#BookBlitz: The Musician and the Monster by @authormeganvandyke @rrbooktours

The Musician and the Monster (The Castamar Duology Book 1)

Publication Date: May 7, 2024

Genre: Gothic Romantic Fantasy

💖 Forbidden love

☑️ Morally grey MMC

⚔️ Determined heroine

🎶 Music is powerful

🔥 Slow burn to steamy

❄️ Wintertime

🥀 Gothic vibes

❤️‍🩹 Hurt/comfort

🗡️ Touch her and 💀

✨ Magic

🎭 Masquerade

Music says things words never can. I love you. I miss you. I’m sorry I killed you.

Every night, Ceridwen Kinsley plays music on her rooftop for the spirit of her dead mother. A peaceful if odd ritual, until she witnesses a murder by something not quite human. The monstrous encounter earns her notoriety within the city and a visit from the reclusive Lord Protector Drystan Winterbourne.

Charged with protecting the backwater city of Teneboure by the king, Drystan is failing at his task, and he can’t afford another slip up. But when fate and the very monster he means to conquer bring Ceridwen to his notice, he seizes the opportunity and presents her with an offer: play music for him at his manor in exchange for the money her impoverished family desperately needs. Music eases the strain of his magic, and who better to hire than the woman whose tunes he secretly listens to at night?

At first, Ceridwen is put off by Drystan’s unkempt appearance and harsh demeanor, not to mention the odd ailment that plagues him. But as he embraces her passion for music and she draws the recluse out of his lonely tower, the two develop an unlikely attachment. Class lines begin to blur as fearful indifference shifts to unexpected desire, and Ceridwen yearns to help Drystan subdue the monster as well as provide for her family. However, the monster prowling the night isn’t their only enemy, and as terrible secrets come to light, protecting those they love may risk their lives and their hearts.

This retelling of Beauty and the Beast incorporates themes and motifs from Phantom of the Opera, and is set in a gaslamp fantasy world with strong gothic vibes. It should appeal to fans of romantic and atmospheric retellings and fairy tales by authors such as Hannah Whitten, Tessonja Odette, and Stephanie Garber.

#CoverReveal: Brimstone & Blades by Maria Alexander @XpressoTours @lamaupin

Brimstone & Blades
Maria Alexander
Publication date: June 3rd 2025
Genres: Fantasy, Historical, Young Adult

It’s 1689. Sixteen-year-old Julie de Maupin is on the run with her boyfriend, a young swordmaster named Sérannes. They perform sword fights and songs in taverns to survive. But when a diabolical creature kills Sérannes, it also injures Julie in the attack. Plunged into the dangerous world of French magic, Julie needs to return to Paris to find the great magician that can heal her devastating wound so she can avenge Sérannes’s death. On the way, she finds the creature is controlled by a necromantic coven called the Shadow Holders. Defeated during the Affair of the Poisons, they’ve returned but this time with traitors in the royal court to crush Louis XIV and terrorize France. With her found family of magical and moggie misfits, Julie must use her sword, wits, and gender-bending wiles to send the threat back to Hell. But will they be enough? Magic is illegal, and so is dueling. But that won’t stop La Maupin.

#BookTour: The Defiant and The Damned (The Dragon Queen #2) by @authorecgarrett @rrbooktours

The Defiant and the Damned is now available! Read the whole series now on Kindle Unlimited

The Defiant and The Damned (The Dragon Queen #2)

Publication Date: February 24, 2025

Genre: NA Dark Fantasy/ Gridmark Fantasy 🖤Morally Gray Cast 🖤Reluctant Antiheroine 🖤Vengeance Plot 🖤Multi-POV 🖤Sapphic & Queer 🖤Dragon Lore 🖤Heist 🖤Found Family 🖤NA & Spicy w/ Medium-Burn 🖤Inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy: Purgatory 🖤 Feminist John Wick meets Eragon and Game of Thrones 

  *The following blurb contains spoilers for The Forgotten and the Feared. Amalia Roth is dead. 

