Five Reasons to Read Diamond

So I told you guys that I didn't release Misfortune on my own, and here's my partner in crime book today! Diamond by Kirsten Fichter. 

And now I'm going to tell you exactly why you need to read it. Now.

1. It's a delightfully twisted retelling as Seth is the one who gets trapped in a tower, not dearest Rapunzel -cough- Diamond. She's still the one with eighteen feet of hair, though, and an oppressive "mother" who only wants her out of revenge. 

2. Seth is an Alchemist! A successful-ish, one, too. Mostly because he isn't trying to make gold. He's also adorable as he tries to function despite a language barrier. He speaks the native tongue, but not well, so ... frustration for him, but amusement for us. Also, his sister is awesome.

3. Diamond is adorable. Kept away from people her whole life, she's so naive and precious. Someone give this girl a friend. A real friend, not a rabbit. (Not offense to rabbits, though.)

4. Non-magic retelling. Except for a small stretching of science with the alchemy, the book is 100% realistic, and I do love it when retellings go in that direction.

5. All of the references to the original tale. There's so many, and it's awesome - and even the Disney references aren't too obtuse, 

So, yes, go get it and read it RIGHT now. No hesitation, no questions asked. Go read. 

Click for purchase link.

May 14 

Kendra E. Ardnek – Five Reasons to Read Diamond 

Interviews: 

Live. Love. Read – Diamond 

Reviews: 

Tangled Up in Writing – Misfortune 

C.O. Bonham – Misfortune

Check out the rest of the tour here!

And sorry that this post has taken so long to get up. Blogger changed its post set up format and it's taken me a while to find some features. 

Midnight's Curse - Cover Reveal!

So, um, this was supposed to go up at 8AM EST this morning, but I kiiinda got distracted by shopping last night and forgot to set up the blog post in advance.

Never mind that, 'cause I'm posting it now. TRICIA MINGERINK HAS REVEALED THE COVER OF HER NEWEST FAIRY TALE RETELLING, COMING THIS AUGUST 6TH!

(And I'm ... actually doing the Golden Braid release that week, so ... SERIOUSLY, TRICA AND JAYE, HOW IS IT THAT WE'RE ALWAYS RELEASING OUR BOOKS AT THE SAME TIME?????)

So I actually just finished reading the previous and first book in the series, Dagger's Sleep, which I bought in Paperback at RealmMaker's last year ... right before she revealed the new, shiny PURPLE cover ... and I'm sitting here trying to justify buying the new edition 'cause my shelves don't have nearly enough purple.

Dagger's Sleep was quite the intriguing retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and has taken a pretty high status in my stack of favorites. A lot of readers take issue with either the worldbuilding or Alexander's attitude in the beginning, but, honestly, I didn't mind either. For the worldbuilding, well, I just assigned it a page in Bookania, and Bookania doesn't have to follow our world's logic, and as for Alex ... spoiled rich royal growing up after he gets a taste of reality is one of my FAVORITE tropes, so I was 2000% here for it. I was a tiiiiny disappointed with ... something that happened in the end (trampling one of my least favorite tropes in a Sleeping Beauty retelling, and one I went to GREAT efforts to avoid in Sew, It's a Quest but ... it was well done, and HOPEFULLY, this sequel will help fix my qualms?)

And, yes, I do adopt random fairy tale retellings and assign them pages in Bookania. My favorite hobby.

So, you're probably me to stop talking about this cover and actually SHOW it to you.

But, nope, description time first!

High King Alexander rules the Seven Kingdoms of Tallahatchia—a divided nation on the brink of yet another war. When an invitation arrives from the king of Pohatomie, Alex knows it must be a trap, but could it also be his opportunity to unite the kingdoms?

Daemyn Rand has lived a hundred years, served an arrogant prince, fallen in love with a princess, and lost himself somewhere along the way. He has already died for his loyalty. Will he have to sacrifice his last chance to truly live?

Elara Ashen is a lowly, miserable servant. All she wants is to spend one night in a fancy dress, dancing with the high king. When she is offered a pair of glass slippers, it seems all her dreams have come true.

But dreams have a price, and gifts can be curses in disguise. What will it cost to stop this curse from tearing Tallahatchia apart yet again?

Fairy tales meet the Appalachian Mountains in this adventurous fantasy retelling of the classic Cinderella story.

Preorder the Kindle on Amazon.

Add to Goodreads.

About the Author:

Tricia Mingerink is the author of the bestselling The Blades of Acktar series and the Beyond the Tales series. She lives in Michigan with her family and their pack of pets. When she isn't writing, she can be found pursuing backwoods adventures across the country.

