New Releases

New Releases

Posted onAuthorAudrey

There are four books coming out tomorrow, plus one we missed earlier this month. Which of these have caught your eye?

The cover of the book is mostly lush tropical flowers and the colors are vivid pinks and purples with a touch of greenery. The flowers take up most of the space. Over them, the title is in a white font. The w in the word flower and the R in the word thorn have one line that shoots out and comes to a point like a long thorn.Flower and Thorn by Rati Mehrotra
Wednesday Books

One girl. One boy.
A promise broken.
A magic stolen.

Irinya has wanted to be a flower hunter ever since her mother disappeared into the mysterious mist of the Rann salt flats one night. Now seventeen, Irinya uses her knowledge of magical flowers to help her caravan survive in the harsh desert. When her handsome hunting partner and childhood friend finds a priceless silver spider lily–said to be able to tear down kingdoms and defeat an entire army–Irinya knows this is their chance for a better life.

Until Irinya is tricked by an attractive imposter.

Irinya’s fight to recover the priceless flower and to fix what she’s done takes her on a dangerous journey, one she’s not sure she’ll survive. She has no choice but to endure it if she hopes to return home and mend the broken heart of the boy she’s left behind.

The book cover has a pink background and seeds from a dandelion are floating around the two people featured. They are back to back. The one in the back has short dark hair and is wearing a hoodie. They have light brown skin. The one closer to the viewer has darker skin and medium brown hair. They are holding a dandelion that is white and fluffy and are wearing a reddish orange cardigan over a light shirt and light brown pants. If You’ll Have Me by Eunnie
Viking

Momo Gardner is the kind of friend who’s always ready to lend a helping hand. She’s introverted, sensitive, and maybe a little too trusting, but she likes to believe the best in people. PG, on the other hand, is a bit of a lone wolf, despite her reputation for being a flirt and a player. Underneath all that cool mystery, she’s actually quick to smile, and when she falls for someone, she falls hard. An unexpected meet-cute brings the two together, kicking off the beginning of an awkward yet endearing courtship—but with their drastically different personalities, Momo’s overprotective friend, and PG’s past coming back to haunt her, Momo and PG’s romance is put to the test.

On this book cover, the image is all in pastels. A young woman with wavy dark hair that is blowing in the breeze is seen. She has her hands up and looks to be casting a spell or doing magic in some way. There are pink swords in the air behind her aiming for something ahead of her. She is wearing a long flowing dress that is colorful around her body, but white down around her legs and pooling below her. A Bright Heart by Kate Chenli
Union Square & Co.

What if you could avenge your own murder? A brilliant young woman gets a second chance at life in this debut YA tale of vengeance, court intrigue, and romance, inspired by classic Chinese tropes.

Mingshin outsmarted three princes to help the man she loved become king. But she doesn’t see Ren’s betrayal coming, not until she’s lying in a pool of her own blood on the palace steps.

As she’s dying, Mingshin makes a desperate plea to the gods to turn back time and give her a chance to make things right.

Mingshin wakes up two years earlier, her prayer granted, and swears two things: Ren will never become king, and she will never fall in love again.

But the timeline in this life has changed: a dignitary gifted with dark magic is threatening her kingdom’s peace, and Ren’s thirst for power runs deeper than Mingshin could have imagined.

She finds herself allying with Jieh, another contender for the throne. Mingshin knows better than anyone not to give her heart to a prince. But in the viper’s nest of the royal court, she and Jieh prove a phenomenal team. Can Mingshin avert the catastrophe of her past by once again learning to trust…and maybe even love?

Illustrated cover of All These Sunken Souls. The angle makes it look like the viewer is looking up at a Black teenager leaning over them. The teenager appears to be screaming, and pale, almost ghostly hands look like they're choking them. White wisps of smoke are coming out of the teenager's mouth, and the smoke transforms into hands or red, smeared skullsAll These Sunken Souls: A Black Horror Anthology edited by Circe Moskowitz
Amberjack Publishing

Welcome to the Dark.

We are all familiar with tropes of the horror genre: slasher and victims, demon and the possessed. Bloody screams, haunted visions, and the peddler of wares we aren’t sure we can trust. In this young adult horror anthology, fans of Jordan Peele, Lovecraft Country, and Horror Noire will get a little bit of everything they love—and a lot of what they fear—through a twisted blend of horror lenses, from the thoughtful to the terrifying.

From haunted, hungry Victorian mansions, temporal monster–infested asylums, and ravaging zombie apocalypses, to southern gothic hoodoo practitioners and cursed patriarchs in search of Black Excellence, All These Sunken Souls features the chilling creations of acclaimed bestsellers and hot new talents, with stories from Kalynn Bayron, Donyae Coles, Ryan Douglass, Sami Ellis, Brent Lambert, Ashia Monet, Circe Moskowitz, Joel Rochester, Liselle Sambury, and Joelle Wellington.

Illustrated cover of The Blackwoods. A Black teenage girl faces the viewer. Her dark brown hair frames her face, and she is wearing leopard print sunglasses and a red feather boa. She has bright red lips, gold nail polish, and several gold rings on her fingers.The Blackwoods by Brandy Colbert
Balzer + Bray

The Blackwoods. Everyone knows their name.

Blossom Blackwood burst onto the silver screen in 1962, and in the decades that followed, she would become one of the most celebrated actors of our time—and the matriarch of the most famous Black family in Hollywood. To her great-granddaughters, Hollis and Ardith, she has always just been Bebe. And when she passes away, it changes everything.

Hollis Blackwood was never interested in fame. Still, she’s surrounded by it, whether at home with her family or at the prestigious Dupree Academy among Los Angeles’ elite. When private photos of Hollis are leaked in the wake of Blossom’s death, she is thrust into the spotlight she’s long avoided—and finds that trust may be a luxury even she can’t afford.

Ardith Blackwood has always lived in the public eye. A television star since childhood, she was perhaps closer with Blossom than anyone—especially after Ardith’s mother died in a drug overdose. Ever since, she has worked to be everything her family, her church, and the public want her to be. But as a family secret comes to light and the pressures from all sides begin to mount, she wonders what is left beneath the face she shows the world.

Weaving together the narratives of Hollis, Ardith, and Blossom, award-winning author Brandy Colbert tells an unforgettable story set in an America where everything is personal, and nothing is private.