Who wants some bite-sized love stories from worlds like ours and those beyond?

If you’re new to Vella, here’s a quick rundown. At the moment, it is only available for readers in the US but hopefully Vella will be rolling out internationally soon.

These stories are some of the incredible romances from all quarters of the speculative fiction genre. We’ve got epic fantasies, fantasy romances, urban fantasy romance, paranormal fantasy romance, steampunk romance, dystopian science fiction romance, science fiction romance, and more!

The first three chapters on all of these stories are free, so there’s no risk to checking them out.

The primary categories are

  1. Romantic Fantasy and Fantasy Romance
  2. Urban Fantasy Romance and Paranormal Romance
  3. Science Fiction Romance and Alien Romance

Romantic Fantasy and Fantasy Romance

The Fae Kings’ Bargain by Willow McCain

Updates every Friday

Fun Fact:

Willow McCain is the steamy romance alter-ego of Bethany Adams the epic romantic fantasy author.

Blurb:

Kings Toren and Mehl have been married for a century but haven’t given much thought to procuring an heir–until Toren’s brother issues a challenge for the throne.

The problem?

Only a few can withstand Toren’s magic.

Then a chance summons reveals that Ria, the tailor’s daughter, is a possible mate for Toren and Mehl both. But even if they save her from her cruel father, it might prove impossible to capture her heart.

(CW: Contains steamy scenes. Brief mentions of past abuse.)

Fae Rose Bride by Jessica M. Butler

Updates every Wednesday

Fun Fact:

There are many types of fae in this world ranging from shifters to elementalists to illusionists. And most of them don’t get along.

Blurb:

She came to save her village from a curse.

A tree spirit decided he needed someone to love.

Deemed curse, Taya is willing to risk everything if it saves her village. Versal, Lord of Fire and Winter, finds himself drawn to her.

Mystery surrounds the curses that were part of an ancient treaty. He can’t violate the treaty & must not fall in love with her. But fate & danger keep thrusting them together.

Can he resist the strange human woman or will he bring about war and banishment?

Chosen by Faerie by Emery Hart

Updated weekly

Fun Fact:

The heroine in this story loves to save herself.

Blurb:

A mortal girl who knows her way around a blade.

A fallen Fae warrior with a chip on his shoulder.

A realm spiraling into chaos.

For nearly 17 summers, Maura Collins has grudgingly lived a lie while dreaming of a life outside the military training base. Her father claims secrecy will keep her safe, but hiding her ability goes against her very nature.

When one fleeting loss of control flips Maura’s world upside down and a team of Fae enforcers arrives, she’ll learn the truth can be its own curse.

The Kingdom Asleep in Thorns by Cay Fletcher

Updates every Friday

Fun Fact:

This is a dark, queer retelling of Sleeping Beauty based loosely on one of the first written versions of Sleeping Beauty, Sun, Moon, and Talia by Giambattista Basile c. 1634.

Blurb:

A fairy’s curse. A princess in disguise. A kingdom under a mysterious enchantment.

An invitation to the post-tournament feast starts our hero, Sir Aldebrand, on a journey to unravel decades of secrets.

But as they navigate court life in the sleepy Kingdom of Dorne, will they find more trouble than they bargained for?

Can they find true love, friendship and overcome the curse they carry?

The Blood Moon Princess by Serena James Chase

Blurb:

On the day of her anointing, young Princess Nyaria and the women of her Freig clan are attacked by ruthless mercenaries.

With her kingdom decimated, her people scattered and lost, she is taken as a reluctant ward of her enemy. As she vows to avenge her family, forces align.

Loyalties are tested. And a new war for power begins.

Can Nyaria find her way back to her people?

Will temptations inside the new world consume her desires for vengeance?

Or will the strange land become her prison forever?

W.O.L.F. by Elle Davis

Completed

Fun Fact: This is a fairytale retelling of Red Riding Hood set on a train that moves one megnetic repulsion.

Blurb:

Rowan Hood, granddaughter of brilliant inventor, Dr. Hood, is on her way to Grandfather’s house.

But dastardly schemes are in the making, eager to prevent her from arriving with his latest weapon, the W.O.L.F.

With her armed guard at her side, will she make it to her destination or will she become another casualty along the trail?

In this steampunk retelling of Red Riding Hood, you never know who to trust.

Change in Eyre by Ashley Eppley

Blurb:

Mary Jane Erin had an unpleasant childhood. Her means of escaping was reading her favorite book, Jane Eyre. Mary Jane channeled all that suffering in becoming an accomplished professor and author at Oxford specializing in Charlotte Bronte.

