A. M. Strickland

Rovan has hidden her magic ever since her father was taken from her and her mother in order to escape that same fate. But when she wakes up massively hungover on a roof with another girl, she accidentally uses her powers to save that girl from falling to her death, and then the authorities haul her off to the palace, where she's bound to a spirit and forced to become a blood mage. As she plots her escape she struggles to know whom to trust and whom to let herself love, including two other royal blood mages and the ghost she's bound to.

I loved this cool fantasy both for its plot and characters and for its fantastic LGBTQ+ representation (Rovan is pansexual, and there are lesbian, ace, and nonbinary characters as well). It's so well written that I'll definitely be looking for more of Strickland's work.… (more)

Rovan has hidden her magic ever since her father was taken from her and her mother in order to escape that same fate. But when she wakes up massively hungover on a roof with another girl, she accidentally uses her powers to save that girl from falling to her death, and then the authorities haul her off to the palace, where she's bound to a spirit and forced to become a blood mage. As she plots her escape she struggles to know whom to trust and whom to let herself love, including two other royal blood mages and the ghost she's bound to.

I loved this cool fantasy both for its plot and characters and for its fantastic LGBTQ+ representation (Rovan is pansexual, and there are lesbian, ace, and nonbinary characters as well). It's so well written that I'll definitely be looking for more of Strickland's work.… (more)