We’re celebrating the release of The Viper’s Bloodline which is the final book in the The Gods’ Scion series! No waiting. Read them all now!
The Viper’s Bloodline Awakened (Completed Series)
Now Available
Genre: Fantasy
The chosen one (in this case, 4)
Dark lord
Magic
The anti-hero
The Secret heir
In the thrilling 5th installment of the Gods’ Scion series, brace yourself for Rodrick’s and Arcelia’s new journey that will leave you breathless and yearning for more!
Snakes slither into the forefront as betrayals and curses unravel long-held family mysteries. The battle between Rodrick and Arcelia’s royal families reaches new heights, with struggles of power, magic, and, hopefully, loss. More of Rodrick’s family secrets rise to the surface and begin to shake the very foundations of loyalty he and his siblings once held.
And with every new revelation, Arcelia begins to doubt who she can trust and believe more and more. She will now have to delve deeper into the darkness that lurks within mortals and deities alike to save the ones she holds dear–even if it kills her.
We are thrilled to present the cover for The Shadow of Polaris by D.L. Houpt! Make sure to pre-order a copy today!
The Shadow of Polaris (Heir of Darkness Book 1)
Expected Publication Date: September 3, 2024
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
🐺enemies to lovers 🗡️black cat/golden retriever 🐺animal companions 🗡️meddling gods 🐺morally grey FMC Spice – 🌶️ World Building – 🏛️🏛️ Violence – 🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️
When winter and spring coincide, darkness’s heir brings the light of truth and the fall of vanity. Only embers of life can destroy visions of death.
Following the accusation of her sister’s murder, five years ago, Elpis was sentenced to a life in the Tower outside of Ursae. Banished, far across the Northern Flatlands, to an eternity of unruly abuse and mind numbing isolation.
Now, broken and beaten, she receives an anonymous gift that will alter her fate forever. Haunted by nightmares of a malevolent goddess, Elpis must unravel the secret of an ancient prophecy and tame the shadows rising within her in order to take back her freedom.
With enemies at every turn, Elpis must choose her allies wisely, and learn that sometimes, freedom may come at a price.
Trigger Warnings: Suicidal thoughts, self harm, and self hate
One spell to change everything. A wizard of immense power, Kryn Darien stands ready to cast the greatest spell he has ever conceived, one that will alter the fate of the universe but cost nothing less than his life. He’s prepared for centuries, forged tools of terrifying arcane might, developed his craft beyond what any other mortal has achieved, and yet the task before him is so monumental his many sacrifices may be in vain.
As a young priest, Kryn never imagined such responsibility would fall to him. He only wished to live a life in service to those he loved. But the world is more complicated than he believed. War, death, loss, and betrayal strain his dedication to the utmost, and his vows will demand a price far more dear than he ever dreamed.
Throughout Kryn’s journey he must survive bloody battlefields, thwart murderous magic wielders, and uncover a secret older than humankind. His life will offer no easy choices, and his enemies are steeped in godlike power. But Kryn has never been able to turn away from those in need, even if it costs him everything.
When I was twelve my mother gave me a copy of Robert Jordan’s Eye of the World, introducing me to the world of epic fantasy. I was hooked. Since then, I’ve also read Anne McCaffrey, Tad Williams, Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, Steven Erikson, Frank Herbert, David Farland, and more. There’s nothing quite so sublime as spending a quiet evening sojourning in a world other than your own, and maybe learning something important about yourself along the way.
I’d played around with writing in grade school, but took my first real foray during my late college years. Over the next ten years, I gave up on TV, movies, and all too often sleep, wringing every hour of writing I could from my schedule. During that time, it was my pleasure to meet a host of fantastic writers, editors, and artists, including David Farland, whom it was my great privilege to work with.
When I’m not writing, I love a good camping hike (so long as there’s enough trees to hang my hammock). I also volunteer as a sled dog handler, and I have a long standing love affair with fast cars and lonely mountain roads.
How did a man sign his own epitaph? In his many years of life, Kryn had never considered the question, and yet, that very task lay before him now.
Emotion churned through his chest like the eddies of a river, murky guilt, icy dread, gnawing frustration, and at last, a silvery thread of hope. Hope for others but not for himself. Before the sun set, the man known as Kryn Darien would be no more. That much was assured.
There were a hundred possible forms his end might take, each offering its own measure of shame, defeat, and bittersweet victory. Success or failure would decide what portion of each would be his to swallow. Of course, the only true question was whether his countless sacrifices had been in vain. One final gambit would settle it all, and the day to cast the dice had come at last.
