Haunted by Myth

By Barbara Ann Wright

Close Quarters
Ghosts
International Setting
Age Gap
Celebrity
Magic

Chloe knew her future would be boring. Every job pales in comparison to the family legacy: hunting monsters and banishing ghosts. But that birthright belongs to her mother and sister, leaving Chloe forever outside looking in. Until her sister dies without warning. Chloe gets the family magic, a lack of self-confidence, a grieving mother, a sarcastic spirit guide, and room for nothing else, especially love. And lately, someone seems to be summoning ghosts and protecting monsters, and all clues point to one very famous face: Helen of Troy.

Helen has spent hundreds of years running a sanctuary and rehab for the last mythical creatures on earth. And she has a huge chip on her shoulder about that whole Trojan War thing. When Chloe tries to shut the sanctuary down, Helen plots to get rid of her. Neither has time for the other’s philosophy or to see if their growing attraction is more than skin-deep, not when there are some monsters that won’t be sent to the Underworld without a fight.

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Proximity

By Jordan Meadows

Dystopian
Virgins/First Love
Children / Families

The only thing keeping Joan’s dangerous powers under control is her cousin Sabrina's rare ability to counteract them. Luckily, they've got the support of their powerful Family, they're best friends, and they've managed to build a life around each other’s constant presence. But now they’re seventeen, and things are changing. They don’t want to study the same things in college, not to mention neither of them has been on a single date.

When Joan meets the lovely and witty Ellie, she talks Sabrina into trying a group date. That only makes Joan desperate for more time with Ellie. With more proximity comes more risk and the fear that Ellie will eventually notice that Joan and Sabrina are weirdly codependent. Important secrets will be put at risk, which may incur the Family's wrath. Someone could get hurt and not just emotionally. When things inevitably go wrong, Joan is sure Ellie won’t stick around, but learning to control her powers without Sabrina by her side is almost impossible

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Gimmicks and Glamour

By Lauren Melissa Ellzey

Young Adult
Other Worlds
People of Color
Bisexual
California
Friends to Lovers Romance
Magic

Ashly Harris has a secret she’s been keeping all her life.

To everyone else she’s just a seventeen-year-old party girl and problem senior at Hackley High School. She has always felt alone, and not just because she’s biracial and openly bisexual. Ashly sees faeries all around her, all the time. She has learned to hide her Sight, but that doesn’t change the fact that she is constantly taking the blame for the havoc that the faeries wreak. The only person who knows about Ashly’s ability is her eccentric, yet level-headed best friend, Caris, who might be playing along while also playing with Ashly’s feelings.

As Ashly speeds toward graduation with few future prospects on the horizon, she must protect the classmates she claims to hate from an evil that no one else sees.

 

"This is an accessible story with an interesting premise: The fantasy metaphor for Ashly’s adolescent alienation and despair works well and livens up the plot, especially when a revelation draws Ashly into the throes of a faerie war as well as a rewarding queer romance. A relatable fantasy weaving in real-life issues." –Kirkus Reviews, 08/15/2023

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Heart of Stone

By Sam Ledel

Other Worlds
Financial gap/Class disparity
Royalty
Magic

Maeve’s quiet life of isolation has kept her from the outside world—as a gorgon, she has to protect herself and others. Princess Keeva Glantor is proud to be a member of Uterni’s royal family. But her mother’s health is failing quickly, and Keeva’s life of ease is turned upside down.

On a hunt for the key to keeping Uterni’s queen on the throne, Keeva meets Maeve. The princess is intrigued by the lone woman in the fen, but she has her own mission to complete and no time for anything, or anyone.

Maeve yearns to believe she has a chance at a regular life and is curious enough to push the boundaries of what she’s always known, revealing a deception that has kept her a pariah in a world she fears as much as it fears her.

Both must unravel lies and come face-to-face with the truth to create a future they can call their own, perhaps even one that includes each other.

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Digging for Heaven

By Jenna Jarvis

Women in Uniform
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Financial gap/Class disparity
Good girls/Bad girls
Other Worlds
People of Color
Royalty
Rivals
Non-Binary Gender
Asexual/Aromantic
Bisexual
Magic
Military

The lands of Jeenobi and Aelshia are separated by hundreds of miles of dangerous desert, and antithetical views on dragons. Now, under a tenuous new peace agreement, Jeenobi has agreed to ban dragon slaying within its borders.

