In an alternative Elizabethan London, Fang awakes from his death to discover he is not quite human anymore. In fact, despite having somehow acquired the power of immortality, he’s also not quite vampire, zombie, werewolf or any of the other supernatural beings who roam the twin cities of Upper London and its underground counterpart, Deep London.
A jaded traveller from the Ming Empire, Fang is desperate to find a way to reverse the spell and get on with being dead when he stumbles upon Lazare de Quitte-Beuf, a theatrical Frenchman who is afflicted with the same mysterious condition. Thrown together by the curse they share, the two men set out to undo the strange magic that binds them. As they are drawn further into the shadowy world of Deep London, they unearth a dangerous plot which they appear to be right in the middle of…
And, surely, when in grave danger, the worst thing they could do would be to fall in love, wouldn’t it?
My thoughts: this is very very funny, very silly and just a bit brilliant. I loved it.
Fang is cursed not to die, he gets stabbed a fair bit, but nothing seems to kill him. He’s fed up, tired and a long way from home. Lazare also gets cursed but nothing (except maybe not getting cast in Kit Marlowe’s play) gets him down, he’s basically happy all the time. Thrown together in an attempt to undo their curses, successfully avoid getting arrested and finding themselves in Deep London, literally under the city, with a small dragon called Amber (I would love a small dragon pal), Nell the apothecary and a little girl who is very scared, they’re on the adventure of a lifetime and right in the middle of a total lunatic’s scheme!
It’s just a lot of fun, there’s so many fantasy (and romance) tropes and little references and I just had a ball reading it. The first in a new series, it’s an absolute treat.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Lose yourself in Lakeville Hills in this gorgeous new romance from bestselling author Camilla Isley…
When she’s ghosted by yet another Tinder match, Leighton swears off dating for life. Who needs apps and blind dates when she has the perfect-in-every-way (apart from being fictional) heroes of her beloved romance novels?
That night Leigh finds a second-hand book on her TBR pile, which transports her to the small-town of Lakeville Hills, where the heroines wear shorty-shorts and the men drink bourbon. And as Leigh drifts off to sleep, she dreams of billionaire cowboy Killian St Clair, who could win a gold medal for smouldering and bicep flexing. For a while, Leigh finds it easier to stomach misogynistic supervisors, newly coupled friends, and extravagant bridesmaid duties knowing she can return to Lakeville Hills each evening.
Until one day, she wakes up to find she’s brought a bit of Lakeville Hills back with her: the impossible sexy and entirely implausible Killian St Clair is in her apartment. Now Leigh must help Killian navigate the real world. But as she gets to know the man behind the trope, can she keep her heart safe, or does she risk falling in love with her book boyfriend in real life?
Camilla is an engineer who left science behind to enter the whimsical realm of romantic fiction. She writes contemporary rom-coms. Her characters have big hearts, might be a little stubborn at times, and love to banter with each other. Every story she pens has a guaranteed HEA that will make your heart beat faster. Unless you’re a vampire, of course. Camilla is a cat lover, coffee addict, and shoe hoarder. Besides writing, she loves reading—duh!—cooking, watching bad TV, and going to the movies—popcorn, please. She’s a bit of a foodie, nothing too serious. A keen traveler, Camilla knows mosquitoes play a role in the ecosystem, and she doesn’t want to starve all those frog princes out there, but she could really live without them.
My thoughts: this was lots of fun, we all have that romantic lead that we think we’d fall in love with if they were real, and suddenly right there. Well, Leighton wakes up with her book boyfriend in her bed.
Killian St Cloud is a cowboy billionaire, suddenly in Chicago, no billions in the bank, because he doesn’t exist. Except he does, other people can see him and now they have to make him a life. First there’s getting him some non-cowboy clothes, a job, an ID, and are they really in love?
Funny, silly, entertaining and with a fantastic pair of protagonists, this is a fab read and will keep you amused for hours.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
If you love sweet, small-town romance with a marriage of convenience, you are going to want to get a copy of The Love Chase by Emily Schneider!
