Son of the Morning

 

A spicy Black Southern Gothic romantasy novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author of You Made a Fool of Death With Your Beauty.

Galilee Kincaid is haunted by the pull of something ancient - a whisper in her bones, a secret too vast to name. Raised in the shadow of the Kincaid legacy, a formidable clan of Black women rooted in the weeping willows and rushing creeks, a hollow ache has always pulsed inside her...

Until she meets him. Lucifer Helel. Head of security for her wealthy friend's family, he guards a mysterious relic older than time itself. From the moment Gali lays eyes on him, something stirs within her. His gaze burns like fire, a predator's hunger concealed behind the mask of a mortal. In an instant, Gali knows he is not human.

From their very touch, Lucifer sees the truth about Gali - something she doesn't even know. She's not human either.

Enter Leviathan, Lucifer's most trusted prince of Hell. A creature of shadow and fury, Levi has one mission: destroy Galilee before she unravels the delicate balance that binds Heaven, Hell, and Earth.

Because Lucifer and Galilee's unstoppable attraction is more than forbidden - it's powerful enough to tear apart the very fabric of existence. As war rages and the world teeters on the edge of eternity, will Galilee embrace the untamed force within her and risk everything to reclaim her true self?

Review

November 2025 Indie Next List

Holy moly, is it the flames of Hell making it hot in here or is it Akwaeke Emezi's phenomenal writing?! With captivating characters full of tensions both supernatural and sensual, SON OF THE MORNING is romantic, scorching, and not to be missed! ― Jason June, New York Times bestselling author

Son of the Morning sizzles with evocative, lyrical prose and tantalizing spice. A story of yearning and dark indulgences amid a clash of angels and demons. Akwaeke Emezi's story kept me hooked as Lucifer, the seductive Devil, and Galilee, an alluring woman brimming with unknown magic, fall into each other while trying to stop the world from ripping apart at the seams. ― A. J. Locke, author of The Vanish Witch

Son of the Morning is a delicious inferno of cosmic war and conflicting loyalties amidst a journey towards reclaiming identity. With enough romantic tension to make Hell itself look like tundra, this sizzling romance is an absolute delight. ― Shalini Abeysekara, author of This Monster of Mine

Akwaeke Emezi's Son of the Morning is a sizzling rollercoaster of a novel! Galilee is a heroine to root for, and the Kincaid women who love her are a force to be reckoned with, even for the devil himself. Hotter than a Southern summer, this story of fallen angels, demons, and badass women is an absolute treat. ― Del Sandeen, author of This Cursed House

Emezi's skillful storytelling is lush and evocative, [their] signature prose is haunting. In a time of overwhelming choices for romantasy books, this deeply seductive novel stands out with a visceral allure. An absolute must-have. ― Library Journal, starred review

An exciting new direction for Emezi. ― Publishers Weekly

Sizzling hot ― People Magazine

An alluring paranormal romance [with] a tantalizing love triangle unlike any you've read before. ― Bustle, The Most Anticipated Books Of Fall 2025

About the Author

Akwaeke Emezi, lauded as 'one of our greatest living writers' (Shondaland) and 'a once-in-a-generation voice' (Vulture), is a writer and artist using storytelling to centre indigenous Black realities and radical possibilities with the philosophy that re-indigenization is essential for liberation.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Emezi's work spans literature, music, film, and visual art. They are the author of the New York Times bestseller The Death of Vivek Oji, which was a finalist for the Dylan Thomas Prize, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and the PEN/Jean Stein Award; Pet, a finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature, a Walter Honor Book, and a Stonewall Honor Book; Freshwater, which was shortlisted for the PEN/Hemingway Award, the New Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Centre for Fiction's First Novel Prize; and Dear Senthuran: A Black Spirit Memoir, which won the 2022 ALA Stonewall Prize for Best Nonfiction Book. Their romance novel You Made A Fool Of Death With Your Beauty was a Sunday Times bestseller, a 2023 NAACP Image Award nominee and is in development for the screen at Amazon Studios. Selected as a 5 Under 35 honouree by the National Book Foundation and featured on a Time cover as a Next Generation Leader, they are based in liminal spaces.