Black Cake

We can’t choose what we inherit. But can we choose who we become?

In present-day California, Eleanor Bennett’s death leaves behind a puzzling inheritance for her two children, Byron and Benny: a black cake, made from a family recipe with a long history, and a voice recording. In her message, Eleanor shares a tumultuous story about a headstrong young swimmer who escapes her island home under suspicion of murder. The heartbreaking tale Eleanor unfolds, the secrets she still holds back, and the mystery of a long-lost child challenge everything the siblings thought they knew about their lineage and themselves.

Can Byron and Benny reclaim their once-close relationship, piece together Eleanor’s true history, and fulfill her final request to “share the black cake when the time is right”? Will their mother’s revelations bring them back together or leave them feeling more lost than ever?

Charmaine Wilkerson’s debut novel is a story of how the inheritance of betrayals, secrets, memories, and even names can shape relationships and history. Deeply evocative and beautifully written, Black Cake is an extraordinary journey through the life of a family changed forever by the choices of its matriarch.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

The Vacancy in Room 10

When Anna’s husband calls and confesses to killing someone, followed by his body washing up on the banks of the Rio Grande, it’s up to her to piece together what really happened. After moving into the run-down motel-room-turned-apartment he rented as an art studio, Anna spends her days getting closer to the neighbors and absorbing every bit of gossip about her husband and the buildings’ tenants. But the more she learns, the less sense things seem to make. And when threatening letters start appearing at her door, Anna has to decide what’s more important—the truth, or her own safety.

Cass has been running the Sycamores, an apartment complex that has seen better decades. Barely scraping by as a superintendent, Cass starts blackmailing sleazy men, threatening to expose them and ruin their lives. It’s easy, and it works, and nobody gets hurt—until she tries it on the wrong guy. With everything to lose and no one to trust, Cass has to fight to keep her secrets under wraps, especially with Anna snooping around asking questions…
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

The House of Striking Oaths (The Kingdom of Crows #3)

I WILL BECOME QUEEN OF LUCE… OR DIE TRYING.

There are few people I loathe more than Dante Regio, but my aunt Bronwen, my former grandfather Justus, and my Shabbin grandmother Meriam sit right alongside the Faerie monarch on my list of despicable beings. Especially after they assist the pointy-eared ruler with my kidnapping.

Locked in an obsidian underworld no Crow can reach, not even their king, I soon learn things aren’t as they seem. People aren’t as they seem. And history… I’m still attempting to reconcile the truth with what I was previously told.

My new allies have an agenda, but I have one of my own. Though there’s overlap—we all agree Dante must die—what I desire more than anything is to return to Lore before he levels the kingdom to find me… or loses his humanity trying.

I may favor crowns over coffins, but I refuse to live in a world where my mate only exists as a bird.

Strap in for one last romantic and pulse-pounding adventure in a world governed by magic and hearts.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

Lights Out (Kate Green #1)

In this exciting debut novel comes a fast-paced thriller that follows a sports reporter’s journey off the court…and into a world of murder and deception.

Former Olympic athlete and current semi-disgraced sports reporter Kate Green isn’t sure how much more tumultuous her life can get. Then NBA superstar Kurt Robbins is killed, and the prime suspect in his murder is none other than his wife…and Kate’s best friend.

Kate knows that Yvette’s marriage wasn’t exactly stable, but her friend is no murderer, and Kate is determined to prove it with her own investigation. While she tries to salvage Yvette’s life, Kate’s own continues to unravel. Her career is in limbo. Gossip columns speculate about her future. Her children are battling their own demons. And her estranged father suddenly reenters her life as a detective assigned to Kurt’s homicide case.

As her worlds collide—exposing secrets, lies, and ulterior motives—Kate may have to choose between the games she can play and the one she might lose.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

These Burning Stars (The Kingdom Trilogy #1)

A dangerous cat-and-mouse quest for revenge. An empire that spans star systems, built on the bones of a genocide. A carefully hidden secret that could collapse worlds, hunted by three women with secrets of their own. All collide in this twisty, explosive space opera debut, perfect for readers of Arkady Martine and Kameron Hurley.

Jun Ironway—hacker, con artist, and occasional thief—has gotten her hands on a piece of contraband that could set her up for proof that implicates the powerful Nightfoot family in a planet-wide genocide seventy-five years ago. The Nightfoots control the precious sevite that fuels interplanetary travel through three star systems. And someone is sure to pay handsomely for anything that could break their hold.

Of course, anything valuable is also dangerous. The Kindom, the ruling power of the star systems, is inextricably tied up in the Nightfoots’ monopoly—and they can’t afford to let Jun expose the truth. They task two of their most brutal clerics with hunting her preternaturally stoic Chono, and brilliant hothead Esek, who also happens to be the heir to the Nightfoot empire.

But Chono and Esek are haunted in turn by a figure from their shared past, known only as Six. What Six truly wants is anyone’s guess. And the closer they get to finding Jun, the surer Chono is that Six is manipulating them all.

