If you’re new to Hide Your Wallet, this is where we list new releases we’re pretty excited for in the coming month.
Each reviewer has a book maximum (five per person), but we’ve separated HYW into two parts. The first HYW of the month will cover books that release from the 1st to the 14th. The second HYW will cover books released from the 15th to the end of the month.
We also think this will help us feature books from smaller publishers who don’t have buy links up as quickly as the big five.
As always, if we missed any books that you’re particularly looking forward to, tell us all about them in the comments.I adored the first book in this series, which was a combination political thriller, queer romance, and scathing commentary on colonialism and cultural domination. Can’t wait to see where she takes it next!
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A Desolation Called Peace
Author: Arkady Martine
Released: March 2, 2021 by Tor Books
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Teixcalaan #2An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it, no one can destroy it, and Fleet Captain Nine Hibiscus is running out of options.
In a desperate attempt at diplomacy with the mysterious invaders, the fleet captain has sent for a diplomatic envoy. Now Mahit Dzmare and Three Seagrass—still reeling from the recent upheaval in the Empire—face the impossible task of trying to communicate with a hostile entity.
Whether they succeed or fail could change the fate of Teixcalaan forever.
AJ: I adored the first book in this series, which was a combination political thriller, queer romance, and scathing commentary on colonialism and cultural domination. Can’t wait to see where she takes it next!
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Accidentally Engaged
Author: Farah Heron
Released: March 2, 2021 by Forever
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceReena Manji doesn’t love her career, her single status, and most of all, her family inserting themselves into every detail of her life. But when caring for her precious sourdough starters, Reena can drown it all out. At least until her father moves his newest employee across the hall–with hopes that Reena will marry him.
But Nadim’s not like the other Muslim bachelors-du-jour that her parents have dug up. If the Captain America body and the British accent weren’t enough, the man appears to love eating her bread creations as much as she loves making them. She sure as hell would never marry a man who works for her father, but friendship with a neighbor is okay, right? And when Reena’s career takes a nosedive, Nadim happily agrees to fake an engagement so they can enter a couples video cooking contest to win the artisan bread course of her dreams.
As cooking at home together brings them closer, things turn physical, but Reena isn’t worried. She knows Nadim is keeping secrets, but it’s fine— secrets are always on the menu where her family is concerned. And her heart is protected… she’s not marrying the man. But even secrets kept for self preservation have a way of getting out, especially when meddling parents and gossiping families are involved.
Catherine: I really liked The Chai Factor, and this book has BAKING in it and you know how I feel about that. So I’m very excited about this one!
Sneezy: This book was so warm and loving and fun and plonked me right into the Bad Decisions Book Club, and I’m so excited for everyone to read this!!!
Aarya: Excited for Reena’s story since she was so memorable in The Chai Factor!
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All Consuming
Author: Jaci Burton
Released: March 2, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: Brotherhood by Fire #3A sizzling new romance about a firefighter who reunites with an old flame and tries to rekindle the passion they once felt, by New York Times bestselling author Jaci Burton.
When firefighter Kal Donovan transfers to the Tactical Rescue Team, he’s determined to succeed by giving work one hundred percent of his attention. This proves more difficult at his ten-year high school reunion when he runs into Hannah Clark, his first love. She’s still the smart, funny, beautiful girl he loved in high school, but everything has changed. She’s divorced, has a son, and has zero interest in exploring an old romance.
Hannah has moved back home after a disastrous end to a marriage that never should have been. Now her only focus is getting her hair salon up and running, and making sure her son is happy. She doesn’t have time for love–especially not with Kal. She intends to look forward, not backward, and Kal is most definitely part of her past.
However as Hannah and Kal start spending time together, Hannah realizes that what she’s feeling for him isn’t nostalgia, but red-hot attraction. Kal’s intent on showing her what it’s like to be cared for, romanced, and consumed with passion–and Hannah loves it. But she wonders if she has the courage to risk her heart again, even as Kal vows not to lose her a second time.
Catherine: Sometimes I’m just in the mood for a firefighter romance. Today is that day.
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An Unexpected Peril
Author: Deanna Raybourn
Released: March 2, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: Historical: European, Mystery/Thriller
Series: Veronica Speedwell #6A princess is missing, and a peace treaty is on the verge of collapse in this new Veronica Speedwell adventure from the New York Times bestselling and Edgar Award-nominated author Deanna Raybourn.
January 1889. As the newest member of the Curiosity Club—an elite society of brilliant, intrepid women—Veronica Speedwell is excited to put her many skills to good use. As she assembles a memorial exhibition for pioneering mountain climber Alice Baker-Greene, Veronica discovers evidence that the recent death was not a tragic climbing accident but murder. Veronica and her natural historian beau, Stoker, tell the patron of the exhibit, Princess Gisela of Alpenwald, of their findings. With Europe on the verge of war, Gisela’s chancellor, Count von Rechstein, does not want to make waves—and before Veronica and Stoker can figure out their next move, the princess disappears.
