Cursed: a contemporary fantasy romance


K.K. Allen - 2021
    Her fiery temper seems to perpetually land her in hot water, making her an outcast among her peers. When tragedy strikes and she’s sent to live with her only remaining family in the tiny coastal town of Apollo Beach, Katrina starts counting down the days until her eighteenth birthday.⁣⁣⁣⁣Only then will she finally be free.⁣⁣⁣⁣As Katrina learns the legends of her Ancient Greek ancestors, secrets from her heritage are exposed—secrets that her mother purposefully concealed. Her only solace is found in Alec Stone, the gorgeous guy next door. With his devastatingly charming smile, his persistent flirtation, and a love that sparks from the flames of friendship, he offers her a much-needed escape from the turmoil.⁣⁣⁣⁣If only she wasn’t cursed.⁣⁣⁣⁣As powerful forces threaten the lives in Apollo Beach, Katrina can’t escape the evocative world of mythological enchantment and evil prophecies that lurk around every corner.⁣⁣⁣⁣𝘊𝘜𝘙𝘚𝘌𝘋 𝘪𝘴 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝟷 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘌𝘕𝘊𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘌𝘋 𝘎𝘖𝘋𝘚 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵,𝘛𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘤𝘩,𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘦𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘵 𝘊𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘺 𝘑𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴𝘰𝘯.⁣⁣

King of Scars


Leigh Bardugo - 2019
    or feed them.The dashing young king, Nikolai Lantsov, has always had a gift for the impossible. No one knows what he endured in his country's bloody civil war--and he intends to keep it that way. Now, as enemies gather at his weakened borders, Nikolai must find a way to refill Ravka's coffers, forge new alliances, and stop a rising threat to the once-great Grisha Army.Yet with every day a dark magic within him grows stronger, threatening to destroy all he has built. With the help of a young monk and a legendary Grisha general, Nikolai will journey to the places in Ravka where the deepest magic survives to vanquish the terrible legacy inside him. He will risk everything to save his country and himself. But some secrets aren't meant to stay buried--and some wounds aren't meant to heal.

Serpent & Dove


Shelby Mahurin - 2019
    There, witches like Lou are hunted. They are feared. And they are burned.Sworn to the Church as a Chasseur, Reid Diggory has lived his life by one principle: thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. His path was never meant to cross with Lou's, but a wicked stunt forces them into an impossible union—holy matrimony.The war between witches and Church is an ancient one, and Lou's most dangerous enemies bring a fate worse than fire. Unable to ignore her growing feelings, yet powerless to change what she is, a choice must be made.And love makes fools of us all.This is a previously published edition of ISBN 9780062878021. An alternate cover edition can be found here.

The Girl of Fire and Thorns


Rae Carson - 2011
    But she is also the younger of two princesses, the one who has never done anything remarkable. She can't see how she ever will. Now, on her sixteenth birthday, she has become the secret wife of a handsome and worldly king—a king whose country is in turmoil. A king who needs the chosen one, not a failure of a princess.And he's not the only one who seeks her. Savage enemies seething with dark magic are hunting her. A daring, determined revolutionary thinks she could be his people's savior. And he looks at her in a way that no man has ever looked at her before. Soon it is not just her life, but her very heart that is at stake.Elisa could be everything to those who need her most. If the prophecy is fulfilled. If she finds the power deep within herself. If she doesn’t die young.Most of the chosen do.

The Mark of the Tala


Jeffe Kennedy - 2014
    The eldest, a valiant warrior-woman, heir to the kingdom. The youngest, the sweet beauty with her Prince Charming. No one says much about the middle princess, Andromeda. Andi, the other one.Andi doesn't mind being invisible. She enjoys the company of her horse more than court, and she has a way of blending into the shadows. Until the day she meets a strange man riding, who keeps company with wolves and ravens, who rules a land of shapeshifters and demons. A country she'd thought was no more than legend--until he claims her as its queen.In a moment everything changes: Her father, the wise king, becomes a warlord, suspicious and strategic. Whispers call her dead mother a traitor and a witch. Andi doesn't know if her own instincts can be trusted, as visions appear to her and her body begins to rebel.For Andi, the time to learn her true nature has come. . .

