Cover Reveal - Adela's Curse

Have I told you guys of my (slight) obsession with fairies? Someday, I'm going to write a book about them - more than what's already in Bookania - and it's going to be awesome. I have a fairyworld built, with lots of fairies created to inhabit it (and I do mean a lot ... I also have a lot of pictures drawn for them, because I fancied myself an artist at the time. Some of them ain't bad)

Why am I going on about fairies, and sharing my old artwork ... well, because I'm participating in a cover reveal today, and the author didn't provide me with an image besides the official cover art, and you guys know me and my stinginess with cover arts.

So first off, the author - Claire Banschbach

Author Bio

Claire Banschbach was born and raised in Midland, TX, the fourth of eight children. She was homeschooled through high school and is now a proud member of the Texas A&M University class of 2014. She is currently working on her Doctorate of Physical Therapy at Texas Tech University Health Science Center. She continues to write in her spare time (and often when she doesn’t have spare time). She hopes her strong foundation in God will help to guide her writing. 

Contact Info

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/clairembanschbach/?ref=hl

Twitter – https://twitter.com/ClaireMB_Author

Goodreads - https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7758532.Claire_M_Banschbach

Blog – https://clairembanschbach.wordpress.com

And now about the book (and you guys will now understand why I'm talking about fairies)

Synopsis

A witch and her master capture a young faery and command her to kill their enemy. Adela has no choice but to obey. If she does not, they will force the location of her people’s mountain home from her and kill her. To make matters even worse, the person she is to kill is only a man struggling to save his dying land and mend a broken heart.

Count Stefan is a man simply trying to forget the woman he loves and save a land crippled by drought. When a mysterious woman arrives at his castle claiming to be a seamstress, he knows she is more than she seems.

Adela enlists the help of Damian, another faery, to try and delay the inevitable. He insists she has a choice. But with the witch controlling her every move, does she?

Goodreads link

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29085448-adela-s-curse

I have the privilege of reviewing this book. I've only read a little bit of it so far, but what I've seen of the worldbuilding is awesome, and I can't wait to get back into the book to finish it!

And now the cover.

And shall we all agree that this artist is much better than I am? 

My Favorite Couples!

Okay, note to self: Stop falling off the edge of the earth. I think it's been a full month since I last posted??? Not good. I have been hard at work on LDTD, though. Working through chapter four of part five, so that's good, yes?

So today, in honor of Valentine's Day, I'm going to share my favorite couples in my writing. I'm not going to list them in any particular order, because they can be mean to me if I try to play favorites, and I'm not sure that I'll limit myself to ten ... we'll see how it goes.

Beware, there will be spoilers for published books, though I will restrain myself on unpublished books.

Robin and Eric - The Bookania Quests 

Everyone's favorite rivals turned lovers. Eric is amazing (seriously, I need an Eric), and Robin is ... Robin. They were not my original plan for the book (I mean, he was already safely engaged, and she ... she supposed to be a side character. But then she took over the book and stole the hero, and I've never looked back. She's a fun character to write. So's he. Their banter is fun to write.

Clara and Andrew - The Rizkaland Legends

Speaking of rivals ... well, Clara and Andrew weren't exactly rivals. They just got stuck together in what was practically an arranged marriage, and ... yeah. She didn't react well. But when she does finally own up to the fact that he's actually a great guy, and maybe it's not the end of the world to like him ... well, they're such an awesome team. I can't wait to get back to them for book 3.

Samson and Madeleine - The Bookania Quests

And now for an actual arranged marriage. Samson and Madeleine were betrothed since childhood, and when his castle was attacted, he and his twin sister (who was betrothed to her twin bother), came to live at her castle. So they have an almost-sibling relationship, and have by this point completely accepted the fact that they will someday marry each other. Even when they are given the option of breaking it off ... they only ever consider it in jest.

Reuben and Petra - The Rizkaland Legends

Petra is among of my first characters. Reuben was an afterthought. I'm not sure how I thought I could pull off her character without him, because they are now inseperable. They grew up together as best friends. He's wanted to marry her since they were five and seven. She's practial and pragmatic. He's fun and humorous. They're such a fun pair, and such a perfect balance for each other ... not that they don't have their issues.

The fact that they have telepathic powers is awesome, too.

Stardrana and Jyson - Half-Hidden

To be honest, I've not really been able to work with this pair as a couple yet, but I do know that they're going to be adorable. For him, it's kinda love-at-first-sight, though she's much more reluctant. (She's been dodging marriage proposals for seven or eight years now. She's grown suspicious of any man.) I can't wait to let you guys read about them.

