Sweetbitter Song

Rosie Hewlett

One fateful night in Sparta, a young slave girl encounters a mysterious, grey-eyed princess. Melantho and Penelope, though from different worlds, are instantly connected. But betrayal soon tears them apart.Years later, on Ithaca's rocky shores, Melantho is sent to serve Princess Penelope and her new husband, Prince Odysseus. Hardened by slavery, Melantho vows to stay distant from Penelope. Yet, the undeniable pull between them proves stronger than ever.As war ignites Greece, Odysseus and Ithaca's men are called away and, in their absence, Melantho finds a new world opening up before her – one where women rule, where family can be found, and where love is finally given the space to bloom.But all wars eventually end and as Troy falls, Penelope and Melantho must face the King’s return and decide how far they will go to protect what matters most to them.

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The Palace of Eros

Caro De Robertis

Young, headstrong Psyche has captured the eye of every suitor with her beauty – but also, unfortunately, the jealous gaze of the goddess Aphrodite. As punishment, Psyche is tied to a rock to be sacrificed to a ‘monstrous husband’. And yet, no monster arrives: instead, she is spirited away by Aphrodite’s daughter Eros. Eros, goddess of desire, can change gender at will. And in her hidden palace, she visits her bride under the cloak of darkness: Psyche is forbidden to gaze upon the face of her lover. But as they explore each other’s bodies and discover new pleasures, Psyche is tempted to break her vow… even if it brings down the wrath of the gods. A gloriously anarchic and seductive retelling of the myth of Psyche and Eros, groundbreaking, gender-fluid and hugely enjoyable, this is a masterpiece from Caro De Robertis, a writer described by Madeline Miller as ‘brilliant and luminous’.

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Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil

Victoria Schwab

A genre-defying novel about immortality and hunger from V. E. Schwab, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. This is a story about hunger. 1532. Santo Domingo de la Calzada. A young girl grows up wild and wily—her beauty is only outmatched by her dreams of escape. But María knows she can only ever be a prize, or a pawn, in the games played by men. When an alluring stranger offers an alternate path, María makes a desperate choice. She vows to have no regrets. This is a story about love. 1827. London. A young woman lives an idyllic but cloistered life on her family’s estate, until a moment of forbidden intimacy sees her shipped off to London. Charlotte’s tender heart and seemingly impossible wishes are swept away by an invitation from a beautiful widow—but the price of freedom is higher than she could have imagined. This is a story about rage. 2019. Boston. College was supposed to be her chance to be someone new. That’s why Alice moved halfway across the world, leaving her old life behind. But after an out-of-character one-night stand leaves her questioning her past, her present, and her future, Alice throws herself into the hunt for answers . . . and revenge. This is a story about life—how it ends, and how it starts.

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The Final Strife

Saara El-Arifi

Red is the blood of the elite, of magic, of control. Blue is the blood of the poor, of workers, of the resistance. Clear is the blood of the slaves, of the crushed, of the invisible. Sylah dreams of days growing up in the resistance, being told she would spark a revolution that would free the empire from the red-blooded ruling classes’ tyranny. That spark was extinguished the day she watched her family murdered before her eyes. Anoor has been told she’s nothing, no one, a disappointment, by the only person who matters: her mother, the most powerful ruler in the empire. But when Sylah and Anoor meet, a fire burns between them that could consume the kingdom—and their hearts. Hassa moves through the world unseen by upper classes, so she knows what it means to be invisible. But invisibility has its uses: It can hide the most dangerous of secrets, secrets that can reignite a revolution. And when she joins forces with Sylah and Anoor, together these grains of sand will become a storm. As the empire begins a set of trials of combat and skill designed to find its new leaders, the stage is set for blood to flow, power to shift, and cities to burn.

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The Lamb

Lucy Rose

From an incendiary new talent, a contemporary queer folktale about a mother and daughter living in the woods, for fans of Angela Carter, Margaret Atwood, and Julia Armfield. “Deliciously dark and shockingly bold—someone needs to make this into a film right now! Lucy Rose is one to watch. This is one of my favorite debuts in a long time.”—Kirsty Logan, author of Now She is Witch and Things We Say in the Dark A FOLK TALE. A HORROR STORY. A LOVE STORY. AN ENCHANTMENT. Margot and Mama have lived by the forest ever since Margot can remember. When Margot is not at school, they spend quiet days together in their cottage, waiting for strangers to knock on their door. Strays, Mama calls them. People who have strayed too far from the road. Mama loves the strays. She feeds them wine, keeps them warm. Then she picks apart their bodies and toasts them off with some vegetable oil. But Mama’s want is stronger than her hunger sometimes, and when a beautiful, white-toothed stray named Eden turns up in the heart of a snowstorm, Margot must confront the shifting dynamics of her family, untangle her own desires, and make her own bid for freedom. With this gothic coming-of-age tale, debut novelist Lucy Rose explores how women swallow their anger, desire, and animal instincts—and wrings the relationship between mother and daughter until blood drips from it.

