For humankind, she would be the monsters' monster. She would be their fear in the night. She would be the terror come for them. Elika crosses the Bridge to Magic to find the world ruled by magic, where nothing is as it seems. Mages run the streets, whilst the tsaren, their masters, war with each other. Though it is men who pay the price with their lives.Faced with the injustice of the mages and the new world order, Elika discovers her own untapped gifts that may yet shift the balance of power back into the hands of men. But her dabbling in the power she does not understand draws the attention of the dreaded demigod Syn'Moreg. Elika must now outwit the shadow that hunts her, whilst seeking a way to free mankind from their oppressors. Yet dark grows her heart, and to darkness it reaches for that which the shadow denies.As whispers of newly found heir to the Sacred Crowns grow to cries of war, Elika comes to realise that she may...

Kids' Indie Next pick for November/December!Amazon Best Book of October 2021!A scrappy maid must outsmart both palace nobles and Low Gods in a new YA fantasy by Margaret Owen, author of the Merciful Crow series.Once upon a time, there was a horrible girl...Vanja Schmidt knows that no gift is freely given, not even a mother's love—and she's on the hook for one hell of a debt. Vanja, the adopted goddaughter of Death and Fortune, was Princess Gisele's dutiful servant up until a year ago. That was when Vanja's otherworldly mothers demanded a terrible price for their care, and Vanja decided to steal her future back... by stealing Gisele's life for herself.The real Gisele is left a penniless nobody while Vanja uses an enchanted string of pearls to take her place. Now, Vanja leads a lonely but lucrative double life as princess and jewel thief, charming nobility while emptying their coffers to fund her great escape. Then, one heist...

Sixth-century Byzantium: Corruption is rife and the empire is in turmoil when Flavius Belisarius is expected to join his father's cohort to help protect the border of the Eastern Roman Empire.Flavius's father, Decimus, is the governor of Dorostorum city and has two goals: to keep out the Sklaveni barbarians across the Danube and to expose the deep roots of corruption. Seeking to prevent a barbarian raid, Decimus asks the powerful magnate Senuthius Vicinus for help. But when treachery leads to death in the Belisarius family, Decimus's reputation is damaged.With his life changed forever, Flavius swears vengeance on the man who betrayed his father and begins a journey from which there is no way back.

He's a former Army medic. She owns a book and wine shop. It's all the makings of one steamy small-town romance... except he runs a cadaver lab and she sees dead people. Strange things are happening at the Once Upon a Vine Book & Wine Shop in Mudville, New York.Is it the sky clad Wiccans meeting on the roof? The book club drinking "magic mushroom" tea in the meeting room? The black cat who moved uninvited into the shop? The sudden run on Tarot card sales?Maybe it can be traced to the downed power line that rendered the bookshop owner technically dead making her the new conduit to the local ghost community. Or to the cadaver lab next door and the hot but mysteriously secretive doctor who runs it.All Natalie knows is she can't ignore him or them anymore now that one of the hot doctor's cadavers insists his death was the result of foul play and she's the only one who can bring him justice. Cadaver Lab features a...

A moving middle-grade novel in verse, about a young trans boy dealing with the loss of his friend by writing to his favorite cryptid, Mothman Halfway through sixth grade, Noah’s best friend and the only other trans boy in his school, Lewis, passed away in a car accident. Lewis was adventurous and curious, always bringing a new paranormal story to share with Noah. Together they daydreamed about cryptids and shared discovering their genders and names. After his death, lonely and yearning for someone who could understand him like Lewis once did, Noah starts writing letters to Mothman, wondering if he would understand how Noah feels and also looking for evidence of Mothman’s existence in the vast woods surrounding his small Poconos town. Noah becomes determined to make his science fair project about Mothman, despite his teachers and parents urging him to make a project about something “real.” Meanwhile, as Noah tries to find Mothman, Noah also starts to make...

Gifted vs. Intellect. Jenkins vs. Custers. Decades of feuding come to a head in this contemporary Irish-inspired fantasy as two teen Magos unravel a complex mystery spanning countries and centuries. When Colby Custer starts his first year at the International School for the Intellect and Gifted, the talented young Magos is excited to learn more about his magical powers. But studying magic has never been more dangerous, thanks to the ongoing conflict between the Gifted and the Intellect. On one side, the Custer family supports the study and sharing of magic with those they call Gifted. On the other, the Jenkins family perpetuates the hereditary lines of Magos called the Intellect. The feud between the two families is alive and well, but it's about to get more complicated as a shared threat emerges. What would happen if the Custer and Jenkins families team up? For Faith Jenkins, Colby...

'An immensely impressive debut from a major literary talent' JOSEPH O'CONNOR, author of Shadowplay'Lush, lyrical and cleverly-constructed. A beautiful book.' Louise Kennedy, author of Trespasses The disquieting story of an unidentified man as told by those who crossed paths with him on the last day of his life, Sheila Armstrong's debut novel is haunting, lyrical and darkly suspensefulOn an isolated beach set against a lonely, windswept coastline, a pale figure sits serenely against a sand dune staring out to sea. His hands are folded neatly in his lap, his ankles are crossed and there is a faint smile on his otherwise lifeless face.Months later, after a fruitless investigation, the nameless stranger is buried in an unmarked grave. But the mystery of his life and death lingers on, drawing the nearby villagers into its wake. From strandings to shipwrecks, it is not the first time that...