Shira and Arthur - Bookania Quests

I have a ... slight addiction to ... throwing a wrench in a budding relationship, and suddenly there being a 20 ... 50 ... 100 year gap between the pair. But WAIT! He has a son/grandson/great-grandson just the perfect age for her! Shira and Arthur are exibit A.

Ashna's Parents - Rizkaland Legends

I'm afraid their names border into spoiler territory. But I love these two ... and honestly wish their story was happier.

AXE and Melthorn - Lessons with the Author

This is the top secret series that I started writing three NaNos ago, but still haven't finished the first book yet. AXE and Melthorn are so far the only official ship, and it's only confirmed for the first book so far. But they're fun. She's a bit of a rebel, he's a bit like Andrew in that he lost a parent at a young age and has had to fill in. They're cute.

Ian and Fiona - HaV Academy

He's an ice-powered villain, she's a pyrokinetic hero. They say opposites attract, right? I'm not sure whether or helps or hurts their relationship that they're required to fight publicly at least once a month.

Obsidia and Delany - Worth of a King

Okay, so his dad killed hers. Minor wrench in their relationship  - after all, it's not an uncommon situation for Dialcian princesses. What is a wrench is the fact that she has a twin brother who could make Delany's father's claim to the throne illegal.

Amber and Granite - Rizkaland Legends

When you've been married 6,000 years, your relationship has been through some difficult times, and you've probably emerged much stronger for it. Amber might be the villain of the Rizkaland Legends, but her marriage to Granite is one of the most beautiful relationships that I've written. Of course, it hasn't been the happiest of marriages for the last 3,000 years ... but ... ya know ... she is the villain.

Jaqob and Melisza - The New Division

I'm going to go ahead and admit that they are a couple. They grew up together, he's always been protective of her. I've stated before that marriages in this world are always arranged by the twins of the two ... and basically, Melisza's life is in danger at one point, and the only way Jaqob and his sister Tabetha can see to save her is for Jaqob to claim her. Alistaar, Melisza's twin isn't happy about the affair ... but at that point, he's not in a position of any power, at all ... so there isn't really anything he can do about it. Sorry if that's vague ... but spoilers? Still, he's so protective of her, it's so sweet.

Boots and Katrina - Poison Kiss

AKA Puss in Boots and the White Cat. They're adorable. I've been wanting to write a romance between those two fairy tale character since I saw the Sleeping Beauty ballet, but since Push had gone and declared another fairy tale his love interest (and I'm THOROUGHLY looking forward to that one), it didn't work into the official Bookania series. But I have them in Poison Kiss, and it's awesome.

Doranna and Casperl - The Bookania Quests

She's nearly a hundred years older than him, and watched him grow up ... but she also spent a hundred years frozen at the age of sixteen on the top of a mountain. It works out. He's so head-over-heels for her, and completely astonished that he, a mere woodcutter, could do what no prince could ... it's adorable.

And there are more of course ... but I think I should stop there, yes?

Yorien's Hand Interview: Yole

Have I mentioned Jenelle Leanne Schmidt before? I've been over to her blog for cover reveals and blog tours ...

Author Biography:

Jenelle Schmidt grew up in the northern-Midwest. She now resides with her husband and their three adorable children in the wilds of Wisconsin. Jenelle fell in love with reading at a young age during family story-times when her father would read out loud to her and her siblings each night before bed. Her imagination was captured by authors such as Madeleine L’Engle, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Lloyd Alexander. It wasn’t long before she began making up her own stories and sharing them with her family. To this day she enjoys creating exciting adventure tales filled with poignant themes and compelling characters in the fantasy and sci-fi genres.

Speaking of which, she just released the third volume of her fantasy series. The first two books are awesome (I love the worldbuilding), and while I haven't had a chance to read this one yet, I'm thoroughly looking forward to doing so at some point.

The years of Oraeyn’s short rule have been peaceful, but now ominous nightmares plague his sleep and cling to him during his waking hours. When two of his most trusted advisors disappear without a trace and not even the power of dragons can locate them, the fell promise of the king’s nightmares becomes reality.

From the furthest reaches of the world, an ancient enemy stirs. Stretching beyond his crumbling prison walls, this foe seeks to bring life to the darkest of shadows. His army marches towards Aom-igh with deadly intent, threatening all Oraeyn holds dear.