Having noted Veronica’s resemblance to the princess, von Rechstein begs her to pose as Gisela for the sake of the peace treaty that brought the princess to England. Veronica reluctantly agrees to the scheme. She and Stoker must work together to keep the treaty intact while navigating unwelcome advances, assassination attempts, and Veronica’s own family—the royalty who has never claimed her.
Sarah: I like this series a LOT, and particularly like watching Veronica refuse to conform to the standards expected of her. Her GAF is totally, awesomely malfunctioning.
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The Conductors
Author: Nicole Glover
Released: March 2, 2021 by John Joseph Adams/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Genre: Historical: American, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Murder and Magic #1A compelling debut by a new voice in fantasy fiction, The Conductors features the magic and mystery of Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files written with the sensibility and historical setting of Octavia Butler’s Kindred: Introducing Hetty Rhodes, a magic-user and former conductor on the Underground Railroad who now solves crimes in post-Civil War Philadelphia.
As a conductor on the Underground Railroad, Hetty Rhodes helped usher dozens of people North with her wits and magic. Now that the Civil War is over, Hetty and her husband Benjy have settled in Philadelphia, solving murders and mysteries that the white authorities won’t touch. When they find one of their friends slain in an alley, Hetty and Benjy bury the body and set off to find answers. But the secrets and intricate lies of the elites of Black Philadelphia only serve to dredge up more questions. To solve this mystery, they will have to face ugly truths all around them, including the ones about each other.
In this vibrant and original novel, Nicole Glover joins a roster of contemporary writers within fantasy, such as Victor LaValle and Zen Cho, who use speculative fiction to delve into important historical and cultural threads.
Aarya: Marriage-of-convenience fantasy in post-Civil War Philadelphia!
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Dead Space
Author: Kali Wallace
Released: March 2, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction/FantasyAn investigator must solve a brutal murder on a claustrophobic asteroid mine in this tense science fiction thriller from the author of Salvation Day.
Hester Marley used to have a plan for her life. But when a catastrophic attack left her injured, indebted, and stranded far from home, she was forced to take a dead-end security job with a powerful mining company in the asteroid belt. Now she spends her days investigating petty crimes to help her employer maximize its profits. She’s surprised to hear from an old friend and fellow victim of the terrorist attack that ruined her life–and that surprise quickly turns to suspicion when he claims to have discovered something shocking about their shared history and the tragedy that neither of them can leave behind.
Before Hester can learn more, her friend is violently murdered at a remote asteroid mine. Hester joins the investigation to find the truth, both about her friend’s death and the information he believed he had uncovered. But catching a killer is only the beginning of Hester’s worries, and she soon realizes that everything she learns about her friend, his fellow miners, and the outpost they call home brings her closer to revealing secrets that very powerful and very dangerous people would rather keep hidden in the depths of space.
Amanda: I liked Wallace’s Salvation Day, so I’m excited to check out what’s next.
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Down Comes the Night
Author: Allison Saft
Released: March 2, 2021 by Wednesday Books
Genre: Gothic, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young AdultA gorgeously gothic, deeply romantic YA debut fantasy about two enemies trapped inside a crumbling mansion, with no escape from the monsters within.
Honor your oath, destroy your country.
Wren Southerland is the most talented healer in the Queen’s Guard, but her reckless actions have repeatedly put her on thin ice with her superiors. So when a letter arrives from a reclusive lord, asking Wren to come to his estate to cure his servant from a mysterious disease, she seizes the chance to prove herself.
When she arrives at Colwick Hall, Wren realizes that nothing is what it seems. Particularly when she discovers her patient is actually Hal Cavendish, the sworn enemy of her kingdom.
As the snowy mountains make it impossible to leave the estate, Wren and Hal grow closer as they uncover a sinister plot that could destroy everything they hold dear. But choosing love could doom both their kingdoms.
Allison Saft’s Down Comes the Night is a snow-drenched, gothic, romantic fantasy that keeps you racing through the pages long into the night.
Amanda: This is easily one of my most anticipated 2021 releases!
Ellen: Gothic fantasy romance will get me on board every time.
Elyse’s pick!
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Float Plan
Author: Trish Doller
Released: March 2, 2021 by St. Martin's Griffin
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceCritically acclaimed author Trish Doller’s unforgettable and romantic adult debut about setting sail, starting over, and finding yourself.
Since the loss of her fiancé, Anna has spent the last year foundering on land, shipwrecked by her grief and inability to move on. But when a reminder goes off about a trip they were supposed to take, she impulsively sets off in their sailboat, intending to complete the planned voyage around the Caribbean that Ben had mapped out for them.
