Tag: Month9Books

Blog Book Tour | “The Sky Throne” by Chris Ledbetter A new approach to the back-story of #Zeus with a #GuestPost by the author explaining the ‘Sky Throne’.

Posted Monday, 16 October, 2017 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Book Review badge created by Jorie in Canva using Unsplash.com photography (Creative Commons Zero).

Acquired Book By: I have been aware of the publisher Month9Books for quite a few years now, as I used to host their Reveals & other special tours – even interviewing a lovely batch of their authors as books released I felt I would appreciate reading. However, in truth – I have only read two releases by them (as of yet) and this one marked an interest as it is a gateway into Greek Mythology. I received a complimentary copy of “The Sky Throne” direct from the author Chris Ledbetter in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.

Ahead of my review, I asked a topic of interest for Mr Ledbetter:

How did you conceive of the ‘the Sky Throne’ and how did you best want to endeavour to describe the power of the Gods previously only generally known through Myth and Legends? How did you want your story to stand separate and together from the legacy of what has already been written?

Since I primarily write for the young adult audience, I ultimately wanted to tell an “origin” story that re-imagined the deities of ancient Hellas as teenagers. From that genesis point, I had to decide which myth to begin with. One of the most well known myths is that of Kronos eating his children to prevent a prophecy from coming true. This is a huge cornerstone of the Hellenic gods’ creation myth as told in Hesiod’s Theogony.

From there, I had to choose which deity I’d focus on as the main character. Even though the number of myths containing each deity varies widely, from a source material perspective, I love each of the Olympians. But I’ve always been drawn to Zeus strictly from the lightning and thunder aspect of things. And because he’s the king of the Gods. I realize the myths paint him as a bit of a sordid character… and I’m not excusing his colorful behavior in the myths, but I sought to create a more sympathetic version, while still remaining generally true to his essence. He is indeed one of the most dynamic figures in myths.

After I’d conceived the story concept, I tried to describe their otherworldly powers and abilities as if they were super heroes and heroines. In many ways, the Gods of pantheons past were our first super heroes and villains.

In the marketplace, there was a plethora of young adult titles in which the main character was a half blood, demigod child of an ancient god. I wanted to go to the source and tell the story of the deities themselves. That’s what separates The Sky Throne from its peers.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Notation on Cover Art: I personally love the image of Zeus which is not only gracing the cover but it is inclusive to every ‘chapter’ page within the novel! There is simply something quite striking about this representation of Zeus and it stays with you as you read the story!

Blog Book Tour | “The Sky Throne” by Chris Ledbetter A new approach to the back-story of #Zeus with a #GuestPost by the author explaining the ‘Sky Throne’.The Sky Throne
Source: Author via iRead Book Tours

Duality dwells at every turn, and an adolescent Zeus will learn that all too well when Hyperion attacks his family on Crete.

When the dust settles, his mother is unconscious and his best friend left for dead.

Stacking epic insult upon fatal injury, Zeus discovers the woman who raised him is not his biological mother. But to ensure her safety while she recovers, a heavy-hearted Zeus leaves her behind to seek answers at Mount Olympus Preparatory Academia.

Zeus embarks on a quest to discover who ordered the attack on his home, avenge the death of his friend, and find his birth mother. When some of his new schoolmates vanish, Zeus's quest is turned upside down, and the only way to make things right is to access the power of The Sky Throne, confront a most dangerous enemy, and take his life back.

On his way to becoming king of the Greek gods, Zeus will learn to seize power, neutralize his enemies, and fall in love.


Places to find the book:

Borrow from a Public Library

Add to LibraryThing

ISBN: 9781945107870

on 18th April, 2017

Pages: 311

Published by: Month9Books (@Month9Books)

Converse via: #Zeus, #GreekMythos + #CleanReads + #YALit

About Chris Ledbetter

Chris Ledbetter

Chris Ledbetter is an award-winning author of short fiction and novels for young adults. “Jason’s Quest,” a short story retelling of the Jason and Medea Greek myth was published in the anthology, Greek Myths Revisited. His first full-length novel, Drawn earned him two awards, Library of Clean Reads Best YA 2015 and Evernight Publishing Readers’ Choice Award Best YA 2015, as well as a USA​ ​
TODAY “Must Read” recommendation. His second novel, Inked, concludes that duology. The Sky Throne is his newest young adult novel. The second book in the series is set to release in 2018.

