Spotlighting today is the upcoming beautiful Snow White & Rose Red retelling, Beyond the Border Forest: Into the Prawdziwy Las Series: The Immortal Seasons Cycle Book 1 by Molly Haniszewski. Let us now step beyond the border.
Beyond the Border Forest: Into the Prawdziwy Las Series: The Immortal Seasons Cycle Book 1
Expected Release Date: September 30, 2025
Genre: LGBTQIA+ Snow White & Rose Red Retelling
Features
🍄 Fairytale retelling 🌈 Queer Rep ❤ Plus Size Heroine 🌲 Enchanted Forest 💙 Trans Love Interest 😂 Hilarious Banter 🦌 Slavic Folklore ☕ Studio Ghibli Vibes 💪🏻 Unlikely Heroes 🩷 Sapphic Romance 🌟 Riddles ❄ Seasonal/Elemental Magic
Two kings rule the ancient woods—the Oak King in summer, the Holly King in winter—and no mortal may cross into their realm without leave. But when eighteen-year-old Rowan Gwózdek’s sister vanishes, Rowan defies the old laws and enters the forbidden forest, desperate to find her. She isn’t alone for long. Keziah, a trans (and very handsome) hunter with a shadowy tie to the Oak King, offers his help—and a perilous path to the Bear Maiden, a creature said to grant wishes. Together, Rowan and Keziah face mossmen, a wood dragon, and other servants of the forest kings.
But danger lurks deeper still. Caught between the warring Oak and Holly Kings, Rowan is forced to take sides in a battle far older and fiercer than she ever imagined. Saving her sister could cost her everything—including her way home.
Join the Kickstarter! It is the only place you can buy a hardback of Beyond the Border Forest! And you’ll also be able to get discounted paperbacks, ebooks, and other fun book-related goodies.
In our spotlight today is the first book in ‘The Wrath of Chaos series’, NEMESIS.
Nemesis (The Wrath of Chaos Book 1)
Release Date: August 1, 2025
Genre: Dark Romantasy
Features
• Morally Grey Shadow Mommy • A Fae King who Yearns • One Horse Trope — But it’s a Dragon • Delicious Banter and Tension • Dragons x Dragon Riders
The Asherian War has ushered Earth and its population into a new age. Humankind has gone, giving rise to a tenuous society of other races once confined largely to shadows and stories. The new paradigm is overseen by the Celestials, whose terrestrial ambassadors, the Legacies, wield a potent and manifold elemental magic—one ruled by the astrological sign one is born under. They were instrumental in banishing the dragons—ravenous and mindless beasts—to the gloomier land of a place known as the Outer Edge. Astraea, the powerful general of the Legacy Legion, cannot stand by when two massive dragons descend on the Legacy Compound and abduct her younger sisters. Leaping on one of their great scaly backs, becoming a willing captive to the darker margins of their world, she and her siblings undertake a shocking and revealing journey, one where prior deceptions are lifted, where alliances fall and former enemies become allies and where new, unexpected dangers are born. Dragons, Astraea learns, are hardly the mindless creatures she knew them to be—they are, as one named Nemesis tells her, thoughtful seekers of peace, with a wholly different perspective on the Asherian War, and their banishment to the Outer Edge. As Astraea and her sisters reconcile themselves to this new reality, the fae king, Asher—so named for the war, and who is very much in love with Astraea—pursues them to the Outer Edge. Though he can be pompous and presumptuous, there is no doubt Astraea herself is drawn to him. Now, as she cautiously opens her heart, and arms herself with new understanding, she and the others must also prepare to confront those who stand in the way of peace.
Known to many as “Shania Fillmore” of YTV’s THE NEXT STAR SEASON 4 and THE NEXT STAR: SUPERGROUP, this small-town girl from New Brunswick, Canada, has taken a turn from singing on television to pursuing her writing dreams.
Music, visual arts, reading, and writing are what she lives and breathes. The art world is her truest passion.
Settled back in her hometown, Shania Scichilone has spent her time as Musical Director during show season, and the rest of her time has been filled with writing and learning digital arts.
Her debut series, FATES DIVINE, begins her new career as an author.
This cover is so serene! Which is why it got caught in my spotlight! To Kiss the Sea by C.H. Carter is a sapphic fantasy fairy tale. Let’s dive deeper.
