We’re starting the spooky season with a stunning cover reveal! Cat Rector will be releasing the sequel to Coal Gets In Your Veins in Spring 2026, but we can already fawn over the gorgeous cover. Scherville has done an excellent job at showing Spencer’s desperation while Laurel is feral. Can he save her?
If you’re familiar with Cat’s work, you know it’s going to be emotional. I had the pleasure of beta reading it and I cried multiple times. I’m very excited for more people to get to know these wonderful characters more.
Cat has ARC requests up already and she’ll give you a copy of the first book ahead of time if you haven’t read it yet!
Learning to Bleed
Cover Art/Designer: Scherville
Release date: March 18th 2026
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Blurb
You can take the girl out of Penny Harbour, but you can’t take the monster out of the girl.
When Spencer and Laurel left Penny Harbour after her death, he promised she could learn to control her hunger. Once she stops being a danger to the people she loves, he can bring her home. His centuries as a vampire should have prepared him to guide her, but every night, he cleans the blood from her hands and hides the corpses she’s made. No amount of careful planning stops the inevitable, and Spencer can’t figure out why.
Laurel is lying. The monster that took root in her veins never left. It whispers to her, robs her of reason, and twists the truth. Out in the big, broad world for the first time, she’s overwhelmed by cities, her own queer reckoning, and the monsters waging war inside her. Terrified of what will happen if she tells Spencer, Laurel has decided to push through in isolation. Things were supposed to get easier, after all. With practice, she should have been in control by now.
Will Laurel be able to overcome the rage long enough to take advantage of her new freedom, or will the violence destroy everything she’s fought so hard to get?
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This book is the second part of a queer Gothic horror series with romantic themes and handles heavy, complicated topics such as generational trauma, spousal abuse, and grief. A full list of trigger warnings can be found on Cat’s website.
About the author
Cat Rector grew up in a small Nova Scotian town and could often be found simultaneously reading a book and fighting off muskrats while walking home from school. She devours stories in all their forms, loves messy, morally grey characters, and writes about the horrors that we inflict on each other. After spending nearly a decade living abroad, she returned to Canada to resume her war against the muskrats. When she’s not writing, you can find her playing video games, spending time with loved ones, or staring at her To Be Read pile like it’s going to read itself.
Find her on social media or visit her website.
