Category Archives: Fantasy & Paranormal

Dark Water Daughter by H.M. Long

Mary Firth is a Stormsinger: a woman whose voice can still hurricanes and shatter armadas. Faced with servitude to pirate lord Silvanus Lirr, Mary offers her skills to his arch-rival in exchange for protection – and, more importantly, his help sending Lirr to a watery grave. But her new ally has a vendetta of his own, and Mary’s dreams are dark and full of ghistings, spectral creatures who inhabit the ancient forests of her homeland and the figureheads of ships. Samuel Rosser is a disgraced naval officer serving aboard The Hart, an infamous privateer commissioned to bring Lirr to justice. He will stop at nothing to capture… Read more,

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault, on-page (unwanted kissing & touching)
  • Attempted murder
  • Kidnapping

Hex and the City by Kate Johnson

Things you should know about Poppy: 1. She’s a witch, 2. She has magical hair like Rapunzel from Tangled, 3. She lives with Iris, the head of her coven, in a beautiful, ramshackle house next to Highgate cemetery, 4. She works at Hubble Bubble, a magic shop in Covent Garden. Though none of it is real magic as that would be highly irresponsible. Until… Poppy accidentally sells gorgeous celebrity magician Axl Storm, all six-foot-four of him, a cursed pendant. When all hell breaks loose can the guy with fake magic and the girl with real magic fix the chaos they’ve caused? Or will sparks fly both in and out of the cauldron?

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Eating disorder & disordered eating (calorie counting)
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Bullying mentioned

Sweet Vengeance by Viano Oniomoh

Joy needs a deal with a demon to bring an end to the man who’d ruined her life. Malachi needs a deal with a human so he can remain in the mortal realm, far from the sentries looking to drag him back to his sect in hell. It’s a match seemingly made in heaven. Except, Malachi doesn’t expect Joy’s thirst for vengeance to taste so sweet, and Joy doesn’t expect a freaking demon to revive everything in her she’d thought long-dead. After the deal is struck, and their contract had some to an end, they both realise that one contract will not nearly be enough.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Victim-blaming recounted
  • Rape & incestuous childhood sexual abuse recounted
  • Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
  • Nightmares & panic attacks
  • Self-harm
  • Murder
  • Stalking

This Spells Love by Kate Robb

When Gemma gets dumped by her long-term boyfriend, she reacts the way any reasonable twenty-eight-year-old would: by getting drunk with her sister, kooky aunt, and best friend, Dax. After one too many margaritas, they decide to perform a love- cleansing spell, which promises to erase Gemma’s ex from her memory. They follow all the instructions, including a platonic kiss from Dax to seal the deal. When Gemma wakes up, she realizes that this silly spell has worked. Not only does it seem that she never dated her ex, but the rest of her life is completely unrecognizable. The… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Fire

The Princess of Thornwood Drive by Khalia Moreau

One year ago, a tragic car accident killed 22-year-old Laine’s parents and left her 18-year-old sister, Alyssa, paralyzed and nonverbal. Now—instead of studying animal nutrition or competing as one of the few equestrians of color—Laine is struggling with predatory banks, unscrupulous health care organizations, and rude customers at the coffee shop where she works. That’s why when Lake Forest Adult Day Center offers to take care of Alyssa, free of charge, Laine is relieved. Alyssa isn’t relieved, though. After all, in her mind, there was never a car accident. Instead, she and her parents—the king and queen of Mirendal—were attacked one year ago in the forest, her parents kidnapped… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Sexual assault of a disabled person
  • Anxiety & panic attack
  • Death of both parents in a car accident
  • Car accident resulting in traumatic mutism & paralysis

Death and Night by Roshani Chokshi

He was Lord of Death, cursed never to love. She was Night incarnate, destined to stay alone. After a chance meeting, they wonder if, perhaps, they could be meant for more. But danger crouches in their paths, and the choices they make will set them on a journey that will span lifetimes.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Death during childbirth mentioned
  • Death of a husband

A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi

She is the princess of Bharata—captured by her kingdom’s enemies, a prisoner of war. Now that she faces a future of exile and scorn, Gauri has nothing left to lose. But should she trust Vikram, the notoriously cunning prince of a neighboring land? He promises her freedom in exchange for her battle prowess. Together they can team up and win the Tournament of Wishes, a competition held in a mythical city where the Lord of Wealth promises a wish to the victor. It seems like a foolproof plan—until Gauri and Vikram arrive at the tournament and find that danger takes on new shapes: poisonous courtesans, mischievous story… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Attempted sexual assault recounted
  • Suicide mentioned
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Serious injury & illness of a loved one
  • Death of a mother
  • War themes

The Bronzed Beasts by Roshani Chokshi

In love they breathed. In destiny they believed. In the end, will divinity be their demise? After Séverin’s seeming betrayal, the crew is fractured. Armed with only a handful of hints, Enrique, Laila, Hypnos and Zofia must find their way through the snarled, haunted waterways of Venice, Italy to locate Séverin. Meanwhile, Séverin must balance the deranged whims of the Patriarch of the Fallen House and discover the location of a temple beneath a plague island where the Divine Lyre can be played and all that he desires will come to pass. With only ten days until Laila expires, the crew will face plague pits and deadly masquerades, un… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Ableism
  • Antisemitism recounted
  • Racism
  • Colonialism discussed
  • Alcohol consumption
  • Blood depiction
  • Emesis
  • Terminal illness
  • Grief & loss depiction
  • Murder
  • Explosion
  • Animal sacrifice mentioned

Aru Shah and the Song of Death by Roshani Chokshi

Aru is only just getting the hang of this whole Pandava thing when the Otherworld goes into full panic mode. The god of love’s bow and arrow have gone missing, and the thief isn’t playing Cupid. Instead, they’re turning people into heartless fighting-machine zombies. If that weren’t bad enough, somehow Aru gets framed as the thief. If she doesn’t find the arrow by the next full moon, she’ll be kicked out of the Otherworld. For good. But, for better or worse, she won’t be going it alone. Along with her soul-sister, Mini, Aru will team up with Brynne, an ultra-strong girl who knows more than she lets on, and Aiden, the boy who lives across the street… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment
  • Alcohol consumption mentioned
  • Emesis
  • Physical assault
  • Fire
  • Animal attack
  • Bullying

Aru Shah and the City of Gold by Roshani Chokshi

Aru Shah and her sisters–including one who also claims to be the Sleeper’s daughter–must find their mentors Hanuman and Urvashi in Lanka, the city of gold, before war breaks out between the devas and asuras. Aru has just made a wish on the tree of wishes, but she can’t remember what it was. She’s pretty sure she didn’t wish for a new sister, one who looks strangely familiar and claims to be the Sleeper’s daughter, like her. Aru also isn’t sure she still wants to fight on behalf of the devas in the war against the Sleeper and his demon army. The gods have been too devious up to now. Case in point: Kubera, ruler of the… Read more.

Goodreads

Trigger and Content Warnings

  • Parental abandonment & neglect
  • Nightmares
  • Sword violence
  • Kidnapping & captivity
  • Disappearance of a parent
  • War themes & battle scenes, on-page