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.
Showing posts with label Raven Corbin. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Raven Corbin. Show all posts

Monday, 27 April 2026

DarkSider News: April 2026 - Pre-Orders & Covers!

   

         



RINGING.
 
An insistent, continuous, ringing dragged Dev from a brain-dead sleep. Stifling a groan, he reached across and thumped the alarm clock. The sound continued. Shaking off the groggy confusion, he dragged himself out of bed, as the cacophony appeared to be someone leaning on the doorbell.


Dev barrelled down the stairs, almost succumbing to a broken neck when an impatient Siamese wound herself between his feet.


'Hang on, Carmen. I'll feed you in a sec.'


 Purr-fect Pitch  by Carolyn Wren

 




PRE-ORDERS



Annie Seaton
The Witching Hour
Book 3, Catherine Snowden Supernatural Thriller

Expected Release: 
15 September


Some churches should stay abandoned.

Six months after stopping a serial killer, Detective Inspector Catherine Snowden has finally found peace. Her gift—the ability to hear the dead—is under control. She has boundaries. A loving husband. A quiet life in the countryside.

Until Rebecca Wright's spirit reaches out.

Twenty-four-year-old Rebecca was found hanging in an abandoned church, ruled suicide. But her sister is having vivid nightmares—Rebecca showing her a man's face, a struggle, a murder.

Catherine takes the case. Just one more investigation.

But St. Bartholomew's Church holds a darker secret. Five women have died there over twenty years. All ruled suicides. All found at 3 AM in the bell tower. And every night at the witching hour, something ancient stirs within the deconsecrated walls.

As Catherine investigates, she discovers the truth: this isn't suicide. It's ritual murder. And the killer believes Catherine's gift makes her the perfect final sacrifice.

The witching hour is coming. And this time, Catherine might not survive till dawn.

A gripping supernatural thriller perfect for fans of dark mysteries and gifted detectives.

Pre-Order





Annie Seaton
May Day Magic
Book 6, The Enchanted Village

Expected Release: 
20 May



Patrick Doyle was supposed to be something brilliant. His family had chosen his profession before he’d even finished school—medicine, law, anything worthy of their cleverest son.

Instead, he followed his heart and became an English teacher. And for a long time, that was enough.
Then came the year that broke him.

Now Patrick is moving to the Cotswolds, his books packed in boxes and his faith in himself left behind, to take up a teaching post in a quiet market town and a cottage in a village.

But Lavender Cottage has already been waiting for him.

As May unfolds across the village, Lily Morrison watches Patrick Doyle move quietly through it, slowly coming to understand himself. Can she help Patrick see that maybe he made the right choice?

The village does its work. It always does.

May Magic is the sixth book in the beloved Enchanted Village series—a story about the courage it takes to choose your own life, and the person who helps you realise you already have.

Pre-Order






Raven Corbin
Murder at Millmerran House
Book 1, Bitterport Mysteries


Expected Release: 
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


Expected Release: 
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.







Lana Pecherczyk
The Sinner and the Priest
Book 3, Sinner Sisterhood

Expected Release: 
28 April


A week ago, I was an exorcist with ironclad vows. Now...

I confess to Almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts… especially in thoughts involving my Roman collar, a certain red-headed Sinner’s wrists, and the desk in my church’s oratory.

I spent years in prison trying to starve the violence and hunger in my cursed blood. Instead, I found it purring when the sisterhood’s deadliest seductress entered my confessional and whispered her litany of filth.

I have lied to my superiors. I have sworn to dismantle this heretical organization, while secretly burning every bridge back to Rome to keep her safe.

I am the shepherd who was too busy counting freckles on her bare shoulder to hear the screaming of my flock.

Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault... I told Mercy I was not her prophesied, fated Saint. But when her sister dared to threaten her life…

I forgot that I am Father Francisco Angelotti, the former mafia enforcer, whose vows are a muzzle to keep the world safe from his teeth. I forgot that I should have been hunting the Third Horseman, Famine, and his demons in my flock’s garden.

