C.A. Gray's Blog, page 71

Review of Hidden Deep

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I’m not generally a romance reader unless it’s historical, because modern day stories that are primarily romances tend to be cheesy in my opinion. I have a hard time with all the ogling of rippling muscles and bodies aflame and what-not… just makes me roll my eyes. This story had an awful lot of that for the first half or so, but it had one more thing that kept me reading: I wanted to know the male hero Lad’s secret. The frankness of his confessions of love to the heroine Ryann were much too direct for an ordinary teenage boy, but I went with it, because it’s clear from the start that he’s not an ordinary teenage boy. I hoped this would eventually turn into a fantasy story, and so it does–you just have to wait for it.

Once I got into the fantasy world (and I won’t spoil Lad’s secret for you) and the conflict that nearly tore Lad and Ryann apart, I was glad I’d kept going, though I wished there had been a lot less build-up. While the plot from there forward was one I’d heard done before many times, it was still engaging enough that I wanted to keep reading, and really enjoyed it. Despite some over-the-top (for me) reunion scenes at the end, I was glad it ended as it did, and kept reading through some of the inevitable misunderstandings in hopes that it would get there.

Also, I love the fact that this is a modern romance in which the lead characters don’t just jump into bed together. It actually felt like a YA novel in that sense (the way I think they should be, anyway!)

My rating: *** 1/2

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Kate Avery Ellison: Author of Secrets of Itlantis and Frost series

Kate Avery Ellison decided she wanted to be an author when she was five years old, and her dreams of telling stories for a living came true in 2011 with her first novel, The Curse Girl, and continued with her Amazon bestselling series The Frost Chronicles and numerous other fantasy and science fiction novels. She loves putting a dash of mystery in everything she writes, an ode to her childhood spent reading Nancy Drew, Agatha Christie, and Sherlock Holmes, and she can’t resist adding a good twist in the story wherever she can.

Kate wishes she could live in a place where it’s always October, but for now, she makes her home in Atlanta with her husband, two small children, and two spoiled cats. Her hobbies include–oh, who are we kidding. She is probably being lectured on the difference between a steam train and a diesel train by her toddler, or reading on her Kindle while rocking a fussy baby to sleep.