But after a treacherous night’s sail and a brush with an ocean tanker, she decides she can’t do it alone, and hires a professional sailor to help her get to Puerto Rico. Much like her, Keane is struggling with a very different future than the one he had planned, and he can’t refuse her offer. Together they find a way to rebuild their lives and the possibility of new love.
Aarya: I know so many blogger friends who love this book (early reviews have content warnings for suicide and grief).
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Her Dark Lies
Author: J.T. Ellison
Released: March 9, 2021 by MIRA
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerAt the wedding of the year, a killer needs no invitation
Jutting from sparkling turquoise waters off the Italian coast, Isle Isola is an idyllic setting for a wedding. In the majestic cliff-top villa owned by the wealthy Compton family, up-and-coming artist Claire Hunter will marry handsome, charming Jack Compton, surrounded by close family, intimate friends…and a host of dark secrets.
From the moment Claire sets foot on the island, something seems amiss. Skeletal remains have just been found. There are other, newer disturbances, too. Menacing texts. A ruined wedding dress. And one troubling shadow hanging over Claire’s otherwise blissful relationship—the strange mystery surrounding Jack’s first wife.
Then a raging storm descends, the power goes out—and the real terror begins…
Elyse: The premise of this thriller is a bride-to-be learns disturbing secrets about a mystery surrounding her fiance’s first wife. Totally my jam.
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I Think I Love You
Author: Auriane Desombre
Released: March 2, 2021 by Underlined
Genre: LGBTQIA, Young AdultA YA contemporary rom com about two girls who start as rivals but after a twist of events, end up falling for one another–at least they think so. A pitch perfect queer romance–and it’s a paperback original!
Arch-nemeses Emma, a die-hard romantic, and more-practical minded Sophia find themselves competing against one another for a coveted first-prize trip to a film festival in Los Angeles . . . what happens if their rivalry turns into a romance? For fans of Becky Albertalli’s Leah on the Offbeat, full of laugh-out-loud humor and make-your-heart-melt moments.
Underlined is a line of totally addictive romance, thriller, and horror paperback original titles coming to you fast and furious each month. Enjoy everything you want to read the way you want to read it.
Tara: I love that it’s both an opposites-attract and an enemies-to-lovers romance, and I’m liking the film festival part of the premise too.
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The Lost Apothecary
Author: Sarah Penner
Released: March 2, 2021 by Park Row
Genre: Historical: European, Science Fiction/FantasyIn this addictive and spectacularly imagined debut, a female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them—setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course.
Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman.
Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register.
One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose—selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register.
In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate—and not everyone will survive.
With crackling suspense, unforgettable characters and searing insight, The Lost Apothecary is a subversive and intoxicating exploration of women rebelling against a man’s world, the destructive force of revenge and the remarkable ways that women can save each other despite the barrier of time.
Amanda: I’m a sucker for historical fantasy.
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Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again
Author: Katherine Angel
Released: March 2, 2021 by Verso
Genre: NonfictionA provocative, elegantly written analysis of female desire, consent, and sexuality in the age of MeToo
Women are in a bind. They are told that in the name of sexual consent and feminist empowerment, they must proclaim their desires clearly and confidently. Sex researchers tell us that women don’t know what they want. And men are on hand to persuade women that what they want is, in fact, exactly what men want. In this environment, how can women possibly know what they want—and how can they be expected to?
In this elegantly written, searching book Katherine Angel surveys medical and psychoanalytic understandings of female desire, from Freud to Kinsey to present-day science; MeToo-era debates over consent, assault, and feminism; and popular culture, TV, and film to challenge our assumptions about female desire. Why, she asks, do we expect desire to be easily understood? Why is there not space for the unsure, the tentative, the maybe, the let’s just see? In contrast to the endless exhortation to know what we want, Angel proposes that sex can be a conversation, requiring insight, interaction, and mutual vulnerability—a shared collaboration into the unknown.
In this crucial moment of renewed attention to violence and power, Angel urges that we remake our thinking about sex, pleasure, and autonomy without any illusions of perfect self-knowledge. Only then will we bring about Michel Foucault’s sardonic promise, in 1976, that “tomorrow sex will be good again.”
Sneezy: You promise?
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Yolk
Author: Mary H. K. Choi
Released: March 2, 2021 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Genre: Young AdultFrom New York Times bestselling author Mary H.K. Choi comes a funny and emotional story about two estranged sisters and how far they’ll go to save one of their lives—even if it means swapping identities.
Jayne and June Baek are nothing alike. June’s three years older, a classic first-born, know-it-all narc with a problematic finance job and an equally soulless apartment (according to Jayne). Jayne is an emotionally stunted, self-obsessed basket case who lives in squalor, has egregious taste in men, and needs to get to class and stop wasting Mom and Dad’s money (if you ask June). Once thick as thieves, these sisters who moved from Seoul to San Antonio to New York together now don’t want anything to do with each other.
