New Releases Dec. 27-31, Reader's Choice Contest, Weekly Winners

Merry post-Christmas and pre-New Year’s…or something like that. We’re back for another short week on the blog, with a new Reader’s Choice contest and a medium-sized list of new releases—but this list has some awesome choices in urban fantasy, paranormal romance, YA, and science fiction. What to choose, what to choose... (And next week’s list…Ginormous!)

First, congrats to the winners from last week’s contests. If you see your name, please email me HERE and send me your snail-mail address if you prefer a print book or email/format if you prefer an ebook. (Some contests may specify one format or the other.)

Congrats to:

LESLEY D, who won Lev AC Rosen’s All Men of Genius. (print only)

FAIRY WHISPERS, who won the Reader’s Choice and chose Touch of Power by Maria V. Snyder (choice of print or ebook)

Now, for this week’s list of new releases—comment to win your choice!

*Genre key (at the end of each listing): SF=science fiction; F=high/epic fantasy; UF=urban fantasy; H=horror; PNR=paranormal romance; YA=young adult; MG=middle grade; alt history=alternative history; dyst=dystopia; steampunk.

Every Other Day, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

(Dec. 27, Edgmont)

Every other day, Kali D'Angelo is a normal sixteen-year-old girl. She goes to public high school. She attends pep rallies. She's human. And then every day in between . . .She's something else entirely.  Though she still looks like herself, every twenty-four hours predatory instincts take over and Kali becomes a feared demon-hunter with the undeniable urge to hunt, trap, and kill zombies, hellhounds, and other supernatural creatures. Kali has no idea why she is the way she is, but she gives in to instinct anyway. Even though the government considers it environmental terrorism.  When Kali notices a mark on the lower back of a popular girl at school, she knows instantly that the girl is marked for death by one of these creatures. Kali has twenty-four hours to save her and, unfortunately, she'll have to do it as a human. With the help of a few new friends, Kali takes a risk that her human body might not survive. . .and learns the secrets of her mysterious condition in the process. UF-YA

Archon, by Sabrina Benulis

(Dec. 27, Harper Voyager)

Angela Mathers is plagued by visions of angels, supernatural creatures who haunt her thoughts by day and seduce her dreams by night. Newly released from a mental institution where she was locked away for two years, she hopes that her time at the Vatican’s university, the West Wood Academy, will give her a chance at a normal life. Unlike ordinary humans, Angela is a blood head — a freak, a monster, the possible fulfillment of a terrifying prophecy of overwhelming death and destruction. Only in Luz, the Vatican’s wondrous enclave, are blood heads accepted and encouraged to discover what kind of powers or special abilities they might possess. But within West Wood, a secret coven plots, and demons and angels roam the streets searching for the key to open Raziel’s book — a secret tome from a lost archangel. Some are determined to destroy Raziel, while others, like the beautiful Supernal Israfel, one of the highest of the high, wish to free him. And when the Archon — the human chosen to possess the spirit of a dead angel — rises as foretold, they will control the supernatural universe. Torn between mortal love and angelic obsession, Angela holds the key to Heaven and Hell — and both will stop at nothing to possess her. UF-YA

Empire State, by Adam Christopher

(Dec. 27, Angry Robot)

It was the last great science hero fight, but the energy blast ripped a hole in reality, and birthed the Empire State – a young, twisted parallel prohibition-era New York. When the rift starts to close, both worlds are threatened, and both must fight for the right to exist. SF

The Demon Lover, by Juliet Dark

(Dec. 27, Ballantine)

Since accepting a teaching position at remote Fairwick College in upstate New York, Callie McFay has experienced the same disturbingly erotic dream every night: A mist enters her bedroom, then takes the shape of a virile, seductive stranger who proceeds to ravish her in the most toe-curling, wholly satisfying ways possible. Perhaps these dreams are the result of writing her bestselling book, The Sex Lives of Demon Lovers. After all, Callie’s lifelong passion is the intersection of lurid fairy tales and Gothic literature—which is why she finds herself at Fairwick’s renowned folklore department, living in a once-stately Victorian house that, at first sight, seemed to call her name. But Callie soon realizes that her dreams are alarmingly real. She has a demon lover—an incubus—and he will seduce her, pleasure her, and eventually suck the very life from her. Then Callie makes another startling discovery: He’s not the only mythical creature in Fairwick. As the tenured witches of the college and the resident fairies in the surrounding woods prepare to cast out the incubus, Callie must accomplish something infinitely more difficult—banishing this demon lover from her heart. PNR

