Lyndsey Hall's Blog, page 10

Interview: Debut Fantasy and Sci-Fi Author Marie Reed

Hello lovely people! We’re down to single digits until release day for The Solitary King and I cannot wait for you all to get your hands on the second chapter of Aria’s story. You can get your hands on it here: https://mybook.to/TheSolitaryKing

Today, I’m chatting with another one of my Once Upon a Name anthology coauthors, Marie Reed, so keep reading to find out more about our upcoming collection of fantasy short stories…

Hi Marie! Thank you so much for speaking to me today. Why don’t you start by telling us a little bit about yourself?

I was born in Ohio but have lived in Illinois as long as I can remember. I met my husband in high school; we have 2 kids who are both in school. My major in college was Archaeology and Classical Studies, and I would love to work in a museum or library.

That sounds absolutely fascinating! And a perfect background for creating fantasy stories. Working in a library would be such a dream job! When did you start writing and what inspired you?

I’ve been writing on and off since elementary school. My school had an author contest every year and we’d get to write and illustrate our books in hardback form. In fifth grade, mine was voted Best In Show and I got to go meet published authors and show them my book. I still have a signed copy of a book I got that day as well. I went through a poetry phase in high school and have since thrown all evidence of that away. Now that the kids are in school, I have quiet time to sit and write down the ideas that have been swirling around my head for years.

What an amazing opportunity your school gave you! I’m very jealous. My school had us write poems in the style of Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, and when the school assessor came round they liked mine so much they took a copy to show round other schools. I was (and still am) so proud, but I didn’t get to meet a published author or get a signed book!! What are your favourite books that you’ve read?

I’ve read so many books that it’s hard to pick favorites. I read mostly urban and epic fantasy and sci-fi. However, Pride and Prejudice will forever be one of my favorite books. Terry Brooks is also one of my absolute favorite authors. And so many indie authors that I’ve come to find in the past few years!

I’ve loved reading more indie books over the last couple of years, both of my absolute favourite reads from 2021 were indie. Tell us about your upcoming debut publication!

My story about Callie Azuresmith in Once Upon a Name will be my first published story, but I am working on an urban fantasy/superhero story that I hope to have finished in the next year. I love reading about fantastic, magical places, so that’s what I write about.

I’m really excited to read your story, Forged in Fire, in Once Upon a Name, and your first novel! Where do you find the inspiration for your characters and story?

I’m not really sure where my characters come from; I usually start with a random scene in the middle of my story and the character builds themselves a history from that.

For my debut series, The Fair Chronicles, it was actually the setting that came first and then the story and characters came out of that, so there’s infinite ways inspiration for a story can strike. Do you consider yourself a plotter or a pantser?

I’m definitely more of a pantser, but am trying to outline and plan more to help with the pacing of my stories, and to make sure I can hit novel length word counts.

I’m a chronic underwriter, hitting word count goals is such a challenge for me, even as a card carrying plotter. What’s your current WIP?

My superhero story is about a girl named Natasha, who wanted to go into law enforcement, but found that no one trusts her in her hometown because of her…shocking outbursts. So she leaves home and decides to fight crime in the big city, and of course gets in over her head.

That sounds so cool, I love a good superhero movie so I’ll definitely be reading that when you publish! What one piece of advice would you give to fellow aspiring authors?

I would say to stay at your own pace and do your own thing. One person might tell you that you need to write a thousand words every day, another might say you need a detailed outline before you can write. Do whatever feels natural.

Brilliant advice, I love that. It can be really disheartening to hear some writers say you need to write every single day, or showing off their huge daily word counts, especially when some of us work full time and have young kids. Staying in your own lane and keeping your eyes on your own paper can be challenging, but it’s so important if you want to achieve your own goals and not be distracted by what everyone else is doing.

Thank you so much for chatting with me today Marie! Before you go, where can we find out more about you and keep up to date with your works-in-progress?

I’m still starting out, but I have an author page on Facebook and Instagram, and have profiles on Amazon, Goodreads, and Bookbub. There isn’t much there yet, but hopefully that will change soon!

