BP Note: What happened to this year? It is already November and I am frantically pulling out recipes to test for the November and December family, friend, and co-worker gatherings. Looks like I will be more social this next two months then I usually am this time of year. Perks(?) of the day job I guess. Looking forward to enjoying some new reads to keep me distracted from watching the oven or counting bubbles in my attempt to keep a sourdough starter alive longer than 3 days. What is coming out this month that we missed? I can never have TOO large a TBR list.
Happy reading!
~E
- Contemporary Romance
- Historical Romance
- Paranormal Romance
- Romantic Suspense
- Science Fiction Romance
- Steampunk
- Urban Fantasy
- YA Fantasy
- YA Science Fiction
Contemporary Romance
A Twist of Fate (Heartbreaker Bay #8.5) by Jill Shalvis – 5 Nov (1001 Dark Nights)
When the one you want …
Daisy doesn’t believe love is ever-lasting, so it’s ironic as hell that she parlayed a business degree into a wedding planning business. More ironic still is her latest job bringing her back into contact with the man who’d taught her that love can’t last.
Is the one you can’t have…
To say Diego has been taught the hard way to bury emotions is an understatement. But when he’s called home to help the brother he hasn’t seen or spoken to in years, that’s one thing. It’s another entirely to also come face to face with the first woman he ever loved. First and only…
Can love conquer all?
Daisy’s learned to depend only on herself, and Diego is and always has been an island of one. And yet when they’re together, even when they’re bickering, still wary and haunted by memories of what was … it’s magic. The question is, how to find their way back to each other…?
Ginger Snapped by Bernadette Franklin – 5 Nov (Pen & Page Publishing)
Nothing screams chaos, mayhem, and desperation quite like working retail over the holidays, but with bills to pay, hungry mouths to feed, and the clock ticking on an eviction notice and her sanity, Ginger Harriet is near the end of her rope. To make matters worse, she had no intentions of becoming a single mother of three, but after the disappearance of her sister and brother-in-law, she’s determined to do her best.
For a Harriet woman, family always comes first.
To give her nieces and nephew the Christmas they deserve, Ginger will do anything—even tango with the devil himself, her sister’s business partner and best friend, Kace Dannicks.
Unless she convinces Kace she’s really not the woman he wants in his life and she only wants his help to find her sister, Ginger’s going to need a miracle to escape the holidays unscathed—and still single.
Rancher’s Wild Secret (Gold Valley Vineyards #1) by Maisey Yates – 5 Nov (Harlequin Desire)
He’s come to Gold Valley with a hidden agenda…
not to fall for his enemy’s daughter!
Emerson Maxfield is the perfect pawn for rancher Holden McCall’s purposes. She’s engaged to a man solely to win her father’s approval, and the sheltered beauty never steps out of line. Until one encounter changes everything. Now this good girl must marry Holden to protect her family—or their desire could spell downfall for them all…
The Bromance Book Club (Bromance Book Club #1) by Lyssa Kay Adams – 5 Nov (Berkley)
The first rule of book club:
You don’t talk about book club.Nashville Legends second baseman Gavin Scott’s marriage is in major league trouble. He’s recently discovered a humiliating secret: his wife Thea has always faked the Big O. When he loses his cool at the revelation, it’s the final straw on their already strained relationship. Thea asks for a divorce, and Gavin realizes he’s let his pride and fear get the better of him.
Welcome to the Bromance Book Club.
Distraught and desperate, Gavin finds help from an unlikely source: a secret romance book club made up of Nashville’s top alpha men. With the help of their current read, a steamy Regency titled Courting the Countess, the guys coach Gavin on saving his marriage. But it’ll take a lot more than flowery words and grand gestures for this hapless Romeo to find his inner hero and win back the trust of his wife.
One Christmas Eve (Cedar Street #2) by Shannon Stacey – 11 Nov (Carina Press)
Zoe Randall is busy living her life as she damn well pleases. She’s back in her favorite town, her divorce in her rearview mirror, and living out her childhood dream of running a bookstore with her cousin. She has no interest in the uptight nerd who opened his boring-ass business next to her shop…until he complains about one of her sexy window displays.
Then it’s game on.
Preston Wheeler knows he takes life a little too seriously. But when the saucy bookseller next door starts pushing his buttons, he can feel that changing. Beautiful, vivacious Zoe challenges him in all the best ways, and soon he’s pushing her buttons right back: teasing and flirting all the way through the holiday season.
As Preston loosens up and Zoe is treated to the man behind the suit (particularly his forearms), she realizes she’s more interested than she cares to admit. And Preston comes to see the beauty—the absolute delight—in adding Zoe’s bright splashes of color to his once very black-and-white existence.
