S.J. Sanders

Mother’s Night had passed unmarked for many years for Betani and her children. Afterall, there was little to celebrate when living on the streets. This year was different. For the first time they are going to celebrate Mother’s Night and holiday cheer fills their small apartment despite the tight control of the warders who have risen to power in the poor districts. Despite her limited means, when a triad shows up on her doorstep during a snowstorm with their poisoned lead male, she can’t turn them out. Having a triad in her home makes her dream for the impossible, of just maybe having her family grow...if one of them would just make a move.With a triad who longs for a family, and a clash of cultures where the males wait on their female’s desires, will this triad and their hoped-for human mate and offspring find their holiday wishes come true? Love and a bit of holiday magic is in their air.

Diamond Shipley is a jewel thief—not a particularly successful one as far as her trade goes, but it pays the bills, or it did until someone betrayed her and her partner and landed her ass in jail after years of evading the law. Looking at years behind bars, she does what any sensible person would do. She agrees to become a bride in the Mate Index. A one-way ticket off Earth and her record expunged, it is the perfect opportunity to ply her skills somewhere fresh. Sure, she would have to get around her new mate while she got together a nice little pile of credits, but how hard can that be? She does not expect him to be a mountain of muscle and sex appeal—or head of security for that matter. Yet beneath that hard exterior is a gentle male with a heart a gold. Can she keep her eye on the prize or will she let love make a fool of het yet? Tar-denovak yielded to his mother’s scheming and sent away for a bride from the Mate Index Distribution Program, but he had not expected to be so captivated by his little mate. She is so small and vulnerable that it rouses every protective instinct a male could have toward his mate, even if she has a tendency towards mischief. As head of security, he has many responsibilities, not the least of which was now keeping his mate too busy to get into trouble. As amusing as his female is, it is no laughing matter when a shipment of volatile imperium level qualath stones goes missing. With such a potentially catastrophic power supply stolen, it sends the entire space station into an uproar. Could his little mate be more dangerous than she lets on? With familial responsibilities hounding him, a small contingent of females from his mother world arriving to prepare for his mating ceremony, and a rival determined to steal all he has, Tar is divided between his responsibilities and finding the love he has always dreamed about. Can he afford to trust the one being who might lead him to ruin?

For centuries the labyrinth was disconnected from the world of men, containing within its walls the monster, Asterion. Though its corridors occasionally connected with the mortal world to feed, mostly it slept in between worlds as the ages of men passed. And with its slumber, though his hunger gnawed at him continuously, Asterion found some semblance of peace from his monstrous existence. That was until the day the worlds shifted, and the labyrinth awoke once again, anchoring its entrance within the mortal world, drawing prey within to bloody its halls. Within its depths, its captive stirred and the minotaur, helpless against his hunger, hunted once again. Since the Ravening, Vicky has led a life of a wanderer, moving from settlement-to-settlement trading salvage for hot food and shelter. In a land overrun by monsters and ever-changing forests, she has no one to depend on but herself for survival. That survival is tested in the depths of the labyrinth, where being human is nothing more than a death sentence. There she is the prey. Captured by a dangerous monster born from ancient myth, Vicky is forced to depend on someone other than herself as she is placed at the mercy of the minotaur’s hunger…and her own. This fantasy romance has some dark themes and horror elements, including a brief erotic scene in which the labyrinth seeks to devour the heroine unaware. Blooded Labyrinth is a part of the Dangerous Monsters series, a spinoff within the Dark Spirits world.

When Kim Harris decides to volunteer for the Mate Index, it’s all about going big or go home. As a statuesque woman with a full figure, she wants a massive male—or better yet, males—who are capable of making all her dreams come true. With no immediate career prospects on the horizon and a savings rapidly dwindling, it seems like that the perfect time to take the jump—straight into the arms of two giant Vori, elite palace guards who will bind her to them with more than an “I do.”When she gets a position as an instructor for the Matriarch’s offspring, it seems as if all of her dreams are finally about to come true. She has obtained a respected position and is discovering love with her mates, who are among the first among the elite guards to be granted access to the program. It is like a dream but one that becomes slowly tainted as she begins to notice that there is something awry at the palace. Is it just youthful hijinks or something more sinister? And when danger threatens can it be that someone desperately wants her out of the way?If so, they will have to through Rykaal and Sijhord first! Larger than most male Vori, they have been permitted to have what always seemed untenable—a mate of their own—and they will shake the foundations of the palace itself before they allow her to come to harm. Nothing less can be accepted when, in all ways, they are bound.

Veral’monushava’skahalur is an oddity among his species, a lone Argurma cyborg divorced from his own kind by choice and to escape termination as a malfunctioning unit. Wandering the fringes of space as a salvager, he comes across a planet beyond the boundaries of the federation, rich in metals remnant of a dead civilization. Or so he thought. Confronted by cannibalistic mutations of the indigenous species, his salvage has suddenly become a lot more complicated. Even more so when he encounters a female surviving on her own. She is strong and fearless, begrudgingly earning his admiration. Terri is hardened by a life of hunger and watchfulness, and yet is moved by a compassion that he’s never possessed. When his admiration turns into the first signs of a forming mate-bond, he knows his fate is sealed. Unlicensed mating is forbidden—if his malfunctioning wasn’t already a death sentencing, taking her for her mate would be. Yet, he finds that letting her go is no longer an option. Please be advised that this book has graphic sex and violence that may not be appropriate for all audiences.

The Ravening had left the world destroyed and more than one life irrevocably changed. For MaryAnne, who survived for years alone out in the destruction through the rise of new surroundings and creatures sharing their world, The Children’s Home has been her personal sanctuary, giving her peace and purpose.But new nightmares walk their world. Nightmares that whisk away the children in the wake of a fae carnival. Determined to find the lost children, MaryAnne is forced to confront her fears as she strikes out to find The Night Carnival and whatever answers it may have for what she seeks. Drawn by an explicable pull to a troll who haunts her, she is to discover that not everything is at it seems. The Night Carnival, which promises the extraordinary and moments of rare pleasure to those who attend, possesses an inescapable danger for fae and humans alike. And the troll who awakens her blood and chases her fear away may be the biggest danger… to her heart. If they even survive. Because the darkness of the carnival hungers for something and the strange fog cries out with the voices of children as the Hallow Night draws near.Raskyuil has seen and battled much since leaving the Eternal Forest but finding his mate was never something he had anticipated or planned. But the Ha’shena will have as it demands and with every day that passes his hunger for her grows. She is the light within the darkness that has shrouded him for far too long but bit by bit it’s revealing the true darkness that has ensnared him within the carnival. With a mate to protect and missing children to find, he must summon his strength to fight against a new enemy. And should they be lost to the madness of the carnival—then the gods have pity on them all for they will know true destruction by the time he is done.**content warnings coming soon

