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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 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 magic landscape by creating the first Realm Gate. But the Gate shattered barriers between worlds with chaos and blood, and Ree fled to a life of rural obscurity, vowing never to Wield such power again.
That vow is tested when Atlas Timber, the man Ree once loved, arrives at her cottage with Viola, a fiery young Wielder whose abilities mirror Ree’s own. She is the key to repairing the weakening Realm Walls, a crisis that could unravel every world in existence. As Ree 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 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, the man she loves—and the girl who might, in another life, have been their daughter.
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…
Readers who are comfortable with the fantasy genre should find themselves at home here. 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.
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