Monster
This
of
Mine
by shalini abeysekara
“I’m coming for you”
Eighteen-year-old Sarai knows the taste of death.
Four years ago, she was found half-dead at the bottom of a tower with only one memory of how she got there. She knew she was pushed. investigators held that she jumped and closed her case. In the present, Sarai hides her identity and returns to the scene of the crime as a Petitor, a prosecutor who can magically detect lies. Her goal: to secretly investigate her near-death and ruin the man responsible. Vengeance seems close when she is selected to work for the coalition of judges who rule the land. Until she is assigned to the most dangerous one, Kadra—whose voice matches her only memory of her assailant.
Ice-cold and perennially sadistic, Kadra channels both vices into razing corruption via burnings and beheadings. So, the capital is bewildered when he invites Sarai to live with him while she acclimates to the job. Eager to ruin him, she agrees and begins a double life: solving cases with him by day and searching his home for evidence at night. Yet, every case highlights the judiciary’s corruption in comparison to Kadra’s vicious justice. Worse, a dangerous mutual attraction brews as Sarai begins to question if she has the right man.
But the judiciary is keeping secrets. Petitors fall from towers in the dead of night. Whispers abound of a killer among the judges, and Sarai starts to wonder whether Kadra is keeping her by his side to protect her or prey on her. As evidence mounts on both sides of the scale, Sarai must distinguish monster from madman and liar from lover. Or choose the one person no one sought justice for—herself.
This
Monster
Of
Mine
Shalini Abeysekara
Pre-Order
coming soon
Barnes & Noble
Waterstones
Indigo
Amazon
Target
Indie Seller #1
Indie Seller #2
Indie Seller #3
*not actual cover art
About Me
Shalini Abeysekara is a Canadian romantasy writer with a penchant for escape. A former corporate lawyer, she enjoys using fantasy to interrogate the written and unspoken rules governing society. She's passionate about writing neurodivergent women of colour reckoning with themselves and their place in a world that tells them they’re too much and not enough.
Her debut romantasy, This Monster of Mine, is an Ancient Rome-inspired bloodbath of manipulation, deception, and forbidden love. It comes out with Union Square & Co. and Hodderscape in Spring 2025 with a second novel to follow in 2026. Updates and pre-orders will be regularly posted on Instagram @shalini.writes
When not writing, she games her life away and tries every day to make the perfect entremet. Most days though, she can’t believe she's an adult, and hope you don’t either.
Books & Reviews
this Monster of Mine
Coming soon . . .
Contact Shalini:
shaliniabeysekara@gmail.com
agents
mjamieson@unitedagents.co.uk
ginger@gingerclarkliterary.com
S O C I A L S
