Choose a Season, Get a Book Rec By Bill Grace </p> <section> <h2> <h2><strong>Choose a Season, Get a Book Rec</strong></h2> </h2> <p> </p> <p>It is a truth universally acknowledged that my favorite season will always be the polar opposite of whatever the current season actually is. Thus, in the current heat wave, I am craving the cold of winter (cut to me 6 months from now longing for the summer sun). The one constant throughout the seasons is the hunt for my next great read. Whether curled up by the fire or sunning on the beach, books are a true must-have. So pick your favorite season and get a book rec!</p> </section> <section> <h2> <h2><strong><a href="https://www.thenovl.com/aseasonofsinisterdreams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A Season of Sinister Dreams</a> by Tracy Banghart</strong></h2> </h2> <p> </p> <p><strong>In the wise words of Lorde, “I hate the winter, can’t stand the cold… But when the heat comes, something takes a hold.”</strong></p> <p>Annalise may be cousin to the prince, but her past isn’t what she claims, and she possesses a magic so powerful it takes all her strength to control it. Evra is a country girl, and has watched as each friend and family member came into their own magic, while hers remains dormant. But everything changes after Annalise loses control of herself and Evra begins experiencing the debilitating visions of a once-in-a-generation clairvoyant meant to serve the crown.</p> <p>Thrown together at court, Evra and Annalise find that they have the same goal: to protect their kingdom from the powerful men who are slowly destroying it. But neither is quick to trust the other—Evra’s visions suggest a threat to royal rule, and Annalise worries that her darkest secrets will be revealed. Their magic at odds, the young women circle each other, until the truth must come out.</p> </section> <section> <h3> <h2><strong><a href="https://www.thenovl.com/beyondtherubyveil" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Beyond the Ruby Veil</a> by Mara Fitzgerald</strong></h2> </h3> <p> </p> <p><strong>Disappearing water, check. Times of change, check. Blood everywhere… Wait, I guess that’s not necessarily a fall thing.</strong></p> <p>Emanuela Ragno always gets what she wants. With her daring mind and socialite schemes, she refuses to be the demure young lady everyone wants her to be. In her most ambitious move yet, she’s about to marry Alessandro Morandi, her childhood best friend and the heir to the wealthiest house in Occhia. Emanuela doesn’t care that she and her groom are both gay, because she doesn’t want a love match. She wants power, and through Ale, she’ll have it all.</p> <p>But Emanuela has a secret that could shatter her plans. In the city of Occhia, the only source of water is the watercrea, a mysterious being who uses magic to make water from blood. When their first bruise-like omen appears on their skin, all Occhians must surrender themselves to the watercrea to be drained of life. Everyone throughout history has given themselves up for the greater good. Everyone except Emanuela. She’s kept the tiny omen on her hip out of sight for years.</p> <p>When the watercrea exposes Emanuela during her wedding ceremony and takes her to be sacrificed, Emanuela fights back . . . and kills her. Now Occhia has no one to make their water and no idea how to get more. In a race against time, Emanuela and Ale must travel through the mysterious, blood-red veil that surrounds their city to uncover the secrets of the watercrea’s magic and find a way to save their people — no matter what it takes.</p> </section> <section> <h3> <h2><strong><a href="https://www.thenovl.com/thewinterduke" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Winter Duke</a> by Claire Eliza Bartlett</strong></h2> </h3> <p> </p> <p><strong>I mean, it’s right there in the title…</strong></p> <p>All Ekata wants is to stay alive — and the chance to prove herself as a scholar. Once Ekata’s brother is finally named heir to the dukedom of Kylma Above, there will be nothing to keep her at home with her murderous family. Not her books or her experiments, not her family’s icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness, and no one can find a cure.</p> <p>In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother’s captivating warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without — and within — her ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love…or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family’s magic and power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield them both.</p> </section> <section> <h3> <h2><strong><a href="https://www.thenovl.com/girlsofpaperandfire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Girls of Paper and Fire</a> by Natasha Ngan</strong></h2> </h3> <p> </p> <p><strong>Nothing says springtime like the kindling of fresh vengeance and the birth of new romance.</strong></p> <p>In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it’s Lei they’re after — the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king’s interest.</p> <p>Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king’s consort. There, she does the unthinkable: she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world’s entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.</p> </section> <section> <h2> <h2><strong>Choose a Season</strong></h2> </h2> </section> <p> </p> <p>