As a visiting ambassador to Jeenobi and a rider to the dragon Loren, Litz expected to meet resistance to all she represents. She did not expect Kella, the kingdom’s most famous living dragon slayer, and she certainly didn’t expect to find her attractive.

When Litz is forced into extraditing Kella to Aelshia for trial, they’ll discover more monstrous things in the wilds of the desert than each other, and they’ll need to put aside their differences if they want to survive. The future of both nations may hang in the balance.

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A Talent Within

By Suzanne Lenoir

Young Adult
Financial gap/Class disparity
Other Worlds
The Valmoran Series | Book 1
Magic

Evelyne, born into nobility, and Annika, a peasant girl with a deadly secret, struggle to change their destinies in Valmora, a medieval world controlled by religion, magic, and men.

If only she’d been born a boy, Evelyne could fight with her brothers and fulfill her dreams of glory. Instead, her father has arranged her marriage. Annika knows she’s different. She has gifts the Valmorans call talents, and she’s waited too long to turn herself over to the Temple for training. If she tells anyone now, she will burn as a heretic.

Their blossoming love changes everything.

Both are forced to confront who they are when saving an innocent life exposes Annika’s talent and she’s held prisoner by the unforgiving Temple Paladin. Saving Annika will cost Evelyne all she’s ever known, but her sacrifice may lead them on a path to love and a destiny that will change Valmora forever.

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Three Wishes

By Anne Shade

New York City
Other Worlds
People of Color
Magic

Since she took her first trip to the little island of Nosy Bé off the coast of Madagascar, Elise Porter has been drawn back to it time and again. When a mysterious vendor sells her an antique, jewel-encrusted oil lamp, Elise is thoroughly surprised by the mystical appearance of a beautiful and scantily clad woman offering to grant her three wishes. Naima is a Jinni, and she has a wish of her own. A cursed princess’s spirit, who also happens to be the Jinni’s wife Aliya, has taken residence within Elise and needs to be brought forth to free them from their curse.

When Naima is summoned by a human who not only possesses her lamp but also the spirit of her long-lost wife, she can’t believe her luck. After centuries dreaming of the moment when she and Aliya would be reunited, the reality of what freeing her could mean for Elise has Naima wondering if the price of freedom is worth the sacrifice.

Elise and Naima must fight their growing feelings for each other as Elise wages an internal battle with Aliya, and they receive assistance from a very unlikely source.

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Hero Complex

By Jesse J. Thoma

Close Quarters
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Other Worlds

Being labeled a mad scientist doesn’t faze Bronte Scales. Accidentally gaining superpowers didn’t even seem that strange. It’s not until she realizes someone is out to get her and her do-it-yourself super tech invention, that she reluctantly becomes one part of a superpowered crime fighting team. Then things really get out of hand. And somewhere along the way she accidentally kidnaps a nurse—a smart, kind, and beautiful sort of nurse. Bronte’s screwed.

Athena Papadaki doesn’t have superpowers, but she’s scary good at squeezing everything she can from each waking minute. That feels heroic until she’s kidnapped by a group of knuckleheads who need more rescuing than she does. Once she’s done saving the day, she’ll walk away and most certainly never think about Bronte Scales ever again. Nothing to see here.

Can Bronte and Athena, and their unlikely friends, work together to defeat Bronte’s archnemesis? The fate of love, humanity, and the world might depend on it. No pressure.

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Lines of Love

By Brey Willows

A Memory's Muses Novel | Book 3
International Setting
Age Gap
Small Town Romances

The Muse of Love, Eris Ardalides, is bored out of her mind. Love in this century isn’t real. It has no depth or feeling, and she’s taken herself out of the Muse business altogether. Sex is fine. Love, not so much. As far as she’s concerned, she’s retired. Life is too short for the angst that comes with deep emotion, even for an immortal.

Grace Gordon is an excellent divorce lawyer. She’s trying to save the world, and who has time for frivolity when lives are being torn apart? She’s lonely, yes, but so what? One day she’ll find love and a relationship. But she’ll never settle for anything less than perfect. Surely, it’s out there somewhere…

When Eris finds out she’s being sued by lovelorn victims who believe they might’ve had a chance if the Muse of Love hadn’t been AWOL, it’s Grace who takes the case. Attraction simmers, but there’s no middle ground when Grace wants perfection, and Eris doesn’t believe love even exists anymore.