To Kiss the Sea
Publication Date: October 31, 2023
Genre: Sapphic Fantasy/ Fairy Tale Fantasy
Features
🌊 Fairytale retelling 🌊 Mermaids, pirates, and spies – Oh my! 🌊 Force proximity 🌊 Enemies-to-friends 🌊 LGBTQ/Queer normative society 🌊 Found family 🌊 Mental health rep 🌊 Multi-POV
In the Birde Isles, there’s a saying: You cannot take what the sea is not willing to give. Ally Kingfisher never gave it much thought until she experienced the sea’s wrath firsthand. But after a near-drowning leaves her with a deeply ingrained fear of the water, Ally still finds herself inexplicably drawn to its depths. As if something is calling to her from beneath the waves, and it only grows louder each year. Pasha is being punished for something she didn’t do, sentenced to a life of solitude until her kin return. But mermaids aren’t meant to live alone. Desperate for companionship, Pasha makes a deal that goes spectacularly awry, affecting the lives of everyone on the Isles for years to come. When a pirate captain kidnaps Ally’s mother and demands Ally deliver the ransom personally, she is forced to leave land for the first time. Turning to Pasha, the one creature whose help she doesn’t want but whose power over the water she needs, Ally strikes a new bargain to get her to her mother. But she’ll have to confront more than her fears along the way… Because even those in favor are still at the mercy of the sea.
C.H. Carter is a fantasy author with a lifelong love of the genre in all its forms. In middle school, she wrote a fan letter to Tamora Pierce and received the most encouraging reply! That experience cemented her desire to become an author. (She also still holds out the hope they can meet in person one day!)
When not writing, you can find her working on a number of rotating projects (Crochet, anyone?) and obsessing over her two rescue dogs.
Caught in my book spotlight today is the best-selling spicy forbidden age-gap college romance, NEVERMORE by Monique Shepherd. Intrigued? Let’s take a look!
Nevermore: A Forbidden Age-Gap College Romance
Release Date: May 20, 2025
Genre: Dark Romance
Features 🐦⬛ Forbidden age-gap M/F 💜 Broody Professor X College student 🐦⬛ Edgar Allan Poe Vibes 💜 He falls FIRST 🐦⬛ Touch her and 💀 💜 BDSM Exploration 🐦⬛ Impact play 💜 S/X in a library 📚🥵
“Sometimes the most forbidden fruit is the sweetest.”
Kieran McKnight: Ten years ago, my world crumbled around me. Losing my wife turned me into a shell of a man, stuck teaching entitled Ivy League brats by day and drowning my pain in meaningless sex by night. The club has saved me countless times, until she walks into my classroom. There’s something behind the pain in her eyes that pulls me in, and even though I know she’s forbidden, I can’t stay away, no matter how hard I try. Deirdre Ravencroft: For the last year, I’ve been running from my tortured past, hiding amongst the shadows in hopes that he won’t find me. When I end up in a small town in Connecticut, I’m determined to take control of my life—so I fill my time as a cocktail waitress by night, and a student by day. I stick out like a sore thumb among these snooty frat boys and sorority girls, but one thing draws me in: the broody professor teaching my literature class. I know I shouldn’t cross the lines of temptation. But when an embarrassing incident forces us together, we find ourselves caught in a whirlwind of heated moments, and I start to wonder if I can really stay away… or if I even want to.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Monique Shepherd is an author from Texas who has been an avid reader and writer since she was sixteen years old. Monique is very much a mood reader and mood writer.
When not writing, Monique is a nurse and a mother of four kids who keep her on her toes, and has four fur babies running around.
Monique enjoys exploring different worlds of romance whether it is writing about steamy cowboys in her small town contemporary romances, to obsessive vigilante and Mafia kings, to her Gothic academia romantic suspense duet.
Her favorite hobbies include writing, of course, traveling, attending concerts, improv comedy shows, and spending time by the water with her children.
Follow Monique on IG @moniqueshepherd_author & TIKTOK: @monique.shepherd6
Romantic fantasy and Irish mythology combine in this week’s spotlight with the stunning ALL GODS MUST DIEby Soraya Cole! Full of mystery, betrayal, a unique magic system, and a prophecy, get ready to be brought on one epic adventure, and this is book 1! Let’s read on!
