It’s time for another cover reveal. This time it’s for a new YA fantasy series from author Kandi J. Wyatt. Keep reading to the end for news about a special pre order offer from the author.
Sold as a slave, and uprooted from home, 18-year-old Hest must decide where his loyalties lie or risk losing his new friends.
At peace in the stable, Hest cares for the visitors to Stad while spinning tales of adventure for the innkeeper’s son. But when a foreign warrior purchases him as a slave, he must decide if he’s willing to live the adventures he’s told.
With his new country under attack from an old enemy, Hest must learn to fight or lose his life in battle. While recuperating from injuries, he overhears a plot of treason. Choosing where his loyalties lie will seal his fate and that of a kingdom.
Hest’s already lost one family. He’ll do anything to keep his new one—even ride out to battle and most-certain death.
Uprooted is the first book in the coming-of-age fantasy series, The Sovereigns. If you like action, rounded character development, and dragons, you’ll love Kandi J Wyatt’s book.
Journey to a new world and start reading Uprooted today!
Author bio:
Even as a young girl, Kandi J Wyatt, had a knack for words. She loved to read them, even if it was on a shampoo bottle! By high school Kandi had learned to put words together on paper to create stories for those she loved. Nowadays, she writes for her kids, whether that’s her own five or the hundreds of students she’s been lucky to teach. When Kandi’s not spinning words to create stories, she’s using them to teach students about Spanish, life, and leadership.
I know I just posted an update the other day. Well today’s update is related. I promise.
Did you know I play D&D?
“What is D&D ?” you ask quizzically.
Well I am surprised that you don’t already know.
D&D stands for Dungeons and Dragons. It’s a table top roleplaying game.
My party plays it on the computer, though, not on a table. It’s hard to meet in person when you live in different parts of the country.
The players create characters and then someone called the DM, or Dungeon Master, creates a story arc for the characters to complete. It’s sort of like writing a book, only you have a different author writing a separate character while one author lords over everyone pulling the plot threads together.
It just so happens that my D&D party is mostly authors. So you can imagiane the amount of fun that we have with this.
Today I’m featuring my D&D party and our books.
First up is me. It is my blog, after all.
Cathrine/Katrin
Yes I am aware that it’s basically the same name. I did that on purpose.
Book: Runaway Lyrics
Snow wants to perform music, Rose wants to perform magic. Luckily, for them, it’s the same thing.
When an airship crashes near their home, Snow’s magical abilities awaken. Together, the sisters must learn to use their magic, rescue a pair of cursed princes, and discover their own secrets.
Discover the magic of music in this retelling of Snow White and Rose Red.
My D&D character is Katrin Songsmith. She is a Human Bard. In D&D Bards use music to perform magic much like my main characters in Runaway Lyrics. In fact, if you read the book already, you may recognize Songsmith. It’s the last name of my main characters, Snow and Rose.
Was this an attempt to play my book character instead of writing a new one?
Maybe?
Like Rose and Snow, Katrin also has a twin sister. The evil White Dragon kidnapped Cressida. Her soul is currently inside a ship, and it is Katrin’s mission to restore her sister to full humanity.
She has purple hair and wears a Rainforest café t-shirt. Because D&D lets you do things like that.
New York City, 1859: On Samhain night, a mage pledged to the Wild Hunt is violently murdered. Tensions between the Hunt and Triona, Fey Queen of Central Park, heat up and threaten to boil over into a full-scale conflict.
Sofia De Benedetti, mage and musician in Triona’s court, has her hands full making enough money to support herself and help women who are down on their luck in the rough corners of the city.
Now a fey war looms and a mage killer is on the prowl. Everything Sofia has built since immigrating, and her life itself, is at risk. With the help of a cait sidhe and a tempestuous storm fey, Sofia must find the murderer before the streets of the city erupt into a magical battleground.
Naomi plays as Talice a Cleric and a Drow. Drow are from the dark underground and are considered evil. But Talice has been called by Solaris to redeem the Drow and bring them out of the dark. I really like Talice, because in a game that is often accused of being evil she has created a character that feels very in keeping with the spirit of Christ.
Book: Wishing Against the House.My city is under attack by shadowfiends. Apparently, this is my fault, thanks to the family I’ve never met.
At least the attack interrupted my first couples therapy session with Cendric. Small blessings, right?Personally, all I want for Christmas is to survive until New Year’s. And maybe, a vacation.
