This is a busy release week for me, and I’m switching gears today to the Dragon’s Breath Series with the audio finally available. As some of you know, this is the single spin-off featuring Galadon and Rayna as the main characters. It’s their turn to get a happy ending. While it will give closure to the series, I did write it with enough recapping of the pertinent details from previous books that readers could jump straight into this one if they wished. It is the only novel in the Dragon’s Breath world with a lot of spice. There are also easter eggs in here for the Realm of Zadrya series, with the main characters from that one making a brief appearance.
The rest of the details are below!
SUMMARY
The attraction between them is undeniable. They are also born enemies.
One time, in the midst of a war for their very survival against a greater foe, Galadon and Rayna gave in to their lust. It was explosive and breathtaking. Afterward, he told her it could never happen again. Galadon is one of the most powerful dragon shifters in the history of his kind and has a tragic past that began with his mother abandoning him at eight years old in a land far from home. Most other dragons fear and revile him, so he trusts no one.
Rayna is a slayer, bred to kill his kind with ruthless efficiency. When she sees Galadon, though, she doesn’t care about his other side. She sees a man who completes her soul and could end the loneliness she’s endured after years of roaming and hunting his kind. The hard part is proving he can trust her.
He is determined to resist the pull between them, but when she becomes endangered by their mutual enemy, he has to ask himself if he’s willing to lose the only woman who truly sees to the heart of him…forever.
Note- This novel contains spicy elements, violence, torture, and foul language.
I have a few things for you all about Oaths & Vengeance and Galadon. The first thing I want to let you all know is that the Galadon audiobook pre-order is up, and it will release on August 19th, 2025. You can check it out on Amazon HERE. It will be available pretty much anywhere audiobooks are sold if you prefer somewhere else. Even most of the libraries in the United States have my audiobooks via Hoopla.
Oaths & Vengeance has multiple updates. For one, I’ve been doing an ARC (Advance Review Copy) campaign ahead of the release to help get word out about my new romantasy series and so readers can see what others think of the novel before choosing to buy it once it releases. Almost all the people who have read it so far have never read any of my other books. I wanted to test the waters with an expanded audience, and thankfully, the reviews have been amazing. There are currently over fifty of them on Goodreads, along with some of them posted in other places like Instagram, Storygraph, and Fable.
I took a lot of chances with this book that bucked the trends of the genre a bit by making the FMC in her thirties and already in full control of most of her powers. Her growth comes from other facets. Also, this series has sentient plants, some of which are even mobile when the urge strikes them. I had no idea how that was going to be received, but I had to write it. For about seven years now, I’ve really gotten into gardening and love it. I thought it would be fun to create unusual and rather moody (sometimes hostile) plants since this series is set on a different planet with magic. Thankfully, that appears to be one of the favorite elements reviewers have mentioned (wipes forehead in relief). The magic system and world-building are also designed to be unique and stand out from other series in the genre, and that has been really well received as well.
PAPERBACK FOR OATHS & VENGEANCE
I’ve set up the paperback through Amazon, so it’s ready to go and will release on August 18th. That’s a few days earlier than the ebook to allow for shipping time since I can’t do a pre-order for it. I am amazed at how beautiful it came out, especially because it has color maps inside (the color maps are also in the ebook). The drawback is that color printing is more expensive, but I priced it as low as I could at $28.99.
The other drawback is that Amazon doesn’t offer color printing in Australia, and I have a decent amount of readers there. As it stands, they’d have to have the paperback shipped from the United States. I know that’s expensive. I may set up an Etsy shop or something to sell signed copies at a lower price so I can ship them down there (need to research this). Also, we hope to visit Australia again in the next year or so. When that happens, I’ll pack some in my suitcase to bring for readers. My in-laws haven’t met my youngest son yet, and my oldest turned one while we were there, so he doesn’t remember my husband’s family. While there, I can try to plan a meetup with readers in Melbourne or at least ship the paperback to them while I’m much closer.
HARDBACK FOR OATHS & VENGEANCE
I finished formatting the interior for the Oaths & Vengeance hardcover a few days ago. My cover designer is on vacation at the moment (bad timing on my part), but hopefully soon after she returns, she can format the cover for that edition and I can move on with the next step. I’m using Ingram Spark for it, which will provide much wider distribution and make it more accessible worldwide. At this stage, I’m not sure if it will be ready the same time as the paperback and ebook, but I will do my best. A lot depends on how long it takes before I receive the physical proof copy, and if it looks good, approve it for sale. The maps will be in grayscale for the hardback to make it more affordable (sorry, no color for this one). It will be $24.99, which is cheaper than the paperback, though. I will update more on this once I’ve finalized everything.
