Song of the Hundred-Year Summer: A Fairytale Romance Novella

My rose. With all your wonderful thorns.

Available at Amazon.com

Song of the Hundred-Year Summer
Shaylin Ghandi
A Fairytale Romance Novella
ebook, 52 pages
Published March 10, 2024
ASIN B0CW1BHL7Q
Free Read


Naia is an outcast. She keeps to herself, avoiding the villagers’ stares. The way they point. Even though she wants nothing more than to belong.

But when her village is cursed with endless summer, Naia must confront the formidable beast who holds the key to restoring the seasons.

As if that weren't difficult enough, it turns out the beast isn’t what she expected. His soulful dark eyes seem more man than monster. And the way he looks at her, with a clarity she's only dreamed of...

Soon, Naia is torn between her duty to the village that's never loved her…and the monster she set out to destroy.

A 90-minute fantasy romance read inspired by Beauty and the Beast.

This was a charming short story with the heart of your classic fairy tale but spun for the new generation about a girl who wants desperately to find her prince.

And I'm left with so many questions.

What happens in a year? Do they switch places? If so, are they immortal now? Does the Beast have a name? Where'd the last guy go? Why did—

Perhaps I've gone too deep with this.

4 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | paperback | audiobook

2026/06

To Ride a Faery Steed

I'm a shapeshifter, I'm a spy, and I'm an idiot...

To Ride a Faery Steed
Mallory Dunlin
Monsters of Faery novella
ebook, ~70 pages
Author's website
Free Read from FaRo Society


To Ride a Faery Steed is a fun little romp in the Monsters of Faery universe. Set in the Court of Bones, we get to meet Avalon Hartley, a fresh bondservant from the mortal world being sold at a semi-legal auction–and her soulmate, Ruven Kezorwyn, a shapeshifting spy known as the Harrower of Dreams.

Ruven is only too glad to claim his soulmate, but Avalon is traumatized from her near death, and Ruven wants to ensure that she can live a good life in Faery…even if that means denying them both what they want and using himself as a reward for facing her fears.

Content Warnings: blood, panic attack, paralysis (mention), phobia (of horses), PTSD, sexually explicit scenes

I needed something short, and fun, as I waited for a late January new release to hit the kindle. I received this book from FaRo Society's FaRoDays newsletter event and am not sure how to obtain it otherwise. No Amazon listing. Still listed as Coming Soon on the author's website with no thumbnail.

Avalon has suffered a life altering event: thrown from her horse, fracturing her spine, and left paralized. Fortunately, magic sees to her recovery but, unfortunately, she's left with a debt that only being sold into slavery can settle.

It seems I am far too accustomed to the silent and broody MMC, because when the carriage door closed and Ruven's mouth started moving a mile a minute—

Nope. Not prepared for that.

They've never met. Not even a single time. But from the moment Avalon's eyes meet those of the man standing in the audience of the auction, she knows his name is Ruven Kexorwyn, and she knows his hands are always warm.

He liberates her from the auctioneer's block with a ridiculous bid only to drag her along in a mad dash from those that would seek to kill him.

Shifting forms the whole way as if his entire body were battling to keep up with his mind and mouth.

Once deemed safe from the pursuit, which may or may not have even existed, Ruven delivers his new scent-tied mate to his rather impressive manor. It is here that Avalon spends the next four months being educated in her new role as lady of the estate and daughter-in-law to the princess of the realm. All the while being met with the challenge of conquering her trauma.

This is my first taste of Mallory Dunlin's work and color me delighted.

It was so much fun. Ruven with his yearning, bloated ego, and desperate need to be accepted in his true form, while equally willing to manipulate his body into any form necessary to win his soulmate's affection.

“I lost the war the moment you looked into my eyes, and I would look again, knowing the price,” Ruven murmured, lips brushing my skin. “Kill me or love me, paradise. It doesn’t matter to me. Just don’t ever leave me.”

It would be a travesty to never read another book by this author.

5 out of 5 stars.

2026/05

Empire of Flame and Thorns (Flame and Thorns #1)

You know nothing of what it's like to be enslaved.

Available at Amazon.com

Empire of Flame and Thorns
Marion Blackwood
Flame and Thorns, book one
ebook, 366 pages
Published October 21, 2024
ASIN B0DD5V1NXJ
ISBN 9789198904260


A fae rebel.
A ruthless dragon commander.
And a deadly trial that will turn their lives upside down.

Trapped in the Seelie Court by a forest of thorns, Selena Hale lives at the mercy of the dragon shifters. Her only chance to gain her freedom is by entering the Atonement Trials: a deadly competition that pits fae magic users against each other. Only three people can win, and Selena intends to be one of them.

There is only one problem. Draven Ryat, the ruthless commander of the dragon shifter army, is determined to make her lose.

He symbolizes everything that she hates, and if he finds out that she is also a member of the secret fae rebellion, he will not only mess with her chances to win, he will kill her. But the more time she spends with him, the more she finds herself inexplicably drawn to him.

And nothing is more dangerous in a lethal trial than a distracted heart.

Especially one that beats for the enemy…

First test: Get inside the palace.

Second test: Show your power.

This had to be some kind of initiation on Imar's part. Some form of dragon shifter hazing. Because the entire exercise seemed targeted at torturing the guy.

But when it's Selena's turn, Draven volunteers himself in Imar's stead. Though confident at first, Selena finds she cannot find the "typical" emotions she'd expected. No smugness. No boredom. Nothing. So... she goes for shock and whips her shirt off. And the strike lands. Draven staggers back and she siezes on the panic that follows until he's bumbling and cursing like a fool in front of the entire assembly.

Shocked and scandalized.

Even more so when she makes him laugh.

At the ball, he asks her to dance. Claims it's to put a target on her back. That may be so in terms of her competitors, but I was far more entertained at the idea of what message it sent to his fellow dragons. (Spoiler alert: It's never mentioned so perhaps they don't care.)

Trial one: Stay in the circle.

Basically they battled it out until only a chosen number remained. Culling the herd as it is.

Trial two: Get out of the maze.

Carry a glass egg through a maze without having it shatter. I rolled my eyes at this but it was the first blatant display of sabotage on Draven's part so I let it go with only a lingering suspicion that the prize for the Atonement Trials may not be what Selena expects.

Trial three: Collect a coin.

Not a fan of this one. However, it allowed Selena's magic to shine as she basically willed the "volunteer" to surrender her coin without harm.

Trial four: Retrieve a ring.

The climax of the event. The MCs are still very much enemies, still very much hot for one another, and so... the inevitable comes to fruition. The spice. The win. An unexpected fall through the forest floor into a land long forgotten but it's a simple hike out and the book closes on the revelation of the true purpose of the Atonement Trials.

Surprise, surprise, their slavery levels up.

And I'm still left wondering how she ended up in his bed.

3.5 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | hardcover | paperback | audiobook

Next in the series:

2026/04

To Kill A Prince (What Lies Between Stars #1)

And always, always, I listen for her whistle in the dark.

Available at Amazon.com

To Kill a Prince
Katherine Macdonald
What Lies Between Stars, book one
ebook, 497 pages
Published October 24, 2025
ASIN B0F1QNC2QT


A prince without sight.
A spy without loyalty.
A love without a future.

Wren has spent her life walking the fine line between two worlds—half-fae, half-human, and wholly untrustworthy in the eyes of both. But it is her unique ability to lie that makes her valuable. When her grandmother, a ruthless fae enchantress, places her in the service of Prince Cassiel—the recently blinded second son of the realm—Wren knows she’s meant to earn his trust... and, eventually, take his life.

It should be easy. Cassiel hates the fae who stole his sight, and he’s just as sharp-tongued and impossible as the rumours say. Wren just has to keep her distance. But as she helps him navigate his new reality, she realises that beneath the bitterness is a man who is fiercely intelligent, deeply wounded, and entirely too compelling. And worse—he’s beginning to trust her.

As tensions between humans and fae ignite into war, Wren is forced to choose between the family who raised her and the man she was never meant to love. But Cassiel isn’t as blind as he seems, and if he discovers the truth about her, she may not live long enough to make that choice at all…

A prime example of ‘never judge a book by its cover’ because while it may be pretty, the cover is rather plain and just does not do this story justice. No offense to the artist (which may be the author herself-I'm so sorry), but it just deserves so much more, imo.

It took only the first page. I was a goner from there.

Positively giddy.

Another Wren. Unapologetically herself.

Cassiel. The broken hero. And a tactician at that.

Put it down, and the withdrawals instantly kicked in. I was hooked.

Then I made the mistake of looking at the author's instagram... as I had intentionally ignored the character descriptions... as I am wont to do... and yes, she's a rebel. Blonde MMCs are not end game. Why must the masses keep reminding these rogue writers of this settled science?

But it's not the characters' general appearances that made me stop mid-scroll. It was Cassiel. Cassiel *looking* at Wren. Seemingly *seeing* Wren. Error or spoiler, I couldn't be sure.

Wren, though half fey (from her father's line), is sent to infiltrate the human kingdom as a contender to become a guard to Cassiel, the second eldest prince who has been left permanently blinded from an attack.

A spy, most certainly.

An assassin, quite possibly.

But Wren's only instruction from her grandmother is to simply befriend the prince.

And friends they do become. It's sweet. It's fun. The banter, both acerbic and clever, is heart-sweepingly adorable. She presses. He pushes back. She teases. He blushes. She steals his peaches. He's... not entirely opposed to it.

Oh, why did this book languish on my TBR for so long?

If you're in the mood for a break from the smoldering villain and need a nice guy that's unfortunately been reduced to a reclusive lifestyle after losing his sight from an enemy attack, Cassiel is your man. He doesn't hate the fey, as the blurb states. I wouldn't use such a strong word to define Cass's feelings towards them. Although I'd be hardpressed to fault him for it should that be the case. His father was murdered at the hands of their matriarch, in retaliation for his act of taking the life of her son.

Cassiel's father slays Wren's father.

Wren's grandmother claims her vengeance in kind.

And Wren, bless her, she tried. She tried so hard to save them all from war.

Almost rolled out of my seat when Cassiel hugged Dain. That distraught and tortured soul that he is. Cassiel is a softie, wrapped up in green flags with a golden bow. The story is told through a dual first person pov and his part is ev-ver-ee-thing.

Spent much of the book wondering who the villain was. Was it the humans? The fey? Both? Neither?

My jaw shall lie shattered on the floor if this book does not end up being my favorite read for all of 2026. I give it all the stars. The bar has been set. Book two is an instant preorder.

5 out of 5 stars.

Available in ebook | paperback

Next in the series:

2026/03