Fresh Meat: February 1-7th Speculative Fiction Releases

Posted February 3, 2015 by Carmel in Fresh Meat / 64 Comments

Paranormal Romance:

The Accidental Dragon
The Accidental Dragon (Accidentals #9)
by Dakota Cassidy
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Firefighter McAllister “Mick” Malone knows he has a protective streak, especially when it comes to his deceased best friend’s sister, Tessa. But after twenty-five years of verbal sparring, Mick can’t help but notice that their recent arguments have started to feel a lot like foreplay. And while Tessa knows exactly what to say to get him going, Mick is thrown for a loop when he actually starts breathing fire.




Antique-store owner Tessa Preston has loved Mick Malone since she was ten years old—not that she’d ever admit it. Fighting with Mick is the only thing keeping her from an embarrassing romantic confession, but when the sexy firefighter accidentally ingests some ancient dragon scales masquerading as powdered aspirin, Tessa finds herself handling something much hotter than long-simmering sexual tension…[/learn_more]


Hunter Reborn (Moon Shifter #5)
by Katie Reus
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Losing her was the hardest thing he’d ever endured….




Warrior shifter Aiden’s investigation of the trafficking of vampire blood leads to a startling discovery: the beautiful vampire bondmate he thought was dead. Decades ago, they’d defied their powerful families to be together, but then Larissa disappeared without a trace. When their mating link broke, it nearly destroyed Aiden. Now she’s back with no memory of where she’s been. Even more shattering—Larissa claims she has no idea who Aiden is.




Now she’s back….




It’s a race against time to bring down an operation more evil than his pack ever suspected, and Aiden finds himself working side by side with a mate who no longer trusts him—and she wants out. But he lost her once, and he won’t let her go again. Unfortunately, Larissa’s blood is the key to a powerful monster’s dangerous plan—and he’ll stop at nothing to destroy her, sparking off a war between the supernaturals and humans that no one will win. [/learn_more]


The Raven (The Florentine #1)
by Sylvain Reynard
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Raven Wood spends her days at Florence’s Uffizi gallery restoring Renaissance art. But an innocent walk home after an evening with friends changes her life forever. When she intervenes in the senseless beating of a homeless man, his attackers turn on her, dragging her into an alley. Raven is only semiconscious when their assault is interrupted by a cacophony of growls followed by her attackers’ screams. Mercifully, she blacks out, but not before catching a glimpse of a shadowy figure who whispers to her . . .




Cassita vulneratus.




When Raven awakes, she is inexplicably changed. Upon returning to the Uffizi, no one recognizes her. More disturbingly, she discovers that she’s been absent an entire week. With no recollection of her disappearance, Raven learns that her absence coincides with one of the largest robberies in Uffizi history–the theft of a set of priceless Botticelli illustrations. When the police identify her as their prime suspect, Raven is desperate to clear her name. She seeks out one of Florence’s wealthiest and most elusive men in an attempt to uncover the truth. Their encounter leads Raven to a dark underworld whose inhabitants kill to keep their secrets . . .[/learn_more]


Overcome (Breeds #6, 13, 15)
by Lora Leigh
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]The Breed Next Door


Lyra thinks her new neighbor looks too good to be true. But Tarek Jordan is even more than he seems: a Breed Enforcer on the run. And even though he wants her, Tarek knows Lyra could get burned—unless she embraces the danger that comes with loving a Breed.




In a Wolf’s Embrace


Matthias and Grace are meant to mate—until he commits an act too shocking to ignore. Grace knew that the hot Breed was dangerous, but now, she fears for her own life. Yet she wonders: could it be part of some insidious plan? For there are forces determined to tear them apart and destroy what’s left of the man within.




