Posted February 23, 2016 by Carmel in Fresh Meat / 3 Comments
Urban Fantasy:
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Born To Be Wilde (Immortal Vegas #3)
by Jenn Stark
Urban Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The past has a way of catching up with you.
If there’s one thing that Tarot-reading magical artifacts hunter Sara Wilde has never been able to track down, it’s the truth about her own past. But now a powerful new threat to the psychic community will take Sara back to where it all began: the last job she worked with Officer Brody Rooks as “Psychic Teen Sariah,” the job that destroyed her life and sent her on the run. Because the enemy she fled all those years ago has returned… with a posse of demons as his personal entourage.
Worse, Sara’s infuriating mentor, the dangerously seductive Magician, is pushing her to stretch her abilities and explore the very deepest reaches of her magic. But every demand draws her further into the spell he’s weaving around her. And every challenge tests her vow to keep him at arm’s length.
From the glittering chaos of Las Vegas to the Lost City of Atlantis, Sara must risk everything in a quest for vengeance that grows darker and more twisted with every step. To succeed she’ll have to face the truth about her past, her abilities…and the impossible, unstoppable attraction she has to the Magician. A truth that will reveal her ultimate role in the war on magic.
Life is full of surprises when you are Born to Be Wilde.[/learn_more] |
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Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)
by Jennifer Estep
Urban Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Which is stronger: blood ties or a battle-tested friendship?
It’s not easy being queen bee of an underworld abuzz with crooks and killers. Wielding my potent Ice and Stone elemental magic will only get me so far—my real secret is my tight-knit makeshift family, a motley crew of cops and criminals, dwarves and playboys. My foster brother Finnegan Lane is my right-hand man, but when his suddenly not-dead relative comes back into the picture, I’m the one on the outside looking in.
It’s funny how life works: one minute your best friend is rock-steady, and the next he’s doe-eyed and buying into this whole loving-relative routine to the point of ignoring you. I’d like to be happy for Finn, I really would. But all of my instincts are telling me that beneath the syrupy sweet demeanor and old-fashioned charm, this sudden interloper is planning something. The whole shtick leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. This person might have avoided the grave once, but I’ll put anyone who hurts Finn in the ground—for good. [/learn_more] |
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Good Girls (Motherless Children #2)
by Glen Hirshberg
Urban Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Reeling from the violent death of her daughter and a confrontation with the Whistler–the monster who wrecked her life–Jess has fled the South for a tiny college town in New Hampshire. There she huddles in a fire-blackened house with her crippled lover, her infant grandson, and the creature that was once her daughter’s best friend, who may or may not be a threat.
Rebecca, an orphan undergrad caring for Jess’s grandson, finds in Jess’ house the promise of a family she has never known, but also a terrifying secret.
Meanwhile, unhinged and unmoored, the Whistler watches from the rooftops and awaits his moment.
And deep in the Mississippi Delta, the evil that spawned him stirs…[/learn_more] |
Paranormal Romance:
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Runaway Vampire (Argeneau #23)
by Lynsay Sands
Paranormal Romance
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Buckle up—the argeneaus are back in a sexy, witty new novel from New York times bestselling author Lynsay Sands
Dante Notte has heard it said that love hurts. He just wasn’t expecting it to run him over in an RV. Still, a punctured lung and broken ribs are nothing compared to the full-body shock he feels whenever he’s near the vehicle’s driver, Mary Winslow. He needs to keep her safe from their pursuers while he rescues his brother. Most challenging of all, he needs to claim this smart, stubborn woman as his life mate.
The naked, injured, insanely gorgeous younger man who clambered into her RV insists they belong together. If Mary wasn’t feeling their incredible connection in every inch of her being, she wouldn’t believe it. But now that the men who took Dante’s twin are after her too, trusting her gut means risking her life for an immortal who’s the very definition of a perfect stranger.[/learn_more] |
Science Fiction / Fantasy:
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Genrenauts Episode
(The Absconded Ambassador #2)
by Michael R. Underwood
Science Fiction
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Fiction is more important than you think. When stories go wrong, the Genrenauts step in to prevent the consequences from rippling into our so-called real world.
When a breach is discovered in Science Fiction World, rookie genrenaut Leah Tang gets her first taste of space flight.
A peace treaty is about to be signed on space station Ahura-3, guaranteeing the end of hostilities between some of the galaxy’s most ferocious races, but when the head architect of the treaty is unexpectedly kidnapped, it’s up to Leah and her new colleagues to save the day.
At any cost.[/learn_more] |
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Alliance (Linesman #2)
by S.K. Dunstall
Science Fiction
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]As the Linesman series continues, linesman Ean Lambert finds himself facing an alien ship he doesn’t understand—and a terrifying political threat he cannot fight…
The lines. The soul of every ship. It was once thought there were only ten, but that was before an alien vessel appeared at the edge of space—before Ean Lambert heard more lines singing. Ean’s ways of communicating with lines is strange. But his abilities make him a valuable tool—or weapon—to command.
