Event Details
Three romantasy authors explore the irresistible blend of magic, adventure, and unforgettable love stories.
Event Details
Three romantasy authors explore the irresistible blend of magic, adventure, and unforgettable love stories.
Speakers for this event
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Ameema Saeed
Ameema Saeed
Ameema Saeed is a professional bookworm and storyteller. She’s a writer; A book reviewer; A sensitivity reader; A Category Manager at Indigo Books & Music; An Advisory Committee member for BIPOC of Publishing in Canada; and the Books Editor for She Does the City. When she’s not reading books, she loves to talk about books. You can find her on bookstagram at @ReadWithMeemz
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Anuja Varghese
Anuja Varghese
Anuja Varghese (she/her) is an award-winning writer of literary fiction, fantasy, and erotica/romance where women of color get leading roles! In 2023, her short story collection, titled CHRYSALIS, won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, and in 2024, was longlisted for the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction, among others. Her debut novel, A KISS OF CRIMSON ASH, the first in a new medieval India-inspired romantasy trilogy, came out earlier this year, with book two scheduled for release in spring 2027. Anuja lives in Hamilton with her partner, two kids, and two cats.
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Elly Blake
Elly Blake
Elly Blake is the New York Times bestselling author of the Frostblood Saga and the Thirstwood series. She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her husband, kids, and rescue dogs.
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Jessie Sylva
Jessie Sylva
Jessie is a recovering lawyer living in Toronto with her wife and two cats. She writes SFF with an emphasis on queer joy, telling stories full of magic, adventure, and, of course, kissing. Her debut novel, HOW TO LOSE A GOBLIN IN TEN DAYS, was published in 2026. When she’s not writing, Jessie can be found tinkering with custom mechanical keyboards and raiding online in Final Fantasy XIV.
Books
A Kiss of Crimson Ash
Taara, the pious newly crowned Queen of Abhaya must marry whether she wishes to or not. Her betrothed is Garjan, Prince of Nandapore, a neighbouring city full of secrets and spellcasters. His forbidden love is Bhediya, a courtesan with magic in her blood. And then there is Roland, a thief by trade, attached to nothing and no one, who stumbles into a power-hungry king’s plot to unearth a weapon that has only lived in myth…until now. Linked by desire, destiny, and a dangerous foe, these four must summon the power of an ancient goddess and chart a course through the empire’s brothels, temples, taverns, and palaces, forcing them to confront the darkest kinds of magic and the truest parts of themselves—before it’s too late. Locked in a battle that will reshape the empire, they each must decide: What will they risk for a weapon worth dying for, and a love worth life itself?
Publishers Weekly called it “complex and sophisticated… perfectly balancing the epic fantasy scope with intimate romantic moments.” D&D quest meets Bollywood love story in this lush medieval India-inspired first book in the Games of the Goddess trilogy!
AuthorAnuja Varghese
PublisherPenguin Random House Canada
How to Lose a Goblin in Ten Days
What if cottagecore and goblincore fell in love?
When a halfling, Pansy, and a goblin, Ren, each think they’ve inherited the same cottage, they make a bargain: they’ll live in the house together and whoever is driven out first forfeits their ownership.
Amidst forced proximity and cultural misunderstandings, the two begin to fall in love.
But when the cottage—and their communities—are threatened by a common enemy, the duo must learn to trust each other, and convince goblins and halflings to band together to oust a tall intruder.
AuthorJessie Sylva
PublisherOrbit US, Orbit UK
The Cursed Queen's Daughter
A warrior must embrace her own darkness—and a dangerous attraction to a mysterious shadow prince—to save her world in this captivating companion to The Forest King’s Daughter, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas and Holly Black.
Fearless Thea has never known life outside of war. As the favorite daughter of the Sylvan King, she’s a relentless fighter who longs to lead the army, ignoring the pretty clothes and fanciful notions others enjoy. But when elaborate gowns full of dark magic begin appearing on her hearth each evening, she eventually gives in to temptation and tries one on—and is whisked away to a forgotten land of shadows.
The prince of the shadow realm is a handsome host, and it’s clear he knows something about the long-ago disappearance of Thea’s mother. Thea does all she can to resist his charms and uncover the truth, but their dangerous attraction grows. Meanwhile, shadows are seeping into the living realm, and Thea may have to embrace her own darkness if she has any chance of saving her beloved sisters and home from an otherworldly threat.
The New York Times bestselling author of the Frostblood Saga delivers a spellbinding series about the daughters of the powerful forest king, with simmering romance and plot twists that will leave readers desperate to enter the Thirstwood.
Read the entire Thirstwood series:
The Forest King’s Daughter
The Cursed Queen’s Daughter
Daughter of the Wild Gods
AuthorElly Blake
PublisherLittle Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette
Partners
Penguin Random House Canada
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