Meghan Ciana Doidge

If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, that dancing in a crowd of magic wielders — the Adept — was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I liked it. That’s what twenty-three years in the magical backwater of Vancouver will get you — a completely skewed sense of reality. Because when the dead werewolves started showing up, it all unraveled … except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.

I wasn’t even remotely interested in collecting the third instrument of assassination. It was far better for everyone involved — and for Warner, specifically — if I just let it be. And since I was the only one who could retrieve the artifacts, I figured it was my call to make. I was wrong. And though that wasn’t unusual, I was just so … so … wrong … about everything. I was wrong about who I was protecting and why. I was wrong about who and what I could control. And I was wrong about who I was becoming. Baker of cupcakes, maker of trinkets, half-witch, half-dragon, dowser, alchemist … Why couldn’t I just be Jade?Artifacts, Dragons, and Other Lethal Magic is the sixth book in the Dowser series, which is set in the same universe as the Oracle, Reconstructionist, Amplifier, Archivist, and Misfits of the Adept Universe series. While it is not necessary to read all the series, in order to avoid spoilers the ideal reading order of the Adept Universe begins with Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1).

One treasure down, two to go … Three months ago, I nearly lost my best friend while retrieving the first instrument of assassination. I also inadvertently released a rival who was definitely unhinged, way more powerful than me, and obsessed with harnessing the deadly power of the artifacts I’d been tasked by the guardian dragons to collect. Add a sexy sentinel and a nearly immortal vampire to the mix, and what could possibly go wrong? Knowing my luck, I was about to find out.

Three months ago, I lost my foster sister, Sienna, to the darkness. As in blood magic and chaos and general mayhem. No one saw it until it was too late, but I should have. Now, I have a wounded heart and soul that I can’t even reveal to anyone around me, because I’m supposed to hate Sienna with the fiery passion of the justified. And I do. I just wish I didn’t feel so lost without her, so unsure of the path I thought I had carved for myself, and so outclassed by the powerful Adepts constantly by my side these days. I’m not even sure if they’re with me for my own protection or because my shiny new powers are rare and valuable. Assuming I ever figure out who or what I am, and how my magic actually works. Even chocolate can’t save the day every time … just most of the time. At least I’ve got that going for me. Note: This 82,000 word urban fantasy is the second book in the Dowser SEries by author Meghan Ciana Doidge

I hadn’t set foot in the human world for more than a few hours in over three and a half months. Sure, I was stronger and faster than I’d ever been before, and I had a shiny new sword, but I was seriously chocolate deprived. I don’t recommend quitting cold turkey. And the new sword was a problem — to my mind, anyway. It represented all the expectations of a powerful father and a new otherworldly life. A life that wasn’t the one I’d worked so hard to build. It also represented the responsibility I had to bring my foster sister Sienna to … what? Justice? I didn’t know if that was even possible. What I did know was that Sienna wouldn’t stop, and that I couldn’t just leave everything up to fate and destiny … or maybe I was. Maybe I was doing exactly what I was supposed to be doing. If you believed in that sort of thing. I just hoped that before the chaos and mayhem renewed, I’d manage to get my hands on some chocolate. It didn’t even have to be single-origin Madagascar. I was utterly prepared to lower my standards.

I had new cupcakes to bake, a new treasure to hunt, and a new dragon in town — literally. Who wouldn’t be ecstatic filling their days with chocolate, trinket collecting, and martial arts training? Yeah … me. Because no matter how much chocolate I ate, I couldn’t fill the dark pit in my soul. A darkness born from blood alchemy. A darkness that reeked of the black magic I now knew I was capable of creating. Maybe it was time to walk away. But what if there were important things left to do? What if I was the only one who could do what needed to be done? I wasn’t sure I could handle the responsibility, but as long as I had my chocolate stash and a good friend to back me up, I was willing to give it a try.

We had run. We had adapted. And when our magic came back, we changed course again. Hiding instead of running, knowing that we needed to remain hidden from the Collective. Knowing that our lives, our freedom, depended on it. Then the sorcerer showed up, drained and disoriented. And when my past came quickly following him, I had to make another choice. Fight or flight. Continue to deny the power that resided in my blood, in my DNA. Remain perpetually caught between being Amp5 and Emma Johnson. Or face my demons. ----------------- Demons and DNA by Meghan Ciana Doidge is the first novel (75k) in the Amplifier series, which is set in the Adept Universe along with the Dowser, the Oracle, and the Reconstructionist series. Reading order of the Amplifier Series: • The Amplifier Protocol (Amplifier 0) • Close to Home (Amplifier 0.5) • Demons and DNA (Amplifier 1)

Librarian's note: An alternate cover edition can be found here The day I turned nineteen, I expected to gain what little freedom I could within the restrictions of my bank account and the hallucinations that had haunted me for the last six years. I expected to drive away from a life that had been dictated by the tragedy of others and shaped by the care of strangers. I expected to be alone. Actually, I relished the idea of being alone. Instead, I found fear I thought I’d overcome. Uncertainty I thought I’d painstakingly planned away. And terror that was more real than anything I’d ever hallucinated before. I’d seen terrible, fantastical, and utterly impossible things … but not love. Not until I saw him.

