Wednesday Books

The seafaring humans of Kirkrell have always been plagued by finfolk - bloodthirsty fae who haunt the seas, sinking ships and cursing bloodlines. Yet it’s only by hunting magical whales that Kirkrell can prosper. Nineteen-year-old Annie is heir to the Fairfax Whaling Company, but their family's success came at a cost: a curse by which heartbreak turns Fairfaxes slowly into monsters. And six years ago, the shipwreck that killed Annie’s parents left her with scales spreading up her arms, claws sprouting from her fingertips. The love of her fiancé, August, salved her heart for a while - but when she learns August is maneuvering to take over the company, the curse worsens. Fearing her time is running out, she strikes a bargain with a disreputable young captain, half-finfolk and half-human Silas Price: on a voyage to hunt whales in the far north, Silas will take Annie to the finfolk queen, who can lift the curse in return for a promise to end whaling forever. As Annie, August and Silas sail north, she is determined to uphold her family’s legacy, but the threat of the finfolk tests her resolve. Lies corrupt her relationship with August; meanwhile a dangerous connection with Silas blooms - but he’s keeping secrets too, and his might be the most dangerous of all. As heartbreak looms, Annie must choose between saving herself and her family’s legacy - and hope it doesn’t cost her everyone she loves.

In WHERE THERE''S ROOM FOR US, #1 New York Times bestselling author Hayley Kiyoko brings us a young adult novel set in a reimagined 1880s Victorian England where everyone is free to love whoever they choose.When her brother unexpectedly inherits an English estate, the outspoken and infamously daring poet, Ivy, swaps her lively New York life for the prim and proper world of high society, and quickly faces the challenges of its revered traditions–especially once she meets the most sought-after socialite of the courting season: Freya Tallon.Freya’s life has always been mapped out for her: marry a wealthy lord, produce heirs, and protect the family’s noble status. But when she unexpectedly takes her sister’s place on a date with Ivy, everything changes. For the first time, she feels the kind of spark she’s always dreamed of.As Ivy and Freya’s connection deepens, both are caught between desire and duty. How much are they willing to risk to be true to themselves—and to each other?Inspired by Hayley Kiyoko’s own experiences and classic favorites like Little Women and Pride and Prejudice, Where There’s Room for Us is a romance set in a world where society’s expectations are everything—but love is so much more.

The set of a low-budget slasher film turns into a real-life horror movie in this twisty, wicked blend of Scream meets The Reappearance of Rachel Price from Olivia Worley.When recent high school graduate Hazel Lejeune gets the lead role in a slasher film, it feels like a dream come true. This is her chance to break into the industry, build her reel, and prove to her mom that this ?gap year? can turn into a career. So what if it?s set in the nothing town of Pine Springs, Louisiana?the same place her father, the Pine Springs Slasher, was convicted of a series of murders fifteen years ago?But when Haze arrives on set, she gets much more than she bargained for. The shoot is plagued with suspicious ?accidents.? Mentions of her dad dot the entire script. And then, a gruesome murder shocks everyone to the core. Now, it?s clear there?s a real killer on set?one who''s determined to finish the film at all costs. But is this merely a copycat, or is the wrong Slasher behind bars?As the body count rises and reality blurs with fiction, Haze must unmask the killer before she becomes a real-life final girl?or before the killer flips the script and makes her the next victim.

Howl''s Moving Castle meets Little Thieves in this cozy fantasy about the teenage owner of a (mostly fake) magical curiosity shop and a girl cursed to turn everything she touches into magic.Everyone in Ardmuir knows that Willow Stokes is a charlatan, including Willow herself. Her father?s shoppe hasn?t sold anything magical in decades, and it?s only hanging on by the skin of the fake dragon?s teeth Willow sells as charms, along with ?enchanted? ostrich eggs, taxidermied chimeras, and talismans made of fools? gold.Until outlander Brianna Hargrave appears and turns Willow?s fakes into exactly what they?re purported to be. But try as Willow might to enlist Bri?s help, she wants nothing to do with Willow and her curiosities.Because Brianna is harboring a secret of her own: everything she touches turns to magic, and the consequences have chased her all the way to Ardmuir. All she wants to do is find a particular missing grimoire, which contains a spell that can finally put an end to her curse. Desperate to keep her father''s shoppe, Willow proposes a bargain that could save them both. Together with the frustratingly handsome printer''s assistant, the girls will uncover a plot that goes far deeper than either could have imagined. But when Willow is forced to participate in an ambitious collector''s quest for the rarest magical object in the world?a quest that risks almost-certain death?she learns that not all treasure is for sale, and that true magic is closer than she ever could have imagined.