KINDLE UNLIMITED AND AUDIO
For those who have been with me a while, you know that when I release ebooks, I have them wide on all the retailers for a few days. In this case, Oaths & Vengeance will be available on Nook, Kobo, iTunes, and Google Play for four days. I’ve also given a long pre-order period, so there has been plenty of time to order it. On the evening of August 25th, I will pull the ebook off those retailers, and once it’s cleared (usually about 12 hours or so), I’ll put it in Kindle Unlimited for the readers who prefer to borrow it through Amazon. This only affects the ebook version.
For audio, most of my books have been published through Tantor/Recorded Books. I am hoping to work with them again for Oaths & Vengeance. First, though, I need to prove it will sell since it’s a new series. I also desperately want this one in duet format, which requires two narrators and costs a lot more to produce. As a result, I haven’t contacted the publisher yet (I don’t have an agent and just pitch my work to the editor they assigned me). If this book proves to do well enough after release, I will see about getting it into audio and let you all know. Fingers crossed!
That’s it for now, but feel free to ask questions below if I’ve missed something. I’ll be out doing school clothes and school supply shopping today, but I’ll get back to you all as soon as I can. Hope you’ve all had a great week!
Christmas with Dragons is finally live in audio. Some of you may have noticed it was on Audible already a couple of days ago, but I wanted to hold off my announcement until it filtered out to all the other retailers. You’ll find the links below.
I’ve got a few updates for you all. The first is that you can now pick up the Christmas anthology, A Very Paranormal Holiday, on the major retailers for 99 cents. It includes an all-new story from the Sensor Series with an event that will be referred back to in future books (though it’s not vitally important to the overall storyline). There are also some other great paranormal stories in the anthology by other authors including Mark Henwick, Connie Suttle, Debra Dunbar, J.T. Bock, and J.C. Mells. You don’t want to miss it.
You can still get it for free instead if you contact me and are willing to sign up for book release alerts, but the links are below for those who’d prefer to purchase it:
I’m hard at work with Darkness Shatters and I’m shooting for a February 25th release date. This novel will be a little different in that it switches to Lucas’ POV occasionally (with him in 3rd person). There are certain parts of the story that just can’t be told from Melena’s perspective and I believe it makes the overall novel stronger with his viewpoint in it. Expect the cover reveal for Darkness Shatters around February 1st. I’ll also be posting the first few chapters of the novel in a few weeks so you can get a taste of what the book will be like.
For the audiobook listeners, Darkness Divideswill be out next week on the 20th and Darkness Clashes will be out on February 17th. If you’ve been following along, please do leave a rating/review on Audible. I’d greatly appreciate it!
Also, about the mailing list sign-ups. I’ve got one list that is strictly for new book release alerts. If you requested the Christmas anthology that is the one you signed up for. The only thing you get with that one is an email on the day a new book comes out with links for where to purchase it. Some of you have already gotten it in recent weeks with Tempting the Moonand know what I’m talking about.
If you’d also like updates on my publishing news, special giveaways, and early excerpts from future novels you will need to sign up for the newsletter. All you have to do for that is enter your email address and name to the form on the top right corner of this webpage or click here.
That’s it for now, but feel free to ask questions below if you’ve got any. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
For those of you who have been waiting for Darkness Divides and Darkness Clashes to be out in paperback, they are both available now. Amazon gave me the kick in the pants I needed to get it done by offering to help out. I think they got tired of waiting for me to do it myself (in my defense, I’ve been busy). Big thanks to the Createspace team for their design work. Here’s the links for those who’d like to pick them up:
You can also find them on Barnes & Noble as well as some other online retailers.
The big release day for the Darkness Haunts audiobook is this Tuesday (Nov 25th). Pre-order for the digital download is now available, but if you’d like to hear a sample of it first click here. Prices for it vary according to how you purchase so for your convenience I’m going to tell you the cheapest ways to get it as of right now. Keep in mind the cost could go up or down at the retailer’s discretion.
1) For those who shop at Amazon and already own the kindle version of Darkness Haunts, you can get the audio version on Amazon here for $3.49. I’m not sure of the price outside the U.S. but feel free to comment and let me know what you’re seeing if you’re in the UK, Germany, Australia, etc and own the Kindle version.
3) For those who do not have Audible membership (or can’t/won’t get it), and also do not own the Kindle version of Darkness Haunts you have a few options. Buy at full price from Amazon or Audible for $27.99, buy it on iTunes for $23.95, or you can buy it on my publisher website (Tantor) for $14.39 at this link- https://tantor.com/darkness-haunts-susan-illene.html
As I mentioned in a previous post, you can also order the CD versions of the audio book. Here’s the links to those:
*Currently, Tantor offers CDs at the lowest cost. You can get the regular audio CD that works in all CD players/computers for $14.99 or you can get the MP3 CD for $9.99 that works in computers and some CD players.
I hope those of you who pick it up enjoy the audio version of Darkness Haunts. You can expect Darkness Taunts to be out on December 16th. The CD version for it and the other books in the series are already up for pre-order, but the digital download versions don’t become available until closer to their release dates. Feel free to ask any questions if you have any!
