Where the Library Hides by Isabel Ibañez Series: Secrets of the Nile #2 Genres: Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Historical Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Romantasy, Historical Fiction, Young Adult Published by Hodderscape on November 4, 2024 Format: Hardcover, Special Edition Pages: 388 Source: Goldsboro Books Where the Library Hides is Isabel Ibañez’s stunning conclusion to the story that started in What the River Knows. A lush immersive historical fantasy set in Egypt filled with adventure, and a rivals-to-lovers romance like no other! Inez Olivera traveled across the world to Egypt, seeking answers into her parents’ recent and mysterious deaths. But all her searching led her down a perilous road, filled with heartache, betrayal, and a dangerous magic that pulled her deep into the past. When Tío Ricardo issues an ultimatum about her inheritance, she’s left with only one option to consider. Marriage to Whitford Hayes. Former British soldier, her uncle’s aide de camp, and one time nemesis, Whit has his own mysterious reasons for staying in Egypt. With her heart on the line, Inez might have to bind her fate to the one person whose secret plans could ruin her. The answer arc and part two of Ibañez’s Secrets of the Nile duology, …
Historical Fiction
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What the River Knows by Isabel Ibañez Series: Secrets of the Nile #1 Genres: Adventure, Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, Historical Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Historical Fiction Published by Hodderscape on October 31, 2023 Format: Hardcover, Special Edition Pages: 416 Source: Goldsboro Books Bolivian-Argentinian Inez Olivera belongs to the glittering upper society of nineteenth century Buenos Aires, and like the rest of the world, the town is steeped in old world magic that’s been largely left behind or forgotten. Inez has everything a girl might want, except for the one thing she yearns the most: her globetrotting parents-who frequently leave her behind. When she receives word of their tragic deaths, Inez inherits their massive fortune and a mysterious guardian, an archeologist in partnership with his Egyptian brother-in-law. Yearning for answers, Inez sails to Cairo, bringing her sketch pads and a golden ring her father sent to her for safekeeping before he died. But upon her arrival, the old world magic tethered to the ring pulls her down a path where she soon discovers there’s more to her parent’s disappearance than what her guardian led her to believe. With her guardian’s infuriatingly handsome assistant thwarting her at every turn, Inez must rely on ancient …
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Book ReviewsHistorical FictionHorrorJapanese LiteratureMysteryThriller
Kylie Lee Baker: Japanese Gothic Review
by JefferzJapanese Gothic by Kylie Lee Baker Genres: Adult, AAPI, Japanese Literature, Folklore, Gothic, Historical Fiction, Horror, Psychological Horror, Mystery Thriller, Thriller Published by Hanover Square Press on April 13, 2026 Format: Hardcover Pages: 352 Source: Aardvark Book Club In this lyrical, wildly inventive horror novel interwoven with Japanese mythology, two people living centuries apart discover a door between their worlds.  October, 2026: Lee Turner doesn’t remember how or why he killed his college roommate. The details are blurred and bloody. All he knows is he has to flee New York and go to the one place that might offer refuge—his father’s new home in Japan, a house hidden by sword ferns and wild ginger. But something is terribly wrong with the house: no animals will come near it, the bedroom window isn’t always a window, and a woman with a sword appears in the yard when night falls.  October, 1877: Sen is a young samurai in exile, hiding from the imperial soldiers in a house behind the sword ferns. A monster came home from war wearing her father’s face, but Sen would do anything to please him, even turn her sword on her own mother. She knows the soldiers will …
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Book ReviewsFantasyHistorical FictionHorrorLGBTQ+
Cameron Sullivan: The Red Winter Review
by JefferzThe Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Low Fantasy, Magic, Mythic Fantasy, Paranormal, Folklore, Historical Fiction, LGBTQ+, Historical Fantasy Published by Tor on February 23, 2026 Format: Hardcover Pages: 535 Source: Aardvark Book Club A tragic love story, a bewitching twist on history, and a blood-drenched hunt for purpose, power, and redemption—The Red Winter by debut author Cameron Sullivan is the story of the first werewolf. In 1785, Professor Sebastian Grave receives the news he fears most: the terrible Beast of Gevaudan has returned, and the French countryside runs red in its wake. Sebastian knows the Beast. A monster-slayer with centuries of experience, he joined the hunt for the creature twenty years ago and watched it slaughter its way through a long and bloody winter. Even with the help of his indwelling demon, Sarmodel – who takes payment in living hearts – it nearly cost him his life to bring the monster down. Now, two decades later, Sebastian has been recalled to the hunt by Antoine Avenel d’Ocerne, an estranged lover who shares a dark history with the Beast and a terrible secret with Sebastian. Drawn by both the chance to finish the Beast for good and the …
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The Hounding by Xenobe Purvis Genres: Adult, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction Published by Henry Holt and Company on August 4, 2025 Format: eBook Pages: 240 The Crucible meets The Virgin Suicides in this haunting debut about five sisters in a small village in eighteenth century England whose neighbors are convinced they’re turning into dogs. Even before the rumors about the Mansfield girls begin, Little Nettlebed is a village steeped in the uncanny, from strange creatures that wash up on the riverbed to portentous ravens gathering on the roofs of people about to die. But when the villagers start to hear barking, and one claims to see the Mansfield sisters transform before his very eyes, the allegations spark fascination and fear like nothing has before. The truth is that though the inhabitants of Little Nettlebed have never much liked the Mansfield girls—a little odd, think some; a little high on themselves, perhaps—they’ve always had plenty to say about them. As the rotating perspectives of five villagers quickly make clear, now is no exception. Even if local belief in witchcraft is waning, an aversion to difference is as widespread as ever, and these conflicting narratives all point to the same ultimate …