In this fresh and imaginative contemporary fantasy, a golem must master the magic that binds her together and finds an unexpected ally in the mysterious boy sent to ensure her demise.Terra Slater might not know anything about her birth family or where she comes from, but that’s never stopped her, and she fully intends her senior year to be her best yet. Until the dark and mysterious Thorne Wilder—a magical bounty hunter—moves to town, bringing revelations that wreck all of her plans.When Terra learns she is a golem, not born but crafted from mud and magic by a warlock, her world is upended. Worse, Cyrus Quill, the warlock who made her, is a fugitive, on the run from the witches who want to hold him accountable for his past crimes. But Quill’s sentence is death, which would unravel the threads of magic that hold Terra—and all of the other golems that he crafted—together.Desperate to save herself and her friends, Terra strikes a deal with Thorne and his coven to preserve the warlock’s life and his magic. If she can prove her worth to the coven by mastering the magic within her, the golems will survive. If she can’t, they’ll perish along with Cyrus. As Thorne helps her to see and manipulate the tapestry of magic that surrounds them, their unexpected alliance evolves into something more and Terra comes to understand the depths of her magic, her humanity, and her love for the people most important to her.

Book Lovers meets Notting Hill with a slice of You've Got Mail in this rivals-to-lovers romance from bestselling, award-winning author Elle McNicoll. 18-year-old Allegra Brooks has skyrocketed to fame after starring in a hit television show, and she's the overnight success that everyone's talking about. They just don't know she's autistic. And now all she wants is a normal teenage summer. Her destination for escape is the remote Lake Pristine and its annual Book Festival, organized by the dedicated but unfriendly senior bookseller, Jonah Thorne. In small towns like Lake Pristine, misunderstandings abound, and before long the two are drawn into high-profile hostility that's a far cry from the drama-free holiday Allegra was craving. Thank goodness for her saving grace: the increasingly personal emails she's been sharing with a charming and anonymous bookseller who is definitely not Jonah Thorne... An unforgettable romcom about finding the one person who makes you feel like yourself when the whole world is watching.

Sweet Tooth meets The Raven Boys in this queer young adult contemporary fantasy about what it means to belong from H.E. Edgmon.You can never go home?Every day, all across the world, inhuman creatures are waking up with no memory of who they are or where they came from?and the Caravan exists to help them. The traveling community is made up of these very creatures and their families who?ve acclimated to this new existence by finding refuge in each other. That is, until the morning five teenage travelers wake to find their community has disappeared overnight.Those left: a half-human who only just ran back to the Caravan with their tail between their legs, two brothers?one who can?t seem to stay out of trouble and the other who?s never been brave enough to get in it, a venomous girl with blood on her hands and a heart of gold, and the Caravan?s newest addition, a disquieting shadow in the shape of a boy. They?ll have to work together to figure out what happened the night of the disappearance, but each one of the forsaken five is white-knuckling their own secrets. And with each truth forced to light, it becomes clear this isn?t really about what happened to their people?it?s about what happened to them.

Wilder Girls meets Outer Banks where a group of scuba diving friends stumbles across lost treasure, a legendary cave, and a new type of power... that comes at a price. The deeper you go, the darker you fall. Phoebe ?Phibs? Ray is never more at home than when she?s underwater. On a dive six months ago, she and her four closest friends discovered a handful of ancient gold coins, rocketing them into social media fame. Now, their final summer together after high school, they?re taking one last trip to a distant Australian island to do what they love most ? scuba dive.While diving a local reef, Phibs discovers a spectacular underwater sea cave, rumored to be a lost cave with a buried treasure. But when Phibs and her best friend Gabe surface from the cave, they notice that they''re undergoing strange changes. Oozing gashes that don?t heal. Haunting whispers in their heads... Something has latched onto them, lurking beneath their skin, transforming them from the inside out. When treasure hunters arrive, desperate to find the location of the cave and hold Phibs? group for ransom, she?ll do anything to keep her friends safe. In the process she learns that, of all the dreadful creatures of the sea, she might be the most terrifying of them all.

