PW #120: Adult Urban Fantasy Romance: HOUSE OF ASH AND BRIMSTONE

Manuscript Status: One month delivery

Mentor Name: Emily Colin

Mentee Name: Megan Starks

Title: HOUSE OF ASH AND BRIMSTONE

Category: Adult

Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance

Word Count: 96k

Pitch:

Forced back into the demon court that nearly killed her as a child, exiled princess Gisele fights blossoming feelings for Shade, a royal guard who claims his soul is bound to hers. Except he serves the prince who wants her dead—and someone’s sealed away Gisele’s memories…for reasons she doesn’t understand. But when Shade becomes a dangerous weapon, hell-bent on ending her life against his will, Gisele must re-forge their soul bond, severing the prince’s hold on him once and for all—or die at the hands of the man she’s come to love.

Excerpt:

Gisele Walker landed in the fighting pit face-first, and her mouth flooded with mud. Bruised, she scrambled onto palms and knees, spitting out the warm red clay.

Her stomach churned, but she struggled to her feet, wiping her chin with the back of one arm. Mud sucked at the hem of her jeans, had plastered her tank top to her chest.

This wasn’t how she’d planned to spend her Friday night.

Overhead, a rich green-and-gold circus tent arched, burnished with ropes of amber globe lights. Empty stands surrounded a checkered stage that extended out from the pit. After hours, the place was quiet, deserted aside from the show’s performers.

The ringmaster, a bald-headed, jaundice-skinned demon in a crimson jacket and gray plaid kilt, leaned over the lip of the ring—at least fifteen feet high—to leer down at her. A cobra tattoo wound up his neck to swallow the top of his head, two fangs dripping venom into his greenish-yellow eyes.

“Thought you could s-steal from us-ss?” he hissed.

Well, yeah. Actually, she had.

At a quarter past two that morning, she’d crept through a country field littered with smashed popcorn and gummy worms, sneaking up to the tightly circled caravan of circus box cars.