Aided by dragons, and with the warrior Brant and Princess Kamarie at his side, Oraeyn must journey into the wilds of a forgotten realm. Trusting in the wisdom and skill of the enigmatic minstrel, Kiernan Kane, the companions race against time in search of Yorien’s Hand, a relic that may hold the power to save them all.

Buy Yorien’s Hand Here

Buy King’s Warrior Here

Buy Second Son Here

Jenelle Schmidt’s Website

Follow Jenelle on Twitter

Follow Jenelle on Facebook

And I get to interview one of the characters: Yole. Spoilers if you haven't read the first book of the series, though!

1. You're a dragon, and you've known you're one for about three years now. How has it gone?

It’s been amazing! I love being a dragon. I have learned so much. The only downside is that all of the older dragons treat me like a little kid - a “youngling” is their term for it. The thing is, I’m so used to fending for myself and being on my own, that it is difficult for me to adjust to them telling me what I am and am not allowed to do. Also, some of the dragons give me funny looks when I talk or Sometimes I volunteer to take Brant back and forth to Llycaelon just to get away from that, because it is so annoying. There really aren’t any other dragons my age - though I guess part of the problem is that nobody is really sure what my actual age is - there are the full-adult dragons, the elders, and the newborn hatchlings, but no other “younglings.” There weren’t any young dragons hatched during their time in Krayghentaliss.

2. Who would you call your best friend?

Amongst the dragons, my best friend is Thorayenak. He’s one of the elder dragons, but he’s one of the only ones who doesn’t treat me like a baby. He’s extremely wise and he’s taught me a lot of history and lore. I guess you could say he kind of got saddled with my education, but he doesn’t seem to mind, and he never makes me feel like I’m a burden.

Shentallyia is another dragon I’ve become friends with. She’s quite a bit older than me, but is probably the only dragon even close to my own age.

The people I would consider my best friends, however, are not dragons, but the humans who accepted me as their own before I even knew who I was: Oraeyn and Kamarie. They are my family.

3. What's the best part of being a dragon?

There are so many wonderful things about being a dragon. Flying is one of my favorite things. But I think the best part is really that I can be of use now. I have a role, abilities that make me useful to the ones I care about. I spent so much of my early life wandering from village to village, less than worthless to everyone I met, with no expectations of anything more, no purpose. I feel that being a dragon has filled a void in my heart and given me a greater purpose to strive towards.

Hello 2016

My calendar tells me that we just entered a new year. I wasn't done with the last one yet. Give it back!!!!

This last year has been a mixed bag. On one hand, I did publish My Kingdom for a Quest and Water Princess, Fire Prince, which have been my best books thus far, but on the other hand, I didn't accomplish that much else.

I'm going to first link up with the Beautiful People link up that Cait and Skye have issued, themed on my writing goals for 2016.


What were your writing achievements last year?

I published two books! I believe I mentioned that before. I didn't get a whole lot of writing done, apart from parts 1-3 of Lady Dragon, Tela Du, but I'm mostly satisfied with that. I also had a job. Jobs steal your time.

Tell us about your top priority writing project for this year?

Finishing Lady Dragon, Tela Du and getting it published sometime in October. This means that I need to finish writing it by my birthday next month. Can I do this? If I focus. I'm also going to try to have the Beta Reader call up by that point, and part 1 mostly edited. 

List 5 areas you’d like to work the hardest to improve this year.

1. Focusing - Dug from Up is my spirit animal. I am SO easily distracted. This year, I'm going to to work on staying on task.

2. Multitasking smarter - As extension of being easily distracted, I love piling projects on top of myself and subsequently drowning. I'm going to try to smarter about this in 2016 so that I don't drown.

3. Meeting Goals - I'm a published author with a fanbase clamoring for sequels. This means I need to get them their sequels in a timely fashion. 

4. Staying accountable - I don't like admitting the real truth about why I don't meet my goals. "I'm sorry this post didn't go up ... work ... brain broke ..." while in honesty, it didn't get done because I was goofing off playing a computer game. I played a really fun Hidden Object Adventure based on Snow White the other week. That was fun.

5. Promotion. I doubled - nearly tripled my fanbase last year, but if I'm going to become independent off of my writing, I need a larger fanbase. So this year, I'm going to get serious and actually shell out money to promote myself. I'm also going to get serious contacting reviewers to see if they want to read Water Princess, Fire Prince.

