It’s the introduction to Kali James, a setup novel and it takes its time getting there. Specifically, spending so much time on the fact that she’s a costume designer and wears vintage styles and expensive clothing. So instead of building layers of world foundation or setting, we get clothing. A little bit would have been fine.
Kali is unaware of the fact she’s a necromancer, so the whole ghosts following her everywhere or asking for help while she ignores them, seems a bit ludicrous. That it takes a witch to say basically “ hey, hon, you’re a necromancer” feels far fetched .
There’s a murder, mystery and a goat shifter who gets her own series. For me , I find her annoying because she’s got little history but takes zero responsibility for her actions. So the author doesn’t give us much reason to connect with her.
I’ll give it another book but there’s so many more out there that read similar to this that it’s not a standout in my opinion.
Reluctant paranormal finds out there’s a whole different world out there. Plus she’s got a goat shifter bff. Investigates murder mystery. And ghosts!
Two things are impossible to walk away from: death and vintage clothing. Trust me. I’ve tried.
Moving across the country and opening a costume shop was supposed to be my chance for a normal life. What I wanted was a fresh start, one where the biggest danger would be a carelessly wielded sewing needle.
What I got was the ghost of a murdered reporter demanding justice, a stony-eyed enforcer I’m not sure I can trust, and a power I can’t control. Oh and my new goat shifter BFF? Hell-bent on trouble.
Now, my hunt for the killer threatens to expose a supernatural community determined to safeguard its secrecy at any cost. My only chance to survive is to embrace the legacy I’ve spent my life running from.
Fastening the Grave is the first book in the completed Kali James series, featuring a reluctant necromancer who finds herself in a world of werewolves, vampires, and ghosts. If you like your urban fantasy with quirky characters, a side of supernatural mystery, and an opposites attract slow-burn romance, this is the book for you.
Karina Espinosa has a terrific trilogy in her Last Valkyrie series. It starts with Raven Romero, the last Valkyrie left on earth when all the other Valkyries sealed themselves away in Valhalla, leaving the despised mortal humans to their fates.
Raven now lives on doubting her choice to remain behind, subsisting on sex, drugs, and alcohol, her wings torn off in a self inflicted rage. Her warrior’s life locked in away in a box that she has no intention of opening.
The author gives the reader Raven‘s past in alternating chapters, some that should come with trigger warnings. Especially an early chapter where Raven’s induction into Valkyrie life includes a graphic non-consensual threesome forced upon her by an older woman. FYI.
Her earthly quiet existence starts to unravel when a body is found with runes carved into it, a message meant for her. And old enemies are appearing wanting her magical sword.
The story is full of Norse mythology, twisted tales and betrayals. I like the author’s own use of cultural references within the established mythology. I do wish she’d explored the strained dynamics between the Valkyries and the power imbalance there.
However, it’s implied throughout most of their relationships and storylines. The toxicity of Odin and the unquestioning nature of the Valkyries following his orders is everywhere.
Especially in Raven’s history. It’s a perspective that you can view Raven as someone who has been indoctrinated into a godlike cult since a small child. Taught by abusive methods to insure that their “Father’s” rules and wishes are followed without question. Deaths, Wars, whatever he wants. Favorite’s are “blessed His attentions.
Then come his absence, and his mysterious abandonment. And things fall apart.
Raven’s actions on Earth reflect a person who is isolated from the only family and foundation she’s known. Even if she’s the cause of her situation. It’s a raw and believable character.
And as events go sideways and it looks like she’s at the center of a new otherworldly disaster targeting humanity.
The trauma, the fast paced action, and the complexity of the relationships between the different characters are all well crafted. Espinosa’s narrative twists and flows as hidden agendas are revealed and Raven fights her long held beliefs to see what is true about the people and paths open up to her.
If sex scenes, blood shed and raw material isn’t your thing, this might not be the best read for you.
She tore out her own wings. She can’t outrun what she is.
Raven Romero used to be Odin’s favorite — a valkyrie, a warrior, a daughter of Asgard. Now she pours cheap whiskey at a dive bar in Portland, sleeps off her hangovers, and keeps her head down among the humans she was once sworn to protect. The wings are gone. She burned them off herself. As far as Raven’s concerned, the gods can rot.
Then a body turns up carved with ancient runes — a message meant for her — and the quiet little life she built starts to unravel. The dead won’t stay buried, an old enemy is moving in the shadows, and a stolen sword could crack the nine realms wide open.
The only one watching her back is Fen: infuriating, magnetic, and far more dangerous than the bad-boy charm lets on. Raven swore she was done with gods, monsters, and men who growl when they’re angry. She was wrong about all three.
To stop what’s coming, the last valkyrie will have to pick up the blade she swore she’d never wield again.
Perfect for fans of snarky, hard-drinking heroines, Norse mythology with teeth, and a slow burn that bites. The first in a completed urban fantasy romance trilogy.
I picked this up because I thought the title was clever. The rest of the series are also terrific word plays.
Maya Daniels’ book introduces Hazel Byrne, a witch from the prestigious Byrnes family, the only one who doesn’t have any powers. Maya is the last of her powerful line, her parents deceased, and she’s been brought up by her grandmother, the head of the political magical coven in charge.
Hazel is a tough character to connect with. She’s young, quick to act and quicker to anger. Impulsive, clothed in the latest high fashion, the author wants the reader to see her as an engaging personality but often portrays her in scene after scene whining and acting like an entitled child. So just the opposite happens.
We’re told she and her best friend Sissily, were bullied horrendously as children by others in the coven, which resulted in Hazel’s current attitude. But we don’t see enough evidence or any of the dynamics to make it real.
The grandmother’s relationship with Hazel doesn’t ground the reader either.
There’s enough fast paced drama and action that the story moves quickly. And new elements are layered in to keep the reader’s attention going.
The character development will be key here in this series. Hazel is going to have to grow past this stage she’s in here to remain a relatable character imo.
Check it out if you like urban fantasy mystery and young woman main characters with witchcraft elements.
I was born into the Byrne bloodline—pure witch royalty. Too bad the universe skipped me when it handed out actual powers. No spells. No spark. Just attitude, fists, and a resting witch face sharp enough to cut glass.
With zero spells to my name, I became the coven’s best demon-slayer just to prove I wasn’t useless. Spoiler: no one was impressed.
My grandmother looked at me like I was a broken heirloom. The other witches either pitied me or wanted me gone. Only Sissily—my loud, loyal, batcrap best friend—stuck by me.
I’m Hazel Byrne, and magical disappointment was kind of my thing. Right up until I blew up the coven library.
That little disaster woke something inside me. Turns out I wasn’t powerless—I was sealed. Bound by blood pacts and buried secrets. And now that my magic’s out, every supernatural creep with a grudge wants a piece of me.
Now demons are circling, the coven’s in chaos, and I’m not sure if the magic inside me will save us—or tear everything apart.
If fierce witches, feral magic, and unhinged best friends are your thing, you’ll love Resting Witch Face. It’s the explosive first book in the Chronicles of Forbidden Witchery, a paranormal women’s fiction and urban fantasy series packed with chaos, heart, and hexed high drama.
I thought this would be a complete trilogy but it’s not. It’s just the first 3 part section to a longer multi sectional storyline arc.
The three books included here are
Shadowed Relics #1
Twisted Fae #2
Infernal Gate #3
Astrid Knightstorm is a powerful earth mage who is called on to solve paranormal mysteries around the world. Her familiar is a brain of an ancient dark sorcereress in a jar and her assistant is a Fae who does her researches and handles all inquiries for her small business.
It’s a good premise and works well for the most part. The beginning novel is terrific, has interesting characters and gives you a good idea of what Astrid’s life is like.
