New Releases by Sharon Shinn

An Echo and an OriginalLady Elyssa despises her echoes-the creatures who look just like her and copy her every move. But it''s only the echoes that mark her as a high noble, someone elite enough to marry the king''s youngest son, Jordan. She can''t get rid of the echoes, so instead she amuses herself by torturing them when no one is looking.But there''s something Elyssa doesn''t know: Her casual cruelty has brought one of the echoes to life. And this echo, Hope, is learning to think and speak and act on her own. There''s something else Elyssa doesn''t know: Hope has witnessed her secret meetings with revolutionaries bent on starting a war and overthrowing the king. And Hope has made friends in high places-very high places.

A Murder and a MasqueradeBrianna loves her new job as maid to Lady Marguerite. Like many high nobles, Marguerite is attended by echoes, silent creatures who look exactly like her and move in perfect synchronicity. News soon comes that Marguerite has been invited to the royal city as a potential bride for the crown prince. Brianna is delighted to accompany Marguerite to the city-and perhaps get a chance to continue her own flirtation with Nico, one of the king''s inquisitors.Then, disaster strikes on the road when they come under attack. The brutal assault forces Marguerite and Brianna to concoct a desperate plan. Their subterfuge just might work-but only if Brianna can keep Nico from learning the truth. And only if Marguerite can give up her own secret, doomed romance.And all that''s at stake-is the future of the kingdom.

A Misfit and a Mystery In the royal city of Camarria, a street urchin named Chessie lives by her wits, always attended by her two faithful friends, Red and Scar. What no one realizes is that the "friends" are really echoes, creatures who look exactly like their originals but who possess no volition of their own. Echoes normally are only born to high nobles, and Chessie doesn''t want anyone to start asking questions about her past. So she''s developed the ability to move between bodies so rapidly that she can maintain the illusion that she and Red and Scar are three separate people. After someone tries to murder the crown prince, Chessie gets entangled in the investigation when she comes to the aid of Lord Dezmen, the high noble who''s trying to solve the crime. From the back alleys of Camarria to a society party to a rural province, they track down clues.Until one of those clues leads right back to Chessie.

It is eight years after Colleen Cavanaugh''s home world was invaded by the Derichets, a tyrannical alien race bent on exploiting the planet''s mineral resources. Most of her family died in the war, and she now lives alone in the city. Aside from her acquaintances at the factory where she toils for the Derichets, Colleen makes a single friend in Jann, a member of the violent group of rebels known as the Chromatti. One day Colleen receives shocking news: her niece Lucy is alive and in need of her help. Together, Colleen, Jann, and Lucy create their own tenuous family.

After the death of her father - a former royal adviser - Zoe Ardelay has little time to grieve before she receives astonishing news: she has been chosen to become the king''s fifth wife. Zoe accompanies an ambassador to the royal city, but once there she slips away and hides among those who live along the shores of the mighty river. For Zoe is coru: ruled by the elemental sign of water. Gradually she discovers that she is, in fact, the coru prime. Which means she must return to the palace, not as an unwilling bride for the king but as a woman with power in her own right . . .

The national bestselling author of Troubled Waters and Royal Airs returns to her Elemental Blessings series with the story of a young princess who will need more than blessings to survive in a kingdom where everyone will do whatever it takes to claim the throne… As one of the four princesses of Welce, Corene always thought she might one day become queen. Only circumstances changed, leaving fiery Corene with nothing to show for a life spent playing the game of court intrigue—until a chance arises to become the ruler of a nearby country. After stowing away on a ship bound for Malinqua with her loyal bodyguard, Foley, Corene must try to win the throne by making a play to marry one of the empress’s three nephews. But Corene is not the only foreign princess in search of a crown. Unaccustomed to being anyone’s friend, Corene is surprised to find companionship among her fellow competitors. But behind Malinqua’s beautiful facade lie many secrets. The visiting princesses are more hostages than guests. And as the deadly nature of the court is revealed, Corene must rely on both her new allies and Foley’s unwavering protection—for the game she has entered is far more perilous than she ever imagined…

