Francesca:
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Welcome to reading under the covers, a romance novel podcast.
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I'm Francesca from under
the covers book blog.
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And today I am excited to bring you
guys another book recommendation list.
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And this time is a particular trope, very
niche trope that came up in conversation
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when I was talking a few episodes back
with Angela, from PNR book lover reviews,
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we kind of did a talk about the evolution
of a romance reader and what we used to
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really love to read and what, , Our tastes
have changed things that we said we.
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Thought we would never pick up
now are things that are basically
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staples in what we're reading.
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But also the things that haven't
changed or that we keep going back
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to one of those, obviously for the
two of us being paranormal stories.
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And one in particular that she was saying
she was always on the lookout for more is
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paranormal or fantasy arranged marriages.
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So I decided to pick out a few
that I think are really good.
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And I've got some recommendations
here today for you guys that involve
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paranormal and fantasy arranged marriages.
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Not to be confused with
marriage of convenience.
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I've seen a ton of lists
where the, two get intermixed.
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And there is a difference between a
marriage of convenience necessarily,
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and an arranged marriage where let's
say it's a little bit less choice
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on the part of our heroine usually.
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And
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I'm going to talk about a few here on the
podcast that I think that you guys should
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be looking at in adding to your TBR.
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But I also have more on the blog on a full
list that we put together for the blog.
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So I'll be sure to leave the link to that
blog post in the show notes down below.
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So go there and check it out for
even more paranormal and fantasy
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arranged marriage recommendations.
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The first one is a standalone
paranormal and it's court of the
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vampire queen by Katee robert.
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I should also mention that court of
the vampire queen is the compilation
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of the bloodline vampires trilogy.
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So this was originally released as
three stories, sacrifice heir and queen.
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If you have read those, then you've
already read court of the vampire queen.
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And it does feature a
polyamorous relationship.
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Our heroine is half human and half
vampire and all she's ever wanted
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is to escape her father's control.
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She's lived her whole life
between the two worlds.
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But never really experiencing either.
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She really hasn't experienced being
a full human or a full vampire.
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Until her father chooses to
use her as a political pawn.
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And gifts her to a darkly
powerful and dangerous vampire.
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This is Malachai.
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He's a vampire that you
should not mess with.
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He rules his vampires with an iron
fist and has a shady reputation.
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But the more she spends time with
him, she realizes that she doesn't
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really have anything to fear.
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And he's not the monster
that she first thought.
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And that fear then turns into
lust and trust and then something
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more as he slowly opens her world.
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to things that she never even
considered that could be hers.
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That also includes her having
the love of Malachai's two
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closest friends and companions.
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So she gets to have three powerful and
dangerous vampire men all to herself.
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And while adjusting.
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To this new life and this new and
seductive world she slowly realizes that
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she may have the power to face down her
father and take back control of her life.
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And the crown as well, which
by all rights should be hers.
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This is definitely an erotic one.
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So be prepared for that is
super, super steamy and spicy.
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And it does deal with
vampire royalty and politics.
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But also those concepts of exploring.
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The heroine blossoming into
herself and finding herself.
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Not only sexually, but also
her footing in the world.
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The next one that I'm going to recommend
is one that I would say straddles a little
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bit, the line between just an epic fantasy
with a little bit of romantic elements.
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So I wouldn't necessarily say it's a
romantasy, but you do get romance in it.
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And that is war prize by Elizabeth Vaughn.
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This is one that Suzanne has recommended
multiple times here on the podcast,
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and you've also seen it definitely on
the blog and it's the first book in
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the Chronicles of the warlands series.
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Our heroine is the daughter of a warrior
king, she's also a trained healer.
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Her father is dead now.
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And her incompetent half-brother
is the one on the throne.
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The kingdom is in danger.
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And she's basically serving her people by
healing the warriors on the battlefield.
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She also finds herself learning
the customs and the language of her
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enemies and taking care of them with
all of her attention and compassion.
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And to save her land and her
people, she ends up trading her
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freedom to become the war prize.
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If you're a fan of barbarian romance
and like Conan and those types of
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adventures then you definitely want
to check out this epic fantasy.
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It's a great story where you're also going
to be exploring these mysterious cultures.
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And you also get that romance
with a truly heroic hero.
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He's the mysterious fire Lander warlord.
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Who basically demands her
in exchange for a ceasefire.
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Now, the next book is probably a classic.
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When it comes to fantasy romance
and monster romance, it is one we
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are always recommending, but I also
see a ton of people recommending it.
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So I'm sure you've heard of it,
but it bears repeating as well,
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because it is such a great book.
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And that is radiance by grace.
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Draven.
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This is the first book in
the Wraith Kings series.
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And I think it's also a great
introduction to monster romance.
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If you want a hero that is still
quite human looking, but he
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does have different color skin.
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Our hero is, the prince of the kai,
and he has lived basically as the
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nonessential spare heir to the throne.
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So when it comes time for a trade
in political Alliance between the
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human kingdom and the kai kingdom.
