May 2023 TBR

April was a bit of a funny month which I will detail more in my wrap up post. I didn’t do as well as I hoped but that has not stopped me from planning a highly ambitious May TBR. This month’s theme is High Fantasy. Fantasy that covers countries and the world itself with deep lore and world-building.

Starting off with my 3 choices for my theme:

  • Title: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Vol.1
  • Author: Hayao Miyazaki
  • Series: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind #1
  • Format: Hardback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Science Fantasy


Plot: In a long-ago war, humankind set off a devastating ecological disaster. Thriving industrial societies disappeared. The earth is slowly submerging beneath the expanding Sea of Corruption, an enormous toxic forest that creates mutant insects and releases a miasma of poisonous spores into the air. At the periphery of the sea, tiny kingdoms are scattered on tiny parcels of land. Here lies the Valley of the Wind, a kingdom of barely 500 citizens; a nation given fragile protection from the decaying sea’s poisons by the ocean breezes; and home to Nausicaä . Nausicaä, a young princess, has an emphatic bond with the giant Ohmu insects and animals of every creed. She fights to create tolerance, understanding and patience among empires that are fighting over the world’s remaining precious natural resources.

  • Title: The Burning God
  • Author: R.F. Kuang
  • Series: The Poppy War #3
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Fantasy


Plot (SPOILERS): After saving her nation of Nikan from foreign invaders and battling the evil Empress Su Daji in a brutal civil war, Fang Runin was betrayed by allies and left for dead. Despite her losses, Rin hasn’t given up on those for whom she has sacrificed so much—the people of the southern provinces and especially Tikany, the village that is her home. Returning to her roots, Rin meets difficult challenges—and unexpected opportunities. While her new allies in the Southern Coalition leadership are sly and untrustworthy, Rin quickly realizes that the real power in Nikan lies with the millions of common people who thirst for vengeance and revere her as a goddess of salvation. Backed by the masses and her Southern Army, Rin will use every weapon to defeat the Dragon Republic, the colonizing Hesperians, and all who threaten the shamanic arts and their practitioners. As her power and influence grows, though, will she be strong enough to resist the Phoenix’s intoxicating voice urging her to burn the world and everything in it? 

  • Title: The Fires of Heaven
  • Author: Robert Jordan
  • Series: The Wheel of Time #5
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Fantasy


Plot (SPOILERS): The bonds and wards that hold the Great Lord of the Dark are slowly failing, but still his fragile prison holds. The Forsaken, immortal servants of the shadow, weave their snares and tighten their grip upon the realms of men, sure in the knowledge that their master will soon break free… Rand al’ Thor, the Dragon Reborn, knows that he must strike at the Enemy, but his forces are divided by treachery and by ambition. Even the Aes Sedai, ancient guardians of the Light, are riven by civil war. Betrayed by his allies, pursued by his enemies and beset by the madness that comes to the male wielders of the One Power, Rand rides out to meet the foe.

And then we have my other choices:

For Elantris, I am not sure if this counted as High Fantasy as it is part of the Cosmere but I believe due to it being just set in one city that it doesn’t count as HF.

  • Title: Elantris
  • Author: Brandon Sanderson
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Fantasy


Plot: The capital of Arelon, the home to people transformed into magic-using demigods by the Shaod. But then the magic failed, Elantris started to rot, and its inhabitants turned into powerless wrecks. And in the new capital, Kae, close enough to Elantris for everyone to be reminded of what they have lost, a princess arrives. Sarene is to be married to unite Teod and Arelon against the religious imperialists of Fjordell. But she is told that Raoden, her husband to be, is dead. Determined to carry on the fight for Teod and Arelon’s freedom, Sarene clashes with the high priest Hrathen. If Hrathen can persuade the populace to convert, Fjordell will reign supreme. But there are secrets in Elantris, the dead and the ruined may yet have a role to play in this new world. Magic lives.

  • Title: Magic Has No Borders
  • Editor: Sona Charaipotra & Samira Ahmed
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Fantasy & Sci-Fi


Synopsis: From chudails and peris to jinn and goddesses, this lush collection of South Asian folklore, legends, and epics reimagines stories of old for a modern audience. This fantasy and science fiction teen anthology edited by Samira Ahmed and Sona Charaipotra contains a wide range of stories from fourteen bestselling, award-winning, and emerging writers from the South Asian diaspora that will surprise, delight, and move you. So read on, for after all, magic has no borders.