And I forgot that I was the wolf who taught them how to eat.

If you enjoy stories about irreverent bad girls corrupting the good boys, heartbreaking slow burn smut with all the feels, complex characters with tragic backstories, compelling plot, hilarious banter, suspense, and action, then this is for you.

For fans of Buffy, Supernatural, Constantine, and K-pop Demon Hunters, but for adults.

Tropes you'll love:

Forbidden priest romance
Monster unleashed for her
Touch her and you die
Morally grey hero with a violent past
Found family of orphans and misfits
Cute demon pets
Magical weapons that work only for her
Book 3 in the Sinner Sisterhood series. Each book follows a different couple. Best enjoyed in order.

Please note: This series contains dark themes, explicit content, religious imagery, and morally complex characters. HEA guaranteed.





Melody Beckett
Alien Warrior's Honor
Book 1, Taurean Mercenaries

Expected Release:
28 April


A warrior with a secret. A woman desperate to find her sister. A twist neither saw coming.

During an alien invasion, slavers snatch Aletta’s sister, tearing her world apart. Hunted and alone, Aletta expects death—until Gark, a mercenary captain with a fearsome reputation, saves her life.

Gark has spent his whole life fighting against the dishonor of his heritage. But the moment he touches Aletta, his suppressed side erupts, triggering a mate drive he cannot control. As they race through the stars to track her sister’s captors, Gark saves Aletta again and again, his growing desperation mirroring his fading sanity.

In the shadow of her sister's rescue, Aletta faces a final, terrifying choice: accept Gark's claim, or let him succumb to the madness of an unrequited mate bond. When everyone she's ever loved has left her, can she trust in Gark's promises of forever?

Alien Warrior’s Honor is a fated mates, sci-fi romance where survival demands sacrifice, and love may be the only thing strong enough to tame a monster.


- releases 1 week earlier. 
Get free character art if order via author store.





Ava Silvers
The Shadowflame Crown
Book 2, Threads of Fate

Expected Release: 
30 April


To save her life, he might have to surrender his crown. To save his kingdom, she might have to surrender her soul.

Kael Damaris has finally seized the Crimson Throne. But his ruthless victory tastes like ash when the woman he desires is fading right before his eyes. Cressida’s mind and magic have been fractured by the very fate-weaving he forced her to perform. The Unity prophecy still looms over them, and the fragile peace of the vampire realm is already shattering.

A new and deadly threat rises from the darkness. The Shadowflame Crown is an ancient artifact of unimaginable power. It is the only thing that can heal Cressida's broken soul and secure Kael's unstable reign. But claiming the crown requires a sacrifice neither of them is prepared to make.
As enemies close in and dark magic threatens to consume them both, Kael must choose between the kingdom he bled for and the witch who stole his cold heart. Cressida must decide if she can truly trust the monster who broke her. Their twisted bond will either save their world or burn it to the ground.

Fans of Jen L. Grey and Lea Stone will fall under the thrall of this thrilling, addictive fantasy drama.
Scroll up and one click to continue this dark paranormal romance between a ruthless vampire king and a fate-weaving witch.




TJ Nichols
Mytho Investigations Side Stories
Mytho Investigations

Expected Release: 
28 April



What do an elf and a werewolf have in common?

They both find their HEA in these stories about side characters in the Mytho Investigations series.
Includes:
Weddings and other One-night stands
Werewolves and other Worries
Bonus scenes featuring Jordan and Edra





TJ Nichols
Queens and Other Quarrels
Book 4, Mytho Collapse

Expected Release: 
28 July


Pan and Noah's story continues...
The centaurs make a visit to town and Noah leans to be more careful with what he wishes for.

MM urban fantasy romance between an ancient god who has lost his magic and a human who is now selkie.




TJ Nichols
The Librarian's Familiar
Book 13, Familiar Mates

Expected Release: 
28 June


A grumpy polar bear shifter returns home to the small town he grew up in after over a decade away...

A librarian with a dangerous magic takes on the role of Coven agent in the remote town...

Neither of them are looking for trouble, but when it comes they will need to trust the fragile bond between them.

