BP Note: Welcome to 2023! We have quite the assortment below. Hopefully all of you enjoyed some good moments in December and are ready to start off with hope and a positive outlook. I was able to spend time with some of my family and as a result baked and ate way too many delicious tasting things. I think I am worked through my ack of baking for people this past year with my three day spree. Now I am looking forward to readig some great stories. Which other ones should I be looking for?
Happy reading!
~E
- Contemporary Romance
- Fantasy
- Mystery
- Paranormal Romance
- Science Fiction Romance
- Thriller
- Urban Fantasy
Contemporary Romance
Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute by Talia Hibbert – 3 Jan (Joy Revolution)
Bradley Graeme is pretty much perfect. He’s a star football player, manages his OCD well (enough), and comes out on top in all his classes . . . except the ones he shares with his ex-best friend, Celine.
Celine Bangura is conspiracy-theory-obsessed. Social media followers eat up her takes on everything from UFOs to holiday overconsumption–yet, she’s still not cool enough for the popular kids’ table. Which is why Brad abandoned her for the in-crowd years ago. (At least, that’s how Celine sees it.)
These days, there’s nothing between them other than petty insults and academic rivalry. So when Celine signs up for a survival course in the woods, she’s surprised to find Brad right beside her.
Forced to work as a team for the chance to win a grand prize, these two teens must trudge through not just mud and dirt but their messy past. And as this adventure brings them closer together, they begin to remember the good bits of their history. But has too much time passed . . . or just enough to spark a whole new kind of relationship?
Sleep No More (Lost Night Files #1) by Jayne Ann Krentz – 3 Jan (Berkley)
Seven months ago, Pallas Llewellyn, Talia March, and Amelia Rivers were strangers, until their fateful stay at the Lucent Springs Hotel. An earthquake and a fire partially destroyed the hotel, but the women have no memory of their time there. Now close friends, the three women co-host a podcast called the Lost Night Files, where they investigate cold cases and hope to connect with others who may have had a similar experience to theirs—an experience that has somehow enhanced the psychic abilities already present in each woman.
After receiving a tip for their podcast, Pallas travels to the small college town of Carnelian, California, to explore an abandoned asylum. Shaken by the dark energy she feels in the building, she is rushing out when she’s stopped by a dark figure—who turns out to be the women’s mysterious tipster.
Ambrose Drake is certain he’s a witness to a murder, but without a body, everyone thinks he’s having delusions caused by extreme sleep deprivation. But Ambrose is positive something terrible happened at the Carnelian Sleep Institute the night he was there. Unable to find proof on his own, he approaches Pallas for help, only for her to realize that Ambrose, too, has a lost night that he can’t remember—one that may be connected to Pallas. Pallas and Ambrose conduct their investigation using the podcast as a cover, and while the townsfolk are eager to share what they know, it turns out there are others who are not so happy about their questions—and someone is willing to kill to keep the truth from coming out.
Men of PSI: Luke, The Profiler (Men of PSI #1) by Stacy Gail – 10 Jan (Stacy Gail)
Eden
Polite society referred to my father as a “motivational speaker.” Fact is, he’s the kind of cult leader that makes national news, and never in a good way. For years I was part of that world—Tru Steadfast’s darling daughter, living in the spotlight while helping dear old Dad sucker his brainwashed followers out of every penny they had. Ultimately I couldn’t take that way of life, so I struck out on my own, trying to live quietly and hoping against hope that I could balance the scales of karma.Then the stalking began, and I had to ask for help. That “help” came in the form of psychological profiler, Luke Keyes. From the moment I looked into his eyes—eyes that could see all the way to my tainted soul—I knew he was more dangerous than any stalker ever could be.