You can connect with Tricia on her blog, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

To celebrate the cover reveal, Dagger's Sleep, a Sleeping Beauty retelling and book one in the series, is on sale in Kindle for $.99 this weekend!  Click here to purchase on Amazon.

Giveaway!

To celebrate even more, there's a giveaway for a paperback copy of Dagger's Sleep and a 2oz Plot Twist candle by Novelly Yours Candles.

To enter, share the above sale graphic for Dagger's Sleep, the cover for Midnight's Curse, or the below Midnight's Curse promo graphic and make sure you use hashtag #MidnightsCurse and tag @triciamingerink on any social media site to enter.

The giveaway will end May 22 at midnight. Please note this giveaway is only open in the United States. It is not sponsored by Novelly Yours Candles.

7 Reasons to Read For Such a Time As This

Well, I fell off the face of blogging. Let's rectify it with the seven reasons that you should read For Such A Time As This by Heather L.L. FitzGerald.

1. It's a mash-up with the tale of Esther. Yes. Really. I couldn't believe my ears either when Heather pitched it to me, but it worked so well!

2. It's freakin' high-concept. Of the stories in my line-up, this one was the hardest for me to pin down with a genre. Because the reason the mash-up of Snow White and Esther worked so well is that it was also a blend of genre. It's a futuristic sci-fi dystopia, but there's also fire magic, prophecies, and dragons.

3. I said dragons, didn't I? See, this story swapped out the bland old dwarves for seven grand, magestic dragons. AND IT WAS AWESOME.

4. Vashti was such a fun villain. She delights so thoroughly in her wickedness. Sure, it's great to have villains with sympathetic backstories and motives ... but sometimes you just need a power-greedy sorceress with fire magic.

5. Esther is a sweet but strong heroine. She's not a damsel in distress, but she doesn't bludgeon through shouting "I don't need no man!" And she saves the world with a knife she doesn't wield. Figure that one out.

6. Even though it's based on two familiar tales, you're completely unsure how it's going to end. Because while both tales focus on themes of beauty, they both had to be changed and modified to blend together. I was kept on the edge of my seat right to the end, even having read both stories a thousand time.

7. Because the message of sacrifice is so beautiful. We need more stories of sacrifice, and Snow White is such a beautiful catalyst for the tale.

IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN!!

Like most other bookworms, great books make their way onto my "things I'm thankful for" list every year. It's hard to choose favorites, but  I went ahead and picked five books I read in 2017 and am thankful for.

Exiles, by Jaye L. Knight: I read this originally as a beta read (You guys can thank me for assuring that Jace is wearing pants), and though I wasn't able to beta the whole book, I then read the whole thing for review and it is awesomeawesomeawesome. I need to write the review. It's on my agenda for next week...

Burning Rose, by Hope Ann: This book is my most recent read, and it's also on my agenda for review next week. I was a leeeeeetle disappointed that the first novella, the retelling of Beauty and the Beast, was swapped out for a new version of the story - but it does largely fit the world better, so it's still amazing.

Twisted Dreams, by Morgan Elizabeth Huneke: This book gave me the final push to get Poison Kiss written this year, as I wanted to do a joint release with Morgan. We also tossed a retelling by my mother into the mix, and it was awesome.

Befriending the Beast, by Amanda Tero: I am so thankful that this book exists - there are so few B&B retellings in this world that I like and this is one of the rare few.

Reversal Zone, by J. Grace Pennington: I'm not sci-fi's hugest fan, but I'm a pretty huge fan of Pennington's Firmament series. This book has a pretty intersting plot, too.

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to another great year of reading! Speaking of more reading, here's one more thing to be grateful for. Books on sale! In honor of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, a group of independent Christian authors has banded together to offer a huge selection of discounted books between Nov 24th and 30th. There's literally something for everyone.

On November 24th, the Indie Christian Books website (http://www.indiechristianbooks.com) will go live. Every single book listed will be on sale in one or more ways. Find discounted paperbacks, dozens of books offered with free shipping, $0.99 ebooks,package deals and more. Even if you have a budget of $0, new reading material awaits you. When you purchase a paperback book through indiechristianbooks.com you’ll be eligible to enter an exclusive giveaway including free books and an Amazon gift card!

Want to know what great sales I'm offering? Well, not only do I have all six of my gorgeous new covers on a discount, but I also am offering FREE SHIPPING on all of my books. FREE SHIPPING, FOLKS.

AND THE PACKAGE DEALS - Well, let's just say, $19.99 for all three Bookanias. And no shipping. You're pretty much getting Sew for free.

You can meet our authors by visiting the Author Database on the website. Want to get to know the authors better AND have the chance to win some fun prizes? We’d love to have you join our week long Facebook party which will feature 39 authors over 7 days.