All Fired Up (Road to Love #3) by Lori Foster – 19 Nov (HQN)
The last thing Charlotte Parrish needs in her life is a bad boy. She wants someone responsible and settled … until she meets Mitch Crews. Mitch is everything she knows she should avoid but everything she can’t seem to resist.
Mitch is starting over. Now that his mother is gone, he’s determined to finally meet the half brothers he’s heard about his entire life. Finding family was his hope, but finding love didn’t cross his mind … until beautiful, bighearted Charlotte walks into his life.
Historical Romance
Someone to Remember (Westcott #7) by Mary Balogh – 5 Nov (Berkley)
Matilda Westcott has spent her life tending to the needs of her mother, the Dowager Countess of Riverdale, never questioning the life of solitude she has spun for herself. To Matilda, who considers herself the aging spinster daughter, marriage is laughable–love is a game for the young, after all. But her modest, quiet life of order unravels when a dashing gentleman from her past reappears, threatening to charm his way into her heart yet again.
Charles Sawyer, Viscount Dirkson, does not expect to see Matilda Westcott thirty-six years after their failed romance. Moreover, he does not expect decades-old feelings to emerge at the very sight of her. When encountering Matilda at a dinner hosted by the Earl of Riverdale, he finds himself as fascinated by her as he was the first day they met, and wonders if, after all these years, they have a chance at happiness together. Charles is determined to crack the hard exterior Matilda has built for over three decades or risk losing her once again…
Forever and a Duke (Rogues to Riches #3) by Grace Burrowes – 26 Nov (Forever)
Wrexham, Duke of Elsmore, is overrun by family obligations. With three sisters to escort about Town, a legion of cousins to look after, and aunties who insist he dance with every eligible young woman, he barely has time to manage his dukedom. When he finally carves out a moment to evaluate his family’s finances, he learns that he―and his sisters―are on the verge of social catastrophe.
Eleanora Hatfield has an uncanny knack for numbers, but she knows from experience that dealing with the peerage can only lead to problems. Though she wants nothing to do with any titled gentleman, she reluctantly agrees to help when Rex seeks aid from her employer. What starts out as an unwanted assignment soon leads to forbidden kisses and impossible longings. But with scandal haunting Ellie’s past and looming in Rex’s future, how can true love lead to anything but heartbreak?
My Fake Rake (The Union of the Rakes #1) by Eva Leigh – 26 Nov (Avon)
In the first book in Eva Leigh’s new Union of the Rakes series, a bluestocking hires a faux suitor to help her land an ideal husband only to be blindsided by real desire…
Lady Grace Wyatt is content as a wallflower, focusing on scientific pursuits rather than the complications of society matches. But when a handsome, celebrated naturalist returns from abroad, Grace wishes, for once, to be noticed. Her solution: to “build” the perfect man, who will court her publicly and help her catch his eye. Grace’s colleague, anthropologist Sebastian Holloway, is just the blank slate she requires.
In exchange for funding his passage on an expedition leaving London in a few months, Sebastian allows Grace to transform him from a bespectacled, bookish academic into a dashing—albeit fake—rake. Between secret lessons on how to be a rogue and exaggerated public flirtations, Grace’s feelings for Sebastian grow from friendship into undeniable, inconvenient, real attraction. If only she hadn’t hired him to help her marry someone else…
Sebastian is in love with brilliant, beautiful Grace, but their bargain is complete, and she desires another. Yet when he’s faced with losing her forever, Sebastian will do whatever it takes to tell her the truth, even if it means risking his own future—and his heart.
Paranormal Romance
The Bear’s Fated Mate (Borealis Bears #2) by Vivian Arend – 19 Nov (Arend Publishing Inc)
As head of security for the family company, polar bear shifter Alex Borealis has intel warning something big is about to happen. His prime suspect? Tantalizing, infuriating Lara Lazuli, youngest daughter of Borealis Gems’ main competitor. But when mating fever hits, he decides she’s the perfect one to turn to. They’ve got chemistry hot enough to melt the polar ice caps, but he doesn’t trust her enough for a permanent connection to form.
Being with Alex is one step shy of torture for Lara. As a wolf shifter, she scented the truth the instant she met him months ago—he’s her mate. But she’s not about to trap anyone into being with her, especially not a man who thinks she’s up to no good. Add in her own suspicions of wrong-doing in her pack and Lara’s caught between heaven and hell.
But tangled sheets lead to real communication, and a bond of friendship forms that neither expected. When Lara asks for help, Alex finds himself living in the pack house, scaring off random Alpha wolves and fighting at her side.
