Home

Friday, November 28, 2025

Read The March Effect by Kim Alexander #Romantasy #Romance #Urban #Dark #Paranormal

  





The March Effect
(New World Magic Book 2)


Synopsis

A unicorn walks into a bar…and leaves with my heart. 


He’s gone, and now I have a unicorn-named-March-shaped hole in my life. But, I get it. Unicorns aren't meant to live in a world where they have to deal with putting gas in the car, getting groceries, and paying cell phone bills. 


I'm trying to get past this. Really, I am. It's just that everyone constantly talks about him, from his immortal ex-girlfriend, to reality TV-obsessed Fae, to even my own fully-human friends. 


Even his enemies are still obsessed with him. I learned that the hard way. Did I mention the part where I end up on the run—again—from an old, powerful enemy of his? Yeah. Fun times. 


I just want to be left to get over my broken heart while watching home improvement shows and eating ice cream. But mysterious disappearances, murder, and a quest for affordable real estate in Washington D.C. keep getting in the way. Maybe that's just life. Sometimes we get what we want. 


Sometimes, we get what we need. And sometimes, we get what we deserve. 


I guess you could call it…The March Effect.





What are the other books in the series?


Pure

‘A unicorn walks into a bar….’ That is not a joke. 


Look, I’m a bartender, I have nothing to do with the xenos. 


I don’t care if it’s an elf or a vampire--as long as they don’t bother me, I steer clear. 


I have my reasons--you can see them in the scars on my neck. I never wanted to get involved. But my life changed for the second time when I saved the life of a unicorn. I made an enemy of something old--old and evil, and whatever it was, it’ll be back for another try. 


I also made a friend when I decided to help March. He’s only been a human man for a day. I’m responsible for him now. He’s my friend…and maybe something more. 


Maybe a lot more. It doesn’t matter to me that he isn’t magical anymore. I don’t care if he’s not PURE. But he does.


Free Download


-----


The March Effect

A unicorn walks into a bar…and leaves with my heart. He’s gone, and now I have a unicorn-named-March-shaped hole in my life. 


But, I get it. Unicorns aren't meant to live in a world where they have to deal with putting gas in the car, getting groceries, and paying cell phone bills. I'm trying to get past this. Really, I am. It's just that everyone constantly talks about him, from his immortal ex-girlfriend, to reality TV-obsessed Fae, to even my own fully-human friends. 


Even his enemies are still obsessed with him. I learned that the hard way. 


Did I mention the part where I end up on the run—again—from an old, powerful enemy of his? Yeah. Fun times. I just want to be left to get over my broken heart while watching home improvement shows and eating ice cream. But mysterious disappearances, murder, and a quest for affordable real estate in Washington D.C. keep getting in the way. Maybe that's just life. 


Sometimes we get what we want. 

Sometimes, we get what we need. 

And sometimes, we get what we deserve. I guess you could call it…The March Effect.



-----


The Great Shatter


A unicorn walks into a bar...except there are no unicorns or bars in the court of the Unseelie fae, which sucks because Marly could really use a drink.

Honestly, going from human to vampire, to something not quite mortal would drive anyone to drink. Being hounded by a grudge-holding kitsune didn't help, either. But when the king of the Unseelie fae declared Marly his queen and the hope of his people, it seemed her troubles were over, and off they went to his magical kingdom in a reality-tv-worthy happily ever after.

Except it's more hard landing than happy ending. Marly is thrown into the crosshairs of ancient hatreds where war masquerades as etiquette, shadows must beg for light, and things with tentacles are just waiting for something to go wrong. And something is going wrong...very wrong.

With every mis-step, she stumbles closer to the edge of a darkness waiting to consume her, and the king's love is like a poison that can cure or kill. Her only hope is to unveil the truth dancing in the great mirrors in the sky, even if that sky comes crashing down.



-----


A Poisoned Garden


A unicorn walks into a bar and…wait, what was I saying?

Look, between what I’m pretty sure is premature senility and wanting to barf all the time, I’m barely hanging in there. At this point, I need a break after solving xeno murders, fighting murderous fox shifters, and my best friend nearly murdering me for…reasons.

But do I get a break? No, I get an invitation to the court of the Unseelie fae, and it’s the kind of invitation you can’t refuse because it’s from the king who flip-flops between wanting to share a pizza with me and stabbing me.

The upside is that I can see my best friend Marly, the newly minted and slightly murderous Unseelie fae queen. The downside? Apparently, I have to prevent a civil war between powerful magical beings, and I don’t even get a can opener for self-defense.

Just like clockwork, I’m back to running from supernatural squids, double-dealing with triple-dealing fae who probably all want me dead, and getting tangled up with a beautiful, broken-hearted unicorn who makes me feel guilty, and I don't know why.
After all, we've never met before...have we?



-----


The Glass Sword

A unicorn walks into a bar…it's cheaper than therapy.


Therapy, you say? 

Sign up Marly, the angry ex-Unseelie-fae-queen. 

Or how about Sasha, the bitter exiled-Unseelie-fae-king? 

And definitely Ruby, the mortal bartender who lost her heart when she found her memories of March, the unicorn shifter she loved.


A good therapist would say learn to live with the consequences of choices, but Ruby isn't ready to accept that a choice she didn't even know she made landed March as the prisoner of the Seelie fae court. And Marly and Sasha have some feelings about reclaiming the throne of the Unseelie court.

But consequences beget consequences. Amid dying kingdoms and the dying embers of old loves and older hatreds, friends become betrayers, lovers keep secrets, and someone or something is out for blood-red revenge.


-----

Who am I?

