I told my shadow we needed some distance.
Apr 03, 2025 3:45 pm
... Now it’s throwing shade. 😊
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Hello from Wales
Firstly, I'd like to start by saying thank you. Thank you for your support, encouragement, and kind words. You know the last few years haven't been easy for me, and knowing there are so many lovely people out there offers me immeasurable comfort. Life can often make us feel like were navigating a stormy sea, but knowing you're out there cheering me on make it so much brighter.
As you know, I've been struggling to find my groove with my next Eira Snow story and with writing cosy mysteries generally. It has been frustrating, but I have found a silver lining. For some reason, I found myself drawn to trying my hand at fantasy/gothic romance, and I've slipped into enjoying diving into these darkly magical tales.
This doesn't mean that I am leaving Eira and witch cosies forever. I'm still working on them, just a little bit slower. But for now, my heart is in gothic/fantasy romance. I need to explore it a little more, and I'd love for you to join me on this new adventure.
It's available for pre-order on Amazon, but I also thought I'd like to try something else new in order to try and not been 100% reliable on Amazon for my income.
With that in mind, I have started a Patreon account for this Tori Hart pen name.
Introducing My Patreon 🎉
For as little as $1 a month, you can:
- Grab a Crown of Dreams, my first novella-length fantasy romance in the Ravina's Legacy series is already available to subscribers via a Bookfunnel link. The first two chapters are detailed below. ACT NOW as the book is going into Kindle Unlimited on Monday 7th April, and the link will no longer be available.
- Read my stories as I write them. Get early access to new chapters. The first pages in book two of Ravina's Legacy will be going up next week.
- New chapters every week.
- Support my writing journey. Your contributions help me focus on creating these stories, and every little bit truly makes a difference.
Joining Patreon is super easy, and you’ll get to experience the magic as it unfolds. Plus, it’s a great way to stay connected while I explore this new creative path.
I am currently working on a 6-book gothic romance novella series called, Ravina's Legacy. You can read about my idea for this series here. And also a full length gothic-vampire romance.
Thank you again for being part of my journey. I promise to keep you updated on my progress and share sneak peeks whenever I can. Here’s to new stories, new adventures, and finding joy in unexpected places!
As always, I have a few book fairs (including ones with Free books), and books to share with you below, so be sure to check them out 😊
Happy Reading
Victoria xx
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think about this shift—feel free to reply and share your thought
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Crown of Dreams (Ravina's Legacy Book 1)
Chapter One - Charlotte
I first heard whispers of the cursed King Astor the winter I turned thirteen. I thought nothing of it at the time, his tale was one the servants told. Gossip amongst the housemaids and nothing more.
They said that his story was a tragic one. How he was just sixteen when he took the crown, but the burden of his responsibility and the weight of the tragic demise of his father were too much to bear. He became a shell of a man, never fully present and never fully aware of his surroundings. It always struck me as cruel the way they laughed at his plight. They said that he’d been such a clever and handsome young man. Over the years, the whispers increased, as did the pointed looks that came my way. I never understood why until the eve of my eighteenth birthday I was summoned to my father’s court.
My footsteps sounded on the marble floor and my shadow preceded me in the flickering light of the wrought-iron candelabras as I entered the throne room. My chest tightened, and my temperature rose when I saw the look on my parents’ faces.
My father stood tall and imposing in a black velvet cloak trimmed with silver that draped around him like the night itself, and my mother sat behind him, in a gown of midnight silk that pooled at her feet as she perched upon her throne.
I knew in my heart of hearts that the news they wished to share was not welcome. I was a woman now, and a princess of Belmorrow. It was my duty to serve my King and country, to marry well and to secure the borders of our land. But I could never have imagined the words that would flow from my father’s mouth as he addressed me.
"You are betrothed to King Astor," he said without even a hint of regret in his voice.
I gasped as the tightening in my chest squeezed ever vice-like, and the room around me spun. With pleading eyes, I glanced at my parents, hoping to find jest in their gaze, but my father’s was steadfast, and my mother’s avoided mine. There was no comfort or hope to be found. I focused on the stained glass window behind them. The once cheerful scene of ravens circling a tree in full blossom now cast eerie and shifting patterns on the cold floor, and the walls of the cavernous, shadow-draped hall seemed to close in around me.
"But why? Is there no one else?" I hated the pleading tone in my voice.
