGUE ( A SECTORS SF ROMANCE NOVEL) by Veronica Scott
Newly graduated from a prestigious interstellar medical school, Dr. Saffia Mandell has been assigned to the Haven Two colony on the galaxy’s outer rim as the only doctor for some 2000 human residents. She’s counting the days until her five years there is up, trying to adjust to rural living after life in the crowded Inner Sectors and fighting her attraction to Chief Ranger Micah Navonn. She’s dreading the upcoming tourist season when the rich and pampered will descend on the planet for the scenic wonders and novel sports opportunities and no doubt inundate her little clinic but the colony depends on the seasonal income to survive.
As the senior official for his people, the Calinurra, the indigenous inhabitants of Haven Two, Micah enforces the treaty, regulates the tourist permits, patrols the forests and resists his fascination with Dr. Mandell. He never expected to be involved with a human woman and doesn’t want to believe in the concept of a fated mate. He wants to keep his life simple and isn’t ready for any long term commitment. Besides Saffia keeps proclaiming she’ll be leaving when her appointment is up in four and a half years so why should he risk his heart?
Then a ship arrives unexpectedly carrying a very ill little girl and soon the deadly virus is spreading through Haven Two. The colony authorities are desperate to cover up the problem to preserve the all-important tourist season and Saffia and Micah have to work together to battle the outbreak, the local administration and their undeniable feelings for each other. Can the colony survive? And will Micah and Saffia be able to move past their fears about entanglements to act on the mutual attraction? An 87K word standalone novel set in the far future…
Amazon Apple Books Kobo Nook Google Play
ALPHA NIGHT (PSY-CHANGELING TRINITY BOOK 4) by Nalini Singh
VS Note: One of my favorite series and my top auto-buy author. I’ve had this pre-ordered for forever!
Alpha wolf Selenka Durev’s devotion to her pack is equaled only by her anger at anyone who would harm those under her care. That currently includes the empaths who’ve flowed into her city for a symposium that is a security nightmare, a powder keg just waiting for a match.
Ethan Night is an Arrow who isn’t an Arrow. Numb and disengaged from the world, he’s loyal only to himself. Assigned as part of the security force at a world-first symposium, he carries a dark agenda tied to the power-hungry and murderous Consortium. Then violence erupts and Ethan finds himself crashing into the heart and soul of an alpha wolf.
Mating at first sight is a myth, a fairytale. Yet Selenka’s wolf is resolute: Ethan Night, broken Arrow and a man capable of obsessive devotion, is the mate it has chosen. Even if the mating bond is full of static and not quite as it should be. Because Selenka’s new mate has a terrible secret, his mind surging with a power that is a creature of madness and death.
GLACIER (ELEMENTAL MATES BOOK 1) by Miranda Bridges and Kyra Snow
He is ice cold. Both his personality and his skin. When his icy gaze lands on me it freezes me temporarily, but the first time he touches me…Sparks fly. Not the romantic kind. The tattoos on his pale skin illuminate and they are brighter than the Northern Lights. And then something in his eyes changes, making him less callous, less cold. And making me hot. He says he needs me for something important, something monumental, but I’m not easily swayed. Even if he’s gorgeous and I do need his help. I guess we’ll see if I can melt his heart before he chills me to the point of no return.
BETRAYING BLOOD (STANDALONE TALES BOOK 5) by Viola Grace
Born against the odds, Elurra is hunted by her aunt and saved by seven miners who whisk her to safety until her prince can claim her. Elurra’s mother was infected by a vampire. Magic held the effects at bay, but when her daughter was born, her mother left the world. Raised by her doting father, Elurra was content with the arranged marriage to a young sandman. His species was known for their skilled and devastating armies, and hers was known for magic and agrarian skills. It was a match that had to wait until the timing was right.
Elurra’s father is poisoned, and her stepmother immediately begins a systematic regimen of starving Elurra of the blood that her vampire nature requires. Days stretch into years, until one day, seven dark strangers announced that the sandmen are on the move, and they are coming for Elurra.
Her aunt moves to kill her, the miners set out to save her, and her prince comes to her in her dreams. Elurra is tired of being tossed around, and she gets ready to make her own place in the worlds.
Survival is no longer enough. She wants to win.
THE A.I. WHO LOVED ME by Alyssa Cole
VS Note: I reported this when it came out as an audiobook only but since it’s a release of note, letting you know the ebook is now available too.
The critically acclaimed Audible Original narrated by Regina Hall and with a cameo from Mindy Kaling is now available in ebook and print formats! Trinity Jordan leads a quiet, normal life: working from home for the Hive, a multifunctional government research center, and recovering from the incident that sent her into a tailspin. But the life she’s trying to rebuild is plagued by mishaps when Li Wei, her neighbor’s super sexy and super strange nephew, moves in and turns things upside down.
Li Wei’s behavior is downright odd—and the attraction building between them is even more so. When an emergency pulls his aunt away from the apartment complex, Trinity decides to keep an eye on him…and slowly discovers that nothing is what it seems. For one thing, Li Wei isn’t just the hot guy next door—he’s the hot A.I. next door. In fact, he’s so advanced that he blurs the line between man and machine. It’s up to Trinity to help him achieve his objective of learning to be human, but danger is mounting as they figure out whether he’s capable of the most illogical human behavior of all…falling in love.
QUEEN OF DIAMONDS (LILITH’S SHADOW BOOK 4) by Benjamin Medrano
As she settles into life in Paragon City as a new heroine, Lilith is slowly adapting to how her life has changed. One of those changes is an invitation to speak at a renowned superhero convention in Las Vegas. Hopeful that this will be a chance to turn her reputation around, Lilith chooses to attend with Gina and Rachel. Unfortunately for Lilith, Destruction Corps hasn’t forgotten its humiliation, and she’s walking into a trap. One that could end the lives of thousands if she and the heroes don’t act quickly enough.
UNEXPECTED CAPTAIN (UNEXPECTED SERIES BOOK 6) by Layla Stone
Rannn lives by a strict honor code. He’s the captain of the Garna star carrier and he’s responsible for every person on his ship. He has a responsibility to catch a mass murder. He doesn’t have time to give into his desires for a woman with a questionable past. There’s never been a more arrogant and stubborn Yunkin. Captain Rannn is the worst. Nue hates him. As soon as she helps the crew find the mass murderer she’s gone. For good.
ENEMY STORM (CHRONICLES OF THE EMPIRE BOOK 3) by Marcella Burnard
t’s never a good day when a radioactive hunk of starship nearly drops on your head. The Claugh Empire attacked Edie’s planet fifteen years ago, murdered her parents, and left the teen for dead. So when a wrecked Claugh starship interrupts a salvage mission, she’s torn between revenge and rescuing survivors—especially the stirring captain with an uncanny ability to rekindle her dead emotions. Something about him inflames the urge to come to terms with her past. But the mercenary in Edie doubts trusting a former enemy will bring her redemption or put old prejudices to bed. When a new common enemy, hell-bent on wiping out humanoids, threatens to bury them all, the captain tries to convince her a mutual coalition might breach their political impasse—all for the greater good.
UNDER GLASS by Rebecca Cohen
VS Note: A re-release…
Novice planet builder Kai Faewiva has chosen to dedicate his life to the planetarium, but despite the prestige, the honor cannot fill the hole where his Sun should be. For members of Kai’s species who are born with an organ called a caerellon, their true love, their Sun or Moon, is identified at birth. But Kai’s Sun is long dead, killed in an accident when he was a young boy. Or so everyone thought.
After recovering from another bout of the mystery illness he has battled on and off for years, Kai returns to work. But his life is thrown into chaos when scans of Goka Prime, one of the planets in the Sol-Alpha2 system, picks up a life-form that shouldn’t be there. Kai’s Sun, Olliehan Gyin, is somehow alive and well, but how he got to be on Goka Prime, no one knows. And now Kai must bring home his Sun.
Ollie had never truly felt he belonged in the city of Harrea, but he’d have never guessed the reason would be because he came from another planet. When a stranger called Kai arrives, he can’t tear his gaze away, inexplicably drawn to the young man. When the truth is revealed, Ollie has to wrestle with his loyalties and the alien concept that he was destined from birth to be with Kai. To leave Goka Prime, Ollie must give up everything and everyone he knows. But twenty years apart means Kai and Ollie face a fight to secure what should have always been their future.
