January's Book Recommendations


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January's Recommendations

On the menu...

  • Romance
  • Fantasy
  • Young Adult
  • Thriller
  • Poetry
  • Historical Fiction
  • Sci-Fi

Sapphic Hockey Romance

Charlie Lajoie is no stranger to hard work. One of the best players in the PWHL for the Toronto Succubi and the daughter of one of the best hockey players in the world, there’s a lot of pressure for her to succeed on Team Canada in the Milan Winter Games.

When Olive Miller is unceremoniously dumped by her girlfriend before their big Italy vacation, she decides to go on it alone to finally get the long-awaited break from work she so desperately needs.

A night of rest and relaxation is what both women need, and who better to turn to than a fellow Torontonian in Italy? What starts as one night to release some stress quickly turns into more as Charlie can’t help but fall for Olive. But can their whirlwind fling go from a good puck to lasting an entire season?

Dark Thriller Romance

Cindel has already been through more loss than anyone should have to bear. She lost her hearing in an explosion and later endured the heartbreak of her brother’s sudden death. Then, six months ago, her boyfriend vanished without a trace.

While bartending at a local pub, Cindel finds a single earbud left behind. Music begins to play through the small white device, each song laced with eerie messages and buried truths from her past. Now, she’s being followed, and the dark stranger’s plan is unfolding.

Will her stalker shed light on the disturbing events of the past, or are they determined to pull Cindel into their own shadowed agenda?

Best Friend's Brother Romance

I'm the good girl. The quiet one. I teach your toddlers to plié on Saturday and read Shakespeare with my father on Sunday, so never in a million years did I think I'd be here.

Putting up a Flinger profile. The place for one-night stands and evening trysts.

But after today, it's clear the man I love will never see me how I want. And with Dad slipping away at each beep of his monitors, for once in my life...ballet might not be enough. Dance can't love you back.

I know it's risky. I know it's taboo. But if my best friend's brother won't open his eyes to see me, maybe someone else will.

So here I go, posting an ad to lose my virginity. What could go wrong? Only everything.

M/M Romance

Dr. Ezekiel Thompson learned a lot from his parents about love: that it’s cruel, unforgiving, and must be earned. And he’s spent his whole life being exactly who they want him to be, sacrificing pieces of himself along the way. Will finishing his neurology residency be the final push he needs to gain their ever-elusive affection, or will Hendrix, his new colleague who challenges everything he thought he knew about love, upend the life his parents planned for him—including the girlfriend they handpicked?

Dr. Hendrix Ingram-Jones knows love is kind, it’s freely given, and unconditional. He’s waited diligently to find the person who’ll love him as fiercely as he’ll love them. But after a series of heartbreak and tears, he questions if he’ll ever find his Mr. Right. Close to giving up on love altogether after his last relationship, he meets Zeke, coworker turned best friend. And he’s exactly what he’s looking for—if not for his girlfriend. Battling with his reality, Hendrix considers risking it all by confessing how he truly feels.

Dark Fantasy

In a world ravaged by war and devoid of wonder, Darci faces a mysterious shadow and the possibility more exists than meets the eye near her home.

When she begins to communicate with a stranger through writings on a wall, her curiosity leads her into the woods–forbidden and avoided by anyone who wants to live a long life.

Evil and darkness lurk in the trees and Darci might just be trapped by whatever this monster is. Until a man she's never seen before, shrouded in shadows, appears to rescue her and just as quickly disappears.

As nightmares haunt her sleep and a foreboding sense of someone coming for her occupies her days, she does the only thing she can think to do. Seek out this stranger and find the answers she needs. In doing so, she finds another world full of magic and beauty that is both foreign and oddly familiar.

Magic itself seems to know her, and her time in this world awakens something buried deep inside and connects her to this unknown rescuer.

The power within her is far greater than she could have ever imagined. Will it awaken a monster or a hero?

Sapphic Vampire Romance

Ashley, a jobless millennial, thought becoming a vampire sounded romantic in the mid-aughts. Now she’s dodging vampire-hunting witches and student loans while trying to regain some of the security she lost years ago when her girlfriend vanished shortly after changing her. The solution: join an established vampire family. All they want is for Ashley to first complete one year of undergrad without giving away her undead status. This proves challenging as, despite her lack of heartbeat, Ashley's romantic tendencies are alive and well as she finds herself falling head over feet for her class’s cute but prickly graduate assistant.

Esther just wants to finish her master’s program and never talk to people again. As a walking bad luck charm, she finds solace in following the rules and regulations of her archive internship and graduate assistant duties. Until she’s paired for a school project with the girl in class whose smile inexplicably makes her knees weak... and also happens to be a vampire. Hoping to figure out what these warm, fuzzy feelings are about, Esther agrees to help Ashley navigate Christmas with her family as her fake girlfriend.

But the witches have their own plan brewing. They’ve created a cure for vampires that will give Esther a chance at a new life with Ashley by releasing Ashley from the forever-life she regrets. All Esther has to do is betray Ashley by giving the witches what they need to complete the spell, leaving Ashley to choose between the stability of the vampire family or a happily ever after that will only last a few decades.

