Month: Aug 2024

blog tour, books

Blog Tour: The Dagger and the Forbidden Heir – Emilia Jae

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We’re gearing up for the release of A Throne of Wings and Embers by Emilia Jae and thought it would be fun to go back to the beginning!

The Dagger And The Forbidden Heir (The Forbidden Heir Trilogy Book 1)

“Throne of Glass meets House of the Dragon”

Tropes:

❤️‍🔥 enemies to lovers
🗡️ touch her & you 💀
🗝️ lovers to enemies
🌙 forced proximity / one bed
⚔️ fae & human war
🐉 mythical creatures
✨ fated mates
🗣️ fun modernized banter
🤍 found family
🩸 revenge

Can they survive the truth of their war?…Can their hearts?

A century ago, an exchange was proposed: a life saved for a war of revenge.

For Captain Lia Solus of the fae army, and the secret bastard daughter of the king, she’s reminded of those consequences daily. Unable to claim her heritage or her throne, she’s powerless to stop the innocent bloodshed that her birth ushered in.

On the other side of the lines, Commander Jace Cadoria gladly fights the war of his ancestors to slaughter the fae who have terrorized the humans of their realm for generations. And with a cunning plan to trap them, the end could finally be in sight. Except it quickly spirals out of control, leaving Lia and Jace, enemies of opposite sides, stranded together in a dangerous terrain.

Engaged in an intimate battle of their own, both warring to take control, they’ll need their wits now more than ever to survive. Because this fight could cost their lives—and their hearts.

The Forbidden Heir Trilogy is a fun and chaotic new take on fantasy, featuring enemies-to-lovers, fun modernized banter, dragons, heartache, adventure, and dark sorcery that grows throughout the series. This is written in multiple, 1st person POV, including the villains, and is a character-driven romantic fantasy. The story will be enjoyed by lovers of Sarah J. Maas, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Carissa Broadbent. Throne of Glass meets House of the Dragon.

CONTENT WARNING:

Please note that this book is not intended for readers below the age of eighteen (18). This warning is due to explicit language, violence/gore, mentions of past child abuse, and mentions of sexual assault.

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Blog Tour: Legacy of the Runes – Christina Courteney

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A bond that even time cannot break
Storm Berger has never forgiven himself for his younger sister Madison’s disappearance. Suspecting she’s travelled back to the ninth century in the footsteps of other family members, Storm can only
make sure she’s safe by going after her.

Raised unconventionally as her father’s only child, Freydis has never been content to simply accept her fate. So, when she’s promised in marriage to a tyrant, she’s determined to find a way out of the
arrangement. Help comes in the form of a mysterious and attractive stranger stranded on her island’s shores: Storm.
The only way Freydis can truly be free is for Storm to marry her himself. But that would mean entwining lives that, until now, have been separated by centuries. . .

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Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a Vice President and former Chair and of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several
awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the
Runes. LEGACY OF THE RUNES (time travel historical romance published by Headline Review 15th August 2024) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).

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My thoughts: This final book in the Runes series has Maddie’s brother Storm head into the 9th Century looking for her (see Tempted by the Runes for Maddie’s story)

Of course things don’t go according to his plan, on the way to Iceland, the ship he’s on is attacked and has to put in to Orkney. There he meets Freydis. She’s trying to find a way to get out of a marriage that’s been arranged for her against her will. Meeting Storm, there’s an instant connection. Might he be the way to escape her life?

I have really enjoyed this series, and it was really nice to have all the members of Mia and Haakon’s family’s (foster son and daughter’s best friend included) stories come full circle, with them happy either in the 9th or 21st centuries. Storm was an interesting protagonist – he’s trying to make up for his mistake, even though in the end Maddie wasn’t in the danger he feared. Falling in love with Freydis certainly wasn’t part of his plan. But I loved Freydis – raised more like a son by her late father, she doesn’t fit in in the 9th Century, and her mother is a miserable cow who doesn’t want her only daughter around. Meeting Storm changes her whole life in a really good way – and the 21st century suits her better.

I’m a bit sad this series has ended (although the author did say in her note at the end of the book that you never know!) but I’m excited to see what Christina writes next.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Pursued by Death – Gunnar Staalesen, translated by Don Bartlett

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When Varg Veum reads the newspaper headline ’YOUNG MAN MISSING’, he realises he’s seen the youth just a few days earlier – at a crossroads in the countryside, with his two friends. It turns out that the three were on their way to a demonstration against a commercial fish-farming facility in the tiny village of Solvik, north of Bergen.

