Wednesday, October 28, 2026

Can't-Wait Wednesday: Her Dark Empire by Elizabeth Helen


Can't-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted at Wishful Endings, to spotlight and talk about the books we're excited about that we have yet to read.
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Her Dark Empire by Elizabeth Helen

Expected publication: April 20, 2027 by Bloom Books


The first in a brand-new fantasy series from New York Times bestselling author Elizabeth Helen.

"Let the storms consume the world. Let them unmake everything we know. Rule with me in the ruins."

Berri Toulett has spent her life imprisoned in a tower.

As the Reverend Princess of the Carthan Empire and the last descendant of a divine bloodline, her life force powers the magical shield protecting her city from the deadly elemental storms raging beyond its walls. Worshipped as a savior, she has always accepted the sacrifice demanded of her—until the day she's taken by the enemy.

Tiro Straith is a storm-wielding warrior raised among rebels and haunted by visions of a coming catastrophe. Sent to assassinate the princess, he instead becomes her captor, spiriting her away into the storm-ravaged lands.

Lines between captive and captor blur when Berri and Tiro realize they share the same stopping the Convergence, an impending disaster prophesied to destroy the world. As they search for a way to prevent it and save both their people, Berri and Tiro uncover truths that shatter everything they believe. All the while, a forbidden and dangerous attraction ignites between them, one more powerful than prophecy.

But when Tiro embraces a terrible power to save Berri's life, he becomes the very calamity he sought to prevent.

Now, with humanity's future hanging in the balance, Berri must make an impossible stop the man she loves—or stand beside him as the empress of the world they remake together.



I loved Elizabeth Helen's Beasts of the Briar series (although I still need to read book 6 & 7) so of course I'm very excited for their new upcoming series. The cover is so beautiful!




What book are you awaiting today?





Tuesday, October 27, 2026

Top Ten Tuesday: My Favorite Gothic Books


Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
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This week's topic:
Halloween Freebie: My Favorite Gothic Books




Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo
The Temptation of Charlotte North by Camilla Bruce



The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe
Honeysuckle by Bar Fridman-Tell



The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
The Brides by Charlotte Cross




Lucy Undying by Kiersten White
A Dowry of Blood by S.T. Gibson




Have you read any of these books?






Monday, October 26, 2026

Cover Reveal: The Forgotten Bruja by Johanny Ortega


Welcome to the cover reveal of The Forgotten Bruja by Johanny Ortega. I loooove this cover. What do you think?
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The Forgotten Bruja by Johanny Ortega
Publication date: March 16 2027
Genres: Gothic, Horror

Freedom has always meant leaving.

For Isadora Espinal, escape was the only way to survive the life her mother tried to force upon her—a legacy built on silence, blind obedience, and a responsibility Isadora never agreed to carry. So she left Willowshade behind and built a future far beyond her mother’s reach.

Twelve years later, Altagracia Espinal is dead, and Isadora has been summoned home.

What awaits her is not an explanation but a trail of unfinished warnings, fractured family histories, and whispers that seem to seep from the walls themselves, blurring the line between guidance and manipulation. The deeper Isadora searches, the more she suspects her mother’s secrets were never meant to protect the family. They were meant to bind it.

Now the house remembers her. The land is watching her. And the inheritance Isadora once rejected may not allow her to leave a second time.

Set in late-1960s Ohio, The Forgotten Bruja is a slow-burn gothic horror novel steeped in Dominican folklore, Spanglish dread, and magical realism. It is a story of inherited obligation, buried history, queer love, and the devastating cost of deciding which parts of a legacy deserve to survive.

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Author Bio:

Johanny Ortega is a Dominican American author who writes across genres—blending psychological horror, literary fiction, magical realism, and thrillers that punch you right in the gut. Whether writing about haunted hills, generational trauma, or the quiet unraveling of everyday life, her stories center marginalized voices, morally complex women, and the messy truth about survival.

She is the founder of Have a Cup of Johanny, a creative platform where she blogs, podcasts, and advocates for inclusive storytelling. Her award-winning middle-grade and adult fiction has resonated with readers who crave depth, grit, and emotional honesty.

When she’s not writing, she’s raising kids in a blended military family, reading books that wreck her soul in the best way, and saying what others are afraid to.

Website / Instagram / TikTok / Goodreads