Fall in Love with Orbit
Orbit has a whole host of brilliant sci-fi and fantasy with a slice of romance publishing this year! Keep reading to fall in love . . .
Wild and Wicked Things by Francesca May
‘Brimming with romance and gilded with danger, Wild Wicked Things is a heady, lyrical gem of a book’ Hannah Whitten, New York Times bestselling author of For the Wolf
In the aftermath of the First World War, a young woman gets swept into a glittering world filled with illicit magic, romance, blood debts and murder in this lush and decadent debut novel.
On Crow Island, people whispered, real magic lurked just below the surface. But Annie Mason never expected her enigmatic new neighbour to be a witch.
When she witnesses a confrontation between her best friend Bea and the infamous Emmeline Delacroix at one of Emmeline’s extravagantly illicit parties, Annie is drawn into a glittering, haunted world. A world where magic can buy what money cannot; a world where the consequence of a forbidden blood bargain might be death.
For the Throne by Hannah Whitten
Red and the Wolf have finally contained the threat of the Old Kings but at a steep cost. Red’s beloved sister Neve, the First Daughter is lost in the Shadowlands, an inverted kingdom where the vicious gods of legend have been trapped for centuries and the Old Kings have slowly been gaining control. But Neve has an ally though it’s one she’d rather never have to speak to again the rogue king Solmir.
Solmir wants to bring an end to the Shadowlands and he believes helping Neve may be the key to its destruction. But to do that, they will both have to journey across a dangerous landscape in order to find a magic mirror and the mysterious Heart Tree, and finally to claim the gods’ dark, twisted powers for themselves.
Soul Taken and Wild Sign by Patricia Briggs
Mercy Thompson, car mechanic and shapeshifter, must face her greatest fears in this chilling entry in the No. 1 New York Times bestselling series.
The vampire Wulfe is missing. Since he’s deadly, possibly insane, and his current idea of ‘fun’ is stalking Mercy, some may see it as no great loss. But when he disappears, the Tri-Cities pack is blamed. The mistress of the vampire seethe informs Mercy that the pack must produce Wulfe to prove their innocence, or the loose alliance between the local vampires and werewolves is over.
So Mercy goes out to find her stalker – and discovers more than just Wulfe have disappeared. Someone is taking people from locked rooms, from the aisles of stores and even from crowded parties. And these are not just ordinary people but supernatural beings. Until Wulfe vanished, all of them were powerless loners, many of whom quietly moved to the Tri-Cities in the hope that the safety promised by Mercy and Adam’s pack would extend to them as well.
Who is taking them? As Mercy investigates, she learns of the legend of the Harvester, who travels by less-trodden paths and reaps the souls that are ripe with a great black scythe . . .
The Monsters We Defy by Leslye Penelope
Clara Johnson talks to spirits. Once a gift, now a curse that’s left her indebted to the cunning spirit world.
So, when the Empress, the powerful spirit who holds her debt, offers her an opportunity to gain her freedom, Clara seizes the chance. The task: steal a magical ring from the wealthiest woman in the District.
But Clara can’t pull off this daring heist alone. She’ll need help from an unlikely team, from a jazz musician capable of hypnotizing with a melody to an aging vaudeville actor who can change his face, to pull off the impossible.
As they encounter increasing obstacles, a dangerous spirit interferes at every turn, and conflict in the spirit world begins to leak out into the human one. And along DC’s legendary Black Broadway, a mystery is unfolding-one that not only has repercussions for Clara but all of the city’s residents.
The Oleander Sword by Tasha Suri
The Jasmine Throne has been hailed as a series opener that will ‘undoubtedly reshape the landscape of epic fantasy for years to come’ (Booklist, starred). Now, award-winning author Tasha Suri’s provocative and powerful Burning Kingdoms trilogy continues with The Oleander Sword.
The prophecy of the nameless god – the words that declared Malini the rightful empress of Parijatdvipa – has proven a blessing and curse. She is determined to claim the throne that fate offered her. But even with the strength of the rage in her heart and the army of loyal men by her side, deposing her brother is going to be a brutal and bloody fight.
The power of the deathless waters flows through Priya’s blood. Thrice born priestess, Elder of Ahiranya, Priya’s dream is to see her country rid of the rot that plagues it: both Parijatdvipa’s poisonous rule, and the blooming sickness that is slowly spreading through all living things. But she doesn’t yet understand the truth of the magic she carries.
Their chosen paths once pulled them apart. But Malini and Priya’s souls remain as entwined as their destinies. And they soon realize that coming together is the only way to save their kingdom from those who would rather see it burn – even if it will cost them.
The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy by Megan Bannen
‘A uniquely charming mixture of whimsy and the macabre that completely won me over. If you ever wished for an adult romance that felt like Howl’s Moving Castle, THIS IS THAT BOOK’ Helen Hoang, author of The Kiss Quotient
The Princess Bride meets You’ve Got Mail in this enchantingly quirky, completely refreshing fantasy with a rom-com-worthy premise, perfect for readers of The House in the Cerulean Sea and The Invisible Library.