Tell us a little about the world of Itlantis. How did you come up with it? Is Atlantis a longtime interest of yours? (And why change the spelling?) She always liked Atlantis. It’s not set in our universe per se. She was trying to figure out how to explain this exactly. Since writing this book, she’s written 10-12 other books. It’s an alternate universe. Several of her books take place in the same world but people don’t always realize this. There’s a book that is on the shelf of one of her characters in one book and that book becomes a big deal in another series. She wants to write another series that will tie these connections together. As for Atlantis: Plato wrote about Atlantis and there are a lot of theories on it. She also liked the Disney movie when she was a kid. It’s called Atlantis: The Lost Empire, came out in 2001. She’s had a casual interest in stuff like that for a long time.
You’re self-published: what pushed you to choose that route? Did you ever consider going traditional? (Would you in the future?) She was trying to get an agent and had some positive movement in that direction in 2010. She was all about traditional, though self publishing was gaining steam at that time. She had no plans to be self-published, but she heard about Amanda Hawking, and she was in the news. She read blogs about her, and began to think about how she would do it. Then she realized she just really wanted to, to be in charge of covers, marketing strategy, etc. At one point in her life she wondered about doing graphic design, editing, etc. She’s also really interested in marketing, etc. She’s also very prolific and is able to put things out faster. She was courted by a traditional publisher and wondered if she wanted them to acquire one of her series. There was a movie deal: this was for Frost which was in the top 20 in the kindle store for awhile. She had a great moment for a few years. Then she had children and stopped working for awhile. She’s now returning her full attention to it. It ended up coming down to money and the contract, and she just wanted to retain the creative control. She was already making a lot of money on the series. She ended up not going with it. But that series was an inspiration for a game: it’s an app based game, called Frost. She’s sold rights for that and various things. Secrets of Itlantis is one of her smaller series.
What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what’s the most effective marketing strategy you’ve used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) It has changed. What she’d have said 5 yrs ago is totally different than now. She’s still seeing that if you can write fast, that still matters. But not so fast that you sacrifice quality. You get word of mouth, creating a base of true fans is huge. She doesn’t like the word “fans,” she likes the word “readers” better. Passionate readership. But you build that slowly. Blog tours don’t work as well as they used to. Having some books on Kindle Unlimited has worked for her, but some people aren’t big fans of that. She’s noticed that running Amazon marketing service ads has been good for her. Promo stacking: buys ads with lots of places. Book Bub elevates sales for all books. Have to have a good cover that looks professional and conveys the genre in a glance. She had a lot of trouble with the cover of one of her books bc she kept thinking that it looked like the wrong genre.
Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations? When she was a kid, she was hugely inspired by mysteries: read that exclusively when she was eight. Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, Nancy Drew, etc. She liked mysteries that had a twist. She also likes mysteries where there’s a clever character who knows what’s going on. Then she got into fantasy: Robin McKinley and historical fiction. All the stuff out now is what she wishes she had when she was a kid. Harry Potter: big fan of that too. Megan Whalen Turner is one of her favorite authors. She does hit NYT when her books come out: she has twists, clever character, fantasy, etc. She didn’t read those books until she was 20-21. Another big one: Melina Marchetta. She’s an Australian writer and she’s written amazing books too. The Thief is the first of Megan Whalen Turner’s books, and Finnikin of the Rock is the first of Melina Marchetta’s. Robin McKinely continues to be an influence on her. She’s still writing. Smart fantasy women who have a lot of political intrigue and strong female characters. Another one that’s not a novel: not for children, but it’s called Saga. It was written by one of the writers on LOST. It’s a comic series. They like to push the envelope. Anything with a “found family”: people who are misfits who come together and become a family. Star Wars is a big influence too. She wrote fan fiction for that and thinly veiled Nancy Drew fan fiction when she was little. She still reads a lot of fan fiction on An Archive of Our Own and fanfiction.net. They take someone else’s ideas and world, and expound on them.
I love the relationship between Nol and Aemi. Are your characters drawn from life at all? She wrote that series a few years ago and feels like her series grow with her. Her current series she feels come from some relationships she’s had. She doesn’t take people she knows and put them into her books. That’s very dangerous, and doesn’t usually work, bc what they do depends on the story. If there’s a main character in her books, they’re the opposite of herself. She puts herself in secondary characters. Her husband crops up in one of her most recent books. She’ll put an element of people in characters. If she’s ever had a character that is inspired by someone she knows in real life, she’d never admit to it.
In your ‘about the author’ section, you say, ‘She loves dark chocolate, fairy tale retellings, and love stories with witty banter and sizzling, unspoken feelings.’ Sounds like we need to hang out!

Review of Woven

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A preface to my review: this author and I should definitely be friends. Evidence:

She wrote retellings of Arthurian legends (as did I)).
The same narrator who read her book is currently reading Intangible for me: the very talented Rebecca McKernan. What are the odds?!
I know this is kind of the same as #1, but her book actually contains the full text of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s The Lady of Shalott, and Elaina is arguably the main character. (I mean, I have this painting hanging over my bed… largely because of Anne of Green Gables’ reference to the poem, but I do love the poem in its own right, also.)

So now that that’s out of the way…

I love retellings in general: they’re the perfect blend of something familiar and something unique. I know how the story should go (at least for the most part), but I’m constantly guessing what new twists this particular author is going to add. Woven was definitely full of twists, in many ways turning the tales upside down. No spoilers, but let’s just say that certain characters aren’t (only) who you think they are, nor are relationships between characters exactly what you’ve always heard them to be… and because we’re already in a world of magic, nearly anything is possible.

The story is told in third person limited, jumping around to different points of view—but primarily it bounces between Elaina (the Lady of Shalott), Sir Gareth, and Guinevere. Elaina and Mordred are lovers, well before Camelot’s time, and she becomes pregnant before her sister Morgan has her confined to her tower for her own protection. The Lady of Shalott pines away for unrequited love of Lancelot, or so we’ve been told… and this is both true, and not true in this story. Guinevere is unfaithful to King Arthur with Lancelot… which is also both true, and not true. Mordred and Arthur are said to be mortal enemies, and also father and son… which is true, but not in the same way you’ve always heard. The Lady of the Lake, the Sorceress Nimue, does imprison Merlin… but not for the reason you think. Moore even works in the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (only in this case it’s Sir Gareth). The way she weaves these familiar tales together (no pun intended) was delightful.

