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Reluctant Necromancer #1-6
The Reluctant Necromancer Series: Books 1-6
Reverse harem that turns the tropes upside down…
Reluctant necromancer Esper Jones has a quiet life, hidden away with her freak looks, and her freak powers, in her freaky old witch’s house. Until a beautiful, ghost-whispering medium blows into town and destroys her carefully crafted, people-free life.
Now, the supernatural world is revealing itself to Esper at an annoying rate, and all the assholes seem to have expectations. She’s hearing voices in her head, monsters are running amok in Hellsfork, and there’s this needy vampire she can’t seem to shake.
Somewhere between the black witches, hungry ghouls, and cowboy vampire hunters, Esper finds herself at the center of a growing circle of people who actually seem to care for her (for some weird reason). Including an ancient skinwalker who wants her to find him a body. Then there’s the werewolf. And the goblins. And the cat who isn’t just a cat.
This weird necromancer is building a murder of powerful lovers. Now if she can just keep them all alive, when death is really more her thing….
Author’s Note:
Fed up with the usual tropes in romance and reverse harem? I wanted characters that are more than the fainting female and alpha male cookie cutter stereotypes that saturate the genre. (There’s nothing wrong with it, if you like that sort of thing, but it just got old for me!) People come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, and gender/sexual orientations—so when I pick up a book and have trouble telling the difference between the characters…that’s a problem.
*The Reluctant Necromancer series is a sequence of novellas between 35,000-40,000 words in length. While the main plot arc in each book will be resolved, there may be mild cliffhangers/segue into the next book with new issues arising.
*This author’s characters are as flawed and damaged as real life—do not read if you are easily offended by talk of past trauma of any kind. This includes uncomfortable situations of any kind—sexual, physical, mental/emotional. (No explicit scenes of this nature, generally, but they will talk about what’s happened in the past and it may be distasteful if you are easily triggered).
*Contains mature adult content, including but not limited to: graphic sex, adult language (that means swearing, folks) and fictional situations with some gore and or action/violence.
*This is a reverse harem urban fantasy, and the author firmly believes love is love, and as such includes themes of: polyamory (multiple lovers), MF, MMF, MM, FF, and MMMFF love.
Reluctant necromancer Esper Jones has a quiet life, hidden away with her freak looks, and her freak powers, in her freaky old witch’s house. Until a beautiful, ghost-whispering medium blows into town and destroys her carefully crafted, people-free life.
Now, the supernatural world is revealing itself to Esper at an annoying rate, and all the assholes seem to have expectations. She’s hearing voices in her head, monsters are running amok in Hellsfork, and there’s this needy vampire she can’t seem to shake.
Somewhere between the black witches, hungry ghouls, and cowboy vampire hunters, Esper finds herself at the center of a growing circle of people who actually seem to care for her (for some weird reason). Including an ancient skinwalker who wants her to find him a body. Then there’s the werewolf. And the goblins. And the cat who isn’t just a cat.
This weird necromancer is building a murder of powerful lovers. Now if she can just keep them all alive, when death is really more her thing….
Author’s Note:
Fed up with the usual tropes in romance and reverse harem? I wanted characters that are more than the fainting female and alpha male cookie cutter stereotypes that saturate the genre. (There’s nothing wrong with it, if you like that sort of thing, but it just got old for me!) People come in all shapes, sizes, personalities, and gender/sexual orientations—so when I pick up a book and have trouble telling the difference between the characters…that’s a problem.
*The Reluctant Necromancer series is a sequence of novellas between 35,000-40,000 words in length. While the main plot arc in each book will be resolved, there may be mild cliffhangers/segue into the next book with new issues arising.
*This author’s characters are as flawed and damaged as real life—do not read if you are easily offended by talk of past trauma of any kind. This includes uncomfortable situations of any kind—sexual, physical, mental/emotional. (No explicit scenes of this nature, generally, but they will talk about what’s happened in the past and it may be distasteful if you are easily triggered).
*Contains mature adult content, including but not limited to: graphic sex, adult language (that means swearing, folks) and fictional situations with some gore and or action/violence.
*This is a reverse harem urban fantasy, and the author firmly believes love is love, and as such includes themes of: polyamory (multiple lovers), MF, MMF, MM, FF, and MMMFF love.