Varg heads to Solvik, initially out of curiosity, but when he chances upon a dead body in the sea, he’s pulled into a dark and complex web of secrets, feuds and jealousies. Is the body he’s found connected to the death of a journalist who was digging into the fish farm’s operations two years earlier? And does either incident have something to do with the competition between the two powerful families that dominate Solvik’s salmon-farming industry? Or are the deaths the actions of the ‘Village Beast’ – the brutal small-town justice meted out by rural communities in this part of the world.

Shocking, timely and full of breathtaking twists and turns, Pursued by Death reaffirms Gunnar Staalesen as one of the world’s greatest crime writers.

One of the fathers of Nordic Noir, Gunnar Staalesen was born in Bergen, Norway, in 1947. He made his debut at the age of twenty-two with Seasons of Innocence and in 1977 he published the first book in the Varg Veum series. He is the author of over twenty titles, which have been published in twenty-four countries and sold over four million copies. Twelve film adaptations of his Varg Veum crime novels have appeared since 2007, starring the popular Norwegian actor Trond Espen Seim. Staalesen has won three Golden Pistols (including the Prize of Honour). Where Roses Never Die won the 2017 Petrona Award for Nordic Crime Fiction, and Big Sister was shortlisted for the award in 2019. He lives with his wife in Bergen.

My thoughts: Varg does manage to find quite a few dead bodies in this book, and annoy quite a few police officers too, as he pokes around a small town, ostensibly looking into the death of a writer two years before, but also the disappearance of a young man a few weeks ago. The missing student’s mother happens to have been the dead man’s partner, and she hires Varg to look into what was ruled an accident at the time.

Even after being warned off by the police multiple times, he can’t seem to leave the current investigation alone. He just can’t help himself, and he’s annoying even more people as he goes. I don’t think he’ll be holidaying in Solvik any time soon.

He’s digging around the local, somewhat controversial, fish farm, there seems to be a link there, but after a bomb goes off at a meeting, he focuses on the locals a little more – the police have got their man, or so they think.

Varg is an interesting character, he’s a natural loner but people are either drawn to him or find him so impossibly irritating. He’s incredibly good at what he does, but never seems to build connections in useful ways (annoying every police officer he meets doesn’t help) and seems to find trouble at every turn, but I really enjoy reading about him. The stories are always so clever and compelling, full of sudden twists.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: Broken are the Believers – Ciar Pfeffer

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BrokenareBelievers copy

We’re celebrating the release of Broken are the Believers this week. This is the exciting follow-up to Fractured are the Pieces!

Broken final cover

Broken Are the Believers (The Fractured Realm Book 2)

Publication Date: August 15, 2024

Genre: NA Dark Fantasy

  • Dark High Fantasy
  • Unhinged Morally Gray FMC
  • Dark Cinnamon Roll MMC
  • Mythical Creatures
  • Fade-to-Black Spice
  • Found Family

The world stands still.

Broken are the believers, for they ignored the lies. Kerath continues to fracture and break, reigniting long forgotten dangers, as monsters from within and without slowly take control.

Everything is changing.

Caet begrudgingly left behind her solitude to return to her old life. But her mind is fractured, and secrets locked from within threaten to force themselves through. With each step she takes, reality falls further from her grasp. Can she stop herself from eliminating everything and everyone around her, or will her fears be realized?

A cloud of destruction has cast its shadow.

Wraith has hidden so much of his past from himself and those around him—believing those memories were forgotten forever. However, he now realizes his mind has been tampered with by another. While he skirts between his obligations and his desires, he risks lives, even his own. Can he avoid previous mistakes, or is he destined to always fail?

As the sky darkens and reality crashes, what will be left of them all?

Broken Are the Believers follows two-time award-winning Fractured Are the Pieces and is the second book in the Fractured Realm series. The series is a new adult (NA) dark high fantasy with a subplot of romance and fade-to-black spice featuring an unhinged morally gray female main character and a dark cinnamon roll male main character. Rounding out the series are a diverse cast, mythical creatures portrayed in new and creative ways, found family, engaging action scenes, and much more!

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Blog Tour: The Brightest Star – Gail Tsukiyama

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Beloved bestselling author Gail Tsukiyama returns with a rich historical novel based on the life of the luminous, groundbreaking actress Anna May Wong—the first and only Asian American woman to gain movie stardom in the early days of Hollywood.