He’d spent centuries preparing himself for this very hour, laboring each day until his body ached and his mind was exhausted. Even so, he wished he had another fifty years, perhaps seventy, for more preparations. But it was a vain hope.
A wizard had ways of extending his life, but such magic could only sustain a man for so long. He’d long since wrung those spells out like a wet towel, draining every last drop of power he could squeeze loose.
He’d slowed his aging dramatically, but time’s march could not be halted altogether. After nearly eight hundred years, his body was ancient. The day’s ordeal would have been daunting enough in Kryn’s youth, and century by century, he’d spent his vigor like coin.
Nothing had been wasted. Indeed, every ounce of precious vitality had been exhausted in pursuit of his goal. But after so many long years there was little man left to spend. He felt like a deflated money sack with but a few pennies remaining to rattle about the bottom. What if he’d worked too slowly? Labored in vain to seize a window of opportunity that had closed decades ago? What if in the end he proved too small a sum to surmount his great and final task?
The full gravity of that potential bore down on him, and Kryn felt as though a titan’s hand was squeezing his ribs. For a moment, he struggled to find breath. His hand faltered over the parchment, unable to write anything but useless scratches as the pen shook in his bony fingers. A single tear rolled down his cheek though even he was unsure which of his turbulent emotions had called for weeping. Most likely, it was the loneliness.
Isolation had been his only companion for longer than he cared to remember. Desperate as he was for the warmth of human company, he didn’t dare travel amongst his fellowmen except in direst need, and even then, only in utter secrecy. His enemies were too vigilant, their vengeance too sure for anything less.
Nowhere was truly safe. He’d spent so long glancing over his shoulder, fear was an emotion he knew almost as exquisitely as loneliness. Year by year, decade by decade, the paired burdens had grown in his heart like a spiritual tumor made of chafing thorns and powdered glass. But he would not allow himself to collapse beneath the strain. There was simply too much at stake. So many counted on him, even if they knew it not.
Recounting the years in his mind, it seemed impossible he’d made it so far. He’d never lacked for determination, and through effort he’d developed raw magical talent into something truly formidable, but luck had been on his side as well, at least in part.
One truth was clear. The combination of circumstances which had granted him this chance was less a door and more a freak cosmic oversight, like a fluke in the tides which momentarily exposed the bottom of the sea. He had seen it and seized it, but the opportunity would not come again. Not for him. Not for anyone else. This unique moment in history rested on his shoulders and his alone.
Despite the risks, despite the cost to himself, he’d chosen this path of his own free will. It was he who’d claimed this unnamed mountain in the depths of the frigid northern seas. It was he who’d wielded the mighty spells which had carved a fortress within its icy slopes and he who’d named his citadel the Final Bastion. A stronghold built for one man and to one purpose.
The study in which he now sat lay just beneath the Final Bastion’s peak, hidden below dark slabs of stone and layer upon layer of protective spells. His study was a gloomy place with just enough mage lamps spiraling about the ceiling to cast the room in a dim violet glow. The cramped space between the smooth stone walls was barely large enough for his chair, his desk, and the woolen rug he used to keep his aged feet warm.
Even so, it was one of the few places within the Final Bastion he felt at ease, or at least, as close to ease as he ever came. Any lower, and he’d sense the magical monstrosity lurking in the fortress’s heart, hear the pulse of power humming through the Final Bastion’s walls like the vibrations of a plucked piano wire. The fact said artifact was his own creation offered no comfort. That it represented the sum of his purpose, even less.
And yet that purpose must be fulfilled. He’d cast his life like an arrow from a bow aimed at a single target, and now so close to the culmination of his life’s work, it was no time to balk. He straightened his shoulders and pressed the nib of his pen to the parchment.
I am Kryn Darien, and these are the final words I shall write. Though I suspect the world has long forgotten me, I was once known as Kryn the soul warden, also Kryn the betrayer, and Kryn the profane. In truth, I am all these things.
I am also a practitioner of magic. For more centuries than I care to count, I have prepared to cast a single spell, the cost of which will be nothing less than my life. However, if I succeed, it may change everything. I hope for the better.
I speak no more on this matter for your own protection, for if you were even to know my purpose, you would be damned as I. If you wish to return to your normal life, simply cast this letter away. The spells wrought upon it will quickly erase the memory from your mind, and the letter shall find another.
However, if you wish to know the truth, burn this letter and inhale the fumes. You will fall into a trance and see a vision revealing the location of a hidden journal. The words upon those pages explain my purpose in full. Do with this knowledge as you will.
