On the Smugglers’ Radar

“On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a feature for books that have caught our eye: books we have heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. Thus, the Smugglers’ Radar was born. Because we want far more books than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?), we thought we would make the Smugglers’ Radar into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Ana’s Radar:

We Smugglers are huge fans of Dia Reeves – of Bleeding Violet and Slice of Cherry fame – and we just found out there are two new Portero books she just published. COMMENCE FREAKING OUT. I reviewed Miscreated recently and here is the second one:

A large creepy estate, mysterious twin brothers, family secrets, a diabolical invention known as the bone machine, and a young girl who is not at all human.

Meet the Westwoods: a father whose inventions often create death and despair, his twin sons who are not above experimenting on the servants, and the daughter whose existence no one is supposed to acknowledge. A sudden infestation of ghastly creatures into their foreboding plantation home causes them to hire a lethiferist, someone who kills supernatural monsters. The problem is that newly-hired Rue, who like all her kind was born without a heart, is a supernatural monster. She’s also too short, too young, and too compassionate for the job. Compassionate toward her fellow monsters, that is; not toward humans…on whom she occasionally feeds.

Heartsick is a modern gothic tale full of thrills and chills and, ultimately, redemption.

Another title I am really interested in:

Stranger Things meets The Haunted Mansion in this page-turning middle grade fantasy.

For as long as the Vickery twins can remember, they’ve only ever been able to leave the house together once a year—on Halloween. The rest of the year, Lee and his mother serve Memory, while Felix and his father assist Death. This is the Agreement.

But one Halloween…

This epic Fantasy coming from Orbit toward the end of the year looks awesome!

A lush and inspired fantasy set in a magical world inspired by medieval India, from a British debut author. Perfect for fans of Trudi Canavan, Sabaa Tahir or Sarah J. Maas

Mehr is a girl trapped between two cultures. Her father comes from the ruling classes of the empire but her mother’s people were outcasts, Amrithi nomads who worshipped the spirits of the sands. Caught one night performing these forbidden rites, Mehr is brought to the attention of the Emperor’s most feared mystics, who force her into their service by way of an arranged marriage.

She discovers that her new husband is a mysterious, enslaved Amrithi with abilities like her own: together they must use every ounce of cunning, power and will they possess to resist the order’s cruel agenda – and should they fail, the spirits themselves may awaken seeking vengeance…

Hooray! A new novel by Roshani Chokshi! <3

Set in a darkly glamorous world The Gilded Wolves is full of mystery, decadence and dangerous but thrilling adventure.

Paris, 1889: The world is on the cusp of industry and power, and the Exposition Universelle has breathed new life into the streets and dredged up ancient secrets. In this city, no one keeps tabs on secrets better than treasure-hunter and wealthy hotelier, Séverin Montagnet-Alarie. But when the all-powerful society, the Order of Babel, seeks him out for help, Séverin is offered a treasure that he never imagined: his true inheritance. To find the ancient artifact the Order seeks, Séverin will need help from a band of experts:

An engineer with a debt to pay. A historian who can’t yet go home. A dancer with a sinister past. And a brother in all but blood, who might care too much.

Together, they’ll have to use their wits and knowledge to hunt the artifact through the dark and glittering heart of Paris. What they find might change the world, but only if they can stay alive.

On Thea’s Radar:

PEOPLE THERE ARE SO MANY BOOKS OUT AND ON MY RADAR. It’s been forever–but here’s a smattering of books I’ve received and am currently devouring:

From #1 New York Times best-selling author Robert Beatty comes a spooky, thrilling new series set in the magical world of Serafina.

Move without a sound. Steal without a trace. Willa, a young nightspirit of the Great Smoky Mountains, is her clan’s best thief. She creeps into the homes of day-folk in the cover of darkness and takes what they won’t miss. It’s dangerous work—the day-folk kill whatever they do not understand. But when Willa’s curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in a day-folk man’s home, everything she thought she knew about her people—and their greatest enemy—is forever changed.

Next up this follow-up novel to The Last Magician which I haven’t read yet but is sitting on my shelf just yearning to be cracked open.

Hunt the Stones.
Beware the Thief.
Avenge the Past.

Esta’s parents were murdered. Her life was stolen. And everything she knew about magic was a lie. She thought the Book of Mysteries held the key to freeing the Mageus from the Order’s grasp, but the danger within its pages was greater than she ever imagined.

Now the Book’s furious power lives inside Harte. If he can’t control it, that power will rip apart the world to get its revenge…and it will use Esta to do it.

To bind the power, Esta and Harte must track down four elemental stones scattered across the continent. But the world outside the city is like nothing they expected. There are Mageus beyond the Brink not willing to live in the shadows—and the Order isn’t alone in its mission to crush them.

In St. Louis, the extravagant World’s Fair hides the first stone, but an old enemy is out for revenge and a new enemy is emerging. And back in New York, Viola and Jianyu must defeat a traitor in a city on the verge of chaos.

As past and future collide, time is running out to rewrite history—even for a time-traveling thief.

Next up, a sci-fi LGBT POC Sherlock Holmes retelling? Yes, I’m in, take my money now please.

A selection in Parade’s roundup of “25 Hottest Books of Summer 2018”

A Paste Magazine’s Most Anticipated 25 books of 2018 pick

A Medium’s Books pick for We Can’t Wait to Read in 2018 list

Set in a near future Washington, D.C., a clever, incisive, and fresh feminist twist on a classic literary icon—Sherlock Holmes—in which Dr. Janet Watson and covert agent Sara Holmes will use espionage, advanced technology, and the power of deduction to unmask a murderer targeting Civil War veterans.

Dr. Janet Watson knows firsthand the horrifying cost of a divided nation. While treating broken soldiers on the battlefields of the New Civil War, a sniper’s bullet shattered her arm and ended her career. Honorably discharged and struggling with the semi-functional mechanical arm that replaced the limb she lost, she returns to the nation’s capital, a bleak, edgy city in the throes of a fraught presidential election. Homeless and jobless, Watson is uncertain of the future when she meets another black and queer woman, Sara Holmes, a mysterious yet playfully challenging covert agent who offers the doctor a place to stay.

Watson’s readjustment to civilian life is complicated by the infuriating antics of her strange new roommate. But the tensions between them dissolve when Watson discovers that soldiers from the New Civil War have begun dying one by one—and that the deaths may be the tip of something far more dangerous, involving the pharmaceutical industry and even the looming election. Joining forces, Watson and Holmes embark on a thrilling investigation to solve the mystery—and secure justice for these fallen soldiers.

And then there’s this awesomeness–an alien invasion story, and the aftermath…

In Rich Larson’s astonishing debut Annex, only outsiders can fight off the true aliens.

At first it is a nightmare. When the invaders arrive, the world as they know it is destroyed. Their friends are kidnapped. Their families are changed.

Then it is a dream. With no adults left to run things, Violet and the others who have escaped capture are truly free for the first time. They can do whatever they want to do. They can be whoever they want to be.

But the invaders won’t leave them alone for long…

This thrilling debut by one of the most acclaimed short form writers in science fiction tells the story of two young outsiders who must find a way to fight back against the aliens who have taken over her city.

And that’s it from us! What books do you have on YOUR radar?