Janeen plays as Dessa, a Half-Elf Ranger and Beast Master. She has a Wombat as an animal cmpanion, named Alfred. Alfred has toxic farts that Dessa has weaponized.
I love her character becasue she comes up with the most bizarre solutions to problems that our party encounters.
And most of the time they work.
Wishing Against the House is Janeen’s newest release but it’s the third in the series. Click the buttons below for the first two books. Trust me you don’t want to come in in the middle.
Books one and two are on sale until Tuesday 12/7/2021.
Happy Book Birthday to Power Play! The newest release in H.L. Burke’s ever expanding superhero universe.
And yes, it just so happens that H.L. Burke plays D&D with me.
Heidi/Intuitive.
Book: Power Play
It’s dangerous to go alone. Even for superheroes.
Laleh Ashe has found her first real friends at Camp Sable, a refuge for at-risk superpowered teens, but her politically ambitious mother has other plans. Mrs. Ashe is determined to send Laleh to a fancy, overseas boarding school—far from her friends and the life she’s come to love. To drown her sorrows, Laleh agrees to a table top role playing game with her friends, Marco and Jake, as well as the new girl at camp—shy, withdrawn Rian. Too bad no one warned her about Rian’s reality bending superpowers.
Sucked into a fantasy world created by Rian’s imagination, Laleh and her friends must scramble to master their magical new surroundings and complete their quest if they are to have any hope of getting home again.
This magical world is less fun than it sounds, but as Laleh and her friends face the various challenges, Laleh can’t help but remember that all that waits for her in the real world is separation from her friends and a life under the thumb of her overbearing mom. Maybe going home is seriously overrated.
Superheroes meet Portal Fantasy in this second book of the Supervillain Rescue Project Young Adult Series.
Power Play was largly inspired by our D&D sessions. As I was reading it I couldn’t help laughing at all the inside jokes and events that she had copied.
But don’t worry this book is very accessible, even to people who have never played D&D before.
H.L. Burke (Heidi) plays a Tifling Wizard named Intuitive.
Intuitive is a fun mix of book smarts and chaos, She once used octopus mating rituals to save the party from a Kraken.
Intuitive also has a cat named Purrcival. He helps, sometimes, when he feels like it. He is a cat.
Intuitive is a fun character to play with because you never know what she’s going to do next.
There are two members of the party that do not have books out, but despite this oversight I will mention them, anyway.
The first is Matt, Heidi’s husband. He plays as Pyrrhic a Fighter. His character saves our butts in every session. He’s also the veteran D&D player in our group. He keeps gameplay on topic. Otherwise, we would all chase after every shiny side quest that presented itself.
The second person I need to mention is our long suffering DM who shall not be named. As the DM, he plays every other character in the game, including the bad guys. He also invents most of the story arcs and plots out how adventures will go.
Hey there, I hope everyone is recovered from all of the crazy ales we had last weekend. Because I have another new book to tell you about.
Janeen Ippolito has just released her newest book in The Steel City Genie series.
My city is under attack by shadowfiends. Apparently, this is my fault, thanks to the family I’ve never met.
At least the attack interrupted my first couples therapy session with Cendric. Small blessings, right?
Then my long-lost dad—yeah, the one that’s supposed to be dead—shows up to tell me that the shadowfiends are controlled by Raith, an old family member who’s here to recharge his magical batteries by any means necessary, including destroying Pittsburgh and me. Oh, and centuries ago, Raith picked a fight with the local dragons, so they’re after me as well.
Now I have to learn my family’s magic, stop Raith’s path of destruction, and make nice with the dragons. Speaking of which, did I mention my oh-so-quiet secretary has eloped with one of the dragons’ worst enemies?
Personally, all I want for Christmas is to survive until New Year’s. And maybe, a vacation.
Buy now and enjoy the Steel City Genie series: snarky urban fantasy with a blue-collar genie, a load of trouble, some romance with heat (nothing graphic), and gleeful send ups of many romantic fantasy tropes, plus otter-shifters and coffee addictions.
Janeen Ippolito doesn’t just write quirky series with snarky characters. B\No, She writes MCU level crossovers with Easter eggs and character cameos.