Kim Alexander grew up in the wilds of Long Island, NY and slowly drifted south until she reached Key West. After spending ten rum-soaked years as a DJ in the Keys, she moved to Washington DC, where she lives with two cats, an angry fish, and her extremely patient husband who tells her she needs to write at least ten more books if she intends to retire in Thailand, so thank you for your patronage. 



Stalk Me



Thursday, November 27, 2025

What Did Regency England Do in November? (Spoiler: They Set Stuff on Fire)

Ah, November in Regency England. No Thanksgiving, no pumpkin spice, no Black Friday stampedes, but did they sit quietly sipping tea and contemplating the fog? Absolutely not. They had Guy Fawkes, the patron saint of “let’s blow up Parliament” and unlicensed fireworks mayhem.

Who, you ask?

On 5 November 1605, Guy — also known as Guido when he was feeling particularly theatrical — Fawkes was caught babysitting enough gunpowder to send Parliament into orbit. Whether this was an actual Catholic plot or the 17th-century version of a political frame-up is still debated. Either way, England said, “Let’s commemorate this with bonfires and general hooliganism,” and never looked back.


Plotting, powder, and possible Frame-Up

The brain's trust behind the plot — Robert Catesby, Thomas Winter, John Wright, Thomas Percy — decided the best way to solve England’s religious tensions was to blow up the government. Their explosives expert? Guy Fawkes, who had a résumé full of Spanish military gunpowder handling and dramatic facial hair.

Unfortunately, one of their recruits, Francis Tresham, had a brother-in-law in Parliament. Tresham sent him a “maybe skip work on the 5th” letter, thus ending the element of surprise. All conspirators except Tresham were executed. History has opinions.

And here’s where things begin smelling fishier than a 1605 Thames morning:

All gunpowder was stored in the Tower of London, so how did the plotters obtain barrels of the stuff?

Several smaller plots had already been discovered, so authorities were alert.

The cellar they used was rented from a close friend of Robert Cecil who was King James I’s chief minister and suspected puppet master.

Historians now look at Cecil like: “Hmmmm...whose side are you on, dude?”

Guy Fawkes caught red-handed (and Later, Very Sore)

The official story: Lord Monteagle alerts the authorities and a dramatic search ensues. Fawkes is found guarding the gunpowder with a lantern and a suspiciously guilty expression. He is promptly tortured until he gives up the other conspirators, and his signature on the confession later looks like a spider had a nervous breakdown. Hardly surprising after a session in the royal interrogation chamber. Whether real conspiracy or well-orchestrated trap, Parliament thought, “Let’s make this a holiday.”

Enter: The Observance of 5th November Act (1605). A national day of thanksgiving celebrating the fact that Parliament had not exploded.

Regency England loves a bonfire

By the 1620s, people were building bonfires, banging pots, and celebrating the day like a national excuse for chaos.

Then William III arrived (birthday: 4 November) and decided to hitch his own public relations to the event, ordering that the annual service also acknowledge his “happy arrival” and “the Deliverance of our Church and Nation.” Never waste a good party for a little self-promotion.

By the 1700s, children were roving the streets begging for pennies for their stuffed “Guy” (that's the effigy destined for immolation). This tradition was so popular that newspapers alternated between reporting on it and complaining endlessly about it.

In fact, it's during a bonfire — when guests are distracted by watching the fireworks — that, Lady Lydia Clifton, the heroine of my Regency romance A King's Mistress, chooses to flee a most disagreeable house party.


Pyromaniac poetry for kids:

The first recorded rhyme (1677) was essentially:

Now boys with

Squibs and crackers play.

And bonfires blaze

Turns night to day.


Translation: “Children, go forth and lose your fingers.”

By 1742, the rhyme evolves into the famous “remember” version. Eventually it becomes the chant nearly everyone in England knows as equal parts history lesson and call to arson:


Remember, remember the Fifth of November,

The gunpowder treason and plot,

I know of no reason

Why the gunpowder treason

Should ever be forgot.


And of course the enthusiastic conclusion: “What should we do with him? Burn him!” History is rarely subtle.



How did Regency London celebrate?

  • Regency-era observers noted:
  • Children begging for “a penny for the guy”
  • Horrific effigies paraded through the streets
  • Boys acquiring matches and lanterns (which should have alarmed every adult within 20 miles).
  • Wild bonfires
  • Drunken revelry
  • Disorderly conduct
  • London matrons shaking their heads and saying things like “this town is going straight to ruin”


John Brand confirms in 1813 that boys still dragged their terrifying Guy Fawkes effigies through the streets holding a lantern in one hand and matches in the other. Safety considerations were clearly not high on anyone’s priority list.


Bonfire Toffee: a Regency version of a sweet

Bonfire toffee — which could remove dental fillings at twenty paces — was associated with Guy Fawkes Night. Although the word “toffee” does not appear in print until 1825, treacle had been boiled for sweets since the 1600s. It was sometimes called claggum or clack in Scotland, or losin du in Wales. For a “sweet,” it was reportedly quite bitter, possibly matching the mood of anyone attempting to chew it.

According to Laura Mason’s Sugar-Plums and Sherbet, bonfire toffee was especially popular in Yorkshire from about 1830 to 1900.

The real focus though, remained bonfires, fireworks, burning effigies, and riotous good fun. Regency England did not need Thanksgiving. They had:

  • Bonfires
  • Fireworks
  • Effigy burning
  • Nursery rhymes encouraging arson
  • Treacle toffee strong enough to threaten dental stability.
  • General chaos

Truly, November was their time to shine — preferably while waving a burning torch and chanting about blowing up Parliament.