Silvercloak

YA fantasy author Steven (The Society for Soulless Girls) takes an adult turn with this competent romantasy. Orphaned as a young girl, Saffron Killoran dedicates her life to bringing down her parents’ killers, the Bloodmoon Gang. About to graduate from the Silvercloak Academy of magic-wielding law enforcers, she is offered an undercover assignment to infiltrate the Bloodmoons, an opportunity that accords with her strange prophetic vision of kissing and killing the mob boss’s son, Levan. The deeper she enmeshes herself with this crime family, however, the more conflicted she becomes by her growing attachment to Levan and her estrangement from her former colleagues. She also discovers her talent for a forbidden branch of timeweaving magic, leading her to question if her vision is foreordained or escapable. Steven takes her time in developing the romance, with family connections and secrets coming to light along the way. Though this pulls focus away from the police work, leaving Saffron’s investigation stuttering along uncertainly, readers who come for the enemies-to-lovers arc will be rewarded with some lightly kinky sex scenes and plenty of angst. Steven should win a whole new set of fans. Agent: Chloe Seager, Madeleine Milburn Literary. (July)