The Book of Heroes

by Lorna Tedder

a Stand-alone in The Secret Lives of Librarians Universe

High‑Concept Tagline: Think The Magicians meets Dark where dangerous books reshape existence.

Description: When empathic librarian Lilah helps authenticate a forbidden grimoire at the St. Augustine Special Collections Library, she doesn’t expect to trigger a protective enchantment that shields her from reality itself. Now she and Raven Darbyshire, the last priest of a dying order, are trapped in shifting timelines where their own existence hangs by a thread.

Behind the library’s secure walls lies a cursed artifact—The Book of Heroes, a record of reality-shaping figures that’s becoming a weapon in the wrong hands. As pages vanish, so do the people written on them, their influence erased from existence. When Lilah discovers her former rival may be systematically unraveling reality, she and Raven must race to save not just the book, but a fractured world shaped by the priests within its pages—including themselves—before parallel dimensions collapse and ancient wards fail completely.

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance, Dark Academia, Paranormal Suspense

Tone: Wry, introspective, emotionally vulnerable, psychologically tense, atmospheric, cathartic

Tropes:

• Reality shifting
• Magical library repository
• Friends to lovers slow-burn
• Last of his kind priest
• Found family
• Protective magical wards
• Reality-altering artifacts
• Empathic protagonist

Why You’ll Love It: Sophisticated urban fantasy with academic rigor, complex world-building, and character-driven narrative where magic systems have real consequences and costs.

Trigger / Sensitivity Warnings: Reality dissociation, emotional manipulation, death of loved ones, kidnapping, self-harm references, violence and betrayal, identity theft.