New Books Releasing WE 12.10.25
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New Books Publishing the Week of
06 October 2025
Higher Magic
by Courtney Floyd
First-generation graduate student Dorothe Bartleby has one last chance to pass the Magic program’s qualifying exam after freezing with anxiety during her first attempt. If she fails to demonstrate that magic in classic literature changed the world, she’ll be kicked out of the university. And now her advisor insists she reframe her entire dissertation using Digimancy. While mages have found a way to combine computers and magic, Bartleby’s fated to never make it work.
This time is no exception. Her revised working goes horribly wrong, creating a talking skull named Anne that narrates Bartleby’s inner thoughts—even the most embarrassing ones—like she's a heroine in a Jane Austen novel. Out of her depth, she recruits James, an unfairly attractive mage candidate, to help her stop Anne’s glitches in time for her exam.
Instead, Anne leads them to a shocking and dangerous discovery: Magic students who seek disability accommodations are disappearing—quite literally. When the administration fails to act, Bartleby must learn to trust her own knowledge and skills. Otherwise, she risks losing both the missing students and her future as a mage, permanently.
The Witching Moon Manor
by Stacy Sivinski
The Crescent Moon is thriving after a much-needed expansion, with the ladies who step through its doors continuing to seek comfort in the glimpses of their futures found in the swirls at the bottom of their teacups. Anne is leading the city’s witches as Chicago’s Diviner, Beatrix is swept away on a book tour across the country, and Violet has found her place with her feet swinging through the air above the circus crowds. That is, until the Quigley sisters find themselves stumbling on their chosen paths, and they are drawn back home in search of refuge in each other’s company.
As Anne struggles to balance her growing responsibilities, Beatrix fears she has lost her gift for storytelling, and Violet is shaken after an accident at the circus, the future the sisters had drawn for themselves feels murkier than ever. And, when the threads of fate begin to unravel, Anne must lean on her sisters and team up with a mysterious—and oddly infuriating—necromancer to save the city from an uncertain destiny and help old friends find a happy end.
With all three Quigleys back in the warm comfort of the Crescent Moon, they set out to bargain with Fate once more. But will the sisters find the courage to embrace who they have become while returning to what they left behind, or will the future unfold in a way that even a Quigley couldn’t have predicted?
Alchemy of Secrets
by Stephanie Garber
It starts with a class in an old movie theater.
Folklore 517: Local Legends and Urban Myths, taught by a woman called the Professor. Most students believe the Professor’s stories are just fiction, but Holland St. James has always been convinced that magic is real. When she tracks down a local legend named the Watch Man, who can supposedly tell you when you’ll die, the world finally makes sense. Except that the Watch Man tells her she will die at midnight tomorrow unless she finds an ancient object called the Alchemical Heart.
With the clock ticking, Holland is pulled deeper into this magical world in the heart of Los Angeles—and into the path of a magnetic stranger. Everything about him feels like a bad idea, but he promises Holland that her sister sent him to protect her. As they chase clues and stories that take them closer to the Alchemical Heart, Holland realizes everyone in this intoxicating new world is lying to her, even this stranger. And if she can’t figure out whom to trust, not even the Alchemical Heart will save her.
Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World
by Mark Waddell
WARNING! Under no circumstances must employees strike a deal with unauthorized personnel on Dark Enterprises property. Such behavior may result in death…or the end of the world.
Colin is a low-level employee at Dark Enterprises, a Hell-like multinational corporation solving the world’s most difficult problems in deeply questionable ways. After years of toiling away in a cubicle, he’s ready to climb the corporate ladder and claim the power he’s never had.
The only problem is, he’s pretty sure he’s about to be terminated. Like, terminated. That’s tough, because his BFF has just set him up with a great guy. In fact, maybe he’s a little too great. And he asks a lot of questions . . .
When Colin meets a shadowy figure promising his deepest desire in return for a small, unspecified favor, he can’t resist the urge to fast-track his goals. He asks for the one thing that will improve his life: a promotion.
But that small favor unleashes an ancient evil. People in New York are disappearing, the world might be ending, and Management is starting to notice. Getting to the top is never easy, and now it’s up to Colin to save the world. It’s the ultimate power move, after all.
Queen Demon
by Martha Wells
A story of power and friendship, of trust and betrayal, and of the families we choose.
Dahin, a beloved member of the Witch King's coterie, believes he has clues to the location of the Hierarchs' Well, and the Witch King Kai, along with his companions Ziede and Tahren, knowing there's something he isn't telling them, travel with him to the rebuilt university of Ancartre, which may be dangerously close to finding the Well itself.
Can Kai stop the rise of a new Hierarch?
And can he trust his companions to do what’s right?
