Going Dark
By: Melissa de la Cruz
Release Date | February 7
Genre | Thriller
The disappearance of Amelia Ashley has captured the world's attention, the #whereisameliaashely trending on all social medias. As an influencer, Amelia shares her life - everything - with her followers including the European vacation she took with her boyfriend. The vacation where her boyfriend had no choice but to return alone from with no clue how her blood ended up in his suitcase and more importantly, why nobody will believe him.
The hacker, Harper Delgado, views Amelia's disappearance as just another white girl causing media frenzy but with each digital knot she undoes, she has to wonder who is Amelia Ashley. Two years ago, another girl went missing, a disappearance that never trended online. The world is watching for what comes next.
Disclaimer (yippie!): Aster's Book Hour is an Amazon Associate. It earns a small commission from qualifying purchases attached to the Amazon affiliate links in this post.
The Last Tale of the Flower Bride
By: Roshani Chokshi
Release Date | February 14
Genre | Fantasy
Once upon a time, a man and woman married. He was a scholar of myths. She was a mystery named Indigo Maxwell-Casteñada and heiress of a fortune. Their love blossomed through gifts and stories, they both believed they would live happily ever after. There was one promise to be made to ensure that happened, the man could never look into her past.
Soon the couple are forced to return to her childhood home, the House of Dreams, to care for her ailing aunt, and the groom will not be able to resist looking. Within the interior of the crumbling mansion is the shadow of a girl, Azure, Indigo's childhood friend who suddenly disappeared. The longer they stay, the more his wife's past and secrets are revealed and the husband will be forced to make a choice between reality or fantasy. A choice that could destroy their marriage and potentially their lives.
Stone Cold Fox
By: Rachel Koller Croft
Release Date | February 14
Genre | Thriller
Taught, more like forced to learn, the art of swindling men, Bea wants nothing more than to escape her mother and close the door firmly on her past. Bea knows what she is worth and to close that door, she deserves old-money domesticity which comes in the form of dull blue-blooded Collin. The challenge isn't getting Collin to propose but to obtain the approval of his family and all those who share the same tax bracket, particularly Gale, Collin's childhood best friend.
Facing off with Gale isn't a threat for someone as well-trained as Bea but what begins as a lighthearted game of cat-and-mouse soon transforms into a terrifying chase. As her past threatens to be exposed, Bea finds herself rushing to pass the finish line before time runs out.
The Little Wartime Library
By: Kate Thompson
Release Date | February 21
Genre | Historical Fiction
Based on a true story, The Little Wartime Library, focuses on an underground library and determination. Librarian Clare Button has risked everything to transform the Bethnal Green tube station into London's only underground library, home to a thriving secret community where thousands are welcome to stay. The station offers bunk beds, a nursery, a café, and escape from the aboveground dangers of London in 1944.
Working beside her best friend, Ruby Munroe, they make their library the heart of the underground. But as the war drags on, their determination to remain strong is tested and when it comes at the price of keeping those closest to them alive, it will be tested to the limits.
Find the review | HERE | for The Little Wartime Library
Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide
By: Rupert Holmes
Release Date | February 21
Genre | Mystery
The Woman with the Cure
By: Lynn Cullen
Release Date | February 21
Genre | Historical Fiction
The polio epidemic swept through the American nation during the 1940s and '50s - no one was safe from the disease, especially children. Outbreaks, death, and paralysis are common and each new wave of the disease would cause another city to lockdown. The widespread and devastating nature of polio has brought the world's best minds together to find a vaccine. The man who succeeds will be revered by the world.
Dorothy Hortsmann couldn't care less about the glory, she just wants a cure. Using the hard-earned skills gained from her humble background as a daughter of immigrants and a female doctor, she focuses on where the monster lurks, in the blood. Her discovery and an error by a competitor catapults her closest colleague to win the race and Dorothy must make a choice - sink or validate his vaccine. She must decide what is forgivable and what can be sacrificed for the cure.
Where Darkness Blooms
By: Andrea Hannah
Release Date | February 21
Genre | Horror
The strange town of Bishop is known for two things: recurring windstorms and sunflower fields that stretch further than the eye can see. And women - missing women. It is why when three more women disappear the same night, no one in town is surprised. Their shattered daughters are left to mourn until the wind reveals a terrible secret at their mothers' long past due memorial.
A reveal that forces four women to confront the lies they tell themselves. Delilah has cared for the other girls since the disappearances but is now ready to move in with her boyfriend except, she no longer can bear his touch. Whitney has lost both her girlfriend and mother and the only thing providing her comfort is a weathervane that seems to whisper to her. Whitney's twin sister, Jude, wants to forget it all but the wind kicked up her shameful secret too - the summer fling she had with Delilah's boyfriend. And all Bo wants is answers. She knows something happened to their mothers and she is certain the townsfolk know the truth. The daughters have always known they lived in a strange place but they never could have guessed that Bishop was founded on blood, and it now wanted theirs.
Delicious Monsters
By: Liselle Sambury
Release Date | February 28
Genre | Horror
Daisy sees the dead, and she can't ignore the unwanted ability in her ghost-packed hometown of Toronto and she definitely can't ignore the devastation and shock she feels having just been dumped by her boyfriend. When her mother inherits the secluded mansion she spent her summers at in Ontario, Daisy eagerly accepts the chance to escape. Upon arrival, Daisy realises nothing is what it seems and that her gift may be no match against her mother's secrets or what lurks within the mansion walls.
Ten years later and Brittney is desperate to be free from her abusive mother, a bestselling author who claims her stay at "Miracle Mansion," showed her the error of her ways. Brittney knows the claim is nothing but lies and she's determined to use the new season of her popular Haunted web series to disprove her mother's claims and uncover what happened to a young Black girl in the same mansion a decade ago. The longer she investigates, the more she realises she may only be able to bring one story to light and if so, which one matters most - her own or Daisy's?
The Island
By: Natasha Preston
Release Date | February 28
Genre | Thriller
Jagged Island houses a private amusement park for the wealthy, or very influential. Social media influencers: Liam, James, Will, Ava, Harper, and Paisley, have been invited to attend an exclusive weekend at the adjacent resort to promote the park and its facilities.
When they arrive, they are stunned. The hotel rooms are unbelievable, the themed rides unforgettable, and the island's beauty breathtaking. Their itinerary for the weekend is filled with park activities, but how long will it take them to discover the one event missing from the list - leaving the island alive.
Kill Joy
By: Holly Jackson
Release Date | February 28
Genre | Mystery
Put the kettle down and pay attention, there is a prequel to the A Good Girl's Guide to Murder trilogy and I don't know whether I'm excited or scared. I typically gravitate away from prequels, they are not my thing but I can't help be enticed by this one as I adore Pip and I wouldn't mind returning to her world and inquisitive mind. I think this is a must-read for me and anyone who enjoyed this mysterious trilogy.
A mystery murder party where the murder is truly just fictional but, it doesn't mean Pip won't take the 1920s inspired mystery party seriously, especially once she becomes swept away with the case. But as she plays detective, this case is not the only one on her mind...
From this list, what are you most eager to read this February?
I am personally most excited for Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide as it sounds like a deliciously enticing college mystery read, The Last Tale of the Flower Bride because I love "happy endings", and The Little Wartime Library. Hats of to another wonderful month of reading and I hope you join me on that journey!