In the future a united Earth, to deal with the problem of population control, divides its population into classes of citizen and non-gratis. To be born a non-gratis means a life of little freedoms and the constant possibility of being assigned to work on a colony. Lacking citizenship, every aspect of their life is controlled from where they live, down to marriage and childbearing regulations. The only possible escape from life as a non-gratis is to qualify for one of the limited slots available for entrance into the military. For most, however, it is the only life that they will ever know. Charlie has prepared all her life for the possibility of being shipped off to work in a colony, so when she is selected for part of the initialization phase colony laborers she is determined to make the best out of a new life on a very different and hostile planet. Assigned as a labor assistant in the exploratory lab seems like a step up in the right direction for her. Caring for the wildlife specimens is far preferable to working as a laborer preparing the first of the fields or in any of the common industries. That is, until a vaguely humanoid specimen is captured and brought in. The promise of death that clings to it is fulfilled when it breaks out from containment and she finds herself hostage to a being with a thirst for vengeance. Far away from the colony, Charlie is forced to carve out a new life for herself in a dangerous world, but will she be able to safeguard her heart from the biggest threat of them all?—A male who is determined to claim all of her. Warning: this book may contain possible triggers. Book contains graphic sex and violence.

TBA

There is nothing left on Earth for Jill Harris. Being able to survive day to day is such a struggle that when she’s given the opportunity to work in Rhapsody, a city in the new colony of Mercurium Port on Jupiter’s terraformed moon of Ganymede, she is all in. Her path takes a sudden turn, however, when a vessel comes through the cosmic fault, delivering into her path two winged Geminidae males. They tempt her, fascinate, and charm her, and draw her by some force until they are suddenly separated by the powers that be. For the short time she’s known them, moving on with her life without them shouldn’t be so hard and yet they consume her every thought and continue to pull at her as if tied by some invisible string. When they drop back into her life and claim that she’s their mate, she has a chance to embark on an adventure she never knew she wanted. And a chance at an unearthly love. Brydis and Agor have, like so many from their world, been set adrift by the planet’s destruction. The cosmic fault offers a new opportunity when it opens up to an inhabitable moon so much like the world that they left behind that their people seize upon the opportunity to claim it. But doing so brings them into contact with a species that governs that part of space, with whom they must negotiate and share the world, bringing new discoveries and challenges for everyone. For an unusually matched set of avrhast twins, finding a strong matched taliazan in a female with whom they can initiate a mating bond to complete their family has long been nothing more than unrealized dream. When they discover it in a human female whose company they delight in, they will risk anything to fulfill the bond that has grown between them. When they are separated from her, hunting for their talia—their mate—will just be the beginning. And they will have all of her—especially her heart. Your horoscope for The planets have aligned in your favor. The constellations hold the key to finding a love that burns brighter than all the stars in the cosmos. Twelve Signs. Twelve Sci-Fi authors. Get ready for Astrological Mates. Allied to the Archer by Tracy Lauren Claimed by Her Capricorn by Annalise Alexis Leo’s Captive by Sandra R Neeley Loving Libra by Stephanie West Redeeming Aries by L.P. Peace Virgo’s Prize by Ella Blake Catching Crabs by Celia Kyle Double her Pleasure by SJ Sanders Schooling the Scorpio by Kelsey Nicole Price Taming her Taurus by Harpie Alexa Treasured by Jessive Grayson Wicked When Wet by Erin Raegan

Never go into the forest alone. There are things that dwell within the woods. Things that came with the mist even as forests expanded or appeared where none before had been. Things that terrorize humanity and worse if rumor was to be accounted...people disappeared into the woods. Humanity has done its best to limp along after the world went to hell. They hunted and tended the fields as they attempted to live the best lives with what they had. They wanted to pretend that everything was fine while avoiding the terror of the forest. Diana lived in a state of uneasy peace with the woods near her home until the same forest betrayed her and shifted her between worlds. There something hunts and devours men. And worse, it has intruded into the mortal world. Caught in a web of fate, Diana has no escape from the terror of her destiny awaiting her. Silvas is the lucumo silvani and high king of the Eternal Forest. When he is alerted to the rise of a dangerous monster, one of the Tainted Ones half-remembered in ancient myths, he is forced to take up the burden of harnessing death itself to protect both worlds of humanity and the denizens of the Eternal Forest. Betrayed once by the promise of love, he has no interest in forming a permanent bond with a human whose life-thread is woven into the upcoming events by the Fates. A role that is unclear even to the oracle. Yet as they face the darkness together, will he forge an alliance of flesh, blood and love with the one being who could destroy him?

Her life is no fairytale.Firmly on the shelf, Eleanor Douglas’ days are spent catering to her two young stepsisters and attending to her stepmother’s every need. When a stranger comes through town with an invitation to an extraordinary ball—a fairy ball that comes along once a century in search of human brides—Eleanor, with the aid of fae magic, must race against time to infiltrate the ball and rescue her stepsisters before it’s too late.What that plan did not include was being thrust into a post-apocalyptic future where she must rely on her wits to survive in a world inhabited by monsters, human and inhuman alike. Or being claimed by a powerful male whose kiss is familiar, but was true beneath fae glamour?He crossed time to find her and claim her, and he will settle for nothing less than everything. Even as he searches for the mysterious female at the ball, he is drawn to the female who drags him to a garden in between worlds, whose voice and spirit seduces him. She makes him question every vow, and yet he will give it all up for her. But when the ball arrives again, will their love be enough to save her and the world a second time? Or will Lucifero’s throne finally crumble taking all that he loves with it?This retelling of Cinderella travels from early 1800s New England, to the glamour of a fae ball, and to an impossible future where the worlds of men and monsters cross and the world as we known it has fallen.And yes, there most certainly is a “fairy godmother” and a shoe.

