Character Madness and Musings

A Wild and Unremarkable Thing by Jen Castleberry Genre: YA Fantasy Release Date: January 2018 Parliament House Press Fifteen years have passed since a Fire Scale scorched Cayda’s village.  Fifteen years of beatings, of bare kitchen cupboards and sloppy swordplay.  Fifteen years of biting her lip for her father’s cane while her younger sisters did the same for the grimy patrons of the village brothels. Fifteen years of staring steadfastly after beauty in an increasingly ugly world. Now, with hair shorn and breast bound, Cayda marches into the Summer Alps as Cody, a hopeful Champion seeking a dragon-slayer’s reward, with the full weight of her family’s survival on her shoulders. But the road between poverty and prosperity is rife with beasts, betrayals, and baser temptations. Sensible Cayda soon discovers that she is not the only Champion with her eye on the prize, or the only one wearing a disguise. With monsters, gods, and royalty hot on her heels, Cayda must ...

Fire Born The Guardian Series Book One Rayanne Haines Genre: Paranormal Romance Publisher: Soul Mate Publishing Date of Publication: September 13th, 2017 ISBN: 978-1-68291-511-0 ASIN: B074WFSD7G Number of pages: 224 Word Count: 70,000.00 Cover Artist: Fiona Jayde When Alex Taleisin’s immortal DNA kicks in after a fight for her life against something not-quite-human in the YMCA parking lot, her Aunt finally lets her in on the family secret. They’re Immortal – Elementals to be precise. Only, Alex is a little something more, and until they discover what, her life is in danger. Collum Thronus, Guardian of the Races and savage King of the Dragons has no choice but to protect Alex and find her father’s people. He made a promise and Collum always keeps his promises. Now, he needs to keep his hands of his charge. Enter an insane grandfather, a shifter with a hidden agenda, and a witch with a shoe addiction and soon Alex is wishing for a quiet house in the hills with the dragon she’s f...

The Secret Lives of Rockstars: Book Two by Suzanne Lazear Genre: NA Urban Fantasy/Elfpunk Release Date: November 2017 Leap Books: SHINE Saving the world, one tour stop at a time. Join Bitsy in the second installment of her attempts to stop a magical war threatening Arizona and all those who call it home. With the help of a human, a sexy dragon, and the members of her band, Bitsy must stop an angry mob of chaos demons before the band leaves for their next tour stop. It’s nice to be needed, but Bitsy has no idea how to defeat the demons and she just might get herself killed trying. But then, at least one problem would be solved... Fitting in doesn’t matter if you’re dead. Add to Goodreads The Secret Lives of Rockstars Book One on Goodreads About the Author Suzanne Lazear spins tales of the fantastic. She’s the author of the New Adult Elfpunk The Secret Lives of Rockstars (Leap Books) and the YA dark fairytale steampunk series The Aether Chronicles (Flux...

Right Gift. Wrong Day Natalie Decker (Offsides, #1.5) Published by: Swoon Romance Publication date: November 24th 2017 Genres: Contemporary, Romance, Young Adult Tyler Richardson is freaking out! Not only did he invite his new girlfriend to meet his entire family, this is also the day they will exchange gifts. But what do you get a girl after dating for only two weeks? Should he listen to his friends and just give her a card, or should he ask for a second opinion? Layla can’t believe she agreed to have dinner with Tyler and his family. What if they don’t like her? To make matter’s worse, they agreed to exchange Christmas gifts. The boy already has everything. And what if she gets him something that’s nicer than what he gets her? That would be really awkward. Asking him what he would like is completely out of the question. Maybe she should ask his friends for help. After a rocky start, Tyler and Layla’s relationship is everybody’s relationship goals. But can Tyler and Layla survi...

The Beautiful Dead:  A Tale of K-Pop, Ghosts, and Nine-Tailed Fox Women Jun Prince Genre:  Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Publisher: Apollo and Nyx Publishing Date of Publication:   September 22, 2017 ISBN:   978-0999491300 ASIN: B075VXNMDD Number of pages:  346 (Print) Word Count:  97k Words Cover Artist:  Damonza A lonely Korean pop star learns her high school classmate died five years ago. So why are they still texting? Yubin knows she’s different than the other girls in the pop group SIITY. Yes, they all got sucked into the same machine, giving up schooling and signing ridiculously long contracts before anyone knew if they'd be successful, but that's how pop stars are made in Korea. Yubin is supposed to be thankful for that, but she isn't. She doesn't even like the girls she performs with.  She’s more connected to her former schoolmate Jieun, even though all they ever do is text. Over the last...

