This Too Shall Burn by Cat Rector

Indie Recs Indie

Arden has lived in the woods near the deeply religious town of Arrothburg all her life, practising magic and keeping balance with nature. She heals the sick, as her mother did before her. No matter how deeply the people of the village hate witches, they still arrive at Arden’s cabin in the dead of night, looking for help that their pastor, mayor, and doctor would never provide. Verity is trapped in a life she doesn’t want. Her mother was burned as a witch six years ago, forcing Verity into the role of caretaker for her father and her younger siblings. The Good Book asks her to serve, and so she does. But it also asks her to endure the ungodly, debilitating agony of her monthly bleeding. No medicine, no comfort, no protests. If God is kind, why is she so cursed? When a chance encounter between them leaves both their skin charred at a single touch, Arden and Verity are left with questions that may get them killed. Does something wicked live inside Verity? If Arden is the only true witch for miles, who is burning on the pyres? Will they be next?

Coal Gets in your Veins by Cat Rector

In a small corner of Atlantic Canada, Laurel is doing her best to live a decent life in what's left of a former coal mining village. Deep down, she wants more, but it's hard to reach for anything with her husband's boot on her neck. Change is hard, but after two decades of surviving, she's running out of reasons to stay. Just up the hill, right under Laurel’s nose, lives a vampire who is mourning the great loves of his life. Penny Harbour is the perfect little purgatory for Spencer. It’s remote, quiet, and everyone's blood tastes wrong. What better way to punish himself than with a town full of people he can’t eat? Change is hard, but after years of isolation, he’s almost ready to start living again. But sometimes trauma stays in the blood. Sometimes it flows in the water and contaminates the earth. Passing from one heart to the next, slowly blackening everything it touches. In Penny Harbour, pain refuses to let go.

Epilogues for Lost Gods by Cat Rector

Sigyn: We survived Ragnarok and tried to usher in a new era. Now the realms consist of two minuscule factions encamped in the remnants of Asgard and Vanaheim. But the gods are greedy. Anyone not under Asgard's control must fall. When they come, they're going to win. The realms are empty. There's no one left to help us. No one except the dead in Helheim. _________ Loki: When I died, I took everyone with me. Almost everyone. I've waited for Sigyn every day, but she never comes. Never dies. Everyone down here knows what I did. Who I am. And I must live-exist-with the weight of that guilt, those scars. She's going to come back someday, and I'm going to be alright. Be better. I'd do anything for her. I'd do anything to be with her. If only she'd ask. _________ Epilogues for Lost Gods is a story about grief and healing, and is the final chapter of The Goddess of Nothing At All

The Goddess of Nothing At All by Cat Rector

SPFBO8

A dark fantasy Norse myth retelling for fans of Circe, The Witch's Heart, and The Silence of the Girls

Perhaps you know the myths.
Furious, benevolent Gods.
A tree that binds nine realms.
A hammer stronger than any weapon.
And someday, the end of everything.
But few have heard of me. Looking back, it’s easy to know what choices I might have made differently. At least it feels that way. I might have given up on my title. Told my father he was useless, king of Gods or no, and left Asgard. Made a life somewhere else.
Maybe I would never have let Loki cross my path. Never have fallen in love.
But there’s no going back.
We were happy once.
And the price for that happiness was the end of everything.