Fresh New Books February 10, 2026 | Kiss Your $ Goodbye!
New Books Because You Deserve Them!
This is where I spotlight the sparkling new weekly releases that are tempting me so you can succumb to temptation too. The focus will be on dark fiction and romance with the occasional thriller tossed in that catches my eye.
Every week there seems to be more and more book releases and this week is ridiculous with horror releases. Here are many of those I found while snooping around the internet.
HORROR, HORROR-adjacent & THRILLERS
The Better Mother by Jennifer Van Der Kleut
A woman ends up pregnant after a casual fling, but the father's girlfriend has much more sinister intentions in this plot-driven suspense debut.
A modern spin on Fatal Attraction meets The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, perfect for fans of The Last Mrs. Parrish.
Still recovering from a devastating breakup, 34-year-old Savannah Mitchell has finally managed to put her life back together when she gets the shock of her life—after a brief fling with a man named Max, she is pregnant.
When she gets in touch to tell him, he reveals that he’s just gotten back together with his ex, Madison, and he will need time to break it to her. Surprisingly, Madison isn’t upset—in fact, she’s excited, and wants to help.
Max insists Madison has the best of intentions, but Savannah finds her efforts—popping by uninvited, demanding lifestyle changes, and pretty much trying to take over the pregnancy—anything but helpful. When Savannah finally stands up for herself, Madison’s treatment of her goes from casually cruel to downright dangerous.
All Savannah wanted to do was form a friendly co-parenting relationship with the father of her child—but his new girlfriend obviously has much more sinister plans in mind.
She has no plans to co-parent at all.
This sounds promising.
Learn more at Goodreads.
The Body by Bethany C. Morrow
The Body is a pulse-pounding supernatural horror story from bestselling author Bethany C. Morrow, where one woman must survive a series of bizarre and escalating attacks on her marriage.
Mavis broke from her parents’ congregation years ago, but she still hasn’t recovered. Their impossible expectations and soul-shredding critiques have dug deep into her mind, and she’s taunted by the knowledge that even when she’s done nothing wrong, she’ll never be right.
Now Mavis is afraid she’s about to lose the only thing she has: her husband, Jerrod. The man she’s always known was too good to be true. No one thinks she deserves him—not even after surviving the serial cheater they wanted her to stick by—and soon they’ll all find out they were right.
Mavis is already unraveling when a brush with death shows her what real fear looks like. Soon, she’s under constant attack from all directions. As the assaults turn increasingly vicious and bizarre, Mavis realizes that Hell isn’t reserved for the afterlife.
And sinner or not, no one is coming to save her.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Bed Rot Baby by Wendy Dalrymple
Her life is falling apart… like, literally.
Being a sugar baby isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. After a failed art career and a failed relationship, Baby has lost her way. She’s adrift in the post-Y2K, pre-Facebook world and stuck in her Florida hometown, selling stolen goods online and working as a sugar baby. Even though she’s hustling hard, there’s still never enough money to pay the bills, and her long-suffering roommate is ready to put her out on the streets. One night after a bad date with her sugar daddy, Baby is assaulted by a mysterious woman in a parking lot. The attack leaves her disoriented and exhausted, so Baby takes to her bed to lie there and rot, like, for real. With every passing day, Baby’s looks and health decline in strange and horrific ways. Soon, it becomes apparent that the strange woman who assaulted her had something to do with her declining state. Baby needs to find her attacker, reclaim her life and her beauty, and get her shit together once and for all. But at what cost?
Bed Rot Baby is a pink horror meditation of self-discovery through self-destruction, and the real cost of self-image, self-esteem, and beauty.
Wendy Dalrymple always writes a fun horror story and I'm looking forward to this one.
Learn more at Goodreads.
For Human Use by Sarah G. Pierce
Modern dating is dead.
Finding a human connection online has become impossible. Enter Liv: a dating app that matches people with dead bodies. Somehow, it has taken the world by storm. Millions of users are convinced that life with a corpse presents a better alternative to conventional relationships.