Spirit Bound, by Christine Feehan

(Dec. 27, Jove)

Lethal undercover agent Stefan Prakenskii knew a thousand ways to kills a man—and twice as many ways to pleasure a woman. That’s what made him look forward to his new mission: arrive in the coastal town of Sea Haven and insinuate himself in the life of an elusive beauty who had mysterious ties to his past, and a link to a dangerously seductive, and equally elusive master criminal who wanted only one thing: to possess her. Judith Henderson was an artist on the rise—an ethereal, and haunted woman whose own picture-perfect beauty stirred the souls of two men who have made her their obsession. For years she has been waiting for someone to come and unlock the passion and fire within her—waiting for the right man to surrender it to. But only one man can survive her secrets, and the shadow she has cast over both their lives. Second in the Sisters of the Heart series. PNR

Hell Train, by Christopher Fowler

(Dec. 27, Solaris)

Four passengers meet on a train journey through Eastern Europe during the First World War, and face a mystery that must be solved if they are to survive. As the ‘Arkangel’ races through the war-torn countryside, they must find out: What is in the casket that everyone is so afraid of? What is the tragic secret of the veiled Red Countess who travels with them? Why is their fellow passenger the army brigadier so feared by his own men? And what exactly is the devilish secret of the Arkangel itself? Bizarre creatures, satanic rites, terrified passengers and the romance of travelling by train, all in a classically styled horror novel. H

Shadow City, by Diana Pharaoh Francis

(Dec. 27, Pocket)

The world is falling apart. The magical apocalypse has come. Now is the time to guard the covenstead against both raiders and refugees. But Max has been stolen by a powerful demi-god who is determined to force her to find a way to use a magical power she never knew she had—even if it kills her. Meanwhile, back in Horngate, a Fury is birthing. When the creature breaks free of the fragile bonds that enclose her, her rage will scour the covenstead from the earth. Max finds herself in the Shadow City, a place of mysteries and magic, where she must battle for her freedom or become a slave to creatures of dreadful greed and power. Back in Horngate, Alexander must swallow his anger and pride if he hopes to defeat the Fury, a creature that no one has ever successfully fought before. In the end, it will be courage, friendship, faith and loyalty that win the day. Or else so one will live to see tomorrow. Third in the Horngate Witches series. UF

Bedeviled, by Sable Grace

(Dec. 27, Avon)

She has done the unthinkable—turned her best friend into a dark breed: part Vampyre, Lychen and Witch . . .Kyana thought only to save her friend’s life when she fed Haven her blood; instead, she created a monster. Now the woman she thought of as a sister is under the spell of an ancient, vengeful god, determined to set him free and wreak havoc on the mortal world . . . and only Kyana can stop her. But time is running out. In just seven days, Kyana’s Vampyre and Lychen abilities will be gone and she’ll be completely transformed into the Goddess of the Hunt—and her blood ties to Haven will be severed. By her side is Ryker—ally, demigod, lover— who will sacrifice everything to keep Kyana safe . . . even the attraction that burns between them. Together they have one chance to save Haven from herself . . . to save humanity from hell on earth. PNR

77 Shadow Street, by Dean Koontz

(Dec. 27, Bantam)

Enter the world of the Pendleton, a beautiful limestone Gilded Age palace that's been converted into a set of highly desirable condominiums. Its tenants feel lucky to live there. Yet luck and the Pendleton have little in common—its years have been colored by madness, kidnappings, murder, and strange, inexplicable accidents. But all of that is in a past mostly unfamiliar to the people of the Pendelton. To them, their building is a sanctuary....That is, until it turns on them. Shadows with no source begin to skitter across the walls, voices whisper in unknown languages, security cameras show impossible feeds, and a little boy starts talking to an imaginary playmate, who turns out to be all too real. These are only prelude to a terror that will soon fully engulf the tenants of Pendleton, in an unimaginable world from which there may be no escape. H

Ghoul Interrupted, by Victoria Laurie

(Dec. 27, Signet)

M.J. Holliday and her crew interrupt the frantic schedule of their reality TV show, Ghoul Getters, and hotfoot it to New Mexico, where a dreadful demon is waging tribal warfare. Same Whitefeather- M.J.'s spirit guide-urgently needs her help to stop this evil spirit from wiping out the descendants of his tribe. It doesn't take a psychic to predict that M.J.'s going to have a devil of a time making New Mexico a demon-free zone. The sixth Ghost Hunter mystery. UF

The Mortal Bone, by Marjorie M. Liu

(Dec. 27, Ace)

