Tuesday, 30th December
A Steep and Savage Path by JJA Hardwood
Irina is about to be married to a dead man. She is the willing village sacrifice for the Wedding of the Dead: a desperate ritual designed to lay the hungry vampire that has been terrorising her Transylvanian village to rest. Irina’s beloved sister’s soul is trapped in the land of the dead. If Irina can retrieve it, she could bring her back – but Irina would need a guide, one who can walk between the living and the dead.
Irina strikes up a deal with her new husband – if he agrees to get her safely there and back again, then he can drink her blood as much as he wants. They begin a perilous journey through the afterlife together, in which Irina realises Stefan isn’t the cruel and terrifying monster that she thought. In a land of three-headed beasts, winged creatures and walking corpses, the last thing Irina would have expected was to fall in love. Only, Irina learns that by bringing Stefan to the land of the dead she has put him in grave danger, and will be faced with an impossible choice. Will they be able to make it out, undead or alive?
Thursday, 1st January
The Miraculous Sweetmakers: The Storm Prince by Natasha Hastings
When best friends Thomasina and Anne hear the same mysterious voice calling to them in the dead of night, they know that Guaire magic must be the source. Obsessed by the legend passed down through generations of the Guaire family, Thomasina’s Aunt Morven believes it is her destiny to become the Storm Prince. But to complete her transformation, she must seize control of wild magic and gain power over all magical beings.
But it’s not just the balance of the magical world that is at stake. Wild magic is unpredictable, and its strong enchantments take hold of Thomasina, threatening to destroy the very friendship that binds the girls together.
