Book Title: The Boat on the Lake of Regret

Series:  The Castle in Kilkenny: Fairy Tales

Author Name: Christy Matheson

Publication Date: 15 July, 2025

Publisher: Buttercup Books (self-published)

Pages: 210

Genre: Fairy tale retelling; historical fantasy

Any Triggers:

I define this series as “high adventure, no gore.” It is suitable for an older teen audience.

There are slight content warnings about unsupportive parents (off-page) and there is a war that is mentioned. The characters are in physical danger, but everyone is fine in the end, and the tone of the book makes it clear that everyone will be fine. Two characters in love spend the night together, but it isn’t even fade-to-black because it isn’t implied that they have sex (I think they cuddle).

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Book Title and Author Name:

The Boat on the Lake of Regret

by Christy Matheson

Blurb:

He has one last chance to be a fairy tale hero. 

But she didn’t agree to be the damsel in distress.

When her longtime boyfriend unexpectedly slides a ring on her finger, Hannah is whisked from her everyday bedroom to a medieval ball. Hannah knew that Dylan would do anything to prove to her parents that he’s husband material, including going into the Fae world—but she never agreed to go through the Veil herself.

Now one of three princess sisters, Hannah is paired with now-Prince Dylan. But, homesick and blindsided, she pretends the Veil has wiped him from her memory.

As her prince scrambles in vain to be the right kind of hero, Hannah ignores her instincts and follows her new sisters onto a mysterious boat—which promptly sails them into a land of giants, magical traps, and enchanted pianos…and away from Dylan.

Read now to journey back to medieval Ireland, complete with the Fae and mythological monsters, in this fairy tale adventure and sweet “it was always you” romance.

Snippet 4:

Ship takes off:

The wind catches our cloaks when we reach the front of the boat, and Nuala lifts her arms and laughs into the gust. I can’t help but smile too; something about the raw free power of it after this day.

There’s a deep poom above me, as the sail snaps full. It rocks Nuala half off her feet—I grab her, she laughs, I laugh too.

“Wait!” I shake her lightly. “The sail!”

“What about the—” Nuala looks up and goes quiet.

As one, we both turn to the cove, which is a dozen yards away. Two dozen.

“Stop!” someone yells from shore, or many someones. I still can’t see them.

“It’s cozy down here,” Mór calls, “but the waves have come up a bit.”

The sail flutters and snaps full again.

“There’s no one here,” I say, terrified. “How is the ship moving?”

“We’re running straight downwind,” Nuala answers, her voice flat. “Maybe they just left the sail rigged? And the wind changed?”

Even I know that sailors don’t get off a boat and just leave the rigging in place so the first wind will take their boat away.

Behind us, there’s a scream and a splash. We both turn, but can’t see anything behind the headland. The sail is still dropping and then pulling full again, so we’re distinctly moving, but not getting anywhere fast.

Just then, there’s a clatter and the ropes drop loose in the pulleys, the winches on the other side start to turn, and the sail flops against the mast, then pulls towards the side.

There’s still no sailors. At least ones that we can see.

Buy Link:

Universal Buy Link: https://buy.bookfunnel.com/hzxiszq79z

Author Bio:

Characters you connect with. Adventure. Love. Family… And endings that are more than a sugar rush. 

When Christy Matheson is not throwing ordinary characters into fairy tales, she is busy raising five children. (Very busy.) She writes character-driven historical fiction with and without fantasy elements, and her “fresh, smart, and totally charming” stories have won multiple awards.

Christy is also an embroidery artist, classically trained pianist, and sews all of her own clothes. She lives in Oregon, on a country property that fondly reminds her of a Regency estate (except with a swing set instead of faux Greek ruins), with her husband, five children, three Shelties, one bunny, and an improbable quantity of art supplies.

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