Because the mating fever knows a thing or two about fate and forever.
Double Trouble (Magical Romantic Comedy with Body Count #8.5) by R.J. Blain – 26 Nov (Pen & Page Publishing)
This novella is also in Water Witch: a Dustin Walker Anthology and Other Tales by RJ Blain.
Layla, a recovering drug addict, reformed kleptomaniac, and general troublemaker, believes she has a one-way ticket straight to hell to go with her general rap sheet. Instead of jail time, she’s ordered to perform ninety days of community service.
Her job is simple: she must keep two unicorns out of trouble.It doesn’t take her long to learn the truth: she’s been assigned to a dose of double trouble, and wherever the unicorns go, chaos and mayhem follow in their wake.
One wants to take over the world.
The other wants in her pants.
Unless she pulls out all the stops, Layla won’t escape her community service time single or sane.
Romantic Suspense
The Cost of Honor (Black Ops Confidential #3) by Diana Munoz Stewart – 26 Nov (Sourcebooks)
He gave up everything to escape his family
The only male to be adopted into the notorious Parish family, Tony Parish always did right by his vigilante sisters. But when an attempt to protect one of them went horribly wrong, he had to fake his own death to escape his fanatical family. Tony set sail and ended up in Dominica—face to face with the woman of his dreams…
Now he must give up Honor to save her
After the death of her mother, Honor Silva moved to Dominica, where her family could help her heal and move on. But her activist mother left her more than money, she left her proof that could take down one of the richest and most powerful men in the world.
Tony gave up everything he thought he knew when he fled his family. But when a threat too dangerous for Tony and Honor to fight on their own closes in, he has no choice but to go to them for help. Problem is, they’ll demand something in return—something that could cost Tony not just Honor, but also the love that changed him forever.
Science Fiction Romance
Empire of Dirt (Max Seventeen #3) by Kate Johnson – 5 Nov (Self/KU)
Charlie is running. From the stinking Theta Empire, from its cruel Emperor, and from a terrifying red-haired enforcer.
Max is tired of running. Not only does she have family to contend with, but she seems to be in charge of a brothel and deep into a serious relationship. Her days of carefree thieving, whoring and pirating seem to be flying away from her.
Riley has stopped running. He’s left behind his old life, and he likes being a space pirate, and he loves Max. He can’t imagine anything coming between them—until Charlie turns up.
The starship Eurydice has given them a home, and freedom, and even family, but there’s a viper in the nest and new enemies rising in high places. With the deadly Firebrand still wreaking havoc across the galaxy, and old alliances being tested, can Max and Riley trust the crew any more?
And worse, can they even trust each other?
Steampunk
Tales From the Gunpowder Chronicles by Jeannie Lin – 12 Nov (Self)
Three new tales of grand adventure and romance from the Asian steampunk world of the Gunpowder Chronicles.
Big Trouble in Old Shanghai
The signs are there. Gangs roaming the streets, the very earth shaking beneath their feet. Ming-fen could tell something was coming to Old Shanghai, but she didn’t know exactly what until the city erupted in fiery rebellion — with her brother caught on the wrong side. With the streets in turmoil, Ming-fen must rely on her fighting skills and a blue-eyed foreign devil to survive the day, and perhaps keep an already broken city from all-out civil war.The Island of the Opium-Eaters
Sagara Satomi hasn’t set foot on land since she was exiled from Nippon and cast adrift upon a ship owned by a notorious Chinese rebel. Rogue alchemist, Yang Hanzhu has spent years chasing dark rumors, plotting a course toward an unmarked island with a mysterious past. Will they uncover the island’s secrets? Or be buried there along with them?Love in the Time of Engines
A prequel to Gunpowder Alchemy.
Amidst rumors the West has developed powerful steam engines, the Ministry of Science seeks to recruit new talent. Golden boy Jin Zhi-fu meets mathematics prodigy Shi Anlei while attending the Academy, but doesn’t realize his new friend is a woman disguised as a man. It’s the only way she’d be allowed to take the imperial examination.
When Anlei’s hidden identity is discovered, Zhi-fu and Anlei are forced into a test more difficult than the exam — one that challenges the limits of duty, friendship, and love.
Urban Fantasy
Lightning Strikes (Stories of the Cosa Nostradamus by Laura Anne Gilman – 16 Nov (Faery Cat Press)
There is magic in the modern world. It surrounds you, hiding in plain sight. The commuter next you you may be Talent. The barista behind the counter may not be human. The sound you hear just outside your window? May be far more dangerous than you think.