Grimsal has always enjoyed life and the numerous pleasures it brings—perhaps more so than most. But when his hunger brings him back to the human world with a particular sweet tooth to satisfy, he discovers that coming into her fertile, sexual prime has brought new appetites to assuage. He craves something delectably sweet that can only be found with the right mate. Candy is all that, and with her love of horror, her fascination with the chase, fear and desire is his perfect match in every way. With Halloween in the air, he will use all the tricks in his bag to win his mate to keep! Candy is a woman with a passion for life, sweet indulgences, horror, and most especially when they come all packaged together in the fun of Halloween. Not to mention all dark decadence that the world has to offer. When her boyfriend dumps her right before her favorite holiday because he can’t appreciate her fascination with the spooktacular, Candy knows that this is her opportunity to really enjoy the festivities the way she wants to. She never expects to meet her perfect match in a mischievous goblin who takes it all to the next level and adores all that she brings. What can a girl do but fall in love? Goblin Candy is a Halloween novella set in the Monsterly Yours universe.

The world went silent when the mist came. Following a sonic blast heard around the world as the gates of Aites were thrown open, the mist clung to the mortal world, but it was not empty. Creatures dwelled within the mist, and when the mist left, they remained. Yet, with the ravagers another came forth. The gatekeeper, Charu strode across the land in hunt of his quarry, those spirits which had broken through the barrier. With his lamp of souls, he moves over the world capturing the spirits and bringing death to those driven to madness, infected by exposure to their miasmatic taint. He will stop at nothing to accomplish his task. The ravagers brought civilization to its knees, hiding out as an infestation within the city. Meredith was one of handfuls of people left in Ashton, barely clinging to survival as resources ran low. When a shift in power dynamics brings the people under the yoke of the ravagers, Meredith knows that her time may soon be up. She doesn’t anticipate being saved by a dangerous spirit bent on destruction. Can love bloom and flourish between a grim spirit and a human woman with spirits running in havoc around them, and will their magic together be enough to save humanity from a crippling fate? *This book contains elements of horror.

A Halloween seasonal short story in the Ragoru Universe following the events of Ragoru A widow, alone without any surviving family left, Eve has little in the world except her family’s orchard in their little misty valley tucked away from the regular routes of travel. Having known little else except solitude, first following the death of her parents, and then later following the death of her husband, Eve is content with the life that she had at her little orchard and taking hauls of her harvests into town, even if it is a little lonely at times. When an autumn night brings a monster from the fog surrounding her home, the solo Ragoru upsets everything within her orderly life as he claims her home for his own. He’s a beast. A snarly brute of a male. How is it that he makes her feel more alive than she ever has? Is he a threat, or the one thing she’s privately wished for made into reality in the shadows and magic of the Halloween season? Skal is a lone male by choice. Older than many of the other males who came to this new world, he has no interest in forming triad bonds or mating. He only wants peace and a territory of his own where he can spend the rest of his life living undisturbed. After already having a mate and a triad in his old life, a family who died within his care, he has no interest in taking the chance of seeing the past repeat itself. Yet, when he comes across a foggy valley filled with trees, vegetation, and game, he follows his nose to the sweetest smell that has ever beckoned him. Is it the pumpkin pie, or the lone female who stubbornly dwells there that draws him so? Will they both taste as sweet? What can a lonely male do but savor what has been given him. A little Halloween magic may just be what it takes to bring two lonely hearts together. A little trick of fate is about to become their fondest treat.

Lynn Taylor: After fifteen years of marriage, I’m out. I’m finally free while my ex-husband has moved on to greener pastures. I don’t have much to my name outside of a failing coffee shop I inherited and my cat, Casper, but I’m determined to make it a success, even if that means scouting a new location for it. The last thing I want or need is to be dragged cross-portal to attend a harvest festival put on my brutish orcs. I can’t say no to my very determined best friend. Throw in an opportunity too good to pass up and I might just have to take a chance on a new future I never dreamed of. Even if I have to dodge a flirtatious orc with a gaudy fashion sense and a promise of forever in his eyes. Bodi Ironclaw: As a bachelor orc in my prime, I can’t understand how it is that I’ve not found my mate. Surely it shouldn’t have been this hard to find my bloodbond? Sure, I have a few silvering hairs appearing, but I’m hearty as ever and determined to find my perfect one. With the harvest festival open to humans this year and bringing with it a delightful female with a passion for coffee who makes my blood sing, I’m starting to believe that this time things will turn around and I will be lucky in love. If only I can get my prickly female to see this warrior is the male meant for her.

Heidi was raised to be a huntress ever since the Order took her off the streets and trained her in the deadly arts. Foremost among her peers, she was chosen by the Master to be his assassin. She never imagined that she would fall until the day she went against his will and saved his stepdaughter by helping her to escape from his formidable mansion. It made her a target and she became the hunted. They nearly killed her. Nearly wasn’t good enough. Seven years of healing, training and hunting the Master, victory is finally in her grasp. She would kill the Master and satisfy her vengeance. When her plans are foiled by a triad of Ragoru after the same prey, she finds herself thrust into a strange alliance of huntress and predator as they seek the male that has wronged them both. The Ragoru are after him for their own reasons, to satisfy an oath made, it is the only reason that they agree to an alliance with the huntress when seven revolutions of plotting and stalking is foiled. With the Master on the run, they need someone who is intimately familiar with him and can help them in their quest to destroy him. When their joined path brings them across the continent to Dunvar Citadel they have to confront the terrible truths about the city celebrating its annual spring Fool’s Ball. It is far worse than any of them fear and they have no one to depend on but each other and the bond growing between them. This book contains graphic violence and sex that includes a small amount of m/m

Dear Miss Margaret Phillips, at the bequest of your uncle sir Robert Bishop, the Baron of Westlap, your attendance is requested for the season. However, on account of your undisciplined rearing, fascination with the otherworldly, and ruined status for matrimonial union, Her Majesty is in agreement with your uncle but has deemed you of unsuitable prospects. With no offered dowry, and no reputation of worth, your attendance is hereby directed to The Monsters Ball. Ruined and shipped off to live with her mother’s relations in London, Maggie Phillips faces the immediate prospect of living in shame as the poor relation in her uncle’s house. Her mother wants to make a lady of her by setting her up with a proper marriage but Maggie desires nothing of the sort, nor is she willing to trust another man again. The only solution is to ruin herself thoroughly abroad, and what better place to do it than the Monster’s Ball! But that means searching for the proper scoundrel to carry out the deed. The Marquis of Sheradeen Depths is certainly not that. Despite her best intentions, his haunting allure draws her to him whenever he’s nearby. Can she dare to risk everything for love, or will her charade mean sacrificing her heart?Lord Thrane Vaskanth has little hope of finding his “songbound” among the land dwellers, and certainly not at the ball his father insisted he attend. With his first rut upon him, however, he has little choice left but to choose a human bride and surrender his expectation of a future with a cherished songbound mate. Until he finds his destiny in the lovely Miss Margaret Phillips, and no amount of occult mysteries or dangers shall stop him from wooing and claiming her. With one’s songbound, one kiss will never be enough.