All Gods Must Die by Soraya Cole (All Gods Must Die #1)
Release Date: September 2024
Genre: Romantasy/ Irish Mythology
Features
✨A strong female lead who can fight ✨Fated mates ✨“Who did this to you?” ✨ Fae. Gods. Monsters. ✨Competition with trials ✨Irish Inspired Mythology ✨Shadow and Light powers ✨Sloooww burn (But definite spice in book 2) ✨A prophecy ✨Action. Adventure. Mystery
ENTER A WORLD OF SHADOWS AND LIGHT… Seren was born into a world divided by shadows and light. And yet… she can wield both. She fights against the corruption plaguing her kingdom, but when dark creatures breach the shield and begin slaughtering under the cover of night, her world is thrown into chaos. To save her people, she enters the savage guards’ competition. A deadly game of betrayal, bloodshed, and lies with hopes of winning an audience with the royals. But the competition is only the beginning. As secrets unravel, Seren discovers a world far larger and more dangerous than she ever imagined. Gods. Fae. Monsters. And a prophecy that could destroy everything. In a world of Sidus and Caligo, where fae, humans, and beasts collide, one truth remains: All Gods Must Die.
Soraya Cole is a fantasy romance author. All Gods Must Die is her debut fantasy series and is inspired by Irish Mythology.
When she’s isn’t creating fantasy worlds with strong female leads and swoon-worthy heroes, she is spending time with her family in Ireland or trying to chip away at her never-ending tbr that only seems to grow bigger.
Soraya can be found on TIkTok and Instagram @sorayacoleauthor.
Featured in the spotlight this Thursday is the romantic fantasy REALM OF SILK AND STARLIGHT by Ashley J. Vinson.
Realm of Silk and Starlight (The Divine Realms)
Release Date: April 8, 2025
Genre: Romantasy Features
✨Lovers to Enemies 💙Enemies to lovers ✨Slowburn 💙Morally gray characters ✨He falls first 💙Touch her and ☠️ ✨Fated Mates 💙Spice ✨Unlikely Allies 💙Found Family ✨Forced Proximity 💙High Stakes ✨Divine Beings
In a world torn between the mortals and the divine, Aerilyns life took a shocking and unexpected turn. She heard the stories, that those who die the most brutal of deaths can be blessed by the Gods and join the divine in their respective realm, but she never imagined that her own tragic death would unveil a destiny beyond her wildest dreams. Aerilyn goes from being a slave to the crown to pay off her fathers debt, to a tragically brutal death. Awakening within the realm of the divine, she finds herself the object of affection for a charming high lord, but beneath his alluring surface lies a treacherous tapestry of lies that could dismantle everything she’s come to cherish. Haunted by guilt and betrayal, Aerilyn must confront her tumultuous past as she fights against encroaching darkness that threatens the balance of the world as they know it. Will she be able to utilize her fiery spirit to help unify the realms of the divine, or will her passion only deepen the rift between her and her fated mate? Dive into the pages of Realm of Silk and Starlight and discover a tale where love and vengeance collide in the most unexpected ways. Will she harness her inner strength to bridge the worlds as the bringer of peace – or will she be the reason that it all comes crumbling down once and for all?
Ashley J. Vinson writes romantic fantasy inspired by the stories and ideas she fell in love with as a child. Born in Michigan, she studied in Michigan and Florida before beginning to travel the world, as her husband was in the Military. With experience working at Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando Studios, her love for stories and romance started with the classic tales of happily ever after that we grew up with. After she was introduced to the idea of happily ever after, she began writing stories of her own at the age of five.
Now, she writes stories primarily for an adult audience.
When Ashley is not writing or reading, she enjoys exploring wherever her husband and she are stationed, watching movies, or playing the Nintendo Switch.
Okay, witch hates warlock. Warlock hates witch. Warlock falls for witch. . . . Things are about to get very, very complicated in Potions & Prejudice by Tee Harlowe. Let’s see more!
Potions & Prejudice (Moonflower Witches Book #1)
Release Date: June 3, 2025
Genre: Cozy Fantasy
Features ⦁ Enemies to lovers ⦁ He falls first ⦁ Slow burn ⦁ Cottagecore ⦁ Cozy fantasy ⦁ Only one closet Elspeth Moonflower just wants to cast a spell. Unfortunately, that’s impossible due to a curse her grandmother cast that forces every witch in her family to marry before using magic. As a result, Elspeth and her sisters are outcasts, helping their mother run her traveling apothecary shop—while she complains that her daughters are all magicless spinsters. When their cart breaks down and strands them in the charming village of Thistlegrove, Elspeth’s older sister meets a handsome warlock who’s smitten. If only the warlock’s best friend wasn’t completely insufferable. Draven Darkstone is broody, arrogant, wealthy—a perfect example of why Elspeth never wants to marry. But for the sake of her sister, she needs to be nice. Which is hard when all Draven does is glower at her. It’s even harder when the glowering turns to longing glances. It’s downright impossible when he kisses her. Little does Elspeth know, the line between love and hate just got thinner.