Check out the full universe below complete with Amazon links:
If you are up for the challenge try reading them in chronological order:
My Alien Boyfriend Steel City Genie one: If Wishes were Curses Cut to the Heart Steel City Genie 2: Wish you Weren’t Here SCG 3: Wishing Against the House My Alien Engagement (concurrent with Wishing Against the House, occurs within it)
Janeen Ippolito believes you should own your unique words—and make them awesome! She’s a multi-published author of bestselling fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She’s also an experienced editor and marketing strategist, plus the head of Uncommon Universes Press, a publishing company with award-winning books. In her spare time, she helps her missionary husband with his youth swordfighting ministry, indulges her foodie ambitions, reads whatever books she feels like, and explores a slew of random hobbies. Her life goals include traveling to Antarctica and riding a camel while wearing a party hat. This extrovert loves to connect, so join her on social media or at janeenippolito.com
Wishing Against the House is the official third book in the Steel City Genie series.
As a result of this pretty much anything I write in this review is going to be spoiler for an earlier book in the series.
You have been warned.
Before I start into spoilers, I will say that if you have read any of the previous books by Janeen Ippolito, then you will find the same snarky humor, and same heart touching character dilemmas as can be found in her other books.
Possible spoilers to follow.
Allis’s character, despite having gone through considerable growth already, continues to discover new things about herself, her powers, and her family.
At first I thought it was strange that Allis was dealing with some of the same hang ups she had in book one. Feelings of being worthless and unloved resurface, even with the ever growing number of friends and family she has collected over the course of her series.
But I can see how the events of this novel bring all those feelings right back to the front of her mind since this story does tackle the question of just who Allis’s father was and why he abandoned her. It is a tough topic for her as it drags up all of the abandonment and abuse that she went through as a child and even as an adult.
One of the best things about this series though is the romance. There’s no triangles or will they/won’t they. it’s just a healthy relationship between a married couple. They have problems, as couples do, but they work it out or try to anyway. It’s nice to see Allis and Cendric going to counseling and talking out their problems.
If you are looking for a humorous urban fantasy that has some clean steam (clean because she doesn’t describe it, but steamy because you know they did it.) between a married couple then I really recommend you check out the Steel city Genie series.
A huge thank you to Author Janeen Ippolito for providing me with an advanced copy of Wishing Against the House. This review is my own honest opinion of the book and is given willingly and without coercion.
This sale has 136 different fantasy books. All the Ebooks are 99 cents or free. Including my own Runaway Lyrics which is 99 cents through the sale dates.
Hello Readers, I hope everyone is doing well. It’s been a minute since my last post. I’ve had to cut back on my reading lately to give myself time for National Novel Writing month, you the time of year where everyone is struggling to write a novel in 30 days AND cook dinner for thirty family members. Writers are crazy.
My project for NaNo is Shattered Lyrics. It’s the sequel to Runaway Lyrics that released this past September. Behold my Inspiration collage:
I’m about seven thousand words in right now. (Yes I am way behind in NaNo.)
Once again I am writing this story as part of the Arista band of fairy tale retellers challenge. In 2021 the challenge is to write a Snow Queen retelling.
Snow Queen is a hard fairytale to retell, it is very meandering and has a lot of characters.
Thankfully Runaway Lyrics had a lot of characters too.
Also as a side note, The winning book was written by my cover designer. I’ve read it before and it is very good, Beauty and the Beast meets Norse mythology. She is so talented at both art and writing.
The Bear was originally going to release on September 28th but was unfortunately delayed. This retelling is set in the old west and is loosely based on the Lone Ranger. don’t believe me. Just look at this cover!
Wunstaponia #2 Once upon a time, way out west…
Two sisters live in a forest with their mother, just outside the town of Wunstaponia. That’s just how they like it, but one day, an injured stranger stumbles into their chicken pen. He doesn’t want to give his name, but they quickly find themselves tangled into his troubles, unraveling a mystery of betrayal and stolen treasure.
The Bear is the second book in the Tales of Wunstaponia. A western themes series of fairytale retellings. Book one was Sleeping Beauty and I’m looking forward to book three which will tackle Cinderella.
Rachel Roden is a natural storyteller, capable of weaving the most hilarious of fairy tales. She fell in love with the Lone Ranger in her teens, but ended up with a basketball referee instead. A homeschool mom of four, she also teaches with VIP Kids and tutors any other kid who wanders across her path. She might also be the sole human who still uses math after college.
For all of you eagerly awaiting the the last Frosted Roses release, I am sorry to report that the last book, The Bear, has been delayed until October 28th. It’s still on pre-order for ninety-nine cents.
