Chosen by the Fae King
C.A. Worley
(Brides of Falcondale, #1)
Publication date: May 28th 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

In the fae Kingdom of Falcondale, Prince Nox ascends the throne under the ominous cloud of his father’s assassination. Beneath the veiled guise of enacting the bride trials, Nox, a brooding and often callous male, hopes to find much more than just a wife.

In an attempt to save her closest friend from the treacherous trials, Aeryn volunteers to take her place, hoping to save her friend from the clutches of the coldhearted king. Her impulsive act backfires and both females are thrown into the contest for the king’s hand.

Aeryn bucks against the archaic tradition—only to end up awakening an irresistible attraction between her untamed spirit and Nox’s enigmatic allure. As the boundaries of deception and desire are blurred, the pair must navigate the dangers together or fall prey to sinister forces that threaten not only their lives, but control of the kingdom.

While this story is not dark romance, it does contain elements of violence and mature situations some may find uncomfortable. Recommended for readers 18+.

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EXCERPT:

“I have nothing else to offer,” I told him.

“That’s not true. In fact, I know what I want and only you have it.”

Nox shifted closer, his arm behind me now. Not touching, but close.

I didn’t move. Could hardly breathe.

“If you don’t want my mouth on her body, then I’ll have it on yours instead.”

Muscles I didn’t know I had clenched between my legs. Butterflies flew around in my belly. My body was betraying me in the worst of ways.

“Just your mouth?” I checked.

Shit. Was I actually entertaining his smarmy request?

“Unless you ask for more.”

“And just kissing? On my mouth?”

The tilt of his lips was a wicked, wicked thing. “Again, unless you ask for more.”

“Fine,” I agreed, closing my eyes. “Get it over with.”

“I have to say, this is a first for me,” Nox mused.

“Same.”

“You’ve not bargained for mouth-only kisses?” he jested.

My eyes popped open. “No. I’ve never had to bargain with my body to get something I want.”

Nox stilled, something feral stared out at me from deep within his eyes, a beast coming to life in his psyche. It called to the wildness inside me, the untamed voice I’d always kept buried deep.

Uh oh.

“Spread your legs, Aeryn.” His pitch fell so low I felt it vibrate across my skin.

Alarm bells went off in my mind. “But—”

“I agreed not to go beyond a kiss. Now spread your fucking legs.”

Tentatively I pulled my knees wider. The skirt of the dress shifted, fabric dropping between my legs like it was making room for the king.

Nox lowered to the floor, kneeling between my legs. Bending his face to just inches above the juncture of my thighs, he inhaled deeply.

Goosebumps broke out across my skin.

A low rumble echoed from his chest as his spine straightened, his face closing in on mine. The king’s hands landed on the back of the couch, on either side of my head.

Unable to look away, I watched his mouth descend. Soft and oh so gentle, his lips brushed mine. Electricity sparked between our flesh. I gasped and his tongue probed carefully. My abdominals tightened, breasts turned heavy.

Then he was gone. Confused, I looked up and found him twenty feet across the room.

Nox waved a dismissive hand. “Go,” he ordered, “and pray I’m in a forgiving mood when next we meet.”

I sat there in stunned silence, face burning.

“Sofiya is safe from me. Now get out.”

I stared at him for a long moment before standing and stalking from the room.

Author Bio:

C.A. Worley is the alter-ego of Romance Author Cass Alexander. Where Cass tends to focus on humor in her publications, C.A. loves to write fantasy. She chose to write under the two different monikers so as to not confuse (or tick off) her readers.

C.A. currently resides in the Midwest, but was born and raised in the South. She spends her days working from home and her evenings are spent shuttling her kids to and fro. Her dinners are subpar, but she makes a mean dessert.

When she’s tired of living her sons’ travel sports schedules, C.A. enjoys a glass (or four) of wine. She needs the liquid courage to click the publish button for her fantasy romance novels.

Her motto is, “Be Brave,” and she tries to live it every day. It takes a healthy dose of courage to get through this thing we call life.

