The best way to understand a monster is simply by listening to their story.
When sorceress Illyse is pulled into a conflict amongst those with magic and those without, the last thing she expects is to develop feelings for one of the humans supporting the king. Dragged into Castle Thorn by the royal guards and coerced into helping with a monster hunt under the guise of a thousand-coin reward, Illyse reluctantly agrees to tap into her abilities.
Garit is a medical practitioner and a mystery unto himself, determined to finish his royal service contract before leaving the kingdom of Moningrad behind for good. After his partner was killed by the beast in the Kincade Sea, he stopped believing in the power of love or enchantments. But when Illyse appears at Castle Thorn with knotted hair and shackles on her wrists, Garit realizes they’ve met before—and that emotions and magic might not be as horrible as he’s thought.
As Garit and Illyse hide their forbidden relationship, it isn’t long before they must decide between duty, desire, and the decrees of a king who might be more interested in wielding power than serving his people.
Beneath the Starlit Seais a standalone fantasy romance with alternate historical elements and atmospheric storytelling. If you’ve ever wished for The Witcher as an age gap romance between a human and a sorceress (who is paired with a sweet fox familiar!), then you’ll love meeting Garit and Illyse.
Content warnings can be found on Nicole Northwood’s website.
If you know me, you know I love Nicole Northwood. She’s a fantastic human, she was the one who originally encouraged me to submit both my first short story to Zimbell House Publishing and my debut novel to Silver Shell Publishing, and she’s a cat lover! Do you need any more reason to love her?
If you do, let’s add the fact that she’s an incredible author.
I’ve been in love with her work since I first encountered it on Wattpad way back in 2017 or 2018, and I count myself among one of the lucky people she allows to alpha/beta/ARC read her works. Beneath the Starlit Sea is no exception.
In it we meet sorceress Illyse and royal physician Garit, both of whom have their own baggage and issues to deal with as they’re brought together for the same purpose: to find the beast that’s killing people in the kingdom of Moningrad and put a stop to it. As you can expect, forced proximity has sparks flying between these two characters, but there’s one little problem. In Moningrad, it’s forbidden for those with magic to intermingle with those without. And since they’re both staying in the royal palace, they’re not in the best position to be sneaking around.
One thing I really love about Nicole’s books is the spice. The spice, Renée? But you don’t like reading smut! This is very true — I am very much not a smut reader, which is why I appreciate the way Nicole writes it so much. Rather than telling you how long a character’s impressive dick is, she lets you sink into these scenes by experiencing the emotions the characters are feeling in the moment, which I find to be a much more enjoyable read. I find most sex scenes to be cringy, and just because one person likes something doesn’t mean the next person will, so I feel that by writing certain actions and kinks you risk turning half your readers off while showing them your FMC is turned on. By focusing more on emotions, I feel Nicole is able to get around this really well. Don’t get me wrong, she’ll absolutely give you a scene, but if you’re not a spice reader you’ll still find something to appreciate!
Another pro to her work (in particular Beneath the Starlit Sea and previous release The Night Garden) is that while it’s considered fantasy/romantasy, she doesn’t go heavy on the world-building. I love a good high fantasy, but sometimes you don’t have the mental capacity to get to know a while new world and the rules that come with it. Nicole builds her worlds simply, gives you only what you need to understand the story, and leaves the rest to your imagination. She often describes her settings as “the not at all historically accurate [insert IRL location here]” and I LOVE it!
But I can’t not tell you about my favourite part of this novel: Illyse has a fox familiar!
I FREAKIN’ LOVE FOXES!
Ahem. So anyway, go check it out. Beneath the Starlit Sea releases 23rd January, 2025!
RATING: ★★★★★
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