OLD FRIENDS AND NEW ENEMIES Fresh from the imperial examinations, Duan Ling volunteers to journey to the northern city of Ye, where the empire’s border is under threat of a Mongol invasion. Accompanying him is Wu Du, tasked with rebuilding the city’s ragtag garrison into a force capable of holding Ye through the winter. When Duan Ling arrives, however, he discovers that the Mongol army is led by none other than his childhood friend, Borjigin Batu. The grown-up Batu is nothing like the boy Duan Ling remembers—and now, to prove himself to his own people, Batu must capture the very city Duan Ling has sworn to defend. While Duan Ling and Wu Du brace for Batu’s attack, back in the capital, suspicions mount around the false crown prince. As the empire’s most feared assassins vanish from the capital one after another, more than one person begins to wonder: What deadly secret could draw all Four Great Assassins to the north?

One man's attempt to become the Final Boss goes completely awry when his buff item earns him sympathy instead of fear! Up against the Hero and chased by the very company who sold him the item, can he still manage to achieve his dastardly dreams?Yin Biyue feels scammed. After dying as a two-bit villain in a multitude of worlds, he dreamed of becoming the Final Boss in the next world he's reborn into. Unfortunately, the malevolent Fiend Halo he purchased from the Rebirth Company seems to be malfunctioning. Instead of inspiring fear in those who inhabit his new reality, his fellow cultivators see him as...a do-gooder. And this includes the bleeding-heart protagonist, Luo Mingchuan--the very man who Yin Biyue just tried to murder!Before Yin Biyue knows it, he's surrounded by allies and the fallout of a misunderstanding that makes everyone in his cultivation sect think he's the victim. How is he supposed to achieve his dastardly dreams now?! Especially when the mysteries of his forgotten past keep popping up when he least expects them.

Manifesting fire. Seeing through walls. Stopping time. Abilities like these separate metahumans from ordinary people. Some metahumans serve as secret protectors, while others use their power for cheap gains. Some only wish to live quietly. And some seek to upend the world. 3,000 years ago, the world looked very different, populated by beings from mythology’s pages. But when the yao of old brought humanity to the brink of annihilation, Emperor Wu was forced to seal away the source of spiritual power, gifting the world to those without abilities. Now, someone is plotting to break that seal in a bid to reclaim what once was. When easy-going fire user Xuan Ji takes a job at the Anomaly Regulation Bureau to escape his mounting debt, he’s forced into a confrontation with the ancient demon Sheng Lingyuan. Enigmatic, aloof, and deeply broken, Sheng Lingyuan seems to have a connection with the seal—and with Xuan Ji himself. Together with a team of quirky metahumans, they must uncover both present-day conspiracies and sorrows from millennia past—and perhaps stop trying to kill each other. Drowning Sorrows in Raging Fire is a haunting urban fantasy with biting humour, exploring the lines people draw between each other—and the ones they’ll cross to be together.

Surviving death is one thing, but can a reborn demonic cultivator survive studying under the high brow of his new—and oddly familiar—cat-like master? See how his plans go from purrfect to near cat-tastrophe in this hiss-terical rom-com!In his previous life, Mo Tianliao was a demonic cultivator renowned for the powerful spiritual weapons and artifacts he forged. So, when the cultivation world realized he was on the verge of successfully crafting a weapon powerful enough to destroy the world, they hunted him down. Thank the heavens he saved his beloved white kitten before his death!“The end,” right? The cultivation world certainly thought so. But in reality, Mo Tianliao happened upon a bit of luck; by possessing a divine tree, this demonic cultivator has just awakened with another chance at life. There’s just one problem…four hundred years have passed and his new body is utterly bereft of spiritual power!To build his powers back up, Mo Tianliao must join one of the righteous cultivation sects as a disciple. It’s here that this former demonic cultivator apprentices for Master Qingtong, a man of unparalleled beauty and suspiciously feline aloofness.Also…wait, his little white kitten is here too?!

If Caden Bryce thought it would be difficult to tell his parents that he’s the Ninth Dragon Shifter just wait until he has to tell him that he and Valerius are dating! But Caden’s parents aren’t the new couple’s only speed bump. The Green Dragon King Illarion has come to Reach to make the phrase “three’s a crowd” take on a whole new meaning. This is a long serial that is divided into book-length segments. Every single one ends in a cliffhanger. We anticipate there being 9 volumes. This series will not be in KU, because it is on the Raythe Reign serial website. There is also a free audio version on Youtube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts!

Now that Caden Bryce is the White Dragon Shifter, all of the Dragon Shifter kings and queens are converging on Reach to court him. While the Black Dragon King Valerius still claims to want Caden to leave his territory, he is just as adamant that Caden not become the mate of any of the others. Meanwhile, the Swarm Shifter Marban is still trying to take advantage of Caden’s heroic, kind nature. Not to mention that Humans First, sensing discord among the world’s dragons, decides to add a few more explosions to the mix. This is a long serial that is divided into book-length segments. Every single one ends in a cliffhanger. We anticipate there being 9 volumes. This series will not be in KU, because it is on the Raythe Reign serial website. There is also a free podcast on Youtube with the author reading!