A Jaguar’s Kiss


Jaguar Breed Saban Broussard has a job to do: guard the first instructor chosen to teach Breed children. But with just one kiss and his touch, the mating phenomena begins that will tie Natalie Ricci to him forever. Unless a shadow from her past gets them both killed. [/learn_more]


Hunger’s Mate (The Shadow Shifters #5)
by A.C. Arthur
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Half man, half animal, a Shadow Shifter must walk the line between predator and prey, hunger and obsession—to capture the woman he loves…




A natural born hunter proud of his birthright, Ezra Preston agrees to hide his identity and pretend to be human—to learn what his enemies know of his kind. But even undercover, it’s not in his nature to play games with a woman. Especially when he discovers the beautiful creature has been keeping secrets of her own…




This is no ordinary woman he’s stalking but an alluring and mysterious cat thief—with dangerous secrets of her own…




Jewel Jenner has plotted and schemed for months, hiding her knowledge of a top-secret operation to save her ailing father. Captivated by her passion, skill, and courage, Ezra wants to help Jewel on her mission. But when he discovers how far she’s gone—sleeping with the enemy to steal a fortune in diamonds—he must decide if he can trust this enthralling woman with his secret…or trust his fiercest instincts when he’s near her, in Hunger’s Mate by A.C. Arthur[/learn_more]


Jaguar Pride (Heart of the Jaguar #4)
by Terry Spear
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]An impossible mission…
JAG Special Forces agents Huntley Anderson and Melissa Overton are hot on the trail of poachers when they’re suddenly saddled with two jaguar shifter cubs. They have to locate the parents, pronto-but who’s going to babysit in the meantime?




A lifetime of possibilities…


Huntley is a rough, tough jaguar shifter and an all-business agent, but he’s not going to let two abandoned youngsters come to any harm on his watch. Seeing her super-manly partner try to get the playful cubs under control stirs up some unexpected desires in Melissa, and she begins to feel like Huntley’s not the only one who’s in over his head…[/learn_more]


Just in Time for a Highlander
(Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands #1)
by Gwyn Cready
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]For Duncan MacHarg, things just got real…


Battle reenactor and financier Duncan MacHarg thinks he has it made-until he lands in the middle of a real Clan Kerr battle and comes face to face with their beautiful, spirited leader. Out of time and out of place, Duncan must use every skill he can muster to earn his position among the clansmen and in the heart of the devastatingly intriguing woman to whom he must pledge his oath.




Abby needs a hero and she needs him now.


When Abigail Ailich Kerr sees a handsome, mysterious stranger materialize in the midst of her clan’s skirmish with the English, she’s stunned to discover he’s the strong arm she’s been praying for. Instead of a tested fighter, the fierce young chieftess has been given a man with no measurable battle skills and a damnably distracting smile. And the only way to get rid of him is to turn him into a Scots warrior herself-one demanding and intimate lesson at a time.[/learn_more]


Torkel’s Chosen (A World Beyond #1)
by Michelle Howard
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]What would you do if Earth didn’t have enough men?


Would you take a chance and leave the only world you knew behind?


This is the decision Faith Reid faces. Placing all her hope in a new government program, she seizes the opportunity that offers a chance for the women of Earth to find love among the stars, on a world beyond the one they know.




How many times can one man risk rejection?


Would you give up on your dreams?


Torkel Alonson has had enough of being ignored and looked over by females on his adopted home world of Enotia. His pride has suffered and he must accept the painful truth. Females will never choose a male with his evil lineage despite his honorable service to his government’s military.




Can two people looking for the same thing find not just what they want but what they need in one another? [/learn_more]


Windburn (Nightwing #2)
by Juliette Cross
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In the Gladium Province, the boundaries between humans and Morgons, the dragon-hybrid race, continue to blur as a new generation surrenders to long-forbidden temptation…




Sorcha Linden does whatever she wants whenever she wants, and no one can stop her. Least of all a man. After all, they’re good for only one thing—warming her bed. But then she meets Lorian, brother of Lucius Nightwing. Seductive and iron-willed, Lorian is determined to melt her emotional defenses—and warm her rebellious heart.




The beast within Lorian longs to cage Sorcha and mark her as his own. Forever. Yet the man within also longs to protect her. When a stalker starts leaving Sorcha suggestive gifts with cryptic messages bearing an ancient blood cult symbol, Lorian’s dragon side takes over. With her life at stake, Sorcha can no longer deny the love they share. But when evil tracks her into the night, will she be too late to claim it?[/learn_more]


Sentinels: Alpha Rising (Sentinels #7)
by Doranna Durgin
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Time is running out for the Alpha to seduce his reluctant houseguest…




Holly Faulkes’s entire life had been spent in hiding, steering clear of the Sentinels. But now she is their prisoner, kept by Lannie Stewart, an undeniably sexy alpha wolf determined to initiate her into their world. Lannie’s special gift of influence has never failed him, until Holly.