But it starts to go off by the second novel. The issue primarily falls into the relationship between Ember, her Fae assistant, who takes zero responsibility for her own actions in and out the Fae Realm, and Astrid. Astrid seems to feel she is responsible for everyone’s problems and actions, even though they are not only adults but perhaps beings older than she is. Accountably exists nowhere really here and that’s extremely difficult to accept as a reader.
This carries over to her unpleasant brother who remains a character who is someone who is underwhelming and one-dimensional.
That’s the biggest issue with the trilogy. It’s a fast paced action adventure urban fantasy. But low on character development and any real believable character growth and interactions.
Elements thrown in for plot twists but given little narrative depth or explanation.
So read it for the action sequences and adventure scenes. Not for the characters. Or if you follow the authors.
Astrid Knightstorm is a wizard private investigator who handles the cases no one else will touch. Her clients include fae, werewolves, vampires, and creatures that slip between worlds. Being a tough Texan helps, but it’s her wits and command of Earth Magick that keep her alive in a world where supernatural threats lurk in every shadow.
When ancient artifacts fall into the wrong hands, demonic forces tear at the edges of reality, and fae politics ignite dangerous rivalries, Astrid is pulled into conflicts that reach from Austin to the Vatican to realms most mortals never survive. Each case draws her deeper into a hidden war involving dark alchemy, unstable boundaries between worlds, and a power determined to unravel time itself.
With unlikely allies at her side, including a fae assistant, a werewolf, and the family she thought she lost, Astrid must confront monsters, destiny, and the secrets of her own past.
Some cases test your skills. Some threaten the world. And some force you to face the truth about who you are.
Magick For Hire: The Complete First Trilogy brings together the first three novels of the Knightstorm Arcane Investigations series, this action packed urban fantasy saga delivers a snarky wizard detective, supernatural mysteries, and a world where Magick hides in plain sight.
The Dusk Reapers (Cursebreaker #1) by J. T. Lawrence is the first book in her urban fantasy mystery series about a witch assassin in South Africa.
The location is one of the better elements, an unusual one that I don’t run into often. This first book is also features amnesia storyline around the main character. It’s resolved here by the end of the novel.
Asha Rook wakes up in a hospital. She’s been the victim of a horrific attack, suffered a significant brain injury and has amnesia. No idea who she is other than her identity from her identifications and driver’s license.
And the idea she’s in danger as well as the fact that she’s implicated in a murder, has her fleeing the hospital for answers.
Lawrence does an excellent job building the character of Asta, a woman scrambling to discover who she is in the middle of a murder investigation, and layout the structure of a urban fantasy world of witches, mages and spirits and dark realms existing within the city of Johannesburg.
A fluctuating pov that didn’t always work because the reader wasn’t sure whose perspective we were in made things confusing or complicated. Nicola or Asta? Sometimes we had no clue.
I don’t mind unresolved plot lines, especially in a first book. Usually they will carry over through the series. Here it’s the case of missing children left hanging as well as who was behind the original attack.
The character of Sam, the police officer, the maybe romantic interest, is ok. Perhaps he will be more fully developed as the series progresses.
Overall, a good start with some interesting elements.
If you are interested in something new, give it a try.
Cursebreaker: An Epic Urban Fantasy Action Adventure (6 book series)
Asha wakes up in the hospital with thirty-six stitches in her head and no memory of the attack that put her there. The damage to her skull was catastrophic, but she surprises the medical team with her lightning-quick healing—and by inexplicably sending their equipment flying across the room.
She soon learns that she is Asha Rook—The Cursebreaker—and she’s just become the prime target of every ruthless bounty hunter wizard in the Realm of Magic & Mayhem.
To add to the high stakes, a curse has landed an innocent woman in a terrifying asylum, and it’s Asha’s job to save her.
Asha must rely on her eccentric found family, finding belonging and banter with allies who accept her complex and dangerous nature. This includes an unnervingly attractive and steadfast cop (an epic slow burn), a sassy goblin who trades portal magic for tacos and lime milkshakes, and her beloved steampunk dwarf godmother, who is equally talented at roasting perfect potatoes as she is at creating magitech weapons.