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Awakening
Elexis Bell
(The Regonia Chronicles, #1)
Publication date: February 20th 2024
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Science Fiction

Tortured by memories implanted by his captors, Krona knows only one thing. He must find Tenna, his partner, his Queen. She can’t be dead. But when Ricardo, one of his human guards, tells him she’s alive on another space station, the truth might be just as painful as their lies.

With her memories missing and her planet supposedly destroyed, Tenna struggles to acclimate to life among humans. Olivia, a spaceship pilot and hacker, does her best to help. When a guard shows up with an alien Tenna knows she’s seen before, it’s obvious things aren’t what they seem.

When they learn that family ties bind enemy and ally, Krona and Tenna can only hope the honor they see in their human friends is strong enough to overcome blood. Can they work together to save themselves, their minds, and their tribe? Or will they lose everything?

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EXCERPT:

Ricardo
I sit on the bench in Francis’ quarters, peering out the window at the black expanse of space. I pull my leg up underneath me as she plops onto her bed. My eyes focus on her reflection for an instant, drawn to the flash of her red hair, but I return my gaze to the stars.
After working some magic on her Link to loop camera and recorder feeds from her room, she says, “Okay. We’re good. Now, what’s wrong?”
I turn to face her, stomach in knots.
“Something isn’t right,” I say.
And everything pours out.
The details that just don’t line up. All my questions about the prisoner, Krona. The oddity of his behavior.
“He doesn’t act like a Drennar. Hell, he said they’re his ancestors, that they’re dead.” Sighing, I run a weary hand over my face. “I don’t know if it’s a trick, if he’s toying with us, or what, but he doesn’t act like them. He’s… emotional. When he sings, I feel it. We all do, that’s why Garcia cracked. It was too much for him.”
Francis stares at me, uncertain, but she says, “He’s probably just trying to trick us.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. If it was just the story about them dying off, maybe, but it isn’t. He’s different. He’s not one of them.”
Realizing the words that just crossed my lips, I rush to add, “Or… he might not be. I don’t know.”
“I think you might be reading into it a little too much,” Francis says, but her tone does little to back her words.
She’s perceptive. She must have questions.
“Then, explain the emotion? Explain the woman he’s clearly mourning, or the doubt in his words. The translator can’t be adding too much to that. Hell, it doesn’t have to add anything to it. Even in his language, I feel it. He’s mad and upset, and I don’t know why. But Drennar don’t feel. If they do, they don’t express it. You’ve seen the footage of them just as well as I have.”
Francis’ brows reach for each other, carving lines in her face, and a deep breath puffs out her chest for an instant. She purses her lips as my words sink in.
So, I forge ahead.
“All the times the Drennar came for us, did they ever sing? Even once?” I shake my head, answering my question for her. “If he’s one of them, why the weird renovations to his cell? Why a stone cell? He’s strong enough to get out. He showed Garcia that pretty clearly today.”
Recalling his words earlier and Garcia’s multiple dislocations, I ask, “What’s really keeping him in there? Because it sure as hell isn’t us.”
Giving in just a bit, Francis leans forward, propping her arms on her thighs. “Suppose you’re right, and he is something else. What are we supposed to do about it? What does that change? He’s a prisoner. We’re Guards. It’s simple. And why would they lie to us? If he’s not a Drennar, why would they say he is?”
“I don’t know,” I say. My stomach turns, and I look out the window again. “I don’t know what to do.”
But I do.
Defeated, I take a deep breath. “I need some answers. Something doesn’t add up.”
Shaking her head, Francis says, “I don’t like the sound of that.”
And if I’m being honest with myself, I don’t either. My gut tells me something’s wrong here, and it’s never steered me wrong.
But it has steered me straight into trouble, many times.

Author Bio:

I’m a nerd with a lot of hobbies and enough sarcasm and swear words to make a sailor blush, though, you’ll never hear a word of it if I’m not comfortable around you. I’ve been an introvert since birth. When I’m writing, though, words come easily.

At the end of the day, I just want to write stories that make people feel something.

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Red Winter – Special Edition Hardcover Omnibus
Annette Marie
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance

A breathtaking fantasy romance inspired by Japanese mythology, with mischievous shape-shifters, treacherous gods, and forbidden love.

From Book 1: Emi has spent her entire life hiding from the creatures that hunt her. The savage earth spirits are determined to kill her before she can become the living host of a goddess, so she stays hidden–until the day she saves the life of one of her hunters.

