A 2019 Watty Winner. For fans of Allison Pataki and Philippa Gregory, THE NYMPH OF VERSAILLES is based on the true story of Madame Montespan's rise and fall at the court of King Louis XIV. Being the Sun King's mistress is a coveted position in a court full of greedy courtiers vying for power and Athénaïs de Montespan won't let anything stand in the way of her stealing the king's heart-not even poison. When the king's interest in his mistress Louise begins to wane, Montespan sees the position as a possible escape from her husband's mounting debts and loveless marriage. Her strained friendship with Louise doesn't stop her from charming the king. However keeping his heart is tricky in a court full of plotting beauties eager to have him for themselves, especially with her jealous husband bent on ending her seduction. Then her children's governess becomes an unexpected rival for the king's heart and the only woman who can contend with Montespan. With the court swirling with rumors of poison, Montespan finds herself caught in the web of accusations. Her position with the king begins to crumble as she fights to hold on to the life she's built. Without the king's love, she fears she will lose everything as she falls from grace.

Katy Fairchild is an orphan and knows that no respectable man will marry her. But when a storm throws her into the arms of a mysterious stranger, will she fight society's opinion of her low status to pursue a forbidden romance? ***** At the age of nine, Katy Fairchild was brought to the small village of Wilshire to live with her distant relations, the Banes family. Brought up as a companion to their daughter, Eliza, Katy has lived a life according to her low rank and limited opportunities, and without complaint. But one day when she is nineteen, she gets caught in a dangerous storm with a handsome man who is unlike anyone she's met before. The encounter throws Katy into a world she never knew. For the first time, a better life may be just around the corner, but is she prepared to fight for it? [[word count: 70,000 - 80,000]] Cover designed by Cil Ojumo

Striving to secure her future through marriage, an heiress with a dubious pedigree begins to question who she truly is -- and who she wants to be. ***** Edith Shepley looks like a Wyrm. She takes after her father, whoever he was -- she doesn't know, and even if she cared to, it would hardly change things. She is a proper Folk lady, as sure as the sun rises, trained from the cradle to govern as Baroness of Ewert someday. And she knows her duty. A woman, now, at sixteen years old, the time has come for Edith to marry and beget Ewert's next heir. Journeying from country estates to city townhouses, through war-ravaged lands in between, Edith diligently considers suitor after suitor, some sweet, some baffling, some detestable -- and, suddenly, who her father was begins to matter very much. The more she sees of her mother's society, the more Edith questions whether she really is Folk, after all. And the more she's stung by its insults, its injuries and injustices, the more she wonders if she really even wants to be. But what is a proper young lady to do, if not her duty? Book One of The Unfinished Wyrm! Wattys 2017 "The Storysmiths" winner!