Book 13 in the MM fated mates shifter romance series.







Mila Young
Their Fierce Little Monster
Monster Games

but can be read as standalone

Expected Release: 
14 October


Welcome to the Day of the Choosing.
Where the sacred Chalice decides your fate.
And monsters always take those selected as their brides…

I’ve spent my whole life fearing the moment my name might be called.
But before the ceremony even begins, I’m dragged before the village and branded a heretic for what I am. Then sentenced to burn alive.

Only, I don’t die.

Instead, the fire wakes something inside me.
Something savage and unworldly.

The problem is, the Monster Lord claimed me before the chalice ever could.
And according to village law, that means there’s only one way to prove I’m his to keep.

The Monster Games.

Now I’m being dragged into the dangerous Carpathian Mountains with the Monster Lord, the Priest who swears he’s there to protect me, and a third monster lurking in the shadows, waiting for his chance.

Escape might no longer be an option.
Because the more they close in, the harder it becomes to deny the truth.

I was never meant to survive them.
I was meant to belong to them all.
Author’s Note: This story is a standalone fated mates monster romance set in a dystopian human realm ruled by undeniable attraction, deadly games, and possessive monsters. Each book in the Monster Games world can be read as a standalone.







Efthalia
will be included in the
Rotten to the Core anthology
for the 
Once Upon a Fairytale event
with the story Crimson Queen 
(see cover in covers section)

Expected Release:
10 October


A vengeful Queen.  A rebel with a cause.

Scarlett Hart never wanted to be Queen of once flourishing Cardia, but fate gave her a knife and a reason to rule. With murmurs of rising rebellions and attempts being made on her life, she must trust her instinct and one man she believed to be dead.

Kaspian Cross has the perfect plan: get in, kill the Queen, and get out. What he doesn’t expect is to lock eyes with her to know he can never execute his well-laid-out plan. His heart still wants her.

Captured and facing execution, his rebel group breaks him out, but not before he makes his childhood love an offer: abandon the throne, join me, or face the wrath that is coming and lose your kingdom.

Life gives Scarlett a second chance to fulfil her desires for freedom and love. Will she be brave enough to face them?



M.J. Scott
Wicked Lies
Book 7, Techwitch

Expected Release: 
13 October
* new release date*


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.








Non Spec-Fic


TJ Nichols
Nicks and Cuts
Foggy Basin season three


Expected Release: 
28 August



A reclusive knife maker and a paramedic in need of a new start create a spark...

Dante Cutler does just enough to make sure the locals know he's alive, but otherwise he keeps to himself and he has no desire to let anyone close. He has too many scars for that. The last thing he expects is for his Pride hook up to knock on his door. While he's used to handling hot metal, Shannon Oakes, the new paramedic, is a lot more dangerous for his heart.

Welcome to Foggy Basin. Nestled at the base of the foothills in northern California, this small town is full of characters just waiting to tell you their story. Whether you’re just passing through or you decide to stay a while longer, you’ll always find a warm welcome from the townsfolk. From farmers and animal rescues to artists and small business owners. Foggy Basin has it all.






Annie Seaton
Outback Secrets
Book 2, The Happy Outback Hotel

Expected Release: 
28 May

Small-town outback romance where love is worth the wait.

Jill and Ryan’s story continues in Outback Secrets as Irish photographer Finn O’Sullivan arrives in Garnet Creek running from a scandal—his reputation destroyed, his career in ruins.
Librarian Charlotte Hayes recognises Finn the moment he walks into her library. Her reaction is immediate, complicated—and she's not about to explain why.

When Finn is offered part-time bar work at The Happy Outback Hotel, Charlotte tells herself to stay away, but she can't ignore the growing connection between them—or the guilt of staying silent whilst Finn suffers.

When Charlotte's past catches up to her, threatening everything she's built, staying silent is no longer an option. Speaking the truth could save Finn—or destroy them both.

As Garnet Creek rallies around them both, Finn and Charlotte must decide: keep running from the past or stand and fight for the love and family they never expected to find.