The Finest Edge of Twilight
by R. A. Salvatore
My name is not “Drizzt’s daughter.”
Breezy Do’Urden is more than just the heir of legendary heroes. For the past decade, she has dedicated herself to the study of combat, magic, and more recently, to the elusive Way of Shadow, honing her body and mind into a keen and singular weapon. But even after years of effort, her parents, Drizzt and Cattie-brie, struggle to see Breezy as more than just their little girl. Determined to prove them wrong, Breezy takes on the most intense challenge she can: to fight her way to becoming a Master of Dragons at the renowned Monastery of the Yellow Rose.
Meanwhile, in the shadows of Westbridge, Dahlia Sin’felle plots her rise to power. Once a broken soul, Dahlia has few friends and fewer options to make her way through the world. But Dahlia believes she has discovered a new path to restored glory: the transformative charm and cunning of a vampire. With every step toward immortality, she consolidates her influence, building an empire from the darkness, even as she contends with her own monstrous instincts—and her complicated past with Breezy’s family.
As Breezy fights her way through the shadows, and Dahlia follows her dark ambitions, both seek to find their place in a world that can be both brutal and beautiful. No matter the challenges, their divergent paths are forged by the same choice: their fates will be theirs and theirs alone.
Academy of Outcasts
by Larry Correia
All Oz Carnavon ever wanted was to become a master mage.
Except that to do so requires the natural gifts or wealth necessary to secure an appointment to one of the prestigious magical academies in the Core City at the center of the seven realms. Oz had neither.
He was born without magical talent, serving in the elemental plane of fire, a nightmarish hellscape of treacherous lava and vicious monsters, where life is cheap, and escape is rare. But Carnavons never give up.
When Oz fakes his death to get out of his family’s contract and crosses the Nexus gate to sneak into the Core, everything seems to be going according to plan. Until he gets blamed for an assassination attempt on the fire realm’s ambassador.
Now, Oz must become a fugitive in a vast magical city, while trying to earn a place among the magical academies which have nothing but disdain for his kind.
And the clock is ticking, because in one week, the most dangerous wizard in the realm of fire is coming to track him down and drag him back to hell.
How to Survive a Fairy Bargain
by Laura J. Mayo
Theodosia Balfour is in a panic—she has no clue how to handle her new life as a fairy’s familiar. She just can’t seem to find her place in Cecily’s land of decadence, doublespeak, and whimsy.
Moreover, Theo can’t stop thinking about Kasra, Cecily’s last familiar who is now living a cozy human life without any memories of his time in a fairy’s service. All she wants is to tell Kaz how she feels about him, but that’s impossible now. Then suddenly, the regent of the fairy kingdom reveals a secret that shocks Theo to her core and thrusts her into the role of detective to solve a thousand-year-old royal assassination attempt.
With time running out to catch the would-be assassin, Theo can rely on only her own wits and unique charm to discover what’s really going on.
Mate
by Ali Hazelwood
Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.
As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.
But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…
The Damned
by Harper L. Woods
Trapped.
He fell through the gate to Hell to save my life.
Beelzebub, the Lord of Gluttony, is no longer his own. He’s been mine ever since he caught me singing to myself, falling prey to the magic of my song. If I can keep my distance, we can both move on.
But now, he is caught under my spell, which makes him forbidden to touch. And yet, he is the only one I can trust to get me back to Crystal Hollow.
We’ll have to make it through the Nine Circles of Hell first.
No matter what we lose along the way.
Sharp Force
by Patricia Cornwell
NO ONE IS SAFE FROM THE SERIAL KILLER
NOT EVEN SCARPETTA…
During the early hours of Christmas morning, chief medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta receives a chilling call. The Phantom Slasher has struck again.
The serial killer has terrorized Northern Virginia for months. His pattern is to stalk with a sophisticated technology that enables him to invade his victims' homes and watch their every move. They wake up to a ghost-like hologram before being murdered in their beds.
Scarpetta is summoned to Mercy Island, the site of a notorious psychiatric hospital where two people have been brutalized, one of them from Scarpetta’s past. It soon becomes apparent that she could be next…
Lore Olympus: Volume Nine
by Rachel Smythe
“The Underworld has a queen!”
Persephone and Hades are finally reunited when the banished goddess of spring returns to the Underworld to claim her rightful place as queen. Now that Hades and Persephone have defeated and imprisoned the power-hungry Kronos once more, nothing can keep them apart, and years of being separated have only made their desire for each other grow. But the other Olympians can’t help but meddle, pushing the pair to make things official with a coronation—and a wedding.