- GenresFantasy
815 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 13, 2020
28 people are currently reading
25 people want to read
About the author
Kaye Draper
134 books264 followersSometimes our greatest strengths come from our deepest challenges. I write magic and romance, starring a cast of creatures with feathers, fins, and teeth. My books include paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and fantasy romance--with the occasional steampunk or alien story thrown in just for kicks. My pan heart firmly believes love is love, so you'll see straight, LGBTQIA, monogamous, reverse harem, and poly relationships in my work. My favorite theme is overcoming our inner demons and the insecurities that hold us back.
I also advocate for self-development and mental health and dabble in non-fiction as time allows. I love the outdoors and still hope to be abducted by fae! (I may have more in common with my characters than I care to admit.)
I love to hear from readers!
Sign up for my mailing list to get a free RH spoof story that pokes fun at all the tired old tropes:
http://eepurl.com/bG_6dX
Join me on Patreon to help me create, AND get advance access to ebooks, audiobooks, and more! https://www.patreon.com/kayedraper
My website: http://kayedraper.com/
Join me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaye-D...
Or follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kayedrapera...
I also advocate for self-development and mental health and dabble in non-fiction as time allows. I love the outdoors and still hope to be abducted by fae! (I may have more in common with my characters than I care to admit.)
I love to hear from readers!
Sign up for my mailing list to get a free RH spoof story that pokes fun at all the tired old tropes:
http://eepurl.com/bG_6dX
Join me on Patreon to help me create, AND get advance access to ebooks, audiobooks, and more! https://www.patreon.com/kayedraper
My website: http://kayedraper.com/
Join me on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kaye-D...
Or follow me on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/kayedrapera...
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 28, 2024
This series was phenomenal! Hands down the best series I’ve read this year, and I don’t know that anything is going to come along to top it for a while. The book hangover is strong with this one.
I’ll go over the series overall here and then each of the books separately if that’s helpful to get into it!
Quick hits:
- poly romance
- Queer romance
- MF, MMF, MM, FF, and MMMFF
- Open door, on page spicy scenes
- Paranormal
- Completed series (Plus a short story not included in this set called Spooky Christmas, and the author has stated there might be additional tales later though!)
- First person perspective throughout
From the start, I related so hard to Esper, our leading lady in this series! She’s quirky and has low self-esteem, loves plants and pumpkin spice and all things fall and spooky, gardens and writes horticulture books, tries to be there for her family and (singular) friend, all while trying to keep her ability to reanimate the dead on the down-low. (Okay, I relate less to that last part!)
Throughout the series, we meet new friends and lovers, and the harem grows in love, characters, genders, and types of supes! I LOVE this part of Kaye Draper’s works! Amazing.
All of the characters that we meet have flaws, and quirks, and strengths and passions, and they’re all distinct and remain strong characters throughout the series. Even though it’s a large cast of characters, everyone feels fully fleshed-out and there’s no blending. There’s wonderful, touching, heartfelt character arcs for all!
About that connection I felt to Esper - I related so hard to her, and about halfway through the series when she is still feeling like a weirdo, and an outcast, and left out, and unloved - I did have to take a little break from the series. This isn’t a bad thing, rather it is a great indicator of the power of Draper’s work that this book and character affected me so much! It was giving me some self-doubt though. However, I simply could not leave this addictive world alone, so I got back in and was oh so happy to continue Esper’s arc. Oh, my gosh - slight spoiler, but by the end of the series, she is in such a wonderful and confident place with herself, her lovers, her life, place in the world, etc. and YOU FEEL IT!! It’s simply the best.
(Some things I loved that this series did NOT include are: miscommunication trope, third act breakups (or any romantic breakups), other woman / other man drama, LGBTQ hate, commentary on gender/smex/identity, surprise pregnancy. So relieved to pass on those here!)
Ghostromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 1)
This book was awesome! It starts with a bang, with Esper walking a re-animated dog for the best reasons, and you get a strong sense of her character, loneliness, and power right from the start.