Are you participating in any writing challenges?

NaNo for certain - I've already nearly settled on Sing, Aling for this year, my Sci-fi retelling of Peter Pan. I'm not sure whether or not I'm going to do Camp NaNo. If I do, it will be with either book 3 or The New Division.

Five Something Something. I didn't get Poison Kiss done in time this year, so I'm going to try again this year. If they do Little Mermaid (which is my #1 guess ... either that or Rapunzel), I have something picked out. Otherwise, we'll see what I come up with when I see the cover. 

What's your critique partner/beta reader situation like and do you have plans to expand this year?

I have a few girls who are reading LDTD by the part as I write it, but I'll be issuing a call for betas sometime next month, hopefully. Beta readers of book 1 will be contacted directly. It'll be a bit more tricky for newcomers, but not impossible.

Do you have plans to read any writer-related books this year? Or are there specific books you want to read for research?

Not really. Well, I have a small slew of writing/publishing/promotion how-to books on my kindle. Maybe I should read them.

Pick one character you want to get to know better, and how are you going to achieve this?

Aling of Sing, Aling. She's the Tinkerbell character, and is half-elf and half-fairy, and loves tinkering. I'm going to write her book. It will be awesome.

Do you plan to edit or query, and what’s your plan of attack?

I'm going to edit. You'd better bet I'm going to edit. Querying isn't in my plans, though, not until I have a book ready that I'd be willing to let a publishing company control.

Plan of attack ... uh ... same as I always edit. Without mercy.

Toni Morrison once said, “If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” What are the books that you want to see more of, and what “holes” do you think need filling in the literary world?

There is a severe shortage of books by Kendra E. Ardnek. Only SEVEN!! I need to rectify that.

What do you hope to have achieved by the end of 2016?

LDTD published, Poison Kiss published. New Division written and ready for revision and publication 2017, Sing, Aling written, and put together a series of children's books about essential oils. This is a new project that I was discussing with my aunt the other week, but basically ... I'm going to personify the various oils, and write stories that will help kids learn about their various uses.

I would also like to get the Bookania collection finished ... but I'm not sure that's going to happen. Maybe next year. I don't want to abandon Bookania, but right now, Rizkaland and its surrounding novels have me captured, heart and soul. It might not be until I have RL Book 3 out before I can focus on the Bookanian characters again. I need to prioritize, after all.

Also, I'm coming up on Sew's fifth birthday this summer, as well as my 7th blogoversary. There will be a party. It's too soon for me to know the details, but it will be awesome. I do know that this is when I plan to publish Poison Kiss.

Some Winsome Winners!

So, did everyone have a fun time last week? I certainly did (apart from the running around like a chicken with a head chopped off because I hadn't had sufficient time to prepare).

Of course, I'm sure of you are wondering who won everything. Well ... without further ado.

There was no fanfiction contest, and the Goodreads Group didn't make it to 50 members, so no one will be receiving a physical copy. 

However, for the fanart contest, we have three lovely winners, who will each receive $5 gift card for Amazon and Part 1 of book 2.

Skill:

Hannah Rogers is the unrivaled winner of the first category (Well, one person voted for my bro, but that doesn't count). 

Alyssa won Creativity, and I won't argue. I love this picture.

We had a tie for Interpretation, so I called in my mom and sister to break it - making the winner Tom Wildrose, whose mock cover is almost exactly what I'd always pictured as the cover when I was first brainstorming it.

You all did lovely work.

Now, for the fanart grand prize which, admittedly, is more of an "author's choice" than anything else.

Reuben and Petra. Their relationship summed up in one picture. I opened this up when Hannah sent it to me and I might have let out a fangirl squeal of my own. She'll be winning a read of part 2 as well, and a boxed set of the BBC Narnia DVDs.

I'll be contacting all of the fanart winners shortly.

And now ... for the grand prize of the full alpha read of book 2 ... the winner is ...

Ezra

Despite having only one entry (A speculation on Amber of "I bet she's gonna die"), he managed to score the prize. Sierra, since you're his older sister, you can go ahead and just slip him the files, since you won the alpha read in a previous giveaway.

Guess he's going to find out if Amber dies or not!

(Unfortunately, I didn't make it to 100 followers here on my blog, so he'll be the only one.)

Are we good, good!

Now I'm going to go and pin all of the fanart to my pinterest board, because that's what pinterest is for, right?

(Also, comment moderation is back on so I can keep an eye on my comments again)