Captive in the Underworld

Lianyu Tan

In the land of the dead, Queen Hades gets what she wants—always—and what she wants is a certain goddess of the springtime.

Innocent Persephone chafes beneath her mother’s hawkish gaze and mercurial temper. Demeter strives to crush Persephone’s spirit.

When Hades pulls her into the underworld, Persephone longs for the world above, even if it means an eternity under her mother’s thumb. With her tears and pleas ignored by pitiless Hades, Persephone must learn to satisfy her keeper in all ways.

She cannot deny that something blooms within her, something forbidden, while Persephone despairs of ever feeling the sun.

Hades intends to keep her. Forever.

The Breath Between Waves

Charlotte Anne Hamilton

Penelope Fletcher gave up everything to board the RMS Titanic.

Forced to travel to America, Penelope left her home in Scotland, her beloved grandmother, and even her girlfriend. Heartbroken, Penelope isn’t looking forward to the journey, or finding a husband in America. Worse, she has to share a cabin with a complete stranger.

Ruby Cole, her spunky Irish roommate, is unlike anyone Penelope ever met. They become fast friends, bonding over crushing family expectations and sneaking into lush parties together. Their affair can only be temporary. Because as soon as the Titanic arrives in New York, Penelope will have to marry someone of her father’s choosing.

Before long, they’ll both have to decide what–and who–is worth fighting for.

Binti

Nnedi Okorafor

Her name is Binti, and she is the first of the Himba people ever to be offered a place at Oomza University. But to accept the offer will mean giving up her place in her family to travel between the stars among strangers who do not share her ways or customs.

Knowledge comes at a cost that Binti is willing to pay, but her journey will not be easy. The world she seeks to enter has long warred with the Meduse, an alien race and stuff of nightmares. Oomza University has wronged the Meduse, and Binti’s stellar travel will bring her within their deadly reach.

If Binti hopes to survive the legacy of a war, she will need the gifts of her people and the wisdom within the University — but first she has to make it there, alive.

The Fate of Stars

S.D. Simper

A devout mermaid. A disgraced princess. A feud as ancient as the gods.

Worlds collide when Tallora is kidnapped from her ocean home and forced to be a pet to a tyrannical foreign empire. Her only hope for rescue lies with a sworn enemy—Princess Dauriel, infamous for her stone heart and conflicted past.

When Dauriel’s kingdom comes to the cusp of war, could their uneasy alliance be the key to defeating a common foe? Or will their growing feelings for each other lead them to ruin?

Mask of Shadows

Linsey Miller

I needed to win.
They needed to die.

Sallot Leon is a thief, a good one. But genderfluid Sal wants nothing more than to escape the life of a highway robber and get closer to the nobles who destroyed their home.

When Sal steals a flyer for an audition to become a member of the Queen’s personal assassins, Sal jumps at the chance to infiltrate the court and get revenge.

The audition is a fight to the death filled with acrobats, apothecaries, and ex-soldiers. Being a common criminal hardly prepared Sal. As Sal succeeds in the competition—and wins the heart of Elise, an intriguing scribe—they start to dream of a new life and a different future… one Sal can only have if they survive.

Lord of Eternal Night

Ben Alderson

Jak’s life has only one meaning; break the curse or die trying.

Marius’s life has no meaning; not since he was cursed into the twisted, blood thirsty creature of night.

For years the witches have waited for their salvation, a way to return the magic that was sacrificed when the curse was first cast. Jak is their prophesied saviour. The one who is to kill the creature, break the curse and restore magic to his coven.

Not all is as it seems at the creature’s castle when Jak uncovers secrets and half-truths. The creature is not the haunting beast he had been brought up to hate. Emotions war as new feelings are uncovered. For what is more dangerous than hate? Lust.

Gild

Raven Kennedy

Gold floors, gold walls, gold furniture, gold clothes. In Highbell, in the castle built into the frozen mountains, everything is made of gold.

Even me.

King Midas rescued me. Dug me out of the slums and placed me on a pedestal. I’m the woman he Gold-Touched to show everyone that I belong to him. He gave me protection, and I gave him my heart. Even though I don’t leave the confines of the palace, I’m safe.

Until war comes to the kingdom.

My trust is broken. My love is challenged. Everything I knew about Midas might be wrong.

Because these bars I’m kept in, no matter how gilded, are still just a cage. But the monsters on the other side might make me wish I’d never left.

A Deal with the Elf King

Elise Kova

Three-thousand years ago, humans were hunted, until the treaty was formed. Now, for centuries, the elves have taken a young woman from Luella’s village to be their Human Queen.

To be chosen is a mark of death, a mark nineteen-year-old Luella is grateful to have escaped. She’s dedicated her life to studying herbology and becoming the town’s healer.

Until the Elf King arrives… for her.

Everything Luella knew about herself was a lie. Taken to a land with wild magic, Luella is forced to be queen to a cold, handsome Elf King. Once there, she learns about a dying world only she can save.

The land of Midscape pulls on her heart, her home and people tug… but what will truly break her is a passion she never wanted.

Silver Phoenix

Cindy Pon

No one wanted Ai Ling. She is relieved—despite the dishonor upon her family—to be unbetrothed and free, not some stranger’s subservient bride.

But now, something is after her. Something terrifying—a force she cannot comprehend. Ai Ling begins to understand that her journey to the Palace of Fragrant Dreams isn’t only a quest to find her father, but a venture with stakes larger than she could have imagined.

Bravery, intelligence, the will to fight hard . . . she will need all these things. Just as she will need the new power growing within her.

It is Chen Yong who finds her partly submerged at the edge of a deep lake, with something evil trying to drag her under. On a quest of his own, Chen Yong offers help . . . and perhaps more.

Thornfruit

Felicia Davin

Alizhan can’t see faces, but she can read minds. Her mysterious ability leaves her unable to touch or be touched without excruciating pain. Rescued from abandonment, Alizhan has grown up in isolation, using her gift to steal secrets from her benefactor’s rivals.

When Alizhan discovers she isn’t the only one of her kind, and a deadly plot threatens them all, there’s only one person she can trust.

Evreyet Umarsad—“Ev” to her parents and her one friend—longs to be a hero. But the rest of the world feels impossibly far away from her farm. Ev will never lay eyes on the underground city, the stars of the Nightward Coast, or medusas that glow in the sea.

At least on her trip to the market, Ev gets to see her thief—the strange woman who slips by her cart and steals a handful of thornfruit. When the thief needs help, together they uncover a conspiracy that draws them all over the country and beyond.

If you’re looking for something to add to your list, Assassin’s Kiss is available on Kindle and Kindle Unlimited. You can find Assassin’s Kiss on Amazon and GoodReads.