Kryn waited for the ink to dry then rolled the letter and placed it inside a bottle. Weaving the spells of fate and dream over the vessel was simple enough, in fact, he could barely remember a time when such magic required little more than thought and will. One final spell sent the bottle on its way, sailing across time and space on a current of magic.
Even as he finished the spell, he knew the letter was more for himself than for anyone who might find it. But was the message a manifesto? A desperate plea to be understood? Or a suicide note? Kryn wasn’t certain, save that the next few hours would decide the truth.
Welcome to the tour for Candice Morris’ dark fantasy, Malediction’s Embrace! Read on for more details!
Malediction’s Embrace
Publication Date: July 10, 2024
Genre: Dark Fantasy
Tropes:
Sibling rivalry, shadow magic, abusive parent, dark elves, deal with a devil, necromancy, adventure, vengeance, strong FMC with flaws, morally gray FMC and MMC, personal growth, heroic quest, redemption.
Lynn has spent the last five years of her life tracking down her brother, Xaraan, after he killed their mother, cutting down anyone that gets in her path. Once she finally catches up to him, armed with her sword and the support of her newfound allies, she realizes the stakes are much higher than she anticipated.
Xaraan now wields great power gained through a dark contract with an ancient Lord of Hell, granting him an army of undead that plague the land-but also a power that threatens to undo him. As Lynn and her allies race through the realm to stop the carnage, she is faced with a decision that affects the entire kingdom. She must choose between reforging a connection with her estranged brother and saving his soul or damning him to the same Hell he sent their mother, and she must choose quickly.
The fate of the realm rests in her palm, and the Lord of Hell is trying to enact his own plans…
Content warnings:
Violence, child abuse, emotional abuse, death of a loved one, allusions to torture, spiders, undead
An English teacher and mother with a passion for languages and tabletop role-playing games. Born in South Africa, Candice has traveled several continents as a child, but spent most of her academic years in France where she attended Paris-Sorbonne, Paris IV university to study English literature and teaching. Candice now lives with her husband in Hong Kong. She speaks fluent English and French, conversational Spanish, and beginner level Mandarin.
BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
A reluctant necromancer, a man killed before his time, and the crime that brings them together.
Felipe Galvan’s life as an investigator for the Paranormal Society has been spent running into danger. Returning home from his latest case, Felipe struggles with the sudden quiet of his life until a mysterious death puts him in the path of the enigmatic Oliver Barlow.
Oliver has two secrets. One, he has been in love with the charming Felipe Galvan for years. Two, he is a necromancer, but to keep the sensible life he’s built as a medical examiner, he must hide his powers. That is until Oliver finds Felipe murdered and accidentally brings him back from the dead.
But Felipe refuses to die again until he and Oliver catch his killer. Together, Felipe and Oliver embark on an investigation to uncover a plot centuries in the making. As they close in on his killer, one thing is certain: if they don’t stop them, Felipe won’t be the last to die.
Kara Jorgensen (she/they) is a queer, nonbinary oddball with a penchant for all things antiquated, morbid, or just plain strange. While in college, they realized they no longer wanted to be Victor Frankenstein but instead wanted to write like Mary Shelley and thus abandoned their future career in science for writing. Kara melds her passions through her books and graduated with an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing in 2016. When not writing, they can be found hanging out with their dogs watching period dramas or trying to convince their students to cite their sources.
My thoughts: I really liked this book, I loved Oliver and just wanted to give him a hug, thankfully he has Gwen and eventually Felipe for that.
Investigating a nun’s death is a little awkward, since the church frowns on their kind, but the sister isn’t just a nun, she has a gift and someone was willing to kill her to steal her secrets.
Oliver and Felipe are thrown together by circumstance and then when Oliver accidentally brings Felipe back from the dead, and might be the only reason he’s still alive, they can’t resist the pull between them, so they don’t.
But they’re still on the case, especially after Oliver’s lab is broken into and he and Gwen attacked. But why would anyone want some medical curios?
A fun and clever adventure with a sweet romance at its centre.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Lucy refuses to accept the life the Fae males in her family have planned for her. She has no interest in smiling coyly to a Fae Lord and wearing fancy dresses when she’d rather be elbows deep in sawdust, creating highly sought after Elderwood bows and arrows for her family business. Unfortunately, her father disagrees and the wedding invitations are already made.
There’s only one way to prove to her family that she’s more than a pawn to be married off: Lucy sets off for The Elderwood on her own. But when the amulet she uses to travel between realms runs low on magic, she’s stuck in the mortal world. What’s worse, her usual contact is gone and she has to convince his handsome but jaded grandson, Micah, to help her while she waits for the next full moon.
