We are chugging along this month and getting closer and closer to some big release toward later in the month. I’m sure they’re on some of y’all’s TBR piles!
This week’s releases for us skew more toward fantasy and mystery. We also have a couple historical romances for good measure!
What books are you looking forward to this week? Tell us in the comments!
-
Argylle
Author: Elly Conway
Released: January 9, 2024 by Bantam
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerThe globe-trotting spy thriller that inspired the upcoming action blockbuster Argylle (February 2024), featuring a star-studded cast including Henry Cavill, Bryce Dallas Howard, Samuel L. Jackson, and John Cena, and directed by Matthew Vaughn of Kingsman trilogy fame
A luxury train speeding towards Moscow and a date with destiny.
A CIA plane downed in the jungles of the Golden Triangle.
A Nazi hoard entombed in the remote mountains of South-West Poland.
A missing treasure, the eighth wonder of the world, lost for seven decades.
One Russian magnate’s dream of restoring a nation to greatness has set in motion a chain of events which will take the world to the brink of chaos.
Only Frances Coffey, the CIA’s most legendary spymaster, can prevent it. But to do so, she needs someone special.
Enter Argylle, a troubled agent with a tarnished past who may just have the skills to take on one of the most powerful men in the world. If only he can save himself first…
Elyse: So there were rumors that Taylor Swift wrote this (when? Does she not need sleep) and it’s already been optioned for a film. I’ll admit I’m curious.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
The Atlas Complex
Author: Olivie Blake
Released: January 9, 2024 by Tor Books
Genre: LGBTQIA, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Atlas #3The Atlas Complex marks the much-anticipated, heart-shattering conclusion in Olivie Blake’s trilogy that began with the New York Times bestselling phenomenon, The Atlas Six.
Only the extraordinary are chosen.
Only the cunning survive.
An explosive return to the library leaves the six Alexandrians vulnerable to the lethal terms of their recruitment.
Old alliances quickly fracture as the initiates take opposing strategies as to how to deal with the deadly bargain they have so far failed to uphold. Those who remain with the archives wrestle with the ethics of their astronomical abilities, while elsewhere, an unlikely pair from the Society cohort partner to influence politics on a global stage.
And still the outside world mobilizes to destroy them, while the Caretaker himself, Atlas Blakely, may yet succeed with a plan foreseen to have world-ending stakes. It’s a race to survive as the six Society recruits are faced with the question of what they’re willing to betray for limitless power—and who will be destroyed along the way.
Elyse: I’ve really enjoyed this series and I can’t wait for the finale.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years
Author: Shubnum Khan
Released: January 9, 2024 by Viking
Genre: Gothic, Horror, Mystery/Thriller, Science Fiction/FantasyAkbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa. Nearly a century later, it stands in ruins: an isolated boardinghouse for eclectic misfits, seeking solely to disappear into the mansion’s dark corridors. Except for Sana. Unlike the others, she is curious and questioning and finds herself irresistibly drawn to the history of the mansion: To the eerie and forgotten East Wing, home to a clutter of broken and abandoned objects—and to the door at its end, locked for decades.
Behind the door is a bedroom frozen in time and a worn diary that whispers of a dark past: the long-forgotten story of a young woman named Meena, who died there tragically a hundred years ago. Watching Sana from the room’s shadows is a besotted, grieving djinn, an invisible spirit who has haunted the mansion since her mysterious death. Obsessed with Meena’s story, and unaware of the creature that follows her, Sana digs into the past like fingers into a wound, dredging up old and terrible secrets that will change the lives of everyone living and dead at Akbar Manzil.
Sublime, heart-wrenching, and lyrically stunning, The Djinn Waits a Hundred Years is a haunting, a love story, and a mystery, all twined beautifully into one young girl’s search for belonging.
Amanda: It’s always spooky season when it comes to my TBR pile.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend
Author: Emma Alban
Released: January 9, 2024 by Avon
Genre: Historical: European, LGBTQIA, Romance
Series: Mischief & Matchmaking #1Gwen has a brilliant beyond brilliant idea.
It’s 1857, and anxious debutante Beth has just one season to snag a wealthy husband, or she and her mother will be out on the street. But playing the blushing ingenue makes Beth’s skin crawl and she’d rather be anywhere but here.
Gwen, on the other hand, is on her fourth season and counting, with absolutely no intention of finding a husband, possibly ever. She figures she has plenty of security as the only daughter of a rakish earl, from whom she’s gotten all her flair, fun, and less-than-proper party games.
“Let’s get them together,” she says.
It doesn’t take long for Gwen to hatch her latest scheme: rather than surrender Beth to courtship, they should set up Gwen’s father and Beth’s newly widowed mother. Let them get married instead.
“It’ll be easy” she says.
There’s just…one, teeny, tiny problem. Their parents kind of seem to hate each other.
But no worries. Beth and Gwen are more than up to the challenge of a little twenty-year-old heartbreak. How hard can parent-trapping widowed ex-lovers be?
Of course, just as their plan begins to unfold, a handsome, wealthy viscount starts calling on Beth, offering up the perfect, secure marriage.
Beth’s not mature enough for this…
Now Gwen must face the prospect of sharing Beth with someone else, forever. And Beth must reckon with the fact that she’s caught feelings, hard, and they’re definitely not for her potential fiancé.
That’s the trouble with matchmaking: sometimes you accidentally fall in love with your best friend in the process.
Shana: Parent Trap inspired? Count me in!
Aarya: Mary Jane Wells and Morag Sims collaborating for the narration… audiobook lovers, rejoice.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
The Heiress
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Released: January 9, 2024 by St. Martin's Press
Genre: Mystery/ThrillerWhen Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge mountains. In the aftermath of her death, that estate—along with a nine-figure fortune and the complicated legacy of being a McTavish—pass to her adopted son, Camden.
