FICTION

Wicked [Movie Tie-In #2]: The Life And Times Of The Wicked Witch Of The West <strong>The #1 <em>New York Times</em> bestseller and basis for the smash hit musical and two major motion pictures. Look for part one of WICKED the movie, now streaming, and the stunning conclusion WICKED: FOR GOOD, coming November 21, 2025.</strong>With millions of copies in print around the world, Gregory Maguire’s <em>Wicked</em> is established not only as a commentary on our time but as a novel to revisit for years to come. <em>Wicked</em> relishes the inspired inventions of L. Frank Baum’s 1900 novel, <em>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</em>, while playing sleight of hand with our collective memories of the 1939 MGM film. In this fast-paced, fantastically real, and supremely entertaining novel, Maguire has populated the largely unknown world of Oz with the power of his own imagination. Years before Dorothy and her dog crash-land, another little girl makes her presence known in Oz. This girl, Elphaba, is born with emerald-green skin—no easy burden in a land as mean and poor as Oz, where superstition and magic are not strong enough to explain or overcome the natural disasters of flood and famine. Still, Elphaba is smart, and by the time she enters Shiz University, she becomes a member of a charmed circle of Oz’s most promising young citizens.But Elphaba’s Oz is no utopia. The Wizard’s secret police are everywhere. Animals—those creatures with voices, souls, and minds—are threatened with exile. Young Elphaba, green and wild and misunderstood, is determined to protect the Animals—even if it means combating the mysterious Wizard, even if it means risking her single chance at romance. Ever wiser in guilt and sorrow, she can find herself grateful when the world declares her a witch. And she can even make herself glad for that young girl from Kansas. Recognized as an iconoclastic tour de force on its initial publication, the novel has inspired the blockbuster musical of the same name—one of the longest-running plays in Broadway history. Popular, indeed. But while the novel’s distant cousins hail from the traditions of magical realism, mythopoeic fantasy, and sprawling nineteenth-century sagas of moral urgency, Maguire’s Wicked is as unique as its green-skinned witch. <strong>"Maguire did something truly remarkable with this novel, in managing to inhabit, enlarge, deepen and find new dimensions in a world that had been invented by another writer, and in doing so make something entirely new. It’s an astonishing achievement." –Phillip Pullman</strong><strong>"Gregory gets the complications and uniqueness of women very well."-- Kristen Chenoweth</strong><strong>"It's a staggering feat of wordcraft, made no less so by the fact that its boundaries were set decades ago by somebody else. Maguire's larger triumph here is twofold: First, in Elphaba, he has created (re-created renovated) one of the great heroines in fantasy literature: a fiery, passionate, unforgettable and ultimately tragic figure. Second, Wicked is the best fantasy novel of ideas I've read since Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast or Frank Herbert's Dune. Would that all books with this much innate consumer appeal were also this good. And vice versa." –Los Angeles Times</strong>

To Bleed A Crystal BloomA darkly romantic Rapunzel reimagining from the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of WHEN THE MOON HATCHED."What a pretty flower to keep locked in a big, rocky tower."Nineteen years ago, I was plucked from the heart of a bloody massacre that spared nobody else. Small. Fragile. An enigma.Now ward to a powerful High Master who knows too much and says too little, I lead a simple life, never straying from the confines of an imaginary line I've drawn around the castle grounds. Stay within. Never leave.Out there, the monsters lurk. Inside, I'm safe … though at a cost far greater than the blood I drip into a goblet daily.Toxic, unreciprocated love for a man who's utterly unavailable. My savior. My protector. My almost executioner. I can't help but be enamored with the arcane man who holds the power to pull my roots from the ground.When voracious beasts spill across the land and threaten to fray the fabric of my tailored existence, the petals of reality will peel back to reveal an ugly truth. But in a castle puddled with secrets, none are greater than the one I've kept from myself.No tower is tall enough to protect me from the horror that tore my life to shreds.Book one in the Crystal Bloom series. Perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Rebecca Yarros and Jennifer L. Armentrout.

The Secret Romantic's Book Of Magic Enemies become lovers, rivalry turns to romance, and convenient marriages create true love in these 12 addictive Romantasy tales. Featuring Olivie Blake, Kelley Armstrong, Katherine Arden, Hannah Nicole Maehrer, Tasha Suri, Melissa Marr and more. Fall in love with these twelve gorgeous Romantasy stories from bestselling and beloved authors.Lost lovers return for a second chance – but what are their motives? Academic rivals compete for a prestigious position, but their sizzling chemistry might get in the way. A monster slayer posing as an unwitting sacrifice meets an intriguingly moral prince.From relationships caught in disparate timelines to ghostly ballrooms and dragons that need rescuing from princesses, this anthology gives you an inventive new spin on all your favorite tropes, and much more that you’ve never seen before.FEATURING BRAND-NEW STORIES FROM:Olivie BlakeA. G. SlatterTasha SuriKatherine ArdenKelley ArmstrongHannah N. MaehrerMelissa MarrMegan BannenKelly AndrewKamilah ColeA. C. WiseEliza Chan

Maple Hills Box SetPick up the entire Maple Hills Series in one gorgeous collectible slipcase, including all three of Hannah Grace’s beloved bestsellers: Icebreaker, Wildfire and Daydream.Treat yourself and your bookshelf to this stunning boxed set, containing all three Maple Hills paperbacks. You’ll devour Nate and Stassie’s love story in Icebreaker, the global phenomenon that first captured reader’s hearts; Russ and Aurora’s whirlwind summer will leave you breathless; and finally Henry and Halle’s tale will be the slow-burn romance you didn’t know you needed.Please note: The Maple Hills Series contains 18+ content and is not suitable for younger readers.

