All the Mythic Alley crew are sending a massive CONGRATULATIONS to the newest member of our coven because we are extremely excited to share that Emma-Louise has been nominated for not one, not two, not three…but SEVEN Indie Author Awards!
Emma-Louise and her debut novel Crestwood Falls have been nominated in the following categories:
Best Young Adult
Best YA Fantasy
Best Fantasy
Best Paranormal
Best Paranormal Romance
Best New Indie Author
Best Cover
You can show some love to indie authors and Emma-Louise’s book by voting here! And if you haven’t read Crestwood Falls yet, click on the cover below!
We are very excited to officially have a new member in our Mythic Alley author coven!
Emma-Louise lives on the wonderful North-East coast. With a passion for reading and writing she can often be found sat scribbling away at her desk or curled up in her favourite reading corner. Emma-Louise re-discovered her love for writing after a diagnosis of Crohn’s disease which caused severe health issues. Her hobbies include beach-combing with her children, going on walks, swimming and watercolour painting.
Emma’s first magical release was Crestwood Falls, with a sequel planned for 2026 with Mythic Alley, as well as numerous other exciting projects in the pipeline! Watch this space!
You can follow Emma-Louise by delving into her link.tree here.
House of Secrets and Shadow is now available to buy in eBook and paperback format – or borrow with Kindle Unlimited!
Check out some of the tropes in the image below or read on to the blurb beneath to find out more about the spooky events that take place in Emma’s paranormal romance!
“They took her. His new bride. Dragged her screaming out to a carriage with skeleton horses and carried her off into the night.”
Disguised as a man, Jamie has infiltrated a gang of highwaymen, her every move bringing her one step closer to the vengeance she’s sworn against their brutal ringleader. Until the latest plan to use the abandoned Edburton Manor as a safehouse runs up against a problem. Despite the ghost stories the locals tell, it isn’t empty…
It seems their new hostage, Matthew, has been living there alone; no form of company save the sinister presence in the woods. Who he really is, and why he hasn’t left, shouldn’t matter to Jamie but something about Matthew is tempting her to make dangerous mistakes. Not least the way he looks at her as though he can see every truth she’s spent so many years burying.
Nothing stays hidden forever, even in the darkness…
The perfect Halloween read for fans of The Cruel Prince and One Dark Window.
Here is the cover and blurb for House of Secrets and Shadow!
“They took her. His new bride. Dragged her screaming out to a carriage with skeleton horses and carried her off into the night.”
Disguised as a man, Jamie has infiltrated a gang of highwaymen, her every move bringing her one step closer to the vengeance she’s sworn against their brutal ringleader. Until the latest plan to use the abandoned Edburton Manor as a safehouse runs up against a problem. Despite the ghost stories the locals tell, it isn’t empty…
It seems their new hostage, Matthew, has been living there alone; no form of company save the sinister presence in the woods. Who he really is, and why he hasn’t left, shouldn’t matter to Jamie but something about Matthew is tempting her to make dangerous mistakes. Not least the way he looks at her as though he can see every truth she’s spent so many years burying.
Nothing stays hidden forever, even in the darkness…
Fans of The Cruel Prince and One Dark Window looking for a spooky paranormal romance with all the creepy gothic vibes can pre-order the eBook now!
Paperback and Kindle Unlimited versions will be available when it’s released on 2nd October – just in time for your Halloween TBR!
If you want to hear more about the cover design or publishing process, be sure to follow Emma at her Substack or on TikTok!
The Mythic Alley coven has a new paranormal romance heading your way and with its spooky, gothic vibes it will be the perfect read this Halloween!
Emma Jackson has revised and extended her historical paranormal romance, formerly published by another small indie press, and is ready to release the new edition, now titled:
House of Secrets and Shadow
coming 2nd October 2025.
If you like a cursed hero and a knife-wielding morally grey heroine, check back here on Thursday 18th September when pre-ordering will go live and the cover will be revealed.
In the meantime, if you’d like a few more teasers, check out this TikTok Emma has posted and a few of her posts on social media and Substack, where she’s been talking about it!
We are delighted to reveal the gorgeous cover for the second book in Jessica’s Grotesque Family series! Body of Stone is out on Tuesday 11th March!
You can out the blurb here and click on the image to pre-order!
Evander Grotesque’s life had always been that of the spare. He was born to lead his realm’s army, while his brother took the mantle as King. And he was okay with that. His role was to serve, to help his people, and his kingdom, to prosper. And he did everything in his power to make that happen.
But in the process he lost someone who wasn’t supposed to mean anything. Seren Alda.
He befriended her when they were teens, gaining the information he desired, but costing her almost everything in return.
