Welcome to the Dark Side!

We are writers mainly from Australia and New Zealand who write speculative fiction with romantic elements. Be it fantasy, paranormal, dark urban fantasy, futuristic and everything in between.

Thursday, 8 October 2026

DarkSider News: Catch Up Spotlight 4 - Janni Nell, Riley Stone, Lilliana Rose, Lily Rose, and M.J. Scott!

   

Today we feature the spotlight on more than one author - Janni Nell, Riley Stone, Lilliana Rose, Lily Rose, and M.J. Scott!
~Eleni



"Riven

The tires shrieked, a high-pitched, desperate protest against the black ice glazing the mountain road, but my foot remained welded to the gas pedal. Jindabyne blurred into a receding nightmare in the rearview mirror, a smear of distant lights swallowed by the storm. Stopping was not an option.

Not now.

Not ever."

- Ember and Obsidian by Lilliana Rose





NEW RELEASES



Janni Nell
Cousins, Covens & Murder
Book 8, Little Shop of Spells Cozy Mysteries

Released: 
4 June


Illegal love potions are turning up in Silver Moon Falls.

After one turns up in Maddie Goodcharm’s drink, she is visited by the head of the Ethics Committee, who demands that Maddie track down all the potions. Wise witches don’t say no to the head of Ethics, and Maddie’s search for potions leads her to the crooked house, where she finds a body. It’s a clear case of murder—even the sheriff agrees with her—but is there a link between the potions and the victim?

Maddie’s search for the truth uncovers an illegal coven and a group of wannabe witches, who may or may not have used their love potions. As she digs deeper, she becomes convinced that the murder is linked to the love potions. Then another body turns up and changes everything.

Is there a link between the two victims? Could there be two killers? More importantly, will Maddie ever track down all of those pesky love potions and avoid being charged with an Ethics violation?   






The following two Ava Silver books have a rebrand to Riley Stone to suit the tone of the books better. 


Riley Stone
The Shadowflame Crown
Book 1, Threads of Fate

Released: 
22 April


My ambition will cost me my soul. Her defiance might cost me the throne.

I will stop at nothing to thwart the Unity prophecy and secure the Crimson Throne. It is my vampire bloodline's birthright, and I will burn the world down to claim it—even if it means kidnapping a fate-weaving witch with the power to reshape destiny.

Cressida.

She defies me at every turn. She refuses to weave the threads I demand, no matter the punishments I inflict. But where others would break, she burns brighter. Her unyielding resolve sparks an unsettling obsession I can’t afford, not when my kingdom teeters on the brink of ruin.

I am driven to darker, more desperate measures. My shadowmancy can control her body, but I want her mind. Each time I compel her to yield, the line between punishment and blinding pleasure blurs. And as her reluctant obedience deepens, I find myself wanting to claim more than just her magic.
I want to claim her.

But the tighter my grip becomes, the more I risk extinguishing the very fire that captivated me. What began as a ruthless bid for power has twisted into an all-consuming need. I crave her willing submission, but my ambition is unrelenting. I will never allow her to fulfill that prophecy.

Even if it means destroying the only woman who makes me question the monster I am.

Fans of dark, unhinged heroes and intense captor/captive romances will fall under the thrall of this addictive fantasy.

Tropes & Themes:
πŸ–€ Dark Vampire / Witch Romance
πŸ–€ Captor & Captive
πŸ–€ Shadowmancy & Blood Magic
πŸ–€ "Touch her and you die"
πŸ–€ Forced Proximity
πŸ–€ High Heat / Explicit Spice

(Author's Note: This is a dark paranormal romance intended for mature readers. It contains themes of psychological manipulation, dubious consent, and explicit content. Please see the Note to Reader inside for full content warnings.)




Riley Stone
The Shadowflame Crown
Book 2, Threads of Fate

Released: 
22 April



I broke her to win my crown. Now, I will burn the world to put her back together.

Kael Damaris bathed in blood to claim the Crimson Throne. He won his kingdom, but the victory is ash on his tongue because the witch he bound to his side is dying. Cressida’s mind and magic are fracturing—shattered by the very fate-weaving he ruthlessly forced upon her. He thought he only wanted her power to secure his reign. He was wrong. He wants her. All of her. 

