Now Available for US Pre-Order

Kelley Armstrong: ATONING: 25th March 2015: Buy (US)
Kelley Armstrong: DARKEST POWERS TALES: 26th March 2015: Buy (US)
Kelley Armstrong, John Ajvide Lindqvist, et al: SEIZE THE NIGHT anthology: 6th October 2015: Buy (US)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes: KILLER INSTINCT (paperback): 3rd November 2015: Buy (US)
Jennifer Lynn Barnes: ALL IN: 3rd November 2015: Buy (US)
Jennifer Bosworth: THE KILLING JAR: 12th January 2016: Buy (US)
Amy Rose Capetta: UNMADE (paperback): 12th January 2016: Buy (US)
Mira Grant: CHIMERA: 24th November 2015: Buy (US)
Megan Hart: HOLD ME CLOSE: 24th November 2015: Buy (US)
Colleen Hoover & Tarryn Fisher: NEVER NEVER: PART TWO (paperback): 17th May 2015: Buy (US)
Colleen Hoover: NOVEMBER 9: 10th November 2015: Buy (US)
Dani Worth: ORIGIN (paperback): 7th April 2015: Buy (US)

8th April 2014 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Kelley Armstrong
Sea of Shadows (Age of Legends, Book 1)
HarperCollins (US: 8th April 2014); Hachette Little, Brown Atom (UK & AU: 8th April 2014); Random House Doubleday (CA: 8th April 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
In the Forest of the Dead, where the empire’s worst criminals are exiled, twin sisters Moria and Ashyn are charged with a dangerous task. For they are the Keeper and the Seeker, and each year they must quiet the enraged souls of the damned. Only this year, the souls will not be quieted. Ambushed and separated by an ancient evil, the sisters’ journey to find each other sends them far from the only home they’ve ever known. Accompanied by a stubborn imperial guard and a dashing condemned thief, the girls cross a once-empty wasteland, now filled with reawakened monsters of legend, as they travel to warn the emperor. But a terrible secret awaits them at court – one that will alter the balance of their world forever.

Kristi Helvig
Burn Out
Random House Egmont (US & CA: 8th April 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Most people want to save the world; seventeen-year-old Tora Reynolds just wants to get the hell off of it. One of the last survivors in Earth’s final years, Tora yearns to escape the wasteland her planet has become after the sun turns “red giant,” but discovers her fellow survivors are even more deadly than the hostile environment. Holed up in an underground shelter, Tora is alone – her brilliant scientist father murdered, her mother and sister burned to death. She dreams of living on a planet with oceans, plants, and animals. Unfortunately, the oceans dried out ages ago, the only plants are giant cacti with deadly spines, and her pet, Trigger, is a gun – one of the bio-energetic weapons her father created for the government before his conscience kicked in. When family friend, Markus, arrives with mercenaries to take the weapons by force, Tora’s fury turns to fear when government ships descend in an attempt to kill them all. She forges an unlikely alliance with Markus and his rag-tag group of raiders, including a smart but quiet soldier named James. Tora must quickly figure out who she can trust, as she must choose between saving herself by giving up the guns or honouring her father’s request to save humanity from the most lethal weapons in existence.

Marie Lu
Prodigy (Legend, Book 2)
Penguin (US & CA: 8th April 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
June and Day arrive in Vegas just as the unthinkable happens: the Elector Primo dies, and his son Anden takes his place. With the Republic edging closer to chaos, the two join a group of Patriot rebels eager to help Day rescue his brother and offer passage to the Colonies. They have only one request – June and Day must assassinate the new Elector. It’s their chance to change the nation, to give voice to a people silenced for too long. But as June realises this Elector is nothing like his father, she’s haunted by the choice ahead. What if Anden is a new beginning? What if revolution must be more than loss and vengeance, anger and blood – what if the Patriots are wrong?

