✨ Bookish News: Two Book Blasts This Weekend ✨
Mar 14, 2026 9:01 pm
We've got two indie author-led book blasts going on this weekend, so I'm dropping into your inbox briefly to share links to each one. First there's the spring stash hosted by Raccoon Literary, which features over a hundred free and discounted books with low spice. Want some green peppers 🫑 with your romance instead of jalapenos? This book fair is for you:
If you'd like a few more queer stories to add to your TBR, I've got you covered. Over 300 indie authors have joined up to present over 300 books that highlight queer main characters. Each book is discounted to 99¢ just for the weekend. Click the graphic to go straight to the book fair:
Reminder: Forbidden Gift is 99¢
If you haven't snagged a copy of Forbidden Gift yet, now's the time to load it into your e-reader, since it's 99¢ on the major online retailers throughout the month of March. Forbidden Gift is a standalone novella that introduces metal witch Gisela, who comes from a poverty-stricken family and finds herself signing a contract to work at the Teutonic brothel in Wels.
Where she ends up meeting Radomir, a fiery dude with a unique background—for a Teuton.
If you've read Nelke's love story in Gift of Snow, you might remember this scene.
***
The moment I stepped through the doorway, my element perceived another magical person occupying the chair across from Radomir. The chair that had been mine before I fled the city. A place was set for me at the next spot, a plate and glass awaiting Tobias beside Radomir. I ground to a halt, my fingers tightening on my priest’s arm as my elemental sense identified the unknown person as a Teuton who wielded metal. What?
“Welcome home, Nelke. You have been greatly missed.” My uncle beckoned us. “Come, both of you, and meet the maiden who has captured Miri’s heart.”
“I have not.” A feminine voice rose from the chair that once belonged to me. “You know it’s pulsing in your hand right this second.”
Shocked beyond belief, I tried to remind my feet how to walk just as Tobias said, “Gisela?”
A brunette witch rose from the place across from Radomir, turning to stare at my Truhtein with wide gray eyes that looked exactly like mine. And exactly like Onkel Gustav’s. “Wait a minute. You can’t be Tobias. No antlers.”
Tobias chuckled as his earth magic summoned a pair in a shimmer of mystic sparkles. “I don’t usually invoke them when I’m in my physical body. Don’t need outsiders panicking due to an invasion of the fae.”
His antlers vanished in an instant as he led me to my place at the table, my stomach giving an abrupt growl when my nose caught the scents of deli meats and cheeses. Tobias and I had not eaten since we left the Black Castle. My stomach was voracious while my brain wheeled in confusion. Radomir had brought Gisela home, away from the brothel. Did that mean he had gotten her pregnant? How did Tobias know a witch rumored to be illegitimate and penniless?
Find out all the tea Nelke sought in this scene by getting your copy of Forbidden Gift today! Gisela's tale was a lot of fun to write, so maybe you'll enjoy it too. 😊
Other Books You Might Like
I found two newsletter freebies to share with you today, and I've tacked on the other book fairs happening this month down below them. If you need something fun to distract you from our bleak reality, books are always here for you. And one awesome thing about our modern world is that it's opened the door to creative writers who would never have published any of their muses just a few decades ago. Support an indie author today and dive into the unknown!
Delaney Murphy is back where she never thought she'd be. And she's about to do something she never dreamed of doing.
On a fateful Christmas Eve, Laney and her companions—including a Hell Hound named Moose—find her family's Texas ranch upended by a lost, pregnant couple. With the unexpected arrival of Laney's father, Angus Murphy, the Devil in human form, it's guaranteed to be a Christmas unlike any other she's experienced. This heartwarming story explores themes of belonging, the bonds of family, and finding a home in the most unusual of circumstances, all while embracing a touch of the supernatural.
When ancient magic calls, destiny cannot be denied.
Twenty-one-year-old witch, Marigold Blaine, thought the worst part of her birthday would be her mother's political ambitions overshadowing her magical coming-of-age. She was wrong. When her sister vanishes and a mysterious prophecy draws her into a supernatural conspiracy, Marigold discovers she's heir to an ancient legacy—a power her family has hidden from her for her entire life.
Across the Veil in the Fae Realm, disgraced King's Guard Eamonn has been exiled to the Watchers—or so he believes. When wolf shifters begin hunting his men and prophetic dreams of a pink-haired witch plague his nights, he realizes his exile might be the beginning of something far more dangerous than disgrace.
Dark forces are stirring, and family secrets are surfacing. As Marigold and Eamonn face their separate crises, they're being drawn into a larger conflict that will soon bring their worlds together in explosive ways neither can imagine.
That's all for me this weekend, because I've got some family stuff calling my name. Spring seems to be whispering in the winds, so the lazy gardener within me has begun plotting this year's planting season. Will I triumph over the hungry bugs that inundate my home of South Carolina? Or will my efforts end up feeding them instead of myself and my husband?
We'll find out in a few months. 😉 In the meantime, happy reading, and have a wonderfully weird week!
Talk to you soon,
C.L. Carhart
Get Forbidden Gift for 99¢:
https://bf.clcarhart.com/5t5i9q9zq7
Raccoon Lit Spring Stash:
https://raccoonliterary.com/free-books/
Queer Your Bookshelf:
https://queeryourbookshelf.com/
Queer March Book Bundle on itch: