Previous years’ posts can be found here (all linked from the April 2023 post and final 2022 post): A Sampling of 2022’s Speculative Fiction Releases (Part 8) (also includes links to 2022 historical fiction posts) and A Sampling of 2023’s Speculative Fiction – April Releases.
The rules:
1. Books must fall into a category of speculative fiction – science fiction, fantasy, horror, etc.
2. All books must have an actual release date.
3. All books must have a synopsis.
4. All books must have a title.
5. Any sequels will have it noted next to their titles.
6. Books in the UK are released on Thursdays, North America on Tuesdays. So for many of these dates, add an extra two days if they’re in the UK. I will try to make a note of any date discrepancies beyond that though.
A Fragile Enchantment by Allison Saft
Release date: January 2nd
Why is it on this list?: A regency romance YA fantasy, this sounds pretty cute! A royal dressmaker (with dressmaking magic!) starts to fall for the groom, this is said to be cosy, intimate, and overall delightful.
All Niamh has longed for is to be to create something that will last far longer than she will. For her, that means becoming a renowned dressmaker, using the magic in her blood that lets her stitch emotions and memories into fabric – the same magic that will eventually kill her.
[continued description under the cut]
When Niamh is commissioned to design the prince’s wardrobe for a royal wedding in Avaland, she knows she finally has her chance to leave her legacy. But Avaland is far from the fairytale that she imagined. While nobles and the elite attend extravagant balls and candlelit garden parties, unrest brews amid the working class.
Niamh finds herself drawn to Kit, the prince whom she must dress for his wedding, despite his cold, prickly demeanour. And soon, a gossip column reports on their undeniable chemistry between them, threatening scandal. Niamh must decide if reputation should come above all else, whether her magic curse will allow her to experience love, and what cost she is willing to pay for a future she never thought possible…
Threaded with intrigue and unforgettable characters, A Fragile Enchantment is a sweeping romance for the ages.
The Djinn Waits A Hundred Years by Shubnum Khan
Release date: January 9th
Why is it on this list?: The first three genres tagged on it are “fantasy,” “horror,” and “historical fiction,” so like, you very much have my attention. This is a lovely and lyrical haunted house story, essentially, set across two timelines of families who live in the house as a girl discovers a diary of a previous inhabitant and becomes obsessed with finding out her story. If it isn’t obvious, I loved this.
Rebecca meets The House of Spirits in this sweeping, gorgeously atmospheric novel about a ruined mansion by the sea, the djinn that haunts it, and a curious girl who unearths the tragedy that happened there a hundred years previous
Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Now, nearly a century since it was built, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for misfits, seeking to forget their pasts and disappear into the mansions dark corridors.
[continued description under the cut]
Until Sana. She and her father are the latest of Akbar Manzil’s long list of tenants, seeking a new home after suffering painful loss. Unlike the others, who choose not to look too closely at the mansion’s unsettling qualities—the strange assortment of bones in the overgrown garden, the mysterious figure seen to move sometimes at night—she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion. To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the locked door at its end, unopened for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time, with faded photographs of a couple in love and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, the original owner’s second wife, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who once loved Meena and has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, awakening the memories of the house itself—and dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil.
Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.
Thirteen Ways to Kill Lulabelle Rock by Maud Woolf
Release date: January 9th
Why is it on this list?: With multiple reviewers mentioning Black Mirror and Orphan Black as comparables, this clone dystopia sounds like a fun ride – though it also is said to have some deeper reflections on the idea of individuality and one’s self.
In a world of glitzy glamour and burgeoning technology, washed up star Lulabelle Rock employs a clone of herself to kill the other twelve versions of herself.
Set in a world of the near future, the celebrity elite have access to a technology that allows them to make perfect copies of themselves, known as Portraits. These Portraits exist to fulfil all the various duties that come as the price of fame.
[continued description under the cut]
Our protagonist is the thirteenth copy made of the actress known as Lulabelle Rock. Her purpose is very to track down and eliminate her predecessors.
While initially easy, her task is made difficult by the labyrinthine confusion of Bubble City and the unfortunate stirrings of a developing conscience. When she makes the mistake of falling in love with one of her targets, the would-be assassin faces the ultimate question; when you don’t want to kill yourself, what’s the alternative?
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known (Wayward Children #9) by Seanan McGuire
Release date: January 9th
Why is it on this list?: Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series are such enchanting and magical stories, little novella-sized bites of adventure and creative writing and, okay, emotions. While some may stand on their own, this one seems to pick up directly after #8, so some prior reading would be strongly recommended. But said prior reading is quick and delightful, which I feel like this will also be.
Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children.
When her fellow students realize that Antsy’s talent for finding absolutely anything may extend to doors, she’s forced to flee in the company of a small group of friends, looking for a way back to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go to be sure that Vineta and Hudson are keeping their promise.
[continued description under the cut]
Along the way, temptations are dangled, decisions are reinforced, and a departure to a world populated by dinosaurs brings untold dangers and one or two other surprises!
A story that reminds us that finding what you want doesn’t always mean finding what you need.
Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands (Emily Wilde #2) by Heather Fawcett
Release date: January 16th (January 11th UK)
Why is it on this list?: The first book was a delight, a cosy fantasy about studying faeries – and yeah, with some cosy romance in there too. This promises to be more of the same, and utterly charming.
When mysterious faeries from other realms appear at her university, curmudgeonly professor Emily Wilde must uncover their secrets before it’s too late in this heartwarming, enchanting second installment of the Emily Wilde series.
Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore—she just wrote the world’s first comprehensive of encylopaedia of faeries. She’s learned many of the secrets of the Hidden Folk on her adventures . . . and also from her fellow scholar and former rival, Wendell Bambleby.
[continued description under the cut]
Because Bambleby is more than infuriatingly charming. He’s an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, and in search of a door back to his realm. So despite Emily’s feelings for Bambleby, she’s not ready to accept his proposal of Loving one of the Fair Folk comes with secrets and danger.
And she also has a new project to focus a map of the realms of faerie. While she is preparing her research, Bambleby lands her in trouble yet again, when assassins sent by Bambleby’s mother invade Cambridge. Now Bambleby and Emily are on another adventure, this time to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambley’s realm, and the key to freeing him from his family’s dark plans.
But with new relationships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.
Beautyland by Marie-Helene Bertino
Release date: January 16th
Why is it on this list?: A unique premise, with an alien sent to Earth as a baby in order to report back to her alien relatives (via fax, no less), this also sounds tender and thoughtful.
At the moment when Voyager 1 is launched into space carrying its famous golden record, a baby of unusual perception is born to a single mother in Philadelphia. Adina Giorno is tiny and jaundiced, but reaches for warmth and light. As a child, she recognizes that she is different; she also possesses knowledge of a faraway planet. The arrival of a fax machine enables her to contact her extraterrestrial relatives, beings who have sent her to report on the oddities of earthlings.
[continued description under the cut]
For years, as she moves through the world and makes a life for herself among humans, she dispatches transmissions on the terrors and surprising joys of their existence. But at a precarious moment, a beloved friend urges Adina to share her messages with the world. Is there a chance she is not alone?
A blazing novel of startling originality about the fragility and resilience of life in our universe, Marie-Helene Bertino’s Beautyland is a remarkable evocation of feeling in exile at home and introduces a gentle, unforgettable alien for our times.
So Let Them Burn by Kamilah Cole
Release date: January 16th
Why is it on this list?: Obviously the cover is super eye-catching and did its job well, but then you find out that it’s a Jamaican-inspired fantasy with dragons, and that should be all that you need to know.
Whip-smart and immersive, this Jamaican-inspired fantasy follows a gods-blessed heroine who’s forced to choose between saving her sister or protecting her homeland.
Faron Vincent can channel the power of the gods. Five years ago, she used her divine magic to liberate her island from its enemies, the dragon-riding Langley Empire. But now, at seventeen, Faron is all powered up with no wars to fight. She’s a legend to her people and a nuisance to her neighbors.
[continued description under the cut]
When she’s forced to attend an international peace summit, Faron expects that she will perform tricks like a trained pet and then go home. She doesn’t expect her older sister, Elara, forming an unprecedented bond with an enemy dragon—or the gods claiming the only way to break that bond is to kill her sister.
As Faron’s desperation to find another solution takes her down a dark path, and Elara discovers the shocking secrets at the heart of the Langley Empire, both must make difficult choices that will shape each other’s lives, as well as the fate of their world.
The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler
Release date: January 16th
Why is it on this list?: This sci-fi eco-thriller sounds very cool. Sure, you may have seen other books about scientists working on bringing back extinct species, but have you seen other books about scientists then uploading their own consciousness into the extinct species? (You kind of have if you’ve read Lee Mandelo’s very good Feed Them Silence.)
