February is here and I’m very glad it is. If you live in the Northeast, we’ve been treated to gloomy days of grey and rain and longer nights of dropping temperatures. Its great for curling up with a good book but bad for having to get up and go to work in the morning. Good thing we have a best new books of February list with an incredible array of books, especially if you like fantasy!
Bride by Ali Hazelwood
How could we have the best new books of February list and not include Ali Hazelwood? Featuring Ali’s trademark irresistible characters and romance in a new genre, this book is sure to delight new and established fans.
Synopsis: A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Love, Theoretically and The Love Hypothesis.
Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange—again…
Weres are ruthless and unpredictable, and their Alpha, Lowe Moreland, is no exception. He rules his pack with absolute authority, but not without justice. And, unlike the Vampyre Council, not without feeling. It’s clear from the way he tracks Misery’s every movement that he doesn’t trust her. If only he knew how right he was….
Because Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.
On Sale: February 6, 2024 via Berkley Romance. Order here.
Neferura by Malayna Evans
I feel like I’ve been waiting for this book for a long time. Ever since my first wide-eyed viewing of The Mummy, have I searched for books that scratched that itch. While this book doesn’t have an intrepid gun–Brendan Fraser, it does have a spectacular Ancient Egypt setting and mystery and intrigue.
Synopsis: For readers of The Wolf Den and Kaikeyi comes the thrilling tale of the forgotten daughter of a legendary Egyptian pharaoh and the path she must take to escape her own dangerous fate.
There are many paths to power.
They all come with a price.
Neferura, princess and high priestess of Kemet, knows her duty is to her people. When your mother is the great Pharaoh, it is hard to forget. But Neferura’s unique position at court comes with high stakes for her country, especially when she’s forced to serve her vile half-brother, a man determined to stop Neferura’s potential rise.
Peace, it seems, never lasts for women who wield power in the open. Especially when they cross a vengeful man.
When Neferura overhears Thutmose’s plot to end her mother’s rule, she knows he must be stopped, no matter the cost. The discovery of a mysterious tattooed wisewoman and her shadowy network of spies offers an uneasy alliance. But the wisewoman wields more power than Neferura knew possible — power with the potential to rival her own. Neferura must decide where her loyalties lie and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to protect the people she loves before everything crumbles at the hands of a tyrant.
On Sale: February 13, 2024 via Sourcebooks Landmark. Order here.
Projections by S.E. Porter
A ghost seeks retribution against the man who killed her in this haunting (mind the pun) and dark historic fantasy tale inspired by the Me Too movement. I’m also really interested in the mixed media that the author was inspired to create by her main character.
Synopsis: Love may last a lifetime, but in this dark historical fantasy, the bitterness of rejection endures for centuries.
As a young woman seeks vengeance on the obsessed sorcerer who murdered her because he could not have her, her murderer sends projections of himself out into the world to seek out and seduce women who will return the love she denied—or suffer mortal consequence. A lush, gothic journey across worlds full of strange characters and even stranger magic.
Sarah Porter’s adult debut explores misogyny and the soul-corrupting power of unrequited love through an enchanted lens of violence and revenge.
On Sale: February 13, 2024 via Sourcebooks Landmark. Order here.
A Tempest of Tea by Hafsah Faizal
This title immediately makes me want to curl up with the book and read for hours, preferably on a rainy day. I also love Hafsah’s novels and have been eagerly awaiting this one since I first saw it announced. I can’t wait to get lost in Hafsah’s incredible worldbuilding and swoon-worthy romance. A definite addition to our best new books of February list.
Synopsis: On the streets of White Roaring, Arthie Casimir is a criminal mastermind and collector of secrets. Her prestigious tearoom transforms into an illegal bloodhouse by night, catering to the vampires feared by society. But when her establishment is threatened, Arthie is forced to strike an unlikely deal with an alluring adversary to save it—she can’t do the job alone.
Calling on some of the city’s most skilled outcasts, Arthie hatches a plan to infiltrate the sinister, glittering vampire society known as the Athereum. But not everyone in her ragtag crew is on her side, and as the truth behind the heist unfolds, Arthie finds herself in the midst of a conspiracy that will threaten the world as she knows it. Dark, action-packed, and swoonworthy, this is Hafsah Faizal better than ever.
On Sale: February 20, 2024 via Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Order here.
