Cover image Escaping Exodus

October 2019 Must Haves

BP Note: I can’t believe we are down to three months left in 2019. I don’t know where the year went. I hope everyone had a good summer, Western Hemisphere, or winter, Southern Hemisphere. Fall weather has arrived here so sweaters, hats, boots, and long cooking house and soul warming foods are making their appearance. Good for checking out all of the October releases. We have a very long list for you this month. As always, please let us know what we have missed. Happy reading.
~E

Africanfuturism

Cover image Daughters of Nri (The Return of the Earth Mother #1)Daughters of Nri (The Return of the Earth Mother #1) by Reni K Amayo – 1 Oct (Onwe Press)

Strong-willed Naala grows up seeking adventure in her quiet and small village. While the more reserved Sinai resides in the cold and political palace of Nri. Though miles apart, both girls share an indestructible bond: they share the same blood, the same face, and possess the same unspoken magic, thought to have vanished with the lost gods.

The twin girls were separated at birth, a price paid to ensure their survival from Eze Ochichiri, the man who rules the Kingdom of Nri. Both girls are tested in ways that awaken a mystical, formidable power deep within themselves. Eventually, their paths both lead back to the mighty Eze.

But can they defeat the man who brought the gods themselves to their knees?

Cover image Escaping ExodusEscaping Exodus by Nicky Drayden – 15 Oct (Harper Voyager)

Escaping Exodus is a story of a young woman named Seske Kaleigh, heir to the command of a biological, city-size starship carved up from the insides of a spacefaring beast. Her clan has just now culled their latest ship and the workers are busy stripping down the bonework for building materials, rerouting the circulatory system for mass transit, and preparing the cavernous creature for the onslaught of the general populous still in stasis. It’s all a part of the cycle her clan had instituted centuries ago—excavate the new beast, expand into its barely-living carcass, extinguish its resources over the course of a decade, then escape in a highly coordinated exodus back into stasis until they cull the next beast from the diminishing herd.

And of course there wouldn’t be much of a story if things didn’t go terribly, terribly wrong.

Contemporary Romance

Cover image - Royal Holiday (Wedding Date #4)Royal Holiday (Wedding Date #4) by Jasmine Guillory – 1 Oct (Berkley)

Vivian Forest has been out of the country a grand total of one time, so when she gets the chance to tag along on her daughter Maddie’s work trip to England to style a royal family member, she can’t refuse. She’s excited to spend the holidays taking in the magnificent British sights, but what she doesn’t expect is to become instantly attracted to a certain private secretary, his charming accent, and unyielding formality.

Malcolm Hudson has worked for the Queen for years and has never given a personal, private tour—until now. He is intrigued by Vivian the moment he meets her and finds himself making excuses just to spend time with her. When flirtatious banter turns into a kiss under the mistletoe, things snowball into a full-on fling.

Despite a ticking timer on their holiday romance, they are completely fine with ending their short, steamy affair come New Year’s Day. . .or are they?

Cover image - Lush Money (Filthy Rich #1)Lush Money (Filthy Rich #1) by Angelina Lopez – 14 Oct (Carina Press)

A marriage of convenience and three nights a month.

That’s all the sultry, self-made billionaire wants from the impoverished prince.

And at the end of the year, she’ll grant him his divorce…with a settlement large enough to save his beloved kingdom.

As a Latinx woman, Roxanne Medina has conquered small-town bullies, Ivy League snobs and boardrooms full of men. She’s earned the right to mother a princess and feel a little less lonely at the top. The offer she’s made is more than generous, and when the contract’s fulfilled, they’ll both walk away with everything they’ve ever wanted.

Príncipe Mateo Ferdinand Juan Carlos de Esperanza y Santos is one of the top winegrowers in the world, and he’s not marrying and having a baby with a stranger. Even if the millions she’s offering could save his once-legendary wine-producing principality.

But the successful, single-minded beauty uses a weapon prince Mateo hadn’t counted on: his own desire.