The lines of love have been drawn. Who will cross them first?

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Drifting

By Lyn Hemphill

Children / Families
Coming Out
Other Worlds
Magic

Tessa has always pushed her emotions away where they can’t hurt her. She always does the right thing, or she tries to. So, when she jumps into the ocean after Jet, she thinks she’s saving her life. Of course, she can’t possibly know Jet is actually a mermaid.

Jet is desperately trying to get her tail back after a devastating battle saw her cast out of the water for her own safety. The last thing she expects is a beautiful human floundering after her determined to get in her way. Jet must work out how to get home to her people before her mistakes cause her clan’s demise.

Tessa wants to help Jet, but how can she if she doesn’t accept the truth? As they fall for each other, they discover that love can teach you what is truly important even when facing the impossibility of blending two very different lives.

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The Mage and the Monster

By Barbara Ann Wright

Virgins/First Love
Disability
Enemies to Lovers Romance
The Sisters of Sarras | Book 3
Other Worlds
Magic

Gisele del Amanecer’s days look the same from the outside: work, home, and the occasional one-night stand that she hides from her nosy older sisters. But Gisele is a mage, and that means pain invisible to outside eyes. Each act of magic can be agony, but she loves the power, the bond with the unseen, and how only her will keeps the magic from consuming her. She can master any task, including saving her family and homeland from Firellian invaders—until she’s ordered to hunt another mage, one who may be her equal in power and commitment. One she might risk everything for.

Vale has been subjugated her entire life—to the point where she thinks she deserves it, but she is determined to save others from that fate. Magic has been her one bright spot, but now she’s forced to use that power to kill in the name of the Firellian Empire. Escape or rebellion is out of the question unless she can guarantee the safety of her fellow captives, but how can everyone make it out alive while surrounded by enemies? Perhaps with the help of another mage, someone who bonds with magic like Vale does, someone who might want her for herself instead of for her power. But war always demands a sacrifice.

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Vision of Virtue

By Brey Willows

A Memory's Muses Novel | Book 2
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Big City
Other Worlds
Rivals
Celebrity

Clio Ardalides loves being in the limelight. As the Muse of History and Virtue, it’s her job to share all the laudable traits and accomplishments of the gods, and she’s turned her work into a national television show. For Clio, the perception of events and highlighting the positive is sometimes a little more important than authenticity. Who wants reality when there’s glamour and beauty in the world?

Kit Kalloway wants the truth. And not the shiny, polished version people are getting from the news or shows like Clio’s. As the headline reporter for Truth Spotter, she uncovers the things not getting done and the people being left behind. To Kit, Clio has sold out. No matter how sexy and vivacious she is, she’s just another self-obsessed influencer only interested in being admired.

When disaster strikes and they must depend on one another, desire and passion are ready and waiting. But will it be enough for them to find a shared vision?

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Perfectly Matched

By Toni Logan

Other Worlds
Las Vegas
Magic

A beautiful Cupid, a runaway arrow, and a love that defies the stars…

Hannah is the number one Cupid on Archer Island six years running. She is beautiful, confident, and she never misses her mark. Ever. But on one fateful day, with her magical arrows drawn on two would-be office lovers, the unthinkable happens. Hannah misses her second mark, and she only has seventy-two hours to fix the mishap.

Payson Martin’s life is as unfulfilling as her job at a Las Vegas TV station. When a temp is suddenly assigned to her, she’s not sure what to make of Hannah, the striking woman who seems more interested in pushing her toward her co-worker than doing her job.

But the more time Hannah and Payson spend together, the more they begin to fall in love. Cupids are simply not allowed to fall for anyone, let alone someone meant for another. Loving Payson will mean giving up her duties and homeland, but is missing her mark the best mistake Hannah has ever made?

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A Fox in Shadow

By Jane Fletcher

Enemies to Lovers Romance
Other Worlds
Rivals
Children / Families

Politics in the Kavillian Senate is a dangerous, high-stakes game, and the odds aren’t on Cassie’s side.

As imperial envoy, she’s tasked with adding a new region to the empire. Normally, this is a simple matter for the legions, but rivals want Cassie to fail. Without military support, success will require all her guile and cunning, plus a good dose of luck.

Persuading the local inhabitants won’t be easy, especially in the case of Arian, the king’s sister. Arian is ardent about her people’s independence and traditions. The land is theirs, given by the gods and paid for in blood. She despises both the empire and its envoy, and doesn’t hesitate to say so.