The story still ends the way the stories all end—it is a tragedy, after all, and generally I don’t like sad stories. But it’s kind of like going to see the film “Titanic”: you kind of know what you’re in for by the title, and to me, it’s somehow easier to take when I know it’s coming. The fun was figuring out how we’re going to get there this time around.

(One caution though: this story contains quite a few fairly descriptive rape scenes toward the end. I didn’t care for this part, but it didn’t bother me as much as it otherwise might, because it was really the only possible way I can think of to explain the story’s main twist. If this isn’t for you, though, I’d steer clear.)

My rating: ****

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Interview with Hidden series author Amy Patrick

Today’s podcast interview is with Amy Patrick! Amy is a two-time RWA Golden Heart finalist (2013 and 2014) who writes Young Adult urban fantasy and paranormal romance as well as Contemporary Romance. She is the author of the Hidden Saga and the Still series. Living in New England now with her husband and two sons, she sometimes craves the heat and humidity of Mississippi, where she grew up. For many years she was a writer of true crime, medical anomalies, and mayhem, working as a news anchor and reporter for six different television stations in four different states. Then she retired to make up her own stories. Hers have a lot more kissing. 

You can download a copy of the first book in her Hidden Saga, Hidden Deep, for free on Amazon!

Do you have an ‘elevator pitch’ for Hidden Deep (and the series), to summarize it for our audience members who maybe haven’t read it before? The first book: when 16 yo Ryann Carroll runs into the guy who saves her life in the woods. But he’s not supposed to exist! The series is up to 9 books and a companion novella. The premise: what if the incredibly talented and gorgeous celebrities in our world who seem too good to exist actually aren’t human ? they’re fae who have used their glamour to hide their true identities? At last, they’ve grown tired of hiding in plain sight and they’re ready to take their rightful place!
You’re self-published: what pushed you to choose that route? She grew up going to conferences and workshops and learning craft. Everyone she knew was pursuing traditional, so that’s all she thought about. She was querying and looking for an agent, and around the same time she got an author from an agent, she discovered the compelling info on indie publishing. She felt like she’d be foolish to not even try it. The agent was fine with her self-publishing. She had a manuscript that she didn’t think was suitable for self-publishing so the agent shopped that around for her. Meanwhile, she self-published a contemporary romance series. Amy told her agent about Hidden Deep, her first Golden Heart Finalist. But the agent wasn’t interested in shopping that at all bc of the genre (YA paranormal romance). She’s really glad that the agent didn’t want that book, bc that was the one that took off. She self-published it in March 2015.


