Feast of the Mother (Witch of the Lake #1) by Miranda Honfleur, Nicolette Andrews

SPFBO6

A beautifully dark fairy tale with magic, mystery, and romance, blending folklore with history beneath the looming threat of brutal witch hunts and a cataclysmic demonic onslaught… A young witch answers the call of her ancestors in this mythic dark fantasy set in pre-Medieval Eastern Europe. Beneath the murky waters of the lake, an ancient being slumbers, and Brygida is its servant. Kept sheltered in the woods by her mothers from the nearby village, Brygida has never had so much as a friend—until the day she meets a charming stranger painting by the lake. He invites her to the village’s harvest feast, but her taste of the forbidden ends with a murder. Called into service for the first time, Brygida must take up her ancestral duty as Reaper of Death and solve the murder within three days. If she brings the murderer to the lake on the third day, the being she serves will be sated. If she fails, Brygida herself will be drawn beneath the murky waters, and the village massacred. There’s only one problem: the main suspect is her charming painter, Kaspian. As Brygida investigates, the dangers are many and answers few. The village and her family stand against her, and with time running short, the lake demands a price. Brygida believes Kaspian is innocent, but can she stake her life on it, when failure means condemning the rest of the village, and being dragged into the deep...? Find out what lurks beneath the lake in FEAST OF THE MOTHER, the first entry in a romantic dark fantasy series inspired by Slavic mythology and folklore, sure to please fans of Juliet Marillier’s Blackthorn & Grim series and Naomi Novik’s Uprooted.

Kitsune: A Little Mermaid Retelling (Tales of Akatsuki Book 1) by Nicolette Andrews

in is a Kitsune, or at least she was until a witch’s spell turned her human. To regain her powers, Rin must make the lord’s son fall in love with her before the next full moon. She thought it would be easy, her kind have been seducing humans for centuries. But Hikaru is different. He’s handsome, intelligent, and kind –the opposite of everything she’s assumed about humans. The plan is to seduce him and get back her powers, there’s no room for love. Hikaru never believed in the Yokai. In fact, he thought it foolish to believe in monsters. A lifetime of skepticism has guarded him from truths too painful to accept. And Rin’s mysterious arrival in his life challenges all his long held beliefs. She has bewitched him. Though he is drawn to her, he has to keep his distance. His father’s treaty depends on his marriage to another and even an innocence dalliance could ruin everything. While they try to deny their attraction, they are drawn together as if by fate’s design. Falling in love is dangerous. Not only are they from different worlds, but their time together can only end in heartache. To break the spell Rin must betray Hikaru or be turned into a fox. But if they’re willing to risk it all, they may find a love to last lifetimes.