2015 has been a banner year for me creatively, professionally, and personally. So in the spirit of the winter holidays, I thought it a good time to “give back” and share my success with others. And, more importantly, highlight some of the best books that I read this year. The Twelve Days of Indie-Mas will feature twelve independently published books/series that spoke to me this year, and ones that I think should be added to your holiday gift list. These are listed in no particular order of greatness, because I loved them all.

On the eleventh day of Indie-Mas, my author gave to me…

A soul-eating demon named Meda
A body-switching princess named Alyrra
A library apprentice named Vhalla
A marshall named Thierry
A mori named Sara
Mages named Tarik and Hayli
A necronite named Jesse
A landskapë-crosser named Freja
A Shinree named Ian
A town called Blackbird

and…

A world-hopping snow globe

My eleventh pick is definitely one that’s perfect for winter. A headstrong protagonist, a brooding love interest, kings and queens and world-hopping excitement make my eleventh pick–the first in a duology–one of my favorite new finds this year.

Why I loved it

Twists and turns kept me guessing who was really the bad guy. Swoony love interest that was my favorite kind of romance–the hate-to-love kind. The author tells me it’s a duology, so I’m eager to get the second book and get all the answers to my questions!

Who would I gift this to?

Fantasy lovers, folks that are looking for a winter read during a blizzard.

About the Book

By day, Sondrine Renfrew works at Cimmerian’s Curio Emporium, her aunt’s apothecary and antique shop in London, 1875. By night, she weaves fire, water, and air into both inanimate objects and living creatures. When a hooded stranger offers Sondrine a snow globe in trade for medicinal herbs, she accepts, enchanted by the castle, forest, and sea encapsulated under the glass.

Her enchantment fades, however, when her deceitful aunt betroths her to one of London’s wealthiest men—a complete stranger. Determined to escape the marriage, Sondrine trades her corset for trousers and decides to run away. With one foot out the door, she falls down a veritable rabbit hole into Winterhaven, the haunting world inside the snow globe.

Sondrine soon discovers her arrival in Winterhaven is no accident. There, she meets Shán, a man who broods more than the darkened sky above. Turns out Shán is not to be trusted. Not only is he the man who sold Sondrine the snow globe, he is a bounty hunter employed by the king. The beginnings of a sovereign war have been set in motion and an Immortal queen, one who uses fire as a weapon, is set on destroying Winterhaven. Because of her Elemental gifts, only Sondrine has the means to stop the queen. If Sondrine refuses the king’s request, he will behead her. If she rises to the challenge of killing the Immortal queen, her death is just as imminent. After all, an Immortal queen cannot be killed.

Or can she?