Stay inside and admire the storm. But be wary. Because for the Cosa Nostradamus, human and non-human alike, that storm is magic, and magic is power…
And power can corrupt.
Sorcery Reborn (The Rebellion Chronicles #1) by Steve McHugh – 21 Nov (47North)
He doesn’t need a weapon. He is the weapon.
After losing his powers in an epic battle between good and evil, former sorcerer Nate Garrett finds himself living as a humble human in Clockwork, Oregon. While the world thinks Nate is dead, his friends continue to fight against Avalon and the evil it’s intent on spreading.
Avalon’s forces turn up in Clockwork, and Nate’s frustration grows with every passing day his magic doesn’t return. He finds himself trying to stop Avalon’s plans while hiding from enemies who would destroy everything in their path to see him dead.
Avalon’s darkness begins to threaten the people Nate cares about, and an old nemesis returns; magic or no magic, he has no choice but to fight. But will Nate see his magical powers reborn before the entire town—and everyone he loves—is destroyed?
Night’s Reckoning (Elemental Legacy #3) by Elizabeth Hunter – 26 Nov (Recurve Press LLC)
Darkness comes for everyone, and some fates are inescapable.
For over a thousand years, the legendary sword Laylat al Hisab—the Night’s Reckoning—has been lost in the waters of the East China Sea. Forged as a peace offering between two ancient vampires, the sword has eluded treasure hunters, human and immortal alike.
But in time, even the deep gives up its secrets.
When Tenzin’s sire hears about the eighth century shipwreck found off the coast of southern China, Zhang realizes he’ll need the help of an upstart pirate from Shanghai to retrieve it. And since that pirate has no desire to be in the middle of an ancient war, Cheng calls the only allies who might be able to help him avoid it.
Unfortunately, Tenzin is on one side of the globe and Ben is on the other.
Tenzin knows she’ll need Ben’s keen mind and political skills to complete the job. She also knows gaining Ben’s cooperation won’t be an easy task. She’ll have to drag him back into the darkness he’s been avoiding.
Whether Ben knows it or not, his fate is balanced on the edge of a thousand-year-old blade, and one stumble could break everything Tenzin has worked toward.
Water Witch: A Dustin Walker Anthology and Other Tales by R.J. Blain – 26 Nov (Pen & Page Publishing)
When Dustin Walker’s witchcraft awakens, he discovers he harbors a leviathan, one that could destroy him—and his family—should he fail to learn how to control his powers.
Dustin Walker first appeared in the Witch & Wolf standalone novel, Beneath a Blood Moon, and is featured in the majority of stories in this anthology.
While some of these stories were first revealed to newsletter subscribers, there are numerous never-before-seen tales in this volume.
In addition to Dustin’s stories, you will find tales featuring characters from the Witch & Wolf World and Requiem for the Rift King world, along with a single story from the zany Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) world.
Double Trouble: A Magical Romantic Comedy (with a body count) is also available outside of this anthology.
YA Fantasy
B
lood Heir (Blood Heir #1) by Amelie Wen Zhao – 19 Nov (Delacorte Press)
This hot debut is the first book in an epic new series about a princess hiding a dark secret and the con man she must trust to clear her name for her father’s murder.
In the Cyrilian Empire, Affinites are reviled. Their varied gifts to control the world around them are unnatural—dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, has a terrifying secret. Her deadly Affinity to blood is her curse and the reason she has lived her life hidden behind palace walls.
When Ana’s father, the emperor, is murdered, her world is shattered. Framed as his killer, Ana must flee the palace to save her life. And to clear her name, she must find her father’s murderer on her own. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is far different from the one she thought she knew. Corruption rules the land, and a greater conspiracy is at work—one that threatens the very balance of her world. And there is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to its core: Ramson Quicktongue.
A cunning crime lord of the Cyrilian underworld, Ramson has sinister plans—though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.
YA Science Fiction
Catfishing on Catnet by Naomi Kritzer – 19 N0v (Tor Teen)
How much does the internet know about YOU? A thought-provoking near future YA thriller that could not be more timely as it explores issues of online privacy, artificial intelligence, and the power and perils of social networks.
Because her mom is always on the move, Steph hasn’t lived anyplace longer than six months. Her only constant is an online community called CatNet—a social media site where users upload cat pictures—a place she knows she is welcome. What Steph doesn’t know is that the admin of the site, CheshireCat, is a sentient A.I.
When a threat from Steph’s past catches up to her and ChesireCat’s existence is discovered by outsiders, it’s up to Steph and her friends, both online and IRL, to save her.
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!