Romantic Fantasy

Seraphina thought she could outrun the past. Ever since her village was reduced to ashes and silence—forgotten by the world and everyone in it—she’s been running. Hunted by the same people who destroyed her home, she’s survived by staying one step ahead.

But the cold has a way of catching up.

When Seraphina is captured and taken to the castle of her enemies, she expects nothing but pain and death. What she finds instead is a truth so devastating it threatens to unravel everything she thought she knew—about her past, her enemies, and herself.

Trapped in a world of ice and lies, Seraphina must decide: will she fight for a world that abandoned her, or let it crumble beneath the weight of her revenge?

The Northern winds whisper of rebellion. But in this game of power and betrayal, even the strongest hearts risk being frozen forever.

Romantasy

As the well-trained knight of a dragon’s trove, former princess Nesrin would rather fight off suitors than invite one in. Twelve years ago, Nesrin’s uncle murdered her mother and stole her deceased father’s throne. Nesrin lived under her uncle’s brutal thumb for years until she was rescued by a benevolent dragon. Now a grown woman, she protects herself and the dragon trove from the interloping “rescuers” her uncle sends to retrieve her so he can marry her off to the highest bidder.

In a neighboring kingdom, Kas was forced to take monastic orders when he was a child, but the handsome monk volunteered when his country needed someone to find the lost artifact Nesrin’s uncle seeks: a magical golden casket rumored to make any army invincible. Forbidden from fighting by his vows but desperate to do his part in the coming war, he arrives on Nesrin’s doorstep with a quest she can’t refuse. If they can find the casket first, the nations united against her uncle’s iron rule might have a fighting chance.

As Nesrin and Kas are pursued by the enemy through a dangerous world, their budding trust blooms into a love Nesrin never wanted and Kas is forbidden to feel. But when the casket falls into the hands of the enemy and an evil far worse than Nesrin’s uncle is unleashed, Nesrin and Kas must trust their love and work together to imprison it before the world burns.

Paranormal

Flit has no idea who she is. She doesn't remember her name, how she got here, or where "here" is. When she encounters the Grim Reaper who tells her that she has died and is now in Purgatory-unlike other souls who pass on to Heaven or Hell-her only real option is to leave with him.

He gives her a name and takes her with him to an abandoned cabin, where she tries to recover her memories. As she helps him retrieve the souls of the dead, she starts to wonder what really happened to her: Was she supposed to die? What happened to her family? Did someone kill her?

As they reap more passing souls and face new creatures, she has more questions than answers. There is a war brewing, and Flit finds herself caught in the threads of a battle between angels and demons, descending into the depths of Hell to save someone she thought was a myth.

Will she help the angels and prevail? Or will she learn that the secrets of death are darker than she could've imagined?

YA Magical Dark Academia

Dorothy arrives at Driftmoor Academy desperate to leave her past behind and become someone new. But when a car crash leaves her suspended between life and death, something ancient inside her awakens. Whispers stalk her through the night. Nightmares claw at her sleep. And death follows wherever she goes.

As she becomes entangled in the gilded world of Driftmoor’s elite, Dorothy uncovers the truth: the founding bloodlines made a bargain long ago, binding their descendants to a curse that's beginning to unravel.

There’s the boy touched by the sea, who’s drawn to a song no one else can hear. The socialite carved from gold and expectation, clinging to perfection before it shatters. And the son born in shadows, raised by a family that never intended to keep him.

Linked by the bargains of their ancestors, the heirs of Driftmoor must decide whether to break the curses that shaped them or become the monsters their ancestors bargained for.

YA Horror

Number 332 is living to be sacrificed.

A teen with no name, she and nine other Orphans will be left in the Fields as gifts, and the town will be blessed with a decade of bountiful harvests — just as they have for the past three centuries.

But after so long, even the town Elders begin to question the decennial Sending and the very existence of the gods they worship.

What will happen to the isolated little village if they stop believing? 332 could have a life of her own, one not promised to the unknown Sovereign.

And yet, maybe the legends are true after all. Maybe the scrawled message that sealed 332’s fate along with the hundreds of others who came before her is still to be heeded.

Every 10 years.

YA Action & Adventure

Looking for purpose isn’t easy, but finding it is even harder. New questions arise from it. How will I make money? Who am I doing this for? Now imagine asking all that while fighting zombies and invisible monsters.

They Prefer It Hidden is about Jonathan Whitlock, who inherits the job of occult investigator from his late uncle. Now he has to defend the unfamiliar town of Helford, whose need for normalcy requires someone like Jonathan. With the help of his warlock friend Tomas, find out how Jonathan learns to navigate the strange and secretive.

Spy Thriller

Summer Rhoades kills people for a living. Except the one time she didn’t.

She promised a wealthy, well-connected man she would take out his target, only to have a change of heart once she realizes the mark is not who she was told. Instead of confronting Hunter Bailey on his duplicity, though, Summer sends the target away and makes a break for it herself.

Which is fine, until Hunter Bailey finds out and comes after her. But only in the way overly rich men who never do anything for themselves can.