What awesome reads of 2016 are you grateful for? What books are you looking forward to reading in 2017?

A note on the Ebooks Only page. Many of the books are listed as "Sold Out." This is because we aren’t selling those directly through our site. Please click onto the product pages to find descriptions and links to discounted or free ebooks.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to Leah E. Good and Kendra E. Ardnek for their work organizing this sale, and Hannah Mills for her fantastic design work on the website graphics. Hannah can be contacted at hmills(at)omorecollege(dot)edu for more information about her design services.

How I discovered Ilyon Also: Cover reveal!

This month, one of my favorite books, Resistance by Jaye L. Knight, has had its it's first anniversary of publication - and so Jaye is having a party. (And three wants to come. So three takes five and ... Okay ... blast from my childhood right there. Points to anyone who has ANY idea where that comes from.)

Anyways, part of the celebration is that we can write up posts about how we discovered Ilyon and became die-hard fans. I'll admit that I originally wasn't going to participate in this part of it ... not because I didn't want to, but because I thought I'd already posted it on one of the cover reveals.

But then when I went to hunt it down so I could give it to Jaye ... it turned out that I hadn't put a discovery explanation on either cover reveal - but on my review of the Makilien Trilogy before Ilyon was published, before she was officially Jaye instead of Molly.

My bad. I'll correct that now.

My story begins with the fact that I, myself, am an author. Have been for three and a half years now (Gasp! Has it really been that long?)

Well, about Christmastime directly following the publication of my first book, Amazon released a new promotion gimmick - KDP select. Basically, I told Amazon that I'd only distribute ebooks through them, and in exchange, they'd allow me to have my books for free five days out of every three months. (There's more to it than that, but that's the gist of it.)

So I regularly took advantage of it, since I was eager to get Sew, It's a Quest into the hands of all it's potential adoring fans. Directly following a free spin I would (1) check Goodreads to see who had added it and how eagerly they were reading it and (2) check the list of "Customers who bought books by this author also bought books by these people" in hopes that there were awesome books there that were free and I could read. (And review on my O.Scarlett blog)

Well, one day following one such free spin, I checked said list and saw a "Molly Evangeline." Not the most eye-catching name, I'll admit, but you see, I'd been following a photography blog called "Evangeline" and it'd recently dropped off the internet - so I clicked through in some vain hope that it was the same Evangeline. (My logic is weird, what can I say.)

Not the same Evangeline, but I was confronted but a collection of GORGEOUS COVERS, and a selection of books in CHRISTIAN FANTASY and CHRISTIAN HISTORICAL FICTION, two of my favorite genres.

Alas, the books were not free, and this was before my days of a disposable income. So I added her blog to my google reader and kinda forgot about them.

Several months later, she posted a plea for reviewers. I was a reviewer - I had a blog dedicated to self-published books, after all, so faster than you can say "Free books" I shot her an email asking to read Truth.

I loved it. Perhaps I didn't quite connect with the main character, but the world had captured me, and I was on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happened next.

So naturally, I shot her another email asking for the next book. (She'd said I could do this. I wasn't being presumptuous ...) I devoured Courage, though I was a bit disappointed with the plot that seemed to be just a repetition of the previous book. But THAT CLIFFHANGER ENDING!!!!! Alas, the last book was still being edited, so I read The Pirate Daughter's Promise to tide me over in my wait.

Thanks to Swagbucks, I had a tiny bit of amazon money when the publication of said third book rolled around - and she had it on a initial 99 cent sale. I snatched it up IMMEDIATELY and had it consumed within twenty-four hours - a first for me.

And then I was sad because no more Makilien books.

I had a dance of apprehension when she announced the Ilyon Chronicles. On one hand, NEW BOOKS BY MOLLY, but on the other NOT DOLLENAR! I loved the world of Dollenar, and wanted to spend more time there. (Yes, I was very happy when she published "Captivated," such a sweet little story that I'd considered writing fanfiction about)

So I watched her steadily work on this new series, meanwhile I read Makilien a second time (a first for me. I never reread) and had a personal fangirl party over at my blog (which is when I wrote my "how I discovered Makilien stuff"), and managed to squeeze a sneak peak out of her during an interview.

And then, as I was sitting on the edge of my seat, scanning down her pinterest page drooling over all the gorgeous pins on her Ilyon boards (and perhaps stealing some of them for my own boards...) she shot me an email asking me if I wanted to take part in the cover reveal/blog tour/READ A PRERELEASE ARC.

Did I turn her down? Ha ha - NO!!!

