This is one busy week in terms of new series hitting the shelves. On the Adult side of things, Coreene Callahan‘s Dragonfire series starts up with the release of Fury of Fire.
Synopsis…
Commander of the Nightfury dragons, BASTIAN leads by example and expects his warriors to follow Dragonkind’s code. Honor is everything, duty no option, but when both dictate he be the first to take a mate and sire a son, Bastian falters. For the woman given into his care is most the extraordinary he’s ever met and even as she steals his heart, he knows birthing his child will take her life.
Nurse practitioner, MYST MUNROE puts herself on the line everyday, pushing past the limits of endurance to bring medical expertise to her patients when they cannot come to her. When a late night home visit turns deadly, she lands in the middle of a battle between two warring factions, dragon-shifters living in secret among humankind. Taken to the Nightfury’s lair, she must decide: return to the life she loves or risk everything to stay with the dragon-shifter who holds her heart.
IVAR, leader of the Razorbacks, hates humankind and the band of warrior dragons who protect them. To break the spell that ties Dragonkind’s fate to that of the humans, every Nightfury must die. When the last one falls, he will have what he needs to wipe the planet clean of an inferior race, and once again be free to roam the earth in dragon form.
It will be followed by Fury of Ice on June 5th, and Fury of Seduction on July 24th.
Another newbie is Kylie Griffin‘s Vengeance Born, the first book in the Light Blade series.
Synopsis…
Annika, half-blood daughter of the Na’Reish King, longs for more than her tormented life among her father’s people. Conceived in hatred and bred as a tool of retribution, she’s gifted with a special talent that can heal as well as destroy.
With the Na’Reish vastly outnumbering them, Kalan, a Light Blade warrior, knows the future of humankind depends on him alone. Incursions into human territory and raids for blood-slaves by the Na’Reish Horde have increased. As Chosen-leader, he faces the task of stopping the demons — and convincing the Council of aging Light Blade warriors that change is necessary for survival.
When Annika learns Kalan is a prisoner in her father’s dungeon, her dream of escape seems within reach. She agrees to free him in exchange for his protection once they reach human territory. Now, marked for death for helping him, Annika must learn to trust Kalan as they face not only the perilous journey to the border but enemies within the Council — and discover a shocking truth that could throw the human race into civil war…
Alliance Forged will follow on July 3rd.
I have been looking forward to this one. Tes Hilaire‘s Deliver Me From Darkness is the first book of the Paladin Warriors series.
Synopsis…
As a powerful vampire, Roland is one of the most feared creatures of the night. He is also a direct descendent of the original twelve Paladins, men gifted with special powers to protect the children of earth. For two hundred years Roland fought alongside his kinsmen to hold back Ganelon’s (the betrayer) army of underworld fiends. Then one of the Paladin sanctuaries is attacked. Dozens of Paladins, including the last female Paladin, are slaughtered, and Roland is turned into a vampire.
Forsaken by his brothers save one, and fighting new instincts for blood and sex, Roland believes his soul lost. His only goal is to hold on to enough humanity to sleep at night. But when his best friend delivers on his doorstep a woman who could be both an undiscovered Paladin and Roland’s bond-mate, all his self-proclaimed codes of decency are challenged.
Karissa Donovan knows the difference between good and evil, and the sexy-as-hell vampire holding her prisoner is certainly not good. Sure, he might not have sucked her dry—yet, sure his best friend is a Paladin who trusts the vampire, but that doesn’t mean she trusts him. Karissa just needs to wait for the opportunity to escape. But when all her attempts are easily thwarted, and her body betrays her by responding to Roland’s advances, Karissa knows she’s in trouble.
Then circumstances force Karissa to put her life in Roland’s hands. With each new danger they face, and each subsequent sacrifice he makes for her, she realizes that the question was never a matter of her trusting him, but of convincing him to trust in the integrity of a soul that he’d never truly lost.
Joey W. Hill moves on from her Vampire Queen series and heads into witch territory with the release of the first Arcane Shot book, Something About Witches.
Synopsis…
Ruby Night Divine is a witch who runs a gun shop. Magic can fail – she knows that first hand, having experienced it with full-blown tragic consequences, far beyond what Dr. Phil can fix. Smith & Wesson is a whole hell of a lot more reliable, and nothing’s as cathartic as the ability to put a few holes in the things that piss you off. Like Derek Stormwind.
A powerful sorcerer, Derek is determined to get to the bottom of why she pushed him away and ran three years before. He also wants her help. A coven needs training to face a demon and his army of minions. Oh sure. It’s amazing what sweet things a guy will offer to get back into a woman’s heart, and into her bed. Only in this case, she knows he never left her heart, and in her bed is exactly where she wants him to be. Unfortunately, her bed’s already made, and she’s close to losing her soul. And not even Smith & Wesson or Derek Stormwind can fix that.
In the Company of Witches will follow on May 1st.
Aaaaand, Katie Reus is starting up her Moon Shifter series this week with the release of Alpha Instinct.