The Love Chase
Publication Date: July 8, 2024
Genre: Romance/ Contemporary Romance
TROPES:
💍Marriage of convenience
🩷Friends to lovers
⛈️Storm chasing
🎸Country music
🏠”One townhouse”
💕Forced proximity
🏘️Small town romance
🥰”It’s always been you”
💘She fell first, he fell harder
Marrying my best friend for money without revealing my hidden feelings for him…How hard could it be?
Everything was going great until my life fell apart. One minute, I had a great internship, I was accomplishing my dream of becoming a storm chaser, and I was happy.
But in one single day, I became jobless, homeless, and deeply in debt, my life stuttering to a crashing halt.
Forced to head home to Meridel, proverbial tail tucked between my legs, things only got worse when I ran into my best friend, Liam—err, ex-best friend.
We’d been friends since we were kids, up until he moved away two years ago to chase his own dream of being a famous country music singer, effectively cutting me out of his life for good.
But now he’s back, and to top it off, his manager has created a harebrained scheme to improve his new bad boy image—marrying me.
If it weren’t for the money promised to me in exchange, I never would have agreed, especially when I’d been hiding the fact that I’d been in love with Liam for years.
But now, I have to marry my best friend, live in close quarters with him, and help him fix his reputation, all while keeping my feelings hidden?
Should be a piece of cake. Right?
The Love Chase is a sweet, closed-door romantic comedy, full of laugh-out-loud moments, sizzling chemistry, and swoony kisses.
This is the third interconnected standalone in the A Sweet Meridel Romance series.
We are thrilled to present both the stunning cover and blurb for Of Monsters Of Kings by Kelly St. Clare! Now available for pre-order!
Of Monsters Of Kings (Unworldly City Book 1)
Expected Publication Date: July 25, 2024
Genre: Gothic Romantasy
Destined to be
Royal immortals
Monsters with manners
Age-gap
Hidden society
Ancient magic
Romance vs. duty
New girl in town
Bring. Take. Raise. Change. See.
Three princes, each, shall come to thee.
Monsters to guide kings to thrones,
To keep real monsters chained with blood and bone.
Your immortal burden cold and lonely,
Hear! Rule until the bloody finish.
For the mighty never stirred at dawn,
They burst forth at dusk,
into toothed beast’s yawn.
In the 1200 years since The End, fifty mothers in my line have passed the truth to their daughters. They passed truths of how the world was, of how the world changed, and even mythical stories of powerful romances that sparked great tragedy and war.
Those romances are dead and gone, and as the fiftieth daughter, I am determined the truths of my ancestors will die with me too.
I will be the last daughter to bury her withered mother.
But ancients pull back the bloodied curtain without warning, and I cannot unsee the hidden world revealed beyond. Sinister impossibilities lurk in this walled city. They have always existed—dusk immortals who battle and prowl, filled with menace and conflicting purpose. And they, even the dark creature I blind with my presence, must decide the fate of all.
Yet fifty mothers prepared for nightfall. They knew five kings could not win.
Now the fiftieth daughter will walk into the toothed beast’s yawn.
For the mighty never stirred at dawn… and I’m about to inherit something more monstrous than the truth.
Of Monsters Of Kings is a dark fantasy romance thoroughly drenched with the morally gray and intended for mature audiences. This story contains monsters with manners, heaped teaspoons of spice, magical impossibilities, and not many conventional things at all, really.
Kelly St. Clare is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Supernatural Battle, The Tainted Accords, The Darkest Drae, and Honey & Ice Trilogy.
She exists in her own fantasy in New Zealand where she works to regenerate the land, grow marvelous things, and create magical memories for her family.
Books are her fated mate, and she is immortally grateful to exist in this world of words where fresh opportunities hook her at every new chapter.
We’re thrilled to present the cover for the next Hart Sister’s book by Chrissy Hopewell, Since We’re Here!
