When it's rumored that the kingdom needs a new Lily Maid, ambassadors of perfume magic, Zipporah Monrose journeys to the capital for the coveted title, stirring up long-held prejudices and a scandal behind a Lily's death that could threaten her tenure as a Lily Maid. *** Eighteen-year-old Zipporah Monrose wants nothing else but to be a Lily Maid--beautiful ambassadors of enchanted perfumes known to beguile the senses. The weekly wages could sustain her family out of impoverishment. When it's rumored that the kingdom needs a new Lily, she departs from her small town for the title. A stay at a boarding house acquaints her with Perley Elliot, a faultless, budding Lily. Perley's selected to compete in the Lily Trials--an assessment of their grace, poise, and affinity with fragrance. Begging is Zipporah's last hope. Perley's pitying plea, and that The Crown prides itself on its progressiveness, plants Zipporah in the competition as a Lily Bud, against twenty-four ambitious girls. Scandalous gossip about the death of Claudie Beary, the Lily they're vying to replace, doesn't dishearten them. Zipporah's social status makes her susceptible to their disparagement. Her presence in the Trials has also garnered her Perley's cold shoulder. Except Zipporah owns one bestowed spritz of perfume from her oldest friend, a former Lily. The perfume makes itself into an indispensable fragrance, enough to win the Lily Trials. But no amount of perfume can mask her predecessor's loveliness. Zipporah fails to exceed Claudie in every way. As Claudie's assailant remains at large, Zipporah puts her life in peril when she uncovers incriminating letters between Claudie and her paramour. In a realm where Lily Maids are more coveted than perfume, the only thing worse than an undesirable Lily is a dead one. Copyright © 2026 T.A. Joseph All rights reserved

Lydia Bennett has been consigned by widowhood and her own sisters to the remote village of Lowick. She intends to stay for only a week, but the fanatical local Reverend, Mr Wakefield, is waging a war on fun - Christmas carols are cancelled, the Harvest Festival is banned and May Day dancing considered the greatest horror of all. Will Lydia be able to ensure the town's thousand year old May Day celebrations go ahead? Will local landowner Mr Sitwell, caught between his sense of responsibility and the outright cruelty of the priest, join Lydia or oppose her? In the battle between society and sobriety who will prevail? Complete and finished story.

Henry Dunn, Baron of Dunn, believes he has done what any responsible husband must. After the birth of their second child, his wife's behavior left him desperate, and he placed her under the care of the reputable Dr. Sharp. Meanwhile, Nerissa drifts between wakefulness and dream as her laudanum dosage quietly increases. Time slips and dulls around her, leaving her unsure whom to trust and terrified that she may never see her family again. As Henry struggles to cope with life without his wife, he must confront a far more painful question: Did he rescue his wife... or abandon her? And can a marriage strained by illness, distance, and fear find its way back to love before it is too late?

Fate decided that their paths should cross. | For friendly, hard-working Sua, the only things that matter in life are the happiness and safety of her friends and family. She's more than content to manage her late father's inn with her pet antula by her side. However, being an innkeeper in a small town isn't always easy... or safe. There's danger lurking in the woods, and only she is allowed to stop it. Through a twist of fate, a mysterious traveler comes along and distracts her from the threat to her home. Sa Gin's new, handsome face becomes the talk of the town overnight. What's more, he has a charming personality, a purse full of money... and a weapon on his back. Can Sua trust this stranger with her burden and her heart? Or does the newcomer already have enough secrets of his own?