But to everyone’s surprise, Cam wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.
Ten years later, Camden is a McTavish in name only, but a summons in the wake of his uncle’s death brings him and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but coming home reminds Cam why he was so quick to leave in the first place.
Jules, however, has other ideas, and the more she learns about Cam’s estranged family—and the twisted secrets they keep—the more determined she is for her husband to claim everything Ruby once intended for him to have.
But Ruby’s plans were always more complicated than they appeared. As Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.
Elyse: I will read anything Hawkins writes.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
The Ladies Rewrite the Rules
Author: Suzanne Allain
Released: January 9, 2024 by Berkley
Genre: Historical: European, RomanceFrom the author of Mr. Malcolm’s List comes a delightful romantic comedy set in Regency England about a widow who takes high society by storm.
Diana Boyle, a wealthy young widow, has no desire to ever marry again. Particularly not to someone who merely wants her for her fortune.
So when she discovers that she’s listed in a directory of rich, single women she is furious, and rightly so. She confronts Maxwell Dean, the man who published the Bachelor’s Directory , and is horrified to find he is far more attractive than his actions have led her to expect. However, Diana is unmoved by Max’s explanation that he authored the list to assist younger sons like himself who cannot afford to marry unless it’s to a woman of means.
She gathers the ladies in the directory together to inform them of its existence, so they may circumvent fortune hunters’ efforts to trick them into marriage. Though outraged, the women decide to embrace their unique position of power and reverse the usual gender roles by making the men dance to their tune. And together… the ladies rewrite the rules.
New historical romance from the author of Mr. Malcolm’s List.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
Mislaid in Parts Half-Known
Author: Seanan McGuire
Released: January 9, 2024 by Tor.com
Genre: Novella, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Wayward Children #9Dinosaurs and portals, and a girl who can find both in the latest book in the Hugo and Nebula Award-Winning series.
Antsy is the latest student to pass through the doors at Eleanor West’s School for Wayward Children.
When her fellow students realize that Antsy’s talent for finding absolutely anything may extend to doors, she’s forced to flee in the company of a small group of friends, looking for a way back to the Shop Where the Lost Things Go to be sure that Vineta and Hudson are keeping their promise.
Along the way, temptations are dangled, decisions are reinforced, and a departure to a world populated by dinosaurs brings untold dangers and one or two other surprises!
A story that reminds us that finding what you want doesn’t always mean finding what you need.
We’re up to book nine in the Wayward Children series!
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks! -
Recipe for a Charmed Life
Author: Rachel Linden
Released: January 9, 2024 by Berkley
Genre: Chick Lit, Contemporary Romance, RomanceAfter a day of unrivaled disappointments, a promising young chef finds every bite of food suddenly tastes bitter. To save her career, she travels to the Pacific Northwest to reconnect with her estranged mom, and discovers a family legacy she never suspected in this delicious novel from the bestselling author of The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie.
American chef Georgia May Jackson has one goal—to run her own restaurant in Paris. After a grueling decade working in Parisian kitchens, she is on the cusp of success. But in one disastrous night, Georgia loses her sous-chef position, her French boyfriend, and her sense of taste! Renowned for her refined palate and daring use of bold flavors to create remarkable dishes, Georgia is devastated to discover her culinary gift has simply…vanished.
When she receives a surprising invitation from her estranged mother, Georgia flees to a small island near Seattle hoping the visit will help her regain her spark in the kitchen. There she tentatively reconnects with her mom, a free-spirited hippie eager to make up for her past mistakes. But there’s something about the enigmatic island Georgia just can’t piece together. Good luck charms keep appearing in the oddest places. Her neighbor is a puzzlingly antagonist (and annoyingly handsome) oyster farmer. And her mom keeps hinting at a mysterious family legacy.
With the clock ticking and time running out to win her dream job in Paris, Georgia begins to unravel some astonishing secrets that make her wonder if the true recipe for a charmed life might look—and taste—very different than she ever imagined.
Amanda: I’m really a sucker for anything that combines magical realism and food.
Add to Goodreads To-Read List →
As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.
We also may use affiliate links in our posts, as well. Thanks!
Bec McMaster’s Thief of Hearts is finally (FINALLY!) supposed to drop today!
Argylle is pretty likely a promo book to promote the movie that’s coming out soon. Elly Conway is the name of Bryce Dallas Howard’s character in the film, and this book is supposed to be one of the ones she’s written. I really do not think Taylor Swift is the ghost-writer, I suspect she’s far too busy to write novels in what seconds of spare time she has in between being one of the most written and talked about women on the planet.
There’s a whole series of Nikki Heat novels written by Richard Castle to tie-in with Castle, the Nathan Fillion show. When I saw this, it struck me as the same sort of thing.
The only book I have in my tbr this week is Cait Nary’s m/m romance, LUCKY BOUNCE. It releases today, and it was waiting for me when I opened my kindle this morning. Sorry—can’t write anything else, too busy reading!
Really liked Ladies Rewrite the Rules; everything else is on TBR!
“Akbar Manzil was once a grand estate off the coast of South Africa.”
South African here. Woohoo! Local writers on SBTB!
All but one of our offshore islands are bald, windswept, wave-battered rocks big enough for only two gannets and a washed-up Starbucks smoothie cup, and the remaining one is a bald, windswept, wave-battered former lazaretto/asylum/prison. I’m quite curious about this book.
Or at least I will be once the bloody southeaster lets up.
Lois Mcmaster Bujold’s lastest Penric book (Demon Daughter) is now available.