Join Asha and her ragtag team as she embraces her destiny, navigating pocket realms and battling evil to break the ultimate curse. With more twists and turns than you can shake a wand at, this is a dark magic mystery with humor, adventure, and a whole lot of heart.
Fans of Patricia Briggs, Jim Butcher, and Ilona Andrews will burn through this totally addictive urban fantasy series.
What an unexpectedly great find. Different on so many levels, Ryan Attard is another new writer for me and his main character is a powerful Frost Mage. Shes just also happens to be bisexual, angry and lonely. Freydis, Frost Mage and town Executor, carrying out justice for the supernatural world in Vigrid Falls. When she’s not going to college.
Freydis, Frost Mage, is a conflicted character, whose backstory is slowly revealed over the course of the story as events unfold. Incredibly and unashamedly strong, she works out to maintain her physique, which is intimidating to match the reputation she’s gotten as someone who is cold and emotionally hard. Which is far from the truth.
Attard lays out the complex universe and supernatural politics of Vigard Falls where underneath the beautiful town and college campus where the wealthy students attend to their university studies, is another otherworldly city, complete with transportation systems.
It’s there where Freydis operates and reports to her boss on her daily enforcement of the laws and takes on whatever missions she’s given.
It’s werewolves against mages, against vampires with other fae or mythical beings thrown into the narrative.
Including small side stories of romance or crushes (Freydis is bi so while most of her romantic interests are women in this book I wouldn’t rule out that she might have a vampire in her life in the future. Romance really isn’t a main aspect of the book, it’s primarily about a larger supernatural suspense or intrigue element that is going to continue throughout the series. And how Freydis’ developing powers fit into this.
I absolutely got into the characters and the various aspects of the town and world building.
Can’t wait to see where the author takes them next.
Vigrid Falls looks peaceful — until you look beneath the surface.
The supernatural runs the world. Mages keep the balance.
Until a shifter is brutally murdered — and the victim’s family wants blood.
Enter Freydis, Frost Mage and town Executor. She’s young, brash, dangerously stubborn… and a college student trying to survive midterms while enforcing magical law. Keeping her double life separate is hard enough.
Then the murder turns personal.
What should have been a routine investigation spirals into something darker. This wasn’t random. It wasn’t simple.
It was planned.
As vampires quietly pull people off the streets, shifters call for open war, and the Mage Council hides behind ancient arcane law, Freydis uncovers a conspiracy that could tear Vigrid apart. In this city, secrets are currency. Trust is weakness. And magic is a weapon.
Good thing she’s angry.
Cold Fury is the gripping first book in the Frost Mage series — a sharp, noir-tinged urban fantasy packed with supernatural politics, deadly alliances, and a heroine who hits back harder than she’s hit.
I really enjoyed this urban fantasy story. There’s apparently a prequel out there that fills in the background for the main characters here and how she arrived at her current situation. As well as all the other secondary characters interacting with her that come from that prequel.
However , the author gives us enough information about that time period so we’re not at a disadvantage here as the story goes forward.
Olivia “Liv” is a retired fire elemental assassin who at the age of 16 was framed for a crime she didn’t commit. As a result Liv was forced to work for as a Shadow for the Conclave (magical ruling body) for a decade.
Now she’s free, name cleared and she’s back in Kansas City where she’s opening a magic shop. Until her old life comes back to interrupt her new start.
I love so many of the characters that McBride has created for her book and series. The older group of witches, including Liv’s aunt are fabulous and among my favorites. From their environmental battles with toxic gardeners to their hula hoop classes, every scene memorable and often hilarious. They’re real, intelligent people who care about Liv, going about things in their own ways.
Rafe, a werewolf black op who is the enemy to lovers maybe aspect of the story and series, is suitably flawed, and mysterious in his own ways. Where he fits in is left open-ended, which works.
There’s an ongoing storyline that starts with the reason Liv was framed, but eventually moves on into a much larger, more complicated plot that involves demons, hell fire, and prophecy at the end.