AGNES AT THE END OF THE WORLD by Kelly McWilliams
FAKE CHOCOLATE (THE CHOCOVERSE BOOK 3) by Amber RoyerWhen disease ravages Earth’s cacao plantations, Bo Benitez returns home to help with the media spin to hide that chocolate is in danger of being lost forever. HGB has come up with a new product – one which doesn’t appease the cocoa-addicted murderous, shark-toothed aliens threatening to invade the planet. Someone has to smooth things out. Just when Bo starts to make headway, someone tries to kidnap her. While trying to avoid more would-be-kidnappers, Bo finds out that HGB is developing a cure for withdrawal from the Invincible Heart. Will she let her need to be physically whole again tie her to HGB and its enigmatic CEO? When she gets a key piece of evidence that would unravel secrets from three different planets, she has tough choices to make about the future of her world and its place in the galaxy.
ARRESTING THE WARLORD (COLLETTI WARLORD SERIES BOOK 12) by Gail KogerAn alien serial killer is stalking the Navajo Nation. The Coletti Empire is hunting a galactic fugitive. Turns out they need each other’s help to stop the shapeshifting predator. Can she work with the Jackass? Can Jake convince CeeCee she’s the one? Only time, and the spirits will tell.
PROTECTED BY THE ALIEN SPACE PIRATE (RASIDIAN SPACE WARRIORS BOOK 1) by Charmaine RossHe’s certainly not prepared when a female slave, none the likes he’d seen before, is led naked, chained and helpless to be his fated mate. He definitely wasn’t prepared when he obliterates his dream, along with the crime lord’s head, kidnaps the female and makes a target of himself and his brothers – The crime lord has a brother and the brother wants them all dead. When their ship is destroyed, Rhilax and his brothers are blown into the far reaches of the known universe. To make matters worse, the escape pod is wrecked and his fated mate has escaped. Rhilax must find her before the crime lord’s thugs, or the unknown creatures on this planet, and complete the bond before his mind is lost to the mating urge.
She can’t remember her name. Or her life before the cages. Maybe it’s better not knowing. Being trapped in a cage and grieving a beautiful life would be the worst kind of torture. She’s good at zoning out, but it gets harder and harder to disregard the massive blue-skinned alien who tells her he is her fated mate, whatever that is. All she knows is if she doesn’t get away from him, she might never be free again.
CLAN AND COMMIT (CLAN BEGINNINGS BOOK 7) by Tracy St John
THE PALE RIDER (END OF DAYS BOOK 1) by JB TrepagnierI wake up surrounded by death and my memories are gone. A man in a beige hazmat suit reaches his hand through the carnage. “Come with me if you want to live.” I know I’m supposed to know that from somewhere, but I don’t. I know the world outside me is not right. People either die or they are Rage Heads. Somehow, a virus got out that has turned people into red eyed freaks who eat flesh. They are fast, their flesh is rotting off their bodies and they have one goal—kill. I don’t know my mystery man in the hazmat suit, but he says I can trust him. He was at that lab looking for something. He claims not to have found it. He only found me. I see the way he looks at me when I ask what he was doing in that lab. I might feel safe with him, but he’s lying to me. He knows everything about me, including the nickname people used to call me, but he tells me I ask too many questions. Maybe I’d be safer on my own.
FLYING IN SPACESHIPS WITH ALIENS (KILBUS LORD BOOK 2) by Erin RaeganNow those dreams that I had thought so small and possible had been ripped from me. Everything had been ripped from me. Gone was the possibility and contentment. Nothing but pain and destruction lay in its wake. But fate wasn’t done playing with me just yet. It had one more cruel trick up its sleeve. He was looking for me now. Scouring the earth for me. Love and pain dueled together, dragging us kicking and screaming back to one another. I may be hidden now, but once he found me, I knew I wasn’t ever getting away from him again. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to even try. Because my small dreams were growing into something big. Bigger than anything I could have ever imagined. And every single one of them was fueled and held close by the very alien that had crushed them before.
KURG (BRIDE TO BEASTS BOOK 6) by Athena Storm
SHATTERED (THE DANANS BOOK 6) by Nhys GloverKius is a Spirit-Walker who specializes in trauma healing. When he agrees to help the traumatized victims of the renegade Danans he expects the experience to be as agonizing for him as it is for them. After all, Danan warriors were now struggling to come to terms with shattered beliefs about their own kind. They weren’t always the good guys. They could hurt women, and worse still, podmates, if left untrained.
When Kius meets Marissa he is stunned to feel the podmate bond activate. It should be impossible because his brothers died during a raid by the Vargeez twenty years before. Yet the connection is impossible to deny, and it sets off a galaxy-wide search for missing Danan warriors stolen in childhood.
As secrets are revealed and plots uncovered, Kius and Marissa work to reunite their pod. But a great Darkness looms over them all, hiding the truth and leaving devastation in its wake. One brave Danan will give his life to save them all, but will it be enough?
A TOUCH OF ICE (THE TOWERS OF EARTH BOOK FOUR) by Nita RoundTo have a future, they must face their past. Magda, Ascara and Lucinda must draw upon the strength of their trinity to seek out the truths of the past that hold the key to their future. They travel north, to Magda’s place of birth amongst the Oceanics. For Magda, this is an unwelcoming place, a reminder that she was banished and dealt a cruel fate. Named Stoner and landlocked, for an Oceanic this is a dishonour and a fate worse than death. To return to the float again would place her life, and those with her, at risk. In the freezing waters of the far north, Magda finds herself defending her honour and birth right. She must succeed as their fate depends upon it. Failure is not an option, the costs are too high.
DRAGON UNLEASHED (THE FALLEN EMPIRE BOOK 2) by Grace Draven
VS Note: I love this series, well all of Grace’s books! So I have this pre-ordered.
Magic is outlawed in the Krael Empire and punishable by death. Born with the gift of earth magic, the free trader Halani keeps her dangerous secret closely guarded. When her uncle buys a mysterious artifact, a piece of bone belonging to a long-dead draga, Halani knows it’s far more than what it seems.
Dragas haven’t been seen for more than a century, and most believe them extinct. They’re wrong. Dragas still walk among the denizens of the Empire, disguised as humans. Malachus is a draga living on borrowed time. The magic that has protected him will soon turn on him–unless he finds a key part of his heritage. He has tracked it to a group of free traders, among them a grave-robbing earth witch who fascinates him as much as she frustrates him with her many secrets.
Unbeknownst to both, the Empire’s twisted empress searches for a draga of her own, to capture and kill as a trophy. As Malachus the hunter becomes the hunted, Halani must risk herself and all she loves to save him from the Empire’s machinations and his own lethal birthright.
RAGE AND RUIN (THE HARBINGER SERIES BOOK 2) by Jennifer L Armentrout
Half-angel Trinity and her bonded gargoyle protector, Zayne, have been working with demons to stop the apocalypse while avoiding falling in love. The Harbinger is coming…but who or what is it? All of humankind may fall if Trinity and Zayne can’t win the race against time as dark forces gather.
As tensions rise, they must stay close together and patrol the DC streets at night, seeking signs of the Harbinger, an entity that is killing Wardens and demons with no seeming rhyme or reason. Forbidden to be with each other, Zayne and Trinity fight their feelings and turn to unusual sources for help—the demon Roth and his cohorts. But as deaths pile up and they uncover a sinister plot involving the local high school and endangering someone dear to Zayne, Trin realizes she is being led…herded…played for some unknown end. As anger builds and feelings spiral out of control, it becomes clear that rage may be the ruin of them all.
THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT: A CHARLEY DAVIDSON NOVELLA by Darynda Jones
Guarding a precocious five-year-old who is half-human, half-god, and 100% destined to save the world is no easy feat. Garrett Swopes was the ultimate skeptic until he met a certain hellion and her husband. They vanished after stopping a catastrophic event and left him, a mere mortal, in charge of protecting their gift to mankind. But when she disappears as well, he needs the help of another breed of hellion. One who can see past the veil of space and time. One who betrayed him. She will get a truce in the deal, but she will never earn his forgiveness.
