The month of romance is almost upon us, and there's no better time to fall in love with a new book.

We have curated the best February releases in fiction, non-fiction, and children's books.

Click the links below to navigate to the section you would like to explore. Once you've found your new favourite book, click the title to pre-order now!

 FICTION    NON-FICTION    CHILDREN'S 

FICTION

Again, Rachel - Marian Keyes - R320

Fans of Rachel's Holiday, rejoice! Almost 30 years later, Rachel is back in the long-awaited sequel.

Back in the long ago nineties, Rachel Walsh was a mess.

But a spell in rehab transformed everything. Life became very good, very quickly. These days, Rachel has love, family, a great job as an addiction counsellor - she even gardens. Her only bad habit is a fondness for expensive trainers.

But with the sudden reappearance of a man she'd once loved, her life wobbles.

She'd thought she was settled. Fixed forever. Is she about to discover that no matter what our age, everything can change? 

Is it time to think again, Rachel?

Crescent City 2: House of Sky and Breath - Sarah J Maas - R311

If you loved the first book in the Crescent City series, prepare to be swept away by House of Sky and Breath. In this action-packed sequel, the stakes are higher and the romance is steamier.

Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar have made a pact: they will keep things… platonic… until the Solstice, as they process the events of the Spring. But can they resist the crackling tension between them?

And they are not out of danger yet. Dragged into a rebel movement they want no part of, Bryce, Hunt and their friends find themselves pitted against the terrifying Asteri – while trying desperately to slip below their radar.

But as they learn more about the rebel cause, they face a choice: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight. And they've never been very good at staying silent...

Two Tons o’ Fun (Paperback) - Fred Khumalo - R290

Two Tons o'Fun is a vibrant coming-of-age novel set in a Johannesburg township, that sees a young woman explore her sexuality, learn the truth of her heritage, and learn to understand her mother.

A car has collided with a Coca-Cola truck in Alexandra. The overturned trailer is spilling its contents, which residents are carrying off in their plastic ‘Shangaan Gucci’ bags.

With two other bystanders, fourteen-year-old Lerato Morolong, helps the injured truck driver. Professor Ngobese, matriarch of the family at Number 80 (the only house in the neighbourhood with a street address), drives them to hospital.

Here begins Lerato’s relationship with the Ngobeses, including Auntie Gugu and her daughter Janine, who becomes Lerato’s bf and one half of the dancing duo, Two Tons o’ Fun.

As Lerato’s story unfolds, you’ll meet her quick-fingered, beer-loving, maneating mom June-Rose, who’s not afraid to use the knife she keeps in her bra, and has passed on her tough survivor’s spirit to her daughters, especially 12-year-old Florence.

When June-Rose brings home yet another man, Florence runs away with dire consequences, and revelations emerge, such as the truth about Lerato’s father.

Alex Delaware 37: City of the Dead - Jonathan Kellerman - R320

At 5am in the upscale neighbourhood of Westwood Village, two removal men are making a routine pick-up when they make a fatal hit. It's a man who appeared from nowhere - naked and with no means of identification.

Not long after, a woman is found dead in a house nearby, which neighbours suspect to be a brothel. Could the man have come from there?

When LAPD homicide lieutenant Milo Sturgis calls brilliant psychologist Alex Delaware to the scene, the case gets even more complicated. Delaware has met the woman before. She's a psychologist too.

Are the two deaths linked? Or is there a darker force at work?

While this is book 37 in the series, these books can be read as standalones.

NON-FICTION

Mala's Cat - Mala Kacenberg - R350

Growing up in the Polish village of Tarnogrod on the fringes of a deep pine forest, gives Mala the happiest childhood she could have hoped for. But, as the German invasion begins, her beloved village becomes a ghetto and her family and friends reduced to starvation.

She takes matters into her own hands, and bravely removes her yellow star, risking sneaking out to the surrounding villages to barter for food. It is on her way back that she sees her loved ones rounded up for deportation, and receives a smuggled letter from her sister warning her to stay away.

With only her cat, Malach, and the strength of the stories taught by her family, she walks away from everything she holds dear.

Malach becomes her family, her only respite from painful loneliness, a guide and reminder to stay hopeful even when faced with unfathomable darkness. With her guardian angel by her side, Mala finds a way to navigate the dangerous forests, outwit German soldiers and hostile villagers, and survive, against all odds.

Seeking Wisdom: A Spiritual Path to Creative Connection - Julia Cameron - R529

A six week Artist's Way Programme from legendary author Julia Cameron. From the bestselling author of The Artist's Way comes a six week programme to stimulate creativity.

Seeking Wisdom is a deeply personal account of pain, healing and growth. Using her own history of alcoholism as a springboard, Julia shows the reader how to harness prayer - in whatever form that takes for the individual - to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and forge ahead towards becoming the person they were meant to be.

Seeking Wisdom is a guide to 'creative unblocking': a spiritual path to deeper creativity and a more profound connection to the divine.

Filled with meditations, creative exercises, and her characteristic positivity, Seeking Wisdom is further proof that Cameron is the queen of change.

Die Net is Gebreek: Gebed, die Weg na Vrede en Vervulling - Chris van der Merwe - R250

Die Net is Gebreek brei uit op die boodskap van Psalm 124:7, “Ons, net soos 'n voël het ons ontvlug uit die net van voëlvangers: Die net is gebreek en ons, ons het ontvlug.'

