With any Kim Fielding tale there’s sure to be a hint at least of darkness, a layering of sadness or brokenness threading throughout the narrative.
But in Fire Stones it’s sheer horror, terrifying pain, and unescapable terror that lies waiting for the reader and main character.
Little match girl or fellow indeed.
In just 35 pages, in the typical Fielding way, the author brings us believably, heartbreakingly, into Brand’s cold, barely surviving life as an indentured servant to an mediocre magician.
In one terrifying night everything changes for him. In the worst possible way.
If you’re not a fan of horror fiction, this isn’t the story for you. It gets ever more quietly frightening for Brand, gut wrenchingly terror-stricken by the circumstances of his situation.
It’s definitely not for the faint-hearted. The ending, is at best, happily bittersweet . Completely Fielding.
There’s a slender romance, that we don’t have much of a framework for. Had that been a little more firmly established, this would have been a 5 star story.
As it is, Fielding’s given us pure chill-worthy Fielding. And that’s plenty great.
Born with a deformed foot and abandoned as a young child, Brand spent his youth in indentured servitude to a mediocre wizard. Now Brand is grown, but with no other prospects to support himself, he remains in his master’s employ, doing small chores and selling firestones on the bleak streets of Greynox. Until one bitterly cold day.
In this dark take on a classic fairy tale, Brand encounters the most sinister of magics. With his firestones gone, can he find his way to the light?
Dead Over Heals gives us another unusual pairing and storyline. The local sheriff, a werewolf, has been in several of the stories, especially the last couple that have involved hate groups against Otherlings.
Now Sheriff Vander Hale finds his mate when Fritz Tolliver is sent over by Skye Maddox to inquire about the open position there.
Fritz is adorably bumbling, as well as astonished to find that the silver haired werewolf is claiming to be his fated mate. He also sees dead people.
Unfortunately, moments later he’s also being haunted by a nasty ghost who seeks to undermine their relationship and his positivity.
Fritz was a harder character for me to connect with. I’m not sure I understood the mate bond here between the two as I kept expecting Vander Hale to sense the ghost and at least realize his mate wasn’t communicating everything that was happening.
Either way, this just was a odd story with most of it dealing with Fritz and his ghost, then eventually the resolution of removing the ghost and the romance.
There was a funny aspect to the ghost where he was mistakenly moved to another, but it was short lived.
For me, this was the story that misses the mark. And that could just be my perspective.
Read it because you’re reading the series and you’re curious as to who the Sheriff got as a mate.
It’s been twelve years since the Awakening. Otherlings are out of the paranormal closet. The whole world knows that creatures like vampires, werewolves, and witches exist. So, seeing dead people barely even rates on the freaky scale. Right?
Wrong.
Fritz Tolliver figures he must have done something terrible in a previous life to be afflicted with such a curse. In fact, every bad thing that has ever happened to him can be traced back to his unwanted ability. So, when a stupidly hot werewolf who’s way out of his league claims to be his mate, he should be thrilled. And he probably would have been if he hadn’t gone and gotten himself haunted by a nasty spirit on the same day.
When a human male strolls into the station asking for a job—and promptly spills an entire Americano on him—Sheriff Vander Hale has a feeling it’s going to be a bad day. Then, the door opens, the wind shifts, and suddenly, his whole world changes. There’s nothing he wouldn’t do for his mate, no battle he wouldn’t wage, even if his enemy is technically already dead. Unfortunately, there’s just one problem with his plan.
He’d go to hell and back for Fritz, but how is he supposed to fight something he can’t see?
The second volume of Chosen One books is where I realized they weren’t being grouped according to series but in a reading order.
Series broken up and interspersed with each other, along with single stories, to give the overall Chosen One plot arc a flow with the characters, relationships, and events as they occur inside each novel.
So with Volume Two we get:
🔹Hell On Earth: Hellhound Champions #1(already reviewed)
🔹Next to Nothing: The Chosen One #3
🔹Hell to Pay: Hellhound Champions 2
🔹Double or Nothing- extra bonus about Sawyer’s brother, Mikey.
All four books, in that order, keep setting up the reader and the characters for the ever developing arc and multiple relationships of the Chosen One and the battle he’s facing.
We get new Guardians, new mates for characters who will , if they aren’t already, hugely important to the safety of the Chosen, and his mission to find that being responsible for all the black magic and devastating events his evil has caused.
