Dark, Gaslamp Fantasy Romance

Ruins of Starlight is a dark, gaslamp fantasy romance with a heroine determined to go to any lengths to find her missing brother and a cursed prince determined to do whatever it takes to free himself.

Morgana's world disentegrates when her brother is presumed dead after disappearing into the magic infested badlands. To find answers, she joins the ranks of the Umbran Guard, but at night, she takes to the streets in search of the people responsible for his disappearance. When she crosses paths with the mysterious, magnetic Aster Sinclair, Morgana learns that her quest for truth may be a far more dangerous task than she could have ever expected.

Magic, similar to the magic he is cursed with, poisons her blood, and that is too sweet a thing for Aster to ignore, so he traps her in an agreement: he will give her information vital to her search for her brother and she will help him break his curse.

If you enjoy shadow daddies/mommies, enemies to lovers, slow-burn romance, determined/stabbity heroines and snarky yet secretive heroes, pick up Ruins of Starlight!

Slow-Burn Dark Fantasy Romance

Death Bound is a newly released book by Meg Halcyon (which is the fantasy pen name of CoraLee June). I signed up to ARC read it and finished it in only 2 days. It is a dark fantasy tale of a woman trying to make the best of bad situations she keeps getting thrust into by people who have more power than she does. I can't wait for book 2!

Our protagonist is Elara, who has spent the last 13 years of her life as handmaiden to the exiled Princess Aeliana. Elara and Aeliana are best friends, practically sisters, and they spend their days in the crypts on the frozen edges of the kingdom. It is Elara's job to care for Aeliana and it is Aeliana's job to use her ice magic to process the dead of the kingdom and siphon off their magic to fuel the wall protecting them from the fearsome, bloodthirsty Dragon King.

During a brutal attack on the crypts by the Dragon King, Aeliana dies in Elara's arms, and Elara finds herself suddenly gaining inexplicable magic powers. Between that and being the only survivor of the attack, she finds herself thrust into the unenviable position of impersonating Aeliana in a political marriage to secure aid in the right against the Dragon King.

Every character in the story has an ulterior motive and Elara can't trust anyone in her life. Her personal guard reports to the evil queen who married her off, her new royal husband, King Ciaran, is using her to bait the Dragon King, and Cirian's 6 other wives all have their own agendas that put them at odds with Elara.

If you like dark fantasy, unique magic, secret identities, morally gray everyone, slow burn romance, and dragons, definitely read this book!

One-Night Crush

Since I am a woman in well into the "over 30" age bracket, I find myself increasingly drawn to books with more mature protagonists. So when I read the synopsis for One-Night Crush I couldn't sign up for the ARC fast enough! While this is the last book in the Fortemani Family series, it can absolutely be read as a standalone.

Marcello "Cello" Fortemani is the youngest of four and is eager to prove his value at his family's Napa vineyard. As the "baby" of the family he's used to having his ideas and contributions ignored. But when he suspects a collaboration with local competitor, Whitaker Vineyard and Winery, Marcello is determined to take the lead on brokering the deal.

Shortly before the big meeting, Cello is at a bar where he runs into Holly Whitaker, his childhood babysitter and the woman he's been in love with for forever. She's back in Napa to help her dad with the deal between the Whitaker and Fortemani wine businesses. But she doesn't recognize him, and Marcello isn't about to remind her who he is, either. Especially, when she brings all his fantasies to life with a fiery one-night stand.

But the day before the meeting to finalize the deal, he learns his family's vineyard isn't planning on partnering with Whitaker Vineyards. They plan to acquire it. Cello is blindsided, but Holly? She feels deceived and betrayed. To add further injury, Cello and Holly are both shocked to find they'll be vying for the position of international exports director. What started as a single steamy night escalates into a battle of wills, pranks and tactics as they gear up for the brand test at Vintner's Weekend in Tuscany that will decide their fates.

I loved Holly and Marcello so much. Holly's a total boss babe in all the best ways: confident, competent, classy and sassy. Marcello is such a cinnamon roll and he's been absolutely gone for Holly for almost his whole life.

Even though circumstances pit them against each other professionally, it's so satisfying to see them work through the professional and personal challenges to get their happy ever after.

So if you love romances with age gaps (especially ones where she's older), rivals-to-lovers, protagonists over 30, cinnamon roll heroes and competent, confident heroines, definitely give One-Night Crush a try!

Charming Devil

Charming Devil is a paranormal, southern gothic retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, where Dorian, instead of destroying the painting and dying, continues on, living multiple lifetimes of debauchery.

After more than a century of excesses, Dorian's portrait has absorbed as much of his destructive habits as it can handle and it is beginning to decay. In desperation, Dorian searches for the last remaining descendant of the original painter (who was Dorian's first love), in hopes that he can commission a new, fresh portrait and continue living.

Baz Allard is an artist who happens to be exactly who Dorian is looking for. Unfortunately for him, she knows the power that her bloodline holds and refuses to ever create a portrait of a real person. In desperation he offers her tons of money and a period of time living large on his dime while he tries to convince her. She agrees to his gambit, thinking she can convince him to finally accept his mortality. But Dorian and Baz are both stubborn to a fault...

Over the course of the story, Rebecca Kenney manages to make Dorian, who starts out as a handsome, spoiled brat that is drinking, smoking, doping and fucking his way through his long, long life, into an fascinating love interest. And since this is a paranormal, southern gothic story too, there's a deliciously creepy subplot that looks like it will carry on to future books in the series.

In the lead-up to the release of Charming Devil, I have seen several complaints from people saying they won't ever read it because Dorian ends up with a woman and that's somehow erasing the queerness of the original story. In this retelling, Dorian is blatantly, obviously and proudly bi/pan. The book opens with Dorian waking up in bed with a dude after a drug fueled orgy, FFS, and Basil, the original painter of the portrait was Dorian's first love. So to the people who have preemptively written off this retelling because "it's not queer because Baz is a woman", ditch your bi/pan-phobia, because this story is still queer AF.