May 2010 Releases

Done with April 2010 Releases? Here are May 2010 Releases. To see further into the future, check Reading Wishlist.

Mario Acevedo
Werewolf Smackdown (Felix Gomez, Book 5)
HarperCollins Eos (AU: 1st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
A sure-to-be-bloody civil war is brewing between rival werewolf factions, and P.I. Felix Gomez will do anything he can to make sure it doesn’t explode into a vicious battle that engulfs all creatures, living and dead. Between that, the sudden reappearance of an ex-girlfriend, and a gang of other vampires trying to take off his head, this is one rumble even a fanged detective extraordinaire may not be able to handle.

Kat Falls
Dark Life
Scholastic (US: 1st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Ty has lived his whole life on the ocean floor, helping farm his family’s sub–sea homestead. But when outlaws’ attacks threaten to destroy the underwater territory, Ty finds himself in a fight to stop the outlaws and save the only home he has ever known. Joined by a girl from the Topside who has come sub–sea to look for her prospector brother, Ty ventures into the frontier’s rough underworld and begins to discover some dark secrets to Dark Life. As Ty gets closer to the truth, he discovers that the outlaws may not be the bloodthirsty criminals the government has portrayed them as. And that the government abandoning the territory might be the best thing for everyone, especially for someone like Ty, someone with a Dark Gift.

Mira Grant
Feed (Newsflesh, Book 1)
Hachette Orbit (US: 1st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The year was 2014. We had cured cancer. We had beat the common cold. But in doing so we created something new, something terrible that no one could stop. The infection spread, virus blocks taking over bodies and minds with one, unstoppable command: FEED. Now, twenty years after the Rising, Georgia and Shaun Mason are on the trail of the biggest story of their lives – the dark conspiracy behind the infected. The truth will out, even if it kills them.

Vicki Pettersson
City of Souls (Signs of the Zodiac, Book 4)
HarperCollins Eos (AU: 1st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
In Sin City, a little girl suffers from a strange and terrible malady. If she dies, the Light will die along with her. Warrior, avenger, Joanna Archer has survived countless otherworldly terrors – and has found her rightful place among the agents battling the all-pervasive evil of Shadow…even as she struggles against the darkness within herself. A war is raging for Las Vegas – a city without a heart – one that catapults Joanna into a new world hidden from mortal sight. In this lethally seductive alternate dimension the lines blur between good and evil, love and hate, and here lies the last hope for the Light. But Joanna’s price of admission is a piece of her own soul – and the odds of her escaping are slim…to none.

Holly Schindler
A Blue So Dark
Flux (US: 1st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Fifteen-year-old Aura Ambrose has been hiding a secret. Her mother, a talented artist and art teacher, is slowly being consumed by schizophrenia, and Aura has been her sole caretaker ever since Aura’s dad left them. Convinced that “creative” equals crazy, Aura shuns her own artistic talent. But as her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet draws Aura toward the depths of her imagination. Just as desperation threatens to swallow her whole, Aura discovers that art, love, and family are profoundly linked – and together may offer an escape from her fears.

Beth Fantaskey
Jekel Loves Hyde
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (US: 3rd May 2010); Penguin (AU: 31st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Jill Jekel has always obeyed her parents’ rules – especially the one about never opening the mysterious, old box in her father’s office. But when her dad is murdered, and her college savings disappear, she’s tempted to peek inside, as the contents might be the key to a lucrative chemistry scholarship. To improve her odds, Jill enlists the help of gorgeous, brooding Tristen Hyde, who has his own dark secrets locked away. As the team of Jekel and Hyde, they recreate experiments based on the classic novel, hoping not only to win a prize, but to save Tristen’s sanity. Maybe his life. But Jill’s accidental taste of a formula unleashes her darkest nature and compels her to risk everything – even Tristen’s love – just for the thrill of being…bad.

