Yume Kitasei's The Deep Sky is an enthralling sci fi thriller debut about a mission into deep space that begins with a lethal explosion that leaves the survivors questioning the loyalty of the crew. They left Earth to save humanity. They’ll have to save themselves first. It is the eve of Earth’s environmental collapse. A single ship carries humanity’s last hope: eighty elite graduates of a competitive program, who will give birth to a generation of children in deep space. But halfway to a distant but livable planet, a lethal bomb kills three of the crew and knocks The Phoenix off course. Asuka, the only surviving witness, is an immediate suspect. Asuka already felt like an impostor before the explosion. She was the last picked for the mission, she struggled during training back on Earth, and she was chosen to represent Japan, a country she only partly knows as a half-Japanese girl raised in America. But estranged from her mother back home, The Phoenix is all she has left. With the crew turning on each other, Asuka is determined to find the culprit before they all lose faith in the mission—or worse, the bomber strikes again. --- CW: miscarriage, fertility issues, terrorism, death of a child, racism, gore, strong language

An emotional, spicy, second-chance romance from USA Today bestselling author Tarah DeWitt. This time, they'll get it right.Wren and Ellis Byrd fell in love as kids, had their son Sam when they were only teenagers, and built a life together in the coastal town of Spunes, Oregon. They were made for one another…until they fell apart. Now divorced and in their 30s, Wren runs the bakery in town, while Ellis works as a firefighter. They live separate lives, though they are hardly off each other’s minds.When Sam gets accepted into college and the pair help him move in together, Ellis convinces Wren to take an extended road trip back to Spunes with him to see if they can give their relationship one last chance. Amid the gorgeous scenery of the California coastline, dreamy destinations, and a great deal of long-yearned-for proximity, Wren starts to think it just might be possible. But the two still have to contend with their tumultuous past in order to move forward. And when spoken words fail, sometimes the written word must bridge the gap. Will they make the most of what’s left of forever? Or will they let each other go for good?Brimming with big feelings and packed with steam, Left of Forever is bestseller Tarah DeWitt at the top of her game.

A teenage girl breaks free from her father's world of isolation in this exhilarating novel of family, identity, and the power we have to shape our own destinies—from the New York Times bestselling author of Pretty Things and Watch Me DisappearThe first thing you have to understand is that my father was my entire world.Growing up in an isolated cabin in Montana in the mid-1990s, Jane knows only the world that she and her father live the woodstove that heats their home, the vegetable garden where they try to eke out a subsistence existence, the books of nineteenth-century philosophy that her father gives her to read in lieu of going to school. Her father is elusive about their pasts, giving Jane little beyond the facts that they once lived in the Bay Area and that her mother died in a car accident, the crash propelling him to move Jane off the grid to raise her in a Thoreau-like utopia.As Jane becomes a teenager she starts pushing against the boundaries of her restricted world. She begs to accompany her father on his occasional trips away from the cabin. But when Jane realizes that her devotion to her father has made her an accomplice to a horrific crime, she flees Montana to the only place she knows to look for answers about her mysterious past, and her mother's San Francisco. It is a city in the midst of a seismic change, where her quest to understand herself will force her to reckon with both the possibilities and the perils of the fledgling Internet, and where she will come to question everything she values.

*Available to pre-order now* By buying sweets from the Hwawoldang, you get yourself a ticket to a new life . . . ***Welcome to Hwawoldang, the pastry shop where every delicious bite comes with satisfaction for both the mouth and the soul . . .When twenty-seven-year-old Yeon-hwa loses her grandmother, the proprietor of Hwawoldang, she honours her final to keep the shop open for one more month, between 10pm and midnight. Yeon-hwa hopes to learn the secrets behind Hwawoldang’s desserts, and the enigmatic woman who made them.But when one of the shop’s most loyal patrons arrives, Yeon-hwa quickly discovers Hwawoldang is no ordinary pastry shop, as its customers are not entirely alive . . .With each new visitor, Yeon-hwa is drawn deep into their memories. The true calling of the pastry shop is to shepherd her customers into the afterlife, but can Yeon-hwa continue her grandmother’s legacy? And will the task bring her closer to the woman she barely knew?Evocative, nourishing and cosy, A Midnight Pastry Shop Called Hwawoldang is an ode to lost souls finding home, in this life and beyond.

