Category: Publishers & Presses (Direct Reviews)

A #WyrdAndWonder Book Review | Exploring #MiddleGrade Fantasy within “Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle” by J.M. Evenson; courtesy of #NetGalley

Posted Saturday, 1 May, 2021 by jorielov #WyrdAndWonder, Capstone, Capstone Editions, Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle, J.M. Evenson 0 Comments

Borrowed Book By: In late Winter 2020, (February) I joined NetGalley for the first time as they finally announced they were going to be offering full-length audiobooks for reviewers. I was never able to join NetGalley due to having chronic migraines and being unable to read ebooks. I started requesting audiobooks to review as soon as they opened their audiobook catalogue in July, 2020. I am an eclectic reader and thereby, you will see all genres in Fiction explored from both markets of interest: mainstream and INSPY as well as from Major Trade, Indie Publishers & Press and other routes of publication, too. There might be the occasional Non-Fiction title appearing in my NetGalley queue of reviews as well. This marks a new adventure for me seeking stories for review consideration and I look forward to seeing where the stories lead me to venture.

I received a complimentary digital and temporary ebook copy of “Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle” direct from the publisher Capstone via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. However, I was not able to read and review it – as I misunderstood you could not request a print copy. At the time I requested this title, I had just joined NetGalley and hadn’t quite understood the whole process. Thereby, I made a purchase request at my regional library and they were thankfully able to purchase this novel for me. I borrowed this book in time to read and review during #WyrdAondWonder Year 4 – whilst being able to read one of my backlogue NetGalley reads in the process. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

NOTE: As a new reviewer on NetGalley, I’m sorting out how to get the Press Materials for each of the audiobooks I’m reviewing when I share them on my blog Jorie Loves A Story. When I contacted NetGalley Support they informed me that if a separate Press Kit is not included on the audiobook’s book page we’re allowed as reviewers to use the book cover and synopsis provided when we go to share our review of that audiobook on our blogs; as long as we give attribution as I have done at the bottom of this review in “Sources”. Those materials are provided with permission of the publishers to be used by reviewers via NetGalley.

Why I wanted to read &/or listen to “Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle”:

I love reading #diverselit but sometimes, I struggle to find stories which are inclusive of multicultural characters & families which are in genres I read which are not full of violence or themes which are outside my literary wanderings.

Whenever I seek out Fantasy – I tend to gravitate towards Middle Grade & Young Adult moreso than Adult narratives because a lot of Adult Fantasy is a bit too far afield for me to read. Not always, but if you’ve noticed I have had the tendency of reading more Children’s Lit during #WyrdAndWonder than I do anything else and there is a reason for this!! Violence aside – I am enraptured by the writers who are giving us wicked good Middle Grade & Young Adult Fantasy stories. Their writing the narratives I want to be reading most and their characters give such a lasting impression of their lives on my bookish heart, they quite literally become my most beloved reads!!

When I read the premise of this story I connected with it immediately – though, by the time I sat down to read the novel, I had completely forgotten about how important it was to take stock of the ‘cat’ and therefore had a delightful surprise when I dove into the story this morning! I was just thankful my library was able to purchase a copy for me in hardback and allowing me to read this during #WyrdAndWonder before it was called back to the library! I’m hopeful other readers who find it on the library’s shelves will be as wholly enthused by what they’ve read as I have become myself.

It didn’t surprise me either that my first two readings this #WyrdAndWonder are about families & the concept of both what constitutes ‘home’ and ‘family’ to the characters. There is a centreing of truth in my own literary wanderings wherein family, community and coming-of age stories tend to the big draw for me as a reader. This was a special choice for me too, as I wasn’t sure which direction Everson might take us to account for the ‘magic ink’ and lo & behold it involved the JINN! Eek. I was positively smitten after I learnt that, too!

