S.M. Gaither

The old gods are growing restless... Mercenary Casia Greythorne cares about two things: completing her latest job and earning enough coin for the expensive medicine that's keeping her mentor alive. So when the king commands her to investigate a strange plague devastating the empire, she can't resist the massive reward he offers - even if it does mean working with the arrogant and infuriating Captain Elander. But as the death toll rises and strange monsters wreak havoc across the realms, Cas and Elander find themselves up against meddling gods and very old magic. Because an ancient evil is stirring in the shadows. And their empire will not survive its full unleashing. The first book in the thrilling Shadows & Crowns series - perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas' Throne of Glass and Leigh Bardugo's Six of Crows!

Please note: A revised version of this book was released in September 2019. Some of the reviews below may reflect the old version. She’s the last member of a cursed and deadly clan. He’s the crown prince with a dangerous secret. Together, they’ll save the empire. Or destroy it. Decades ago, the High King of Sundolia waged a war that vanquished the serpent clan and drove them out of the empire, reducing them to nothing more than legends spoken of in occasional frightened whispers. But they did not leave peacefully. Their parting gift included curses that now rest within the empire’s soil, beneath the shade of its jungles, treading through the waves of its seas. Growing more and more dormant as the years pass under the shadow of that increasingly tyrannical high king. Until Alaya—a girl with a hidden serpent mark who shouldn’t exist—accidentally wakes one of them up. Then another. And suddenly she finds herself near universally despised and feared, a scapegoat exiled from her adopted village and left with no choice but to seek the truth about her cursed bloodline. About her true home. About a power, stolen from the serpent goddess herself, that is supposedly resting in that home. It is the sort of power that could help her overthrow a king, expose the lies he’s told, and put a stop to his wars. But the closer she gets to that power, the more complicated the truth becomes. The more dangerous her waking power seems. And the more she begins to wonder: Can you still be the hero if you were born a curse?

"The light cannot always overcome the dark. But it can rise to meet it.” Against all odds, Casia Greythorne has survived battles with gods and monsters alike, and the most powerful crown in the Kethran Empire is now securely in her grasp. Yet a seemingly impossible task still looms: finding a way to rid her world of its darkest god so she actually has a future to rule over. The path to sealing that god away has been revealed, but to follow it will mean venturing into a deadly and strange new realm, facing old fears and enemies, and deciphering ancient magic that raises more questions than answers. Meanwhile, chaos continues to spread throughout the empires. Armies rise and fall. The bonds between allies begin to fray—and hope along with it. And with every bloody battle, the final cost of saving their world becomes clearer. Dawn is coming, but will Casia and her friends survive to see the new day?

The highest throne in the Kethran Empire lies vacant, its once-ruler now a god-ascending, bringing more chaos and darkness to an already chaotic world. The line between the divine and mortal realms is blurring. The battlefield is set. A final, devastating war is on the horizon. Casia Greythorne has finally come home to claim the throne that is rightfully hers—one that she hopes she can use to unite her empire and help it survive a war with the very gods themselves. But to take hold of her crown, she’ll have to wrestle it free of a past that she’s avoided for too long. One that is even more complicated than she realized. The answers she needs to win her war—and save her world and the people she loves—all lie within that past... But discovering them might destroy any hope she has of a future.

War is building. Blood is spilling. And the gods are not pleased. Casia has survived her brother’s attempts to crush her and her growing army, but the battle for their empire is just beginning. Bitter and wounded, carrying the curse of a dark and dangerous upper-god, and desperate for more allies, she charges northward to seek the elves who once walked alongside the divine beings. The elven Court of Moreth holds knowledge. Secrets. And power. The kind of power that could shift all of Casia's wars in her favor. If she can survive the dangerous politics and treacherous magic of the elf-kind. While these outer battles rage, so too do the ones within. Elander is losing what remained of his divinity. His court. His powers. His grasp on what he once was and what he once knew. But he’s determined to keep fighting, gathering his own ancient allies and working to aid Casia in her wars. He lost her once. He won’t do it again. But his devotion to her may be the very thing that destroys him. And when that destruction comes, it comes with a twist—one that could change their entire world.

Mercenary. Survivor. Queen. Who is Casia Greythorne? Still reeling from an unimaginable loss and the revelation of an identity she isn’t sure she wants to embrace, Casia has one plan: Try to control something. Something like the strange magic awakening inside of her. Mastering that magic will take her and her friends on a quest through cursed lands, into the dwellings of old gods, and deep into a southern empire filled with deadly foes and unlikely allies. Meanwhile, the foundations of the Kethran Empire continue to crumble. The king-emperor clings to his crown with increasingly bloodied hands. Monsters and soldiers alike stalk Casia's every step, determined not to let her return to claim a throne that is rightfully hers. Still, the greatest threat to her possible rule may not lie in the king-emperor, but in a former captain of his army—a man that she came dangerously close to falling in love with. Elander Revenmar thought he knew who he was. He had a mission, a plan, a god he was content to serve. Then came Casia. A woman as mysterious as she is dangerous. One he should have stayed away from, and whose life he never should have saved. Because salvation always comes with a cost. And some debts can only be paid for in blood.