How lovely is Marie? I’m excited for Once Upon a Name’s release so you can read both Marie’s story, Forged in Fire, and mine, Baroness of Blood and Bone!

Have you seen the 2022 reading planner we’ve put together to raise even more money for Book Aid International? It’s full of really useful layouts like habit trackers, month at a glance, a year in books and review pages to help you keep track of your reading and make notes on the books you read. It also features quotes and illustrations from our stories in the anthology, which you could even colour in if you fancied!

Click here to get your copy: https://mybook.to/OUAN-Planner

Lyndsey

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You Are Enough

It has been a long and stressful couple of years. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all been challenged, we’ve all found it difficult or exhausting at times, and we’re all looking forward to the day this pandemic is considered officially over.

If you’ve found yourself feeling down or hopeless recently, you’re not alone. Many of us feel exactly the same, and it might be difficult to pinpoint the specific feeling or the reason for it, but it’s likely that your resources are completely drained after a second year of being asked to give more than you have, to endure more than you can feasibly endure, to live under the weight of an unbearable weight.

What has been asked of us these past 22 months has been beyond anything we were prepared for or could ever have anticipated, and it will have an effect for years to come, but we’re all in it together.

It’s Not Possible to Give Your Best All of the Time

If you’re anything like me, you probably find yourself thinking or even muttering aloud “I’m doing my best” at least once a day. Well, I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to give your best all the time. Stretching yourself to the maximum isn’t supposed to be sustainable, it’s there for when you need an extra little boost to reach a particular goal or achieve a dream. Your basic level of productivity and activity is absolutely good enough for your day to day life. Anyone who expects more is asking too much of you and may need a reminder of your boundaries.

You are good enough, you weren’t put on the planet to produce and you don’t owe anybody anything, certainly not “your best” 100% of the time.

Write this on a post it note and stick it to your mirror:

If you were always at your best, it wouldn’t be your best, it would be your normal.

You Are Enough

Just being yourself is enough. So, next time you find yourself wondering why you’re struggling, remember: you’re finding it hard because it is hard.

Next time you find yourself thinking “I’m doing my best”, remember: your best is not required 100% of the time, you’re normal is good enough.

Next time you find yourself feeling like you’re not doing enough, being enough, giving enough of yourself, remember: you are enough.

Lyndsey

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Three Thrillers to Get Your Blood Pumping This January

I’ve read a few thrillers/suspense novels recently as a foil to my YA romantic fantasy edits (The Solitary King comes out 31 Jan!!), so I thought I’d round up all of my reviews into one post. After all, if you’re a thriller fan you’d probably rather read one post about three (very different) books to see which sounds like your cup of tea, than three separate review posts, right?

Great, let’s go.

The Cottage by Lisa Stone – 3.5 stars

Jan needs a fresh start, she’s just lost her job and split from her boyfriend, so when she sees an ad looking for someone to house sit a remote cottage and look after the owner’s dog while she’s working abroad, Jan jumps at the chance. But before long, strange noises start to disturb her at night, and when someone dismantles the fence she puts up to stop foxes getting into the garden, she knows it can’t be an animal.

The Cottage sucked me in with the creepy cover and blurb, but it didn’t turn out to be as dark and thrilling as I’d hoped. It was definitely tense and I wanted to know what was really going on, but it was one of those stories where there’s a reasonable explanation for everything, and I had gone in wanting something a bit darker.

I guessed a few of the plot twists (occupational hazard of being a true crime obsessive), but some of them were genuine surprises and the story did keep me reading just to see what would happen in the end.

I know the author also writes non-fiction/true crime books and this did read almost like a memoir, I could believe everything that was happening was possible, which did make it all the more fascinating.

I’d recommend it if you’re looking for an easy, lighter read with a really interesting premise and a few shock twists, but it won’t keep you awake at night.