Did I have any need to be apprehensive? Ha ha - NO!!!!

(And for the record, her Crete culture is on my list of "societies I would gladly go join if I could.")

Also, this month, she's doing a cover reveal for a prequel novella about the hero, Jace, and the terrible life he's lead. I was supposed to post this two days ago ... but my creativity has been drained by work and fully absorbed by Water Princess, Fire Prince, and I've falling off the blogging ball. So .... since she gave me a readymade HTML thingie, I'm going to let her take over from here.

Check out the cover of Jaye L. Knight’s upcoming novella, Half-Blood, and learn about this prequel story to Ilyon Chronicles! Make sure you also enter the giveaway at the bottom!

About the Book 

The gasps and murmuring grew. Though some were hardly more than whispers, clear words reached Jace’s ears—dangerous, monster, animal, soulless. He tried to back away from their accusing eyes, but the collar pulled hard against his throat and held him in place. 

For all his years as a slave, Jace has known nothing but the hatred people hold for his mixed blood—one half human, the other half the blood of a race considered monsters. Always, he is the outsider and quickly learns it is better to keep to himself. But, when his volatile ryrik blood leads him to do the unthinkable, he is thrown into a world of violence and bloodshed. 

Forced to become a gladiator, Jace finds more and more of his heart dying as his master works to break down his will not to become the monster everyone believes he is. When a stranger interferes with his master’s harsh punishment, Jace’s world is upended yet again. But with it comes the possibility of hope that has long since died. Could the man possibly hold the key to escaping the hopeless darkness that is Jace’s life? Is there such a thing as life beyond the cruelty of slavery? 

See where Jace’s story all began . . . 

Coming This Summer 

 

About the Author 

Jaye L. Knight is an award-winning author, homeschool graduate, and shameless tea addict with a passion for Christian fantasy. Armed with an active imagination and love for adventure, Jaye weaves stories of truth, faith, and courage with the message that even in the deepest darkness, God’s love shines as a light to offer hope. She has been penning stories since the age of eight and resides in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. 

You can connect with Jaye on her website, blog, Facebook, Google+, and Twitter. 

Giveaway 

As part of a month long celebration for the one year publication anniversary of Resistance (Ilyon Chronicles - Book 1), Jaye is giving away several fun prizes! Enter for a chance to win using the form below! U.S. entries only please. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Participating Bloggers
A Writer's Faith
Morgan Elizabeth Huneke
A Writer's Heart
Thoughts and Rants
Written Rest
To Be A Person
Tialla's Tellings
The American Anglophile
Knitted By God's Plan
Elvish Pens, Fantastical Writings
Pencils Can Change The World
Crafty Booksheeps
Zerina Blossom's Books
Ryebrynn's Random Ramblings
Through the Realm of Dreams
Red Lettering
Leah's Bookshelf
The Official Website of Brent King
Writings, Ramblings, and Reflections
Shattered Fractals
Flights from the Aerie
E. Rawls
The Pen of a Ready Writer
Scattered Journal Pages
Sutori no Hana
The Art of Storytelling
poetree 

Book Spotlight - Midnight Captive

And I am back, yet again, for a blog tour. Next month, I shall try to have some more interesting things to post - such as stuff about Rizkaland. I really need to post more about Rizkaland. You guys just aren't excited enough yet!

Anyways, the blog tour post thingie. I'm spotlighting a book most of you probably haven't heard of yet - but you need to, because this is the next new thing in Fairy Tale retellings, a brilliant blend of Sleeping Beauty, the Twelve Dancing Princesses, and the Pied Piper. After putting off reading it for a month (partially because of my computer troubles, partially because I've had some bad experiences with Sleeping Beauty retellings) but once I picked it up, I read it in three sittings - and I only put it down because I had to go to bed/get ready to go.

Hurry over to Amazon as FAST as you can and buy it - it's only $2.99

Phaedra is cursed to sleep until true love wakes her. Hermione has a dark secret. 

When Prince Sheridan discovers the two princesses wandering the woods outside the castle at night, he begins to wonder if there is more to Phaedra's curse than is readily apparent. 

With the help of a minstrel out to prove a point, they must discover the secret before the princesses are trapped forever in the night.

5-Star Review Excerpt:

"Truly a spellbinding tale. I cannot recommend it more, and look forward to any future books that E.D. Phillips may write." - By SilverRose on Amazon

Supposedly, the rest of the stops on the blog tour will be listed here, thought link wasn't live last night when I checked.

But, honestly, while this wasn't the BEST retelling I've ever read, it has earned first for Sleeping Beauty retellings. (Mostly because, as I mentioned already, I've had bad experience with Sleeping Beauty retellings.) I'll be posting my review later today, some time after I get home from work.