Flailing against Liv’s popularity, venture capital superstar Tom Williamson—whose company is funding Liv—isn’t buying it. Mostly because dating an embalmed cadaver, let alone monetizing it, is obscene.
Believing that Liv is the future, Auden White, the insufferable “visionary” behind the app begins demanding more and more funding, quickly making enemies with Tom.
It’s no secret that Tom struggles with people, dead or alive, but when he has a chance meeting with the woman who knows Auden (and his secrets) best, Mara Reed, he realizes everything is about to change for all three of them.
With Liv’s userbase growing by the day, the need for cadavers rapidly increases. Humanity might not want to connect with other living, breathing people anymore, but they do want to connect with something. What could go wrong?
This sounds very strange.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Dead First by Johnny Compton
From the Bram Stoker award-nominated author of The Spite House comes a bone-chilling new novel about a private investigator hired by a mysterious billionaire to discover why he can’t die.
When private investigator Shyla Sinclair is invited to the looming mansion of mysterious Texan tycoon Saxton Braith, she’s more than a little suspicious. The last thing she expects to see that night is Braith’s assistant driving an iron rod straight through the back of his skull. Scratch that—the last thing she expects to see is Braith’s resurrection afterward.
Braith can’t die, it turns out, but he has no explanation for his immortality, and very few intact memories of his past. Which is why he wants to pay Shyla millions to investigate him, and bring his long-buried history to light.
Shyla can’t help but be intrigued, but she’s also trapped by the offer. Braith has made it clear that he knows she’s the only person he can trust with his secret, because he knows all about hers.
Bold, atmospheric, and utterly frightening, Johnny Compton’s Dead First is spine-chilling supernatural horror about the pursuit of power and the undying need for reckoning.
Learn more at Goodreads.
First Date by Gemma Amor
Deciding to end years of loneliness, Amandine takes a leap of faith and enters the dating pool. After seemingly endless disappointments, it seems her luck has changed when she meets Connor, another lonely heart.
What starts as a dinner date ends in a night that will change their lives forever. For neither of them knows that they are being watched by a killer whose primary target is happy couples.
Soon, Amandine and Connor will find themselves fighting for their lives. Their only chance of survival lies in each other, but can they work as a team to escape before their time runs out?
And even if they do, will they ever be able to escape each other?
Learn more at Goodreads.
A Forest Darkly by A.G. Slatter
A page-turning dark fantasy of witches, twisted magic, changelings and the sins that bind. Set in the award-winning author's acclaimed universe, this immersive story is perfect for fans of Ava Reid, Hannah Whitten and Lucy Holland.
Deep in the forest lives Mehrab the witch, coping with loneliness in her own strange ways and quietly battling her demons. One evening, a young woman appears on her doorstep seeking shelter, pursued by godhounds who wish to destroy all those practising magic, and Mehrab's solitary existence is disrupted as she teaches the girl how to control her powers. Together they forge a cure for their isolation with heartbreaking consequences...
Meanwhile, in the local village, children begin to disappear, sometimes returning forever changed – or not returning at all. Sinister offerings appear on Mehrab's doorstep, and a dark power pursues her through the trees. As the villagers turn hostile and the godhounds close in, Mehrab finds herself at the centre of a struggle to save the soul of the forest, the life of an old love – and her own new-formed family.
A bewitching gothic tale; haunting, gripping and written with wit and heart, this is a book to both savour and devour.
Yes! The gothic releases continue.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Grace by A.M. Shine
A haunting, atmospheric modern Gothic horror tale based on traditional Irish mythology, from the author of smash hit The Watchers. Ancient evil is awakened on a lonely isle off the coast of Ireland.
TO LEARN THE TRUTH
WOULD YOU DESCEND INTO HELL?