In national bestselling author Sharon Shinn’s latest Shifting Circle novel, a woman must choose between hiding her nature—and risking her heart... For Karadel, being a shape-shifter has always been a reality she couldn’t escape. Even though she’s built a safe life as a rural veterinarian, with a close-knit network of shifter and human friends who would do anything for her—and for each other—she can’t help but wish for a chance at being normal. When she’s not dealing with her shifts or caring for her animal patients, she attempts to develop a drug that will help shifters control their changes—a drug that might even allow them to remain human forever. But her comfortable life is threatened by two events: She meets an ordinary man who touches her heart, and her best friend is forced to shift publicly with deadly consequences. Now Karadel must decide whom to trust: her old friends or her new love.

Master storyteller Sharon Shinn created the thrilling and enchanting world of Welce in her acclaimed novel Troubled Waters. Return with her to that elemental universe in this tale of secrecy, romance, and a battle for power… Josetta is a princess of one of the Five Families. But she is far from the throne, so she is free to spend her days working in the poorest sections of the city. Rafe Adova lives the life of a career gambler in those slums. He has no real ambition—until the night he helps a girl named Corene, who looks like she’s stumbled into the wrong bar. Josetta is fascinated by the man who has helped her sister. Rafe is unlike anyone she’s encountered—someone seemingly devoid of elemental blessings. Rafe is also drawn to Josetta, but when he is assaulted by foreign mercenaries and they discover the reason behind the attack, Rafe and Josetta realize that the truth could endanger not only their newfound love, but also their very lives…

National bestselling author Sharon Shinn presents a passionate, heart-wrenching story of secrets and the lengths to which we’ll go to protect those we love... For her entire life, Melanie Landon has hidden the fact that her half sister, Ann, is a shape-shifter, determined to protect her from a world that simply wouldn’t understand. When a man shows up asking about Ann—who has been missing for months—Melanie fears the worst, and with good reason. Freelance writer Brody Westerbrook knows about the existence of shape-shifters and intends to include Ann in the book he’s writing. While Melanie is immediately drawn to the stranger, she knows better than to trust him, and she denies his claim. But when Ann finally reappears, looking thin and sick, Melanie realizes exposure is the least of their worries. Protecting her sister has always been an enormous part of Melanie’s life, but as Ann’s health rapidly deteriorates, Melanie must come to grips with the fact that saving her may mean letting go…

ONE OF PUBLISHERS WEEKLY''S BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR Master storyteller Sharon Shinn has thrilled readers with her national bestselling Twelve Houses series. Now experience her original new novel in which love and loyalty are tested at every turn.... For fifteen years, Maria Devane has been desperately, passionately in love with Dante Romano. But Maria knows that Dante can never give everything of himself back—at least not all of the time. Every month, Dante shifts shape, becoming a wild animal. He can’t choose when he shifts, the transition is often abrupt, and, as he gets older, the time he spends in human form is gradually decreasing. Maria has kept his secret since the beginning, knowing that their love is worth the danger. But when a string of brutal attacks occurs in local parks while Dante is in animal form, Maria is forced to consider whether the lies she’s been telling about her life have turned into lies she’s telling herself...

Damiana is Safe-Keeper in the small village of Tambleham, where neighbors and strangers alike come one by one, in secret, to tell her things they dare not share with anyone else. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Reprint.

Kellen’s mother has always insisted that her only child was born male, not female—so Kellen has been raised as a boy. At school, she meets Gryffin, whose mind is as strong as his legs are damaged, and the two become friends and allies. A few years later, the two get jobs working at an inn nearby. When it is discovered that Gryffin is the kingdom’s new Dream-Maker—someone whose mere presence can help dreams come true—he is whisked away to the castle, leaving Kellen behind. By now, their friendship is shading into something more. Will it endure?