Luke
When Eden Steadfast parked her high-class ass on Private Security International’s doorstep, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing… and not seeing. Maybe the statuesque blonde with kitten green eyes had knocked me off my game, but she wasn’t showing me any of the usual tells everyone else on the planet had. She was smart, maybe even smarter than me, because no matter how hard I looked I couldn’t see past her defenses. Who knew smart could be so damn sexy?Eden was more of a mystery to me than her stalker, and I wanted to unravel her in the most carnal way possible. But before I could do that, I had to find the man who’d decided that if he couldn’t have Eden, no one would.
Private Security International is the one-stop shopping for all your personal security needs. From bodyguards, to private couriers, to an added layer of military-trained security for high-target events or items, the Men of PSI are the best private security that money can buy.
Mr. Right Next Door (Rose Bend #4) by Naima Simone – 10 Jan (HQN)
As the ex-mayor’s daughter, Jenna Landon has spent her life aiming for perfection—and missing. The pressure and disappointment turned her into a bit of a mean girl, but now she’s tired of protecting her soft heart, of hiding her losses—she’s ready to leave Rose Bend and start over. But before she can leave, she has to endure the town’s carnival fundraiser, her father’s reelection campaign…and the pain-in-the-tail giant who just moved in next door.
Wrestling coach Isaac Hunter didn’t mean to disturb his neighbor with his music while fixing his car. But if anyone could use “messing with,” it’s prissy, perfect, sexy Jenna Landon. Soon their clashes turn into something hotter. Recently divorced, his focus should be rebuilding his life, not an… entanglement with a woman who spells nothing but trouble. Because Jenna is leaving Rose Bend. And they both know he can’t go with her, and he can’t ask her to stay…
Fantasy
The Keeper’s Six by Kate Elliott – 17 Jan (Tordotcom)
It’s been a year since Esther set foot in the Beyond, the alien landscape stretching between worlds, crossing boundaries of space and time. She and her magical travelling party, her Hex, haven’t spoken since the Concilium banned them from the Beyond. But when she wakes in the middle of the night to her son’s cry for help, the members of her Hex are the only ones she can trust to help her bring him back from wherever he has been taken.
Esther will have to risk everything to find him. Undercover and hidden from the Concilium, she and her Hex will be tested by dragon lords, a darkness so dense it can suffocate, and the bones of an old crime come back to haunt her.
Mystery
Courting Dragons (King’s Fool #1) by Jeri Westerson – 3 Jan (Severn House)
1529, London. Jester Will Somers enjoys an enviable position at the court of Henry VIII. As the king’s entertainer, chief gossip-monger, spy and loyal adviser, he knows all of the king’s secrets – and almost everyone else’s within the walls of Greenwich Palace.
But when Will discovers the body of Spanish count Don Gonzalo while walking his trusted sidekick Nosewise in the courtyard gardens, and a blackmail note arrives soon after demanding information about the king, is one of his own closely guarded secrets about to be exposed? Trouble is afoot at the palace. Are the king’s enemies plotting a move against him? Will must draw on all his wit and ingenuity to get to the bottom of the treacherous and deadly goings-on at the court before further tragedy strikes . . .
City Under One Roof by Iris Yamashita – 10 Jan (Berkley)
A stranded detective tries to solve a murder in a tiny Alaskan town where everyone lives in a single high-rise building, in this gripping debut by an Academy Award–nominated screenwriter.
When a local teenager discovers a severed hand and foot washed up on the shore of the small town of Point Mettier, Alaska, Cara Kennedy is on the case. A detective from Anchorage, she has her own motives for investigating the possible murder in this isolated place, which can be accessed only by a tunnel.
After a blizzard causes the tunnel to close indefinitely, Cara is stuck among the odd and suspicious residents of the town—all 205 of whom live in the same high-rise building and are as icy as the weather. Cara teams up with Point Mettier police officer Joe Barkowski, but before long the investigation is upended by fearsome gang members from a nearby native village.
Haunted by her past, Cara soon discovers that everyone in this town has something to hide. Will she be able to unravel their secrets before she unravels?”
Everyone in my Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson – 17 Jan (Mariner Books)
Everyone in my family has killed someone. Some of us, the high achievers, have killed more than once. I’m not trying to be dramatic, but it is the truth. Some of us are good, others are bad, and some just unfortunate.
