Top 5 New-To-Me Authors 2025

Top 5 Tuesday was created by Shanah at Bionic Book Worm, and now being hosted at Meeghan reads.

This Week’s Topic is:

The Death-Made Prince by. Lisette Marshall

A runewitch on the run has only one option join forces with the sarcastic, unpleasantly gorgeous necromancer she loathes

The man Thraga loved is dead, and her future is in shambles. When she’s sentenced to the gallows for killing her lover’s murderers, it’s a relief more than anything… until, the night before her execution, a necromancer is thrown into her cell.

Escaping with him is her only chance to bring Lark back to life – and also the start of all her troubles.

Because her new almost-ally is not just any man returned from death. Fire mage, rogue prince, and son of the man who killed her mother, sharp-tongued Durlain Averre is everything Thraga hates. Worse, he won’t revive her lover unless she joins him on a mission of his own first, using her forbidden rune magic to free his sister from the dungeons of an enemy king.

But their quest turns into a deadly chase when Thraga’s violent past catches up with her. And as the net of court intrigue and old fears closes around them, she begins to find out Lark was not at all the man she thought he was…

And neither is Durlain.

The Death-Made Prince is the first book of the Runewitch Saga, an epic enemies to lovers fantasy romance featuring two morally grey leads, OCD rep, and a Norse mythology-inspired world. While it is a slow burn romance, the first book does contain spicy content intended for 18+ readers.

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Alchemised by. SenLinYu

In this riveting dark fantasy debut, a woman with missing memories fights to survive a war-torn world of necromancy and alchemy—and the man tasked with unearthing the deepest secrets of her past.

“What is it you think you’re protecting in that brain of yours? The war is over. Holdfast is dead. The Eternal Flame extinguished. There’s no one left for you to save.”

Once a promising alchemist, Helena Marino is now a prisoner—of war and of her own mind. Her Resistance friends and allies have been brutally murdered, her abilities suppressed, and the world she knew destroyed.

In the aftermath of a long war, Paladia’s new ruling class of corrupt guild families and depraved necromancers, whose vile undead creatures helped bring about their victory, holds Helena captive.

According to Resistance records, she was a healer of little importance within their ranks. But Helena has inexplicable memory loss of the months leading up to her capture, making her enemies wonder: Is she truly as insignificant as she appears, or are her lost memories hiding some vital piece of the Resistance’s final gambit?

To uncover the memories buried deep within her mind, Helena is sent to the High Reeve, one of the most powerful and ruthless necromancers in this new world. Trapped on his crumbling estate, Helena’s fight—to protect her lost history and to preserve the last remaining shreds of her former self—is just beginning. For her prison and captor have secrets of their own . . . secrets Helena must unearth, whatever the cost.

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The Wolf King by. Laura Palphreyman

When a princess is kidnapped by an alpha , war rages between the humans and the wolves. But soon, forbidden attraction starts to grow. . .

Princess Aurora longs to escape the castle and the marriage that has been arranged for her.

But on the night before her wedding, at a dog fight where captured werewolves are made to fight for sport, she spares the life of a young wolf. It puts her on the radar of the powerful alpha who was going to kill him. And it changes everything.

That night, when the alpha escapes, he kidnaps her and takes her to the rugged lands north of the border — where the once warring werewolf clans are beginning to unite. He thinks that she is the key to winning the war against the humans.

Only, as they spend time around one another, forbidden attraction starts to grow. And as Aurora learns that not all wolves are bad, the alpha discovers that she is in danger from both his enemies, and those he once considered friends.

With monsters on both sides, a bloodthirsty war between humans and wolves raging, and undeniable passion growing between them — will their story end in love? Or tragedy?

And will Aurora ever get home?

Does she even want to?

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Coffin Moon by. Keith Rosson

It’s the winter of 1975, and Portland, Oregon, is all sleet and neon. Duane Minor is back home after a tour in Vietnam, a bartender just trying to stay sober; save his marriage with his wife, Heidi; and connect with his thirteen-year-old niece, Julia, now that he’s responsible for raising her. Things aren’t easy, but Minor is scraping by.

Then a vampire walks into his bar and ruins his life.

When Minor crosses John Varley, a killer who sleeps during the day beneath loose drifts of earth and grows teeth in the light of the moon, Varley brutally retaliates by murdering Heidi, leaving Minor broken with guilt and Julia filled with rage. What’s left of their splintered family is united by only one desire: vengeance.

So begins a furious, frenzied pursuit across the Pacific Northwest and beyond. From grimy alleyways to desolate highways to snow-lashed plains, Minor and Julia are cast into the dark orbit of undead children, silver bullet casters, and the bevy of broken men transfixed by Varley’s ferocity. Everyone’s out for blood.

Gritty, unforgettable, and emotionally devastating, Coffin Moon asks what will be left of our humanity when grief transmutes into violence, when monsters wear human faces, and when our thirst for revenge eclipses everything else.

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Burning Daylight by. Emily McIntire

Juliette Calloway lives in a world of luxury, legacies, and lies. The daughter of Rosebrook Falls’ most powerful family, her life is a carefully crafted performance, and she’s tired of being polished to perfection.

Roman Montgomery doesn’t exist. Not officially, anyway. He’s a shadow, a hidden weapon, the secret heir to an empire soaked in danger and a generations-old feud.

When their paths cross, sparks fly.
No names.
No pasts.

Just reckless smiles and an undeniable chemistry neither of them can shake.

Roman is charming. Mysterious. Infuriatingly flirty.

And Juliette? She’s simply…his.

When Roman is called back to claim his place as heir to the Montgomery empire, the truth crashes down: Their families are sworn enemies, and Roman’s very existence is a threat. Their love isn’t just forbidden, it’s impossible.

Now, every kiss feels like a betrayal. Every stolen moment a risk. And in a town built on secrets and blood, their passion might just be the most dangerous thing of all.