Marika Dubois’s son—a warrior in the coming war between heaven and hell—was foreseen long before his birth. But to create a child strong enough to endure the trials that lay ahead, she needed a descendant of powerful magics. She found that in Garrett Swopes and tricked him into fathering her son. A ploy he has never forgiven her for. But when he knocks on her door asking for her help, she sees the fierce attraction he tries to deny rise within him. And Marika has to decide if she dares risk her heart a second time to help the only man she’s ever loved.
A GUARDIAN REDEEMED (GUARDIANS OF LIGHT BOOK 7) by Renee Wildes
He was bred for war. Her magic is only for peace. Together they must fight for love. Weapons stolen, comrades dead, ship burned and sunk, Valkyn is rotting in Lord Zurvan’s grim dungeon, wondering if he will ever again see his sons. Rescue comes from an unexpected source—the human witch Zurvan sent to patch him up between beatings.
Mari can’t bring herself to let Valkyn die, never mind that the fearsome northern riever is the scourge of her homeland. Yet in him she finds an ally who could help restore the rightful boy king to the throne. And a man who reminds her body there’s life after widowhood. Their first kiss unleashes pent-up passion she thought was long buried, clouding all the reasons they shouldn’t get involved. But the blood on Valkyn’s hands is anathema to Mari’s magic. If she dares open herself to him fully, he could destroy her. Valkyn knows his heart has already surrendered to hers. When this quest is over, the real quest will be convincing her that polar opposites not only attract, they belong together— forever.
BREWING TROUBLE: A PARANORMAL WOMEN’S FICTION NOVEL (CROW’S FEET COVEN BOOK 2) by Christine Gael
After barely escaping the business end of the hangman’s noose, Cricket Hawthorne wants nothing more than to forget it all…Maude the magical typewriter, Zoe’s stolen cauldron, Patrick the betrayer, and definitely the witch-hating, robe-wearing cult who tried to end her. Unfortunately, pressing the reboot button isn’t an option. Bringing The Crow’s Feet Coven back to their former glory is her destiny, whether she likes it or not. Too bad the powers that be will do whatever it takes to stop them. It’s fight or flight, and she’s never been a quitter. Now, it’s up to her and her ragtag team to bring down the organization hell-bent on ridding the world of witches. But at what price?
THE TALES OF TWO SEERS (BEING(S) IN LOVE) by R Cooper
Very little is known about seers—those individuals, both human and being, with the power to know both what could have been and what is yet to come. Seers prefer it that way. Some of them run from their visions. Others call themselves artists or authors instead of oracles. But even in the most seemingly innocent of their creations, the truth will out, and lessons will be learned.
Two storytellers of different eras and vastly different temperaments weave fantastic tales of magic and romance for their enthralled audiences: A young prince avoids his betrothed and the curse that binds them. A witch uses his magic to help the man he loves court someone else. A warrior betrayed by his lord finds himself in the company of a mysterious stranger. A half-fae is doomed to be sent to the Faery Court unless he can find someone to love him. A lonely outcast finds himself drawn to a forbidden forest. A bookseller at a masked ball wonders if he should pursue a handsome prince. A dragon attempts to woo a beast. A shy servant is given one night to reach for what he wants. Fairy tales that reveal more about the tellers, and their audiences, than they might want.
Being(s) in Love: Magical creatures known as beings emerged from hiding amid the destruction of the First World War. Since then they’ve lived on the margins of the human world as misunderstood objects of fear and desire. Some are beautiful, others fearsome and powerful. Yet for all their magic and strength, they are as vulnerable as anyone when it comes to matters of the heart.
THE OBSDIDIAN TOWER (ROCKS AND RUIN BOOK 1) by Melissa Caruso
“Guard the tower, ward the stone. Find your answers writ in bone. Keep your trust through wits or war–nothing must unseal the door.” Deep within Gloamingard Castle lies a black tower. Sealed by magic, it guards a dangerous secret that has been contained for thousands of years. As Warden, Ryxander knows the warning passed down through generations: nothing must unreal the Door. But one impetuous decision will leave her with blood on her hands–and unleash a threat that could doom the world to fall to darkness.
QUEEN OF THE ISLAND (FINS AND SCALES BOOK 1) by Bokerah Brumley
Gaire is a mermaid with a serious problem… her fated mate, Calder Brumen, doesn’t know she’s real. But when Gaire learns an evil sea nypmh is determined to kill Calder, she vows to protect him. To save Calder, Gaire defies the Queen Mother, breaks Mer law, and brings an unconsious Calder back to the underwater Mer city… only to sink herself in an ocean of trouble. After the Keeper of the Scrolls is murdered—the first murder in a thousand years, Gaire is drawn into an intricate web of lies and deceptions, centuries old. Gaire must restore the rightful royal succession… It’s the only way to safeguard Calder Brumen and preserve the love growing between them. Local painter Calder Brumen has three goals in life. Be the best artist in San Francisco…Make good on his promise to his best friend…Marry the mermaid with the glittery leg tattoos…When the vanishing woman leaves sandy footprints behind, Calder decides she’s more than a figment of his imagination, and his infatuation becomes an obsession. But a mysterious temptress worms her way into his best friend’s world, and Calder has to figure out how to save his childhood pal from the evil clutches of a witch… without losing his chance at landing his happily ever after.
KILLING TIME (A DODIE O’DELL MYSTERY BOOK 6) by Suzanne Trauth
With Halloween just around the corner, Dodie O’Dell is making preparations to transform the Windjammer Restaurant on the Jersey Shore into a haunted house, while the Etonville Little Theatre is staging Dracula. But casting the titular Transylvanian is proving challenging. The amateur actors in the company are not shy about chewing the scenery, but who among them can convincingly sink their fangs into a victim’s neck? When a mysterious newcomer with a transfixing Eastern European accent lands the part, rumors that he might be an actual vampire start to take flight—not unlike the bat who’s recently been spotted in the town park.
But everyone’s blood really runs cold when a stranger is found in the cemetery with a real stake in his heart. Dodie decides to put her Halloween theme menu on the back burner and stick her neck out to bring the killer into the light of day. She’d better keep her wits about her, though—or Dodie may be the next one to go down for the Count.
INTO THE MYSTIC by Various
Six tales of fantasy and romance to enchant, move and delight:
What do you do after the Final Battle cost you everything?
- K.D. West’s Changelings follows three lost souls who have won a war and been stripped of everything else — except each other.
- Whispers traded for bruises, a hope born from sacrifice, and faith in an unknown love. Shannon Meyers’s Better than Fine tells the journey of soulmates connected by a witch’s thread.
- Real by TheWordsInMyHead asks what’s the difference between truth and imagination? The established authorities deem Elizabeth crazy, but the Watcher assigned to her hospital knows she is the only one among them that can see the truth.
- LegendDairy’s Sasha Shutland is the story of a woman with a past, like most women have. Hers just happens to involve adventure, magic and mischief.
- In Arden Wiles’s A Tree of Life, a young girl encounters a Wiccan, and together they learn more about their own pasts, presents, and futures.
- In deadwoodpecker’s The Witch of the Margins, a charming young mermaid visits a witch in order to lift a curse. But all magic comes with a price, and neither witch nor mermaid expects it to be quite so high.
A SONG OF WRAITHS AND RUIN by Roseanne A Brown
For Malik, the Solstasia festival is a chance to escape his war-stricken home and start a new life with his sisters in the prosperous desert city of Ziran. But when a vengeful spirit abducts his younger sister, Nadia, as payment to enter the city, Malik strikes a fatal deal—kill Karina, Crown Princess of Ziran, for Nadia’s freedom.
But Karina has deadly aspirations of her own. Her mother, the Sultana, has been assassinated; her court threatens mutiny; and Solstasia looms like a knife over her neck. Grief-stricken, Karina decides to resurrect her mother through ancient magic . . . requiring the beating heart of a king. And she knows just how to obtain one: by offering her hand in marriage to the victor of the Solstasia competition. When Malik rigs his way into the contest, they are set on a heart-pounding course to destroy each other. But as attraction flares between them and ancient evils stir, will they be able to see their tasks to the death?
SLAY ME (DRAGONS LOVE CURVES BOOK 9) by Aidy Award
He lost his love a long time ago, but now she’s back, and wants to find him a new mate~Match is the most powerful Warrior of his day, and he’s one cranky son of a…dragon. His true love has been in Hell and doesn’t remember him.