In this holiday romance with an enchanting twist, a magic-averse witch returns home to save her small town’s beloved winter festival in time for the holidays with the help of her estranged coven and distractingly handsome childhood rival.Rowan Midwinter has sworn off magic, and for good reason. A spell gone wrong back in high school left her with nothing but missing memories and regret, so she’s not exactly thrilled when she’s guilted into returning to her quaint mountain hometown for the first time in years. But it’s already Yule and much-needed snow still hasn't fallen, so Rowan reckons she can put up with her family, friends, and former coven if it means saving the town’s beloved winter festival from the megacorporation threatening to buy it out. But Rowan’s plans to save the festival and make it through the holiday magic-free go awry when Gavin McCreery, prodigal son of the festival’s landlord, insists on helping, and their unwanted chemistry keeps setting off holiday lights…literally.As the quest to keep the festival alive grows increasingly complicated, Rowan realizes she must reconnect with what she tried to leave behind--her family, coven, and even her memories--to let go of her fear of magic and let her heart lead the way.

A kitchen witch with a penchant for baking and a (literally) cursed love life meets someone who's worth breaking a hex for in this sweet and spicy debut romance. As a skilled kitchen witch, Dina Whitlock knows her way around a pastry recipe. In fact, she runs her very own London café serving magic-infused pastries for her loyal customers. But only a select few friends know about her magical abilities or the hex that has plagued her love life. It’s hard to fall in love when your partner is guaranteed to have a string of bad luck the second they start to have feelings for you. Scott Mason is back from traveling the world and is excited to begin his new job as a curator at the British Museum. After leaving London to heal from a brutal breakup two years ago, Scott only now realizes how much he missed out on. Now that his best friend’s wedding is right around the corner, Scott is determined to be the most amazing best man ever, but he doesn’t expect to be bewitched by the maid of honor, who also happens to be the owner of his new favorite café and, more surprisingly, a witch?! After a weekend in the countryside full of peculiar hedge mazes, palm readings by candlelight, and a midnight Halloween ritual, there’s no denying the chemistry between them. But there’s just one problem: The hex still holds, and Dina knows that Scott is in danger. In the past, she’s always cut her losses, but this time is different. Scott could be the one. Will Dina be able to undo the hex, before it’s too late?

She can see ghosts. He’s haunted by his past. Together they will discover a love that is supernatural. In this cosy and spicy paranormal romance, a successful horror author whose novel is being adapted into a movie clashes with the actor cast as the male lead, all in a spooky mansion filled with ghosts, from the author of Best Hex Ever Rosemary Shaw’s ability to see the dead has never scared her. In fact, it’s inspired most of her horror novels, the most successful of which is being adapted into a movie, set in a beautiful manor house in the English countryside. A house that old, well, it’s no surprise there’s ghosts. But ghosts are something Rosemary can handle, she’s not so sure how to deal with her infuriatingly handsome leading man, who is all wrong for the role. Ellis Finch is a Hollywood heartthrob with a secret. He’s tired of playing the action movie hero and would much rather be gardening with his dog Fig. Starring in a historical horror movie might be just the ticket for his new image, until he finds out that the author tried to get him kicked off the show. Amidst filming for the movie and the chemistry-filled feuding between Rosemary and Ellis, Hallowvale manor comes alive, literally. Trying to balance the mayhem of her writing deadlines, an adorable ghostly dog and a pair of Regency-era women who are definitely nothing more than friends, Rosemary is at risk of telling Ellis her secret, or worse – falling for him.

Love Island meets The Hunger Games in this must-talk-about-it read, as bingeable as the best reality TV. Lily—a bored, beautiful twenty-something—wakes up on a remote desert compound, alongside nineteen other contestants competing on a massively popular reality show. To win, she must outlast her housemates to stay in the Compound the longest, while competing in challenges for luxury rewards like champagne and lipstick, plus communal necessities to outfit their new home, like food, appliances, and a front door. Cameras are catching all her angles, good and bad, but Lily has no desire to leave: why would she, when the world outside is falling apart? As the competition intensifies, intimacy between the players deepens, and it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between desire and desperation. When the unseen producers raise the stakes, forcing contestants into upsetting, even dangerous situations, the line between playing the game and surviving it begins to blur. If Lily makes it to the end, she’ll receive prizes beyond her wildest dreams—but what will she have to do to win? Addictive and prescient, The Compound is an explosive debut from a major new voice in fiction and will linger in your mind long after the game ends

The Cat Who Saved Books is a heart-warming story about finding courage, caring for others – and the tremendous power of books. Grandpa used to say it all the time: 'books have tremendous power'. But what is that power really? Natsuki Books was a tiny second-hand bookshop on the edge of town. Inside, towering shelves reached the ceiling, every one crammed full of wonderful books. Rintaro Natsuki loved this space that his grandfather had created. He spent many happy hours there, reading whatever he liked. It was the perfect refuge for a boy who tended to be something of a recluse. After the death of his grandfather, Rintaro is devastated and alone. It seems he will have to close the shop. Then, a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears and asks Rintaro for help. The cat needs a book lover to join him on a mission. This odd couple will go on three magical adventures to save books from people who have imprisoned, mistreated and betrayed them. Finally, there is one last rescue that Rintaro must attempt alone . . . Sosuke Natsukawa's international bestseller, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.

