We hope you’re enjoying our Capsule Book Club recommendations! This month is quite a left-field pick for Emma Clifton, who has never been able to get her head around anything remotely fantasy (Harry Potter excepted!) but she gives a sexy little dragon number (what a sentence) a go – and as always, this month’s pick, When the Moon Hatched, is available at The Warehouse now! (And click through for our previous instalments!)
CAPSULE X THE WAREHOUSE
As someone who has tried and failed to read Lord of the Rings approximately 20 times, the fantasy world has never held much interest for me – I cannot keep the names straight, and any book that begins with a map of a fantasy world acts like a red flag for my attention span.
But there is one thing that will counteract having to learn the names of different elvish and-or-faery tribes, and that is: horniness. So the recent explosion of fantasy romance is right up my alley (excuse me!), as a kind of supernatural take on the bodice rippers cliché. Because while the bodice rippers have a woman in peril waiting to be saved, fantasy romance instead focus on a bad-ass heroine who is super busy trying to save the world, who happens to fall for a forbidden man in a cloak who has forearms as wide as a tree trunk
In When The Moon Hatched, the latest novel by Kiwi author Sarah A. Parker, that heroine is Raeve, a (sexy) bounty hunter who is trying to bring justice to a lawless land, who happens to fall for the mysterious (sexy) Kaan Vaegor (honestly the names in fantasy romance are a law unto themselves).
In amongst magic, dragons, violence, and an intricately created world of fantasy, the pair are maybe mortal enemies who slowly learn to like and then love each other. You know how this is going to go, but in the densely detailed world that Sarah A. Parker has created, you’re in good hands in getting there (if you know what I mean *wink*).
This trend of fantasy romance is part of a new boon of NA books – which stands for New Adult, a new genre for women in their 20s and 30s who loved the creativity and horny energy of YA books, but wanted more grown-up content (read: sex scenes). Led by the A Court Of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR) series by Sarah J Haas, this new genre is what the podcast Sentimental Garbage calls ”proper pulpy magic filth”, these are books that “hit the intersection of sexy trash and garbage fantasy.”
Now, those might not be phrases that appeal to you – they 100% do to me – but Sarah A. Parker also does a good job of creating an incredibly immersive world of believable characters, social structures, interesting magic and, you know, dragons.
I will say that the opening chapter about dragons was a bit lore-heavy for my tastes, but I’ve never understood a single James Bond plotline and still know enough to follow the concept of Action + Romance = Sexy Entertainment. What I’m saying is… don’t let the dragons put you off, if you’re just here for the sex scenes (they take a while but they’re worth it) and if you absolutely love dragons, then welcome! You’re in the right place!
Sarah A Parker is an NZ-born author who became an international bestseller with her Crystal Bloom series, and When The Moon Hatched is the first installment of her new Moonfall series.
This story has been produced with the support of our partner The Warehouse. Every click, like, share and comment supports Capsule’s work and our commitment to keeping our content free. Thank you for supporting independent, female-owned media! 💛