Richelle Mead
Succubus Shadows (Georgina Kincaid, Book 5)
Random House Bantam (AU: 3rd May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Georgina Kincaid has formidable powers. Immortality, seduction, shape-shifting into any human form she desires, walking in heels that would cripple mere mortals – all child’s play to a succubus like her. Helping to plan her ex-boyfriend’s wedding is a different story. Georgina isn’t sure which is worse – that Seth is marrying another woman, or that Georgina has to run all over Seattle trying on bridesmaid dresses. Still, there are distractions. Georgina’s roommate, Roman, is cluttering her apartment with sexual tension. Then there’s Simone, the new succubus in town, who’s intent on corrupting Seth. But the real danger lies in the mysterious force that’s visiting her thoughts, trying to draw her into a dark, otherworldly realm. Sooner or later, Georgina knows she’ll be too weak to resist. And when that happens, she’ll discover who she can trust, who she can’t…and that Hell is far from the worst place to spend eternity.

Susan Beth Pfeffer
The Dead and the Gone (Last Survivors, Book 2)
Scholastic Marion Lloyd (UK: 3rd May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
At the moment the asteroid hits the moon, Alex Morales’ future is shattered. Forever. As freak weather engulfs the globe, New York is plunged into a nightmare from which many will never wake. Drowning in ice and snow, with no food, no electricity, and no parents, Alex must keep himself and his sisters alive – whatever the cost.

Susan Beth Pfeffer
This World We Live In (Last Survivors, Book 3)
Scholastic Marion Lloyd (UK: 3rd May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically changing the Earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbours are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce. Miranda and her family are on the edge. And then a small party of survivors arrives on their doorstep, threatening to stretch supplies to dangerous limits. Alex Morales is amongst them, and he and Miranda must put aside their differences in order to survive. But can there be any hope for love in a ruined world…?

Holly Black
White Cat (Curse Workers, Book 1)
Simon & Schuster Margaret K. McElderry (US & CA: 4th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers – people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they’re all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn’t got the magic touch, so he’s an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail – he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago. Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He’s noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behaviour of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he’s part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Jeri Smith-Ready
Shade (Shade, Book 1)
Simon & Schuster Pulse (US & CA: 4th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Best. Birthday. Ever. At least, it was supposed to be. With Logan’s band playing a critical gig and Aura’s plans for an intimate after-party, Aura knows it will be the most memorable night of her boyfriend’s life. She never thought it would be his last. Logan’s sudden death leaves Aura devastated. He’s gone. Well, sort of. Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost. It doesn’t help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding – and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit. As Aura’s relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura’s heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.

Rachel Caine
Kiss of Death (Morganville Vampires, Book 8)
Allison & Busby (UK: 5th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Claire is a typical student with not quite so typical concerns or friends; after all she is studying in Morganville, a town run by vampires. Trouble comes to call, in the shape of Morley – “the rough vampire who rocks the homeless look”. He wants his outstanding debt to be repaid and he’s beginning to get a little impatient. The debt? Passes for three people out of Morganville to be precise so he and two friends can leave the town. So when Claire receives an envelope containing four passes, she is overjoyed at the prospect of getting Morley off their backs. However the names on the passes are Claire and her housemates Michael, Shane and Eve. Making the most of an impromptu road trip, the guys are heading to Dallas, but with Oliver, Morganville’s Second-in-Command Vampire, as their escort, the fun may not last that long…

Vicki Pettersson
Cheat the Grave (Signs of the Zodiac, Book 5)
HarperCollins Eos (CA: 7th May 2010; US: 25th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Las Vegas socialite and otherwordly avenger Joanna Archer gave up everything when she embraced mortality – abandoning her powers and altering her destiny to save a child…and a city. Now her former allies are her enemies – and her enemies have nothing to fear. Yet still she is bound to a prophecy that condemns her to roam a nightmare landscape that ordinary humans cannot see and dare not enter. And a beast is on her trail – an insane killer blinded by bloodlust, who’s determined to rip much more from Joanna than merely her now-fragile life. Survival is no longer an option in this dark realm where good and evil have blurred into confusing shades of grey – unless she can gather together an army of one-time foes and destroy everything she once believed in.

Ann Aguirre
Blue Diablo (Corine Solomon, Book 1)
Hachette Orion Gollancz (UK: 13th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Eighteen months ago, Corine Solomon crossed the border to Mexico City, fleeing her past, her lover, and her ‘gift’ – for Corine is a handler: she can touch something and know its history, and sometimes, its future. Using her ability, she can find the missing – and that’s why people never stop trying to find her. People like her ex, Chance… Chance’s uncanny luck has led him to her doorstep. He needs her help. Someone dear to them both has gone missing in Laredo, Texas, and the only hope of finding her is through Corine’s gift. But their search is going to get dangerous as the trail leads them into a strange dark world of demons and sorcerers, ghosts and witchcraft, zombies – and the blackest of black magic.