Off the west coast of Ireland lies a lonely island, isolated and wilfully forgotten. Some say there hasn't been a child born on the island for thirty years. Others speak of strange deaths there, decades ago. But no one really knows what happened. Locals believe that the dark times are behind them.
They are mistaken.
Grace, adopted at four years old, has never known where she came from. A mysterious phone call leads her back to the island where she was born – and where a terrible evil has been disturbed.
As the evil starts to spread, Grace finds herself dragged back into a living nightmare that threatens to engulf anyone who steps into its path.
Grace is perfect for fans of horror classics, Paul Tremblay, and Kealan Patrick Burke.
Yes! Another gothic release.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Of Beasts by M. Jane Worma
In this queer horror novel debut, a priest falls in love with the antichrist and even God can’t stop the horror it will bring.
Dante, a protestant young man, and Jude, a sadistic pastor of a small Texas church, harbor a terrible secret from the world; they’re together. The two share a taboo and passionate relationship in hidden peace, until the dreams start.
God speaks to them in visions of smoke and fire, night after night, until the two of them come to a truth they cannot ignore; Dante is the Antichrist, sent by God and urged to start off the apocalypse.
Dante refuses to participate in the end of the world and the damnation of souls. But Jude is a loyal pastor, indifferent to the suffering of others, and is compelled to do what God tells him; even if it means killing the love of his life.
This queer horror love story hones in on the humanity of the Antichrist, a half-human entity as flawed, complex, and doomed as any other soul. With lyrical prose reminiscent of Clive Barker, blasphemy is redefined and love is tested. In Of Beasts, Worma explores if love is enough for someone born to be evil.
This cover tho!
Learn more at Goodreads.
She Made Herself A Monster by Anna Kovatcheva
A heady, dark-hued Gothic gem of a debut in nineteenth-century Bulgaria, a self-proclaimed vampire slayer—actually, a traveling con artist—joins forces with a teenage girl to create a monster deadly enough to vanquish their own demons.
We make monsters in order to destroy them. For thousands of years, we’ve named witches and burned them, suspected demons and exorcised them. When crops die and children fall ill, who better to blame than a monster?
In nineteenth-century Bulgaria, Yana rides from one desolate town to the next, staging grisly displays while the villagers animal corpses in the public square, eggs filled with blood in the chicken coop. She tells the stricken villagers stories of vampires that stalk the night. Then Yana eliminates the threat, and leaves seeds of hope in her wake.
The village of Koprivici, however, is plagued by exceptional illness and misfortune, its children rarely surviving infancy. There, Yana meets a headstrong orphan who the villagers blame for their curse. As Anka approaches womanhood, the village Captain is grooming her for marriage against her will. Anka is powerless against him—that is, until Yana arrives. Together, the orphan and the vampire slayer hatch a to conjure a monster so vile, it might provide cover for Anka to escape. But their plan quickly takes on a horrifying life of its own...
Inspired by Slavic folklore, She Made Herself a Monster concocts a clever mix of witchery, ghost stories, heresy, and deception to spin a feminist fable about agency and the power of collective action. It is a haunting and astoundingly cathartic tale of two women who will stop at nothing to take control of their fate.
And, yep, another gothic release!
Learn more at Goodreads.
Trad Wife by Saratoga Schaefer
A ‘traditional wife’ influencer allows a demonic creature to impregnate her in this unnerving horror novel, perfect for fans of Nightbitch and Mary, from the author of Serial Killer Support Group.
Every #tradwife needs a baby. She’ll get one at any cost.
When Camille Deming isn’t cooking, cleaning, or homesteading in her picture-perfect country farmhouse, she’s posting about her tradwife lifestyle for her online followers. She takes inspiration from other tradwives on social media, aspiring to be like them, but Camille’s missing a key component: a baby. And contrary to what she posts online, things with her husband Graham have been strained. Pressured by her eager followers, Camille fears that without a baby, her relationship will suffer and her social media will never grow out of its infancy.
