Shadows Magic Meets a Fiery Heroine in this New Hades and Persephone Retelling
Of Elves and Embers
Forgotten Kingdoms
Romantic Fantasy
Whiskey and Willow Publishing
February 6, 2024
EBook
This book is part of a shared world full of standalone romantasy stories that can be read in ANY order.
A princess bound in flames.
A king living in shadows.
A forgotten vow written in the stars.
When I jetted off to Vegas for a reluctant girls’ weekend, the last thing I expected was to tumble through a portal into an alternate reality.
Now, I'm stuck in a world straight out of a fantasy, collared by a king who can't stand the sight of me, and roped into a deal he insists I struck in a previous life - a life where I was an Elven princess, arch-rival to his court.
I keep telling myself it's all a crazy dream, but the memories that barrage me every night are too real to ignore. And, as much as I hate to admit it, there's this inexplicable pull towards this mysterious elf - my captor, my adversary, and, bizarrely, my protector.
King Hadeon is hiding things about our shared history, and I'm not sure I'm ready to dig into that mystery. Even if I dared, the revelations might be more than I can handle.
With the Moon Court Elves gunning for me and wraiths threatening to destroy everything, I'm racing against time and fate. I need to piece together my past life before it's too late, and before history decides to repeat itself.
*Author Note: This is a standalone fantasy romance that contains a dark romance with slow-burn enemies-to-lovers, fated mates, forced proximity, and medium spice.
**Collection Notes:
Forgotten Kingdoms is a collection of full-length stand-alone fantasy romance novels with fated mates and a guaranteed happily ever after. With vampires, fae, shifters, and everything in between, each book features a unique heroine and her epic love story that can be read in any order. All relationship dynamics are M/F.
Authors in this set include:
Chandelle LaVaun
G.K. DeRosa
Megan Montero
Jen L. Grey
Robin D. Mahle & Elle Madison
LJ Andrews
Jessica M. Butler
M. Sinclair
Mahle and Madison are some of my go-to authors for plot-driven romantasy and their latest release, Of Elves and Embers, did not disappoint. This book made me feel like I had been transported through a portal to somewhere otherworldly, beautiful, and fierce — but still with the laughter and wit I’ve come to love in their writing.
Of Elves and Embers brings all the Hades-and-Persephone vibes in this story of Ember, a human who, while in the middle of a girls’ vacation in Las Vegas, is led through a magical painting to the Court of Moon and Stars in the Elven kingdom of Aelvaria. It has been fifty years since the king of the court, Hadeon, has seen Ember, and he is not happy that she has returned. He makes her a prisoner in his court and binds her neck with a collar of shadows. The problem is that Ember cannot remember a thing about her past and why everyone in this new world seems to hate her. Lucky for her, this tattoo-covered, fiery-haired heroine can give it as well as she can take it.
“Hungry?” Hadeon asked, his voice an unpleasant interruption.
I scowled at him, refusing to feel embarrassed, even as he made consuming his own meal look like a warrior’s dance. “Yeah, see, this a$$hole kidnapped me and didn’t give me any food last night, so I’m afraid I skipped dinner.”
The corner of his mouth quirked, but his tone was dry when he responded. “I assumed that you could subsist off your righteous indignation.”
This was the most compelling aspect of this story for me: the unfolding of Ember’s past and how a choice she made rippled throughout this kingdom irrevocably. In the prologue, we see why Ember made the choice that she did: death for love’s sake. But what if, like Ember, you made a choice — something final and soul-breaking — only to find yourself in the next life face-to-face with its unexpected consequences?
King Hadeon, Ember’s past family, and her former friends see betrayal in her sacrifice. How each character chose to rebuild a relationship with her felt like it came from real hurt, confusion, and love. As always, Mahle and Madison are masterful in their ability to develop their characters and the bonds between them.
The authors wove the right amount of tension in the threads of the narrative as tendrils of Ember’s past unraveled and then wound back into something new between her and Hadeon. The physical tension between the former lovers was page-turning, but what I think I liked most about the reunion was the meeting of their magic.
I could feel the bones of the mountains beneath my feet, the veins of raw power that flowed from Terrea’s core into me, and the distant tug from the Sacred Tree as she fueled my power….
And I could feel it surging from the King of Moon and Stars. Pulsing from him like a raging inferno….
I would have known that Hadeon was goddess-blessed from the sheer volume of power that coursed through his veins, even without being told.
That power called to mine, like it wanted nothing more than for my flames to come out and play, like they belonged to him as surely as I did. Like my isos was his. And his was mine.
It’s the magic and prophesy, along with the fantastic new creatures that only Mahle and Madison can write, that made me want to stay a bit longer in this world by the time the characters get their happily-ever-after. Of Elves and Embers is a stand-alone story that is set in a series written by multiple authors called Forgotten Worlds. To learn more about the larger story arc, you’ll want to pick up the whole collection!
Celeste is a woman who is unwavering about certain things in life; three of those being books, cats, and cold brew coffee. If she can enjoy all three at the same time, it’s going to be a good day. Her favorite genres are fantasy or sci-fi romance, historical romance, and historical fiction but every few books she likes to mix it up with contemporary fiction, a good psychological thriller, or an inspiring memoir. She has a busy schedule working full-time for an online university but she makes sure to unwind each day with stories, either by reading to her elementary school-aged daughter or tucking herself in bed with her Kindle or the latest book she picked up at a local book store.