Blake’s writing brings us into multiple lives here. Those of the severely damaged children, of the traumatized adults that still carry all the pain and damage within and on them from those years of captivity. Damage that’s carved into them and is able to make us empathize with them completely.
When bear shifter Ben cries out, it’s not just his siblings that feels his anguish, but us too.
There’s fierce battles, high suspense, and lots of very hot sex , with mates who can’t get enough of their men.
There’s also some very funny elements as well. Need those to mitigate the dark moments that are becoming faster and more severe.
All the characters are amazing as is the multi storyline development. It’s getting increasingly complicated. Blake is upping the game, adding in mythology as well as new beings, layers of history as well as new people and their mates . It’s a lot to track as each is so important to the overall picture but it all meshes.
I hadn’t anticipated this type of collection but it’s great. It makes sense and stops a person from having to jump around from series to series. Love it!
So onto Volume Three! I’m picking up speed here! This is a binge reader’s paradise!
For the first time, Macy Blake’s two bestselling paranormal fantasy series are being published in a three-volume mega-verse box set!
Each volume will feature three full-length MM novels with dragons, hellhounds, vampires and more, with never before published bonus material. All in reader-requested chronological order.
Volume Two:
Hell on Earth: Hellhound Champions Book One
As alpha of the hellhounds, Meshaq is tasked by his goddess to be the police of other creatures. When he meets the mysterious Drew, a human on the run, Meshaq is drawn to him in a way he doesn’t understand. His duty is clear, but his feelings for Drew have him longing for things he can’t have. Magical forces collide, beginning a battle that will require all of Meshaq’s skill as the goddess’s champion. He may be the enforcer of the supernatural world, but Meshaq is in danger of losing his heart.
Next to Nothing: The Chosen One Book Three
Sawyer is closer than ever to fulfilling the ancient prophecy of the Chosen One, but the bonds between him and his newest guardians are giving him doubts. With his reluctant hippocamp and an egotistical fae prince, Sawyer has his hands full in more ways than one. The rules are changing, and Sawyer has to adapt quickly if he’s going to keep up, especially after he’s whisked away to the land of the fae, a place with cryptic customs. One misstep could very well lead to his death.
Hell to Pay: Hellhound Champions Book Two
Hellhound beta Solomon has no complaints. Life is fine. His pack and his goddess-given duties as a protector of the human realm are enough. So what if he’s a little bored and a smidge lonely? His scheme to get to know his human pack mate comes at the worst possible time, especially as Cody is convinced he works for a group of elite mob enforcers instead of the protectors of the supernatural world. When a magical attack draws Cody into the supernatural world, can Solomon convince Cody to join them in a dangerous mission to defeat a terrifying creature bent on raining destruction on them all?
Includes bonus short story:
Double or Nothing
Mikey Smith lives with what he calls his “flickers”. When he’s out in the world, sometimes other people flicker and change into something terrifying that no one but him can see. He’s been diagnosed with epilepsy, but part of him knows what he sees is real. When two men walk into his coffee shop, his world is turned upside down when they transform into something else… and they know he can see them. Asher and Quillon aren’t expecting to add a third into their mix… but neither of them are opposed to the idea either. When they meet Mikey, they’re drawn to him from the first moment. He’s a human exposed to their world, though, and the consequences are severe. Can Asher and Quillon protect their new human mate from the forces that threaten him?
When I was skimming through various titles, looking for a new author and quick story to read, I came across My Dragon Mate by Stella Rainbow, listed as a standalone Bi-awakening Fated Mates Romance. No reference to a series. Not in the title I was looking at.
New author, fantasy romance with a found family. I’m in.
What I noticed immediately is the author’s note , inside, that says this story is part of a connected series and should be read in order and as part of that universe.
Hmmm, ok. That needs to mentioned in the description. Because it’s absolutely true. For several reasons.
The child, Cam, is one of the three POV narrations here, and recovering from cancer. Her storyline is a major element we don’t completely understand as it’s part of the last series. Here she’s done, apparently recovered. All good except for a dad who isn’t recovered from that.
We aren’t given her history of her illness, her recovery, or what happened to her mother. All in the other series and necessary reading. It’s assumed we know it. Pop up characters? No idea who they are. What they are. What their relationships are.
It is obvious that this story alone can’t be enough to form a idea of what Stella Rainbow is as a author in terms of writing, although a reader gets a definite understanding of her preference for low angst and very happy, sunny romances.
There’s absolutely nothing as far as real emotional drama. Anything that starts to swerve into that territory is then quickly taken back into the comfort, sweet zone. A slight argument between the adults is remedied by the adorable daughter and dragon and father are back , happily, on the path to HEA.
