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Rise of the River-Man


L.S. O'Dea - 2015
    The only one he’s ever loved but can he keep her safe from those who hunt him?Sweet has been living alone since her friend died years ago. Nothing but silence and indifference to keep her company until Mutter stumbles into her life—large, hungry, dangerous and as lonely as she is.Now, she’ll do anything to stay with him, even sacrifice herself.A love story as brilliant and tragic as Romeo and Juliet.

Bloodleaf


Crystal Smith - 2019
      Surrounded by spirits and burdened with forbidden magic, she lives in constant fear of discovery by the witch-hunting Tribunal and their bloodthirsty mobs. When a devastating assassination attempt reveals her magical abilities, Aurelia is forced to flee her country with nothing but her life.   Alone and adrift in an enemy kingdom, Aurelia plans her revenge against the Tribunal, desperate to bring down the dark organization that has wrought terror upon her people for hundreds of years. But there’s something deeply amiss in her new home, too, and soon she finds herself swept into a deadly new mystery with a secretive prince, the ghost of an ancient queen, and a poison vine called Bloodleaf.   Aurelia is entangled in a centuries-long game of love, power, and war, and if she can’t break free before the Tribunal makes its last move, she may lose far more than her crown.

Scarlet Odyssey


C.T. Rwizi - 2020
    But in the coming battle, none of that will matter.Men do not become mystics. They become warriors. But eighteen-year-old Salo has never been good at conforming to his tribe’s expectations. For as long as he can remember, he has loved books and magic in a culture where such things are considered unmanly. Despite it being sacrilege, Salo has worked on a magical device in secret that will awaken his latent magical powers. And when his village is attacked by a cruel enchantress, Salo knows that it is time to take action.Salo’s queen is surprisingly accepting of his desire to be a mystic, but she will not allow him to stay in the tribe. Instead, she sends Salo on a quest. The quest will take him thousands of miles north to the Jungle City, the political heart of the continent. There he must gather information on a growing threat to his tribe.On the way to the city, he is joined by three fellow outcasts: a shunned female warrior, a mysterious nomad, and a deadly assassin. But they’re being hunted by the same enchantress who attacked Salo’s village. She may hold the key to Salo’s awakening—and his redemption.

The Trade


Leigh Walker - 2019
    One love. One chance…to finally get it right. After the devastating loss of her mother and sister, high-school senior Victoria Edwards is worried she’s going crazy. First, she sees a handsome boy floating outside of her room. Then she receives a mysterious letter asking her to go to a nearby pond at midnight. I’ll be waiting for you on the other side, the side you can’t see from here, it reads. Intrigued, Tori investigates—but suddenly finds herself in a different time and place. It’s the year 3130, and she’s smack-dab in the middle of the Kingdom.The Vampire Kingdom. She sees him in the kingdom, the same boy from outside her window, and learns he’s a prince. Most likely a vampire prince. Against her will, Tori’s entered in The Trade, in which pretty young maidens are offered as sacrifices to the royals in exchange for crops. In a first for the competition, Prince Dominic proposes to the candidate of his choice—who happens to be a very reluctant Tori. Once she enters the royal compound, she learns that the kingdom is even more treacherous than she could have ever imagined. The prince and his family are dangerous, but Dominic holds the key to secrets about Tori’s past…and more importantly, her future.If she lives long enough to have one.Book 1 of the Vampire Kingdom Trilogy!Vampire Kingdom 1: The TradeVampire Kingdom 2: The PactVampire Kingdom 3: The Claim

Mark of Fire


Richard Phillips - 2017
    A young woman’s destiny. Lorness Carol, coming of age in the kingdom of her warlord father, Lord Rafel, aspires to wield magic. But she’s also unknowingly become the obsession of Kragan, an avenging wielder as old as evil itself. He’s waited centuries to find and kill the female prophesied as the only human empowered to destroy him. However, dispatching the king’s assassin, Blade, to Rafel’s Keep, ends in treason. For Blade arrives not with a weapon but rather a warning for the woman he’s known and loved since he was a child. With a price on his head, Blade flees—as Carol and her family are urged away on their own desperate route of escape.Now, traversing the lawless western borderlands, Carol struggles to understand the uncanny magic she possesses and must learn to master. Though separated, Carol and Blade are still united—not only by the darkness pursuing them both but by a quest toward destiny, revenge, and the revelations of an ancient prophecy that signal the ultimate war between good and evil.

The Keeper's Quest (The Keeper's Saga, #2)


Kelly Nelson - 2013
    A fatal trap. A daring quest."I woke to the flash of counter coordinates and a rush of adrenalin. Suddenly, it hit me. I was a pawn in someone’s game of chess, and I’d just been moved. Master Archidus required my services. I was a Keeper—the Protector, to be specific. I hadn’t wanted this, but I wouldn’t shun my duties, either. The other Keeper’s life wasn’t the only one at stake." —Chase HarperAfter a turbulent start to his senior year, Chase expects his life to returnto normal now that Ellie Williams is back. But when a Sniffer’s trap leads him on a journey spanning two worlds, he soon realizes things aren’t always what they seem. Will his calling as Keeper require a sacrifice he isn’t willing to make?

Wicked As You Wish


Rin Chupeco - 2020
    Its former citizens are now refugees in a world mostly devoid of magic. Which is why the crown prince and his protectors are stuck in…Arizona. Prince Alexei, the sole survivor of the Avalon royal family, is hiding in a town so boring, magic doesn’t even work there. Few know his secret identity, but his friend Tala is one of them. A new hope for their abandoned homeland reignites when a famous creature of legend, the Firebird, appears for the first time in decades. Alex and Tala must unite with a ragtag group of new friends to journey back to Avalon for a showdown that will change the world as they know it.“A nail-biting quest that introduces a gripping new series.” —STARRED review, Publishers Weekly“A truly original novel.” —STARRED review, Kirkus

The Cloud Seeders


Jamie Zerndt - 2012
    This is the slogan of the Sustainability Unit and of a country gone eco-hysterical. After nearly twelve months without rain and the hinges of the world barely still oiled, Thomas and his younger brother, Dustin, set out across a drought-ridden landscape in search of answers. What they discover along the way will change their lives, and their country, forever.