Stolen as a gift for the faerie prince, Eulalia's only hope of returning home is to become a spy for the rebel army and learn the prince's plans for war, but the more she's with him her contempt wilts, putting herself and many others in danger. *** After being stolen as a gift for the faerie prince, Eulalia gets embroiled in a brewing civil war when she befriends the handmaidens who are secretly a part of the rebel army. Convinced that befriending the prince will help their cause and get her home, Eulalia goes undercover as a spy. But as tensions between the high born and low born faes rise, Eulalia becomes tangled in between, discovering that the prince isn't quite the person she thought, and her new friends haven't been entirely honest. Copyright © 2024 T.A. Joseph All rights reserved

London doesn't ruin people with proof-it ruins them with whispers. Reginald, Duke of Ashburn, has survived society by mastering restraint: the careful smile, the measured distance, the discipline of stopping an inch short of disaster. But Josephine Langley has never been interested in being managed into silence. She meets the ton's cruelty with calm precision-and Reginald's composure with a ferocity that feels dangerously like home. One near-kiss on a terrace becomes a city-wide invention. Powerful men offer "solutions" dressed as protection: send Josephine away, restore the Duke's reputation, erase the inconvenient truth of them. Instead, Reginald does the unthinkable-he chooses her in daylight, openly, plainly, and without apology. But love is only the first battle. When Josephine uncovers a buried family crime-names, payments, and a legacy built on someone else's ruin-choosing each other means choosing something even more dangerous: the truth. With enemies circling, papers hungry for scandal, and their families poised to bury them both, Reginald and Josephine make a vow the ton can't edit: Careful first. Then brave. And always-together.

When Aleta Kami's father dies in a horrific accident, she vows to never tell the truth to the Kingdom's Empress. After years of successfully concealing her magical powers she is ousted, and the power hungry Empress with genocide on her mind entraps her as a weapon. In a Kingdom forsaken by the stars and gods, Aleta is thrown into a quest with an old friend, a new enemy, and a confidant shrouded in mystery. Along the way she learns the truth about the gods and the stars - and unveils a web tying her to the tyrant Empress. But to save herself, her loved ones, and the people of her land, Aleta must come to terms with the truth - a task harder than mastering her powers of telling truth from deception. She must chose to keep her vows and remain in the comforts of ignorance she once treasured at home... or to unveil her deeply harbored secrets and risk damnation for a life she never imagined. Along the way, Aleta gains her footing, challenges her concept of faith, and must answer the age long question... What does she want? And has her wishes for a life changed? The Truth-Teller of Estrella is an Upper YA/NA Fantasy weaving classic adventure with Caribbean and South Asian folklore. Expect: Diverse characters ✋🏼✋🏽✋🏾✋🏿 LGBTQIA+ characters 🌈 New folklore + mythical creatures 🪄 Friendship 💑 Romance 💖 Adventure ⚔️ [ Formerly: "Hidden Truths"] Ⓜ️ Rated 'Mature' for language, violence, and brief sexual content. ✔️ Completed! 📌 Book inspo board: https://pin.it/3eWSmGW 🔊 Interested in the Hidden Truth's playlist? Listen while you read here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2jU5e0RLh3h1OrSLLugx9j?si=L5lxzr3hR_yyaV_kT2rTTg Rankings: #75 in #swordandsorcery #17 in #southasian #75 in #caribbean #853 in #kingdom #72 in #resistance #126 in #folklore

When the spirit of a comatose man shows up in front of her, Alexis Howard is determined to help him find his identity. Little does she know, she's about to get sucked into a world of secrets, lies, and murder. *** Alexis Howard can see the dead. A gift that has done her more harm than good. Having been forced to move into a strange small town because of it, Alexis vows to cut all contact with the world of the dead. It's easy at first, especially since there don't seem to be any ghosts in Casa Nova. That is until a comatose patient of hers shows up as one. No, he's not dead. He's just semi-dead. And he has no idea who he is. Oh, and the police think he's a cold-blooded criminal who's involved in the disappearance of a 17-year-old girl. Believing otherwise, Alexis decides to help the spirit find his identity and becomes embroiled in the search for the missing girl. Her investigation also leads to a meeting with a peculiar cat, who seems to be much older than she looks. Just what exactly is the connection between the three? What kind of a cat gets shot and shows up without so much as a scratch a few days later? More importantly, who is John Doe?