The Family Upstairs by Lisa Jewell – 4.5 stars

Libby just turned twenty-five and inherited a multi-million pound property, but more importantly she’s just discovered the truth – her parents were found dead in very suspicious circumstances, and she is the baby that was found happy and healthy in the cot while three bodies lay on the kitchen floor. Desperate to know what happened, she finds the journalist who wrote a recent article about the unsolved murders and together they dig into a history that only becomes more twisted and shocking the closer they get to the truth.

The Family Upstairs is told from three points of view, Libby and Lucy in the here and now, and Henry describing the events that led up to the three bodies being found in the house he shared with his sister (the aforementioned Lucy), their parents, and another family who came to stay and never left.

I loved the slow build up of tension in this book, I couldn’t take my eyes of Henry’s chapters as the happy family life he enjoyed as a child became increasingly strange and frightening, under the oppressive control of David Thomsen, a house guest who gradually took control over the entire household.

Between unreliable narrators and the slow, drip feed of information building the suspense throughout the book, I was absolutely glued to my seat, especially for the final few chapters. I was a little bit disappointed by the conclusion, but now there’s a sequel coming this summer, The Family Remains (which can apparently be read as standalone) and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Without giving too much away, I highly recommend this book if you love true crime, particularly podcasts and documentaries about cults.

The Hunting Party by Lucy Foley – 5 stars

Seven friends go to a remote Scottish hunting lodge for New Year, and only six of them survive. Every single one of them is hiding something, including the staff, but who is the body at the bottom of the waterfall, and how did they end up dead?

Told over three days and five POVs, The Hunting Party is a fast-paced whodunit (and who-was-it-done-to) that kept me guessing until the very last page. Every character was a possible victim and a potential killer, they were all full-formed and believably complex (read: awful) people.

I flew through the last hundred pages, I desperately needed to know who had been killed and why, even more so than who had done it. Some of the red herrings Foley threw out to distract us and keep us off the right trail were so good, I did spot one of the reveals from early on, but I genuinely couldn’t guess the full truth until it was written on the page.

This is a definite five star read for me, and I’ll be snapping up all of Foley’s other domestic thrillers. I recommend this book to absolutely everyone who likes a good, twisty thriller, you won’t be able to see it coming, I can guarantee it!

There you go, I hope you liked the sound of one or all of these. I actually borrowed them from the library, and now I’ve got C.L. Taylor’s Strangers waiting for me when I finish my edits. Back to the edit cave, Batgirl!

Lyndsey

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Non-resolution resolutions for 2022

January is traditionally the month of the ‘fresh start’. Of turning over a new leaf and becoming a dramatically different person who gets up early and drinks green smoothies, or gets 2000 words written daily before the rest of the house wakes up. Of starting new diets and joining new gyms, only to judge and shame ourselves when we fall off the wagon by Pancake Day (or decide to have a lie in and get a zero daily word count).

Let’s all agree that 2022 is the year we don’t bother with resolutions or any of that other bullshit that is designed to make us hate ourselves and spend money we don’t have on solutions we don’t need, for issues that don’t really exist. You are beautiful and unique and perfect, exactly as you are.

Dream on little dreamer

Dreams are good. Goals are better. But with the pandemic still ongoing and an air of uncertainty around absolutely everything we do, is 2022 the year you achieve your big, stretch goals? Maybe not, and it won’t be because you didn’t try hard enough or you didn’t deserve to success. You deserve everything you want, everything the world has to give. But the world doesn’t have much to give to us right now, and we can’t predict whether it will in twelve months’ time, so don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself. Treat yourself with kindness, take this New Year as slowly and gently as you need to, because we’re all in this together and there’s no need to rush.

Reflections, not resolutions

So, instead of coming up with resolutions or even intentions for 2022, why don’t you take this year to look back at what you’ve achieved, and feel proud? Open that brand new journal you’ve been keeping for best and write a list of reflections, things you enjoyed from the last year, new things you tried, experiences you had where you were wholly present and not worrying about how you looked or getting the best camera angle.

Congratulate yourself for the incredible things you achieved and celebrate the small wins too, anything that brought you joy in 2021.

And at the bottom of your list, write ‘more of this in 2022’.