“A writer of astonishing grace, delicacy, and feeling.”—Michael Chabon, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

“A beautiful, haunting book.”—Karen Joy Fowler, New York Times bestselling author of Booth and We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

At the dawn of a new century, America is falling in love with silent movies, including young Wong Liu Tsong. The daughter of poor Chinese immigrants, Wong Liu goes to the local nickelodeons to escape the schoolmates her bully her for her Chinese heritage.

By sixteen, Wong Liu has already chosen a stage name, Anna May, and leaves high school to pursue her Hollywood dreams, defying her disapproving father and her traditional Chinese upbringing—a choice that will hold emotional and physical consequences. Anna May gets her big break—and her first taste of Hollywood fame— starring opposite Douglas Fairbanks in The Thief of Bagdad.

Yet her beauty and talent aren’t enough to overcome the racism that relegates her to supporting roles as a helpless, exotic butterfly or a vicious, murderous dragon lady, while Caucasian actresses in “yellowface” are given starring roles portraying Asian women.

Though she suffers professionally and personally, Anna May fights to become a star, financially support her family, and keep her illicit love affairs hidden—even as she finds freedom and glittering success abroad, and receives glowing reviews across the globe.

Gail Tsukiyama was born in San Francisco, California, to a Chinese mother from Hong Kong and a Japanese father from Hawaii. She attended San Francisco State University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree and a Master of Arts Degree in English. She is the bestselling author of several novels, including Women of the Silk and The Samurai’s Garden, as well as the recipient of the Academy of American Poets Prize and the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Literary Award. She divides her time between El Cerrito and Napa Valley, California.

My thoughts: I knew a little about Anna May Wong before I read this book, but not much, as her life and career had basically been forgotten by Hollywood – I think her story would make an incredible biopic.

Born in LA to a Chinese-American couple running a laundry, she wasn’t the son her father wanted, and some part of her knew that growing up – she and her father fought constantly. 

Desperate to be an actress, not an approved of career by her father or community, she started out as an extra, before garnering small parts in several films. Always cast as a stereotype, she desperately wanted to break the mould of what a Chinese-American woman was, but the anti-misceganation laws that banned interracial relationships, even on screen, made it next to impossible.

But she never gave up, sending several years in Europe making films, appearing on stage, and finding herself a community of friends. She also undertook a trip to China, which she recorded on an early video camera, with the aim of showing America the real China and its people. She was pretty amazing.

She was also a silent screen crossover star, featuring in the “talkies” and even giving musical theatre a go. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, but never achieved the success she deserved.

The story of her life is bittersweet – she never married and suffered from cirrhosis of the liver, which tragically eventually killed her, just as her career seemed to be on a comeback with the advent of television and new film roles being offered to her.

I thoroughly enjoyed this fictionalised version of the life of Anna May Wong, a passionate and talented woman who deserved so much more and lived an at times, very tragic life.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The King’s Messenger – Susanna Kearsley

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For fans of Diana Gabaldon and Philippa Gregory, courtly rivalry and intrigue…

He is tasked with the most dangerous of missions. She is only there from duty. But in the face of treachery and injustice, might they need each other more than they could know…?

1613: Scotland and England, unified under one crown, are reeling from the sudden death of King James’ popular eldest son, Henry, as rumours swirl that the prince was poisoned. Andrew Logan, one of the King’s Messengers, is sent north with secret orders to find and arrest the man the king suspects.

Phoebe Westaway cannot abide Andrew Logan. But when her ageing father is tasked with helping Logan, Phoebe finds herself with no choice but to join them in their quest to capture Sir David Moray, once Prince Henry’s trusted courtier, and carry him to London to stand trial for the prince’s murder. It’s a journey rife with complications.

Sir David has no intention of allowing himself to be delivered to London, and as he draws them deeper into the dark web of court alliances and rivalries, Phoebe realises she might have more need of Logan than she believes. A story of justice, honour, truth and love – and survival against impossible odds…

New York Times bestselling author Susanna Kearsley is a former museum curator who loves restoring the lost voices of real people to the page, interweaving romance and historical intrigue with modern adventure. Over 1.5 million copies of her books have been sold and have been translated into over 25 languages.

Her writing career began in 1993 when her then-unpublished novel Mariana won the Catherine Cookson Fiction Prize. Since then she has writen twelve novels and won various awards, and has twice made the final of Romantic Novel of the Year awards. She lives near Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

My thoughts: This was so good, Susanna Kearsley brings the past vibrantly and vividly to life, the characters are well written and their lives are recognisable even though they lived so long ago and in a situation so unlike anything most of us would live.

