Ruthless by Carolyn Lee Adams

Ruth Carver has always competed like her life depends on it. Ambitious. Tough. Maybe even mean. It’s no wonder people call her Ruthless. When she wakes up with a concussion in the bed of a moving pickup truck, she realizes she has been entered into a contest she can’t afford to lose.

At a remote, rotting cabin deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Ruth’s blindfold comes off and she comes face-to-face with her captor. A man who believes his mission is to punish bad girls like Ruth. A man who has done this six times before. The other girls were never heard from again, but Ruth won’t go down easy. She escapes into the wilderness, but her hunter is close at her heels. That’s when the real battle begins, and Ruth must decide just how far she’ll go to survive.

Buddy the Knight and the Queen of Sorrow by Peter David

Buddy is no ordinary teddy bear.

He’s a Knight, crafted by The Nameless Wizard himself, and sworn to protect his Person, 10-year old Mieya, from all the Things-That-Go-Bump-In-The-Night.

When Mieya is cursed into a magical sleep, it’s up to Buddy and his friends Esteban the Bard, Sasha the Warrior-Princess, and Copper the Butterfly to journey across The Realm-Under-The-Bed and find the one responsible.

But this is no ordinary Quest. The Realm is a dangerous place, filled with jungles, deserts, lightning storms, and Monsters. But worst of all is The Queen of Sorrow who waits for them in her dark castle in the crags. To break her curse, Buddy will need more than his skill with a blade, Esteban’s witty songs, or Sasha’s ferocious might.

He’ll need Heart.

Happy #BookBirthday! 27 Feb, 2025

Happy Thursday! This week there are THREE books on our lists publishing!

HomeGrown Magic by Rebecca Podos and Jamie Pacton

Yael Clauneck is the only scion of an obscenely wealthy banking family with its fingers in every pie in the realm. They’re on the precipice of a predetermined life when they flee their own graduation party, galloping away in search of…well, they’re not sure, but maybe the chance to feel like life can still be a grand adventure.

Margot Greenwillow—talented plant witch, tea lover, and greenhouse owner—has never felt further from adventure in her life. She’s been desperately trying to keep what remains of her family's magic remedies business afloat. So when her childhood friend and former crush, Yael, rides back into her life, she’s shocked. But perhaps this could be a good thing. After all, Margot could use an assistant in the greenhouses.

Yael has no experience or, honestly, practical skills, but they’re delighted to accept. They can lay low for a while, flirting with Margot while they figure out what to do next. Meanwhile, Margot has plans of her own—but plans are notoriously unreliable things, unlikely to survive a swiftly blooming mutual attraction, not to mention the machinations of parents determined to get their heir back . . . no matter the cost.

The Dandelion Riots by Kim Smejkal

Enter a broken world in which girls are cursed at birth with terrible powers . . .

Set in a world which is governed in a draconian way by witches who maintain their power by curses girls at birth, this exciting novel deals with finding your power, relying on friendship and recognising the healing power of love.

Drinn’s curse is the worst yet for should she fall in love the world will be beset by unimaginable disaster. When she escapes the captivity she has been kept in and finds refuge in the city she joins forces with other cursed girls to battle the evil put in place by the witches. With each day bringing her closer to unleashing the full power of her curse can Drinn and her friends change the course of what has been determined for her?

This page turning, nail-biting adventure is fresh new teen romantic fantasy that relishes the power of girls and celebrates the ultimate life-giving power of love and friendship. With its surprising enemies to lovers storyline and ambitious fantasy world, this book is sure to delight fans of Samantha Shannon and Stephanie Garber.

Solo by Gráinne O'Brien

A YA verse novel about first love and friendship, lost and found.

Daisy can feel like a solo act at home. On the outside of her twin brothers' intense relationship, she leans towards her parents, particularly her father, for support. As a passionate classical musician, she is not wildly popular at school, but she has one close friend and a life filled with musical performance. Her life is turned upside down when her boyfriend suddenly breaks up with her, and Daisy is left disconnected from her one true love, music.

When she makes a new friend at school, mysterious Flora, Daisy finds a glimmer of peace in her chaotic life. Just as everything seems to be getting better, they all fall apart. Family tensions heighten as Daisy's dad falls ill and Daisy needs to decide should she find her way back to who she was or look towards who she is going to become.

The Wilde Trials by Mackenzie Reed

From the acclaimed author of The Rosewood Hunt comes a thrilling new standalone mystery (with romance!), following a high school senior who’s forced to team up with her brooding ex to survive their elite school’s high stakes wilderness competition.