Behind the walls of a vast family estate called Fortune, Wen, a Warrior Rider hired to protect a young heiress, must face a terrifying challenge that will lead her into a confrontation with her ultimate destiny, in a new novel set in the world of the Twelve Houses series.

The final confrontation is here: the fourth book in the stunning fantasy series. In a world of secret sorceries and forbidden desires, the mystic Cammon must put aside his personal feelings for Princess Amalie and help her find a suitor, until he discovers that he needs to protect her from her own powers.

The third Novel of the Twelve Houses from the national bestselling author. In this story of hidden magic and forbidden love, the King''s Rider Justin befriends Ellynor, a young novice at a convent-only to discover that she is a mystic being manipulated by the fanatical Daughters of the Pale Moon into hunting down and killing other mystics.

Innkeeper’s daughters Adele and Eleda are “mirror twins”—identical twins whose looks are reflections of each other’s—and their special talents are like mirrors, too. Adele is a Safe-Keeper, entrusted with hearing and never revealing others’ secrets; Eleda is a Truth-Teller, who cannot tell a lie when asked a direct question. The town of Merendon relies on the twins, no one more than their best friend, Roelynn Karro, whose strict, wealthy father is determined to marry her off to the prince. When the girls are seventeen, a handsome dancing-master and his apprentice come to stay at the inn, and thus begins a chain of romance, mistaken identity, and some very surprising truths and falsehoods.

Gillengaria seethes with unrest. In the south, hostility toward magic and its users has risen to a dangerous level, though King Baryn has ordered that such mystics are to be tolerated. It is whispered that he issued the decree because his new wife used her magic powers to ensnare him… The King knows there are those in the noble Twelve Houses who could use this growing dissent to overthrow him. So he dispatches the mystic Senneth to assess the threat throughout the realm. Accompanying her is a motley band of magic-users and warriors including Tayse, first among the King’s Riders—who holds a hard view of mystics in general, and Senneth in particular. But as the unlikely allies venture farther into the south, they will face death in a land under the sway of a fanatical cult that would purge Gillengaria of all magic users. And they will come to realize that their only hope of survival lies in standing together…

From four of today''s most imaginative authors--Claire Delacroix, Lynn Kurland, Sharon Shinn, and Sarah Monette--comes a quartet snow-pure love stories designed to warm the coldest of hearts.

A New York Times Bestselling AuthorFour extraordinary and renowned authors come together with stories of epic romance that live through the ages . . . of the beguiling and transforming power of beauty . . . of a woman awakening to the magic she possesses . . . of a world where human women pursue the love of angels . . . and of a medieval legend who comes thrillingly to life. Four stories to delight and enchant; four rare talents destined to weave a web of magic that will leave you breathless.

"The most promising and original writer of fantasy to come along since Robin McKinley."—Peter S. Beagle, best-selling author of The Last Unicorm Damiana is safe-keeper in the small village of Tambleham. Neighbors and strangers alike come one by one, in secret, to tell her things they dare not share with anyone else, knowing that Damiana will keep then to herself. One late night, a mysterious visitor from the city arrives with an unusual secret for the Safe-Keeper—a newborn baby. Damiana, who is expecting her own child, agrees to take the foundling. She names him Reed and raises him side by side with her daughter, Fiona. Ad the years pass and the two children grow into teenagers, they must come to terms with who they are—and who they may be.

From the national bestselling author of The Samaria Trilogy...this is the novel that launched Sharon Shinn''s career and inspired Peter S. Beagle to call her "the most original writer of fantasy since Robin McKinley." Aubrey was a student of the fine art of wizardry. But the more knowledge he acquired, the more he wanted to learn. He traveled in search of the greatest master of all, the gifted shape-changer Glyrenden. From him, Aubrey expected to discover the secret of long-lost spells and the mysteries of arcane magic. But there was one discovery he never expected, a mystery he risked every thing to solve. Her name was Lilith...