Now she’s back and wants to find him a new mate so they can save the world? He’ll have to find a way to get her to fall in love with him once again which would be a whole lot easier if the dark forces of evil weren’t trying to steal both of their souls.
THE DARK TIDE by Alicia Jasinkska
Every year on St. Walpurga’s Eve, Caldella’s Witch Queen lures a boy back to her palace. An innocent life to be sacrificed on the full moon to keep the island city from sinking. Lina Kirk is convinced her brother is going to be taken this year. To save him, she enlists the help of Thomas Lin, the boy she secretly loves, and the only person to ever escape from the palace. But they draw the queen’s attention, and Thomas is chosen as the sacrifice. Queen Eva watched her sister die to save the boy she loved. Now as queen, she won’t make the same mistake. She’s willing to sacrifice anyone if it means saving herself and her city. When Lina offers herself to the queen in exchange for Thomas’s freedom, the two girls await the full moon together. But Lina is not at all what Eva expected, and the queen is nothing like Lina envisioned. Against their will, they find themselves falling for each other. As water floods Caldella’s streets and the dark tide demands its sacrifice, they must choose who to save: themselves, each other, or the island city relying on them both.
SURRENDERED IN SALEM (CASTERS AND CLAWS BOOK 4) by Milly Taiden
Selene Bishop runs the Healsome Magic Center with her sister. She loves her job, but she did wish that her life had time for something more. She doesn’t know what she’s looking for, but she would settle from a bit of free time. When she is taken to a secluded house on a wolf’s pack lands for her own safety, Selene realizes that she might have gotten exactly what she was hoping for.
Jett is a grumpy wolf who doesn’t expect much out of life. After a lifetime of regrets, he’s just fine being on his own. None of his plans include finding his mate. In fact, he is adamant that he doesn’t want a mate. He just knows that domestic life isn’t for him. He wants to work in the bar and go through the motions. But when he is sent to save a witch, he comes face to face with what he never wanted.
Selene might be a witch, but she understands the pull of the mate sense. She also has a lot of compassion for what Jett has been through. While he is protecting her from the Order of Salem, Selene is doing some saving of her own. Will she be able to mend her mate’s broken heart or will they lose out on the love of a lifetime?
A SONG BELOW WATER: A NOVEL by Bethany C Morrow
n a society determined to keep her under lock and key, Tavia must hide her siren powers. Meanwhile, Effie is fighting her own family struggles, pitted against literal demons from her past. Together, these best friends must navigate through the perils of high school’s junior year. But everything changes in the aftermath of a siren murder trial that rocks the nation, and Tavia accidentally lets out her magical voice at the worst possible moment. Soon, nothing in Portland, Oregon, seems safe. To save themselves from drowning, it’s only Tavia and Effie’s unbreakable sisterhood that proves to be the strongest magic of all.
GHOSTS AND LIARS (THE IMPOSSIBLE JULIAN STRANDE BOOK 2) by Kathryn Ann Kingsley
All Alice wanted was a job. As the caretaker of the Strande Mansion, she got far more than she bargained for. Between trying to crack the code of the sinister Julian Strande and her new love affair with Charles, the current owner of the museum, she has a lot to balance. Alice didn’t believe in ghosts. That was until she met Julian Strande. Unfortunately, it seems the legends of the ghost of the estate are all very real, and he seems to have become obsessed with her. Charles has promised her that Julian is harmless and just playing pranks. That he enjoys the company after all those years alone. It’s too bad that Charles may not be all he seems.
LIVE LIKE LEGENDS by Kate Cornell
Princess Kalista has known her role from birth. She’s spent her entire life preparing to be the socialite wife of a prince from a peaceful kingdom. But on her big day, she is shocked when she is instead forced to marry the warrior prince of a cursed land, who is as cold as the wintry kingdom he’ll one day rule. Carson has a throne no princess wants to share with him. An immortal beast ravages their land, and he’ll do anything to stop it, even marry a complete stranger on the day she was supposed to wed her betrothed. Let her hate him for it, but Kalista is his only hope for peace. Kalista knows she’s just a pawn on the chessboard of politics, but now she’s expected to kill an unstoppable creature because of some legend about her bloodline that Carson believes as truth. He trains her how to fight, and when lessons in swordplay lead to lessons in love, her destiny puts more than just her life at risk. How far is she willing to go to save the prince she never wanted…but can’t imagine living without?
THE LONGING OF LONE WOLVES (FAE GUARDIANS BOOK 1) by Lana Percherczyk
Rush is a Fae Guardian, a wolf-shifter whose enhanced abilities have made him a ruthless protector of Elphyne. His job is to protect the realm from the human enemy, and to ensure the sins of the past never come to pass again lest magic die forever. But one night of weakness resulted in a curse worse than death – exile. Now he spends his lonely time longing to be part of the living, once again protecting them from monsters… until one mysteriously washes up on the shores of his lake. Clarke is human. She’s beautiful, feisty, and fierce. She’s also the only person who can see him, speak to him, and touch him. If he hands her over to the Order, she’s his ticket to having his curse removed. Unable to resist the opportunity, he tricks her into a bargain of obedience, never once suspecting his world is about to be turned upside down. The more he learns about this human enemy, the more he realizes she’s not the monster he’s been trained to believe. In fact, she’s capable of inciting passion he’d never dreamed possible again. But Clarke has a message from the past… sins are already repeating. This time, if they don’t stop the coming evil, it won’t just be magic that dies. It will be everything.
WHERE THERE BE HUMANS by Rebecca L Purdy
Sixteen-year-old Ivy Archer is arguably the best warrior-in-training Gob Hollow has ever seen. Yet everyone—except her best friend she suddenly has other feelings for—looks down on her because she’s only half goblin, with no idea what the other half is. She’s always suspected it might be human. But humans, she’s been told, aren’t real. They’re only creatures of myth. When the prince of their kingdom is taken for ransom, it’s Ivy’s big chance to prove her worth. And when she learns his captors are human, the rescue mission becomes personal. The stories were clearly wrong, and now she has a chance to find the truth about her lineage, as well. If she survives… With a small band of warriors at her command, including her best friend turned crush that’s getting harder to hide, Ivy sets out to find the prince and her human family. But the answers lie within secrets and conspiracies that run far deeper than she ever imagined.
COWBOY BEAR BOSS (BILLIONAIRE BEAR RANCHER BROTHERS BOOK 3) by Maia Starr
WANTED: A head cowgirl who can help an alpha bear run his billion-dollar Ursa ranch. Must be feisty, able, and gorgeous. Gorgeous because I’m also looking for a mate. But she doesn’t need to know that… yet. Arianne checks off all the boxes. The obsession burns within me like fire. She’s perfect for me and I’m dying to claim her. But Arianne plays by the rules. I’m only her boss. For me, she’s more than just an employee. She’s the woman I refuse to let go of.
Even if she’s keeping a huge secret from me. Yes, Arianne may be perfect on paper, but she’s got baggage.
A dark past. A cruel ex-husband that she told me nothing about. Why? Because I hate him as much as she does.
Him and I have been enemies for a long time. And it’s time to make things even. It’s time for war that’ll make Arianne mine once and for all.
SURVIVING HALLOW HILL (DR. HYDE’S PRISON FOR THE RARE BOOK 2) by A K Koonce
I thought the Academy was a prison. I was wrong. The Hallow is a prison without walls. Being kept here against my will, I’m forced to fight the men I love in these cruel games. With dark and unforgiving magic, we have to prove ourselves worthy to the mysterious Dr. Hyde. And I have to survive. After all, I’ve always trusted my Lady of Death to keep my life. I’ve offered up thousands of bloody souls to her. And these deadly fucking games are no different.
HARLEY MERLIN 19: PERSIE MERLIN AND THE DOOR TO NOWHERE by Bella Forrest
Persie has done it – she’s officially a student at the prestigious Basani Institute. With her best friend Genie by her side, she’s ready to learn the skill of monster hunting… no matter the cost. Otherwise, she may never be able to control Leviathan’s “gift.” But when Persie Purges something rare and extraordinary, her future at the Institute becomes unclear. And when students start disappearing soon afterward, much more than just a degree is suddenly at risk.
