Tuesday Tomorrow
A House with Good Bones by T. Kingfisher
Published by: Tor Nightfire
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 256 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A haunting Southern Gothic from an award-winning master of suspense, A House With Good Bones explores the dark, twisted roots lurking just beneath the veneer of a perfect home and family.
"Mom seems off."
Her brother's words echo in Sam Montgomery's ear as she turns onto the quiet North Carolina street where their mother lives alone.
She brushes the thought away as she climbs the front steps. Sam's excited for this rare extended visit, and looking forward to nights with just the two of them, drinking boxed wine, watching murder mystery shows, and guessing who the killer is long before the characters figure it out.
But stepping inside, she quickly realizes home isn't what it used to be. Gone is the warm, cluttered charm her mom is known for; now the walls are painted a sterile white. Her mom jumps at the smallest noises and looks over her shoulder even when she's the only person in the room. And when Sam steps out back to clear her head, she finds a jar of teeth hidden beneath the magazine-worthy rose bushes, and vultures are circling the garden from above.
To find out what's got her mom so frightened in her own home, Sam will go digging for the truth. But some secrets are better left buried."
Did someone say Southern Gothic as a pop out from behind the rose bushes hiding the teeth?
White Cat, Black Dog by Kelly Link
Published by: Random House
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 272 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Seven ingeniously reinvented fairy tales that play out with astonishing consequences in the modern world, from one of today's finest short story writers - MacArthur "Genius Grant" fellow Kelly Link, bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Get in Trouble.
Featuring illustrations by award-winning artist Shaun Tan.
Finding seeds of inspiration in the Brothers Grimm, seventeenth-century French lore, and Scottish ballads, Kelly Link spins classic fairy tales into utterly original stories of seekers - characters on the hunt for love, connection, revenge, or their own sense of purpose.
In "The White Cat's Divorce," an aging billionaire sends his three sons on a series of absurd goose chases to decide which child will become his heir. In "The Girl Who Did Not Know Fear," a professor with a delicate health condition becomes stranded for days in an airport hotel after a conference, desperate to get home to her wife and young daughter, and in acute danger of being late for an appointment that cannot be missed. In "Skinder's Veil," a young man agrees to take over a remote house-sitting gig for a friend. But what should be a chance to focus on his long-avoided dissertation instead becomes a wildly unexpected journey, as the house seems to be a portal for otherworldly travelers - or perhaps a door into his own mysterious psyche.
Twisting and turning in astonishing ways, expertly blending realism and the speculative, witty, empathetic, and never predictable - these stories remind us once again of why Kelly Link is incomparable in the realm of short fiction."
I'm not the biggest fan of short fiction, but Kelly Link is always an exception to any rule.
The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One by Catherynne M. Valente
Published by: Subterranean Press
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 800 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The celebrated author of Fairyland, Space Opera, and much more, Catherynne M. Valente is also known for her stunning prose and captivating worldbuilding. From life on Mars to the zombified streets of Augusta, Maine, she has taken readers on unforgettable journeys for two decades. Subterranean Press is proud to present: The Best of Catherynne M. Valente, Volume One, the first comprehensive collection of Valente's short fiction, soaring through eighteen years of pushing the edges of storytelling. Among her award-winning stories, you'll find everything from melancholy robot girls to Eurydice and Orpheus; from detectives in Purgatory to time-traveling squirrels to a very different Santa Claus; from the grey coast of Washington to Alice's Wonderland. Valente's work is an open, beating heart, ready to welcome you in to its darkness and its light."
And you've got 800 pages of it!
Emma's Dragon by M. Verant
Published by: Acerbic Press
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 376 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"The award-winning fantasy reinvention of Jane Austen continues.
Emma Woodhouse needs a dragon. Her life depends on it. But Emma's dragon is claimed...by Elizabeth Darcy.
