L.R.W. Lee's Blog

Rock-A-Bye Baby Cover Reveal!

It's Rock-A-Bye Baby cover reveal day! May the fanning begin...

Rock-A-Bye Baby is the Prequel for The Sand Maiden series and happens before Lullaby in the timeline of the series.


Rock-A-Bye Baby

Pre-order:
Paperback: bit.ly/Buy_RABB_Paperback (my website)
eBook: Rock-A-Bye-BabyBook.com (Amazon)

Click to see large version of the cover https://lrwlee.com/wp-content/uploads...

COVER REVEAL OF ANDY SMITHSON BOOK SIX!

I’ve been waiting a long time to be able to say what I’m about to say. I’m SO excited!!!! Here goes…

May I present, Wisdom of the Centaurs’ Reason…



What do you think? Don’t you love it? LOL!

Just kidding… The sixth book in the Andy Smithson series, Wisdom of the Centaurs’ Reason, will be released November 23rd!!!!!!!!

If your curiosity is begging to see the whole incredibly amazing artwork my cover designer whipped up, just go to my website at http://www.lrwlee.com/#!about1/c1yld.

But BEFORE YOU CLICK, what do you speculate the rest of the cover looks like based upon the title, Wisdom of the Centaurs’ Reason? What can you guess based on the peek I’ve given you? It has to have Andy, but what might he be doing? What do you know about centaurs? Why would the cover feature a night sky? Is the phase of the moon important?

Okay, you’ve pondered long enough. Go satisfy your curiosity http://www.lrwlee.com/#!about1/c1yld. LOL!

Enjoy!

As I mentioned, Wisdom of the Centaurs’ Reason will be available November 23rd, just in time for Thanksgiving reading or holiday gift-giving!

It just became available for pre-order on Amazon. Don’t risk forgetting to buy it on November 23rd, pre-order it today at Amazon at http://amzn.to/2bKHmJ6 and have it automatically delivered…a pre-Christmas gift to yourself.

Book Review of Radiance by Grace Draven

Radiance is the first book in The Wraith Kings series by Grace Draven. With the cultural divide that currently besets America, I loved how the author addressed how two dramatically different cultures can peacefully co-exist. A very timely story with far-reaching implications.

SUMMARY: ~THE PRINCE OF NO VALUE~ Brishen Khaskem, prince of the Kai, has lived content as the nonessential spare heir to a throne secured many times over. A trade and political alliance between the human kingdom of Gaur and the Kai kingdom of Bast-Haradis requires that he marry a Gauri woman to seal the treaty. Always a dutiful son, Brishen agrees to the marriage and discovers his bride is as ugly as he expected and more beautiful than he could have imagined.

~THE NOBLEWOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE~ Ildiko, niece of the Gauri king, has always known her only worth to the royal family lay in a strategic marriage. Resigned to her fate, she is horrified to learn that her intended groom isn’t just a foreign aristocrat but the younger prince of a people neither familiar nor human. Bound to her new husband, Ildiko will leave behind all she’s known to embrace a man shrouded in darkness but with a soul forged by light.

Two people brought together by the trappings of duty and politics will discover they are destined for each other, even as the powers of a hostile kingdom scheme to tear them apart.

WHAT I THOUGHT: I knew I was on to a good book when I saw 1,212 reviews with a 4.7/5.0 rating on Amazon! Congrats to Grace Draven. Based upon what I read, the rating is well deserved.

The Kai are a race of nocturnal beings with deathly pale skin and long fangs. Certainly the sight of one would be enough to make any sane human run. And many do. But for Brishen (Kai) and Ildiko (Human), they are married to secure an alliance for a treaty between their nations and have no choice but to tolerate each other. But much more happens to them.

The couple are initially repulsed by each other’s physical appearance, but both choose to look beyond the physical and discover the unique and lovable individual within each. Their relationship grows from tolerance, to understanding, to a deep and abiding love for each other despite everyone around pitying them for the choice forced upon them. It is a very timely theme in light of the racial tensions currently besetting this country. We could all take a lesson from this for I think this thinking works in practice as well as in fantasy.

While I thought the author did an amazing job with world-building as well as character development, I have two complaints. The first is the plot seemed prescriptive and contrived, lacking subtly and intrigue. I love novels that keep you guessing and when the reveal finally happens, you’re surprised because you saw all the clues but never pieced them together. This ain’t that. The author laid out the clues, but in a way that they seemed obvious that she was setting up something for later on. Not a huge negative, I just thought this could have been epic if there was as much finesse put into plotting as character development.

The other small complaint I have is with the ending. The author leaves us with a wrapped up story, except gives us an epilogue that seems very different than anything that happened in the story. It’s not that I couldn’t connect the dots and say “okay, that’s possible” but the author used an unrefined way to set up the next book. I just thought it could have been done with a bit more finesse. Again, this is not a huge issue, but it just struck me as not fitting in with everything the author had so beautifully set up in the first book.

Overall, I give this book 4.5/5.0 stars. Get book on Amazon

Warning: This is not YA. There are a few sexually explicit scenes as would be expected in this Adult fantasy romance work.

Book Review of Rite of Redemption by Sarah Negovetich

Read my full review at https://blog.lrwlee.com/2016/07/03/bo...

Book Review of Crystal Crowned by Elise Kova

Read my full review at https://blog.lrwlee.com/2016/06/28/bo...

REVIEW OF A COURT OF MIST AND FURY

Amazingly beautiful cover! So many unexpected twists. An ending I had to read twice as more and more depth was revealed. Oh so good! That’s A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas.

Maas is a master at storytelling. Period. And this book is even better than the first in this series.