SAIRA AND THE KING OF DREAMS by Natalie Grey
The Imperator is defeated, but not gone. Saira knows one thing above all: while the Imperator still lives, the world is at risk. But when she seeks to follow him and finish the fight……in a moment, everything changes. Those who should be dead, yet live. Those who were thought to be myth, are reality. And Saira is about to find the one thing she never anticipated: her family.
CONNED: A BUREAU STORY (THE BUREAU BOOK 6) by Kim Fielding
VS Note: I enjoy her books and I like the Bureau series…one clicked.
World War I veteran Thomas Donne is new to San Francisco. Always a stoic man, shell shock and a lost love have nearly turned his heart to stone. No matter—a private eye has no room for softness. Almost broke, he takes on what appears to be a simple case: finding a missing young man.
As a magician and medium, Abraham Ferencz cons his audiences into believing he can cheat death and commune with their dearly departed. Although his séances are staged, the spirits are very real, and they’ve brought him almost more pain than he can bear. When Donne’s case becomes complicated and the bodies start to pile up, he and Ferencz must fight their way through a web of trickery and lies. The truth is obscured by the San Francisco fog, and in their uncanny world, anyone can catch a bullet.
FEVER FAE (DARK FAE KINGS BOOK 1 ) by Meg Xuemei X
Yes, to the hottest, baddest Fae Kings. No, to being their bitch. When my parents mysteriously disappear, leaving me to raise my six crazy, younger siblings, my dreams for college are dashed. It gets worse when someone sends a slew of monster assassins after me. Their untimely arrival is followed by three devastatingly hot Fae who stalk me. Baron, the pompous and dominating Summer King, thinks I’m a dark Fae and wants my head. Then he changes his mind and declares me his fated mate. Hells-a-no. Especially now that he wants me to prove my worth. Really? Then there’s Rowan, the possessive and cruel Winter King, who offers to protect me from the assassins, but only if I accept his obnoxious courtship requests. And finally, there’s Night King Rydstrom, a dangerous and mysterious Fae with an ass that doesn’t quit, who thinks he has every right to play me like a fiddle. Too bad for them, I’m not the docile type they’re used to commanding. I might want them, but I have no intention of joining the trail of broken hearts and bodies in their wake. For I hold a deep, dark secret. Their arrival has woken in me the very forbidden magic they’ve been hunting, and I, Evelina, am going to have a wicked good time teaching these Fae kings a lesson.
THE GLAMOURIST (THE VINE WITCH BOOK 2) by Luanne G Smith
Abandoned as a child in turn-of-the-century Paris, Yvette Lenoir has longed to uncover the secrets of her magical heritage and tap her suppressed powers. But what brave and resourceful Yvette has done to survive the streets has made her a fugitive. With a price on her head, she clings to a memento from her past—what she believes to be a grimoire inherited from the mother she never knew. To unlock the secrets of her past, Yvette trusts in one woman to help solve the arcane riddles among its charmed pages. Elena Boureanu is the vine witch of Château Renard, noted for its renowned wines. Even as she struggles with her own bloodline—and its poisonous threat to her future—Elena can’t ignore a friend on the run. Joined by a cunning thief, the proprietor of an enchanted-curio shop, and a bewitching black cat, Elena and Yvette are determined to decode Yvette’s mysterious keepsake. But what restless magic will be unleashed? And what are Yvette and Elena willing to risk to become the witches they were destined to be?
RESCUING MARKAS: THE SANCTUARY BOOK 1 by Megan Slayer
VS Note: It looks like she’s re-edited the entire 15 book series and is reissuing them all on June 11th, so here’s the blurb and link for Book 1.
The love of his life will bring out his roar. John Dallas has lots of money, but no real direction in his life. He cares for lions at a local petting zoo where people can pay to pet the cubs. He’s heard stories and read about shifters—creatures who can shift from an animal form into a human form. Seeing the lions makes him wonder if those lions can shift. When he witnesses an act of cruelty to the lions, he finds his purpose in life—to save the lions. Markas knows he can shift, but hasn’t yet. He’s fascinated by John and wants to shift in order to get to know the human better. But lions don’t last at the petting zoo past their third birthday. Once he’s at the age of being moved, he’ll lose his chance with John. Will John accept him in his human form? He’s determined to shift and snag the man of his dreams. What will happen when the shifter and the human are thrown together by fate? White hot sparks.
PAWSITIVELY SWINDLED (A WITCH OF EDGEHILL MYSTERY BOOK 4) by Melissa Erin Jackson
Appearances can be deceiving. Amber Blackwood, Edgehill’s secret resident witch, recently found her parents’ grimoires and the powerful time spells within. The malevolent Penhallow clan has been ruthlessly seeking the grimoires so they can travel back in time to undo their clan’s cursed magic. Because the Penhallows will stop at nothing, Amber must find an impregnable hiding place for the grimoires, though she has no clue where to start looking. When her cousin Edgar suggests the game of Magic Cache, a magic-infused version of geocaching played by witches all over the world, Amber agrees to learn how to play. After all, a weird plan is better than no plan.
When the magical search leads her to the neighboring town of Marbleglen—“the safest town in Oregon”—Amber assumes her only problem will be dealing with its snooty residents. Instead, she gets caught up in a murder investigation where one man is dead and a second one framed for the crime. To complicate matters, the framed man’s condescending daughter, Bianca, wants Amber’s help—and Bianca just happens to chair Marbleglen’s Floral Frenzy Flower Festival Committee, the rival to Edgehill’s own Here and Meow Festival Committee. The two women are thrown into an uneasy alliance. Joined by her new frenemy, her growing inner circle, and Edgehill’s Chief Brown, Amber works to unravel the mystery to ensure the right culprit ends up behind bars and Marbleglen’s safety is restored. But Amber knows that even if Marbleglen’s mystery is resolved, a bigger danger lurks in the shadows. If the Penhallows claim the grimoires of Amber’s late parents, they’ll use the books’ time-reversal spells to try to stop the curse from ever having poisoned their clan—and, in the process, possibly rewriting history.
THE WOLF AND THE ROSE: HOWLS ROMANCE by Marianne Morea
The Iron Wolf – Stefan Petrovia is used to winning. Especially when he sets his sites on something he wants. Or someone. When a rival is defeated, Stefan is ready to claim his prize. Only her grandfather has a different plan in mind. A spell to whisk his heir, and the light of his life, to a place the wolf has no claim. The Prize –Ordinary. It’s a word Delia DeRosa knows well. Until something unexplainable happens. Now she’s questioning everything she thought she knew about herself. A chance meeting brings her face-to-face with a story only found in fairytales—not to mention a fantasy hottie on horseback ready to sweep her off her feet. Literally. What’s a twenty-first century girl to do when she finds out she’s not who she thought, and the life she knew is actually the story, and the fairytale is what’s real?
MAGIC AND MONSTERS (STARRY HOLLOW WITCHES BOOK 12) by Annabel Chase
Starry Hollow is abuzz when the famously reclusive Creature Hunter, Winston York, emerges from retirement after a rare sighting of an endangered magical creature and Ember Rose is assigned to cover the story. Florian and Aster are thrilled with this development because a new documentary by York would mean an influx of tourists to the magical seaside town. Excitement quickly turns to horror, however, when York dies during filming. What seems like an unfortunate accident starts to look more like murder to intrepid reporter Ember. Can Ember solve the crime before the killer renders her extinct?
ELEVATOR PITCH by Ofelia Grand
Bjorn Ritter only wants one thing — to live his life away from nosey, demanding bears. That’s easier said than done when you’re the son of the female running the Bayside Bear Community. Cecil Baxter might be a bat, but he grew up away from shifter communities and he’s doing his best to continue to keep his distance. Shifters aren’t an accepting bunch and Cecil has never fit the norm. Already facing a dreaded meeting with his mother, the last thing Bjorn needs is a stranger using his elevator to escape a pack of werewolves. And Cecil, whose day just seems to be getting worse and worse, could really do without the added stress of finding himself trapped in an elevator with a huge bear shifter. Still, what could go wrong in three minutes?
