Old School. Biblically Independent.
By Kayleigh Donaldson | Books | June 2, 2026
It’s been a while since E.L. James decided to get into a fist-fight with the written word and lose. After the inexplicable success of her 50 Shades of Grey trilogy and its stalker-POV spinoff, she wrote a duology of unrelated romance that nobody liked and fewer read (I did, regrettably.) We were hoping she’d be happy to just live with her millions of pounds, but nope, she wants to take on the BookTok age. How will she do that, now that she’s seemingly run out of Stephenie Meyer works to copy? Why, with a YA series, of course!
James announced her latest project, a YA fantasy duology called Land of Ghosts. As she explained to Cosmopolitan:
“‘Land of Ghosts’ is an impossible love story - a tale of grief, healing, love, loss, and fantastical worlds. Emily Beauchamp, the gifted daughter of a loving family, loses everything in an instant - her parents, her brother, her future, and her hope. Forced to move London and move in with a distant relative, Emily arrives carrying unbearable loss, only to discover that his house has secrets of its own.”
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Honestly, I’m surprised with myself for not predicting she’d see the success of romantasy and decide to reheat someone else’s nachos. Did she read Sarah J. Maas and wonder why she wasn’t seeing any of those bounties? It was that or hockey romance and that requires more homework. But I am curious to see who the audience for this is. Obviously, YA romantasy is a big deal right now, but are teens looking for the 50 Shades lady to join that space? I imagine this is more for adults who read YA, especially on BookTok. You know those people who make videos whining about how some books have too many words on the page and they only read the dialogue and sex scenes? Erika, you have your scene.
Land of Ghosts will be released on October 20th, 2026.