Without her trusted friend, the path to The Elderwood is in danger of being destroyed, and with it, Lucy’s hopes of a future she can create for herself. If she can’t convince Micah to help her, the arranged marriage would be a sealed fate.
S.A. Heiden has been on her writing journey since mid 2022. After years of keeping her stories locked in her mind, she finally found the courage to share them with the world.
Her current work, The Lumen Legacy Series, is a trilogy surrounding the Fae realm of Denora and the mortal realm of Joterra. There we meet the Fae female, Lucy, and the mortal, Micah. This series will be complete in the summer of 2024.
Congrats and happy release day to author Meghan Ciana Doidge! This looks amazing friends!
Grand Romantic Delusions and the Madness of Mirth, Part 1
Publication Date: July 25, 2024
Genre: urban fantasy romance/why choose
Book cover designer: Alicia McFadzean (@Cheeky Lettering)
why choose
slow burn
shifters
mages
magic
Still grieving the death of my beloved elder brother, but needing to fortify my newfound position, I’m forced to participate in a matchmaking event.
No matter that I have no desire, or any of the required skills, to hold one of the intersection points on my own, I am now the heir to the United European Nation. My chosen bond mates will be selected from the elite of society. Titled, wealthy, practiced in politics — and accomplished in all the essence-wielding skills I lack.
Chosen bond mates.
Not soul bound, not fated.
A love connection isn’t even a fever dream or a fleeting thought. A glam rock star, my childhood best friend, a staid earl, a bareknuckle fighter turned archduke, or a horse breeder …
I don’t get to choose any or all of them.
Because despite the purple eyes marking me as one of the powerful awry, I am in fact an ineffectual dud. The time to find and fortify any such predestined-by-the-universe connections — if such connections even exist for me — ran out when my brother died.
The Mirth duology is set in the Conduit World. While it’s not necessary to read all the interconnected series, the ideal reading order is as follows.
Awry (Conduit 1)
Grand Romantic Delusions and the Madness of Mirth, Part 1 (Mirth 1)
Grand Romantic Delusions and the Madness of Mirth, Part 2 (Mirth 2)(TBR
[TBR] (Conduit 2)
Adult 18+ While choice vs. duty is a strong theme in the Mirth duology, Mirth doesn’t have to choose between her suitors, and they’re more than happy to lend a helping hand to each other as well. Content notes and a list of tropes can be found on MCD’s website (on the book detail page).
We are thrilled to present the cover for Sadie Hewitt’s Vice and Void, the first book in a new series! Visit our Instagram page for a chance to win an exclusive SE hardcover, and don’t forget to pre-order a copy or check out the author’s Kickstarter for special edition details!
Vice and Void (The Savage Wolves Brotherhood Book 1)
Expected Publication Date: November 19, 2024
Genre: Adult Fantasy/ Motorcycle Club Romance
✨Second chance romance
🖤Vigilante motorcycle club
✨Stolen blood magic
🖤Banished gods
✨Science vs. alchemy
🖤Touch her and 💀
✨He has her name tattooed on him
Dakota Montgomery knew she should have steered clear of The Savage Wolves Brotherhood. Now with a promising start to her career, the vow she made twelve years ago to keep her distance remains stronger than ever. But when her best friend suspiciously disappears, and her father dismisses her concerns, Dakota is forced to seek help from the vigilante motorcycle club and its second-in-command: her former flame, Callum Reynolds.
Callum Reynolds, still bearing the scars of nine wrongful years in prison, has his own reasons to assist Dakota Montgomery. A feud for territory with the club’s rival has caused a severe setback: the loss of their distillation warehouse. With Dakota’s Alchemist skills, there’s a chance to restore the stock before the Vanguard Syndicate comes to collect. In return, Callum pledges to use his network to investigate the disappearance of her best friend. However, any connection with Dakota or her Iron Guard father could jeopardize his hard-earned freedom.
The agreement with the Brotherhood thrusts Dakota into a treacherous underworld, where illicit alchemy and experimental magic fuels a dangerous game of depravity and addiction. Dakota must race against time to unravel the mystery of her best friend’s disappearance before it consumes her entirely–or worse, entangles her with Callum Reynolds and the Brotherhood for good.
Set in a modern-day world where the blood of extinct mythical creatures advances the creation of distillations, Sons of Anarchy meets occult science in this second-chance adult fantasy romance.