Black Horses for the King - McCaffrey

Okay, I'm back with my (possibly final) Arthurian book feature. Black Horses for the King by Anne McCaffrey.

Anne McCaffrey has an almost magical writing style, and back in the day that I NEVER read a physical book in order (these days it's about a 15% read in order), I actually managed to do that with this book. 

BHftK is not a retelling of King Arthur in the traditional sense of the word. In fact. Arthur himself is only a minor character at best. It focuses on a tiny event, barely mentioned in Arthurian Lore. The bringing of black horses to England. It's about the invention of the horseshoe and why it was so important. It's a beautiful story.

I highly recommend it if you love horses, if you love Arthurian legend, or if you love history.

These posts are in promotion of my newest book My Kingdom for a Quest, which will be coming out in less than a week! Today is your last day to sign up for the tour, as I'm taking down the sign-up form tomorrow.

And ... two other orders of business. 

1. My laptop's keyboard is acting up. a good number of keys that I use frequently - including both enter keys, the right-handed shift key, and both controls. Oh, and both the period and comma, and a few letters and numbers.

Fortunately, I have a back-up keyboard that I stole from my sister when she upgraded her computer last year ... so I'm surviving, but I'm about 10% slower typing on this keyboard, which is frustrating.

And, to make matters even more hair-pulling, as I've been writing up this post, ++++++ have been popping up about every five seconds. I'm not sure whether they're a delayed reaction from me pounding on that key (it's one of the ones that are out), or what ... but it's not been fun.

2. And a ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

(Case in point, I just walked away to do something, and returned to these)

Anyway, second order of business. I'm working on editing Water Princess, Fire Prince, and I'm hoping to have part 1 ready to hand out to beta readers by the end of the month. So, I need you guys to start volunteering. Part 1 is Clara's story, and just over 30,000 words.

Dragons in Our Midst

I've read my fair share of Arthurian retellings, and today I'm going to share with you a series that I didn't expect to find it.

I found this series through Goodreads recommendations, and I thought it intriguing, it being a story of a girl and a boy who discover that they're half dragon. (Or, at least, he does, she's known for a few years. Hard to not know when you have a huge pair of wings sprouting out of your back.) Then I discovered that it was also Christian Fantasy, and I had to read it. I went to my library to ILL it - and to my delight, I discovered that it owned the book - as well as the sequel. (Beyond that point, I've had to ILL, though.)

So I was reading, enjoying the dragons and the Christianity and then - boom! Arthur and Merlin were there. In a flashback, mind you, but still. However, the main villainess is none other than Morgan le Fay.

The way Davis twisted dragons, Arthur, and spiritual themes is amazing. In the first book of the second series, you learn that Morgan was actually the wife of one of the fallen angles prior to the flood (how did she survive, well ... actually, she didn't, but you'll have to read the series), and Excalibur was the sword belonging to the angel guarding the garden of Eden. 

This is a set of series that I can't recommend highly enough. Sure, they're weird at times, but I love weird. If you love dragons, Arthur, or just Christian Fantasy in general, do read these books. Seriously, don't wait any longer. Go to your library, ILL them if you must, and devour. You'll thank me.

These posts are in promotion of the newest book of the Bookania Quests, My Kingdom for a Quest, coming out February 14th. Click here if your interested in lending me your blog for the blog tour - I still have several open slots, particularly the last few days!

Fantastic Favorites

A friend of mine is releasing her fourth book shortly (Most of you know who she is, and if not, I'll let you guess. Hint: I'm coauthoring a book with her), and even more shortly is the cover reveal. In celebration of said cover reveal, she's having us post about our favorite fantasy books.

I read a LOT of fantasy, of all levels and brands, and flavors, and honestly, picking favorites isn't easy. So I'm going to go with books that have had a lot of effect on my own writing.

Despite my initial misgivings on this book, once my mother made me sit down and watch the BBC videos, it was love at first sight. You can't find a more enchanting fantasy world, or delightful Christian messages, and I blame this book for my current career as a writer. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that the new movies got a few things wrong, I may still be piddling around with my Tiger Lilly stories. Which brings me to my next favorite.

No, I don't know why this wants to be on this side of the screen. Anyways, while Narnia is where I go to learn how to build a fun world, I study Middle Earth to know how to build it deep. My introduction to this world was the opposite of Narnia. My mom and dad were going to go see one of the movies as a date, and my sister and I begged my mom to tell us the whole story. After she gave us a very condensed version, she later got the books on tape from the library and we went to bed listening to them every night. Good memories. Also, my sister's desire to write about hobbits led to our Elvings, which gave me my first taste of world building.