To heal her broken soul and cement his unstable rule, Kael must hunt down the Shadowflame Crown—an ancient, abyssal artifact demanding a sacrifice written in blood. But the fragile peace of the vampire realm is already tearing at the seams, and new enemies are circling the throne, eager to strike the king where he is most vulnerable: his consuming obsession with a captive witch.

Cressida knows she should let the darkness take her. Surviving means trusting the ruthless monster who caged her, the vampire who stripped away her choices and claimed her fate as his own. But as their twisted, blood-forged bond deepens into something darker and far more intoxicating, the line between captor and savior begins to blur.

To save her, he might have to surrender his crown. To save his kingdom, she might have to surrender her soul. Will their toxic bond be the salvation of the vampire realm, or the spark that burns it to the ground?

What to expect:
πŸ–€ Dark Paranormal Romance
πŸ–€ Morally Black/Villain MMC
πŸ–€ Captor & Captive Dynamics
πŸ–€ "Burn the World for Her" Energy
πŸ–€ Vampire King x Fate-Weaving Witch
πŸ–€ Forced Proximity & Magical Compulsion
πŸ–€ High Angst & Toxic Bond
πŸ–€ Explicit Spice

Fans of dark, obsessive vampires, captive romance, and villains who will burn the world for "her" will fall under the thrall of this addictive dark fantasy romance.

A Note to the Reader:
This book is a dark fantasy romance intended for mature audiences. It contains popular tropes that also serve as content warnings. Readers will find a morally black/gray love interest, captive romance dynamics, magical compulsion, and forced proximity. These themes are accompanied by scenes of explicit spice, graphic violence, psychological intensity, and loss of bodily autonomy. Please read with care.





Lilliana Rose
Ember and Obsidian

Released: 
7 May


Rival packs. One deadly storm. No escape.

I ran.
From my pack. From my mistakes. From the crushing weight of a life that smothered the wolf within.

I thought the blizzard would hide me. That the brutal mountain cold would protect me.
I was dead wrong.

Now, I’m trapped in a crumbling cabin with the last person I should ever be alone with: a rival she-wolf. She hates my guts, she’s lethal, and she is entirely too tempting. We are supposed to be enemies, but the longer we are snowbound, the harder it is to remember why.

To make matters worse, the storm isn't the only thing howling outside. Something ancient and hungry is stalking us from the shadows.

Running was the easy part.
Now, survival is the real fight. But the greatest danger might just be the heat burning between us.

Fans of enemies-to-lovers, forced proximity, and steamy shifter romance will devour this snowbound standalone!

Enemies to Lovers
Rival Wolf Packs
Forced Proximity / Snowbound
Alpha Energy





Lilliana Rose
Currents of Desire

Released: 
15 September


She’s the ocean’s most lethal predator, and she has just claimed him as her mate.

For ex-rescue worker, Jack Ford, the ocean is a graveyard. Haunted by the tragic ghosts of his past, he lives a solitary, brooding existence on the edge of Deception Point, a paranormal small town where the storms are fierce, and the shadows hide secrets. But when a catastrophic Category 4 cyclone batters his home, the floodwaters wash up something that defies all logic.

Nerida isn’t a helpless, fairy-tale mermaid. She is a bioluminescent apex predator from the crushing, freezing depths of the Mariana Trench. Lethal, alien, and dying in the dry air, she is completely at Jack’s mercy.

Against his better judgment, Jack saves the monster.

In return, the monster claims him.

Bound by a sudden, primal, fated mating bond, Jack and Nerida are forced into intimate proximity as the storm rages outside. But Nerida is a deserter from a brutal deep-sea war, and the ruthless trackers of the trench have caught her scent. They think Jack is just a fragile human. They are about to learn that Nerida will slaughter anything that threatens what is hers.

Jack thought the water only took things away. Now, he’s about to discover that being claimed by the most dangerous creature in the sea is the only way to survive.