I’d always known this day would come. My seer powers were weak, but I’d had the same vision of my wedding day countless times. I’d envisioned a King, tall and striking as if made of marble, with dark hair curling just above the collar of his ceremonial cloak. An intricate, ornate crown of burnished gold with a ruby-red centrepiece sat askew upon his head. With trembling hands, I reach up to straighten the crown, and his eyes meet with mine. For a fleeting heartbeat, the world around us fades and he looks at me with a quiet promise that he will forever hold me in his heart. I’d pictured a fairy-tale. Instead, I was promised to not even half of a man. I was promised to a shadow. I was promised to the Cursed King.
"The decision is final," my father said as he pierced me with eyes the colour of storm clouds. "It was one made on the day you were born. You have a duty to the Kingdom."
I glanced at my mother. "Queen Elaina, mother… please."
My mother rose and glided down the few steps of the dais to stand before me. As always, regal and proud in her bearing. "This is not news we give lightly," she said as she brushed the waves of my chestnut-brown hair over my shoulder. "King Astor may be… unwell, but he will not be cruel, and the peace between our Kingdom and his will be secured, and our strength will be enhanced." She cupped my cheek in her hand and wiped away an unshed tear. "Now stand proud," she added. "Never forget that you are Princess Charlotte of Belmorrow, soon to be Queen of Trimortha."
Despite the unease that quivered up my spine, sending a shiver up my back, I huffed in a deep breath and stood tall. I had a duty to perform, one I always knew was coming. It might not have arrived in the form I had expected, but it was my duty nonetheless.
~
My wedding was not to be a grand affair. It was only a select few who joined me and my parents as we travelled for six days to the Kingdom of Trimortha. Only my mother’s closest lady in waiting, the King’s hand, and a company of the King's guard journeyed with us.
The clouds were heavy when word first came that we were nearing the castle. Despite the dark masses swirling overhead, promising a tumultuous downpour, I opened the carriage window and peered outside, curious to get my first glimpse of Castle Ragmore, my new home.
The wheels of the carriage creaked and groaned as we travelled along the uneven, dirt-laden path of the forest. Horses whined and their warm breath formed misty clouds in the air. The ancient trees stretched out around us as if creating a defensive guard for the castle against the outside world, but I caught a glimpse of towering spires, piercing the heavens like a shadow against the stormy sky.
Soon the forest gave way to a winding path, leading up into the jagged hills. Mist coiled like fingers around the horses' legs, and the air carried with it the tang of cold, wet stone.
Voices sounded as we approached, but my eyes were drawn to the battlements where dragons crouched, making me shudder as their penetrating gaze bore down in eternal vigil. For a heartbeat, the castle seemed alive, growing from the earth and stretching towards the heavens with its dark windows glinting like unblinking eyes.
Then the world tipped. At first, there was a subtle flicker clouding my vision, like the heat rising from stone on a summer’s day. Then a pressure gripped my skull. My breath hitched as darkness wrapped around me, weightless yet suffocating, drawing me near…
The castle before me twisted. The dragons turned to gargoyles as the stones reshaped into a castle in a far more barren land. Wind howled across endless fields, rain fell in cold, relentless sheets; and the piercing whisper of secrets I couldn’t quite grasp drifted on the air.
Lightning split the sky, striking the tallest tower, crowned in a weathervane shaped like a raven in mid-flight. For the briefest moment, the world paused like the hitch in my breath, and a woman appeared.
As regal and as still as a statue. A crown sat atop the silver-white hair that cascaded over her shoulders. Her face was ageless, neither young nor old, but carrying with it the weight of the world. And her eyes… her eyes locked onto mine, and she smiled.
"Charlotte… Charlotte."
My heart pounded in my ears, and my gasps came breathless and raspy, but my vision cleared as the present slammed back into place, and my mother’s worried face stared into mine. Her green eyes shining with concern. "A vision?" she asked, and I nodded. "What did you see? Is there peril in the future?"
"It was the past," I said. Surprised at my certainty, I offered my mother a reassuring smile. "It was a vision of what once was. Nothing more."
I slunk back into the carriage seat as we entered the castle courtyard, trying to put the vision aside, but the woman and her smile wouldn’t leave my thoughts. It wasn’t a smile of joy. There was too much pain in her eyes. A heaviness weighed my limbs, and my body felt tired and cold. It was a smile filled with heartbreak, and I couldn't shake the feeling that my fate would mirror her own.