I’m Ernest Cunningham. Call me Ern or Ernie. I wish I’d killed whoever decided our family reunion should be at a ski resort, but it’s a little more complicated than that.
Have I killed someone? Yes. I have.
Who was it?
Let’s get started.
EVERYONE IN MY FAMILY HAS KILLED SOMEONE
My brother
My stepsister
My wife
My father
My mother
My sister-in-law
My uncle
My stepfather
My aunt
Me
Against the Currant (Spice Island Bakery #1) by Olivia Matthews – 24 Jan (St. Martin’s Paperback)
Little Caribbean, Brooklyn, New York: Lyndsay Murray is opening Spice Isle Bakery with her family, and it’s everything she’s ever wanted. The West Indian bakery is her way to give back to the community she loves, stay connected to her Grenadian roots, and work side-by-side with her family. The only thing getting a rise out of Lyndsay is Claudio Fabrizi, a disgruntled fellow bakery owner who does not want any competition.
On opening day, he comes into the bakery threatening to shut them down. Fed up, Lyndsay takes him to task in front of what seems to be the whole neighborhood. So when Claudio turns up dead a day later—murdered—Lyndsay is unfortunately the prime suspect. To get the scent of suspicion off her and her bakery, Lyndsay has to prove she’s innocent—under the watchful eyes of her overprotective brother, anxious parents, and meddlesome extended family—what could go wrong?
The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett – 24 Jan (Atria Books)
It’s time to solve the murder of the century…
Forty years ago, Steven Smith found a copy of a famous children’s book, its margins full of strange markings and annotations. He took it to his remedial English teacher, Miss Isles, who became convinced it was the key to solving a puzzle. That a message in secret code ran through all Edith Twyford’s novels. Then Miss Isles disappeared on a class field trip, and Steven’s memory won’t allow him to remember what happened. Now, out of prison after a long stretch, Steven decides to investigate the mystery that has haunted him for decades. Was Miss Isles murdered? Was she deluded? Or was she right about the code? And is it still in use today? Desperate to recover his memories and find out what really happened to Miss Isles, Steven revisits the people and places of his childhood. But it soon becomes clear that Edith Twyford wasn’t just a writer of forgotten children’s stories. The Twyford Code has great power, and he isn’t the only one trying to solve it…
Paranormal Romance
The Wicked in Me (Devil’s Cradle #1) by Suzanne Wright – 12 Jan (Piatkus)
No one really knows what they are. Only that they’re the first civilization. Aeons, they call themselves. They’re immortal. Powerful. Secretive.
And they’ll come for her.
Witch Wynter Dellavale knows that for certain. Because in unfairly trying to execute her, they started a chain of events they’re struggling to stop.
Needing safety, she flees to Devil’s Cradle, the home of monsters. A place for the outcasts, the fugitives, the crazies. A place ruled by the Ancients, seven beings who were once banished by the Aeons. Among the Ancients is the infamous Cain, brother of Abel and embodiment of jealousy — who, on another note, wants her in his bed.
There’s a heavy price for the safety the Ancients offer, but Wynter will have to pay it. She can’t take on the Aeons alone. And she has no intention of dying — been there, done that.
Not that she’ll be the easy prey the Aeons are expecting. They have no knowledge of the … thing that lives inside her. You see, when witches are brought back from the afterlife, they don’t always come back the same.
And they don’t always come back alone.
Darkness in Stone (Seven Families #1) by Kat Simons – 17 Jan (T&D Publishing)
Meet the Wolf Family
Eric Logan leads an ancient family of monster hunters, gifted by one god, cursed by another millennia ago. To break his curse, Eric must win the heart of his destined love. He knows Katie Donovan holds his future in her hands the instant they speak. But winning her body and soul proves complicated when monsters threaten his home. And if they learn her true identity, Katie will never be safe again.
