The Oak and Holly Cycle Series by K.A. Linde – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read

The Oak and Holly Cycle Series by K.A. Linde – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:10:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.1 http://www.books2020.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/favicon.png The Oak and Holly Cycle Series by K.A. Linde – Read Books Online Free Ebooks good best novels to read http://www.books2020.com 32 32 The Raven at the Ash Door (The Oak and Holly Cycle #3) Read Online K.A. Linde http://www.books2020.com/the-raven-at-the-ash-door-the-oak-and-holly-cycle-3-read-online-k-a-linde Sun, 12 Jul 2026 16:10:16 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/the-raven-at-the-ash-door-the-oak-and-holly-cycle-3-read-online-k-a-linde Genre: Alpha Male, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal Authors: K.A. Linde Series: The Oak and Holly Cycle Series by K.A. Linde
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 171450 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 857(@200wpm)___ 686(@250wpm)___ 572(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >177

Can love survive an unbreakable curse?

Kierse McKenna’s magic is bound to a man she hates―one who has spent lifetimes fighting the man she loves.

To end this binding, Graves―her winter god, her monster―will stop at nothing. He discovers that the only hope of freeing Kierse is to locate a stone relic of legend, rumored to lift any curse.

The only problem? The stone has been missing for a century.

And the Oak King is on their trail.

Now Kierse is trapped at the heart of a centuries-long battle while the rest of the world comes unraveled. The Fae Killer is hunting. The peace with monsters is fracturing. And as the very rules of their myth start to shift, escaping the Oak King’s hold may demand more than stolen artifacts and clever heists.

For Kierse and Graves, it may mean risking the only thing they have left to lose

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

Part I

The Raven

Chapter One

New magic sputtered in her veins. Sputtered, sparked, and then ignited. Finally.

“We’re a go,” Kierse said into her earpiece.

“Let’s stick to the plan, shall we?” Graves said, his crisp British accent coursing through her.

A smile came to her face. “I always stick to the plan.”

A scoff was Graves’s only reaction. Kierse was known to improvise. She’d had enough marks go south to know that she hoped for the best and planned for the worst. This was no different.

The plan itself was simple: steal a Celtic artifact—the Stone of Fal—from a Scottish warlock.

After a tip from one of Graves’s many old apprentices, they discovered it was being held in an underground vault in Edinburgh. The warlock-in-question’s main ability was evocation, which meant he could call spirits and demons and monsters to do his bidding for him.

Not so simple.

“George?” Graves asked.

His driver cleared his throat. “All clear out here, boss.”

“Walter?” Graves prompted.

“As soon as the tour leaves, you’ll have five minutes,” their tech guy said, calm and emotionless.

Five minutes. Kierse hoped that was enough time.

She shifted in position, feeling the weight of the Spear of Lugh at her back. A dangerous, powerful weapon forged by the gods themselves. And a last resort in all scenarios since the thing liked to whisper murder into her mind.

“Starting now,” she whispered.

She pushed aside the buzzing in her ears as she ignited a blue light in her palm. The pixie light was teardrop shape, and when she concentrated, it split into two and then two more. A handful of little lights buzzed excitedly, ready to do their job. Hard to believe these little ones were typically depicted as wisps in fiction, with their lights leading a person to their destiny or off into the darkness of a swamp to their death.

The strain of her new magic made her grit her teeth, and this was the easiest of her abilities.

But her old Fae magic was still tied up by Lorcan Flynn.

While the cauldron had seen a loophole and given her these new powers outside of her magical binding with Lorcan, her original powers that she’d had full control over—time manipulation, glamours, and the ability to predict a score—were all gone. It left the most dangerous of her magic—absorption—passive after everything she’d done to train it this summer. She even had to learn how to do her hair differently to mask her pointed Fae ears from the general population. It was a pain in the ass.

After three months, neither she nor Graves figured out a way around the binding, so she buckled down to begrudgingly train what the cauldron had given her. Other than the pixie lights, magical intuition allowed her to see who had magic and what kind. And the last two powers “in theory” were—persuasion and portaling.

Kierse leaned forward and blew against her palm. The pixie lights flew away from her like dandelions on the breeze. They approached the ghost tour that had just entered South Bridge vaults where Kierse had hidden after sneaking off from her own tour. Blue lights flickered around the heads of the tour guide and the twenty tourists trekking through the dripping, low-ceilinged underground.