I chose to reread A Court of Thorns and Roses to get back up to speed before reading this one. And I’m glad I did because I’d forgotten so many of the details Maas gave us. For instance, I’d forgotten just how broken Feyre is from her time “under the mountain.” This installment picks up with Feyre reeling from that trauma. She’s back with Tamlin and we’re breathing a sigh of relief…but not for long for he wants to put her in a glass box to protect her from every danger (to protect his fragile heart), while she withers from the stifling confinement…confinement not unlike what she experienced under the mountain, and she fractures.

As if that’s not a complex enough beginning, the Lord of the Night Court intervenes… Read full review at https://blog.lrwlee.com/2016/05/23/re...

Review of A Court of Thorns and Roses

Unique in a way that makes you fall even more in in love with the characters–that’s how I summarize this Beauty and the Beast retelling by Sarah J. Maas.

This is my second read of this book. I read it the first time when it came out a year ago in May 2015, but with the release of the second book, A Court of Mist and Fury days ago, I needed to reread it to remind myself what had happened. I found the second reading even better than the first, filling in details I hadn’t noticed before.

So, lets first touch on the amazing and beautiful world that Maas built. Humans live in fear of the powerful fae living north of an invisible, but magically strong wall. Fae who live forever and must manage the politics by and between seven courts: Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn, Dawn, Day, and Night. And then there’s Hybern, a monstrous island that is set up as a threat to the fae for later, in another book in the series. When I first saw the names of the courts, I remember rolling my eyes thinking how unoriginal, but Maas does a good job giving us enough detail and flavor for differences between that the lack of originality actually worked, although I’m looking for even more rich differences as the series progresses. I’m particularly looking to understand the different powers each of the High Lord’s of these courts wield.

And then there’s the characters…Read full review at https://blog.lrwlee.com/2016/05/18/re...

"Sex Sells," They Say

After publishing the fifth book in my Andy Smithson coming-of-age, epic fantasy series last month I noticed something that helped my book sells. “What is it?” you ask, leaning forward, spellbound to learn how you a fellow author might exploit this nugget.

I noticed readers consistently report experiencing a roller coaster of emotions as they read the book. In fact, one woman reported she cried…which had her award my book five stars (how strange that seems, we feel hurt and award the author who hurt us with a perfect score…gotta love human psychology, LOL! But I digress).

These responses got me reflecting how earlier books in my series were received. With book two, I remember reviewers commenting on a small portion of the book. Book three had readers sighing and cheering as well but these responses were not as enthusiastic as what I was hearing about my latest release.

I started thinking about the books I enjoy reading…lots of YA fantasy, with a splash of romance thrown in. I love it when an author develops characters who connect with one another in a way that is vulnerable, yet pure and healthy—the characters who experience deep insecurities yet come to a point where they are able to share with one another the depth of their worry and pain without fear of being laughed at, knowing their confession will be respected and held in strict confidence. These are relationships, and in turn books, that get my heart a pumpin’ – I adore them. Put another way, I connect with them.

An example, I think of Air Awakens and Fire Falling. In this series, Elise Kova constructs a relationship between the crown prince and a relative “nobody” who, of course, is not of social status appropriate for him to fall in love with, let alone marry. That relationship is vulnerable and seemingly pure and I find myself rooting for the pair. The Divergent series is another example is Bea and Tobias’s relationship. You feel their pain and cheer their triumphs. And there’s so many more awesome examples I can point to, but I share that to prove my point. We adore these relationships because they touch us deeply, emotionally, many times over.

When I’m writing a particularly vulnerable part of a story, my whole body experiences it. It’s hard to describe the sensations: my heart feels soft, my emotions are raw, and I feel “twitchy” as I approach writing (much like someone before confessing a deep secret). Then once the dialogue begins my whole heart is consumed by an essence of purity for what my characters are truly feeling. Emotion pours out of me until I’ve gotten the scene down on paper. That may sound strange, but I don’t know how else to describe it. Its purity and heart poured out. And these are the scenes my readers have commented specifically about as touching their hearts—they’ve always started this way.

This realization has shifted how I orient as I write, for I see that causing my characters to connect with my readers on this deeply vulnerable and emotional level IS the difference between creating books readers like vs writing a novel readers adore! So, yes, I’m sure the old adage “Sex Sells” is true, but so does the creating of characters who connect with each other on a deeply vulnerable level. Having come to understand this principle I will work to create scenes that tug on my reader’s heart strings like never before.

REVIEW OF THE ROSE AND THE DAWN

I loved The Wrath and The Dawn, and could not wait for this second book in The Wrath & The Dawn series by Renee Ahdieh!

I have great respect for authors who can craft tight, flowing sentences and such great writing, as I’ve come to expect from Renee Ahdieh, filled the pages of this book:)

In this book, I appreciated the author giving us more depth into some of the co-stars of the series: Tariq, Rahim as well as Despina. In fact, she gives us a great shock with Despina for I never expected to find out what I did about her. That, combined with another shock related to Khalid at the very end, made the book one I’d recommend reading.

Despite my excitement at the release of this book, I have mixed feelings about... See full review at https://blog.lrwlee.com/2016/05/09/re...

Review of Water's Wrath by Elise Kova

My love affair with the Air Awakens series continues with the newly released Water’s Wrath!!!!! SO GOOD!

Elise Kova does it yet again. If you follow this blog, you’ve seen my reviews of the first three books in the series and they have all been glowing with 5 stars…well deserved 5 stars at that for she never ceases to disappoint.

I love the situation we find Vhalla in at the beginning of Water’s Wrath, having fled the grasp of Aldrick/Emperor Solaris at the end of Earth’s End. She is helping in a bookseller’s shop. While it’s not the library, it’s about the next best thing. So be still my heart. I enjoyed Vhalla’s... Read my full review on my blog at https://blog.lrwlee.com/2016/04/22/re...