Cover image - The Matchmaker's Mistletoe Mission (Boots and Bouquets #0.5)The Matchmaker’s Mistletoe Mission (Boots and Bouquets #0.5) by Jaci Burton – 15 Oct (Intermix)

Stranded at the Red Moss Vineyard a week before her best friend’s wedding, LA native and professional matchmaker Alice Weatherford is not pleased with her first trip to Oklahoma, or the epic snowstorm forcing her to stay. So much for Christmas cheer. What she needs is a project, something to distract her…and, oh, has she found one in neighboring rancher Clay Henry. Gorgeous, charming, and unlike any other man she’s ever met, finding the right woman for Clay should be easy….

Having grown up with the Bellini sisters, it’s no hardship for Clay to ride out the storm at their cozy family vineyard, especially since that means spending time with their savvy and smart houseguest. But despite Alice’s best efforts, he’s not the least bit interested in her matchmaking….

Alice is the only woman Clay wants. Now he just has to convince the matchmaker herself to give love a chance.

Cover image - Bat out of HellBat out of Hell by Bernadette Franklin – 31 Oct (Pen & Page Publishing)

After shredding a Prada for a costume, Shirley Manchester fears she opened a portal to hell. With a fashion designer out for revenge hot on her heels, a secret admirer on a mission to evict her from the pool of eligible bachelorettes, and a relentless streak of bad luck, surviving through Halloween is turning into a sketchy proposition.

Next time, Shirley will remember there are better ways to dodge an unwanted advance than kissing a random stranger.

Escaping the party turns out to be only the beginning of Shirley’s woes. Curses aren’t supposed to be real, but after the going keeps getting tougher, she’s at real risk of becoming a believer in the things that go bump in the night.

The tricks should’ve ended in October, but her November is looking to be one hell of a wild ride.

Epic Fantasy

Cover image - The True Bastards (Lot Lands #2)The True Bastards (Lot Lands #2) by Jonathan French – 8 Oct (Crown)

Fetching was once the only female rider in the Lot Lands. Now she is the leader of her own hoof, a band of loyal half orcs sworn to her command. But in the year since she took power, the True Bastards have struggled to survive. Tested to the breaking point by the burdens of leadership, Fetching battles desperately to stave off famine, desertion, and the scorn of the other half-orc chieftains, even as orcs and humans alike threaten the Lots’ very existence. Then an old enemy finds a way to strike at her from beyond the grave–and suddenly only one, faint hope for salvation remains.

Cover image - The Name of All Things (Chorus of Dragons #2)The Name of All Things (Chorus of Dragons #2) by Jenn Lyons – 29 Oct (Tor Books)

You can have everything you want if you sacrifice everything you believe.

Kihrin D’Mon is a wanted man.

Since he destroyed the Stone of Shackles and set demons free across Quur, he has been on the run from the wrath of an entire empire. His attempt to escape brings him into the path of Janel Theranon, a mysterious Joratese woman who claims to know Kihrin.

Janel’s plea for help pits Kihrin against all manner of dangers: a secret rebellion, a dragon capable of destroying an entire city, and Kihrin’s old enemy, the wizard Relos Var.

Janel believes that Relos Var possesses one of the most powerful artifacts in the world―the Cornerstone called the Name of All Things. And if Janel is right, then there may be nothing in the world that can stop Relos Var from getting what he wants.

And what he wants is Kihrin D’Mon.

Fantasy

Cover image - The Library of the Unwritten (Novel from Hell's Library #1)The Library of the Unwritten (Novel from Hell’s Library #1) by A.J. Hackwith – 1 Oct (Ace)

In the first book in a brilliant new fantasy series, books that aren’t finished by their authors reside in the Library of the Unwritten in Hell, and it is up to the Librarian to track down any restless characters who emerge from those unfinished stories.

Many years ago, Claire was named Head Librarian of the Unwritten Wing—a neutral space in Hell where all the stories unfinished by their authors reside. Her job consists mainly of repairing and organizing books, but also of keeping an eye on restless stories that risk materializing as characters and escaping the library. When a Hero escapes from his book and goes in search of his author, Claire must track and capture him with the help of former muse and current assistant Brevity and nervous demon courier Leto.