When you bring back a long-extinct species, there’s more to success than the DNA.
Moscow has resurrected the mammoth, but someone must teach them how to be mammoths, or they are doomed to die out, again.
[continued description under the cut]
The late Dr. Damira Khismatullina, the world’s foremost expert in elephant behavior, is called in to help. While she was murdered a year ago, her digitized consciousness is uploaded into the brain of a mammoth.
Can she help the magnificent creatures fend off poachers long enough for their species to take hold?
And will she ever discover the real reason they were brought back?
A tense eco-thriller from a new master of the genre.
Unbound by Christy Healy
Release date: January 16th
Why is it on this list?: A kind of retelling of Beauty and the Beast, set in 11th century Ireland, this story has lots of magic, mythology, and romance. An underrated highlight for me was the many dark and terrible mythology monsters – you do get some of that amongst the romance that drives the book.
Rozlyn Ó Conchúir is used to waiting—waiting for the king, her father, to relent and allow her to leave the solitude of her tower; waiting for the dreaded and mysterious Beast of Connacht to at last be defeated; waiting for the arrival of the man destined to win her heart and break the terrible curse placed on her and her land. So, when she meets Jamie—a charming and compelling suitor—she allows herself to hope that her days of solitude and patience are at long last over.
[continued description under the cut]
But as she finds her trust betrayed and with newer, more sinister threats arising, Rozlyn learns that some curses are better left unbroken …
For fans of Hannah Whitten and Rebecca Ross, Unbound is a gender bent re-imagining of the classic tale of a monstrous beast and the beauty determined to tame it, set against the lush backdrop of Irish mythology and folklore.
Midnight Ruin (Dark Olympus #6) by Katee Robert
Release date: January 16th
Why is it on this list?: I wanted to feature some smutty mythology for my romantasy girlies. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ As this is book #6 in the series, I’d assume that if you’re going to read it, you already know what you’re getting into, but in case you’re looking for a new fantasy-romance series to pick up, this one is dark romance Greek mythology retellings, and I feel like that description is enough to tell you if this might be for you or not.
Eurydice Dimitriou has always been the innocent sister, but she’s finally ready to step out of the long shadow cast by her powerful family…and the ex who shattered her heart. Perhaps rough hands on soft skin are exactly what she needs to forget her heartbreak once and for all?
[continued description under the cut]
Charon Ariti has been Hades’s right-hand man for years. He’s given everything to the lower city, but now he’s ready to take something for himself. He’s only too happy to give Eurydice a special kind of education…but is her heart really free enough to be claimed?
Orpheus Makos will do whatever it takes to make things right. Once the golden boy of the upper city, he’s now a shadow of his former self. He’ll do anything to get Eurydice back…even if it means she’s not coming into his arms alone. Three hearts. Three futures. Countless ways to get it wrong.
But with enemies slipping through Olympus’s faltering barrier to lay siege on the lower city, a trio of broken hearts will be the least of these would-be lovers’ worries…
The Principle of Moments by Esmie Jikiemi-Pearson
Release date: January 18th (UK only)
Why is it on this list?: I’m not very far into this one yet, but so far it is a blend between fantasy, colonized sci-fi, and – Regency era London?! It sounds like an odd mix, but it’s super engaging with vivid writing, and with the author being so young, I think she may definitely be one to watch.
In self-deified Emperor Thracin’s brave new galaxy, Humans are not citizens. Instead, they are laborers indentured to the empire, working to repay the billions in debt they unwittingly incurred when they settled on Gahraan—a planet already owned by someone else.
[continued description under the cut]
Asha Akindele has lived her whole life on Gahraan, eking out an existence between factory assembly lines and constant terror—studying stolen aeronautics manuals in the dead of night and trying not to get herself killed for mouthing off to a guard. Then she discovers she has a sister imprisoned by the Emperor, and is forced to make a choice: stay enslaved, but relatively safe, or escape and risk everything in the name of family.
Obi Amadi is a time-traveller, sick with a legendary disease. Armed only with his prosthetic arm, his ever-constant melancholy, and the humour he uses to mask it, he has spent years travelling through time and space in search of a cure for the sickness currently unmaking him limb by limb. His mandate: Find the cure, go home. And maybe figure out along the way if the prince he thinks sometimes he might love could be that home.
When Obi saves Asha’s life, they make a pact: both will do all they can to get the other to the Emperor’s stronghold unscathed. With the reluctant aid of Xavior, a mouthy deckhand with a mysterious past, Asha and Obi attempt to navigate a galaxy that hates them to find the things they both believe will make them whole.