Let’s be honest, January is the Monday of the year, but if you focus on the good, treat yourself with kindness and give yourself small, manageable goals that feed your soul, then it will be a brilliant start to the new year.

Sending positive things your way!

Lyndsey

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Spring Clean Your TBR Pile for 2022

Happy New Year folks! Welcome to the January YA SFF Winter Blog Hop, where we’re talking fresh starts, new beginnings and setting goals for the year ahead. Plus, there’s another fabulous giveaway to enter and a whole bunch of new freebies and gifts to discover!

Keep reading to find out how I spring clean my TBR, grab your free novella, and enter our big giveaway…

January Blog Hop StopsNew Young Adult Books: What’s Coming in 2022? Resolutions and ReviewsNew Year’s in the Slytherin Common Room: Celebrating the Most Ruthless & Ambitious Characters in YA2022 LGBT Books We Are Excited ForNew Beginnings No Matter the SeasonNew Year, New Reading Goals!Bookish New Year ResolutionsNon-Resolutions (Unless You Were Born in January)Eos: Goddess of New BeginningsSpring Clean Your TBR Pile (YOU ARE HERE)My 2022 Reading JournalThe Best Fantasy & Sci-Fi Debut Books (YA & Adult)YA characters who made their dreams come trueHow to Spring Clean Your To-Be-Read Pile

Christmas has come and gone and the decorations are down, it’s time to give your house a spring clean for the New Year. While you’re tidying your space and decluttering your belongings, don’t forget your most important possessions – your books!

Here are my tips for spring cleaning your bookshelves for 2022:

Physical Books – Read

Go through your collection of read books and divide them into three piles:

books you want to keep (to read again or just for display), books you want to lend/gift to friends who’ll enjoy them, books to donate.

Give your bookshelves a clean and re-shelve your keep pile, add some bookish scented candles, character art prints and figurines, or any other fun bits of book merch you own – maybe a string of fairy lights or a couple of potted plants (real or fake, no judgement here!) – and take a few photos for your bookstagram account, to commemorate the occasion.

Physical Books – To Be Read

Now, do the same with your unread books. Reread the blurbs and check out some reviews on Amazon or Goodreads to decide whether you’re still interested in reading them, then split them into three piles. You could even take photos of your donation pile and offer them to your social media followers for the cost of post and packaging. Or drop them off at your local charity shop or free library, whatever feels right.

Stack your new physical TBR pile on your bedside table, or buy one of those gorgeous three-tiered storage trolleys in a shade that you love and divide your TBR between the shelves. Dreamy AND organised!

Ebooks

Now the hard work begins! If you’re anything like me, your Kindle will be chock full of unread ebooks, either because you wanted to support the author and preorder their new release, or because the cover or blurb caught your eye but you never got around to starting them. Well, now’s the time to tidy up that cluttered device.

Go through and remove your read books from the device to save space.Sort your unread books by length or alphabetically, whatever works for you, and take a chunk of 10 or so each day until you’ve filtered your whole library. (If you’re around the 1000 mark, then… I’m sorry. Hang in there.)Read the blurbs and decide which books you still want to read and which you’re no longer interested in.Grab a new notebook or reading planner (I have the perfect thing if you’re looking for one! Click here to buy the Once Upon a Name 2022 reading planner) and jot down the titles of all the books you’re still planning to read.Choose a couple of physical books and a couple of ebooks to read each month (depending on your reading speed), or write the titles of all of your TBR on separate slips of paper and put them in a jar to choose from when you’re ready for your next read.Or, if you’re a mood reader, add a couple of notes to each book (e.g. fantasy, enemies to lovers, futuristic, found family, etc.) to help you choose something to suit your mood each month.Your Goodreads TBR

Now that you’ve decluttered your physical and digital TBRs and made notes in your reading planner, tidying up your Goodreads lists should be fairly simple. Add any books you’ve read to your Read list and update your Want To Read list with any new books you got for Christmas. Then go through your Want To Read list and untick any books you’ve decided you no longer want to read.

And that’s it, you’re all done! Well done on spring cleaning your TBR for the New Year.

