Anniversary Sale

 

What if your spell for love called someone from the stars? ✨

The Starlight Prince turns one on 25 March, and to celebrate, I’m running an anniversary Countdown Deal from 25–28 March.

Starts at 99p / 99c 💫

A hunted witch on Earth.
A shapeshifting alien prince bound by fate.
A love story for outsiders trying to find where they belong.

Grab it here: https://books2read.com/TheStarlightPrince

---

About The Starlight Prince

One spell. One ancient ritual. One fated collision between a runaway witch and an alien prince.

Madelyne has spent her life being hunted for her magic and hiding from a world that wants her burned. Desperate for a place to belong, she casts a full moon spell for love—never expecting a shapeshifting alien prince to crash into her life.

Kalas, heir to a galactic throne, has waited years to complete the divine ritual to find his fated mate. When a celestial vision leads him to Earth, he discovers Maddie: powerful, guarded, and completely unlike anyone he's ever known.

Drawn across the stars into a world of royal politics, ancient prophecies, and godly intervention, Maddie must decide whether she’s ready to embrace her destiny—or fight for a freedom she’s never known.

With passion that defies galaxies and a love that challenges fate, can two outsiders find their home in each other?

A spicy sci-fantasy romance with a HEA, fierce loyalty, emotional vulnerability, and bitey alien courtship

The March When ALL My Plans Went Off Track

 

March has been one of those months where absolutely none of my plans stayed on the track I originally set for them.

At the start of the month, I announced I was serializing The Briardell Chronicles. By the end of it, I was announcing that I’m actually serializing Kiss Me After the Kill instead.

In my latest blog post, I talk about why I made that decision, why Briardell now feels too special to serialize, and what this shift means for my long-term publishing plans as I work towards becoming a hybrid author.

I’m also sharing another big creative decision: pausing The Kindred Creativity Club for the foreseeable future, as well as some personal health choices I’ve made this month.

So yes — March has been full of pivots, rethinking, and a lot of “this was not the original plan.”

Read the full post on my website.

Author Announcement Regarding Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight

 

I want to start by thanking everyone who has liked, commented on, or shared my recent Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight posts on social media, and those who read Chapter One and left reviews.

Your support and enthusiasm mean the world to me—and it’s actually because of that support that I’m making this decision.

Earlier this week, while my husband was helping me edit and revise the latest chapter, he asked me a question that really stuck with me:
“Why are you giving this away for free? This is the best thing you’ve written. Why aren’t you querying it?”

So I took some time to sit with that.

There’s something about Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight—and the Briardell world as a whole—that feels different from anything I’ve written before. I’ve loved every project I’ve worked on, but Briardell feels… special. It’s the most fun I’ve ever had writing, and at the same time it feels surprisingly natural and instinctive.

Over the past year, I’ve grown a lot as a writer, especially since learning that I’m AuDHD and giving myself permission to explore the kind of stories I truly want to tell. Through that process, I’ve realised something important: I genuinely believe the Briardell Chronicles could be the story that opens the door to the next stage of my writing career.

Because of that, I’ve made the decision to pause the serialization of Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight while I explore other publishing opportunities for the Briardell series, including querying agents and editors.

I still believe strongly in the power of serialized storytelling, and in pursuing multiple publishing paths as a hybrid author—so there will be some serial-related news coming soon.

In the meantime, thank you again for all the love and encouragement you’ve shown me and the Briardell Chronicles. I’m incredibly excited about where this story might go next.

With love,
Clare

 

Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight Chapter One is Live

Happy Monday! A new week means a new chapter of Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight.

In this week’s chapter: Bethany Hwathorne's life is at a crossroads, as she loses her job, feels isolated in her home, and a kindly neighbour reminds her that she's different.

📖 Read it exclusively on Inkitt:

https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1653146

New chapters release every Monday.

New to the story? Start from Chapter One here:

https://www.inkitt.com/stories/1653146

COVER REVEAL: Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight

 

I’m excited to help reveal the cover for my new cosy, romantic fantasy serial TEA LEAVES, PAGES & STARLIGHT; coming exclusively to Inkitt on Monday, March 9, with a new chapter each Monday.

https://www.inkitt.com/stories/165314

A cosy romantasy about magic, belonging, and choosing love in the face of fear. Eventual spice level 3.5-4.

Starting March 9, 2026, with a new chapter every Monday.

--

Blurb

Bethany Hawthorne has never felt like she truly belongs anywhere.

So when a regular café customer recognises what she is—a witch—and tells her there’s a place where she won’t have to hide her magic, Bethany does something she’s never done before.

She leaves.

Briardell is everything she hoped for: a secluded village filled with warmth, magic, and people who understand what it means to be different. There’s just one small problem.

No one has a spare room to rent.

No one, that is, except the quiet, charming vampire who owns the village bookshop.

Desperate not to lose her chance at belonging, Bethany accepts Caleb Ashcroft’s offer of a room in exchange for helping in the shop. Between shared cups of tea and long evenings under lantern light, an unexpected connection begins to grow—one that feels as comforting as it does frightening. Because both Bethany and Caleb know how easily love can be lost.

But when a restless spirit of loneliness begins draining the joy from Briardell itself, the fragile warmth they’ve found may be the village’s only hope.

If they can stop running from their pasts long enough to choose a future together.

Momentum, Magic, and Another Year Around the Sun

February has flown by in a blur of revisions, cover reveals, and birthdays. With Kiss Me After the Kill nearing the end of revisions and a brand new cosy fantasy series — The Briardell Chronicles — beginning to take shape, it’s been a month of creative momentum and personal milestones.

From publishing plans to purple-glow celebrations (and a few medical curveballs along the way), there’s a lot to reflect on.

You can read the full update, including details about Briardell’s serial launch and upcoming cover reveal, over on my main blog here:

👉 [https://claredugmore.com/blog/momentum-magic-and-another-year-around-the-sun]

Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight Cover Reveal Promo Request

 

On March 4th,  I am revealing the cover for my new cosy romantasy serial Tea Leaves, Pages & Starlight, with chapter one going live on March 9, 2026.

I would love your help spreading the word about the cover and the serial.

If that's something that interests you, please fill out the form below, and I will be in touch on February 28, with the cover, blurb and links. 

https://forms.gle/NUhNyuRVyFRcFr8ZA

An Anniversary of Sorts: Reflecting on 16 Years of Writing & Creativity

 

I’m a day late to the party, but this month marked fourteen years since I rebranded my blog — and sixteen years since I began writing original fiction.

In this update, I’m reflecting on my journey as a writer, recent progress on Kiss Me After the Kill, upcoming projects, and the launch of Kindred Creativity Club’s first event of 2026.

It’s been a month of re-entry, reflection, and looking ahead — and I’m feeling more settled and hopeful than ever.

Read the full entry over on my blog at ClareDugmore.com

https://claredugmore.com/blog/an-anniversary-of-sorts-reflecting-on-16-years-of-writing-creativity

December & 2025: A Year-End Reflection

 

December didn’t go quite as planned for me — and honestly, that feels like the most December thing imaginable.

Between the holidays, family commitments, recovery from Novel-November and the Kindred Creativity Club Charity Auction, my brain very firmly decided it was time to rest. So I listened. Writing slowed, projects paused, and Christmas became about spending time with the people I love, recharging, and managing ongoing health stuff.

There were challenges — especially navigating family health concerns — but there were also so many good moments. Quiet celebrations, birthdays, games nights, too much food, and the kind of small joys that remind you what actually matters.

As 2025 comes to a close, I’m incredibly proud of what I achieved this year, particularly with Kindred, which only began in June and still managed to raise £280 for charity, host multiple creative spotlights, and build a genuinely supportive community.

Looking ahead to 2026, I’m excited to return to writing, finish Kiss Me After The Kill, work on new short fiction projects, and expand Kindred in meaningful ways — including a mental-health-focused charity anthology and more community initiatives.

If you’d like to read the full December and 2025 roundup, including my writing plans, Kindred goals, and reflections on rest, burnout, and creativity, you can find it here:

👉 [Read the full post on my website]

NEW RELEASE: A Winter's Kiss

 

I’m so excited to announce that my spicy, festive short, A WINTER'S KISS, is out now. Available exclusively on Amazon & Kindle Unlimited. 

BUY IT NOW

---

💞 About A Winter’s Kiss

Felicity usually loves Christmas, but this year, her perpetual singleness casts a shadow over the holiday cheer.

To shake off her gloom, she agrees to babysit her niece and nephew, Mia and William, while her sister Emily gets some much-needed Christmas shopping done.

Building a snowman with the kids brings a smile to Felicity's face, but it’s a temporary distraction from the loneliness she feels. When she confides in her sister, Emily teases, “If only Frosty the Snowman could come to life like in the children’s song.”

Later that night, Felicity is startled awake by a strange noise outside. Expecting to find a stray animal rummaging through the rubbish, she's stunned when she sees the snowman she and the kids built earlier moving.

With Emily's teasing words echoing in her mind, Felicity rushes outside, unable to resist the impossible notion that Frosty might have come to life.

Under the winter moonlight, Felicity watches in awe as the snowman sheds his frosty exterior, revealing a breathtakingly handsome snow-elf named Talvi, summoned from the faerie realm by a surge of festive magic.

Felicity’s first thought is to find Talvi some clothes before the neighbours catch sight of his chiselled, naked form. Her second thought is just how irresistibly sexy this snow-elf is.

Inviting him inside, the two warm up over mugs of hot chocolate. Felicity muses that maybe Emily's joke was more than just that—perhaps Talvi has been sent to melt away her loneliness.

Rather than being put off by her theory, Talvi smiles and reveals that in the faerie realm during Yule, there's a tradition for keeping warm—a tradition he'd love to share with her.

Despite his icy origins, things quickly heat up as Felicity leads Talvi to her bedroom, where she soon discovers that his ability to control his body temperature makes for some very tantalising experiences under the covers.