Old Firehouse suggests novels from the paranormal to the profound

Each week as part of SunLit — The Sun’s literature section — we feature staff recommendations from book stores across Colorado. This week, the staff from Old Firehouse Books in Fort Collins recommends a paranormal love story, a unique eco-novel and a search for life’s meaning.

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From the publisher: A dangerous alliance between a Vampyre bride and an Alpha Werewolf becomes a love deep enough to sink your teeth into in this new paranormal romance from the #1 New York Times bestselling author. Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast—again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange — again.

Misery Lark, the only daughter of the most powerful Vampyre councilman of the Southwest, is an outcast — again. Her days of living in anonymity among the Humans are over: she has been called upon to uphold a historic peacekeeping alliance between the Vampyres and their mortal enemies, the Weres, and she sees little choice but to surrender herself in the exchange — again.

Misery has her own reasons to agree to this marriage of convenience, reasons that have nothing to do with politics or alliances, and everything to do with the only thing she’s ever cared about. And she is willing to do whatever it takes to get back what’s hers, even if it means a life alone in Were territory…alone with the wolf.

From Revati, general manager: Thank you Ali Hazelwood! As you all know, her books are wonderful, romantic book escapes. Add some paranormal spice and you have my kind of perfect! “Bride” is the great start of a new paranormal world full of werewolves, vampires and humans. 

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From the publisher: When a wildfire bears down on a mountain community, residents are forced to gather for safety — resulting in a tangle of love and lust that pulls people from their isolation, friendships that form across political divides, and a new hope for rethinking the ways humans inhabit the burning planet. “Playing with (Wild)fire”is a literary landscape that is an experiment in form: an astrology report; a grant application-turned-love-story; a phone call from Mother Earth; an obituary for a wildfire; a burned mountain’s conversation with a lone woman and an injured bear. Every story captures how fire affects the human psyche and life, and how destruction can lead to renewal. 

From Sterling, bookseller: In an act of violence and love, “Playing with (Wild)fire” dismantles the far reaching effects of a climate catastrophe piece by piece, bearing our collected suffering to the stinging air. Here it may be seen, acknowledged and caressed. Utilizing unique forms and style to emphasize the disparate realities and voices of the cast, Pritchett has crafted a fresh work that ponders elements of loneliness, climate grief and the desire to heal present in us all. 

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From the publisher: Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of the Persian Gulf in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past — toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed. 

Kaveh Akbar’s novel is a paean to how we spend our lives seeking meaning — in faith, art, ourselves, others. 

From Dany, bookseller: A debut novel from Iranian poet Kaveh Akbar, “Martyr!” is my most anticipated release of the year and it’s only February! Follow Cyrus Shams, an alcoholic who uses art and poetry to uncover the secrets of his family. With brilliant prose, unique perspective, and a big twist at the end, “Martyr!” is completely new and will be my go-to recommendation for a long time coming!

Type of Story: Review

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