Now treat yourself to a new book for all your hard work! In fact, I’ve got one here you could have…

Your January free gift!

Grab your free copy of my novella A Fair Deception here:

Enter our Mega Giveaway

Click here or on the image to enter and be in with a chance of winning a $30 Amazon gift card: https://kingsumo.com/g/wtnrzh/new-year-new-books-win-an-amazon-gift-card

May the odds be ever in your favour.

Lyndsey

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Interview: time travel sci-fi author D.M. Taylor

I hope you’re having a relaxing, restorative and joyous festive break, friends! I scheduled this post before the big day, so right now I’m probably knee-deep in mince pies and Baileys. Or sneaking the batteries out of whichever annoying new toy the grandparents bought for my three-year-old…

As a little Twixmas treat (that’s the scientific name for the gap between Christmas and New Year where we only wear pajamas and have no idea what day it is), I’m sharing my interview with the lovely, talented and very down-to-earth D.M. Taylor, one of my co-authors.

Read on to find out what we chatted about.

Hi, thank you so much for chatting with me today! Tell us a little about yourself to begin with.

I’m from Michigan. I’ve lived here my whole life. My favorite part about living in Michigan is that we have the most spectacular summers surrounded by the Great Lakes. It’s never too far to get to a beach. 

That sounds wonderful, we’re not too far from the Lake District in England, and we’re right on the edge of the Peak District, so I definitely appreciate a good natural backdrop! When did you start writing and what inspired you?

I’ve been a writer my whole life. In grade school, always writing stories and entering the Young Author’s contests. I have stacks and stacks of diaries, poetry notebooks, story starters that I’ve written in throughout my life. 

I made the move to become a published author a few years ago after writing a story that was inspired by the loss of my mom. Once the first draft of that story was on paper, a fire ignited to see it to publication. 

I’m so sorry for your loss. What a beautiful tribute to write a story inspired by your mother, and for that story to have been the catalyst for your publishing career. What are some of your favourite books?

I am all over the place with what I like to read. In a nutshell, I love a story that I can totally lose myself in. Some favorites include; Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, Dracula by Bram Stoker, Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Good choices! And quite a mix there, you obviously have an eclectic taste. I think it’s great when you can enjoy a wide range of genres and look for the story elements you love that link them together. Tell us about your first published book.

My debut book is titled, The Reckoning: A Time Travel Thriller.

It’s about a young woman who is facing the grief of losing her mother to cancer. She goes on to become a renowned physicist who is driven to discover time travel and get back to her mom. But, what she thought would undo years of turmoil, might have triggered the downfall of society and put those she loves in peril danger. 

That sounds so fascinating, and grief is such a strong motivator, your protagonist sounds incredibly courageous. Where do you find inspiration for your characters or settings? 

I am a people watcher! Most of what I write comes from people I know, I’ve watched, or experiences I’ve read about. The stories of real people that impress on me the most, stick around and take up space in my brain until I get them onto paper as a character in the world I make up for them. 

I love that, reality is such a rich source of inspiration. And creating a fantastical world to set the story in just adds another layer of possibility to let your creativity go wild, while keeping the story grounded in truth. Are you a plotter, pantser or plantser? 

I’ve evolved from a straight pantser to a plantster. I am unable to tap into creativity in straight out plotting but I do a rough outline to keep my timelines straight. Time travel is tricky business. 

I can imagine! I’m a plantser too, I need some structure, but not so much that it stifles my creativity. What are you working on right now?

I’m in editing for my third book in The Reckoning Series and the short story I am contributing for Once Upon a Name: The Sultana of the Deathly Stars.

Editing is my least favourite stage of the writing process, so I’m sending you lots of coffee and good vibes! What one piece of advice would you give aspiring authors? 

Write the book. Everything else can be figured out afterward. 

Thank you so much for joining me today, D.M.! Before you go, how can we find out more about you and your books? 

D.M. Taylor’s Website:  https://www.subscribepage.com/dmtaylorthereckoning

Follow her on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/authordmtaylor

Like her Facebook page:   http://www.facebook.com/authordmtaylor

Or find her on TikTok: @authordmtaylor

Book 3 in The Reckoning Series is coming soon! 