When Camille discovers a mysterious, decrepit well in the wheatfield behind her house, she makes a wish for a baby. Afterwards, she has unsettling experiences that she convinces herself are angelic in nature, and when she’s visited one night by a strange creature, her wish comes true.
Camille’s pregnancy announcement gets more engagement than anything she’s ever posted—so what if Graham’s reaction is lukewarm? Camille’s life is finally falling into place. Never mind that her pregnancy is developing freakishly rapidly and she’s suddenly craving raw meat. Being a traditional wife is worth it.
Rosemary’s Baby for the digital age, this disturbing horror novel is one you’ll want to devour in just one bite.
I've read a few of these pregnancy horrors with mixed results, but I'll read another.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Wilson by Jack Finn
Perfect for fans of A Nightmare on Elm Street and Carnivale.
For years, Wilson has travelled with a carnival of oddities across 1940s America, a serial killer hidden among the workers and attractions. Working the carnival’s photo booth, Wilson possesses a camera with the hidden ability to capture the secret dreams and desires of its subjects on film. However, in doing so, the camera carves a pathway into the person’s mind that Wilson can traverse in their dreams.
Transforming into a beast of incredible strength, cruelty, and insatiable hunger; Wilson hunts, rends, and devours his victims in their dreams, leaving their corporeal bodies little more than empty husks. He is the perfect serial killer. Undetectable. Untraceable.
However, Wilson is losing control. He is killing more often and closer to home, incurring the ire of the carnival’s proprietor and arousing the suspicions of the local police department. Despite endeavoring to curb his murderous desires, Wilson encounters Dahlia, a woman so flawless the camera only sees her as she is. Wilson becomes consumed with the thought of preying upon the woman, and defiling this living vision of perfection.
The desire to kill Dahlia draws Wilson into a web of deception and terror that even the most vicious serial killer cannot escape.
There is always a more skilled hunter.
There is always a more lethal killer.
There is always a more terrifying monster.
They got me at Carnivale.
Learn more at Goodreads.
How about some ROMANCE books?
You & me by Josie Lloyd & Emlyn Rees
Adam and Jules have been married for twenty-five years when they discover a time machine in their shed - can it bring back their romantic spark? Or will it unravel everything? Written by a real-life couple who fell in love while writing their bestselling debut novel twenty-five years ago.
One couple. One past. A million tomorrows.
Meet Adam and Jules. Married for nearly twenty-five years and stuck in a rut, their future looks, well, boring.
Then Adam stumbles across a box of old mixtapes he and Jules made for each other when they were young and falling in love. He dusts off his vintage stereo, inserts one of the cassettes, presses play … and the unbelievable happens.
With the power to travel back in time, he and Jules can revisit pivotal moments in their pasts. Is this the key to getting their sparkle back? They embark on an epic hunt through the multiverse for their perfect love story. But as they visit the past and recapture the headiness of falling in love, they realize that traveling across time could be as dangerous as it is addictive, because the temptation to change just a few small things is irresistible. As the ripple effects spiral out of control, can they find a way back to their messy and imperfect, yet glorious, real life? Or will they lose each other forever?
This sounds different.
Learn more at Goodreads.
It's All In Your Head by Sabina Nordqvist
A “poignant and swoony” romance about a woman with a rare neurological condition who agrees to fake-date the hot guy in her chronic pain support group—only to discover he’s an Olympic snowboarder whose career-ending injury is as infamous as his dating history (Gigi Griffis, author of The Empress).
Your fake relationship shouldn’t come with chronic feelings.
Skylar is done with offline relationships—especially romantic ones. Living with chronic illness means she’s heard it all unreliable, high maintenance, too much. She’d rather spend her free time in her online chronic pain support group, and lately, she can’t help but notice Pike, the hot new guy with a penchant for broody poetry. When a chaotic night in the group forces her to pose as his girlfriend, she reluctantly agrees to keep up the charade in real life. Surprisingly, he’s thoughtful, sweet, and—most importantly—doesn’t flinch at the things that have scared others away.