Currents of Desire is a steamy, high-stakes paranormal-monster romance. If you love fierce, protective heroines, grumpy broken heroes, and small towns with dark secrets, dive in.

πŸ–€ Tropes:
✨ Steamy Monster Romance
✨ Grumpy x Lethal
✨ Hurt/Comfort & Healing
✨ "Touch Him and Die" Energy
✨ Fated Mates
(No dark romance/non-con themes!)





Lilliana Rose
The River God's Bride

Released: 
30 July


The river demanded a sacrifice. It didn’t expect a queen.

For generations, the village of Grimweir has lived in fear of the rising waters. When the floods refuse to recede, the Elders demand a Tithe: a bride for the River God. Mina, the sharp-tongued and unloved miller’s daughter, volunteers to take her fragile sister’s place. She walks off the end of the pier expecting death—a cold, watery grave to escape a life of grey drudgery.

But the river doesn’t kill her. It catches her.

Rhyos is the apex predator of the deep, a creature of scales, claws, and crushing strength who has ruled the sunken darkness alone for centuries. He is a monster who can snap a ship in two, but when he catches the fierce mortal from the surface, he doesn’t find a meal. He finds a spark. A fire that refuses to go out even in the freezing black.

Trapped in his bioluminescent cavern, Mina discovers that the beast who dragged her down is not the villain of her story. He is a lonely god who brings her shiny river stones, purrs when she touches him, and uses his massive body to shield her from the cold.

But the surface world isn’t done with them. When the village hunters return to claim the monster’s hoard, Mina must make a choice. She can return to the sun and the safety of the shore, or she can let the river rewrite her very blood and take her place beside the beast who would drown the world to keep her safe.

In the deep, love isn’t just a feeling. It’s a transformation.

Dive into this atmospheric fantasy romance featuring:
πŸ–€ Monster Romance
πŸ₯€ Beauty and the Beast Retelling
✨ Fated Mates
πŸ”— Forced Proximity
πŸ—‘️ “Touch Her and You Die” Energy
πŸ“ Size Difference
🩹 Caretaking




Lily Rose
The Artisan's Parade
Book 6, Adventures of the Misfit Monsters

Released: 
6 August


Mon has always been the creative soul of the group, but lately, she feels like just another face in the crowd. With the hunting grounds empty and morale at an all-time low, the community is desperate for a spark of joy.

Mon has a plan: The Artisans Parade. It’s the perfect way to welcome the mysterious new arrival and remind everyone of the beauty they can create together.

But convincing a group of grumpy monsters to pick up paintbrushes instead of pitchforks is harder than she thought. When the others dismiss her dream as a waste of time, Mon has to decide, does she give up, or does she prove that art can save them all?




M.J. Scott
Wicked Words
Book 7, Techwitch

narrated by Suzanne T. Fortin
duration: 9.1 hours

Released in audio format: 
18 May


Some people might be happy to find out they're a witch. In my case, magic came with a demon who wanted my power back under its control. I took out the demon but the price I paid was heartbreaking. Now all I want is to leave magic far behind…

They call me the TechWitch. A computer whisperer, who brings recalcitrant systems to their knees with a single keystroke. But now I know I’m more than just a geek, I’m a witch, too, a revelation that cost me the man I love and the life of my best friend. For the last nine months I’ve been mourning my losses and ignoring the magical world entirely.

But when my ex, virtual reality billionaire Damon Riley, needs help with a magical threat, I'll need every ounce of my tech mojo and my magic. Trouble is, I seem to have lost both. And without magic, I’m vulnerable to the demons who find me so tempting.

With a curse to break and a demon’s revenge to escape, I needs to find my power to save the day and Damon. Which means embracing the witches I’ve been avoiding. Because sticks and stones can break your bones but, when it comes to magic, words can be deadly...

Wicked Words is the second book in the TechWitch series, exciting dark and sexy futuristic urban fantasy from RITA® Award nominated author M.J. Scott. This series has witches, demons, an ongoing relationship that will have an HEA, sexy times, and a lot of computer geeks. Perfect if you like the idea of a strong heroine, a hot protective billionaire, second chances, and magic and technology colliding. Enjoy!