Sweet, low angst romances with a found family element, such as a Interfering child, make for endearing stories. My Dragon Mate is that short Bon Bon of a tale, with several things that will make you seek out its previous stories.
Honestly, though, that description needs revising. Not a standalone by any standards.
If you’re a reader who wants a quick tale of love and family with a fantasy take? Try this. If you’re looking for lots of depth or storylines with complexity, this probably isn’t for you.
You know which reader you are.
Note: There is one element at the end with regard to Cam. I won’t go into it here as it’s a spoiler. But I’m still trying to decide if the way it’s handled (very much in keeping with the happy, poof, anything that’s realistic or anguish causing is eliminated manner) is disrespectful to those who make that life changing decision or something they would wish they had the ability to do themselves. I really don’t know.
Probably tells me stories like this are too sunny for me and even my fantasy books needs a darker element.
A human single father. A 2000-year-old storm dragon. A nine-year-old who wants them as fathers.
William When I stopped the gray-eyed investor from leaving my home in the middle of a storm, I had no idea I was playing right into Fate’s hands.
Raiden When I stepped into William Hawthorne’s house for a meeting, I did not know I was stepping into the home of my fated one.
Camille When my dad rejected his fated mate—a man who didn’t just seem like the sweetest person I’d ever met, but was also a dragon—I knew I needed to take matters into my own hands.
Tags: William is a single-dad, Raiden is way too old for first love flutters, we’re talking like 2000 years too old, Raph calls William an idiot (He’s a DRAGON, Will!), Cam is a little matchmaker, Raiden can be anything you want baby,_ Bi-Awakening, dragons are SO COOL, age gap for days, fated mates, Raiden makes the sky go boom, low angst, lots of fluff.
My Dragon Mate is a 24k words novella starring a slightly confused human; a sweet, 2000-year-old dragon; and a nine-year-old girl who’s determined to make sure they get their happily ever after. It’s a spin-off to Stella Rainbow’s Mages of Ravenshire series, and can be read as a standalone.
Note: Revised in Dec 2021. No new content was added.
I can’t begin to tell you how much I’m enjoying these adorable supernatural romances by Arden Steele. They go by so quickly and smoothly. Although each is a fated mates trope, Steele manages to put such a interesting spill on every new couple’s story and matchup, that I eagerly anticipate what I’ll find with the new tale!
Emerys Whitehill, part pixie and part Fae, has been a staple of all the stories so far. He’s a gorgeous, genuinely happy , blue-haired, bartender with a mysterious predilection for anticipating the future. I love Emerys!
So great he’s getting his mate, especially when he was part of a mystery in the last storyline. It’s resolved here , btw.
That’s when his mate shows up in a totally unexpected role. Cyrus Rathbone, Hellhound and employee of the MOA. That’s the de facto Otherlings Judge/Jury/Jail/Execution Organization who handles all the affairs between species and races.
Seems sweet, adorable Emrys has been accused of multiple murders and his newly revealed mate is there to take him in.
Delicious.
It’s a fabulous story. Exciting, romance on the run, a relationship that’s growing through communication and discovery of remarkable talents. Steele incorporates characters from Grin and Bear It, as well as our usual beings.
Pixie Little Liar is one romantic entertaining, engaging romp. I adored every bit of it.
This series and characters are a real joy.
Meet Emrys and Cyrus. Enjoy their romance and relationship! I’m highly recommending them!
There’s a heaviness to the air, the kind that makes the hairs on the back of Emrys Whitehill’s neck stand on end. Something is going to happen. Something big. Something that will change him forever. Despite his powers of precognition, however, a hellhound walking into the hotel to arrest him for a crime he didn’t commit is the one scenario he never saw coming.
As a seasoned bounty hunter, Cyrus Rathborne thought he had experienced it all, but realizing his most recent target is his mate throws him completely off his game. While he can’t deny the connection, Emrys is wanted for the murder of a royal, and he won’t let those big innocent eyes deter him from doing what is right. Yet, the more he gets to know the sweet pixie, the harder it is to shake the feeling that the guy might actually be telling the truth.
He should have trusted his instincts.
It soon becomes clear that someone is determined to make Emrys disappear—permanently—and the only thing standing in their way is him. Transforming from hunter to protector, Cyrus will risk everything to keep his mate safe, because what started as just another job is now the one mission he can’t afford to fail.
