Son of the Morning

This over-the-top spicy paranormal romance from bestseller Emezi (You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty) follows Galilee Kincaid, the daughter of a large Southern family of supernaturally powerful Black women led by matriarch Nana Darling. Even among her kin, however, Galilee has always felt different. When she moves to the city of Salvation with her two best friends, Bonbon and Oriaku, she enters the orbit of Lucifer Morningstar. He’s the leader of an elite security team guarding a mysterious Nigerian artifact collected by Oriaku’s wealthy father—and he’s also the literal devil. It’s lust at first sight as Galilee wrestles with the intensity of her feelings for the possessive and dangerous Lucifer. Meanwhile, his underlings, the princes of hell, work to keep them apart, especially the brooding Leviathan, whose own relationship with Galilee eventually takes a heated turn as well. When Oriaku’s father’s artifact threatens to open a gate to hell, Galilee must confront dark secrets from her past and embrace her identity to save the world. The reveal of Galilee’s origins feels fairly expected, and the abundant sex scenes, while scorching, occasionally border on gratuitous, but it’s satisfying to see Galilee own her power and her desires. There’s nothing particularly revelatory here, but it’s a solid outing and an exciting new direction for Emezi. (Jan.)