The tour and its guide’s faces suddenly went blank. Then with a dead-eyed look, they all followed the lights out of the room, leaving Kierse alone. Lure complete.

“They’re out,” Kierse said.

“Five minutes starts…now,” Walter said.

Kierse watched the magic spark to life at the door to the vault chamber. Walter was an apprentice-level warlock with force-field magic. After working with King Louis for a time, Graves recruited him for the cauldron heist. Now he trained the young warlock, who he had previously dismissed as unworthy. Kierse liked having a tech genius that no one could touch—well, except her, thanks to her always-on absorption magic—on their side.

“Showtime,” Kierse muttered.

As she removed her picks from the inside pocket of her leather jacket, a new smile graced her features, this one a little wild at the edges. Her thieving smile. The one that said she liked this part a bit too much.

Kierse went to work on the lock, fitting her tools into the old iron door and keeping her hands clear. Her Fae half still didn’t much like iron, but at least it didn’t hurt her as bad as it could.

The plan was simpler than the problem. Kierse would break into the underground vault, use her absorption abilities to bypass the warlock’s wards, and steal the stone. Walter would run surveillance and use his force fields to keep the tunnels clear for her. Graves would be the distraction this time, a fun change for him. George, as always, was the getaway driver.

The problem was Archie Blair. He was the premier warlock of Edinburgh and had lived on Blair Street off the Royal Mile since the late 1700s. Warlocks were territorial, and while lesser warlocks could be in their cities, they almost exclusively had one master.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >177

Advertisement The Robin on the Oak Throne (The Oak and Holly Cycle #2) Read Online K.A. Linde http://www.books2020.com/the-robin-on-the-oak-throne-the-oak-and-holly-cycle-2-read-online-k-a-linde Mon, 30 Jun 2025 19:08:29 +0000 http://www.books2020.com/the-robin-on-the-oak-throne-the-oak-and-holly-cycle-2-read-online-k-a-linde Genre: Alpha Male, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal Authors: K.A. Linde Series: The Oak and Holly Cycle Series by K.A. Linde
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 194
Estimated words: 187021 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 935(@200wpm)___ 748(@250wpm)___ 623(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >194

Can you trust the dark when you know that it lies?

Kierse McKenna just shattered the Monster Treaty. Again.

It wasn’t entirely her fault. The job was supposed to be simple: steal a goblin-made bracelet off of the Queen of the Nymphs in her own palace. Trade the bracelet for a way to uncover the truth about her past. Except everything goes sideways.

And then he shows up to save her.

Graves—the warlock who ensnared her, betrayed her, and left her to fend for herself. He’s a villain. A monster draped in charm and shadows. And gods help her, he always knows exactly what she wants.

But Graves never does anything for free. He has a job for his favorite little thief. One that will pit her against the most powerful monsters in existence, including his mortal enemy, the Oak King.

An ancient artifact has been located, and only together can they hope to steal it. She just has to let him in.

But once she lets a monster in, he’s impossible to forget… and even harder to resist

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

The Robin on the Oak Throne is a tale of monsters, mystery, and romance. However, the story includes elements that may not be suitable for all readers. Combat, violence, sex, drug and alcohol use, sex work, and gang violence are depicted. Abuse, genocide, colonization, infertility, and assault that is physical and sexual in nature are discussed. Readers who may be sensitive to these elements, please take note, practice your magic, and prepare to take the Oak Throne…

Part I

BELTANE

Chapter One

Tromping through wet pastureland in high heels was a crime against humanity—unlike the crime Kierse was about to commit. She stepped out of the squelchy green grass and onto the ancient, graveled walkway with a sigh of relief. New York City hadn’t prepared her for acres of empty farmland on the outskirts of Paris or otherwise.

She lifted her dark eyes to what lay at the end of her trek: the magnificent Versailles gardens. The greenery was bracketed by twin towering fountains boasting statues of the gods mounted on gilded horses. A long grass promenade cut between the fountains with bonfires igniting the night and revealing the entrances that led deeper into the wooded grounds. On the top of the hill, in all its splendor, was the Palace of Versailles.

Kierse could only imagine what it looked like at the height of King Louis XIV’s reign. Tonight, it was teeming with both humans and monsters for the annual Beltane festival. A party to which Kierse hadn’t exactly been invited.

