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10 Reverse Harem Book Series You Should Be Reading

I released my debut reverse harem book last week, which means I’ve been talking about nothing else ever since. If you’re new to the genre, I wrote a post explaining what reverse harem is, but I thought I’d better include some recommendations.

This list only includes reverse harem series where the female main characters don’t choose one of the guys. She gets to be with all the guys in the harem. These aren’t anime books although some a heavily influenced by that style. I’ve tried to include a mixture of different types of series, age, and heat level. This list is only about series books – there are heaps of awesome standalone books, as well. If I’ve missed a series you love, post it in the comments!

1. Rock Hard Beautiful, CM Stunich

The first indie reverse harem series I read, and therefore the book by which all other series are measured. Lilith Goode’s life falls apart, and she ends up homeless outside of rock concert. The band picks her up and chaos and mayhem and sexy times and angsty times and lots of love and healing happen. These books are SO GOOD.

Start with: Groupie

2. Witch’s Consorts, Eva Chase

Eva Chase is an author friend of mine, and she’s written this amazing series that is doing really well right now. Rose returns to her childhood estate to arrange her marriage to an influential witch. But the only guys she’s drawn to are her non-magical childhood friends. Paranormal with a touch of the gothic.

Start With: Consort of Secrets

3. The Rogue Witch, KT Strange

Another amazing book from an author friend of mine. Darcy gets the dream internship working for the band of hot werewolves called Phoenixcry. Darcy’s got her own secrets to hide, and this tour will take you on an emotional ride. Another book mixing rockstars and reverse harem, but this time with werewolves.

Start with: Phoenixcry

4. Kit Davenport, Tate James

Kit Davenport; an internationally-renowned thief with secret abilities bad people want to get their hands on. Luckily, she’s got some badass dudes on her side, and a fun, snarky voice that will pull you through even the darkest moments of these books.

Start With: The Vixen’s Lead

5. Curse of the Gods, Jaymin Eve and Jane Washington

Set in a fantasy realm where people called dwellers serve a godly caste called the Sols, our hero Willa finds herself embroiled in all sorts of mysteries and deceptions, with only the five arrogant Abcurse brothers seemingly on her side. Willa is an absolutely hilarious heroine who’s a total disaster (in the best way). I found the guys kind of blend into one, but it’s kind of one glorious whole, so that’s okay.

Start with: Trickery.

6. Seraph Black, Jane Washington

Seraph does her best to keep her head down and protect her younger brother. But there are two new boys in town who can’t seem to leave her alone, and she can feel sparks under her fingers. Fun and somewhat dark upper YA reverse harem, not much in the way of sexy times but great chemistry.

Start with: Charcoal Tears

7. Their Vampire Queen, Joely Sue Burkhart

Super-steamy vampire reverse harem series. Shara’s been on the run, but then she learns she’s a lost queen descended from Isis, and she has two vampire knights sworn to protect her. Seriously, this book is pretty hot.

Start with: Queen Takes Knights

8. Harem of Hearts, CM Stunich

It’s Alice in Wonderland as you’ve never heard it before. CM Stunich is queen of steamy dark reverse harem, and this series is one of her best. Forget everything you knew about the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, and the March Hare …

Start with: Allison’s Adventures in Underland

9. The ‘Cuda Confessions, Eden Connor

Not every relationship is about love. Some are about speed, sex, and defiance. This book is the story of good girl Shelby who ends up with two hot stepbrothers who live in a world of illegal street races, NASCAR, and sharing everything. And now they want her. More “group sex” than a reverse harem, these books are so ridiculous you can’t help but love ‘em.

Start with: Gas or Ass (yes, that’s really the title).

10. The Briarwood Reverse Harem series, Steffanie Holmes

I wrote this list, so I get to put my own book on it. That’s just the way I roll. This series follows science geek Maeve who inherits a real, honest-to-goodness English Castle, complete with four hot male tenants drenched in grief, hope, and ancient magic. But there are dark forces threatening Maeve’s new home, and she’s got to embrace a side of herself she’s never acknowledged in order to save her new family.

Start with: The Castle of Earth and Embers

NEW RELEASE: The Castle of Earth and Embers

It’s here! My brand new book is out in the world! I am celebrating with a glass of absinthe and some cat snuggles :)

You can read The Castle of Earth and Embers in Kindle or print. It’s $3.99 for the ebook, but free if you read in Kindle Unlimited.

Maeve Crawford has her life mathematically calculated down to the last detail; Leave her podunk Arizona town, graduate MIT, get into the space program, be the first woman on Mars, read lots of books, get a cat (not necessarily in this order).

All Maeve’s careful plans come crashing down when her parents are killed in a freak accident, and she discovers she’s inherited a real, honest-to-goodness English castle – complete with turrets, ramparts, and four gorgeous male tenants.

Corbin – the protector wallowing in guilt

Arthur – the warrior tired of fighting

Flynn – the trickster with an artist’s soul

Rowan – the enigma whose scars run deep

As soon as Maeve enters Briarwood, she’s drawn to Corbin, Arthur, Flynn and Rowan – four beautiful boys drenched in grief, hope, and ancient magic. Maeve needs them all to heal her broken heart, and they need her to help them protect the world from the fae host baying at the castle gates.

Dark forces converge on Briarwood castle, and Maeve Crawford – science geek, scarred soul, lover of four remarkable men – must draw from herself a power she never imagined in order to protect the shattered remains of her life.

The Castle of Earth and Embers is the first in a brand new steamy reverse harem romance by USA Today bestselling author, Steffanie Holmes. This full-length book glitters with love, heartache, hope, grief, dark magic, fairy trickery, steamy scenes, British slang, meat pies, second chances, and the healing powers of a good cup of tea. Read on only if you believe one just isn’t enough.

***

Here is a wee excerpt, from Maeve’s first meeting with the guys at her brand new castle.

Corbin led me through an arched doorway at the side of the entrance hall, down a short passage of more screens lit with glowing wrought-iron sconces. We emerged into an enormous room. Ceiling beams crisscrossed above my head, hiding a roof gable that was so high I couldn’t even see it. The walls were covered with a lime wash that had faded in places, revealing patches of bare stone beneath. Tapestries depicting battles and naked dancing sprites hung from every corner, and more swords hung from the walls and beams, and were even slotted through the wrought-iron chandeliers.

