City of Thorns

On her birthday, Rowan Morgenstern is celebrating at a bar when a demon crashes the evening. He is Orion, the Lord of Chaos, and he has mistaken her for Mortana, a succubus who looks exactly like her. When he tastes her blood he realizes she is mortal, and the two discover they want the same thing: revenge. Rowan's mother was murdered, and she is determined to find the killer.

They make a deal. Rowan can stay in the forbidden demon city of Thorns to hunt for her mother's killer, and in return she will help Orion get the vengeance he craves. All she has to do is pose as a succubus, and Orion teaches her the role, which means lessons in seduction. The trouble is that Orion is also her prime suspect, and the closer they get, the harder that is to remember. If she falls under his spell, death awaits.

City of Thorns is the first book in The Demon Queen Trials, a paranormal romance series by C. N. Crawford. It was self-published in August 2021 and ends on a cliffhanger.