But a prophecy has started that has other plans, and not only is Asha forced to make a terrible choice, she must soon reckon with the legacy of an ancient religion and its heroes, who may be awakening, reincarnated in ways beyond her comprehension.
Voyage of the Damned by Frances White
Release date: January 18th (UK only)
Why is it on this list?: A queer fantasy murder mystery? Come on, that sounds like so much fun! Despite the murder part, this is supposed to be quite a cosy book, so perfect for snuggling up with on a January day!
For a thousand years, Concordia has maintained peace between its provinces. To mark this incredible feat, the emperor’s ship embarks upon a twelve-day voyage to the sacred Goddess’s Mountain.
Aboard are the heirs of the twelve provinces of Concordia, each graced with a unique and secret magical ability known as a Blessing.
[continued description under the cut]
Except one: Ganymedes Piscero – class clown, slacker, and all-round disappointment.
When a beloved heir is murdered, everyone is a suspect. Stuck at sea and surrounded by powerful people without a Blessing to protect him, odds of survival are slim.
But as the bodies pile higher, Ganymedes must become the hero he was not born to be. Can he unmask the killer and their blessing before this bloody crusade reaches the shores of Concordia?
Or will the empire as he knows it fall?
Faebound by Saara El-Arifi
Release date: January 23rd (January 18th UK)
Why is it on this list?: Fantastical world building, including bonded creatures, political scheming, and, oh yeah, romance. This one is more romance-heavy than the author’s Ending Fire series, but also boasts some fairly lovely writing.
DIVIDED BY BLOOD.
IMPRISONED BY FATE.
BOUND BY DESIRE.
WELCOME TO THE INTOXICATING WORLD OF THE FAE.
[continued description under the cut]
Yeeran is a warrior in the elven army and has known nothing but violence her whole life. Her sister, Lettle, is trying to make a living as a diviner, seeking prophecies of a better future.
When a fatal mistake leads to Yeeran’s exile from the Elven lands, they are both forced into the terrifying wilderness beyond their borders. There they encounter the impossible: the fae court.
The fae haven’t been seen for a millennium. But now Yeeran and Lettle are thrust into their seductive world – torn between their loyalty to each other, their elven homeland, and their hearts. . .
Kinning (Everfair #2) by Nisi Shawl
Release date: January 23rd
Why is it on this list?: The second book in a series that blends alternate history, steampunk, and fantasy elements set in Congo while under the rule of Belgium, this series sounds rather epic in scope and certainly unique.
Kinning, the sequel to Nisi Shawl’s acclaimed debut novel Everfair, continues the stunning alternate history where barkcloth airships soar through the sky, diverse peoples build a new society together, and colonies claim their freedom from imperialist tyrants.
The Great War is over. Everfair has found peace within its borders. But our heroes’ stories are far from over.
[continued description under the cut]
Tink and his sister Bee-Lung are traveling the world via aircanoe, spreading the spores of a mysterious empathy-generating fungus. Through these spores, they seek to build bonds between people and help spread revolutionary sentiments of socialism and equality—the very ideals that led to Everfair’s founding.
Meanwhile, Everfair’s Princess Mwadi and Prince Ilunga return home from a sojourn in Egypt to vie for their country’s rule following the abdication of their father King Mwenda. But their mother, Queen Josina, manipulates them both from behind the scenes, while also pitting Europe’s influenza-weakened political powers against one another as these countries fight to regain control of their rebellious colonies.
Will Everfair continue to serve as a symbol of hope, freedom, and equality to anticolonial movements around the world, or will it fall to forces inside and out?
Womb City by Tlotlo Tsamaase
Release date: January 23rd
Why is it on this list?: Well, have you seen that cover? Pretty striking and fucked up, right? Add in the fact that this one has ghosts and horror with its sci-fi and is set in Botswana, and my interest in this is piqued!
WOMB CITY imagines a dark and deadly future Botswana, rich with culture and true folklore, which begs the question: how far must one go to destroy the structures of inequality upon which a society was founded? How far must a mother go to save the life of her child?
[continued description under the cut]
Nelah seems to have it all: wealth, fame, a husband, and a child on the way. But in a body her husband controls via microchip and the tailspin of a loveless marriage, her hopes and dreams come to a devastating halt. A drug-fueled night of celebration ends in a hit-and-run. To dodge a sentencing in a society that favors men, Nelah and her side-piece, Janith Koshal, finish the victim off and bury the body.
But the secret claws its way into Nelah’s life from the grave. As her victim’s vengeful ghost begins exacting a bloody revenge on everyone Nelah holds dear, she’ll have to unravel her society’s terrible secrets to stop those in power, and become a monster unlike any other to quench the ghost’s violent thirst.
Exordia by Seth Dickinson
Release date: January 23rd
Why is it on this list?: You want an ending to the Masquerade series? Tough. You can have this messed-up and complex sci-fi horror while you wait instead!
“Anna, I came to Earth tracking a very old story, a story that goes back to the dawn of time. it’s very unlikely that you’ll die right now. It wouldn’t be narratively complete.”
[continued description under the cut]
Anna Sinjari―refugee, survivor of genocide, disaffected office worker―has a close encounter that reveals universe-threatening stakes. While humanity reels from disaster, she must join a small team of civilians, soldiers, and scientists to investigate a mysterious broadcast and unknowable horror. If they can manage to face their own demons, they just might save the world.
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
Release date: January 23rd
Why is it on this list?: This is maybe barely fantasy (it’s magical realism!), but I had a chance to feature a family saga that is also a western, a magical realism western, and I am absolutely taking it.
A dazzling magical realism western in the vein of Cormac McCarthy meets Gabriel García Márquez, The Bullet Swallower follows a Mexican bandido as he sets off for Texas to save his family, only to encounter a mysterious figure who has come, finally, to collect a cosmic debt generations in the making.
[continued description under the cut]
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.
In 1964, Jaime Sonoro is Mexico’s most renowned actor and singer. But his comfortable life is disrupted when he discovers a book that purports to tell the entire history of his family beginning with Cain and Abel. In its ancient pages, Jaime learns about the multitude of horrific crimes committed by his ancestors. And when the same mysterious figure from Antonio’s timeline shows up in Mexico City, Jaime realizes that he may be the one who has to pay for his ancestors’ crimes, unless he can discover the true story of his grandfather Antonio, the legendary bandido El Tragabalas, The Bullet Swallower.
A family saga that’s epic in scope and magical in its blood, and based loosely on the author’s own great-grandfather, The Bullet Swallower tackles border politics, intergenerational trauma, and the legacies of racism and colonialism in a lush setting and stunning prose that asks who pays for the sins of our ancestors, and whether it is possible to be better than our forebears.
To Cage A God by Elizabeth May
Release date: January 23rd (February 20th NA)
Why is it on this list?: I was a fan of the Seven Devils duology that this author co-wrote, so much so that I’m willing to give her new solo release a shot without any more information needed. While not a sci-fi heist (I don’t think??), this book also features trying to tear down an empire, so, cool. Add in two main characters who are sisters and a Russian-inspired world, and there’s certainly some promise here.
To cage a god is divine.
To be divine is to rule.
To rule is to destroy.
[continued description under the cut]
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―no matter the cost.
With their mother gone and their country on the brink of war, it falls to the sisters to take the helm of the rebellion and end the cruel reign of a royal family possessed by destructive gods. Because when the ruling alurea invade, they conquer with fire and blood. And when they clash, common folk burn.
While Sera reunites with her estranged lover turned violent rebel leader, Galina infiltrates the palace. In this world of deception and danger, her only refuge is an isolated princess, whose whip-smart tongue and sharp gaze threaten to uncover Galina’s secret. Torn between desire and duty, Galina must make a choice: work together to expose the lies of the empire―or bring it all down.
The Invocations by Krystal Sutherland
Release date: January 30th
Why is it on this list?: I was so pleasantly surprised by the creepiness and atmosphere of House of Hollow that I’ve been eagerly awaiting the author’s next book, and this witchy horror-thriller about three girls banding together to catch a serial killer sounds wonderful. Plus, the tagline about girls refusing to go quietly into the night is a banger of a tagline, honestly.
From the author of New York Times bestseller House of Hollow comes a darkly seductive witchy thriller where, though both men and demons lurk in shadows, girls refuse to go quietly into the night.
Zara Jones believes in magic because the alternative is too painful to bear—that her sister was murdered by a serial killer and there is precisely nothing she can do to change it. If there’s anything Zara cannot stand it’s feeling powerless, so she decides she will do whatever it takes—even if that means partaking in the occult—to bring her sister back from the dead.
