Today is a very special day. It marks the one-year anniversary of my first novel.
That’s right Runaway Lyrics is one-year-old today!
In case you’ve forgotten what Runaway Lyrics is about:
What each sister has she must share with the other . . .
Snow loves music. She has spent her entire life learning new instruments and memorizing new pieces, only to while away her life in a country manor with only her mother and twin sister as company. If only she could get out on her own and play in front of a real audience.
Rose loves magic. The things she can do with music would amaze her twin sister, but whenever she shows her, Snow quickly forgets as if the event had never happened. If only Rose could get out on her own and work some real magic.
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.
You can click on the Runaway Lyrics tab above to find all the fun things I made for last years release including downloadable wallpaper and a YouTube playlist of music that inspired the novel.
So this is the part where I ask you to buy my book?
Yes. But first an announcement.
There was a lot I wanted to have done by now, I wanted to have an audiobook version, some character art, and I wanted to have a sequel ready. I am so sorry that I couldn’t have any of those things ready for today. All of those fun things have one thing in common. They take money.
That’s why I’ve made the executive decision to join the Amazon Associates program. That means from now on every link on the website will be affiliate links. (Don’t worry I will not be going back to update old blog posts.)
This just means that if you click on a link to a book and you buy it Amazon will give me a kickback. A tiny kickback but every bit helps. It doesn’t change the price you pay, and it doesn’t affect what the author gets paid either. (As an author that part was very important to me.)
And yes I will disclose this on every page with this super fun disclosure I wrote:
*This website uses affiliate links through the Amazon Associates program. Every time you buy a book using one of these links the blogger gets pennies from Amazon and those pennies will add up into nickels and eventually dimes.
Okay maybe it’s not that fun. I’ll keep working on it. Anyway the point is, if I post about a book that interests you and you would like to buy it, please consider using my link and spare some change for a poor blogger.
If you have firm convictions about affiliate links, or convictions about Amazon, then I promise there will be no hard feelings. Please purchase the book in whatever why feels right for you. Just don’t pirate it please, we will brook no pirates here.
Will you please buy my book? Today is its birthday!
Buy Runaway Lyrics *Yes this is an affiliate link. And yes I see the irony in trying to make more money off a book I already get royalties from.
I also want to shout out the Spellsmith and Carver series which was a huge influence on my book. It also is on sale for 99 cents now through September 22nd, 2022. Get it here: Spellsmith and Carver boxset.
Are you tired of looking at lists of award winning books that you haven’t and don’t plan on reading? Well never fear the Realm Awards Readers choice contest is here to save the day.
From April 2nd-23rd (I know I’m so late telling you about this) any reader can nominate books that they feel deserve the award.
There are some stipulations though: You may nominate up to three different books for the Realm Award Readers’ Choice Contest. To qualify, books must be:
Speculative in genre (Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, or any of their related sub-genres)
Written by a professed Christian author
Published between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021
The first instance of publication of the work (no new editions, subsequent printings under a new imprint, etc.)
Novel length
A single work (no anthologies, collections, or compilations)
Written for middle grade, young adult, or adult audiences.
You’ll need the complete and accurate book title and author’s name for each entry as they appear on Amazon.
All these books written by my D&D party qualify!
It just so happens that my novel Runaway Lyrics qualifies.
I would be super honored if you would consider nominating my book but I understand if you have other books that you love more. Seriously, choosing only three book is very hard.
To avoid swaying you I won’t tell you which three I nominated. (No I did not nominate my own book even though there doesn’t seem to be a rule against it.)
All of the Frosted Roses novels qualify except The Bear which is too short.
Here are a dozen books that I loved from last year that qualify for the award (the three I nominated are on here somewhere):
Happy Valentine’s day! As a single person I don’t usually go all in on celebrating Valentine’s day. But this year I have a book with a very minor romantic thread in it, so I thought I could share that with you.
For today and tomorrow (February 14th and 15th 2022) Runaway Lyrics eBook will be free on Amazon. So feel free to snap one up if you haven’t already. If you have a copy already will you consider sharing this deal with your book loving friends. (I’m hoping to get a flag on Amazon.)
Runaway Lyrics was nominated for the Fellowship of Fantasy Indie book club group on Facebook. My takeover event is today (2/14/22) and you can join now to check it out.
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.
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.
Runaway Lyrics is out in the world and I am nervous.
People can buy it. They can read it. What if no one likes it?
(hides book baby from everyone)
Thankfully I was lucky enough to be part of the Frosted Roses Release. The amazing Kendra E. Ardnek put together a blog tour for six new books all based on the same fairy-tale — Snow White and Rose Red.
My Book is the first to release; it’s so much pressure.
It’s good though, because now I can’t hide it. I have a whole host of bloggers all posting about my book today. Also Kendra made me a ton of fancy graphics with my book in them.