In this Latinx YA fantasy inspired by El Zorro, Lola de La Pena becomes the masked heroine Salvación in order to save her family and town from a man who would destroy it for the magic it contains...if she doesn''t fall in love with a boy in his company first.Lola de La Pena yearns to be free from the societal expectations of a young Mexican lady of her station. She spends her days pretending to be delicate and proper while watching her mamá cure the sick and injured with sal negra (black salt), a recently discovered magic that heals even the most mortal of sicknesses and wounds. But by night, she is Salvación, the free-spirit lady vigilante protecting the town of Coloma from those who threaten its peace and safety among the rising tension in Alta California after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.But one night, a woman races into Coloma, barely alive, to tell the horrifying tale of how her town was obliterated by sal roja (red salt), a potent, deadly magic capable of obliterating anything it comes into contact with, and about the man who wields it: Damien Hernández. So when Hernández arrives the next day with a party of fifty strong and promises of returning Alta California to México, Lola knows it?s only a matter of time before he brings the region under his rule?all Hernández needs is the next full moon and the stolen, ancient amulet he carries to mine enough sal roja to conquer the land. Determined to protect everything she loves, Lola races against time as Salvación to stop his plans. What she didn?t count on was the distracting and infuriating Alejandro, who travels with Hernández but doesn''t seem to share his ambitions. With the stakes higher than ever and Hernández getting closer to his goals, Lola will do anything to foil his plans, even teaming up with Alejandro?who she doesn?t fully trust but can?t help but fall in love with.

In this last installment of the Tales of a New World series, love and goodness are put to the ultimate test as gods, humans, and animals come together to save everything they hold dear.Mari, Nik, their newly formed Pack and the Wind Riders are in danger as the God of Death and his terrifying army march ever closer in Death''s quest to rule the Wind Rider Plains - and to kill or enslave anyone who stands in their way.The Pack and the Wind Riders must find a way to stop the God of Death before he poisons their world and all is lost.There is one hope: Ralina, Death?s Storyteller. The woman Death has forced to travel at side, recording every atrocity he commits. But Ralina heeds the call of the Goddess of Life, the only being who can defeat Death, and escapes to warn the Pack and the Wind Riders with the knowledge she has accumulated during her harrowing journey. But will it be enough? Is there any way to truly stop the God of Death?

New York Times bestsellers P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast return with Give Up the Night, the astonishing conclusion to their Moonstruck duology set in a dark and magickal world filled with incredible danger and irresistible romance.Since becoming Moonstruck on her eighteenth birthday, Wren Nightingale has found herself thrust into a world filled with deception, danger, and murder. Uncovering that their magick was fractured and limited when the original Moonstruck ritual was broken by Selene, Wren is determined to find a way to restore it. But the Elementals are split into two factions?some want the ritual completed and their freedom?and others are so terrified of change that they?re willing to end Wren before she can reach the center of the island where the ritual Selene ruined can be completed.Between his overbearing father?s arrival, Rottingham delegating him more and more responsibility, and Celeste taking a special interest in him, Lee Young has been struggling to find his own path. As much as Lee wants to take his place in the Moonstruck hierarchy, he knows something?s not right at the Academia de la Luna. He thinks if he can talk some sense into Wren and get her to return to the Academia, that everything will turn out alright.As Wren and Lee both battle for what they believe is right, they?ll have to uncover who their true allies are?and if they?re even on the same side of this magickal fight.