Fairy Tale retelling at its best. This book taught me that just because you are retelling a fairy tale doesn't mean that you have to rely on the plot. I'm not sure I even realized that this was a retelling of Cinderella until I was almost done with it. There are few books that I reread, but this is one of them.

Xanth is my guilty pleasure reading. It's not quite as clean as I would like it to be, but the humor and worldbuilding are delicious. It's responsible for the Punch Line and other such things in Bookania.

Despite all the books I had read, it had never occurred to me that magic wasn't necessary for a fantasy novel until I read Molly's Makilien Trilogy. And while I'm not going to go through and edit out the magic from every book I'm writing, I have decided to cut it on a few of my books. (Won't tell you which, though!)

I can't tell you for certain what exact influence this has had on my writing, but I've read it so many times, it has colored my writing, in particular The Trilogy of Secrets, and possibly The Faerie Realm. I've never encountered a book quite like it.

While again, I can't tell you exactly what influence Oz has had on my writing, it's another book that I've read so many times, it can't help but bleed into my own words. For instance, his Sea Fairies, (which, while isn't strictly part of the series, does tie into it and shed light onto a small plot element in The Lost Princess), is the book that taught me that mermaids can be modest.

This series, and its two sequel series, deal with a topic similar to the one that I mess with in Half-Hidden.  I had my premise for Half-Hidden long before I even heard of these books, but reading them has caused me to refine and seriously look at the side effects of my premise.

And there we go. Not so painful after all. I may actually be missing some, but that's another issue. I can't wait for the reveal tomorrow, and just a heads up, tomorrow is also the last day to submit a review of The Ankulen for the giveaway! Currently, you have only two competitors, and the odds are seriously in Kiri's favor - and I can't have her win ALL of my giveaways, now can I?

And on another issue, I discovered yesterday that Kew, Arthur's cousin, had been one of Robin's suitors ...

Interview with Rayad

About the Book (Cover image attached to email)

“Don’t you know? Animals like you have no soul.”

Could God ever love a half-blood all of society looks upon with such fear and disdain? Jace once believed so, but when a tragic loss shatters the only peace he’s ever known, his faith crumbles as the nagging doubts he’s tried to put behind him descend on his grieving heart. With them come the haunting memories of the bloodstained past he longs to forget, but can never escape.

Taken from home at a young age and raised to serve the emperor, Kyrin Altair lives every day under a dangerous pretense of loyalty. After her unique observation skills and perfect memory place her into direct service to the emperor, Kyrin finds herself in further jeopardy as it becomes increasingly difficult to hide her belief in Elôm, the one true God.

Following the emperor’s declaration to enforce the worship of false gods under the penalty of death, many lives are endangered. But there are those willing to risk everything to take a stand and offer aid to the persecuted. With their lives traveling paths they never could have imagined, Jace and Kyrin must fight to overcome their own fears and conflicts with society as they become part of the resistance.

Available for purchase on Amazon May 20^th!
View book extras at www.ilyonchronicles.blogspot.com.

About the Author (Author pic attached to email)

JAYE L. KNIGHT is a 25-year-old independent author with a passion for writing Christian fantasy and clean NA (New Adult) fiction. Armed with an active imagination and love for adventure, Jaye weaves stories of truth, faith, and courage with the message that even in the deepest darkness, God's love shines as a light to offer hope.

Jaye is a homeschool graduate and has been penning stories since the age of eight. She was previously published as Molly Evangeline. You can learn about her latest writing projects at www.jayelknight.com.

Social Media Links

• Facebook Author Page
• Facebook Series Page
• Twitter
• Pinterest
• Google+ Author Page
• Google+ Series Page
• YouTube
• Author Blog
• Series Blog

A few weeks back, I participated in the cover reveal of Jaye L. Knight's newest book, Resistance, the first book she's written under her new pen name. Today, I'm participating in the blog tour for this lovely read by featuring an interview with Rayad, one of the characters. He's the father/mentor figure to Jace, the half-ryrik, and while I personally didn't connect with him nearly as well as I did with Kyrin and Jace himself, he is no less an amazing character, as you will see from the interview.

I can't remember if this is a Rayad quote or not. I think it is, though.

1. What is your fondest childhood memory?

There are many I look back on fondly, particularly those with my friend Warin. I think one that stands out the most involved Kalli and Aldor. They stayed with us for a good while when I was young and grew to be like family. I’ll never forget the birth of their first child—a daughter. I was an only child, and though Warin was like my brother, that was the first time I’d ever experienced having a baby in the house. I was pretty hesitant and didn’t know what to expect at first, but I sure enjoyed getting to hold her after a while. It was almost like having a sister for the few months they were able to stay with us.