Because sometimes the biggest secret is what you're afraid to reach for.

Pre-Order




Annie Seaton
Under Darling Skies
Book 5, Daughters of the Darling

Expected Release: 
30 April


Bridget O'Byrne thought she was building the future with her brilliant business partner and cutting-edge AI technology. Eighteen months later, she's trapped in Sydney, financially ruined, and under the controlling influence of Antony Saar. When his venture collapses amid fraud investigations, Bridget returns home to Ceann Mara with her confidence shattered.

Back on the family property she once dismissed as old-fashioned, Bridget struggles to rebuild her life. Her path to recovery takes an unexpected turn when she reconnects with Danny Walsh, a quietly competent stockman who was her closest friend in primary school. Danny's contentment with honest work and simple truths challenges everything Bridget thought she wanted.

Meanwhile, Tom and Cat's genealogical research uncovers the mystery of eleven-year-old Roisin O'Byrne, Catherine's sister, who vanished from Melbourne in 1880. Following Roisin's trail to the goldfields, Bridget begins to understand that sometimes survival requires losing yourself completely before you can find your way home.

A story about recognising manipulation, rebuilding trust, and discovering that the most profound strength often comes from the simplest truths.

Pre-Order



Annie Seaton
Dark Waters
Book 4, Bec Whitfield Mystery

Expected Release: 
31 July


Detective Bec Whitfield thought she'd found paradise in tropical Mission Beach—and maybe even love with charming local developer Jake Morrison. But when Cyclone Meredith threatens the coast, emergency preparations uncover a twenty-year-old secret buried in concrete.

The skeletal remains belong to Marcus “Moondog” Sullivan, a former Sydney property developer turned environmental activist who vanished in 2004 during heated battles over coastal development. Marcus had made powerful enemies on both sides of the conservation debate, and someone wanted him silenced permanently.

As Bec investigates, the case becomes uncomfortably personal. Jake's construction company was involved in the building where Marcus was found, and her new boyfriend grows increasingly evasive about his past. When Detective Todd Davenpot arrives from Brisbane with warnings about Jake's reputation, Bec finds herself caught between two men and a web of corruption that reaches far beyond Mission Beach.

With the cyclone bearing down and evacuation orders imminent, Bec must solve a murder that exposes decades of environmental crime and political corruption. But the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realises that Marcus Sullivan died because he threatened to expose secrets that powerful people will kill to protect.

In a race against time and the storm of the century, Bec will discover that some foundations are built on lies—and that choosing the wrong person to trust can be deadly.

Perfect for fans of Jane Harper and Candice Fox.

Pre-Order





D.K. Hood
Nothing Stays Burried
Book 30,  Detectives Kane and Alton

Expected Release: 
30 June


Fear grips her as she passes under the last streetlight on the remote highway. Seeing the familiar truck, she thinks she’s safe. But her scream is silenced by a gloved hand before her world goes black…

When Sheriff Jenna Alton and Deputy David Kane investigate a cold case on a remote ranch in Black Rock Falls, what they uncover chills them to the bone. In a shallow grave lies the lifeless body of farm worker Maria Reyes. Jenna’s heart breaks as she sweeps aside the woman’s long dark hair to find purple bruising all over her face.

Interviewing workers at the ranch, Jenna senses hostility and feels eyes watching her. Every instinct screams that something very sinister is happening here and when news breaks that another young woman is missing, her pulse races once again. Jenna knows she’s running out of time to find the girl before she too ends up in a woodland grave.

Jenna and her team work night and day, ignoring the growing threat from the farm workers around them, and soon discover a link between the ranch and an unsolved case where two people were burned alive in a remote cabin. Could a twisted killer have been using this place as a hunting ground for over a decade?

When a call comes in about suspicious activity at an off-the-grid hut in the nearby forest, Jenna knows this is the breakthrough they need. Scrambling her team, she prays that she can catch this ruthless killer before he takes another innocent life. But what waits for her beneath the trees is more terrifying than anything she imagined. Can she find the missing girl and save herself from becoming the monster’s next victim?