Jeaniene Frost
One Foot in the Grave (Night Huntress, Book 2)
Hachette Orion Gollancz (UK: 13th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Half-vampire Cat Crawfield is now Special Agent Cat Crawfield, working for the government to rid the world of the rogue undead. She’s still using everything Bones, her sexy and dangerous ex, taught her, but when Cat is targeted for assassination, the only man who can help her is the vampire she left behind. Being around Bones awakens all her emotions, from the adrenaline rush of slaying vamps together, side by side, to the reckless passion that consumed them. But having a price on her head – wanted: dead or half-alive – means her survival depends on teaming up with Bones. And no matter how hard Cat tries to keep things professional between them, she’ll find that desire lasts forever…and Bones won’t let her get away again. You can run from the grave, but you can’t hide…

Richelle Mead
Spirit Bound (Vampire Academy, Book 5)
Penguin (US, CA & AU: 18th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Dimitri gave Rose the ultimate choice. But she chose wrong… After a long and heartbreaking journey to Dimitri’s birthplace in Siberia, Rose Hathaway has finally returned to St. Vladimir’s – and to her best friend, Lissa. It is nearly graduation, and the girls can’t wait for their real lives beyond the Academy’s iron gates to begin. But Rose’s heart still aches for Dimitri, and she knows he’s out there, somewhere. She failed to kill him when she had the chance. And now her worst fears are about to come true. Dimitri has tasted her blood, and now he is hunting her. And this time he won’t rest until Rose joins him…forever.

Katherine Allred
Close Contact (Alien Affairs, Book 2)
HarperCollins Eos (CA: 21st May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Self-proclaimed party girl Echo Adams is now being used by the government, thanks to her newly discovered psi-abilities. Now it’s up to her to help rescue an alien life form that has mysteriously disappeared, ward off the advances of a handsome military general, and come to terms with life as a secret government operative.

Keri Arthur
Moon Sworn (Riley Jenson, Book 9)
Random House Dell (US & CA: 25th May 2010); Hachette Piatkus (UK: 27th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Shape-shifting werewolf and vampire Riley Jenson is through with death – causing it, solving it, surviving it. Her soul mate, Kye Murphy, is dead – and at Riley’s own hands. Not even the seductive embrace of her vampire lover, Quinn, can fully ease her mind, for she has begun questioning everything that makes her Riley – including her job at the Directorate. Now, the ritualistically slain bodies of ex-cons have started turning up. Reluctantly, Riley takes the case, but something even worse is waiting in the wings. A vicious enemy from her past is determined to strip Riley of everything that gives her life any meaning: her lover, her brother – and even her own identity. Can Riley survive this ultimate assault? All she knows is, she must fight one last time to find answers, before everything goes dark forever.

Jes Battis
Inhuman Resources (OSI, Book 3)
Penguin Ace (US & CA: 25th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
When a powerful necromancer is killed, Occult Special Investigator Tess Corday must handle the heavy politics in the occult community as carefully as she handles the scant evidence. But with her sometime lover Lucian Agrado representing the necromancers in the grisly matter, things are about to get out of control…fast.

S. A. Bodeen
The Gardener
Macmillan Feiwel & Friends (US: 25th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Mason has never known his father, but longs to. All he has of him is a DVD of a man whose face is never seen, reading a children’s book. One day, on a whim, he plays the DVD for a group of comatose teens at the nursing home where his mother works. One of them, a beautiful girl, responds. Mason learns she is part of a horrible experiment intended to render teenagers into autotrophs – genetically engineered, self-sustaining life-forms who don’t need food or water to survive. And before he knows it, Mason is on the run with the girl, and wanted, dead or alive, by the mysterious mastermind of this gruesome plan, who is simply called the Gardener. Will Mason be forced to destroy the thing he’s longed for most?

