We told you May would be a busy month! Our next dual book review features two new titles from Entangled Publishing: Mai Corland’s Verity Guild and Melanie Harlow’s Hart’s Landing! These books take us from a high-stakes fantasy world to a small town in Michigan, both of which have a mystery to untangle.
Verity Guild follows High Priestess Kerasea Vestal, the last surviving heir of a magical bloodline. She becomes the main suspect in a senator assassination and must find the true killer before it’s too late. Torren Morvane has always wanted to see Kerasea’s downfall, but his investigation leads him to seek her help. Fate makes unlikely allies of them both, and possibly something more.
Hart’s Landing tells the story of one woman’s journey back to her hometown. When 28-year-old Mila was last in Hart’s Landing, she left behind a mysterious, devastating fire and her broken friend group. She’s back to care for her mother, hoping to lay low until it’s time for her to go back to Brooklyn. Enter Everett, the town’s mayor and Mila’s childhood crush who sees her visit as a way to pick up where they left off all those years ago.
For fans of romance with a little (or a lot of) mystery, we’ve brought together these two stories. Where one takes a darker fantasy route with political intrigue, the other takes a lighter route for second chances. But they both offer enticing dual points of view. If you end up interested in both, then we did our job. Here’s our latest dual book review with Verity Guild by Mai Corland and Hart’s Landing by Melanie Harlow!
Book Overview: Verity Guild
Content warnings: death, death of family, murder, suicide, graphic violence, torture, gore, evisceration, suicidal ideation, self-harm, augury, and alcohol use (Please read at your discretion!)
Summary: High Priestess Kerasea Vestal has spent her life hiding the truth—that she’s the last surviving heir of the magical bloodline the republic slaughtered. One wrong step could be fatal. But when a senator is brutally killed and a temple blade is found at the scene, all eyes turn to her.
Praetorian Torren Morvane has made a career of dragging liars into the light, and Kerasea is the one person he’s vowed to ruin. But locked on a mountain with a murderer, scheming senators, and a prophecy of death, he’s forced to work at her side. The closer he gets, the more dangerous the truth—and their attraction—becomes.
With traitors closing in and a nation on the verge of shattering, Kerasea and Torren must risk everything to uncover the real killer…even if it means trusting their sworn enemy.
Our Review
If you’ve been looking for a novel that blends a heart-racing romantasy with some spice and a high-tension murder mystery, then we have the perfect book! Verity Guild by Mai Corland does exactly that and more. Our two main characters, Kerasea and Torren, investigate a senator’s assassination. The biggest problem? They’re locked in a palace on top of a mountain for a week with the very people who could be behind this conspiracy.
Torren suspects Kerasea based on multiple, conveniently placed pieces of evidence, but the more he learns about her, the less probable it seems. And as the death toll rises, this unlikely pairing must band together before one (or both) of them becomes the next target. Any of the remaining senators, their guards, pages, and/or servants could have a hand in these murders. Torren even questions his best friend’s political motives.
Loosely based on Ancient Rome, Verity Guild transports us to a fantasy world where the elite families are untouchable, protected by the law. Kerasea risks everything to hide her true Elusian heritage. Torren’s personal vendetta crumbles at the face of affection. And with a deathly illegal cliffhanger ending like this one, we’re holding onto our seats to prepare for the next installment.
Release date: May 5
Order Verity Guild here!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MAI CORLAND:
INSTAGRAM
Book Overview: Hart’s Landing
Content warnings: fire, serious injury, hospitalization, medical procedures, references to alcoholism, child abuse, domestic abuse, death of family members, cheating, and divorce (Read at your discretion!)
Summary: Ten years ago, Mila Ferguson left behind a devastating fire, a stolen kiss, and a shattered circle of friends in her hometown of Hart’s Landing. But when a crisis brings her back, Mila just wants to get in and get out, unscathed by her mother’s constant criticism and unseen by her former crush, Everett McKean.
Only…Everett is everywhere. The town’s attractive, beloved mayor has resisted settling down, but he’s never stopped wondering about Mila. Having her back in Hart’s Landing is the second chance he didn’t know he was waiting for—and he’s not about to waste it.
As Mila slowly opens her heart to Everett and begins to rebuild her fractured friendships, she wonders if coming home was exactly what she needed. But old wounds threaten to open again when questions emerge about what really happened the night Mila left. Who’s really responsible for the fire that destroyed the bakery? And will knowing the truth free Mila from the past, or ignite a blaze that burns down the future she’s trying to build?
People say you can never truly come home again, but sometimes coming home isn’t about where you’ve been. It’s about who you’re brave enough to become.
Our Review
Moving from fantasy to contemporary romance, we have Melanie Harlow’s newest book, Hart’s Landing! It has the signature small-town charm that works so well with second-chance romances. Our main character Mila is a 28-year-old botanical illustrator who temporarily moves from Brooklyn back to her hometown in Michigan to help her mother get through hip surgery.
Mila left Hart’s Landing 10 years ago after a terrible incident left her the one to blame and her friend group in shambles. Though she hopes to make herself undetected during her six-week visit, her small town has other plans. It doesn’t help that more evidence behind what started the mysterious fire 10 years ago comes to light. Plus, Mila’s old crush, Everett McKean, is now the town’s beloved mayor. And after a stolen kiss on that fated night, Everett hasn’t stopped thinking about what they could’ve had.
Hart’s Landing is a swoon-worthy adult romance with a love interest we quickly fell for and a level of spice we weren’t expecting. (The serene cherry blossom landscape on the cover definitely had us fooled!) But this book also digs so much deeper than that, addressing toxic family dynamics, small-town politics, and romantic relationships built on trust. We live for this duality!
Release date: May 12
Preorder Hart’s Landing here!
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MELANIE HARLOW:
FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | WEBSITE
What do you think of these new May releases from Entangled Publishing? Do you feel more drawn to Mai Cortland’s murder mystery/romantasy, Verity Guild? Or do you prefer the small-town charm of Hart’s Landing by Melanie Harlow? Let us know on Twitter! You can also find us on Facebook and Instagram!
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