Shiro isn’t the harmless fox spirit she thought he was. He’s mysterious, cunning, unpredictable … and now hers to command. He’s sworn to pay his debt to her, but he doesn’t know who she is. If he finds out, he’ll kill her.

But she can’t send him away–not yet. Her future isn’t what she thought. The lies surrounding her fate have begun to unravel, and she needs answers before time runs out–answers that lie in the spirit realm. Shiro can take her there … if she dares to trust him.

And only then will she find out how deep the gods’ treachery runs.

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Red Winter includes 30 full-page illustrations by award-winning artist Brittany Jackson.

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THE RED WINTER TRILOGY
Red Winter (#1)
Dark Tempest (#2)
Immortal Fire (#3)

Visit the Kickstarter Campaign Here!

This Special Edition Hardcover Omnibus includes:

• All three titles: Red Winter, Dark Tempest, and Immortal Fire
• New illustrated dust jacket by artist Brittany Jackson
• All 30 full-page illustrations from the original novels
• New interior layout & design
• Foil-stamped typography on the dust jacket and cloth cover
• Colored end-papers
• Red sprayed/stenciled edges
• Hand-signed and personalized by the author
• Etched wooden bookmark, stickers, and more! (More via stretch goals)

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Excerpt from Red Winter:

None too gently, Yumei forced Emi’s head one way then the other, examining her. Pushing her head back, he dipped his face down to her neck and inhaled through his nose.

“Is she human?” he asked Shiro, straightening. He didn’t release her chin. “She smells of human female and you. Did you bed her?”

She gasped, outrage and embarrassment flooding her face with heat. She tried to jerk back but his fingers tightened painfully, holding her in place.

“We rolled in the snow together some,” Shiro said, mouth quirking up in that sly grin of his as he met her furious stare, “but it was an act of survival, not passion. The ogres were something of a challenge.”

Yumei turned her face to one side and back again. “Are you certain it was she who removed the first binding?”

“There was no one else.”

The Tengu studied her a moment longer, then released her chin. She had time to take in a single relieved breath before he grabbed her wrist. He pulled her hand to his face, turned her palm up, and bit the side of her hand beneath her thumb.

She cried out and tried to yank her arm away from him. His strength was like the grip of a steel vise, unmovable. He held her hand in his mouth, his gaze distant. He let her go so suddenly that she lost her balance and fell on her rump in the snow.

“Human,” Yumei said decisively. “But I can taste divine power in her blood.”

Emi turned her hand up to see a small puncture wound in her palm from his canine. A single drop of blood ran down her wrist, tracing a crimson line on her pale skin.

A shadow blocked the moon above. Shiro reached down and touched his thumb to the trail of blood. He slid his thumb up her wrist to the wound, then brought it to his lips. He grinned at her as he licked her blood off his skin. She stared at him, too shocked and appalled to speak.

“Definitely human,” he said to Yumei without breaking eye contact with her, daring her to protest their treatment of her. “Do priestesses normally taste like gods?”

“I am not certain,” Yumei admitted. “I have never tasted a true servant of a shrine.”

She clutched her chest, her hand pressed against the hidden mark over her heart. Her pulse pounded in her ears, her fear almost too much to bear. She didn’t taste like divine power because she was a dedicated priestess, but because she was a goddess’s future host. If they realized the truth, they would kill her on the spot.

Author Bio:

Annette Marie is the best-selling author of The Guild Codex, an expansive collection of interwoven urban fantasy series ranging from thrilling adventure to hilarious hijinks to heartrending romance. Her other works include YA urban fantasy series Steel & Stone, its prequel trilogy Spell Weaver, and romantic fantasy trilogy Red Winter.

Her first love is fantasy, while fast-paced adventures and tantalizing forbidden romances are her guilty pleasures. She lives in the frozen winter wasteland of Alberta, Canada (okay, it’s not quite that bad) with her husband and their furry minion of darkness—sorry, cat—Caesar. When not writing, she can be found elbow-deep in one art project or another while blissfully ignoring all adult responsibilities.

To find out more about Annette and her books, visit http://www.annettemarie.ca

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