Stacia Kane
Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts, Book 1)
Random House Del Rey (US & CA: 25th May 2010); HarperCollins Voyager (UK: 27th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The world is not the way it was. The dead have risen, and the living are under attack. The powerful Church of Real Truth, in charge since the government fell, has sworn to reimburse citizens being harassed by the deceased. Enter Chess Putnam, a fully tattooed witch and free-wheeling ghost hunter. She’s got a real talent for banishing the wicked dead. But Chess is keeping a dark secret: She owes a lot of money to a murderous drug lord named Bump, who wants immediate payback in the form of a dangerous job that involves black magic, human sacrifice, a nefarious demonic creature, and enough wicked energy to wipe out a city of souls. Toss in lust for a rival gang leader and a dangerous attraction to Bump’s ruthless enforcer, and Chess begins to wonder if the rush is really worth it. Hell, yeah.

Caitlin Kittredge
Daemon’s Mark (Nocturne City, Book 5)
Macmillan St. Martin’s (US: 25th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Someone, or something, is setting fire to the homes of the city’s most infamous non-humans, racking up a body count that’s growing by the day. And strange, otherworldly creatures no one has seen before – selkies, trolls, and harpies – are causing chaos throughout the city. Racing to stop the carnage, Luna turns to sexy federal agent Will Fagin for help. As they work to uncover the source of the bloodshed, Luna’s attraction for Will deepens. But just as she learns Will’s darkest secret, Nocturne City is thrust into total chaos – leaving Luna and Will in a path of destruction they may not be able to stop…or survive.

Alayna Williams
Dark Oracle (Tara Sheridan, Book 1)
Simon & Schuster Pocket Juno (US & CA: 25th May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Tara Sheridan has a gift…and it almost killed her. As a criminal profiler, Tara used science and her intuitive skill at Tarot card divination to track down the dangerous and depraved, including the serial killer who left her scarred from head to toe. Since that savage attack, Tara has been a recluse. But now an ancient secret society known as Delphi’s Daughters has asked for her help in locating missing scientist Lowell Magnusson. And Tara, armed with her Tarot deck, her .38, and a stack of misgivings, agrees to try. Tara immediately senses there is far more at stake than one man’s life. At his government lab in the New Mexico desert, Magnusson had developed groundbreaking technology with terrifying potential. Working alongside the brusque but charismatic agent Harry Li, Tara discovers that Magnusson’s daughter, Cassie, has knowledge that makes her a target too. The more Tara sees into the future, the more there is to fear. She knows she has to protect Cassie. But there may be no way to protect herself – from the enemies circling around her, or from the long-buried powers stirring to life within…

Kelley Armstrong
The Reckoning (Darkest Powers, Book 3)
Hachette Orbit (AU: May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Chloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, Chloe happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be ‘cursed’?) friends are now running for their lives from the evil corporation that created them. As if that’s not enough, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she’s leaning towards the werewolf… Definitely not normal.

Lilith Saintcrow
Redemption Alley (Jill Kismet, Book 3)
Hachette Grand Central (AU: May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
It’s not the type of case Jill Kismet usually takes. But when her police contact asks her to look into a ‘suicide’, she suddenly finds herself in a labyrinth of deception, drugs, murder – and all-too-human corruption. The cops are her allies, except for the ones who want her dead. The hellbreed are her targets, except for the ones who might know what’s going on. Her city is in danger, time is running out, and each lead only draws her deeper. How far will a hunter go when her city – and her friends – are on the line? Just far enough. Step into Redemption Alley…

Lilith Saintcrow
Flesh Circus (Jill Kismet, Book 4)
Hachette Grand Central (AU: May 2010)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The Cirque de Charnu has come. They will clean out the demons and the suicides and move on. As long as they stay within the rules, Jill Kismet can’t deny them entry. But she can watch – and if they step out of line, she’ll send them packing. When Cirque performers start dying grotesquely, Kismet has to find out why, or the fragile truce won’t hold and her entire city will become a carnival of horror. She also has to play the resident hellbreed power against the Cirque to keep them in line and find out why ordinary people are needing exorcisms. And then there’s the murdered voodoo practitioners, and the zombies. An ancient vengeance is about to be enacted. The Cirque is about to explode. And Jill Kismet is about to find out some games are played for keeps…