Hart is a marshal, tasked with patrolling the magical wilds of Tanria. It’s an unforgiving job, and Hart’s got nothing but time to ponder his loneliness.
Mercy never has a moment to herself. She’s been single-handedly keeping Birdsall & Son Undertakers afloat in defiance of sullen jerks like Hart, who seems to have a gift for showing up right when her patience is thinnest.
After yet another exasperating run-in with Mercy, Hart finds himself penning a letter addressed simply to “A Friend”. Much to his surprise, an anonymous letter comes back in return, and a tentative friendship is born.
If only Hart knew he’s been baring his soul to the person who infuriates him most – Mercy. As the dangers from Tanria grow closer, so do the unlikely correspondents. But can their blossoming romance survive the fated discovery that their pen pals are their worst nightmares – each other?
Set in a world equally full of magic and demigods as it is donuts and small-town drama, this utterly unique fantasy is sure to sweep you off your feet.
Dowry of Blood by S. T. Gibson
‘DARK, LUSH AND HEARTRENDINGLY ROMANTIC’ Lyndall Clipstone, author of Lakesedge
This is my last love letter to you, though some would call it a confession. . .
A deliciously dark retelling of Dracula, A Dowry of Blood is a sensual story of obsession, desire and the lengths we will go to protect the ones we love.
Saved from the brink of death by a mysterious stranger, Constanta is transformed from a medieval peasant into a bride fit for an undying king. But when Dracula draws a cunning aristocrat and a starving artist into his web of passion and deceit, Constanta realizes that her beloved is capable of terrible things.
Finding comfort in the arms of her rival consorts, she begins to unravel their husband’s dark secrets. With the lives of everyone she loves on the line, Constanta will have to choose between her own freedom and her love for her husband. But bonds forged by blood can only be broken by death.
One Dark Window by Rachel Gilling
For fans of Uprooted and For the Wolf comes a dark, lushly gothic fantasy about a maiden who must unleash the monster within to save her kingdom. But the monster in her head isn’t the only threat lurking.
Elspeth Spindle needs more than luck to stay safe in the eerie, mist-locked kingdom of Blunder – she needs a monster. She calls him the Nightmare, an ancient, mercurial spirit trapped in her head. He protects her. He keeps her secrets.
But nothing comes for free, especially magic.
When Elspeth meets a mysterious highwayman on the forest road, she is thrust into a world of shadow and deception, joining a dangerous quest to cure Blunder from the dark magic infecting it. Except the highwayman just so happens to be the King’s own nephew, Captain of the most dangerous men in Blunder…and guilty of high treason.
He and Elspeth have until Solstice to gather twelve Providence Cards – the keys to the cure. But as the stakes heighten and their undeniable attraction intensifies, Elspeth is forced to face her darkest secret yet: the Nightmare is slowly, darkly, taking over her mind. And she might not be able to stop him.
Notorious Sorcerer by Davinia Evans
The city is on the edge of destruction and the planes of existence are crumbling, but Siyon Velo is just trying to make ends meet.Welcome to Bezim, where tribes of sword-slinging bravi race through the night, and the rich and idle alchemists make magic out of mixing and measuring the four plans of reality.Siyon Velo just about scrapes a living hopping between the planes of reality to harvest the ingredients the proper alchemists need. But when Siyon accidentally commits an act of impossible magic, he’s catapulted into the limelight. Except the limelight is a bad place to be when the planes themselves start lurching out of alignment, threatening to send the rest of the city into the sea.
Now Siyon, along with the prim and almost-proper Anahid, her defiant sister Zagiri and distractingly handsome Izmirlian Hisarani, might be Bezim’s only hope.
Because if they don’t fix the cascading failures of magic in their plane, the Powers and their armies in the other three will do it for them.
‘Notorious Sorcerer has everything I want in a fantasy novel: a picaresque hero to make my heart sing, a refreshingly new kind of magic, and a waggish sense of humour. If you like a healthy dollop of rollicking fun with your epic fantasy, this is the book for you.’ Megan Bannen, author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
The Stars Undying by Emery Robin
LOYALTY, LEGACY AND BETRAYAL…
Princess Altagracia has lost everything. After a bloody civil war, her twin sister has claimed not just the crown of their planet Szayet but the Pearl of its prophecy, a computer that contains the immortal soul of their god. Stripped of her birthright, Altagracia prepares to flee the planet – just as Matheus Ceilha, Commander of the interstellar Empire of Ceiao, arrives in deadly pursuit. Princess Altagracia sees an opportunity to win back her planet, her god, and her throne . . . if she can win over the Commander and his distrustful right-hand officer, Anita.
But talking her way into Commander Matheus’s good graces, and his bed, is only the beginning. Dealing with the most powerful man in the galaxy is almost as dangerous as war, and Altagracia is quickly torn between Matheus and the wishes of the machine god that whispers in her ear.
For Szayet’s sake, and her own, Altagracia will need to become more than a princess with a silver tongue. She will have to become a queen as history has never seen before – even if it breaks an empire.