When Emma Woodhouse meets newly wed Elizabeth, a brush of their gloved hands unmasks the Darcys' fantastic secret. Emma has discovered Yu nchi, the deadly dragon coveted by both Emperor Napoleon and England's Secretary of War.
Luckily, secrets are nothing new for Emma. She has her own: a deathbed promise, and a clever plan to achieve it. The Darcys' power, forbidden to her, might even help.
But clever plans can go astray. As treason stalks a royal ball, an avenging queen rises to ravage England. Survival rests on a fabled alliance: Emma and her secrets, Elizabeth and her dragon, and the magical music of Mary Bennet and Georgiana Darcy.
Will Emma, Elizabeth, and Mary unravel the mystery of the great wyves in time to save England and themselves?
Emma's Dragon is the second book in the award-winning Jane Austen Fantasy series. This boldly original story is filled with magical dragons, strong heroines, and a brilliantly reimagined Regency that challenges barriers of class, race, and love.
Don't miss this thrilling, romantic fantasy."
I just found out about this series and with my love of all things Regency Magic I feel like my life is now complete.
The Fairy Bargains of Prospect Hill by Rowenna Miller
Published by: Redhook
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 416Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In this enchanting historical fantasy about sisterhood and self-discovery, a woman does everything she can to help her sister escape her husband - perfect for fans of C. L. Polk, Mary Robinette Kowal, and Marie Brennan.
There is no magic on Prospect Hill - or anywhere else, for that matter. But just on the other side of the veil is the world of the Fae. Generations ago, the first farmers on Prospect Hill learned to bargain small trades to make their lives a little easier - a bit of glass to find something lost, a cup of milk for better layers in the chicken coop.
Much of that old wisdom was lost as the riverboats gave way to the rail lines and the farmers took work at mills and factories. Alaine Fairborn's family, however, was always superstitious, and she still hums the rhymes to find a lost shoe and to ensure dry weather on her sister's wedding day.
When Delphine confides her new husband is not the man she thought he was, Alaine will stop at nothing to help her sister escape him. Small bargains buy them time, but a major one is needed. Yet, the price for true freedom may be more than they're willing to pay."
What would be the cost of freedom to the Fae?
Her Lost Words by Stephanie Marie Thornton
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 448 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"From A Vindication of the Rights of Woman to Frankenstein, a tale of two literary legends - a mother and daughter - discovering each other and finding themselves along the way, from USA Today bestselling author Stephanie Marie Thornton.
1792. As a child, Mary Wollstonecraft longed to disappear during her father's violent rages. Instead, she transforms herself into the radical author of the landmark volume A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, in which she dares to propose that women are equal to men. From conservative England to the blood-drenched streets of revolutionary France, Mary refuses to bow to society's conventions and instead supports herself with her pen until an illicit love affair challenges her every belief about romance and marriage. When she gives birth to a daughter and is stricken with childbed fever, Mary fears it will be her many critics who recount her life's extraordinary odyssey...
1818. The daughter of infamous political philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft, passionate Mary Shelley learned to read by tracing the letters of her mother's tombstone. As a young woman, she desperately misses her mother's guidance, especially following her scandalous elopement with dashing poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. Mary struggles to balance an ever-complicated marriage with motherhood while nursing twin hopes that she might write something of her own one day and also discover the truth of her mother's unconventional life. Mary's journey will unlock her mother's secrets, all while leading to her own destiny as the groundbreaking author of Frankenstein.
A riveting and inspiring novel about a firebrand feminist, her visionary daughter, and the many ways their words transformed our world."
Two women who transformed the world, they just happened to be mother and daughter.
Lone Women by Victor LaValle
Published by: One World
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 304 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Blue skies, empty land - and enough wide-open space to hide a horrifying secret. A woman with a past, a mysterious trunk, a town on the edge of nowhere, and a bracing new vision of the American West, from the award-winning author of The Changeling.
Adelaide Henry carries an enormous steamer trunk with her wherever she goes. It's locked at all times. Because when the trunk opens, people around Adelaide start to disappear.