Author's note: For tropes and CW, please check the author's website.







PRE-ORDERS

M.J. Scott
Wicked Lies
Book 7, Techwitch

Expected Release: 
13 October



My mother was a wicked witch. Turns out my dad wasn’t so great either. I’ve paid for their choices and I use my magic for good. But that doesn’t mean the darker side of the magical world will leave me alone…

Wicked Deeds is the seventh book in the TechWitch series, exciting dark and sexy futuristic urban fantasy from RITA® Award nominated author M.J. Scott. This series has witches, demons, an ongoing relationship that will have an HEA, sexy times, and a lot of computer geeks. Perfect if you like the idea of a strong heroine, a hot protective billionaire and magic and technology colliding. Enjoy!

Author's note: For tropes and CW, please check the author's website.






EVENTS

Lilliana Rose 
will appear at the following events:

Readers Unleashed
Cairns, QLD
12-13 March 2027


Cassie Laelyn
HM Hodgson
Lilliana Rose
Mila Young
Rachel Armstrong








Mafia Bikers Monsters Romance Australia
St Marys, Sydney, NSW
12 June 2027










Congratulations to our DarkSiders! 
Happy reading everyone. Be safe & well. 



Monday, 5 October 2026

DarkSider News: Catch Up Spotlight 3 - Raven Corbin, Suzanne Gilchrist, Kelly Ethan, Amanda Ashby, and Rachel Armstrong!

  

Today we feature the spotlight on more than one author - Raven Corbin, Suzanne Gilchrist, Kelly Ethan, Amanda Ashby, and Rachel Armstrong.
~Eleni



"Prologue

Finn fell to his knees as the knife plunged into his back, his muscles spasming as hot blood spread through his fur. He rolled to his side, kicking his legs in attempt to run. To fight.

He would do neither.

Pain lanced up his spine and wrapped around his racing heart as he dropped his head onto the grass. The knife withdrew from his flesh, and he released a spine-chilling howl that sent birds fleeing the trees.

"Shit!" Ava dropped beside him to press her hands over the wound. "Is it bad? Heal,
dammit!"

- Island Moon (Book 3, Wolf Shifters of Magnetic Island) by Rachel Armstrong





NEW RELEASES



Raven Corbin
Murder at Millmerran House
Book 1, Bitterport Mysteries


Released: 
24 June


A crumbling mansion. A ghost seeking justice. A mystery that someone will kill to keep buried.

In the abandoned gothic town of Bitterport, Tasmania, Millmerran House has been waiting. When London hotelier Aiden Bellingan inherits the neglected Victorian estate, he discovers the renovation comes with a resident ghost — Elvira Brown silenced in 1945, and furious about it.

Interior designer Marielle McGregor knows she shouldn’t take the job. The mansion already claimed her father, who vanished while uncovering its wartime secrets. But Elvira is surprisingly helpful for a dead woman, and Aiden is surprisingly hard to resist.

As hidden passages reveal decades of betrayal, conspiracy, and stolen justice, Marielle and Aiden race to uncover the truth before the killer still protecting those secrets claims their next victims.

In Millmerran House, the past isn’t dead. It’s just waiting to be restored.






Suzanne Gilchrist
The Body in the Bath House
Book 2, Bitterport Mysteries


Released: 
29 June


A fresh start. A gruesome discovery. And a killer with a dangerous obsession.

Mercy Galanis needs a new beginning. Inheriting a crumbling historic bathhouse in the remote Tasmanian ghost town of Bitterport seems like the universe delivering. Until she gets there.

The weather is brutal. The town is barely breathing. The bathhouse is in ruins. And Mercy can’t shake the feeling that something — or someone — is watching her every move.

Then her dog unearths a mummified body, and Bitterport’s silence takes on a darker meaning.

Determined to uncover the dead man’s identity — and her own unsettling connection to him — Mercy reluctantly teams up with Zac Alexander, the infuriatingly capable single-dad plumber with renovation plans of his own and zero interest in complications. Mercy, apparently, is nothing but.