 She died alongside the Crimson Queen in the arena two years ago. Donning her Gray Wytch persona, Amalia and the Dragon Ryu have spent the past year hunting down the Fae who wronged her. All the while, Amalia struggles not to crumble under the weight of grief. Across the Midheym Sea on the isle of Elysium, Dyana grapples with her newfound magyk under the guidance of the ancient dragon, Vesimyr. She quickly learns that Elysium isn’t paradise - it’s a prison. Trapped under the claws of the Dragon Regent, she cannot leave. But Dyana knows Amalia is alive and will stop at nothing to get back to her sister - even if it means taking on the Regent alone. The rebel Mirielle has lost everything. Her life's goal was to take down the High Council, but doing so only made things worse. Lost and alone, Mirielle begins plotting a way back home, regardless of the risk. With the High Council gone, the Archmage has risen. Storms shake the continent as the situation grows more dangerous by the day. Ur Daoine lies on the brink of civil war. In secret, the heretic Prince Nyall Drayven leads the growing rebellion. After Nyall convinces Amalia to join him at the front, a divide within the rebel factions, and his carefully built control begins to crumble. When one of the rebels’ carefully planned missions goes wrong, a familiar face steals Ryu and reveals a truth that will change everything; someone from Amalia’s past is alive. FROM ASHES AND PAIN, AMALIA ASTEROTH HAS RISEN. 

#BookReview: Wild is the Witch by Rachel Griffin @TimesNewRachel

When eighteen-year-old witch Iris Gray accidentally enacts a curse that could have dire consequences, she must team up with a boy who hates witches to make sure her magic isn't unleashed on the world.

Iris Gray knows witches aren't welcome in most towns. When she was forced to leave her last home, she left behind a father who was no longer willing to start over. And while the Witches' Council was lenient in their punishment, Iris knows they're keeping tabs on her. Now settled in Washington, Iris never lets anyone see who she really is; instead, she vents her frustrations by writing curses she never intends to cast. Otherwise, she spends her days at the wildlife refuge which would be the perfect job if not for Pike Alder, the witch-hating aspiring ornithologist who interns with them.

Iris concocts the perfect curse for Pike: one that will turn him into a witch. But just as she's about to dispel it, a bird swoops down and steals the curse before flying away. If the bird dies, the curse will be unleashed―and the bird is a powerful amplifier, and unleashing the curse would turn not just Pike, but everyone in the region, into a witch.

New witches have no idea how to control their magic and the consequences would be dire. And the Witches' Council does not look kindly on multiple offenses; if they found out, Iris could be stripped of her magic for good. Iris begs Pike to help her track the bird, and they set out on a trek through the Pacific Northwest looking for a single bird that could destroy everything.

#BookReview: The King Will Kill You : (The Kingdoms of Sand & Sky, #3) by Sarah Henning

Princess Amarande is finally on the verge of having everything she wants. To be with her true love Luca, no one nor law standing in the way. To rule Ardenia as queen outright, no marriage necessary, as Luca does the same with the reformed Torrence. To rebuild the continent of The Sand and Sky into a place not defined by archaic, patriarchal laws, but by the will of its people.

However, threats await in the shadows of Amarande’s hoped-for happily ever after. One expected and deadly to both her love and every one of her objectives. The other, unexpected, and arising with a vicious aim: revenge at any cost. Against the princess who killed him, the boy whose love made her do it, and the continent cruel enough to deserve his rage.

The King Will Kill You is the epic, pulse-pounding conclusion to Sarah Henning’s Kingdoms of Sand and Sky trilogy.

#BookReview: Dauntless by @elisa.a.bonnin @eabwrites

A teen girl must bring together two broken worlds in order to save her nation in this lush, Filipino-inspired young adult fantasy novel from debut author Elisa A. Bonnin. 

“Be dauntless, for the hopes of the People rest in you.”

Seri's world is defined by very clear rules: The beasts prowl the forest paths and hunt the People. The valiant explore the unknown world, kill the beasts, and gain strength from the armor they make from them. As an assistant to Eshai Unbroken, a young valor commander with a near-mythical reputation, Seri has seen first-hand the struggle to keep the beasts at bay and ensure the safety of the spreading trees where the People make their homes. That was how it always had been, and how it always would be. Until the day Seri encounters Tsana.

Tsana is, impossibly, a stranger from the unknown world who can communicate with the beasts - a fact that makes Seri begin to doubt everything she's ever been taught. As Seri and Tsana grow closer, their worlds begin to collide, with deadly consequences. Somehow, with the world on the brink of war, Seri will have to find a way to make peace.