The Empress of Time by Kylie Lee Baker
They had come here expecting to find a runaway orphan, but I would show them a goddess.
Half British Reaper, half Japanese Shinigami Ren Scarborough is no longer the girl who was chased out of England – she is the Goddess of Death ruling Japan’s underworld. But her problems have never been greater. Her Shinigami see her as a foreigner on the throne. Her brother, Neven, is gone, lost in the deep darkness. And her fiancé, Hiro, has been killed by her own hand.
Then Ren receives the most troubling news yet – Reapers have been spotted in Japan, and it’s only a matter of time before Ivy, now Britain’s Death Goddess, comes to claim her revenge.
Ren’s last hope is to appeal to the god of storms and seas, who can turn the tides to send Ivy’s ship away from Japan’s shores. But he’ll help Ren only if she finds a sword lost thousands of years ago – an impossible demand.
Together with the moon god Tsukuyomi, who shares an uncanny resemblance to his brother Hiro, Ren ventures across the country in a race against time. As her journey thrusts her into the middle of scheming gods and dangerous Yokai demons, Ren will have to learn who she can truly trust – and the fate of Japan hangs in the balance.
Published 19 October 2022| Publisher: Harlequin AU | RRP: AUD$19.99
Buy it at: Dymocks | Booktopia | A&R | Abbey’s | QBD
My Blurb (3.5 / 5 stars)
The ending of The Keeper of Night practically killed me so I needed a good & proper closure. I was terribly upset and needless to say, so was Ren. Well, Ren was absolutely LIVID. She would do anything… ANYTHING to get her beloved brother back and that’s what she’s trying to do in this sequel to The Keeper of Night. On top of that, she’s had to put up with insubordination of her underlings AND the British Reapers coming for revenge against her.
There was a lot going on in this book. I must admit that my memory of The Keeper of Night was kind of sketchy but it didn’t really matter in the end. The Empress of Time is another tale of quest and adventure involving Japanese mythology (gods & creatures) wherein Ren finally truly found herself and home. A truly satisfying but grueling ending for our self-made goddess of death.
My thanks to Harlequin Australia for ecopy of book via NetGalley in exchange of my honest thoughts
About the author
Kylie Lee Baker grew up in Boston and has since lived in Atlanta, Salamanca, and Seoul. Her work is informed by her heritage (Japanese, Chinese, & Irish) as well as her experiences living abroad as both a student and teacher. She has a BA in creative writing and Spanish from Emory University and is pursuing a master of library and information science degree at Simmons University. In her free time, she plays the cello, watches horror movies, and bakes too many cookies. The Keeper of Night is her debut novel.
Erin Hahn is an author of YA romances, including “You’d Be Mine”, “More Than Maybe” and “Never Saw You Coming”. Up next, she will be venturing into adult romance with her 2022 debut, “Built to Last”. She married her own YA love interest whom she met on her first day of college and has two kids who are much, much cooler than she ever was at their age. She lives in Michigan, aka the greenest place on earth and has a cat, Gus, who plays fetch and a dog, June, who doesn’t.
Freya Marske lives in Australia, where she is yet to be killed by any form of wildlife. She writes stories full of magic, blood, and as much kissing as she can get away with, and she co-hosts the Hugo Award nominated podcast Be the Serpent. Her hobbies include figure skating and discovering new art galleries, and she is on a quest to try all the gin in the world.
Fiona McArthur has worked as a midwife for thirty years. She is the clinical midwifery educator inner rural maternity unit and teaches emergency obstetric strategies while working with midwives and doctors from remote and isolated areas.
Jayci Lee writes poignant, sexy, and laugh-out-loud romance every free second she can scavenge. She lives in sunny California with her tall-dark-and-handsome husband, two amazing boys with boundless energy, and a fluffy rescue whose cuteness is a major distraction. At times, she cannot accommodate real life because her brain is full of drool worthy heroes and badass heroines clamoring to come to life.
The Omen of Crows Nest
Author Bio:
Jennifer Scoullar is a bestselling author of Australian rural fiction, and lives with her family on a small property in West Gippsland. Her house is on a hilltop, overlooking valleys of messmate and mountain ash. She grew up on the books of Elyne Mitchell, and all her life she’s ridden and bred horses, in particular Australian stock horses. Jennifer writes page-turning stories set in and around Australia’s magnificent wild places. She has nine published novels, including the bestselling Brumby’s Run, and the historical adventure series The Tasmanian Tales.
Victoria Purman is an Australian top ten and USA Today bestselling fiction author. Her most recent book, The Women’s Pages, was an Australian bestseller, as were her novels The Land Girls and The Last of the Bonegilla Girls. Her earlier novel The Three Miss Allens was a USA Today bestseller. She is a regular guest at writers festivals, a mentor and workshop presenter and was a judge in the fiction category for the 2018 Adelaide Festival Awards for Literature.
Tien's Blurb 