Since We’re Here: A Grumpy Sunshine Irish Romance
Genre: Romance/ Interconnected Standalone
Expected Publication Date: September 9
Grumpy sunshine
Irish setting
Close proximity
He falls first
Fish out of water
Main characters in their 30s
Just once to get it out of our system
Pet sheep
Open door/ medium spice
Nine messy breakups, nine jobs lost. When restaurant manager Maddie Hart learns that number ten—a surf instructor based in the Caribbean—is cheating on her, she changes her destination flight (but not the contents of her suitcase) to Ireland. She’ll delay disappointing her family and figure out how to get her life back on track, while also planning her oldest sister’s pre-wedding Irish road trip. Except the groom-to-be’s best friend isn’t replying to her emails.
Ex-pro soccer goalkeeper Patrick McNulty has deep roots in the seaside town of Dingle, Ireland. He’s got clear priorities: be there for his aging parents, support his sister and nieces, and take over the family brewery while also managing his pub. None of that includes dating, because after one disastrous engagement, Patrick is done with relationships.
When the sunshine-y American tourist who asked him to kiss her in the pub turns out to be the same woman emailing for help planning a road trip, Patrick vows to keep it platonic. Especially after his pub manager quits and Maddie jumps in to help. Their sizzling chemistry leads them to sleep together just once, but it’s not nearly enough for either of them.
Maddie knows her future isn’t in Ireland—or with Patrick. And he needs to stay focused before his carefully planned life unravels with the distraction of the American tourist. The Irish road trip is their last chance…Will Patrick be able to convince her (and himself) that fighting for number eleven is worth the journey?
Happy release day and congratulations to author Brittany Gossin on the release of Dream Walker, the first book in a brand-new series!
Dream Walker (Realm of Dreams #1)
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Genre Romantic Fantasy
🗡️found family 🗡️Secrets and betrayal 🗡Closed-door spice 🗡️magic, fae, elves 🗡Dragons and demons 🗡️slow burn
In the aftermath of a harrowing nightmare, seventeen-year-old Ella Windsor must face a chilling reality as the wounds from her dreams appear on her body. To add to her terror, she witnesses the intrusion of a nightmarish creature come to life, lurking on her high school campus.
Faced with no choice but to escape the nightmares and search for why she’s the only one who can see them, Ella ventures into the mysterious Astral Realm. Alongside Ethan Wessex, a stunningly gorgeous Lieutenant of the Queen’s Astral Guard with his own air of mystery, Ella discovers a realm on the brink of war.
Azvameth, the King of Nightmares, harboring secrets of his own, seeks dominion not just over the Astral Realm but every waking world. With the assistance of other dream walkers, including the devastatingly handsome Cole, a Fae Prince, and Rhea, a feisty Elven female, each armed with latent magic, Ella may prove to be the missing piece in destroying Azvameth and saving her precious Mortal and Astral Realms.
In this epic romantasy, Ella grapples with love and betrayal, torn between the mysterious Ethan and the potential true love of Cole, all while embarking on a journey of self-discovery and found family. The nightmares have awakened, but so has she.
We’re celebrating the newly released vampire romance, Our Little Monster by Lashell Rain!
 Our Little Monster: A Why Choose Vampire Romance (Deviant Desires Series) Publication Date: May 28, 2024 Genre: Vampire Romance/ Why Choose
Inspired by The Vampire Diaries & Supernatural
Monster Hunter FMC
Touch Her & Di3
She Saves Them
Why Choose MFM
Vampires She doesn’t know whether to kill them or keep them…
In a world where monsters lurk in the shadows, Serina Velika is a hunter, born and raised to keep the balance between humans and everything that goes bump in the night.
But no one is safe in the dark.
When vampires viciously attack her and her father, she is left shattered and bleeding on the forest floor, forced to bear witness to the horrifying scene as they mercilessly take her father’s life. The one person who anchored her is gone and now she has nothing left to lose.
She embarks on a mission for vengeance, keeping her heart guarded and her loved ones at arm’s length. But fate has other plans.