Now, Summer finds herself on the run, the proverbial mouse in that timeless game. Several former colleagues (if they can be called that) are after her, one after another, eager to cash in—but one assassin in particular turns up at every available opportunity. Someone who represents the best, and the worst, of Summer’s torrid life: her ex-girlfriend, and fellow assassin, Lola Haskins.

Summer has seven days to survive the price on her head. But no matter how many bullets or blades she dodges, no matter how much running she does, one thing Summer can’t outrun is her own heart.

Maybe she doesn’t want to.

Psychological Thriller

Sheriff Naya Largusa has spent her entire life in the peaceful, tight-knit community of a small town in rural Colorado. Everything is on track for her to have a great career, until she receives a life altering phone call one Sunday afternoon.

Naya’s brother Vance has just been diagnosed with cancer, and not the kind that the doctor thinks will improve. In fact, he’s slated to get worse. Having no one else in the family to help, Naya immediately packs up her simple life and heads to Denver, exchanging her Sheriff’s badge for a job as a detective.

It isn’t long before Naya begins to notice an odd string of murders, and a common quality that ties them all together. But even as she races to investigate, the bodies only continue to pile up. Because as far as this killer is concerned, you can’t run.

Domestic Thriller

Mari never imagined she'd end up with someone as handsome and charming as Mason Goodridge. After six years of marriage, their relationship is far from perfect, but she refuses to give up on what they've built together. Little does she know, Mason's got other plans, and in one horrific night of discovery, her world comes crashing fatally down.

Now that Mari's gone, Mason is determined to reclaim his life on his terms, but something always gets in the way. He's gone from hometown hero to the most hated man alive, plagued by threatening phone calls and strange occurrences; his increasingly possessive mistress is off the rails; his mom is becoming dangerously suspicious; and even though Mari's death was ruled an accident, the detective assigned to her case seems to believe otherwise.

No matter how hard Mason tries to control them, each woman is inching closer to a secret that, if discovered, would mean his total destruction. For one of them, that's the goal.

Crime Fiction

Her picture-perfect life is a lie.
The target on her back is real.


In a world of PTA meetings, soccer games and wine moms, Stella Meyers fits right in. No one in her ritzy Connecticut suburb suspects the photographer who captures weddings, parties and fundraisers by day is robbing people blind at night.

Stella lives for the thrill, but her longtime business partner and mentor thinks it’s time for her to stop taking risks and go legit.

After an unexpectedly exhilarating date with her daughter’s new teacher, a 401k and steady paycheck start to look more enticing. Until a ruthless blackmailer uncovers Stella’s true identity and threatens her daughter…

Then all bets are off.

Poetry

EQUINOX is a tender and honest poetry collection about love, devotion, and the quiet ache of yearning. With simple, powerful language, the poet explores what it means to give your heart fully—sometimes to another person, sometimes to a memory, and sometimes to something larger than yourself.

This collection explores the delicate balance between love and longing, devotion and distance, presence and myth. Drawing subtle inspiration from mythology, these poems reflect on the sacredness of connection, the ache of distance, and the quiet strength it takes to keep loving.

EQUINOX speaks to the push and pull of emotional devotion—the space between two people, and the hope that fills it. Touching on longing, myth, and the enduring beauty of love, the poet gives voice to the things we often feel but rarely say out loud.

Historical Romance

When a payroll heist goes wrong, outlaw sharpshooter Catherine “Red Kate” Colson is forced into flight across the desert with an unlikely companion: Li Shen, a quiet railroad worker carrying a past as dangerous as her own. Hunted by brutal marshals and bound together by necessity, the two form a fragile alliance that soon becomes something far more dangerous.

Kate is a widow with a bounty on her head and blood on her hands. Shen is a Chinese immigrant caught between two homelands that refuse to claim him. As their trust deepens, so does the cost - because in a world built to erase people like them, love is not just forbidden. It is defiant.

Steampunk

1907: A world of steam and steel, of brass and bravery. Spaceships ply the lanes above the Earth, running on coke furnaces, while the atomic-powered Circumferential Rail runs the route between Paris, France, and Houston, Texas.

Where there is cargo, and passengers of means, pirates soon follow, and this is how Jonathan Orbital, heir to the Circumferential Rail finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy surrounding a kidnapped French woman with a valuable secret.

Enter the roguish space pirate Phinneas Greaves, who kidnaps the beautiful and intelligent Cecilie Renault off the Circumferential Rail in order to deliver her father's research to the highest bidder.

The smitten Jonathan will stop at nothing to rescue her, but both men soon learn the global implications of the woman's knowledge, and they are forced to wage harrowing battles across the Big Black of space and the dusty landscapes of the American West, with the only certainty being that those who want to exploit this revolutionary technology will stop at nothing to acquire it.

Space Opera

Kyra Johnson is married to an alien.

At least, she was until he was murdered.

Left with only his ship and a gaping hole in her life where her husband used to be, she takes to the stars with his crew as their unwilling captain. But grief isn’t a thing so easily discarded, and she’ll have to confront his memory — and the man who killed him — before she can face a future without him.

And the best thing for heartbreak is revenge.

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