Chloe Gatti is about to graduate from an elite boarding school and attend her top-choice university—but none of it matters if she can’t save her sister from a rare diagnosis that requires access to specialty doctors her family can’t afford. But Chloe can get the money if she wins the Wilde Trials. Each year, a dozen seniors are chosen to compete in seven ultimate tests, and the champion takes home over half a million dollars.

Chloe will do whatever it takes to win. But her competition is fierce, including her brooding ex-boyfriend Hayes Stratford, whose brother was the only student to ever die in the trials. When someone starts sabotaging and blackmailing Chloe, she’s forced to strike a deal with Hayes—if he helps her find out who’s sabotaging her, she’ll help him uncover the mystery surrounding his brother’s death.

Putting their strained history on hold, Chloe and Hayes piece together the clues Hayes’s brother left behind, leading them to discover that something isn’t right about the Wilde Trials. As they near the truth and the end of the competition, with a lifechanging prize hanging over their heads and no idea who to trust, Chloe will have to decide what’s really worth fighting for, and if the cost of competing outweighs the potential consequences, even if that includes ending up like Hayes’s brother—dead.

Happy #BookBirthday! 20 Feb, 2025

Happy Thursday! This week there are TWO books on our lists publishing!

How to Survive a Slasher by Justine Pucella Winans

There’s a reason CJ Smith’s hometown of Satterville is known as Slasherville: it was the site of not one, but two Friday the 13th-style massacres. CJ’s dad survived the first attack; only CJ survived the second. And thanks to the mysterious writer Moon Satter’s bestselling novels based on the events, the town—and CJ—will always be defined by this horrific past.

Then a new, unpublished Moon Satter manuscript shows up addressed to CJ. But unlike the others, this story isn’t about the past. Instead, it predicts new murders. On the day the book says the first murder will occur, CJ sets out to stop it. But in saving one classmate, the final girl ends up dead. CJ and their friends have suddenly gone from extras to leads—and they’ll have to use everything they know about the rules of horror to make it out alive.

Beasts by Ingvild Bjerkeland

From Norway comes an international horror hit that is shudderingly terrifying and deliciously original.

The world has been overrun by hitherto unknown beasts. Society has collapsed: the power is gone, cars are abandoned across the highways, and anyone left is hiding from the terrifying creatures -- and one another. Thirteen-year-old Abdi and his five-year-old sister Alva are on the run, their last hope to escape through the forest and to the sea. As they recall the strange events that led to the beasts' arrival, and how the two of them got to where they were, they must ask themselves who they can trust -- and what they will do to survive.

My Dog by Olivia Wakefield

Ten-year-old Rhys really loves dogs. When he finds a lost black Labrador with big conker eyes and ears like soft velvet, he can’t quite believe his luck. Nobody comes forward to claim Worthington, giving Rhys the perfect opportunity to prove he’s a good owner. But when Rhys moves to London to live with his estranged dad who hates dogs, Rhys decides to keep Worthington secret.

Struggling to connect with his dad in a new city, Rhys takes comfort in Worthington. But he soon discovers that looking after a secret dog is anything but easy, and he knows that before long he’ll have to confront his fears and find a way to tell Dad…

Phenomenally moving and beautifully written, My Dog shows us that accepting the present doesn’t mean forgetting the past – in a story that will live with you for ever.

Giant by Judith McQuoid

Davy, a working-class boy living in East Belfast in 1908, is sent to work at the wealthy Lewis household. When he meets Jacks – the name by which CS Lewis was known to friends and family – Davy is captivated by his friend’s world of books and stories. Together the boys plunge into imagining and adventuring, and Davy discovers his own artistic talent.

But when Davy is offered a job at the shipyard, and Jacks’s mother falls gravely ill, their wondrous days of make-believe seem numbered. Will they lose their extraordinary shared world forever?

Happy #Bookbirthday! 13th Feb, 2025

Happy Thursday! This week there are EIGHT books on our lists publishing!

Under Fire by Gabrielle Prendergast

Sixteen-year-old Poppy doesn’t mind responsibility.

So when Poppy's widowed dad leaves her and her brother while he helps fight a distant wildfire, she’s confident she can manage. Her brother Jed has a disability and sometimes needs support, but there’s plenty to keep them both busy around the house and the farm. They’ll be fine. Then the wind changes and the wildfire heads straight for the farm. With no word from their dad, Poppy and Jed know they should get to safety, but what will they do with the farm animals? As the air fills with smoke and flames flicker on the horizon, Poppy and Jed must gather their unlucky collection of animals and make a desperate escape.

Young Love by Suzanne Ewart

Kelsey and Lewis have been best friends for ten years before, finally, he kisses her for the first time …

And leaves for a job in New York the next day.