After eight months of little to no answers, Serina crosses paths with three captivating vampires—Bastian, Nox, and Thorne, who propose an intriguing deal. With no other options, she reluctantly allows them into her life and is thrust into a world of deception, unaware that with every shared moment her resolve weakens and her emotions ignite like wildfire. Will their love conquer all, or will her need for vengeance tear them apart? Dive into this thrilling adventure where passion ignites, bonds are tested, and a new dawn of hope awaits. 18+ Adult content and explicit scenes AVAILABLE ON AMAZON Book Tour Organized By:
 R&R Book Tours
The Light Between Us is a Southeast Asian historical romance that defies time and space as an archivist explores Singapore’s tumultuous past through a supernatural connection.
At work one night, photography archivist Charlie Sze-Toh receives a misdirected letter from Wang Tian Wei, a 1920s colonial era Chinese photographer.
Through a mysterious digital folder and photographic plates, a conversation is sparked, leading to a romance that spans lifetimes.
In his time, Tian Wei scours a turbulent Singapore for his missing friend, Aiko, leading him to the perfumed chambers of a Japanese brothel. Meanwhile, in the modern day, Charlie struggles against a family dynamic dominated by her stepmother, a manipulative matriarch who uses family secrets as bargaining chips.
Communication starts to become difficult and Tian Wei’s letters are tinged by the increasing threat of Japanese Occupation. Will one last fate-defying letter from Charlie allow Tian Wei to keep their love alive?
Inspired by her research into Singaporean historical archives, Elaine Chiew weaves Chinese mythology and early 20th century colonial Singapore into this speculative epic.
Elaine Chiew is a writer, editor, creative writing teacher/mentor, and visual arts researcher. Her debut novel The Light Between Us (Neem Tree Press), long listed for the inaugural Cheshire Novel Prize, will be out May 16, 2024.
Her short story collection The Heartsick Diaspora (Penguin SEA 2019 & Myriad Editions UK 2020) explores the Malaysian and Singaporean Chinese diaspora living primarily in London, New York, and Singapore; it has been mentioned as a recommended read in The Guardian, The Straits Times Singapore, BookRiot and Esquire SG, been featured in literary festivals in Singapore, Malaysia and Kerala, received a Special Mention in the UK Saboteur Awards, and reviewed favourably in Malaysia, Singapore, UK and US.
She is also the compiler/editor of Cooked Up: Food Fiction From Around the World (New Internationalist, 2015).
Twice winner of the Bridport Short Story Competition in the UK, she has had numerous stories published in Singapore, US and UK anthologies, most recently with BBC Radio Four.
Originally from Ipoh, Malaysia, she has a J.D. from Stanford Law School and was a corporate securities lawyer working in New York, Hong Kong and London. In 2017, she received an MA in Asian Art History from Goldsmiths, University of London. She is based in London. You can find her on X @ChiewElaine and IG @epchiew.
My thoughts: In the archives of a Singapore gallery, Charlie catalogues photographs, finding on her screen one day a strange letter, she can’t work out what it’s doing there, but intrigued she saves it for later. After another appears, she decides, despite the fact it seems to come from another age, to write back. And so begins a rather unusual love story.
Charlie and her new pen pal, a 1920s photographer called Tian Wei, share the details of their lives – Tian Wei is searching for a young Japanese woman he considers his sister, she’s vanished and no one seems bothered. In modern Singapore Charlie is struggling with her family relationships, her stepmother is something of a nightmare, her half brothers not kind and she’s closest to her adopted brother Sebastian.
Sebastian’s business and romantic relationship are on the outs, and he vanishes for a time. But Charlie and Tian Wei sustain each other through their crises via their letters.
It’s a beautiful quantum entanglement, their letters, and later photos, reaching back and forth in time. But when Charlie crosses a line, things change in her time, and political changes in Tian Wei’s put him in danger.
It’s hard to define this book, part romance, part science fiction, part mystery, and it took me a while to like Charlie – she keeps all of her emotions very tightly bound, letting no one in. Tian Wei is much more open, there’s a joy and lightness to him for much of the book, despite his worries about Aiko, despite the political turmoil.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.
Hades and Persephone but make it a dark mafia romance please! Done!