Check out the awesome blogs below, to learn all about Runaway Lyrics:
Edit to state that all of the blogs have been updated and the link to will take you directly to the Runaway Lyrics post on that site.
And of course don’t forget to buy a copy! It’s available on Amazon in paperback, ebook, and Kindle Unlimited!
If you read it will you consider leaving a review on Amazon and Goodreads? Or you can even just pop back over to this post to let me know what you thought.
Do you have a blog that needs content? Would you like to read a fairytale retelling of Snow White and Rose Red so you can leave an honest review on Amazon, Goodreads, or wherever you review books?
Then you should sign up for the Frosted Roses blog tour.
You can request a guest post from me, or get a review copy of Runaway Lyrics. You can also request advanced copies of other books too. It’s not like I would be hurt or anything. Really, I’ll be fine.
Tour dates match the release schedule for the books: September 20-25th
The tour and the ARC requests are two different forms. So, pay attention to which one you fill out.
Just a reminder: Frosted Roses is not a series. It’s a collection of books that all take different approaches to the same fairytale. Each book is vastly different: Austin fantasy, steampunk fantasy, fantasy romance, epic fantasy, jazz fantasy, and western fantasy.
Mine is the steampunk one. Runaway Lyrics takes place in the kingdom of Stirling where steam-powered cars drive for hours on a single tank of water. A glowing purple orb powers a mechanical butler, the Fae are in the wilds, wary of humans.
Text from image above:
Runaway Lyrics,
by C.O. Bonham.
A steampunk Adventure.
Snow want’s to perform music.
Rose wants to perform magic.
Luckily, for them, it’s the same thing.
I would be so honored if you requested to feature it on your blog or even if just want to read it.
But if you’d rather just give me your money it’s still on preorders for ninety-nine cents. I’m not raising the price until I have a formatted, finalized version to upload. How knows when that will be, so order it soon.
So what are the Six Frosted Roses? Six Frosted Roses is the newest collection from the Arista Fairy-tale Retellers Facebook group. Every year this group votes on a fairy-tale to retell and every member is welcome to write their own interpretation of it. This year’s fairy-tale is Snow White and Rose Red.
If you are familiar with it that good for you. If you need a summary then here you go.
Snow White (No relation.) and her sister, Rose Red, live in the forest with their mother. One winter, a talking Bear comes to stay with them. In the summer he leaves and the girls try to follow him.
They meet a dwarf who got his beard caught in a tree and they save him. Then his beard is caught in a fishing line and they save him. Last of all he is picked up by an eagle and carried away, but they save him. Each time the dwarf is ungrateful and mean.
Soon they learn that their bear friend is actually a prince under a curse. The Dwarf cursed him to steal his treasure and the moral is you should never help ungrateful people because they were the villain of the story the whole time.
The bear kills the dwarf and breaks the curse. He askes Snow White to marry him but it’s okay, he has a brother that Rose Red can marry.
So why am I sharing this today? Three reasons:
One: all of these books are on a 99cent preorder offer, for this week only. Then the prices go up.
Two: They are all super pretty covers that deserve to be shown off.
Three: I wrote one of them! Yes the long awaited first novel from C.O. Bonham is coming and you can see the cover, back cover description and learn the release date right here. So let’s quickly go through the first five and I’ll save the best for last.
Brothers, and Sisters, and Bears, Oh My!
Six exciting new retellings of Snow White and Rose Red!
The Bear
by Rachel Roden
A Western Fairy Tale.
Helping an unknown stranger is a surefire way to find trouble.
A Nordic Saga Releasing September 23rd. A dwarf’s greed tears apart two families when treasure becomes a prison. Preorder Now: https://amzn.to/2U3DCfd
As Long as we Live
by Cortney Manning
An Epic Fae Romance
Releasing September 22nd When magic and royal rivalry threaten the Fae realm of Concoria, three human sister scramble to protect their peacful home. Preorder Now: https://amzn.to/3rcAhqj
Rose Petals and Snowflakes
by Kendra E. Ardenk
An Austen Mashup
Releasing September 20th
After their father’s death two princesses find themselves trapped int he politics of a mysterious forest.
What one sister has she must share with the other . . .
Snow loves music. She has spent her entire life learning new instruments and memorizing new pieces, only to while away her life in a country manor with only her mother and twin sister as company. If only she could get out on her own and play in front of a real audience.
Rose loves magic. The things she can do with music would amaze her twin sister, but whenever she shows her, Snow quickly forgets as if the event had never happened. If only Rose could get out on her own and work some real magic.
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.
Remember all preorders are only 99 cents for this week.
Would you like to help shar these lovely covers? Maybe you’re ready to preorder them all right now.
We have prizes for that.
Preorder prizes:
Take your pick.
We’ve got a PDF filled with the first chapters of each story.
We also have a zip file stuffed with SWRR-themed wallpapers for your desktop AND phone.