A fireplace that was taller than I was stood at one end, with overstuffed couches and beanbag chairs arranged around it. Above the fireplace was an impressive TV screen, with several gaming consoles and controllers strewn across the mat in a tangle of cords.

My eyes were so busy drinking in the splendor of the room that I didn’t even notice the three figures lounging on the couches and talking in low voices until Corbin yelled out, “Look who’s here!”

Three faces whipped around, and my eyes darted between them, not sure where to look first. There was so much to take in.

First of all, like Corbin, they were all fucking gorgeous. I’m talking male model, bodybuilding champion, romance novel cover levels of hotness, and that was with their clothes on.

One hot tenant in my castle was good luck, but four of them? My stomach fluttered. It was like some crazy hedonistic fairy tale. What the hell had I got myself into?

For another thing, they were all grinning at me with beautiful, genuine smiles. They didn’t look as though they thought I was some naive girl from the sticks who they could corrupt. Instead, my first impression was of friendliness and… perhaps something more. Or maybe that was just my own heart fluttering in my chest.

Empathy and kindness lurked in their eyes, and I got the sense that they knew what had happened to me back in the States. The press had been all over it, so anyone who searched my name would’ve been able to stream mobile phone footage of the accident. Somehow, just occupying the same space as them made my breath come a little easier.

A weight I didn’t even realize I’d been holding slipped from my shoulders, and the tiniest amount of pressure was released from my chest. I took a step toward them, and for the first time since the fair and all the tragedy that followed, a smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. I felt… something.

Maybe this whole living in a castle with four hot strangers thing would be exactly what I needed.

“Hi,” I gave one of those awkward half-shrug, half-wave things when you meet new people and don’t know if you should shake their hand or if that makes them think you’re an accountant. “I’m Maeve.”

“Flynn O’Hagan, at your service,” the first guy said with a thick Irish accent as he grabbed my hand, swept into a deep bow, and placed his full lips right against my knuckles. Thick red curls fell over his eyes as he looked up at me. “Tis a pleasure to make your acquaintance at last, Maeve Moore.”

Where his lips pressed against my skin, fire whizzed straight down my arm and flared right in my core. I’d never had a guy greet me quite like that before, especially one who looked like Flynn. Sunlight streaming through the high gothic windows caught Flynn’s vibrant red hair, making it glow like a golden halo around his head. But unlike an angel, the glint in his blue eyes was pure devil.

And there was something else about those mischievous eyes, those cheekbones like razors. They felt familiar to me, as though I’d seen them somewhere before. On a movie poster perhaps. Flynn was hot enough to be an actor. But somehow I didn’t think that was it.

My mouth moved, but I couldn’t think of any words. What do you say to a hot Irishman kissing your hand?

Grab your copy of The Castle of Earth and Embers in print or ebook.

Read a preview of The Castle of Earth and Embers

Maeve Crawford has her life mathematically calculated down to the last detail; Leave her podunk Arizona town, graduate MIT, get into the space program, be the first woman on Mars, read lots of books, get a cat (not necessarily in this order).

All Maeve’s careful plans come crashing down when her parents are killed in a freak accident, and she discovers she’s inherited a real, honest-to-goodness English castle – complete with turrets, ramparts, and four gorgeous male tenants.

Corbin – the protector wallowing in guilt

Arthur – the warrior tired of fighting

Flynn – the trickster with an artist’s soul

Rowan – the enigma whose scars run deep

As soon as Maeve enters Briarwood, she’s drawn to Corbin, Arthur, Flynn and Rowan – four beautiful boys drenched in grief, hope, and ancient magic. Maeve needs them all to heal her broken heart, and they need her to help them protect the world from the fae host baying at the castle gates.

Dark forces converge on Briarwood castle, and Meave Crawford – science geek, scarred soul, lover of four remarkable men – must draw from herself a power she never imagined in order to protect the shattered remains of her life.

The Castle of Earth and Embers is the first in a brand new steamy reverse harem romance by USA Today bestselling author, Steffanie Holmes. This full-length book glitters with love, heartache, hope, grief, dark magic, fairy trickery, steamy scenes, British slang, meat pies, second chances, and the healing powers of a good cup of tea. Read on only if you believe one just isn’t enough.

***

Eeeeeeee! My new book, The Castle of Earth and Embers, is launching this week. It’s a reverse harem paranormal romance with witches and fae. Because I’m quite excited (can’t you tell?) I’m going a little reverse harem crazy on the blog this week.

Today I’ve got an excerpt from my book. This is the first chapter. (It also hasn’t been through my final edit yet, so there might be some spelling/grammar mistakes).

ONE: MAEVE

“I don’t care if we’re late,” Kelly mumbled as she twisted a strand of cotton candy around her fingers and licked it off. “This diabetic coma I’m about to inhale is a hundred-and-twenty percent worth it.”

“Nothing can be a hundred-and-twenty percent worth it,” I reminded her, biting into the enormous ball of cotton candy we held between us. The pink fluff dissolved on my tongue. This is way better than a birthday cake. “It’s a mathematical impossibility.”

Kelly made a face at me, her mouth full of cotton candy. “No maths on your birthday. Now be quiet and help my finish this sugary fluff, Einstein. We’re running late.”

My adoptive sister was the only person I let get away with calling me Einstein. Being the a lone science nerd in Coopersville, Arizona, was hard enough without having to deal with a nickname that confirmed to the world I didn’t fit in. There was a jock in sixth grade who tormented me with the name. It lasted until I “accidentally” tripped him in chem lab, where he fell hard enough against a bench that his head required stitches. He left me alone after that, but then I made the mistake of chopping my brown hair into a layered pixie cut, and the kids started to call my “dyke” and “lesbo”, when they bothered to talk to me, which wasn’t often.

Kelly was annoying as hell, but no way was I going to hurt her any more than I already had. So I was stuck with Einstein.

We shoved our way through the thick crowd that had gathered on the fairway. Harried-looking housewives tugged their children from sideshow to sideshow, dishing out tiny plastic tokens like they were prescription painkillers. A long line at the shooting range stretched past the hot dog stand as the high school jocks waited for their chance to show off their shooting skills.