When Paul and Julian meet as university freshmen in early 1970s Pittsburgh, they are immediately drawn to one another. A talented artist, Paul is sensitive and agonizingly insecure, incomprehensible to his working-class family, and desolate with grief over his father’s recent death.  Paul sees the wealthy, effortlessly charming Julian as his sole intellectual equal—an ally against the conventional world he finds so suffocating. He idolizes his friend for his magnetic confidence. But as charismatic as he can choose to be, Julian is also volatile and capriciously cruel. And admiration isn’t the same as trust. As their friendship spirals into an all-consuming intimacy, Paul is desperate to protect their precarious bond, even as it becomes clear that pressures from the outside world are nothing compared with the brutality they are capable of inflicting on one another. Separation is out of the question. But as their orbit compresses and their grip on one another tightens, they are drawn to an act of irrevocable violence that will force the young men to confront a shattering truth at the core of their relationship.    Exquisitely plotted, unfolding with a propulsive ferocity, These Violent Delights is a novel of escalating dread and an excavation of the unsettling depths of human desire. The Secret History meets Call Me by Your Name in Micah Nemerever's compulsively readable debut novel—a feverishly taut Hitchcockian story about two college students, each with his own troubled past, whose escalating obsession with one another leads to an act of unspeakable violence.

A devastating love story. A bewitching twist on history. A blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption. In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gévaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down. Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the promise of a reconciliation with Antoine, Sebastian cannot refuse. But Gévaudan is not as he remembers it, and Sebastian’s unfinished business is everywhere he looks. Years of misery have driven the people to desperation, and France teeters on the edge of revolution. Sebastian’s arcane activities – not to mention his demonic counterpart – have also attracted the inquisitorial eye of the French clergy. And the Beast is poised to close his jaws around them all and plunge the continent into war. Debut author Cameron Sullivan tears the heart out of history with this darkly entertaining retelling of the hunt for the Beast of Gévaudan. Lifting the veil on the hidden world behind our own, it reimagines the story of Europe, from Imperial Rome to Saint Jehanne d’Arc, the madness of Gilles de Rais and the first flickers of the French Revolution.

A hilarious and incisive exploration of the joys of reading from a teacher, bibliophile and Thurber Prize finalist We read to escape, to learn, to find love, to feel seen. We read to encounter new worlds, to discover new recipes, to find connection across difference, or simply to pass a rainy afternoon. No matter the reason, books have the power to keep us safe, to challenge us, and perhaps most importantly, to make us more fully human. Shannon Reed, a longtime teacher, lifelong reader, and New Yorker contributor, gets it. With one simple goal in mind, she makes the case that we should read for pleasure above all else. In this whip-smart, laugh-out-loud-funny collection, Reed shares surprising stories from her life as a reader and the poignant ways in which books have impacted her students. From the varied novels she cherishes ( Gone Girl , Their Eyes Were Watching God ) to the ones she didn’t ( Tess of the d’Urbervilles ), Reed takes us on a rollicking tour through the comforting world of literature, celebrating the books we love, the readers who love them, and the surprising ways in which literature can transform us for the better.

School’s out for the summer and a raging, malevolent heat has blanketed Nova City. Dark, twisted, probably evil shadows have drenched the doorsteps of her good people’s homes. And Nicholas Bell―fanboy, hero, ADHD-haver―is being super dramatic again. But honestly, Nick’s life is pretty much perfect. Yeah, it’s hot out, but he finally gets to team up and train with his steamy superhero boyfriend to bring justice, protection, and disaster energy to the people of Nova City. It’s everything he’s ever dreamed of! With graduation on the horizon and his future unknowable, Nick focuses on enjoying the present. Seth, Jazz, and Gibby are busy setting up headquarters for Lighthouse, their hero team. Nick’s dad has partnered with former chief of police Rodney Caplan to start a new private investigation agency. And Nick’s mother, the superhero known as TK, is right there at Nick’s side. Where she’s always been. Hasn’t she? But something’s off. It’s not just Simon Burke running for mayor and campaigning to “cure” Extraordinaries. And it’s not even the rumors that Nick’s ex-boyfriend and villain-in-the-making Owen Burke has escaped. Something else isn’t right, and Nick will need all his friends and loved ones together to uncover the truth before Nova City falls prey to the Burke family. A truth that will reveal a traitor in their midst and burn through their lives like a wildfire.

Now that Caden Bryce is the White Dragon Shifter, all of the Dragon Shifter kings and queens are converging on Reach to court him. While the Black Dragon King Valerius still claims to want Caden to leave his territory, he is just as adamant that Caden not become the mate of any of the others. Meanwhile, the Swarm Shifter Marban is still trying to take advantage of Caden’s heroic, kind nature. Not to mention that Humans First, sensing discord among the world’s dragons, decides to add a few more explosions to the mix. This is a long serial that is divided into book-length segments. Every single one ends in a cliffhanger. We anticipate there being 9 volumes. This series will not be in KU, because it is on the Raythe Reign serial website. There is also a free podcast on Youtube with the author reading!