Hey! Thank you so much for your interest in being an early reader for Between Passion and Revenge, book one in The Griot Chronicles!

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Set in present-day Chicago, Between Passion and Revenge: Part One re-imagines the love story between the African Orisha Shango and his three wives: Oshun, Oba, and Oya. In the duet, both main characters transform, and we see the FMC, Shae, shift from embodying virtues from Oshun to Oba and eventually to Oya.

This is a Black romance (Black MMC & FMC) and explores themes of power, privilege, love, and identity.

There’s no cheating or OW drama. This is a dark contemporary romance, not Paranormal romance or Romantasy. Book one ends on a cliffhanger, with book two set approximately six years in the future.

As an ARC reader, I'll send you an advance copy of Between Passion and Revenge: Part One via Bookfunnel.

✨ Between Passion and Revenge: Part One goes live on Thursday, June 19, 2025. (Print orders will be live one week prior, on the 12th of June. This will allow you to publish your review before the eBook is live.)

Part Two drops on July 31, 2025.

Here's a little about the series and book:

The Griot Chronicles: Dark Romance Reimagined from Myth

(A “Griot” (GREE-oh) is a term for African storytelling.)

In The Griot Chronicles, five powerful myths and tales from the African diaspora come alive in an interconnected contemporary world where ambition, desire, and betrayal rule. Each book follows lovers drawn together by destiny but driven apart by dark secrets, family legacies, and the ever-present pull of power.

Between Passion and Revenge: Part One

In African legend, they were gods: She, the calm. He, the storm.
In the wealthy corners of Chicago, they’re two star-crossed lovers caught in a war of legacy, betrayal, and desire.

I’ve always known who I am: Heir to a dynasty built on Black excellence, top of my class, and next in line to inherit a billion-dollar global empire.

But no one told me that claiming my rightful place would cost so much…or that the price of power would be the only thing I ever truly wanted.

Her.

Shae Rivers is brilliant, beautiful, and untouchable.
The kind of woman who doesn’t fall for trust fund golden boys with chaos in their blood and kingdoms at their feet.

She was supposed to be a distraction.
But I became obsessed. Addicted. Owned.

Somehow, I got under her skin. 

And she got under mine—buried so deep, I can’t breathe without her.

But my family holds secrets with the power to burn down nations.
And now those secrets are catching up to me.

There are enemies watching.
Deals in motion.
And a target on my back with Shae’s name right beneath mine.

If I let her in, she’ll never be safe.
If I shut her out, I’ll never be whole.

The clock’s ticking, and I have a choice to make.
One that could cost me everything.

Including her.

Between Passion and Revenge: Part One is the first installment of a new dark and angsty billionaire romance with high heat, haunting secrets, and razor-sharp stakes. Inspired by the Orisha of African mythology, it’s a story of obsession, betrayal, and the storm that follows when opposites collide.

Trope Love:

  • Second chance romance

  • Secret baby

  • Opposites attract

  • Grumpy/Sunshine

  • “Touch her and die”

  • He enters his villain era

  • Enemies to lovers

  • Crime family in suits

  • He grovels

  • “Oops, there’s only one bed.”

    Please note that any instances of abuse or violence are never perpetrated between the main characters. This series is spicy with several on-page, explicit sex scenes in each book.

XO,

Angel M. Shaw