But what should have been a simple retrieval goes horrifyingly wrong when the terrifyingly angelic Ramiel attacks them, convinced that they hold the Devil’s Bible. The text of the Devil’s Bible is a powerful weapon in the power struggle between Heaven and Hell, so it falls to the librarians to find a book with the power to reshape the boundaries between Heaven, Hell … and Earth.

Cover image - The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl (Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #3)The Sinister Mystery of the Mesmerizing Girl (Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club #3) by Theodora Goss – 1 Oct (Gallery/Saga Press)

Life’s always an adventure for the Athena Club…especially when one of their own has been kidnapped! After their thrilling European escapades rescuing Lucinda van Helsing, Mary Jekyll and her friends return home to discover that their friend and kitchen maid Alice has vanished— and so has their friend and employer Sherlock Holmes!

As they race to find Alice and bring her home safely, they discover that Alice and Sherlock’s kidnapping are only one small part of a plot that threatens Queen Victoria, and the very future of the British Empire. Can Mary, Diana, Beatrice, Catherine, and Justine save their friends—and save the Empire? Find out in the final installment of the fantastic and memorable Extraordinary Adventures of the Athena Club series.

Cover image - Ninth HouseNinth House by Leigh Bardugo – 8 Oct (Flatiron)

Galaxy “Alex” Stern is the most unlikely member of Yale’s freshman class. Raised in the Los Angeles hinterlands by a hippie mom, Alex dropped out of school early and into a world of shady drug dealer boyfriends, dead-end jobs, and much, much worse. By age twenty, in fact, she is the sole survivor of a horrific, unsolved multiple homicide. Some might say she’s thrown her life away. But at her hospital bed, Alex is offered a second chance: to attend one of the world’s most elite universities on a full ride. What’s the catch, and why her?

Still searching for answers to this herself, Alex arrives in New Haven tasked by her mysterious benefactors with monitoring the activities of Yale’s secret societies. These eight windowless “tombs” are well-known to be haunts of the future rich and powerful, from high-ranking politicos to Wall Street and Hollywood’s biggest players. But their occult activities are revealed to be more sinister and more extraordinary than any paranoid imagination might conceive.

Fantasy Romance

Cover image - Dragged Through Hedgerows (Songs of the Amaranthine #3)Dragged Through Hedgerows (Songs of the Amaranthine #3) by Forthright – 4 Oct (Twinkle Press)

He had one job. Becoming a family pet wasn’t it.

For the sake of his people, Daroo-fen has lived among humans, working as a lawyer in a little mountain town. He’s vowed to protect the surrounding woodlands, no matter the cost. But in the course of duty, he meets a man who needs help … and a friend. Too long a loner, Daroo cannot keep away, but there’s a fine line between getting close and getting too close. If the Cooper family finds out his secret, two worlds might brand the wolf a traitor.

Cover image - The Absinthe Earl (Faery Rehistory #1)The Absinthe Earl (Faery Rehistory #1) by Sharon Lynn Fisher – 15 Oct (Blackstone)

They crossed centuries to find each other. Their love will shatter worlds.

Miss Ada Quicksilver, a student of London’s Lovelace Academy for Promising Young Women, is spending her holiday in Ireland to pursue her anthropological study of fairies. She visits Dublin’s absinthe bars to investigate a supposed association between the bittersweet spirit and fairy sightings.

One night a handsome Irishman approaches her, introducing himself as Edward Donoghue. Edward takes absinthe to relieve his sleepwalking, and she is eager to hear whether he has experience with fairies. Instead, she discovers that he’s the earl of Meath, and that he will soon visit a mysterious ruin at Newgrange on the orders of his cousin, the beautiful, half-mad Queen Isolde. On learning about Ada’s area of study, he invites her to accompany him.

Ada is torn between a sensible fear of becoming entangled with the clearly troubled gentleman and her compelling desire to ease his suffering. Finally she accepts his invitation, and they arrive in time for the winter solstice. That night, the secret of Edward’s affliction is revealed: he is, in fact, a lord in two worlds and can no longer suppress his shadow self.