As you will tell from my review, this was a story which touched my heart & soul – being set in Turkey and taking place in the largest city’s marketplace was also a delight as I’ve seen documentaries about their markets and felt as if I had ‘been there’ just by how close those documentaries came to giving you the full effect of being ‘there’ yourself. I felt having that in my memories also helped me feel closer to Dalya on her journey, too. If you love stories of transfiguration, magical cats and the cheekiness of the Jinn – you’ll want to get a copy of this for yourself! I quite literally read this in the morning hours in one sitting — it was #unputdownable and wickedly brilliant!

What a sweet way to kick-off #WyrdAndWonder, eh!?

Notations on Cover Art: This is one of those charmingly brilliant novels where you can’t help but notice the cover art! I loved how both the cat and Dalya are not entirely seen on the front of the novel but also, there is this allure of the story itself – of what kind of magic awaits the reader and how interestingly captivating this image is of who is featured in the artwork. I love Fantasy & Speculative art – and this book cover is one of my all-time top favourites!

Dalya and the Magic Ink Bottle
by J.M. Evenson
Source: Borrowed from local library, Purchase REQ | local library

When twelve-year-old Dalya is dragged to Istanbul to help sell her family's ancestral home, the visit begins unpromisingly. Most of the aged mansion is off-limits because it's falling apart, her father is ignoring her, and her great aunt keeps prattling on about a family curse. Despite warnings against it, Dalya tiptoes upstairs, where she finds an old bottle of magic ink hidden under a floorboard. She asks the bottle's jinn (aka genie) to grant her a simple wish...to send her home. Except the jinn interprets "go home" to mean "send me back in time and turn me into a cat." Then Dalya must set off on a wild adventure through Istanbul's animal underworld to find the jinn with the power to set things right. Along the way she collects a group of companions - furry and human alike - but if she isn't careful, she'll lose the chance to reverse her family's fortunes and may never find her way back home.

Genres: Children's Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Magical Realism, Middle Grade Fantasy, Urban Fantasy

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781684461301

Published by Capstone

on 1st August, 2020

Format: Hardcover Edition

Pages: 200

Published By: Capstone (@CapstonePub)

Converse via: #KidsLit, #MGLit or #MiddleGrade, #Fantasy
as well as #DalyaAndTheMagicInkBottle + #ReadingIsForEveryone and especially #WyrdAndWonder !!

Available Formats: Hardcover, Trade Paperback and Ebook

✍? Follow the writer J.M. Evenson | @JM_Evenson

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

#WyrdAndWonder

Posted Saturday, 1 May, 2021 by jorielov in 21st Century, Book Review (non-blog tour), Castles & Estates, Children's Literature, Familiars, Fantasy Fiction, Father-daughter Relationships, Folklore and Mythology, Juvenile Fiction, Magical Realism, Middle Grade Novel, Modern Day, NetGalley, Supernatural Creatures & Beings, Urban Fantasy

An Author Q&A with an Extract | “Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace” by Kate Forster

Posted Tuesday, 9 February, 2021 by jorielov Aria Fiction, Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace, Head of Zeus, Kate Forster 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

I hadn’t thought 2021 would have been a harder beginning than 2020, until of course I actually lived through the first bits of the year and noticed how much harder it has felt to see 2021 gain traction and footing in my life. For whichever reason, between the events of January and the turning tides of February, I’ve been reading less, blogging sporadically and tweeting every blue moon – compared to my regular habits across my blog and social feeds. In regards to reading – part of the slowdown has been due to multiple injuries which make it hard to hold a book or type to get the words onto my blog or social feeds as well.

This past weekend and Monday in particular were difficult as well – wherein if you were looking forward to seeing my review for the third novel in Edale Lane’s trilogy – kindly stay patient with me, as I’m still composing my thoughts upon it. I had to pull it yesterday due to a personal emergency and we took a family day to recover from it. I was hoping after January, February would be a bit kinder on us as a family but it has proved to be a hard-won kind of month where there is a bit more adversity but a lot of hope and promise for changing tides as well. Sometimes life is like that – you have to take the bitter with the sweet and find your way forward after the storms dissipate.