The year is 1915, and Adelaide is in trouble. Her secret sin killed her parents, forcing her to flee California in a hellfire rush and make her way to Montana as a homesteader. Dragging the trunk with her at every stop, she will become one of the "lone women" taking advantage of the government's offer of free land for those who can tame it - except that Adelaide isn't alone. And the secret she's tried so desperately to lock away might be the only thing that will help her survive the harsh territory.
Crafted by a modern master of magical suspense, Lone Women blends shimmering prose, an unforgettable cast of adventurers who find horror and sisterhood in a brutal landscape, and a portrait of early-twentieth-century America like you've never seen. And at its heart is the gripping story of a woman desperate to bury her past - or redeem it."
What's in the trunk Adelaide? WHAT'S IN THE TRUNK!?!
Hotel of Secrets by Diana Biller
Published by: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 416 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Diana Biller's Hotel of Secrets is chock full of banter-filled shenanigans, must-have-you kisses, and romance certain to light a fire in the hearts of readers everywhere.
During ball season, anything can happen - even love.
It's ball season in Vienna, and Maria Wallner only wants one thing: to restore her family's hotel, the Hotel Wallner, to its former glory. She's not going to let anything get in her way - not her parents' three-decade-long affair; not seemingly-random attacks by masked assassins; and especially not the broad-shouldered American foreign agent who's saved her life two times already. No matter how luscious his mouth is.
Eli Whittaker also only wants one thing: to find out who is selling American secret codes across Europe, arrest them, and go home to his sensible life in Washington, DC. He has one lead - a letter the culprit sent from a Viennese hotel. But when he arrives in Vienna, he is immediately swept up into a chaotic whirlwind of balls, spies, waltzes, and beautiful hotelkeepers who seem to constantly find themselves in danger. He disapproves of all of it! But his disapproval is tested as he slowly falls deeper into the chaos - and as his attraction to said hotelkeeper grows."
Ball season in Vienna? YES!
Intrigue in Istanbul by Erica Ruth Neubauer
Published by: Kensington
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Hardcover, 288 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"In Agatha Award-winning author Erica Ruth Neubauer's fourth wanderlust-inspiring historical mystery, it's 1926 and the adventures of vibrant, young American widow Jane Wunderly send her to Istanbul, Turkey, where the search for her archeologist father unravels secrets tied to a mysterious relic from the Ottoman Empire...
Istanbul, 1926: After her historian father makes a clandestine journey abroad, Jane and the dapper Mr. Redvers trace his footsteps while signs of danger loom back home in the United States. They're greeted at their destination by Aunt Millie and unsettling news: Professor Wunderly was on a mission to locate the lost heart of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent - a legendary relic from the Ottoman Empire said to possess potent mystical powers - then vanished completely, leaving behind his unpacked luggage, a perplexing riddle, and an eerie mystery Jane must solve to keep her loved ones safe.
What starts off as a clear-cut investigation becomes an intercontinental game of cat and mouse as Jane realizes a gang of nameless figures have been stalking her every move from Turkey to Hungary. And it seems even helpful friends can't be trusted for long when a man is stabbed to death on the Orient Express to Budapest. With Redvers by her side and few clues to rely on, Jane’s desperate search for her father leads to centuries-old secrets and an unidentified enemy who could make her disappear like the missing Sultan's heart..."
Gotta support local authors!
Play the Fool by Lina Chern
Published by: Bantam
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 320 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"A cynical tarot card reader seeks to uncover the truth about her friend's mysterious death in this delightfully clever whodunit, "a delicious blend of suspense and madcap humor" (Library Journal, starred review).
For Katie True, a keen gut and quick wit are just tools of the trade. After a failed attempt at adulting in Chicago, she's back in the suburbs living a bit too close to her overbearing parents, jumping from one dead-end job to the next, and flipping through her tarot deck for guidance. Then along comes Marley.