Saundra Mitchell
The Elementals (The Vespertine, Book 3)
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (8th April 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
Kate Witherspoon has lived a bohemian life with her artist parents. In 1917, the new art form of the motion picture is changing entertainment – and Kate is determined to become a director. Meanwhile, midwestern farm boy Julian Birch has inherited the wanderlust that fueled his parents’ adventures. A childhood bout with polio has left him crippled, but he refuses to let his disability define him. Strangers driven by a shared vision, Kate and Julian set out separately for Los Angeles. When they finally meet, the teenage runaways realise their true magical legacy: the ability to triumph over death, over time. But as their parents before them learned, all magic comes with a price.

Dani Worth
Origin (Kithran Regenesis, Book 4)
Samhain (US: 8th April 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
After fourteen torturous years as a slave on a galaxy roving entertainment ship, Siri carries only vague memories of parents who loved her, Gwinarian food, and her beautiful home planet of Kithra. When two space pirates burst into her owner’s room, the choice they offer her is all too easy: stay and face government questioning about the two intruders, or take a chance and go with them. Claybourne and Anders had planned to help expose the pleasure ship owner’s involvement in Kithra’s destruction. But when they happen upon Siri, saving one of the last – and most beautiful – of the Gwinarian race takes precedence. Siri tastes freedom long denied…and temptation to succumb to the deep sexual tension vibrating between her and her two liberators. Clay and Anders take pleasure in letting her take the lead in rediscovering the power of intimacy. But there are more secrets to uncover, and Siri senses that the closer they come to the truth, the closer she comes to the most painful choice of all – to let her pirate lovers go.

April 2014 Releases

Done with March 2014 Releases? Here are April 2014 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Josephine Angelini: TRIAL BY FIRE: 2nd September 2014: Buy (US)
Lenore Appelhans: CHASING BEFORE: 26th August 2014: Buy (US)
Megan Crewe: EARTH & SKY: 28th October 2014: Buy (US)
Bailey Cunningham: PATH OF SMOKE: 29th July 2014: Buy (US)
Claire Delacroix: ABYSS: Buy (US)
Christina Farley: SILVERN: 23rd September 2014: Buy (US)
Becca Fitzpatrick: BLACK ICE: 7th October 2014: Buy (US)
Stefanie Gaither: FALL THE SHADOW: 16th September 2014: Buy (US)
Teri Hall: THE CORRIDOR: Buy (US)
Erica Hayes et al: MY BLOODY VALENTINE: Buy (US)
Colleen Hoover: FINDING CINDERELLA (paperback): 18th March 2014: Buy (US)
Caitlin Kittredge: BLACK DOG: 28th October 2014: Buy (US)
Karsten Knight: AFTERGLOW (paperback): 4th November 2014: Buy (US)
R. C. Lewis: STITCHING SNOW: 14th October 2014: Buy (US)
Kelly Meade: GRAY BISHOP: 21st October 2014: Buy (US)
Tara Moss: THE FICTIONAL WOMAN: 1st June 2014: Buy (US)
Dani Worth: ORIGIN: 8th April 2014: Buy (US)

14th January 2014 Releases

Happy Release Day to:

Megan Crewe
The Lives We Lost (Fallen World, Book 2)
Disney-Hyperion (US: 14th January 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA) Buy (Worldwide)
First, the virus took Kaelyn’s friends, then her family, and now it’s spread beyond her island. The only thing people know for sure is that no one is safe. But when Kaelyn finds samples of a vaccine hidden in her father’s abandoned laboratory, she knows there’s only one option: seek out someone who can replicate it. As Kaelyn and her friends head to the mainland, carrying with them hopes for a cure, they face greater challenges than they ever could have imagined. Not everyone they meet wants Kaelyn to succeed – and many simply want her dead and the vaccine for themselves. With the chance of finding help slipping away, will Kaelyn be forced to sacrifice those she loves in order to rescue the human race?

