I’m hearing Last Christmas at least once a day, my Netflix recommendations are 95% holiday movies, and people are skating on the canals of the lovely Dutch city where I’m living. I’m ready for Christmas, in other words, and that means I’m ready for gifts, too!
For this week’s blog, I’d like to chat about a couple of fantasy romances I consider perfect gifts for yourself the readers among your friends and family.
Once Upon A Forbidden Desire
First of all, for everyone who loves fairy tales but prefers them with an adult flavour: check out the Once Upon A Forbidden Desire anthology. With twenty retold fairy tales, this collection is the perfect bedtime read for fantasy lovers. The stories range from sweet and swoony to deliciously spicy, so there’s something for everyone here!
Some of my favourites are an intensely romantic fae Cinderella by AJ Lancaster, a dark and steamy Pied Piper by Zoey Ellis, and Vela Roth’s Twelve Dancing Princesses with a vampire twist. But each story is a gem, and I strongly recommend savouring them one by one rather than tearing through the full book at once.
Court of Blood and Bindings
For fans of longer books, I’d like to shamelessly plug my own Fae Isles series! The first book, Court of Blood and Bindings, is an epic fantasy romance with plenty of creative worldbuilding and plenty of steam and banter. If you enjoy enemies to lovers stories, fae fantasy, and books where the villain gets the girl – this one is for you.
When the deadliest assassin of the fae empire catches twenty-year-old Emelin using forbidden magic, she believes her hour has come. Instead, the Silent Death carries her off to his home to offer her a dangerous bargain. If she agrees, she could free all of humanity. But can she trust a man with so much blood on his hands?
Worse, when his smouldering dark eyes and dangerous secrets reveal glimpses of the heart behind his murderer’s mask… can she trust herself?
Court of Tricksters
As a final recommendation, I would like to give the spotlight to an author buddy who has saved my sanity several times this year and deserves all the holiday love for her newest release.
SL Prater’s Court of Tricksters is an utterly delightful Gaslamp romance featuring the sexy fae duke of Night, a shy but stabby forest witch named Rain, and a scheming, backstabbing court where war is always looming. Set in a gorgeously atmospheric world, it’s the start of a brand new series I can’t wait to see more of.
Court of Tricksters releases in January (I got my grabby hands on a review copy), but thankfully it’s already up for pre-order! And even better, it’s only 99c until release – so I strongly suggest getting it now 😊
Lisette Marshall is a fantasy romance author, language nerd and cartography enthusiast. Having grown up on a steady diet of epic fantasy, regency romance and cosy mysteries, she now writes steamy, swoony stories with a generous sprinkle of murder.
Lisette lives in the Netherlands (yes, below sea level) with her boyfriend and the few house plants that miraculously survive her highly irregular watering regime. When she’s not reading or writing, she can usually be found drawing fantasy maps, baking and eating too many chocolate cookies, or geeking out over Ancient Greek.
Find her at https://lisettemarshall.com/.