[continued description under the cut]
Jude Wolf might be the daughter of a billionaire, but she is also undeniably cursed. After a deal with a demon went horribly wrong, her soul is now slowly turning necrotic. Flowers and insects die in her wake and monstrous things come to taunt her at night. If Jude can’t find the right someone to fix her mistake, she fears she’ll die very soon.
Enter Emer Bryne: the solution to both Zara’s and Jude’s predicaments. The daughter of a witch, Emer sells spells to women in desperate situations willing to sacrifice a part of their soul in exchange for a bit of power, a bit of magic to change their lives. But Emer has a dark past all her own—and as her former clients are murdered one-by-one, she knows it’s followed her all the way to London.
As Zara and Jude enter Emer’s orbit, they’ll have to team up to stop the killer—before they each end up next on his list.
A Quantum Love Story by Mike Chen
Release date: January 30th
Why is it on this list?: Timeeeeee looooop. A sci-fi time loop romance, with apparently more focus on the time loop and the paradoxes that come with it, this one is supposed to be fun and quirky.
The only thing harder than finding someone in a time loop is losing them.
Grieving her best friend’s recent death, neuroscientist Mariana Pineda’s ready to give up everything to start anew. Even her career— after one last week consulting at a top secret particle accelerator.
[continued description under the cut]
Except the strangest thing a man stops her…and claims they’ve met before. Carter Cho knows who she is, why she’s mourning, why she’s there. And he needs Mariana to remember everything he’s saying.
Because time is about to loop.
In a flash of energy, it’s Monday morning. Again. Together, Mariana and Carter enter an inevitable life, four days at a time, over and over, without permanence except for what they share. With everything resetting—even bank accounts—joy comes in the little a delicious (and expensive) meal, a tennis match, giving a dog his favorite treat.
In some ways, those are all that matter.
But just as they figure out this new life, everything changes. Because Carter’s memories of the time loop are slowly disappearing. And their only chance at happiness is breaking out of the loop—forever.
House of Flame and Shadow (Crescent City #3) by Sarah J. Maas
Release date: January 30th
Why is it on this list?: If you’re reading this list, I’m going to guess you’ve probably heard of and formed an opinion about Sarah J. Maas because she is inescapable in fantasy in the last decade. This is the third entry in her urban fantasy series, and is bound to feature lots of action and even more romance.
Bryce Quinlan never expected to see a world other than Midgard, but now that she has, all she wants is to get back. Everything she loves is in Midgard: her family, her friends, her mate. Stranded in a strange new world, she’s going to need all her wits about her to get home again. And that’s no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust.
[continued description under the cut]
Hunt Athalar has found himself in some deep holes in his life, but this one might be the deepest of all. After a few brief months with everything he ever wanted, he’s in the Asteri’s dungeons again, stripped of his freedom and without a clue as to Bryce’s fate. He’s desperate to help her, but until he can escape the Asteri’s leash, his hands are quite literally tied.
In this sexy, breathtaking sequel to the #1 bestsellers House of Earth and Blood and House of Sky and Breath, Sarah J. Maas’s Crescent City series reaches new heights as Bryce and Hunt’s world is brought to the brink of collapse-with its future resting on their shoulders.
The City of Stardust by Georgia Summers
Release date: January 30th
Why is it on this list?: I did read the first chapter, and personally adored the lyrical prose. I’ve seen some comparisons to things like The Starless Sea, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and works by Laini Taylor, so it’s certainly a very specific writing style that may not work for everyone – but will work very well for those who find that style more enchanting.
Curses are made to be broken.
For centuries, generations of Everlys have seen their brightest and best disappear, taken as punishment for a crime no one remembers, for a purpose no one understands. Their tormentor is a woman named Penelope, who never ages, never grows sick – and never forgives a debt.
[continued description under the cut]
Ten years ago, Violet Everly’s mother left, determined to break their curse, and never returned. Now Violet must find her mother, or she will be taken in her place.
To do so, she must descend into a seductive magical underworld of power-hungry scholars, fickle gods and monsters bent on revenge. She must also contend with Penelope’s quiet assistant, Aleksander, who she knows cannot be trusted – and yet to whom she finds herself undeniably drawn.
Tied to a very literal deadline, Violet will travel the edges of the world to find Marianne and the key to the city of stardust, where the Everly story began . . .
Filled with magic, stardust, and a shockingly dark heart, this is a stunning standalone fantasy perfect for fans of The Ten Thousand Doors of January , The Starless Sea and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
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