He's a proud member of SCBWI (Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators) and a strong supporter of the Need for Diverse Books. He now writes and lives in Wilmington, NC with his family, including three cats.

Read More

Divider

Posted Monday, 16 October, 2017 by jorielov in After the Canon, Alternative History, Ancient Civilisation, Astronomy, Astrophysics, Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Brothers and Sisters, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Content Note, Death, Sorrow, and Loss, Equality In Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Fly in the Ointment, Folklore and Mythology, Gods & Goddesses, Good vs. Evil, Greece, Greek Mythology, Grief & Anguish of Guilt, Heroic Fantasy, Indie Author, Inspired by Stories, iRead Book Tours, Literature for Boys, Mother-Son Relationships, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Mythological Societies, Parapsychological Gifts, Quantum | Mechanics Physics Theory, Re-Told Tales, School Life & Situations, Science, Science Fiction, Shapeshifters, Siblings, Speculative Fiction, Superhero Adventure, Superhero Fiction, Supernatural Fiction, Teacher & Student Relationships, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, Transfer Student at School, Upper YA Fiction, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

Author Q&A | “Soulmated” by Shaila Patel an exciting new release for readers who love #DiverseLit!

Posted Monday, 30 January, 2017 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Conversations with the Bookish badge created by Jorie in Canva

Hallo dear hearts! I am pleased to be a part of the blog tour hosted directly by Month9Books for a new release of #DiverseLit featuring a cross-cultural romance between an Irish bloke and an Indian lass! I’ve had the pleasure of interacting a bit with the author via Twitter leading up to my tour stop – whilst being caught up in the pre-release excitement of having a new book begin it’s travels within the book world. Always an exciting time for authors & readers alike – what drew me into wanting to host this blog tour is the opportunity to talk to the author about her characters, the story-line itself and to help celebrate an author whose writing an #ownvoices release.

I have always read diversely, ever since I was a young girl, however, a lot has changed in publishing in the last several years – where #WeNeedDiverseBooks has become a movement I’ve been a part of since it’s initial Twitter storm of tweets supporting diversity and equality in literature to where we now can celebrate authors like Ms Patel, who are writing narratives from their own cultural heritage and background whilst being celebrated through the #ownvoices movement as well. Literature is quite an exciting time right now – but what moves me to the most to read stories, are the heart and soul centred stories where we truly get to enter into the lives of the characters through an emotional connective thread which gives us entrance into their lives.

As I read the premise behind Soulmated, I felt the author had a wonderful window into telling a story a lot of us could relate too, and would love to read. The fact that it’s a cross-cultural Romance with the added benefit for being inclusive of the Urban Fantasy arc of elements wherein the supernatural bits are interspersed with the lives of the characters, you feel as if your about to enter into an exciting story which has a fast pace of alighting inside your imagination.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Soulmated by Shaila Patel

Published By: Month9Books (@Month9Books)

on 24th January,  2017

Available Formats: Ebook | Paperback

Converse on Twitter via:

 #YALit, #DiversityInYA, & #DiverseSFF
 & #Month9Books

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

BOOK SYNOPSIS:

Two souls. One Fate.

Eighteen-year-old Liam Whelan, an Irish royal empath, has been searching for his elusive soulmate. The rare union will cement his family’s standing in empath politics and afford the couple legendary powers, while also making them targets of those seeking to oust them.

Laxshmi Kapadia, an Indian-American high school student from a traditional family, faces her mother’s ultimatum: Graduate early and go to medical school, or commit to an arranged marriage.

When Liam moves next door to Laxshmi, he’s immediately and inexplicably drawn to her. In Liam, Laxshmi envisions a future with the freedom to follow her heart.