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The Starving Saints

Caitlin Starling

From the nationally bestselling author of The Luminous Dead and The Death of Jane Lawrence, a transfixing, intensely atmospheric fever dream of medieval horror. Aymar Castle has been under siege for six months. Food is running low and there has been no sign of rescue. But just as the survivors consider deliberately thinning their number, the castle stores are replenished. The sick are healed. And the divine figures of the Constant Lady and her Saints have arrived, despite the barricaded gates, offering succor in return for adoration. Soon, the entire castle is under the sway of their saviors, partaking in intoxicating feasts of terrible origin. The war hero Ser Voyne gives her allegiance to the Constant Lady. Phosyne, a disorganized, paranoid nun-turned-sorceress, races to unravel the mystery of these new visitors and exonerate her experiments as their source. And in the bowels of the castle, a serving girl, Treila, is torn between her thirst for a secret vengeance against Voyne and the desperate need to escape from the horrors that are unfolding within Aymar’s walls. As the castle descends into bacchanalian madness—forgetting the massed army beyond its walls in favor of hedonistic ecstasy—these three women are the only ones to still see their situation for what it is. But they are not immune from the temptations of the castle’s new masters… or each other; and their shifting alliances and entangled pasts bring violence to the surface. To save the castle, and themselves, will take a reimagining of who they are, and a reorganization of the very world itself.

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Forsaking Midnight

Emily McIntire

**From #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily McIntire comes the second book in the Defying the Stars series, where small town drama meets sizzling retellings of forbidden romances.** Some sins are worth the fall. Lance Calloway fights when they tell him to fight. Bleeds when they tell him to bleed. Breaks when they tell him to break. Six years in an unsanctioned cage, and the one line he's never crossed? Loyalty to his best friend, no matter the cost. Then he's asked to protect her. Genevieve DeGrance didn't ask for any of this. She came to Rosebrook Falls to be with the mayor's son. But nothing in this town is what it seems. Especially not the dangerous fighter who watches her every move like a threat. She hates him. He hates her. And yet... The more time Lance spends guarding Genevieve, the harder it becomes to remember she belongs to someone else. And the more she uncovers about Rosebrook Falls, the more she realizes the only honest person in her life is the one man she's forbidden to want. In a town built on secrets and lies, falling for each other could destroy them both. But staying away might be the one fight Lance can't win. **This book is perfect for readers looking for: • forbidden romance • hate to love • he falls first (and lies about it) • Arthurian retelling • mafia style romance**

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Forsaking Midnight

Emily McIntire

**From #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily McIntire comes the second book in the Defying the Stars series, where small town drama meets sizzling retellings of forbidden romances.** Some sins are worth the fall. Lance Calloway fights when they tell him to fight. Bleeds when they tell him to bleed. Breaks when they tell him to break. Six years in an unsanctioned cage, and the one line he's never crossed? Loyalty to his best friend, no matter the cost. Then he's asked to protect her. Genevieve DeGrance didn't ask for any of this. She came to Rosebrook Falls to be with the mayor's son. But nothing in this town is what it seems. Especially not the dangerous fighter who watches her every move like a threat. She hates him. He hates her. And yet... The more time Lance spends guarding Genevieve, the harder it becomes to remember she belongs to someone else. And the more she uncovers about Rosebrook Falls, the more she realizes the only honest person in her life is the one man she's forbidden to want. In a town built on secrets and lies, falling for each other could destroy them both. But staying away might be the one fight Lance can't win. **This book is perfect for readers looking for: • forbidden romance • hate to love • he falls first (and lies about it) • Arthurian retelling • mafia style romance**

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Happy Place

Emily Henry

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t. They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best? A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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Happy Place

Emily Henry

Harriet and Wyn have been the perfect couple since they met in college—they go together like salt and pepper, honey and tea, lobster and rolls. Except, now—for reasons they’re still not discussing—they don’t. They broke up six months ago. And still haven’t told their best friends. Which is how they find themselves sharing the largest bedroom at the Maine cottage that has been their friend group’s yearly getaway for the last decade. Their annual respite from the world, where for one vibrant, blue week they leave behind their daily lives; have copious amounts of cheese, wine, and seafood; and soak up the salty coastal air with the people who understand them most. Only this year, Harriet and Wyn are lying through their teeth while trying not to notice how desperately they still want each other. Because the cottage is for sale and this is the last week they’ll all have together in this place. They can’t stand to break their friends’ hearts, and so they’ll play their parts. Harriet will be the driven surgical resident who never starts a fight, and Wyn will be the laid-back charmer who never lets the cracks show. It’s a flawless plan (if you look at it from a great distance and through a pair of sunscreen-smeared sunglasses). After years of being in love, how hard can it be to fake it for one week… in front of those who know you best? A couple who broke up months ago make a pact to pretend to still be together for their annual weeklong vacation with their best friends in this glittering and wise new novel from #1 New York Times bestselling author Emily Henry.

