November 26 through 28, 2021, you can get a serious deal on my books.
Yes, that’s 2 books for 99c…total! I wanted to do a special sale for Small Business Saturday weekend, and you may never again see its like. If you’ve been thinking about starting the Tara’s Necklace series or have been meaning to pick up book two, now’s your chance!
This sale is on Smashwords only. Use coupon code AJ39W at the checkout. Find both sale books here!
Cheers to small businesses,
– CKB
In less than two hours, Girl of Glass and Fury arrives!
I’ll keep the price at 99c for the first week, so you can use this Universal Book Link to purchase it. Remember, if you haven’t read book one, that’s no problem! Girl of Glass and Fury takes place at the same time as Girl of Shadow and Glass (also 99c for a limited time!).
It’s a cruel and unjust world Finchoa lives in, and she’s determined to change it. Which would be a lot easier if not for one, massive problem: She’s a wisp.
To change the course of history, Finchoa will use every advantage she has—including her many friends. With the help of the boy she can’t be with and the friend she most trusts, Finchoa sets out to find their ancestors’ lost magic and a better future for her world. One in which her childhood friend Kith—and all the shade-children like her—will never have to choose between the dangerous shadows of the Open World and starvation.
Set in the same few days as Girl of Shadow and Glass (Tara’s Necklace Book One), Finchoa’s righteous anger grows into a force of its own, leading her out of her desert home and into a wild, new world she never could have imagined. Nor could she have dream of Arc, the mysterious soldier who suspects she’s more than she appears. And he isn’t wrong. Finchoa’s encounters with ancient magic are changing her in ways she can’t understand—yet.
With a bone-chilling jungle world full of dark surprises and a desert world mired in wicked winds, the worlds stand against a girl with the body of a ghost. Can Finchoa become what she needs to and unravel the secrets of Sundown? Or will those secrets die with her?
(Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.)
A Trial of Thorns departs from its roots as a Beauty and the Beast retelling as a major plot twist plays out, dropping Aster in the middle of court fae trials to determine who will be the next king or queen of the fae. Best of all, Aster, whose character is drawn from Belle/Beauty, continues to forge her own path.
Caught in a contest of fae heirs as an unwilling champion, Aster flounders more desperately in A Trial of Thorns. And it’s no wonder: she’s in unfamiliar territory. Everything about the fae of this series sets them apart from humans, from their unearthly beauty to their superhuman abilities and lifespans. Aside from Thorn and the Forest Court, humans don’t mean much to the average fae—and are treated accordingly. Worse still, Aster’s abilities as a greenwitch and enchantress are rendered null in the Sky Court, where the only plants are contained in greenhouse.
I appreciated but did not fully love A Trial of Thorns at first (excepting the parts with the wonderful brownie Mosswhistle, who is perfect in all scenes). The last third to quarter of the book, however, is superb. The authors don’t let Aster and Thorn have a mindless happily ever after that ignores their problems. Instead, they lean in to the severe issues between humans and fae.
It’s a pleasure to see Aster not let Thorn and her other fae friends off the hook, and to take charge of her situation. The serious conversations between them are well-rendered and everything you’d want from an independent and compassionate heroine.
The descriptive writing is not as strong in this book, largely because Rookwood and Vince excel at writing about the natural world—especially when it skews toward dark fantasy. The Sky Court is almost clinical in nature, full of marble and character-less luxury (the House Hunters crowd would be unimpressed, but hey, Faolan’s got his own style). The Trials themselves are creatively designed, and reminded me pleasantly of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, with a dash of Greco-Roman mythology. Which means there’s always a clever twist for readers to enjoy. Those are my kind of trials.
I did miss the authors’ forest descriptions and the constant danger of the Folkwood. The dangers Aster faces in A Trial of Thorns come more from brutal, conniving fae plots and politics; those who enjoyed reading about Tyrion and the other Lannisters in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series will be happiest, while fans of Alexis Henderson’s The Year of the Witching will be rooting for Aster to find her way home.
