Event Recap: For the Love of the Quest by Alexandra Ammon Parthun

This weekend, CML Reynoldsburg hosted the launch event for For the Love of the Quest by Alexandra Ammon Parthun, moderated by local author and all things library events, Elisa Stone Leahy. The SPARC Diversity Dialogues book club met beforehand to discuss our August pick (Fabulous Bodies!) and then attend the event. Check out some insights below and pick up For the Love of the Quest, out now!

For the Love of the Quest: A Novel

by Alexandra Ammon Parthun
on August 11, 2026
Bookshop
Goodreads

The search for King Arthur’s Excalibur invites danger…and potentially love in this sapphic historical romance perfect for fans of Cat Sebastian and Freya Marske.
Lady Edith Darling is supposed to live a quiet life in her family’s manor. She is not supposed to go unchaperoned on a quest to find Excalibur. But Edith won’t let that stand in her way, especially not when she's on this mission to honor her beloved grandmother’s dying wish. Determined to prove her grandmother right, Edith packs her satchel with Arthurian legends, pastries, and her grandmother’s ashes, and runs off to hire a mercenary. 
Thomasin Shaw leads the most feared gang in London. For years, she had the constabulary safely in her pocket, until a scandal involving the chief inspector’s wife was brought to light. Now he’s demanding an enormous sum of money–without which Thomassin will lose the protection of the police along with her criminal empire. But when the rich Lady Edith waltzes into her life seeking an escort for a treasure hunt, Thomasin sees a willing kidnapping victim and a massive ransom.
As Edith’s clues lead them to underground chambers booby-trapped with arrows, doors locked with arcane puzzles, and even Arthur’s fabled round table, Thomasin finds herself swept up in the quest, and in Edith herself. Edith is also drawn to Thomasin, despite the ruthless mask she wears. But the chief inspector won’t let Thomasin forget her crimes, and Edith’s father is intent on bringing her home. Every legendary quest has an ending, but finding Excalibur might not be enough to make this a happy one.

Event Recap

Alexandra opened by talking about the inspirations behind the book: Indiana Jones, The Mummy, Our Flag Means Death, Dickinson, and BBC’s Merlin, which she said directly inspired the story. The result feels modern and playful while being rooted in a world of historical legend.

Characters came first, before plot, before even the Arthurian setting. Alexandra knew she wanted to write an opposites attract quest story and Edith arrived first. She wanted a protagonist who felt behind in life but had something she was deeply passionate about and wanted to go find. The plot, and eventually the Arthurian framework, came later. The legend was not the starting point. Edith was.

The Arthurian setting was not inevitable either. Alexandra originally considered Greek mythology but she is not a Greek history person. She is an Arthurian legend person, specifically in the fun fantastical sense rather than the scholarly sense. She is drawn to what she called the hints of magic in the Arthurian world, the way the supernatural exists at the edges of things that otherwise feel historical and real. She compared it to Indiana Jones, where the world feels grounded and then people’s faces start melting off. The puzzle elements in the quest were built from actual Arthurian historical research rather than invented, which gives the treasure hunt its bones.

The tropes are all present: opposites attract, grumpy sunshine, black cat golden retriever. This one is high on romance and low on spice. A sequel, True Love’s Quest, is coming in spring and invovles the search for the Holy Grail, travel to Paris, and somewhere magical, with more spice on the horizon.