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The Lost Apothecary

Sarah Penner

A female apothecary secretly dispenses poisons to liberate women from the men who have wronged them - setting three lives across centuries on a dangerous collision course. Rule #1: The poison must never be used to harm another woman. Rule #2: The names of the murderer and her victim must be recorded in the apothecary’s register. One cold February evening in 1791, at the back of a dark London alley in a hidden apothecary shop, Nella awaits her newest customer. Once a respected healer, Nella now uses her knowledge for a darker purpose - selling well-disguised poisons to desperate women who would kill to be free of the men in their lives. But when her new patron turns out to be a precocious twelve-year-old named Eliza Fanning, an unexpected friendship sets in motion a string of events that jeopardizes Nella’s world and threatens to expose the many women whose names are written in her register. In present-day London, aspiring historian Caroline Parcewell spends her tenth wedding anniversary alone, reeling from the discovery of her husband’s infidelity. When she finds an old apothecary vial near the river Thames, she can’t resist investigating, only to realize she’s found a link to the unsolved “apothecary murders” that haunted London over two centuries ago. As she deepens her search, Caroline’s life collides with Nella’s and Eliza’s in a stunning twist of fate - and not everyone will survive.

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Date with Destiny

Lucy Vine

Ginny is about to turn 32. It’s a year she’s been thinking about for a long time. Sixteen years ago she crossed paths with a psychic who made some key predictions about her thirty-second year… Three bad A heartbreak, a loss of independence, and a death.Three good A life-changing trip, reconnecting with someone, and meeting her soulmate. The issue is that Ginny is due to get married in a month… but it’s all nonsense, obviously. But when some of those pesky predictions start coming true she starts to wonder what might happen next…

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Seven Exes

Lucy Vine

A delightful rom-com about a woman who decides to revisit each of her seven exes, convinced that one of them is “the one who got away.” Seven Exes. Seven Missed Chances. Who was the one who got away? Esther is nearing thirty, with a great job and a flat she shares with her two best friends, Bibi and Louise. But her life is missing that special someone. Tired of being single and sick of bad date after bad date, she thinks she’s found the answer to her romance problem in an old women's magazine. According to the magazine’s dating column, there are seven archetypes a woman will date before finding Mr. Right. It all seems silly at first, until Esther realizes she has exactly seven exes that match the The First Love, The Work Mistake, The Overlap, The Friend with Benefits, The Missed Chance, The Bastard, and The Serious One. Is it so hard to believe that perhaps one of them is The One? Deciding she must have left her true love in the reject pile, Esther contacts each of her old boyfriends. But finding her soulmate isn’t as simple as she hoped it would be. Madness, mayhem, laughs, and tears ensue as she valiantly works her way through her past love life and faces up to her previous mistakes. It’s an odyssey of the heart that will teach her a lot about herself . . . and just might lead her to the man of her dreams.

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Johnny Be Good

Paige Toon

If your boss was the hottest rock star on the planet, would you mix business withpleasure?I'm Meg Stiles. This is my leaving party. And that song we're making a mockery of? That'swritten by one of the biggest rock stars in the world. And I'm moving in with him tomorrow.Seriously! I am not even joking. Well, maybe I'm misleading you a little bit. You see, Ihaven't actually met him yet...No, I'm not a stalker. I'm his new PA. His Personal Assistant. And I am off to La-La Land. Los Angeles. The City of Angels - whatever you want to call it - and I can't bloody believe it!Celebrity PA to wild boy of rock Johnny Jefferson, Meg's glam new life in sun-drenched LA is a whirlwind of showbiz parties and backstage passes. Cool, calm Christian, in town to write his famous friend's biography, helps keep Meg's feet firmly on the ground. But with Johnny's piercing green eyes and a body Brad Pitt would kill for, how long will it be before she's swept right off them again?

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If You Could Go Anywhere

Paige Toon

How can you know where you're going . . . if you don't know where you're from? Angie has always wanted to travel, but at twenty-seven she has barely even stepped outside the Australian mining town where she was born. Instead, she discovers the world through stories told to her by passing travellers, dreaming that one day she'll see it all for herself. When her grandmother passes away, leaving Angie with no remaining family, she is ready to start her own adventures. Then she finds a letter revealing the address of the father she never knew, and realises instantly where her journey must Italy. As Angie sets out to find the truth – about her family, her past and who she really is – will mysterious and reckless Italian Alessandro help guide the way?

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You and Me on Vacation

Emily Henry

TWO FRIENDS. TEN SUMMER TRIPS. THEIR LAST CHANCE TO FALL IN LOVE. 12 SUMMERS AGO: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they'll never speak again. 11 SUMMERS AGO: They're forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together. 10 SUMMERS AGO: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver. Poppy holds his hand the whole way. 7 SUMMERS AGO: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans. 2 SUMMERS AGO: It all goes wrong. THIS SUMMER: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

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