Andrew Logan is a King’s Messenger at the court of King James I & VI and his Queen, Anna. He has been charged with travelling to Scotland and collecting Sir David Moray – who the King suspects had something to do with his son and heir’s death. Prince Henry has been somewhat relegated to a footnote in history – the drama of his younger brother’s reign (Charles I) overshadows his very existence in history books.

But the terrible period after his death, suspicion and mourning, the Royal couple estranged and the fact theirs may well have been a rather unhappy marriage, is brought to life here.

The story of the long journey back from Scotland, which now takes hours, took days on horseback, stopping at inns and houses along the way to spend the night, bring the travellers together. There’s not just Andrew and David, but also Phoebe and her father, a scribe, and a young boy who was definitely my favourite character, Hector. They survive being chased by David’s cousin and his men, the risk of robbery, the threat from other members of the King’s court, and tragedy.

There’s also a sweet love story, as Phoebe gets to know Andrew better, and realises he isn’t the person she thought he was. Andrew’s kindness, bravery and sense of justice shine through as he leads the small group from Scotland down through the body of England to the court in London, balancing his duty to the king with his growing admiration of Sir David Moray.

This was a truly fascinating, interesting book and I was totally drawn into the world of Andrew and Phoebe.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Blog Tour: The House of the Witch – Clare Marchant

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Utterly gripping timeslip historical fiction, perfect for fans of The Witch’s Tree, The Essex Serpent and Weyward.

Now: When Adrianna arrives at the small, run-down cottage, near the sea in rural Norfolk, she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Here she can forget her life in the city, and the problems she’s left behind there, at least for a while.
But – like Adrianna herself – the cottage holds secrets. And when Adrianna finds a mysterious bundle of notes hidden under a floorboard, she can’t shake the idea that they’ve been waiting for her. Especially when – in the rambling, overgrown garden – she then finds a strangely-carved stone,
drawing her into a centuries-old mystery…

1646: Between her work as the village midwife and the medicines she sells from her cottage, Ursula has no need for a man. But this ideal leaves her unprotected in a world where just one accusation of witchcraft can mean certain death. So when she catches the eye of a powerful
new local doctor, she must use every part of her cunning, or risk becoming his prisoner…

Can the two women – their paths bound by place and history – each find the keys to their own destiny?

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Clare Marchant is the author of dual timeline historical fiction. Her books have been translated into seven languages, and she is a USA Today bestseller. Clare spends her time writing and exploring local castles, or visiting the nearby coast.

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My thoughts: Having a break from her stressful career, Adrianna rents a quiet Norfolk cottage for six months, leaving her boyfriend (who I disliked immediately) in her Canary Wharf flat, with promises to see each other every weekend.

The cottage has been unoccupied for a while and the current owner lives abroad, so she has free run of the place and starts with a deep clean. In doing so she discovers some of its secrets, secrets relating to the first occupant some four hundred years ago.

Ursula Bain lives quietly in the shadow of the village church, she sells herbal remedies and helps tend the sick, delivers babies and nurses the dying. She’s lived in the village all her life and is known in her community as a kind and gentle person. But when a new doctor arrives and makes unpleasant demands of her (while dressed as a Puritan – creep and hypocrite) things turn sour.

As Adrianna deciphers the handwriting in the book she’s found, and makes a macabre discovery in the garden, we are drawn into the lives of these two women, centuries apart.

This isn’t a light hearted book, it explores themes of domestic abuse modern and ancient, coercive control, accusations of witchcraft during the dark period of the Witchfinder General, and handles these well, with a deftness of touch that mean it’s not too upsetting to the reader. I enjoyed this book, with the two very different women’s lives reflecting across time, things haven’t changed for us enough yet, that the treatment of a woman in the 1600s feels relevant in 2024. It’s a clever thing to do and the unravelling mystery across the centuries has more twists than you might expect.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Cover Reveal: A Corporate Arrangement – Shar Khan

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We’re thrilled to present the cover for A Corporate Arrangement by Shar Khan. Pre-order today!

a corporate arrangement ebook cover

A Corporate Arrangement

Expected Publication Date: February 14, 2024

Genre: Romance/ Second Chance

  • Second chance romance
  • Fake dating
  • Golden retriever mmc
  • Black cat FMC
  • “It was always you”
  • Love contracts

William Chu hates his job though he worked hard for his title. He didn’t think all his years of studying would leave him as an entry level journalist who does the work for ten people at the New York Times. He can’t complain…but does anyway. Especially when he’s finally allowed to write a piece for the paper only for it to be overshadowed by something bigger.