Little does either of them realize that their blossoming friendship and slowly kindling passion will lead to discoveries that wrench open a door sealed for centuries, throwing them into a war that will change Ireland forever.

Historical Fiction

Cover image - The Giver of StarsThe Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes – 8 Oct (Pamela Dorman Books)

When Alice Wright agrees to marry handsome American Bennett Van Cleve and leave behind her stifling life in England for a new adventure in Kentucky, she’s soon disenchanted by her newlywed status and overbearing father-in-law, owner of the local coal mine. So when a call goes out for a team of women to deliver books as part of Eleanor Roosevelt’s new traveling library, Alice signs on enthusiastically.

The leader, and soon Alice’s greatest ally, is Margery, the smart-talking, self-sufficient daughter of a notorious local criminal, a woman who’s never asked a man’s permission for anything. Alice finds Margery as bracing and courageous as anyone she’s ever met–and comes to rely on her, especially as her marriage starts to fail.

They will be joined by three diverse women and become known as the Horseback Librarians of Kentucky.

 

Historical Mystery

Cover image - The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock #4)The Art of Theft (Lady Sherlock #4) by Sherry Thomas – 15 Oct (Berkley)

As “Sherlock Holmes, consulting detective,” Charlotte Holmes has solved murders and found missing individuals. But she has never stolen a priceless artwork—or rather, made away with the secrets hidden behind a much-coveted canvas.

But Mrs. Watson is desperate to help her old friend recover those secrets and Charlotte finds herself involved in a fever-paced scheme to infiltrate a glamorous Yuletide ball where the painting is one handshake away from being sold and the secrets a bare breath from exposure.

Her dear friend Lord Ingram, her sister Livia, Livia’s admirer Stephen Marbleton—everyone pitches in to help and everyone has a grand time. But nothing about this adventure is what it seems and disaster is biding time on the grounds of a glittering French chateau, waiting only for Charlotte to make a single mistake…

Cover image - A Cruel Deception (Bess Crawford #11)A Cruel Deception (Bess Crawford #11) by Charles Todd – 22 Oct (William Morrow)

The Armistice of November 1918 ended the fighting, but the Great War will not be over until a Peace Treaty is drawn up and signed by all parties. Representatives from the Allies are gathering in Paris, and already ominous signs of disagreement have appeared.

Sister Bess Crawford, who has been working with the severely wounded in England in the war’s wake, is asked to carry out a personal mission in Paris for a Matron at the London headquarters of The Queen Alexandra’s.

Bess is facing decisions about her own future, even as she searches for the man she is charged with helping. When she does locate Lawrence Minton, she finds a bitter and disturbed officer who has walked away from his duties at the Peace Conference and is well on his way toward an addiction to opiates. When she confronts him with the dangers of using laudanum, he tells her that he doesn’t care if he lives or dies, as long as he can find oblivion. But what has changed him? What is it that haunts him? He can’t confide in Bess—because the truth is so deeply buried in his mind that he can only relive it in nightmares. The officers who had shared a house with him in Paris profess to know nothing—still, Bess is reluctant to trust them even when they offer her their help. But where to begin on her own?

What is driving this man to a despair so profound it can only end with death? The war? Something that happened in Paris? To prevent a tragedy, she must get at the truth as quickly as possible—which means putting herself between Lieutenant Minton and whatever is destroying him. Or is it whoever?

Historical Romance

Cover image - Betrothed by ChristmasBetrothed by Christmas by Jess Michaels; Elizabeth Essex – 15 Oct (The Passionate Pen LLC)

A madcap plan to avoid marriages they do not desire, leads two women to romance and passion they don’t expect in a duet of novellas by bestselling authors Jess Michaels and Elizabeth Essex.

A Lady’s Gift for Seduction by Jess Michaels
Lady Evangeline is a Diamond of the First Water, but she fears her father will match her to his own advantage, not hers. She decides marrying a biddable groom is the only way to salvage her future and chooses her old friend, astronomer Henry Killam. But she soon realizes Henry isn’t quite as manageable as she first believed and her feelings for him are stronger than she ever imagined.