What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what’s the most effective marketing strategy you’ve used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) It’s different for everyone, and things have changed a bit even since 2015. Back then people said the glory days of self publishing were gone. It is harder now, but write in a series if you want to have financial success. If she wants to put a lot of time and effort into something, then she wants it to pay. Interacting with fans is the best part, but she also needs to make a living. If you put one book out, it’s a waste of time and resources to promote just that single book. Having the series really helps. Then, wait until you have at least three in the series before you start putting time and money behind a big promotional effort. She put Hidden Deep out in March and did nothing. The second book came out in May. Then she did Book Bub ads and dropped the price of Hidden Deep to $0.99. Then when she put out book 3, she made the first one free and continued the paid ads. Things exploded after that. She puts out books every 2-3 mo now. She writes full time.
Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations?  In her own genre: there’s one she adores but she’d written a few before she found her series: Wendy Higgins’ Sweet Evil series. They’re also clean reads. Her inspirations as a writer have been mostly romance authors but they’re not writing urban fantasy or paranormal. Her top favorite is Lisa Kleypas: contemporary and historical romance. She rereads those and she learns something every time. Her favorite: not entirely clean but it’s tasteful and beautiful: Again the Magic.
Tell me a little about your journey writing “Hidden Deep.” Did the idea fall into your head all at once, or was it gradual with a lot of outlining? It wasn’t all in her head. It was the first book she ever wrote, over a period of 6 mo, every night after her kids went to bed, from 9 to midnight. She did feel like it was flowing, but she didn’t outline it. Now she outlines everything ahead of time and that helps her to write so fast. This book just flowed, but it therefore took a lot of revising. She has to go back to the Lord of the Rings as her inspiration, even though that’s high fantasy (taking place in another world). She read that 17 times back to back as a child! She was especially into Legolas (but I mean, who wasn’t?)
Were your characters modeled after anyone you know, or inspired by anything else you’ve read? Or were they all from your imagination? The main characters are complete fiction. There’s always a little of the author in everybody, though. Ryann lives in a rural area of Mississippi. She modeled the location on where her father actually lives. Grandma Neena is modeled on her great grandmother. Her great grandmother’s hair turned white in her 20s (after tragically losing her husband). Ryann’s best friend Emmy was modeled on her high school friend Nissi. She was picturing her in her mind.
I love the fact that your characters don’t just jump into bed together. Since that’s the way most stories seem to go these days?what made you resist? (And did you have a hard time coming up with an ‘explanation’ in the story for why they didn’t?) It’s good to have a legit explanation for why people wouldn’t do that. Her characters are teenagers and human beings. It was important to her that they not do this bc she thinks it’s a lot more romantic to not have that happen. She thinks it’s a healthier way to go to take things slowly. The reason that goes with her character’s mythology: even though they really want to, they’re not going to. The main male character is part of a secret race living among humans. For his race, they bond for life. There is only one partner. So it’s a serious decision.
What are you working on now? (I hear it involves A.I? that’s my current series too!) It’s a YA science fiction taking place in the near future. Amy is a Blade Runner geek ? she’s seen the first film hundreds of times. Anytime she sees a trailer on artificial life or genetic engineering, she’s in! The book has to do with the idea of what it means to be truly human. Her main character, Marea, is a teenage girl who has never left her army base and never questioned why. She hadn’t wanted to until an event happens in her life ? her peers are leaving the compound, and when they return, they’re all beginning to act very strange and robotic. It takes place in 2055.
Is there anything else in the Hidden saga coming down the pipeline? The people who read the series want to read more, and she loves the world. She has a few ideas she wants to explore. The series is 9 books long ? but within the Hidden saga, there are segments. If you read the first four books, you’ll come to a point where you get a satisfying, wrap-up conclusion. Then you get additional characters that come in in the next few books. Original characters are always involved, but books 5-6 explore different aspects of the world. Books 7-9 start with totally different characters on a different continent. The rules of the world are the same but then it wraps back around. Then they’re all in it together in the last book.

Again, you can get Hidden Deep for free on Amazon here!

Check out this episode!

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Review of Of Sea and Stone

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I read this one mostly on the beach in Bermuda, which turned out to be just perfect! Since the story references (and later takes place in) the lost city of Itlantis (a different spelling of Atlantis, apparently) and one of the theories of the Bermuda Triangle involves the idea that the lost city might reside somewhere within its waters, the setting really enhanced the story for me. (So, you know, try to read this one in Bermuda if you can.)

Tiana Warner Interview: Author of Ice Massacre

Bio: Tiana Warner is the author of the multi-award winning Mermaids of Eriana Kwai trilogy. She has a Computer Science degree and is a professional nerd working in the high-tech industry. She lives by the beach in Vancouver, Canada, and spends her free time riding her horse, Bailey.

Do you have an ‘elevator pitch’ for Ice Massacre, to summarize it for our audience members who maybe haven’t read it before? The series is based on the legend that mermaids are supernatural creatures that lure men to their deaths. It’s set on an island in the Pacific NW.

Did you ever consider going traditional? (Would you in the future?) Self-publishing is harder to get noticed. Hard to get into bookstores. Most of the books are e-books. It’s choosing to run your publishing like a business. A good plan is to be hybrid. She wants to try to publish the next one traditionally. It’s hard to get an agent and publishing deal. Shows that she has a following.