  • Title: Lies We Sing to the Sea
  • Author: Sarah Underwood
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Fantasy & Romance


Plot: Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope’s twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago. But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand. The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.

  • Title: Yellowface
  • Author: Rebecca F. Kuang
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Contemporary


Plot: Authors June Hayward and Athena Liu were supposed to be twin rising stars: same year at Yale, same debut year in publishing. But Athena’s a cross-genre literary darling, and June didn’t even get a paperback release. Nobody wants stories about basic white girls, June thinks. So when June witnesses Athena’s death in a freak accident, she acts on impulse: she steals Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, an experimental novel about the unsung contributions of Chinese laborers to the British and French war efforts during World War I. So what if June edits Athena’s novel and sends it to her agent as her own work? So what if she lets her new publisher rebrand her as Juniper Song–complete with an ambiguously ethnic author photo? Doesn’t this piece of history deserve to be told, whoever the teller? That’s what June claims, and the New York Times bestseller list seems to agree. But June can’t get away from Athena’s shadow, and emerging evidence threatens to bring June’s (stolen) success down around her. As June races to protect her secret, she discovers exactly how far she will go to keep what she thinks she deserves.

  • Title: Gwen and Art are Not in Love
  • Author: Lex Croucher
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Historical Romance


Plot: It’s been hundreds of years since King Arthur’s reign. His descendant, Arthur, a future Lord and general gadabout, has been betrothed to Gwendoline, the quick-witted, short-tempered princess of England, since birth. The only thing they can agree on is that they despise each other. They’re forced to spend the summer together at Camelot in the run up to their nuptials, and within 24 hours, Gwen has discovered Arthur kissing a boy and Arthur has gone digging for Gwen’s childhood diary and found confessions about her crush on the kingdom’s only lady knight, Bridget Leclair. Realizing they might make better allies than enemies, they make a reluctant pact to cover for each other, and as things heat up at the annual royal tournament, Gwen is swept off her feet by her knight and Arthur takes an interest in Gwen’s royal brother.

April 2023 TBR

March was a hit and miss month for me. On one hand I found some faves but I also read a lot of misses. I am looking forward to a new month and this month’s theme is historical fiction. I have a lot of historical mysteries in this list!

  • Title: Scarlet
  • Author: Genevieve Cogman
  • Series: Scarlet #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Historical Fantasy
  • Time Period: French Revolution


Plot: It is 1793 and the French Revolution is in full swing. Vampires–usually rich and aristocratic–have slaked the guillotine’s thirst in large numbers. The mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel, a disguised British noble, and his League are heroically rescuing dozens of aristocrats from execution, both human and vampire. And soon they will have an ace up their sleeve: Eleanor Dalton. Eleanor is working as a housemaid on the estate of a vampire Baroness. Her highest aspiration is to one day become a modiste. But when the Baroness hosts a mysterious noble and his wife, they tell Eleanor she is the spitting image of a French aristocrat, and they convince her to journey to France to aid them in a daring scheme. Soon, Eleanor finds herself in Paris, swept up in magic and intrigue–and chaos–beyond her wildest dreams. But there’s more to fear than ardent Revolutionaries. For Eleanor stumbles across a centuries-old war between vampires and their fiercest enemy. And they’re out for blood. . . .

  • Title: The Ashes of London
  • Author: Andrew Taylor
  • Series: Marwood and Lovett #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Historical Mystery
  • Time Period: The Great of Fire of London


Plot: The Great Fire rages through the city, consuming everything in its path. Even the impregnable cathedral of St. Paul’s is engulfed in flames and reduced to ruins. Among the crowds watching its destruction is James Marwood, son of a disgraced printer, and reluctant government informer. In the aftermath of the fire, a semi-mummified body is discovered in the ashes of St. Paul’s, in a tomb that should have been empty. The man’s body has been mutilated and his thumbs have been tied behind his back. Under orders from the government, Marwood is tasked with hunting down the killer across the devastated city. But at a time of dangerous internal dissent and the threat of foreign invasion, Marwood finds his investigation leads him into treacherous waters – and across the path of a determined, beautiful and vengeful young woman.