The full-blooded field Sentinel, though, can sense her untapped power. It is a power he is deeply drawn to, a power they all desperately need. For a new enemy has risen, one determined to destroy their kind. Holly can reveal this danger, but only if Lannie can convince her to accept…to embrace…to release, what she really is.[/learn_more]


Wolf Born
by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom
Paranormal Romance
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]One night out of all the centuries changed their lives forever…




Called to the scene of a double murder, police officer Colton Killion finds that the vicious attack by vampires has not only decimated his family, but the trauma from it transforms him into a rare ghost wolf. Now he’s on a life-and-death mission to restore justice. The last thing he needs is a distraction—especially when it comes in the lithe, female form of Lycan Rosalind Kirk.




But Rosalind needs his help as much as he can’t ignore his insatiable attraction to her. For that very attack also infused Rosalind with the spirit of a Banshee…and now Colton is the only being who can protect her from Others. When evil strikes again, Rosalind and Colton must risk everything by crossing a forbidden line…consequences be damned.[/learn_more]



Urban Fantasy:

Edged Blade (Colbana Files #4)
by J.C. Daniels
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]In the year since her life was torn apart, Kit Colbana has slowly rebuilt herself. There’s a promise of hope in the relationship with the alpha of the local shapeshifters and she no longer comes screaming into wakefulness. Life’s not perfect but then again, when was it ever?




When her best friend Justin comes to her for help, there’s little question as to what her answer will be. Witches are disappearing and Justin won’t rest until he has answers. Soon, they learn that it’s not just witches who’ve gone missing, but vampires and shifters, too.




Unlikely alliances are forged as Kit and Justin found themselves drawn into a twisted web of lies and betrayal. As the clock counts down and the culprit behind recent disappearances is revealed, those Kit loves the most become the target of somebody who will kill to protect an ugly secret.




Bonus story: HUNT ME, written by J.C. Daniels’ alter-ego, Shiloh Walker[/learn_more]


Cherry Bomb (Siobhan Quinn #3)
by Kathleen Tierney
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Meet Siobhan Quinn—Half vampire, half werewolf, and retired monster hunter. Or so she thought…




Three years have passed since Quinn turned her back on Providence, Rhode Island’s seedy supernatural underbelly, walking out on Mr. B. and taking a bus headed anywhere. She hoped her escape would give her some peace from the endless parade of horrors. But a dead girl who quarrels with the moon can’t catch a break, and, on the streets of Manhattan, Quinn finds herself caught between a rock and a hard place. Again.




What do you do when you’re stuck in the middle of a three-million-year-old grudge match between the ghouls and the djinn, accidentally in possession of a hellish artifact that could turn the tide of the war, all the while being hunted by depraved half-ghoul twins intent on taking the object and ushering in a terrifying Dark Age?




Especially when you’ve fallen in love with the woman who got you into this mess—and you ain’t nobody’s hero…[/learn_more]


Casually Cursed (Southern Witch #5)
by Kimberly Frost
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Tammy Jo rarely sets a toe outside Texas, but when she learns her mother is in trouble, Tammy is determined to save her—even if it means going to hell and back…




Fresh off her engagement to wizard Bryn Lyons, Tammy Jo is surprised to make another new family connection when she meets the twin sister she never knew she had. After being spirited away to the fae kingdom of Never as an infant, Kismet has finally escaped, and arrived in Duvall, Texas, with some terrible news: their mother, Marlee, is a prisoner of the Seelie fae.




Crossing the ocean to battle the fae isn’t Tammy Jo’s idea of a romantic getaway, but Bryn refuses to let her go alone—as do her aunt Edie and her ex-husband Zach. Unfortunately, their plot to free Marlee is foiled when they are caught by the fae queen. And the only chance the queen gives them to save Marlee’s life may be an impossible quest… [/learn_more]


Ghost Killer (Ghost Seer #3)
by Robin D. Owens
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Something wicked this way comes…




When her aunt died, level-headed accountant Clare Cermak inherited a fortune—as well as a phantom dog and the power to help ghosts move on. Her new gift led her to Zach Slade, a sexy private investigator with a unique psychic gift of his own, and the man who’s slowly opening her heart. But as they work toward building a future together, a sinister threat emerges.