Fake dating gets a lot more complicated when she discovers Pike isn’t just some guy. He’s a professional snowboarder whose career-ending injury is as infamous as his playboy past. He won’t talk about that, though. He’s fine. Really. But pretending to be in love with Skylar turns out to be the least depressing thing he’s done in months. As they spend more time together, she starts to notice the cracks in his carefully crafted image, and for once, he doesn’t mind being seen.
After all the bed-sharing and late-night talks, it becomes harder for both of them to pretend. But just as things start turning real, the paparazzi catch on, wanting the scoop on how everyone’s favorite Olympic medalist is doing post-accident. Dating while disabled comes with challenges of its own, but public speculation and invasive questions are something else entirely. If their newfound feelings can’t survive the spotlight, their not-so-fake relationship may be over before it ever truly begins.
This sounds really good.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Honey Bee Mine by Sarah T. Dubb
In this sexy small town romance from the author of Birding with Benefits, a type-A beekeeper and a former bad boy join forces to plan a summertime Honey Festival.
Like the bees she keeps, Penny Becker lives by a golden rule: never stop working. That mantra kept Becker Farms running when her grandfather, dad, and ex all left for greener pastures. But after taking out a loan for an expansion plan that crashed and burned, Penny has to find a way to pay or risk losing it all, and she’s betting everything on the Sullivan’s Glen Honey Festival. To save the farm, she has to make the festival bigger, better, and more successful than ever before—and she plans to do it all on her own.
Reformed bad boy turned restaurateur Zander Bouras left Sullivan’s Glen in a blaze of glory and vowed to never return. But when his ex-wife wants to go back for the summer, Zander grudgingly follows. He refuses to miss time with his son, and figures it’s finally time to deal with the farmhouse his grandfather left, for some reason, to him.
His first day in town brings Zander face to face with Penny, the girl whose perfect life mocked him from next door. It’s just his luck that his son loves her and her bees, and before he knows it he’s been volunteered to help plan a honey festival with the sexy, stubborn beekeeper whose braid he just wants to tug. As they learn to work together, Zander faces his demons and learns to see Sullivan’s Glen in a new light as Penny realizes that accepting help isn’t so bad—especially from the right person. But as the festival day and Zander’s departure draw near, they’ll have to decide if the romance buzzing between them can last past the sweet days of summer.
Bees!
Learn more at Goodreads.
Here's the latest MONSTER & FANTASY ROMANCES!
Danth, Plain and Tall by Dakota Cockaday as Cassi O. Peia
Esmer is almost thirty and stuck. She's the eldest daughter, and everyone depends on her for financial support, for household help, and for emotional labor, but no one is willing to treat her like an adult. When her friend and coworker, Chelsea, suggests she sign up for the Human Extraterrestrial Liasons Program (H.E.L.P.), Esmer is skeptical. Her parent's ideas about dating are straight out of the 1800s, but she's not going to let Chelsea suffer a weird dating app alone.
What she doesn't expect is to meet Danth, the most alien of aliens whose mind she falls for completely. It seems like a perfect match, but both Esmer and Danth each come with their own hang ups. Finding their fate among the stars may take a little more work and understanding than they ever imagined.
Planet WLN269 Needs Women is a new shared world series that imagines what it would be like if human woman decided to leave behind one male loneliness epidemic to solve another on a planet in the Andromeda Galaxy. All stories feature low-stakes alien-human romance stories, lots of steam, and a guaranteed Happily Ever After.
Looks at this guy?! I've gotta read it.
Fates That Bind by Ashlyn Kiana
Most of Renata Blackthorn’s life has been spent hiding–avoiding her mother’s cruelty, ashamed of her powerful spirit magic, and dreaming of escaping from her childhood home. As the only gray witch in a family of green witches, she’s always been an outsider. But the Blackthorn family curse, which afflicts those born with spirit magic, only makes her feel more isolated.