Dani Worth
Sole Survivors (Crux Survivors, Book 2)
Samhain (US: 14th January 2014)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)
Chase Hawthorne is on the run from a ghost. The shooting that took his little sister and scarred Chase’s face and body has left far deeper scars on his brother Tripp’s soul. Driven to pull up stakes and head for the most haunted place in Louisiana, Chase hopes to prove to Tripp there is no ghost of his twin beckoning from the afterlife. When he comes upon a young woman fighting off raiders, Chase doesn’t hesitate to help the first female he’s seen in years. And he tries to ignore his instant attraction, hoping Tripp will feel it, too – and emerge from his frightening depression. Keera has been alone too long, and Chase makes her feel things she never thought she’d feel again. Tripp may be the needier brother, but it’s Chase she wants. Scars and all. But letting people too close comes with risks. And as they are drawn into the search for a young man’s family, both must accept the possibility that there’s more to life – and love – than simple survival.

January 2014 Releases

Done with December 2013 Releases? Here are January 2014 Releases. For future releases, check Reading Wishlist.

Now Available for US Pre-Order

Kelley Armstrong: VISIONS: 19th August 2014: Buy (US)
Rachel Caine: DAYLIGHTERS (paperback): 1st April 2014: Buy (US)
Francesca Haig: THE FIRE SERMON: 4th February 2015: Buy (UK)
Kim Harrison: THE UNDEAD POOL (paperback): 29th July 2014: Buy (US)
Megan Hart & Sarah Morgan: TANGLED UP: 27th May 2014: Buy (US)
Herman Koch: SUMMER HOUSE WITH SWIMMING POOL: 3rd June 2014: Buy (US)
Nichola Reilly: DROWNED: 24th June 2014: Buy (US)
Kat Richardson: REVENANT: 5th August 2014: Buy (US)
Anna Schumacher: END TIMES: 20th May 2014: Buy (US)
Jessica Spotswood: SISTERS’ FATE: 14th August 2014: Buy (US)
Laurie Faria Stolarz: WELCOME TO THE DARK HOUSE: 22nd July 2014: Buy (US)
Susanne Winnacker: IMPOSTOR (paperback): 29th May 2014: Buy (US)
Dani Worth: SOLE SURVIVORS: 14th January 2014: Buy (US)

6 New Covers (Armstrong, Jones, Mead, Schumacher, Worth)

8 New Covers (Brody, Lunetta, McGarry, Quinn, Ryan, Stolarz, Worth, Yovanoff)

[REVIEW] Kithra – Dani Worth

Dani Worth
Kithra (Kithran Regenesis, Book 1)
Samhain (US: 8th November 2011)
Buy (US) Buy (UK) Buy (CA)

A certain piece of writing advice received years ago: Can the story work without the sci-fi/fantasy setting? Then don’t bother making it sci-fi/fantasy. Those weren’t the exact words used, but it pretty much sums up my beefs with this novella.

-If setting a story in the far-future, with different planets and whatnot, DON’T make a contemporary pop culture reference. (In this case, Lex Luthor.)

-Heroine doesn’t do exclusive relationships? She’s in romance fiction; of course she does.

-If your story is basically “sex in space”, don’t be surprised when readers are left feeling, “Is that it?” That kind of space-hornyness is expected from “Peterotica”, but not from professional authors.

-If there are aliens, it’s not believable that they’re all humanoid. (But of course they are in fiction, so they can be rooted.)

-Heroine thinks she’s pretty? She has two handsome males who want to root her in a consensual way – that means they think she’s boneriffic. (Or there’s no other cootch within the living quarters.)

-If the sci-fi stuff is actually interesting (such as the Kithran regenesis), ACTUALLY FOCUS ON THAT. Because the relationship between Lux, Kol, and Egan totally could’ve been set on Earth, with war-torn countries or natural disasters or whatever.

Yeah, so I’m all ranty right now. Maybe because I recently saw Gravity, so any other space story is likely to suffer in comparison – especially this one, as it turns out.

But you know what will bring back my sense of humour? Upon starting Kithra, I realised that the three main characters are a spaceship captain, a geologist, and an alien. And because most of my TV viewing is animated, you know who I imagined:

(Images from here, here, and here.)