Welcome back to Hide Your Wallet!
It’s a short and sweet release week for us! There’s some interesting fantasy, fake identities, Miss Marple in space, and a celebrity romance.
Which releases are you excited for this week? Let us know in the comments!
-
Code Word Romance
Author: Carlie Walker
Released: March 18, 2025 by Berkley
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceOne fake prime minister, one ridiculously hot handler, and one Italian summer collide in this thrilling adventure rom-com.
Max is just your average girl. She works odd jobs, has a soul-crushing amount of debt, and happens to bear an uncanny resemblance to Europe’s youngest female prime minister, Sofia Christensen. Sofia is powerful, beautiful—and unfortunately, someone is trying quite hard to assassinate her.
When the CIA approaches Max with a deal, a life-changing amount of money if she pretends to be Sofia on the prime minister’s annual Italian vacation, Max packs her bags for the Amalfi Coast. The delicious food, the breathtaking views—this trip would be a dream if it weren’t for those pesky assassins and Flynn, the handler assigned to Max’s case. Flynn, who has an unexpected history with Max, from another sun-drenched summer years and years ago. Now he’s instructed to stay in Max’s suite to protect her, as old passions and assassins collide.
Losing herself in the role of a prime minister is one thing. But losing her heart to Flynn again? Now that’s a risk she isn’t willing to take . . .
Amanda: I’ve been very interested in espionage and bodyguard romances lately.
Elyse: The tagline “Red, White and Royal Blue meets Emily Henry” had me one click buying.
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! -
Murder by Memory
Author: Olivia Waite
Released: March 18, 2025 by Tor.com
Genre: Mystery/Thriller, Novella, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Dorothy Gentleman #1A Memory Called Empire meets Miss Marple in this cozy, spaceborne mystery, helmed by a no-nonsense formidable auntie of a detective.
Welcome to the HMS Fairweather, Her Majesty’s most luxurious interstellar passenger liner! Room and board are included, new bodies are graciously provided upon request, and should you desire a rest between lifetimes, your mind shall be most carefully preserved in glass in the Library, shielded from every danger.
Near the topmost deck of an interstellar generation ship, Dorothy Gentleman wakes up in a body that isn’t hers—just as someone else is found murdered. As one of the ship’s detectives, Dorothy usually delights in unraveling the schemes on board the Fairweather, but when she finds that someone is not only killing bodies but purposefully deleting minds from the Library, she realizes something even more sinister is afoot.
Dorothy suspects her misfortune is partly the fault of her feckless nephew Ruthie who, despite his brilliance as a programmer, leaves chaos in his cheerful wake. Or perhaps the sultry yarn store proprietor—and ex-girlfriend of the body Dorothy is currently inhabiting—knows more than she’s letting on. Whatever it is, Dorothy intends to solve this case. Because someone has done the impossible and found a way to make murder on the Fairweather a very permanent state indeed. A mastermind may be at work—and if so, they’ve had three hundred years to perfect their schemes…
Told through Dorothy’s delightfully shrewd POV, Murder by Memory is an ode to the cozy mystery taken to the stars with a fresh new sci-fi take. Perfect for fans of the plot-twisty narratives of Dorothy Sayers and Ann Leckie, this well-paced story will leave readers captivated and hungry for the series’ next installment.
Sarah: Pitched as “Miss Marple in space” with an sleuth who must figure out who is murdering, and who is erasing memories from the ship’s library. Also she knits. You’re clicking right now, aren’t you.
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! -
One in a Million
Author: Beverley Kendall
Released: March 18, 2025 by Graydon House
Genre: Contemporary Romance, RomanceShe’s got everything planned—including when she’ll have kids. Until something completely unplanned turns her world upside down.
World-famous Whitney “Sahara” Richardson is at the top of her game. With four Grammys, an Oscar nod, and a billion-dollar clothing line, her career is skyrocketing. Even her headline-grabbing dating life is looking up. And if everything goes as planned, marriage and children are just a few years away—and they will come in that order.
That is…until a mix-up at the fertility clinic where her eggs are stored puts the cart before the horse. Oops. Whitney suddenly has a daughter…whose biological father is reluctant to share her.