The highly anticipated sequel to Sosuke Natsukawa's The Cat Who Saved Books – an uplifting tale from Japan about a talking cat, a book-loving girl and the power of books to make a difference in the world. Nanami sees nothing wrong with a library and cat combination. But a talking cat is a whole other story. Thirteen-year-old Nanami Kosaki loves reading. The local library is a home from home and books have become her best friends. When Nanami notices books disappearing from the library shelves, she’s particularly curious about a suspicious man in a grey suit whose furtive behaviour doesn’t feel right. Should she follow him to see what he’s up to? When a talking tabby cat called Tiger appears to warn her about how dangerous that would be, together they’re brave enough to follow the frightening trail to find out where all the books have gone. Will Nanami and Tiger overcome the challenges of the adventure ahead? Warm, wonderful and wise, The Cat Who Saved the Library is also a powerful lesson never to underestimate the value of great literature, and a reminder always to think for ourselves, no matter what our charismatic leaders might say.

A young woman tries to heal her heartbreak by casting a spell to erase her ex from her past, but she wakes up in an alternate reality where she’s lost more than she wished for in this witty, whimsical friends-to-lovers debut. What if one little wish changed everything? When Gemma gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she reacts the way any reasonable twenty-eight-year-old would: by getting drunk with her sister, kooky aunt, and best friend, Dax. After one too many margaritas, they decide to perform a love- cleansing spell, which promises to erase Gemma’s ex from her memory. They follow all the instructions, including a platonic kiss from Dax to seal the deal. When Gemma wakes up, she realizes that this silly spell has worked. Not only does it seem that she never dated her ex, but the rest of her life is completely unrecognizable. The worst part: Dax has no idea who she is. To reverse the spell and get back to her old life, Gemma must convince her once-best-friend-now-near-stranger to kiss her. But as she carries out her plans, she finds herself falling for him—hard. Soon, Gemma begins to wonder whether she even wants to go back to the way things once were. What if Dax was The One all along?

Is love on the small screen better than the real thing? A young divorcée finds herself in the ideal world of her favorite 2000s teen soap in this “gleefully nostalgic and completely fresh”* romance from the author of This Spells Love. Newly divorced on the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Brynn is sick of heartbreak. She thought she had found her happy ending, but now she’s living with a roommate, Josh, to afford her mortgage, and she’s trying to adjust to her new single life. At least she’s got Carson’s Cove to binge, her beloved 2000s teenage soap. The show ended unexpectantly on a cliffhanger after five seasons, and the two main characters, Sloan and Spencer, never got to declare their love for each other. The show is still perfect in Brynn’s eyes; despite all the drama that goes down, things always have a way of working out in Carson’s Cove . . . unlike her own life. So when a birthday cake surprisingly shows up on her and Josh’s doorstep, Brynn makes a wish for the one thing she’s always wanted (but has failed to achieve herself): a happily-ever-after. The next morning, she doesn’t wake up in her apartment. She’s in Carson’s Cove . . . and Josh is there too. Everyone seems to know them, except they’re not Brynn and Josh; they’re Sloan, the sweetheart of Carson’s Cove, and Fletch, the town’s bad boy. And to get home, they have to make Brynn’s wish come true by ensuring Sloan and Spencer, the hometown heartthrob, end up together at last. But as they spend more time together, Brynn and Josh realize that Carson’s Cove might not be as perfect as seen on television . . . especially when they start developing feelings for each other in a plot twist no one has expected. Will they stick to the script, or will real love change the story forever?

One woman, two Nicks, and a Christmas season that’s about to get very complicated. When librarian Kay bumps into her ex-boyfriend Nick at a Christmas market, she thinks fate is finally giving her a second chance with her first big love. But then she gets spectacularly tangled in a Christmas tree-netting machine and meets another Nick entirely. One who cuts her free, dresses her wounds, and makes her pulse race in ways that thoroughly confuse her. Finance Nick is successful, settled, and ready to talk five-year plans. Farmer Nick makes handcrafted furniture, supports local charities, and sees the creative spirit Kay has kept hidden behind her library desk. But how is a girl to choose? Soon she’s spending her days delivering books to children’s hospitals and care homes with farmer Nick, before dashing home to whip off her reindeer onesie and glam up for romantic dates at the ballet with finance Nick. But the countdown to Christmas is on, and Kay can’t keep this up forever. Somehow she must navigate London’s most complicated love triangle, avoid getting any more pine needles stuck in her hair – and work out once and for all which Nick has her heart. A laugh-out-loud festive rom-com that fans of Love Actually and The Holiday will adore.