Today I’m very excited to share the cover of a upcoming historical fantasy, The Fey of Castle Garden, by Naomi P. Cohen.
About the book:
New York City, 1859: On Samhain night, a mage pledged to the Wild Hunt is violently murdered. Tensions between the Hunt and Triona, Fey Queen of Central Park, heat up and threaten to boil over into a full-scale conflict.
Sofia De Benedetti, mage and musician in Triona’s court, has her hands full making enough money to support herself and help women who are down on their luck in the rough corners of the city.Now a fey war looms and a mage killer is on the prowl. Everything Sofia has built since immigrating, and her life itself, is at risk. With the help of a cait sidhe and a tempestuous storm fey, Sofia must find the murderer before the streets of the city erupt into a magical battleground.
Isn’t this a gorgeous cover? Of course if any remembers the book I recently published, then you know I have a love of books with a girl playing violin on the cover. (If you don’t remember Runaway Lyrics, it now has it’s own page on my site menu. Go check it out.)
We are taking a break from the Frosted Roses tour to bring you a guest post from author H.L. Burke. This is part of her blog tour for the release of Power On her new superhero YA novel.
Why-A: Guest post from H.L. Burke
Why-A?
Why YA would make more sense but WHY-A was too good a pun to resist.
Where was I?
I am usually very easily distracted. It is unusual for me to stick with a story world beyond a handful of books. Normally I get to the end of a trilogy or a quadrology and maybe I’ve got a couple of short stories left to fill in some gaps, but not much else. I’m ready to move on, find something new. Something shinier.
For whatever reason, my superheroes won’t let me go. My original four book series plan turned into five plus a short story prequel then a two novella spin off series. That was a lot of books for me. It was time to move on, so I’d decided to retire my main couple but what would they do. Well, they had a baby now. Maybe they’d quit superheroing for her … but I couldn’t see them quitting the game altogether and I kind of wanted to see how Fade and Prism were as parents … what if they decided to continue rehabilitating supervillains but with a focus on at risk teens instead of adult supervillains?
Dang it.
I have to write this now, don’t I?
And here’s where I’ll admit … the main reason I took the series in a YA direction is I really really really like writing Fade as a Dad.
I’m nearly fifteen years into my marriage, and for almost fourteen of that, my husband has been a dad (we had our first daughter a month after our first anniversary and of course there were nine months of pregnancy preceding that). I love being a mom, but I super love being married to a dad. I like the aura of protection. I like the way it makes a tough guy show his gentle side. I even like the jokes.
So while the focus of the story is on the teens, watching Fade and Prism grow as parents, both with their own infant children and the teens they take in and come to care for was my favorite part. Plus Fade’s dad joke game is strong:
“What’s the prize?” Marco asked.
“It’s a sir,” Fade said from where he stood behind his wife, holding Ruby.
“A what?” Marco scrunched up his face in confusion.
“A sir-prize.” Fade winked.
All three of the teens groaned.
Plus the main character of this series, Jake, is in desperate need of a strong but loving role model … if only he can bring himself to trust Fade and the rest of the folks at camp long enough to let him fill that gap.
Reformed, book one in the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project. Is freeree for the moment so don’t miss your chance to grab an awesome book and save on the super cinematic audiobook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085X8N8FL
Power On: Book One in the Supervillain Rescue Project, a new YA Superhero Series from the world of the Supervillain Rehabilitation Project
Power on releases October 9th but until then you can pre-order on Amazon. Only ninety-nine cents until October first then the price goes up: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09GBQF5PG
Jake’s family ties have turned to cuffs.
Born with the ability to fragment his body at a molecular level, Jake Lucas has devoted his life to his uncle’s supervillain gang. When he’s captured by superheroes, he’s certain his life is over at only sixteen.
To Jake’s surprise, he doesn’t end up in prison but at Camp Sable: an intervention project for at-risk super powered teens. Jake’s not interested in rehabilitation. As far as he’s concerned, the camp mentors are just a barrier between him and his true family, the Sand Fox gang.
Forced to work alongside the likewise screwed up duo of fire-powered Marco and electricity manipulator Laleh, Jake waits for the perfect escape opportunity. Having friends and the chance at a real family is more appealing than Jake originally thought, but going soft can cost a supervillain his life. Jake soon finds the forces fighting to control his life threatening to tear him apart.
Will Jake choose to remain the villain his uncle made him, or become the hero his new friends think he can be?