Love, family, and food collide in this sparkling Romeo and Juliet-inspired romance.Julie Wu and Randall Hur used to be best friends. Now they only see each other on Saturdays at the Pasadena Farmers Market where their once close families are long-standing rivals.When Julie and Randall are paired with ultra-rich London Kim for a community-service school project, they are forced to work together for the first time in years. It quickly becomes obvious that London has a major crush on Julie. But Julie can?t stop thinking about Randall. And Randall can?t stop thinking about how London is thinking about Julie. Soon, prompted by a little jealousy and years of missing each other, school project meetings turn into pseudo dates at their favorite Taiwanese breakfast shop and then secret kisses at the beach?far from the watchful eyes of their families.Just as they?re finally feeling brave enough to tell their grandmas, the two matriarchs rehash their old fight and Julie and Randall get caught in the middle and Julie?s brother finds out they are dating. Their families are heartbroken.But it?s the Year of the Dragon, an auspicious time to resolve disagreements and start anew, and Randall isn?t going down without fighting for what?and who?they love. Could the Lunar New Year provide not only a second chance for Randall and Julie, but for their families as well?Jennifer Chen?s Hangry Hearts is a funny, big-hearted romance about friendship, family, and first love?and being brave enough to have it all.

In this sapphic Snow White retelling, if Snow is to save her kingdom from being ravaged by the Blight, she?ll have to kill the Evil Queen?s daughter?if she doesn?t fall in love with her first.When her glass coffin unexpectedly shatters, Snow White awakens to anything but a dream. The land is rotting. The animals have mutated. In the twenty years that have passed since Snow bit into the poisoned apple, the kingdom of Roanfrost has transformed from a luscious wild land to a blight-ravaged nightmare. In search of answers and a way to restore her kingdom to its former glory, Snow sets out on a dangerous journey that will test the strength she never knew she had.Friends will become foes.New alliances will form.The Queen with the blood red lips will stop at nothing to seize her power as well as her heart.If Snow has any chance to survive and restore not only her kingdom, but all of Garedenne, her only option is to become the Seasonkeeper and access the life-giving magic that will heal the plague. But the path to becoming the Seasonkeeper is more treacherous than she could ever imagine?because the wild things have awakened and Snow?s darker impulses yearn to set them free.

Stevie Rosenstein has never made a true friend. Never fallen in love. Moved from city to city by her father’s unrelenting job, it’s too hard to care for someone. Trust in anything. The pain of leaving always hurts too much. But she’ll soon learn to trust, to love. Twice. Drew and Shane have been best friends through everything. The painful death of Shane's dad. The bitter separation of Drew's parents. Through sleepaway camps and family heartache, basketball games and profound loss, they've always been there for each other. When Stevie meets Drew and Shane, life should go on as normal. But a simple coin toss alters the course of their year in ways they could never expect. Told in dual timelines, debut author Jennie Wexler delivers a heartbreaking and hopeful novel about missed opportunities, second chances, and how no matter the road, love can find its way.

Eighteen-year-old Amelia Griffin is obsessed with the famous Orman Chronicles, written by the young and reclusive prodigy N. E. Endsley. They're the books that brought her and her best friend Jenna together after Amelia's father left and her family imploded. So when Amelia and Jenna get the opportunity to attend a book festival with Endsley in attendance, Amelia is ecstatic. It's the perfect way to start off their last summer before college. In a heartbeat, everything goes horribly wrong. When Jenna gets a chance to meet the author and Amelia doesn't, the two have a blowout fight like they've never had before. And before Amelia has a chance to mend things, Jenna dies in a freak car accident. Grief-stricken, and without her best friend to guide her, Amelia questions everything she had planned for the future.

'The Unity Project saved my life.' Lo Denham is used to being on her own. After her parents died, Lo's sister, Bea, joined The Unity Project, leaving Lo in the care of their great aunt. Thanks to its extensive charitable work and community outreach, The Unity Project has won the hearts and minds of most in the Upstate New York region, but Lo knows there's more to the group than meets the eye. She's spent the last six years of her life trying - and failing - to prove it. 'The Unity Project murdered my son.' When a man shows up at the magazine Lo works for claiming The Unity Project killed his son, Lo sees the perfect opportunity to expose the group and reunite with Bea once and for all. When her investigation puts her in the direct path of its charismatic and mysterious leader, Lev Warren, he proposes a deal: if she can prove the worst of her suspicions about The Unity Project, she may expose them. If she can't, she must finally leave them alone. But as Lo delves deeper into The Project, the lives of its members, and spends more time with Lev, it upends everything she thought she knew about her sister, herself, cults, and the world around her--to the point she can no longer tell what's real or true. Lo never thought she could afford to believe in Lev Warren . . . but now she doesn't know if she can afford not to. Welcome to The Unity Project.