A Lady’s Gift for Scandal by Elizabeth Essex
Miss Tamsin Lesley desires above all else to be a bluestocking and lead an intellectual life. The only thing standing in her way is her father’s heir, who wants her along with her father’s estate. To foil him, Tamsin enlists the services of masculine wallflower Simon Cathcart to ruin her. But the road to ruination leads to far more pleasurable places than Tamsin could ever imagine, and her charming wallflower proves to have secrets of his own.

Cover image - Angel in a Devil's Arms (Palace of Rogues #2)Angel in a Devil’s Arms (Palace of Rogues #2) by Julie Anne Long – 29 Oct (Avon)

He has devil’s blood in his veins. At least, that’s always been the legend. How else could the Duke of Brexford’s notorious bastard son return from the dead? The brutal decade since Lucien Durand, Lord Bolt, allegedly drowned in the Thames forged him into a man who always gets what—and who—he wants. And what he wants is vengeance for his stolen birthright…and one wild night in Angelique Breedlove’s bed.

Angelique recognizes heartbreak when the enigmatic Lord Bolt walks into The Grand Palace on the Thames, and not even his devastating charm can tempt her to risk her own ever again. One scorching kiss drives home the danger.

But in the space between them springs a trust that feels anything but safe. And the passion—explosive, consuming—drives Lucien to his knees. Now his whole life depends on proving his love to a woman who doesn’t believe in it…because his true birthright, he now knows, is guardian of Angelique Breedlove’s heart.

Mystery

Cover image - The Lying RoomThe Lying Room by Nicci French – 1 Oct (William Morrow)

It should have been just a mid-life fling. A guilty indiscretion that Neve Connolly could have weathered. An escape from twenty years of routine marriage to her overworked husband, and from her increasingly distant children. But when Neve pays a morning-after visit to her lover, Saul, and finds him brutally murdered, their pied-à-terre still heady with her perfume, all the lies she has so painstakingly stitched together threaten to unravel.

After scrubbing clean every trace of her existence from Saul’s life—and death—Neve believes she can return to normal, shaken but intact. But she can’t get out of her head the one tormenting question: what was she forgetting?

An investigation into the slaying could provide the answer. It’s brought Detective Chief Inspector Alastair Hitching, and Neve’s worst fears, to her door. But with every new lie, every new misdirection to save herself, Neve descends further into the darkness of her betrayal—and into more danger than she ever imagined. Because Hitching isn’t the only one watching Neve. So is a determined killer who’s about to make the next terrifying move in a deadly affair….

Cover image - Bodies in the Library (First Edition Library Mystery #1)Bodies in the Library (First Edition Library Mystery #1) by Marty Wingate – 8 Oct (Berkley)

Hayley Burke has landed a dream job. She is the new curator of Lady Georgiana Fowling’s First Edition library. The library is kept at Middlebank House, a lovely Georgian home in Bath, England. Hayley lives on the premises and works with the finicky Glynis Woolgar, Lady Fowling’s former secretary.

Mrs. Woolgar does not like Hayley’s ideas to modernize The First Edition Society and bring in fresh blood. And she is not even aware of the fact that Hayley does not know the first thing about the Golden Age of Mysteries. Hayley is faking it till she makes it, and one of her plans to breathe new life into the Society is actually taking flight–an Agatha Christie fan fiction writers group is paying dues to meet up at Middlebank House.

But when one of the group is found dead in the venerable stacks of the library, Hayley has to catch the killer to save the Society and her new job.

Paranormal Romance

Cover image - Slay All DaySlay All Day by Cynthia Eden – 15 Oct (Hocus Pocus Publishing)

What happens when a monster hunter falls for his prey?

Harrison Key has one job—hunt and destroy monsters. He’s taken out vamps, shifters, demons…it’s all in a night’s work for him. He protects the innocent and destroys the wicked. Case closed. The job doesn’t pay much and the benefits are literally hell, but a hunter is born to the work. Gifted with super strength and speed, Harrison was created to fight monsters. There is nothing else for him in this world.