Potions & Prejudice is a low-stakes fantasy of Legends and Lattes meets the romance of Bridgerton, in this spicy cozy fantasy romance with a grumpy sentient cottage, an anxious miniature dragon, and all the cottagecore vibes.
Teaming with R&RBookTours this week to help celebrate the release of“Shadow of the Yew Tree” by Kate Gately! You must heed our warning and check it out!
Shadow of the Yew Tree (The Mythic Bones Duology #1)
It seemed a lifetime ago that Dr. Ronan Gallagher had succumbed to his obsessive need to uncover the deepest secrets of the Codex Druidicus, a grimoire of the very darkest magic. Though he’d tried to protect his closest friends from a threat that had followed them through multiple lifetimes, the choices made by the Druid doctor had been a betrayal of not only his friends but his own sacred oaths—a betrayal he would pay for with his life. Through the intervention of the Otherworld, he was given a second chance on this earthly realm to set things right. Yet, while the curse of the evil Sorcerer Cassius, ancient Child of Rome, might have been vanquished together with the Codex, the torturous tendrils born of Ronan’s pride and obsessive weakness still thrive in the shadows, their reach extending further every day. When his fellow Druids learn of a massive explosion that has reduced a secret experimental Wraith facility to ruins, none can understand how Phoebe Ashburn, the sole survivor of the tortured experiments, has survived the blast’s devastation … and evaded their capture. With dark and volatile Wraith magic now trapped inside her—threatening her control and sanity—Phoebe is determined to discover how to rid herself of this inner darkness … even if it means accepting the assistance of the very Druid doctor whose actions had led to her torture in the first place.
Author KATE GATELEY has always been fascinated by history, Celtic Ideology, ancestral memory and generational wounding, and the “Divine Feminine,” and those personal studies continue to influence every aspect of her life, on the pages of her books and off.
When Kate published her first book, Tides of the Sovereign (FriesenPress 2022), Book One of the Lost Wells Trilogy, she knew that it was only the beginning of a story she has always wanted to write—one with heart and meaning that was actually worth sharing. In December, 2022, Tides of the Sovereign was announced as the winning title in the Fantasy/Sci-Fi category of the Canadian Book Club Awards. Continuing now in Book Two, Mantle of the World Ruler, and beyond into the next volume still to come, that story has grown far beyond what she could ever have imagined … into something that she dearly hopes can one day find—and deserve—a cherished spot among those volumes of both contemporary fantasy and historical romance that so inspired her growing up.
Kate currently lives, and writes, on a small farm in the Cowichan Valley on beautiful Vancouver Island, with her amazing husband, two incredible sons, an adorable dog, several barn cats who don’t earn their keep, and some decidedly ungrateful chickens … all of whom are very dearly loved. She is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC), Federation of BC Writers (BCFW) and Independent Book Publishers Association (IPBA).
The epic finale of The Dark Reflection series gets caught in the spotlight today! After spotlighting the first two books in the series, Her Dark ReflectionandHer Blind Deception I am ecstatic to help showcase the final in this trilogy. Book three ” HER CRUEL REDEMPTION” tests the boundaries of love, power, and destiny. It brings a twist, with lovers turning enemies, and vengeance becomes obsession as loyalties are tested. Rhindra treads her path to redemption, but at what cost? Will it cost them all?
Her Cruel Redemption (The Dark Reflection Series Book 3)
Publication Date: February 24, 2025
Genre: Dark Romantasy
Series Tropes: - Marriage of convenience - Political intrigue - Betrayal, secrets and lies - Feminine rage - Enemies-to-lovers-to-enemies - HEA
“When you’ve known love to slip through gentle hands, you’ll grip it with teeth and claws.” Now a queen in hiding, Rhiandra has taken refuge in the Yawn with Gwinellyn, tolerated but never truly welcomed by the princess’s new friends. Driven by a thirst for vengeance against the man who betrayed her, Rhiandra struggles to master a dangerous power that no one wants her to wield. But she must learn control, for Draven is hunting her. When word of war between Brimordia and Oceatold reaches them, Gwinellyn can no longer stand idly by as her people suffer. Determined to reclaim her birthright, she needs Rhiandra’s help to retake the throne. But as they journey through a battle-scarred land, both women are haunted by secrets—Gwinellyn wonders if she can trust her stepmother, while Rhiandra hides truths that could shatter their fragile alliance. Many of those secrets centre on her tumultuous relationship with the man now calling himself king. If they want to win this fight, blood and lives will not be the only price.