I hope you had fun getting to know D.M. Taylor and learning more about her books and upcoming releases. I’m so excited to be working together on Once Upon a Name! Have you heard about our new 2022 reading planner? It’s a gorgeous book filled with weekly, monthly and annual calendars, reading trackers, review pages and illustrations and quotes from our stories in the upcoming anthology. If you order yours now, you can start using it in January and keep track of your reading in a beautiful, mindful way all year long.

Get the Once Upon a Name 2022 reading planner from Amazon

Happy reading!

Lyndsey

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Once Upon a Name 2022 planner and reading tracker + giveaway!

Happy holidays bookish friends! I hope you’re enjoying the festive season and looking forward to lots of extra reading time over the holidays.

If you like to write in a planner or bullet journal to keep track of your TBR and make notes on your current reads so you can write up your reviews later, then you’re going to LOVE what I’ve got to show you today!

Some of my very clever and talented co-authors of , Susan and Jo, have created an absolutely gorgeous reading planner for 2022, complete with weekly and monthly calendars, reading habit trackers, review pages, a year-end wrap up and lots of beautiful illustrations and quotes from the upcoming anthology.

You can take a peek inside on Amazon and see the illustration and quote from my story, Baroness of Blood and Bone. Some of my co-authors have even made Instagram reels showing off their copies, take a look here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ELENA SHELEST (@elenashelestwriter)

All of the profits from the sale of the planner will go to Book Aid International, just like the anthology itself, so however you choose to support us you’ll be helping underprivileged children to learn to read and get access to libraries all over the world. Whether you buy one for your best bookish friend (or BBF) or you treat yourself as a little well done for getting through the last couple of years, it’s completely guilt-free spending!

If you order now, you can get it in time for January 1st and start 2022 as you mean to go on. At 176 pages and just less than A4 size, she’s a big beauty and well worth the $10, but if your budget doesn’t stretch to that at this time of year then you can still preorder the anthology for just 99c/77p and in April 2022 you’ll get twenty short fantasy stories for your reading pleasure!

Giveaway

Fancy being in with a chance of winning one of four copies of our gorgeous new planner? Click the link below to enter our big release giveaway!

https://bit.ly/OUANPlannerGiveAway

Happy reading friends, and have a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, Kwanzaa and New Year!

Lyndsey

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Once Upon a Name 2022 planner and reading tracker

Happy holidays bookish friends! I hope you’re enjoying the festive season and looking forward to lots of extra reading time over the holidays.

If you like to write in a planner or bullet journal to keep track of your TBR and make notes on your current reads so you can write up your reviews later, then you’re going to LOVE what I’ve got to show you today!

Some of my very clever and talented co-authors of , Susan and Jo, have created an absolutely gorgeous reading planner for 2022, complete with weekly and monthly calendars, reading habit trackers, review pages, a year-end wrap up and lots of beautiful illustrations and quotes from the upcoming anthology.

You can take a peek inside on Amazon and see the illustration and quote from my story, Baroness of Blood and Bone. Some of my co-authors have even made Instagram reels showing off their copies, take a look here:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ELENA SHELEST (@elenashelestwriter)

All of the profits from the sale of the planner will go to Book Aid International, just like the anthology itself, so however you choose to support us you’ll be helping underprivileged children to learn to read and get access to libraries all over the world. Whether you buy one for your best bookish friend (or BBF) or you treat yourself as a little well done for getting through the last couple of years, it’s completely guilt-free spending!

If you order now, you can get it in time for January 1st and start 2022 as you mean to go on. At 176 pages and just less than A4 size, she’s a big beauty and well worth the $10, but if your budget doesn’t stretch to that at this time of year then you can still preorder the anthology for just 99c/77p and in April 2022 you’ll get twenty short fantasy stories for your reading pleasure!

Happy reading friends, and have a wonderful Christmas, Hannukah, Solstice, Kwanzaa and New Year!

