An online book journal featuring genres of romance: Fantasy • Paranormal • Contemporary • Historical • & Asian Dramas

6.02.2026

Starfire's Heir (The Soul of Serentyn)


There is a this.



Starfire's Heir
Megan Phillips
The Soul of Serentyn, book one
ebook, 564 pages
paperback, 564
Published June 23, 2026
ASIN B0G6WHHVZ3
ISBN 9798993030623
ARC



Destiny called her. He awoke her.

Lexa Andrever has always believed she was nothing more than a farm girl. But when a stranger reveals she is the lost heir of a distant realm, Lexa discovers she alone stands between the kingdom and the deathly darkness pressing at its borders.

Written into an unsettling prophecy, carrying a responsibility she never sought, Lexa sets off for her homeland with Griff Narvene, the warrior sworn to protect her. As she grapples with her new role as prophesied savior, the inscrutable soldier stirs something deep within...

To keep the shadows at bay, Lexa must harness the powers of her birthright to protect the people and home that demand her duty. With the fate of the kingdom—and a fragile new love—at stake, can she survive long enough to save them both?

Starfire’s Heir is the first book in The Soul of Serentyn trilogy—perfect for fans of fated mates, found family, and slow-burn romance woven through sweeping fantasy adventure.

For those who love a fiery, spirited leading lady, very much sheltered and immature, but with all the room in the world to grow, this may be a story for you.

No spoilers, but perhaps too much information for some.

I am not a person that responds positively to naive and rebellious characters that are constantly praised despite having no control over their powers and zero achievements to their name.

Lexa frustrated me to the core. Her ignorance had its own personal vendetta against my nerves.

She didn't know it was dangerous. I facepalmed so hard it left a bruise.

Her people are tormented, hunted, and dying, and she's spending most of her energy basically playing He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not in her head.

Zachary. You could not make me hate him. He's probably the character I connected with the most. Ruling as regent over a kingdom that has been at war with a phantom enemy for decades, they're still no wiser on how to attain victory than when they started. His mate has abandoned him. His children are dead. I'd be angry and desperate, too. His feelings of impotence and recklessness in such a scenario are valid.

A prophecy is all they have. And it's a prophecy that has been meticulously edited to the point that it's meaningless. In part by the regent's own daughter!

Finn. This man needs to be reacquainted with the concept of personal space and boundaries. The immediate first-name basis of addressing her and the constant touching? No. Just no.

Griff. The calm and controlled white knight. The nice guy. Ever loyal. Ever true. But when he let his temper flare, that is when I was the most invested in him.

Violet. I adored her. And I would dive head-first into her story and that of the Wraith. The what, the why, the mental processing that backed her decision-making... I'm here for it.

Chapter 32 had me near tears. And it was there that I found my turning point for this book. Everything that flowed after was exactly what I wanted and where I wanted to be.

4 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | hardcover | paperback (The New Romantics) | Special Edition Hardcover (The Crafty Bookstore)

2026/27

5.29.2026

The Binding (Heirs of the Shattered Veil #3)


I am yours, Little Fox.
Completely. Untouched. Yours.



The Binding
Celeanne Dorrington
Heirs of the Shattered Veil, book three
ebook, 429 pages
Published May 1, 2026
ARC



The day the Veil shattered, the world broke—and every soul was marked. Every fae now bears a soulmark. Luminar or Shadowmarked. Revered or enslaved.
But our fae heroine was born with both.
And he was forged to destroy her.
Some say their bond is prophecy.
Others call it a curse.
Either way—if it completes, it could end the war…
or end the realm.

Dark fae trilogy, Real enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, fated mates, morally gray, the chosen one, found family, and level 3 spice but with deep themes and epic fantasy world.

I survived the ending of book two, and Chapter 8 of The Binding was my reward.

Kill the king. Heal the Veil. And more than anything else, save the scribe.

We have arrived to the final battle, a rather epic conclusion teeming with that Winter Is Coming vibe and the long anticipated moment when the Rupture and the Crownforged accept their prophesied fates.

What I loved: This is a found family where everyone manages to save themselves and each other. Some of the best scenes were where this group of 'strategic allies' just existed in one another's space. Bonding. Healing. Surviving. Together.

And, other than Chapter 8, my most adored scene was in the midst of the plotting of their attack as Amaria and Eryndor moved in tandem with one another over the battle maps. Mirrored in action and thought, complementing each other inside and out. A fated pair at its best.

4 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook from the author | paperback (Amazon)

Previously in the series:


2026/26

5.24.2026

Resonance (Soulren #1)


My name... Say it when you break.