A Trial of Thorns is something of a transitional book, as so many second books are (I’m looking at you, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets!), and that usual means some growing pains. But I put down this book satisfied with the direction the series is going in, happy with Aster’s evolution (get ’em, girl!) and excited for whatever happens next.
To learn more about these authors, please visit helenarookwood.com and elmvince.com.
Review: An Enchantment of Thorns (A Court of Fairy Tales #1), by Helena Rookwood & Elm Vince
Interview: Helena Rookwood & Elm Vince (2021)
Review: Tapestry of Night (Star Cast Series #1), by Elm Vince
Review: The Prince and the Poisoner (Carnival of Fae #1), by Helena Rookwood
Review: The Thief and the Throne (Carnival of Fae #2), by Helena Rookwood
Review: Throne of Sand (Desert Nights Novels #1), by Helena Rookwood & Elm Vince
Hi everyone!
Apologies for the, er, absent state of the blog lately. I’ve been hard at work with revisions on the next book in the Tara’s Necklace series, and something had to give. Unfortunately, it was the blog this time (and a whole lot of tidying up!).
Witches Steeped in Gold, by Ciannon Smart – Don’t overlook the fact that a sequel is coming! I sadly didn’t realize and expected a more satisfying wrap-up. Other than that, though, the world of dueling narrators Jazmyne and Iraya is absolutely fascinating. I found myself rooting for both heroines, knowing all the while (and anticipating that) they would one day face off. As much as I appreciated this book, I do wish it had gotten to all the good stuff faster!
The Chosen and the Beautiful, by Nghi Vo – The author of The Empress of Salt and Fortune loosely retells Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby through the eyes of a very different Jordan. Jordan, a queer female MC who was adopted by from Vietnam, occupies a ritzy and often lonesome world shaped by magic, parties, demons and xenophobia. She’s really the best part–and by the poignant end, I wish there’d been more Jordan, and maybe no Gatsby at all.
A Trial of Thorns, by Helena Rookwood and Elm Vince – This follow-up to An Enchantment of Thorns takes Aster to the Sky Court, with a completely different aesthetic. The writing, too, is a bit different, but a key conversation with a certain dashing beast has completely captivated me. Team Aster all the way. (Note: I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review.)
Catching up on my backlog of reviews, of course! You’ll see longer versions of at least one of the above this month.
I’m still on pace to release Girl of Glass and Fury on August 21, 2021, but just barely! Expect it to be widely available for presale soon.
In the meantime, Girl of Shadow and Glass is FREE as part of the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale (July 1st-31st). Not a Smashwords fan? You can find it for 99c at the other retailers.
See you again soon!
Cheers,
CKB
Ah, the joys of writing life! In the middle of editing Girl of Glass and Fury (an ongoing endeavor) and reading great books like The Theft of Sunlight, I realized one common thread that makes characters instantly endearing: awkwardness. A special feature was born!
Since not every character can have the same traits, I started noticing how authors get around this. Awkward situations put a chink in the armor of an otherwise confident and strong character, leaving room for them to rise above, fail miserably (or endearingly) and allow the reader to feel closer to the character.
A late first kiss. An inability to ride in a world of horses. A lack of taste at a highly refined court.
These are just a few of the circumstances that make characters instantly endearing (as long as they know what they don’t know, of course). Characters in these situations allow the reader to travel along with them on their journey. As long as the circumstances aren’t pitiable (think of Daine in Wild Magic, unable to read because of her isolated upbringing), they can bring the reader closer to your main character. Heck, your readers probably root for your MC all the more.
Awkward Main Characters are vulnerable, human and relatable. With the right balance, they can walk the line between cringe-worthy and loveable, especially in a would-be romantic situation. (Think Mr. Darcy.)
When your MC is a fish out of water, it’s the details that really count.
In Intisar Khanani’s The Theft of Sunlight, narrator Rae arrives at court to stay with her cousin. But she has another mission: after a tragedy at home, she arrives with a question about what the government is doing to track the snatchers and help recover stolen children. All of this involves more opportunities, danger and perilous politics than she ever imagines. Yet it’s the moments in which she’s drowning in lace, and the one in which she realizes just what kind of person is helping her (he’s not as savory as country girl Rae had hoped), that we feel the most sympathy for her.
