House of Death and Shadow - Of Gods and War, #1

In a lonely and cold world, Darci faces a mysterious shadow and the possibility that something lurks in the shadows of the forest near her home. When strange writing appears on her wall, her curiosity leads her into the trees despite her instincts demanding she leave it alone. Grief won't let her rest, and her nightmares spur her to confront the past and the losses she's endured. What she finds in the forest might spark a cataclysm of events that she can't control, and when she encounters a man cloaked in shadows, her life might turn upside down. 

A foreboding sense of someone coming for her occupies her days, and she does the only thing she can think to do--seek out this stranger and find the answers she needs. In doing so, she finds another world full of magic and beauty that is both foreign and oddly familiar. Magic itself seems to know her, and her time in this world awakens something buried deep inside that connects her to this unknown rescuer.  

But will the power within her exceed her expectations and create chaos for the world she calls home? Death comes for them all, but the villain might be closer than she realizes. What if Death itself isn't who she thought it was? 

House of Death and Shadow is a dark fantasy book for those who enjoy a taste of magic with their literary fiction. It features found family, reluctant heroes, and morally gray villains (or antivillains) set in an atmospheric world of shadows, dark forests, and something that breathes in the darkness. It's a commentary on grief, loss, and how humans press on when faced with the worst of themselves.