COVERS


Efthalia
Crimson Queen

Expected Release:
10 October


The story will be available at the Once Upon a Fairytale Event in October.
Details of inclusion of the story in the charity anthology mentioned in pre-orders section.


~~

Congratulations to our DarkSiders! 

Happy Reading everyone. Be safe & well. 


Next on the DarkSider News: Events!


Thursday, 26 February 2026

DarkLight On... Juanita Kees & Raven Corbin!

 


Welcome Juanita / Raven!


You write small town romance as Juanita Kees and paranormal mystery as Raven Corbin. What attracted you to these genres?

Small town romance found me before I found it. I grew up in a community where everyone knew everyone, where the local pub was the centre of the universe and gossip travelled faster than the internet ever could. That world never left me. There's a warmth and an intimacy to small town life that I wanted to capture on the page, the idea that love can find you in the most unexpected places when you're not even looking, and that community is its own kind of character.

Raven Corbin, though, she came from a different part of me entirely. I've always been drawn to old buildings and the stories they carry. Walk into a heritage-listed property and you can feel the weight of everything that happened there. I started asking myself, what if someone could actually hear those stories? What if the past wasn't finished with us? The Gothic mystery genre gave me permission to explore that, to write about injustice and forgotten voices and the kind of history that powerful people would prefer stayed buried.

In a way, both pen names are chasing the same thing: the truth of human connection. Juanita Kees finds it in the warmth of community and romantic love. Raven Corbin finds it in the obligation we owe to those who came before us. They're two sides of the same coin.



Is your writing process the same for both genres?

Absolutely not, and I think that's the great joy of writing under two different names. They demand different things from me.

When I sit down to write as Juanita Kees, there's a lightness to the process. I know my characters are going to find their way to each other. The tension comes from the journey, the misunderstandings and the slow burn and the moment when they finally choose each other. I write those books with a smile on my face more often than not.

Raven Corbin is a different creature entirely. The research is heavier, the atmosphere has to be carefully built, and the emotional stakes feel more urgent because they're tied to historical injustice. I find myself sitting with those stories for longer before I write a single word. The characters carry wounds that need to be understood before they can be placed on the page. There's a responsibility there that I feel quite deeply.

What stays the same across both is my absolute commitment to character. Whether I'm writing a small town heroine trying to outrun her past or a woman who discovers she can speak to the dead, I need to know who these people are at their core, what they're running from and what they desperately need, before anything else can happen.




You will be sharing Bitterport Mysteries with other authors. Can you explain how that came about and what each of you will bring to the series?

The Bitterport Mystery series is genuinely one of the most exciting things I've been involved with. It came about through a conversation between myself, S.E. Gilchrist, and Kerrie Paterson, three authors who share a love of Tasmania's extraordinary atmospheric potential and a deep respect for what the state's history has to offer storytelling.

We wanted to create something richer than any of us could do alone. A fictional Tasmanian town with its own history, its own secrets, its own recurring community of characters, written by three different voices but feeling like one cohesive world. We each bring our own strengths to Bitterport, and the result is a series where readers can inhabit the same town through very different lenses. It keeps the world feeling alive and multi-dimensional rather than a single author's vision. I think readers who love Tasmanian settings and mysteries with real emotional depth are going to find something to love in what all three of us are building together.



Are you a plotter? Pantser? Or somewhere in-between?

At heart I'm a pantser, though Raven Corbin has forced me to develop plotting muscles I never knew I needed.

As Juanita Kees, I write the way I think most pantsers do: I know who my people are, I drop them into a situation, and then I follow them around to see what they do. The happily ever after is non-negotiable, but how they get there is very much a discovery. Some of my favourite plot moments in those books arrived as complete surprises to me. The characters simply refused to behave as expected, which is usually a sign that something good is happening.

Raven Corbin requires more scaffolding. With a mystery, the clues need to be planted early, the red herrings need to feel genuine, and the historical elements have to be woven in with care. I do a significant amount of research and structural planning before I write Chapter One. The emotional beats and the character revelations still surprise me, but the bones of the mystery are mapped out before I begin.

