Done with November 2012 Releases? Here are December 2012 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.
Kylie Chan
Small Shen (Prequel) [Graphic Novel]
HarperCollins (AU: 1st December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (Worldwide)
The story follows the stone spirit Gold’s entertaining adventures throughout history. His escapades include seducing a dragon princess, attempting to steal one of the Tiger’s wives, making bets with demons, and working for the Blue Dragon of the East. Eventually, as a result of his crimes against Heaven and his constant philandering, Gold is ordered to join the household of Xuan Wu, the Dark Lord of the Northern Heavens. Xuan Wu is also known as John Chen, a Hong Kong businessman. The story then follows Gold and Jade – the dragon princess – in contemporary Hong Kong. The two small shen must help guard John Chen’s beloved human wife and baby daughter from demon attack. John Chen is vulnerable to attack while living on Earth, but his family are in the most danger of all…
Erica Hayes
Dragonfly
Pan Macmillan Momentum (AU: 1st December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK)
Carrie Thatcher is a tough Imperial counter-terrorism agent. Her mission: pose as a sexy cyber-thief to entrap the notorious rebel Dragonfly, who’s planning a heist on the space station Casa de Esperanza – an orbital casino on the fringe of Imperial space. And this assignment’s personal: Dragonfly murdered her closest friend, and she’s in no mood to show him mercy. Even getting stuck with the partner from hell – Malachite, her sociopathic ex-lover and the Empire’s most dangerous agent – can’t dampen her relish for the kill. With Carrie’s expert weapons skills and penchant for cracking codes, insinuating herself into Dragonfly’s confidence should be easy. But is he the ruthless killer she was led to believe? Or has her precious Empire deceived her? With Malachite watching her every move, the slightest flinch in loyalty means death. Carrie is soon racing to uncover an audacious treachery that will shock the Empire to its core…if she can stay alive for long enough to expose it.
Tara Moss
The Skeleton Key (Pandora English, Book 3)
Pan Macmillan (AU: 1st December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (Worldwide)
By day Pandora English is a lowly fashion assistant. By night, she is a supernatural scion. The Crow Moon is rising and Pandora has a date with Civil War soldier Lieutenant Luke, who will be flesh-and-blood for one night only. When Lieutenant Luke disappears, Pandora must unlock the mysteries of Number One Addams Avenue with her skeleton key and discover the secrets that lie in the forgotten laboratory of Dr Edmund Barrett. For Pandora has been warned: a powerful force is in the house. As Friday the Thirteenth looms, Pandora English and the citizens of Spektor are in grave danger. For the dead will rise and terror shall reign.
Holly Black
Red Glove (Curse Workers, Book 2)
Hachette Indigo (AU: 4th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Curses and cons. Magic and the Mob. Cassel can’t escape any of it. Not since he discovered that he’s the most powerful curse worker around, able to transform anything – or anyone – into something else. That’s how the girl he loved became a white cat – an event that will haunt their relationship forever. Now Cassel’s brother has been murdered. The Feds want him to help find the killer. The Mob wants him for his skills. And Cassel will have to stay one step ahead of both just to survive.
Kate Cross
Touch of Steel (Clockwork Agents, Book 2)
Penguin Signet (US & CA: 4th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Reeling from her brother’s death, beautiful American spy Claire Brooks has vowed revenge on the member of The Company who she believes to be responsible: Stanton Howard. But when she chases the man to London, Claire is captured by the Wardens of the Realm and placed in the custody of the Earl of Wolfred, the dashing Alistair Payne. Seeing the prospect of retribution slipping away, Claire convinces Alistair that she has defected and will help him take down The Company. As they travel via steam liner, Claire and Alistair must pretend to be engaged. Claire can’t deny the growing attraction she feels for her pretend husband, but when Howard is finally within her reach, she will have to decide whether her true loyalties lie with The Company or with her heart…
Veronica Rossi
Under the Never Sky (Under the Never Sky, Book 2)
HarperCollins (US & CA: 4th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, Aria knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland – known as The Death Shop – are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild – a savage – and her only hope of staying alive. A hunter for his tribe in a merciless landscape, Perry views Aria as sheltered and fragile – everything he would expect from a Dweller. But he needs Aria’s help too; she alone holds the key to his redemption. Opposites in nearly every way, Aria and Perry must accept each other to survive. Their unlikely alliance forges a bond that will determine the fate of all who live under the never sky.
Kylie Chan
Heaven to Wudang (Journey to Wudang, Book 3)
HarperCollins Voyager (UK: 6th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The demons that could control stones and elementals have been defeated, but the most powerful of Simon Wong’s associates still remains – the one who can create almost undetectable copies of humans and Shen. This demon has allied with Kitty Kwok and together they plot to trap Emma and Simone in a web of copies. Wudang Mountain is enveloped by dark foreboding as Xuan Wu begins to reappear – sometimes human, sometimes turtle, but always without memory. Emma and Simone must race from Hong Kong to Hanoi as they try to rescue Xuan Wu before the demons capture him.
Bethany Wiggins
Shifting
Bloomsbury Walker (UK: 6th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Eighteen-year-old Magdalene is transferred to what should be her last foster home in Silver City, New Mexico. Fitting in has never been her strong suit, but it’s not for the reasons most people would expect – it’s because Magdalene is a shape shifter. But even in her new home danger lurks, waiting in the shadows to pounce. Those hunting her are the Skinwalkers of Navajo legend, that have traded their souls to become the animal whose skin they wear – and Maggie is their next target.