Whilst I am finding my way back inside books and sorting out my blog’s schedule – this lovely Q&A focuses on the characters and heart of “Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace”. A bit of a kind reprieve for me to highlight a story which feels like it would be a good lift of spirit – which is why I am thankful to spotlight it on the blog tour as a Digital First release and look forward to seeing if an audiobook edition makes it way to Scribd as has “Starting Over at Acorn Cottage” has ahead of it. This marks my second novel I’ve been able to spotlight for this author and I hope this year is the year I can start to listen to her stories.

Enjoy this extract from ‘Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace’:

Tressa was grateful for her job because it allowed her to paint. She was an artist, a properly trained one at that, her mother would tell you if you asked, having gone to art school in Plymouth. Tressa sold her paintings and prints of the Cornish sea from a website under the pseudonym The Cornish Mermaid; the sales topped up her income to pay for living expenses and canvas and everything else was cream.

Her mother Wendy said that Tressa was the oldest twenty-six-year-old in the UK. She spent her money on not much else besides her art. All her friends were still drinking and dancing all night but Tressa was a loner, not so much by choice as by circumstance. She was shy and she had struggled to stay in contact with friends from school or university, all of whom seemed to be getting engaged or married now. A few of them even had babies. She sent little paintings off to her friends, celebrating their news, and drew cards for the babies and posted them to faraway places but no one wanted to come to Port Lowdy and stay at Mermaid Terrace. If Tressa ever pulled an all-nighter it was in front of her easel waiting for the moon to slide behind the clouds when it was the sun’s turn to take over.

‘How will you ever meet someone?’ her mother asked. ‘You’ll never find anyone there. Come on home and find love. We will buy you a place, and you can rent out your house there and come back to it later on.’ Wendy kept trying to coax her daughter to return to St Ives but Tressa didn’t believe in finding love. Love wasn’t lost, so why should she go looking for it? It would come if it was ready and if love never found her, she had her cat and her art and that was enough, she told herself. There was no one in Port Lowdy worth swinging hands with. She knew nearly everyone in the village and there were no eligible men under the age of sixty. Older men had never been her thing.

There was another artist she’d had a thing with for a while, who she used to see in St Ives, but it wasn’t serious and they both knew it. She didn’t want to live there and he didn’t want to come to Port Lowdy. It was unspoken that their connection was merely physical and a mutual appreciation of art and nothing more. He was nice enough but not enough to want more from him.

The sound of her boss, George, talking on the phone welcomed Tressa to another day at work, as she put her bike into the storage room and then went into the kitchen to make them both a cup of tea. Her job at The Port Lowdy Occurrence had been a happy accident after his wife Caro left work to be more involved in with their grandchildren. It wasn’t full time but it gave her enough time to paint and stare out the attic window from her terrace house at the ever-changing colour of the sea.

‘Can I see you, Tressie?’

‘Sure,’ said Tressa. ‘Want your tea?’

‘Yes and bring the digestive biscuits,’ George said sombrely.

A morning digestive meant George was trying to solve a serious problem.

Tressa took the mugs to his desk and sat down facing him, the biscuits tucked under her arm, and she placed them between them.

I love how this story isn’t taking a traditional trajectory of her life – wherein she is living against what society expects and even what her Mum wants for her as well. She’s listening to her heart and she has an independent mind about love and life and the course of tides we all travel through during different seasons. I immediately felt connected to Tressa and look forward to learning more about her when/if this becomes either an audiobook or print release!

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful convo!

Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace
Subtitle: Love comes when you least expect it...
by Kate Forster

Love comes when you least expect it...

Tressa Buckland likes her quiet life in Port Lowdy, with its cobbled streets and colourful terraced houses overlooking the sea. Her job at the local paper allows her to pursue her art in her free time, with no one but her tabby cat Ginger Pickles to mind her in Mermaid Terrace. But then the owner of the paper is called away on an emergency, and it's up to Tressa to run the paper for six months. Her first task: find a new part-time journalist.

Dan Byrne is the angriest man in Ireland – or so the readers of his very successful column, 'Dan takes on the world', think. But after a story goes south and he loses his job in Dublin, Dan has no choice but to start afresh. When an opportunity comes up in sleepy Cornwall, Dan and his Golden Retriever Ritchie set off for a new adventure.

