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Available now Blood Rite: Book One

The Joining Trial

Power never dies
It only changes hands

Contemporary fantasy291 pagesEbook, paperback & Kindle Unlimited

The ebook is free to read on Kindle Unlimited. Prefer to skip Amazon? The paperback is $15.99 direct from me, signed on request.

The Joining Trial book cover — Blood Rite Book One by L. J. Glover, purple and magenta smoke on black
The Story

What it's about

Evelyn sold her soul in a dive bar. She thought it was a pickup line. She doesn't remember much before that — not the grief that drove her here, not the people she loved, not the woman she used to be — when she wakes up next to Laney.

Laney is older than Babylon. She may have angered some ancient gods recently, and now has just weeks to teach Evelyn how to inherit her magic and immortality, or watch it kill them both. Evelyn's former dealer is looking for her. A demon of debauchery is closing in. The gods are listening. And the foremothers are restless.

The Joining Trial is the first book in the Blood Rite series, a blend of thriller, horror and fantasy that tells a tale of forgotten Mesopotamian gods, found family, redemption and a magic that is older than time.

For readers of Ninth House, Blackbirds, and the Crescent City novels — but make it darker.

Contemporary Fantasy Mesopotamian Mythology Found Family Female Friendship Slow-Burn Magic Forbidden Bargains

Reader discretion advised

The Joining Trial is contemporary fantasy for adult readers. On the page you'll find body horror and ritual violence, on-page death, active addiction and drug use, demonic threat, heavy profanity, and one open-door sex scene early in the book. Themes include grief, self-destruction, and the kind of love that costs everything. If you finished Ninth House wanting it darker, you're in the right place. 18+ readers only.

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The Blood Rite Series

The Joining Trial is book one of a contemporary fantasy trilogy that weaves together addiction and redemption, found family, a Mesopotamian magic system, and characters who will rip your heart out and eat it whole. Book two is in progress.