Daphne Press – serie

Festering masses of worms and flies have taken root in dark corners across Appalachia. In exchange for unwavering loyalty and fresh corpses, these hives offer a few struggling humans salvation. A fresh start. It’s an offer that none refuse.Crane is grateful. Among his hive’s followers, Crane has found a chance to transition, to never speak again, to live a life that won’t destroy him. He even met Levi: a handsome ex-Marine and brutal killer who treats him like a real man, mostly. But when Levi gets Crane pregnant—and the hive demands the child’s birth, no matter the cost—Crane’s desperation to make it stop will drive the community that saved him into a devastating spiral that can only end in blood.You Weren’t Meant to Be Human is a deeply personal horror; a visceral statement about the lives of marginalized people in a hostile world, echoing the works of Stephen Graham Jones and Eric LaRocca.

At age three, Anastasia Miller walked into the forest and disappeared. Three days and six hours later, something that looked just like her walked back out. Returning home, Stasia insisted that she was an alien disguised as a human being and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since that day, she has told anyone who would listen. No one has believed her.Until now. With an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.What happens when you know what's coming, and just refuse to listen?

Day of the Triffids meets Little Shop of Horrors in this smart, charming, harrowing alien invasion story about being human, by a Hugo-award winning author.Since she was three years old, Anastasia Miller has been telling anyone who would listen that she's an alien disguised as a human being, and that the armada that left her on Earth is coming for her. Since she was three years old, no one has believed her.Now, with an alien signal from the stars being broadcast around the world, humanity is finally starting to realize that it's already been warned, and it may be too late. The invasion is coming, Stasia's biological family is on the way to bring her home, and very few family reunions are willing to cross the gulf of space for just one misplaced child.What happens when you know what's coming, and just refuse to listen?

Enter a lush world inspired by the history and mythology of South America, where twisted family politics deceive, dark magics thrive, and fantastical creatures roam.Reina is desperate.Stuck on the edges of society, Reina’s only hope lies in an invitation from a grandmother she’s never met. But the journey to her is dangerous, and prayer can’t always avert disaster.Attacked by creatures that stalk the mountains, Reina is on the verge of death until her grandmother, a dark sorceress, intervenes. Now dependent on the Doña’s magic for her life, Reina will do anything to earn—and keep—her favor. Even the bidding of an ancient god who whispers to her at night. Eva Kesaré is unwanted.Illegitimate and of mixed heritage, Eva is her family’s shame. She tries to be the perfect daughter, but Eva is hiding a secret: magic calls to her.Eva knows she should fight the temptation. Magic is the sign of the dark god, and using it is punishable by death. Yet it’s hard to ignore power when it has always been denied you. Eva is walking a dangerous path, one that gets stranger every day. And in the end, she’ll become something she never imagined.

Discover this paranormal 90s-set mystery in a spooky small town hiding dark secrets which stretch back centuries – a perfect Halloween read for Stranger Things fans.Freddie Gellar didn't mean to get half the rival high school arrested. She’d simply heard shrieks coming from the woods, so she’d called the cops like any good human would do. How was she supposed to know it was just kids partying?Except the next day, a body is found. And while the local sheriff might call it suicide, Freddie's instincts tell her otherwise. So, like the aspiring sleuth (and true X-Files aficionado) she is, Freddie sets out to prove there's a murderer at large.But her investigation is quickly disrupted by the rivalry between her school and the school of the partying teens she got arrested. For over twenty years now, the two student bodies have had an ongoing prank war, and Freddie's failed attempt at Good Samaritanism has upped the ante. Big time. Worse, the clever―and gorgeous―leader of the rival prank squad has set his sights on Freddie.As more pranks unfurl, more bodies also start piling up in the forest. But it's the supernatural warning signs around town―each plucked straight from an old forgotten poem called "The Executioners Three"―that worry Freddie the most. She knows the poem and its blood curse can’t be real, but she's quickly running out of time to prove it.Because the murderer―or executioners?―knows she's onto them now, and their next target might just be Freddie.

INSTANT SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLERA sharp-tongued folklorist and her academic rival must solve their mentor's murder in this lush sapphic fantasy romance from the New York Times bestselling author of A Far Wilder Magic.Lorelei Kaskel, a folklorist with a quick temper and an even quicker wit, is on an expedition with six eccentric nobles in search of a mythical spring of untold power. The king wants to harness the fabled water source from which magic flows to secure his reign, and Lorelei is determined to prove herself. It’s a small cost to make her dream come true: to become a naturalist, able to travel freely to faraway lands.The expedition gets off to a harrowing start when its leader―Lorelei’s beloved mentor―is murdered in her quarters aboard their ship. The suspects are her five remaining expedition mates. The only person Lorelei knows must be innocent is her longtime academic rival, the insufferably gallant and maddeningly beautiful Sylvia von Wolff. Now in charge of the expedition, Lorelei must find the spring before the murderer strikes again―and a coup begins in earnest. But other dangers lurk in the dark: forests that rearrange themselves at night, rivers with slumbering dragons hiding beneath the water, and shapeshifting beasts out for blood. As Lorelei and Sylvia grudgingly work together to uncover the truth―and resist their growing feelings for each other―they discover that their leader had secrets of her own. Secrets that make Lorelei questionwhether justice is worth pursuing, and if this kingdom is worth saving at all.

Brace yourself for an exhilarating epic fantasy trilogy with a diverse cast, polyamory, and chaotic sentient magic, for fans of V.E. Schwab and Antonia Hodgson.In the twisted city of Amaris, magic spawns from chaos. Prone to driving humans mad, it can only be wielded safely by the Wraiths-seven immortal beings magically bound to obey the king.Esme is the most notorious Wraith. She has spent the last century forced to kill on behalf of the nation that stole her from her homeworld while building a secret life for herself and her wife away from violence.That is, until the current king turns up murdered, and a magical will demands his successor be chosen through three trials. Esme cannot break the magical shackles that bind her, but she will suffer no more tyrants. She rigs the king's succession trials in favour of her chosen candidate: the righteous General Balthazar, who she can't help but fall for.As Esme weaves together the threads of the court on Balthazar's behalf amid a strange tide of sentient magic in the city and a growing war on the horizon, she will come face to face with Balthazar's bloody past, troubled present, and countless betrayals.He isn't the man Esme thought he was-but she was born to make and break kings.