Books Releasing December 23

Four books with release dates this week, including the conclusion to one trilogy.

Wishing you and yours a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Happy Reading!

Transcendent, book 3 and conclusion to the Starling trilogy by Lesley Livingston

On a storm-swept terrace high above the streets of Manhattan, Mason Starling holds the fate of the world in her hands as her beloved Fennrys lies bleeding at her feet, his life hanging in the balance. The ancient Norse prophecy of Ragnarok stands poised on the knife's edge of fulfillment. Mason's transformation into a Valkyrie—a chooser of the slain and the one who will ultimately bring about the end of the world—is complete. Still, she remains determined to thwart her father's apocalyptic desires.

But whatever is to come won't happen because of a prophecy, what Gunnar Starling plans, or what the fates have already decided. What happens next will be up to Mason and the Fennrys Wolf. And the world had better hope they haven't reached the limits of what their souls and swords can survive.

Lesley Livingston has taken intense action and breathtaking romance to new heights in this epic conclusion to the Starling trilogy—a story readers will not want to put down.

This Shattered World, book 2 of the Starbound trilogy by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner

Jubilee Chase and Flynn Cormac should never have met.

Lee is captain of the forces sent to Avon to crush the terraformed planet's rebellious colonists, but she has her own reasons for hating the insurgents.  Rebellion is in Flynn's blood. His sister died in the original uprising against the powerful corporate conglomerate that rules Avon with an iron fist. These corporations make their fortune by terraforming uninhabitable planets across the universe and recruiting colonists to make the planets livable, with the promise of a better life for their children. But they never fulfilled their promise on Avon, and decades later, Flynn is leading the rebellion.  Desperate for any advantage against the military occupying his home, Flynn does the only thing that makes sense when he and Lee cross paths: he returns to base with her as prisoner. But as his fellow rebels prepare to execute this tough-talking girl with nerves of steel, Flynn makes another choice that will change him forever. He and Lee escape base together, caught between two sides in a senseless war.  The stunning second novel in the Starbound trilogy is an unforgettable story of love and forgiveness in a world torn apart by war.

 Note:  Already seen in Barnes & Noble 

Two Renegade Realms, book 2 of the Realm Walker Series by Donita K Paul

In book two of the Realm Walkers Series, Cantor, Bixby, and Dukmee must band together to find the storied realm walker Chomountain after the devastating attack by the corrupt Realm Walkers Guild. But what they discover while traveling turns their mission upside down and they must now find a way to restore Chomountain.

Both of Me by Jonathan Friesen

It was supposed to be just another flight, another escape into a foreign place where she could forget her past, forget her attachments. Until Clara found herself seated next to an alluring boy named Elias Phinn—a boy who seems to know secrets she has barely been able to admit to herself for years.

When her carry-on bag is accidentally switched with Elias’s identical pack, Clara uses the luggage tag to track down her things. At that address she discovers there is not one Elias Phinn, but two: the odd, paranoid, artistic, and often angry Elias she met on the plane, who lives in an imaginary world of his own making called Salem; and the kind, sweet, and soon irresistible Elias who greets her at the door, and who has no recollection of ever meeting Clara at all. As she learns of Elias’s dissociative identity disorder, and finds herself quickly entangled in both of Elias’s lives, Clara makes a decision that could change all of them forever. She is going to find out what the Salem Elias knows about her past, and how, even if it means playing along with his otherworldly quest. And she is going to find a way to keep the gentle Elias she’s beginning to love from ever disappearing again.

Note:  Age range on this one starts at 15.

We Should Hang Out Sometime by Josh Sundquist

When I was twenty-five years old, it came to my attention that I had never had a girlfriend. At the time, I was actually under the impression that I was in a relationship, so this bit of news came as something of a shock.

Why was Josh still single? To find out, he tracked down each of the girls he had tried to date since middle school and asked them straight up: What went wrong?

The results of Josh's semiscientific investigation are in your hands. From a disastrous Putt-Putt date involving a backward prosthetic foot, to his introduction to CFD (Close Fast Dancing), and a misguided "grand gesture" at a Miss America pageant, this story is about looking for love-or at least a girlfriend-in all the wrong places.

Poignant, relatable, and wholly hilarious, this memoir is for anyone who has ever wondered, "Is there something wrong with me?"  (Spoiler Alert: the answer is no.)