As they dig deeper into Bitterport’s buried past, someone determined to protect their secret at all cost decides they have come too close.

In Bitterport, the ground always gives up its dead. The question is whether you survive the discovery.





Kelly Ethan
Curses and Cold Cases
Book 2, The Ghost Vein Cozy Mysteries

Released: 
31 August


Welcome to Ghost Vein, Nevada. Where the mine runs deep and so do the lies. The gold's cursed, the ghosts are chatty, and murder never stays buried for long.

When Rue Maddox inherited a haunted saloon-turned-bookstore cafΓ© from her great aunt Ruth, a curse-breaking witch, she didn’t expect to have to solve a murder in her alley way. But life since then had settled into a peaceful routine for the cursed Wild West reenactment mining town.

But Ghost Vein’s peace is upset with the arrival of an heir claiming ownership of the cursed mine—and half the town. His timing couldn’t be worse. Tourist season is just kicking off, the town’s ghosts are getting louder, and now someone’s been murdered again. And she just happens to be the assistant to the new heir…

To make things weirder (yes, weirder), a ghost connected to the mine keeps showing up clearly trying to tell Rue something important. There’s just one problem: someone—or something—has bound his spirit from speaking the truth.

With a real estate scam underway, a cursed vault humming under her feet, and her aunt Ruth’s ghost unable to help, Rue must uncover who really killed the assistant…before the silent dead finds a new voice in Rue’s bones.

Add in flirty tension with the town’s grumpy (and way-too-attractive) Sheriff Colt Dawson, sabotage in the shadows, and a town full of suspects, Rue’s second murder case is shaping up to be even messier than her latte making skills.

Good thing she’s getting the hang of this curse-breaking witchy thing.

Sort of.

Small town life just got weirder. And Rue? She might be the only thing standing between Ghost Vein and something far worse than bad tourist reviews.

Perfect for fans of paranormal cozy mysteries, haunted Western towns, and amateur sleuths.

Unlock the light-hearted magic and mayhem in Curses and Cold Cases. Book two in The Ghost Vein Mine Cozy Paranormal Mysteries by Kelly Ethan.


Tropes:

Quirky Characters
Amateur Sleuth
Twisty Mystery
Nosy Animal sidekick
Magical Mayhem
Found Family
Slow Burn Romance
Ghosts
Curses
Witches
Old Western Mining Town








Rachel Armstrong
Island Moon
Book 3, Wolf Shifters of Magnetic Island

Released: 
1 August


The Magnetic Island Pack are gaining strength. They’ve defeated the rogue wolves, killed the vampires, and only one enemy remains. Tyrone Thorne. The Dark Alpha of the Pallarenda Pack. And with his malicious right-hand man, he is ready to seize the island.

Sly Blackwood has lived as a wolf since the death of his mate, broken and savage in his hunger for revenge. Embracing the wolf is the only way he knows how to survive and destroy the Pallarenda Pack as to kill an animal, one has to become an animal. Or better yet, a monster. With the final battle brewing, Sly is ready to end this war and live out his days as a lone wolf. Until Fate intervenes with an unwelcome mating bond.

Isla came to perform at the Full Moon Party, but the popstar is more than she seems. She is everything Sly never wanted, the second chance he feared, and the only person with the power to pull Sly out of his self-imposed darkness and into the light. In an unexpected twist no one's ready for, Isla finds herself thrust into the paranormal world from her nightmares with a man too broken to resist. But can she face her demons to help Sly become the man he once was? Can Sly let go of his anger and open his heart again? Or will Sly’s determination to save his second chance at love be the pack’s ultimate undoing?

Book 3 and the epic conclusion of the Wolf Shifters of Magnetic Island series by award winning romance author Rachel Armstrong!