An evil ghost is ravaging Creede, Colorado, threatening to devour the spirit of an innocent boy. Inexperienced in facing such a powerful ghost—and knowing her spirit, too, could be ripped away—Clare still can’t refuse to help. With Zach’s support she uncovers the ghost’s identity, and the ancestral weapon required to slay it. But does Clare dare to use that weapon before the ghost destroys the man she loves—and her own spirit?[/learn_more]


Storm in a Teacup (Ayala Storme #1)
by Emmie Mears
Urban Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Mediator Ayala Storme kills demons by night and handles PR by day. She avoids Mediator luncheons and a fellow Mediator who’s been trying to get in her pants for years. She does her job. She keeps her sword clean and her body count high. But when a rash of disappearances leads her to discover that Nashville’s hellkin are spawning a new race of monster on human hosts, Ayala will be the first line of defense against these day-walking killers. That is, until one of them saves her life. Dodging the Mediators and the demons alike, Ayala’s new knowledge of the hybrids’ free will challenges everything she’s ever known about her job. Racing the clock and trying to outrun her comrades and enemies alike, she’s not sure who will catch her first… [/learn_more]



Sci Fi / Fantasy:

Love in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
by Judd Trichter
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Set in a near-future LA, a man falls in love with a beautiful android—but when she is kidnapped and sold piecemeal on the black market, he must track down her parts to put her back together.




Bad luck for Eliot Lazar, he fell in love with an android, a beautiful C-900 named Iris Matsuo. That’s the kind of thing that can get you killed in late 21th century Los Angeles or anywhere else for that matter – anywhere except the man-made island of Avernus, far out in the Pacific, which is where Eliot and Iris are headed once they get their hands on a boat. But then one night Eliot knocks on Iris’s door only to find she was kidnapped, chopped up, sold for parts.




Unable to move on and unwilling to settle for a woman with a heartbeat, Eliot vows to find the parts to put Iris back together again—and to find the sonofabitch who did this to her and get his revenge.




With a determined LAPD detective on his trail and time running out in a city where machines and men battle for control, Eliot Lazar embarks on a bloody journey that will take him to the edge of a moral precipice from which he can never return, from which mankind can never return.[/learn_more]


City of Savages
by Lee Kelly
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]After the Red Allies turn New York City into a POW camp, two sisters must decipher the past in order to protect the future in this action-packed thriller with a dual narrative.




It’s been nearly two decades since the Red Allies first attacked New York, and Manhattan is now a prisoner-of-war camp, ruled by Rolladin and her brutal, impulsive warlords. For Skyler Miller, Manhattan is a cage that keeps her from the world beyond the city’s borders. But for Sky’s younger sister, Phee, the POW camp is a dangerous playground of possibility, and the only home she’d ever want.




When Sky and Phee discover their mom’s hidden journal from the war’s outbreak, they both realize there’s more to Manhattan—and their mother—than either of them had ever imagined. And after a group of strangers arrives at the annual POW census, the girls begin to uncover the island’s long-kept secrets. The strangers hail from England, a country supposedly destroyed by the Red Allies, and Rolladin’s lies about Manhattan’s captivity begin to unravel.




Hungry for the truth, the sisters set a series of events in motion that end in the death of one of Rolladin’s guards. Now they’re outlaws, forced to join the strange Englishmen on an escape mission through Manhattan. Their flight takes them into subways haunted by cannibals, into the arms of a sadistic cult in the city’s Meatpacking District and, through the pages of their mom’s old journal, into the island’s dark and shocking past.[/learn_more]


Echo 8
by Sharon Lynn Fisher
Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Three lives. Two worlds. One chance to save them all.




As a parapsychologist working for Seattle Psi, Tess has devoted her life to studying psychic phenomena. But when doppelgangers begin appearing from a parallel world that’s been struck by an asteroid, nothing in her training will help her survive what’s to come.




After dislocating to Seattle Psi from the other Earth, Jake is confined by a special task force for study. But when he drains life energy from Tess, almost killing her, it causes a ripple effect across two worlds – and creates a bond neither of them expected.




