Archives de catégorie : Romantasy

THE REDWOOD BARGAIN de Markelle Grabo

In this gothic fairy tale, a maid poses as her lord’s stepdaughter to fulfill his bargain with the murderous lord of the woods.

THE REDWOOD BARGAIN
by Markelle Grabo
Page Street/St. Martin’s, March 2026

To free her cousin from an indentured contract, Katrien agrees to fulfill their lord’s bargain with the fabled “Redwood Man.” Three maids before her have posed as his stepdaughter, Lady Zaviera, and met this lord of the forest as promised. But Katrien means to be the first to fool him—and live. Impersonating a lady is no easy feat, especially one as beautiful and aloof as Zaviera. With one month before she’s sent off, Katrien is put through endless lessons, even as the Redwood Man’s suffocating vines overtake the manor and threaten its staff. Zaviera takes a special interest in her training, and their shared interests grow into shared affections. But the Redwood Man awaits his prize. Caught between duty and desire, her future and her past, Katrien must navigate a tricky bargain—or risk failing those she holds dearest.

Markelle Grabo retells the fairy tales that frustrate her, which, based on that guideline, could include nearly all of them. She earned her master’s degree in creative writing for children and young adults from Hamline University and lives in Illinois with her partner and their two cats, Matcha and Kava. She is the author of Call Forth a Fox.

MOTH DARK de Kika Hatzopoulou

From the bestselling author of Threads That Bind comes a timeline-crossing romantic fantasy about a girl in love with a world of darkness—and with the mysterious heir to its throne—who must fight to prevent the destruction of all she loves.

MOTH DARK
by Kika Hatzopoulou
Putnam, October 2025
(via Dystel, Goderich & Bourret)

Sascia has always loved the Dark. Six years ago, when the world she knew collided with the world of the Dark, she found it thrilling rather than terrifying. Now, she spends her days studying Darkcreatures or seeking them out in the shadows where they thrive.

Then, one day, she—impossibly—pulls a person from the Dark. A person who shouldn’t exist. And they’re here to kill her. Nugau, the heir to the Darkworld, claims to be delivering a sentence for Sascia’s betrayal in a battle she’s never heard of, in a war that hasn’t happened.

Sascia escapes with her life—barely. But tensions are brewing between her world and the Dark, and it’s not long before she discovers that she and Nugau are bound together by forces they don’t understand. As they grow closer, crossing worlds and timelines, they must find a way to fight for peace—and for each other.

Kika Hatzopoulou is the bestselling author of Threads That Bind and its sequel, Hearts That Cut. She is a native Greek and current Londoner and holds an MFA in writing for children from the New School. In her free time, she enjoys urban quests and gastronomical adventures while narrating entire book and movie plots with her partner. Find Kika on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok @kikahatzopoulou and on her website kikahatzopoulou.com.

GODBLOODED d’Emma Theriault

A Fate Inked In Blood meets The Foxglove King in this high-spice, Celtic-inspired adult romantasy.

GODBLOODED (Book #1)
by Emma Theriault
Hodder & Stoughton, 2026
(via Laura Dail Literary)

Dunscane is a land surrounded by darkness, protected by the gods who holdback the ruin lurking in the Waste. When Anthea Damra is chosen by the goddess Morven to be her priestess her comfortable, aristocratic existence is traded for a life of degrading rituals, brutal sacrifices, and the goddess hearing her every thought. She knows she can’t trust anyone in the stronghold; not her brooding, handsome warden, Eamon, and certainly not Morven, ruthless and maternal by turns. Anthea is haunted by whispers about Ione, the priestess before her who failed in her duties.

To avoid the same fate, Anthea delves deeper into the mysteries surrounding Morven and her fellow deities. As their relationship grows, Anthea empathizes with the goddess more and more. Then Morven reveals the truth: the gods are not protectors, but prisoners, bound by an ancient pact that enslaves them to the whims of unknown powers. Horrified the goddess is also a captive, Anthea doesn’t hesitate when Morven asks her to take off the collar that binds her to the temple, allowing her to escape.

Forced to flee and brave the Waste alongside the notorious (and surprisingly charming) heretic Severin Cosgrave, he reveals to Anthea that all she knows is a lie. As Severin and Anthea become allies, and more, the secrets they unveil put targets on their backs. Darkness is creeping in, and Anthea discovers that her being chosen as Morven’s priestess was not as random as she once believed…and she may be the only one that can save Dunscane from ruin.