For Tressa, Dan's arrival to Port Lowdy changes everything. Tressa tries not to look too deeply at her own life, but Dan sees a story to uncover in absolutely everyone – even her. The two of them couldn't be more different... yet, if they can find a way to work together, they may just breathe new life and joy into this sleepy seaside village.

Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace is a heartwarming new village romance about the power of love and kindness, from the bestselling author of Starting Over at Acorn Cottage.

Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B087JXNXQK

Also by this author: Starting Over At Acorn Cottage

Published by Aria Fiction

on 4th February, 2021

The stories I’ve hosted by this author:

[ quite happily one of these is now available on Scribd! ]

Starting Over at Acorn Cottage (on audiobook!) *see also this Post

Finding Love at Mermaid Terrace ← I hope is forthcoming to Scribd!

Published By: Aria Fiction (@Aria_Fiction)
a Digital First imprint of Head of Zeus (@HoZ_Books)

This is a Digital First Release!

Converse via: #FindingLoveAtMermaidTerrace, #WomensFiction and #HeadOfZeus

Posted Tuesday, 9 February, 2021 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Contemporary Romance, Head of Zeus, Reader Submitted Q&A, Romance Fiction, Women's Fiction

Happy #blogmas! | Conversing with Mandy Baggot about Christmas and her new release “A Perfect Paris Christmas”!

Posted Sunday, 13 December, 2020 by jorielov A Perfect Paris Christmas, Aria Fiction, Head of Zeus, Mandy Baggot 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Today is my second Head of Zeus Christmas interview with an author I’ve learnt more about hosting blog tours for this publisher ahead of being able to source her stories! Let’s give a warm welcome back to Ms Baggot as earlier in the year I hosted another lovely convo with her as well! My converstion today will wrap-up my featured posts, guest features and other delights I get to share and host on behalf of Head of Zeus for 2020! I’ve only been hosting with them off/on for the last two years and I must admit, I’ve had a lot of wickedly delightful moments talking with their authors and learning more about the stories they are publishing every year. This also marks my final Christmassy interview for the season but there is more #blogmas Christmassy content coming until the dawning hours of New Year’s Eve!

This particular story is a Contemporary Christmas Romance set in Paris – a setting I regularly visit in Historical Fiction (generally in war dramas) and a city which I very rarely get the chance to see through a Contemporary lens! My heart has been with Paris though recently especially due to the fire at Norte Dame Catheral and other well known tragedies which have happened in the city. The most heartwarming end cap on the fire for me was when I heard about the bees and how they were unharmed, saved and are still living out their lives as only bees can as they not only survived the fire but they preserved a bit of the catheral which has been a beacon of hope for so many over the generations it has stood as a landmark in Paris.

I happily just found out that “A Perfect Paris Christmas” is currently available via Scribd on audiobook – I did not have the chance to listen to it ahead of my tour stop as I was struck down with a moderate migraine this week however, it renews my hope more titles I desire to read and/or hear in audio by Head of Zeus are inbound to Scribd! For those who read ebooks, there is a copy for you, too! Happy Christmas, dear hearts!!

Why I wanted to host a spotlight & interview
for this new Christmassy story ‘A Perfect Paris Christmas’:

As the founder and host of @SatBookChat – I am constantly seeking to find new stories featuring strong women in the centre of Romance & Women’s Fiction. I read an equal amount of Contemporary and Historical stories within these genres of interest whilst encompassing all the lovely sub-niches of their literary styles as well. This New Year 2020 I am also seeking out Feminist Lit which celebrates the kind of stories I am enjoying to discover as well. All of which I try to champion and showcase in the chats I host on Saturdays – wherein writers, readers, book reviewers, book bloggers and the rest of the bookish community on Twitter get to engage with one another. Thereby as a regular reader of these stories I was delighted to find a #newtomeauthor to start seeking out to read!