This week, if you share these books and their info to your blog, newsletter, or other social media, and then email the organizer a link to your post(s),
or if you preorder all six books while they’re on sale and forward her copies of your receipts,
then you get to take your pick of either of those lovely prizes.
Preorder AND shere?
Well, that’ll mean you get both the sneak peeks AND the wallpapers.
The email to send your links and you receipts to is: kendraeardnek(at)gmail(dot)com.
This drive link has all the book covers and other promotional graphics you can use in your sharing posts.
So you know that phrase about saving the best for last? well the last post of June is going to be a big one. Not only am I spot lighting a new book from Janeen Ippolito, I get to plug my upcoming novel at the same time. Yes I am actually publishing this one. I have a release date. I’m committed But first here’s a little about Janeen’s book.
Get more out of your writing prompts!
Weird Writing Prompts is a short book loaded with questions to jumpstart your creativity, dive deeper into your characters, and rev up your book marketing.
Oh yeah, and some questions are weird. Like “trap your characters in an elevator with an emu” weird. Because everyone needs a little weirdness to refresh their writing lives!
Grab this book to:
-Get Deep & Random – Expanded prompts with ideas to make your characters epic, plus absurd situations to unlock your creativity with play
-Get Sharing & Marketing – Author-centric questions to fuel your marketing brain and help with social media content creation
It’s time to refresh your brain, supercharge your story, and have fun with your marketing!
“Having fun is vital to goo writing, good marketing, and good sales.” – Janeen ippolito
My review
Weird Writing prompts is a great writing prompt book. Instead of just offering you more story ideas to add to your “to write” list, this prompt book actually helps you develop the story you are already working on.
The book is divided into two parts, character questions and marketing questions. The character questions may seem random and silly, but each one is formulated to help you learn something about your characters.
The marketing questions are also fun and are great for helping you decide what kind of giveaway items you want on hand for when you your book releases. The author also includes ideas for how to adapt the questions for a classroom setting which is great for English teachers and homeschoolers.
I really enjoyed all of the odd little questions and having to think about how they would apply to my story.
If you are stuck on your current project and would like a prompt book to help you move forward then check out Weird Writing Prompts.
To see sample questions and how I used them for my story, keep reading to the end.
Weird Writing Prompts releases July 13.
But you can pre order the ebook now for only 99 cents.
Janeen Ippolito believes you should own your unique words. She’s a multi-published author of bestselling fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. She’s also an experienced editor, marketing strategist, and businesswoman, plus the CEO of Uncommon Universes Press. When not writing, she explores random hobbies or posts cute animal memes. Connect at janeenippolito.com
Runaway Lyrics is a retelling of the Snow White and Rose Red fairytale, with a light steampunk aesthetic. The main characters are Snow and Rose, identical twin sisters who are both talented at music. There are also Bayare (the oldest) and Wickham, half brothers and princes. Placed under a curse that causes Bayare to turn into a great brown bear every night and for Wickham to become a great golden owl every day.
So let’s start with the ultimate random question:
What would each of your characters do if a bird pooped on them?
Bayare would look around to see where Wickham, in owl form, was. Then when he found him he would instantly accuse him of doing it. Wickham would deny everything. Honestly he knows that Wickham would never deficate on anyone but he loves teasing his little brother.
If Snow was pooped on she would flinch, but then wipe it off and keep going, hopefully to someplace where she could take a bath.
Rose is a bit different. She would complain. Long and loud, about how gross it was and why, of all the places for a bird to poop, did it have to be on her.
Wickham, as a part time owl, knows the bird that did it. He knows that bird did it on purpose. And Wickham is already planning his revenge.
“Writing is hard. Marketing is hard. We can use all the fun that we can get.” – Janeen Ippolito
Would each of your characters rather: sort 1,000 pieces of paper OR stand on a public stage for an hour to entertain a crowd of young children?
This is easy. Rose, Snow and Bayare would take the stage for an hour. Rose and Snow love playing music and that’s how they would entertain the kids. Bayare doesn’t know what he would do on stage, but he hates repetitive tasks like sorting. Besides who doesn’t like kids?
Wickham that’s who. Oh he loves attention and it’s not that he hates kids, he just doesn’t know what to do with them. They find the crudest things hilarious. They require so much talking down too. Nope give Wickham the stack of paper and lock him in the library.
“They say you have to go deep or have silly fun. I say you can do both.” – Janeen Ippolito
You can hire anyone to compose music for your story. Who do you choose and why?
It would be Lindsey Stirling. I listened to her music on a loop while writing this novel. Even though Snow and Rose can play multiple instruments, Linsey Stirling is the reason that they prefer the violin. Her Music videos also inspired the way the magic system in my world works.
Runaway Lyrics will have an official cover reveal and release date soon. So I hope you’re ready to hear me talk more about myself in the next couple month. But don’t worry I’ll still keep doing book reviews for others as well.
What was your favorite question I answered?
Are you excited to hear more about Runaway Lyrics?
C. O. Bonham 