Ross is an FBI agent ordered to protect Tess while she studies Jake. His assignment is not random – he and Tess have a history, and a connection the Bureau hopes to use to its own advantage. By the time Ross realizes his mission could be compromised, it’s already too late – he’ll have to choose between his love for Tess and his duty to protect the people of his own Earth.[/learn_more]


Karen Memory
by Elizabeth Bear
Science Fiction / Steampunk
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]“You ain’t gonna like what I have to tell you, but I’m gonna tell you anyway. See, my name is Karen Memery, like memory only spelt with an e, and I’m one of the girls what works in the Hôtel Mon Cherie on Amity Street. Hôtel has a little hat over the o like that. It’s French, so Beatrice tells me.”




Set in the late 19th century—when the city we now call Seattle Underground was the whole town (and still on the surface), when airships plied the trade routes, would-be gold miners were heading to the gold fields of Alaska, and steam-powered mechanicals stalked the waterfront, Karen is a young woman on her own, is making the best of her orphaned state by working in Madame Damnable’s high-quality bordello. Through Karen’s eyes we get to know the other girls in the house—a resourceful group—and the poor and the powerful of the town. Trouble erupts one night when a badly injured girl arrives at their door, beggin sanctuary, followed by the man who holds her indenture, and who has a machine that can take over anyone’s mind and control their actions. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, the next night brings a body dumped in their rubbish heap—a streetwalker who has been brutally murdered.
[/learn_more]


Trigger Warning
by Neil Gaiman
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Multiple award winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman returns to dazzle, captivate, haunt, and entertain with this third collection of short fiction following Smoke and Mirrors and Fragile Things—which includes a never-before published American Gods story, “Black Dog,” written exclusively for this volume.




In this new anthology, Neil Gaiman pierces the veil of reality to reveal the enigmatic, shadowy world that lies beneath. Trigger Warning includes previously published pieces of short fiction—stories, verse, and a very special Doctor Who story that was written for the fiftieth anniversary of the beloved series in 2013—as well “Black Dog,” a new tale that revisits the world of American Gods, exclusive to this collection.




Trigger Warning explores the masks we all wear and the people we are beneath them to reveal our vulnerabilities and our truest selves. Here is a rich cornucopia of horror and ghosts stories, science fiction and fairy tales, fabulism and poetry that explore the realm of experience and emotion. In Adventure Story—a thematic companion to The Ocean at the End of the Lane—Gaiman ponders death and the way people take their stories with them when they die. His social media experience A Calendar of Tales are short takes inspired by replies to fan tweets about the months of the year—stories of pirates and the March winds, an igloo made of books, and a Mother’s Day card that portends disturbances in the universe. Gaiman offers his own ingenious spin on Sherlock Holmes in his award-nominated mystery tale The Case of Death and Honey. And Click-Clack the Rattlebag explains the creaks and clatter we hear when we’re all alone in the darkness.




A sophisticated writer whose creative genius is unparalleled, Gaiman entrances with his literary alchemy, transporting us deep into the realm of imagination, where the fantastical becomes real and the everyday incandescent. Full of wonder and terror, surprises and amusements, Trigger Warning is a treasury of delights that engage the mind, stir the heart, and shake the soul from one of the most unique and popular literary artists of our day.[/learn_more]


Master of Plagues (Nicolas Lenoir #2)
by E.L. Tettensor
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Unraveling a deadly mystery takes time—and his is running out…




Having barely escaped the clutches of the Darkwalker, Inspector Nicolas Lenoir throws himself into his work with a determination he hasn’t known in years. But his legendary skills are about to be put to the test. A horrific disease is ravaging the city—and all signs point to it having been deliberately unleashed.




With a mass murderer on the loose, a rising body count, and every hound in the city on quarantine duty, the streets of Kennian are descending into mayhem, while Lenoir and his partner, Sergeant Bran Kody, are running out of time to catch a killer and find a cure.




Only one ray of hope exists: the nomadic Adali, famed for their arcane healing skills, claim to have a cure. But dark magic comes at a price, one even the dying may be unwilling to pay. All that’s left to Lenoir is a desperate gamble. And when the ashes settle, the city of Kennian will be changed forever…[/learn_more]


The Thorn of Dentonhill
by Marshall Ryan Maresca
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Veranix Calbert leads a double life. By day, he’s a struggling magic student at the University of Maradaine. At night, he spoils the drug trade of Willem Fenmere, crime boss of Dentonhill and murderer of Veranix’s father. He’s determined to shut Fenmere down.




