Lily O. Laverick's Blog, page 3

🌈 Book Cover Reveal 📚

Drumroll, please! The moment we’ve all been waiting for is finally here – the cover reveal of my debut novel, Boy Jayck, is out in the world! I’m thrilled to share this with you all, and can’t wait for you to dive into the thrilling universe I’ve created and experience an unforgettable space opera m/m romance. Mark your calendars for the 6th of December – the release date – and stay tuned for more updates!

How excited are you for Boy Jayck’s release? As much as me? Probably not as nervous as me! LOL!

Red, White & Royal Blue!

Amazon Prime Video has made me a very happy woman!

Last month it was announced Red, White & Royal Blue was coming out in August as a movie! And today (07/07/2023) I watched the trailer for the first time—then three or four more times!

What is particularly special to me about this is that Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston was the first audiobook I listened to and the first LGBTQ+ novel I read/listened to. It opened the door for me into this world I never want to leave!
And as a writer Red, White & Royal Blue was Casey McQuiston first novel, and in four years it has become a film, and before that a New York Times bestseller! I idolise this book!

The trailer shows it looks like it’s going to be spot on to the book! And the casting!! Perfect!

So, after watching the trailer it reminded me I wanted to get the physical version of it and read it, so I bought the book! I can’t wait for it to arrive and read it properly before watching it on Prime Video!

Join me while I read it! If you do, let me know!
Paperback: https://amzn.to/3rkPM3K
Kindle: https://amzn.to/3O2UITv
Audible: https://amzn.to/3JMKp3G
Hardback: https://amzn.to/3JKC3t6

My July Goals

This July I’m determined to have filled with self-improvement, social media marketing, and creativity! June was a slow month for me despite it being pride and my birthday month.
So, I plan on pre-scheduling a bunch posts and getting a head of the game!

Do you have any ideas for me of what to post?

Some brainstorming will happen, but I’m going to keep it to a minimum as every time I brainstorm with my mum it always ends up with a new idea for a book in The Galaxy of Lavaria series! There are 18 book ideas already! That’s enough for now!

Speaking of which, don’t forget Boy Jayck by me Lily O. Laverick, my Debut Novel and Book 1 in the Galaxy of Lavaria Series is coming soon, this autumn 2023! It’s also known as Gay Bridgerton meets Steampunk Star Wars meets Treasure Planet!

Anyway, self-promotion aside, lol. I want to reach my good reads goal of 100 books read/listened to this year. Currently I’m on 39, finished one just this morning. That means I need to read 9 books this month to be on a good track. Should be easy enough! I received a bunch of new books for my birthday, including The Wicked Deep by Shea Ernshaw! Thank you Vicky!

Then there’s this month’s newsletter I’m determined to write instead of forgetting about! Any ideas for that too? Link In Bio to Sign Up!

I’ve setup a challenge to finished writing my future Newsletter Exclusive short story (Its working title is All Fades to Black) with NaNoWriMo. Wish me luck!

And finally, this is where you guys and girls and all in between and out come in! Growing my social media! I’m going to do as much as I can on my side, but it’s a two-way street. Anything you lot can do to help will be amazing! If you share my posts please tag me and I’ll reshare (in insta stories), I’ll reply to all comment and every like is another beat to my heart!

Thank you so much for reading this dumping of info and I hope you have a fantastic July!
What are you up this month!? Let me know!!

June Progress and Updates

(First sent out as a Newsletter Thu, June 8th 7:59 am to 11 recipients)

Hello all you lovely people. How have you all been doing? I’ve been keeping myself busy with editing ‘Boy Jayck’ and listening to audiobooks.

I’m loving the editing process; I don’t see why so many don’t like it. Yes, you have to reread your work thousands of times but that’s why you should write the books you want to read.

Before I finished writing the first draft and getting hit with occasional writer’s block, I’d go and edit from the top and work my way down until I felt ready to continue writing the rest of the story. In doing that I never really saw the middle of my story, until now. It’s really nice rereading it for the first time in months. It feels good when there’s parts that I don’t feel need editing, and it feels great with the things I can add, all the special details. Writing is like art, keep going back until you feel it’s done. Writing is my art.