From sci-fi visionary and acclaimed author Annalee Newitz comes Automatic Noodle, a cozy near-future novella about a crew of abandoned food service bots opening their very own restaurant. While San Francisco rebuilds from the chaos of war, a group of food service bots in an abandoned ghost kitchen take over their own delivery app account. They rebrand as a neighborhood lunch spot and start producing some of the tastiest hand-pulled noodles in the city. But there’s just one problem. Someone―or something―is review bombing the restaurant’s feedback page with fake “bad service” reports. Can the bots find the culprit before their ratings plummet and destroy everything they created?

The perfect autumn read where Gilmore Girls meets Charmed in a cosy second-chance romance with a sprinkle of magic. Perfect for readers of Pumpkin Spice Café, Erin Sterling and Lana Harper. In Oak Haven, this witch is about to brew up more trouble than she bargained for… When Scarlett Melrose receives a call from her estranged sisters, she immediately knows something is wrong. Their mother’s inn has been cursed, and they need her help to save it. As the conflicted middle-child, returning home is giving Scarlett the heebie jeebies. And to make matters worse, she’s just come face-to-face with charming old flame and handyman, Nate. When her spell to break the curse goes horribly wrong, all Scarlett wants to do is flee back to the peace and quiet of her San Francisco flat. But she can’t keep running away forever, and she’ll need all the help she can to solve this magical mess. With time slipping away, Scarlett must learn that sometimes the greatest spells really do come with the greatest responsibility – especially when love is involved… *** Perfect for fans Grumpy x sunshine ☀️ Slow burn 🔥 Witchy aesthetic 🔮✨ Cosy small town 🍂☕

Graphic novel superstars Gene Luen Yang and LeUyen Pham join forces in this heartwarming rom-com about fate, family, forgiveness, and lion dancing.Valentina Tran was named after Valentine's Day, which used to be her favorite holiday. But when Val learns the truth behind what happened with her parents and why she's being raised by a single father, she realizes true love is a lie. This is reinforced when she meets the spirit of Saint Valentine, who tells her she and her family are cursed to always be unlucky in love. Val is ready to give into her fate, until one Lunar New Year festival, where a mysterious lion dancer hands her a paper heart, and ZING. Val becomes determined to change her destiny, prove Saint Valentine wrong, and give her heart to the right person.Meanwhile, lion dancing is the only thing that has given Jae peace after his dad passed away. It's also what keeps him connected to his father's side of the family. Both Jae and his cousin Leslie notice Val at the Lunar New Year festival, and for some inexplicable reason, Jae hands Val a paper heart. But it's Leslie, with his K-Pop good looks, who starts to date Val. Jae still feels this connection with Val and feels it's somehow tied to how he feels about losing his father.Both Val and Jae struggle with the spirits who haunt them as they are inextricably brought together in a love story that is satisfying, sweet, and moving.

Teaming up with your neighbor during a zombie outbreak is a no-brainer, but if it turns out he’s a vampire . . . the stakes couldn’t be higher, in this infectious new paranormal romance from the USA Today bestselling author of Spoiler Alert.When Edie Brandstrup attempts to save her sweet, seemingly harmless human neighbor from the first major zombie breach in two decades, she’s stunned to be saved by him—and his ridiculously large sword—instead. As it turns out, he's actually a super-old, super-surly vampire. But for all her neighbor's newly revealed cynicism and lethality, Gaston "Max" Boucher (yes, Gaston) is unexpectedly protective. He wants her to stay in his safety bunker until the breach is resolved. Edie can’t risk more innocent people getting killed, though—and Max won’t let her save them alone.As they unravel a sinister conspiracy to set zombies loose on the world (again), the duo meet a host of lovable allies and discover they're not the only ones willing to fight for the future of humanity. Despite the awful timing, Edie finds herself falling for the vampire who’s helping her save the world . . . but all their dangerous plans could end their future before it even begins. As she and Max battle side by side, Edie must decide whether having a love worth living for also means having a love you'd die for—and, in a world that grows deadlier by the minute, whether that’s a risk she’s willing to take.