Our parents had told us to meet them at the Ferris Wheel twenty minutes ago for some awkward Crawford family fun time. Mom was big on family fun time, especially on birthdays, and especially if it included wholesome and PG-rated activities like attending the annual Coopersville county fair, which occurred every year on my birthday. Not exactly a twenty-first birthday blowout, but Kelly could make anything fun. She had dragged me away from our parents as soon as we got inside the gates. She didn’t want anyone from school to see us with our parents. It hurt her cred bad enough being the pastor’s daughter, but being seen with them in public was just too much.

I couldn’t really care less. I’d graduated high school two years ago and I’d been living at home since then, taking advanced physics classes at a community college in Phoenix while I saved money for a real college. I didn’t really hang out with anyone apart from Kelly and the folk in my college astronomy club.

Plus, I was checking out of Coopersville in T-minus forty-three days. My mind flashed to the MIT acceptance letter with a full academic scholarship pinned to the fridge at home. Finally I was getting out of podunkesville and starting my life for real. Goodbye horse manure and creationism class in school and jocks ruling the world – in just forty-three days, I’d be sitting in classes at one of the best schools in the country learning about the universe from top physicists and astronomers.

Hey, gorgeous.” Some dumb guy fell in step beside us, interrupting my vision of receiving my acceptance into the NASA graduate space program. “Where are you off to in such a hurry? All the fun is right here.”

I didn’t bother to slow down. He couldn’t be talking to me, with my pixie hair (now sporting a vivid pink stripe through the fringe), and my boring hazel eyes. My birth mother had been British and she died during childbirth, so the only thing I had of hers was a name no one could pronounce and skin that burned at the very mention of sun. Not exactly a turn-on for the opposite sex when surrounded by bronzed, blonde Arizona beauties like my sister.

Speak of the damsel – Kelly switched on her hot-guy-incoming smile, but I grabbed her arm and started dragging her away. She shot me a filthy look I pretended not to notice. It was my birthday, after all. The guy was hot, I’d give her that – he spoke with a British accent and stood out as much as I did. With his dark hair tinged with gold flopping over his face, broad shoulders, black-and-grey tattoos peeking out from his collar and cuffs, and luminous skin that looked as though it hadn’t seen the sun in decades, clear and smooth as crystal.

He also had cold, dead eyes and a self-satisfied smirk instead of a smile. I already disliked him. But Kelly dug her heels into the dirt, and we ground to a halt. Fine, whatever.

“I haven’t seen you around before, sugar,” Kelly purred, reaching out and touching the stranger’s arm in that overly-familiar Arizona way. “You new to Coopersville?”

“I’m just passing through.”

“Ah, a wanderer?”

“You might say that.” He flashed Kelly his cat-ate-the-canary smirk, but his crystal eyes remained focused on me. A flicker of unease squirrelled around my gut.

“We can’t talk now,” I said, squeezing Kelly’s arm. “We’ve got to meet someone.”

“We’re going to the Ferris wheel.” Kelly batted her eyelashes at the guy. “You want to join us?”

Dammit, Kelly. Forget subtlety. I elbowed her in the ribs. She winced but continued to ignore me.

“It would be my pleasure to escort two fine ladies.” His deep, velvety voice caressed my ears, but something about it seemed … off. His accent was almost too perfect, like he’d practiced every word in the mirror beforehand. He inserted himself between us, wrapping his arms around our shoulders. His hand snaked down the edge of my tank top and I flinched away. I didn’t want him touching me. Kelly shot me a look of ‘stop cramping my style.’ And I remembered that I was leaving her alone in forty-three days, so I clamped my mouth shut and tried not to think about the guy’s arm around my neck.

He kept his eyes on Kelly as we pushed our way through the crowd, but then his hand slipped again, his fingers brushing against my breast. Oh, no you don’t. I ducked out from under his arm. “Don’t touch me, creep.”

“Whoa, ease up, sweetheart.” He held one hand up in mock surrender, the other arm still firmly wrapped around Kelly’s shoulder. I noticed his other hand pressed against the side of her breast. Kelly shot me a look. Stop being so uncool, she mouthed.

Whatever. If cool meant having to hang out with this twat (I loved that word; picked it up from a British TV show, and I gotta say it a lot because my parents didn’t know what it meant), then I was perfectly happy being a square. I thought about putting my foot down and dragging Kelly away, but I knew the guy couldn’t do much in the crowded fair, and Kelly could handle herself.

I shrugged. “Three’s company. So if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll just meet you guys at the wheel. Kelly, just remember what we learned in school about gloves.”

Kelly stuck her tongue out at me.

The guy’s smirk froze on his lips. Clearly, he wasn’t used to woman rejecting his charms. “No, that’s not how it works. It’ll be the both of you, so don’t go running off now.”

The guy lunged for me. I leapt back, my heart pounding. “Don’t touch me!”

A fist came out of nowhere and slammed into the guy’s temple. His expression froze for a moment, all smushed against the phantom fist. Then he was flying backward, crashing into the crowd waiting at the duck-shooting booth. People shouted and leapt out of the way. Beer pitchers and cups of coke spilled, and a kid howled as his corn dog was knocked out of his hand.

“She said not to touch her.” A deep voice with an even-more-perfect English accent growled from behind me.

“Ow, fuck!” The golden-haired twat yelled, grabbing his face. Blood cascaded from a cut above his eye. He tried to get to his feet, but several of the jocks in the crowd shoved and kicked him. Not because they were trying to save my honour, but because they were jocks and that’s what they did.

“Hey, thanks for—” I turned to my saviour, and stopped short.

For the first time ever, I knew what it meant when authors talked about being “mesmerised by beauty,” because I literally could not tear my eyes away from this guy. He stood with tree trunk arms folded, glaring at the twat with emerald eyes pierced with light. They looked like prisms that might shatter at any moment. A soft nose and strong jaw completed a face that would’ve looked right at home on a men’s shaving commercial, complete with a mop of dark, feathery hair that stuck out at all angles, a wild mane I wanted to tangle my fingers in.