On the eve of her twentieth birthday, Karys woke to the sight of a divine creature dying outside her home. Two weeks later, her sister disappeared, leaving nothing but a trail of blood in her wake. Convinced the gods were responsible for the disappearance, Karys has spent the past five years plotting her revenge with the help of a cutthroat band of likeminded elven rebels. So when Dravyn—one of her world’s most powerful deities—descends upon her kingdom in search of humans worthy of serving him, Karys knows what she must do. Earning a place at the god’s side will allow her to find out what truly happened to her sister…and then destroy the gods from the inside out for what they did. Thrown into the dazzling but deadly world of the divine courts, she must navigate complicated politics, strange magic, and dangerous trials to prove herself worthy of standing among the gods. Among the most dangerous of these trials is Dravyn himself. Karys knows better than to trust the enigmatic God of Fire. The flames of passion that stir between them are only divine trickery. And yet, the more she learns about him, the hotter the forbidden sparks burn. The more she begins to question all she thought she knew about the world of gods and mortals and everything in-between. And the more she risks betraying her own secrets, which may be the most dangerous thing of all. This is a romantic epic fantasy with some adult language and spicy content. Though it’s set in the same universe as the Shadows and Crowns series—in the distant past—it can be read and completely enjoyed without reading any previous books in this world. Book two will end with a HEA, but beware the cliffhanger at the end of this first book!

The second book of the Flame and Sparrow duology. From the Ashes, a Goddess Must Rise… After proving herself through a series of harrowing trials, Karys has found a home among the gods, alongside the Marr of Fire. Her new divine family and magic have allowed her to ascend from the rebellious, dangerous life she once led—yet the ghosts of past mistakes and betrayals linger. Her once sworn enemy, Dravyn, understands the pain of lingering ghosts better than most. Haunted by the memories of the family he lost—and by the lives he took in retribution—the God of Fire now has one plan: Protecting the ones he has left at whatever the cost. But the shadow of war is spreading across the realms. A war that will force both Karys and Dravyn to confront past demons. And when those demons collide, the resulting fires might burn everything to ash… Forcing something new to rise if they want any hope of a future.

The true enemy has been revealed. The clock is ticking. Everything comes down to one girl. One legend. One. Last. Battle. And Alex is either going to win it, or she's going to meet her end in a flurry of flames and fangs. --- This is the fourth and final book of The Shift Chronicles.

The third book in the bestselling Shift Chronicles, a series full of magic, wolves, and romance. ___ War is coming. The pact is broken. The human world that Alex once belonged to is no longer safe. From every direction, lycans from other packs are arriving, forming an army that will hopefully be ready to fight Valkos and his werewolves. Assuming, of course, that they can stop fighting among themselves first. And that Alex can somehow find a way to lead them. Before she can do that, though, she must harness the new magic that’s awakened in her--magic that took her grandfather years to master. She has weeks to master it. Days, maybe. It doesn’t help that she’s never felt more alone, either, with her family on the other side of the world for their own safety, and Kael on his own mysterious trip up north. Then Kael comes back. Only he isn’t the same. And he isn’t alone. He’s brought members of the most ancient, powerful werewolf pack in existence-- the only pack, rumor has it, that Valkos has ever feared. Aligning with these particular wolves is a desperate and possibly dangerous move, but a necessary one, almost everyone agrees. Desperate times, desperate measures. It makes sense. But still, Alex isn’t so sure. Because if she’s learned anything these past months, it’s that things are not always what they seem--and power always comes with a cost. And this time the price may be more than she can pay.

A Missing Girl... For months, there's been no sign of Alex's sister, who she fought so desperately to rescue. She's disappeared without a trace. A Series of Warnings... A werewolf is stalking Alex's once sleepy southern town. People are dying, and Alex thinks she knows the reason: her refusal to give in to Valkos. The growing bodycount is a warning. He is trying to break her, and now neighboring packs--once allies-- are convinced that she is a risk that needs to be eliminated before she's broken. An Unexpected Visitor... Just when things between Alex and Kael are starting to make sense amongst all the chaos around them, a dark part of Kael's past returns in the most unexpected of places, and threatens to turn them upside down all over again. An Impossible Betrayal... Alex thought she finally knew who she could trust. She was wrong. And her mistake may mean war.

A Deadly Encounter... A vicious werewolf attack leaves Alex infected, confused, and suddenly surrounded by strangers who all claim they want to help her. All she has to do is decide who to trust. A Dangerous Boy... Kael is infuriating. Arrogant. And entirely too hot for his own good. He also has secrets-- and a dark past that could turn her whole world upside down. An Ancient Blood Pact... The only thing keeping the human population safe from the shifters and lycans is the pact. The pact that Alex's grandfather initiated. The one that only she can break. An Impossible Choice... Breaking the pact means igniting war. Refusing to break it may mean losing the most important person in her life. When the moment comes, on whose side will Alex stand? And how much will she be willing to sacrifice?