A Young Adult Superhero series featuring found family, friendship, and one superpowered ferret.
Author Bio:
H. L. Burke has written more books than she can count—because she’s written a lot of books, not just because she can’t count very high.
Easily distracted by shinies, she has published in many subgenres including fantasy romance, Steampunk, and superhero, and always creates story worlds with snark, feels, and wonder.
Married to her high school crush, she spends her time writing, spoiling her cat, and supervising her two supervillains in training (aka her precocious daughters).
An Oregon native, she wilts without trees and doesn’t mind the rain. She is a fan of delicious flavor, a follower of the Light, and a believer in happily ever after.
Welcome back to the Frosted Roses Blog Tour. We are up to book number five of our Six fairy-tale retellings. Tocays book is Secret’s of the Mountain by Wyn Estelle Ownes. This Snow White and Rose Red takes the classic tale and gives it a Norse twist.
Here are links to my posts about the previous four books:
If there’s one thing Svanhilda has always known, it’s the importance of family. When her little sister Rósfrída was born, Svanhilda promised her mother that she and her sister would stick together. But as the years passed, tragedy after tragedy befell her family, ripping it apart piece by piece, until only Svanhilda remains at home with her ailing mother. And Rósfrída? She has stayed with Svanhilda, as they promised long ago—every time Svanhilda looks at her reflection, she sees her little sister instead, trapped in a prison of mirrors and treasure. Their only hope is that either their seafaring Father or Rósfrída’s strange bear friend might find a way to free her.
Tryggvi lost his mother and father a long, long time ago—so long ago that he barely remembers them. When a boy prince named Asbjǫrn finds him wandering in the woods, he takes Tryggvi home and calls him brother, and his parents welcome Tryggvi as their son. Some years later, Asbjǫrn leaves to study for a year… but he never returns, and is thought dead and gone. But Tryggvi is convinced his brother still lives–and not without evidence. So, now that he is finally old enough, Tryggvi sets out to find Asbjǫrn, armed with his cat and an amber pendant which enables him to see the truth of things. And he will find out the truth and bring his big brother home. After all, he promised his baby sister he would, and that’s not a promise he’s willing to break.
On the mountain there is a cave, and in the cave there is a mirror, and in that mirror live two friends: a girl and a bear, trapped in secrets, imprisoned by treasures of great worth. But help is coming, and the secret deeds done in darkness will be revealed, and the prisoners will be set free.
Wyn Estelle Owens is the penname of a young woman who’s still figuring out what this whole ‘adult’ thing is all about. She lives in a big, old house in Maryland by a Hundred Acre Wood (dubbed Neldoreth) with her parents, three occasionally obnoxious brothers, her dog Jackie, and her personal plot bunny, Joker. She is fond of reading, writing, drawing, speaking in dead or imaginary languages, playing videogames, quoting classic or obscure literature, being randomly dramatic, and generally making things out of yarn. Her dream is to write stories that inspire people to chase after the wonderful world of storytelling. Her favorite all-time authors are Anne Elisabeth Stengl, Christa Kinde, and above all, J.R.R. Tolkien, who first inspired her to pursuing novel writing when she read the Hobbit at the age of seven.
Welcome to the fourth release for the Frosted Roses Fairy-tale blog tour.
Today I’m spotlighting Rose Petals and Snowflakes, by Kendra E. Ardnek. She’s the very motivated individual who not only started the Arista Fairy-tale retellers but she put a ton of work into this blog tour. Check out the main blog tour page for more posts about her Jane Austen fairy-tale mashup.
Don’t forget to scroll to the bottom of the tour page for a raffle copter giveaway. The winner gets four of the Frosted Roses books in paperback and a frosted roses necklace.
After their father’s death, and thanks to their older half-brother’s wanderlust, two sisters find themselves caught in the politics of mysterious forest. Elinrose finds herself in direct conflict with the wood’s Mistress, while Snowmari hides a deadly secret that could mean her death if found out. Can their bonds of sisterhood withstand these trying times? Or will they even make it out alive?
Kendra E. Ardnek is the self-proclaimed Arista of Fairy Tales. She lives in the Piney Woods of East Texas with her dragon babies and massive herd of mini-giraffes, and she is still waiting for one of of her fifty nutcrackers to come to life and marry her. When not writing, you can usually find her sitting in a random box, and she’s frequently known to act before she thinks. Find her online at: Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || YouTube || Newsletter || Instagram || TikTok || Amazon