Chapter Two - Astor
"King Astor." Damian, my Steward, entered my chambers and bowed before me. "Their majesties, King Barton and Queen Elaina are due to arrive shortly with Princess Charlotte. I have arranged refreshments in The Great Hall, and for bedchambers to be made up in the West Wing. Will you be welcoming them yourself?"
I wanted to scream and rage, to take command. This shouldn’t be happening. Princess Charlotte deserved more than I could offer. I felt like I was clawing at the walls of my own mind, desperate to get free.
A flood of words, sharp and frantic, were on the tip of my tongue. I wanted to release the princess from her obligations, but my mouth betrayed me.
"Yes," I heard myself say. Just that. A single, flat syllable. My voice but not my words. I had to do something, anything, before it was too late, but my true words remained unspoken, just as my limbs remained foreign to me.
As if controlled by an unseen force, my body moved like a marionette, rising from my seat and marching forward step by step as if following a rhythm, I did not set, towards The Great Hall.
My gaze remained straight ahead, never drifting to take in the portraits of my ancestors highlighted by the flickering light from the iron torch sconces that lined the panelled walls, barely blinking in the polished sheen of the suits of armour. But my steps didn’t falter as I descended the grand twisting staircase and made my way to The Great Hall where I'd meet my doomed bride to be.
At the far end of the room, elevated atop a dais, sat my royal throne. My father had always looked as if he could command the whole world from that chair, carved from dark and ancient wood, and inlaid with gold filigree. I despised it.
I’d always pictured my father growing older and wiser, ruling as the kind man he was, well into old age. My mother had passed when I was young, but my father had been as strong as an ox with a stubbornness to match. If only he hadn’t gone hunting that fateful day. I’d never really thought about being King someday, that day was always too far in the future to envision. Until it wasn’t. But I’d tried to be strong. I’d tried to be brave all through his funeral, and then the crown was placed upon my head and something snapped inside.
The household staff kept their thoughts to whispers. But I’m aware they think that I’m a broken man, that they call me the Cursed King. That’s the worst part. I’m aware. If I were as cracked in the mind as they think, maybe things wouldn’t be so bad. But I’m still here. I think and I feel, and I’m watching.
I watched through eyes that no longer felt my own as I paced through the hall, ignoring the heavy oak banquet tables that stretched across the room, laden with wine, and meat, and sweet treats. I watched as I ascended the dais and sat on the throne I so despise.
My hands rested upon the carved armrests, where dragon heads snarled, seeming to issue warning to all who approached. Soon, the doors were pushed open by two royal guards, and King Barton entered with his Queen in hand, but it’s not his face I focused on when it fell into view. It was Princess Charlotte’s.
I’m not sure what I expected to feel when I saw her. Pity… anger. Both. I certainly never expected the rush of heat that flushed through me, breaking through the cold emptiness that had become my constant companion. The heat pooled lower, stirring parts of me I’d believed as dead as my free will as my body remembered what it was to want.
She entered the room like a whisper of some long-forgotten longing. Soft flowing hair framed a face which displayed an admirable mix of nervousness yet determination. Her forest-green, high-necked travelling dress did little to hide the delicate curves concealed beneath. It swayed with each graceful step, and I found myself following the motion with an intensity that shocked me. I wanted to trace the curve of her waist, to discover if her body would yield beneath my touch.
My fingers twitched against the armrest of their own accord. Just a flicker of movement, but one that hadn’t been directed by some external force. It was a movement all my own. My ailment had faltered, just for a heartbeat, and there was no doubt in my mind that Charlotte’s presence had allowed it to happen.
Trapped as I am, time has never been my friend, but as she tilted her head and the light caught in her hair, highlighting the chestnut hues, each second seemed to slow further, stretching impossibly long and yet not long enough. My breath caught.
King Barton held out his hand towards her, drawing her forward. She brought with her the sweet, floral scent of jasmine mixed with something I couldn’t quite place, something uniquely her own. My pulse quickened.
She curtsied before me, and our eyes met as she rose. Her cheeks flushed with a colour that matched the heat spreading through my body. Instead of averting her gaze, she lifted her chin ever so slightly and straightened her spine. Just a fleeting gesture but one that showed me how strong she truly was. In that moment, I think I saw something in her that I had lost. I recognised defiance against impossible circumstances, and it gave me… hope.
The conversation around me faded into meaningless noise. Not that I could ever respond, even if I wanted to. My body had been unresponsive to my commands, my needs, for so long, but now it betrayed me in a different way. My skin flushed warm whenever her gaze briefly fell on me. Each glance was like a physical caress. I found myself picturing how she might look with her hair cascading over bare shoulder, her lips parted in pleasure.
