[Complete] [112k] [Adult Romantic Fantasy] Salt and Smoke
Salt and Smoke is an open-door, adult romantic fantasy and as such I am only looking for betas aged 18+.
If you enjoy morally grey FMCs, found family, forced proximity, reluctant allies to lovers, and mixed media elements, this might be a good fit for you.
Blurb: Rosa has spent fifteen years plotting to kill the man who took everything from her. On the night she intends to make it happen, the wrong man walks through the door.
Fyn is a complication she didn’t ask for, and she should probably have killed him when she had the chance. Instead, a forced escape throws them into an uneasy alliance through secret tunnels and pirate bays, and Rosa comes to realise that there’s far more to Fyn than she first suspected.
In New Alveris, a gaslit, smog-choked industrial port where magic is banned, fey are persecuted, and airships, factories and street-drugs are all powered by the same shadowy source, Rosa’s masks start to fracture and the secretive Guild she once served turns against her.
Fyn might be the one person she can trust… which could be a problem.
Rosa still has a few secrets of her own.
If Fyn discovers them, it won’t just be Rosa that suffers; he’ll destroy everything she’s built to protect, and this time, Rosa won’t get to decide who survives.
The novel is intended as the first in a series but also works as a standalone. No cliffhangers.
Trigger warnings: Violence, off page death of children, fey persecution/public executions/burning (parallels to historical witch trials), bereavement, fire, animal threat/harm (not on page or graphic/gratuitous), themes of grief and survivor guilt, self-destructive tendencies (FMC).
What I’m looking for: this has been through early beta/alpha readers and a critique group so I’m mostly looking for reader response, any bits you were tempted to skim/dnf etc.
Timeline: Hoping to have feedback within a month.
Swaps: I have a few spaces open for swaps if you have something in a similar genre/length.
I can send the first few chapters so you can see if it’s a fit before committing.
Drop a reply or DM if interested. Thanks!