Then he meets her.

She looks like innocence but makes him think of the hottest sin. When Harrison first meets Elise Aine, she’s surrounded by vamps who are only too eager to take a bite. Harrison stakes the vamps and intends to walk away from Elise, but she has other plans. She says that she’s under supernatural attack. Elise desperately needs his protection, and she’ll pay any price. One look into her dark and gorgeous eyes, and Harrison can’t walk away. He doesn’t want to walk away. He wants her.

What Harrison doesn’t know…could just kill him.

Elise isn’t human. Not by a long shot. And she’s got big plans for Harrison. Sure, the guy may think he’s a hunter, he may believe that his job is to rid the world of the wicked, but he’s dead wrong. And with her help, Harrison may just turn out to be the wickedest one of them all. Because he’s not really a hunter. He’s something far, far more interesting. And hot. Smokin’, in fact.

He just needs to let his wild side out to play…

As the queen of the fairies, Elise was born to trick and deceive, and, with way too many enemies closing in, she needs the most powerful protector imaginable at her side. Harrison is her destined mate, if he’ll just stop fighting monsters long enough to see that deep inside…he is a beast. A beast like no other. One that can blast fire and soar into the skies. A beast who can only be bound and tamed by love.

Betrayal burns deep and cuts hard.

Can the queen of the fairies show a hunter that even monsters can love? Or when he finds out the truth about her, will rage be all that Harrison knows? Either way, things are about to get red-hot. Watch out for the flames and smoke.

Cover image - For Witch or For Poorer (Paranormal Wedding Planner #5)For Witch or For Poorer (Paranormal Wedding Planner #5) by A.E. Jones – 29 Oct (Gabby Reads Publishing LLC)

When magic isn’t so magical.

A lonely wolf. Maeve Callahan has never had a true family to call her own. Recently adopted into the West Coast pack, she will do anything to stop her past from destroying her newly found brothers. Unfortunately, the evil wolf who raised her and a vengeful coven have other plans. When a warlock is called in to help, Maeve’s instant attraction to him couldn’t be worse timing.

A power-shy warlock. Giz Kelly does not cast spells. Period. His father taught him the hard way that magic can destroy the people you love. But when the supernatural team he works for gets called in to help the pack, he finds himself breaking his vow in order to protect Maeve.

When the coven attacks and lives are at stake, can Maeve and Giz embrace their powers to save the pack and each other? And in doing so realize that love can be the greatest magic of all?

Romantic Suspense

Cover image - Sergeant's Christmas Siege (Alaska Force #3)Sergeant’s Christmas Siege (Alaska Force #3) by Megan Crane – 29 Oct (Berkley)

When straight-arrow, by-the-rules Alaskan State Trooper Kate Holiday is sent to investigate a local band of secretive commandos in remote Grizzly Harbor over the holidays, her least favorite time of year, her objective is clear: disband Alaska Force and arrest them. But Kate didn’t count on the diabolical temptation of Templeton Cross. The former Army Ranger exudes charm and has absolutely no respect for the rules of law that govern Kate’s life – too bad he also makes her mouth water and her knees weak.

Templeton has always been good at keeping his game face on and his emotions hidden, especially in combat. But working with Kate brings back memories of losses he prefers to keep locked up tight. As the pressure mounts – and Christmas draws closer – it’s a given that someone’s going to get hurt.

Trouble is, the more time he spends convincing his careful, wary trooper that there’s more to the holidays than her memories, the more he wants to keep her around. Forever.

But forever is the one thing a man like Templeton can’t do. Not even at Christmas.

Science Fiction

Cover image - FrankisssteinFrankissstein by Jeanette Winterson – 1 Oct (Grove Press)

In Brexit Britain, a young transgender doctor called Ry is falling in love – against their better judgement – with Victor Stein, a celebrated professor leading the public debate around AI.

Meanwhile, Ron Lord, just divorced and living with Mum again, is set to make his fortune launching a new generation of sex dolls for lonely men everywhere.

Across the Atlantic, in Phoenix, Arizona, a cryogenics facility houses dozens of bodies of men and women who are medically and legally dead… but waiting to return to life.

But the scene is set in 1816, when nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley writes a story about creating a non-biological life-form. ‘Beware, for I am fearless and therefore powerful.’

What will happen when homo sapiens is no longer the smartest being on the planet? Jeanette Winterson shows us how much closer we are to that future than we realise. Funny and furious, bold and clear-sighted, Frankissstein is a love story about life itself.

Science Fiction Romance

Cover image - Aurora Blazing (Consortium Rebellion #2)Aurora Blazing (Consortium Rebellion #2) by Jessie Mihalik – 1 Oct (Harper Voyager)

Bianca von Hasenberg did her duty for High House von Hasenberg and ended up trapped in a terrible marriage. When her husband dies unexpectedly and leaves her a happy widow, she vows never to marry again. Instead, she uses her connections to save other young women. Information is power and Bianca has a network that would be the envy of the ’verse—if anyone knew about it.

After an attack, Bianca’s oldest brother, the House von Hasenberg heir, disappears from Earth without a trace. Determined to find him, Bianca leaves against orders. When she refuses to return, her father sends Ian Bishop, the director of House von Hasenberg security, to haul her home like a recalcitrant child.

Bianca leads Ian on a merry chase across the universe, but when their paths finally collide, she persuades him that they would be far more successful at finding her brother if they worked together. She will do anything to save her sibling, even if it means spending time alone on a small ship with the handsome, infuriating man who once broke her heart.

As clues lead them deep into rival House Rockhurst territory, Bianca must decide if she can trust Ian with the one piece of information that could destroy her completely. . .

 

Cover image - Pets in Space 4Pets in Space 4 by S.E. Smith et al – 8 Oct (Cats, Dogs & Other Worldly Creatures)

For a limited time only! Pets in Space® 4 is proud to present 13 amazing, original new stories! Join the adventures as today’s leading Science Fiction Romance authors take you on a journey to another world. Pets in Space® proudly supports Hero-Dogs.org, a non-profit charity that provides service animals to veterans and first responders in need. Join New York Times, USA TODAY and Award-winning Bestselling authors S.E. Smith, Anna Hackett, Tiffany Roberts, Veronica Scott, Pauline Baird Jones, Laurie Green, Donna McDonald, Regine Abel, Alexis Glynn Latner, JC Hay, E.D. Walker, Kyndra Hatch, and Cassandra Chandler for another exciting Pets in Space® anthology. Get the stories before they are gone!

Proud supporters of Hero-Dogs.org, Pets in Space® authors have donated over $7,100 in the past two years to help place specially trained dogs with veterans and first responders. Open your hearts and grab your limited release copy of Pets in Space® 4 today!

Cover image - First Magic (Faerene Apocalypse #4)First Magic (Faerene Apocalypse #4) by Jenny Schwartz – 28 Oct (KU)

Amy takes her first steps to claim the power of her familiar status, learning how to wield her human magic.

New enemies, twisted plots, and unexpected allies. What does it mean to be human, and can you choose to be something else?

Urban Fantasy

Cover image - A Sacred Magic (The Wild Hunt #9)A Sacred Magic (The Wild Hunt #9) by Yasmine Galenorn – 14 Oct (Nightqueen Enterprises)

A Sacred Magic
Ember’s about to face the showdown of her life…

Things are coming to a head with the Tuathan Brotherhood, and Ember finds herself right on the front lines. The goddess Brighid calls in her favor, sending Ember on a journey through the world of Annwn. Her quest? To find an ancient weapon that can turn the tide in the war against Nuanda and the Tuathan Brotherhood.

But as Ember journeys to the Well of Tears, she must face not only the demons that inhabit the mystical forest, but her demons that haunt her blood heritage. Can she recover Brighid’s Flame and put an end to the Tuathan Brotherhood? If she succeeds, Ember must face an enemy unlike any other she’s ever battled. But, if she fails, the Brotherhood will permanently destroy the delicate balance of power between the Fae Courts and the rest of the world.