The Great Hunt


Wendy Higgins - 2016
    “I must ask you to sacrifice the promise of love for the sake of our kingdom.”She could only stare back, frozen.When a strange beast terrorizes the kingdom of Lochlanach, fear stirs revolt. In an act of desperation, a proclamation is sent to all of Eurona—kill the creature and win the ultimate prize: the daughter of King Lochson’s hand in marriage.Princess Aerity knows her duty to the kingdom but cannot bear the idea of marrying a stranger... until a brooding local hunter, Paxton Seabolt, catches her attention. There’s no denying the unspoken lure between them... or his mysterious resentment.Paxton is not the marrying type. Nor does he care much for spoiled royals and their arcane laws. He’s determined to keep his focus on the task at hand—ridding the kingdom of the beast—but the princess continues to surprise him, and the perilous secrets he’s buried begin to surface.Inspired by the Grimm Brothers’ tale “The Singing Bone,” New York Times bestselling author Wendy Higgins delivers a dark fantasy filled with rugged hunters, romantic tension, and a princess willing to risk all to save her kingdom.

Royal Bastards


Andrew Shvarts - 2017
    Tilla would know. Her father, Lord Kent of the Western Province, loved her as a child, but cast her aside as soon as he had trueborn children.At sixteen, Tilla spends her days exploring long-forgotten tunnels beneath the castle with her stablehand half brother, Jax, and her nights drinking with the servants, passing out on Jax’s floor while her castle bedroom collects dust. Tilla secretly longs to sit by her father’s side, resplendent in a sparkling gown, enjoying feasts with the rest of the family. Instead, she sits with the other bastards, like Miles of House Hampstedt, an awkward scholar who’s been in love with Tilla since they were children.Then, at a feast honoring the visiting princess Lyriana, the royal shocks everyone by choosing to sit at the Bastards’ Table. Before she knows it, Tilla is leading the sheltered princess on a late-night escapade. Along with Jax, Miles, and fellow bastard Zell, a Zitochi warrior from the north, they stumble upon a crime they were never meant to witness.Rebellion is brewing in the west, and a brutal coup leaves Lyriana’s uncle, the Royal Archmagus, dead—with Lyriana next on the list. The group flees for their lives, relentlessly pursued by murderous mercenaries; their own parents have put a price on their heads to prevent the king and his powerful Royal Mages from discovering their treachery.The bastards band together, realizing they alone have the power to prevent a civil war that will tear their kingdom apart—if they can warn the king in time. And if they can survive the journey . . .

Hereditary


Jane Washington - 2013
    Even before she steps foot inside the Academy, they know her name and they know the truth about her birth. She is one of the Tainted: a mixed-breed creature with the blood of a monster, clinging to legitimacy by the genes of her human father. She is more beautiful, more powerful, and more despised than any other being in the Read Kingdom.Her life was never going to be easy, but when fate throws her together with Cale, the troublemaking son of her father’s sworn enemy, and Hazen, the intimidating crown prince of the Read Kingdom, she quickly discovers that her problems haven’t even begun. In a world built on status, there are lines that can never be crossed. In a time of peace, it is inevitable that war will whisper on the wind once again. In a land of mixed blood, a Tainted Creature can either be killed … or they can be recruited.

What Lies Beyond the Veil


Harper L. Woods - 2022
    In their absence, our lives have shifted from decadence and sin to survival and virtue under the guidance of the New Gods. I’ve spent my entire life tending to the gardens next to the boundary between our worlds, drawn to the shimmering magic like a moth to the flame.Then, we died on their swords.All of that changes the day the Veil shatters, unleashing the fae upon our world once again. The magic of faerie marks those of us they mean to take, but the Mist Guard protecting Nothrek will kill us all before they let the fae have us. There’s no choice but to flee everything I’ve ever known, not if I want to live to see my twenty-first birthday as a free woman.Now, they’ll claim what’s theirs.But before they capture me, Caelum saves me from the Wild Hunt. Fae-marked and on the run, he is able to fight back in ways I only dream of. From tentative alliance to all-consuming passion, our bond strengthens as the fae close in and evil lurks ever nearer. With my life on the line, he is everything I shouldn’t dare to want and a distraction I can’t afford. I can’t seem to stay away, not even with something greater on the line.My heart.Author’s Note: This book is intended for readers who are 18 and older. It contains mature language, graphic violence, and explicit content with darker elements. This is book one in a series and ends in a cliffhanger.

Little Fire


Hollee Mands - 2021
    He's scarred from a past he can't forget.Declan can kill with a blink of his eye. Jaded and cold, he rules his kingdom the same way he does his heart—with merciless pragmatism. So why does he risk all to protect a little mortal during a slave-trade uprising? Now stuck in the Shadow Realm, the loss of his powers are the least of his troubles. The woman may have a frustratingly tender heart, but she has enough fire in her soul to thaw the ice in his veins.He could take her by right, but he wants more than acceptance. He wants her willing surrender...Evangeline is chained by a past she can't remember. Her fractured memories keep her shy and single. When she is thrust into a demon realm in the arms of an indomitable archmage, he becomes her only chance of survival. But soon, she realizes her unnerving protector may not be as callous as he appears, and her heart may be as much at risk as her life. His desire for her is no secret, but she wants more than scalding lust. She wants his icy heart...Can they survive the Shadow Realm long enough to break down each other's walls?Author's Note: Little Fire is Book 1 in The Warriors of the Five Realms fantasy romance series. If you love the works of Laura Thalassa, Sarah J Maas and CL Wilson, then you will love this.Little Fire is a standalone, with a guaranteed HEA. Mature themes and possible triggers of sexual abuse. Intended for readers aged 18+.

