In 1933 New York, magic operates according to strict class divisions. The powerful sorcerers use their abilities to acquire wealth, fame, and influence—they’re the magical elite, the ones who shape policy and control resources. Then there are the runewrights like Alex Lockerby, practitioners who scratch out whatever meager spells they can manage to make a living, working on the margins of magical society. Alex has carved out a niche as a private detective, using his runewright abilities to aid police investigations with mystical ties, consulting on cases where magic intersects with crime 🔮When a lethal magical plague is released in a Manhattan soup kitchen, killing multiple people in a horrific display of arcane power, the police fear this might be a test run for something far more devastating—a biological magical weapon that could kill thousands if deployed in a more populated area. They call in the heavy hitters: the FBI and their own consultant, Sorsha Kincaid, New York’s resident sorceress with powers that dwarf anything Alex can access through his runes. Alex wants to help with the investigation, but instead finds himself under suspicion because of his personal ties to the priest who ran the soup kitchen 🏙️
With the FBI and their powerful, dangerous sorceress breathing down his neck, treating him as a suspect rather than an ally, Alex has exactly four days to prove his innocence. His resources are limited: his book of runes containing the spells he’s painstakingly learned, a pack of matches to activate those runes, his investigative skills, and his knowledge of New York’s magical underworld. He must discover where the plague came from, who created it, and why—all while staying ahead of authorities who have vastly more power than he does ⚡
Dan Willis crafts a steampunk-noir hybrid where class divisions in magical society mirror economic inequality in Depression-era America. Alex is an underdog protagonist operating in a world where wealth equals magical power, forced to rely on cleverness and determination rather than raw ability. The ticking clock adds urgency, the sorceress consultant provides both threat and potential ally, and the mystery of the magical plague reveals connections to power structures Alex thought he understood. He’s racing against time to clear his name while preventing a magical catastrophe that could devastate New York 🕰️
What makes this essential: A Depression-era magical noir featuring a runewright detective with four days to solve a magical plague mystery before the FBI pins it on him—class-divided magic system meets steampunk New York with ticking-clock urgency. Perfect for readers who love historical urban fantasy, underdog protagonists, and detective stories with magical elements. First in the Arcane Casebook series. 📚
I keep getting the sense of being watched, that prickle on the back of my neck that says someone’s attention is focused on me. But when I glance up, hoping to catch Dale’s eye, he’s always busy doing something else—absorbed in his phone, distracted by work, anywhere but present with me. Really, I must have the most unromantic partner on the planet. Valentine’s Day is approaching and Dale has given no indication he even remembers, let alone plans to celebrate it 💔Or so I thought. Because Dale has prepared a Valentine’s Day surprise, and I don’t need asking twice when I discover the clues he’s left for me to follow. My unromantic, distracted partner has actually planned something, and the mystery of it pulls me forward with excitement and curiosity. I follow the breadcrumb trail he’s created, each clue leading to the next, until I find myself at a remote cottage he’s booked—the kind of romantic getaway I’d given up hoping he’d plan 🌹
I respond to his written instruction to enter, and the scene inside takes my breath away. Romantic music fills the air, delicious aromas drift from the kitchen where he’s clearly been cooking, and rose petals have been scattered everywhere—creating a trail that starts at the front door and leads upstairs to a candlelit bubble bath. A glass of champagne waits beside the tub, condensation beading on the crystal. It’s every romantic cliché brought to life, and it’s more than I ever expected from Dale 🛁
But as I begin peeling off my clothes in the candlelit bathroom, something shifts. A sense of unease creeps over me, cold and insistent despite the warm bath waiting. I realize with growing dread that I should have checked downstairs more carefully before coming up here, should have looked for Dale himself rather than just following his instructions. The atmosphere that seemed romantic moments ago now feels wrong, off, sinister. Maria Frankland delivers psychological fiction that twists Valentine’s romance into something unsettling, where the surprise waiting isn’t what it seems and the romantic gesture might not be meant for me at all 😨
Why this deserves your attention: A psychological thriller disguised as a Valentine’s romance where a woman follows clues to a remote cottage surprise—only to realize the romantic setup might not be intended for her at all. Perfect for readers who love domestic suspense, unreliable perceptions, and stories where romantic gestures become sinister. 🔪
