I can’t believe it’s been almost a year since Vision of Zarua was published and I want to celebrate by running a worldwide giveaway.
The winner will be picked on 16th Nov, an exact year after the ebook went live.
Giveaway ends November 16, 2016.
See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.
Visions of Zarua is still enrolled in kindle unlimited, click here if you want to read it for free.
And if you are a book reviewer who is interested in reviewing, please use the contact me page.
Good luck to everyone who enters, and keep a look out for other giveaways I’ll be running over the next few months.
I have been making my way through my list of marketing ideas, which includes giveaways, blog tours and a book trailer.
I worked out a pitch, found a trailer format I liked on fiver, but then I chickened out. I started to question if it’s worth the £50+ price tag. Will I reach more readers? Is the £50 better spent elsewhere?
Before I take the plunge, I thought I’d open the question up to you guys. Please join in the poll.
I’ll post more about my thoughts on book trailers in a few days, along with the results of the poll.
In the meantime, I’d love to hear your thoughts and advice on the matter, please get in touch.
I’m trying out another Amazon US Giveaway. The only requirement is to follow me as a author. Click the link, and good luck!
https://giveaway.amazon.com/p/c83bdd2d706e21c5
Phoenix – Book 1 Peradon Series
Author – Daccari Buchelli
Genre – YA Fantasy
Reviewing as part of Rosie Amber’s Book Review team.
I received a copy from the author and have given my unbiased opinion.
Blurb
Magic never ceased to bring Violetta joy, until the day it became her curse. Aged fifteen, the young Flame Mage and Princess finds herself drawn to her sworn enemy, the Frost Emperor Ryore. Torn between her sudden feelings and inescapable duty to the throne, Violetta seeks to strike a balance. Will she surrender her will forever, or strive for freedom by doing the unthinkable?
My review
Phoenix is a fantasy book and book #1 of the Peradon series. It opens with immediate intrigue as a seer tells Emperor Jugan of a future marriage between his eldest son and their enemy. To avoid this fate, the Emperor decides to have Violetta assassinated. This sets in motion events that drive the story and greatly affects Violette’a life.
There are lots of good ideas in this book but several seem rushed and I longed for them to be developed deeper for the reader to understand. I also struggled to get my head around the different kingdoms, I wanted the writing to give me a clearer picture. I’m sure the author has a brilliant image of his fantasy land in his head, I just couldn’t see the pictures he wanted me to see.
There is a large cast of people and places to remember from the start. I’m not sure it was necessary to introduce them all at once, better perhaps to slow down the action and drip the characters into the storyline, so the reader stands a chance of really knowing the main characters from the beginning.
There’s definitely a good story in here, it just needs a bit of a re-write to sort out some of the weaker areas of the plot, head hopping on occasions by the characters and tweaking of punctuation errors. There are also a few minor formatting errors with regard to the unnecessary indenting of first paragraphs of new chapters and scenes, which is easy to resolve and doesn’t detract from the story.
I think another run through edit would vastly improve things from a readers point of view.
With a little more work, I think this is an author to watch out for in the future.
My rating 3 stars
Check out the book on Goodreads
Happy Friday everyone. I haven’t joined in the #Fridaybookshare for a while, so here goes. Created by Shelley Wilson. Check out Shelly’s blog.
Anyone can join in. Just answer the following F.R.I.D.A.Y. questions based on the book you’re either currently reading or have just finished reading. Use the hashtag #FridayBookShare and remember to tag Shelley (@ShelleyWilson72)
First line of the book.
It was not often that the island of Kaethe, cradle of all evil, saw visitors.
Recruit fans by adding the book blurb.
Growing up homeless and orphaned in a town that hates her, Rachael must assassinate the king of Rifarne to become queen to a people who once wanted her dead. Rifarne is a country opposed to magic. When its people demand harsh action, King Aeric sees himself with no other choice but to outlaw those with the gift. Rachael, who possesses the rare gift of a Seer, soon finds herself with visions of her own violent death. When her escape goes wrong and she ends up in the clutches of a vicious Mist Woman lusting for her blood, she finds she is the only person who can stop the war against people like her – and assassinating the king to take his throne may well be the only way to do just that.
Introduce the main character using only three words.
Rachael – Street smart, resourceful, self reliant
Delightful design (add the cover of the book.)
Audience appeal (who would enjoy reading this book?)
Fans of fantasy and YA fantasy.
Your favourite line/scene.
It was the face of the man commanding them which had her in a cold sweat. His voice and his piercing eyes were all too familiar, but she was certain that she had never met him before. Her twisting insides told her to run, and she wasn’t going to ignore it.
Check it out on Goodreads
I had hoped to post a very positive update today, but Amazon’s new ruling on reviews has left me feeling depressed and concerned for the future of Indie Authors like myself.
I’ve not been affected as yet, but many of my reviews are from book reviewers who’ve kindly given their honest opinions in exchange for a free copy. Those reviews mean everything to me, to know that all the hard work and dedication have been worth it. Will these reviews disappear overnight?
