Spotlight & Giveaway: A Treason of Magic by Melissa Marr

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Melissa Marr to HJ!

Hi Melissa and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, A Treason of Magic!

Please summarize the book for the readers here:

What if Buffy the Vampire Slayer lived in the Regency era in the Scottish Highlands? One woman in all the world must fight monsters (faeries in this case!) but also attend balls and search for a spouse. Bridgerton vibes meets monster hunter.
 

Please share your favorite line(s) or quote from this book:

“We don’t need the whole of the peerage to know that the Hunter is a woman, do we? We’ll figure it out as we go. I’m less interested in titles and more interested in finding the faery murdering men in the Brimmond Wood.”

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

A Treason of Magic is set in a fictional/fantasy version of the Scottish Highlands. I have been returning to the Highlands & islands of Scotland for 20 years now, so when I started writing, I only knew that it was set there. The characters evolved, but that was a constant. I took two of my kids and my wife with me on a multiple week roadtrip from London to the moors to Edinburgh to the Hebridean Island. We popped into castles and wandered moors and museums, and in the end, I had what I needed to writing this setting more vividly. My family got used to sentences like “I could put a dead body right there.” and “How long would it take us to walk this section?” It was super fun for all of us.

What first attracts your Hero to the Heroine and vice versa?

They fell the first time when they were teens, so in the time of the story they both have the yearning for the way they were before things fell apart. They understand the other in terms of interests, hobbies, personalties, and passions, so I think theirs is a “friends to lovers to enemies” before the story starts. But as soon as they are in the other’s presence, both Isabeau & Gabrielle are unable to ignore the magnetism of not just what they THINK could be fabulous, but what they remember. I think it’s personality/mind first, but there’s a generous helping of lust in the mix with it.

Did any scene have you blushing, crying or laughing while writing it? And Why?

I think one of the scenes that ripped all those emotions forward was when Isabeau inevitably discovers that Gabri is the Hunter. It was a moment of both characters confronting their own fears & insecurities and although OUR fears and insecurities are not–typically!–about defeating monsters, I felt like the idea of putting our fears forward & facing them is very relatable. The scene continues into the physical and that made me blush a little. There is light bondage & smexy fun because sometimes it’s easier to say “Yes, I am yours” with actions that underline the words.

EXCERPT:
“I cannot accept this, Gabrielle.”
“I cannot change how I feel, but I forgive you of your words of marriage,” I say quickly. “I will not trap you.”
Isabeau grabs me, hands firm on my shoulders. “I cannot accept that you are the Hunter. I am beyond grateful that you love me.”
I shake my head as a bitter laugh bursts out. “There’s nothing to accept. You saw me fight, Isabeau. You felt me defeat you. You know I can find whatever creature is slaying—”
“You continue to misunderstand me, now.”
I pull out of her hold and walk away from her. I feel like my heart beats in my throat as I tell her, “The only way I stop being the Hunter is if I die.”
“No.” Isabeau approaches me, stalking toward me not unlike a predator. My body thrills at the aggression radiating off her, unable to control the possessive surge inside me. She feels like an equal, a person I could have and hold. She says, “I would burn the world to keep you safe, love.”
Hearing her call me “love” in that moment sends a frisson of hope through me. The words I want to say tumble together, but no sound parts my lips.
Isabeau stops in front of me. “I do not doubt your strength or your ability. I simply do not want anything to hurt you, especially because I asked you to hunt this creature. I intend to marry you, to cherish you, and I cannot stand being responsible for your death or injury.”
I step backward. It’s either that or I leap into her arms, and I doubt anything would be resolved by having relations with her instead of conversation. “I don’t know that marrying you is wise, Isa—”
“Liar.” She gives me the same arrogant smile that has always made me want to swoon. “You said I needed to hear your secret first. I have heard it.”
“You ran,” I whisper.
“For a moment, love. I wanted to lock you away. I would claw a moat in the ground with my bare hands. Fill the water with venomous serpents.” She cups my cheek in her palm. “I am filled with panic,
Gabrielle. This monster kills.”
“Yes, it attacked me in the forest. You were there, after,” I confess.
“I thought you fell.” She crushes me in her embrace. “Never lie to me again. Swear it.”
“I swear.”
We stand in silence a moment until I pull back and ask, “Are you certain? About still wanting to be with me?”
“Absolutely.” Her hand darts out, catching my hip in her hold. I am certain my bones are melting under the heat in her eyes .

Readers should read this book….

If you liked Buffy or Bridgerton OR if you want a brooding love interest with impulse control struggles OR if you like monster hunter love stories . . .

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have in the works?

My next release, A Treachery of Curses (in November 2026), is about the Hunter’s twin, Rylan. Like Gabri, Ry is torn between duty and her heart. Her situation is further complicated by the fact that her first love is the crown prince. Where A Treason of Magic is a F/F Beauty & the Beast story, that one is a F/M Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty story.
 

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: One finished copy of A Treason of Magic by Melissa Marr to a winner in the US or Canada 

To enter Giveaway: Please complete the Rafflecopter form and Post a comment to this Q: If a wickedly charming, slightly cursed king offered you one bargain to save the people you love, and the price was everything, would you take the deal? Tell me in the comments. I promise not to tell Merrick.

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Excerpt from A Treason of Magic:

“Dance?” The word draws me out of my mind and back into the room, where the duke is now peering at me with an extended hand.
“That is kind of you, but n—”
“She’d be delighted, Your Grace,” the Countess of Fleuriste says, speaking over me in a voice that will not accept objections. She waves a hand toward the floor. “Go on.”
I shoot a surly look at Mother before standing. “Certainly.”
I ignore Isabeau’s hand and instead rest my own lightly on the duke’s forearm as we walk onto the already crowded floor several moments into a song. The dancers part around us. Recently inherited or not, Isabeau is a duke. The world is her oyster.
My touch is as light as can be as I try not to notice the lines of muscles under Isabeau’s jacket. She’s always had the sort of form that makes me sigh longingly. Tonight is no exception.
She thought I was lovely in battle, my heart sings.
None of that! my logic orders.
The duke faces me and bows. Her poise is enough to heighten the feelings already plaguing me. I want to be immune to her.
I curtsy to her. “Are you sober enough to lead?”
Isabeau scowls. “Is that foul temper why you were playing the wallflower?”
When the duke’s hand curls around my side, perilously close to where I had been stabbed, I flinch.
Let her think it’s from her words, I hope.
I rest my arm atop Isabeau’s and let my hand touch her shoulder lightly. With my other hand, I grasp Isabeau’s free hand.
This hand touched my chest years ago.
Those arms clung to me at her castle mere weeks ago.
And she does not recognize me . . .
As we start to move, I fumble for a way to think of safer things. Isabeau moves like something feral and powerful, and I have always liked it far too much.
“I was at the wall because I have no interest in dances or any of this . . .” I glance around the room, desperate to focus on anything but her.
“I will make my vow to the queen and depart.”
Isabeau is silent a moment. “Your eyes flash when you are irritated.”
I smile despite myself and hint, “You should see what my weapons do.”
The laugh from Isabeau is followed by a tightening of her hand, as if to stop me from fleeing. She smirks before asking, “Do you enjoy swords, then?”
My escaping laughter is a mix of shock and genuine amusement. When I can control my amusement, I ask, “Was that your way of asking if I prefer the company of men? Or do you mean literal swords?”
“Both.”
“I have no preference for men or women.” I meet Isabeau’s gaze. “I have kissed both.”
I wish Isabeau would ask who, almost as much as I wish I could stop thinking of our long-ago kisses and caresses.
“I am not looking for a spouse, however,” I offer quietly. “I am not seeking entrapment.”
“A lover, then?”
“I have had a lover.” I thrill at the freedom the mask is allowing me in making such a bold confession. “Despite many attempts at intimacy, I was not impressed by him.”
This time, it’s Isabeau’s burst of laughter that draws glances our direction. “Is that a challenge? I would not disappoint you.” For a moment, I debate. Is it a challenge?
“I have kissed you before, Maudite.”
Isabeau smirks. “I fear that does not narrow the list of names. Shall we go somewhere more private and remove our masks?”
“I was offered a dance.”
“So you were.” She looks at me in a hungry way that makes moths set flight in my stomach. We flow through the crowd of dancers, drawing too much attention for my comfort. The duke is an even more masterful dancer than when we were last on a ballroom floor.
After several silent moments when I cannot decide how to answer, Isabeau releases her grip on my side to spin me out, then draw me in again. “Do you want to be seduced?”

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

In a world where magic, desire, and duty collide, it is beauty who is fated to kill the beast in a lush historical fantasy of secrets and star-crossed love by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr.

Two young women. Heirs to altogether different hereditary burdens. Yet bound by a monstrous threat to their village.

Gabrielle is the first woman in Alveus to carry the mantle of Hunter, which comes with an obligation to kill the faery beasts murdering travelers in Brimmond Wood. Wary of the power she wields as guardian of her people, Gabrielle is summoned by her first love, a seductress who shattered her heart into pieces a decade ago.

Isabeau is the rarest of nobility—a lady duke. She is also afflicted by a curse that leaves her in a deep sleep between the gloaming and daylight. How can she begin her tenure as protector when she can’t keep her village safe from whatever stalks its darkest hours? For that, she needs the help of the Hunter.

Against her will, Gabrielle is falling in love all over again. But what new threats will arise when Gabrielle and Isabeau’s star-crossed destinies collide with the beast of Brimmond Wood?
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Meet the Author:

Melissa Marr is the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series, among many other novels, short stories, and fiction for teens and children. Her books have been translated into twenty-eight languages and have been bestsellers in the US and abroad. If she’s not writing, you can find Melissa in a kayak or on a trail with her wife. For more information, visit www.melissamarrbooks.com.
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