Are you as excited as I am? Paperbacks of Girl of Shadow and Glass and Girl of Glass and Fury are now available on Amazon! Order your copies here.
Signed copies should be available later this month, along with series and bookish merch. But more on that later!
For now…Yay!
Cheers,
CKB
Not long ago, I made the decision to relaunch my Tara’s Necklace series ahead of book three. (No, I don’t have a release date in mind, sorry!) The first thing I did was commission brand new covers from MiblArt, and they absolutely NAILED what I wanted. The new cover of Girl of Shadow and Glass came out perfectly.
(And guess what? I think the new cover for Girl of Glass and Fury is even better!)
Each cover represents a different world in the portal fantasy series, visited by a narrator in each book. I’ll be sharing some of the new scenes from Girl of Shadow and Glass later, but first…
Dare to dream. Live to defy.
I can’t remember the last time I dared to dream about anything—not about my future, never about love, and certainly not about the sorcery the ancestors left behind.
All that’s about to change.
Kith has spent each of her seventeen years being coddled by the wisps and semi-wisps of her world. Born physically fragile, her family, elders and neighbors have never allowed her the independent life she craves. It’s no wonder she looks forward to her brush with sorcery each morning. When she passes through an ancient gate to a neighboring world, the animal-like shadows are there to welcome her—and the shadows aren’t the coddling type.
Bound by treaty to feed and educate her, the magical shadows have become beloved teachers for Kith—until one of them makes a shocking decision. Kith must succeed at a new type of education: she must learn to run faster than a shadow or risk going hungry.
With the weight of an inter-world treaty on her shoulders–and encouragement from a young man with courtship on his mind—Kith sets out on a journey to become stronger, smarter and more independent, all within the bounds of her dying world and the body she was born with. Because as the last of her ancestors’ protective sorcery gives way, it’s no longer enough for Kith to defy the odds.
It’s time to live to defy.
Isn’t it a beauty? I thought it captured the Sundown World perfectly.
You can find the new addition of Girl of Shadow Glass at your favorite retailer through this UBL (just make sure it has this cover–some retailers will take longer to update than others). Right now, it’s just $.99 USD!
Cheers!
-CKB
From today through May 8, 2022, I have ARC copies available of my new adult contemporary fantasy novelette, Horace: A Sorcer World Novelette. Because this story is a newsletter subscriber exclusive, it won’t be sold anywhere.
Copies must be reviewed on Goodreads by Sunday, May 8, 2022.
Cheers!
-CKB
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.