Ignoring the others who try to define their relationship, Hades and Persephone choose to take things at their own pace and focus on rebuilding the Underworld. They begin by investigating how Kronos was first able to escape, and they learn the horrifying truth that he has captured a powerful young god whose abilities help Kronos project his thoughts outside of Tartarus—thoughts he uses to plague Hera’s every waking moment. Though Kronos’s physical form is locked away, Olympus will never be free until they can rescue the child from the furious Titan’s grasp.
To save the realms, Persephone must figure out her fertility goddess powers and embrace her role as Queen of the Underworld—even as it takes her further from her mother’s expectations and her former place in the Mortal Realm.
Savage Blooms
by S. T. Gibson
For as long as Adam can remember, the legends passed down from his world-traveling grandfather have called him to a crumbling manor in the Highlands. His closest friend Nicola longs for the same adventure, as well as for Adam himself. She'll follow him just about anywhere - even to the remote wilds of Scotland - if it pushes the pair to surrender to their shared attraction.
But when a storm strikes and strands them unexpectedly, Adam and Nicola find themselves at the mercy of the eccentric owner of the infamous house, Eileen, as well as her brooding groundskeeper, Finley.
Trapped by the weather, and bound by ancient faery magic, Nicola and Adam get more than they bargained for as they become entangled in Eileen and Finley's world of mind games, deceit and forbidden desire. As ancestral sins are unearthed, Adam and Nicola will have to reckon with the spell Eileen and Finley have cast over them - and whether or not they even want to be free.
The High Heaven
by Joshua Wheeler
In 1967, on the night of the first Apollo mission, a child named Izzy is orphaned when the doomsday cult she was born into clashes with the sheriff in the high desert of New Mexico. She’s taken in by a struggling rancher who is trying to keep his mind from falling apart as NASA rocket tests encroach on his outer range. Inspired by the true story of a UFO cult in a village near White Sands, this novel traces Izzy Gently’s whole life: from tragedy on the ranch, through addiction and a rich cast of eccentrics in Texas, to New Orleans, where Izzy is haunted by her past even as she uses lessons from childhood to counsel people who have lost the ability to see the moon.
In The High Heaven, Joshua Wheeler explores American piety as it mutates over the course of the Space Age, as technology changes notions of both humanity and the heavens. Shot through with the speculative while paying homage to three iconic genres—neo-Western, picaresque, and Southern gothic—Izzy’s life story becomes a mirror for the warping of manifest destiny and, ultimately, a testament to the human will to seek meaning from the universe.
Suffused with the absurdist history of American space travel and the wide-open landscapes of the Southwest, The High Heaven chronicles a larger-than-life adventure of one extraordinary woman who, despite tragedy, never loses sight of redemption.
And the River Drags Her Down
by Jihyun Yun
She has always known the rules: Never resurrect anything larger than the palm of her hand. But that was before her sister died. . . .
When her older sister is found mysteriously drowned in the river that cuts through their small coastal town, Soojin Han disregards every rule and uses her ancestral magic to bring Mirae back from the dead. At first, the sisters are overjoyed, reveling in late-night escapades and the miracle of being together again, but Mirae grows tired of hiding from the world. She becomes restless and hungry . . .
Driven by an insatiable desire to finish what she started in life, to unravel the truth that crushed her family so many years ago, Mirae is out for revenge.
When their town is engulfed by increasingly destructive rain and a series of harrowing, unusual deaths, Soojin is forced to reckon with the fact that perhaps the sister she brought back isn’t the one she knew.
The Intruder
by Freida McFadden
Who knows what the storm will blow in…
Casey's cabin in the wilderness is not built for a hurricane. Her roof shakes, the lights flicker, and the tree outside her front door sways ominously in the wind. But she's a lot more worried about the girl she discovers lurking outside her kitchen window.
She's young. She's alone. And she's covered in blood.
The girl won't explain where she came from, or loosen her grip on the knife in her right hand. And when Casey makes a disturbing discovery in the middle of the night, things take a turn for the worse.
The girl has a dark secret. One she'll kill to keep. And if Casey gets too close to the truth, she may not live to see the morning.
Final Orbit
by Chris Hadfield
Houston, 1975. A new Apollo mission launches into orbit, on course to dock with a Russian Soyuz craft: three NASA astronauts and three cosmonauts, joining to celebrate a new dawn of Soviet-American cooperation. But as NASA Flight Controller Kaz Zemeckis listens in from Earth, a deadly accident onboard the orbiting spacecraft changes everything.
Meanwhile, from a remote location in east Asia, the first Chinese spacecraft secretly launches. On board is China’s first astronaut, Fang Kuo-chun, whose mission puts him on a collision course with the Apollo crew.
As Kaz races against an enemy on the ground and for answers beyond the sky, the safety of the remaining crew hangs in the balance…
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