One in a Million is a fun celebrity rom-com with the poignancy of Abby Jimenez and a modern twist on “surprise baby” for fans of Jasmine Guillory.
“A smart, sexy rom-com that had me chuckling from the first page. I loved it.” —BRENDA JACKSON, New York Times bestselling author, on Token
Elyse: I love a celebrity romance!
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 Prince Without Sorrow
Author: Maithree Wijesekara
Released: March 18, 2025 by Harper Voyager
Genre: Fantasy/Fairy Tale Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance, Science Fiction/Fantasy
Series: Obsidian Throne #1Drawing on inspiration from the Mauryan Empire of Ancient India, debut author Maithree Wijesekara plunges readers into the first amazing book of the Obsidian Throne trilogy, a new fantasy series of hunted witches, romantic angst, and political intrigue. Perfect for fans of The Hurricane Wars and The Jasmine Throne.
A prince born into violence, seeking peace.
Prince Ashoka is the youngest son of the tyrannical Emperor Adil Maurya. Considered an outcast by his father for his rejection of the emperor’s brutal onslaught against the witches of the empire, Ashoka longs for change. When the sudden and unexpected death of his father leaves the monarchy in disarray, Ashoka is sent to govern a tumultuous region annexed by Emperor Adil that is terrorized by nature spirits—a task many see as doomed to fail. Suspected by a disdainful governor and evaded by distrustful witches, Ashoka must question his rigid ideals and fight against becoming the one person he despises the most—his father.
A witch shackled by pacifism, seeking revenge.
Shakti is a a witch bound by a pacifist code. After witnessing the murder of her aunt and village at the hands of the emperor, Shakti hurtles down a path of revenge, casting a curse with unexpected consequences. Posing as a maidservant in the famed palace of the Mauryas and armed with newfound powers beyond her imagination, Shakti attempts to dismantle the monarchy from within by having the royal progeny ruin themselves and turn their father’s legacy into nothing but ash.
In a world where nature spirits roam the land, and witches are hunted to extinction, Ashoka and Shakti will be forced to grapple with the consequences of to take it for themselves or risk losing it completely.
Elyse: The heroine of this book is a pacifist witch an angle that’s really intriguing.
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!
Definitely want the Olivia Waite mystery, because “Miss Marple in space” is my catnip. I’m also looking forward to Mary Robinette Kowal’s The Martian Contingency, the fourth in her Lady Astronaut series. Blurb: “Elma York, the Lady Astronaut, lands on the Red Planet, optimistic about preparing for the first true wave of inhabitants. The mission objective is more than just building the infrastructure of a habitat – they are trying to preserve the many cultures and nuances of life on Earth without importing the hate. But from the moment she arrives, something is off.”
I’m also interested in Emma Donoghue’s The Paris Express, a historical mystery. Blurb: “Based on an 1895 disaster that went down in history when it was captured in a series of surreal, extraordinary photographs, The Paris Express is a propulsive novel set on a train packed with a fascinating cast of characters who hail from as close as Brittany and as far as Russia, Ireland, Algeria, Pennsylvania, and Cambodia. Members of parliament hurry back to Paris to vote; a medical student suspects a girl may be dying; a secretary tries to convince her boss of the potential of moving pictures; two of the train’s crew build a life away from their wives; a young anarchist makes a terrifying plan, and much more.”
The Amazon link for Murder by Memory doesn’t work – has a stray comma. The redirect target to Amazon UK for Code Word Romance links to the wrong book, too (Code Word Macabre, by Patricia Bruno), but that happens sometimes and I’m not sure it’s controllable at your end. (I appreciate the Amazon UK redirects and they do mostly work.)
@catscatscats: Should be all fixed now.
These all sound fun!
Thanks, Amanda. The Code Word Romance link is still redirecting to Code Word Macabre at Amazon UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CL592JWQ?linkCode=gg4&tag=trashybooks-20. Doesn’t matter, I’ve found it, but just in case you want to know.
@catcatscats: Thanks! Unfortunately, that is just a side effect of us using ASIN codes for the US Amazon. Sometimes, they don’t match the UK listing and this is one of those cases. There isn’t too much we can do about it.