Non-spec fic


Amanda Ashby
The Widows' Guide to Last Orders
Book 4, The Widows' Detective Club

Released: 
15 April


Life in Little Shaw is as nice as pie for librarian Ginny Cole. She’s got a tentative truce with her grumpy neighbour Detective Inspector Wallace, and Sunday quiz nights at The Lost Goat with her friends (team name: The Merry Widows). Until the young quizmaster is found dead in the cellar. The police call it an accident; Ginny suspects murder. But with Wallace strangely impossible to locate and convince, she and the other widows must step – carefully, mind – into the breach.

The victim, it turns out, wasn’t just torturing locals with impossible trivia. He was hunting for his great-aunt who vanished from Little Shaw in 1963, along with what village gossips insist was a fortune in Cold War secrets. Now Ginny and her friends must decode a sixty-year-old mystery involving priest holes, spy scandals, and the competing egos of the local history society.

But when the killer strikes again, the widows need to solve this fast before someone calls last orders on them…

A brilliantly twisty cozy mystery perfect for fans of Fiona Leitch, Robert Thorogood and anyone who thinks retirement should come with a side of solving murders.





Amanda Ashby
The Widows' Guide to Foul Play
Book 5, The Widows' Detective Club

Released: 
10 August



Amanda Ashby
The Widows' Guide to Last Orders
Book 4, The Widows' Detective Club

Released: 
15 April



Life in Little Shaw is as nice as pie for librarian Ginny Cole. She’s got a tentative truce with her grumpy neighbour Detective Inspector Wallace, and Sunday quiz nights at The Lost Goat with her friends (team name: The Merry Widows). Until the young quizmaster is found dead in the cellar. The police call it an accident; Ginny suspects murder. But with Wallace strangely impossible to locate and convince, she and the other widows must step – carefully, mind – into the breach.

The victim, it turns out, wasn’t just torturing locals with impossible trivia. He was hunting for his great-aunt who vanished from Little Shaw in 1963, along with what village gossips insist was a fortune in Cold War secrets. Now Ginny and her friends must decode a sixty-year-old mystery involving priest holes, spy scandals, and the competing egos of the local history society.

But when the killer strikes again, the widows need to solve this fast before someone calls last orders on them…

A brilliantly twisty cozy mystery perfect for fans of Fiona Leitch, Robert Thorogood and anyone who thinks retirement should come with a side of solving murders.





PRE-ORDERS

Raven Corbin
Murder at Millmerran House
Book 1, Bitterport Mysteries


Expected Release: 
7 December


A reluctant inheritance. A murdered caretaker. And forty-three dead women demanding justice.

Graphic designer Nina Drake has spent her entire adult life pretending she cannot see the dead. When a mysterious benefactor leaves her Moorstone Manor—a crumbling sandstone estate in the abandoned town of Bitterport—her plan is simple: sell the ruin and escape back to Melbourne.

Instead, she arrives to find the manor’s caretaker murdered in the conservatory, surrounded by spirits she can no longer ignore.

Paranormal investigator Kason Eady has spent months researching the estate’s dark lineage. Once a notorious Female Factory full of convict women, Moorstone hides secrets that someone has spent generations protecting.

Guided by the ghost of a young convict girl from 1845, Nina and Kason uncover a sinister trail leading directly to one of Tasmania’s most powerful families—and a blood-soaked history they will do anything to protect.

Some inheritances cannot be sold. Some debts cannot be avoided. And the dead are done being quiet.





Kelly Ethan
The Wicked Witch and the Ghastly Galleon
Point Muse Halloween Cozy

Expected Release: 
31 October


Pirates, ghastly curses, and a librarian turned sleuth… Let the mayhem begin.

A Halloween cruise aboard the Ghastly Galleon Cruise Ship was supposed to be harmless fun. Fake ghosts, pirate legends and a wicked witch, Elspeth Harrow, complaining loudly about everything…

Not what Alexandra Meyers-Braun, a.k.a. Xandie, guardian to the Supernatural Great Library of Alexandria, expected. But a free trip is a free trip, even if one has to travel with their loose cannon witchy grandmother.

Until a massive prop drops during rehearsal of a pirate play and the ship’s social director and Elspeth’s longtime frenemy is crushed to death.

Now the ship is in lockdown, a pirate curse is back in circulation, and everyone thinks the wicked witch, Elspeth Harrow, is suspect number one.