Tiffany Reisz
The Prince (Original Sinners, Book 3)
Harlequin Spice (UK: 7th December 2012; AU: December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Wes Railey is the object of Nora’s tamest yet most maddening fantasies, and the one man she can’t forget. He’s young. He’s wonderful. He’s also thoroughbred royalty and, reuniting with him in Kentucky, she’s in his world now. But this infamous New York dominatrix is no simpering Southern belle, and Nora’s dream of fitting into Wesley’s world is perpetually at odds with the relentlessly seductive pull of Søren – her owner, her lover, the forever she cannot have. At least, not completely. Meanwhile Nora’s associate Kingsley Edge is only too happy to take her place at Søren’s feet during her hiatus. Søren is the only man Kingsley has ever loved, and their dark, shared history has forged a bond that neither the years – nor Søren’s love for Nora – can break. But a new threat from an old adversary is forcing Kingsley to confront the past, reminding him that he must keep his friends close, and his enemies even closer.
Dani Worth
Catalyst (Kithran Regenesis, Book 2)
Samhain (US: 11th December 2012)
Vala Gorun’s family was off Kithra when the explosions happened. She’s thrilled to be back on her home planet helping with the rebuild, but something she saw all those years ago still haunts her. She hires Jarana, the Tracker, to find the human man she’d loved – one she thinks betrayed her in the worst possible way. Jarana’s search sets off alarms, alerting Jackson Canfield. He sends space pirates to kidnap the Tracker. They grab Vala and a young Gwinarian man instead. Vala finds herself trapped with Bastian Sithbrun, who she finds ridiculously attractive but believes is too young for her. It’s not so much his age, it’s his nature. Gentle, focused and obviously crushing on her. She feels jaded from her years of rebelling after her world had been destroyed. But something about the twenty-year-old gets to her. When they’re dropped on a deserted planet, the irony is not lost on her when she discovers they are now unwilling guests of the very man she’d driven crazy with her teen crush all those years ago. Learning Jackson has been in hiding, working to right a horrible wrong, changes everything. So does the knowledge that Bastian’s painful past is tied into the mess. Can the three work together to help expose those responsible for Kithra’s destruction without breaking each others’ hearts?
Jordan Dane
Indigo Awakening
Harlequin Teen (US: 18th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Voices told Lucas Darby to run. Voices no one else can hear. He’s warned his sister not to look for him, but Rayne refuses to let her troubled brother vanish. On her desperate search, she meets Gabriel Stewart, a runaway with mysterious powers and far too many secrets. Rayne can’t explain her crazy need to trust the strange yet compelling boy, even though he scares her. They discover Lucas is running from the Believers, a fanatical church secretly hunting psychic kids – gifted “Indigo” teens feared to be the next evolution of mankind. Rayne’s only hope of saving her brother is Gabe, who is haunted by an awakening power – a force darker than either of them imagine – that could doom them all.
Laurie Faria Stolarz
Deadly Little Lessons (Touch, Book 5)
Hyperion (US: 18th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Camelia Hammond’s trying junior year of high school is finally over…but her troubles aren’t. After she discovers a painful truth about her family, she escapes to a summer arts program in Rhode Island. Determined to put family – and boyfriend – drama behind her, she throws herself into her artwork. At the arts school, she gets caught up in the case of Sasha Beckerman, a local girl who is missing. Even though all signs suggest that the teen ran away, Camelia senses otherwise. Eager to help the girl, she launches her own investigation. She finds a blog by someone named Neal Moche, a psychometric who might have clues to Sasha’s whereabouts. There is something familiar about Neal, and Camelia realises how much she misses Ben, despite being committed to Adam. But time is running out for Sasha, and Camelia will have to trust her powers if she’s to save her. Will the lessons Camelia has learned in the past give her the strength to do so?
Rachel Caine & Kerrie L. Hughes (eds.)
Chicks Kick Butt (Anthology)
Macmillan Tor (US: 24th December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Urban fantasy anthology. Authors include: L. A. Banks, Jenna Black, Rachel Caine, Karen Chance, Carole Nelson Douglas, P. N. Elrod, Nancy Holder, Susan Krinard, Cheyenne McCray, Lilith Saintcrow, Jeanne C. Stein, Elizabeth Vaughan, Rachel Vincent.
Kelley Armstrong
Forbidden (Otherworld, Novella)
Subterranean (US: 31st December 2012)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
The team-spirit sign by the side of the highway seems a good omen to loner Morgan Walsh, as he drives to what could be the most important visit of his life – a chance to join the North American Pack. Then he wakes naked in the woods, surrounded by wolf tracks and a ring of suspicious cops. The situation only gets worse when he’s bailed out by Alpha-elect Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers, her terrifying enforcer and mate. Disappointed that such a promising young werewolf risked exposing them, Elena isn’t expecting anything from the pesky retrieval job except some much-needed alone time with Clay. Instead, she finds a different kind of evil stalking the streets and forests of Westwood, New York. Trapped in town by a snowstorm and sabotage, Elena, Clay and Morgan must find the mysterious threat before it sets its sights on them.
Tez Says 