Eager to get her journalistic career back on track, Katie bargains with her editor, offering an interview with the elusive billionaire and head of Logan International in exchange for the chance to write more hard-hitting stories. Thanks to her hateful psychic ability, Katie knows she can get the interview, even though the Logans never answer reporter’s questions. She doesn’t expect to have her world turned upside down by the gorgeously sexy Eric Logan, whose secrets draw Katie in even more than her Pulitzer dreams.
The chemistry between them burns hot and promising, a passion Katie finds impossible to resist. But Eric’s world holds terrifying horrors unlike anything she’s ever encounter. Nightmare monsters and danger at every turn. Even a Pulitzer might not be worth the risks. The more she learns about Eric, though, the harder leaving his world will be. And surviving long enough to find out if she can trust him might be the hardest part of all.
To Tempt a Witch to Sin (Love and Magic #5) by Nadine Mutas – 26 Jan (Nadine Mutas)
Warning: Includes one charming hot mess of a demon hero, some silly and naughty late-night phone calls, an extended family that is way too nosy, and a well-behaved witch who learns to cut loose.
One night. That’s all they need to get each other out of their systems.
At least according to demon Tallak when he suggests a night of no-holds-barred bed sport to witch Hazel Murray. Tallak’s goals in life are simple—after more than 20 years in a fae dungeon, he just wants to relish his freedom and build a healthy relationship with Basil, the son he’d presumed dead. Having the hots for the witch who raised Basil? Bad idea. Opposite of simple.
As Elder witch and head of her family, Hazel has enough on her plate trying to keep the witch community from splintering after the end of the war. Lusting after the biological father of her adopted son is the last thing she needs. Especially since that father is a recent prison escapee demon with a questionable moral compass. A responsible witch and mother would steer clear. But Hazel has been so good for so long…maybe it’s time to be just a little bit bad.
Vampire Weekend by Mike Chen – 31 Jan (MIRA)
Being a vampire is far from glamorous…but it can be pretty punk rock.
Everything you’ve heard about vampires is a lie. They can’t fly. No murders allowed (the community hates that). And turning into a bat? Completely ridiculous. In fact, vampire life is really just a lot of blood bags and night jobs. For Louise Chao, it’s also lonely, since she swore off family ages ago.
At least she’s gone to decades of punk rock shows. And if she can join a band of her own (while keeping her…situation under wraps), maybe she’ll finally feel like she belongs, too.
Then a long-lost teenage relative shows up at her door. Whether it’s Ian’s love of music or his bad attitude, for the first time in ages, Louise feels a connection.
But as Ian uncovers Louise’s true identity, things get dangerous–especially when he asks her for the ultimate favor. One that goes beyond just family…one that might just change everything vampires know about life and death forever.
Science Fiction Romance
Her Cyborg Rangers (The Drift: Haven Colony #5) by Susan Hayes – 17 Jan (Black Scroll Publications)
She dreamed of escaping Earth one day—but she never imagined the price she’d pay to be free.
Jade was a cyber-jockey. Emphasis on the word was. Now, she isn’t sure who she is or what she wants to do with her new life.
No one else seems to know what to do with her either, including the two sexy cyborgs who are never far from her side, but always just out of her reach.
Cyborgs. Batch-brothers. Survivors. They thought they were prepared for anything. Then, they found her.
Wreckage and Ruin thought settling down would be simple, but living a quiet life has its own challenges.
The new ranger program might be just what they need, but it’s not all they want. Drawn to Jade since the day they rescued her from mercenaries, they’re trying to give her the time she needs to heal… and the space they need to keep their secret.
Three broken souls with the power to heal each other—if only they can let go of the past and trust in a future big enough for three.
Queen of Dust by H.E. Dare – 24 Jan (Carina Press)
She should despise him…
Mara Leanor is the last of her kind—the last Balti temptress, a woman schooled in the art of pleasures great and small. She’s waited years to return to her home planet only to find that Balti, once lush and beautiful, is losing its battle with the enemy occupation she despises. Harder to despise is Calvy D’Aldiern, the enemy captain turned bodyguard assigned to protect her, who seems intent on breaking down her walls instead.
