The Maiden and the Marrow Witch  is a compelling novelette about murder and mystery in a magical, mythical world. Dedicated to the people of ancient Crete and the archeologists uncovering its beauty, the story launches directly into action with a proclamation that “The bull is dead.” This fact is unsettling to the Pasithea who rules over the kingdom. When the caretaker fails to learn how the bull has been killed and offers his own life for the ritual sacrifice to the maiden,

An extraordinary retelling of the old “animal bridegroom” tales that inform stories like East of the Sun, West of the Moon  and Beauty and the Beast , Kathryn Trattner’s The Glass Palace  beautifully blends love, romance, adventure, magic, and comedy. Astrid has been betrothed to a stranger for as long as she can remember, and when her father, the last member of her family, passes away, she must travel to the cold, dark regions of the north to meet her fiancé Tyhr, a brooding

In her thoughtful collection of stories dedicated to her own stepmother and to “all stepmothers who raise their families with love and fortitude,”  Georgina Warren transforms dangerous tropes about blended families by replacing then with endearing tales of fully-realized women who heroically raise children not born of their bodies. Tales of Virtuous Stepmothers  features twelve enticing tales that entertain readers while educating them about identity, family, love, and the ro

Only Spell Deep  tells the story of Judeth Cole, a young woman descended from a long line of elemental witches. Her late grandmother, Aurelia, once cast a powerful love spell on her grandfather, a man incapable of true love, and its obsessive effects have filtered down through the generations. When the novel opens, Judeth is sixteen years old and has lost her family and their seaside estate Solidago to a fire. Tasked with rebuilding the estate and retaining her grandmother’s

Pitched as a story where Bridgerton  meets Circe , Rachel Hochhauser’s Lady Tremaine  far surpassed my already high expectations, easily becoming my favorite new read! Told from the breathtaking perspective of the twice-widowed Lady Etheldreda Verity Isolde Tremaine Bramley, this novel will turn your perceptions of the Cinderella  story inside out while also rewriting the script of all fairy tale plots passed down through the generations. Hochhauser’s choice to filter a well-

A haunted bookshop in Scotland, a series of mysterious disappearances, and a sweet romance that unfold across the bonds of time: if these things sound intriguing to you then add Jessica Dodge’s The Messengers of Magic to the top of your TBR List! This lovely novel follows Pen Turner, a young man from the 1950’s who escapes the pain and grief of his childhood when a neighbor leaves him the deed to an old bookshop named The Feather Thorn in Scotland, and Adelaide Benson, a woma

Jess Armstrong serves up a round of murder and folklore in her latest installment of the Ruby Vaughn Mystery series The Devil in Oxford . After investigating mysterious murders and hauntings in Cornwall and Scotland in The Curse of Penryth Hall  and The Secret of the Three Fates , Ruby, a disgraced American heiress and former World War I ambulance driver, accompanies her octogenarian housemate and employer Mr. Owen to Oxford for the annual meeting of his antiquarian society.

Behind the Door  by M. S. Berry is a contemporary and psychological reworking of Bluebeard  that will have readers on the edge of their seats! When Anna, a student finishing her PhD in folklore and fairy tales takes a house-sitting position in a sleepy English town, she finds herself thrust into a real-world fairy tale narrative. Her mysterious employer, Ryan Boswell, offers Anna a quiet space to finish her thesis in return for light work in his book shop and care of his hous

Are you a fan of swoony Gothic romance, dark fantasy, and fairy tale? If so, you can find all this and more in Amanda Linsmeier’s novel A Dance With Death . Set in The Pins, a village by the sea, and written in the first person present point of view of Corliss Bell, one of three orphaned sisters who run the town apothecary, this book beautifully blends Beauty and the Beast  with Hans Christian Andersen’s The Red Shoes , adding a healthy dash of romantic spice to warm the gloo

I have long been a fan of Theodora Goss’ hauntingly beautiful writing, but her latest collection, Letters from an Imaginary Country , is one of my favorites. Goss has crafted an anthology of old and new stories designed to push readers past the defined boundaries of speculative fiction, and the characters, prose, and insight found within its pages will linger long after the book has been closed. Goss, who was born in Hungary and immigrated to the United States during her chil