Rae’s life as the hard-working daughter of a horse rancher leaves her out of her depth in the alternately fancy and gritty capital. It’s these little scenes that endear her to readers, even more than her instances of bravery and her drive to do what’s right. We all know what it’s like to make it through any number of complex hard times, only to be overwhelmed by one detail too many. Rae’s character is deeply identifiable in those moments.
There are a lot of ways to play this one. Here are just a few examples:
I’m sure you can think of even more examples of this!
Your character’s job doesn’t have to say anything about them (after all, not everybody can control what they do. There’s a lot of MCs who end up as thieves). Your character’s approach to their job says a lot about them. Watching them change their views on it gives the reader a front-row seat to your MC’s inner character.
(Slight, vague spoiler ahead.)
Take Cleric Chih in The Empress of Salt and Fortune. They begin the story eager to be to the first to document Thriving Fortune, the former residence of the now-deceased Empress In-yo. Instead, Chih gets a tale of a revolution behind closed doors and all the secrets that entails.
Every character needs a flaw, a rude awakening and/or an unexpected outcome. In The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Chih thinks she has it all together until she hears more of Rabbit’s story.
Though Chih blithely tells Rabbit, the part-time narrator of The Empress of Salt and Fortune, that the abbey she comes from holds countless secrets, Chih doesn’t understand just what that means until they’re entrusted with them. By the story’s end, the pride that drove Chih to become the first to learn those secrets ends up making them shudder. As their companion, Almost Brilliant, puts it, Chih is experiencing duty for the first time.
Though the series moves away from Thriving Fortune, that telling change made me want to stick with Chih, who is a mostly passive MC in The Empress of Salt and Fortune, throughout their future travels.
In Between Jobs, by W.R. Gingell, we see this happen in both senses: the MC’s everyday is interrupted by the unreal, and then the unreal is interrupted by the everyday.
When Pet ends up as an actual pet of two fae and one vampire who understands won’t speak English (not until he perfects it, anyway), she gets towed through the worlds Between and Behind, spots a sword pretending to be an umbrella, learns a little Korean on the fly and witnesses violent and bizzare battles she can’t understand. Being adaptable, she mostly manages to keep up, even if she can’t grasp everything she sees, and it’s interesting and hilarious to see her developing her new skills, often to the astonishment of her “three psychos.”
As fantastical (and often awkward) as that is, it’s when a policeman starts poking around that things get really interesting. Pet has to explain or redirect him from what was, until recently, unexplainable. She’s seen it with her own eyes, after all. Seeing those two (technically three) worlds constantly clashing, and watching Pet navigate it, makes for one endearing narrator and a very interesting start to The City Between series.
(Of course, you could also go the other way and have the MC blunder through the unreal. Dent Arthur Dent comes to mind.)
Have you ever put your MC into an awkward situation? Let me know in the comments below!
With Girl of Glass and Fury (Tara’s Necklace #2) arriving this August, it’s time to show everyone the cover! And add a little information about the new book along the way, of course.
The quest to save Sundown continues, this time from the inside out.
Girl of Glass and Fury occurs at the same time as the new adult dark/portal fantasy Girl of Shadow and Glass, and a little beyond it. The same themes of friendship and finding unexpected strength continue with…
…a new narrator, Kith’s childhood best friend Finchoa! While Kith is off with the shadows, Finchoa is undergoing a trial of her own. She’ll stop at nothing to uncover Sundown’s secrets if it means changing her world. Seriously, she’s a very determined girl. So determined, she’ll face the gale-force winds of Sundown’s mountains. With the help from a couple friends, of course. (She’s also extremely popular–unlike outcast Kith.)
Finchoa’s determination is about to lead her to a whole new world. And what comes with a new world?
New enemies.
There are worse things than the shadows.
Hi all!
It’s me, your favorite author and book blogger who is never not behind on things! So what am I behind on this time, you might ask?