Following the Ravening, the world changed for everyone. For Agatha Ward, once a successful interior designer, those changes have been a succession of one miserable year after another wherein she has only barely managed to survive through simple labor. Selling match sticks outside in the snow on solstice night is not her idea of a good way to spend the holiday nor a promising beginning for the new year, but she hopes to make enough to at least buy some fuel for heat and some food. When a golden stranger steals a pack of matchsticks and leaves behind a box with five gold matches, she is drawn into another world inhabited by monsters. Ruling over them and the northern mountains is a winged king of the north wind, Aquilo. He is dark and cold as winter itself, but as she returns with the flare of each matchstick, she discovers a warm heart and hot glances behind that icy reserve that makes her long for forever. If only she wouldn’t keep returning every night back to that same frigid street. With her matchsticks running out, will she have a chance for happily ever after? Aquilo has known no warmth or comfort. His fortress is as cold and lonely as he is. With naught but his griffins for company, and the ogres and lupi who serve him, he yearns for any sort of spark to warm him. When a human arrives on his mountain, her presence seems impossible but no more so than the spark that heats within him at her nearness, yet every night she disappears. He’s certain that another god is toying with him, yet the longer she is there the more he realizes that she is all that he wants. But will he find her in the human world before the brutal harpies snuff out her light forever? This is a Happy ever after reimagined retelling of the fairytale The Matchstick Girl in the Dark Spirits Universe.

Chosen to be one of the first sent to the northlands as a bride for a triad of monstrous Ragoru, Emily Duert was determined to keep an open mind and make the best out of an unknown situation. Although she heard much about the aliens, it was difficult to know what was rumor and what was fact. To further complicate matters, rather than a triad, she was mated to a pair of twins without an alpha between them. It wasn’t what she was prepared for, and yet she was surprised to find that the males were attentive and endearing. Truth be told, Vikt and Vrel were nothing like what she imagined Ragoru to be like. Quiet and shy, neither male was aggressive much less a monster whispered about by humans. Despite the challenges presented by not having an alpha in their family, Emily found love and comfort with her mates only for everything to be thrown into uncertainty with the arrival of a lone male in the midst of a snowstorm. With the Withering Nights approaching, can she protect her family and her heart from an unknown male? Is it her fate as a midwinter night’s bride to find her happy ever after in the northlands, or will it lead her to only pain and regret? Night's Bride is 41k holiday celebration novella with some violence and graphic sexual scenes not intended for all audiences.

With Earth far behind her, Terri is certain that space is the answer to every desire she’s ever had for an adventure...until she realized just what being mated to an overprotective, territorial male meant. One small incident and Veral has kept her hidden away in the safety of their ship. For the months that they have been traveling to their salvage operation therefore has been a very long, boring trip, that is suddenly made a lot more interesting when they find themselves at the mercy of space pirates who are also in search of the ship. Life is suddenly becoming a lot more adventurous than what she asked for! Veral does not trust any male anywhere near his mate. As a species unheard of in space, she is exotic which makes her desirable to many males, and he will not risk her for anyone. When space pirates hold her hostage to ensure his cooperation, he is determined to stall for time to give an unlikely source of help time to arrive. Discovering that the lost ship, Evandra has dangerous secrets makes the situation all the more complicated than he anticipated. With a world fraught with dangers, Veral is certain of one thing—Nothing will come between an Argurma and his mate. Warning: This book contains graphic sex and violence which may not be suitable for all readers.

Hundreds of years before RedCivilization is failing in a steady decline. In a last-ditch effort to save themselves, humanity has turned to trying to understand their world even as they seek to protect themselves from the monsters within it. Which is how Evelyn Willock found herself stationed in the farthest northern reaches of the habitable zone and answering the call to investigate a strange sighting in the mines much farther to the north where all other human settlements had failed.It is no small task. Few will go outside the habitable zone. Fewer still will venture beyond the northern border where the forests grow thick and are filled with innumerable dangers. Stationed where she is, Evie is the best candidate to take on the job. She is familiar with the dangers of the forests.But in the woods, something new lurks. Wolfish monsters, larger than men, brutal, and terrifying.Danger and pleasure meet when the tables are turned and she becomes the hunted, the feast for their inhuman hunger. Within it all, Evie discovers a meeting of hearts with three males from a dying species who would seek to claim her in every way.Torn between duty and desire, Evie must discover the secrets that haunt the northern lands and decide on the course her future is to take. To stay with the males who have captured her heart would mean leaving all that she knew behind. But beyond that, another worrying was coming to light. If the Ragoru were not the cause of the reported sighting, what was? And was it possible that a new, even more insidious danger lurked beneath the mountains?This book contains, scent-marking, graphic sex between all characters, and graphic violence that may not be suitable for all readers.

There were certain truths everyone knew. Never wear red or any other bright color. Make as little sound as possible if one had to be outside the protection of the sanctuary settlements. And never, ever, go out in the wild places alone. The Ragoru, an alien species set down to live among them, dwell within the forests and everyone knows that they crave all things red. Arie’s life has always been one of playing by the rules. She doesn’t draw attention to herself. She doesn’t leave her home without her hood that conceals her bright red hair. It is a secret from everyone, and her hood protects her secret so that she may continue to live safely within the village until one day that secret comes to light. Absconding into the woods soon becomes her only safety, and she will risk her very life into the care of the very dreaded beings that all people fear, the Ragoru, in hope of making it to her grandmother’s house in the citadel at the other side of the great forest. When circumstances reveal them to not be the monsters of human imagination, but that they stir the ravenous beast within her, Arie finds that she is willing to risk far more to find a way to be with them forever. Even if that means severing ties with her grandmother, rejecting the human comforts of the citadel, and facing the horror of the Order of the Huntsmen. A new spin on the Little Red Riding Hood Story, bringing a well known fairy tell to a dystopian future with a wolfish alien species.

