Hidden in the Heartwood {sapphic paranormal}

A genderqueer hillbilly and a haunted woman must break a generational curse that has entwined their lives in the abandoned coal-stripped mountains of the Pennsylvania Wilds.

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Desperate to flee a dark past, Finley drives off a cliff and prays to the ancient hemlocks below to catch her fall.

But in the abandoned hollows of the Pennsylvania Wilds, everything comes at a price.

Tasked by an undead Not-Deer, Finley must find the three talismans that mark the mountain's boundaries in order to break a century old curse, one that has not only haunted the women in her family for generations, but has also bound the supernatural beings to the mountain, including the dead.

Fortunately, the handsome genderqueer hillbilly up the road, River Hawthorne, is just as eager [maybe too eager] to break the curse. Together, they navigate the woods where hungry trees walk and other demonic haunts roam, growing closer every moment.

But breaking the curse also comes at a price and Finley must decide what freedom is worth when her past comes crawling back through the woods to haunt her.

HEARTWOOD blends gothic folk horror with cabincore sapphic romance.

Rated Mature for violence, gore, sex, language

Content Warnings: body horror, alcohol/drug use, transphobic attack, animal death/hunting, DV/abusive relationships, generational trauma, mentions of suicide & infant death

Rankings:
1 in #appalachia
1 in #folkhorror
1 in #transmasc
5 in #gothicromance
8 in #sapphic