Blood Heir


Amélie Wen Zhao - 2019
    Their varied gifts to control the world around them are deemed unnatural--even dangerous. And Anastacya Mikhailov, the crown princess, is one of the most terrifying Affinites.Ana's ability to control blood has long been kept secret, but when her father, the emperor, is murdered, she is the only suspect. Now, to save her own life, Ana must find her father's killer. But the Cyrilia beyond the palace walls is one where corruption rules and a greater conspiracy is at work--one that threatens the very balance of Ana's world.There is only one person corrupt enough to help Ana get to the conspiracy's core: Ramson Quicktongue. Ramson is a cunning crime lord with sinister plans--though he might have met his match in Ana. Because in this story, the princess might be the most dangerous player of all.

Princess of Thorns


Stacey Jay - 2014
    Disguised as a boy, she enlists the help of the handsome but also cursed Prince Niklaas to fight legions of evil and free her brother from the ogre queen who stole Aurora's throne ten years ago.Will Aurora triumph over evil and reach her brother before it's too late? Can Aurora and Niklaas break the curses that will otherwise forever keep them from finding their one true love?

Dead Moons Rising


Jack Whitney - 2021
    She rules as Queen over the northeastern realm of Haerland with her loving brother, King Rhafian Sunfire, and her younger siblings. Their kingdom knows only prosperity, sanctuary, and peace. A loving home for all their people.Of course, these are all lies.When Aydra rides out to the Forest of Darkness for the rise of the Dead Moons, she is injured in the enemy king, Draven Greenwood’s, realm. What she learns whilst recovering there shatters the world she knows. She has been engulfed by lies within her own kingdom. Forced to smile and dine at banquet as nothing more than a trophy. Given a title no person ever intended on allowing her to use. But the lies that throw her the most are those she was told about him. Strangers arrive on their shores, and she’ll have to work with Draven to stop them from taking their lands. The secrets of her kingdom and Haerland begin to unravel, and Aydra is soon faced with an impossible decision as the war begins.

Crown of Secrets


Melanie Cellier - 2020
    So when she's sent to the Academy in neighboring Kallorway to forge ties with her people's traditional enemies, she's determined to succeed and prove she can still be of value to her kingdom.Prince Darius of Kallorway is the strongest mage in his family--and the only reason his weak father is still clinging to his throne. Starting at the Academy at the same time as Verene, the crown prince is cold and distant and shows no desire to connect with her. Instead he seems suspicious of both her presence and her claimed lack of power.Surrounded by unfamiliar politics and long-held enemies, Verene discovers that some at the Academy want her gone by whatever means necessary. As the threats grow ever more sinister, she starts to question all of her assumptions. The hardened prince might just be her best hope of survival and--even more shockingly--he might be right about her power. If Verene wants to survive Kallorway and the Academy, she must uncover her hidden powers and take her true place among the mages.If you enjoy strong heroines, fantasy worlds, adventure, intrigue, and clean romance, then try this new adventure in the Spoken Mage world now!The Hidden Mage reading order:Crown of SecretsCrown of DangerCrown of Strength (coming December 2020)Crown of Power (coming February 2021)Verene lives in a world of written power--a world turned upside down by the first ever Spoken Mage. If you missed the adventures of her mother, Elena, then check out the completed Spoken Mage series, starting with Voice of Power.

Truthwitch


Susan Dennard - 2016
    After clashing with a powerful Guildmaster and his ruthless Bloodwitch bodyguard, the friends are forced to flee their home.Safi must avoid capture at all costs as she's a rare Truthwitch, able to discern truth from lies. Many would kill for her magic, so Safi must keep it hidden - lest she be used in the struggle between empires. And Iseult's true powers are hidden even from herself.In a chance encounter at Court, Safi meets Prince Merik and makes him a reluctant ally. However, his help may not slow down the Bloodwitch now hot on the girls' heels. All Safi and Iseult want is their freedom, but danger lies ahead. With war coming, treaties breaking and a magical contagion sweeping the land, the friends will have to fight emperors and mercenaries alike. For some will stop at nothing to get their hands on a Truthwitch.