We meet Esper’s bestie, Jazz, and learn about Esper’s horticulture and gardening talents, her “old lady spooky witch” vibe and old Victorian house, as well as her financial independence with her garden products and writing. Esper is a tall and less-curvy woman, who doesn’t feel feminine or beautiful and (while we know that all women and all people are valid!) when we meet her, she’s feeling self-conscious about a lot in herself and her life.
Enter Toma, a medium (like ghost medium, not small-medium-large), with feminine grace and masculine strength, who doesn’t care about gender, has great self-confidence and care in their appearance, who immediately connects with Esper. Their friendship and relationship develops so well!
Together, the two realize something shady is afoot in the town and they join forces for good!
This book did read like a novella / serial series starter (which, it is a series starter!) so it went fast for me and I loved it! A wonderful introduction to this world.
Vampromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 2)
Book 2 in the completed 6 book series!
I loved this book just as much as the first, more actually, because we get another lover in the harem! Well, nest, as we’ll learn to call it. Drake is a very unique vampire and his courtship of Esper (and Toma!) is so well done, there’s excellent communication, and I adore him! The two boyfriends both feel fully fleshed out and unique, they do not blend together or get confused for each other. I love this little MFM trio!
We deal with ghouls in town and a mystery man. Oh, my gosh, in the final chapters as well, we get to meet another two great characters! Jet the jet black kitten (or is he?!), and Luna, the town veterinarian. Onto book 3 to see what is going on next!
Wolfromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 3)
Oh my gosh, can I have a Jet please? And a Toma, and Drake, and Luna?!
Book 3 of 6 was amazing! I loved finding out more about Esper’s familiar, Jet, in all of his amazing forms. Luna, oh my gosh, LUNA!! I want a busty, strong, feminine, bad@ss female werewolf to come after me please!
The nest / harem / pack / murder is a growing andI’m here for it. We get more on page spice, tons of great character growth, and action too! This series just keeps on giving. I’m a very happy paranormal romance reader.
Necromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 4)
Holy heck, book 4 of 6 was amazing!
Our “murder”, nest, pack, harem, is such a treat!! I love our 6 characters that love each other, and their families - which we get to learn a lot more about in this one! Book 4 of 6 is action packed (we still have lots of character development and spice too)!
We face a formidable foe, the collector, and it’s all well done! So well written, and I liked the aggressive pace of this one. We still have very careful care and attention to our relationships (LOVE that with this author!!), but the action really ramps up here!
Witchromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 5)
Book 5 of 6 in a completed series! I loved this one so much.
We continue some of the drama from book 4 (since, spoiler for that previous book, we still have to resolve that drama with the collector and Esper’s dad!).
We also get werewolf drama, and new witch drama, and all the wonderful elements we’ve loved from previous books continues here. There’s hot spice, careful and intentional relationship building, spooky vibes, and lots of hot cocoa. Love, love, love!
Soulromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 6)
This book was everything I wanted in a final book!!
Our “murder” / harem / nest / pack gets cozy time together and loose ends get tied up. We still have a great plot, it’s not all fluff and you do move right along, but it’s the right amount of action, character development, family and friend time, and delightful spicy scenes on page with all of the group! Yum.
I nearly stopped reading the book a few chapters shy of the actual end, because it was at such a sweet spot!!! Ooooh. Dang. However, the final chapters really helped conclude this series, leave our characters in a great place, and leave you feeling that they’re going to have more adventures and they’ll be okay together to face them. Ahh.
I love, loved this series so much! Could not rave enough about it.
I’ll go over the series overall here and then each of the books separately if that’s helpful to get into it!
Quick hits:
- poly romance
- Queer romance
- MF, MMF, MM, FF, and MMMFF
- Open door, on page spicy scenes
- Paranormal
- Completed series (Plus a short story not included in this set called Spooky Christmas, and the author has stated there might be additional tales later though!)
- First person perspective throughout
From the start, I related so hard to Esper, our leading lady in this series! She’s quirky and has low self-esteem, loves plants and pumpkin spice and all things fall and spooky, gardens and writes horticulture books, tries to be there for her family and (singular) friend, all while trying to keep her ability to reanimate the dead on the down-low. (Okay, I relate less to that last part!)
Throughout the series, we meet new friends and lovers, and the harem grows in love, characters, genders, and types of supes! I LOVE this part of Kaye Draper’s works! Amazing.
