Archives de catégorie : Historical Romance

CRADLE OF SECRETS de Jasmin Wigham

A Victorian fantasy romance perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Alexandra Christo.

CRADLE OF SECRETS
by Jasmin Wigham
Podium, TBD
(via Zeno Agency)

Jem has lied, cheated and stolen to make his way into the swankiest circles of London’s elite. And now he almost has everything he ever wanted, a beautiful if vapid fiancé, a patron who’s willing to fund his lavish lifestyle. But now he’s here it doesn’t deliver the high he wanted. So when a mysterious blond called Felicity appears and asks him to demonstrate his legendary gunslinger skills, he can’t quite resist.

Jem’s about to realise the problem with inventing yourself an elaborate adventuring background is, it doesn’t hold up very long when you’re confronted with real monsters.

Narrowly escaping with his life, Jem realises Felicity isn’t all she appears. He tries to slip back into his normal life but can’t quite resist the pull of an actual adventure. So alongside Felicity, a young woman cursed with immortality to watch everyone she loves grow up and leave her; Odessa, a witch with no magic; Rashid, a scientist who figured out how to turn people invisible but not how to turn them back; and McLaren, a Scotsman who may or may not be a werewolf – Jem must figure out who is creating monsters out of men.

Jasmine Wigham lives in Country Durham. After finishing a degree in History and English literature, she went on to become a finalist in Penguin Random House’s 2020 ‘Write Now’ scheme, which aims to champion promising new writers who are so far underrepresented in the publishing landscape. CRADLE OF SECRETS is her debut novel.

GRIMSTONE de Sophie Lark

From USA Today bestselling author Sophie Lark comes a brand new romantic thriller series in the gothic, secretive beach town of Grimstone.

GRIMSTONE
by Sophie Lark
Bloom Books/Sourcebooks, September 2024

Remi Hayes is beginning to think she’s cursed—her fiancé cheated on her, her brother Jude is a major pain in her ass, and the moldering mansion she inherited from her uncle might just be haunted.

Flipping Blackleaf Manor already feels impossible, even before Remi is blackmailed by Dane Covett, the dangerously hot doctor-next-door, and Grimstone’s most eligible bachelor—if you can ignore the fact that everyone in town thinks he murdered his wife.

Remi doesn’t want to believe it, especially after Dane sews up a gash in her thigh and steals a kiss in payment—a kiss that makes it hard to walk for reasons that have nothing to do with an injured leg.

But as the renovation takes a strange and violent turn, Remi must decide if Dane is the one haunting her nights, or if he’s trying to protect her from something much worse.

When Sophie Lark started writing, she wanted to create intelligent and powerful female characters who were allowed to be flawed. She’s always loved dark and twisty storylines. She thought so many of her interests were strange until she found an online community of readers who love all the same things. Sophie writes all kinds of stories, including dark romance, fantasy, and suspense. She’s a sucker for anti-heroes and moral dilemmas. Her readers mean everything to her. She couldn’t do what she loves for a living without them, and she’d be lost without the outlet of writing.

NOW COMES THE MIST de Julie C. Dao

A sexy, romantic, feminist retelling of Dracula from the point of view of Lucy Westenra.

NOW COMES THE MIST
by Julie C. Dao
Podium, October 2024
(via Context Literary Agency)

Lucy Westenra is beautiful, rich, and admired by men. But under her sparkling, flirtatious façade, Lucy is melancholy and obsessed with death after losing her beloved father; she both fears and is captivated by death and dreads leaving her loved ones behind, especially Mina Murray, for whom Lucy cherishes an unspoken romantic attraction.

Lucy balks against the rules of upper-class society. She longs for experiences that are considered inappropriate for a respectable young lady, from traveling to indulging in her sexual curiosity and enthusiasm as men do. When she meets the sexy, mysterious Vlad, she realizes she has the chance to get everything she ever wanted. Or lose it.

Julie C. Dao is the critically acclaimed author of many books for teens and children including Forest of a Thousand Lanterns and Broken Wish. Her novels have earned starred reviews from Booklist, School Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly, won recognition as Junior Library Guild Selections and Kids’ Indie Next List picks, and landed on multiple best-ofyear lists including YALSA and the American Library Association. A proud Vietnamese- American who was born in upstate New York, she now lives in New England.

THE AUSTEN AFFAIR de Madeline Bell

Outlander meets Bridget Jones’s Diary in Jane Austen’s Regency England.

THE AUSTEN AFFAIR
by Madeline Bell
St. Martin’s Griffin, September 2025
(via KT Literary)

C-list actress Tess Bright grew up in a messy SoCal apartment watching Jane Austen flicks on repeat with her mom. When Mom passes away and Tess lands a breakout role as the female lead in a Northanger Abbey adaptation, she emerges from her grief cocoon with everything to prove. One big problem? Her upsettingly handsome castmate, Hugh Balfour, whose rigid acting methodology allows no room to collaborate with a go-with-the-flow whirlwind like Tess.

When sparks fly between the leads (literally) and an electrical accident zaps the pair back in time to the Regency era, Tess and Hugh must grudgingly learn to cooperate, leaning on each other to navigate the strict protocols of the past and find their way back home. Soon, they’re faking an engagement to misdirect the neighbors’ suspicions about their sudden arrival in country society.

Between militia rakes, nosy ancestors, and persistent suitors, the couple is swept into a comedy worthy of Austen herself. Tess never thought she could fall for anyone as uptight as Hugh, but as she gets to know his sensitive side, she realizes she might have misjudged him. With the romantic tension swelling between them, and her childhood fantasy made miraculously real, what happens if Tess doesn’t want to risk what they have by returning to her lonely 21st century reality?

Madeline Bell is a romance writer who has never met an enemies-to-lovers trope she didn’t like. She spends much of her free time ranking and continually reranking different adaptations of Jane Austen novels, and like a true rom-com heroine, she has a quirky day job working in a creative arts field in New York City.

A HUNT SO WICKED de Britt Andrews

Malindo Lo’s Ash meets Kiera Cass’s The Selection in this dark romantasy in which a peasant girl is persuaded to join a competition where the royal families select brides for their sons. When she learns the royals have a more sinister plan, she must fight to survive.

A HUNT SO WICKED
(Cursed Royals #1)
by Britt Andrews
Britt Andrews Books, May 2023
(via JABberwocky Literary Agency)

The guards arrive at Evie’s humble cottage with an unbelievable offer: come to an exclusive and mysterious isle to compete for the hand of a royal husband.

Enjoy a week of glittering balls, dancing, ostentatious wealth…and a royal hunt. If Evie is not selected by a prince, she will still be sent home with a pot of money. Whether she marries a prince or not, Evie’s life would be changed forever.

Her father begs her not to go, warning that it could be dangerous. But Evie stubbornly continues on, determined to win for the sake of her family.

When she arrives on the Roaring Isle and meets the royals who organized the competition, she realizes there are no Prince Charmings here. These royals are powerful, toxic, and bloodthirsty.

In the dark and treacherous wilderness, they are the hunters and Evie and the other would be royal wives are the prey. Not all of them will survive a hunt so wicked. But Evie is determined that she will.

Britt Andrews is an author of Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance novels. She loves eating Mexican food, reading all the books, and living her best mom life in rural Ohio.