When the bond Maxine Kiss shares with the demons tattooed on her skin is deliberately severed, the demon hunter is left vulnerable and unprotected. For the first time in ten thousand years, the demons have a taste of freedom. And as the little demons grow more violent and unpredictable, Maxine starts to fear they will lose their minds without her. Reuniting won't be easy, since a greater temptation waits for these hellions: a chance to return to their lives as Reaper Kings, and unleash hell on Earth. Fourth in the Hunter Kiss series. PNR

Warrior’s Redemption, by Melissa Mayhue

(Dec. 27, Pocket Star)

Malcolm MacDowylt, laird of Clan MacGahan, is a man ruled by guilt. His wife’s death, his struggling clansmen, even his sister being held prisoner—all hangs on his shoulders. As a descendent of the Norse gods himself, he’s not surprised when his Faerie “mother-in-law” arrives determined to deliver justice for his treatment of her daughter. At least not until that justice appears in the form of a woman whose every look speaks to his very soul...A woman who claims to come from 700 years in the future. PNR

The Bitter Seed of Magic, by Suzanne McLeod

(Dec. 27, Ace)

For once, Genny's life seems quiet. Her sexy boss isn't pushing for a decision on their relationship, and the witches have declared that she is no longer a threat. But when a teenaged faeling is fished out of the River Thames and another disappears, Genny finds herself in a race to stop a curse from taking its next victim. Third in the Spellcrackers series. U.S. release. UF

Shadow Heir, by Richelle Mead

(Dec. 27, Zebra)

Shaman-for-hire Eugenie Markham strives to keep the mortal realm safe from trespassing entities. But as the Thorn Land's prophecy-haunted queen, there's no refuge for her and her soon-to-be-born-children when a mysterious blight begins to devastate the Otherworld. The spell-driven source of the blight isn't the only challenge to Eugenie's instincts. Fairy king Dorian is sacrificing everything to help, but Eugenie can't trust the synergy drawing them back together. The uneasy truce between her and her shape shifter ex-lover Kiyo is endangered by secrets he can't--or won't--reveal. And as a formidable force rises to also threaten the human world, Eugenie must use her own cursed fate as a weapon--and risk the ultimate sacrifice. Fourth in the Dark Swan series. UF

The Demi-Monde: Winter, by Rod Rees

(Dec. 27, William Morrow)

The Demi-Monde is the most advanced computer simulation ever devised. Created to prepare soldiers for the nightmarish reality of urban warfare, it is a virtual world locked in eternal civil war. Its thirty million digital inhabitants are ruled by duplicates of some of history's cruellest tyrants: Reinhard Heydrich, the architect of the Holocaust; Beria, Stalin's arch executioner; Torquemada, the pitiless Inquisitor General; Robespierre, the face of the Reign of Terror. But something has gone badly wrong inside the Demi-Monde, and the US President's daughter has become trapped in this terrible world. It falls to eighteen-year-old Ella Thomas to rescue her, yet once Ella has entered the Demi-Monde she finds that everything is not as it seems, that its cyber-walls are struggling to contain the evil within and that the Real World is in more danger than anyone realises. U.S. release. SF

Wicked Circle, by Linda Robertson

(Dec. 27, Pocket)

Persephone Alcmedi has helped her waerewolf lover Johnny unlock his powers. Now she must come to the aid of Menessos, the vampire overlord she has secretly marked. Beset by a trio of truth-seeking vampire sisters so dangerous their own kind keep them confined in stone, he now needs her more than ever...and she realizes her need for him. Seph has magical promises to fulfill for the waeres, multiple mundane family challenges to meet, vampire politics to confront, both the supernatural males in her life to balance, a dragon to deal with...and then a government investigator shows up to complicate matters. Fifth in the Persephone Alcmedi series. UF

Magic of the Moonlight, by Ellen Schreiber

(Dec. 27, Katherine Tegen)

Celeste has more to worry about than a secret romance with a hot guy from the wrong side of town. That guy, Brandon, is a werewolf. With gossip and hostility swirling at school, it’s time to find a cure for his nocturnal condition, and perhaps the one person who can help is his scientist father. But what if a “cure” makes things worse and Brandon becomes a werewolf full time? And with rumors circulating that there are werewolves in Legend’s Run, is it possible that there is another among their classmates? To keep Brandon’s secret safe, Celeste must hide her relationship with him from her best friends, but with the Moonlight Ball approaching, she must make a choice. Her dream is to go with her one true love—Brandon. But once the sun goes down, the clouds separate, and the full moon appears, could she really walk into the dance on the arm of a werewolf? Second in the Full Moon series. PNR-YA