With that goal in mind, Veranix disrupts the delivery of two magical artifacts meant for Fenmere’s clients, the mages of the Blue Hand Circle. Using these power-filled objects in his fight, he quickly becomes a real thorn in Fenmere’s side.




So much so that soon not only Fenmere, but powerful mages, assassins, and street gangs all want a piece of “The Thorn.” And with professors and prefects on the verge of discovering his secrets, Veranix’s double life might just fall apart. Unless, of course, Fenmere puts an end to it first. [/learn_more]


The Way Into Darkness
(The Great Way #3)
by Harry Connolly
Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]What was once the Peradaini Empire is now a wasted landscape of burned, empty cities and abandoned farmlands. The Blessing, now more numerous than ever, continues to spread across the continent, driving refugees to the dubious safety of the city walls. Unharvested crops mean that few strongholds have enough provisions to last the winter, although most know the grunts will take them before starvation will.




But hope survives. A piece of stolen magic just might halt the spread of The Blessing if Tejohn and Cazia can find a scholar with the skill to recreate the spell. If such a person still lives.




Unfortunately, they are nearly out of time. The few remaining human enclaves are isolated and under siege. Worse, The Blessing has spread to other sentient creatures. If Cazia and Tejohn are going to strike back at their monstrous enemy, they can not delay.




And there’s another, deeper question left unaddressed: where did The Blessing come from, and why have they invaded Kal-Maddum? [/learn_more]



Young Adult

Dearest (Woodcutter Sisters #3)
by Alethea Kontis
Young Adult / Fantasy
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Readers met the Woodcutter sisters (named after the days of the week) in Enchanted and Hero. In this delightful third book, Alethea Kontis weaves together some fine-feathered fairy tales to focus on Friday Woodcutter, the kind and loving seamstress. When Friday stumbles upon seven sleeping brothers in her sister Sunday’s palace, she takes one look at Tristan and knows he’s her future. But the brothers are cursed to be swans by day. Can Friday’s unique magic somehow break the spell?[/learn_more]


Soulprint
by Megan Miranda
Young Adult / Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Alina Chase has spent her entire life in confinement. With the science of soul-printing now a reality, she is ‘protected’ for her own safety – and the safety of others – because her soul has done terrible things … or so she’s told. When Alina finally breaks out of prison, helped by a group of people with unclear motives, she begins to uncover clues left by her past life that only she can decipher. And she may not be as innocent as she once believed. Can Alina change her future, or is she fated to repeat her past and face the consequences? Perfect for fans of Sophie McKenzie.[/learn_more]


Invaded (Alienated #2)
by Melissa Landers
Young Adult / Science Fiction
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Cara always knew life on planet L’eihr would be an adjustment. With Aelyx, her L’eihr boyfriend, back on Earth, working to mend the broken alliance between their two planets, Cara is left to fend for herself at a new school, surrounded by hostile alien clones. Even the weird dorm pet hates her.




Things look up when Cara is appointed as human representative to a panel preparing for a human colony on L’eihr. A society melding their two cultures is a place where Cara and Aelyx could one day make a life together. But with L’eihr leaders balking at granting even the most basic freedoms, Cara begins to wonder if she could ever be happy on this planet, even with Aelyx by her side.




Meanwhile, on Earth, Aelyx, finds himself thrown into a full-scale PR campaign to improve human-L’eihr relations. Humans don’t know that their very survival depends on this alliance: only Aelyx’s people have the technology to fix the deadly contamination in the global water supply that human governments are hiding. Yet despite their upper hand, the leaders of his world suddenly seem desperate to get humans on their side, and hardly bat an eye at extremists’ multiple attempts on Aelyx’s life.