That is, until June gets cancer. And Jayne becomes the only one who can help her.
Flung together by circumstance, housing woes, and family secrets, will the sisters learn more about each other than they’re willing to confront? And what if while helping June, Jayne has to confront the fact that maybe she’s sick, too?
Ellen: YA contemporary is really not my usual cup of tea but I’m a sucker for a complicated sibling relationship.
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A Trial of Sorcerers
Author: Elise Kova
Released: March 4, 2021 by Silver Wing Press
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: A Trial of Sorcerers #1Ice is in her blood.
Eighteen-year-old Waterrunner Eira Landan lives her life in the shadows — the shadow of her older brother, of her magic’s whispers, and of the person she accidentally killed. She’s the most unwanted apprentice in the Tower of Sorcerers until the day she decides to step out and compete for a spot in the Tournament of Five Kingdoms.
Pitted against the best sorcerers in the Empire, Eira fights to be one of four champions. Excelling in the trials has its rewards. She’s invited to the royal court with the “Prince of the Tower,” discovers her rare talent for forbidden magic, and at midnight, Eira meets with a handsome elfin ambassador.
But, Eira soon learns, no reward is without risk. As she comes into the spotlight, so too do the skeletons of a past she hadn’t even realized was haunting her.
Eira went into the trials ready for a fight. Ready to win. She wasn’t ready for what it would cost her. No one expected the candidates might not make it out with their lives.
This is the first book in a young adult, epic fantasy that’s a tale of competition, coming of age, distant lands, elemental magic, and romance. It’s perfect for fans of the Legend of Korra, Truthwitch, and A Sorcery of Thorns.
Amanda: I enjoy Kova’s fantasy romances, which I feel like I’ve uttered a million times on this site.
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A Cat for Troy
Author: Allie McCormack
Released: March 4, 2021
Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Series: Wishes & Dreams #3Meet Troy’s new roommate…
She was charming…. inquisitive… demanding… even occasionally bad-tempered. But he loved her anyway.
After all, she was just a cat
…wasn’t she?A Cat for Troy is a fun paranormal romance novel with a happy ever after and lots of Cattitude! This is the third book in the Wishes & Dreams paranormal romance series, featuring Djinn and Shapeshifters! While each book can be read as a stand-alone, it’s recommended to read them in order for continuity.
Veterinarian Troy Shelton has no idea what he’s letting himself in for when he rescues a friend’s cat from the shelter after a dog attack. The friendly but demanding calico soon has Troy and his pregnant collie wrapped around her furry paw. But strange things begin happening in Troy’s home when he’s away, and he could almost think someone else was living there besides him.
Torn and hurting, Katerina appreciates Troy’s gentle care. She also appreciates his strong form and handsome face as much as the way he cuddles her. She’s trapped in her cat form until her wounds heal, but once she’s well again she finds herself oddly reluctant to resume her human form and life away from Troy. But someone else is interested in Troy, and that someone else has already tried to kill Cat once.
Sneezy: In a human-cat cuddle, is it more enjoyable being the cat or the human?
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Act Your Age, Eve Brown
Author: Talia Hibbert
Released: March 9, 2021 by Avon
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Romance
Series: The Brown Sisters #3Eve Brown is a certified hot mess. No matter how hard she strives to do right, her life always goes horribly wrong—so she’s given up trying. But when her personal brand of chaos ruins an expensive wedding (someone had to liberate those poor doves), her parents draw the line. It’s time for Eve to grow up and prove herself—even though she’s not entirely sure how…
Jacob Wayne is in control. Always. The bed and breakfast owner’s on a mission to dominate the hospitality industry—and he expects nothing less than perfection. So when a purple-haired tornado of a woman turns up out of the blue to interview for his open chef position, he tells her the brutal truth: not a chance in hell. Then she hits him with her car—supposedly by accident. Yeah, right.
Now his arm is broken, his B&B is understaffed, and the dangerously unpredictable Eve is fluttering around, trying to help. Before long, she’s infiltrated his work, his kitchen—and his spare bedroom. Jacob hates everything about it. Or rather, he should. Sunny, chaotic Eve is his natural-born nemesis, but the longer these two enemies spend in close quarters, the more their animosity turns into something else. Like Eve, the heat between them is impossible to ignore—and it’s melting Jacob’s frosty exterior.
Catherine: I’ve loved every book in this series, and I’m definitely there for the neurodiversity rep.
Ellen: I enjoyed the humor, warmth, and sexiness of the first two Brown sisters books!
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American Betiya
Author: Anuradha Rajurkar
Released: March 9, 2021 by Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genre: Romance, Young AdultFans of Sandhya Menon, Erika Sanchez and Jandy Nelson will identify with this story of a young artist grappling with first love, family boundaries and the complications of a cross-cultural relationship.