Babylon Steel, by Gaie Sebold

(Dec. 27, Solaris)

Babylon Steel, ex-sword-for-hire, ex-other things, runs the best brothel in Scalentine; city of many portals, two moons, and a wide variety of races, were-creatures, and religions, not to mention the occasional insane warlock. She’s not having a good week. The Vessels of Purity are protesting against brothels, women in the trade are being attacked, it’s tax time, and there’s not enough money to pay the bill. So when the mysterious Darask Fain offers her a job finding a missing girl, Babylon decides to take it. But the missing girl is not what she seems, and neither is Darask Fain. In the meantime twomoon is approaching, and more than just a few night’s takings are at risk when Babylon’s hidden past reaches out to grab her by the throat. F

Switchblade Goddess, by Lucy A. Snyder

(Dec. 27, Del Rey)

When Jessie Shimmer traveled to a nightmare underworld to save her lover, Cooper Marron, she gained magical powers . . . which soon seemed more like curses. Her beloved familiar, the ferret Pal, became a monster. Her enemies multiplied like demons. Worst of all, she hasn’t found a moment of peace to be with the man she adores. Now a switchblade-wielding demigoddess commanding a private hell stocked with suffering innocents is after her. The blademistress’ vengeance sends Jessie and Pal on a dark journey through strange, perilous realms. Their quest for salvation will push her newfound abilities—and her relationship with Cooper—to the breaking point . . . and beyond. Third in the Jessie Shimmer series. UF

Angel Fire, by L.A. Weatherly

(Dec. 27, Candlewick)

Only Willow has the power to defeat the malevolent Church of Angels, and they will stop at nothing to destroy her. Willow isn’t alone, though. She has Alex by her side – a trained Angel Killer and her one true love. But nothing can change the fact that Willow’s a half-angel, and when Alex joins forces with a group of AKs, she’s treated with mistrust and suspicion. She’s never felt more alone…until she meets Seb. He’s been searching for Willow his whole life – because Seb is a half-angel too. Second in the series. PNR-YA

City of Light and Shadow, by Ian Whates

(Dec. 27, Angry Robot)

The monstrous Rust Warriors are back! In a land struggling to cope with the onset of the fatal bone flu, street-nick Tom and Kat - the leader of the Tattooed Men - must find a way to despatch both threats. Meanwhile, the Soul Thief is still at large, and still killing. Book three in the City of a Hundred Rows series. UF

Silver-Tongued Devil, by Jaye Wells

(Dec. 28, Orbit)

Life is looking up for Sabina Kane. Now that her scheming grandmother is dead, the threat of war has passed and the rulers of the dark races are about to sign a treaty to ensure ongoing peace. Her relationship with sexy mage Adam Lazarus is strong and all her friends are around her. Even her magic training is progressing further than she ever expected. The only two dark spots in her otherwise settled life are her guilt over her sister Maisie's fragile mental state and Sabina's own sinking sense that she's got unfinished business with Cain, the mysterious cult leader she let get away months earlier. When a string of murders rock the New York dark races community and threatens to stall the peace negotiations, Sabina finds herself helping to find the killer. Her investigation leads her down troubling paths that have her questioning everything - and everyone - she knows. And the closer she gets to the murderer, the more Sabina realises this is one foe she may not able to kill. Fourth in the Sabina Kane series. UF

Hidden, by Kelley Armstrong (Dec. 31, Subterranean)

Hiking through the snow, holiday baking and playing board games by the fire – what’s not to love about an old-fashioned family Christmas? Werewolves Elena Michaels and Clayton Danvers want to give their four-year-old twins, Kate and Logan, something their parents never had: a nice, normal holiday. No Pack responsibilities, no homicidal half-demons or power-hungry sorcerers to deal with – just the four of them, alone, at a chalet outside Ontario’s Algonquin Park. Then a strange werewolf shows up at their door…while the town is buzzing about a young man, back from college, found half-eaten in the woods. And there’s the missing little girl … With all the signs pointing to a rogue mutt with a taste for human flesh, Elena and Clay have no choice but to investigate. But are they the hunters – or the hunted? A special-edition novella in the Otherworld series. UF

As always, four entries possible and please include your e-mail: +1 for comment to tell me what book (any book) you want, +1 for blog follow, +1 for Twitter follow @Suzanne_Johnson, and +1 for a Tweet or RT about the contest. Now….go!