Emma Theriault ‘s YA fantasy debut, Rebel Rose, was a Canadian Children’s Book Centre starred selection for Best Books for Kids and Teens Fall 2021. Her debut adult historical romance, A Lady Would Know Better, came out in January 2025 from Entangled with two sequels to follow.

THESE VILE HEARTS de Melody Robinette

For fans of Geneva Lee, Rebecca Yarros, and Holly Black, THESE VILE HEARTS is the perfect pacy, steamy crossover read for readers craving their next deadly fae fix.

THESE VILE HEARTS
by Melody Robinette
Putnam, 2026
(via Park, Fine & Brower Literary)

Maddox Sinclair’s father told her to never trust a dryad. At the age of eight she learned why: dryads murdered her mom and dad before her eyes. Now at twenty-six, Maddox is freshly laid off and desperate—f or a home, for a future, and, as a type-one diabetic, for a way to pay for the insulin that keeps her alive. Utterly without options, she flees to the forest where her parents were killed to make a binding pact with a dryad queen: kill the queen’s immortal enemy, the Redwood King, and be cured of her disease before the broken healthcare system sends her to an early grave.

In the redwood treetops, adopted Prince Castor is plagued by a curse that kills anyone foolish enough to love him. It’s been a year since the Redwood King—a lover of cruel and twisted games—made Castor an offer he couldn’t turn down: get a mortal to fall in love with him by the Sylveris Solstice and be freed of his curse. But should he fail, he’ll be imprisoned for a year in the Tree of Exile, a place of dark magic that drives its inhabitants mad. Castor hasn’t had any luck yet…and with the solstice fast approaching, time is running out.

When Maddox mistakes Castor for the king, Castor knows this mortal stranger—who knows nothing about his curse— is his last chance at freedom. But while Castor will stop at nothing to seduce Maddox, she’s scheming to get him alone so she can drive her dagger through his heart. As the pair’s sparks accidentally kindle a romantic fire, Castor must decide: damn the woman he has feelings for, or give up his future and freedom? And can Maddox untangle the web of secrets she’s in before she kills the wrong man, or worse…falls for a cursed prince, sealing her fate once and for all?

Melody Robinette is a dark fantasy author who grew up living in a daydream. A lover of all things macabre and fantastical, she now lives in Austin, Texas with her cocktail crafting husband, Ben, and their two ridiculous felines. As a type one diabetic, she has joined the #insulin4all movement and strives to spread awareness about her disease. When she isn’t writing, she can be found playing D&D, hunkering down in a coffee shop with a good book, or begging her cat Edgar Allan Poe Tato to sit with her.

WICKEDLY EVER AFTER de R. Lee Fryar

In this (delightfully screwball) fairy tale romp, even the most wicked deserve their happily-ever-after.

WICKEDLY EVER AFTER
by R. Lee Fryar
Sourcebooks Casablanca, April 2025

For almost a thousand years, Wicked Witch Hector West and Good Witch Ida North have maintained the balance of good and evil, preserving a magical Happily-Ever-After that keeps the realm from falling apart. But even Cardinal Witches need a hobby, and every spare moment they have is spent antagonizing each other. But when Ida’s latest « harmless » hex goes too far, Hector retaliates with a curse that immediately backfires, making her choose the wrong princess for the year’s big pantomime.

Which, if not corrected immediately, could have world-shaking consequences.

One reluctant prince and badly botched dragon kidnapping later, both Hector and Ida are determined to set things right. With love magic gone wild, the two best enemies set off on a quest to save the realm, their lovesick gnome chamberlains at their sides. Yet as they unravel what went wrong with their mixed-up magic, Hector and Ida will have to face a more daunting challenge than trying to avoid their own Wickedly-Ever-After: Deciding whether a millennium worth of enmity might have been the biggest mistake of their very long lives.

R. Lee Fryar is an author from the Ozark Mountains of Arkansas. When she isn’t writing about magical mayhem, she’s usually lost in the woods, wandering through the mountains, or up a creek without a paddle. In her spare time, she cooks, paints, and gardens very badly.