Tattoos spiralled down both his arms – intricate celtic knots weaving over his toned muscles. He wore a black t shirt with some indecipherable band logo on it, dark jeans, and heavy black boots coated with a layer of Arizona dust. He was staring at me like I was the only thing that mattered in the whole world.

This was the kind of guy who carried around a suitcase of broken hearts. He’s the guy all lonely female country singers wrote songs about, except he looked more like a rockstar than a lone ranger. Why was he here, at the Coopersville county fair, of all places, and why was he bothering to rescue me?

“Are you okay?” he asked, the syllables rolling off that sexy British tongue of his.

“I—” articulation wasn’t happening in the presence of such a fine specimen of humanity. “Um …”

My phone beeped. I tore my gaze away from my hot rescuer, and checked the message. It was Mom. The thirty heart emojis at the beginning of the message gave it away without even having to read the “from” bar.

“We’re in line. Hurry up!”

Kelly slammed into me. “Who’s this guy?” She flashed Mr British a toothy smile. Obviously, she was already over her infatuation with the black-haired twat. “You saved us from a crazy stalker. What can we do to repay you? I could buy you a drink?”

Inside, I groaned. Typical Kelly. Not two minutes ago she was practically purring on the twat’s lap, and now he was our crazy stalker? Well, too bad, she wasn’t getting her hands on my green-eyed hero.

“You’re not twenty-one, remember?” I elbowed her out of the way. Kelly glared at me. Hey, it was my birthday, after all. I flashed Mr British what I hoped was a flirtatious smile. “But I’d be happy to.”

“What about Mom and Dad?” Kelly moaned, suddenly desperate to see them now that I had the guy’s attention. “We can’t just keep them waiting at the Ferris wheel forever.”

As if on queue, my phone beeped again. Mom. “Where are you?” and about twenty sadface emojis.

I handed the phone to Kelly. “Reply to that. Tell her we’ll be there in a second.”

“It’s your phone. You do it.” Kelly tried to shove it under my nose, but I jerked my head away, and turned back to Mr British, who was staring at me with this intense expression that was almost unnerving, if it didn’t make my stomach flutter.

“What?” I asked. “Do I have cotton candy up my nose or something?”

Mr British shook his head, his dark hair waving around his face. “You’re just … really beautiful.”

That was such a ridiculous line it should have made me snort, but instead, the butterflies in my chest danced like crazy. The intensity in this guy’s eyes when he said that … it was like he really believed it was true. It made me feel like a goddess, instead of the frumpy science nerd with a haircut or indeterminable gender that I really was.

My phone beeped again. Kelly glanced at the screen and smiled. “Never mind. Mom said they just hopped on. They want us to wait for them at the bottom, and they’ll go again with us.”

“I’ll walk you,” Mr British said, with a glance over to the twat, who was now having a shouting match with two of the jocks. Mr British picked up my hand and looped it in his, like an old-fashioned gentleman escorting a lady to a ball. Electricity fizzed up my arm. My gaze fell on his lips again, and my body heated up as I wondered what it would be like to kiss them, all soft and sensual. I’d make him talk to me with that gorgeous husky British voice, and tell me everything he’s going to do to me …

A loud explosion shook the earth, jolting me out of my dirty thoughts.

I pitched forward. Mr British caught me in his arms. A sizzle of electric current flared through my body from his touch, immediately extinguished by the searing pain in my ears as the world around me shattered.

The earth pitched, knocking our feet from under us. We slammed hard into the ground, the force driving the wind from my chest. Mr British wrapped his body around mine, his weight reassuring against me, protecting me from … what? I tried to see through the throng of stampeding, screaming people. An intense wave of heat swept over me, like someone had opened an industrial oven right over top of us. I gasped for air. Mr British yelled something to me but I couldn’t hear it over the roar in my ears.

Mr British yanked me to my feet, his other arm around a sobbing Kelly. We were swept along with the rest of the crowd fleeing back through the midway. I craned my neck around and finally saw what had happened. My blood froze in my veins.

The Ferris wheel was on fire.

Flames licked their way through the spokes and darted from carriage to carriage. People hung out of the buckets, screaming and crying for help. The whole thing groaned as it buckled in the middle, shooting sparks in all directions. Someone leapt from one of the top gondolas, and more people screamed as his body slammed into the top of the coffee truck and bounced to the ground. People rushed to him, but he didn’t get up.

My heart leapt into my throat. The only parents I’d ever known were on that wheel. I wrenched my body from Mr British’s grasp and took off toward the burning ride.

“Maeve, no!” Kelly yelled after me, but her words were swallowed up by the fire and the fury.

I shoved my way through the crowd, screaming my parents’ names. I hit a lull in the crowd and sprinted across the field, just as the ground beneath me buckled. With a groan, the whole Ferris wheel toppled over, like it had been shoved by some invisible giant.

No. No, no, no.

I crawled toward the corn dog cart as the Ferris wheel crashed into the ghost train, sending a shower of sparks down into the midway. Fires leapt from awning to awning, consuming the flimsy fabric of the petting zoo tent in one giant inferno. I noticed someone pulling a sobbing child from a mangled ghost train cart. I picked myself up, ignoring the trembling in my legs, and raced toward the wreckage again.

Mom and Dad are in there somewhere. I’ve got to find them. I’ve got to—

I’d just swung myself under the outer ring when a fire leapt up from the ghost train, sending another wave of heat at me. Thick smoke rose from the fires – it wasn’t thick here on the ground, but it stung my eyes so badly tears obscured my vision. Everything smelled like a charcoal BBQ.

I stepped back. How the hell was I going to get inside? Loose wires sparked on the ground. In the distance, I heard the faint ring of the fire department’s siren.

My weeping eyes caught sight of a figure standing on the other side of the field. While everyone around him ran in all directions, he stood still, his arms folded, his expression placid as he watched the horror unfold around him. It was the black-haired twat who harassed me and Kelly earlier. His eyes met mine, and he lifted a hand and waved at me.

What the hell?

He smiled, his white teeth reflecting the glow of the fire. My blood turned cold. A cloud of smoke billowed in front of my face, burning my eyes so I turned away. When I looked back, the guy was gone. All I could see was an enormous black dog loping across the fairway.