The Way clearly needs humans’ help . . . but with what? And what will they ask for in return?[/learn_more]


Shadow of the War Machine
(The Secret Order #3)
by Kristin Bailey
Young Adult / Steampunk
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Meg has come a long way from her days as a lowly housemaid, driven to learn the truth behind her parents’ murder. She’s since discovered that they were part of the Secret Order of Modern Amusementists—an underground society of inventors. Determined to reclaim her heritage, she joined the Amusementists as an apprentice, but that hasn’t brought her closer to the man responsible for the loss of her family: the man in the clockwork mask.




Now the man in the clockwork mask is coming for her. But Meg is tired of being hunted and she intends to become the hunter. The truth about her family is out there, and she will find it. With Will, the boy who holds her heart, Meg embarks on an adventure that takes them far from the cold London winter and into the heart of France.




But the City of Light is filled with dark shadows. There’s a plot afoot that could turn the tides of a terrible war, and cost the lives of millions—that is, if it doesn’t take the lives of everyone Meg holds dear, including her own.[/learn_more]


Shutter
by Courtney Alameda
Young Adult / Horror
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat — a girl　who　sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With　an　analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She’s aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera’s technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.




When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain.　As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn’t exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends　will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she’s faced before . . . or die trying.




Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week.[/learn_more]


Beastkeeper
by Cat Hellisen
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Sarah has always been on the move. Her mother hates the cold, so every few months her parents pack their bags and drag her off after the sun. She’s grown up lonely and longing for magic. She doesn’t know that it’s magic her parents are running from.




When Sarah’s mother walks out on their family, all the strange old magic they have tried to hide from comes rising into their mundane world. Her father begins to change into something wild and beastly, but before his transformation is complete, he takes Sarah to her grandparents—people she has never met, didn’t even know were still alive.




Deep in the forest, in a crumbling ruin of a castle, Sarah begins to untangle the layers of curses affecting her family bloodlines, until she discovers that the curse has carried over to her, too. The day she falls in love for the first time, Sarah will transform into a beast . . . unless she can figure out a way to break the curse forever.[/learn_more]


Die Once More (Revenants #3.5)
by Amy Plum
Young Adult
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Jules is a revenant—an undead being whose fate forces him to sacrifice himself over and over again to save human lives. He’s spent the last century flirting his way through Paris and, most recently, falling in love with his best friend’s girlfriend. Loyalty and heartbreak have led him to choose a new life in NYC.




Separated from his friends and his home, Jules is adrift in this dangerous new world, facing unknown enemies . . . until he meets a revenant named Ava. Though the battle for France has been won, an epic war between good and evil has just begun in the Big Apple, and Ava needs Jules’s help to uncover the key to an American victory. Jules finds himself in the same position he crossed an ocean to escape: at risk of losing his immortal existence as well as his heart.[/learn_more]


Island of Shipwrecks (Unwanteds #5)
by Lisa McMann
Middle Grade
[learn_more caption=”Book Description”]Alex and his friends from Artimé are stranded on a newly discovered island after barely surviving a storm that destroys their ship. And it turns out they’re not alone…




Back in Quill, Aaron’s power base grows as he aligns himself with an unlikely ally. Together, the two enact a drastic, risky plan to finally conquer Artimé—a plan that could ultimately leave everyone in both Artimé and Quill in far more danger than Aaron realizes.[/learn_more]



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Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!

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64 responses to “Fresh Meat: February 1-7th Speculative Fiction Releases”

  7. Jenny from Supernatural Snark  

    Wow, this week was a great book week! I will definitely be avoiding Shutter however, that cover is beyond terrifying and I don’t think I’ll be able to make it through the story without nightmares:) Can’t wait to read Invaded though!!!

  15. Lexxie from (un)Conventional Bookviews  

    Am I really weird? The title that still stands out in my head is the one with the Highlander… there’s just something about the Scottish brough and a man in a kilt that gets to me. Every single time 😀
    I really enjoyed Soulprint! Very different kind of premise, about how we should really not judge others, and in this one it gets more complicated because past lives are taken into account as well…
    Lexxie recently posted…Review: Soulprint – Megan Miranda

  20. Karen  

    I love Dakota Cassidy! I think I’ve only read the first two books front hat series but they were a lot of fun.

    I also want to read Beastkeeper. i hear good things.

  26. Kelsey  

    There’s a lot this week! I have Dearest on my library hold list (which honestly keeps growing) and I can’t wait for it to be ready. I’m glad you do these every week!