GHOSTS OF SHERWOOD by Carrie Vaughn
VS Note: Sounds really good. Put it on my TBR List…
Everything about Father is stories. Robin of Locksley and his one true love, Marian, are married. It has been close on two decades since they beat the Sheriff of Nottingham with the help of a diverse band of talented friends. King John is now on the throne, and Robin has sworn fealty in order to further protect not just his family, but those of the lords and barons who look up to him – and, by extension, the villagers they protect. There is a truce. An uneasy one, to be sure, but a truce, nonetheless. But when the Locksley children are stolen away by persons unknown, Robin and Marian are going to need the help of everyone they’ve ever known, perhaps even the ghosts that are said to reside deep within Sherwood. And the Locksley children, despite appearances to the contrary, are not without tricks of their own.
THE WITCH WHO SETTLED THE ACCOUNT (PIXIE POINT BAY BOOK 1) by Emma Belmont
An amateur sleuth who’s also a witch, a lighthouse that’s alive, and a cat who hears the spirits. Murder has met its match. As the new owner of the Pixie Point Bay Lighthouse and B&B, Maris Seaver is finally ready to organize her finances. But while she’s at the town’s credit union, the manager mysteriously dies. Although suspects abound, the murderer has been clever. No one even knows how the man was killed.
THE PRACTICAL MAGE’S GUIDE TO MAGIC AND MAUHEM by Dan Ackerman
Hiram Reinhart abandoned a life of privilege when he could no longer stomach the ugliness of plantation life. Now he resides in Canada, selling small enchantments to keep his rag-tag family fed and housed, if only barely.
Matthew Blackwell, another mage, seeks out Hiram’s assistance in order to find a demon. Hiram seeks out the demon on his own, concerned for the creature’s well-being. The demon, Phaedrus, turns down Hiram’s offer of aid at first. Soon enough, Hiram and Phaedrus regret not helping each other and not much later, it’s all they can do to stay alive. Hiram and Phaedrus grow closer as they try to stay one step ahead of Blackwell and his unsavory plans. Along the way, they help each other cope with a world that doesn’t have much room for a man who doesn’t like women and a demon who doesn’t belong on either side of the gender binary.
TO TOUCH A DRAGON (VENYS NEEDS MEN) by Naomi Lucas
The tribes have wilted. The last of the menfolk have grown old. The human race has been dying since the red comet first soared through the skies above.
My name is Issa, and as the youngest huntress and the only one left within childbearing age, I’m doomed to be the last matriarch of my people. Which would be a great honor, if there were a male to be mine from another tribe. But none have been born, none but my younger brother. It’s been my life duty to protect him.
When the time comes to escort my brother to a neighboring tribe, my friend tells me a rumor of a huntress finding a dragon in the northern plains. And when that huntress touched the dragon’s hide, the beast transformed into a virile, possessively bonded male. With a thundering heart and nothing left to lose, I venture into the forbidden jungle to find such a dragon. To touch him, to bear his burden. But the dragon I find is nothing at all like I imagined.
SHADOWBORN (THE BORN PROPHECY NOVELS BOOK 3) by Katie McAllister
Liberated from exile, the brutal god Nezu is leveling his vengeful wrath against the blessed lands of Alba, and only three heroes stand a chance of stopping him. Fireborn Allegria, with her ability to harness the power of light; her Starborn lover, Hallow, who leads the society of mages; and Deo, a warrior born of both worlds . . .But the circle of friendship is broken when Allegria is imprisoned in the spirit world of the Thane. Surrounded by long dead warriors bent on revenge, Allegria is losing her grasp on the mortal realm. Now she must fight to hold on to the memories she has left—and the hope that help is coming from a world away. The ultimate battle between good and evil is breaking, and Hallow and Deo need Allegria to win it. But even then, how can they achieve the impossible? For it’s not just one destructive god they must face, but also his creator. Only an arcane prophecy and the untried power of their joined magics can save the Fourth Age.
DOWN BUT NOT DEAD (WITCHES BE CRAZY COZY MYSTERY SERIES BOOK TWO) by Constance Barker
The Big Easy Gentleman’s Club has a flock of beauties who dance to the wee hours, but several have ended up dead. Not only that, they were drained of blood. Helga knows that New Orleans is rumored to have these blood suckers of the night, but is it true? She’s a witch, so why not? Or could the culprit be someone who likes to use the blood of young beautiful women to keep herself youthful? And what is up with Helga’s old school chum? In school he was considered a weasel, but now that he’s coming to the club, he’s changed into something more sinister. Has he been turned or is there something more mundane going on? Gwen and Penelope are ready to help or hinder as usual. And of course Helga’s familiar, Andromeda, is his usual chill self. Nothing rattles that cool cat.
WILD CHILD: XROADS WHAT SHOULD SHE CHOOSE? by LaVerne Thompson
VS Note: Author states the ending is a cliffhanger.
The road you take cannot be undone. Kasha never quite fit in. So she left home long ago to pursue her career in art. Hell, she ran as fast as she could away from her minister father and his judgmental ways. Yet, she loved her parents, so when the dreams surrounding a church filled with fire and blood kept repeating itself, it was all she could paint. She had to warn them. Only to arrive too late to save them. Now she found herself running once again, only this time away from a nightmare. In her mad flight, she took a turn off the highway. Soon realizing she might have run toward something even worse. This time she couldn’t run, she couldn’t lie to herself anymore. She was more than an artist. She had to learn to fully embrace and unleash her powers within. She had to know who and what she truly was and learn to stand her ground.
FATED MATE (FATED MOUNTAIN WOLF PACK BOOK 1) by Jessica Aspen
VS Note: A redo on my part because last week I got the author’s first name wrong! Apologies!
I’ve been abandoned. Left on the side of a mountain road with a Rocky Mountain storm on the way and the only person I can turn to is a stranger—but Aaron has his own secrets…When Gwynn’s dad sells her off to pay his gambling debts the only person she can turn to is a stranger. But how is she to know her knight in shining armor is actually working for the bad guys? Aaron’s been forced to work for a criminal for too long, he’s just counting the days to freedom. When the opportunity rises he’s ready to jump. The only problem is—in order to get what he wants he has to betray a stranger. Too bad she’s his fated mate… Now, Aaron has to save Gwynn, keep the pack lands the boss has promised him, and convince the only woman he’ll ever truly love that fairy tales are real—and so are wolf shifters.
Amazon Apple Books Nook Kobo Author’s Books2Read link
TANNER: HIDDEN REALMS OF SILVER LAKE (FOUR SISTERS OF FATE BOOK 6) by Vella Day
Snow leopard, Ella Snowden, has a problem. Her parents are requiring her to mate with a man she detests. Love is not even an issue for them. For the sake of her clan, Ella is supposed to mate with the up-and-coming Alpha to the panther clan in order to repopulate the dwindling leopard clan. Her solution? Do what any strong-willed woman would do. She leaves her posh and fairly pampered life and sets off on her own.
Too bad Fate interrupts her escape and sends an avalanche her way. Great! Just what she doesn’t need. Buried beneath ten feet of snow, she considers her options–options that are very limited. Does she have any regrets she ran away? No. She’d rather die than mate with that panther.
Tanner McCarson is up to his eyeballs in work building an eco-tourism park in Plux. When he heads to Thedia Province to check on some supplies, he watches as an avalanche buries a car. Being the protective man that he is, he rushes to the rescue, only to discover the woman inside is his mate. While Ella is thrilled to be rescued by a super-hot dragon shifter, she can’t tell him the real reason she is on the run. Needless to say, when that panther finds her, trouble ensues. What will Ella have to do to convince Tanner her lies were for his own good?
DARK WINE AT DEATH (A HILL VAMPIRE NOVEL BOOK 4) by Jenna Barwin
A seductive spy. An alpha vampire. A traitor in their midst…At last, the leader of the rogue vampires is in jail, and Dr. Cerissa Patel is in the arms of the man she loves and safe to dream about a future together——until an assassin strikes again. Tigisi Anderson, the vampire community’s chief of police, suspects a traitor is feeding confidential information to the conspirators and suggests they use Cerissa’s lover—vampire Henry Bautista—as bait to flush out the assassin. Cerissa hates the idea. She will stop at nothing to protect the man she loves, but her duty to put an end to the conspirators’ goal to enslave mortals—and Henry’s bravery—pushes her to take the risk. Not like she could stop him once he’s made up his mind. Henry is determined to do what he must to unmask the traitor. But the heartbreaking demons from Henry’s past—demons he must confront before he can tie his life to Cerissa’s forever—threaten to distract him from their mission and, in the process, could cost the life of a loved one.