​It’s a game that could destroy their lives and devastate the stars. And they have no choice but to see it through to the end.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (Amina al-Sirafi #1)

Shannon Chakraborty, the bestselling author of The City of Brass, spins a new trilogy of magic and mayhem on the high seas in this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artifacts and ancient mysteries, in one woman’s determined quest to seize a final chance at glory—and write her own legend.

Amina al-Sirafi should be content. After a storied and scandalous career as one of the Indian Ocean’s most notorious pirates, she’s survived backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s tracked down by the obscenely wealthy mother of a former crewman, she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse: retrieve her comrade’s kidnapped daughter for a kingly sum. The chance to have one last adventure with her crew, do right by an old friend, and win a fortune that will secure her family’s future forever? It seems like such an obvious choice that it must be God’s will.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the more it becomes alarmingly clear there’s more to this job, and the girl’s disappearance, than she was led to believe. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savor just a bit more power…and the price might be your very soul.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

Assistant to the Villain

Once Upon a Time meets The Office in Hannah Maehrer’s laugh-out-loud viral TikTok series turned novel, about the sunshine assistant to an Evil Villain…and their unexpected romance.

ASSISTANT WANTED: Notorious, high-ranking villain seeks loyal, levelheaded assistant for unspecified office duties, supporting staff for random mayhem, terror, and other Dark Things In General. Discretion a must. Excellent benefits.

With ailing family to support, Evie Sage’s employment status isn’t just important, it’s vital. So when a mishap with Rennedawn’s most infamous Villain results in a job offer—naturally, she says yes. No job is perfect, of course, but even less so when you develop a teeny crush on your terrifying, temperamental, and undeniably hot boss. Don’t find evil so attractive, Evie.

But just when she’s getting used to severed heads suspended from the ceiling and the odd squish of an errant eyeball beneath her heel, Evie suspects this dungeon has a huge rat…and not just the literal kind. Because something rotten is growing in the kingdom of Rennedawn, and someone wants to take the Villain—and his entire nefarious empire—out.

Now Evie must not only resist drooling over her boss but also figure out exactly who is sabotaging his work…and ensure he makes them pay.

After all, a good job is hard to find.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

Chasm (The Glacian Trilogy #2)

Dawsyn’s fight to save the people of the Ledge is far from over in this thrilling and highly anticipated sequel to the bestselling, Ledge

Dawsyn’s miraculous escape from the Ledge was just the beginning. In the queens’ dungeon, Dawsyn awaits her execution while reliving the death of her lover, Ryon. There is no chance of mercy.

But hope finds her in the form of rescue by her village friends. Now on the run and struggling to tame her newly-gained and greatly unstable powers, Dawsyn’s journey continues. Facing betrayal anew, she must learn patience and trust as she builds strength on all fronts, while she and her comrades recover and ready themselves for what’s to come.

As they ascend the perilous mountain slopes to the Glacian kingdom once again in a desperate attempt to save those remaining on the Ledge, Dawsyn must battle wills as well as weapons, before discovering an entirely new evil awaiting her…
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

September House

A woman is determined to stay in her dream home even after it becomes a haunted nightmare in this compulsively readable, twisty, and layered debut novel.

When Margaret and her husband Hal bought the large Victorian house on Hawthorn Street—for sale at a surprisingly reasonable price—they couldn’t believe they finally had a home of their own. Then they discovered the hauntings. Every September, the walls drip blood. The ghosts of former inhabitants appear, and all of them are terrified of something that lurks in the basement. Most people would flee.

Margaret is not most people.

Margaret is staying. It’s her house. But after four years Hal can’t take it anymore, and he leaves abruptly. Now, he’s not returning calls, and their daughter Katherine—who knows nothing about the hauntings—arrives, intent on looking for her missing father. To make things worse, September has just begun, and with every attempt Margaret and Katherine make at finding Hal, the hauntings grow more harrowing, because there are some secrets the house needs to keep.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]

The Death of Us

From the award-winning author of Death at Greenway and The Lucky One comes a chilling suspense novel in which the discovery of a submerged car in a murky pond reveals betrayals and family secrets that will tear a small town apart.

One rainy night fifteen years ago, a knock at the door changed Liss Kehoe’s life forever.

On that night, Ashley Hay stood on Liss’s front porch and handed over her brand-new baby Callan.

She was never seen or heard from again.

Since then, Liss has raised Callan as her own, and loves him as fiercely as any mother would. But in the back of her mind, she’s always wondered whether Ashley is still out there somewhere—and feared what might happen if she comes back.

When Ashley does reappear, it’s not in the way Liss expected. After all these years, Ashley’s car has been found…in the quarry pond on Kehoe property. But the discovery of the car dredges up more questions than answers. What really happened on the night of Ashley’s disappearance? Was it a tragic accident, or something far more sinister? Someone in town knows the truth, and they’ll go to great lengths to keep it quiet.

As tensions rise in the small community, Liss must fight to protect her family and keep her own secrets hidden—or risk losing everything she loves.
-Excerpt taken from Goodreads […]