  • Title: Anatomy
  • Author: Dana Schwartz
  • Series: The Anatomy Duology #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Historical Mystery
  • Time Period: Edinburgh 1800’s


Plot: Hazel Sinnett is a lady who wants to be a surgeon more than she wants to marry.  Jack Currer is a resurrection man who’s just trying to survive in a city where it’s too easy to die. When the two of them have a chance encounter outside the Edinburgh Anatomist’s Society, Hazel thinks nothing of it at first. But after she gets kicked out of renowned surgeon Dr. Beecham’s lectures for being the wrong gender, she realizes that her new acquaintance might be more helpful than she first thought. Because Hazel has made a deal with Dr. Beecham: if she can pass the medical examination on her own, the university will allow her to enroll. Without official lessons, though, Hazel will need more than just her books – she’ll need bodies to study, corpses to dissect. Lucky that she’s made the acquaintance of someone who digs them up for a living, then. But Jack has his own problems: strange men have been seen skulking around cemeteries, his friends are disappearing off the streets. Hazel and Jack work together to uncover the secrets buried not just in unmarked graves, but in the very heart of Edinburgh society.

  • Title: Lies We Sing to the Sea
  • Author: Sarah Underwood
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Fantasy
  • Time Period: Ancient Greece


Plot: Each spring, Ithaca condemns twelve maidens to the noose. This is the price vengeful Poseidon demands for the lives of Queen Penelope’s twelve maids, hanged and cast into the depths centuries ago. But when that fate comes for Leto, death is not what she thought it would be. Instead, she wakes on a mysterious island and meets a girl with green eyes and the power to command the sea. A girl named Melantho, who says one more death can stop a thousand. The prince of Ithaca must die—or the tides of fate will drown them all.

  • Title: The Beautiful Ones
  • Author: Silvia Moreno-Garcia
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Historical Romance
  • Time Period: Loosely based 19th Century France


Plot: They are the Beautiful Ones, Loisail’s most notable socialites, and this spring is Nina’s chance to join their ranks, courtesy of her well-connected cousin and his calculating wife. But the Grand Season has just begun, and already Nina’s debut has gone disastrously awry. She has always struggled to control her telekinesis—neighbors call her the Witch of Oldhouse—and the haphazard manifestations of her powers make her the subject of malicious gossip. When entertainer Hector Auvray arrives to town, Nina is dazzled. A telekinetic like her, he has traveled the world performing his talents for admiring audiences. He sees Nina not as a witch, but ripe with potential to master her power under his tutelage. With Hector’s help, Nina’s talent blossoms, as does her love for him. But great romances are for fairytales, and Hector is hiding a truth from Nina—and himself—that threatens to end their courtship before it truly begins. 

  • Title: The Sun and the Void
  • Author: Gabriela Romero La Cruz
  • Series: The Warring Gods #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Historical Fantasy
  • Time Period: Colonial Venezuela


Plot: Reina is desperate. Stuck living on the edges of society, her only salvation lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never known. But the journey is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster. Attacked by creatures that stalk the region, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night.  Eva Kesare is unwanted. Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries her best to be perfect and to hide her oddities. But Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her. Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet, it’s hard to deny power when it has always been denied to you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And, in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined.

  • Title: Final Acts: Theatrical Mysteries
  • Editor: Martin Edwards
  • Series: British Library Crime Classics
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Murder Mystery
  • Time Period: 1900s – 1940s

Plot: Behind the stage lights and word-perfect soliloquies, sinister secrets are lurking in the wings. The mysteries in this collection reveal the dark side to theatre and performing arts: a world off backstage dealings, where unscrupulous actors risk everything to land a starring role, costumes figures lead to mistaken identities, and on-stage deaths being to look a little to convincing…

March 2023 TBR

After another successful month it is time to look ahead with my March TBR! This month’s theme is mystery and I think I have outdone myself with the line up this month! So there is a lot to read but I find that the mystery genre is very fast-paced genre so I get through those books quickly plus I have quite a lot of short books for this month.

Starting off and getting the fantasy books out of the way!

