LibraryAware October 2025

Recent Releases

Adrift in currents clean and clear
by Seanan McGuire

Frustrated by her prosthetic arm, Nadia stumbles into a magical underwater world where she finally feels understood, but must fight to protect her newfound home.

Arcana Academy
by Elise Kova

To escape prison, Clara, a rogue tarot magician, agrees to pose as the fiancée of Arcana Academy's powerful headmaster, but as they plot to steal a legendary card, forbidden magic and unexpected feelings threaten both her freedom and her heart. Maps.

Awakened : a novel
by A. E. Osworth

A coven of trans witches battles an evil AI in the magical coming-of-middle-age romp about love, loss, drag shows, and late capitalism. On a morning much like any other, 30-something queer Brooklynite Wilder makes the miraculous discovery: suddenly, as if by magic, they can understand every language in the world. Dazed and disconnected, Wilder is found and taken in by a small coven of trans witches who have all become Awakened with mystical powers of their own. Quibble, a handsome portal traveler, Artemis, the group's caretaker and seer, and Mary Margaret, a smart-ass teen with telekinetic powers all work to make the cagey and suspicious Wilder feel comfortable, both within their group and with the knowledge that magic is, in fact, real. Just as Wilder is finding their footing, a malicious AI threatens to dismantle the delicate balance of the coven and the world as they know it. Newly assembled and tenuously bound, the group scrambles to stay united as they parse the difference between difficult and dangerous, asking themselves continuously: is any consciousness-be it artificial, material, or magical-too dangerous to exist? Awakened is an exhilarating, hilarious and thought-provoking reflection on the ways that we are responsible for creating our own realities , a story of finding community, and a meditation on what it means to have a body (and if it might be far worse never to have had one at all).

Exiles : a novel
by Mason Coile

When a Mars colony mission arrives to find its setup crew of robots fractured and one missing, the astronauts must unravel conflicting accounts of what happened.

Babylonia
by Costanza Casati

Born to a woman scorned by Aphrodite and raised as an orphan on the outskirts of an empire, Semiramis was never meant to hold power, but that does not mean she was not made for it.

The Library at Hellebore
by Cassandra Khaw

Alessa Li has been forcibly enrolled at Hellebore Technical Institute, an elite academy for the dangerously powerful world-enders within its hallowed walls. On graduation day, Alessa is trapped in the library along with other students being forced to take part in the institute's grisly ritual: being devoured by the monstrous faculty. A harrowing and lore-rich tread into the darkest depth of dark academia fantasy, Khaw's latest is "a visceral symphony of body horror" (Booklist).

Beasts of Carnaval
by Rosália Rodrigo

A Puerto Rico-inspired fantasy follows a woman recently freed from slavery as she searches for her missing brother at the Carnaval of Beasts and learns why nobody who enters Carnaval ever leaves.

Broken souls and bones
by L J. Andrews

Together they'll restore a divided kingdom-or burn it down-in this new romantasy from USA Today bestselling author and TikTok sensation LJ Andrews. Lyra Bien intended to live a quiet life to avoid the attention of the magic-obsessed king in the fortress of Stonegate. Until Roark Ashwood-the prince's silent guard and rumored killer for the crown-invades her village and uncovers the truth behind the silver scars in her eyes. To save her best friend from death, she's forced to reveal her abilities, and is immediately claimed by the crown as the next melder. To be the King's melder is to be revered and feared in equal measures, but above all it is a slow death sentence. Lyra is determined to find a way to free herself and her friends from bondage. But first she must get more information from the silent, brooding sentry who first took her captive: Roark. As Lyra gets closer to Roark, she soon learns he's nothing like she assumed-and in fact everything she needs. The more they work as allies, the harder it becomes to ignore the growing passion between them. After a sinister truth is revealed, Roark and Lyra must choose to stand against all they know, or accept their dark destiny.

Dark hope
by Christine Feehan

Demon slayer Silke Vriese Reinders must join forces with Benedek Kovak, a powerful Carpathian warrior on the brink of darkness, to stop an enemy threatening mankind, in the latest addition to the long-running series following Dark Whisper.

Contact your librarian for more great books!