Vengeful Dreams: A Dark Mafia, Forced Proximity Romance (The Vlasov Bratva)
Publication Date: April 17, 2024
Genre: Dark Mafia Romance
Obsessive hero
Slow burn until it’s not
Mistrust to lust
Bratva & civilian
Forced proximity
Grump & sunshine
Mafia Romance
He will burn the world for her, and does
A bit of groveling
“Who did this to you?”
Touch her & 💀
Daniella
Revenge,
I crave it,
But can’t get it on my own.
I ventured into the underworld and broke into the house of a monster.
And now, I have to pay the price for his help.
Work for the cold, ruthless Bratva prince,
The one whose name is whispered throughout the underworld,
And earn his trust.
But before I collect my part of the bargain,
I accidentally start an underworld war.
Kazimir
The Bratva hardened me, forged me into the perfect soldier.
Nothing surprises me.
Until I discover a little thief in my home.
The audacity of this woman,
A clever girl, aware of our world, but always keeping away,
Until now. Until she needs help when the more legal channels fail her.
I’m captivated by her graceful presence.
I can’t stay away. She calls to a part of me I thought was long burned away.
She came to the underworld looking for a dark knight,
Now I’m not letting her go. I want her—all of her.
And I will do anything to keep her in my dark kingdom.
Forever mine.
Even if it means breaking the rules and starting a war on her behalf.
Vengeful Dreams is the first book of the Vlasov Bratva series, set in the larger Midwest Underworld series. It’s a stand-alone darker mafia romance, with no cheating, a guaranteed HEA, and no cliffhangers. A morally grey romance, this book may not be suitable for everyone.
Triggers/Content Warning:
A heartbroken sibling
Reference to sex trafficking
Violence
Reference to drug abusing relative
Light stalking, more like haunting her
On page romance
Adult language
Impact play
Talk of starting a family, but there is NO pregnancy trope in this book
A corporal punishment in the criminal world
Destruction of those who hurt the FMC
Maiming of those who hurt the FMC
A Blood Oath
When Alexa isn’t writing, she can be found with a book in her lap and a mug of coffee or glass of red wine within reach.
A native of the North Woods, Alexa is an avid lake-jumper, beach lounger, and sunshine lover. Alexa is living a happily ever after with her own steamy hero.
Summer 2023, Alexa and her husband moved to the Southern Coast, changing from the court of winter and ice and pledging their allegiance to the court of sun and sea.
Alexa loves any type of love story. So you can find her writing both contemporary romance and fantasy novels. Instead of making a separate pen name, Alexa just adds her middle initial to her fantasy genre books!
Welcome to the tour for Illusion of Stars by Sarah Marie Page! You’re going to want to pre-order this one for sure!
Illusion of Stars: A Banter Filled Romantasy
Expected Publication Date: July 16, 2024
Genre: Romantic Fantasy
ACOMAF style romance
Feral love interest
You drew scars around my scars
Fade to black spice
He teaches her to be stábby
FMC is a terrible spy
Bridge Kingdom vibes
She’s stealing more than secrets.
As the royal physician of a tiny, windswept island, Isabel spends her days trying to keep the queen from dying and the mad king from streaking naked down the halls. But when her best friend is found murdered on the beaches, her world is ripped apart. Desperate for answers, she discovers a stash of letters that reveal a terrifying truth: the neighboring kingdom of Volgaard possesses a kingdom-shattering weapon and is poised to conquer everything in its path.
Seeking vengeance, Isabel infiltrates the enemy. Her mission? Woo Erik Lothgarson, the general’s steamy, illusion-magic wielding son, and steal the dangerous weapon. She can bring Volgaard to its knees—if she isn’t caught.
But as Isabel dances along the knife edge of deception, the lines between truth and fiction blur, and she must wrestle her quest for vengeance against her undeniable attraction to the enemy.
The heart-pounding tension of Danielle Jensen’s BRIDGE KINGDOM meets the snarky banter of Emily Thiede’s THIS VICIOUS GRACE in this swoon-worthy fantasy romance.
ramblingmads 