New year, new reads, with new releases for books. Join me as I explore the literary wonderland with my January book roundup of Books Released in January, where the pages are fresh, and the stories are as crisp as the winter air! From thrilling debuts that'll make your heart race to cosy mysteries perfect for snuggling up, my choice of this month's book releases are serving up a literary feast. Let's embark on a journey through the January releases that promise to kick off your reading year with a bang!
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Title: The Heiress
Author: Rachel Hawkins
Genre: Â Psychological, mystery, suspense
Publisher: Headline
Date Published: 4th January 2024
Book Length: 305
About Book: When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she's not only North Carolina's richest woman, she's also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family's estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains. But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money - and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.Ten years later, his uncle's death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable. And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumours following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realise that an inheritance can entail far more than what's written in a will - and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.
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Title: The Queen Of Poisons
Author: Â Robert Thorogood
Genre: Â Murder Mystery
Series: The Marlow Murder Club Series
Publisher: HQ
Date Published: 18th January 2024
Book Length: 352
About Book: Who killed the Mayor? It’s up to the Marlow Murder Club to find out . . .
Geoffrey Lushington, Mayor of Marlow, dies suddenly during a Town Council meeting. When traces of aconite – also known as the queen of poisons – are found in his coffee cup, the police realise he was murdered. But who did it? And why?
The police bring Judith, Suzie and Becks in to investigate as Civilian Advisors right from the start, so they have free rein to interview suspects and follow the evidence to their heart’s content, which is perfect because Judith has no time for rules and standard procedure. But this case has the Marlow Murder Club stumped. Who would want to kill the affable Mayor? How did they even get the poison into his coffee? And is anyone else in danger? The Marlow Murder Club are about to face their most difficult case yet . . .
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Title: Emily Wilde’s Map of the Otherlands
Author: Â Heather Fawcett
Genre: Â Fantasy
Series: Emily Wilde Series
Publisher:Â Orbit
Date Published: 18th January 2024
Book Length: 352
About Book: An intrepid professor must uncover faerie secrets in the delightful and heart-warming second instalment of the Sunday Times bestselling Emily Wilde series. Emily Wilde is a genius scholar of faerie folklore, and has catalogued many secrets of the Hidden Folk in her encyclopaedia with her infuriatingly charming fellow scholar, Wendell Bambleby, by her side. But Bambleby is more than just a brilliant and unbearably handsome scholar. He's an exiled faerie king on the run from his murderous mother, in search of a door back to his realm. By lucky happenstance, Emily's new project, a map of the realms of faerie, will take them on an adventure to the picturesque Austrian Alps, where Emily believes they may find the door to Bambleby's realm, and the key to freeing him from his family's dark plans. But with new friendships for the prickly Emily to navigate and dangerous Folk lurking in every forest and hollow, Emily must unravel the mysterious workings of faerie doors, and of her own heart.
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Title: The Mystery Guest
Author: Â Nita Prose
Genre: Â Murder Mystery
Series: Molly The Maid Series
Publisher: Harper Collins
Date Published: 18th January 2024
Book Length: 336
About Book: A new mess. A new mystery. Molly the maid returns . . .
Molly Gray wears her Head Maid badge proudly for every shift at the Regency Grand Hotel, plumping pillows, sweeping up the guests’ secrets, silently restoring rooms to a state of perfection.
But when a renowned guest – a famous mystery writer – drops very dead in the grand tea room, Molly has an unusual clean-up on her hands.
As rumours and suspicion swirl in the hotel corridors, it’s clear there’s grime lurking beneath the gilt. And Molly knows that she alone holds the key to the mystery. But unlocking it means thinking about the past, about Gran, and everything else she’s kept tidied away in her memory for so long.
Because Molly knew the dead guest once upon a time – and he knew her . . .
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Title: The Beholders
Author: Â Hester Musson
Genre: Â Historical Thriller Crime Mystery
Publisher: Fourth Estate
Date Published: 18th January 2024
Book Length: 336
About Book: June, 1878. The body of a boy is pulled from the depths of the River Thames, suspected to be the beloved missing child of the widely admired Liberal MP Ralph Gethin.
Four months earlier. Harriet is a young maid newly employed at Finton Hall. Fleeing the drudgery of an unwanted engagement in the small village where she grew up, Harriet is entranced by the grand country hall; she is entranced too by her glamorous mistress Clara Gethin, whose unearthly singing voice floats through the house. But Clara, though captivating, is erratic. The master of the house is a much-lauded politician, but he is strangely absent. And some of their beautiful belongings seem to tell terrible stories.
Unable to ignore her growing unease, Harriet sets out to discover their secrets. When she uncovers a shocking truth, a chain of events is set in motion that could cost Harriet everything, even her freedom…
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Title: The Breakup Tour
Author:   Emily Wibberley and Austin Siegemund-BrokaÂ
Genre: Â Romance, Literary
Publisher: Pan
Date Published: 25th January 2025
Book Length: 352
About Book: Riley Wynn went from a promising singer-songwriter to a superstar overnight, thanks to her breakup song concept album and its unforgettable lead single. When Riley’s ex-husband claims the hit song is about him, she does something she hasn’t in ten years and calls Max Harcourt, her college boyfriend, and the real inspiration for the song of the summer. Max hasn’t spoken to Riley since their relationship ended. He’s content with managing the retirement home his family owns, but it’s not the life he dreamed of filled with music. When Riley asks him to go public as her song-writing muse, he agrees on one condition: he’ll join her in her band on tour. As they perform across the country, Max and Riley start to realize that while they hit some wrong notes in the past, their future could hold incredible things. And their rekindled relationship will either last forever or go down in flames.
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Title: House of Flame and Shadow
Author: Â Sarah J Maas
Genre: Â Fantasy
Series: Crescent City Series
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Date Published: 30th January 2024
Book Length: 848
About Book: A WORLD IN DARKNESS.A BURNING SPARK.A BLAZE OF STARS. Bryce Quinlan is stranded in a strange new world. She's going to need all her wits about her to get home again and return to everything she loves. But that's no easy feat when she has no idea who to trust. Meanwhile, Hunt Athalar is back in the Asteri's dungeons. Stripped of his freedom and the happiness he'd fought so hard for, he's without a clue as to Bryce's fate. Hunt is desperate to help his mate, but until he can escape the Asteri's chains, his hands are quite literally tied.
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