She is transported & switches places with her favorite heroine Jane Eyre and is later drawn in by the mesmerizing Rochester.

Will Mary Jane’s past struggles get the best of her, or will she succumb to the desire of her heart and the change in eyre in Jane Eyre?

Change in Rochester by Ashley Eppley

Blurb:

This is the sequel to Change of Eyre. The story leaves off with Edward Fairfax Rochester leaving his means wealth and reputation to follow his beloved Governess Mary Jane into the 21st century.

Rochester works alongside of her as Professor in Oxford. But unfortunately a thorn lies hidden in their love.

Now Rochester has cope with working his beloved hoping she would remember or try to gain a fresh start together.

That won’t come easily, for Rochester knows he must change.

A Forest of Stolen Memories by Callie Thomas

Fun Fact: This is a backward fairytale which plays on the typical construct as the story plays in reverse.

Blurb:

Celebration turns to disaster when a mysterious curse goes awry. A reminder that the Sorcerer’s prophecy still plagued the royal family.

Roselyn’s memory is suddenly erased, leaving her panicked at the altar.

Confused, she flees to the place the prince fears most–the enchanted Mistbrooke Forest.

Danger lingers closer than she can imagine, forcing her to seek help from a dark stranger who may be the key to recovering her lost memories.

Can she break the curse without breaking her heart?

Dragon Blood: Insatiable by Jane. A. Writer

Fun Fact:

This is a regency-era romance that becomes entangled with a Game of Thrones type situation.

Blurb:

Ancient Dragons are worshiped as gods, they contain mystical powers and energy, that they passed down through their off springs and into humans.

The story follows the royal dragon mixed family of Drakon, their love lives, their affairs and their search for control of powers of the Ancient Dragon Gods.

They all have a common goal, to protect each other, their bloodlines and connections to the gods while also warding off an ancient evil dragon god.

Kingdom of Lies by Cat Humes

Updated Mondays and Fridays

Fun Fact: The author wanted to write a story that was inclusive, nontoxic, and for adults.

Blurb:

Cursed. Witch. Saint.

The firstborn child of the King of Naporia, Ara Palacios, has been hidden away for all her life because of her uncanny resemblance to her mother–the late Queen that saved one King by killing another.

But the two are nothing alike. Her mother was a legend; Ara is just a normal girl.

When her lies get the only boy who treats her like a normal person tangled up in her life forever, she’ll have to embrace the thing she fears the most: that they might have actually been right.

Catalyst by L.K. Billips

Updated Mondays and Fridays

Fun Fact:

There is a mechanical manticore featured in this story named Purgatorio whose namesake is from Dante’s Inferno.

Blurb:

Annabelle Sweeting has come to London. Set in a Steampunk world, a country girl with a quirk for gears and fashion makes her way through the busy streets in the hopes of discovering herself.

What she does discover, however, are two dashing men vying for her attention, an unexpected series of murders, and an underestimated talent for being in the middle of it all.

Can she navigate her way through the haughty ton, help the handsome Constable solve the murders, and not get killed herself?

Urban Fantasy Romance and Paranormal Romance

Slay Date: Demon Dropout #1 by Miranda Honfleur

Updated every Thursday

Fun Fact: The story starts off in Champaign, IL where the author attended college.

Blurb:

The plan was to graduate. Dying wasn’t part of the plan.

Dying definitely wasn’t part of the plan.

So maybe the career center didn’t have a pamphlet on vampire slaying, but here we are.

I expected a totally normal future, but I should’ve known the second I agreed to a blind date, all hell would break loose.

I have weird powers and don’t know the first thing about vampires (unless you count TV?), but I need to find out who’s making a horde of them or else I get to graduate to six feet under.

Witchery by K. R. Richards

Updated Tuesdays

Blurb:

After being separated seven years ago, when tragedy struck three families who hail from a long line of witches, the Bells, Lamonts and Moncreiffes must join together to battle their common enemy, a dark warlock bent on revenge.

Minerva Bell never thought to forgive Duncan Moncreiffe for leaving her to marry another woman.

Duncan never thought he’d have another chance to make things right with Minerva.

They must forget the past to eliminate the evil threatening to destroy them.

Bound by Pride by Wendy May

Fun Fact:

This is a sweet and steamy Why Choose where the heroine doesn’t have to choose between her mates.

Blurb:

Being different shouldn’t matter in this world.

But it does.

I’ve never wanted to be a wolf shifter. But I am. I’m also packing an arsenal of magic that my vampire enemies wish I didn’t carry.

At least there’s one thing going my way. Now they’re trying to hunt me down, but joke’s on them.