Not that that had ever stopped her. There were always entrances and exits for a clever little thief. And having multiple exits was thieving rule number one.

But for now, she was just a girl blending in with the crowd in a pink satin slip dress with a thigh-high slit, her dark hair piled on the top of her head and her makeup light like spring. No one paid her any mind as she snagged a glass of champagne off of a human waiter’s tray and navigated the grounds.

Kierse had one mission today—steal a bracelet from the Queen of the Nymphs.

Step one: get an invitation into the palace.

Well, that was the easy part.

She’d already picked her mark as she ascended the stairs to the promenade. A group of female nymphs traipsed around a bonfire in nothing but tiny scraps of dresses, little purses at their hips, and flower crowns. They were almost all shorter than Kierse with a kaleidoscope of hair color and wide, slightly unnatural eyes. The few horned male nymphs lounged on the other side of the fire, shirtless in white linen trousers.

Kierse bumped into a nymph with vibrant magenta hair as she passed, sloshing champagne everywhere.

“Oh! Pardon,” Kierse said by way of apology.

The nymph spit rapid French in Kierse’s direction, and while the girl was distracted, Kierse slipped the crisp card out of her bag. She discreetly moved the invite to her purse, waving her other hand to indicate she didn’t understand.

The nymph laughed at her lack of comprehension and returned to the festivities. A similar interaction back home could have ended in disaster. But the rest of the world hadn’t suffered the way that New York had during the Monster War. Back home they were four years past the war and just coming to the other side of things. Here, when the monsters had stepped into the light, the humans had made deals with them before it devolved so drastically.

Tonight, phoenixes controlled the flames of the bonfires that nymphs deftly jumped over, performing their fertility rites. Mer lounged in fountains, and shifters jumped in and out of their animal forms at will over the hedges and into the tree line. Humans drank champagne and mingled with vampires and werewolves and an incubus/succubus pair.

Laughter rang out.

Lips locked.

Revelry ensued.

All excellent cover for Kierse’s plan. She ditched her champagne flute on a table, thankful it had helped her with thieving rules three and four: distraction and sleight of hand.

She palmed the heavy cardstock invitation gilded with the sun king’s symbol, granting access into the palace proper. Step one complete.

Step two: get inside the palace.

Kierse filed into the line behind a shuffling goblin. He passed off his invitation. The troll bouncer scanned it and then nodded, allowing him access. He repeated the process with Kierse’s stolen invite. Then she was breezing through the doors and inside.

Her breath caught at the sheer magnitude of the place. It didn’t matter how much time she’d spent memorizing the original blueprints or the hours engaged on a tour earlier in the week. She would never get used to the display of wealth. There was money, and then there was the magnitude of this place in all its extravagance.

Kierse turned off the part of her brain that calculated the cost of everything. The answer was unfathomable. She wasn’t here to steal just anything. From here, she needed to get into the queen’s chambers. Despite modern adjustments to the over seven-hundred-thousand-square-foot palace, the rooms that the current queen resided in had been the same for hundreds of years.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >194

Advertisement The Wren in the Holly Library (The Oak and Holly Cycle #1) Read Online K.A. Linde http://www.books2020.com/the-wren-in-the-holly-library-the-oak-and-holly-cycle-1-read-online-k-a-linde Thu, 13 Jun 2024 07:54:14 +0000 http://www.booksnovels.com/the-wren-in-the-holly-library-the-oak-and-holly-cycle-1-read-online-k-a-linde Genre: Alpha Male, Fantasy/Sci-fi, Paranormal Authors: K.A. Linde Series: The Oak and Holly Cycle Series by K.A. Linde
Advertisement

Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145721 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >154

Loosely inspired by Beauty and the Beast, this dark, spicy romantasy will appeal to fans of V.E. Schwab and Leigh Bardugo.

"What are you?”

Street thief Kierse should have known something wasn’t right. Now she’s trapped in the library of an old Brownstone . . . with a monster. His powers aren’t supposed to exist. She can’t run. She can’t hide. And this man - this being, filled with terrible power and darkness — is well within his rights to kill her.

Thirteen years ago, the monsters came into the light and brutalized the world. The Monster Treaty invoked a kind of peace — one that isn’t always honoured. Now Kierse has broken the treaty. But instead of killing her, Graves does the he offers her a job . . . a glimpse into who she really is. Kierse has always known she’s different. That she can do things a little better, a little faster. And there’s that sense she has when danger is only a breath away. But if the old tales are true, there are worse things in the world than monsters.