What an absolutely hilarious, sexy, thoughtful, fantasy mystery romance. The Dragon Experiment really has it all here. Starting with the confidently engaging Fabian Draco, the dragon species historian who’s constant search for knowledge of all types is only equaled by Fabian’s enormous amounts of sexual encounters. Of all types, of all genders , species and areas of play.
When Fabian’s straying attention can be pulled towards any one subject or being at any given moment. Fabian’s brilliant brain is more likely to be off wandering through the amazing dragon archives then focusing on the car about to hit him.
This incredible character is a true joy and such a source of so many emotions here. For both the reader and Dr. Rhys Griffith. Or Dr. Rhys as Fabian will call him at first .
They met during a confusing encounter, at least for Fabian’s pov, at a mall, where Fabian thought he was getting a very pretty “purity “ ring from someone handing them out at a booth (The Professor’s Dragon #2).
Flash forward, the ring isn’t coming off Fabian’s finger, (not that’s he’s the one concerned) ,and it turns out it’s actually a medical gathering instrument for a research project headed Dr Rhys Griffith
Rhys is a sorcerer who’s research, involving sexual energy and metaphysics just might be more important then anyone expects.
This story is a romance, and a mystery, one that carries huge implications for all races. How it’s researched and resolved is as satisfying as how the romance grows into a solid relationship.
It’s funny, strong with multiple characters and storylines. There’s several hints about the next book and the character who so badly needs his story told.
I just adore this couple, especially Fabian. He’s right out of that fabulous school of brilliant absentminded Professors. Only this time he’s a sex positive dragon. Be still my heart.
The Dragon Experiment is a well written fantastic novel , filled with engaging characters and a plot that adds so much to the series foundation as well as overall arc the author is building.
Read all the stories in this universe so you’re familiar with the events that have occurred and the characters and relationships that are referred to.
I’m highly recommending them all, including this one.
Who knew sleeping around could save the entire species?
I’m a simple dragon. Give me knowledge, give me research, give me rings for my hoard, and give me athletic men who want to get sweaty between the sheets… or anywhere else. Those things make me happy. Other things… well, who cares about those?
Turns out, I should have cared. Or at least paid attention. Because I somehow signed up for a scientific study run by a shy, nerdy sorcerer with the body of a god. And the study just happens to be about my favorite form of exercise.
It doesn’t take long for me to know I want to do more than science with Rhys. I’ve never been the kind of dragon to mix feelings with fun, but Rhys could be the one person who meets all my needs, even if he won’t wear a ring on every finger.
But when his research becomes more important than any of us could have imagined, our relationship enters a new phase. Now it’s up to me to show Rhys how much he’s worth… both to me and to the future of his species.
The strange, tormented romance of Jude Cohen and Roman Meyers, whose families are the Elven equivalent of the the Montagues and the Capulets , continues on in Elven Game.
Jude, a game coder, had figured out in the last story, that all the monsters everyone were encountering , except for Royal, were ones he had help create for a online game.
Together, Jude , Roman, and a encapsulated Royal in a charm, head to NYC to fight the monsters.
That’s where author Lawless basically explodes a already complicated plot into shards of high action, deeply painful scenes involving family, shocking revelations about trust and the truth behind everything they thought they knew.
Grab your popcorn, because you won’t be able to put this down!
Jude and Roman are still so new in their relationship. Plus Jude is still figuring out who he is within his status as a Elf and a being who can handle the Aether. That enormous stuff.
Lawless does an excellent job with both characters, their personalities and mindsets in this incredibly stressful situation. One that with each new stage adds more pressure to them personally and to their new relationship. So well written that their emotions just pull at you!
While all that is occurring, Lawless is throwing new wild monsters to fight at our heroes, that also includes Royal in some heartbreaking scenes. As well as Addy, Jude’s grandmother and Roman’s former partner.
As noted in the description, this book ends on a cliffhanger. Sigh.
I really dislike cliffhangers. But I will say the reader will see this coming.
So after this fantastically woven tale of heartache, bruising revelations and fast paced ,white- knuckle action of fantasy warfare, I’m more than ready to wait to see how Lawless handles the finale in Elven Heir. It’s due out in August of 2022. I’ll be here waiting.
In the meantime, if you’re a lover of fantasy romance and fiction, start reading this series from the beginning in order to understand all the intricate character relationships, plot storylines, and family histories.
The game I’ve been coding for over two years is finally released. And so are the creatures within and wreaking havoc in New York City.