I’m not alone. 

Seraphim Rising by Meri Montgomery

Updated Tuesday with one or two episodes depending on the week

Fun Fact:

This is a steamy paranormal romance intended for 17+.

Blurb:

Mathias was a top enforcer for the vampire council. A hunter and cold-blooded killer.

Seraphina was a human. Down on her luck and about to make the biggest mistake of her life.

Little did they know, their destinies were about to collide. Mathias wasn’t just a vampire.

He was a vampire with a soul. Seraphina wasn’t just a human. She was the ultimate weapon that could destroy them all.

Life made them mortal enemies. Fate made them soulmates.

Immortal Guardians by R.M. Alexander

Updated weekly

Blurb:

Humans are fragile, and Celeste will stop at nothing to ensure they’re able to live in peace from the fae who would destroy them.

Then, she falls for the enemy.

Not Your Angel by Rose Sinclair and Amy Michelle

Fun Fact:

This story is coauthored by two friends (Rose Sinclair and Amy Michelle) who met on a roleplay forum website and started writing together sixteen years ago!

Blurb:

Two worlds, two wings, and one big problem ex…

With the return of her childhood ex-boyfriend, Silana and her family must stop pretending to play normal and embrace who they really are in order to save the world from a disastrous past love eager for new worshippers.

The only problem is that Earth already believes in angels.

Kiddnapping the Vampire by Siren Allen

Blurb:

Kat Davenport had one mission: kidnap her cousin’s fiance and bring him to their safehouse.

Bashing the wrong man upside the head and causing him to have amnesia was never her intention.

With time running out, Kat has no choice but to pretend her new captive is her husband and take him with her until their looming threat has passed.

But as her captive’s memory returns, Kat realizes he’s not only the wrong man, he may even be the threat her family is running from.

Oh and he may not even be human!

Slayer Society by Avery Hail

Updated biweekly

Blurb:

Kyla learned the hard way that there are things that go bump in the night. Now, she’s learning how to kill them.

When Kyla’s invited to join a secret society devoted to slaying anything paranormal, she’s all-in, ready to avenge her sister’s death at the hands of a vampire.

But soon, she begins to suspect that the Slayer Society is not all that it seems…and the guy she’s falling for may not be entirely human.

Living Hell by Joss L. Riley

Blurb:

It’s a mean world. And it’s only getting meaner.

Humans and Supernaturals live side-by-side, sharing power in a tenuous truce.

Eva Jacobs is a ward of the state and a 17-year-old vampire with a secret that will upend the balance between vampires and humans.

To some, she’s a weapon.

To the vampire hunter charged to find her, she’s his salvation.

Who will survive living hell?

Exile: Under the White Moon Paranormal Mystery by Kitty Gulick

Fun Fact:

A shifter romance with fated mates and a side of serial killers.

Blurb:

Eibhleann “Eden” Mac a’tSionnaigh and her partner were exposed to the enzyme that facilitated lycanthropy; it meant a death sentence.

When the next full moon rose, Philippe turned.

She didn’t. Twenty years later the hunter is being hunted.

Only time will tell if it was the council, the pack, the blood suckers, her hallucination or the serial killer terrorizing central Texas will catch up with her first.

Lola Rising by Christina Whisler

Blurb:

Lola is from a farm in Montana, but now she lives in Los Angles California.

Her family secret is that she is part Fae. Which she doesn’t know until her 25th birthday.

Ben is from a different planet and now living on Earth in Los Angeles California. He owns his own company and also has a ranch.

When they come together it is like they were meant to be.

Their love is fast and furious, but can it take the test of time?

My Viking Alpha by J. R. Froemling

Completed

Blurb:

Lily’s life was ruined. She was practicing a sleep spell one minute and her dog was dying the next. Then her family and she are racing through time.

Ten years later, living amongst Vikings in the New World, she’s humiliated by the boy she has a crush on, Rolf. She flees back through time and right into her father’s clutches.

Only, Rolf chases her to this strange and horrific place called New York City.

Determined to make amends and bring her back to her rightful place, by his side.

Dani Black: Demon Hunter by T.S. Meshell

Fun Fact:

The author intended this to be plain contemporary when started, but the story had other plans.

Blurb:

What could go wrong when an overweight, underemployed, gal with untreated ADHD and anxiety falls face-first into the hidden world of the supernatural?

Oh, pretty much everything.

Dani only wants to smack demons around with the aid of her talisman.

Too bad she has vampires, nature spirits, magical cults, and worst of all, an unexpected supernatural house guest to deal with.

Can she stay out of trouble or will she get dragged in, like it or not?