CONQUEST (DRAGON BONES BOOK 1) by Celeste Harte
VS Note: From February…
Jashi Anyua has been arranged to be married to the leader of her nation, the Great Faresh. To help her escape the unwanted engagement, her future husband’s enemies offer her an out – if she agrees to spy on her intended, they’ll give her a new identity and a life somewhere the Faresh will never find her. Yet as Jashi gets to know the Faresh, she wonders if she put her loyalties in the right place; especially when she realizes that he shares the abilities she’s had to keep secret her whole life. What’s more, he might be the only one who can train her to use them.
THE MONSTROUS SEVEN (A HANNAH HICKOK WITCHY MYSTERY BOOK 4) by Lily Harper Hart
Life is going well for Hannah Hickok. Her business – a cosplay western town in Kentucky – is thriving and she’s even interviewing bartenders so she can finally take on different duties in her new world. All that comes to a screeching halt when a guest grabs what’s supposed to be a prop gun and fires it at another guest during an altercation.
Suddenly, death is calling in Casper Creek … and it’s wearing many masks.
Hannah is thrown by the brutality of the action. She’s also confused why her boyfriend Cooper Wyatt was acting out of sorts right before it happened. The questions about exactly what happened are only compounded when the coroner comes back with a shocking report: There was no bullet found in the body and the manner of death is undetermined.
In short order, an FBI agent is put in charge of the case, Casper Creek is shut down, and Hannah and Cooper are plunged into a sundry world of magical creatures with death and destruction on the brain. Thanks to a tip from local witch Astra, Hannah soon realizes she’s grappling with something bigger than she’s ever dealt with before … and it will be seven times as deadly. War is coming. Hannah’s magic is still a work in progress but she’s going to be put through the paces on this one. She has a new family. It will be up to her to save them when magical forces collide
Is she up to the challenge?
IT ENDS WITH HER (BECOMING THE WOLF BOOK 5) by T S Joyce
Levi Wright has spent the last two years on a mission. His old pack thinks he’s been away at school so he could come back and apprentice to the Black Wolf himself, Greyson Crawford. He hasn’t though. He was out learning to protect a girl. And not just any girl. THE girl. Omega in the making, stunning beauty who doesn’t even know it, tough in some ways, fragile in others, but someday, someway, Marissa will need his protection. She’s hunted by vampires, and has been for the last five years. They circle, and he can feel them getting closer. Something happening to her, and he will be damned if he lets any harm come to her. This war is complicated though. He wants to win her heart, sure, but he isn’t the only one competing. A vampire has his eyes on her, and Marissa has no choice but to pay attention. War is coming, but he’s ready. All he has to do is make sure Marissa survives to fulfill her fate.
Marissa Henry has had a crush on a boy for years. Her crippling shyness and fear of dominant werewolves has kept her quiet, but she mourned when the boy she liked moved away. Now he’s back, and Levi isn’t the quiet, submissive boy who left two years ago. He’s done something to his wolf to make him a war-monster, but she can’t figure out what. And when he admits to traitorous plans that will affect the people she loves, she has to consider help from the vampire, Larius, who bit her, and has been keeping her safe all these years. She knows who she wants, but now she has to figure out what she needs.
CLAIM THE DRAGON (THE LEGION) by A C Arthur
To save her, he’ll sacrifice everything. Born a dream reaper, Steele Ezo, a powerful half dragon, half human, is struggling to find his place in the Drakon hierarchy. He is ready to accept his fate until he realizes the next victim on the Reaper’s hit list is the sexy thief who’s caught his eye. She’s supposed to die. He’s forbidden to stop it. But their inexplicable connection makes it impossible to step aside.
Abandoned by her family and abused by local enforcers, Ravyn Walsh lives life on her own terms. She’s created an underground sanctuary for the oppressed citizens of Burgess, and she needs funds to keep it running. When a lucrative job—stealing an ancient dagger—lands in her lap, she doesn’t hesitate, not even when a smoldering tattooed stranger attempts to stop her. A dagger that can raise the dead is a powerful tool—one that could change the course of history. As they fight to keep the dagger out of the wrong hands, Ravyn will be forced to embrace the truth of her heritage, while Steele will find himself torn between saving a life that isn’t meant to be saved and denouncing the power he was born to wield.
A FRESH BREW: A DRAGON COZY MYSTERY (HILL COUNTRY MYSTERIES BOOK 1) by Verena DeLuca
Welcome to Aconite Café, where dragons, coffee, and snark, are today’s special. Hailey Morton has just become the sole owner of Aconite Café. Upon her aunt’s death, Hailey also inherited her cat. Only Azure is no cat. He is actually a dragon, and Hailey has just inherited the position of Dragon Protector alongside the deed to the café. If her world turning upside down wasn’t enough, Azure is convinced Hailey’s aunt was actually murdered. The sheriff and his deputy are oblivious, which means it’s up to her to solve the mystery. All while running the café. Will Hailey bring her aunt’s murderer to justice? Can she learn to run Aconite Café? Does she have what it takes to be a Dragon Protector?
ONLY LOVE IS DEATHLESS by Sita Bethel
Sreka’s younger brother, Dobrina, is in love. The only problem is that the law forbids him from courting until Sreka is married. Sreka hires the local adventurer, Košmar, to marry him so Dobrina can wed his love.Even if he has to sleep on the couch, instead of with the crown prince on their farce wedding bed, Košmar will get to live like a king for a year. And once Dobrina is married, Sreka will quietly divorce him and send him on his way with gold for his services. Nothing says destined romance like a battle with a dragon, so Sreka and Košmar stage their first public encounter to fool the royal court. However, as fate would have it, the dragon that was supposed to be as fake as their love is real.
CALLUNA (SPELL LIBRARY BOOK 4) by Jewels Arthur
Calluna is sassy, snarky, and doesn’t give a crap about, well, anything. Calluna doesn’t believe in all this love garbage that she keeps seeing all over the town. Nope, she is just fine keeping to herself and her pet store, Beastie Besties, spank you very much. When a goofy romance book draws her in and she is given a meerkat shifter, a fennec fox shifter, a fallen angel, and a griffin shifter — well, Calluna’s views on love might be in for a whirlwind of change. Will this whirlwind romance get in the way of the mystery she has yet to solve? There is someone in town cursing animals with dark magic, causing her shop to become a land of misfit pets. Calluna is determined to break the curses and find the culprit but she’ll have to travel down a dark road herself.
ALPHA TRIPLETS (TRIPLET HAREMS BOOK 4) by J L Wilder
ALPHA TRIPLETS – We are outcasts, triplet alphas who have been banished from our pack. We are barely surviving, almost feral. But after years of running, we are done. We are ready to reclaim what is rightfully ours. We will find the one thing that can give us our power back—an omega.
THE OMEGA – I’ve been promised to the merciless sons of my alpha. And I’ve lost everything trying to defy them. I will not imprint on them, no matter what. Alone and wounded, the banished alphas have taken me in. They are almost feral. How could I ever trust these traitorous beasts?
ALPHA GEEK: BENNETT by Milly Taiden
Tiger shifter Dakota Alcott’s entire life is one series of adventures. She calls them adventures to feel better about all of her failures. The truth is, she is looking for her place. Her people. Herself. When she interviews for Nick Milan’s protection company, she has hope that this might be it.
Awkward genius Bennett Huxx has more degrees and Ph.Ds than he has had girlfriends — and sexual experiences, but he isn’t going to think about that just now. He needs to focus on the shifter serum his friend Gray needs help with. He won’t be distracted by the beautiful bodyguard Gray hired to keep an eye on him. Or so he thinks. But Dakota is way too enticing to be resisted. When a mysterious band of men attacks Bennett and Dakota to get to the serum, a decision has to be made to save his life. Gawky Bennett is replaced by one sexy shifter. He wants to protect Dakota, but as it turns out? The feisty tigress just might save him.