Resonance
Ketley Allison
Soulren, book one
ebook, 556 pages
Published April 23, 2026
ASIN B0GLHVV7MP
ISBN 9798246935446



I did two things I can't take I raised my cat from the dead, and I killed the boy who saw me do it.

Necromancy is forbidden. Erased from history. The kind of magic that gets you hunted by the Academy's best, Elite Soulren who've spent decades killing anything that threatens their power.

Falcen Reaves finds me, anyway.

He's cursed, ruthless, and supposed to drag me to the Academy to be broken or destroyed like every other late awakener before me.

Instead, he keeps me alive. Trains me. Watches me with a cruelty that feels like hunger.

Because my power isn't normal. There's something inside me, ancient, violent, and growing stronger every time I consume a soul.

It recognizes him. His curse. The darkness he's drowning in.

And gods help me, I want him despite it all.

Every training session becomes more dangerous. His control is slipping. So is mine. We're bound by a curse neither of us understands, a pull between souls that shouldn't exist, and a hunger that matches violence for violence.

He's my captor. My teacher. The only person who knows what I am.

And the bond between us might kill us both.

Resonance is a dark romantasy drenched in soul-magic, deadly trials, and a love forged in blood and Void. Perfect for fans of morally gray heroes and heroines who refuse to be broken.

TROPES:
Morally Grey MMC
Touch Her and Die (Literally. He will consume your soul).
Captor/Captive
Bad Boy/Good Girl
Black Cat Heroine
Boy Falls First
Close Proximity
Fated Mates
Dark Academia
Grumpy/Sunshine
Guarded Hearts
Loathe to Love
Guardian Ward
Kidnapped
Power Imbalance

Boy Falls First?

Our leading lady is heavily in the thralls of lust from the moment she lays eyes on the MMC, but he falls first? Okay, we'll go with that.

(Plot twist: He fell first.)

This is not a book for those that need to consult trigger warning pages when it comes to dominant males or abuse. This is deliciously dark. The MMC is not gentle. He is not soft. He will command her. He will harm her. He will strive to break her, because it is his duty and if he doesn't, the Academy will.

Their first kiss was a bit of mess. It felt like something was edited out. Something vital: the actual kiss. One moment he's pulling her against him and in the next his tongue is darting into her mouth. Immediate reread of the situation and all I could envision was some kind of serpentine creature molesting her face and groin. I'm not certain how that made it past the editor. Not certain how a number of instances (grammatical, factual, etc) made it through the final edit actually.

And I was this close to turning the word 'sternum' into part of a drinking game.

Adored Verily. A leading lady that continuously left me flabbergasted. Where every other chapter is either Girl, what are you doing? or Are you for real right now?!.

Woman is being accused of screwing an Elite for special treatment one minute and we've barely turned a cheek before, in a very public place, she's throwing down the What do I mean to you/Where is whatever this is going conversation.

She is an optomist with empathy to spare.

Falcen, I loved. He is my spirit animal. Morally grey from head to toe.

He calls her Veilbreaker. 💕

But what the hell am I suppose to do with that ending? Our man's soulless corpse got turned into a nether drake!

4 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | paperback

2026/25

5.17.2026

The Lost Thread (Heirs of the Shattered Veil #2)


Hate me for the rest of our lives.
But not for something I didn't choose.



The Lost Thread
Celeanne Dorrington
Heirs of the Shattered Veil, book two
ebook, 604 pages
Published May 1, 2026
ARC



The day the Veil shattered, the world broke—and every soul was marked. Every fae now bears a soulmark. Luminar or Shadowmarked. Revered or enslaved.
But our fae heroine was born with both.
And he was forged to destroy her.
Some say their bond is prophecy.
Others call it a curse.
Either way—if it completes, it could end the war…
or end the realm.

Dark fae trilogy, Real enemies-to-lovers, slow burn, fated mates, morally gray, the chosen one, found family, and level 3 spice but with deep themes and epic fantasy world.

A sequel to a story spun around two people who have each long ago decided their own purpose and their own worth. Two people who would surely stop existing if they ceased to be stubborn.

A bond that forces proximity, fills and drains, mirrors and transforms. One which gifts sight of the past and gives flow to all of their emotions in a precarious circuit.

One step forward and two steps back with an FMC that either thinks too much or not at all and an MMC shackled by trauma and cowardice. Heavily worded with occasional silliness sprinkled at intentional intervals and back-to-back plot twists.

A book that would have me crashing out at about ninety-eight percent when everything gained gets nuked into oblivion.

This is fuckery.

This is mind altering madness.

Severing a mate bond?

The MMC marries someone else?!

This is simply, by unspoken rule and unwritten law, not done.

0 stars. 5 stars. Idfk at this point.

Available in ebook | paperback (Amazon)

Previously in the series:


2026/24