Rani Kelkar has never lied to her parents, until she meets Oliver. The same qualities that draw her in–his tattoos, his charisma, his passion for art–make him her mother’s worst nightmare.
They begin dating in secret, but when Oliver’s troubled home life unravels, he starts to ask more of Rani than she knows how to give, desperately trying to fit into her world, no matter how high the cost. Their relationship is nearly at the breaking point, when a family tragedy draws Rani to India for a summer. There, she gains perspective on what it means to be true to herself and what that means for her and Oliver.
Winner of SCBWI’s Emerging Voices award, Anuradha Rajurkar takes an honest look at the ways cultures can clash in an interracial relationship. Rani’s journey to hold onto her cultural identity amid the push-and-pull of first love, will resonate with anyone who’s ever navigated a cross-cultural relationship.
Sneezy: I’m always here for people’s stories of how they discover, navigate, and understand how culture intersects within them. It makes me feel brave enough to explore how they intersect inside me.
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Black Girl, Call Home
Author: Jasmine Mans
Released: March 9, 2021 by Berkley
Genre: PoetryFrom spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity.
With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, Mans writes to call herself—and us—home. Each poem explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark, and America–and the painful, joyous path to adulthood as a young, queer Black woman.
Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing.
Shana: I’ve been trying to read more poetry in 2021, and this collection makes my heart happy
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The Bone Maker
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Released: March 9, 2021 by Harper Voyager
Genre: Science Fiction/FantasyFrom award-winning author Sarah Beth Durst, a standalone epic fantasy set in a brand-new world of towering mountains and sparkling cities, in which a band of aging warriors have a second chance to defeat dark magic and avenge a haunting loss.
Twenty-five years ago, five heroes risked their lives to defeat the bone maker Eklor—a corrupt magician who created an inhuman army using animal bones. But victory came at a tragic price. Only four of the heroes survived.
Since then, Kreya, the group’s leader, has exiled herself to a remote tower and devoted herself to one purpose: resurrecting her dead husband. But such a task requires both a cache of human bones and a sacrifice—for each day he lives, she will live one less.
She’d rather live one year with her husband than a hundred without him, but using human bones for magic is illegal in Vos. The dead are burned—as are any bone workers who violate the law. Yet Kreya knows where she can find the bones she needs: the battlefield where her husband and countless others lost their lives.
But defying the laws of the land exposes a terrible possibility. Maybe the dead don’t rest in peace after all.
Five warriors—one broken, one gone soft, one pursuing a simple life, one stuck in the past, and one who should be dead. Their story should have been finished. But evil doesn’t stop just because someone once said, “the end.”
Ellen: Sarah Beth Durst writes REALLY amazing stand-alone fantasy and I’m pumped to see her take on necromancy.
AJ: Gimme a NEC! Gimme a RO! NECROMANCY! Yes please.
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The Heiress Hunt
Author: Joanna Shupe
Released: March 9, 2021 by Avon
Genre: Historical: American, Romance
Series: The Fifth Avenue Rebels #1High society reprobate.
An unconventional heiress.
Childhood friends.Is it too late…
Knickerbocker scoundrel Harrison Archer returns to New York to discover that his deceased father has bankrupted his estranged family. To save them from ruin, he’s forced to quickly find and marry an heiress. For a matchmaker, Harrison turns to the one woman he wishes he could marry: his childhood friend and true love, Maddie, who once broke his heart and is now engaged to a duke.
For true love?
When her best friend Harrison left for Paris without a word, Maddie Webster took refuge in her infatuation with tennis. Now Harrison is back and needs her help in finding a bride. Begrudgingly, Maddie arranges a house party in Newport with a guest list of eligible heiresses. But watching Harrison flirt with potential brides is more than she can bear.
When Harrison and Maddie reunite, the passion between them ignites. But with their marriages to others looming, time is running out. Is their fate inescapable . . .or can love set them free?
Elyse: I’m super excited for Shupe’s new gilded age series
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Midnight in Cairo
Author: Raphael Cormack
Released: March 9, 2021 by W. W. Norton & Company
Genre: NonfictionOne of the world’s most multicultural cities, twentieth-century Cairo was a magnet for the ambitious and talented. During the 1920s and ’30s, a vibrant music, theater, film, and cabaret scene flourished, defining what it meant to be a “modern” Egyptian. Women came to dominate the Egyptian entertainment industry—as stars of the stage and screen but also as impresarias, entrepreneurs, owners, and promoters of a new and strikingly modern entertainment industry.