I can’t think of a better novel to read than The Veiled Heir this summer, and we’ll be celebrating the release all week!
The Veiled Heir (An Heir of Atlantis Novel)
Publication Date: July 23, 2024
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
🧜♀️ Elemental Fae
🧜♂️ Fated Mates
❤️🔥 He Falls First
🌴 Atlantis Retelling
🌶 Spicy
❤️ Love formed through grief
🦈 Scales
💕 Prophecy
🧜♀️ Battling Realms
👑 Queens Rule
Heir to a Fae throne she didn’t know was hers. A daunting task to save humanity. A passionate love nurtured through her grief.
Asherah Delmar led a happy and quiet life. Her career as a marine biologist was about to take off, but her mother, Neleah’s, sudden murder stopped her life harshly in its tracks. When she discovers her mother’s true identity, the world as she knew it begins to unravel.
After escaping Neleah’s assassins, Asherah is thrust into an ancient world she thought to be a myth. She finds herself surrounded by a different type of sea creature unlike any other—the Water Fae. Asherah must step out of her mother’s shadow to become what she never dreamed she could be—the heir to the Queendom of Atlantis. With the weight of the world pressing down on her shoulders, an inexplicable connection to the Commander of the Guardians, Draevyn Eliron, may be the only thing holding her together.
In this magical underwater world, Asherah must learn to embrace her Water Fae abilities while fighting for her throne and saving the human race. But not every Fae wants to save the humans. A council seeks to dethrone her, the rebels are determined to kill her, and Draevyn’s hold on her heart threatens to consume her.
S.T. Fernandez (a.k.a. Stephanie) is a Latinx author originally from Orlando, Florida. She lives in the beautiful small beach town of Ventura, California, with her husband and two wiener dogs. Stephanie graduated with a Bachelor’s in English Literature from Saint Leo University outside Tampa, Florida.
An avid reader of all things romance, Stephanie mostly reads books in the fantasy and paranormal romance genres. She enjoys creating stories that readers can disappear into just as much as she enjoys disappearing into a good book. When she’s not writing or marketing like a mad woman, she’s likely out on her patio soaking up the California sun with a book in one hand and a nice glass of red wine in the other.
For lovers of Gaiman and Pratchett’s GOOD OMENS, SHAUN OF THE DEAD and THE WORLD’S END comes the exciting sequel to THE BOOK AND THE BLADE.
Arthur Crazy was drunk and seeing ghosts. Now he’s just drunk. The dead are silent, and Arthur is worried he might be living up to the family name. But after going back to where the Crazy people live and spending months sleeping off hangovers in his childhood bed, it’s finally time to return to the land of the living. Unfortunately, the dead are not done with Arthur.
The hounds are stirring. The guardians are moving. The Shadowmen are watching.
And the sword in Arthur’s possession is calling them all. They’re on their way, but you know what Britain is like—public transport is a joke. Especially at Christmas, it could take some time. Some people have skeletons in their closet. Arthur has ghosts in his dreams and a sword under his bed… and everyone wants it! The dead, the living, and those dancing on the edge.
Evil stirs in Yorkshire. Britain needs a hero. Arthur needs a coffee. On the moors, the devil rises.
My thoughts: I really enjoyed the first book in this very funny series, and I recommend reading it first (The Book & the Blade) as what happens in this book follows straight on and will make a lot more sense out of this one as characters refer to past events and one character in particular’s back story is needed or it will get confusing (Steve, it’s Steve).
Arthur has fled York and the horrors he faced there, he’s grieving his lost friends and he wants the safety of home and his parents. It’s Christmas so ghosts are everywhere (they prefer it to Halloween, that’s why there’s so many ghost stories at Christmas – my theory) and even in Arthur’s small village in the moors, terrible things are coming. Hell hounds for starters – just one but it’s huge.
Luckily help is on the way in the form of a pair of bickering twins in a vintage Jag, a former Queen of England and a small dog called Steve.
Arthur’s parents are pretty laid back about his new powers and his mum in particular is fairly heroic – no evil monster is taking her son! I loved them, and the other slightly bonkers characters a lot. My favourite though is Steve, the bravest, tiniest terrier in all of Yorkshire!
This series is funny, clever and packed full of recognisable references (the first time Steve says “woof” I instantly shouted “Gaspode!” which any Discworld fan will get) and it’s lots of fun to read – not so much to be Arthur (last name Crazy, not Dent, but still an unlucky name in fantasy). Can’t wait for the next book!
We love a good fae fantasy so we’re thrilled to share The Archer’s Amulet with you this week! 