Being a citizen on United Earth doesn’t guarantee a life one wants. For Lori Straford, born into the lowest caste of citizens—the pleasure arts strata of their society—it is an inescapable fate which she can only hope to better by enlisting as a spa attendant and masseuse on one of the luxury world colonies under the purview of Darvel Exploration Corporation. When she is talked into working on one of their mining planets for a year with the promise of a hefty bonus and to be transferred to her choice planet after more non-gratas can be sent over, it is too good of an opportunity to pass up. It will be tiring work but as long as she plays everything by the book then she will have everything she has ever dreamed of. Until everything goes wrong. Strange predators on the loose around the colony stationed on an inhospitable world is bad enough, but when a mining accident leaves Lori buried deep within the mines, she is vulnerable to the very real dangers that surround her in a hidden world. Her will to live is challenged and her ambitions tested when a monster of the depths takes her to be his and makes her question everything that she thought she knew and wanted. Slengral is a hunter, an unmated male forced to live a solo existence in the cave systems of the Algatha, separate from the female-ruled civilization of the shinara, he refused to submit to the females of his species as a breeding partner, unwilling to settle for less than a mate. When a wingless and tail-less alien female enters his territory, he doesn’t hesitate to lay claim on her. He cannot protect her himself, however. Enlisting two rejected solitary males, Daskh and Kehtal, to aid in her care, they must learn to live a life different than they have ever known and risk losing it all when the human colony takes back the female that means more to them than life itself. Warning this book has graphic sex and violence that may not be suitable for all readers. Although this book doesn’t end on a cliffhanger, it is part one of a duet (this dealing with the conflict with the human colony while the second book, Serpents of the Night, releasing later this year deals with the shinara).

Dry ground is a dream, one owned by few on Terra II. Ever since losing contact with Earth, much of the surviving human colony has known nothing but life on the open water. Land is for the ruling class who govern the planet and regulate trade, a place the seaborn have never seen. For them, survival in the harsh conditions of open water and the dangers rampant in the floating cities is a daily struggle. For some, the wavelanders, survival comes at a cost of personal freedoms, where the community thrives due to its strict traditions. For Nerida, life as a wavelander means marriage to a man she hates and whom she will do anything to escape. Although travel alone in the expanse of the Greater Sea means certain death from pirates and the creatures that dwell out there, it is a risk she is willing to take. Despite the risks, it is also a life of loneliness and isolation until she is saved by a being who rises from the depths. A male unlike any other she has ever seen before. He calls her his mate but a possible future between them is threatened when she is forced to confront everything she ran from. Ji’wa is a Sirein who is plagued with responsibilities in a life that he never wanted. For generations, the Sirei have lived in spaceships looking for a new home for their species after escaping a dying world. When dire situations force them to make their home on a watery world dotted with land, the orders are to stay clear of the dangers above the seas and especially far away from the beings who dwell above the waves. When Ji’wa saves a finless land-dweller, he cannot forget the strange being nor ignore the call of the mating bond. Attempting to mate with the alien female carries many risks, but he will embrace them all for a chance to be with her...but will he be able to claim his mate before the sea demands his return?

All Vanessa Williams wanted for the holidays was to escape the demands of her parents’ social schedules and comfortable place to work on her book. Having the opportunity to do so while enjoying the comforts of a cabin on an alien world seemed like the perfect way to pass the season. Plans change, however, when her shuttle crashes in the inhospitable mountains, and she finds herself waiting out the storm in an alien castle with a male whose burning gold eyes promise forbidden pleasures. Mating with an alien would be the ruin of her career and guarantee that she can never go home, and yet the more time she spends with him, the more she can’t imagine any other future. Jor’ytal has waited many revolutions to feel the call of the a’talynal, the heartsong between himself and a compatible female. That it has happened so close to the Hashavnal, the Day of Joy, feels like destiny calling. His a’talyna is small and human, and although he dislikes the species who have colonized the southern continent of his world, he cannot help but to feel a need to protect her and desire to care for all her needs. With the storms keeping her within his estate it is the perfect opportunity to court his mate, even if he must evade her escort to do so. In mixing the human customs of Solstice with Hashavnal, and a solstice tree that goes terribly wrong, he is on the path to win her heart and not even a human delegation whose very presence can steal her away will deter him. This novel contains a bonus 14.5 k short story Aturian Gifts of Yule.

Arawl is the youngest son of the alpha and portal guardian for Evarue werewolf tribe. It is a thankless, demanding duty and he despises the impingement on his freedom that other unmated males enjoy. He wants his freedom more than anything, instead he is expected to take a mate and be an upstanding male in the tribe. There is no fun in that. When an opportunity comes for him to escape to the human world for a single day of pleasures among humans, he jumps at the chance. He doesn’t expect himself to encounter a female who makes his mating instinct roar to life, nor to wake up in his true form accidentally mated! Ana hasn’t had an easy life. When she aged out of the foster care system without family ties, it left her with no one except her best friend Jinx. Though she mourns the one thing that’s been missing most of her life, she isn’t going to trust her heart to just anyone…certainly not a fickle male who isn’t interested in settling down. When a sexy stranger she brings home turns out to be an enormous man-wolf she didn’t think she could be any more surprised—until she discovers that, during their wild night of passion, he accidentally mated her to him. Now she must enter a world she never imagined in order to find the one person who might be able to sever the unintended bond between them. She doesn’t expect to fall in love with the people, nor to find herself in the midst of a mystery when females begin to go missing once again from the tribe. It could be the adventure of a lifetime, or the fates may have something more in mind for this stubborn witch.