Mysterious, worldly, and comfortable in her own skin, Marley takes a job at the mall where Katie peddles Russian tchotchkes. The two just get each other. Marley doesn't try to fix Katie's life or pretend to be someone she's not, and Katie thinks that with Marley's friendship, she just might make it through this rough patch after all. Until the day when Katie, having been encouraged by Marley to practice soothsaying, reads the cards for someone who stumbles into her shop. But when she sneaks a glance at his phone, she finds more than intel to improve her clairvoyance. She finds a photo. Of Marley. With a gunshot wound to the head.
The bottom falls out of Katie's world. Her best friend is dead? Who killed her? She quickly realizes there are some things her tarot cards can't foresee, and she must put her razor-sharp instincts to the ultimate test. But Katie's recklessness lands her in the crossfire of a threat she never saw coming. Now she must use her street smarts and her inner Strength card to solve Marley's murder - or risk losing everything."
I'm always here for the mystical and murder!
The Quarantine Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot
Published by: Avon Impulse
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: HPaperback, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"Mia Thermopolis knows just what to do in a crisis: Rule.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a section of the diary of Princess Mia Thermopolis of Genovia fell into the hands of Meg Cabot, the Princess's royal biographer.
As reported in media outlets such as Entertainment Weekly, The Mary Sue, Refinery 29, Bustle, and more, from March until June of 2020, sixteen entries of the princess's diary were leaked onto Ms. Cabot's blog, to the delight of over a million fans.
In these entries, titled The Coronavirus Princess Diaries, the princess recorded her most heartfelt emotions while dealing with her husband's quarantine after exposure to the virus; her personal (and political) battles while imposing health restrictions on her small European nation; life during lockdown (even in as idyllic a location as a palace on the Riviera); and of course, dealing with her demanding royal family, especially her grandmother.
Since then, readers have been clamoring for more chapters of Mia's coronavirus diary...and here they are at last: The Quarantine Princess Diaries include not only the previously released entries (now edited and updated with new content), but two hundred more pages of entirely original, never-before-seen entries, including the princess's worries over a possible royal affair; a showdown between Mia and Grandmère over the latter's intended nuptials; the eventual development and distribution of a groundbreaking intranasal vaccine for every citizen in Genovia; and, as always, a royally happy ending.
After all we've been through, what could be more comforting for any lover of royal romance than snuggling up with a brand new installment of the diary of Mia Thermopolis, the princess who started it all?"
So excited to be back with Mia... But I kind of wish it was the third movie...
Bayou Beloved by Lexi Blake
Published by: Berkley
Publication Date: March 28th, 2023
Format: Paperback, 336 Pages
To Buy
The official patter:
"When a woman returns home to Louisiana's Butterfly Bayou, her high school crush finally notices she exists, in a small-town contemporary romance from New York Times bestselling author Lexi Blake.
Quaid Havery always planned to follow in his father's footsteps. He went to law school and then came home to take over his dad's legal practice. Being the only lawyer in small-town Papillon, Quaid is pretty sure he's seen everything. After all, he was once asked to sue an alligator for defamation of character. He's prepared for anything the town can throw at him, until he encounters Jayna Cardet. She's gorgeous, smart, funny, and unlike any woman he's met before.... Except he has.
Jayna never thought she'd return to Papillon, but when her life gets turned around she must learn to live in the close-knit community again. She certainly never dreamed she would practice law in her little town, but she finds herself in the courtroom, and the opposing counsel is her former high school crush, Quaid. It wouldn't be so bad if the man had developed a beer belly, but Quaid is more handsome than ever. And instead of ignoring her like he did in high school, he's made it plain that he wants to get to know her.
Thus begins a courtship destined to end in a wedding or a war. Either way, the locals are popping some corn and eagerly awaiting the outcome."
Hallmark meets all your high school reunion fantasies in one!
A Fatal Waltz by Tasha Alexander
The House at Tyneford by Natasha Solomons
