worldbuilding

Hex of All Hats

by Brian Keith Dye

Tropes: magic, multipov, foundfamily

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Janessa Miro has one rule: keep the wards intact and the drinks flowing. As The Spot’s resident wardwright and bartender, she keeps Chicago’s most notorious cross-dimensional speakeasy stitched together with duct tape, sarcasm, and sigilcraft. But when a ley line flickers and a Whisperbind blooms through the anchor wards, it isn’t sabotage—it’s personal. Someone has forged her magical style, infected the bar’s foundation, and tied the corruption to her blood. Now the Magus Arcanum is circling. The Faerie Courts are listening. And former mentor turned heretic Marlowe Finch is orchestrating something beneath the city in a cathedral called the Hollow Chord. As ancient runes begin surfacing across Chicago, Janessa discovers the attack against The Spot is only the first fracture in something far older than the Arcanum wants to admit. The magic inside her isn’t behaving like a curse. It’s remembering. With fellow wardwright Callum Shaw, Grimalkin thief Lysandra Vex, and dimension-folding barkeep Eddie Ramirez at her side, Janessa races to stop the Seal beneath The Spot from unraveling before Chicago becomes the center of a supernatural collapse. Because every lock has a cost. Every curse leaves a mark. And some curses don’t bind you—they build you. [Read More]

Assassins of Shadows and Steel

by B. A. Milsop

Tropes: slowburn, forcedproximity, forbiddenlove

Bexley and Rosalie were never meant to kneel—they were forged to kill. Once prisoners. Now assassins. The two women have carved their freedom from the throats of the men who tried to own them. Ruthless, feared, and bound by bloodshed, they survive by trusting no one but steel and each other. They are given an impossible mission: steal two ancient relics from the Dark Fae Kingdom before the Dark Lord claims one and unleashes hell upon the realm. But in the lands of the Dark Fae, nothing comes without a price. Every bargain tastes of temptation. Every shadow hides a blade. And the deeper Bexley is pulled into the deadly court of monsters and magic, the more she begins to unravel a prophecy tied to her blood—a prophecy that names her as either the realm’s salvation… or its ruin. As loyalties fracture and desire turns lethal, Bexley must decide how far she is willing to go to survive. Because some flames are meant to consume worlds. And others were born to burn within them. [Read More]

Siren's Hunt

by Ciera (C.M.) Miller

Tropes: forbiddenlove, firstperson, adventure

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A merman prince trapped in human form. A woman reluctant to let down her guard. Her kiss will save him, if only he can win her heart. Bree O’Hara has always known there are sea dwellers. When she rescues a handsome stranger named Kai during a stormy night who is unable to speak, part of her wonders if he’s a sea dweller in human form or the survivor of a siren attack. As Kai finds ways to communicate without his voice, she realizes that both merfolk and humans are in danger so long as the siren leader Hunter possesses the trident. Between the lure of the sirens and Kai’s attempts to win her heart, Bree knows her destined path may just decide the fate of both land and sea. Once Upon a Time meets genderbend Little Mermaid in this adventurous and swoonworthy retelling of a classic fairytale. If you love the "he falls first" trope, this book is for you! [Read More]