More than ever, I wanted to take control, to step forward and learn more about the woman who could maintain such grace under the weight of her duty, to hold her with my own arms and tell her how breathtakingly beautiful she was. I wanted to claim her, to taste her lips, and hear the sound of her breath catching as passion engulfed us…
No.
To tell her to run.
The scream that ripped through my mind as I pleaded with the wretched ailment that had blighted my life to leave was more desperate than any I’d released in my mind before. But this was no longer just about me. It was also about Princess Charlotte. She deserved a life far away from here with someone who… someone more than me. And yet, something selfish and desperate rebelled inside me. I wanted her for my own.
~
If you would like to read on - the story is currently available to read on Patreon - and will be available on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited on Monday.
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BOOK FAIRS
Of Royals and Rogues: Forbidden Fantasy Romance - ends 30th April
Romantasy New Releases - ends 31st May
Romantasy Spring into Magic Ball - ends 30th April
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BOOKS TO CHECK OUT!
Liv Grantham’s life is way out of focus. After her husband’s devastating betrayal, the defeated single mother moves her two struggling daughters from the U.S. to the charming English village she left as a young child. Barely adjusting to an inherited cottage, a mysterious camera, and a marmalade cat, she feels off-centered when she accidentally captures ghoulish pictures of her dead neighbor.
Accused of breaking into the woman’s house and then her murder, Liv decides to investigate while rediscovering paranormal abilities the forty-two-old has suppressed for years. But with cryptic clues from phantom photos and help from estranged psychic relatives, she fights to create a clear picture of a town festering with jealousy, secrets, and suspicions.
Can she find the killer before she’s framed for the crime?
Snap, Spirit, Murder! is the light-hearted first book in the Ghost Photographer Cozy Mysteries series. If you like eclectic casts, relatable journeys, and tongue-in-cheek humor, then you’ll love Felicity Green’s zany whodunit.
Buy Snap, Spirit, Murder to expose the evidence today!
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I’ve spent my life training in the family business of slaying vampires, but I’m tired of all the death. I want to prove we slayers can help society, not just break it.
I start my new life by joining the Magiford supernatural task force, which exists to protect humans and supernaturals from harmful magic.
There’s just one problem.
All of my teammates who work the night shift with me are scared of me since slayers are the assassins of the supernatural world. Worse yet, even though I’m doing my best at pretending to be a human during the day—a necessity as a lone slayer can quickly become a dead slayer—I’ve utterly failed to win over any of the humans in my apartment complex since I have the charisma of an overdue investigation report.
That changes when a handsome vampire moves in next door. Connor may not be willing to try any of my failed attempts at baking, but he’s charming and not afraid of me. Plus, he’s the first friend I’ve made who has the time to hang out with me after work.
Things are looking up, or they would be, except a mysterious and extremely powerful vampire has declared downtown his nightly hunting ground. I’m the only one on my team who can match him in a fight, something he finds endlessly entertaining. That isn’t a good sign for my general life expectancy.
My greatest goal might be to win over my squad, but if this vampire doesn’t back off I might not live long enough to achieve it.
With over 40,000 ratings on Amazon and Goodreads, and millions of pages read, this completed urban fantasy trilogy is packed with humor, magical fights, and a sweet, slow burn romance between a slayer who battles social anxiety and a vampire who is sick of his immortality.
The Magiford Supernatural City universe features slayers, vampires, fae, and werewolves! Start reading this bingeable series now!
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Clearly, for Ash, a career as a musician isn’t exactly an option. Plus, he’s cursed. Sick of playing by the rules, Ash and his three brothers escape Hell in search of freedom on Earth. But it’s harder than they thought to keep their enemies off their tails . . .
Yet everything changes for Ash when he meets a beautiful violinist who can see through his curse. No matter the risk, he has to have her.
Evangeline Gregory is just your average human. She works at a jazz bar, plays gigs on weekends . . . and, apparently, hallucinates demons.
At least that’s what Eva tells herself when, moments after she meets the man of her dreams, she sees him shift into a 7-foot-tall monster. Not believing her own eyes, Eva decides to investigate and soon finds herself in the middle of a supernatural clusterf**k.. But Ash isn’t the only one keeping secrets, and the search for answers reveals a shocking truth that will change Eva’s life forever. Or maybe just doom it. The path to love can be complete Hell.
~
Until next time... Happy Reading!
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