From Kansas to the brutal Roman arena, a gladiator is born. It's time to step into the first century and follow Grace as she navigates a life she never imagined. A time of Gladiators and Fate is now available!

What happens when you drop a modern, witty 21st-century woman into the brutal, rigid world of 1st-century Rome? A whole lot of culture-clash humor and sharp-tongued defiance that the local gladiators and trainers aren't prepared for! 🏛️⚔️

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!

Updates on Oaths & Vengeance with the various formats that will be available, and the Galadon audiobook will be released later this month!

Check out the first two chapters of Oaths & Vengeance, along with character art and a world map for the series.

I'm excited to reveal the cover for the first novel, Oaths & Vengeance, in my new romantasy series. Click on the link to see it and find out further details about the book and where to pre-order.

Galadon is now in Kindle Unlimited!

Ready for more dragon action with a spicy romance story? Check out the details about Galadon with retailer links included.

Publishing updates from Susan Illene, including paperback availability, Galadon news, and details for her upcoming new romantasy series.

It's time for the DOGE Supernatural Division series finale. Hope you're ready for dragons, gold, and chat room app shenanigans!

It's gargoyles this week for DOGE- Supernatural. They have come to complain to High Wizard Elron about his budget cuts for their cleaning and repairs. He will have his hands full on this one, as they are quite stubborn.

I am excited to let you all know that Galadon, the spin-off book for the Dragon's Breath Series, is now available to pre-order. This one will feature Galadon and Rayna as the main characters and cover their slow-burn (but also spicy) romance. It will release on April 24th, but for those who haven't read it already, the first chapter is available…

I have a few updates for you all on various matters. First, I didn't post a DOGE Supernatural story this last Friday because I was pushing to finish revisions on Galadon. I had to give that all my spare time and attention. There will be another episode later this week, though. In relation to that, I am now working on getting Galadon up for pre-order on all the retailers with a release date of April 24th.

The audiobook pre-order is now available for the seventh novel in the Dragon's Breath Series, Cast by Flames. It will release soon on March 25th. Click on this post for retailer links!

The weather elementals are not happy with High Wizard Elron at DOGE Supernatural, and they've retaliated with a tornado at one of his manufacturing plants. What kind of revenge will he enact for what they've done?

In this episode, High Wizard Elron is upset with a trio of 100-year-old ghosts for not sending an email listing their five accomplishments of the week. They've also failed to haunt certain annoying members of Congress adequately.

If you thought the alien in the last episode gave High Wizard Elron a tough time, wait until you see how the witches handle him in this newest installment.

If you're missing the Dragon's Breath world and anticipating Galadon, here's your chance to read the first chapter. More details on the spin-off novel in the post.

I hope you're ready for episode 3 of DOGE- Supernatural Division because they're visiting the infamous Area 51 next. No one is safe from High Wizard Elron's determination to save American taxpayers money (maybe not even aliens if he finds any).