Wither


Amy Miles - 2014
    What was meant to bring salvation to the remaining survivors instead brought damnation. Human mutations began within days of the drug’s release and the Withered Ones were born. People not alive but not entirely dead either. They walked the streets, unblinking and unaware. A zombie, for all intents and purposes, but nothing like anyone anticipated.Growing up on the streets taught Avery how to care for herself, but no amount of self defense classes at the Y could have prepared her for the outbreak of deadly gangs, a corrupt government bent on using her blood for experiments and the depths to which desperate people would go to survive. She soon discovered that it was not the Withered Ones that she needed to fear, but those still human. The ones who knew how to put a gun to her head when they wanted something from her.Avery was forced to decide how far would she be willing to go to survive just one more day.

A Christmas at Pasidian Palace


S.L. Morgan - 2016
    With peace in their lands, Levi and Reece have been living a life of serenity and peace, raising their three young children at Oxley Manor. Everything seems perfect and well until Levi realizes something: a holiday he knows his wife as always loved on her home planet of Earth has never been celebrated in his realm. In fact, Reece hasn't had the privilege of enjoying her favorite holiday in over six years, and Levi vows to change that. But can he? With his sister's wedding at hand, his own daughter professing her love for another as well, and wanting to have a new holiday introduced to Pemdas...Levi is determined to find a way to make all of this work no matter the sacrifices he must make.

Moth to a Flame (Narrowdale Mystery Book 2)


Michael Omer - 2015
    Since then, the recurring nightmares, creepy hallucinations and overpowering fear are gone. That's good, right? I mean, no one in their right minds wants to feel like that. I am starting to wonder if I'm in my right mind anymore...When a lady in my neighborhood died, I couldn't help but stick my nose in, to see what happened. I should just get on with things–I've got some new friends, and a cool boy named Chris has taken an interest in me. Everyone is telling me to just leave this weird murder alone.But I can't stop myself. The more I find out about her death, the more twisted everything is.I think there’s a predator in Narrowdale. And now it’s hunting me…What have I gotten myself into?

Cupid's Match


Lauren Palphreyman - 2017
    And he'll hit you right in the heart . . . "Miss Black, we have a big problem.”Lila Black doesn't believe in matchmaking, let alone soul mates. So then why is she constantly being hassled by the Cupids Matchmaking Service? But this gilded, cherub-bedecked dating agency isn't exactly what it seems . . . and it’s about to turn Lila's entire world upside down. It turns out that Cupids Matchmaking is the real deal. As in, it's run by actual cupids—who don't look at all like they do in the paintings—and they have a serious problem with Lila's “match.” Because this guy shouldn't be in the system. He shouldn't have a match. And while he's irresistibly hot, he's also incredibly dangerous. Because Lila's true love match is Cupid. The original bad boy of love. And he wants her. Now Lila's once-normal teenaged world has exploded into a mythological nightmare overrun by crime-lord sirens, wrathful cupid hit men, magic arrows that cause no end of trouble, and a mischievous, not-so-angelic love god she can't seem to stop herself from falling for . . . Adored by 50 million readers on Wattpad, Lauren Palphreyman's smash-hit book is now in print for the first time.

Castles in Their Bones


Laura Sebastian - 2022
    Immerse yourself in the first book in a new fantasy trilogy from the author of the New York Times bestselling Ash Princess series.Empress Margaraux has had plans for her daughters since the day they were born. Princesses Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz will be queens. And now, age sixteen, they each must leave their homeland and marry their princes. Beautiful, smart, and demure, the triplets appear to be the perfect brides—because Margaraux knows there is one common truth: everyone underestimates a girl. Which is a grave mistake. Sophronia, Daphne, and Beatriz are no innocents. They have been trained since birth in the arts of deception, seduction, and violence with a singular goal—to bring down monarchies— and their marriages are merely the first stage of their mother’s grand vision: to one day reign over the entire continent of Vesteria. The princesses have spent their lives preparing, and now they are ready, each with her own secret skill, and each with a single wish, pulled from the stars. Only, the stars have their own plans—and their mother hasn’t told them all of hers. Life abroad is a test. Will their loyalties stay true? Or will they learn that they can’t trust anyone—not even each other?

Reprobation


Catherine Fearns - 2018
    Helen Hope is a lecturer in eschatology – the study of death, judgement, and the destiny of humankind. She is also a Calvinist nun, her life devoted to atoning for a secret crime. When a body is found crucified on a Liverpool beach, she forms an unlikely alliance with suspect Mikko Kristensen, lead guitarist in death metal band Total Depravity. Together, they go on the trail of a rogue geneticist who they believe holds the key – not just to the murder, but to something much darker. Also on the trail is cynical Scouse detective Darren Swift. In his first murder case, he must confront his own lack of faith as a series of horrific crimes drag the city of two cathedrals to the gates of hell. Science meets religious belief in this gripping murder mystery.

Hiding Haelo


T.M. Holladay - 2016
    Real mermaids don't have fins. Summoning ocean currents at will and feeling the auras of those around her are Candeon capabilities completely wasted at high school. When the memory of an underwater battle surfaces in her dreams, Haelo realizes there is more to her story than she thought. And Dagger, the only other Candeon at school, might have the answers she needs. Haelo is about to discover that high school is poor preparation for the alarming future set out before her.