Lightning in Her Palm: A Dark Sapphic Portal Fantasy Romance

by V. Dalmatina

One storm. One unbreakable chain. Two women who will burn the world before they let go. Quinn Olivia just wanted to disappear. Crimson lightning gave her a half-dead princess instead. Now they’re bound by a living chain that tightens when they lie, burns when they want, and strips their living armor the second desire wins.
Kaeli has no heart—literally. Olivia is starting to think she never needed one until now.
Touch her and die. Love her and bleed.
Dark sapphic portal fantasy romance with forced proximity, living bondage, blood magic, and a slow-burn so vicious it’ll ruin your sleep. First in the Crimson Bloom Chronicles. Cliffhanger ending.18+ – mature themes, intense romance, graphic violence & blood, abusive parent, forced proximity (magical chain), past body modification, strong language, near-death experiences.

184 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 21, 2025

About the author

V. Dalmatina writes Holy Love — sapphic romances where love is sacred, healing, and deeply earned.

Her stories span multiple worlds: tender contemporary romances set in sun-drenched Dalmatia, dark portal romantasy, vampire and werewolf tales, and historical romances. All are united by emotionally mature women, profound vulnerability, honest intimacy, and soul-deep connection. Whether across lifetimes through reincarnation and karmic bonds, or in this one fragile life, her heroines choose each other with courage after facing their scars. There is no toxicity for the sake of drama — only genuine HEAs, because wounded souls deserve real love and soft landings.

For thirteen years, she worked as an officer on luxury mega-yachts, circumnavigating the globe. Today she lives with her wife on a quiet Dalmatian island in Croatia, surrounded by the sea and stone that raised her. English is not her first language, and she lives with dyslexia and dysgraphia, yet she writes every story from lived emotional truth. Her interconnected universes — Heart, Afterbite, Crimson Bloom Chronicles, and others — are built slowly, honestly, and with care.

This is her sanctuary. She invites you to step inside.

#HolyLove #SapphicRomance #HealingRomance #KarmicLove

Reviews

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ok wait… when is the next book coming out?? I love sapphic and I love fantasy and this book was unique and interesting and I LOVED the tension and chemistry between Olivia and Kaeli.

I received an advance review copy for free and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

The world building is enormous and gradual as the story progresses. It’s fascinating and I look forward to discovering even more in the next book.

Recommend! I look forward to reading more from this author (next book included ;))

[Ore Kovač · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman, Tolkien, George R.R. Martin, and I adore Sapkowski. I don’t dwell much on new books – yeah, I love old and time-tested books and comics, but when one of my girls from the reading club asked if I read a dark and hot ‘bomb’ from the girl with a pen name Dalmatina, I was like, what a… and I read it in one breath. Man, she is an OG star and deserves my first-ever recommendation on Goodreads. Cheers!

[Vuk · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book in one breath, and I love every second of it. This romantsy is a pure sapphic passion. It's a magical, living chain that punishes lies, ignites with desire, and exposes vulnerabilities when it finally breaks—brilliantly conceived. The love story between confused and life-exhausted Olivia and the heartless princess Kaeli is fierce, visceral, and scorching. Featuring dark, lush world-building, a vicious slow-burn, and explicit detail everywhere, that cliffhanger feels outright illegal (BTW I adore it, author is a sorceress of some sort or something even more powerful). In short version: I’m obsessed, my sleep is ruined, five stars aren’t enough. Gimme book 2 now!

[JT · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lightning in Her Palm is the first book in the Crimson Bloom Chronicles by V. Dalmatina. It is different than the other works by V. that I have read. I really enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more of this amazing series. It is full of ideas that I have never imagined. My one bump was one of the species in the story that are on my UGH list. I was so gripped by the rest of the action at that point I ‘just kept reading’. In about 3 pages the UGH was ok. I find that books by this author tend give me personal growth insights and that is a gift for fiction. This one had to do with my UGH. I loved the personal and communication issues that were challenging and amusing between the MCs. The whole story is so incredible that I read it in 3 sittings. I liked that it stretched my idea of Sapphic fantasy. My hat is off to any author who can so wonderfully shift from genre to genre and maintain the Sapphic characters as MCs. It encourages me to stretch my genre list. I hope that you enjoy this book as much as I have. May you learn what speaks to you personally as V. Dalmatina is amazing. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Juliana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fast pacing, action-packed, dark, horror elements, rich in world-building, keeps me on the edge, and that cliffhanger, darn, I hate it, starting with book 2 ASAP! PS: I'm supposed to begin reading book one of the Love series, well, the Love series is beautiful (just finished Lennon and Ava), but this – this is what keeps me reading all night long.

[Morana · Rating 5 out of 5]

For me, this is definitely the best dark sapphic romance I've ever read through an ARC. Five-star recommendation. I can't wait for the second book.

[Daniela Terek · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG, I've been itching all day to see that the book is out. Thanks for the ARC; this easily earns a five-star review. P.S.: I know I repeat myself, but write it in the Croatian language.

[Babette · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG, perfect five stars. :D
P. S. I hate cliffhangers and am reading the second book now. ;)

[Lana · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible combination of Gun Brooke and everything else!

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not sure why I decided to read the first book in this series as my preference is romance without the scifi. About 40 pages in I just knew that I would read the rest of the series as well. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book is just as entertaining as the first ones were.

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this a frustrating and confusing read, too fast paced, flitting from one situation to the next with almost no explanation, yet a constant info-dump of new ideas and situations before the reader can absorb current or previous ones.
There's a thread of a story, but it almost stumbles into existence rather than following an overall plan, as if each new situation is tacked on to the end to spread things out or fill space. It does include some nuggets like the "how races reproduce" discussion, but too often is just a constant stream of lore-dumping of Kaeli's world and a weird obsessive focus on sex over character development; I felt no great attachment to either of the FMCs, as confused as Olivia is for 95% of the story.

Personally I think it could be vastly improved with a rewrite: overall character development arcs planned out, the pacing and plot beats organized - perhaps pared down to what's important and flesh those out further, and strip out a lot of the other things - and dropping the focus on sex to a theme (intimacy?) rather than half of the content.
The author mentions they're not a native English speaker, but I wonder how stories are structured in their own language and how that compares to this one?

I received an advance review copy for free and am leaving this review voluntarily. I hope subsequent titles in the series improve on this one.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars. I’m in the minority, I thought this was a bit of a mess plot wise. The writing was fine. Not my favorite as I didn’t like the way the dialogue was done but the plot was intriguing and Olivia and Kaeli were okay leads. The world building wasn’t too bad. I’d pick up book two eventually.

Spice: ❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥/❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥❤️‍🔥
Content Warning: Violence, Vomiting (On page), Abusive parent

[Marquise · Rating 5 out of 5]

New to the author and related books, but this one was just what I was looking for. An immersive, huge world, isekai adventure with horror elements and sapphic love in making. Going to read the second part as well.

[Johnni Allyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though it took me a little while to get into this slow burn romance, eventually it hooked me. I liked how the relationship slowly built, though I will have to wait until the next book to see how it culminates. This sounds like it will be a good series.

[Zureena · Rating 5 out of 5]

📚1

Ok, what a start. A lot focused on armour then 🔥 steamy moments. Will see how book 2 continues. A 3🌟 so far