Despite her hostility, Arian is troublingly attractive. Yet Cassie is determined to stay on track and ignore any thoughts of seduction. Things are difficult enough without extra complications—and that’s before the murders start.

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The Witch Queen's Mate

By Jennifer Karter

Veterinarians
Other Worlds
Enemies to Lovers Romance
Multicultural 
Magic

There couldn’t have been a worse time for Barra to be chosen by her gods as the next queen of the Neamairtese. She and a group of her people are being marched to the distant Empire of Victricus to be slaves.

Headstrong and independent, Barra never saw herself as a leader, and her chances of saving her people dwindle when her heart’s mate turns out to be a Svekard, the ancient sworn enemy of the Neamairtese. Without her mate, Barra cannot complete her connection to divine magic and free her people.

Silvi, a Svekard veterinarian, was simply trying to survive the march south when she was kissed by the Neamairtese witch, Barra. Now, Silvi has inhuman speed and strength to protect the witch, even at the cost of hurting her own people, an incredible dishonor.

Can Barra and Silvi’s love overcome their ingrained hatred and prejudice to bring their people together and save them all not just from slavery, but destruction?

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Enchanted Autumn

By Ursula Klein

Magic
Holidays |
Friends to Lovers Romance

When Dr. Elizabeth Cowrie shows up in Salem, Massachusetts to study the witch trials, Hazel and her best friend, Roxy, are both instantly attracted to the workaholic professor. Roxy snags a date with Elizabeth first, but when their chemistry fizzles out, Hazel sees an opportunity to pursue Elizabeth herself—until she realizes Elizabeth is avowedly anti-magic.

That’s definitely a problem since Hazel is a bona fide witch: rides a broom, has a black cat, brews love potions, lives in a haunted house, and has a vampire ex-girlfriend. Roxy is the only person who knows the truth, and Hazel has gotten used to hiding who she is, but she can’t live a lie with the person she loves most. Can Hazel give up magic to make it work with Elizabeth? Or will she give up on the love of her life instead?

 

Advance praise from Publishers Weekly: "Klein’s lovely debut paranormal romance showcases the value of friendship and authenticity in the face of scheming exes and magical mayhem...The novel’s greatest strength is the unshakable friendship between Hazel and Roxy, who find ways to support each other even while pining for the same woman. The healthy communication keeps the love triangle from dragging, and the grounded magic system delights. Klein should win plenty of fans with this."

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The Willing

By Lyn Hemphill

Magic
Other Worlds
Blue Collar
Bisexual
International Setting
Ghosts
College Life
People of Color

Kitty Wilson doesn’t know how, but she can bring people back from the dead as long as someone is willing to take their place and keep the universe in balance. Oxford student Talia McGregor’s life goes from bad to worse when she’s killed in a hit-and-run. When the drunk driver responsible agrees to sacrifice his life to save Talia’s, Kitty makes the trade and brings Talia back to life. Neither of them expects the ghost of Matt, Kitty’s BFF, to come back with her.

Kitty has to figure out how to untether Matt’s ghost from Talia and bring him back for good. In her quest to discover the extent of her magic, Kitty must confront a secret society with questionable motives and connections to tragedies in her past, and a magical bloodline she never knew was hers.

As the stakes and the spells rise, Kitty and Talia rely on each other to survive, but can they open their hearts and trust the magic of love?

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The Ghost's Host

By Cathleen Collins

Ghosts

Renee Chambers is a burgeoning germaphobe in search of a new job—something less stressful than her last job, teaching high school students. When her supposedly psychic best friend, Ellen, points her toward an odd little bookstore and a strange, otherworldly woman, Adrianne, Renee is thrown for a loop. One awkward interview and an even stranger psychic encounter later, Renee gets the job. Then Ellen’s psychic dabbling has unintended consequences when Renee meets a pushy new friend, Katherine, a jealous ghost who's convinced they are soul mates.

A casino trip, a drunken drag show, an old beater of a car, and a pair of dinosaur panties push Renee to the edge, but the real kicker is when Katherine starts getting more insistent and borrowing bodies. All Renee wants is a peaceful, fledgling hermit existence, but that’s unlikely unless she can figure out her true connection to Katherine, Ellen, and Adrianne. To discover the truth, she must come to terms with her past and learn how to embrace the future.

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