Cover image - Warrior Fae Princess (Demon Days, Vampire Nights #2)Warrior Fae Princess (Demon Days, Vampire Nights #2) by K.F. Breene – 15 Oct (Self)

With Charity’s fate on the line, Devon and his pack must face the perils of the Realm in search of the elusive warrior fae. With no real experience and against some of the most powerful creatures in existence, they are fighting a losing battle.

Thankfully, they don’t have to do it alone.

Knowing what’s at stake, Penny and Emery, the magical powerhouses of the mage world, will lend their aid, trying to sneak Charity in the backdoor.

If they are caught, they’ll all be captured or worse. Much worse.

But to make it means Devon will be forced to make a difficult decision that will change his and Charity’s life forever.

Cover image - Shattered Bonds (Jane Yellowrock #13)Shattered Bonds (Jane Yellowrock #13) by Faith Hunter – 29 Oct (Ace)

Jane Yellowrock is a shapeshifting skinwalker, and vampire killer-for-hire, but her last battle with an ancient arcane enemy has brought her low. She seeks retreat in the Appalachian Mountains to grieve the loss of her friends, and to heal–or to die–from the disease brought on by her magic.

But malevolent elements in the paranormal community still seek to destroy Jane, and the younger Son of Darkness stalks her, even into the safety of the hills. With nowhere to run and her body failing, the rogue-vampire hunter and her inner Beast must discover a way to defeat this new threat, and find a form that gives her a chance to fight another day.

YA Fantasy

Cover image - Angel MageAngel Mage by Garth Nix – 1 Oct (Katherine Tegen)

More than a century has passed since Liliath crept into the empty sarcophagus of Saint Marguerite, fleeing the Fall of Ystara. But she emerges from her magical sleep still beautiful, looking no more than nineteen, and once again renews her single-minded quest to be united with her lover, Palleniel, the archangel of Ystara.

A seemingly impossible quest, but Liliath is one of the greatest practitioners of angelic magic to have ever lived, summoning angels and forcing them to do her bidding.

Liliath knew that most of the inhabitants of Ystara died from the Ash Blood plague or were transformed into beastlings, and she herself led the survivors who fled into neighboring Sarance. Now she learns that angels shun the Ystaran’s descendants. If they are touched by angelic magic, their blood will turn to ash. They are known as Refusers, and can only live the most lowly lives.

But Liliath cares nothing for the descendants of her people, save how they can serve her. It is four young Sarancians who hold her interest: Simeon, a studious doctor-in-training; Henri, a dedicated fortune hunter; Agnez, an adventurous musketeer cadet; and Dorotea, an icon-maker and scholar of angelic magic. They are the key to her quest.

The four feel a strange kinship from the moment they meet, but do not know why, or suspect their importance. All become pawns in Liliath’s grand scheme to fulfill her destiny and be united with the love of her life. No matter the cost to everyone else. . .

Cover image - War GirlsWar Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi – 15 Oct (Penguin Group)

Two sisters are torn apart by war and must fight their way back to each other in a futuristic, Black Panther–inspired Nigeria.

The year is 2172. Climate change and nuclear disasters have rendered much of earth unlivable. Only the lucky ones have escaped to space colonies in the sky.

In a war-torn Nigeria, battles are fought using flying, deadly mechs and soldiers are outfitted with bionic limbs and artificial organs meant to protect them from the harsh, radiation-heavy climate. Across the nation, as the years-long civil war wages on, survival becomes the only way of life.

Two sisters, Onyii and Ify, dream of more. Their lives have been marked by violence and political unrest. Still, they dream of peace, of hope, of a future together.

And they’re willing to fight an entire war to get there.

The monthly Must Have list is a compilation of the upcoming release titles that we, The Book Pushers, just can’t wait to get our hands on. Don’t see a title you’re excited about listed here? Add it to the comments section below. Let us know what you’re looking forward to!

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