I have such a fond affection for Christmas (as a holiday and as a season) to where I love to spend my Decembers with a bit of a reprieve from hosting book reviews and focus strictly on guest features and/or showcases of stories wherein I might have extracts to share OR other #behindthebook insights which will help us all sort out which books are good fits for us as readers and which ones might be best for others instead. I love having my Decembers full of #blogmas posts, however, I believe this year, for 2020 I might have exceeded my personal expectations of what I can feature from 1st to 31st December!

This particular story stood out to me because of the Hope it has for knitting our lives together even when it doesn’t appear the timing is right for anything to go well. Sometimes you have to embrace the serendipitous nature of how our lives can take a circuitous route into our future and at other times, taking a leap of faith chance to go ‘somewhere’ new is just what we need in order to find ourselves exactly where we need to be! I love this about the premise and of course, having two people continuously meeting up with each other in ways that may or may not feel as if it were predestined is my kind of Christmassy Romance as well!

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful holiday inspired Q&A!

A Perfect Paris Christmas
Subtitle: Can one handsome stranger show her how to love again?
by Mandy Baggot

Keeley Andrews knows more than anyone that you only live once. So when she receives an invitation to spend two weeks in Paris, all expenses paid, she jumps at the chance.

Ethan Bouchard has had the worst eighteen months of his life. He's ready to give up on everything, including his hotel chain. So when he meets Keeley, it simply isn't the right time.

As Keeley and Ethan continue to bump into each other on the romantic Parisian streets, they can't help but wonder whether this is fate telling them to let go of the past and leap into the future...

Head to Paris this Christmas and fall in love under the lights of the Eiffel Tower with best-selling author, Mandy Baggot.

Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 978-1838933456

Also by this author: My Greek Island Summer

Published by Aria Fiction

on 1st October, 2020

Published By: Aria Fiction (@Aria_Fiction)
a Digital First imprint of Head of Zeus (@HoZ_Books)

Formats Available: Trade Paperback, Audiobook & Ebook

Converse via: #APerfectParisChristmas, #WomensFiction and #HeadOfZeus

Posted Sunday, 13 December, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Contemporary Romance, Head of Zeus, Reader Submitted Q&A, Romance Fiction, Single Mothers

Happy #blogmas, Author Q&A | “No Room at the Little Cornish Inn” by Nancy Barone

Posted Tuesday, 1 December, 2020 by jorielov Aria Fiction, Head of Zeus, Nancy Barone, No Room at the Little Cornish Inn 4 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Happy December, Happy #blogmas, everyone! Each year, for the past several years I’ve been engaging with you during this special month of posts which are inter-connected to either Christmas or a genre of interest which is being celebrated during the chase up to Christmas and/or New Year’s. I have been enjoying curating the guest features, spotlights and other showcases each year I’ve participated in #blogmas and this year, is no exception! I have a wonderful sequencing of posts for you – including a few author interviews featuring Head of Zeus authors which I’m quite excited about!

Today kicks off my Head of Zeus Christmas interviews with a #newtomeauthor, Ms Barone whose written a delightful Contemporary Christmassy Romance whose title first winked a dash of curiosity for me to pursue! I’ve since learnt this is one of three novels set round a theme of interest in ‘Cornish’ – whilst my conversation with Ms Barone tucks into the story a bit as we discuss her characters whilst I also wanted to broach a few questions about Christmas as a season and as a holiday we mutually love to celebrate.

I hope this will become one of the stories I can read next year for Christmas as it is strictly digital first right now for those who read ebooks! Once the titles I’ve featured by Head of Zeus go into audiobook editions, I have a better chance of finding them – as I am grateful Scribd carries their stories. Right now for those who read ebooks the first two stories of Little Cornish are available on Scribd for you. If they don’t go into audio, I’ll have to wait for the print editions to read them.