Between Jobs, by W.R. Gingell – This book is the start of another madcap fantasy series, with a plucky, adaptable heroine and one intriguing vampire love-interest. This book actually convinced me to try learning some Korean!
City of Brass, by S.A. Chakraborty. The start of the Daevabad Trilogy brings fantastic world-building inspired by the medieval Arab world, and multi-faceted characters. Ali’s perspective was my favorite.
The Kingdom of Copper, by S.A. Chakraborty – Things get even darker in Daevabad as multiple plots converge in the city. The perspectives even out in this one. Fair enough, because there’s constant intrigue!
The Theft of Sunlight, by Intisar Khanani – Rae’s story continues from The Bone Knife, cleverly tucked in to Princess Alyrra’s story as the two protagnoists meet. This one reminded me a lot of Alanna: the First Adventure (Tamora Pierce).
Witches Steeped in Gold, by Ciannon Smart – The prose isn’t as easy to sink into as I’d like, but the world of these island witches (inspired by Jamaican lore) is absolutely fascinating. I keep rooting for one protagonist over the other, and it switches every couple of chapters!
Girl of Glass and Fury is still expected this summer, though I haven’t gotten far enough to pick a release date. It’s looking like August right now.
The cover of Girl of Glass and Fury, of course! (If you’re subscribed to my mailing list, you’ve already seen it!) The cover reveal will be this coming Sunday on the blog.
NaNoWriMo is now five months away! For all those preparing to write their own novels, I’m including some new special feature posts on writing.
With any luck, I’ll also have some of the above books reviewed this month, and perhaps that pesky tatting article I just have to take the pictures for…
That’s all for now! Have a wonderful June, everybody.
Cheers,
CKB
This week brings us another funny fantasy from an indie author. It’s time for…
Author Charlotte E. English has a sense of humor—there’s no doubt about that. In this quirky and lovable tale of a secret, magical society trying to save magic in the U.K., trolls are the focal point.
Narrator Cordelia Vesper, aka Ves, is a fast-talking, cerulean-haired veteran of the Society for the Preservation and Protection of Magickal Heritage. As an agent of the Society, she is also a resident of the endearingly Hogwarts-like, sentient Yorkshire country manor known as House. With her new partner, Jay Patel, Ves is off on an unrelated errand when she discovers something is very wrong with a troll enclave.
The residents of South Moors Troll Enclave aren’t just “in Recluse,” as many communities are. The trolls living there have become apathetic in the extreme. Worse still, they’re about to eat a pair of endangered alikats, part of a class of creatures that more or less feed off of magical energy. It’s more than against the rules—it’s unthinkable.
As Jay and Ves visit more of the reclusive enclaves, a pattern emerges—including the complete disappearance of once-thriving communities of trolls.
The trolls of The Road to Farringale aren’t what you’re imagining (the Harry Potter similarities stop here). Though some trolls are more like those in fairy tales and “will eat anything,” most are educated, fastidious and elite gourmets, “Trolls whose delight in beauty, culture and the arts go virtually unrivaled across the world.”
One such troll is Baron Alban, the handsome and famously single representative of the troll court.
When Ves, a perfectly self-possessed (if directionally challenged) agent, meets him, she’s stunned. To Ves, Baron Alban is “the most gorgeous troll I have ever beheld, and I mean gorgeous in the sense of spectacularly handsome. All height and muscle and perfect posture was he, his bulky shoulders encased in a dark blue velvet coat over a silk shirt. He wore a kind of cravat, and an actual top hat lay on the table beside him.” Those kinds of trolls.
Despite his Jane Austen-era styling, Alban is a member of the modern troll court. The original was lost and is permanently sealed away, and is not a little reminiscent of Camelot. Alban, a noble-born George Clooney with a “pleasing jadeish hue,” has secret knowledge Ves needs in order to solve the mystery of the apparent illness destroying troll enclaves around Britain.