An overnight TikTok sensation known as “Billionaire Babe” has flooded every corner of the internet. Tasteful pictures of her Forbes 30 under 30 debut falling into the hands of YouTubers, influencers, reactors and even gossip columns has completely stolen the heart of every single person in the Newsroom. But not William. Not when he realizes that Billionaire Babe is, in fact, the girl he left behind when he sought bigger things.

Harper Lahiri.

When fate brings their paths together, the two find themselves leaning on each other again. Not as estranged friends who mutually seem to dislike each other, but two people in love. With a corporate arrangement settled between the both of them, William and Harper agree to the terms of a fake dating scheme bound to make them look every bit of America’s most treasured sweethearts while also humbling their families in the process.

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Blog Tour: Flowers from the Black Sea – A.B. Decker

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Tasked by Ben, an old friend, to locate a man in Turkey, private investigator Matt Quillan soon finds himself out of his depth when he has a flash drive thrust on him by a stranger who is arrested by armed officers shortly afterwards.

When Ben reveals that his mission is to avenge the murder of his sister, the conjunction of this assignment along with the flash drive burning a hole in Matt’s pocket puts them both – along with holidaymaker Amber – in mortal danger.

As the case lands Matt in the crosshairs of a local mobster, it is not only Ben’s search for vengeance which is left hanging in the balance.

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A native of Exeter, A.B. Decker studied at Newcastle, London and Bristol. He worked briefly as a teacher of English in Germany and a translator in the UK. On receiving an offer that he couldn’t refuse, he moved with his young family to work for a multinational company in Switzerland, where he eventually set up his own business. Flowers from the Black Sea is his second novel, having published his first, The Dark Frontier, in 2021.

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My thoughts: agreeing to go to Türkiye for a friend to look for someone as a favour might just be the worst idea Matt Quillan ever had. From the moment he arrives in the country he’s dealing with the police, accidentally getting caught up in something political when a stranger asks him to deliver a USB to someone in the resort town he’s heading to.

Then he starts looking for the man he’s seeking – and uncovering a whole lot of skeletons in the cupboard. It’s a lot more complicated than he’s been lead to believe – there’s a probable murder, a connection to a gangster, corruption and some old spies playing games too.

Then there’s the woman he meets, on holiday, staying with her sister, who gets herself far too involved for her own good and once his furious, vengeful friend Ben arrives, all hell breaks loose. 

There’s a Wild West feel to the story – the police can’t be trusted as the local mob boss has them in his pocket and Ahmet (Matt’s quarry) seems to be in bed with him. The various residents of the town are all a bit odd, and all of them have their opinions of Susie’s death, and each other. 

Somehow Matt has to make sense of all of this and keep himself, Amber and Ben from ending up dead or arrested by the local jendarmerie. A lot happens very quickly and there’s lots of racing around, trying to stay one step ahead of those looking for them. 

The ending is a shock twist and I really hope there’s a sequel so we can find out what happens next – and what becomes of Matt and his friends. 

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

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Cover Reveal: The Imminent Trials of Quietus – Catalina Matei

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We are proud to present the absolutely gorgeous cover for upcoming release, The Imminent Trials of Quietus by Catalina Matei!

The Imminent Trials of Quietus (Vials of Fate Book 1)

Expected Publication Date: November 5, 2024

Genre: Romantasy/Mythical Creatures

– Dragons
– Friends to lovers
– Banter
– Strong FMC
– Deadly mental trials
– Hidden truths
– Fated lovers
– Dual POV
– Magical creatures
– One bed /cave

In a world that long lost its moral axis, free will was the chain that tied a God’s vengeance to his entertainment.

With nothing but hope to keep her dark thoughts afloat, Tiadola waited for centuries for the preordained trials that would end her life to begin. But nothing could have prepared her for the moment they were set in motion by encountering the dragon compelled to hunt her.

When the stranger she thought the dragon had sent after her quickly becomes her friend instead, the lines between want and need become a blur as they embark together on a journey towards her imminent trials.

Caught between her desire to continue living in order to save the human realms and the mental warfare that the trials would entail, would she be able to become the first of her kind to win?

Triggers/CW:

Violence, existential angst, loss, death and sexually explicit content.

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About the Author

I write about existential angst in steamy fantasy novels.

Even though I started writing in high school, I never thought I’d get here and start an entire trilogy but here we are.

I’m a bookworm at heart and enjoy reading various genres from classics to pitch black horror romances.

I live in Romania and when I’m not working my full time job as a software engineer, I spend my days off on road trips through Europe with my husband and overprotective pug, reading and/or writing.

CATALINA MATEI

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