Howl's Moving Castle meets Polish folklore in this stunning book from first-time author A. B. Poranek. Add in a cursed forest, a twisted bargain, and a dash of Beauty and the Beast, and 'Where the Dark Stands Still' will be your new favourite romantasy to look forward to in 2024.

 

Growing up in a small village near the spirit-wood, Liska Radost knows that magic is ungodly and its practitioners are monstrous. Yet despite her efforts to hide her own magic, she fails to fully suppress it, unleashing devastating consequences. Desperate to be free of it, Liska ventures into the demon-inhabited forest in search of a wish-granting flower, only to be caught by the warden of the wood - the Leszy - who offers her a deal: one year of servitude, then he will grant her wish.

 

With few options left, Liska agrees. As she tentatively settles into a new routine of cooking and cleaning in his crumbling manor, she is pleasantly surprised to find the Leszy is not as cruel and cold as the stories say. That is until she makes an unsettling discovery: she is not the first person to make this deal.

 

As gruesome apparitions stalk her and the demons in encircling wood grow vicious, Liska must race to unravel the Leszy's secrets if she ever hopes to survive the year...