I think the honest answer is that I'm a pantser who learned to plot under duress, and I'm not entirely sorry about it. Raven Corbin has made me a better writer across both names.




What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Write the story only you can tell. That sounds like a cliche until you sit down and really ask yourself what it means. There are thousands of small town romances and hundreds of paranormal mysteries, but there is only one person with your specific combination of experience, obsessions, heartbreaks, and perspective. That's your competitive advantage. Use it.

Read widely, including outside your genre. Some of the most useful things I've learned about pacing and atmosphere came from reading and being edited by a professional editor. Get comfortable with bad first drafts. The first draft is not the book. It's the raw material. Give yourself permission to write badly in order to write at all.

And this one is perhaps the most important: take your characters seriously. Readers can feel when a writer doesn't fully believe in the people they've created. Know your characters' wounds before you know their eye colour. Know what they're running from and what they're running toward. Everything else follows from that.



How do you fill the creative well?

Travel, whenever I can manage it. There is nothing like standing in a place with centuries of history behind it to make stories feel urgent and necessary. Tasmania specifically has been extraordinary for the Raven Corbin work. You walk around some of those heritage sites and the past feels genuinely present.

Long walks with no particular destination. I do a lot of my best plotting on foot, when my conscious mind is occupied with putting one foot in front of the other and my subconscious is quietly working out the knot I couldn't unpick at my desk.

Conversations with other writers, particularly the Bitterport collaborators. There's something about being in conversation with other creative people who take storytelling seriously that recharges something in me.

And honestly? Allowing myself to be bored occasionally. We're so quick to fill every quiet moment now, but some of my best ideas have come from sitting with nothing to do and letting my mind wander.




What is next for you?

As Raven Corbin, the immediate focus is finishing Murder at Millmerran House and getting it into readers' hands for the mid-2026 launch. There are more stories in that world waiting to be told, and Misdeeds at Moorstone Lodge is already taking shape as the next book in the series, bringing a different kind of darkness and a new set of voices to Bitterport.

As Juanita Kees, I have a new small town story simmering that I'm very excited about, one that deals with returning home after a long absence and discovering that the place you ran from might be exactly where you were always meant to be.

And the Bitterport collaboration itself has legs. The three of us have talked about where the series could go, and the possibilities are genuinely thrilling. Bitterport has a lot of secrets left to uncover.



What is your upcoming release and your inspiration behind it?

My upcoming release as Raven Corbin is Murder at Millmerran House, due for release mid-2026 and the first book in the Bitterport Mystery series.

The inspiration for this one began with a question I couldn't stop asking: what happens when a house refuses to let its secrets stay buried? Millmerran House is a grand Victorian mansion in Bitterport with a wartime history that someone, even now, is determined to keep hidden. When London hotelier Aiden Bellingan inherits it, he expects renovation headaches. What he doesn't expect is Elvira Brown, the former resident who disappeared in 1945 and has very definite opinions about what he should do with her home.

I kept asking myself, what would it take to hear those voices now? And the answer that came was: someone who could literally hear them.

Enter interior designer Marielle McGregor, who knows she should turn down the project. Millmerran House has a troubled history with her family, and her father recently went missing while researching the mansion's secrets. But there's something about the house and its charming new owner that makes walking away impossible. What unfolds is a mystery woven through with wartime secrets, family feuds, and a conspiracy that someone is still willing to kill to protect. Elvira, it turns out, is a surprisingly helpful ghost when she chooses to be.

The book is about inheritance in every sense of the word: the properties we acquire, the histories we stumble into, and the things passed down to us whether we wanted them or not. It's also, at its heart, a romance between two people who find each other in the middle of chaos and chandeliers and a ghost with strong opinions. Perfect for readers who love Victoria Laurie, Juliet Blackwell, and Sofie Kelly.

Bitterport as a setting gave me so much to work with. There's something about Tasmania's atmosphere, the old buildings, the sense that the past is never quite finished with you, that makes it the perfect home for a series like this. I can't wait to share Millmerran House with readers.