With her is the aforementioned Jay Patel, the overwhelmed newbie who, unlike Ves, can “find [his] way out of a bucket.” Recruited for his rare ability to travel point to point at dizzying (read: nauseating) speed, we know little about Jay other than that he is the frazzled foil to the self-assured Ves. He still manages to be lovable, in the way that only disheveled characters, who mirror the readers’ disbelief at every madcap turn in the story, can be.
That leads me to what’s missing from this charming story, which moves at the speed Ves talks. There are a host of amusing, interesting side-characters, who get almost equal backstory to the central characters.
I would’ve liked to learn more about Ves’s backstory, what drove her into the field besides her passion for saving magick and what her family and upbringing was like. I wanted to learn more about Jay, too and see him in the quiet moments when he isn’t slumped over beside an empty vat of hot chocolate—the Jay that exists outside of his job, and the Ves that existed before her all-consuming work. I hope future installments of the series cover this, because it’s a shame not to hear more about where these delightful characters come from.
It’s still a wonderful ride, dotted with enchanting magical creatures, a disembodied voice known only as Milady, who runs the Society, and little gems like this: “I don’t object to a little villainy, mind,” says Ves. “I only draw the line at a lot.”
In The Road to Farringale, even the magical creatures come in wacky packaging, when Ves produces enchanted syrinx pipes from…ahem…somewhere close to her heart. Questions Jay in his usual disbelief, “You just whistled a quartet of winged unicorns out of your bra?” (“Never underestimate the benefits of a good bra,” Ves quips in reply.)
If this sounds like your kind of book—or if you just need a pleasant, amusing diversion—by all means, pick up The Road to Farringale. Even if you aren’t totally satisfied with the time it devotes to its characters, you’re in for an enjoyable read.
To learn more about this author, visit charlotteeenglish.com.
Hi all!
This May, the snow is gone (for now!), the trees are flowering and my projects are slowly coming together.
At the end of last month, the first two chapters of The Fishermen’s Princess were released for subscribers to my mailing list. This month will bring a more usual single chapter. The story currently follows Drina as she grows up and steps into her role as princess. That includes an arranged marriage!
On a personal note, I am a real language hound. I studied Japanese in college and have tried to keep it up as much as possible. I just finished the first level of Duolingo’s Japanese course. It was a great refresher and filled in some content I was missing (including things I was familiar with while living in Japan but never knew quite how to say).
Fun fact: at Japanese fast-food restaurants, you must ask for ketchup when you order. I often forgot to do this, much to my chagrin (I love ketchup, it’s the perfect condiment). Whenever I forgot, I was always too embarrassed of my language skills to walk back up to the counter and ask!
Now, what will this month bring to the blog?
I still have reviews coming of The Road to Farringale, by Charlotte E. English, and the full review of The Empress of Salt and Fortune. And that lace-making article is still in the works!
Sometime in the next two months or so, I’ll be adding reviews for Intisar Khanani’s The Theft of Sunlight, Tamora’s Pierce’s Tempests and Slaughter and a review of at least one of the books in The Daevabad Trilogy, by S.A. Chakraborty. And of course I have to talk about W.R. Gingell’s Between Jobs from her City Between series!
I also have another author interview in the works, which I hope to bring to you in this month or the beginning of June.
One of last month’s promos is continuing until May 10th. For the rest of the month, I’ll have two going, all through BookFunnel.
You should also be sure to watch for an upcoming 99c sale of Girl of Shadow and Glass!
Now for the promos from BookFunnel:
This new promo is for all the sci-fi and fantasy lovers out there. Find free samples and whole titles available for download.
More giveaways! Mashups are stories with a blend of two genres. In the case of Girl of Shadow and Glass, sci-fi elements are incorporated into the world building, which is more like solar system-building.
This one began April 10th and will finish up May 10th. Once again, all the listings are for free books and samples in the sci-fi and fantasy genres.
I’ve been sitting on new comics in the Growin’ Pup and Social Isolation series. I hope to get both out soon.
I also still have some partly finished episodes of Princess Disasterface to complete. With my second draft of Girl of Glass and Fury in need of finishing, I can’t give you any definites, other than that I am definitely behind on everything!
Thanks for reading! Till next time.
Cheers,
-CKB