And what about winning copies? I try to review the books I’ve won, and have plans to run my own giveaways to celebrate Visions of Zarua’s 1st anniversary in November. If these do result in any reviews in the future, will they be allowed? How far will Amazon take this new rule? And aren’t they going to damage their own profits if they push Indies out?
Yesterday I read a post that Amazon were celebrating Indie Authors throughout October. Today I read they are stripping them of their reviews. It’s a mad world.
I’ll still be running my giveaways starting with a Goodreads one launching next week. And I want to try out Rafflecopter too – I have six copies to give to loving homes!
I suppose the Amazon thing is hitting my harder today as I’m about to meet my lovely beta reader and hand her the finished draft of my next book, The Lost Sentinel. I’m at the stage where I should be thinking of covers and blurbs, not if I should even bother.
I want to be excited at the prospect of another self publishing venture, but this news has taken the shine off it all. How can indies get discovered without reviews? Will this change the world of blog tours and ARC’s?
Is it time to start the process of looking for an agent or publisher?
I’ll stop moaning now and hand it over to you. Am I panicking about nothing? Do you have any advice or news to share?
Of course it was once a lovely little frog.
It met with a sad end whilst we were away on holiday. The culprit, this frog liking fiend…
This was Poppy’s first victim as far as I’m aware. Usually she’s very gentle and every one of her prey I’ve set free without a single mark or scratch on them. Well that excludes the flies and weird wasps things she catches, plays with and eats! Maybe she thinks she is a frog and wants to make friends with them, who knows.
It’s the funniest thing to see your cat looking at you with two massive frogs legs dangling from her mouth. Not that I’m happy she catches them of course. I love all animals (except cockroaches). The frogs have a brilliant survival strategy to escape her clutches – playing dead. It gives me a chance to get them to the pond and safety.
This little black and white monster is also partial to moths, and has brought in some real beauties. I manage to release them too, and they flutter off probably thinking ‘What the hell just happened to me!’
Thankfully she doesn’t have much to do with mice or birds, and only brings in the occasional pigeon feather to play with. Do I have the strangest cat, or what?
To finish, I thought I’d share a couple of pictures from the pre-Poppy days.
I really love these little guys…
I’ve seen a few ‘ex creature’ pictures on facebook lately and decided to post one of my own. It’s probably very easy to see what creature this used to be from its skeleton. So have a guess and I’ll reveal the answer tomorrow, and also tell you the story behind it.
The Wrong Kind of Clouds by Amanda Fleet
Genre – Crime / Thriller
Disclaimer – I won a paperback copy of this book during a twitter promo.
Blurb – “Crippled, he watched his attacker glance around briskly; then he was heaved on to his shoulder like a sack of coal.”
In Amanda Fleet’s debut thriller, The Wrong Kind of Clouds, Patrick Forrester is in trouble. Deep trouble. Someone wants him dead. In fact, lots of people want him dead, but one of them has taken him hostage. As he’s being bundled away, he manages to call his ex-lover, Summer Morris, and begs her for help…
Summer Morris, an award-winning photographer with synaesthesia, hasn’t spoken to Patrick for months. With good reason. In fact, she would have been happy never to hear from him again. But, he begged her for help, so she’s trying to help. Along with an off-duty police officer, Detective Sergeant LB Stewart, she gets swept into Patrick’s world of lies and deceit, in a desperate race against time to find him alive.
Trying to unpick the knot of Patrick’s life takes them from an affair that could help bring down a government, to the dust and heat of Malawi, and a whole heap of trouble in between. If only they knew who wanted him dead, they might find him alive. The trouble is, almost everyone wants Patrick dead.
***
First thoughts – I was really pleased to have won a paperback copy of this book. The blurb intrigued me, and I liked both the book cover and the unusual title. The start of the book takes you straight into the action and draws you in.
Summary – This thriller has plenty of twists and turns. It’s a race against time to find Patrick alive and there are many suspects who could be behind the kidnapping. Patrick really isn’t a good person to be involved with, but he does have some redeeming qualities and I found myself rooting for him to be found in time. This premise and the writing style led to a page turner of a book.
Characters – There were various viewpoint characters in The Wrong Kind of Clouds, but the main characters are Summer and LB. I liked the unusual angle with Summer having synaesthesia (seeing emotions in colour). I didn’t know what this condition was until it was explained in the book, so the first few times Summer saw emotions in colour I was a little confused.
I liked LB the best. He’s a good cop, helping Summer find her ex when he’s on his holidays. I found the budding relationship between Summer and LB sometimes moved a little fast, but it’s always hindered by Patrick and the race against time to find him.
Issues – There was one point where Summer’s actions took me out of the story, it just didn’t seem plausible for anyone to act that way at a crime scene. This was only a small point in the story and as I read on this issue was soon dealt with by LB.
Final thoughts – It was a really good read with all the page turning qualities of a good thriller. I thought I’d guessed who was behind the kidnapping, but after changing my mind several times, I was still proved wrong!
The end did feel a little rushed and there were elements to the story that I would have liked developed or resolved more. But apart from that it was a satisfying conclusion and I’d be interested to read more of Summer and LB’s story.
Recommend to – Thriller readers
Rating – 4 stars
Why not check out the book for yourself on Amazon UK Amazon US or Goodreads.
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