Immersive, Filled with Wonder, and Enchanting
The Tides of Magic summer reader wants tales that are immersive, filled with wonder, and enchanting. Not content to travel to any old place, these readers are seeking an otherworldly destination… or to uncover the strange and unusual that can exist alongside our world. Whether they’re looking for magic in a picturesque seaside town or waiting for summer’s biggest spooky blockbusters, these readers want to be swept away by adventure.
THE GHOSTS OF GWENDOLYN MONTGOMERY by Clarence A. Haynes
“An adrenaline-fueled nightmare of relatable characters navigating both the living and the dead in contemporary city life. Great characters and a story that doesn’t let up! Clarence A. Haynes has written a must-read book for fans looking for a fresh, authentic voice in urban fantasy and horror.” –Tananarive Due, award-winning author of The Reformatory
“A must-read book for fans looking for a fresh, authentic voice in urban fantasy and horror.” –Tananarive Due
To be a client of Gwendolyn Montgomery—New York’s most powerful publicist, at Sublime Creative—is to be infused with a certain oomph, a mysterious glamour. She seems to have created the ideal life with her handsome new boyfriend, the perfect match. But Gwendolyn has a legion of long-buried secrets that could unravel everything.
After a grisly, bizarre incident at the Brooklyn Museum, Gwendolyn begins to realize that something nefarious is happening tied directly to her past, right as Fonsi Harewood comes back into her world. Fonsi is a queer Latinx psychic from the South Bronx who’s caught up in a love triangle with a ghost and his mortal ex. He’s able to communicate with the dead, and he comes with a dire warning for Gwendolyn, that the barrier between humans and spirits is weakening.
Gwendolyn would prefer not to have anything to do with ghostly drama. Yet in order to get to the bottom of the spookiness derailing her life and threatening the world, she must face the demons she’d long left behind. The Ghosts of Gwendolyn Montgomery is a sensuous, funny, mystical adventure that will leave you spellbound as you keep the pages turning.
THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF BEATRIX HOLLAND by Rachael Herron
“Warm, witchy, and wonderful! This book is full of family and full of heart! I loved it!” Sarah Beth Durst, New York Times bestselling author of The Spellshop
Beatrice Barnard doesn’t believe in magic. She definitely doesn’t believe the predictions of the celebrity psychic who claims that she will experience seven miracles and that she will die. And as it turns out, her husband is cheating on her. Bea, now in desperate need of solitude, flees to Skerry Island, off the Pacific Northwest coast. Immediately upon arrival, she finds her life on the line as a rogue woodchopper blade almost kills her. Her survival is almost like a miracle.
And then things get more miraculous when she discovers her twin sister, Cordelia, and her mother, Astrid, who supposedly died when Beatrice was two years old. Astrid and Cordelia reveal that Beatrice (given name Beatrix) is an immensely powerful witch who can commune with the dead. When Cordelia and Beatrice’s twin magic is joined, it shines like a beacon on the malevolent spirits who are locked in an age-old struggle for magical dominance over the Hollands.
Beatrice doesn’t know what to believe, but she begins to fear that the seven predicted miracles may occur and that her death is near. But when her niece, Minna, goes missing, Bea’s own life suddenly seems much less important. Beatrice must join her mother andher sister to save Minna even if she dies in the process.
SELKIE by Nataly Gruender
“Selkie is a tale told with compassion, but with ferocity under the surface. Nataly Gruender pulls us out to sea on an unforgettable journey that leaves us asking what it means to be home, and what it means to be free.” –Kate Heartfield, author of The Valkyrie
Seven years ago, Quinn finally dared to transform from a seal into a human and took her first steps on land. As a selkie, she is both a daughter of land and sea. But when a human stole her pelt, he stole her freedom as well, forcing Quinn to become his wife and bear his children. As legend tells, capturing a selkie will bring you luck, and she became a coveted prize.
Constrained to a life that was no longer her own, Quinn longed for nothing more than to find her pelt and seize her freedom. Then one day, her eldest daughter hands Quinn her pelt and without a second thought, Quinn snatches it and escapes to the sea. But she’s no longer used to swimming and doesn’t know where her herd has gone. And after an almost disastrous encounter with her former husband, leaving her severely injured, Quinn doesn’t have the strength to go searching.
Instead, she finds herself taking shelter on a nearby island with a lighthouse and three lighthouse keepers. Quinn doesn’t trust humans anymore and wants to stay hidden from the keepers. But she can’t survive on her own. Can she learn to trust these humans and shed her hatred of all humankind? Or will she give into her fears and accept the monstrous fate that others have bestowed upon her?
AWAKENED by A.E. Osworth
“Osworth offers a joyously queer urban fantasy about finding power, identity, and family at any age. Perfect for fans of Shaun Hamill’s The Dissonance or Annalee Newitz’s The Future of Another Timeline.” –Library Journal, starred review
A coven of trans witches battles an evil AI in the magical coming-of-middle-age romp about love, loss, drag shows, and late capitalism.
On a morning much like any other, 30-something queer Brooklynite Wilder makes a miraculous discovery: suddenly, as if by magic, they can understand every language in the world. Dazed and disconnected, Wilder is found and taken in by a small coven of trans witches who have all become Awakened with mystical powers of their own. Quibble, a handsome portal traveler, Artemis, the group’s caretaker and seer, and Mary Margaret, a smart-ass teen with telekinetic powers all work to make the cagey and suspicious Wilder feel at home, both within their group and with the knowledge that magic is, in fact, real.
Just as Wilder is finding their footing, a malicious AI threatens to dismantle the delicate balance of the coven and the world as they know it. The group scrambles to stay united as they question whether any consciousness—be it artificial, material, or magical—is too dangerous to exist.
Awakened is a hilarious, thought-provoking reflection on the ways that we are responsible for creating our own realities, a story of finding community, and a meditation on what it means to have a body.
Newsletter Signup
By clicking ‘Sign Up,’ I acknowledge that I have read and agree to Hachette Book Group’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use