He should detest her…
Cal has one shot at getting back to his unit: proving he can follow orders without doing anything stupid. Like falling for the woman slipping into his bed to take her pleasures and give none of her self. While Mara discovers how different Cal is from the rigid, self-righteous invaders, Cal confirms that a Balti temptress is impossible to deny.
Their desire threatens them both…
Caught in the planet’s tide of change, with his assignment rushing to its end and her people driven toward revolt, Cal and Mara must decide if their present matters more than her past and his future.
Thriller
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix – 17 Jan (Berkley)
Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.
When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.
Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.
Don’t Open the Door (Regan Merritt #2) by Allison Brennan – 24 Jan (MIRA)
After their ten-year-old son, Chase, was senselessly murdered, Regan’s life unraveled. Her corporate lawyer husband, Grant, blamed the death on Regan’s work as a US marshal. Unable to reconcile their grief, they divorced, and Regan quit her job and moved away.
Now she’s back after a voice mail from her former boss Tommy said he had important news to share about Chase’s killing. Regan is stunned to learn Tommy is dead too. When she reaches out to Grant, his panicked reaction raises her suspicions. Then a lawyer with ties to her ex also turns up murdered, and the police make Grant their top suspect.
Unsure of his guilt or innocence, Regan risks everything to find Grant before the police do so she can finally get the answers to all that has haunted her since losing Chase. But the truth is not even close to what she imagines—and now she fears she has no one to trust.
The Skeleton Key by Erin Kelly – 24 Jan (Mobius)
THIS REUNION WILL TEAR A FAMILY APART…
Summer, 2021. Nell has come home at her family’s insistence to celebrate an anniversary. Fifty years ago, her father wrote The Golden Bones. Part picture book, part treasure hunt, Sir Frank Churcher created a fairy story about Elinore, a murdered woman whose skeleton was scattered all over England. Clues and puzzles in the pages of The Golden Bones led readers to seven sites where jewels were buried – gold and precious stones, each a different part of a skeleton. One by one, the tiny golden bones were dug up until only Elinore’s pelvis remained hidden.
The book was a sensation. A community of treasure hunters called the Bonehunters formed, in frenzied competition, obsessed to a dangerous degree. People sold their homes to travel to England and search for Elinore. Marriages broke down as the quest consumed people. A man died. The book made Frank a rich man. Stalked by fans who could not tell fantasy from reality, his daughter, Nell, became a recluse.
But now the Churchers must be reunited. The book is being reissued along with a new treasure hunt and a documentary crew are charting everything that follows. Nell is appalled, and terrified. During the filming, Frank finally reveals the whereabouts of the missing golden bone. And then all hell breaks loose.
Urban Fantasy
Lost in the Moment and Found (Wayward Children #8) by Seanan McGuire – 10 Jan (Tordotcom)
Welcome to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go.
If you ever lost a sock, you’ll find it here.
If you ever wondered about favorite toy from childhood… it’s probably sitting on a shelf in the back.
And the headphones that you swore that this time you’d keep safe? You guessed it….Antoinette has lost her father. Metaphorically. He’s not in the shop, and she’ll never see him again. But when Antsy finds herself lost (literally, this time), she finds that however many doors open for her, leaving the Shop for good might not be as simple as it sounds.
And stepping through those doors exacts a price.
Magic Tides (Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years #1) by Ilona Andrews – 17 Jan (NYLA)
Kate, Curran and their son, Conlan have left Atlanta, vowing to keep a low profile, and are settling into a new city and new house…but some things never change! Magical mayhem is about to erupt when Kate undertakes the rescue of a kidnapped youth, while Curran guards the homefront.
It should be a simple retrieval, but with monsters on land and sea, Kate’s got her work cut out for her. Still, she’s never let her blade dull or her purpose falter. And that low profile? It’s about to wash away with the raging tides!
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!