The end book leaves the reader immediately wanting the next story to see what happens with the characters and their lives. I am thoroughly hooked.
I had certain reservations about why Liv was so determined to do something on her own but later on, she answered that during a heartfelt conversation with Rafe. It was the answer that I wanted to see her grounded in the reality of the dangers of her situation. That one scene made all the difference.
I now need to track down Inferno Bound for the history of this series and main character while waiting for the next one to be released.
New author discovery and series unlocked. Fantastic! A winner!
This is set in the same universe as another of L.A. McBride’s series but as it’s the first book I’ve read of hers, that’s a series for another time. But the characters do crossover.
Ten years as a supernatural assassin did not prepare me for customer service.
Once I was called the strongest fire elemental in a generation. All that got me was sentenced to serve as a supernatural assassin for a crime I didn’t commit. Now that my name’s been cleared, the powers-that-be cut me loose.
Their only rule? Keep my head down and leave missions to other Shadows.
Sinking my blood money into a magic shop, I try to be a good little witch. I run my shop, join a geriatric coven, teach fire hula hooping classes on the side, and adopt a klepto packrat as my familiar. Avoiding Rafe Blackwell, the golden-eyed lone wolf charged with keeping me in line, is harder. And ignoring the vampires attacking witches in Kansas City? Impossible.
When bodies turn up with veins full of the same blood additive that landed me that ten-year sentence, I can’t afford to sit on the sidelines. Going rogue risks my newfound freedom, but the alternative is a city overrun with demons and Nectar-addicted vampires in a feeding frenzy. When my fire magic fails, it’ll take every skill I earned as a Shadow to take down the Nectar ring despite the enforcer determined to keep me out of it.
But if running a witch shop has taught me one lesson, it’s how to face anything with a potion bomb and a smile.
Fire Marked is the first book in the Alchemy of Witches series. If you love fast-paced urban fantasy with a witch ready to burn down the establishment, quirky found family, and a slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance, this series is for you.
It had been a while since this terrific series has been updated and through author’s comments at the end, I found out that, sadly, her long-time friend and co-author, Jilleen Dolbeare, had passed away last October 2025 from cancer.
Jilleen Dolbeare wrote many great urban fantasy series as well as the wonderful collaborations with Heather G. Harris. She’s going to be deeply missed by so many. My sympathies to her family and friends.
I’ve loved this series from the beginning when Bunny first arrived in hidden paranormal town of Portlock, Alaska. She was a newly turned (against her will) vampire with a rescue German Shepherd in tow, and became a part of the town and small Sheriff’s Department, solving mysteries and magical crimes in a very different way, involving mythical creatures and fantastical monsters.
And finding love and a mate along the way with a vampire Prince.
The characters are beautifully written, the mysteries are often heartbreaking and complicated, and stretches over multiple books. Even the smallest of roles and characters can become endearing, and pop up later to fill in narrative holes left by characters who have been lost. It’s done well, emotionally satisfying and makes the story feel more like a real community.
The Vampire and the Case of the Ghastly Golem is a great story. Full of loss, grief, high suspense, mystery and multiple storylines. Bunny and her co-workers and friends face one murder after another. These are people who have deep roots within their community. Harris makes the reader feel that loss, the impact just as deeply.
As the hunt for the killer continues, along with the investigation, there’s another important plot line happening. Connor’s father’s coming to the town. He’s got major plans for Connor, maybe for Bunny too. None of them good or in keeping with what either one wants.
That continues to be the next novel’s theme.
Who the villain is surprised me. And the outcome left other questions in place to be answered by the characters and story further down the series itself.
Heartbreaking, well written, detailed and beautifully executed.
I’m so sorry for Heather G. Harris for having to go on with this series without her friend and writing partner. But she wrote a very wonderful story that felt like both of them were very much together here in every part of the story and character.
Highly recommended. And go check out the other books by Jilleen Dolbeare as well as the charity that’s been set up in her name for Indie Fantasy authors .
bodies are bad. Dead bodies that break the laws of magic are worse.
