Below is the complete list of Caroline Peckham’s and Susanne Valenti‘s Crown of Hearts and Chaos books in order. For this series, the chronological reading order is the same as the order of publication.
Publication Order of Crown of Hearts and Chaos Books
with Susanne Valenti
- Hollow (2025)
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Hollow was published in 2025 and is listed as book #1 in the Crown of Hearts and Chaos series. - Lightwing (2026)
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Published in 2026, Lightwing is listed as book #2 in the Crown of Hearts and Chaos series. - Moonsinger (2026)
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Moonsinger is a 2026 release and appears as book #3 in the Crown of Hearts and Chaos series.
About Crown of Hearts and Chaos
Caroline Peckham and Susanne Valenti’s Crown of Hearts and Chaos series is a dark romantasy built around a cursed forest, a deadly contest, old magic, scattered spirits, and a heroine who enters a world where survival depends on cunning as much as strength. The series begins with Hollow and continues with Lightwing, forming a two-book arc that carries the authors’ familiar taste for danger, morally complicated attraction, sharp twists, and emotionally charged fantasy into a new setting.
The first book, Hollow, introduces Ferris Creed, a heroine who is not a warrior, swordsmith, or fae, but who enters the Great Hunt because the forest offers the one thing she desperately needs: a boon powerful enough to change her fate. The Great Hunt takes place once every fifty years, drawing Champions into the forest to face death, curses, spirits, and whatever ancient forces rule the trees. Ferris does not belong among the obvious contenders, which gives the story much of its tension. She is underpowered in a world that rewards brutality, but she carries stubborn courage, quick thinking, and enough defiance to step into a place most people would avoid at any cost.
The forest is the real heart of the series. It is not simply scenery for a tournament-style fantasy. It behaves like a living, hostile force, full of rules, whispers, bargains, and punishments. Peckham and Valenti use it to create an atmosphere where every path feels uncertain and every choice may have consequences beyond what Ferris understands. The danger is not only physical. The forest tests desire, loyalty, fear, and identity, making the Hunt feel less like a game and more like a trap built from old magic.
Hendrix Bane becomes one of the most important figures in Ferris’s story. He is tied to shadow, wrath, and the dangerous power structures surrounding the Hunt, and his connection with Ferris is charged with distrust, threat, and unwanted fascination. This is very much in line with Peckham and Valenti’s broader style. They often write relationships where attraction grows in hostile territory, where power imbalance, secrets, betrayal, and survival pressure make every emotional shift feel risky.
Lightwing continues the story after the events of Hollow, deepening the consequences of the Great Hunt and the bargains made within it. Ferris is no longer only fighting to survive the forest; she is forced to face what the Hunt has revealed about her, what it has cost her, and what new task has been placed on her soul. The second book also pushes the conflict with Bane into darker emotional ground, especially as hatred, corruption, and reluctant dependence become harder to separate.
Crown of Hearts and Chaos fits naturally beside Peckham and Valenti’s other fantasy-romance work, but it has its own identity. It is not an academy series like Zodiac Academy, a prison romance like Darkmore Penitentiary, or a vampire dystopia like Age Of Vampires. Its world is more folkloric and forest-bound, driven by spirits, curses, fae danger, and the deadly ritual of the Hunt.
The series is best understood as dark romantasy about survival, sacrifice, and the dangerous bargains people make when they have nothing left to lose. Its strongest appeal lies in the contrast between beauty and menace: a magical forest that promises hope while feeding on fear, a heroine willing to walk into death for a chance at freedom, and a love-hate tension that may prove as dangerous as the curse itself.