Hello my bookish friends. It’s Friday, and so nearly the weekend. Today and until the rest of the year, I thought I might do a series of posts rounding up what an incredible year publishers have had with their books and creating a Christmas Gift Guide. Each of these posts will have carefully selected books so there if something for everyone. There is something for everyone!
Today I’m partnering up with Titan Books. I have only joined their mailing list this year and I’ve been so unbelievable grateful for the books they have sent me this year, they have been incredible. This post has it all, mystery, thriller, horror, retellings, and fantasy. You’ll find something for everyone.
So onto the books. Let me know at the end, if you’ve read them and what you would love to read!
I will start off with a seasonal book which I think a lot of you might have seen it around. It’s Christmas at 221B Baker Street.
Sherlock Holmes: The Christmas Demon by James Lovegrove | Mystery with a Fantasy twist –
It is 1890, and in the days before Christmas Sherlock Holmes and Dr John Watson are visited at Baker Street by a new client. Eve Allerthorpe – eldest daughter of a grand but somewhat eccentric Yorkshire-based dynasty – is greatly distressed, as she believes she is being haunted by a demonic Christmas spirit. Her late mother told her terrifying tales of the sinister Black Thurrick, and Eve is sure that she has seen the creature from her bedroom window. What is more, she has begun to receive mysterious parcels of birch twigs, the Black Thurrick’s calling card…
Eve stands to inherit a fortune if she is sound in mind, but it seems that something – or someone – is threatening her sanity. Holmes and Watson travel to the Allerthorpe family seat at Fellscar Keep to investigate, but soon discover that there is more to the case than at first appeared. There is another spirit haunting the family, and when a member of the household is found dead, the companions realise that no one is beyond suspicion.
Strange Ink & Dark Ink by Gary Kemble (The Harry Hendrick books)| Horror with a Mystery twist
When washed-up journalist Harry Hendrick wakes one morning with a hangover and a strange symbol tattooed on his neck, he shrugs it off as a bad night out. But soon more tattoos appear: grisly, violent images which come accompanied by horrific nightmares – so he begins to dig deeper. Harry’s search leads him to a sinister disappearance, torment from beyond the grave, and a web of corruption and violence tangled with his own past. One way or another, he has to right the wrongs.
Hex Life by various authors including Kelly Armstrong, Rachel Caine and Sherrilyn Kenyan | Fantasy and Magic – Bringing together the fantasy genre’s finest writers to create a collection of wicked tales.
Hex Life: Wicked New Tales of Witchery will take the classic tropes of tales of witchcraft and infuse them with fresh, feminist perspective and present-day concerns–even if they’re set in the past. These witches might be monstrous, or they might be heroes, depending on their own definitions. Even the kind hostess with the candy cottage thought of herself as the hero of her own story. After all, a woman’s gotta eat.
Wonderland by various authors – | Retelling with lots of twists
Within these pages you’ll find myriad approaches to Alice, from horror to historical. There’s even a Wild West tale from Angela Slatter, poetry, and a story by Laura Mauro which presents us with a Japanese folklore-inspired Wonderland.