**please note that this book has a temporary cover I created. I am still waiting on the professional cover credited in my book, so I decided to use a temporary cover for the time being** Destiny Delaine has had enough. As daughter of a former high ranking general who now served as the Ambassador of Earth, and a socialite mother, she has been reared to be the proper young woman and helpmate. Her parents had her life all planned out, right down to her arranged marriage with one of the planetary representatives under her father. No one asked her what she wanted. Determined as too fat and too old at a curvy plus size age of thirty-four for the Mate Index, she decided to take her own destiny into her hands. She never expected that stowing away on a trade vessel would put her face to face with her mate. She is not impressed that it is the pervert she saw fucking a woman in an alley while making her big escape, but he is determined to show her the kind of mate he can be. Not only him, but two other brothers who would form a mated family unit, called a clannid, with her. They are sexy, sweet and viciously protective each in their own unique way. And she has never wanted anything more. A’Jular is a trader known to be an aggressive male, one who doesn’t tip-toe around a problem, or feminine sensibilities, but goes for whatever he wants--whether that be a good quick fuck or a steady profit. What he and his brothers want more than anything, however, is a mate. When he is frozen out of the family accounts for trying to purchase mate-hunting rights from the Earth authorities, he thinks that his plans have been thwarted. Thankfully, the gods of love and pleasure are with him. He finds himself in possession of a stowaway. And not just any stowaway, but his mate which instantly triggers the maturation of his body from possessing juvenile to breeding sexual organs. To make matters complicated, their mate is feisty, independent, and thinks he is a pervert. He is determined for her to see that even a male such as he can be so, so good. Sha’melor is the eldest hatch-mate between himself and his two brothers. This meant he was landed with all the responsibility and pressure. As a member of the Council of Clans, and ambassador on behalf of the Clans for the Intergalactic Union, he has more responsibility than one male could want. Enough to attract every power-hungry unmated female of the upper-clans. With a mother desperate for him to find a good match and sire hatchlings, he is relieved when A’Jular reports that he has found their mate and successfully matured for. He is instantly relieved of one huge burden, and looks forward to the embrace of a offworlder mate who won’t care who is among the clans, but will just love him for who he is. When he meets her, he is determined to do anything, fight anyone, to keep her. E’budar is the laid back, friendly part of their clannid, and as it happens--the family trouble-maker. He doesn’t do it intentionally, his history amorous pursuits just seem to follow him like a bad smell, usually accompanied with very angry females due to one misunderstanding or another. It seems like his brothers are always having to bail him out of trouble. What he needs and wants more than anything in the world is a mate. The one female not threatening his cock, or life. Not that he distinguishes much between the two. He wants a female to dote on, to love, who won’t sneer at his affectionate gestures or silly jokes. And he dreams of having hatchlings running through the nest. What more could a male want? When he sees his mate, it is love at first sight. He would give up any object, any dream, just to have her at his side and make their clannid whole.

No one ever said that be a non-gratas was easy, but neither did they say that there was a possibility of becoming a genetic experiment to the benefit of Darvel Exploratory Corporation. When Gwen Brody woke up with amphibious genetic and surgical modifications to help her survival chances on Xal2614 it was bad enough, but living with it and having the pressure from her mission partner to fulfill more intimate parts of their mission to sustain data gathering beyond their lifetimes was another. Yet, when her partner mysteriously disappears into the swampy environment into which they were sent, Gwen has a new problem when an alien shows up at her door singing his courting songs and triggers a heat that she can’t escape or ignore. The Frog Prince is a 20k sci-fi romance novella set in the Darvel Exploratory systems universe and inspired by the fairytale The Frog Prince with graphic sex.

A lantern lit at night keeps the spirits at bay, especially on Halloween night when the spirits roam free between the worlds. When Misty turns down a dark road and gets caught in another world, she finds herself face to face with a creature of the woods that has its sight set on her as the object of his desire. There is no escaping him, nowhere to run. Not from him...and not from herself.

Beni has lived a charmed existence in Dunvar Citadel, but one that is coming quickly to an end. When she loses her position as transcriber in the citadel library to a newcomer, she knows that is only a matter of time before the council will insist that she marry. Although she dreads the idea of being one of many wives to her husband, her more immediate and pressing concern is her replacement—a man who is conspiring with the chancellor to weed out non-essential fiction that distract the women workers within the citadel. In attempt to save the books, Beni herself ends up requiring saving when she falls into a river. Her savior, however, is far beyond anything she ever could have imagined. The Mintar is far from human in appearance and social niceties, he isn’t even particularly friendly, yet he promises to return her safely home. All that is required is a pretense of mating to keep the other males of his clan from courting her. That is certainly no hardship as far as she is concerned, especially not with so much in the village to keep occupied, alien scrolls to explore, and an opportunity to do what she loves. What she doesn’t plan on is falling in love with the stoic male who doesn’t want a mate. Faltz carries the scars on his body and heart from losing his parents as a calf. Females are frightened by his appearance and he doesn’t consider himself worthy of having a mate and family when his parents died saving him. Caring for a lost human is an annoying inconvenience, but he is determined to see it through and get the feisty female home safely...even if that means deceiving his queen and entire clan by pretending a mating with her. When pretense turns into truth, Faltz’s honor is tested when he is forced to face one fact...when she leaves, how would he continue without her? Book contains graphic sex and violence

Lucy has never been more alone in the world. Even after the ravening, she had at least had Robert. Settling in Galventry was supposed to be the start of a new life for them. No one had told her that her new life would one alone while Robert ditched her just days before the town’s Love Fest to hook up with the daughter of one of the preeminent families and at very least a decade younger. Broken hearted and largely rejected by the townspeople, destiny has left Lucy abandoned and alone, and in one rebellious act, at the mercy of a fearsome creature who, despite his monstrous appearance, tempts her like no other. Destined to mate year after year during the full moon of the Lupercalia without hope of a family or love until he finds the female he can mate-tie, Gral has ventured into the human world for his hunt once more. With his lash he will prepare her and with his strength he prays to make one female his forever. He is a monster, one of the terrifying creatures that have begun to overrun the world since the Ravening, and yet he will teach his would-be mate the temptation and the pleasure of surrender to be had from the one being who just may be far less monstrous than he seems.

Mirror, Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all….said no one ever. Isabella Norveau was the daughter of a sorceress. Growing up, she learned the magic of her mother in their villa high in the mountains. Though she had everything she could ever desire, Isabella desired love over power. It was for this reason that she disobeyed her mother and eloped with a visiting king when she was only sixteen, only to find her dreams broken by a man who pined for his deceased wife, incapable of loving her. After a few years of suffering a loveless marriage, he eventually passed, and upon his death Isabella became guardian of his twelve-year-old daughter whom she’d loved like a sister and set above all others in her affections. Ruling her kingdom with icy control and compassion, Isabella refused courtiers and turned away noble men who desired to woo her. She allowed no man to get close to her. So, it passed day after day, until she received from her a mother a very special gift…a mirror with a spirit dwelling within it who sets her ablaze. Confronted with her own passions, her world is thrown into chaos. It is only surmounted when her stepdaughter goes missing from the castle with her trusted huntsman. As everything comes crashing down around her, Isabella must find the courage to embrace a love with the one being who is most dangerous, and yet also the only one able to help her find her stepdaughter. A retelling of Snow White like you ‘ve never seen before. The Mirror is a Dark Spirits Fairytale within the Dark Spirits Universe. Warning this book contains explicit violence and sex that might not be suitable for all audiences. ***This is a second edition of the original book. Upon adding it to the Dark Spirits Fairytale series, it now has 12,000 words of new content and new cover***