Night For Day by Roselle Lim
When I first saw that this book was compared to The Inheritance Games by Jennifer Lynn Barnes, I knew it had a spot on our best new books of February list. Roselle Lim’s books will always have a place on my TBR list. She’s been on my radar since her sweet debut Natalie Tan’s Book of Luck and Fortune grabbed my attention in 2019.
Synopsis: Exes Ward Dunbar and Camille Buhay thought they would never see each other again. They had broken up to pursue their dream jobs on opposite sides of the country—her to New York City, and him to Los Angeles. But years later, they unexpectedly reconnect in London, where they are interviewing for similar jobs. The spark they feel when they meet again is palpable—the attraction comes back like muscle memory, reminding them of what they had lost. When Ward and Camille discover they both got the job working opposing shifts, they vow to give their relationship another try.
Ward starts the day shift and finds the immortal clientele unusual and dazzling. When he clocks out at the end of the day, he finds the door locked and himself trapped in the building. After a horrific first night shift contending with restless spirits and ghosts, Camille is also unable to escape. In their respective prisons, they discover that they’re able to talk to each other a few minutes before dawn. This fleeting encounter incites longing for each other, but their promise to be together feels impossible. Because they are caught in the middle of a war of the gods—and their choices will determine the outcome.
On Sale: February 20, 2024 via Berkley. Order here.
Heartless Hunter by Kristen Ciccarelli
Romantasy readers, add this one to your TBR! With blurbs from some of the best romantic fantasy novelists around (Rebecca Ross and Rachel Gillig, for example), this best new books of February pick is a must-read this month!
Synopsis: On the night Rune’s life changed forever, blood ran in the streets. Now, in the aftermath of a devastating revolution, witches have been diminished from powerful rulers to outcasts ruthlessly hunted due to their waning magic, and Rune must hide what she is.
Spending her days pretending to be nothing more than a vapid young socialite, Rune spends her nights as the Crimson Moth, a witch vigilante who rescues her kind from being purged. When a rescue goes wrong, she decides to throw the witch hunters off her scent and gain the intel she desperately needs by courting the handsome Gideon Sharpe – a notorious and unforgiving witch hunter loyal to the revolution – who she can’t help but find herself falling for.
Gideon loathes the decadence and superficiality Rune represents, but when he learns the Crimson Moth has been using Rune’s merchant ships to smuggle renegade witches out of the republic, he inserts himself into her social circles by pretending to court her right back. He soon realizes that beneath her beauty and shallow façade, is someone fiercely intelligent and tender who feels like his perfect match. Except, what if she’s the very villain he’s been hunting?
Kristen Ciccarelli’s Heartless Hunter is the thrilling start to The Crimson Moth duology, a romantic fantasy series where the only thing more treacherous than being a witch…is falling in love.
On Sale: February 20, 2024, via Wednesday Books. Order here.
A Fate Inked In Blood by Danielle L. Jensen
After devouring Danielle L. Jensen’s Bridge Kingdom series last year, I decided I would read anything she writes. Her command of stakes and cliffhangers is some of the best I’ve read in romance and why her new release deserves a place on our best new books of February list. I can’t wait to listen to this one on audio but I know I’ll be coveting a physical copy to add to my collection as well
Synopsis: Bound in an unwanted marriage, Freya spends her days gutting fish but dreams of becoming a warrior. And of putting an axe in her boorish husband’s back.
Freya’s dreams abruptly become reality when her husband betrays her to the region’s jarl, landing her in a fight to the death against his son, Bjorn. To survive, Freya is forced to reveal her deepest secret: She possesses a drop of a goddess’s blood, which makes her a shield maiden with magic capable of repelling any attack. And it’s been foretold that such magic will unite the fractured nation of Skaland beneath the one who controls the shield maiden’s fate.
Believing he’s destined to rule Skaland as king, the fanatical jarl binds Freya with a blood oath and orders Bjorn to protect her from their enemies. Desperate to prove her strength, Freya must train to fight and learn to control her magic, all while facing perilous tests set by the gods. The greatest test of all, however, may be resisting her forbidden attraction to Bjorn. If Freya succumbs to her lust for the charming and fierce warrior, she risks not only her own destiny but the fate of all the people she has sworn to protect.
On Sale: February 27, 2024 via Del Rey. Order here.
Brianna Robinson is a book publicist and Sarah Lawrence College alum. She lives in New York with too many books and two enthusiastic dachshunds. You can find her on twitter @blrobins2.