Plain Janie Adams may be a rule follower who plays by the book, but she’s nobody’s fool. When her sleazy boss dangles a promotion in front of her—a dream job producing TV news that she’s worked years to position herself for—she recognizes the opportunity even if the assignment itself seems straightforward. She takes off for tiny Rose Quartz, New Mexico, to produce a feature on the town’s annual Valentine’s Day festival, expecting a simple human-interest story about small-town traditions 💼Rose Quartz is famous throughout the region for two interconnected things: its remarkably successful marriages (the divorce rate is practically non-existent) and its namesake mines that still produce the mystical Love Stone, a rose-colored quartz reputed to keep lovers true to each other. It’s the kind of charming local legend that makes for perfect Valentine’s Day television—romantic, quirky, just credulous enough to be interesting without being ridiculous. Janie plans to interview happy couples, film some scenic mine footage, and head back to the city with her promotion secured 💎
Then sexy Mason Hart enters the picture, and everything becomes outrageously complicated. Mason owns the last mine in town still producing the Love Stone, which makes him both essential to Janie’s story and annoyingly present in her carefully organized schedule. He’s brash when she values professionalism, hotter than hell when she’s trying to stay focused on work, and—thanks to a ludicrously antiquated family tradition—in serious personal trouble that has nothing to do with mining. If Mason doesn’t marry by his thirtieth birthday, which is only weeks away, he’ll lose all claim to the family mines and ranch forever 🤠
Catherine Avril Morris delivers a marriage of convenience romance with high stakes and perfect timing. Mason needs a bride immediately, Janie needs this story to go well, and Rose Quartz’s tradition of successful marriages suggests that maybe, just maybe, the Love Stone’s reputation isn’t entirely legend. What starts as a professional assignment becomes something far more personal as Janie must decide whether helping Mason save his inheritance by entering a temporary marriage is brilliant problem-solving or the most reckless thing she’s ever done. Sometimes following the rules means missing out on exactly what you need ❤️
What makes this irresistible: A small-town marriage of convenience romance where a by-the-book TV producer meets a sexy mine owner who must marry within weeks or lose everything—Love Stones, Valentine’s festivals, and one outrageous proposal. Perfect for readers who love opposites attract, fake relationships becoming real, and quirky small-town settings with magical elements. First in the Rose Quartz series. 💕
An American Marriage
Roy and Celestial are building the life they dreamed of—he’s a young executive on the rise, she’s an artist on the brink of breakthrough success. They’re settling into the comfortable rhythm of their marriage, learning each other’s patterns, planning their future together. Then they’re ripped apart by circumstances neither could have imagined, torn from each other by forces that have nothing to do with their love and everything to do with the brutal machinery of American injustice 💍Roy is arrested and sentenced to twelve years for a crime Celestial knows with absolute certainty he didn’t commit. The evidence is thin, the trial a formality, the outcome predetermined by biases that have nothing to do with truth or justice. Though fiercely independent and deeply in love with her husband, Celestial finds herself suddenly bereft and unmoored, her future stolen, her present unbearable. She takes comfort in Andre—her childhood friend, Roy’s best man at their wedding, someone who knew them as a couple and now bears witness to her grief 💔
As years pass in Roy’s wrongful imprisonment, Celestial struggles to hold on to the love that has defined her adult life. She visits, she writes, she fights to keep their connection alive across prison walls and visiting room restrictions. But time is cruel to love maintained only through letters and supervised conversations. After five years, she can no longer sustain the emotional weight of a marriage lived in absence. She has aged, changed, built a new life because survival demanded it. She’s unable to remain frozen in the moment when Roy was taken from her ⏰
Then Roy’s conviction is suddenly overturned—evidence revealed, injustice acknowledged, freedom restored. He returns to Atlanta after five years ready to resume the life that was stolen from him, to reclaim his wife and rebuild their future. But Celestial has moved forward because she had no choice, and the woman Roy returns to isn’t the same woman he left. Tayari Jones crafts a profoundly insightful look into three hearts bound and separated by forces beyond their control, forced to reckon with the past while moving forward—with hope and pain intertwined—into an uncertain future 💕
What makes this essential: A masterpiece exploring how wrongful incarceration destroys not just the imprisoned but everyone connected to them, examining whether love can survive injustice, time, and transformation. Perfect for readers who appreciate literary fiction that tackles systemic racism, complex relationships, and impossible choices with nuance and emotional depth. Award-winning contemporary classic. 📖