Hailey Jade has tried to quit writing, but alas, the characters who live in her head will not stop yammering. She’s hoping that building them ink-and-paper homes will make them pipe down long enough for her to get some sleep. She likes creating fantasy worlds populated by complicated, morally-grey characters who try to resist their attraction to other complicated, morally-grey characters, but who inevitably fall in love, because everyone needs a Happily Ever After.
Hailey has completed a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Teaching at Flinders University and spends her daylight hours trying to convince reluctant teenagers to love books. She lives in regional South Australia with her partner, bouncy baby boy, and feline overlord.
Learn more about Hailey Jade and her books at Hailey Jade
In anticipation of the upcoming release of the next book in Cordelia Kelly’s Port of Lost Souls series, The Carnival of Fools, I went back to the start with R&R Book Tours for THE WELL OF SOULS.
The Well of Souls: A YA Paranormal Adventure Novel (Port of Lost Souls Book 1)
Publication Date: April 2024
Genre: YA Paranormal Fantasy
Features ⦁ Vampires ⦁ Coming of Age ⦁ Treasure Hunting ⦁ Found Family ⦁ Misfit Teens
Synopsis Lola Monteux, a treasure-hunting vampire, never intended to test that legend. But when her crew betrays her and sentences her to death, she makes a desperate gamble: flee to the haunted island and uncover the fabled Well of Souls, a treasure said to grant unimaginable power—and her only chance at survival. Disguised as a teenager, Lola infiltrates the island’s tight-knit community and unexpectedly finds herself drawn to Gael, a local boy with secrets of his own, and his misfit group of friends. For the first time in centuries, she feels the pull of her long-lost humanity, the intoxicating thrill of a life she thought she’d left behind. But the longer she lingers, the more the island’s magic ensnares her—and the more she forgets the deadly forces hunting her down. As her past closes in and the island’s true horrors begin to surface, Lola faces an impossible choice: claim the treasure and ensure her survival or risk everything—including her heart—for a life she may never truly have.
This book was dramatically enjoyable! Think Indiana Jones meets Goonies, but with vampires! We are introduced to Lola. Lola is like Lara Croft with fangs. She’s a vampire treasure hunter, but when her vampire crew decides she is a weak link and wants to get rid of her for good, Lola sets off on a treasure hunt by herself to find the ’ Well of Souls’ that is said to grant he kind power to help her be free, yet it rest on a cursed island that is said to curse her kind.
When Lola meets one of the island’s local boys named Gael and his friends, the story goes Goonies mode as Lola and her new ragtag crew decide to hunt for the treasure together, but when Lola’s past catches up with her, the stakes of the treasure hunt rise.
First off, I love the character of Lola. She is a strong female character you can get behind. While I am all for strong female characters at times, they can feel empty to me, or they just feel like they are trying too hard, but Lola feels authentic. I also love the character role reversal too, as our dear Lola is our main lead, Indian Jonest hero, and her love interest is (Gael), who is a bit like Marion’s damsel in distress role, which I found refreshing.
Kelly writes in a steady pace and with an emotional heaviness that makes you want to turn the next page. Young adults will definitely like this book.
Thus, my overall rating is 5 out of 5 stars.
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cordelia Kelly writes YA and middle-grade novels, as well as adult horror short stories. Her stories “Herbalista” and “Dare to Survive” are published in horror anthologies Prairie Witch and Dark & Stormy respectively, and she won the 2019 Geneva Literary Prize for her story “Unfreeze.” Her non-fiction has appeared in the Calgary Herald and the Calgary Sun.
Check out her author website at cordeliakelly.com, or her bookstagram @bookoracle1. She also loves terrible horror novels from the ’90s, and has a blog writing recaps of all the Fear Street books, Shadyside Snark. In her free time she is learning digital illustration and cooks vegetarian food that looks terrible but swears tastes really good.
Freelance Writer Janny(Jan Marie)C 