With a sickening CRACK, half of the Ghost Train building fell away. The Ferris wheel groaned. The outer ring slid off the edge of the collapsed structure. I ducked as a live wire swung dangerously close to my head. A gondola dangled just above me, two pairs of legs hanging over the edge of the wooden seat. The owners of the legs weren’t moving or crying out.

That could be my parents. I have to—

The Ferris wheel lurched again. I rolled away as the beam above my head crashed to the ground. I scrambled back as the entire outer ring collapsed, folding in on itself like some kind of terrible accordion. Burning hot debris slammed into the ground around me as the whole Ghost Train collapsed. Both structures crashed into the earth.

The force knocked me off my feet, slamming me hard into the packed earth. My head hit something hard, and stars appeared in my vision. I tried to get up, but the heat rolled over me, paralysing me in place. Moving only made my head spin worse, and the world around me bubbled and blurred.

I’m going to die … I’m going to burn up right here …

Mr British’s face appeared in my vision. His big eyes filled my vision, reflecting dancing orange flames. At least the last thing I saw before I died was a really hot guy. I could do much worse.

Then the vision blurred away to nothing, and the world went black.

***

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What is a reverse harem romance?

My latest book, The Castle of Earth and Embers, releases this week. I’m super excited about it, because it’s the first book in a new series and also because it explores a brand new subgenre for me – reverse harem.

I discovered reverse harem as a reader about a year ago. I’d been hearing the phrase pop up in writing conversations for a few months, but I wasn’t that interested until a writer friend raved about the Rock Hard Beautiful series by CM Stunich. A rockstar romance where the girl ends up with the whole band? It sounded like my kind of thing.

I devoured the three books in that series in a weekend and went hunting for more. What I discovered was not a one-off wonder but a whole world of unique settings, strong females characters and harems of guys who worship them.

I joined groups on Facebook dedicated to discussing all things reverse harem, and discovered that the genre actually started in anime, manga, and otome games. In reverse harem anime, the girl has a group of guys who exist around her (and may or may not be in love with her). In the end, she has to choose one of them.

Some of the best reverse harem anime are Uta no Prince-sama!, Fruits Basket, and Ouran High School Host Club. Find some more recommendations on Reel Rundown.

Some women watching or reading reverse harem anime and manga got sick of the idea of the girl having to choose between all the guys. Too often you’d end up hating the guy she actually did choose, or wishing it was a different kind of story all-together. Guys in stories got to have harems of women who all share, so why couldn’t it work in reverse?

Some of those readers started writing their own stories where the female main character didn’t have to choose. This started reverse harem as a book genre, as well as the associated hashtag #whychoose.

Reverse harem readers are greedy – we want them all. All the guys, all the feels, all the sex, all the heartbreaks and heartthrobs. We love reverse harem in all its different facets – some of the books are aimed at a young adult audience, with teenage protagonists who might not even kiss until book six (CL Stone, B L Brunnemer). Others are hyper-steamy with the sexual tension and bedroom acrobatics turned up to 11 (CM Stunich, Tate James). Many reverse harem books feature some element of the paranormal, but there are many hot contemporary titles as well.

I’ve been devouring these books for months now, and when the flash of an idea for a reverse harem hit me, I couldn’t resist dropping other projects to work on it. The Castle of Earth and Embers was born, combining my love of British history and Celtic mythology with my love of lots of really hot guys and sassy female characters.

Reverse harem books are becoming more and more popular. I love this in part because it helps to normalise polyamory and different types of relationships. Many reverse harem books involve elements of bisexuality and homosexuality, and often tackle difficult issues as characters struggle to come to terms with being who they are. I love the diversity in the books and how they showcase something many of us might consider kinky or creepy as truly beautiful and life-affirming.

That’s reverse harem in a nutshell, and that’s why I’m writing it right now. It’s awesome and I love it, and I bet you will too. I’m so excited to bring you this new series, and I hope you enjoy it and will stick around for the second book, The Castle of Fire and Fable, which will be released in early May.

Get the down-low on when my next reverse harem book releases by joining my VIP mailing list or my Books That Bite Facebook group. There are free books, bonus scenes, and fun giveaways in it for you!

Adventures in Steampunk Oamaru

Over the new year, I embarked upon a wee adventure through some areas of New Zealand I’d never previously visited. After our hike around Stewart Island, top of my list was Oamaru – the steampunk capital of the world, which is kind of a weird thing to be when you consider that New Zealand isn’t exactly known for it’s glorified past of Victorian innovation.

Oamaru has always been a popular tourist spot thanks to its blue penguin colony and preserved Victorian street front. Many of the buildings are made from the beautiful Oamaru sandstone, which is quarried just outside of the town. Despite these attractions, Oamaru experienced a long period of depression, as its port became defunct and it plodded along as just another rural service town.

Around 2009-10, some interesting things started happening. Spurned by the growing popularity of the genre overseas, some local Oamaruians (Oamaruvians? Oaumaruii?) began to adopt the steampunk subculture. You had Iain Clark (known to many as Agent Darling), dressing as a dandy English gentleman with pockets filled with gadgets, and you had the artist Chris Meder, who drew inspiration from the industrial revolution and science fiction when building his enormous metal sculptures. Chris was behind the Steampunk Art Exhibition at Oamaru’s Forrester Gallery in 2009, which is sort of heralded as the start of the whole Oamaru steampunk craze. (Sadly, Christ died in 2010 and much of his work is now in private collections).

A museum/art installation/room filled with junk called Steampunk HQ took over, and soon the shops in the Victorian precinct were adopting a noticable steampunk flair. Every year Oamaru hosts a steampunk festival, and also offer many other events throughout the year (such as the unusual teapot racing, which is now a game played by steampunk fans around the world).

The idea that such a place exists in my very own country and I, a writer who dabbled in steampunk, have yet to visit it was just NOT ON. So after we returned from our hike, John, Olya and I drove up to Oamaru to investigate.