Liam’s father isn’t convinced Laxshmi is “The One” and Laxshmi’s mother won’t even let her talk to their handsome new neighbor. Will Liam and Laxshmi defy expectations and embrace a shared destiny? Or is the risk of choosing one’s own fate too great a price for the soulmated?

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com Read More

Divider

Posted Monday, 30 January, 2017 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Cover | Notation on Design, Book Spotlight of E-Book (ahead of POD/print edition), China, Chinese Literature, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Equality In Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Good vs. Evil, Illustrations for Stories, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Month9Books, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Parapsychological Gifts, Stories on the Rise, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

Author Guest Post | Donna Galanti, a debut #MGLit novelist from #Month9Books who created an intriguing plot around natural phenom ‘lightning’!

Posted Friday, 29 May, 2015 by jorielov , , , 2 Comments

Author Guest Post Banner created by Jorie in Canva.

I recognise I am a bit delayed in wrapping up the final edits for today’s Guest Author Feature, for which I apologise as I took ill and was unable to complete this stop ahead of now. IF you visited me earlier in the day, I hope you were able to come back round and see what I had to share with you! I was super excited to have the opportunity to share a bit more about this novel, as I truly was captured by the essence of the story and how it will effectively continue to gain momentum as the series continues forward in new installments wherein the author will tempt our imaginations to continue to take the journey she began with her debut!

What I like the most about finding Middle Grade novels where writers are curating their own unique style of telling a story through a hybrid of Science Fiction and Fantasy, is the incredible depth of the layers in which their worlds are built upon. To take the reader into a world where everything about it’s reality is purported out of science but culled together through fantasy, is a true suspension of where stories endeavour us to jump out of our preconceptions and embrace something wondrously new!

As you will soon read, Ms Galanti answers my question about the ‘science’ threaded behind her novel’s story inasmuch as how she drew a clarity of how to express the ‘science’ behind the lightning road! May this guest author feature help inspire you to take a chance on this exciting new title by Month9!

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

Joshua and the Lightning Road by Donna Galanti

BOOK SYNOPSIS:

Stay away from the window, don’t go outside when it’s storming and whatever you do, do not touch the orb.

Twelve-year-old Joshua Cooper’s grandpa has always warned him about the dangers of lightning. But Joshua never put much stock in his grandpa’s rumblings as anything more than the ravings of an old man with a vast imagination. Then one night, when Joshua and his best friend are home alone during a frightful storm, Joshua learns his grandpa was right. A bolt of lightning strikes his house and whisks away his best friend—possibly forever.

To get him back, Joshua must travel the Lightning Road to a dark place that steals children for energy. But getting back home and saving his friend won’t be easy, as Joshua must face the terrifying Child Collector and fend off ferocious and unnatural beasts intent on destroying him.

In this world, Joshua possesses powers he never knew he had, and soon, Joshua’s mission becomes more than a search for his friend. He means to send all the stolen children home—and doing so becomes the battle of his life.

Read More

Divider

Posted Friday, 29 May, 2015 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours, Coming-Of Age, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Good vs. Evil, Illustrations for Stories, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Month9Books, Reader Submitted Guest Post (Topic) for Author, Science Fantasy

Month9Books Friday Reveal | “Serpentine” by Cindy Pon a new release for #DiverseSFF #readers who appreciate wicked epic #Fantasy yet in a #YALit world!

Posted Thursday, 21 May, 2015 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Month9Books Friday Reveal Team by Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours

As per my return to the Month9 Friday Reveals, I am happily on the look-out for wicked new stories about to hit bookshelves as much as celebrating the authors who are being published by Month9Books! When I caught sight of today’s reveal author [ Cindy Pon ] my first thought was — wait a second! I know who this is because I remember tweeting a s/o to her whilst her ARCs were being shipped! Lovely print edition ARCs of whom I had hoped would find a happy return of readerly support!