The Agent by Azrielle Lawless

Blurb:

Agent Alley Driver has a unique job. She awakens angels of light who have been born into human bodies so they can join the great war between that rages on between the light and the darkness.

Angels, Demons, Djinn and a whole new set of rules await you in The Agent.

Of course Alley is taken by surprise when she falls in love with a powerful Throne angel awakened to combat a great evil rising in the world.

The Monster Match by Jasper Thorne

Fun Fact:

Everyone deserves a happily ever after in The Monster Match.

Blurb:

Men suck. Or at least, human men do.

So when I installed the “Monster Match” app as a joke, the last thing I expected was to wake up in a dark, lavish manor full of supernatural creatures!

Now I’m at the mercy of a possessive demon prince, and I’d be lying if I said his sinful touch and sculpted body didn’t make me question everything I thought I knew.

The Vampire’s Ball by Melba Moon

Fun Fact:

Rock salt doesn’t work against vampires.

Blurb:

What would you do if you arrived at an inherited property and found a ball in progress?

Not just any ball, but The Vampire’s Ball.

Of course there’s no such thing as vampires, right?

Not possible or so Ada Grace Montgomery thought. She was a scientist, a research scientist at the CDC.

She didn’t have time for this nonsense. Until the mystery thickened and she discovered her great aunt had been murdered and now the murderer was after her.

Dare she trust the vampire sworn to protect her?

Teddy Boy by L.E. Harrison

Updated weekly

Blurb:

What would you do if you had the ability to connect, mind-to-mind, with anyone you wanted?

Leah and Sophie are cousins training at the Witch Goddess Academy. Sophie asks Leah to contact her celebrity crush – Paul McCarron from the rock band Teddy Boy.

In 1985, contacting someone famous is done by telephone, snail mail, or meeting in person.

Unless, like Leah, you just learned a spell that can take someone’s consciousness and transfer it into your own physical body.

The Maidens by T. J. Loveless

Updated every five days or so

Fun Fact:

The author based these fight sequences off real-life fights.

Blurb:

When the Earth was young, power swirled in the red-hot depths.

When human women evolved, it found the perfect vessels.

The gods became jealous, wanting what they couldn’t have, and will stop at nothing to obtain the power and use it.

These are the stories of the last of those women to carry the power of the universe.

Science Fiction Romance and Alien Romance

The Havoc State by Rose Jay Rigby

Fun Fact:

The dogs in the story are based off the dogs the author had when she first came up with the story. The dogs used for the cover were shelter dogs.

Blurb:

After natural disasters cause world wide extreme dystopian societies.

Two sects rise from the ashes and they’re at odds. It’s the worlds of Halcyon (the haves) vs. Havoc (the Have nots).

We follow Gemma as she clings to the comforts of Halcyon until her world turns upside down and she is driven to the wilds of Havoc.

While on her journey, will she find all she’s been searching for?

The Harvester by Melba Moon

Fun Fact:

When you harvest a man from the past to save the future, be sure to kidnap the right man.

Blurb:

How do you save humanity when humanity is set on destroying itself and has succeeded for the most part?

You find jumpers who can survive time-travel and send them to harvest DNA from the past.

Male DNA that is since the women of 2436 are perfectly fine thank you very much.

The only qualification for the male is no progenty the DNA strain ends with this specimen.

Easy until Jade harvests the wrong specimen, then all bets are off.

Memories of Aiyana by Kendra Cassidy

Updated on Tuesday

Fun Fact: The two protagonists are married in a later series, The Cassidy Chronicles. This tells the journey of their friendship and eventual romance.

Blurb:

My name is Kendra Cassidy, retired Admiral, wife to Aiyana Cassidy, and I’m here to set the record straight.

My biographer has done a good job, more or less, telling the stories of our life after we married. But there’s decades he missed, stories from our childhoods, which are dying to be told.

These are my memories of Aiyana.

Terra1 by Elle Davis

Completed

Fun Fact:

 The people in this time all have their ancestry tattooed on their necks as infants. It determines their life, except in Terra1. They live in peace, as long as the war keeps raging. But when the war ends, the peace ends, and the Herotians are coming to destory everything.

Blurb:

Octavia has rasied her younger brother, Luca, since she was fifteen years old inside the compound of Terra1.

The barbarian war rages outside their walls, the only reminder is the tattoos the goverment required since birth that detail their lineage.

When Herotian army breeches the wall, it’s not spoils they’re looking for, it’s Octavia and her brother.

When one lieutenant takes special interest, will it be enough to save them? Or will they fall against the lethal invaders?