Dark Romantasy: The Darkest Gift by Nikki Welton

Welcome to the tour for The Darkest Gift by Nikki Welton! This is a dark academia romantasy perfect for fans of Holly Black and Kerri Maniscalco.

The Darkest Gift
by Nikki Welton
Release Date: February 14th
Genre: Dark Romantasy
Cover Designer: Whimsy Book Cover Graphics

• Unicorn companions
• Elemental magic
• Dark academia
• Murder
• Portal magic
• He falls first
• Warrior prince
• Curses
• Cozy cabin
• Found family

An Academy on the verge of ruin. Two worlds divided by forbidden magic. And a girl desperate to break the darkest curse.

For 18-year-old Amanda, the magical Academy ball was supposed to be an unforgettable night to celebrate the ending of the school year in Conifer, Colorado. But when she and her boyfriend Eric witness the most gruesome crime committed by the headmaster, they are given a choice: help him open a forbidden portal to the kingdom called Sunshadow from which no one has ever returned, or be his next victims.

 

Determined to discover the truth, Amanda and Eric enter the portal and follow the headmaster who claims he needs dark magic from Sunshadow to save the Academy from ruin. But, upon arrival, they are betrayed. Eric is hit with the most vicious curse, which leaves him barely alive. To save him, Amanda must reach to the deepest parts of her magic to follow the headmaster to the legendary Palace of Darkness and undo the spell before time runs out. 

 

With the help of a warrior prince and two unicorns who are as dangerous to humans as they are magically powerful, Amanda travels deep into the land of Sunshadow, fighting the dark magic inside her and her growing feelings for the prince. Knowing that every step might be her last, Amanda will have to decide who to trust and how much she is willing to sacrifice in order to save the one she loves and find the way back home.

The Darkest Gift is a dark academia romantasy, perfect for fans of Holly Black and Kerri Maniscalco.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Triggers: Ghosts, murder, blood, injuries, open door sex scene, two love interests (I wouldn't call it a love triangle but after her boyfriend leaves her, Amanda meets someone else). 

 

About the Author:

Linktree

Nikki Welton is the author of Black Curtain Call, a YA time travel fantasy and a retelling of Macbeth. Nikki has a degree in English and a theater background. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in Los Angeles. When she's not writing, she can be found watching movies, reading, playing with her cats and skiing. She is also partial to a cup of herbal tea. 

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

I Smell Sheep 16th birthday -Baaart can drive now! + giveaway

 

Good googly moogly! It's been 16 years. 

Answer the question on the form to be entered for $20 Amazon gift card. 

Love and sheep kisses,

Katie and Sharon 

 

via GIPHY

Standalone Romantasy: Between Tides & Thunder by Leena Kazak

We're celebrating the release of Between Tides & Thunder all week long with a tour and an international giveaway! Be sure to grab a copy today!

Between Tides & Thunder
by Leena Kazak
March 31, 2026
Genre: Standalone Romantasy

• Enemies to lovers
• Forced proximity
• Arranged marriage
• Slow burn
• One bed / one horse / one tent
• Elemental powers
• He falls first (and hard)
• Warring kingdoms
• Standalone

She was raised to hate him. Now she shares his bed.
Princess Mayah of Tundrayn isn’t allowed to want. Not freedom. Not love. Not even her own future. Instead, she’s spent her life healing others’ pain and swallowing her own. But when her father strikes a fragile alliance with enemy-kingdom Arbinj to crush a rising rebellion, she is bartered into a marriage she didn’t choose for a crown she doesn’t want.

She expects a prince. She gets the Dark Commander.
Zevayr is ruthless, unyielding, and a stormwielder with a reputation soaked in blood. He is everything Mayah was taught to fear. Yet as they race across rebel-torn lands, the less certain she is of where the monster ends and where the man begins. In Arbinj’s glittering courts, the Rebellion surges and dangerous secrets stir from Mayah’s past—secrets that could shatter her kingdom, and her heart, if she lets them.