All of the characters that we meet have flaws, and quirks, and strengths and passions, and they’re all distinct and remain strong characters throughout the series. Even though it’s a large cast of characters, everyone feels fully fleshed-out and there’s no blending. There’s wonderful, touching, heartfelt character arcs for all!
About that connection I felt to Esper - I related so hard to her, and about halfway through the series when she is still feeling like a weirdo, and an outcast, and left out, and unloved - I did have to take a little break from the series. This isn’t a bad thing, rather it is a great indicator of the power of Draper’s work that this book and character affected me so much! It was giving me some self-doubt though. However, I simply could not leave this addictive world alone, so I got back in and was oh so happy to continue Esper’s arc. Oh, my gosh - slight spoiler, but by the end of the series, she is in such a wonderful and confident place with herself, her lovers, her life, place in the world, etc. and YOU FEEL IT!! It’s simply the best.
(Some things I loved that this series did NOT include are: miscommunication trope, third act breakups (or any romantic breakups), other woman / other man drama, LGBTQ hate, commentary on gender/smex/identity, surprise pregnancy. So relieved to pass on those here!)
Ghostromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 1)
This book was awesome! It starts with a bang, with Esper walking a re-animated dog for the best reasons, and you get a strong sense of her character, loneliness, and power right from the start.
We meet Esper’s bestie, Jazz, and learn about Esper’s horticulture and gardening talents, her “old lady spooky witch” vibe and old Victorian house, as well as her financial independence with her garden products and writing. Esper is a tall and less-curvy woman, who doesn’t feel feminine or beautiful and (while we know that all women and all people are valid!) when we meet her, she’s feeling self-conscious about a lot in herself and her life.
Enter Toma, a medium (like ghost medium, not small-medium-large), with feminine grace and masculine strength, who doesn’t care about gender, has great self-confidence and care in their appearance, who immediately connects with Esper. Their friendship and relationship develops so well!
Together, the two realize something shady is afoot in the town and they join forces for good!
This book did read like a novella / serial series starter (which, it is a series starter!) so it went fast for me and I loved it! A wonderful introduction to this world.
Vampromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 2)
Book 2 in the completed 6 book series!
I loved this book just as much as the first, more actually, because we get another lover in the harem! Well, nest, as we’ll learn to call it. Drake is a very unique vampire and his courtship of Esper (and Toma!) is so well done, there’s excellent communication, and I adore him! The two boyfriends both feel fully fleshed out and unique, they do not blend together or get confused for each other. I love this little MFM trio!
We deal with ghouls in town and a mystery man. Oh, my gosh, in the final chapters as well, we get to meet another two great characters! Jet the jet black kitten (or is he?!), and Luna, the town veterinarian. Onto book 3 to see what is going on next!
Wolfromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 3)
Oh my gosh, can I have a Jet please? And a Toma, and Drake, and Luna?!
Book 3 of 6 was amazing! I loved finding out more about Esper’s familiar, Jet, in all of his amazing forms. Luna, oh my gosh, LUNA!! I want a busty, strong, feminine, bad@ss female werewolf to come after me please!
The nest / harem / pack / murder is a growing andI’m here for it. We get more on page spice, tons of great character growth, and action too! This series just keeps on giving. I’m a very happy paranormal romance reader.
Necromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 4)
Holy heck, book 4 of 6 was amazing!
Our “murder”, nest, pack, harem, is such a treat!! I love our 6 characters that love each other, and their families - which we get to learn a lot more about in this one! Book 4 of 6 is action packed (we still have lots of character development and spice too)!
We face a formidable foe, the collector, and it’s all well done! So well written, and I liked the aggressive pace of this one. We still have very careful care and attention to our relationships (LOVE that with this author!!), but the action really ramps up here!
Witchromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 5)
Book 5 of 6 in a completed series! I loved this one so much.
We continue some of the drama from book 4 (since, spoiler for that previous book, we still have to resolve that drama with the collector and Esper’s dad!).
We also get werewolf drama, and new witch drama, and all the wonderful elements we’ve loved from previous books continues here. There’s hot spice, careful and intentional relationship building, spooky vibes, and lots of hot cocoa. Love, love, love!