On my way to investigate my aunt’s untimely death, I chance upon a teenager with purple eyes. Her destiny is so vibrant, so intertwined with the essence that fuels all our lives, that I cannot stand to see her caged and crushed.What I don’t know is that rescuing the teen isn’t chance or happenstance at all. It isn’t just another random bit of destiny I can fix. It’s a snag in the weave of the universe that unravels … everything.I am exactly who I am meant to be. I belong to no one but the universe. My destiny was spun and measured before I was born. I never really had a choice. But the path that brought me to becoming the Conduit at least a century before my time has been manipulated. And along the way, I’ve somehow lost far more than I ever knew I had.Friends.Lovers.Soul-bound mates.More than just my life has been twisted, all our fates ripped away.And I remember none of it.Awry is the first book in the Conduit Series, which is a secondary-world urban fantasy romance. Content warnings and tropes/themes can be found at the beginning of the book or on the author’s website.

I had everything I’d ever wanted — a successful business with a second bakery in the works, a sexy fiance who I adored, and good friends who loved to laugh almost as much as I did. So of course it couldn’t possibly last. Unfortunately, this time the trouble was homegrown in Vancouver, threatening my own backyard and those who were under my protection — whether they wanted to be or not. I was, after all, the wielder of the instruments of assassination. Apparently, cutesy cupcakes and being nice only stretched so far.

Two more elves were at large in Vancouver, but thankfully they’d been keeping a low profile while I faced the most daunting task of my twenty-seven years — planning and executing my wedding. I was dealing with a disgruntled grandmother with an extensive guest wish list of the magically inclined, all of whom didn’t particularly like each other. Plus a fiance whose concept of time was altered whenever he stepped into a dimensional pocket, and a best friend who’d spent months planning what was certain to be an insane bachelorette party. How was I supposed to find time to worry about possible invasions, or the motley crew of magical misfits who had unrepentantly upended my peaceful existence? Not that I was complaining. Who didn’t love wielding deadly weapons, opening a bakery, and marrying their soul mate in the same week? Or was that just my sort of thing?Misfits, Gemstones, and Other ShatteredMagic is the eighth book in the Dowser series, which is set in the same universe as the Oracle, Reconstructionist, Amplifier, Archivist, and Misfits of the Adept Universe series. While it is not necessary to read all the series, in order to avoid spoilers the ideal reading order of the Adept Universe begins with Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1).

Still grieving the death of my beloved elder brother, but needing to fortify my newfound position, I’m forced to participate in a matchmaking event.No matter that I have no desire, or any of the required skills, to hold one of the intersection points on my own, I am now the heir to the United European Nation. My chosen bond mates will be selected from the elite of society. Titled, wealthy, practiced in politics — and accomplished in all the essence-wielding skills I lack.Chosen bond mates.Not soul bound, not fated.A love connection isn’t even a fever dream or a fleeting thought. A glam rock star, my childhood best friend, a staid earl, a bareknuckle fighter turned archduke, or a horse breeder …I don’t get to choose any or all of them.Because despite the purple eyes marking me as one of the powerful awry, I am in fact an ineffectual dud. The time to find and fortify any such predestined-by-the-universe connections — if such connections even exist for me — ran out when my brother died.***The Mirth duology is set in the Conduit World. While it’s not necessary to read all the interconnected series, the ideal reading order is as follows.Awry (Conduit 1)Grand Romantic Delusions and the Madness of Mirth, Part 1 (Mirth 1)Grand Romantic Delusions and the Madness of Mirth, Part 2 (Mirth 2)Snag (Conduit 2)Adult 18+ While choice vs. duty is a strong theme in the Mirth duology, Mirth doesn’t have to choose between her suitors, and they’re more than happy to lend a helping hand to each other as well. Content notes and a list of tropes can be found on MCD’s website (on the book detail page).

I preferred it when life came in tidy packages. When it didn’t — when something went awry — I was exceedingly skilled at packaging it back up. It was my job to do so after all. I was a reconstructionist. I collected the puzzle pieces, then I gave those pieces to an investigative team to sort out. I didn't ask questions. I didn't offer answers. I saw. I recorded. I moved on. I didn't dwell or obsess. I didn’t hunt down suspects. I didn’t follow clues to find a killer. And I certainly didn’t work side by side with anyone. Least of all, a vampire who I strongly suspected might turn out to be the major missing component at the end of the trail. Then I saw something I couldn't forget. It wasn't the bloodiest thing I'd ever seen. It wasn't even close. But it haunted me. I didn't like being haunted. And I couldn't figure out how to get it out of my head. Someone was killing teenaged boys in the Pacific Northwest. Despite my misgivings, if I could help catch a killer, I had to at least try. ------------------ This 68,000 word urban fantasy is the first book in the Reconstructionist Series by author Meghan Ciana Doidge. Author’s The ideal reading order of Catching Echoes (Reconstructionist 1) is after the first six books in the Dowser Series and the three books in the Oracle series, but it's not actually necessary to read the Dowser or the Oracle series before reading the Reconstructionist Series.