Perfect for fans of Raven Kennedy and Thea Guanzon, Rebecca Robinson’s thrilling romantasy debut combines high-stakes political intrigue and a steamy, slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers romance.
All her life, Vaasa Kozár has been sharpened into a blade.
After losing her mother—her only remaining parent—to a mysterious dark magic that has since awakened within her, Vaasa is certain death looms. So is her merciless brother, who aims to eliminate Vaasa as a threat to his crown. In one last political scheme, he marries her off to Reid of Mireh, a ruthless foreign ruler, in hopes that he can use her death as a rallying cry to finally invade Reid’s nation. All Vaasa has to do is die.
But she is desperate to live. Vaasa enters her new marriage with every intent to escape it, wielding the hard-won political prowess and combat abilities her late father instilled in her. But to her surprise, Reid offers her a deal: help him win the votes to rise in power, and she can walk free. In exchange, he will share his knowledge about the dark magic running through her veins—and help keep it at bay.
This proposal may be too good to refuse, yet Vaasa and Reid’s undeniable attraction threatens to break the rules of their arrangement. As her brother’s lethal machinations take form, everything is at stake: Vaasa must learn to trust her new husband, but how can she, especially when their perfect political marriage begins to feel like the real thing?
Don't just take our word for it...
“A fascinating world, intriguing characters, and a romance worth swooning over make this a must-read!”
– C.J. Redwine, New York Times bestselling author of the Ravenspire series
“With this dazzling debut, Rebecca Robinson has proven herself not only a master of original, well-crafted world building, but also the delicate art of a spicy slow burn. I could not put this riveting, lush fantasy down, and will be eagerly awaiting the next installment.”
– Kate Golden, author of the Sacred Stones Trilogy
“Magical and fantastic, The Serpent and the Wolf is utterly captivating. One witch is trouble, a coven is a nightmare, and this is impossible to put down!”
– Paige Crutcher, author of The Orphan Witch
Taste the very first page
With rope tied under one pillow and a tiny blade hidden beneath another, Vaasalisa Kozár scurried around a dimly lit room in the High Temple of Mireh.
She would not be here when the sun came up.
The people dancing in the downstairs hall of this enormous temple were the perfect distraction, with their aggravatingly loud music and communal dances, absorbed in themselves and their honeyed wine without a care for the bride or groom.
She despised each and every person in that great hall. Every per- son who had attended this fraud of a ceremony.
Her brother, Dominik, especially, with his serpentine smile and glinting raven hair. As she peeled off her ugly white marriage gown, violent images of ripping that hair from his head and silencing his audacious laugh pulsed in her mind.
But his death was not at the forefront of her priorities. He had al- ready slithered back to his palace and his pretty women in their home empire of Asterya anyway. Whatever reasons Vaasa’s viper of a brother had to arrange her marriage only months after their father’s death…
You might also like
The Tainted Cup
A Holmes and Watson–style detective duo take the stage in this fantasy with a mystery twist, from the Edgar-winning, multiple Hugo-nominated Robert Jackson Bennett.
A Drop of Corruption
The eccentric detective Ana Dolabra matches wits with a seemingly omniscient adversary in this brilliant fantasy-mystery from the author of The Tainted Cup.
RomanceDebut NovelIncludes a Dog
Any Trope But You
A bestselling romance author flees to Alaska to reinvent herself and write her first murder mystery, but the rugged resort proprietor soon has her fearing she’s living in a rom-com plot instead.
ThrillerContemporaryDebut Novel
Tilt
Annie is nine months pregnant. She’s shopping for a crib at IKEA. That’s when the massive earthquake hits. There’s nothing to do but walk.
Historical FictionDebut NovelMagical Realism
Junie
A young girl must face a life-altering decision after awakening her sister’s ghost, navigating truths about love, friendship, and power as the Civil War looms.
Flirting With Disaster
She needs a divorce from her husband—but a hurricane threatens to dredge up their stormy, passionate past in this sizzling romance.
Good Girl
An electric debut novel about the daughter of Afghan refugees and her year of self-discovery and a portrait of the artist as a young woman set in a Berlin that can’t escape its history.
Dead Money
Featuring jaw-dropping twists and a wily, outsider heroine you can’t help rooting for, Dead Money is a brilliant sleight-of-hand mystery.
Unromance
A recently dumped TV heartthrob enlists a jaded romance novelist to ruin romance for him—one rom-com trope at a time—so he never gets swept off his feet again…
Motheater
In this nuanced queer fantasy set amid the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia, the last witch of the Ridge must choose sides in a clash between industry and nature.
Historical FictionDebut NovelLGBTQIA+Gothic Fiction
The Resurrectionist
A twisty gothic debut set when real-life serial killers Burke and Hare terrorized the streets of Edinburgh, as a young medical student is lured into the illicit underworld of body snatching.
Under Loch and Key
A woman discovers that not all monsters are her enemy—the opposite, in fact—in this new paranormal romance by Lana Ferguson.
What It’s Like in Words
A dark, intense, and compelling account of what happens when a young woman falls in love with the wrong kind of man.
Perfect Fit
A hilarious and heartfelt rom-com about having it all, slowing down to see the big picture, and finding out that the person you least expect could be your perfect fit.
Historical FictionDebut NovelIncludes a Dog
Eleanore of Avignon
The story of a healer who risks her life, her freedom, and everything she holds dear to protect her beloved city from the encroaching Black Death.
How to Hide in Plain Sight
The unbreakable bonds of family and love are explored in this brilliant and tender story from the author of Guy’s Girl.
The Truth According to Ember
A Chickasaw woman who can’t catch a break serves up a little white lie that snowballs into much more in this witty and irresistible rom-com by debut author Danica Nava.
Mistress of Lies
A villainous, bloodthirsty heroine finds herself plunged into the dangerous world of power, politics and murder in the court of the vampire king in this dark romantic fantasy debut.
Catalina
by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
A year in the life of the unforgettable Catalina Ituralde, a wickedly wry and heartbreakingly vulnerable student at an elite college.
RomanceIncludes a CatMagical Realism
A Novel Love Story
A professor of literature finds herself caught up in a work of fiction…literally, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Seven Year Slip and The Dead Romantics.
Historical FictionDebut NovelMagical Realism
Masquerade
Set in a wonderfully reimagined 15th century West Africa, Masquerade is a dazzling, lyrical tale exploring the true cost of one woman’s fight for freedom and self-discovery, and the lengths she’ll go to secure her future.
Whoever You Are, Honey
This darkly brilliant debut novel explores how women shape themselves beneath the gaze of love, friendship, and the algorithm—by a thrilling feminist voice for the age of AI.
ThrillerDebut NovelIncludes a Dog
You Know What You Did
In this heart-pounding debut thriller for fans of Lisa Jewell and Celeste Ng, a first-generation Vietnamese American artist must confront nightmares past and present...
Evocation
From The Sunday Times bestselling author of B&N's best books of 2022 A Dowry of Blood, comes a spellbinding and vibrant new series. The Devil knows your name, David Aristarkhov.
RomanceIncludes a DogMagical Realism
Happy Medium
A clever con woman must convince a skeptical, sexy farmer of his property's resident real-life ghost if she's to save them all from a fate worse than death, in this delightful new novel from the author of Mrs. Nash's Ashes.