Warning Call Danny Bell (The Black Pages, #2) Publication date: December 21st 2017 Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult Elana Black. Saving the day even if she has to tear a hole in the universe to do it. An unbeatable mythological horror has its sights set on Elana, and that’s not the worst of her problems. Gods want to use her, shadowy agents want to eliminate her, and a powerful sorcerer wants to kill her; all as she rushes to stop an event which portends the death of her best friend, Olivia. It’s all catching up with her, and just in time for Christmas. Elana is going to have to figure out how all of it is connected but she’s in over her head, outnumbered, and running out of time. And she always thought magic would make her life easier. Add to Goodreads There is also a limited release cover: About the Author My name is Danny Bell. I want to tell stories and avoid writing author profiles. I read—when I should be interacting with people, I named my cat aft...

The One Apart Justine Avery Genre: Paranormal Publisher: Justine Avery Date of Publication: December 4, 2017 ASIN: B076B7RDWY Number of pages: 568 Word Count: 109k Cover Artist: Oishii Designs Only one obstacle stands in his way of enjoying a normal life. He remembers—every life he's lived before. Tres is about to be born... with the biggest burden any has ever had to bear. He is beginning again—as an ageless adult trapped in an infant body. He and his teenage mother face life filled with extraordinary challenges as they strive to protect, nurture, and hide how truly different he is. But Tres alone must solve the greatest mystery of all: who is he? The answer is linked to the one question he's too afraid to ask: why am I? In his quest, Tres discovers that all is considerably more interconnected and dynamic than he could ever imagine—and fraught with far more danger. He cannot hide from the unseen threat stalking him since his birth. Life as he knows it—as all know it—...

The Monster Of Selkirk The Duality of Nature Book 1 C.E. Clayton Genre: YA Fantasy Print Length: 329 pages Publisher: DevilDog Press Publication Date: April 18, 2017 ASIN: B06XSXB14F Monsters come in many forms, and not everyone knows a monster when they see one. After three hundred years of monstrous, feral elves plaguing the island nation of Selkirk, everyone believes they know what a monster is. Humans have learned to live with their savage neighbors, enacting a Clearing every four years to push the elves back from their borders. The system has worked for centuries, until after one such purge, a babe was found in the forest. As Tallis grows, she discovers she isn't like everyone else. There is something a little different that makes people leery in her presence, and she only ever makes a handful of friends. But when the elves gather their forces and emerge from the forests literally hissing Tallis's name like a battle mantra, making friends is the leas...

Title: The Matriarch Matrix Author: Maxime Trencavel Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure The Matriarch Matrix – A speculative fiction novel of origins, faith, passion, and the pursuit of peace. It was always his destiny to save her. It was always her destiny to die. The fate of the world hangs on their choices… The past foretells her future… What does it take to change a loving child of peace into an assassin for a dangerous and powerful oligarch? Zara Khatum knows. Once a fighter for her Kurdish people, the memory of the atrocities inflicted by her captors has Zara seeking one thing: vengeance. But the voices of the ancients call to Zara. In the past, in another life, she knew the secrets of the artifact… Twelve thousand years ago… She is Nanshe, revered matriarch of the family she led away from the monsters of the north. In the land that would one day mark the treacherous border between Turkey and Syria, she created the temples at Gobleki Tepe and founded a dynasty, h...

Wolves and Roses by Christina Bauer Genre: YA Paranormal Release Date: October 31st 2017 Monster Hose Books Seventeen-year-old Bryar Rose has a problem. She’s descended from one of the three magical races—shifters, fairies, or witches. That makes her one of the Magicorum, and Magicorum always follow a fairy tale life template. In Bryar’s case, that template should be Sleeping Beauty. “Should” being the key word. Trouble is, Bryar is nowhere near the sleeping beauty life template. Not even close. She doesn’t like birds or woodland creatures. She can’t sing. And she certainly can’t stand Prince Philpot, the so-called “His Highness of Hedge Funds” that her aunties want her to marry. Even worse, Bryar’s having recurring dreams of a bad boy hottie and is obsessed with finding papyri from ancient Egypt. What’s up with that? All Bryar wants is to attend a regular high school with normal humans and forget all about shifters, fairies, witches, and the curse that Colonel Mallory...