Soulromance by Kaye Draper (Reluctant Necromancer Book 6)
This book was everything I wanted in a final book!!
Our “murder” / harem / nest / pack gets cozy time together and loose ends get tied up. We still have a great plot, it’s not all fluff and you do move right along, but it’s the right amount of action, character development, family and friend time, and delightful spicy scenes on page with all of the group! Yum.
I nearly stopped reading the book a few chapters shy of the actual end, because it was at such a sweet spot!!! Ooooh. Dang. However, the final chapters really helped conclude this series, leave our characters in a great place, and leave you feeling that they’re going to have more adventures and they’ll be okay together to face them. Ahh.
I love, loved this series so much! Could not rave enough about it.
April 6, 2021
Love
I absolutely loved these books and the stories within them. A few grammatical issues and some other things had me knock a star off.
I am so cool with a book that’s LGBTQ friendly. my hang up was that Awan wasn’t genderized and so it was confusing reading pronouns as “They”. Just from a readers perspective it was a little confusing to follow because there’s a decent amount of characters that using they, to discuss one person was confusing because it’s a plural tense, so I had to re-read sentences to make sense. Again, no disrespect, but it’s was confusing.
Also, this is super dumb to note but the female on the cover doesn’t mesh with the persona that the author gave to the main female lead. Again I’m super cool with the big,old, hulking, awkward persona ( which is this author’s M.O) but the cover doesn’t accurately portray the way this author describes the female lead.. I personally love the idea of this lead but it did get old how she’s constantly described as a flat chested man-ish being. Like, cool she’s a Tomboy get over it. I just felt like the author spent a lot of time trying to be politically correct when it came to LGBTQ . It’s like the author kept making a point to keep describing Esper as a mannish person, and her medium friend as a beautiful, feminine, lithe, graceful man-boy.
Your readers get it, you’re super cool and all about not sticking to gender norms, but can you please go forward with a the story?? The stories went by so fast or wasn’t as fully developed. It felt like there was more that could’ve been included.
I absolutely loved these books and the stories within them. A few grammatical issues and some other things had me knock a star off.
I am so cool with a book that’s LGBTQ friendly. my hang up was that Awan wasn’t genderized and so it was confusing reading pronouns as “They”. Just from a readers perspective it was a little confusing to follow because there’s a decent amount of characters that using they, to discuss one person was confusing because it’s a plural tense, so I had to re-read sentences to make sense. Again, no disrespect, but it’s was confusing.
Also, this is super dumb to note but the female on the cover doesn’t mesh with the persona that the author gave to the main female lead. Again I’m super cool with the big,old, hulking, awkward persona ( which is this author’s M.O) but the cover doesn’t accurately portray the way this author describes the female lead.. I personally love the idea of this lead but it did get old how she’s constantly described as a flat chested man-ish being. Like, cool she’s a Tomboy get over it. I just felt like the author spent a lot of time trying to be politically correct when it came to LGBTQ . It’s like the author kept making a point to keep describing Esper as a mannish person, and her medium friend as a beautiful, feminine, lithe, graceful man-boy.
Your readers get it, you’re super cool and all about not sticking to gender norms, but can you please go forward with a the story?? The stories went by so fast or wasn’t as fully developed. It felt like there was more that could’ve been included.
July 28, 2020
Love
Aweee this was such a sweet read. The only thing I found hard to read was the constant use of the phrase Powers that be or similar. There were times it was extremely distracting. There were a few grammar errors that snuck in but other than that I loved the story progression and character development and growth that every main character experienced through the series.
Aweee this was such a sweet read. The only thing I found hard to read was the constant use of the phrase Powers that be or similar. There were times it was extremely distracting. There were a few grammar errors that snuck in but other than that I loved the story progression and character development and growth that every main character experienced through the series.
April 2, 2021
The only thing that’s more annoying than an 18 year old character who acts like a 28 year old is a 30 year old character who acts like a 13 year old. Grow up, if you’re unpleasant, people don’t have to like you.
April 21, 2021
Great series
This was one great series! Glad I read it all at once and didnt have to wait to read then, I recommend this series:)
This was one great series! Glad I read it all at once and didnt have to wait to read then, I recommend this series:)
Read
June 4, 2025🔴 This is a poly romance, not a RH 🔴
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews