Crystal King Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Crystal King is a successful published author.

Readers may know her for writing books such as In the Garden of Monsters, The Chef’s Secret, and Feast of Sorrow, which was selected as a Must Read for the MassBook Awards and was longlisted for the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize.

In addition to being an author, Crystal is a culinary enthusiast and a marketing expert. The writing that she does is based on her love of history as well as the passion that she has for Italy and its language, culture, and food.

Crystal has also been a professor, teaching classes to students focusing on writing, creativity, and social media at different universities. These include Boston University, the Harvard Extension School, and GrubStreet, one of the top creative writing centers in the United States.

She attended UMass Boston, where she graduated with her MA in critical and creative thinking. There she came up with a series of different exercises and writing prompts that were designed to assist fiction writers in medias res.

Crystal is a Pushcart Prize-nominated poet and also serves as a former co-editor of the Plum Ruby Review, an online literary arts journal. She is married and shares two cats with her husband, and they live together in the United States today.

In the Garden of Monsters is a 2024 novel by Crystal King. If you’ve been looking for something new and unique to enjoy, this book might just be the right one for you.

A woman who doesn’t have a past, a man that appears to know her, and a monstrous garden that might very well end up being the border that is shared between both of their worlds make up this wondrous and exotic novel by Crystal King that may soon become one of your favorites.

The year is 1948, and the place is Italy. The character of Julia Lombardi is a mystery to most even to herself, and that is for a very good reason. She is a model because she is so beautiful, but the problem is that she is not able to recall where she has come from as well as where she has been. She appears to live in Rome, but does not remember how that came to pass.

Julia gets an offer to go along with Salvador Dali to the Sacro Bosco as his muse and contemplates it. She would be accompanying the eccentric artist to the Garden of Monsters in Italy and even though it seems odd, the model feels compelled to accept it. After all, this could be a giant opportunity to get to the bottom to some things from her past and find out the truth once and for all.

The garden is full of large statues. Put into shadow, the statues even seem to be alive sometimes and that is an effect that makes it unwelcoming. But from the moment that she arrived at the palazzo, Julia has become aware that she is pulled to Ignazio, their enigmatic host. He has an allure but is also imposing and scary in a way, and on top of that he is giving her the impression that he knows her.

Perhaps they have been acquainted from a time that she cannot remember? With a faulty working memory, Julia cannot say for sure. While posing for Dali while inhabiting the character of the goddess Persephone, Julia does not understand the work. She remains perplexed as Dali seems to go even deeper into his fanatic state.

To the artist, she apparently is Persephone herself. He will not hear of anything but her eating pomegranate seeds so that she can meet up with her king once more. Between his persistence and the familiarity of Ignazio, as well as the warnings that are going through the garden, Julia finds herself in a strange state and close to unraveling completely.

As she poses as the goddess, her mind starts to wander and she even starts seriously contemplating whether she really is the mythical queen of the Underworld. Will she be able to come out of this situation with her sanity intact and will the model ever really be able to be sure of her past with this amnesia? Can Julia find a way to fix it and regain her former memories? Read this fascinating book from Crystal King to find out!

The Happiness Collector is a 2025 novel by Crystal King. Readers who love a good contemporary fantasy novel are going to love this book. A historian takes on a dream job in Italy that should be everything that she ever wanted, but it all starts to take a quick turn for the worse when she finds out that the employers who hired her are not exactly what you would call human in this novel that will have its audience captivated from start to finish.

Main character Aida Reale is a historian and a potential author, or she used to be. She has now lost her book deal and her academic position as well, making it a true one-two punch to the gut that has left her reeling. Aida is well aware that she needs to find a new career to jump into, and do it quickly.

She is engaged to her man Graham and the two do have a wedding to plan. When a friend recommends her for a position with a company called MODA that pays very well, Aida is thrilled. This seems like great news, but at the same time, she is a little cautious. This all appears to be too good to be true– she would be paid well, living in Italy in a beautiful palazzo. There has to be some kind of catch.

But once Aida starts at MODA, it all seems great. There’s an NDA, a haughty assistant, and some tough rules when it comes to using personal technology, but so far things have been wonderful. Aida only starts to feel off when she does more company. Meanwhile, her relationship is taking a hit from all the time she’s pouring into her job.

Aida and Luciano find out the truth when a woman approaches them. She and her handsome colleague find out the truth that they are pawns being used by the gods in a game. Can Aida find out what’s happened to the happiness she’s been collecting? Can she stop the gods in time? Read this fun fantasy from Crystal King to see how it ends.