Raphael Cormack unveils the rich histories of independent, enterprising women like vaudeville star Rose al-Youssef (who launched one of Cairo’s most important newspapers); nightclub singer Mounira al-Mahdiyya (the first woman to lead an Egyptian theater company) and her great rival, Oum Kalthoum (still venerated for her soulful lyrics); and other fabulous female stars of the interwar period, a time marked by excess and unheard-of freedom of expression. Buffeted by crosswinds of colonialism and nationalism, conservatism and liberalism, “religious” and “secular” values, patriarchy and feminism, this new generation of celebrities offered a new vision for women in Egypt and throughout the Middle East.
Sneezy: Well this sounds like a well rounded book talking about powerful women, their city, and the forces that shaped their lives – all my catnip, let’s go!!!
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Once Upon a Quinceañera
Author: Monica Gomez-Hira
Released: March 2, 2021 by HarperTeen
Genre: Romance, Young AdultJenny Han meets “Jane the Virgin” in this flashy and fun Own Voices romcom from debut author Monica Gomez-Hira.
Carmen Aguilar just wants to make her happily ever after come true. Except apparently “happily ever after” for Carmen involves being stuck in an unpaid summer internship! All she has to do is perform! In a ball gown! During the summer. In Miami.
Fine. Except that Carmen’s company is hired for her spoiled cousin Ariana’s over the top quinceañera.
And of course, her new dance partner at work is none other than Mauro Reyes, Carmen’s most deeply regrettable ex.
If Carmen is going to move into the future she wants, she needs to leave the past behind. And if she can manage dancing in the blistering heat, fending off Mauro’s texts, and stopping Ariana from ruining her own quinceañera Carmen might just get that happily ever after after all.
Aarya: Loooove second chance romance with a dash of family drama!
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Perfect on Paper
Author: Sophie Gonzales
Released: March 9, 2021 by Wednesday Books
Genre: LGBTQIA, Young AdultIn Sophie Gonzales’ Perfect on Paper, Leah on the Offbeat meets To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before: a bisexual girl who gives anonymous love advice to her classmates is hired by the hot guy to help him get his ex back.
Her advice, spot on. Her love life, way off.
Darcy Phillips:
• Can give you the solution to any of your relationship woes—for a fee.
• Uses her power for good. Most of the time.
• Really cannot stand Alexander Brougham.
• Has maybe not the best judgement when it comes to her best friend, Brooke…who is in love with someone else.
• Does not appreciate being blackmailed.However, when Brougham catches her in the act of collecting letters from locker 89—out of which she’s been running her questionably legal, anonymous relationship advice service—that’s exactly what happens. In exchange for keeping her secret, Darcy begrudgingly agrees to become his personal dating coach—at a generous hourly rate, at least. The goal? To help him win his ex-girlfriend back.
Darcy has a good reason to keep her identity secret. If word gets out that she’s behind the locker, some things she’s not proud of will come to light, and there’s a good chance Brooke will never speak to her again.
Okay, so all she has to do is help an entitled, bratty, (annoyingly hot) guy win over a girl who’s already fallen for him once? What could go wrong?
Aarya: I read an arc months ago and it was terrific. One of the best YA contemporaries I’ve read in recent memory.
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Sweet & Bitter Magic
Author: Adrienne Tooley
Released: March 9, 2021 by Margaret K. McElderry Books
Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/Fantasy, Young AdultIn this charming debut fantasy perfect for fans of Sorcery of Thorns and Girls of Paper and Fire, a witch cursed to never love meets a girl hiding her own dangerous magic, and the two strike a dangerous bargain to save their queendom.
Tamsin is the most powerful witch of her generation. But after committing the worst magical sin, she’s exiled by the ruling Coven and cursed with the inability to love. The only way she can get those feelings back—even for just a little while—is to steal love from others.
Wren is a source—a rare kind of person who is made of magic, despite being unable to use it herself. Sources are required to train with the Coven as soon as they discover their abilities, but Wren—the only caretaker to her ailing father—has spent her life hiding her secret.
When a magical plague ravages the queendom, Wren’s father falls victim. To save him, Wren proposes a bargain: if Tamsin will help her catch the dark witch responsible for creating the plague, then Wren will give Tamsin her love for her father.
Of course, love bargains are a tricky thing, and these two have a long, perilous journey ahead of them—that is, if they don’t kill each other first..
Content Warnings:
– frequent discussions and depictions of grief regarding loss of a loved one, including: death of a sibling, death of a parent, and death of a friend
– depictions of anxiety, depression, and mental illness
– emesis (mention of vomiting on page)
– brief mention of needles (tattooing)
– amnesiaIf you’ve read this book and believe I’ve missed a warning of importance, please reach out to me so I can include it here and on my website.
Shana: This f/f story is being marketed as “idiots to lovers” and I love it when grumpy people are clueless about how much they want one another. Also, magic and witches!
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I only have a few books so far on my March TBR. (But no worries—I only have about 300 other books to get to!)