Killer On The Road A pulse-pounding and blood-soaked tale of survival on the highway as a hitchhiking teenager is thrust into a deadly game of cat and mouse with a brutal serial killer. Perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix, Rachel Harrison, and Keith Rosson.Sixteen-year-old Harper has decided to run away from home after she has another blow-out argument with her mother. Her two best friends, little sister, and ex-boyfriend stage an intervention disguised as a road trip to stop her from hitchhiking her way up Route 80 in Wyoming. What they don’t realize is that Harper has been marked by a unique serial killer who’s been trolling the highway for the past three years.Now the killer is after all of them, and they are thrust into an explosive, pulse-pounding and terrifying race for survival down the interstate. As the body-count rises, Harper will break all the limits to bring the killer down.

Heir Of Illusion Don't miss out on the dark and captivating world of Heir of Illusion. Buy your copy now and prepare to be spellbound!

I Who Have Never Known Men The Handmaid's Tale meets The Road in this haunting, heartbreaking tale of female resilience in a post-apocalyptic world. SISTERHOOD. SECRETS. SURVIVAL. Discover the haunting, heart-breaking post-apocalyptic TikTok sensation, now available in a beautiful hardback gift edition. Deep underground, thirty-nine women are kept in isolation in a cage. Above ground, a world awaits. Has it been abandoned? Devastated by a virus? Watched over by guards, the women have no memory of how they got there, no notion of time, and only vague recollection of their lives before. But, as the burn of electric light merges day into night and numberless years pass, a young girl - the fortieth prisoner - sits alone an outcast in the corner. Soon she will show herself to be the key to the others' escape and survival in the strange world that awaits them above ground. The woman who will never know men. WITH A NEW INTRODUCTION BY SOPHIE MACKINTOSH, BOOKER PRIZE-LONGLISTED AUTHOR OF THE WATER CURE Discover the reader obsession of 2025**Orlanda, the next sensation from Jacquline Harpman, is available now**

As Many Souls As Stars: The Most Anticipated Gothic Historical Sapphic Fantasy Of 2025 1592. Cybil Harding, daughter of a secret alchemist, was born under cursed stars. Destined to bring disaster to those around her, Cybil is trapped in a grand house with a mother paralysed by grief and a father willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of magic.Miriam Richter is a creature born of shadow. Forged by the dark arts, she is doomed to exist for eternity and destined to be alone consuming the souls of mortals for sustenance.Everything changes when Miriam meets Cybil, whose soul shines with a light so bright, she must claim it for herself. Miriam offers a bargain- she will grant Cybil reincarnation and the chance to change her stars in exchange for her soul.Thus begins a dance across centuries as Miriam seeks Cybil in every lifetime to claim her prize. But Cybil isn't inclined to play by the rules. As the two women circle each other, drawn together inescapably as light and dark, the bond forged between them grows stronger. In their battle for dominance, only one of them can win - but perhaps they can't survive without each other.Natasha Siegel's fantasy debut is full of transporting historical detail, with thrilling twists and an abiding, thought-provoking romance that feels at once epic and deeply personal. Ambitious, gothic, and magical, As Many Souls as Stars is about the lengths we go to protect ourselves, our legacy, and those we love.

A Dark Forgetting The #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Crimson Moth (published as Heartless Hunter in North America) weaves an epic love story of a magical girl, the boy she left behind, and a deadly curse.'Lush, dark, and romantic. I could have remained lost in the woods forever' Isabel Ibañez, #1 New York Times bestselling author of What the River Knows'A tale comprised of deep emotion, sizzling romance, and a gripping mystery’ Tricia Levenseller, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Shadows Between UsSing us a song of the forest, of the Wood King who rules there, and the tithe he demands…No matter how far Emeline Lark runs, the song of the forest reaches her, luring her away from her dreams of the stage and back to her small town and its superstitions.But every superstition is rooted in truth, and when her grandfather goes missing Emeline will be forced to return to Edgewood and the forest beyond.There, even Hawthorne Fell, a brooding tithe collector, cannot dissuade her from her path – a path that will lead her into the court of the fabled Wood King himself – and into a bargain with the deadliest price.'Darkly gorgeous and moving… full of curses and fae magic that will capture your heart and wrap it in thorns before setting you free again, forever changed' Evelyn Skye, New York Times bestselling author of The Crown's GameOriginally published in North America as Edgewood.

Bonds Of HerculesIn this hotly anticipated follow-up to Jasmine Mas's BLOOD OF HERCULES, the stakes are higher and the villains darker than ever…Every hero has their monsters.And Alexis is bound to hers: tied eternally, irrevocably to the Underworld's dark heirs in a marriage that has shaken the foundations of Olympus – and everything Alexis once believed. Reeling, she enlists in the Assembly of Death with her mentors, set on wrecking vengeance on her husbands and uncovering the truth behind her deadly powers.She will soon teach them all that a god can't be manacled. And a monster can't be caged…