Synopsis…
Ana Cordona has been a strong leader for the lupine shifters who survived after all the males and most of the females in her pack were mysteriously poisoned. As tough as she is, with no Alpha male, the pack is vulnerable to the devious shifter Taggart, who wants to claim both their ranch and Ana as his own. When Connor Armstrong comes back into her life, promising protection, it’s almostenough to make Ana forget how he walked out on her before—and reluctantly accept his offer to mate.
The minute Connor sees Ana again, it reawakens a raw hunger. He must have her for his bondmate—his wolf cries out for it. But his human side knows he must proceed with caution because of their complicated past. If he is to truly have her body and soul, he must go beyond his burning desire and win back her heart. Whatever it takes, he is determined not to leave her side again. But Taggart and his rival pack are not their only enemies. A human element in town is targeting shifters. Their plan not only threatens Ana and Connor’s future, but the lives of the entire pack…
Book two will be called Primal Possession, and should be available on September 4th.
Also new this week is Elisabeth Staab‘s King of Darkness, the starter book of her Chronicles of Yavn series.
Synopsis…
With no time to grieve the loss of his parents, Thad Morgan struggles to take on the role of vampire king while battling evil Wizards and seeking out his destined mate as foretold by a century-old prophecy. But when he meets a sultry party-girl in an after-hours nightclub, he figures fate must have gotten it wrong. They are from entirely different worlds, and he is as infuriated by her stubborn nature as he is drawn to her beauty.
Isabel Anthony is an orphaned vampire who has been estranged from her own kind, masquerading among humans and taking advantage of all their nightlife – and their blood – have to offer. Having found a home in the carefree anonymity of the Florida rave scene, she is forced to flee when Thad’s sudden appearance brings mortal danger to her doorstep. As if that weren’t enough she must also master a newfound ability to freeze things, and help Thad help battle an enemy that threatens to destroy her entire race…a race she never wanted to belong to anyway.
The title of book two will be Prince of Power.
And Jory Strong‘s Inked Magic series begins with the book of the same name.
Synopsis…
Skin didn’t lie to her. It was her gift, sometimes her curse. To feel what others felt. To see the things held in their memories…With the touch of her palms to the skin of a crime victim, San Francisco tattoo artist Etaín can see the faces of the guilty and draw them. Changeling elf but unaware of it, at odds with her police captain father and FBI brother, magic and gift have put her on the path of two compelling men.
Cathal Dunne, the son of an Irish mob boss, needs Etaín’s help finding the rapists who left his cousin for dead. Eamon, a powerful elf lord, is determined to make her his consort-wife. Her gift once made permanence impossible when it came to a lover. Now as she approaches the transition to fully Elven, her survival depends on keeping two. One of the men is willing to share her. The other isn’t—until the search for a sexual predator turns deadly—and only by paying magic’s price will there be any future at all.
For the Young Adult side of things, there are only two new series getting their start. First up is Born Wicked from Jessica Spotswood, from her Cahill Witch Chronicles.
Synopsis…
Everybody knows Cate Cahill and her sisters are eccentric. Too pretty, too reclusive, and far too educated for their own good. But the truth is even worse: they’re witches. And if their secret is discovered by the priests of the Brotherhood, it would mean an asylum, a prison ship—or an early grave.
Before her mother died, Cate promised to protect her sisters. But with only six months left to choose between marriage and the Sisterhood, she might not be able to keep her word . . . especially after she finds her mother’s diary, uncovering a secret that could spell her family’s destruction. Desperate to find alternatives to their fate, Cate starts scouring banned books and questioning rebellious new friends, all while juggling tea parties, shocking marriage proposals, and a forbidden romance with the completely unsuitable Finn Belastra.
If what her mother wrote is true, the Cahill girls aren’t safe. Not from the Brotherhood, the Sisterhood—not even from each other.
The final new release is from Julianna Baggott. Pure is the first book of the series, also called Pure.
Synopsis…
We know you are here, our brothers and sisters . . .
Pressia barely remembers the Detonations or much about life during the Before. In her sleeping cabinet behind the rubble of an old barbershop where she lives with her grandfather, she thinks about what is lost-how the world went from amusement parks, movie theaters, birthday parties, fathers and mothers . . . to ash and dust, scars, permanent burns, and fused, damaged bodies. And now, at an age when everyone is required to turn themselves over to the militia to either be trained as a soldier or, if they are too damaged and weak, to be used as live targets, Pressia can no longer pretend to be small. Pressia is on the run.
Burn a Pure and Breathe the Ash . . .
There are those who escaped the apocalypse unmarked. Pures. They are tucked safely inside the Dome that protects their healthy, superior bodies. Yet Partridge, whose father is one of the most influential men in the Dome, feels isolated and lonely. Different. He thinks about loss-maybe just because his family is broken; his father is emotionally distant; his brother killed himself; and his mother never made it inside their shelter. Or maybe it’s his claustrophobia: his feeling that this Dome has become a swaddling of intensely rigid order. So when a slipped phrase suggests his mother might still be alive, Partridge risks his life to leave the Dome to find her.
When Pressia meets Partridge, their worlds shatter all over again.
Pure will be followed first by Fuse, and then The New After.
As always, in the process of updating the new release pages, I found a few more books that are on the horizon.