2. How did you come to know Elom?

My parents were very diligent in raising me and teaching me about Elôm from a very early age. My mother could weave a lesson about faith into even the most unlikely situations. I was seven when I fully placed my trust in Elôm. I had some rough teen years, as I think is typical, but their steadfast faith and diligence was like an anchor for me.

3. Is there anything that you have done that you have regretted?

Unfortunately, by the time you’re my age, you’ve compiled a list of regrets. There are many things I wish I had or hadn’t done. I think I’ll always wonder how things might have been different if I had laid low and not provoked the army captain near my home town. I don’t regret standing for my faith and what I believe, but I do regret that it ended in violence. Though I suppose I can’t regret the path that event set me on. Had I not needed to run, I never would have found Jace. That is the thing about regrets. You wish you could change things, but Elôm can always use a bad situation to bring about something good.

4. Apart from Elom, who do you care most about in the world?

Jace. I’ve never been married and have no children. I was always content with my life and my work, but when you live alone long enough, there are times you wish you had someone to share your life with. Once you reach a certain point, you start to doubt that will ever happen, but then Elôm brought Jace into my life. He’s the son I never had. It doesn’t matter how different our blood may be, he’s as much family to me as my parents were.

5. I don't think you have a Bible in your world, but let's say you do. What is your favorite verse?

We do have some writings and teachings of Elôm called the King’s Scrolls, but there are few complete copies. Most verses and passages are passed down between families. My favorite of those my parents taught me is one my father used to quote often. Though all the peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.* This is a verse I constantly keep in my thoughts with the worship of idols becoming so prevalent.

*Micah 4:5

I'm also reviewing the book over at O.Scarlett blog.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Character Encounters - May 2014

May's here with all of its flowers! Next month we get pilgrims!

Anyways, you're not here to talk about pilgrims. We're here to talk about where you'll meet your next character (who may or may not be a pilgrim - probably won't be, though).

Since I have a really nice giveaway that I'm also revealing in this post, I'll be short and sweet and cut to the chase.

The Attic

May is the last month of Spring, and therefore the last month of spring cleaning. And what room needs spring cleaning more than the attic? Of course, if you're like me, and you don't have a attic, the roof is a viable option. You don't have to be on the roof, but you know how characters are.








Okay, and now to tell you about the giveaway. As most of you know, I released The Ankulen back in September, about eight months ago now. But I'd like you to click through to this link. Now click through to this one. Notice anything interesting? The Ankulen doesn't have any reviews.

And the closest thing to a blog review that it has gotten has been what Jack wrote with her post in the cover reveal.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The presence of reviews is what sells books, especially reviews from people that the potential buyer trusts. Everyone who has read the book has told me that they loved it, but no one has told the world how much they loved it.

Is it really that much to ask you to write a review?

I don't want to stoop to the level of buying reviews (though the thought has crossed my mind) but I'm getting desperate. I've contacted a few people about reviewing it, and some of them have agreed to - but like myself, have a massive TBR list, and haven't gotten to it yet.

So, the other day I had an idea. Not exactly buying reviews, but I'm going to give you some incentive.

I'm going to host a giveaway. Entry - review The Ankulen. Every place you post a review (Amazon, Goodreads, Shelfari) is worth an entry. If you post a review on your blog, it's worth a entry. If your blog review mentions this giveaway asking for others to review this book, you get an extra entry. (Although, if your blog is dedicated to reviews, I ask that you don't mention it. Just share the fact that there's a giveaway on all your social feeds and I'll give you that extra point.

The prize? A $5 Amazon Gift Card. However. if I can get to twenty reviews by unique people, I'll make it two $5 cards. If I can get to thirty, there will be three cards. Forty reviews, and I'll give away 4 cards. Fifty reviews, and I'll add a $10 card. If I get to sixty, I'll toss in a surprise. Each card will go to a unique winner.

The deadline for this giveaway? The end of May. Sure, I know that fifty or sixty reviews is a pie in the sky number, but I have faith in you my readers. I know that a good number of you have read it already - you need only to actually sit down and write the review. I know that another good number of you already own it, and you only need to read it (and write the review). And for those of you who don't already own it - it will be free on kindle from the sixth through to the tenth (so if you post a blog review before or during the free spree, do mention this fact!)

I'm not asking for five star reviews (unless, of course, you feel like it deserves one). I'm asking for honest reviews that will tell potential buyers what the book is about, confess the bad with the good, and tell them why they should shell out their hard-earned money to buy it.