Finding a dead fox in someone’s garden isn’t normally a police matter. Finding a dead fox shifter who should have turned human the second he died? Yeah, that’s more my department.
Remmy has no wounds, no blood and no obvious cause of death. He’s simply dead, trapped forever in his fox form. Apparently there’s only one thing that can do that to a shifter: drain every last drop of magic from them.
Great. Because what Portlock really needed was another magical murderer.
I’ve got an eidetic memory, a badge and two extremely questionable sidekicks. One is a traumatised werewolf who prefers being a German Shepherd, and the other is an ever-growing lynx with a criminal disregard for personal property. Between us, surely we can crack one impossible murder.
Then some local teenagers report seeing a huge creature stalking through the woods, covered in branches and leaves with blazing red eyes.
And red eyes are always bad.
I’m starting to think our mysterious monster and our dead shifter might be connected, which means I need to find whatever is prowling Portlock before anyone else ends up magically drained.
Unfortunately, murder isn’t my only problem. Connor’s father, the Vampire King of the US and an all-round arsehole, has announced he’s coming to town. And he’s bringing the other vampire leaders with him.
So now I have a supernatural killer to catch, a creepy forest monster to find and the most powerful vampire in America heading straight for my home.
Portlock has survived murderous shifters, deadly conspiracies and more supernatural disasters than any tiny Alaskan town has a right to. Hopefully we can survive this too.
Preferably without anyone else turning up dead.
Dive into this fast-paced urban fantasy series if you love mystery, humour, found family, and a slow-burn romance.
Don’t miss the rest of the Portlock Adventures!
The Vampire and the Case of her Dastardly Death, a prequel.
The Vampire and the Case of the Wayward Werewolf, Book 1.
The Vampire and the Case of the Secretive Siren, Book 2.
The Vampire and the Case of the Baleful Banshee, Book 3.
The Vampire and the Case of the Cursed Canine, Book 4.
The Vampire and the Case of the Perilous Poltergeist, Book 5.
The Vampire and the Case of the Cozy Christmas, Book 5.5.
The Vampire and the Case of the Hellacious Hag, Book 6.
The Vampire and the Case of the Malevolent Mermaid, Book 7.
The Vampire and the Case of the Ghastly Golem, Book 8.
How to Catch a Hellhound is the conclusion to the Hellhounds of Paradise Falls series by Shannon Mae and it’s absolutely one of my favorite stories of the series, a great way to finish it off.
Through the series we’ve been learning more about the different types of otherworldly beings who are living in Paradise Falls as well as following the Smith hellhounds as they each find their mate amid a mysterious new drama that comes their way and enlarges the current universe that everyone is familiar with.
That’s the story here. We get to see the events that brought Sheriff Paul to Paradise Falls, his perspective on Jude’s pursuit of him, and the town’s community itself. I always wanted his POV and this really connected me to him and see how they worked together as a couple. They absolutely meshed together so well, but it took them time.
Paul’s development is very much a terrific aspect of the story, not just the relationship. It pulls from past events and his and Jude’s storyline features importantly into further series and Paradise Falls itself.
There’s a great twist here and I really hope that it means we will see this couple as well as the other characters crossover into more of the forthcoming Paradise Falls series.
This is a great story and wonderful way to finish it all off. Highly recommended. As is everything else in the related Paradise Falls universe.
Hellhounds of Paradise Falls:
How To Flirt With A Hellhound #1
How To Hack A Hellhound #2
How To Tame A Hellhound #3
How To Trust A Hellhound #4
How Not To Kill A Hellhound #5
How to Catch a Hellhound #6 – finale
What else takes place in Paradise Falls?
Demonic Disasters and Afterlife Adventures (8 book series) more coming plus a new series
I’m not exactly sure how I became sheriff of Paradise Falls, but I take the protection of the people in my town seriously. That even includes Jude, who’s constantly pulling pranks in the hopes of getting arrested. I know he’s flirting with me, but how can someone as damaged as me be a match for his eternal good cheer? Never mind the fact that I may also be losing my mind—I’m getting crazy feelings about people, and the urge to act on them is getting stronger. My goal has always been to save people, not to harm them. Something is changing, though, and I’m not sure who I am anymore.
