Fantasy Realism

Welcome to Shadow Vale, where the locals bite, monsters are real and the witches play fast and loose with the rules. Kristen O’Mead left behind grief and the magical shenanigans of Shadow Vale ten years ago. Now she’s back, to dust off her magic and solve the riddle of her ex-husband’s ghost. Unfortunately he’s not the only ghost from her past she has to deal with. Shadow Vale isn’t your usual town tucked away amongst the rolling hills. It’s a haven for paranormals, protected by a Forget-Me spell, and the old stomping grounds of her teenage hormones. She’s barely settled into ...

Spanning Gaiman’s career to date, The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction is a captivating collection from one of the world’s most beloved writers, chosen by those who know his work best: his devoted fans. A brilliant representation of Gaiman's groundbreaking, entrancing, endlessly imaginative fiction, this captivating volume includes excerpts from each of his five novels for adults—Neverwhere, Stardust, American Gods, Anansi Boys, and The Ocean at the End of the Lane—and nearly fifty of his short stories.

Warlock Anna Atticus Stone is on her final year at the academy. As head of student council, academic prodigy, and champion arena dueler, she seems the perfect pupil. In reality, Anna is grieving, overwhelmed, and so lonely she talks to herself. Above all, she fears assassination if people find out her father’s dying gift to her was a scion. Only seven of these powerful artifacts exist, one in each kingdom—a precarious balance that maintains peace.

“At one point they tried to calculate when time began, when exactly the earth had been created,” begins Time Shelter’s enigmatic narrator, who goes unnamed. “In the mid-seventeenth century, the Irish bishop Ussher calculated not only the exact year, but also a starting date: October 22, 4,004 years before Christ.” But for our narrator, time as he knows it begins when he meets Gaustine, a “vagrant in time” who has distanced his life from contemporary reality by reading old news, wearing tattered old clothes, and haunting the lost avenues of the twentieth century.

Two strangers in a foreign city, Thora and Santi meet in a chance encounter. At once, they recognize in each other a kindred spirit - someone who is longing for more in life than the cards they’ve been dealt. Before their friendship can blossom, though, a tragic accident cuts their story short.

On Tommy Llewellyn’s first birthday, his doting parents awoke in a home without baby blankets and bottles in the fridge, without the photos of their newborn once scattered about, and without any idea that the one-year-old sleeping in their home was their child. That’s because Tommy Llewellyn is a boy who, in the very cosmic sense of things, will never be remembered—stuck in a universal Reset that causes everyone to forget he exists when the clock strikes midnight on his birthday each year.

This is the way the world ends...for the last time. It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world's sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester. This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.

Grieving, she’s raising the next Alpha alone. He’s evading arranged marriage. Can destiny unite a werewolf and an alien? Marika Edgewater has refused to shift since her husband’s tragic death. A brutal biker attack forces her into wolf form, leaving her gravely injured. When a mysterious, handsome stranger heals her, their unexpected connection threatens her community’s carefully held secret. Evan wants to live on his own terms. Fleeing his home realm and rejoicing in his newfound freedom on Earth, he’s stunned when he stumbles across a woman who’s been fatally stabbed. And ...

Welcome to Whimsydale, where magic runs wild and laughter echoes through impossibly twisted streets! When Sir Darius Stormblade and his misfit band of heroes arrive for the annual Feast of Fools, they expect nothing more than a few days of whimsical celebration. But as a mischievous Jester's powers spiral out of control, reality itself begins to unravel. Suddenly, buildings dance, animals philosophize, and chaos reigns supreme. Now, Darius must rally his companions—a gruff warrior, a snake-bearded dwarf, a sly rogue, a brilliant mage, and a stoic ranger with his talking wolf—to save the...

The Dragons of Serai Series continues in another magical kingdom where cities rise above the clouds and love is as wild as the Dragons who rule. As a Dragon King, I should have little to complain about, but my life has become a monotony. I feel shackled to the throne, trudging through every day hoping for something to change. And then it did. While hunting a monster, I came across Shye. Utterly misnamed, Shye is anything but. He's vivacious, bold, hungry for life, and never hides what he feels. He makes me laugh. I can't remember when I've laughed so much or when I last looked upon my ...