Captain Selma Kari Wang has lost everything—her ship, her crew, her legs. But the New Alliance of Worlds is not done with her yet. After they rebuild her broken body, they send her to captain one of the new alien ships, teaming her up with Ean, the only one who can understand the alien lines.
Kari Wang and Ean are poised on the threshold of discoveries that could change the world. But not everyone wants the New Alliance to control the secrets they uncover—and those who oppose won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to stop them…[/learn_more] |
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Version Control
by Dexter Palmer
Science Fiction
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Rebecca Wright has reclaimed her life, finding her way out of her grief and depression following a personal tragedy years ago. She spends her days working in customer support for the internet dating site where she first met her husband. But she has a strange, persistent sense that everything around her is somewhat off-kilter: she constantly feels as if she has walked into a room and forgotten what she intended to do there; on TV, the President seems to be the wrong person in the wrong place; her dreams are full of disquiet. Meanwhile, her husband’s decade-long dedication to his invention, the causality violation device (which he would greatly prefer you not call a “time machine”) has effectively stalled his career and made him a laughingstock in the physics community. But he may be closer to success than either of them knows or can possibly imagine.
Version Control is about a possible near future, but it’s also about the way we live now. It’s about smart phones and self-driving cars and what we believe about the people we meet on the Internet. It’s about a couple, Rebecca and Philip, who have experienced a tragedy, and about how they help–and fail to help–each other through it. Emotionally powerful and stunningly visionary, Version Control will alter the way you see your future and your present.[/learn_more] |
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Through the Veil
by Colleen Halverson
Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Where the fairy tale ends, destiny begins.
Elizabeth Tanner is no Tinkerbell, and her life is no fairy tale. Broke and drowning in student loans, the one thing she wants more than anything is a scholarship from the Trinity Foundation. But after the ancient Irish text she’s studying turns out to be more than just a book, she becomes their prisoner instead. And when Trinity reveals Elizabeth is half-Fae, she finds herself at the center of a plot to save the magical races of Ireland from a brutal civil war.
As Commander of Trinity’s elite warriors, Finn O’Connell isn’t used to having his authority challenged. He doesn’t know whether to punish or protect the infuriating young woman in his custody. When he discovers the Dark Fae want to use Elizabeth’s abilities to control the source of all power in the universe, he’ll risk everything to help her.
At the mercy of Trinity and enslaved to the Dark Fae, Elizabeth finds herself alone on the wrong side of an Irish myth thousands of years in the making. Refusing to be a pawn in their game, Elizabeth has to fight her way back to the man she loves, but to do so, she must wage her own war against the magic that binds her.[/learn_more] |
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A Gathering of Shadows
(A Darker Shade of Magic #2)
by V.E. Schwab
Fantasy
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Four months have passed since the shadow stone fell into Kell’s possession. Four months since his path crossed with Delilah Bard. Four months since Rhy was wounded and the Dane twins fell, and the stone was cast with Holland’s dying body through the rift, and into Black London.
In many ways, things have almost returned to normal, though Rhy is more sober, and Kell is now plagued by his guilt. Restless, and having given up smuggling, Kell is visited by dreams of ominous magical events, waking only to think of Lila, who disappeared from the docks like she always meant to do. As Red London finalizes preparations for the Element Games—an extravagant international competition of magic, meant to entertain and keep healthy the ties between neighboring countries—a certain pirate ship draws closer, carrying old friends back into port.
But while Red London is caught up in the pageantry and thrills of the Games, another London is coming back to life, and those who were thought to be forever gone have returned. After all, a shadow that was gone in the night reappears in the morning, and so it seems Black London has risen again—meaning that another London must fall.[/learn_more] |
Young Adult:
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The Forbidden Wish
by Jessica Khoury
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]She is the most powerful Jinni of all. He is a boy from the streets. Their love will shake the world…
When Aladdin discovers Zahra’s jinni lamp, Zahra is thrust back into a world she hasn’t seen in hundreds of years — a world where magic is forbidden and Zahra’s very existence is illegal. She must disguise herself to stay alive, using ancient shape-shifting magic, until her new master has selected his three wishes.
But when the King of the Jinn offers Zahra a chance to be free of her lamp forever, she seizes the opportunity—only to discover she is falling in love with Aladdin. When saving herself means betraying him, Zahra must decide once and for all: is winning her freedom worth losing her heart?
As time unravels and her enemies close in, Zahra finds herself suspended between danger and desire in this dazzling retelling of Aladdin from acclaimed author Jessica Khoury.[/learn_more] |
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Firstlife (Everlife #1)
by Gena Showalter
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]ONE CHOICE.
TWO REALMS.