Counting down the days until he comes back to Liverpool, Kelsey busies herself with a new job, a handful of forgettable dates and awkward, weekly catch-ups with her mum. Then the days turn into months. And the months turn into a year. But that’s OK: all great love stories have bumps in the road. Right?

But something happened to Lewis on the night of their first kiss which changed everything. And when Kelsey learns the devastating truth, she has to make a choice. Should she keep pushing for her happy or give up on the love she thought would last forever?

Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris

Saved! meets Casey McQuiston in this wry, heartfelt tale of a teen who's taking her church camp by storm—one deadly sin at a time.

Riley quietly left church a year ago when she realized there was no place for a bi girl in her congregation. But it wasn’t until the pastor shunned her older sister for getting an abortion that she really wanted to burn it all down.

It’s just her luck, then, that she’s sent to the principal’s office for slapping a girl talking smack about her sister—and in order to avoid suspension, she has to spend spring break at church camp. The only saving grace is that she’ll be there with her best friend, Julia. Even if Julia’s dad is the pastor. And he’s in charge of camp. But Riley won’t let a technicality like “repenting” get in the way of her true mission. Instead of spending the week embracing the seven heavenly virtues, she decides to commit all seven deadly sins. If she can show the other campers that sometimes being a little bad is for the greater good, she could start a righteous revolution! What could possibly go wrong? Aside from falling for the pastor’s daughter . . .

Isle of Ever by Jen Calonita

She has only two weeks to play the game and find the island. If she's successful, she'll break a two-hundred-year-old curse. If she fails, the fortune will be forfeited. And if she's not careful, she'll cross paths with someone else who is after the island's secrets, and who will stop at nothing to get them. Because, as it turns out, there's far more than a fortune at stake.

Days after her twelfth birthday, Everly "Benny" Benedict learns she's the heir to a fortune! But to collect the inheritance, she first has to play--and win--a game. Following clues that her ancestor left, Benny must locate a small island that vanished long ago, according to legend.

Bestselling and beloved author Jen Calonita delivers the first in a brand new series featuring a girl who will inherit a mysterious fortune if she can break a centuries-old curse!

Happy #BookBirthday! 6 Feb 25

Happy Thursday! This week there are FIVE books on our lists publishing!

Swordheart by T Kingfisher

Halla has unexpectedly inherited the estate of a wealthy uncle. Unfortunately, she is also saddled with money-hungry relatives full of devious plans for how to wrest the inheritance away from her.

While locked in her bedroom, Halla inspects the ancient sword that's been collecting dust on the wall since before she moved in. Out of desperation, she unsheathes it—and suddenly a man appears. His name is Sarkis, he tells her, and he is an immortal warrior trapped in a prison of enchanted steel.

Sarkis is sworn to protect whoever wields the sword, and for Halla—a most unusual wielder—he finds himself fending off not grand armies and deadly assassins but instead everything from kindly-seeming bandits to roving inquisitors to her own in-laws. But as Halla and Sarkis grow closer, they overlook the biggest threat of all—the sword itself.

The Private Jet by Sarah Goodwin

Glitz, glamour, and a deadly game at 30,000 feet…

THE HIGHER YOU FLY…

In the dazzling lights of Thailand, socialite Lila Wilde is ready for the best night of her life. When her fame-hungry DJ boyfriend proposes in an exclusive nightclub, Lila impulsively invites a mix of celebrities and strangers to continue the celebrations back at her luxurious villa — only a short flight away over the lush Thai jungle.

THE HARDER YOU FALL.

The mood on Lila's private jet is electric, pulsing with music, champagne, and the promise of an unforgettable afterparty. But as the plane cuts through the night sky, excitement turns to tension. And when the lights suddenly go out, a sinister new game begins. Trapped at 30,000 feet, secrets unravel, trust shatters, and the party turns truly deadly.

Fasten your seatbelt — this is a ride you won’t forget.

Rule of Extinction by Geoff Jones

A civilization-ending comet is headed for Earth.

Two days before impact, thousands of mysterious pods land in a swath across North America. When people touch them, the pods open. Anyone who climbs inside is carried away.

No one knows where the pods came from and no one knows where they go, but finding one is David Williams’ only chance to save his family from the end of the world.

… and escaping Earth is just the beginning.

The Manual for Good Wives

Everything about Adeline Copplefield is a lie . . .

To the world Mrs Copplefield is the epitome of Victorian propriety: an exemplary society lady who writes a weekly column advising young ladies on how to be better wives.

Only Adeline has never been a good wife or mother; she has no claim to the Copplefield name, nor is she an English lady . . .

Now a black woman, born in Africa, who dared to pretend to be something she was not, is on trial in the English courts with all of London society baying for her blood. And she is ready to tell her story . . .