Our first stop was our AirBNB, Lear House. I chose this house because the description made it sound as though it were a NZ La Chascona, and I wasn’t far off. The home was built in the 1950s by the owner, the son of famed English poet Edward Lear, who was himself an artist. Built by hand from Oamaru stone, the quirky layout includes lots of dark wood and up cycled features, and a claw-foot bath and wonky floors and a spiral staircase. Just look at my pretty room!

Our hosts, Joy and Austin, were huge music fans, and over glorious breakfasts regaled us with tales of their adventures. There was even a fat pudding of a cat who loved belly rubs. Basically, it was perfect.

We had two nights and one full day to explore Oamaru, which is enough time to do a pretty thorough exploration of the Victorian precinct.

It’s a beacon!

Of course, when we discovered that a NZ whisky distillery had a residence in Oamaru, we had to stop in for a tasting. It would basically be rude not to. We discovered quite an interesting story about NZ Whisky Collection while we were merrily getting tippled at 1PM in the afternoon.

In 1997 the last whisky distillery in New Zealand was closed down, and the hundreds of barrels of Cask Strength whisky auctioned off or mothballed. 80,000 litres in 443 barrels had been stored in an old aircraft hangar, and basically forgotten about. In 2010, the now NZ Whisky Collection purchased the barrels, moved them from Dunedin to Oamaru, and have been doling out these stunning drops to whisky drinkers ever since. Apparently, there are less than 10,000litres left, but they’re already building the facilities to revive distillation, making this distillary once again the world’s southern most whisky distillery.

We each had a fall of four whiskies, and tried to guess the flavours before reading out the notes on the cards. We were about 60% right, which after four generous drams, let me tell you was actually a bit of a shock.

Drunk with exhuberance and also alcohol, we clambered up rickety staircases to explore hidden art galleries, tried on corsets and boots and necklaces made of cogs, chatted with booksellers about Victorian adventurers at Adventure Books (and somehow talked myself out of buying an original set of the complete works of Edgar Allen Poe from the 19th century, a move I now regret), and ate a LOT of treats.

This is an ice cream shop called Deja Moo.

“Teeth artistically extracted”

No trip to Oamaru would be complete without a visit to Steampunk HQ, which is housed in a grain store built in 1883. The building bears the scars of a devastating fire in 1920, which gives it this slightly sinister appeal. I really enjoyed Chris Meyer’s sculptures, but some of the other exhibits seemed a bit … ill-conceived. I prefer a machine designed as an art piece to have a context and a story, and a lot of them seemed without this. Because of that, some of it came across as … “here’s a pile of junk.” BUT, you could tell the displays were being tinkered with and improved all the time, and from the ecstatic faces on all the kids we had to weave through, the place clearly knew it’s target demographic.

Playing a “steampunk organ.” I think it would have been cooler if you could make more actual music on it.

I loved the quirky art galleries everywhere, chief among them the Grainstore Gallery, set up by local artist Donna Demente, whose recognisable style is EVERYWHERE in the town.

There’s a brewery called Scotts, which does excellent wood-fired pizzas and even more excellent locally-brewed beer and cider. After dinner we walked around on the waterfront, in the bleak grey mists, and played in the steampunk-themed Friendly Bay playground.

If you walk a couple of streets over, you come to the real main street of Oamaru, which looks just like the main street of any other NZ town, complete with McDonalds and a Subway and otehr chain stores. Personally, I liked pretending it wasn’t there at all.

Are we sad because we are inprisoned in these stocks or sad because this is a very poorly designed public punishment, with a wee bench seat and all.

We did go to the penguin colony, but we were running late and didn’t think we had time to go back to the BNB to get my binoculars. This meant that John and I couldn’t see the penguins coming in from the ocean. We got up to leave after fifteen minutes after realising it was a waste of time, but on the way out we discovered an area you could stand and watch the penguins head into their nesting boxes. We saw several little blue penguins and one even waddled past right in front of us, before falling on its belly and sliding inside a box!

I really enjoyed my visit to Oamaru, and am considering returning for the steampunk festival. I love how the town has embraced this quirky subculture and made it their own. Like all things labelled “steampunk”, some of it is awesome and some of it I didn’t really get, but all of it showed an ingenuity, creativity, and spirit that was pure Oamaru.

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Steff life update. And new release date for CASTLE OF EARTH AND EMBERS

I turned 33 on Sunday. It’s a cool number, divides by 11. We had a wee party at our NEARLY completed house on Saturday night, filled with wonderful friends (new and old), great food, lots of homemade cider, and Opeth. We even had a book exchange, which was a brilliant idea I’d definitely do again. (I did end up with more books than I left though, so not a good idea if the goal is to get rid of books).

My friends Andy and Aaron got me an amazing present – a copy of EROS IN POMPEII. Plates of erotic mosaics and wall paintings and objects found in the ruins of Pompeii. It’s the perfect gift. I also got a great card from my goddaughters, and some awesome books and a red bowl and some gothic photo frames from other friends.

Eleanor thought it was HER party.

But the best gift was probably the gift I gave myself. On Friday I said goodbye to my teammates at the tech startup I’ve been working at for the last year, pushed in my chair for the final time, and went home to celebrate the beginning of my career as full-time author and freelance writer.

Yup. My smutty books and fantasy stories are paying the bills, alongside a little freelance content writing work to help offset the fickleness of royalty earnings. To say I’m ecstatic is an understandment. I enjoyed my day job and all the lovely people I worked with, but it was time to be brave and give this a go. I’ve been my third working day at home doing my own thing, and I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface of what I’m capable of doing now I have more time and headspace.

My workmates made me the BEST farewell card ever. I almost didn’t want to leave, but not enough to actually not leave.

So, yay! But now comes the boo.

The Castle of Earth and Embers is delayed.

Yes. I’m sorry. The truth is, I was a little ambitious with how much I thought I could get done during the last few weeks of working my day job. I’m behind on the editing, which means the whole launch is behind. It’s not much of a delay – the new launch date is 15th March.  

So you’ll have to wait a couple of extra weeks for this next series, BUT this means you’ll have less time to wait before the second book comes out. So that’s a total bonus.

I’m really really sorry, but I’d rather give you an awesome book a couple of weeks late than a mediocre one on time.

Thanks so much for understanding! I really can’t wait to see what you guys think of this new series. For reference, here’s the post with all the information about The Castle of Earth and Embers, including the blurb and the cover and all the other fun stuff.