Roman and I have to stop them.
But before we can, we have to figure out how it happened and who is responsible.
Everything I’ve come to know about my legacy comes to a head when we venture from the small town of Hamlet Cove into the world of monster-hunting in the Big Apple.
The rules have changed and the world is burning.
Is it too late to save it? Or will we burn with it?
Elven Game is a gay urban fantasy romance with two magical elves, a powerful baby troll, and a cataclysmic event that threatens the dimension.
The Scars That Bind Us, the first book in Michele Notaro’s urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts, takes in a scary, horrific universe, especially if you’re not human.
Here , the revelation that mages and shifters existed along side humanity did not go over well. WWIII happened, countries, governments, peoples and environments were devastated and divided. So too were species. With shifters and the magi at the bottom of the species pile.
I won’t recount it here. You can read it. People so fearful of those that make them feel less powerful ,the prejudice. So they relegated to a status as “others “ ,as less than equal. Easy to control, confinement to compounds. Tagged. Registered.
Notaro ‘s has the ability to bring the ability to transfer these devastating elements to this universe and the lives and conditions the shifters and magi now live under.
It’s very emotional reading when the narrator is magi Madeo Driscoll, compound born, paired to another mage Jude Driscoll, almost since birth. A dyad. Paired magi which increases their magical strength . Which for the government meant sending them out to fight in wars when they could barely walk. More tools than people, or children in this case.
The anger, trauma, and damage Mads (for Madman) carries within him and in the enormous amount of scars on his body is there in his words and actions throughout the story and events.
Jude, his soulmate and brother, whose presence has seen everything Mads has and been there to help heal him, is as quiet and powerful a man as Mads is verbally and emotionally angry. Yin and Yang. So great a couple and yet there’s no romantic attachment. It’s a brotherly love and bonding.
The other love is coming in the form of Cosmo Ono-Nai , alpha of a pride of Lion shifters and the new team Mads and Jude are supposed to work with.
The story has a wonderful found family element with another young magi, Logan Torres, that was rescued from a brutal attack by Mads and Jude. As well as the overall arc and storylines that stem from the tears in the universe that a mysterious group on Earth keep opening up and the monsters that pour through.
Notaro manages to build a continuous atmosphere of anxiety and suspense due to the unstable nature of the status of our characters. They basically have no rights, no say over their future so when we or Mads start to get invested in a relationship, any of their relationships, it comes with a equal amount of trepidation and fear.
It ends with a uneasy HFN.
Which makes me want to grab for the next one immediately.
There’s a trigger warning at the beginning of the story. It’s about assaults that happened in the past, off page. But even without them happening in current time, there’s enough emotional content that it’s intense , and might make some people feel very uncomfortable. Please read the warnings so you can make the best decision for yourself.
Tremendous storylines, great characters and amazing world building, as awful and believable as it feels.
What kind of mage would be crazy enough to crush on a shifter? Me. Apparently me.
The world is a messed-up place. Especially for those of us who have magic, and I know just how terrible it can be firsthand. Which is one of the reasons I try to stay away from people… humans and shifters especially.
Unfortunately, the NHSO forces magi to work alongside shifters to help protect the humans from taragorians—scary beasts from another realm. Which means I’m thrown onto a new team and forced to work with Cosmo Ono-Nai, a lion shifter.
And for some reason, I can’t keep my eyes off him.
The Scars That Bind Us is a 115K word novel and the first book in the MM urban fantasy series, The Magi Accounts.
*Intended for adults only. Please read the trigger warnings at the beginning of this novel.
Dragon It Out, the third installment in Arden Steele’s Blackhaven Manor series, is my favorite yet. Fated mates is central to this series but instead of the quick mating of the previous novels, this is a slow mating romance, in a novella.
Surrounded by a mystery and full of suspense, with just a fantastic couple at its heart.
Uriah Maddox, dragon shifter , brother to siblings, Skye and Thade, is half of our fated couple. He’s thousands of years old, yet still mired in guilt over a past loss. One that’s keeping him from moving forward with his life, even when he meets his mate.
That’s Kit Meyers, human, and someone clearly in trouble. He arrives at Blackhaven Manor in at most inauspicious way. His car breaks down in the parking lot and he doesn’t have the funds to repair it.
Odd how things meant to be happen at Blackhaven just when they need to.
Scared Kit and huffy Uriah, in full out surly mode, are a great couple. One , a human, in survival mode, the other, a dragon, attempting to flee at every second, avoiding the being he knows to be his mate. Plus two exasperated siblings watching it all.