  • Title: Perilous Times
  • Author: Thomas D. Lee
  • Series: N/A
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Contemporary Fantasy


Plot: Being reborn as an immortal defender of the realm gets awfully damn tiring over the years—or at least that’s what Sir Kay’s thinking as he claws his way up from beneath the earth, yet again. Kay fought at Hastings, and at Waterloo, and in both World Wars. After a thousand years, he thought he was used to dealing with a crisis. But now he finds himself in a strange new world where oceans have risen, armies have been privatized, and half of Britain’s been sold to the Chinese. The dragon that’s running amok, that he can handle. The rest? He’s not so sure. Mariam’s devoted her life to fighting what’s wrong with her country. But she’s just one ordinary person, up against a hopelessly broken system. So when she meets Kay, a figure straight out of legend, she dares to hope that the world’s finally found the savior it needs. As the two quest through this strange land swarming with gangs, mercenaries, and talking squirrels, they realize that other ancient evils are afoot. Lancelot is back too–at the beck and call of immortal beings with a sinister agenda. And if their plans can’t be stopped, a dragon will be the least of the planet’s worries. In perilous times like these, the realm doesn’t just need a knight. It needs a true leader. Luckily, Excalibur lies within reach–and Kay’s starting to suspect that the hero fit to carry it is close at hand.

  • Title: Twin Crowns
  • Author: Catherine Doyle & Katherine Webber
  • Series: Twin Crowns #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Fantasy


Plot: Wren Greenrock has always known that one day she would steal her sister’s place in the palace. Trained from birth to return to the place of her parents’ murder and usurp the only survivor, she will do anything to rise to power and protect the community of witches she loves. Or she would, if only a certain palace guard wasn’t quite so distractingly attractive, and if her reckless magic didn’t have a habit of causing trouble… Princess Rose Valhart knows that with power comes responsibility. Marriage into a brutal kingdom awaits, and she will not let a small matter like waking up in the middle of the desert in the company of an extremely impertinent (and handsome) kidnapper get in the way of her royal duty. But life outside the palace walls is wilder and more beautiful than she ever imagined, and the witches she has long feared might turn out to be the family she never knew she was missing. Two sisters separated at birth and raised into entirely different worlds are about to get to know each other’s lives a whole lot better. But as coronation day looms closer and they each strive to claim their birthright, the sinister Kingsbreath, Willem Rathborne, becomes increasingly determined that neither will succeed. Who will ultimately rise to power and wear the crown?

Now moving onto the mystery books!

  • Title: Black Queen
  • Author: Jumata Emil
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Contemporary Thriller


Plot: Tinsley McArthur was supposed to become homecoming queen, just like generations of McArthur women before her. But in a bid for diversity, Lovett High wants a black queen this year and the top contender is the bold and beautiful Nova Albright. Though Tinsley tries to convince her to drop out, Nova isn’t about to step aside for some rich white girl. On homecoming night, drunk and enraged, Tinsley is caught on camera declaring she should have killed Nova. The next morning Lovett High’s first Black homecoming queen turns up dead. Would Tinsley do anything for the crown? Nova’s best friend Duchess certainly thinks so. So when Tinsley asks Duchess for help to clear her name, she agrees. She’s determined to get justice for Nova, even it means befriending a murderer to find proof against her. But their investigation begins to uncover secrets about Nova’s past and one big secret that could change everything in their small town.

  • Title: Promise Boys
  • Author: Nick Brooks
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Contemporary Thriller


Plot: The prestigious Urban Promise Prep school might look pristine on the outside, but deadly secrets lurk within. When the principal ends up murdered on school premises and the cops come sniffing around, a trio of students—J.B., Ramón, and Trey—emerge as the prime suspects. They had the means, they had the motive—and they may have had the murder weapon. But with all three maintaining their innocence, they must band together to track down the real killer before they are arrested. Or is the true culprit hiding among them?

  • Title: Speak of the Devil
  • Author: Rose Wilding
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Contemporary Thriller


Plot: Seven women stand in shock in a seedy hotel room; a man’s severed head sits in the centre of the floor. Each of the women – the wife, the teenager, the ex, the journalist, the colleague, the friend, and the woman who raised him – has a very good reason to have done it, yet each swears she did not. In order to protect each other, they must figure out who is responsible, all while staying one step ahead of the police. Against the ticking clock of a murder investigation, each woman’s secret is brought to light as the connections between them converge to reveal a killer.