Jude
Being an assassin and a hellhound is all-around fun, and teasing my sexy sheriff makes my life complete. Lately, though, something’s been wrong with Paul. He’s been cranky and secretive, and I’m determined to get to the bottom of it. Is something from Paul’s past haunting him? Because if someone needs killing, then I’ll be happy to do it. Although maybe it’s time to show the sheriff what he’s really capable of. He’s a kindred spirit—I can sense it—and I’m only too happy to show him how hellhounds take care of the bad guys.
Tags: Sheriff Paul can sense things; Jude is, as always, ridiculous; there are numerous Beatle references, so get ready to have songs stuck in your head; Jude is the happiest assassin you’ll ever meet; these two have explosive chemistry; Paul might kill Jude (or at least shoot him); the entire pack is there for all the fun; Paul isn’t exactly what he appears; Oracles give the vaguest advice; trying to get arrested is Jude’s love language.
I absolutely love this story. Tea and Tarot is a side story in Annabel Chase’s completed and fantastic urban fantasy Crossroads Queen series.
It does help to have read that series to have a firm understanding of these characters and a foundation for their histories , the town and world building. Honestly, this makes me want to pick up that series and start over again.
That said, this is a wonderful story. We dive right back into the town and characters by way of the wonderful Tarot Mages we got to know in the Crossroads Queen series.
The fabulous cousins Camryn Sable and Gunther “ Gun” Saxon, and Indigo Briggs, all three former members of La Fortuna, a secret and ancient society of mages skilled in the art of tarot magic. Now along with Claude, the revenant, they are residing in Fairhaven. Cam and Gun are private investigators and , the focus of this story, Indigo, is trying to open a tea shop.
But Indigo is having trouble getting started launching her business. Then another mage appears with a surprise business proposal. Boone Fincher needs a fake fiancée that his strict ill father will approve of so Boone can get his inheritance.
Yes, it’s a fake fiancée trope storyline. And it works so well here. Chase has crafted a wonderful narrative with a great relationship between Indigo and Boone that’s got chemistry, vulnerability and shared background damage.
There’s also a side plot about Indigo’s past history, a dramatic event that comes back to haunt her and how that involves many other important characters from the Crossroads Queen series that just makes this even better and adds layers to Indigo’s story and her future adventures.
I really hope this is just the beginning of more stories like this in the Crossroads series universe. I adore the characters so much.
She walked away from the life she was born to live. Now she has one chance to build the life she’s always wanted.
Indigo Briggs was one of the most feared tarot mages in the business—until a job went wrong and she walked away from it all. Now she’s in Fairhaven, a quirky supernatural town with secrets of its own, trying to build something quieter: a tea shop, a fresh start, and a life she might actually deserve.
The only problem? Her new venture needs funding she doesn’t have.
Enter Boone Fincher—charming, infuriatingly handsome, and in desperate need of a fake fiancée. His father’s will requires him to marry a mage with a powerful lineage, and Boone is running out of time. The arrangement is strictly business: Indy gets the money she needs, Boone gets his inheritance, and when it’s over, they part ways.
Simple.
Except nothing about this is simple. Between a blind vampire with unsettling insight, a revenant who likes to lend a hand, a mysterious bone monster that wanders through the crossroads, and a ghost from her old life determined to unravel everything she’s built, Indy is starting to suspect the universe has a plan she didn’t envision.
Then the past she thought she’d escaped comes looking for her, and Indigo must decide whether she’s willing to risk everything for the future she’s finally begun to imagine—one that includes a love that was never supposed to be real.
Tea and Tarot is a Crossroads Queen Side Quest Novel—an enchanting cozy urban fantasy standalone with fake dating, witty banter, found family, and the slow-burn realization that happily-ever-afters are worth believing in.