Combined with a very serious danger to Kit in a past that he’s on the run from? And Dragon It Out is just a great exciting fantasy romance, with a touching romance, and a suspenseful side element.
Steele’s ability to add small scenes with secondary characters in a diner, just make this story that much richer.
I enjoyed everything about this. As I said my favorite so far. And loving this series.
Smooth flowing, well crafted, and really quick romantic reads.
As some of the last remaining dragon shifters in the world, Uriah Maddock and his siblings are regarded as something akin to royalty in the paranormal community. It’s one of the main reasons their hotel has become such a coveted destination for Otherlings. All he wants, though, is to be left alone. He’s not looking for love or romance. In fact, he actively avoids relationships and all their damning consequences. Too bad his meddling sister didn’t get the memo.
Kit Meyers is pretty sure he’s hit rock bottom when his car breaks down in the small, mountain town of Echo Falls. He has no money, no place to live, and no prospects. When a not-so-chance encounter leads him to the infamous Blackhaven Manor, he figures he’ll stay for a few weeks, earn some cash, then head back to the safety of the road. But all that changes when he meets a surly dragon shifter with wounded eyes and even more baggage than himself.
Uriah can’t commit to a houseplant, let alone to being someone’s mate. Convinced that Kit is better off without him, he’s prepared to leave everything behind if that means the skittish human will be safe and happy. Yet, as the days pass, he keeps finding new excuses to stay, until he’s finally forced to admit that he’s not going anywhere.Especially when he realizes he’s not the only dangerous person in Kit’s life.
What an extraordinary story. It takes place in an alternate England, where magic and its users are to be strictly regimented, constrained by laws and prevailing ruling opinion. Anything or anyone with opposing viewpoints or uses of magic are quickly apprehended, accused of treason, and sent off to the impenetrable Blackwood Gaol to “await “ trail.
Magical, depressing Blackwood Gaol, who’s dampener’s prevent any of its prisoners from using their magic. Runes inscribed onto manacles, or embedded into the very walls themselves, seem to crush the very essence of magic within those jailed there.
We start with the journey of Dr. Thomas Brighton, imprisoned,accused of using dangerous magic . He’s a professor of theological magic but now he’s being thrown into a single dark cell in Blackwood. In an instant he’s gone from esteemed introverted college professor to someone who has lost everything.
It becomes a intimate portrait of a man in isolation, learning what it means to be deprived of nutrition, stimulation, references of times. We see it lead to bouts of depression, poor health as the cold and non existent meals tear at his physical condition, especially the loss of the magic that’s always been such a essential part of him. It’s raw, gritty, and real.
The person in the cell next to him? Winter, convicted of treason and murder. First a disembodied voice , then a hand, through a tunnel.
The relationship these two people build is at first tenuous. Especially when Thomas finds out that Winter is unapologetic about their murder sentence.
But isolation has let Thomas have more time to think about all those preconceived notion’s he’s held , about magic, and non-binary Winter is about to have a few more revelations to come.
The story builds , towards a February execution date for Winter and a increasingly questionable trial date for Thomas, as they talk, learn about each other’s magic and history.
I thought this was just a masterpiece of speculative fiction. The universe is created, the people clearly seen in those cells, for all the walls around them, and the HFN ending just amazing.
There’s two previous stories I haven’t read . I will get to those asap.
Meanwhile, put Winter’s Dawn (Flos Magicae #3) by Arden Powell on your Must Read List. It’s incredible.
Thomas Brighton, a professor of theoretical magic, has been accused of treason. Imprisoned in the bleak Blackwood Gaol as he awaits his trial, he is cut off from his magic and his studies: a fate worse than death for the scholar who has devoted his life to academia. His only company is Winter, the mysterious prisoner in the neighbouring cell. As Thomas’ trial drags nearer, their whispered conversations are the only thing keeping him from giving in to boredom and despair.
Winter is a radical, a murderer, and a traitor to the crown. Everything Thomas fears and looks down on. But as Blackwood continues to crush his spirit and his magic, Winter might be his only ally. And Thomas might be Winter’s only chance of escape. Because if Blackwood and its guards don’t kill them both, the hangman’s noose surely will.
Winter’s Dawn is a 24,000-word fantasy novella with a male lead and a nonbinary love interest. It is part of the Flos Magicae series, set in an alternate 1920s universe with magic. All the stories are standalone historical fantasy romances and can be read in any order