Why I wanted to host a spotlight & interview
for this new Christmassy story ‘No Room at the Little Cornish Inn’:

As the founder and host of @SatBookChat – I am constantly seeking to find new stories featuring strong women in the centre of Romance & Women’s Fiction. I read an equal amount of Contemporary and Historical stories within these genres of interest whilst encompassing all the lovely sub-niches of their literary styles as well. This New Year 2020 I am also seeking out Feminist Lit which celebrates the kind of stories I am enjoying to discover as well. All of which I try to champion and showcase in the chats I host on Saturdays – wherein writers, readers, book reviewers, book bloggers and the rest of the bookish community on Twitter get to engage with one another. Thereby as a regular reader of these stories I was delighted to find a #newtomeauthor to start seeking out to read!

I have a soft spot for stories set before, during and after the Christmas and/or New Year holidays – every year, I love to binge watch Christmas movies on tv (esp Hallmark or Lifetime) as much as I have small collection of beloved Christmas movies on dvd which I also love to binge watch every December & January. For me, Christmas extends to Twelfth Night in January and even a bit beyond – as I generally get into the festive spirit the week of Thanksgiving and have it until just before the start of February. Winter also marks my favourite season of the year – when the humidity is finally gone and I can pull out my sweaters and long sleeved shirts whilst enjoying the brisk colder air!!

What stood out to me of course is the overlay from “the” original Christmas story into a Contemporary Christmas Romance such as this one – where the story moves from having no place to stay to having a corporate woman on holiday with her son having to sort out why this particular Inn is malfunctioning. I’ve seen this played out a few times in Hallmark movies (ie. starring Brennan Elliott and/or Candace Cameron respectively) and I’ve always enjoyed them. There is something to be said for someone coming into a business at the moment its faltering and struggling to right its sails – you never know if it will fold, merge, sell or re-stablise and there is joy in the journey towards the ending seeing how hearts spark to life and sometimes in the midst of that kind of chaos romance can bloom!

This is why I was keen on learning a bit more about this story and why I am truly grateful I could interview the author during her blog tour this December.

Be sure to brew your favourite cuppa and enjoy this delightful holiday inspired Q&A!

No Room at the Little Cornish Inn
by Nancy Barone

Rosie Anderson was hoping to whisk her young son Danny away for a lovely Christmas with family, far from the hustle and bustle of her life in London. But then her boss at the head office – aka Susan the Sacker – suddenly assigns her to go in incognito and save a tiny inn in Cornwall from being closed permanently. Rosie doesn't know why The Old Bell Inn is performing so badly but it's on her to sort it out!

Hours in the car later, Rosie arrives at the inn to find she's been double booked – there are no rooms left. And she isn't there for more than a minute before she's butting heads with the manager, Irishman Mitchell Fitzpatrick. He seems to dislike her on sight, so it's confusing that he seems to get on so well with Danny... But if he's as terrible as his reputation, Rosie will have to be the one to fire him.

This really isn't the Christmas Rosie was dreaming of. But maybe, just maybe, it could be a whole lot more...

A sweet and uplifting Christmas romance, No Room at the Little Cornish Inn is perfect for fans of Philippa Ashley, Holly Martin and Jenny Hale.

Genres: Christmas Story &/or Christmas Romance, Contemporary (Modern) Fiction (post 1945), Contemporary Romance, Women's Fiction

Places to find the book:

Add to LibraryThing

ASIN: B0888WT8S5

Published by Aria Fiction

on 5th November, 2020

The Little Cornish series of stories:

[ although I am unsure if this is a dedicated series, all the stories involve ‘Little Cornish’ ]

New Hope for the Little Cornish Farmhouse (book one)

No Room at the Little Cornish Inn (book two)

Dreams of a Little Cornish Cottage (book three) ← forthcoming, 2021!

Published By: Aria Fiction (@Aria_Fiction)
a Digital First imprint of Head of Zeus (@HoZ_Books)

This is a Digital First Release!

Converse via: #NoRoomAtTheLittleCornishInn, #WomensFiction and #HeadOfZeus

Posted Tuesday, 1 December, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight, Christmas Romance &/or Holiday Story, Contemporary Romance, Head of Zeus, Reader Submitted Q&A, Romance Fiction, Single Mothers

Author Q&A | Jorie questions Shelly Campbell about her new Dark Fantasy “Under the Lesser Moon”!

