">
Taste Matchmaker: This book is cozy and whimsical with an epic undercurrent, ideal for readers looking for older protagonists, a second-chance romance, or themes of motherhood, matriarchy, and female strength.
Fallow Lies the Blood is a cottagecore, epic fantasy romance, perfect for fans of Heather Fawcett and Naomi Novik. If you stirred elements of Persuasion, Howl’s Moving Castle, The Witcher, and The Wheel of Time into a cauldron, being careful to add in a world built on a menstrual-cycle-based magic system, you might wind up with something like this book.
In Orechan, magic pulses in sync with the human body, and only women wield its most potent forms, drawn from their cycles of ovulation, menstruation, and the creation of life itself. Ree Falco is one of the most powerful Wielders alive, a once-in-a-generation talent who revolutionized the magical landscape by creating the first Realm Gate. But the Gate shattered barriers between worlds, leaving an entire reality in chaos, and Ree fled to a life of rural obscurity, vowing never to wield such power again.
That vow is broken when Atlas Timber, the man Ree once loved, arrives at her cottage with Viola, a fiery young Wielder whose abilities mirror Ree’s own. Viola is the daughter of an alternate version of Ree and Atlas; she’s also the key to repairing the failing Realm Walls, a crisis that could unravel every world in existence. As Ree reluctantly agrees to train Viola, Atlas’s presence stirs up long-buried feelings and Viola’s determination forces Ree to confront the specter of the woman she might have been.
But when a malevolent version of Ree from a ruined Realm emerges, a being corrupted by years of grief and unchecked magic, and Ree is thrust into a battle for not just Viola’s life, but the survival of all existence. Creation and destruction are two sides of the same coin, and Ree must decide what pieces of herself she is willing to sacrifice to save the Realms—and the daughter she might have loved.
With plenty of romantic tension, a cozy, cottagecore setting, and a unique magic system based on menstrual cycles, Fallow Lies the Blood is set to become readers’ newest obsession.
Coming spring 2027 from Alcove Press.
More about the book…
Fallow Lies the Blood is high fantasy (meaning it comes with a map), but its magic system is based on the real, biological hormone cycles men and women experience as their bodies produce the building blocks of life. For women, this magic is bigger, more powerful–but limited–as the egg follicles and ova they Wield are the largest cells in the human body, but only accessible for part of each month; for men, power is much smaller, but infinite, as the spermatazoa they transmute into magic are the smallest cells in the human body, but constantly replenishing. With a magic system like this, you might imagine that the world looks a little different than ours, although it should feel familiar in some respects.
Readers who are comfortable with the fantasy genre should find themselves at home here, as it is essentially an adventure story set in a magical world, like most fantasy, magic system notwithstanding. This book is not a social commentary; it is a novel, and as the author believes all art should, its goal is not to serve an ideal or an agenda, but rather to serve the story itself. As far as theme and content goes, this is a book for adults, but a mature teen reader will not be overwhelmed. The majority of what makes it aimed at adults is thematic (ie the thoughts and worries of a 35 year old) as opposed to anything too sexually or violently graphic. Stylistically, you should enjoy this book if you are a fan of Rebecca Ross, Heather Fawcett, Naomi Novik, or Katherine Arden.
News and Press