NO SECOND CHANCE.
Tenley “Ten” Lockwood is an average seventeen-year-old girl…who has spent the past thirteen months locked inside the Prynne Asylum. The reason? Not her obsession with numbers, but her refusal to let her parents choose where she’ll live—after she dies.
There is an eternal truth most of the world has come to accept: Firstlife is merely a dress rehearsal, and real life begins after death.
In the Everlife, two realms are in power: Troika and Myriad, longtime enemies and deadly rivals. Both will do anything to recruit Ten, including sending their top Laborers to lure her to their side. Soon, Ten finds herself on the run, caught in a wild tug-of-war between the two realms who will do anything to win the right to her soul. Who can she trust? And what if the realm she’s drawn to isn’t home to the boy she’s falling for? She just has to stay alive long enough to make a decision… [/learn_more] |
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Titans
by Victoria Scott
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Ever since the Titans first appeared in her Detroit neighborhood, Astrid Sullivan’s world has revolved around the mechanical horses. She and her best friend have spent countless hours watching them and their jockeys practice on the track. It’s not just the thrill of the race. It’s the engineering of the horses and the way they’re programmed to seem so lifelike. The Titans are everything that fascinates Astrid, and nothing she’ll ever touch.
She hates them a little, too. Her dad lost everything betting on the Titans. And the races are a reminder of the gap between the rich jockeys who can afford the expensive machines to ride, and the working class friends and neighbors of Astrid’s who wager on them.
But when Astrid’s offered a chance to enter an early model Titan in this year’s derby, well, she decides to risk it all. Because for a girl from the wrong side of the tracks, it’s more than a chance at fame or money. Betting on herself is the only way she can see to hang on to everyone in the world she cares about.[/learn_more] |
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Kingdom of Ashes (A Wicked Thing #2)
by Rhiannon Thomas
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Aurora was supposed to be her kingdom’s savior. But when she was forced to decide between being loyal to the crown and loyal to her country, she set events in motion that branded her a traitor.
Now, hunted by the king’s soldiers, Aurora’s only chance of freeing her kingdom from the king’s tyrannical rule is by learning to control her magic. But Aurora’s powers come at a price—one that forces her to leave the only home she’s ever known, one that demands she choose between the man she loves and the people she seeks to protect, and one that will cause her to unravel the mysteries surrounding the curse that was placed on her over a century before . . . and uncover the truth about her destiny.[/learn_more] |
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Dreamfever (Dreamfire #2)
by Kit Alloway
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Finding out that she is the True Dream Walker hasn’t gone at all the Joshlyn Weaver would have expected it to. The only special gift she seems to have is an ability to create archways, which really isn’t that special. In addition to her inability to connect with the Dream, she has also started having nightmares that are so terrible she can’t tell anyone about them. Not even Will.
Just when Josh thought her life couldn’t get any more complicated, the lost dream walker princess returns to claim her parents’ right to the throne, right as the Lodestone party threatens to take control of the government during the upcoming Accordance Conclave.
With the clock running down, Josh must rely on not only her friends, but also her enemies, to stop the radicals from taking power and controlling the Dream. But how can she expect to save everyone else when she’s struggling to pick up the pieces of her own shattered life? [/learn_more] |
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The Power (Titan #2)
by Jennifer L. Armentrout
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]With any great change, there is always strife, and the Covenant University has become the frontline between pure-bloods who want the Breed Order reinstated and the half-bloods who want the right to control their own destinies.
Fate has other plans.
The violence is escalating and war between the races seems inevitable, and it couldn’t come at a worse time. Hyperion may be out of commission, but Josie and Seth know they have only earned a reprieve. Seth must get Josie fully prepared, which means controlling her newfound abilities, and they need to find the other demigods before the Titans do.
But the gods are sensing a greater threat.
Only one thing is more dangerous than a bunch of starved Titans, and that’s an out-of-control Apollyon. The aether in Josie is drawing Seth in deeper, and when lust mixes with love and gives way to power, he knows being close to her is not only dangerous to her, but to everyone around them, but letting her go requires a level of selflessness that just isn’t Seth’s style.
The paths taken in the past are becoming the roads of the future.
Just as chaos breaks out, familiar faces from the past return, complicating the already strained bond between Josie and Seth, and when the danger from the Titans erupts with devastating consequences, the dark allure of power calls to Seth again, but this time Josie might not be able to pull him back.
And when the struggle between power and love becomes the deadliest battleground, there may be no salvation.[/learn_more] |
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Behold the Bones (Beware the Wild #2)
by Natalie C. Parker
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Candace “Candy” Pickens has been obsessed with the swamp lore of her tiny Louisiana town for . . . forever. Name any ghostly swamp figure and Candy will recite the entire tale in a way that will curl your toes and send chills up your spine.
