The Hunt was intended to make us an example, not a threat. That changes now.
Thirty-year-old Orelle Bren knows the best way to avoid death is to play by the rules of a society that only values women as wives and wombs.
Though it would be nice to reclaim the dream life her ex-husband stole from her, Orelle would gladly settle for a loveless engagement that exempts her from being among the ten unwed, childless women drafted for the annual Hunt.
It’s supposed to be an honor, being selected to leave their underground utopia to eliminate the Sols—humans who’ve been mutated with corrupt magic by exposure to the sun.
But Orelle knows it’s a glorified death sentence, especially for someone who’s already in a daily battle with their own body.
When her desperate attempts at enticement fail and she’s cast above into the fatal world of light, an unexpected ally challenges Orelle to find a new dream of living—and maybe even loving—out of spite.
To do that, there are few lines she won’t cross to uncover the true monsters before becoming one herself, or something even worse: prey.
This Safe Darkness is a romantic dystopian fantasy and the first book in the Sols & Shades duology that follows a disabled woman fighting to live out of spite in the deadly world of light after her eviction from the underground haven.
A weaponized lottery system, corrupt utopia, and slow-burn romantic sub-plot that’ll make you writhe over a simple wrist touch make this the perfect read for fans of The Hunger Games, The Handmaid's Tale, Blood Over Bright Haven, andGild.
The series
In a world where light kills and darkness shelters, the Sols & Shades series follows those caught between survival and the fierce desire to live on their own terms. Beneath the earth, in the subterranean city of Caligo, women are valued only for what they can give—marriage, children, obedience. Each year, ten unwed, childless women are drafted for the Hunt, sent aboveground to face the Sols—once-human creatures twisted by sunlight and corrupt magic.
Read full series description
At the heart of the series is Orelle Bren, a thirty-year-old woman navigating a society that refuses to see her worth. Her journey across deadly landscapes, tense hunts, and unexpected alliances blends dystopian stakes with the slow burn of personal connection, illuminating resilience, defiance, and the search for identity in a world that seeks to define it for her.
Atmospheric, dark, and hauntingly immersive, Sols & Shades weaves speculative world-building, high-stakes suspense, and quiet emotional depth into a narrative that lingers long after the final page. Readers who crave dystopian fantasy with flawed heroes, moral complexity, and slow-burn romance will find themselves drawn into a world where shadows are refuge, light is peril, and every choice carries the weight of life—or death.
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