Raya's Bookshelf
Anachronistic: Endless Masquerade
There's a simple hierarchy in the world; youkai exist to kill humans and hunters exist to kill youkai. As the daughter of a hunter Lilith knows this well, but she didn't expect her life to shatter at the revelation of a dark secret. She is a youkai.
Now, with her life in ruins and facing execution, Lilith must abandon everything she knows. Under cover of darkness, Lilith flees to the port city, searching for a boat headed for Eden, the ringed city at the center of the world. There she hopes to start a new life for herself. But when she sells her spare ticket to a stoic woman named Pandora, she couldn't imagine she was inviting a hunter on the journey with her.
Now, Lilith will have to hide her identity if she hopes to live. A task made more difficult when the two women grow closer and Lilith develops feelings for someone she can never be with.
Linked By Ink
Riley:
When I was eighteen I made a huge mistake. Part of that error was a friendship tattoo that would link him and me together. That tattoo is a symbol of the worst wrong I made. Just simply looking at it is a reminder of what not to let ever happen again. I turned my pain into something positive. I went to college for art and created my own tattoo studio Linked By Ink. I'm now famous for friendship tattoos. I used my negative to build something positive from it. Now I have my own tv show. I travel across the world meeting people who want a friendship tattoo and hearing their stories. If I like their story and feel the relationship is positive I give them a tattoo.
Lucas:
When I was nineteen I made a huge mistake. The only part that wasn't a full failure was the time we spent together and the tattoo I got with her. The tattoo is a reminder of what I lost from my wrongs. My tattoo is a symbol of her and wanting to find her again. I want her back in my life. I've hired many private investigators and not one has found her. I turned the negative I did into something positive. I wrote all my songs about her. Every song was an award won, some Grammy's, and every award won was a new tattoo I got in honor of her. I traveled across the world meeting people whom my songs and story have inspired.
Healer's Touch
Concubine 999
After the conquest of her home planet by the galactic empire, Lady Zarathenia agrees to become the 999th hostage concubine of the Endless Emperor. But, the palace planet Viverides is rife with backstabbing and intrigue. With 998 other concubines, not to mention tricky intergalactic politics, Zara must navigate the dangers to ensure the safety of her home planet. Will she rise through the ranks or succumb to the treachery?
Wings, Flings, and Demon Kings
A rambly angel. A debonair demon. A very stuck elevator...
NIRAEL has never been the best angel. A little too loud, always in the wrong place at the wrong time, she constantly finds herself written up by her archangel superiors for minor misdemeanors. When her Remedial Goodness program forces her to do a capstone project on Earth, she's determined this will be the moment she finally turns her life around.
That is, until she meets...
AZERATH has always been a good demon. Which, in demon terms, is tantamount to career suicide. Sent to Earth as part of his Remedial Evil program, his demonic superiors issue him an ultimatum: corrupt a hundred souls in the next month or risk being unmade.
But they didn't specify that the souls he corrupts have to be human.
Mostly romcom fluff with a dash of existential angst.
Token of Loyalty
*Book One of the Amor Fati Series*
Prince Calanthe Ámarent, once the child of a beloved queen regnant and now a disgraced prince, is forced to play a part in a devious scheme that puts his life in the hands of others.
***
The small kingdom of Eglantine has fallen under the control of the Tarynians: the dreaded conquerors of Gharash. Each kingdom must produce a token of loyalty to give to the Tarynians as a sign of good faith and loyalty. Young Prince Calanthe is chosen by his aunt Queen Hyacinth to be the sacrifice that saves Eglantine from the worst of the Tarynian King's rage. However, nowhere in this plan does Calanthe see himself coming out alive. Hyacinth forces Calanthe to play along to distract the Mad Tarynian King Sindri from the brewing trouble in the East. Calanthe is taken away from his home and back to Taryn where he finds life is not as bleak as he thought. He begins to deconstruct the lies he had been told his entire life and learns to be confident in himself until devastation strikes. Calanthe must make a decision that he has never made before. He must choose between Eglantine or the Tarynians before it is too late, and all hope is lost in Gharash.
[ Content Warning: explicit sexual scenes, intense violence, mentions of abuse and trauma, and vulgar language ]
[ This story covers topics that may be triggering to certain audiences ]
Silver Lining
"Sorry, Greg. I'm not leaving. This is my place now too."
These words from a man he barely knew threatened to shatter whatever remaining sanity Greg had after going to great lengths to move on from the death of his fiancé.
As if his dead ex's betrayal wasn't enough, he must now deal with another blow from the grave: an unexpected visitor who was everything Greg wanted to avoid.
___
Cover Illustration by LuckySR
Fire and Magic (The Jadori Book 1)
A girl who sees ghosts. A magic out of control. A group hellbent on destroying what they’re afraid of.
Maddie can see ghosts and for that she is sent to a mental institution. Maddie Johnson is sent to a mental institution because she talks to people who aren’t there. She insists that they’re ghosts. Just as she thinks she’s convinced the doctors that she is fine now, a dark-haired ghost with dreamy brown eyes rushes in and ruins everything.
She is sent to a halfway house that helps people with mental illness assimilate back into society. But then she hurts someone using magic she didn’t know she possessed. Now she has a new problem. She will have to learn to control her magic.
She discovers that the town has secrets of its own and there are people going missing. How far are people willing to go to destroy what they are afraid of? Maddie and her handsome spirit might just find out first-hand.
© 2024 Susan McKenzie. All rights reserved.
El & Em
Philadelphia, 1972: All Luke wants is to share his music with the world. When an imposing, slightly older trumpet player called Emmett joins his band, Luke is fascinated – and a lifelong friendship is born. Love and loyalty are forged in the slow burn of tours, shows and recording sessions. Over the years, Luke’s curiosity and Emmett’s indulgence slowly push the two of them into complicated new territory. Emmett tries to keep them safe – but Luke wants it all.
In this monumental romance spanning more than twenty years, there are no heroes and no villains – just people doing their best in a messed up world.
Content Notes:
• Open relationships
• Period-realistic racism
• References to AIDS and period-realistic homophobia
• Mild Dom/sub power dynamics
No use of slurs, no sexual violence, no cheating
This is a work of fiction. All the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Many thanks to my kind, helpful and generous beta readers: Ky K, Morgan Beacham, Leslie Lewis Johnson, Alex Lawrence, Nicola Doyle, and Kelly Salmon. Special thanks to Nicola for proof-reading assistance.