You’re self-published: what pushed you to choose that route? There are pros and cons: self-publishing is great bc you have total control. Set her own price, makes it affordable for readers. You can price your book lower and still get more money from it. Can also run promos whenever you want. Timeline was appealing too: you can publish when you want.
What advice might you have for other self-published authors out there: what’s the most effective marketing strategy you’ve used to date? (Or perhaps the top three?) Book marketing is very hard. The #1 way to sell books: word of mouth. But that’s outside of your control. Advice: get as many reviews as you possibly can. Ask readers to leave a review at the end of the book. If you reach out to book bloggers and offer them a free copy, that helps too. Run a lot of promos where you give your book away for free. Do KDP select or InstaFreebie. Donate to libraries. For Ice Massacre, she was on KDP select for the first 90 days and she got higher royalties. But for the next two in the series, she didn’t do it bc it meant she was kindle exclusive.
Who are some of your favorite authors/books that you would consider to be your inspirations? JK Rowling is her favorite author forever. She’s a Ravenclaw. Also Maggie Stiefvater: Scorpio Races (water demon horses). In terms of general writing advice and inspiration: Save the Cat by Blake Snyder: great for plot structure and K.M. Weiland: Helping Writers Become Authors (https://www.helpingwritersbecomeautho...).
Tell me a little about your journey writing “Ice Massacre.” I’ve never seen anybody do a mermaid story before where the mermaids are not the main characters?and in fact, they seem like the villains for about half the book (sort of anyway). Where did you get the idea from? She came up with the idea in Disneyland in 2012. She wanted to write about something supernatural but that hadn’t been done in awhile ? especially the real legend where they are vicious sea demons who try to lure men to their deaths. When she got home, she wrote the first scene from the middle and then jumped around. Usually she starts with a scene that excites her the most.
Along those lines: is there a long-standing mermaid obsession?

Review of Ice Massacre

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A fun concept, and one I don’t think I’ve seen done before… normally mermaid stories follow the mermaid as the main character, but this one instead followed Meela, a 17-year old human girl raised to hate mermaids and regard them as “demons” to be killed. The prologue is great–definitely hooks you with this idea.

The first several chapters introduce Meela as a 10-year old, and describe the origins of her relationship with 10-year old Lysi, a mermaid whom she befriends (though this is very against the culture of her people.) Ice massacres have always been expeditions of human boys to venture out into the waters and kill as many mermaids as possible, trying to protect their home island of Eriana Kwai. But because mermaids can seduce, the townspeople decide they’d better send females instead. That’s how Meela ends up getting sent, along with a team of other girls her age. By this time, Meela also believes the mermaids deserve to die, because she thinks Lysi betrayed her. Of course she didn’t, though–the girl and the mermaid are together destined to turn the tide of the war.

What ensues after this setup is a lot of girl dynamics–the caricature of a “mean girl” in the role of captain, and her team of “popular” girls who do her bidding, interspersed with a lot of battle scenes involving crossbows and the occasional tete a tete with Lysi in secret, after Meela realizes she didn’t betray her after all. (But if the rest of the girls find out, she’ll be considered a traitor–as will Lysi.) It’s a fun, action-packed summer read.

My rating: *** 1/2

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Cosega Search

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This is an archaeological action novel, sort of a cross between Indiana Jones and Dan Brown. It hooked me early on, and the action never stops–but characterization also never really happens. There was a perfect opportunity for romance that never materializes, and would have gone a long way toward breaking up the action, though this is a series, so perhaps he integrates that later on. Like Dan Brown, Legg seems to have a major bone to pick with the Catholic Church: they’re the primary villain. I phrase it like that only because the story strikes me as a platform for Legg to espouse his own personal spiritual philosophy, and he goes into this in great detail, even though it isn’t really necessary for the story. This is fine, but it felt a little self-aware to me. Unlike Dan Brown, once the primary discovery has been made (which happens at the very beginning), there isn’t a lot of deciphering that takes place after that… they’re basically just running for their lives and trying to figure out why and who wants them dead. Again, maybe in the sequels, the plot will become more complex. I probably won’t read on, though.

My rating: ***

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A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Today’s podcast comes from this review of A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas

Check out this episode!

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A River in Darkness: One Man’s Escape from North Korea

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Wow. This book was devastating. It’s almost exactly like my Liberty Box trilogy–eerily so–except that it’s real life, and it doesn’t end happy, not truly. I’m all about happy endings, so I kept hanging on, hoping for that (particularly because the title, and the fact that the book exists, gives away the fact that he makes it out). But it’s still worth reading/listening to because it’s so eye-opening. The dystopian genre is so popular in fiction, that it’s startling to realize that a real dystopian regime (at least one) exists right now.

My rating: *****

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