Posted Thursday, 5 November, 2020 by jorielov Mythos and Ink Publishing, Shelly Campbell, The Marked Son series, Under the Lesser Moon 0 Comments

Hallo, Hallo dear hearts!

Earlier this August, I featured the Cover Reveal and book trailer (which spoke to the origins of the world’s mythology) whilst I was eagerly awaiting the blog tour which would celebrate the novel’s release. However, somewhere between my initial curiosities about Under the Lesser Moon and the blog tour, I have come to uncover some of the content and aspects of how the story is told (both contextually and visually) are now a step removed from what I can personally handle as a reader – as you will find disclosed through this Q&A there are certain content and trigger warnings which I simply do not desire to read about in the stories I am choosing to read. One of the hardest of all the ones listed for me is abuse – for both children and animals. It is a deal-breaker for me for any story I am considering to read because I simply cannot handle those kinds of stories – they are above and beyond the kind of content I want to be reading myself. In fact, I pulled out of a blog tour this year which dealt with explicit child abuse and on/off scene visuals of it because it was not the story I was pitched as a book blogger and I feel a bit the same in regards to Under the Lesser Moon.

Mostly as I was under the impression this was a slow-building dragon fiction series – wherein, the dragons would be more central to the story and to the context of the series rather than what is being disclosed today through the conversation I had with the author. In some respects, I think this is outside my own purview of what I would like to see in dragon fiction as this is too hinged to the origins of what first inspired the mythological past of the world Campbell has built. I had no idea her inspiration marker was the Aztecs as I studied the histories and cultures of the Aztecs, the Mayans and the Incas in school. I had a very strong passion for Archaeology and Anthropology and nearly entered those fields – however, of the three societies I studied, the one I felt the most akin to wanting to know more about were the Mayans. I found them quite interesting and by sixteen I was walking through the ruins of their cities in Central Mexico and in the Yucatan peninsula.

Likewise, the one series I never felt motivated to read despite it being touted as a series I ought to read by my teachers was Clan of the Cave Bear as to me, it was too brutal of a world and the darker elements of what was written into the novel for me were just not my cuppa of tea. I barely made it through the opening bridge of the first novel if I finished it at all before I put it down and returnt it to my teacher. I’ve kept away from stories and series which parallel thematically from that series and/or stories which are rooted in similar epochs of History as they do not seem to be a good fit for me as a reader.

And, in regards to the Horror disclosures of Under the Lesser Moon, I was quite disappointed as despite the fact I read ‘Cosy Horror’ – for me the most spookied part of this subniche of the genre is the fact like in a Hitchcock film, most of the suspenseful thrills are off camera and off-scene; these are stories which thread through a psychological suspense lens rather than a visually graphic one depicting the truer elements of what Horror is known for as a genre. Thereby, I do not read traditional Horror and was quite burnt a few times on stories which I felt were Cosier than they became as I read them.

As the conversation progressed however I appreciated the candor of the author’s responses as much as I appreciated how she gave us such a firm impression of her world-building and the character sketches she reveals about her mythological origins and of the lead character himself. To me, this conversation is pivotal towards understanding the main components of the series this novel begins and of better knowing if the content of the story (and of the succession of installments) is a good fit for us as readers. This is one reason I enjoy interviewing authors and/or conversing with them on Twitter. It is hard to gather an opinion about a story in Speculative Fiction from the outside without asking key questions which root out the specific areas we might be concerned about as readers. Thus, I am fully appreciative whenever an author answers my questions candidly and with such wonderful insight as Ms Campbell has herself today.

I hope you will find this conversation I had with the author, Ms Campbell will help you decide if this Dark Fantasy novel and series is right up your street or if it is a bit too dark for you as I have felt it is for me through the conversation we shared.

Posted Thursday, 5 November, 2020 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Dragon Fiction, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Indie Author, Mythos and Ink Publishing, Reader Submitted Q&A