An elf hiding from a malicious queen. A rider whose dragon will be tortured if he chooses his fated mate. What will they risk when forbidden love threatens everything else? In the land of Vanatia, Sifa’s doomed to the elven prison if she’s found. Desperate to unearth the queen’s secrets, Sifa’s chasing answers by doing the city overseer’s dirty work. But when her boss sends her with a dangerously handsome dragon rider to the brutal prison she barely escaped years ago, she fights desire even as she confronts demons she’s still battling. Fhord’s torn between his dragon and fated mate. When Sifa joins him on a job, he spurns their bond because in Vanatia, dragons suffer when their riders sin. If he flouts his oath to the crown by harboring an elf, Fhord won’t be able to shield his beast from the queen’s wrath. Terrified Fhord will discover her secret and betray her to the monarchy, Sifa battles their growing passion. And though Fhord’s dragon will pay the price if he falls for Sifa, his need for his mate may outweigh the risk. Can Sifa and Fhord overcome their yearning for each other as they journey toward the prison that could threaten her freedom and his bond with his dragon? Sacred Struggle is the enthralling start of Tales of the Vanir, a fantasy romance series being rapid released beginning May 22, 2025. If you enjoy fated mates, forbidden love, and slow-burn romance, with dragon riders, found family and quirky sidekicks, you’ll adore this page-turning tale of lovers learning sometimes it’s futile to fight fate. Sacred Struggle has an HFN ending with a mild cliffhanger, and will appeal to readers of Fourth Wing (Rebecca Yarros), Crescent City (Sarah J. Maas) and When the Moon Hatched (Sarah A. Parker). Sacred Struggle has dark elements, including violence and graphic torture of people and dragons, as well as sexual assault and depravity (but not between the main characters), and genocide (of elves). It includes open-door spice and frequent profanity.
Author
Rochelle Wilcox was born and raised in Las Vegas, where she learned at an early age the value of fantasy and escape. Raised by a single mom—one of the first women trained to deal poker in the early 70's—Rochelle spent more time in casinos than most adults. She and her husband decided to leave the desert behind and raise their sons in Northern California, where they spent as much time on the water with their boys as they could. Despite her lifelong passion for story-telling, Rochelle's path took her to law school and then to a practice focused on media law and appeals. But her love of writing wasn't sated with briefs bound by legal principles and a fealty to facts. And so she set to paper the story that had been playing in her mind for years, based on the Norse mythology she loved as a child. Rochelle retired from her legal practice in 2022 to travel and write. She released her first book, Lost Long, Book I of The Road to Ragnarök, in 2012, and the rest of that four-book series in 2022. Book IV, Heavy Heart, was named N. N. Light's Book Heaven's Best Romantic Fantasy of 2022, and it was one of three finalists for Best Indie Book of 2022. Her current series, Tales of the Vanir, is fully drafted and will be rapid-released in 2025, starting with Sacred Struggle on May 22. The remaining three books in this series will be released every five weeks: Frenzied Fate on June 26; Divine Dilemma on July 31; and Mythical Menace on September 5.