The question is not if Mayah will betray, but who: her people, her love, or herself?

Amazon

About the Author:
website
Leena Kazak has been spinning stories since she was ten years old, when she wrote her first short story and never looked back. A lifelong reader, she’s devoured everything from fantasy and thrillers to historical fiction and contemporary romance—but these days, she’s happily tumbled down the romantasy staircase and shows no sign of climbing out. (Send help).

She writes fantasy romance with fierce heroines, impossible choices, and immersive worldbuilding. When she’s in the thick of drafting, Leena wakes up between 4:30 and 5 a.m. to chase that magical, half-asleep window when words flow freely and the world is still quiet.

Leena lives in the frigid Northeast with her brooding, handsome husband and their two adorable, half-feral sidekicks. (Leena and her husband are actually the sidekicks, but don’t tell her kids that.)

BOOK TOUR ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS

Comic Review: Woodstake - Hippie Vampire Comic Book Series

Woodstake Hippie Vampire Comic Book Series  
Writer: Darin S. Cape
Illustrator: Felipe Kroll
April 14, 2026
Publisher: SHP
Genre: Horror, Graphic Novel
ISBN: 979-8-9927499-1-5
Ages 16+
Sink your teeth into Woodstake a brilliant horror/comedy about three days of peace, music, and blood. In the summer of 1969, an old and deadly vampire awakens as hippies unknowingly gather for the historic Woodstock Festival. Amidst the backdrop of peace signs and protest anthems, festival-goers are hunted in a chilling but hilarious adventure filled with music, mayhem, and vampires tripping hard on hippie blood. Woodstake is a must-have series, masterfully blending 1960s counterculture, psychedelic imagery, vampire mythology, and biting humor into something truly special. Prepare for a wild ride of laughs and frights in Woodstake!

Woodstake is as shrewd as Shaun of the Dead and as haunting as a Hendrix solo!

Buy: 

Print copy out April 14, 2026

digital copy out on SHP website 

SHP Comics website-Amazon-Bookshop

 

Review:

O_O (my face when I was offered a review copy, LOL.) I mean, how could I not? Look at that title! Look at that cover...nom nom nom.
 
Okay, time to get serious. Let's talk story. Woodstake is Dracula-coded. The main vampire is never named, but it's Dracula. Other characters' names are plays on some of the original book characters. But there is a Van Helsing. The vampire lore is also consistent with the book. 
 
The prologue might smell a little like Dracula but it is an imaginative, fresh take from chapters one to five. It covers the vampire's journey across the ocean to escape Helsing in 1927. He lands in upstate NY and almost dies (again). One groovy page is used to transition the story from 1931 to 1965 and the start of chapter one.

The story picks up with Jonathan Harper and Nina Murray making the cross-country drive to NY for Woodstock with two other friends. Over the course of the five chapters, our crew's story crosses paths with the vamp and the characters' relatives from the prologue. The songs playing in the background of each scene are shown so you can imagine the story's soundtrack while reading.
 
Does the vamp dress like a hippie and take acid? Does he meet Jimi Hendrix? And if so, does he eat him? You'll have to read it. This is a spoiler-free review.
 
At the end of chapter five, we are teased with Woodstake '99! How far-out is that sequel idea?

The artwork is a mixed bag. It looks like they used a 3-D model program and digitally painted them. I've seen it used in online comics. The characters look life-like in some panels, but sometimes stiff. In other panels, they look more painted, if that makes sense... Not my favorite style, but once I got into the story, I adjusted to it.
 
I was born in 1967, so I don't remember much about the '60s, except what I learned from the media (music, TV, movies), and the fashion made a cool Halloween costume "Peace out." Woodstake captures the '60s vibes, the good and the bad.

  

5 "And that's the way it is." Sheep

OMG! You can get the whole digital series on sale!

The print version is on pre-order.

SHP Comics website

 

SHP: A new kind of comics company
Website
SHP was founded by Shawn Hainsworth in 2021. He wanted to bring his thought-provoking screenwriting into the world of comics and enlisted the help of some world class talents. SHP already has 3 acclaimed series coming to comic shops in the fall with a brand new adventure slated for 2025.

The future looks bright. Won't you join us on the edge?

From https://booksforward.com/ Press Release:

SHP’s unique collection of horror, science fiction, adventure, comedy and reimagined classic stories are distributed by IPG, Lunar via Massive Indies and Diamond, available in comic book stores and at the publisher’s website.

Ghost Curse: Blakewell Mages Book Two by Brittany Arden + giveaway

We’re celebrating the release of the next book in the Blakewell Mages series, Ghost Curse by Brittany Arden!

Ghost Curse: Blakewell Mages Book Two
by Brittany Arden
March 20, 2026
Genre: Urban Romantasy

• Morally Gray Love Interest
• Obsessive / Possessive MMC
• “Touch Her and D!e” Energy
• He Fell First (and harder)
• Love Triangle (Shifting Allegiances)
• Slow Burn → To Spice
• Secrets Within Secrets
• Power Awakening
• Urban Romantasy

Sonia never expected her Ghost Whisperer powers to unravel a conspiracy buried beneath the Blakewell Mages—or to bind the ancient being of Death himself to her soul. But the bloodline curse hunting her is accelerating, draining her magic and fraying her mortality thread by thread. 

When the mist that shields Blakewell shatters and chaos erupts, Sonia is pulled into a deadly battle: Blakewell is beginning to fracture—its magic failing, its people turning desperate—Sonia uncovers secrets in her mother’s ledger that the Black House would kill to keep buried. Her only allies are the two men she shouldn’t crave. 

McDara, the detective who keeps choosing grief over his own heart. And Death—the immortal who would raze worlds rather than lose her. But Death’s price presses her closer to him than she’s ever dared—and surrendering to it might break her in ways even magic can’t fix. As Sonia’s magic burns unstable and a faceless ghost stalks her every step, she discovers a haunting warning: something beneath Blakewell is waking—and it is hungry. 

To survive her twenty-fifth birthday, Sonia must face a realm built of shadows, lies, and the dangers that come wrapped in trust… even if doing so costs her the memory of the one person she was never meant to forget. A dark, addictive romantasy full of devastating choices, breathtaking magic, and a love that defies life and death.

AVAILABLE ON AMAZON

Triggers:
On page spice
Brief moments of blood or body horror (mild, not graphic. Think murder mystery moment. The crime scene is found but is not gory.)
Themes of death, sacrifice, and betrayal 

About the Author:
website
Brittany Arden lives in Texas with her husband, two tiny adventurers-in-training, and a caffeine addiction that’s probably sentient by now. With a background in literature, history, and a lifelong obsession with fairy tales (the darker the better), she was destined to write magic—and mayhem.

She writes romantasy for readers 18+ who want their magic dangerous, their love interests morally gray, and their romance served with the right amount of spice. Expect shadow-laced worlds, fantastical chaos, and at least one murder mystery she swears she didn’t plan. (The stories have minds of their own, okay?)

When she’s not wrangling plot twists or toddlers, you’ll find her wandering the woods like a witch on her lunch break, daydreaming about curses, closed doors, and enemies who really should’ve kissed sooner.

She hopes her books make you laugh, gasp, ache—and maybe stay up too late whispering “just one more chapter.”

Books by Brittany Arden: where ghosts whisper, tension smolders, and someone’s definitely lying.

 🔥SIGNED PAPERBACK + CHARACTER ART (US GIVEAWAY)🔥
TO ENTER:

Go to the author's Instagram post 
Like, save, & repost
Follow @_brittanyarden_ @rrbooktours & host
Drop a 👻 in comments and tag 2 friends

Bonus Entry:
Share in your stories for 24 hrs tagging @rrbooktours

TERMS:
Must be 18+
Must be public account for verification
Not affiliated with Instagram/META
CLOSES MARCH 28 

BOOK BLITZ ORGANIZED BY:

R&R BOOK TOURS