With suspicion swirling, Xandie must unravel cursed pirate legends, buried grudges, blackmail, and a ship full of secrets to find the killer before the curse of the Ghastly Galleon claims another victim…

If you love snarky dialogue, witchy chaos, and piratical cozy paranormal magic and mayhem, you’ll love The Wicked Witch and the Ghastly Galleon, a Halloween novella in Kelly Ethan’s Point Muse Cozy Paranormal Mystery series.





Kelly Ethan
The Wicked Witch and the Fatal Festivities
Point Muse Christmas Cozy

Expected Release: 
20 December



A cursed Christmas committee, a murderous tree-lighting, and a nosy librarian turned sleuth. Let the mayhem begin...

Christmas in Point Muse isn’t all carols and candy canes. It’s more curses and corpses. This year, Xandie Meyers-Braun is looking forward to a quiet Christmas with her husband, Zach, while adjusting to the exciting and scary news they’re expecting their first baby.

Hoping for a festive season filled with family cheer instead of murder, her plans are shattered when her grandmother, Elspeth Harrow, the wicked witch of Point Muse, is elected Santa for the Point Muse Christmas Festival.

But after the committee’s unpleasant treasurer is electrocuted, suspicion falls on Elspeth’s wicked witch ways. With whispers of a Christmas curse spreading through town, as one festive disaster follows another, the entire committee and the rest of Point Muse believe a Christmas curse is stalking them.

With Christmas on the brink of cancellation, and a killer searching for a dangerous secret, Xandie has no choice but to untangle a web of blackmail, lies, and Christmas mayhem before the murderer strikes again.

Can Xandie uncover the truth behind Point Muse’s cursed Christmas? Or will this year’s festive season end in another fatal celebration?

If you like snarky dialogue, laugh-out-loud humor, quirky witches, murder and mayhem, then you’ll love this festive installment in Kelly Ethan’s Point Muse Cozy Paranormal Mystery series.

Unlock the mayhem of The Wicked Witch and the Fatal Festivities by Kelly Ethan.





Non spec-fic


Rachel Armstrong
Falling for the Heart Doc

Expected Release: 
30 December

temporary cover


Cassandra Rose has a second chance at life.

Starting over in her hometown, she volunteers on the children’s ward, sharing her love of Greek mythology to give sick children hope and courage. She’s beaten cancer but struggles to recognise the woman in the mirror. Her body is frail, her confidence is shattered, and she no longer feels feminine or desirable.

So she has no interest in her sexy new neighbour who puts all the Greek gods to shame.

Dr Alex Charles has a second chance at love.

After a loss that broke him, the successful cardiologist is ready to start dating again. He’s returning to triathlon and pushing himself harder than ever to become the man he once was.

So when a pretty woman moves downstairs, he finds himself intrigued.

As lonely neighbours, Alex and Cassandra form an easy friendship. But when Alex discovers Cassandra has already decided she isn’t worthy of love, he’s determined to prove her wrong.

Because sometimes the hardest heart to heal is your own.

A standalone contemporary romance about healing and finding yourself again from Award Winning Romance Author Rachel Amstrong!
A friends first, neighbour, slow burn romance.
Pre-Order


GENERAL NEWS


Raven Corbin

Check out Raven's Murder and Mayhem blog.





S.E. Gilchrist

Check out Suzanne's blog.









Rachel Armstrong

Island Bite (Book 2, Wolf Shifters of Magnetic Island) won the Speculative Fiction RubyAward 
from the Romance Writers of Australia.





Island Wolf  was a finalist in the Paranormal category 




EVENTS


Rachel Armstrong 
is expected to be at the following events:


Once Upon a Fairytale
NSW
10 October




Readers Unleashed
Cairns, QLD
12-13 March 2027








2027 HEA Fest
Liverpool, UK
29-30 May 2027



Website





Congratulations to our DarkSiders! 
Happy reading everyone. Be safe & well. 




check out all our books on our dsdu-books shelf:
DarkSide DownUnder's book lists (dsdu-books shelf)