That doesn’t mean Candy’s a believer, however. Even though she and her friends entered the swamp at the start of summer and left it changed, Candy’s the only one who can’t see or feel the magical swamp Shine. She’s also the only one who can’t see the ghosts that have been showing up and spooking everyone in town ever since. So Candy concentrates on other things—real things. Like fighting with her mother and plotting her escape from her crazy town.
But ghosts aren’t the only newcomers in Sticks, Louisiana. The King family arrives like a hurricane: in a blur and unwanted—at least by Candy. Mr. King is intent on filming the rumored ghostly activity for his hit TV show, Local Haunts. And while Candy can’t ignore how attracted she is to eighteen-year-old Gage King and how much his sister, Nova, wants to be friends, she’s still suspicious of the King family.
As Candy tries to figure out why the Kings are really in town and why the swamp that had previously cast her aside now seems to be invading every crack in her logical, cynical mind, she stumbles across the one piece of swamp lore she didn’t know. It’s a tale that’s more truth than myth, and may have all the answers . . . and its roots are in Candy’s own family tree.[/learn_more] |
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Dove Exiled (Dove Chronicles #2)
by Karen Bao
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Phaet Theta is a fugitive.
Hiding in plain sight with her friend Wes’s family on the drowned planet Earth, Phaet discovers the rugged beauty of the world her ancestors once called home. All her life, she’s been taught to fear the “Earthbound,” and their generosity and kindness surprise and touch Phaet.
But when the Lunar Bases attack Wes’s isolated village, Phaet’s past catches up with her, and she’s forced to choose: stay on Earth and fight beside the boy she’s falling for, or stow away on a Moon-bound ship so she can save her brother and sister from the government that killed their mother.[/learn_more] |
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Last Defense
(Lorien Legacies: The Lost Files #14)
by Pittacus Lore
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]When the Garde split up, heading off to New York City and Mexico, Malcolm decided to stay behind in Ashwood Estates, the Mog’s formerly hidden base located near Washington DC. He wanted to search the facility for anything that might help John Smith and the others stop the alien invasion. But once the spaceships descended, that plan went up in smoke.
Before he gets a chance to come up with a plan B, armed soldiers storm the base. As one of the few humans who knows anything about Loric and their war with the Mogadorians, Malcolm is an invaluable asset—and they’ve been tasked with safely escorting him to the president’s secret bunker. With Mogs hot on their trail, though, it’ll be easier said than done. Luckily, Malcolm has some backup in the form of a Chimæra. But even if he makes it to his destination, will Malcolm be able to help what’s left of the government find a way to defeat the Mogs? Or will he be too late? [/learn_more] |
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Well of Witches (The Thickety #3)
by J. A. White
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Kara and Taff know that only Grace Stone has the power to reverse her terrible Last Spell on their father and in order to save him, they have to rescue their foe from the Well of Witches first. Forgiving Grace should be the hardest part of their journey…but soon the children are confronted by creatures called the Faceless, mysteries as old as magic, and an ancient secret that threatens their very lives.
Back in the World, a war against magic is brewing that endangers everyone they care about. Can Kara and Taff find Grace, find their way out of the Well, and make it back to their father in time?[/learn_more] |
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Longbow Girl
by Linda Davies
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]A stunningly exciting and dramatic story set in the wilds of the Welsh mountains, where the brave and beautiful Merry Owen, the Longbow Girl, travels back in time to the autocratic kingdom of King Henry VIII to save her ancestors.
Steeped in history, ancient lore and crackling with tension between the central characters Merry and James, Longbow Girl explores the themes of who we are and who we can become when fighting for those we love and for our very lives. Are we prisoners of our history or can we break free? Can we become all that we need to be to meet the ultimate challenge of life and death in the King’s Tournament and in the dungeons of the Black Castle?[/learn_more] |
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Betrayed (The Arnaud Legacy #2)
by Lynn Carthage
Young Adult
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[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]When Phoebe Irving moved from San Francisco to my English country village, we discovered how much we have in common. We also realized that her family’s home, the Arnaud Manor, has a twisted history that goes back centuries. Though the bloodthirsty Madame Arnaud is finally gone, a trip to the palace of Versailles in France proves that trouble still haunts us. With our friend Eleanor’s help, we’re trying to figure out the Arnaud legacy and our role in it . . . and whether the future holds the chance for Phoebe and me to make a real connection.
Boy meets girl. Obstacles arise. Love conquers all. You know the routine. But sometimes those you trust the most wind up betraying you. . . .[/learn_more] |
Tags: February 2016, Fresh Meat
I picked up Bitter Bite and the new Lucy March on audio. They were my pre-orders this week!
A lot of good-looking releases this week!
I am most looking forward to Runaway Vampire. I can never get enough Of Sands and that COVER!! So SEXY! I plan on reading it over the weekend hopefully so I can’t wait.