Sammi is having the worst weekend. When what was supposed to be a secluded romantic get away turns into a near death experience when she is stranded alone in the mountains during a snow storm by her two-timing boyfriend, Sammi faces a desperate situation. With no cell-service, dwindling food supplies, and a power outage, she doesn't think it could get worse until an accident leaves her unconscious and vulnerable. When she comes to, she awakens to find herself in a warm cabin, and her rescuer a creature of fantasy--an orc. And he thinks that she will be a perfectly obedient pet. Ha! He wishes. Orgath is an exile, the son of a vanquished chieftain of his clan. His days and nights are spent alone more often than not. When he finds a tiny human while hunting in the human world his compassion moves him to rescue the little thing and bring her home as a companion. He quickly finds out that there is a lot more to humans than orc-kind has believed. When things starting heating up and passion ignites between them, they discover the potential for a lot more in their relationship than either could have imagined.

Born into a family of witches, Orenda has the misfortune of being the sole member of her family born without magic. The smallest bit of magic that she can claim for herself is the ability to sense out magical talismans. She is drawn to them and makes it her task to keep the most powerful of them out of the reach of her family. Yet, when she comes across an ancient talisman in an antique shop, she is swept away by its magic into the fae world, but not unchanged. Shrunk and stranded alone in the depths of the troll kingdom, Orenda must rely on the help of a hive of male pixies. Although they say that she is their queen, and lure her with every touch, they promise to help her return home. They are nothing like she’s ever imagined a pixie to be and give her a taste of a life that she couldn’t have imagined. In a world of magic, she—a magicless witch—strangely finds her place until events provide an opportunity to return to the human world. It leaves Orenda with a choice: to go back home or remain by their side? Among pixies, although long-lived, they only have a opening of a handful of years to find their mates before the elders determine that the hives be broken and the males stripped of their breeding and mating abilities to serve as protectors for young unmated queens. Shavish is determined that his hive, though well beyond the suitable age of mating, do not come to a similar fate. His hive brothers Orel and Gwin may have resigned themselves to being guardians and Dazi retreating to his scholarly works, but he is not willing to give up yet. Although being mated to a small wingless queen wasn’t quite what any of them imagined, they resolve to not give her up. They will court their queen and win her for their own. The Pixies Queen is a m/m/f/m/m romance and does contain m/m. Please be aware that The Pixie's Queen is an expanded version of the novella Love Blooms for the Pixie Queen that appeared in the Love Blooms Anthology.

With the expectation of a three-year pregnancy, Terri assumed that she had all the time in the world before she had to face the realities of upcoming motherhood. Time for adventures, travel, and working side by side with her mate. She had been particularly looking forward to the latter now that Veral had relaxed from overbearing to merely aggressively protective—and she could work with that! When her baby starts to suddenly grow abnormally fast, she suddenly faces the grim reality of going to the one place she never wanted to visit: Argurumal. Although she must work to evade the council and a mysterious someone who is attempting to ensure that she never leaves Argurumal alive, she is wondering being a mother might not just be the most challenging one especially when Veral suddenly begins to pull away from her. Veral had never planned to return to Argurumal, but with his mate’s pregnancy advancing unnaturally fast he will have to face those he left behind and an unknown threat. His enemies have underestimated him. He will ride the sand dragnar across the Great Dunes to the capital if required. There is none more dangerous than an Argurma defending his mate and young. He will do all that he can to protect them, even if that means he cannot be by their side. Warning this book has explicit sex and violence which may not be suitable for all readers.

Cavek, youngest son of the Troll King of the Middling Kingdom, never thought he would fall in love with a human, but when he sees Kate, he knows that she is his fated bloodbonded mate. They have one perfect night and he promises to return for her, but when he is delayed for a year in returning for her, he does not know how welcoming she will be. Amid war brewing with the werewolves, he has a mate to woo and an infant son to claim. How hard can it be? When her best friend Sammi came home with an orc husband, Kate didn’t know what to think. As an avid reader of all things pertaining to folklore and high fantasy she didn’t imagine anything dealing with orcs and trolls to be good news; yet, she was surprised to find that they were nothing like she’d ever been led to believe—especially not a sinfully sexy troll named Cavek. One night of passion is all they had before he returned to his world with whispered promises to return. When she discovers she is pregnant she adjusts her life to the expectation of having to raise a troll baby on her own. A year later she wakes up in a strange world and a troll determined to be her forever one and only. He says they are fated to be together, and now they have a son to raise, but time will only tell if love will find a way.

Steph Bennet has a 5 year plan to get ahead despite the new challenges that have come with the fae crossing into the human world. Regardless, she is focused on her goals, and that doesn’t include a shape-shifting unicorn who insists that she is his mate and the only key to his survival and getting his waning powers returned to him. This can be negotiated...right? Not wanting to be anyone's mate but also not wanting to be responsible for the death of a unicorn, she will pose as his mate and go with him across fae territory to the Heart of Wells in the golden grotto. Once his powers are restored and the magic binding them severed then it’s contract fulfilled and she can get back on track. No problem. Now if only she can just get rid of the ragtag band of fairies out for a nibble on blood infused with unicorn magic and make it there in one piece. She is prepared for anything except falling in love. Eliph, like most unicorns, has waited centuries to find his mare, his perfect mate. He will allow her to think that there is escape but she will soon find out that fae matings, especially among unicorns, are forever. Please be aware that this preorder date is subject to bumped up to a sooner date if the book gets finished on time.

Reggie was a society girl, a castoff wife, soon to-be divorcee, stolen away from Earth, a victim of her own bad choices. Little did she know that one mistake would lead her onto a journey of finding her own happy ever after with a serpentine species of aliens on a strange matriarchal jungle planet. Giant spiders, gargantuan lizards, scrambled green eggs for breakfast. Life had suddenly got a lot more interesting. Vadal and Shaagra are from a society where the females choose and dominate, where due to a genetic malady they succumbed to fits of temper and collected males into vast harems. Vadal and Shaagra want more than that. When the opportunity comes to secure a human mate to love and shelter among them, they will risk everything, even their hearts, in hopes that she will be forever theirs. Warning: this book contains some slight M/M interaction in their bonding with Reggie.