  • Title: Tokyo Express
  • Author: Seicho Matsumoto
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Classic Crime


Plot: In a rocky cove in the bay of Hakata, the bodies of a young and beautiful couple are discovered. Stood in the coast’s wind and cold, the police see nothing to investigate: the flush of the couple’s cheeks speaks clearly of cyanide, of a lovers’ suicide. But in the eyes of two men, Torigai Jutaro, a senior detective, and Kiichi Mihara, a young gun from Tokyo, something is not quite right. Together, they begin to pick at the knot of a unique and calculated crime…

  • Title: Murder in Mesopotamia
  • Author: Agatha Christie
  • Series: Hercule Poirot #12
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Classic Crime


Plot: It was clear to nurse Amy Leatheran that something sinister was going on at the Hassanieh dig, something associated with the presence of ‘Lovely Louise’, the wife of the celebrated archaeologist Dr. Leidner. But she couldn’t pinpoint it. In a few days’ time Hercule Poirot was due to drop in at the excavation site. With Louise suffering terrifying hallucinations, and tension within the group becoming almost unbearable, Poirot might just be too late…

Continuing my read-through of Ms Christie’s work!

  • Title: Whose Body?
  • Author: Dorothy L. Sayers
  • Series: Lord Peter Wimsey #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Classic Crime

Plot: The stark naked body was lying in the tub. Not unusual for a proper bath, but highly irregular for murder — especially with a pair of gold pince-nez deliberately perched before the sightless eyes. What’s more, the face appeared to have been shaved after death. The police assumed that the victim was a prominent financier, but Lord Peter Wimsey, who dabbled in mystery detection as a hobby, knew better. In this, his first murder case, Lord Peter untangles the ghastly mystery of the corpse in the bath.

I said I was going to re-read this series! Now here we are!

  • Title: Death on Gokuman Island
  • Author: Seishi Yokomizo
  • Series: Lord Kosuke Kindaichi (Translation Order) #4
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Classic Crime

Plot: Kosuke Kindaichi arrives on the remote Gokumon Island bearing tragic news – the son of one of the island’s most important families has died, on a troop transport ship bringing him back home after the Second World War. But Kindaichi has not come merely as a messenger – with his last words, the dying man warned that his three step-sisters’ lives would now be in danger. The scruffy detective is determined to get to the bottom of this mysterious prophesy, and to protect the three women if he can. As Kosuke Kindaichi attempts to unravel the island’s secrets, a series of gruesome murders begins. He investigates, but soon finds himself in mortal danger from both the unknown killer and the clannish locals, who resent this outsider meddling in their affairs.

I have been told it was loosely inspired by Christie’s And Then There Were None! I have to read it!

February 2023 TBR

Another month, another bunch of books. January was really successful so I am hoping the same for Feb. The theme for this month is Romance! Now it doesn’t specifically be romance novels it can also include books where there are strong romance side plots as well.

  • Title: The Bride Test
  • Author: Helen Hoang
  • Series: The Kiss Quotient #2
  • Format: eBook
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance


Plot: Khai Diep has no feelings. Well, not big, important emotions – like grief. And love. He thinks he’s defective. His family knows better – that his autism means he just processes emotions differently. When he steadfastly refuses to consider a relationship, his mother takes matters into her own hands and returns to Vietnam to find him the perfect bride. As a mixed-race girl living in the slums of Ho Chi Minh City, Esme Tran has always felt out of place. So when the opportunity arises to go to America and meet a potential husband, she can’t turn it down. This could be the break her family needs. Seducing Khai, however, doesn’t go quite as planned. Esme’s lessons in love seem to be working… but only on herself. She’s hopelessly smitten with a man who’s convinced he can never return her affection. As Esme’s time in the United States dwindles, will Khai let his head catch up with his heart? Will he find the strength to let go, and let love in?

  • Title: Once Upon a Broken Heart
  • Author: Stephanie Garber
  • Series: Once Upon a Broken Heart #1
  • Format: Hardback
  • Age Rating: New Adult
  • Genre: Fantasy Romance


Plot: Evangeline Fox was raised in her beloved father’s curiosity shop, where she grew up on legends about immortals, like the tragic Prince of Hearts. She knows his powers are mythic, his kiss is worth dying for, and that bargains with him rarely end well. But when Evangeline learns that the love of her life is about to marry another, she becomes desperate enough to offer the Prince of Hearts whatever he wants in exchange for his help to stop the wedding. The prince only asks for three kisses. But after Evangeline’s first promised kiss, she learns that the Prince of Hearts wants far more from her than she’d pledged. And he has plans for Evangeline that will either end in the greatest happily ever after, or the most exquisite tragedy.

  • Title: Twisted Love
  • Author: Ana Huang
  • Series: Twisted #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance


Plot: He has a heart of ice… but for her, he’d burn the world. Alex Volkov is a devil blessed with the face of an angel and cursed with a past he can’t escape. Driven by a tragedy that has haunted him for most of his life, his ruthless pursuits for success and vengeance leave little room for matters of the heart. But when he’s forced to look after his best friend’s sister, he starts to feel something in his chest: A crack. A melt. A fire that could end his world as he knew it. Ava Chen is a free spirit trapped by nightmares of a childhood she can’t remember. But despite her broken past, she’s never stopped seeing the beauty in the world… including the heart beneath the icy exterior of a man she shouldn’t want. Her brother’s best friend. Her neighbour. Her saviour and her downfall. Theirs is a love that was never supposed to happen – but when it does, it unleashes secrets that could destroy them both… and everything they hold dear.

  • Title: Inuyasha
  • Author: Rumiko Takahashi
  • Series: Inuyasha #1
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: YA
  • Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance


Plot: Kagome is a modern Japanese high school girl. Never the type to believe in myths and legends, her world view dramatically changes when, one day, she’s pulled out of her own time and into another! There, in Japan’s ancient past, Kagome discovers more than a few of those dusty old legends are true, and that her destiny is linked to one legendary creature in particular – he dog like half-demon called Inuyasha! That same trick of fate also ties them both to the Shikon Jewel, or Jewel of Four Souls. But demons beware… the smallest shard of the Shikon Jewel can give the user unimaginable power.

  • Title: This Is How You Lose the Time War
  • Author: Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Sci-Fi & Romance


Plot: Among the ashes of a dying world, an agent of the Commandant finds a letter. It reads: Burn before reading.
Thus begins an unlikely correspondence between two rival agents hellbent on securing the best possible future for their warring factions. Now, what began as a taunt, a battlefield boast, grows into something more. Something epic. Something romantic. Something that could change the past and the future. Except the discovery of their bond would mean death for each of them. There’s still a war going on, after all. And someone has to win that war. That’s how war works. Right?

  • Title: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
  • Author: V.E. Schwab
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Hardback
  • Age Rating: New Adult
  • Genre: Historical/Fantasy Romance


Plot: When Addie LaRue makes a deal with devil, she trades her soul for immortality. But the devil takes away her place in the world, cursing her to be forgotten by everyone. Addie flees her tiny home town in 18th-Century France, beginning a journey that takes her across the world, learning to live a life where no one remembers her and everything she owns is lost and broken. Existing only as a muse for artists throughout history, she learns to fall in love anew every single day. Her only companion on this journey is her dark devil with hypnotic green eyes, who visits her each year on the anniversary of their deal. Alone in the world, Addie has no choice but to confront him, to understand him, maybe to beat him. Until one day, in a second hand bookshop in Manhattan, Addie meets someone who remembers her. Suddenly thrust back into a real, normal life, Addie realises she can’t escape her fate forever.

  • Title: My Killer Vacation
  • Author: Tessa Bailey
  • Series: Standalone
  • Format: Paperback
  • Age Rating: Adult
  • Genre: Contemporary Romance & Murder Mystery


Plot: It was supposed to be a relaxing vacation in sweet, sunny Cape Cod – just me and my beloved brother – but discovering a corpse in our rental house really throws a wrench into our tanning schedule. Now a rude, crude bounty hunter has arrived on the back of his motorcycle to catch the killer and refuses to believe I can be helpful, despite countless hours of true crime podcast listening. Not to mention a fulfilling teaching career of wrangling second graders. A brash bounty hunter and an energetic elementary schoolteacher: the murder-solving team no one asked for, but thanks to these pesky attempts on my life, we’re stuck together, come hell or high tide. I’m just here to do a job, not babysit an amateur sleuth. Although… it is becoming less and less of a hardship to have her around. Sure, she’s stubborn, distracting and can’t stay out of harm’s way. She’s also brave and beautiful and reminds me of the home I left behind three years ago. In other words, the insatiable hunger and protectiveness she is waking up in me is a threat to my peace of mind. Before I sink any deeper into this dangerous attraction, I need to solve this murder and get back on the road. But will fate take her from me before I realize the road has been leading to her all along?