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He has to marry a gauri woman, which are
the humans in order to seal that treaty.
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Our heroine is the niece of the king of
the human kingdom and she's always known
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that the Royal family only saw her as how
they could marry her off strategically.
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So she's always been
resigned to that fate.
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But then she's completely horrified
to discover that she's not just
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marrying some foreign aristocrat.
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But the younger prince of the people
that are not human and not familiar.
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This is also a great story about the
concept of perceived beauty, because
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both of them see the other as ugly,
just because they are foreign and not
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familiar in the way that they look.
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But they are very much so destined to be
together and they're made for each other.
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And they have to fight duty and
politics as they are in the middle
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of this hostile kingdom scheme.
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That is.
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Determined to tear them apart.
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I really think that this was
such a great exploration of
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a medieval fantasy universe.
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It has all of the things that
I love about the political
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intrigue in a fantasy romance.
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And I think that the author handle with
such grace, the topic of true beauty.
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And it is more about true love, not
Insta love built on looks, but really
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on partnership and mutual respect.
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Dealing with the fear of the other.
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And overcoming the physical differences.
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This is just such a beautiful story.
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And if you haven't read it yet, it is what
I would consider a must read if you're
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a fan of romantasy or fantasy romance.
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So add that to your TBR for sure.
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The next one that I have is a fate
of wrath and flame by KA Tucker.
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This is the first book in the
fate of wrath and flames series.
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And in this one, we do have a time
travel political intrigue, romantasy
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the series is now complete in
September, and it does have four books.
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So if you want to binge through and
read all four, you can, but it does
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continue throughout the series.
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So you don't get a resolution
at the end of the first book,
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the heroine of the series.
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is a human living in New
York city and she is a thief.
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She's been working for a
crime boss in New York city.
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Stealing jewels.
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And then a woman comes to secure her
services at sword point, and she is
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transported into this other realm.
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There's opposing Thrones
and there's warring elves.
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Elemental magic and all these things
that she just cannot understand.
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Her job is to basically steal a
stone from a sacred garden without
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anyone discovering her true identity.
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Except she finds that she's in the
body of a captured princess, an enemy
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of the kingdom that she's in and where
she's supposed to steal this stone.
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After she had poisoned the
beloved king and queen.
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On the day that she was
supposed to marry the prince.
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Her betrothed, who is
now the new crowned king.
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Obviously hates her.
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And he's giving her two choices.
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One is to live her life in a cell.
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Or an acquittal of all charges.
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If she gives out information and
exposes the plot against him.
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This is a slower pace story,
but it's definitely a great one.
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And it has so much political intrigue.
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So if you're a fan of that,
you'll definitely love this story.
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I always love stories like that.
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And I also think that it lends
itself really well for a slower pace.
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And especially because there are so many
different identities that we have to
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peel layers off in this story, that it
makes complete sense that you would take
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your time and explore all these things.
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With our heroine herself,
because she has to figure out.
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Her own identity of the body that she's
in an d how to save herself and the king.
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It also has all the tropey
goodness that you can want.
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It does have, obviously that slow
burn, but also enemies to lovers.
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Political games, rival Thrones,
gods and monsters prophecies.
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A very unique magic
system, multiple realms.
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Mistaken identities.
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And witty bodyguards.
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In my opinion, this is a classic fantasy
romance that you should be checking out.
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The next book is consort
of fire by kit rocha.
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This is book one in the bound
to fire and steel series.
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And if you've been around under
the covers for any length of time,
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you probably already know that
we love kit rocha around here.
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And when you're looking for some
steamy erotic paranormal, then
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this is going to be your go-to.
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The hero of this story
is an ancient dragon god.
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And he's been protecting the borders
of the sheltered lands for:
3000
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And in return, he's only had one demand
that every 100 years, one mortal ruler
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must send their heir to serve as his
consort, as long as they can survive.
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So it comes time to send a consort
and Sachielle is the one that
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is going to be the 31st consort.
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That is sacrificed to the monster.
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She's young and she's beautiful,
but she also has, a few secrets, the
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first one is that she is actually
a disposable orphan, but she's been
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trained in the art of seduction.
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The second is her handmaid
Zanya is an assassin.
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And the only person that
she's ever truly loved.
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And the third is that she's cursed.
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So Sachi and Zanya have five weeks
to murder the dragon in his bed.
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And if they failed the mortal
Kings curse will, basically
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kill her and steal her soul.
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Except that once they reach there, they
find out things are not exactly what they
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thought they were and the dragon is very
different than what they've been told.
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So now of course they have to
figure out how to beat this curse.
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If you're looking for a romantasy with
a dragon, especially one where it's
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a polyamorous relationship, then this
is also going to be the one for you.
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But it's also an epic
erotic romance as well.
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It has life or death stakes great
plot and character development.
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And world-building.
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Which kit Rocha is always so good at.
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You're going to get a story that is a
mix of history and the curse and murder
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and political intrigue, but at the
same time, it's a firestorm of spice.
