Rhana McKenna

Hey there! I'm Rhana McKenna, and I write dark fantasy romance that'll make you question everything you thought you knew about belonging, destiny, and the ancient magic hiding in plain sight. (Yeah, I'm that author who spends way too much time researching folklore and probably knows more about obscure forest myths than is strictly healthy.)

Writing found me during the strangest time of my life, when I was living in a tiny cabin on the edge of an old-growth forest in the Pacific Northwest. I'd left behind a "sensible" career in environmental science to figure out what the hell I actually wanted from life. Turns out, what I wanted was to tell stories about fierce women discovering their true nature while falling for dangerous men who might just be more than human. (The forest may or may not have whispered these stories to me during my midnight walks. I'll never tell.)

My debut novel, "Secrets of the Forgotten Grove," came to life during those long, rain-soaked months when the boundary between reality and myth felt paper-thin. Shannon's story poured out of me like a storm, and I couldn't stop writing until I'd captured every dark secret those ancient trees were keeping. If you love heroines who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty (literally and metaphorically), morally gray love interests who blur the line between protector and predator, and enough atmospheric tension to make you sleep with the lights on, you're in my tribe.

I write the kind of romance that grows like wild mushrooms after a rain – beautiful but potentially poisonous, irresistibly tempting, and definitely not for the faint of heart. My characters don't just fall in love; they crash into it like lightning striking an ancient oak. There's usually blood involved. Sometimes teeth. Always magic that's older than time itself.

When I'm not writing, you'll find me wandering through moss-covered forests with my rescue wolf-dog (yes, really – his name is Grimm and he's the goodest boy), collecting weird specimens for my curiosity cabinet, or attempting to grow poisonous plants in my garden (for research purposes only, I swear). I live in a renovated Victorian that's probably haunted, but my ghost only messes with my first drafts, so we've learned to coexist peacefully.

Fair warning: my books aren't your typical romance novels. They're raw, wild things that don't always play by the rules. If you're looking for neat, tidy endings where everything's wrapped up in a perfect bow, you might want to look elsewhere. But if you want stories that'll drag you into the deep dark woods and make you question whether you ever want to find your way back out... well, pull up a chair by the fire. We're going to have fun together.

I'm building a whole world of interconnected stories set in and around the Forgotten Grove, where ancient powers are waking up and modern hearts are about to discover just how primal love can be. Shannon's story is just the beginning, and I can't wait to show you what's lurking in the shadows of those ageless trees.

You can find me on Instagram posting aesthetic photos of mossy stones and mysterious forests, or in my Facebook reader group, "McKenna's Wild Hunt," where we chat about folklore, share spooky stories, and I drop hints about upcoming books (usually after too much coffee). Fair warning: I'm terrible at TikTok, but I'm trying. My dance moves are about as graceful as a baby deer on roller skates.

To all my future readers: thank you for being brave enough to venture into these woods with me. The path ahead is dark and twisting, but I promise the journey will be worth it. Just... maybe bring a flashlight. And don't stray from the trail unless you're ready to be found by something ancient and hungry.

Welcome to my world. The trees are waiting for you.