Sarah Mayberry’s SWEETHEART arrives March 1. It’s about a woman who falls for her sister’s ex. There is a subplot involving a secondary character with mental illness, which I’m sure Mayberry will handle with her reliably understanding touch. SWEETHEART is being published by Sarina Bowen’s Heart Eyes Press, which is publishing over 40 books (by various authors) in 2021 connected in various ways to Bowen’s True North series.
[As a side note, this month Heart Eyes Press is publishing several books in the Vino & Veritas series, all revolving around the wine bar & LGBTQ bookstore that was featured in Bowen’s ROOMMATE. All of the books are m/m pairings and are written by such authors as Annabeth Albert, Eliot Grayson, and L.A. Witt.]
Jackie Ashenden releases her next HP, THE WORLD’S MOST NOTORIOUS GREEK, on March 1. It’s a marriage of convenience story—and the hero’s has the only-in-the-Harlequin-Presents-universe name of…Achilles Templeton! How could you not want to read that?
March 9 brings Ainsley Booth’s SHAME, which apparently involves a husband who has cheated on his wife. Cheating is generally a hard pass for me in romance novels, but Ainsley Booth (aka, Zoe York) is one of my favorite writers and, if any writer can bring a nuanced approach to a difficult subject, it would be her.
March 9 also brings Skye Warren’s PRIVATE PROPERTY, the first book in her Rochester trilogy, a modern take on Jane Eyre. I expect Warren to bring her usual mix of dysfunctional families and transgressive eroticism to the story.
Juliana Stone’s older-heroine romance, SLOW KIND OF LOVE, was scheduled for February release, but has now been moved to March 26. I’m looking forward to this latest visit to Crystal Lake from a very underrated writer.
And, finally, on March 31, Clare Connelly releases THE SHEIKH’S BABY SURPRISE, the seventh and final book in her Montebello Family series. I’ve really enjoyed Connelly’s stories of the sprawling Italian-Greek Montebello family (the hero of this book is the son of a Montebello daughter who eloped with a sheikh many years before). Based on the title, I’m assuming there’s an unplanned pregnancy involved in the plot.
I realize this makes me a terrible pedant (I’m that b*tch), but Isola means island in Italian. So the name of the island in HER DARK LIES is . . . Island Isle? Maybe there’s an explanation within the book like it’s a private island owned by rich Americans or something. But I just had to say it. It looks good and maybe I’ll try something else by this author, but I had to get it off my chest. Thank you for your patience 😉
Lots of interesting books coming out. I’m excited for PALADIN’S STRENGTH the new T. Kingfisher book.
@Jill Q: It’s like the old MST3K, “Manos: Hands of Fate.” So the name of the movie is actually, “Hands: Hands of Fate.”
A new Veronica Speedwell? Just take all my money, please. I’m also looking forward to The Conducters. That premise sounds wonderful!
Accidentally Engaged, Float Plan, I think I Love You, Once Upon a Quinceañera, Perfect on Paper, Midnight in Cairo, American Betiya, The Heiress Hunt, Act Your Age Eve Brown, and The Lost Apothecary are all on my TBR pile.
@DiscoDollyDeb – Hello, fellow MiSTIE!
@Lisa F: MST3K and now Riff-Trax are always on heavy rotation in our house!
Just a quick note – the Amazon link for the Farah Heron novel leads to the wrong book (by a different author)!
But the FH book sounds SO good. Thanks for recommending it here!
@Stephanie: It looks right for me? Maybe there’s was a misclick somewhere along the lines.
@Jill Q: Hold my book. You can be pedantic, I’ll just be old.
Once Upon a Quinceañera: “And of course, her new dance partner at work is none other than Mauro Reyes, Carmen’s most deeply regrettable ex.” Her ex? HER EX?! Most deeply regrettable? How many boyfriends does one have at that point in life?
She’s 14-15, right, since she hasn’t had her own quinceañera? Please tell me I’m wrong, this just makes me fume. How could she have had even one deeply regrettable relationship at that age? What am I missing, besides my youth?
Gotta run, there’s my bus back to the old folks home.
I’m obviously in the minority, but I’m disappointed to see such an emphasis on YA titles. There are 8 YA titles listed and 7 “adult” romances. There are also 6 fiction/non-romance titles listed. I’ve noticed in past Hide Your Wallets that YA gets top billing a lot. I’m not against YA, but I’ve raised my 5 kids and read a lot of YA books (mostly historical fiction) while homeschooling them and I’m not really interested in teen angst or teen romance. I read some new adult, but I’m not a huge fan of college aged protagonists either. I do read out of the romance genre, generally fantasy and sci-fi with some suspense, but I mainly check romance review sites for romance recs. Like I said, I know I’m in the minority, and I’m not dissing anyone’s book choices. I’ve had mine dissed way too often. I’m just expressing my opinion. Something I probably do too often! 🙂
@DiscoDollyDeb
I’m really looking forward to reading the Mayberry book, and the entire Vino and Veritas series. All 6 books of the V&V series will be out by the end of March, so lots to look forward to. I’m not familiar with most of the authors for the Busy Bean and other series set in the True North world aside from Sarah Mayberry. However, the V&V series has some well known m/m authors and I have really high hopes for the quality of the books.
