Press Kit
Basic Info
Title: Of Rime and Ruin
Subtitle: A Twisted Beauty and the Beast Retelling (Sirens of Adria)
Author: Liesl West (she/her)
Author Name Pronunciation: LEE-zl (rhymes with weasel)
Publisher: Liesl West
Imprint: Darkling Press LLC
Publication Date: July 25, 2025
Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance, Dark Fantasy, Mermaid Romance, Fairytale Retelling
ISBNs:
- Ebook: 979-8-9900482-3-2
- Paperback: 979-8-9900482-4-9
- Hardcover (coming soon)
Cover designer: Miblart.com
Email contact: author@lieslwest.com
Content notes: This book is intended for mature audiences and includes content not recommended for readers under the age of 18. Of Rime and Ruin contains: profanity, explicit sexual intimacy, blood/gore/descriptions of corpses, past death of a parent, slight suicidal ideation, medical malpractice, young person’s loss of limb, and hunting of animals.
Please read safely. If you have any questions, or you’re wondering about the presence of a trigger not listed here, please contact me by email: author@lieslwest.com
Audience: 18+
Spice rating: Medium Spicy, four explicit scenes of open-door MF sex. Read The Octopussy’s Garden for a list of specific chapters to find or avoid.
Tropes: beauty and the beast vibes, arctic mermaids, grumpy x sunshine, grumpy Frost King, rebellious princess, hot chocolate fixes everything, only one polar bear, animal telepathy, vocal magic, it’s better in tail form, I’d freeze the sea for you, mermaid courts instead of fae
Suggested hashtags: #ofrimeandruin #lieslwest #sirensofadriaseries #mermaidromance #mermaidbooks #beautyandthebeast #darkfantasyromance #romantasy
Blurb:
A kingdom on the edge.
A monster in the depths.
And a bond that could rule or ruin…
Princess Nahlani of the Brine would rather master her siren magic than endure the responsibilities of court. So, when she’s threatened with an arranged marriage to a land-bound prince, Nahla flees—only to swim into the icy domain of the cruel Frost King.
King Aethan rules a Rime in ruins, his cold exterior concealing an unspoken shame: a curse that turns him into a bloodthirsty, unpredictable threat to his own people. The siren spy in his waters doesn’t know it yet, but she’ll be safer behind bars…
Determined to escape her new captor, Nahla’s magic sparks a forbidden alliance. Unaware of the bond she’s formed with the kingdom’s most feared creature—the fabled clawbeast—Aethan moves her from prison to palace.
But as the truth of the beast unravels, so does the distance between Nahla and Aethan, leaving them to confront a dangerous and undeniable attraction.
Part of the Sirens of Adria series, Of Rime and Ruin is a fantasy romance retelling of Beauty and the Beast.
Basic Info
Title: Of Song and Scepter
Subtitle: A Dark Little Mermaid Retelling (Sirens of Adria)
Author: Liesl West (she/her)
Author Name Pronunciation: LEE-zl (rhymes with weasel)
Publisher: Liesl West
Imprint: Darkling Press LLC
Publication Date: July 2, 2024
Genre: Adult Fantasy Romance, Dark Fantasy, Mermaid Romance, Fairytale Retelling
ISBNs:
- 979-8-9900482-1-8 (paperback)
- 979-8-9900482-2-5 (hardcover)
- 979-8-9900482-0-1 (ebook)
Cover designer: Miblart.com
Email contact: author@lieslwest.com
Content notes: This book is intended for mature audiences and includes content not recommended for readers under the age of 18. Of Song and Scepter contains: profanity, violence, explicit sexual intimacy, battle sequences, monsters, knife violence, blood, past death of a parent to murder, past death of a parent to suicide, physical abuse, and emotional abuse. This is dark fantasy but not dark romance; intimate scenes do not contain the violent elements described.
Please read safely. If you have any questions, or you’re wondering about the presence of a trigger not listed here, please contact me by email: author@lieslwest.com
Audience: 18+
Spice rating: Medium Spicy, three explicit scenes of open-door MF sex and two explicit solo scenes. Read The Octopussy’s Garden for a list of specific chapters to find or avoid.
Tropes: deadly mermaids, morally grey FMC, cinnamon roll siren prince, black cat/golden retriever couple, hidden identities, forbidden love, vocal magic, sea witch bargains, dark little mermaid retelling, females that know how to fight, he falls first, she stabs him, intimacy is better in tail form, moonlight dancing, I’d drain the sea for you, mermaid courts instead of fae
Suggested hashtags: #ofsongandscepter #lieslwest #sirensofadriaseries #mermaidromance #mermaidbooks #littlemermaidretelling #darkfantasyromance #romantasy
Tagline: A deep sea siren who’s never seen the sun comes to the surface… to ruin the life of a 6’5 cinnamon roll siren prince.
Blurb:
A deep sea siren who’s never seen the sun comes to the surface… to ruin the life of a 6’5 cinnamon roll siren prince.
After years of hunting sirens in the black depths of the Drink, Enna Valomir can finally see the light. One more job as a death-dealer, and her ruthless master Odissa will set her free.
But that final assignment is anything but usual. Odissa has hatched her most dangerous plan yet: disguised as a dead princess, she will infiltrate the Coral Kingdom, court the siren-shifter prince, and steal his throne. To win her freedom, Enna must accompany her as a handmaid and use her song magic to convince the surface court of her master’s ruse.
But the siren prince is kind. Charming. He’s everything Enna never expected in a sun-drencher—and he’s obsessed with her wicked charms. Compelled to protect him but oath-bound to silence, she must watch the prince descend into ruin, or warn him… and die.
An interconnected standalone in the Sirens of Adria series, Of Song and Scepter is a twisted, spicy romantasy retelling of The Little Mermaid where SHE’S morally grey, with fast-burn forbidden romance and mer courts instead of fae.