A Time of Gladiators and Fate is filled with action, banter, strong women, historically accurate details, blood, and grit. It also has a slow, simmering romantic layer that takes its time to play out. Grace finds herself fighting an attraction to two dangerous, contrasting men. One is her sponsor and the other the lead gladiator school trainer. Neither wants to get attached to her either, especially since her chances of survival in the arena are slim.

I won't deny you'll learn a few things about 1st-century Rome while reading A Time of Gladiators and Fate, but you'll also get to watch how a modern woman navigates the ancient way of life. Sometimes with aplomb, sometimes not. You'll likely be asking yourself what you'd do in her shoes...or sandals in this case.

In this post, I share difficult and complex writing insights about my upcoming book, "A Time of Gladiators and Fate," in which I include humor but also cover serious themes of slavery in 1st-century Rome. This story follows Grace, a modern woman who must face the harsh realities of that era. The post also goes into detail about maintaining historical accuracy and emotional depth as much as possible. If you're curious about this book, you might check out my thoughts!

Crashing a car into the Roman Colosseum in the first century is a bad idea, one Grace learns the hard way. If you want to know how that came about, check out the sneak preview of A Time of Gladiators and Fate.

One moment, she's on a much-needed vacation in Rome, and the next, she's thrown into the first century with legionnaires chasing her and her orange rental car around the Colosseum arena. This was definitely not on her bucket list. Cover reveal time for "A Time of Gladiators and Fate." All the details about the book and pre-order links are in this post.

A Time of Gladiators and Fate is coming October 12th, 2026. This post will give you all the details you need to know, such as when you'll see the cover, what is the book about (hint: time-travel), and some background into my research of the Roman Empire for the novel. So excited to share this with you all!

Writing and publishing plans, Dolly the crazy chicken update, one of my series leaving KU, and other news.

Only in the Realm of Zadrya do readers get to see sentient, murderous plants as side characters with notable personalities. Now, it's time to see some amazing artwork of the most well-known varieties as of book two, Wrath & Desire.

For those waiting for Wrath & Desire to be on Kindle Unlimited or in hardcover format, I've got updates!

Wrath & Desire, the intense and turbulent second installment in the Realm of Zadrya, is here. The stakes are raised with complicated romance, war, dying land, more dangerous plants with attitudes, as well as some unexpected creatures spinning chaos as the fate of this fantasy world edges closer to annihilation. Oh, and the nameless gods are more active as well, interfering in ways that are...unexpected. If you've read the first book, Oaths & Vengeance (available in Kindle Unlimited) you'll want to grab this next book right away!

As the time draws closer for the Wrath & Desire book release, I've prepared a refresher for readers so they can dive back into the Realm of Zadrya world more easily. In this post, you'll also find details on a hardcover sale for Oaths & Vengeance, updates on ARCs, and other news.

Check out this post for the Wrath & Desire pre-order incentive giveaway.

Updates on the Wrath & Desire book release in February, including pre-order links, details on maps and dictionaries, ARC team info, and a bonus story I'll be including.

If you're itching to get a start on Wrath & Desire, book 2 in the Realm of Zadrya, you can now download the first three chapters through the Bookfunnel link on my blog post.

It's finally time to show it! The cover reveal for Wrath & Desire, book two in my romantasy series, the Realm of Zadrya. The official summary and Amazon pre-order link are included in this post.

A humorous chicken diversion scene from Wrath & Desire, because how else do you distract portal guards?

A post from author Susan Illene discussing the book two Realm of Zadrya title, cover reveal info, and snippets from the next novel.

This post covers updates for author Susan Illene on her writing progress, publishing timeline estimate, and personal life stuff.

I ran a large and time-consuming ARC campaign for my novel, Oaths & Vengeance, to give it the best push possible for release day. This post covers what went right and wrong with lots of data for those who are considering something similar, and anyone who is just curious.

If you enjoy enemies-to-lovers romantasy and want to meet a female character who cultivates a wickedly dangerous garden, then this book is for you. Aella isn't a young, inexperienced girl just discovering her powers. She's in her thirties with life experience, has a strong handle on her magic, and strains against a system that keeps fae women under men's control. …

Galadon is now available in audio. This is an enemies-to-lovers, spicy dragon shifter romance you don't want to miss.

Oaths & Vengeance is available on Amazon in paperback format with full-color maps!