And Seren is not one to forgive and forget.
Now his brother is missing, and Seren’s friend, too. He must protect what is his, and he need Seren’s help to do it. But has too much damage been done to save the one’s he loves and gain back what he lost?
As the only heir to the halfling water realm, Seren’s life had been nothing but a fight to survive. When a sexy gargoyle appeared before her, seemingly offering nothing but friendship and an escape from all she knew, it seemed too good to be true.
And it was.
Now, Evander’s back, and the only one willing to fight to save those lost to them. The boy she once knew has grown into a man she can’t seem to stay away from, even though she knows the heartbreak that comes from being more than enemies. But the further they travel, the more intertwined their lives become. She needs to figure out what happens next, especially as she has someone else waiting for her when she gets home.
This is a quick post to say that, even though it’s been a while, you can look forward to some news very soon about our next release!
Check in with us again on Tuesday 4th March to find out all about it!
And in the meantime, here is a little recap on what is already out there from the coven:
Two gargoyle romances from Jess – Romancing the Stone, a novella packed with beauty and the beast vibes, and Heart of Stone, the full length novel that kicks off The Grotesque Family series. Epic story and epic enemies to lovers.
Fancy a cosy romance full of tea, magic and meddling teenage witches, set in wonderful Whitby? Kate’s A Blend of Magic is waiting for you to curl up with a brew and a biscuit and indulge.
Want more witches? Emma has two paranormal romcoms out with Orion Fiction. Witch You Weren’t Here, is a second-chance romance on a road trip across Europe, plagued by misbehaving magic, and Careful What You Witch For, sees a fake relationship between grumpy and sunshine while they try to solve a mystery at magical inn in Cornwall.
All the books above are available with Kindle Unlimited!
If you’d love even more recommendations, don’t forget Emma & Jess host the SFFRomCast, a podcast dedicated to celebrating romantasy and all things SFF romance. The latest season is out now, with recent episodes featuring guest author Desiree M Niccoli discussing her newest release, Harlequin’s very first monster romance, Untethering Dark!
I’ve been in love with gothic romance since my mom handed me Jane Eyre at the age of eight, as I was on my way to a week-long summer camp. My memories of that camp itself are pretty blurry by this point, but I still vividly remember lying on the beach by the lake, unconscious of everything else happening around me as I devoured that amazing book (in an incredible, hardcover library edition with gold-gilded pages – just luscious all round).
As it happens, I’ve also loved historical rom-coms and fantasy ever since my dad read me both Pride and Prejudice and The Lord of the Rings. So it’s no surprise to anyone that I grew up to absolutely love writing gothic fantasy rom-coms of my own! It’s just such a deliciously fun combination. Take a spooky, looming castle (or isolated manor house) with a sinister owner for gothic atmosphere… Add all the snappy banter, frothy fun, and heartfelt emotions of a rom-com… Finish off by tossing magic into the mix and I’m a happy writer!
In my latest stand-alone novella, A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience, my heroine Margaret finds herself unwillingly married off to a stranger she’s never met and transported to his isolated manor house, just like any good gothic heroine (all the way back to Beauty and the Beast). Making him even more potentially dangerous, her new husband is a vampire – but Margaret is no swooning ingénue, ready to flee in a white nightgown from the Dark Mysteries! Instead, she’s a brilliant scholar who’s every bit as grumpy and fierce as her new husband (despite her lack of fangs). She’s furious at her unreasonable new situation, and she’s ready to do whatever it takes to free herself and get back to the familiar comfort of her university’s research library. As soon as she realizes that she’s not the only one in her new marriage who was trapped in it through blackmail, she’s ready to drag her snarky (but irritatingly attractive), centuries-old husband out of his dreary isolation and send them racing together across the country in search of a supernatural gemstone that can fix both of their problems…
…But only if they don’t fall in love along the way!
The great thing about playing with our favorite ingredients from lots of different genres is that we can mix them all up into unique new recipes. I had so much fun writing my grumpy-grumpy couple for this novella, subverting some of my favorite tropes and fairy tales and chortling along the way. I hope you’ll have fun reading about them if you give A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience a try! (You can purchase a copy by following this link!)
And I’d really love to hear about any of your own favorite literary combinations.
Stephanie Burgis grew up in Michigan (USA), but now lives in Wales with her husband and two kids, surrounded by mountains, castles and coffee shops. She writes sparkling fantasy rom-coms, including the Regency Dragons series, the Harwood Spellbook series, and the upcoming Queens of Villainy trilogy. You can find excerpts from all of her novels and novellas (and links to many of her short stories) at her website: www.stephanieburgis.com
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