“All I needed or ever wanted was him. Our bodies. The cold, wet soil. This exquisite death.”

This is Jane Eyre meets American Horror Story, set between Yorkshire and London. A complex young woman falls in love with a mysterious funeral director.

Lily A. Grace debuts book one of her gothic horromance series. A story of elegance and beauty among sorrow and decay. A place where worms pulse in the soil of their devotion; where their love and longing grows...and where it festers.

They say love is madness. Grace Lockett learns that love is death; the death of everything she knows. When her parents die, Grace flees her dilapidated cottage for an apprenticeship at a funeral home run by the enigmatic Nicholas Crowthorne.

Exiled and surly, Nicholas recognises a darkness in Grace; a penchant for the disturbing which he has seen before. Her resemblance to Louisa, his long-dead fiancé, makes her all the more intoxicating. Among the formaldehyde, she ignites his need to protect and possess, while he awakens Grace’s dormant desires and allows them to flourish. But who, Grace asks, was Louisa? Can Grace find herself while she walks in the footsteps of the one Nicholas loved before?

Their burning passion illuminates the lies and corruption beneath the surface, and unveils their deepest secrets. Deceit, tragedy, and murder unfold in the wake of their love...but what’s a little death, in the funeral business?

Age gap, toxic love, dual POV.

A modern-day setting with a dark, nostalgic writing style.

Contains adult content, mature readers only.

Trigger warnings/themes:

Sour Rot is a Gothic Romance either detailing or referencing the following dark themes. If they bother you, trigger you, or offend you at all, please do not read this novel:

Childhood abuse, trauma, grape. Death, mortuary details, funereal practices. Ghosts, the supernatural. Some spicy adult scenes with graphic details. Mental health issues. Arson. Blood, violence, murder.