IMMORAL (DARK ANGEL ACADEMY BOOK 3) by G Bailey
My name is Kaitlyn Lightson, and my home is with the vampires. After the destruction of The Angel Academy, I’m found a traitor to my own race, and I wish it were just me who is found guilty. Vesnia and many others are trapped with me, and I’m not sure how I can save them. With the vampires on the run, or dead, I know I need to get out of the city as quickly as I can to find Ren before he starts a war he cannot end. With old friends, and new, to help me, I will survive the Angel City and get to my mates. There isn’t another choice.
RISE OF THE PHOENIX (GUARDIANS OF THE PHOENIX BOOK 1) by J L Madore
VS Note: From late May…
Monsters, Magic, and Mates I never knew existed. Kia versus power pole isn’t the end I expect—it’s the beginning of… gawd, where do I begin? Four wildly sexy males. Powers I don’t understand. And the eyes of the fae world on me as the person to unite the severed realms. No pressure.
COME ON, GET LUCKY by Jacqueline Rohrbach
Grant is looking for love, but there’s one big problem—himself. Due to Grant’s massive size, not to mention the fact he’s also a werewolf, all the eligible bachelors steer clear of him, preferring men who are a little less ginormous and a lot less monstrous. Only Lee, Grant’s best friend and vampire extraordinaire, sees him as a gentle giant who longs to give awesome backrubs, cupcakes, and endless affection to his lifelong mate.
Lee is tired of the same old song and dance of dating and then breaking up. The only steady presence in his life has been Grant, a tried-and-true friend who always knows what to say and the right spot to scratch. So, when Grant finally breaks up with his flighty boyfriend, Lee sees an opportunity to let his carefully guarded heart out of its box and try for something real and lasting. There’s a problem, though: Lee has always forbidden romance between friends, an order he’s drilled into Grant’s head over and over again. That means Lee might need to throw their friendship to the fire. To find passion, they’ll have to become enemies. To find love, they’ll have to get lucky.
KING OF THE MOUNTAINS (SEASON OF THE FAE BOOK 1) by Elizabeth Frost
Kill the King. Save the world. Don’t die. Morgan has no problem killing the king, especially since the alternative is being locked away for all her other murders… But he doesn’t make it easy. First off, he’s a bearded, sexy wild man who chops firewood shirtless in his backyard. Second? He’s created an entire dimension hidden from the human realm, where he controls everything. Literally everything. The longer she’s in his realm, the more she realizes he’s wiggled his way under her skin with his sexy smirk and stupid beard. What’s worse? She might let him end the world if she gets to keep him.
GRAVE MISTAKES (HELL GATE GUARDIAN BOOK 1) by Ivy Asher
It’s never a good combo to be broke and desperate. You do stupid things. Like accidentally sign your soul over to Hell. When I interviewed for a new security job, I didn’t bat an eye that it was for a literal graveyard shift…headstones and all. I mean, at the hourly rate they were offering, who cares? I got this. Turns out, I’m not guarding a graveyard like I thought. It seems I’ve just walked my broke ass into protecting a Gate to Hell. Yeah…I don’t got this. Now I’m stuck in a terrifying new reality: a group of hot demons who act like I can solve all their problems, and a battle between good, evil, and balance. This will seriously teach me to read the fine print on Help Wanted ads. Good thing this job comes with a scythe. Maybe I can use it to stop them from dragging my ass into Hell.
HER ALPHA by Fiona Davenport
When Larissa Nash went looking for her best friend, she never expected to find her in a town full of shifters. She didn’t even know they existed until Kace Lowell clued her in on the secret by shifting into his wolf. Mating a human was complicated for the alpha of the pack, but Kace was more than ready to take on anyone who dared to challenge Larissa’s place in his life.
FORTUNE FAE ACADEMY: BOOK 1 by J R Thorn
I never asked to be an Omega. I’m a Fortune Fae—I see the future. But I didn’t see this coming. My Alpha will stop at nothing to possess me until he drags me all the way to Fortune Fae Academy to join the other wide-eyed Omegas-in-training. He believes I’m strong enough to survive—and I hope he’s right. He also believes I’ll kneel at his feet.
He couldn’t be more wrong about that.I don’t need three broody Betas and an asshat Alpha telling me what to do. I’m going to keep running until he realizes he’s chasing the wrong girl. Except there’s one slight problem. My Alpha has seen the future too… and he knows something I don’t. Whatever he thinks is going to happen, his cruel smirk says I’m not going anywhere.
THE SECOND AND HIS BONDED (KINCAID PACK BOOK 2) by Kiki Clark
After barely escaping his abusive family, wolf shifter Kieran McAllister struggles to find his place in the Kincaid Pack. Especially with the pushy but gorgeous second-in-command showing up every time Kieran turns around… and making him want things he shouldn’t. The traumatized wolf who continuously refuses Bennett Young’s help has begun to haunt his dreams. But if there’s one thing he knows, it’s that tiger shifters don’t have mates. So why can’t Bennett get Kieran’s sad eyes out of his head? Despite their differences, Kieran and Bennet find something they never expected in each other. Just as their bond begins to grow though, Kieran’s past threatens to destroy the very pack they both have been fighting to protect.
SIN AND SURRENDER (DEMIGODS OF SAN FRANCISCO BOOK 6) by K F Breene
It’s the moment Kieran and Lexi have been preparing for. The Magical Summit. Ready or not, they will take their assembled team into the belly of the beast. The stakes couldn’t be higher. If the powers that be don’t approve of Kieran, he will not earn the official title of the Demigod of San Francisco. The real danger concerns Lexi, however. With Kieran away in meetings, she must brave the treacherous halls of the Summit with just her crew and her wards, fighting for social placement and status, open to attack from all angles. She could’ve never expected what comes at her. No one could’ve.
SEALORD: A DARK DRAGON SHIFTER ROMANCE by Delta James
VS Note: From late May…
Only one thing could have awakened Kellan from long centuries of sleep. The scent of his mate. Míorúilt has the blood of dragons in her veins and taming her will be no easy task, but Kellan wouldn’t want it to be. While he slumbered he dreamed of how sternly and shamefully he will punish her defiance and how thoroughly he will claim and ravage her beautiful virgin body. Now it is time.
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VS Note: My other scifi novel with a medical theme, although the two plots and the two doctors are very different: STAR CRUISE: OUTBREAK
She saved countless soldiers in the wars … but does she have the weapons to fight an outbreak?
Dr. Emily Shane, veteran of the Sector Wars, is known as “The Angel of Fantalar” for her bravery under fire as a medic. However, the doctor has her own war wounds–severe PTSD and guilt over those she failed to save.
Persuaded to fill a seemingly frivolous berth as ship’s doctor on the huge and luxurious interstellar cruise liner Nebula Zephyr, she finds the job brings unexpected perks–a luxe beach deck with water imported from Tahumaroa II, and Security Officer Jake Dilon, a fellow veteran who heats her up like a tropical sun.
However, Emily soon learns she and Jake didn’t leave all peril behind in the war. A mysterious ailment aboard the Zephyr begins to claim victim after victim … and they must race against time and space to find the cause and a cure! Trapped on a ship no spaceport will allow to dock, their efforts are complicated by a temperamental princess and a terrorist–one who won’t hesitate to take down any being in the way of his target. If anyone’s left when the disease is through with them…
Buy Links: Apple iBooks Amazon Kobo Barnes & Noble
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LINKS TO RECENT NEW RELEASES POSTS from Veronica:
“New” is generally plus or minus a week or two. I try to catch up on ones I missed in recent months. And I may mention ‘special items’.
I do NOT cover every single new release in SFR/FantasyR/PNR. I never have. That would be an impossible task for any human! I assemble my list by hand every week based on various informal inputs, and I do curate the list to some extent…
I check and verify all the buy links at the time I create the post but after that I’m not responsible.
Congratulations on your new release!
Another great list of books. Congrats on your new release!
Congratulations on your release (and to all the authors!
Thank you for including me in the list, Veronica!
My pleasure! I;m so excited to have your new book on my kindle now! Best wishes on the new release…
Thanks to everyone for visiting and commenting! I really appreciate the encouragement!
This is an amazing list! Best one I’ve ever followed. I’ve found many new books and authors through you. And I LOVE the Badari Warriors! Thank you so very much!!
That’s wonderful feedback to hear – thanks! – because I do the weekly roundup hoping to help readers find books/authors in my favorite genres 🙂 And I’m so happy to hear you enjoy my Badari – beaming! I’m working on IVOKK now…
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