Miles from home. Trust no one. Suspect everyone. Orla and Kate have been best friends forever—the kind of friendship that’s survived everything life has thrown at them. Orla’s struggles as a new mother, the sleepless nights and identity crisis that comes with losing yourself to caregiving. Kate’s messy divorce, the betrayal and rebuilding and painful logistics of untangling a shared life. Through it all, they’ve had each other, and no matter what else happens, they can always look forward to their sacred annual weekend away—just the two of them, no responsibilities, pure escape ✈️This year, they’ve chosen Lisbon. The perfect flat with stunning views, the perfect itinerary balancing culture and relaxation, the perfect opportunity to reconnect and remember who they are beyond mothers and ex-wives. And what better way to kick things off than with the perfect night out—exploring the city’s nightlife, drinking too much wine, laughing like they’re twenty again instead of exhausted women in their thirties desperate for a break from real life 🍷
But when Orla wakes up the next morning with a pounding headache and fragmented memories of the night before, Kate is gone. Not just stepped out for coffee or gone for an early walk—gone. Her belongings are in the flat, but Kate herself has vanished without explanation. Orla reports it to the police, who are polite but dismissive, treating her like an overreactive tourist whose friend probably just needed space. With only a fuzzy, alcohol-blurred memory of the previous night’s events and local authorities who won’t take her seriously, Orla realizes she’s Kate’s only hope 🚨
Sarah Alderson crafts a taut thriller where Orla frantically retraces their steps through Lisbon, each discovery more shattering than the last. The investigation threatens everything Orla holds dear, because while Lisbon holds the secret of what happened that night, the truth about Kate’s disappearance may lie much closer to home—in the friendship Orla thought she knew completely, in the secrets Kate never shared, in the possibility that you can know someone forever and not know them at all 🔍
What makes this a must-read: A propulsive domestic thriller set in Lisbon where a best friend’s disappearance forces the protagonist to question everything she thought she knew about their friendship. Perfect for readers who love unreliable memories, twisty revelations, and the dark secrets hiding in supposedly perfect relationships. 🌍
When Saphira opens her cafe specifically designed to welcome pet baby dragons, she envisions a thriving business filled with delighted dragon owners sipping coffee while their adorable scaled companions play safely. What she isn’t expecting is quite how challenging it will be to keep the fires burning—literally. Her young dragon patrons have an unfortunate habit of incinerating her furniture whenever they get excited, startled, or just feel like practicing their flame production. Coffee sales alone definitely aren’t covering the cost of constantly replacing chairs, tables, and upholstery 🐉Local heart-throb Aiden is a gardener whose beloved plants should be his primary focus, but his disobedient baby dragon is proving to be a major distraction from his horticultural passion. The little creature wreaks havoc in his greenhouse, scorches his prize roses, and generally makes plant care impossible. When he discovers Saphira’s cafe, inspiration strikes: he’ll pay Saphira to train his dragon, providing her with much-needed income while solving his own dragon discipline problem. It’s a perfect mutually beneficial arrangement ☕
There’s just one complication: happy-go-lucky Saphira and gorgeous-but-grumpy Aiden couldn’t be more different if they tried. She’s optimistic, spontaneous, and sees possibilities everywhere. He’s methodical, serious, and approaches life with careful planning and realistic expectations. She makes decisions based on enthusiasm; he makes them based on logic. Working together should be a disaster, and at first, it absolutely is—misunderstandings, clashing approaches, frustration on both sides 💕
A. T. Qureshi delivers a cozy fantasy romance that’s pure charm and warmth. As Saphira and Aiden navigate their business arrangement, they discover that opposites don’t just attract—they complement each other in ways neither expected. She teaches him to embrace spontaneity and joy; he helps her channel her enthusiasm into sustainable systems. And somewhere between dragon training sessions and repairing fire damage, they might just ignite some sparks of their own. The baby dragons provide constant comedic chaos while bringing these two together in the most unexpected ways 🔥
What makes this irresistible: A delightful cozy fantasy romance featuring furniture-incinerating baby dragons, a struggling cafe owner, and a grumpy gardener in need of dragon training—opposites attract with magical mayhem and genuine heart. Perfect for readers who love light fantasy with rom-com energy, adorable chaos, and sweet romance without high stakes. First in the Baby Dragon series. 🌟
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