As for audiobook, I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the Vino & Veritas series (free with subscription on audible). Up until book 7 I have loved each and every one! The characters are so lovable and some relatable even if they are guys and gay, lol. But I’ve reached book 7 and I couldn’t get into it. I’m not sure it’s because it’s my first F/F romance and I struggle with it because of my own womanly issues, or if it’s the characters in general. One of the girls is a party girl, she won’t end up being a comfort character, that I can be certain of. I’m going to try again with the next one in the series, another F/F romance, but if I don’t like it at least, I know I prefer M/M romances and enjoy M/F YA romances.
On a side note, this morning while adding free with subscription books to my audible library I came across one called ‘Consorting with Dragons’ by Sera Trevor, and it is so good! I’m a bit more than a quarter into it and it’s definitely my sort of comfort read. Romance, Fantasy, Merlin vibes with Regency and Royalty, drama and bullying from background characters…
Do you guys have some suggestions of reads I should try out?

In anticipation of my upcoming birthday party at the end of this month, themed to be a Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, here are ten—or as many things as I can think of—impossible things* in BOY JAYCK, Book 1 in the Lavarian Galaxy series. Well, they’re not quite impossible, but certainly leaning towards the more fantasy-ish.
These are very minor spoilers and teasers so if you’d prefer to read Boy Jayck spoiler free then feel free to skip these. Though it’s not like any major plot twist is going to be revealed.

Fireplaces light themselves with a special mechanism.Window shatter spontaneously.The sky on Fallacia is not blue but purple and stars are visible.Dragonfly like beings used to exist.Think pirate ship and Titanic merged as boats in space.Jayck has glowing white rings around his irises.The weather on Fallacia is linked with one of the major characters.Grebus has a clock window that measures… something (honestly, I have forgotten myself, how I managed to write this book is beyond me, lol)

*(If you have seen Alice in Wonderland (2010) you’ll know the reference).

I love questions and I love answering them, so if you have any please do ask them and I can answer them in future newsletters and blog posts.

Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone by J. K. Rowling | Book Review

“And another one bites the dust,” is my favourite Queen quote that my brain plays for me every time after I finish reading a book. This was another such time. (Dammit now I have that song playing in my head! And it will probably stay there, playing on loop until another song replaces it.)

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Book 1
223 pages, Paperback / Audio Book

Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone was my eighth read this year. (An exciting thought is; if I read a book every five days from today onwards; I’ll have met my 21-books-read-(starting from January)-before-I turn-21 challenge! I try to be a positive person; however, I do doubt I’ll be able to make it, but I will endeavour to get as far as I can. My TBR list rather outweighs my books-read list, it would be could to start evening it out.)

I’m never quite sure how to write reviews, not been doing it long enough to know.
I guess I’ll start with how I read Harry Potter.
I listened to it, and if I hadn’t, I don’t think I would have been able to read it in the first place.
Read out loud by none other than Stephen Fry I was really immersed into the world. Had I read it; the style of writing would have put me off.
The first time, many years ago, when I first picked up this book from my granddad’s bookshelf I struggled.
On one hand, I was younger, and my English reading and writing skills were appalling compared to most other’s my age, but then again, I was brought up in France and learnt my English by French teachers. (I have learnt a lot more about grammar in this last year of writing for myself than I ever did in school.) On the other hand, also back then my mum started reading it too me, even she struggled with how Rowling wrote.
But you can’t beat a bit of Stephen Fry can you!
He did it brilliantly and because of that I listened to it in just two days. Thankfully for my brain’s capacity, I was able to do my Pinterest work at the same time. Couldn’t write my book however, though when I did go to write, even if my goal was just two hundred words my head went blank. I shrugged my shoulders and went back to listing to the audio book.
I think my favourite bit about Stephen Fry reading it was how he did the voices, they were perfect! Hagrid’s was my favourite!

I already knew the storyline of course; I have watched all the Harry Potter films at least ten times, each. We need to get a new DVD of the last film because it’s scratch from the many times we’ve watched it, and from accidental droppages.

When was I moment I squealed? It was near the beginning, when Harry was going down his list of the school-supplies he needed, specifically when he went over the books. And there I had not been expecting to hear ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander.’ In all honest I love Fantastic Beasts more than Harry Potter. I mean come on! Eddie Redmayne! He’s absolutely lush! He’s I’m sure the reason I fell for my ex because he looked like him. Anyway, getting off track.

My views on J. K. Rowling; I don’t like the woman, not her views on a big portion her the community she’s built or her attitude. But—like Justin Bieber in the way I can listen to his music, appreciate it but still not like the guy himself—I can read her books and separate them from her. I do hope in the future no one would do that to me with my books, but beggars can’t be choosers. I’d simply be happy if my books were being read.

I would certainly recommend this book, in any of its forms to my friends. We all need a little bit more magic in our lives.

I might expand this review one day but for now this will do. I hoped you liked it. See you all soon! Don’t forget to like this blog post! Xxx

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