In the heart of Bulgarian folklore, deep within the shadowy forests, there lives a legend as beautiful as it’s haunting: the Samodivi.

Also known as Samovili in some regions, these supernatural women are nature spirits—wild, unearthly, and fiercely free. They appear most often on moonlit nights, dancing in glades or near springs, their hair unbound and glowing, their eyes full of secrets. They wear white robes or gowns spun from mist and starlight, and they are often barefoot, though their footsteps leave behind healing herbs—or death.

Samodivi aren’t quite fairies, not quite witches, and certainly not human. In many tales, they’re the guardians of sacred places: ancient trees, mountain springs, or meadows that bloom out of season. If disturbed, they may bless or curse, heal or haunt.

Nature’s Protectors but also Its Wrath

To glimpse a Samodiva is to risk everything.

If a man spies on their dances, he may be struck blind or fall madly in love, wasting away unless she takes pity on him. If someone steals a piece of her clothing—especially her veil or sash—he can control her. But once she regains the garment, she’ll vanish forever, sometimes taking cruel revenge.

Yet Samodivi are not evil. Many stories show them punishing those who damage the land or act with greed. In a sense, they’re wild justice. The feminine face of the untamed world. In fact, the “diva” part of their name means “wild.”

Echoes of Ancient Goddesses

Some folklorists believe Samodivi are remnants of older Slavic or Thracian deities—perhaps forest goddesses or priestesses or daughters of Bendis, the Thracian moon goddess. Their rituals, their dances, their connection to the moon and nature suggest pre-Christian roots that still linger beneath the stories.

In modern fiction and poetry, they’re often reimagined as tragic figures caught between realms, as witches wrongly accused, or as eternal spirits trying to reclaim what was lost when the forests began to die.

Why I Write About Them

In our urban fantasy series, The Cursed Ring, the Samodivi aren’t just myth, they’re part of the living world. They hold knowledge the rest of us have forgotten. But their world is changing. Forests are dying. Ancient bonds are breaking. Kalyna and her agency, Wildlife Guardians, has a mission to protect nature from being destroyed.

Soulmate and Sacrifice Book

Our Kickstarter campaign is coming to a close.

Sunday, July 27, a special day for Nelly, will be the last day you can get an early copy of the book through the campaign. When we go to production, the ebook will be available only through Amazon’s Kindle Select program (Kindle Unlimited).

Also, did you know when you download digital books from retailers, did you know you don’t OWN them?

When you buy a digital book, you’re actually buying a license to read it—not full ownership like a physical copy. That means the retail site can, in some cases, remove it from your library, and you can’t resell or share it like a paper book. If you’d like to own a copy, forever to be yours, the best option is to buy directly from authors.

To stop an ancient, murderous cult intent on destroying the world, I must either betray my duty or sacrifice the one I love.

Life as a paranormal crime investigator can be a bitch. Especially when evidence points to my soulmate as the prime suspect in a gruesome ritualistic killing.

And I believe Stefan’s guilty. He holds a damned ring that I cursed three millennia ago—one that has already claimed too many lives. If  I can’t get him to remember our timeless bond, I’ll lose my soulmate forever.

Even worse, if the cult completes its twisted agenda, they won’t just murder Stefan—they’ll unleash a global catastrophe.

Racing against forces both mortal and ancient, I must unravel dark secrets I helped create. But if I uphold justice, I’ll lose the man I’ve spent a lifetime searching for—and my divided loyalties will doom us all.

Campaign link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ronesa-aveela/cursed-ring-series?ref=5qqb1l