New Books, 20 February 2024
Albert, Melissa: The Bad Ones
(Macmillan/Flatiron 9781250894892, $19.99, 400pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Young-adult contemporary thriller/dark fantasy novel. Nora looks into the disappearance of four people who vanished in a single night, one her estranged best friend, in a town with a sinister magical history.
Armentrout, Jennifer L. & Salvador, Rayvn: Visions of Flesh and Blood
(Evil Eye Concepts/Blue Box Press 9781957568324, $31.99, 578pp, formats: hardcover, trade paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Non-fiction, a companion/guide to the two fantasy romance series Blood and Ash and Flesh and Fire, told from the viewpoint of Miss Willa in journal form, offering background, history, reference materials, art, and more, including original stories and scenes.
Bovalino, Tori: My Throat an Open Grave
(Titan Books UK 9781645679301, $18.99, 320pp, formats: paperback, ebook, 02/20/2024)
Young-adult horror novel about a small town where people tell stories of the Lord of the Wood and the ghosts that steal unattended babies, but most think they’re just legends until Leah’s baby brother disappears.
Cahoon, Lynn: Five Furry Familiars
(Kensington Cozies 9781496740793, $8.99, 288pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Fantasy mystery novel, the fifth in the Kitchen Witch series about a witch doing gourmet dinner delivery in Magic Springs, Idaho, where magic is an open secret. Mia struggles to keep her cooking school and catering business afloat amid many distractions, including a litter of homeless kittens and a murder to solve.
Ciccarelli, Kristen: Heartless Hunter
(St. Martin’s/Wednesday Books 9781250866905, $20, 416pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, the first in the Crimson Moth duology inspired by The Scarlet Pimpernel. By day Rune pretends to be a vapid socialite, by night she’s the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues other witches, until she starts to fall for a handsome witch hunter.
Di Filippo, Paul: Vangie’s Ghosts
(Blackstone Publishing 9781538450307, $16.99, 332pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Science fiction novel. Vangie, a mistreated child suspected of being autistic, actually sees many alternate realities, and eventually develops the ability to project her consciousness across timelines when in danger.
Doctorow, Cory: The Bezzle
(Tor 9781250865878, $27.99, 240pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 02/20/2024)
Cyberpunk noir thriller novel, a prequel to Red Team Blues in the Martin Hench series. In 2006, self-employed forensic accountant Martin Hench makes a dangerous mistake when he trespasses into the playgrounds of the ultra-wealthy and spoils their fun.
Faizal, Hafsah: A Tempest of Tea
(Macmillan/Farrar, Straus, Giroux 9780374389406, $20.99, 352pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Young-adult fantasy novel, the first in the duology A Tempest of Tea. Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind who runs an illegal bloodhouse, catering to vampires, until her establishment is threatened and she must strike a deal with an alluring adversary.
Feehan, Christine: Leopard’s Hunt
(Little, Brown UK/Piatkus 9780593638767, $8.99, 432pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Shapeshifter paranormal romance, 15th in the Leopard series. Distracted by her first heat, Maya is ambushed and captured to be sold off to the highest bidder, until Gorya, a vicious fighter with a calm exterior arrives to set her free.
Jayatissa, Amanda: Island Witch
(Penguin Random House/Berkley 9780593549261, $28, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Horror novel set in late 19th-century Sri Lanka and inspired by local folklore. The daughter of a traditional demon-priest—relentlessly bullied by peers and accused of witchcraft herself—tries to solve the mysterious attacks that have been terrorizing her coastal village.
Kenyon, Kay: Servant of the Lost Power
(Winterset Books 9798988401117, $15.99, 364pp, formats: trade paperback, hardcover, ebook, 02/20/2024)
Portal fantasy novel, the third in the Arisen Worlds series begun in The Girl Who Fell Into Myth. War threatens Yevliesza’s adopted land, forcing her to risk everything to learn to use her rare power.
Kurian, Vera: A Step Past Darkness
(HarperCollins/Park Row Books 9780778310761, $30, 448pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Horror novel. Six students witness a crime and investigate, but as tensions grow they bury their evidence and never contact each other again — until 20 years later one is murdered.
Lim, Roselle: Night for Day
(Ace 9780593335642, $18, 352pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Fantasy romance novel. Two exes reconnect years after breaking up thanks to new jobs at the same workplace, one working days, the other nights, but the building holds them captive, trapped with spirits and ghosts.
Lobb, M.K.: Disciples of Chaos
(Little, Brown 9780316471770, $19.99, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Young-adult Gothic fantasy novel, sequel to Seven Faceless Saints. Roz and Damian must face their destiny as the world crumbles around them.
Lares, Mariely: Sun of Blood and Ruin
(Harper Voyager UK 9780008609597, $30, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Historical fantasy novel drawing on Mexican myths and folklore, with a gender-swapped Zorro in 16th-century New Spain. Respectable, law-abiding Lady Leonora faints at the sight of blood and would rather be caught dead than meddle in court affairs, but secretly she uses her magic and legendary swordplay skills to fight the tyranny of Spanish rule. A first novel.
May, Elizabeth: To Cage a God
(Astra House/DAW 9780756418816, $28, 384pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, 02/20/2024)
Dark fantasy novel, the first in a duology inspired by Imperial Russia. Using ancient secrets, Galina and Sera’s mother grafted gods into their bones. Bound to brutal deities and granted forbidden power no commoner has held in a millennia, the sisters have grown up to become living weapons, raised to overthrow an empire.
McCrumb, Cathy: Guardian
(Enclave 9798886050943, $26.99, 368pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
SF novel, third in the Children of the Consortium series. Labeled an aberration by the Consortium, the Recorder is not yet free. Time is running out as an engineered bioweapon wreaks havoc on friend and foe alike.
Pitkin, Joe: Exit Black
(Blackstone Publishing 9798212631020, $15.99, 257pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Near-future SF novel. Terrorists infiltrate an orbital laboratory turned space hotel for the uber-rich, and it’s up to biophysicist Dr. Chloe Bonilla to stop them.
Sanders, Angela M.: Gone with the Witch
(Kensington Cozies 9781496740939, $8.99, 304pp, formats: paperback, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Fantasy mystery novel, the fifth in the Witch Way Librarian series. Small-town librarian/witch Josie Way tries to help an elderly woman find her long-missing husband, but things get unexpectedly strange and dangerous.
West, Joma: Twice Lived
(Tordotcom 9781250810328, $26.99, 256pp, formats: hardcover, ebook, audio, 02/20/2024)
Fantasy novel of a troubled teen living in two parallel worlds as two people, but she’s reaching a limit and will have to settle for just one world.
Williams, W.B.J.: Johnny Talon and the Goddess of Love and War
(Wild Rose Press 9781509253852, $18.99, 312pp, formats: trade paperback, ebook, 02/21/2024)
Dark fantasy mystery novel about San Francisco private detective Johnny Talon, who solves unusual cases. A woman hires Talon to free her wife’s soul from a sorcerer.
Wilton, Traci: Mrs. Morris and the Mermaid
(Kensington Cozies 9781496741394, $8.99, 368pp, formats: paperback, ebook, 02/20/2024)
Fantasy mystery novel, fifth in the Salem B&B series. B&B owner Charlene Morris investigates a murder at the city’s first-annual mermaid parade.