Die meeste mense beland die een of ander tyd in 'n net van ellende. Die planne wat jy gemaak het, het in duie gestort, en jou lewe val uitmekaar. Jy het jou lewensmaat verloor, of jou werk, of jou gesondheid het ingegee. Jy het die moed verloor om aan te hou lewe.

In die Christelike geloof is daar die troosryke boodskap van 'n net wat inderdaad gebreek het: Met die sterwe van Jesus is die toegang tot God vry gemaak vir almal. Die prys vir die skuld van die mensdom is betaal, sodat alle mense God te alle tye met vrymoedigheid kan nader.

Die blydskap oor die gebreekte vangnet kan egter slegs ervaar word deur diegene wat weet van die net wat hulle gevange hou en waaruit hulle nie self kan ontsnap nie. Alleen die nederige persoon kan opreg bid, en nederigheid is ook die gevolg van 'n gesonde gebedslewe.

In Die Net is Gebreek word ons herinner dat 'n groot krisis tot innerlike groei en verryking lei. Dan kan daar betekenis wees in 'n tyd van teenspoed, en 'n nuwe pad kan uit die doodloopstraat lei.

Also available in English as The Broken Snare.

Every. Night. Of. The. Week. - Lucy Tweed - R340

An entertaining and practical cookbook filled with shortcuts and permission to do it your own way.

Some days you want to cook; other days the goal is simply 'food in mouths'. Welcome to Every Night of the Week, a cookbook for people who don't like hard-and-fast recipes, by food and recipe writer Lucy Tweed.

• MONDAY has potential. There are lists and ideas. The herbs are fresh and the fridge is full. TUESDAY the week has begun. Can we have efficient and beautifully delicious please?
• WEDNESDAY we wonder what day it is. Cook with a dash of laziness; it tastes great.
• THURS … we're not even typing the full day anymore. What's in the freezer? What can we pimp?
• FRIDAY is family fun. 'Decorate' your own pizza, kids, or DIY san choy bau. Time to exhale.
• SATURDAY is the flex day, time to stretch the repertoire. Hmm, who's around for lunch?
• SUNDAY is for brunch and linner; two leisurely meals, eaten in absolute comfort.
• THAT EXTRA DAY YOU WISHED FOR is the secret day that will save your bacon Tuesday - Thursday.

CHILDREN'S

Marmalade: The Orange Panda - David Walliams - R265

One morning, deep in the forest, a beautiful baby panda was born. The panda was different to all the others, as he had dazzling orange fur.

“I will call you Marmalade,” his mummy whispered...

Meet Marmalade, the little panda who goes on a big adventure as he sets off to explore the forest one day to find where he belongs. Along the way, he meets all sorts of animals... until he sees he has come full circle and is back home with his mum, which is where he always did belong, of course!

This gorgeous and endearing picture book is a celebration of family love, being yourself and finding your place in the world. It is the perfect story to share with your special someone – big or little.

Into the Sideways World - Ross Welford - R180

This moving, funny, thrilling and adventured-filled novel is perfect for readers 10 and up.

When twelve-year-olds Willa and Manny hear of a mysterious animal prowling their town, they are determined to prove it is real. Following the creature into a cave one full moon, they are swept into an alternate, ideal, world - one where pollution and conflict have been conquered decades ago and even their own families seem happier.

But when they return, no one believes them. So, with a global war looming in their own world, their quest for proof of the Sideways World becomes ever-more urgent, in a nail-biting race against time.

And Willa and Manny will have to make an impossible decision: because once you find a perfect world, can you ever leave it behind?

Halley's Comet - Hannes Barnard - R265

Pete de Lange must survive as a teenager in a small Natal town during the 1980s, together with his new-found friends, Sarita and Petrus. In a country marked by turmoil and racial conflict, this is not as easy as it seems.

When Pete and his friends witnessed a horrendous crime, the perpetrator is soon on their case. Will justice prevail?

In between all of this, Pete is trying to make the first rugby team and win the heart of his high-school crush, Renate.

This excellent coming of age story, full of emotion and nostalgia, fully encapsulates being young in a troubled country where doing the right thing is not always easy.

Om Jou Te Ken - Cliffordene Norton - R180

Toe die matriekgroep van Barkley-Wes op ’n toer na Kaapstad vertrek, ontdek Gabby dat Georgia se dagboek in haar rugsak is. Hulle ma’s het vir hulle identiese blou dagboeke vir Kersfees gekoop, en hulle deel ’n kamer, so dit kon maklik gebeur het dat sy die verkeerde dagboek ingepak het. Dit beteken waarskynlik ook dat háár dagboek in Georgia se besit is.

Kort voor lank kry Gabby se nuuskierigheid die oorhand en begin sy Georgia se dagboek lees. Wanneer Georgia daarvan uitvind, breek ’n volskaalse niggie-oorlog uit wat nie eens Kaapstad se besienswaardighede of hulle vriende se pogings om raad te gee, kan keer nie.

Gaan Gabby se verraad die niggies nog verder uitmekaar dryf of sal dit dalk daartoe lei dat hulle mekaar beter begin verstaan?

Which of our February highlights are you most looking forward to reading? Let us know in the comments!