books by J.E. Holmes

Ninthborn

Ninthborn Chronicle, Book One

Cursed at Birth. Hated in Life. Struck by Fate.

Princess Ediline is cursed. She has been reminded of it her entire life, told she will never amount to anything. So when her kingdom is threatened by a man who wields a deadly magical relic, she doesn’t expect her mother to come to her for help.

Suddenly, Ediline is living a lie, ordered to charm the mysterious Javras, a visitor to her kingdom and son of the man who wants to kill her family. To maintain the charade, she must summon all her innate charisma—and elegantly navigate her conflicted feelings. But she knows that if she follows her family’s wishes, they will only do what it takes to save themselves.

If she wants to save her kingdom and survive, she must take power that someone of her birth has no right to wield.

Endbearer

Ninthborn Chronicle, Book Two

They hated her.
Now they fear her.
And they are doomed without her.

After a lifetime growing up mistreated, Ediline feels like she has finally found a place to belong. Her twin brother welcomes her and heeds her advice, there are more people in her life than ever before, and with the bloodsword Felnuar safe at her side, she has something like a purpose. Never mind that the sword brings with it the constant threat of assassination by someone who would misuse it. She can handle that.

But when Loethe, the mythical traitor and ninth Lord from church lore, somehow returns to present-day Lanen, he brings an ominous portent of destruction—delivered solely to Ediline. Meanwhile, the Church has called her, her family, and her kingdom to face a tribunal to answer for the crimes of her late father and eldest brother.

Ediline must navigate a deadly and capable templar, a ghost from the long past, her growing power, and a new, fearsome enemy that cannot be seen, all in a desperate attempt to ward off the Desolation.

If she fails at any challenge, everything will be lost.

Shadowalker

Ninthborn Chronicle, Book Three

Her kingdom is lost.
Her distant ally is gone.
Desolation is coming.

Ediline is the Shadowalker. As she adjusts to her new power, she must lead a rebellion against the newly proclaimed Lord Empress Tathia, though Ediline knows that the even greater enemy lies in the darkness behind the Empress, somewhere Ediline is terrified to reach into.

When she accidentally stumbles into the barren realm of Nowhere, she finds an ancient secret, a slumbering cosmic power, a lost soul, and the horrible Fantasma, hellbent on tearing into her world. The struggles she faces with her alliance against the Empress—and the looming confrontation with these ancient evils— threaten to overwhelm her, and they are disastrously intertwined.

To defeat her world's oldest enemy, she fears she will have to give in to the power that she has been Granted—losing herself in the process. In this epic conclusion to her story, Ediline's fate is yet to be decided, and everyone who cares for her will fight until the end alongside her to see that, after the darkness is put down, she can see another sunrise.