Also I do ask that you send me an email or comment on my blog somewhere with a list of everywhere you posted your review. Sure, I'll keep on eye on them, but I don't want to give the prize to someone who doesn't know about the contest (how awkward would that be?) so I need confirmation that your review is an entry to the giveaway.

Thank-you in advance, and may the odds be ever in your favor.

Why I'm a Fan of the Makilien Trilogy

The summer before last, after putting Sew on a free for five days spin that was very successful, I wandered over to my author page and noticed the "People who bought books by Kendra E. Ardnek also bought books by ..." section, and for some odd reason the name "Molly Evangeline" popped out at me. I suspect that it had had something to do with the fact that I had been following a photography blog called "Evangeline" and while I had loved the pictures she had been posting, she had mysteriously stopped.

So with some weird hope that this was the same Evangeline, I clicked on the name.

It was not the same Evangeline, but I was only disappointed for a few seconds.Then I realized that this was a Christian author whose books were fantasy and HiFi, my two favorite genres. And her cover arts were gorgeous. Unfortunately, I didn't have any money to buy her books at that moment, so I added her blog to my Google Reader and pretty much forgot about her.

And then she posted that she would give away free e-books to anyone who was willing to review them. And since she was self-published, and that's the sort of books we review over at O.Scarlett, I jumped at the over, reading and reviewing the first two books of her trilogy in quick succession. Unfortunately, book three wasn't published yet at that time, so I had to ask for the first book of the HiFi series while I waited. (Also a good book, but we're not here to talk about it.)

When the third book finally did come out, she had it at a special introductory price of 99 cents, and since I did happen to have 99 cents in my Amazon gift card balance (thanks to Swagbucks) I snatched it up. 

Read my Reviews:

TruthCourageTrust

So on a whole, how do I rate the series?

Christian message:

5 out of 5

Molly conveyed the message of Christianity, especially the three titular themes, so perfectly and effortlessly, without feeling preachy at all. The allegory in Truth is beautifully done, my only regret is that it seemed to be forgotten two years later in Trust. 

Characters

4 out of 5
Most of the characters were brilliant and well developed, but I never connected with Makilien, the main character. (Nor do I fully understand why she was in the battle in book 1, other than the fact that she "wanted to" she almost lost her feminity in that book, though she did recover it in the next two.) Also there were some characters that appeared to be main, but I keep forgetting they exist, Loron in particular. Every time I pick up a book and he shows up, I'm like ... "Oh, right. You're in this story. Hi!" Everyone else, however, I fully enjoyed.

Plot twists
5 out of 5
Molly Evangeline apparently loves plot twists, and while some of them in her HiFi series seem forced, most of the ones in Makilien I loved. They blew me away! Some I saw coming, but most ... well, in effort to not spoil the plot, there is one twist that at first makes a beloved character sink so low that you just want to ... but then you find out! And the beloved character is about twenty times more awesome. (Or at least, he is in my opinion, but I just love twins). Overall, Courage was my least favorite, not because it didn't have awesome plot twists (it did) but because the overall plot arch was almost identical as Truth's. Trust, however, was a beautiful roller coaster, and I never knew what was going to happen next.

World Building.
5 out of 5
I included Dolennar, Makilien's world, as part of my Memorable Worlds series last August. Dolennar was so well thought out, and comes through clearly in the writing. And the map Molly drew is amazing. I wish I could draw maps.

Romance
3 out of 5
While all of the pairings were very sweet and quite suited for each other, there were a few that I just didn't get. In particular, Derrin, Makilien's would-be suitor. He showed up briefly in the beginning of Truth and I promptly forgot about him in the wonderful plot. He lives in Reylaun and has been pursuing Makilien for years. Quite understandable, since Makilien is the main character and everyone wants to marry the main character, right? Fast forward to Courage where, despite the fact that he doesn't really accept Elohim, he decides to skip town with Makilien, Aedan, and Makilien's family. Then he meets Sirion, who Makilien is obviously taken with, and he instantly becomes jealous and all that. Understandable, again. But let's back up there to Aedan, who had been Makilien's best friend since I'm not sure when, and is, quite decidedly, male. Why did Makilien spending time with Aedan never bother Derrin? Am I the only one who thought she might just like Aedan? And then Aedan meets his love interest ... and I won't go there. It was just too contrived and forced. Everyone else, however, and especially Makilien and Sirion, were beautifully done. Rant over.

Romance, Makilien, and forgettable characters aside, I really enjoyed this series, and I do heartily recommend it to anyone looking for good Christian fantasy that doesn't have magic.

Via Pinterest

11. Hidden who had known each other well in their Dragon lives usually don't join the same bands. Very seldom to you see mates together. It's just too painful for them to see those they love like that.