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The Empress of All Seasons by Emiko Jean

Each generation, a competition is held to find the next empress of Honoku. The rules are simple. Survive the palace's enchanted seasonal rooms. Conquer Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall. Marry the prince. All are eligible to compete--all except yokai, supernatural monsters and spirits whom the human emperor is determined to enslave and destroy. Mari has spent a lifetime training to become empress. Winning should be easy. And it would be, if she weren't hiding a dangerous secret. Mari is a yokai with the ability to transform into a terrifying monster. If discovered, her life will be forfeit. As she struggles to keep her true identity hidden, Mari's fate collides with that of Taro, the prince who has no desire to inherit the imperial throne, and Akira, a half-human, half-yokai outcast. Torn between duty and love, loyalty and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness, the choices of Mari, Taro, and Akira will decide the fate of Honoku in this beautifully written, edge-of-your-seat YA...
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Haunted Hearts by A.K. Faulkner (An Untimely Frost #1)

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen… 

Basil Irwin is a mild-mannered arts correspondent by day, and burgeoning necromancer by night. The trouble is he’s yet to encounter a ghost, so all his magic could yet prove useless. 

Jon Dwyer is a psychic medium, capable of interacting with - and even destroying - the dead, but his power comes at a price: the living fear him. 

When Basil and Jon meet over a rumored haunting, they agree to work together. But when the ghost proves itself not only real but also insanely homicidal, Basil and Jon are caught in a deadly game of cat and mouse, and whatever feelings they might have for one-another have to take a back seat to a desperate fight for their very survival…

CONTRIBUTOR(S): RJ Bayley (Narrator)
PUBLISHER: Ravensword Press
YEAR: 2014
LENGTH: 140 pages (3 hours 9 minutes)
AGE: Adult
GENRE: Romance
RECOMMENDED: Highly

Queer Rep Summary: Gay/Achillean Main Character(s).

Basil and Jon meet under unexpected circumstances when they both show up to the same probably-haunted dwelling. Basil is trying to find out whether magic and ghosts are real, and Jon is trying to disperse ghosts in-between job hunting. 

I like this as an introduction and as a story in its own right. There's a nice balance between worldbuilding and characterization, especially in such a short tale. The audiobook is excellent, conveying Jon's very dry sense of humor with ease. 

I first encountered Jon and Basil as secondary characters midway through the Inheritance series, so I was already familiar with them. I like seeing how they started out, and this novella came out before any of the Inheritance series, so it can be read before even JACK OF THORNS if one were so inclined.

Graphic/Explicit CW for grief.

Moderate CW for homophobia, violence, death.

Minor CW for ableist language, sexual content, murder.

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A dagger against a dark blue background, rimmed with silver branches


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