@DiscoDollyDeb you had me at “Achilles Templeton”! I find it so interesting that there is an entire genre of “Greek tycoons” and “sheikh” novels. It is just so oddly specific!
@Carrie G: Previously I instated a rule that out of a reviewers picks, a certain percentage had to be romance because I was worried we were straying away from the genre a bit too much. But then there were comments about how people loved seeing the variety of titles, regardless of adult romance. It’s a bit damned if you do, damned if you don’t scenario.
@Amanda, I get it. It just seems to me that the mix is away from romance and not in addition to romance. But like I said, that’s just my perception and preference and I thought I’d voice it, but I don’t necessarily expect SBTB to change anything. If this is the best fit for most people,then so be it. 🙂 I enjoy many things about SBTB and can always find additional lists of new romance releases elsewhere.
@Darlynne, I think that Carmen is the one with the ex. “Carmen’s company is hired for her spoiled cousin Ariana’s over the top quinceañera.”
@CarrieG I am with you on this one. There are plenty of book sites for general fiction, YA, etc everywhere and not as many romance specific. It’s why I tune this channel so to speak. I don’t mind the occasional out of genre but I definitely prefer romance. I have two library books coming my way. Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren which has a neurodivergent heroine and Finlay Donovan Is Killing It by Elle Cosimano which has the heroine being mistaken for a hit man. I also want to get my hands on Flight (the Texas Murder Files) by Laura Griffin. Otherwise I will finally get to my TBR pile.
The link for “A Desolation Called Peace” leads to a room thermometer for me (redirected from Amazon US to Amazon UK).
ARGH. It sounds like the Amazon global redirect is having a bad day. When this has happened in the past, I’ve had to wait for Amazon to fix it, as there isn’t much I can do on my end. I’m so sorry!
@Kareni: Right, but this is what made me think Carmen is also very young: “And if she can manage dancing in the blistering heat, fending off Mauro’s texts, and stopping Ariana from ruining her own quinceañera Carmen might just get that happily ever after after all.
Ohhhhhhh. Stopping Ariana from ruining Ariana’s quinceañera. OK, that makes more sense. I kept hoping I was wrong and thanks for helping me see that. Cheers.
I just HAD to pop in with a High Five to @DiscoDollyDeb for the Manos: Hands of Fate reference. *dying*
And yes, I used the phrase “High Five” on purpose.
While I’m here, I’m really looking forward the Emily Sullivan’s debut,A ROGUE TO REMEMBER, out March 9th. The cover is gorgeous and the Italian setting is a breath of fresh air for a historical romance.
Penny Reid’s Marriage and Murder the next Jenn and Cletus installment came out on March 2. I read all afternoon and into the evening to finish it in one sitting and it was a Wow for Winston Family fans. While the mystery plot was there, the highlights were the touching, heartfelt and romantic moments that were truly sighworthy throughout the book and there was also some serious steam heat. Wonderful conversations between women – Jenn was worried if she was ‘becoming a sex addict’ and her mixed feelings about f’king versus making love. Amazing advice from other women she trusted and so empowering. I have put it at the top of my 2021 Favourite Reads list, and it has stuck with me all day, so will probably start to re-read and savour again tonight. Highly recommend A++
[…] releases: Tor.com (YA SFF), Smart Bitches […]
“An alien armada lurks on the edges of Teixcalaanli space. No one can communicate with it…”
Haven’t read Arkady Martine yet, so this is just a wild guess, but could it be the alien armada arrived because the humpback whales stopped communicating with it?
@Violet Bick, in which case transparent aluminum might be on the horizon!
@Carrie G I agree. I’ve been feeling that way for a while and I feel sad that to get a good look over at the romance books that are releasing in the month I have to often go to other, less welcoming spaces on the internet rather than my fave (here). I do love YA and non fiction so I can understand Amanda’s damned if you do, damned comment. Idk… perhaps like Carrie said we are in the minority
@Carrie G
@Sash
I also feel this way. To be a bit of a devil’s advocate, most of the YA releases are also YA romances? And though I don’t enjoy them, I also wouldn’t enjoy a website that only caters to one type of Romance.
I personally feel lately that there has been a swing towards YA/NA Romance being published more often, though how much of that is accurate vs perception, I can’t say.
@CarrieG: I’m with you. YA is not for me, nor is college romance. I love the diversity I find here, but would appreciate more books with adult protagonists.
I’m waiting for the new Alpha & Omega book by Patricia Briggs.