When a letter arrives from a late great-aunt, Renata inherits the eerie, crumbling Dreaming Willow Inn… Alongside it comes a she’s the only one who can end the madness.
There are many places she has dreamed of running away to, but the inn where the curse started was one she hoped to avoid in every lifetime. Until it becomes a beacon of hope.
Once she steps foot on its grounds, fate stirs. So do the ghosts of her family’s past.
Renata quickly learns how the curse affects more than just her bloodline and its ability to give her everything she’s ever wanted—or take it all away, including her newfound coven and the man she never expected to meet in person, Archer Vexley.
After a decade of only finding him while sleeping, Archer is in Briarhollow with just as many ancestral ties to the Dreaming Willow Inn as she has. Not only that, he’s determined to learn more about the woman from his dreams.
Renata never thought she would meet him in person, or have a coven of her own. Now that she has everything, she won’t let fate rip it away.
Looks cute and some people are saying it's cozy and I could use more of that.
Love & other Squibbles
When funding cuts threaten biologist Francesa "Frankie" Rhodes's research, she turns to a creative Sign up for the Homosapien-Extraterrestrial Liaisons Program and become one of the first humans to study alien life forms. Never mind that it's an interstellar dating program.
She’s matched with Azrien, an optimistic ex-pilot, who longs for connection. At first, it’s the perfect no-strings arrangement, but as they grow closer with every message, falling for him could jeopardize everything.
The worst part? Azrien has developed feelings too, but they're getting lost in translation.
As sparks fly, they'll have to learn the ineffable language of human love or risk losing a connection written in the stars.
This series looks so cute.
Oops! I Summoned A Night Demon by Tiffany Roberts
When she wished upon a star, she never thought the universe would manifest him.
Ember has always worked hard to achieve her goals. Move to the city? Check. Start her own boutique? Check. Buy a Victorian house? Check. Find love?
Absolute failure, and it’s not for lack of trying.
So she does something she hasn’t tried yet—she makes a wish upon a star. It’s just a silly, hopeful gesture. What can it hurt?
With a literal bump in the night, Nyte appears. He’s ethereally gorgeous, with dark skin that glitters like the starry sky, wings formed of otherworldly shadow, and eyes that glow with all the beauty, depth, and mystery of the universe. The moment Ember sees him, she can’t help but think her wish has come true.
What does it matter that he’s not human? He’s her monster-loving fantasy brought to life.
The problem? He had his heart stolen by his freaking ex.
Thanks to the spell that inadvertently summoned him, she has a month to prove that she’s the one for him. That she’s worthy of his love.
But is his wounded heart able to give it?
-----
Witches Love Monsters features short, fun romps from some of your favorite Regine Abel, Opal Reyne, Naomi Lucas, and Tiffany Roberts. Each book reads as a standalone.
This one was moved from last week's post because the release date moved on me.
Learn more at Goodreads.
Eye See You by Lizzie Scrong
Greys Anatomy but with a floating tentacle monster who has a peeping tom fantasy.
It felt like fate that Lelianna found the best help wanted request...EVER!
Help Let me pay you to be naked in a hotel room where I can watch.
Problem is, after an extraordinary night with her peeping Tom, who just wants to stick his tentacles everywhere, she can't shake the feeling she knows him. Low and behold her Tom is none other than Healer Syniz Vizglyat. The perfectionist purveyor, surgeon with the complex and general social recluse. Plus, the only person at work she's constantly flirting with. She just can't help it, and apparently, neither can Syn. Agreeing to be his sugar baby seemed like the natural next step. But as they explore their spicy relationship, she begins to ask herself... why weren't they already doing this? Because she's pretty sure Syn was made for her.
I mean, how can I not read this?
Learn more at Goodreads.
Wow, such a fun list! Unfortunately The Body was a DNF for me, but I'm currently reading A Forest Darkly and loving it. I'm hoping to also read Dead First and For Human Use this month as well.
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