Some secrets can topple nations. Already facing termination for her failure to carry Agraak young to term, when Jenn escapes from the breeding facility she knows that the Agraak would not rest until they found her. Possessing full knowledge of the location of their breeding facility meant that she’d never be safe. The royal families and elite castes of Agraak society would not allow their secrets to become known. When stowing away on a Buto trading vessel lands her on an illegal clearing in Vora, she discovers that finding a comm system and delivering the information she had to the Intergalactic Council wasn’t going to be as easy as she thought. After her own trauma at the hands of her Agraak “mate,” she is innately suspicious and frightened of alien males to her detriment as she flees into the deadly territory Vora’s Shagorith mountains. There she encounters the giant arachnid—the Shoyla, and threats both old and new. She also discovers companionship with an unlikely male Vori that conquers her fears and blooms into a love she couldn’t foretell. Eyuul has an unjust reputation. After the humiliation of one failed attempt to mate an offworlder and his own inability to form nest-brother bonds with other males to share a female, he is an outcast among his own clan. Rumor has turned his one-time love into a string of affairs so that males do not trust him, and females turn away from him. Even his mother, the matriarch of the clan barely tolerates him. Of all Vori, he is more alone than any. When he saves a human female from drowning, he is drawn to her strength and odd vulnerability. He would do anything to aid her. Even when she flees from him in terror, he is determined to protect her and help her heal. Discovering her secret, makes him determined to help her. Discovering the mate he always wanted makes him fear the day when he might have to let her go.

Kassie Edwards—When a messy divorce, an absentee father who can’t even bother to call, and small-town gossip leaves my kids hurting, I decide that it’s time for a fresh start. Armed with our few possessions and limited savings, we move across realms to help out at my—until recently fellow-divorcee—best friend’s new cafe, The Spiced Pumpkin, just in time for the Halloween season. Ghostly goblins may have it in for me this time as everyone prepares for the greatest festival the village has ever seen. Pumpkin patches, carnivals and a goblins ball are a delight, and I’m tempted to trust my heart again by an Orc whose confections are only as sweet as his heart. Garval Ironclaw---Ever since the last harvest festival, I haven’t been able to get a certain female out of my mind. Even now that I’ve hung up my battle axe in exchange for the warm comforts of a cozy kitchen in my own bakery inside of The Spiced Pumpkin. Co-owning this little establishment is a dream come true for this giant of an orc, but what I truly yearn for is the female I haven’t forgotten. The same female who is now working in the kitchen across from me. I can’t seem to stay away even when I know I should. And with the human festivities of All Hallows Eve bleeding into our quiet village, merging with our own traditions of Hallow Night, I’m eager to cook up a few memorable treats. I’m not such a fool that I cannot see that no sweet can compare to the lips of the female I wish to make my mate.

A trip on the luxury star-liner, the Wandering Star, to the far-off sights outside of coalition space is an often dreamed of opportunity of a lifetime for the citizens of United Earth. For Kelly Roberts, winning the citizen’s passenger lottery is also a chance of escape from a demanding life where she is often treated less than human for her cybernetic implants as a mech-technician. An alien attack on a star-liner had never happened before. It should not have happened, ending both her life as she knew it and her dream vacation with cyrostasis in an escape pod. Waking in an unfamiliar sector of space by her alien rescuers, and with no way home, Kelly suddenly finds herself in a situation where she must define what her new life will be and the forbidden attraction that she’s beginning to feel for the males who rescued her. For a pair of males exiled far from their homeworld to manage a quiet waystation on the outer limits of Zelekzan space, finding a capsule containing a lone alien female is an unexpected surprise. Drawn by her scent, and charmed by her curious exploration of their home, Hlek and Krith dare to dream of the possibility of having a mate. A dream that is threatened with the arrival of a dangerous stranger to their station who also hungers for the female they would make their own. With the law working against their instinctual desires, they will do all that they can to protect her even as they work to woo the female that they can’t imagine life without. **Wandering Fallen as an expanded form of the novella originally published in the Claimed Among the Stars charity anthology. An additional 12k has been added to the story. this book contains graphic violence and sex.

As a citadel guardswoman, Uma wears the scars of her past—both those born from her duty that she is proud of and those she would rather forget, including the deepest scars of heartache that haunt her. Yet, while a broken heart can hide behind the icy reserve of her duty, beneath her scarred face lies a tender heart that somehow a triad of Ragoru has worked their way into. Convicted of a crime they say they didn’t intend; Uma suddenly finds herself saddled with the trio pain in the asses. Initially it’s not how she wants to spend Mother’s Night, but when she is stuck with them on the road following the worse of their Withering Nights, she is tempted to enjoy what little comfort she can and all that they offer.Laro, Vrin, and Kam are a triad of Ragoru down on their luck. The Great Forest is a hard place to find a mate even after the citadels opened to their kind. Nor are those any friendlier to three dull gray males, the lead of which wears physical scars as well as wounds from a lifetime of disappointment. Convicted of poisoning another triad, their luck seems to have sunk even worse when they are put under the charge of a hardened citadel guardswoman. She is infuriating with her claw-sharp tongue, and bitter-poison attitude, yet the longer they are with her the more they become enchanted with the glimpses of the warm female dwelling beneath the surface. One that they determined to claim… if only they can convince each other.

Before Arie and her mates, there was Emala. Before the Order fell, there was a Master who governed over it and all of the citadel Raised in a gilded cage, Emala was given everything she wanted from the very day that the Master rescued her mother from execution. Born of a maternal lineage in which human brides were mated to the clannish northern Ragoru triads, Emala grew up listening to her mother’s stories of the Ragoru though she never expected to follow in her mother’s footsteps. She didn’t fantasize about a triad of mates to shower adoration on her, but a simple life in a village far away from the Master’s watchful eye. Though she knows nothing of surviving outside of the grand manor, when the Master comes to her with an impossible offer on her twentieth birthday, Emala dares to risk it all to find her way to freedom. Even if it brings the order down on her head. When she is saved by a Ragoru and finds shelter with his triad through the winter, she discovers a possible love that could mend old wounds and may promise her the happy ever after that she always wanted. White is a Ragoru Beginnings Romance with undercurrents of Snow White in its narrative.