~ GOTHIC FANTASY ROMANCE ~
Inspired by Andersen’s The Little Mermaid meets Eggers’ Nosferatu film, a sheltered woman is enchanted by the call of a man-eating siren in this dark sapphic fairytale of a maiden and a monster.
Rated 8.25/10 by the 2025 BookLife Prize for originality, prose, and character development, Half Moon Bay is Manteufel’s current bestselling novel!
Visit The Haunted Book Shop in Mobile, AL for signed paperbacks.
Cape Althea whispers of a wraith guarding the bay. Capricious weather and the glint of iron scales betray an ominous presence, but nothing more… until Laura Rivell sets sail.
Embarking on a revival cruise with her childhood friend, Laura is reborn into darkness instead of the promised light: A fate of ethereal dirges, kindred spirits, and a treacherous siren that the sheltered Miss Rivell cannot resist. Now Laura must decide whether to turn her back on religion, society, and humankind itself to love a monster—
And perhaps become a monster.
“Half Moon Bay blends genres and offers readers intense romance that knows no bounds—a truly distinctive novel.”
—The BookLife Prize
“Manteufel’s writing is filled with rich imagery and detail, and her voice will remind readers of the best Gothic novels—lush and haunting, expressive and hypnotizing, but always clear about the most heightened moments… a dark fairytale. Half Moon Bay is a book about what happens when you chase monstrosity and you catch it.”
—Ana Hansen, Sparks Editorial
Debut at the Page and Palette in Fairhope, AL on September 6th. See Event Schedule page for more details and events.