I’m a thief. Look, it wasn’t my first career choice, okay? But my weird little power makes it insanely easy. Samira doesn’t know why she can manipulate the air around her. It’s just something she can do. And it makes picking pockets a breeze. Literally. Snarky and irreverent, Sam doesn’t give much of a damn for anyone except her next rich target. But then she runs into trouble, the serious kind, and has to be rescued by a charming prince, no less. Wealthy and attractive, he's just her type. Except for one thing: he has an insufferable older brother who sees right through her. Dhav...

The new novel - a book that sold more than a million copies the first week it went on sale in Japan - from the internationally acclaimed author, his first since IQ84. Here he gives us the remarkable story of Tsukuru Tazaki, a young man haunted by a great loss; of dreams and nightmares that have unintended consequences for the world around us; and of a journey into the past that is necessary to mend the present. It is a story of love, friendship, and heartbreak for the ages.

Somewhere far away - or maybe right nearby - lies an archipelago called Popisho. A place of stunning beauty and incorrigible mischief, destiny, and mystery, it is also a place in need of change. A storm is brewing. Before it comes, before the end of the day, this wildly imaginative narrative will take us across the islands, their history, and into the lives of unforgettable characters.

One song to kill a king. You'd think that a rare supernatural like myself, a woman who can make magic from music, would be able to get a better job than killing people. You'd be wrong. Times are tough. I take the work I can get. But as soon as I laid eyes on my new target, I regretted my career choice. The Onyx King isn't just one of the most powerful men in existence, he's also drop-dead gorgeous. I've never doubted my abilities, but looking into King Torin's sapphire eyes unsettles me. There's something there that tells me this murderous song of mine may be my last.The Last Lullaby is the...

From the town’s founder, a brave young woman from England who has no fear of blizzards or bears, to the young man who runs away to New York City, the characters in The Red Garden are extraordinary and vivid: a young wounded Civil War soldier who is saved by a neighbor, a woman who meets a fiercely human historical character, a poet who falls in love with a blind man, a mysterious traveler who comes to town in the year when summer never arrives.

When Chloe Mayweather escapes her mother’s overbearing coven and opens The Enchanted Spoon in the picturesque town of Belmont Falls, she’s determined to keep her magic under wraps. A fresh start. A quiet life. Zero spells. But on opening day, her powers spiral out of control—and her secret literally explodes into the arms of a rugged local carpenter with secrets of his own. Brad Burop didn’t expect to rescue a red-haired beauty from a falling ladder, flying teacups, and a magical meltdown. But once he sees the woman behind the whirlwind, he can’t walk away—even when Chloe’s ...

Bullied to the point of dropping out of school, Kokoro's days blur together as she hides in her bedroom, unable to face her family or friends. As she spirals into despair, her mirror begins to shine; with a touch, Kokoro is pulled from her lonely life into a resplendent, bizarre fairytale castle guarded by a strange girl in a wolf mask. Six other students have been brought to the castle, and soon this marvelous refuge becomes their playground.

Dreams can be deadly, even when your fated mate is a dark fae prince the monsters fear. Rule #1 Don't talk to your hallucinations. Rule #2 Don't let anyone know your fears. Rule #3 Don't let anyone get too close. I'm El Adams, Eleanor if you want to get fancy. Our family moves around a lot. Every first day of a new school, my sister Jax ends up being hit on by a creep, and I go to detention for rescuing her. Hitting on boys for me is beating the crap out of them, but this town is different. I can’t stand people touching me, ever since I was abducted- something I don’t remember when I ...

In the winter of 1953, Boy Novak arrives by chance in a small town in Massachusetts, looking, she believes, for beauty - the opposite of the life she' s left behind in New York. She marries a local widower and becomes stepmother to his winsome daughter, Snow Whitman. A wicked stepmother is a creature Boy never imagined she' d become, but elements of the familiar tale of aesthetic obsession begin to play themselves out when the birth of Boy' s daughter, Bird, who is dark-skinned, exposes the Whitmans as light-skinned African Americans passing for white.

Written in a spirit that embodies storytellers like the brothers Grimm and Guillermo Del Toro, The Isle of Children is a dark fairytale incorporating contemporary horror and mid-century fantasy. Step back in time to an early 19th century orphanage and find yourself in the weathered shoes of a 14-year-old boy named Carlos, and follow along as he manages a harrowing escape, only to find himself lost at sea. Eventually, he awakens on a strange island and quickly realizes something is wrong. He makes his way to a large palace to find dozens of other children, and a lone figure watching over ...