Like a threat more ancient than legend. Like Graves. Or like Kierse herself . . .

*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************

PART I

THE HOLLY LIBRARY

Chapter One

It’s now or never.

Kierse crouched low, pressing her back against the stone in the shadows.

Across the street was the largest Upper West Side brownstone she had ever seen. Every detail looked original to the Victorian house, from the wrought iron banisters to the holly bushes lining the walk and clinging to upstairs balconies. Even the intricate door knocker and the bronze sconces looked original.

Kierse slowed her breathing and crossed through the slushy brown mess that was New York City after a snowfall. Fresh powder was coming down again, and she obscured her footprints before peering through the first-floor window into an enormous shadowed study. Nothing was out of place—as if it were staged. Only a sliver of light bloomed through the crack under the door.

Her job was simple: steal a diamond ring, get paid.

“Please try to be careful,” Ethan’s voice said into her earpiece, which attached to the radio at her hip. A cell phone would have been better, but she’d never been able to afford one.

A smile hit Kierse’s features. “I’m always careful.”

“Since when?”

Never. She glanced up to Ethan on the neighboring rooftop where her lookout had binoculars trained on her. She gave him a double-finger salute and got to work. She whipped out a set of tools, flicked the lock on the window, and slid it up soundlessly. She’d investigated the nonexistent security system on one of her first reconnaissance missions, and she still didn’t understand how no alarms were present and nothing tripped. She checked her surroundings, then slipped into the study, closing the window behind her.

This was the part she had programmed in her mind. After constructing a mock interior layout of the house, she’d run through her plan again and again. She was prepared, but she’d broken into enough places to know that nothing ever went exactly to plan. Her benefactor, Gregory Amberdash, had given her all the information he had, which admittedly wasn’t much. The ring was kept in a locked box in the library. A library seemed an unusual place to keep a ring with a diamond the size of a robin’s egg. But what did she know about rich people? This guy didn’t even have a security system. A library probably made perfect sense to him.

Kierse steeled herself for what could be the first sign of trouble, but everything was as it should be. She maneuvered around a mahogany desk with a gilded lamp and sleek black leather insert, between a pair of couches, and to the silent grandfather clock that showed the time was nearly midnight. With a breath, she eased the door open and peered down the hallway illuminated by soft, bracketed light. Her eyes darted everywhere at once—taking in the sitting room at the end of the hallway that she’d only ever seen through binoculars, the grand staircase to her right, the polished wood floors, the lush, filthy-rich interior. On silent feet, she crept down the smooth hardwood floors and flipped the front door lock.

The first rule of thieving: always have an exit strategy.

“So far, so good,” she whispered to Ethan as she stood in the empty house.

“Monster?” he asked.

She shook her head even knowing he couldn’t see her. “Not yet.”

Ethan’s investigation into the owner had been fruitless. John Smith was clearly a fake name, and it linked to a business that didn’t exist. The house was enormous and had two regular staff who showed up rain or shine. Yet not a single look at the owner. In her line of work, that meant one of two things: a wealthy human who was out of town or a monster.

A monster would be a big problem. If she was caught in a monster’s house, she’d be subject to the Monster Treaty just like anyone else. And the consequences of breaking the Treaty were typically life-threatening. Which meant she couldn’t get caught. She’d keep her fingers crossed for an out-of-town billionaire.

“Keep me updated,” Ethan said. “Gen would kill me if something happened to you.”

“Gen knows me better than that.”

Her heartbeat thudded in her ears and adrenaline fired through her veins as she snuck through the empty house. A smile lit her face. It was a wrong smile. She’d been told that too many times—because she wasn’t supposed to think that this was the fun part. Sneaking, thieving, and most of all, getting away with it.

Her devious smile grew as she hurried up the staircase and stopped before giant wooden doors. A bronze sign hung over the doorway that read THE HOLLY LIBRARY. Intricate whorls and swirls were carved into the frame. She could make out a string of holly vines and berries in the design, and then something almost shifted as she stared at it. It felt like a familiar language that tugged at the recesses of her memory, but she had never seen anything like it. She shook the cobwebs out of her mind and reached for the cold iron knob. She was prepared for it to be locked, but to her surprise, the handle turned.

<<<<1 2 3 11 21 >154