Lyndsey

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Review: Feathers of Snow by Alice Ivinya

Welcome back friends! I’ve got another book review for you today, this time it’s a fantasy fairytale retelling that’s perfect for these frosty, winter days. It’s Feathers of Snow by Alice Ivinya, book one in the Kingdom of Birds and Beasts series.

I bought the ebook of this story as soon as I saw the cover (I mean, just look at it!), but I was actually given a signed copy by Alice when we met in person last July, so of course I read that! And I was so honoured and emotional to see my name in the acknowledgements when I finished.

This was a gorgeously gripping read, keep scrolling to see what I thought of it…

Blurb

In Brianna’s new world of ice and snow, the coldest things by far are the eyes of her betrothed…

Brianna bears a deadly secret: she’s not the princess she is pretending to be. If the prince finds out, her life will be forfeit and her country plunged into war. But there is more to the icy prince than meets the eye, and Brianna slowly unravels the secrets of his dark past while surviving in a strange culture.

However her goodness and wit will only get her so far. Terrifying beasts stalk the border and a murderer is at work in the town. They know the truth of Brianna’s identity and will stop at nothing to destroy all she has fought for.

Review

Title: Feathers of Snow: A Goose Girl Retelling (Kingdom of Birds and Beasts #1)

Author: Alice Ivinya

Link: https://www.amazon.com/Feathers-Snow-retelling-Kingdom-Beasts-ebook/dp/B08MZ69K29/

Rating: 5 fairytale stars!

This book swept me away to a snow-covered castle and made me fall in love with a frosty prince. I loved the unique world Ivinya created, especially the snippets of history, myth and folklore we were treated to.

It’s a truly original adaptation of The Goose Girl fairy tale, with a strong, steady heroine who faces danger and heartbreak head on, and a stoic, brooding prince who’ll do whatever it takes to protect his people from the threats over the wall.

If you love clean but still swoon worthy romantic fantasy, fairytale retellings and lush, richly detailed world building, you’ll love Feathers of Snow. 

I adored Brianna from the beginning, Ivinya has such skill with character creation, she really makes you identify with her protagonists, hate her villains (ooh I really wanted bad things to happen to the baddie in this book!) and fall for her love interests. Plus, her side characters are fully-formed and have their own back stories and motivations that inform the plot and make the whole story feel very well-rounded – I have such a soft spot for Jeremiah and may have messaged Alice at the halfway mark threatening our friendship if anything bad happened to my sweet cinnamon roll of a guard.

In a nutshell, Feathers of Snow is the book for you this Christmas if you love:
Sweet, clean but swoon worthy romanceFairytale retellingsRich world building with unique magicQuietly strong, independent heroines (badass but in a subtle way)Brooding, reluctant heroes who don’t soften easilyA villain you will LOVE to hateMind-talking animal familiarsTense whodunnit murder mysteries Fantasy series you can really get sucked into and fall in love with

Find it on Amazon and read the sample:

Add it to your Goodreads shelf: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55858962-feathers-of-snow

Ready for book two? Check out my blog on Feathers of Blood‘s release here.

Happy reading!

Lyndsey x

The Fair Queen is now an audio book!

The moment you’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived – The Fair Queen is now available on Audible as an audio book!

I want to say a huge, enormous thank you to the wonderful and talented Olivia Barnes-Brett, my narrator and producer, for putting together such an incredible book. I’ve listened to the whole thing and couldn’t quite believe that it was my story I was listening to. Olivia has given the story and the characters life, her voice is absolutely perfect for this tale of an enchanted middle-England.

If you’re a huge audio book lover, you can get the book here:

https://storyoriginapp.com/universalaudiobooklinks/f3276408-528d-11ec-8ae2-8b8e308efd2f

It’s free with a 30-day trial of Audible or your monthly membership credit, and if you already own the ebook it’s just £3.47!

Plus there might even be some free review copies available to my email list subscribers, so if you’re interested in listening for free in exchange for an honest review, then click here and sign up to Letters from the Fair Realm:

http://eepurl.com/diCTdD

I can’t wait to share the audio book of my first ever book baby with you!

Lyndsey

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