If you want to be the first to know when the book’s live, join my newsletter, or my patreon (you’ll get it a few days early!)

Artists I love: The fantastical work of Kristina Carroll

So I’ve joined this reading club on Facebook for the House of Leaves. It is filled with wonderful geeks, some of whom have read HoL several times. (If you want to know what this book is all about, I’ve written a review HERE). It is taking up way too much of my time right now.

Anyway, people were sharing artwork they have in their homes, and someone linked to a piece Kristina Carroll did inspired by House of Leaves, and … wow.

Here it is:

We are currently framing and hanging some of the stockpile of artworks we’ve accumulated over the years. I have NO BUDGET for new art, but I really really want this piece, or maybe one of the others.

Oracle.

Kristina grew up in Billings, MT and lived in NYC for 10 years pursuing theatre, before settling in Boston. Her childhood was a steady diet of Tolkien, Froud and Gaiman. As a kid, she tried to convince her friends she was actually a fairy changeling. In her art, she’s drawn to mythology, folk-tales, archetypes and fantastical stories.

Green Dream (for the Game of Thrones card came)

Oil and charcoal are her preferred weapons of choice and she works in both colour and black and white imagery. I love the mystical, ethereal quality to her work. There’s often a fogginess in the lines and the background that make them seem as though the images have come from a dream.

Kristina has done work for Wizards of the Coast, Omni Magazine, Alderac Entertainment Group, The Shelburne Museum, IDW, Realms of Fantasy, Fantasy Flight Games, Catalyst Game Labs, and Michael Publishing. She’s pretty rad.

It’s important to do everything in your power to just keep making art. Good art, bad art. It doesn’t matter. Just keep making.” Kristina Carroll.

Dragonslayer

The Bavrogar

Kristina is also the force behind the popular Month of Love and Month of Fear art challenges. These challenges attract some of the top artists in the industry and allow them to push their art to new heights with inspiring themes and community support.

The Frog Queen’s Revenge. There’s an amazing story behind this piece you can read on Kristina’s art blog.

You can find out more about Kristina on her website, Facebook, or Instagram. (PLEASE, no one buy the original House of Leaves, because I’m currently saving for it).

All images property of Kristina Carroll. 

NEW SERIES: The Castle of Earth and Embers cover reveal

Last week I said I’d been working my arse off to finish a new book – the first in a new series? Well, it’s coming your way on March 1st.

I’m so beyond excited to announce my brand new fae/witch paranormal reverse harem series. The first book in the Briarwood Reverse Harem, THE CASTLE OF EARTH AND EMBERS will be $3.99 / Kindle Unlimited, but if you read on other platforms or you want an early copy, you can grab it on my Patreon (these peeps get all my books before release date in formats for all devices).

If you don’t want to miss a single detail about this new series, then sign up to my newsletter to hear when it comes out (and grab some free books while you’re at it).

Here’s the pretty cover:

Maeve Crawford has her life mathematically calculated down to the last detail; Leave her podunk Arizona town, graduate MIT, get into the space program, be the first woman on Mars, read lots of books, get a cat (not necessarily in this order).

All Maeve’s careful plans come crashing down when her parents are killed in a freak accident, and she discovers she’s inherited a real, honest-to-goodness English castle – complete with turrets, ramparts, and four gorgeous male tenants.

Corbin – the protector wallowing in guilt

Arthur – the warrior tired of fighting

Flynn – the trickster with an artist’s soul

Rowan – the enigma whose scars run deep

As soon as Maeve enters Briarwood, she’s drawn to Corbin, Arthur, Flynn and Rowan – four beautiful boys drenched in grief, hope, and ancient magic. Maeve needs them all to heal her broken heart, and they need her to help them protect the world from the fae host baying at the castle gates.

Dark forces converge on Briarwood castle, and Meave Crawford – science geek, scarred soul, lover of four remarkable men – must draw from herself a power she never imagined in order to protect the shattered remains of her life.

The Castle of Earth and Embers is the first in a brand new steamy reverse harem romance by USA Today bestselling author, Steffanie Holmes. This full-length book glitters with love, heartache, hope, grief, dark magic, fairy trickery, steamy scenes, British slang, meat pies, second chances, and the healing powers of a good cup of tea. Read on only if you believe one just isn’t enough.

A note on reverse harem:

“Reverse harem” means … well, I think it’s kind of obvious. A harem is usually a king or ruler with a large group of women who serve and adore him. A reverse harem is a woman with a large group of men who serve and adore her. The genre started in anime, but over the last few years has exploded into romance books. I’ll be posting some more about reverse harem and some recommendations of my favourite books in the next few weeks.

If you love menage in your romance books, or broken bad boys, or Anita Blake’s books (one of the few trad-pubbed reverse harem writers) or even if you just want to read something different, then you’re probably going to fall in love with reverse harem. I know I did :).

Yes, these books (like many other RH books) contain couple sex and group sex, but they aren’t erotica. There’s a pretty deep story and lots of feels, too. And lots and lots of cups of tea.

Post-scriptum: Carpeting the great hall, reading about physics, and going crazy, mad, insane.

In my ears: So who else is going nuts for Beserker by Beast in Black? I have not been this excited about a power metal release since … well, since the second Battle Beast album. There’s some pretty polarising reviews about it online, and I get it – how much cheese is too much cheese is a very personal line. For me, this NAILS the cheese level, with so much killer music and excellent vocals that the fact it’s about an anime and there’s a song called Zodd The Immortal don’t really register. ‘Crazy Mad Insane’ is objectively terrible, and is also the song I’m thrashing during all my workouts at the moment.

Reading: Arrival (short story collection) by Ted Chiang, and The First Fifteen Lives of Harry Harry August, by Claire North, both of which are brilliant and kind of warping my mind. Is it weird that I’m reading two books that deal quite heavily with human consequences of theoretical physics while also writing a book where the main character tries to resolve everything strange happening to her through theoretical physics?

Writing: The aforementioned book. You will be hearing more about this book VERY VERY SOON. It is the first book in a new series and I am so excited about it.

