Ever since becoming disowned by his family, the person who matters most to Isaac is his best friend. Unfortunately, said best friend is trapped inside a mirror. For two years, Isaac has traveled various kingdoms with Penn at his side, searching for clues to break the curse and earning money however he can. When offered a job as an escort for a lavish party at the Embedded Palace—a place teeming with wealth and potential magic—Isaac is quick to accept. For the friend he’s fallen in love with, he’ll do anything.
Being stuck in a mirror is one thing, but for Penn, it's even more humiliating because they're a fairy who should have been able to avoid the curse. Whatever the curse is. They can't quite remember. If only they had been a storybook Prince Charming instead of a useless fairy, life would have been better. But with a sweet, kind, and alluring friend like Isaac helping them, they refuse to give up.
As soon as the pair arrive at the Embedded Palace, buried memories start surfacing, darker than either of them ever imagined. With a misanthropic knight who has ties to fairies, cursed apples, a queen seeking an enchanted mirror, and a hunter obsessed with Isaac, the inseparable best friends find themselves being pulled apart. Maybe not even a Prince Charming can save the day, but Penn and Isaac will do anything to make their deepest wish come true—to be with each other.
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Illusive Wishes is a full-length, standalone novel in the Dithered Hearts series.
alt text: Cover for Chace Verity's Illusive Wishes featuring a pale person trapped in a mirror.
Illusive Wishes contains the following:
- Sex work and pro-sex work stances
- Exhibition/voyeurism kink
- Dubious consent in regards to intoxicated sex
- Graphic violence, including threats toward a child
- Very brief allusions to sexual assault
- On and off-the-page depictions of death
- Death ideation
- Abduction
- Multiple references to queerphobia
- Misgendering and deadnaming of trans characters, both accidental and intentional
- Abuse from a parent
- Estranged family
- Alcohol and drug use
- Possession/mind control/loss of autonomy
- Anti-destructive mining stances
- Explicit sex scenes
- Excessive swearing, especially in Penn’s chapters
- Sex work and pro-sex work stances
- Exhibition/voyeurism kink
- Dubious consent in regards to intoxicated sex
- Graphic violence, including threats toward a child
- Very brief allusions to sexual assault
- On and off-the-page depictions of death
- Death ideation
- Abduction
- Multiple references to queerphobia
- Misgendering and deadnaming of trans characters, both accidental and intentional
- Abuse from a parent
- Estranged family
- Alcohol and drug use
- Possession/mind control/loss of autonomy
- Anti-destructive mining stances
- Explicit sex scenes
- Excessive swearing, especially in Penn’s chapters
Queer representation in Illusive Wishes includes:
- queer nonbinary leads for the main romantic pairing (Isaac uses he/they pronouns, and Penn uses they/them pronouns)
- gay cis m/m side couple
- bisexual cis woman deuteragonist
- trans aromantic-pansexual side character
- queer nonbinary leads for the main romantic pairing (Isaac uses he/they pronouns, and Penn uses they/them pronouns)
- gay cis m/m side couple
- bisexual cis woman deuteragonist
- trans aromantic-pansexual side character