We just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Katy Nyquist whose novel, A HOLY MAIDEN’S GUIDE TO GETTING KIDNAPPED is a Best Book Awards Finalist in the Fantasy category! Published by Podium Entertainment, it’s the first novel in the author’s Scandals of the Gifted series. Here’s the synopsis…
A Holy Maiden should never drink, get kidnapped, nor kiss a Dark Lord, but Ysabel is breaking all the rules to escape her fate as a human sacrifice.
In a world where magical powers are commonplace, Holy Maiden Ysabel is revered as a goddess among her people. She’s the only one able to heal the sick and injured with a simple touch. But her spectacular gift comes at a steep price. For each person she saves, she loses a day of her own conscripted life. To add insult to injury, she’s supposed to maintain a pure image even though she’d rather drink and play dominatrix until her sorrows fade away. After the corrupt Head Cardinal Jiang abuses her gift, forbids her from leaving the city, and takes her brother hostage, Ysabel doesn’t dare drag anyone else into her problems—especially since it won’t change her fate. But when Dark Lord Kaine arrives at her clinic doorstep grievously wounded, she’s touched by his refusal to accept her healing lest it cost her another day of her life.
The mysterious and sexy Dark Lord awakens forbidden desires in Ysabel, and the nagging survival instinct she tried to drown with booze and drugs comes back with a vengeance. She’s less impressed, however, when he threatens to sack her city in return for his injuries. Fortunately, she can flirt her way to an alliance against the Head Cardinal instead.
Armed with only a ferociously loyal female bodyguard named Alzira, Ysabel attempts to make the most of her mere months left to live, protect the refugees around her city, prevent a war, and hide her face blindness. But before her life flickers to its sad end, she must decide: either die a proper Holy Maiden or risk it all to run off with Kaine.
The novel is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook (read by Hollie Jackson). A HOLY MAIDEN’S GUIDE TO GETTING KIDNAPPED was also shortlisted for the 2025 Shirley Jackson Award.
Next month (December 16th), Podium are due to publish the second novel in the series: A FARM GIRL’S GUIDE TO RULING AS A BLOODTHIRSTY TYRANT.