Watching: The weather has been a bit meh and whenever the weather is a bit meh I crave British crime dramas. They must be British and they must be either really gritty or kind of cosy. Since we already rewatched every episode of Midsomer Murders, we’ve been nailing a series called Babylon, which is hilarious, and a series called The Fall, which is the opposite of hilarious but also exquisitely scripted, acted, and shot.

On the Farm: A friend gave us some tagasaste trees he’s grown from seeds. These trees make an excellent shelter belt and fodder trees, so we took them gratefully. This means I need to dig many holes for said trees. My arms are sore, but holes have been dug!

Also, WE HAVE CARPET. The Great Hall looks awesome now. All we need is a drainlayer to come and hook the house to our water system, and a plumber to come and install the taps, and basically we’re done. It feels pretty incredible. I can’t wait to show you some proper pictures once I’ve got some more interior design details sorted out.

Loving: CARPET. So warm and snuggly \m/ Nelson sleeping on my feet every night. \m/ The fact that getting the carpet meant my husband finally got his half-finished train module out of my office \m/ watching All The Stations on Youtube and planning travels for 2019 \m/ Taking myself out to lunch \m/ Bang Bang Cauliflower. OMG, where have you been all my life? \m/ Lindt salted caramel balls \m/ making bento boxes for our lunches – so much fun! \m/ getting loads of free cucumbers from the neighbours and loading the cupboards up with cucumber pickles \m/ Another hiking adventure coming up really soon \m/ putting in an CreativeNZ grant application for the children’s book I wrote and the wonderful Bree Roldan illustrated. :) \m/ WE BOUGHT A HATSTAND. \m/ finally getting all the artwork we purchased framed and on the walls \m/ Choosing curtain fabrics on the internet – so many glorious options. \m/ my new chocolate cheesecake recipe. \m/ planning a whole week of birthday celebrations JUST BECAUSE.

That’s me. What are you up to this week?

5 Movies I’m excited about in 2018

I’m actually not a big movie buff, if I’m honest. Oh, don’t get me wrong, movies are moving books with cool music, and a good one is an awesome way to spend an afternoon, but I’d often rather be doing something more active than watching stuff.

We still have Netflix (we got it free for a month for the Gilmore Girls reboot a year ago and sort of forgot to cancel) and so we’ve been watching a lot more TV series lately. I like that you can just watch 1-2 45 minute episodes and then go get on with your life. We often watch something over lunch while we’re working on the farm. There are so many amazing TV shows coming out these days. We are currently addicted to Grimm, and after that is the second season of Riverdale.

Recently, a few good trailers have called me back to the movies, and I’m compiling a list of stuff we have to see this year. As you can see from this list, I don’t do superhero films. The only superhero stuff I’ve ever really liked is Jessica Jones and Luke Cage, and it wasn’t the superhero element that sold them in the end, believe me.

(And yes, I’m aware a couple of these came out late 2017. We get things late here in NZ. Sue me.)

1. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

There are dinosaurs. That’s basically all you need to know.

DINOSAURS.

Also, IAN MALCOLM. And they added some explosions and other stuff, too. But all I saw was DINOSAURS.

10-year-old Steff watched the original Jurassic Park something like a hundred times, then read the books, then obsessed about being a paleontologist until she discovered the Ancient Egyptians worshipped cats, and nothing else mattered after that.

After the original, Jurassic World is my favourite of all the films because one thing the first film plants in your mind is the idea of the park actually being open and functioning. And Jurassic World took that and ran with it and managed to make this old fanchise fresh and awesome (and a bit ridiculous … I mean, outrunning a T-Rex in high heels? But then, when you’re talking about genetically-engineered dinosaurs, I feel like you don’t get to be a stickler for accuracy, you know?). This one promises more of the same. The husband and I will see this at the movies, because dinosaurs should be twenty-feet high.

2. Winchester

Ever since Crimson Peak, I’ve been hanging out for a richly visual gothic film to sate my lust. But there really hasn’t been anything in recent years, until Winchester.

Based on the true story of Sarah Winchester – played by Helen Mirren – widow of the founder of the Winchester Rifle company, who was reportedly haunted by the souls of all the people her husband’s company’s products had killed. According to the medium she consults, the only way to quiet these angry spirits is to build them an immense home, with construction not being allowed to stop for a single day. The house – known as the Winchester Mystery House – actually exists, and contains weird features like doors and staircases that go nowhere, windows between rooms, and odd-shaped stairs.

The visuals in the trailer look stunning, and it happens to come out around my birthday, so I might be at the theatre for this one, too.

3. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Another film based on a true story, Three Billboards follows a grieving mother who, after the police in her small town fail to capture the man who raped and murdered her daughter, takes it upon herself to pay for three billboards to be posted up outside the community boundary. The billboards read:

RAPED WHILE DYING

AND STILL NO ARRESTS?

HOW COME, CHIEF WILLOUGHBY?

The billboards divide the town, and end up as a bit of a national news item, prompting more investigations into the crime, while the mother, Mildred – who seems to be a bit of an awesome upstart from the trailer – suffers harassment from townspeople and press over the billboards.

The trailer sells this. I want to see it so bad.

4. The Shape of Water

Guillerno Del Toro has written and directed a lot of films I love (Pan’s Labyrinth, Crimson Peak), and from the looks of this trailer, he’s outdone himself with The Shape of Water. A mute custodian at a laboratory befriends are amphibian/humaniod creature that in my mind is styled after the merpeople of myth (not pretty mermaids like in Disney films). It also scraped in 13 Academy Award nominations, and won two Golden Globe awards.

I am excited to get my hands on this to watch at home as soon as it comes out on home release.  

5. Mortal Engines

We picked up the first book in Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines series for £1 from a kooky junk shop while travelling through England. We both devoured it – CDH reading many passages out aloud to me because I couldn’t wait until he finished to read it – and sought out the others as soon as we could. The book series is dark and beautiful and perfect, and with Peter Jackson working on the film, it promises to be perfect, too.

The trailer captures everything that is awesome and terrifying about Municipal Darwinism.

I am so, so excited about this.

There are lots of others for this year and from late last year that I’ll have missed. What are you looking forward to, or what have you seen recently that you really liked?