Juanita Kees writes small town contemporary romance. Raven Corbin writes Gothic paranormal mystery.

Murder at Millmerran House is the first book in the Bitterport Mystery series, due for release mid-2026.



Latest release

It Might Be You

A Bindarra Creek Christmas in July Romance
(multi-author series)



Haunted by the silence in her city apartment after her mother's passing, Bonny Taylor throws herself into her work as a principal violinist for the Sydney Philharmonic Orchestra, seeking solace in music. Until a chance encounter with a charming stranger offers an unexpected escape.

Trading the city's noise for the warmth of a small-town celebration, Bonny finds herself captivated by weddings, winter festivities, and the undeniable pull of attraction to Adam McGuigan, the farmer from Yarraman Downs.

As she falls deeper into the magic of the Bindarra Creek community, can a world-renowned musician trade her concert hall for a farmer's field in rural Australia or will the lure of her career prove too strong?






Juanita Kees


Writing fun, action-packed, sexy stories filled with feisty, caring characters ready to risk everything for love.

Juanita graduated from the Australian College QED, Bondi with a diploma in Proofreading, Editing and Publishing, and achieved her dream of becoming a published author in 2012 with the release of her debut romantic suspense, Fly Away Peta (recently re-released as Under Shadow of Doubt).

Under the Hood followed in 2013 as one of the first releases from Harlequin's digital pioneer, Escape Publishing.

In 2014 Juanita was nominated for the Lynn Wilding (Romance Writers of Australia) Volunteer Award, and was a finalist in the Romance Writers Australia Romantic Book of the Year and the Australian Romance Readers Awards in 2014 and 2016.  Her rural romances have made the Amazon bestseller and top 100 lists. Juanita writes mostly contemporary and rural romantic suspense but also likes to dabble in the ponds of Paranormal with Greek gods brought to life in the 21st century.

She escapes the real world to write stories starring spirited heroines who give the hero a run for his money before giving in.  When she’s not writing, Juanita is mother to three boys and a Daschund named Sam, and has a passion for fast cars and country living.

Find Juanita at: juanitakees.com.    



Raven Corbin


Some authors find inspiration in coffee shops or quiet libraries. Raven Corbin found hers in moonlit cemeteries and the whispered legends of abandoned towns.

Growing up on family vacations that other children might have found terrifying, Raven was enchanted by crumbling headstones, forgotten settlements, and her father’s spine-tingling campfire stories that brought the past to life. But it was her older sister’s home — an historic dwelling dating back to 1814 — that truly opened Raven’s eyes to the world beyond the veil. Living alongside restless spirits, including one particularly dramatic poltergeist, became as natural as morning coffee.

These early encounters sparked a lifelong fascination with the deeper mysteries behind supernatural phenomena. Raven discovered her true calling: helping tormented souls find the peace they’ve been seeking for decades, sometimes centuries, by uncovering the truth behind their tragic stories.

Raven masterfully weaves together historical mysteries, paranormal encounters, and small-town secrets in her atmospheric novels. Her Bitterport Mystery Series, set in the hauntingly beautiful but abandoned Tasmanian town of Bitterport, will captivate readers worldwide with a perfect blend of ghostly intrigue, buried secrets, and heartwarming romance.

Drawing from her background in professional editing and publishing, Raven crafts emotionally engaging stories where every creaking floorboard and mysterious apparition serves the larger purpose of justice and redemption. Her paranormal mysteries are for readers who appreciate stories where the supernatural meets the deeply human.

When she’s not communing with spirits or researching historical mysteries, Raven travels extensively, seeking inspiration in the world’s forgotten corners. She shares her adventures with her partner who has learned to pack sage and salt alongside the usual travel essentials.

Raven believes that every ghost has a story worth telling, and every mystery deserves to be solved — preferably with a happy ending for both the living and the dead.

“I don’t write horror stories. I write healing stories that happen to involve ghosts.” — Raven Corbin

Find Raven at: raven-corbin.com




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