Scandals of the Gifted

FINALIST FOR THE 2025 SHELLEY AWARD IN PARANORMAL FICTION A Holy Maiden should never drink, get kidnapped, nor kiss a Dark Lord, but Ysabel is breaking all the rules to escape her fate as a human sacrifice. In a world where magical powers are commonplace, Holy Maiden Ysabel is revered as a goddess among her people. She's the only one able to heal the sick and injured with a simple touch. But her spectacular gift comes at a steep price. For each person she saves, she loses a day of her own conscripted life. To add insult to injury, she's supposed to maintain a pure image even though she'd rather drink and play dominatrix until her sorrows fade away. After the corrupt Head Cardinal Jiang abuses her gift, forbids her from leaving the city, and takes her brother hostage, Ysabel doesn't dare drag anyone else into her problems-especially since it won't change her fate. But when Dark Lord Kaine arrives at her clinic doorstep grievously wounded, she's touched by his refusal to accept her healing lest it cost her another day of her life. The mysterious and sexy Dark Lord awakens forbidden desires in Ysabel, and the nagging survival instinct she tried to drown with booze and drugs comes back with a vengeance. She's less impressed, however, when he threatens to sack her city in return for his injuries. Fortunately, she can flirt her way to an alliance against the Head Cardinal instead. Armed with only a ferociously loyal female bodyguard named Alzira, Ysabel attempts to make the most of her mere months left to live, protect the refugees around her city, prevent a war, and hide her face blindness. But before her life flickers to its sad end, she must decide: either die a proper Holy Maiden or risk it all to run off with Kaine.

When Bora swaps bodies with a homicidal duchess, the sweet-tempered wallflower must embrace her inner villainess to survive and save her country. Within an hour of Bora's arrival in Arahasnor, she runs into her toxic ex-boyfriend, offends a malicious noblewoman, and narrowly escapes from the city guards. Never the type for adventures-unlike her sister, Holy Maiden Ysabel, who left the family farm and scandalously eloped with Dark Lord Kaine-Bora intends to quickly return home and settle back into her usual role as the plain, boring sister. That is, until there's a freak magical accident. Suddenly, Bora finds herself in the life-and body-of the Blood Duchess, a woman who once threatened to have her killed. Now a noblewoman in a kingdom on the verge of economic collapse, the citizenry hangs her in effigy, and her staff spits in her food. It's too much for a farm girl without a mean bone in her body to handle. Unfortunately, the previous ruler sold Arahasnor to three different foreign powers, and only their crippling fear of the Blood Duchess is holding them off . . . as long as Bora can successfully embody the ruthless villainess. At least she's not alone in this bizarre charade; she has the support of Countess Donya, her heroic celebrity crush. And she'll need it. Because if Bora's real identity gets uncovered, she'll die. But after an assassin named Ari mistakenly targets her for revenge, she strikes a deal with him: she'll help find the actual duchess in exchange for his protection. As someone who struggles with body-image issues, Bora feels drawn to Ari's confidence, rakish charm, and gender queerness. But a love triangle may be a distraction she can't afford, especially when it turns out her sister is among the enemies coming to town to challenge the Blood Duchess. After spending years obsessing over her weight, the death threats scare Bora less than showing off her extremely generous curves in the Blood Duchess's low-cut dresses. But if she can embrace the beauty of her new body, she might just learn to love her true self as well. Though, appearances will be irrelevant if the duchess's adversaries remove her head from her shoulders . . .

As a necromancer, Benoni has plenty of experience with raising the dead, wrangling angry ghosts, and hiding his powers-but he has no experience when it comes to love. As the youngest child of two deeply dysfunctional parents, Benoni learned how to make himself invisible. This became useful when he developed the reviled and illegal gift of necromancy. Now, he's haunted by a trio of unruly orcs, who constantly pester him about taking over the world, along with the ghost of his murdered brother, who, incidentally, is scared of other ghosts. And during the ritual that allowed his brother to communicate, Benoni accidentally infects himself with a deadly necromantic rot. His salvation appears in the form of the Dragon Emperor Julong. As a shapeshifting dragon, Julong can eat most of his problems, but he doesn't know what to do about the army of angry ghosts running amok in his palace. In exchange for a cure for the rot, Julong commands Benoni to uncover who summoned the ghosts. The spiritual plague needs to be kept secret and Benoni needs authority in the palace-a pretend betrothal covers both. In Julong's kingdom, necromancers are revered and same-sex relationships normalized, so Benoni finds acceptance for the first time in his life. But even a fake engagement contract draws Benoni into political intrigue and assassination attempts. The captivating, powerful, and handsome Julong serves as Benoni's protector and rock. But as Benoni cajoles the undead to help him, everyone keeps warning Benoni about an imperial curse, and Julong may have more to do with the ghosts than he's led Benoni to believe. For a necromancer with only the dead as friends, no one living can be trusted-especially not a sexy dragon shapeshifter with literal ghosts in his closet.