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And I'm always partial to
reading a good dragon story.
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So if you're on the lookout for that,
then check this one out for sure.
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Up next.
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We have king of battle
and blood by Scarlett St.
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Clair.
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This is the first book in
the Adrian and Isolde series
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So Isolde has always thought that her
wedding day would be her death day.
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And to end a year's long war, she
has to marry the vampire king adrian.
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And she actually has to kill him
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that assassination attempt is thwarted.
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And Adrian threatens that if Isolde
tries to kill him again, he will
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personally raise her as an undead.
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She's been raised to hate vampires.
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So that is the biggest threat that she
can have because she doesn't want to
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become the thing that she hates the most.
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She has to find other ways to defy him.
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While at the same time, surviving
the brutal vampire court.
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Of course, then there's the undeniable
and explosive chemistry between them.
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But at the same time,
she starts to discover.
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Maybe the truth about exactly why
the vampire king had chosen her.
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To be his consort and.
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The reality and the truth about
everything she's known her whole life
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that drove her to be a pawn in that
assassination scheme to save her kingdom.
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If you're a fan of the touch,
her and die trope, then this
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one is your next read for sure.
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I think also Scarlett St.
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Clair is so good at delivering
a very spicy read, but it has
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such great world-building.
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There is so much amazing
political intrigue in this story.
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And I love how we're really
discovering that backstory of both
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characters and their kingdoms as well.
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And it's also a story that
continues into book two.
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So you want to make sure that
you also read that as well.
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And the last book that I have
for you guys on this list is one
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that I actually recently finished
and it had been on my TBR.
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For ever, and it's actually bride
of the shadow king by Sylvia.
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Mercedes, this is the first book in
the bride of the shadow king series.
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The heroine is basically
a shunned princess.
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She had been arranged to marry this
prince and on the day of the wedding,
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she ends up throwing up all over him
and it doesn't go through and it's
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just such a bad mark on their kingdom.
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She's seen as this princess with an
illness and they shunned her away
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from the court and kept out of sight.
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She's then finally brought back to court.
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When her younger sister has
been arranged to be married.
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To the shadow king.
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Which is a much needed Alliance
between her kingdom and theirs.
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And they're basically seen as trolls.
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Her sister, obviously
doesn't want to get married.
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And when the shadow king comes to
meet his new bride he can't help, but
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be fascinated by her older sister.
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But he knows that he must follow through
and do what's right for his people.
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Except when the sister that is
supposed to be marrying him is
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traveling back to his kingdom.
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Wars are breaking out and
she ends up getting killed.
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So our heroine's father decides to use
some magic and make our heroine look like
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her sister so they don't have to break the
pact and continue on with the Alliance.
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I love that this is not the
straightforward arranged
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marriage that I was thinking.
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And it's more about this human princess
bride that is taking the place of her
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younger sister in this arranged marriage.
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But at the same time, she was
already fascinated by the shadow
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king that she's going to marry.
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And she's also conflicted
about having to lie to him.
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And he was just as enamored with
her and he thinks that he's having
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to go through with this marriage.
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To the younger sister.
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While being in love with the older
sister and having her in his head.
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This also has plenty of political
intrigue and wars and all of that as well.
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It was a super fast and easy read.
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It is a slow burn romance and it
does set up the series quite well.
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It is a series that you're going to have
to read all the books in the series.
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So far, there are three books.
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I don't know if it's a finished
trilogy or if there's going to be
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more coming out, but I am so excited
to dive into book two for sure.
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Very soon.
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And at least in this first book,
I would say that this is one it's
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going to be more on the sweeter side.
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So if you want something different
than some of the erotic ones that we
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already mentioned on this list, then
this might be a good fit for you.
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And that's it.
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That's all the books that
I have for this list today.
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Hopefully you guys found something
that you haven't seen before and
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that sparks your mood to try it out.
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I would love to hear from you guys.
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Please let me know which ones are your
favorite paranormal or fantasy arranged?
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Marriage love stories.
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You can always send us your
recommendations via voice note.
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I will leave a link in the show notes
down below of how you can do that.
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Just let us know.
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What's the book, author,
and why you recommend it.
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And you may just find yourself right here
on the reading under the covers podcast.
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I will also leave a link in the
show notes down below to the blog
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post, where we have even more
recommendations with this micro trope.
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And as you know, you can always find all
of our book recommendations on the blog
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at, under the covers book, blog.com.
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So be sure to also be subscribed to
our newsletter we'll be in your inbox
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every single Sunday with all of the
latest bookish news and recommendations.
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You can also find us on social media at
utc book blog on Instagram, tiktok X and
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Pinterest, and under the covers book blog.
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On Facebook and YouTube, or catch
us every Thursday at 7:00 PM.
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Eastern standard time for our novel
nights live show where we do book
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recommendations and bookish news.
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That's all I have for you guys today.
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Thanks so much for tuning in and
we'll see you again in the next one.
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Bye.
