Maiden of Candlelight and Lotuses (Prequel)

Dreams of magic and romance have no place in the heart of a poor farm girl . . . until the day she becomes a student at the dangerously competitive Academy.

Magical visions have a way of turning the world upside-down. One minute Song Liena is a simple farm girl hoping for good luck at the matchmaker, and the next she is a student at the empire’s most rigorous and dangerous magic Academy.

It doesn’t take long for her to realize she’s ten years behind, her magic is weak, and she is in way over her head. But Liena is determined to work hard if it means a chance at a better life for her family.

She just wasn’t counting on being noticed by the handsome Crown Prince—a warrior-in-training said to have fire magic powerful enough to decimate entire armies.

But princes are not for peasants, and everything is not as it seems at the Academy. Monsters lurk around every corner, and someone is dabbling in dark, illegal magic.

Someone who has set their sinister sights on her.

If you love swoony-sweet romances, vivid Eastern-inspired worlds, Mulan vibes, and dark academia, discover Maiden of Candlelight and Lotuses, the prequel to the romantic fantasy series The Zheninghai Chronicles, for fans of Sylvia Mercedes, Kenley Davidson, and Shari L. Tapscott!