Heart of Stone

Janeth Castro never expected to be the most prominent bootlegger in Southern California. After growing up in Central Mexico and falling into her role in the business, she’s torn between supporting her family values and living life on her own terms. The last thing she needs is a white woman protesting at her door.

Alice Covington is many things: a pickpocket, a drifter, and now a daughter of the Prohibition movement. Under her mother’s cruel eye, she follows the protests to a mysterious mansion by the sea. Determined to play by her parents’ rules—which include not falling in love with a woman—she is surprised to find the great house host to the most surprising, and attractive, rum smuggler in town.

Janeth and Alice are caught in storms that neither can seem to escape. Obligation, fear, and old guilt claw daily at their hearts, and their chance meeting leads to an unexpected romance that may be just what they need to find safe harbor.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, Harriet Browning has thrived as the heiress to a lumber fortune, living lavishly among New York’s elite. Her father’s death reveals unexpected financial woes, and Harriet is left to face a sudden, harsh reality.

Ava Clark threw herself into the war effort when her brothers enlisted. Suddenly, the war is over, and she’s without a cause and a job. An ad for a personal secretary from Harriet—the woman she loved more than a decade before—surprises Ava and proves impossible to resist. 

Harriet only wanted an assistant for a few months—someone to help sort out the mess her parents left. She never bargained for the woman who got away to show up at her front door.

Starred review from Publishers Weekly: "The romance burns tantalizingly slowly as Ledel takes the time to thoroughly explore the ways her well-shaded heroines both complement and clash with each other. This remarkable emotional maturity does not come at the expense of heat, however; when the love scenes come, they steam up the pages. It’s subtle, lovely, and stirring."

The kingdom of Venostes is in upheaval.

Her sister’s cure in hand, Jastyn races home to find her family in chains. The Dark Fae has grown more powerful, and malevolent forces reign. When Jastyn is forced to work alongside the Diarmaids, things become even more complicated.

Aurelia is dragged back to Venostes to confront not only her brother’s killer, but her own parents’ dark past. As evil takes hold of her kingdom, Aurelia fights to destroy the Dark Fae and his masters once and for all.

Together, Jastyn and Aurelia face unimaginable dangers. Can they take back Venostes? Even more, can two people as different as they­—a princess and an Odium—be together? Are they destined for one another, as Aurelia hopes? Or, as Jastyn fears, are they simply impossible?

Jastyn Cipher hated the royal family until she met Princess Aurelia. But the princess continuously surprises her, like when she unexpectedly joins Jastyn on a dangerous and harrowing journey to find the cure for Jastyn’s ailing sister.

Princess Aurelia Diarmaid knew she was meant for more than a life trapped inside the castle in the Kingdom of Venostes. But she never anticipated the price of her freedom would be the tragic death of her brother at the hand of their closest friend.

Fate brought Jastyn and Aurelia together, but their budding relationship is tested as obstacles both fae and human stand between them and the cure they desperately seek. Will their new love be enough to carry them through what lies ahead?

Princess Aurelia’s dreams of a life full of love and adventure become even more alluring when she meets village outcast Jastyn. Aurelia refuses to deny her attraction even after an unexpected attack on her family catapults her into the center of the Kingdom of Venostes’s sinister intrigues.

Jastyn Cipher despises the royal family. After all, they are responsible for the exile of her mother and their life at the bottom of the social rung. She refuses to acknowledge her attraction to Princess Aurelia even when she is forced to seek help from the royal family when her sister falls gravely ill.

While the circumstances of birth might keep them apart, fate seems determined to bring them together. When Aurelia is kidnapped, she and Jastyn must face their enemies, fae and human, if they want to survive.

Book One of the Odium Trilogy