Let me share the short exchange with you:

Now when it comes to icon speak on Twitter I’m at a loss but when a creature is preempted by a heart, I knew it was a compliment! Imagine my happiness in being able to feature the *Cover Reveal!* for the same book I was happily tweeting out a bit of joy to the author earlier this month!? I love when serendipity plays a central role in our lives, because we truly are all connected and sometimes things are meant to be before we even realise the why and how we find the authors and stories which alight on our paths. Read More

Divider

Posted Thursday, 21 May, 2015 by jorielov in Bits & Bobbles of Jorie, Blog Tour Host, Book Cover | Notation on Design, Book Spotlight of E-Book (ahead of POD/print edition), Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours, China, Chinese Literature, Coming-Of Age, Compassion & Acceptance of Differences, Equality In Literature, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Good vs. Evil, Historical Fiction, Illustrations for Stories, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Library Love, Local Libraries | Research Libraries, Month9Books, Multi-cultural Characters and/or Honest Representations of Ethnicity, Parapsychological Gifts, Stories on the Rise, Teenage Relationships & Friendships, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction

Author Interview | Conversing with debut novelist, Julie Reece on behalf of her #Month9Books #YALit novel “The Artisans”!

Posted Wednesday, 20 May, 2015 by jorielov , , 0 Comments

Conversations with the Bookish badge created by Jorie in Canva

I honestly have been properly smitten with the book releases coming out of Month9Books, which is quite easy to understand if you follow the category threads for my book showcases & guest author features highlighting the new releases coming out of this Indie Publisher! When it comes to reading Gothic Literature, this is a topic I’ve explored on my blog as it has a tendency to be a genre I am quite intrigued by and readily find myself seeking out authors who write either Southern Gothic or Traditional Gothic Lit stories! And, of course, there is the realisation that I am still attempting to dig back inside Jane Eyre after picking it up for the first time in September 2013! One day. One day I shall find myself happily entrenched and will not re-emerge until I know how it all ends as it was originally written!

Late last year, I came across Sarah E. Boucher’s fairy-tale style of story-telling where she took on the legend, lore, and essence behind Beauty and the Beast. Becoming introduced to this style, I started to notice how many times I was being drawn forward into modern writer’s take on the classic fairy-tale story by re-aligning it inside their own worlds of fantasy and/or taking the lesser travelled historical fiction route. I have believed the key elements inside Beauty and the Beast, have always been arching back into the Gothic sub-genre sections due to it’s broodingly dark tone hanging over the Beast and the castle itself.

Part of the appeal for me to seek out these modern variants on the classics, is a step forward into reading fairy-tales as a previous #ChocLitSaturday chat already proved that more than two of us in our huckleberry circle of chatters are not meant to read the originals due to how dark and how horridly horrific they read on the page! I am finding enjoyment in seeing a new thread of chapters which pull back the dark horror side of the fairy-tale segments and instead fuse our imaginations into a story we can honestly enjoy reading without being on pins on what our eyes will drink in.

This is how I came to approach a yearning to read The Artisans and why I requested to be placed on the tour to host the author in an interview, such as the one your about to read below! I know each time I catch sight of a Month9Books title I dearly want to read, I will be hosting the author for a conversation or a guest post in lieu of reading the book(s) in print editions. It is my hope after six months from publication, I can start to query the books out of inter-library loan. I find I have quite a good bit of luck in this regard, as I recently queued up another Young Adult release I had yearned to read last year (not Month9Books) which was Snow Like Ashes. Until then, the Month9Books & Swoon Romance novels I wish to read in the near future will be populating my Riffle Lists!

As an aside, I was attempting to participate in the Book Blitz for this novel last week, but due to a variety of different reasons not worth mentioning I lost the hours to do so. However, in the end, it worked out for the best as I hadn’t realised there were ‘required bits to include’ as I was going to write a bit more about the book itself and why it entranced me to read it whilst giving the First Chapter a bit of a go too.

I received a copy of the ePub version of this novel (as this is a new compliment to hosting Month9Books blog tours), but as mentioned several times on my blog, I can only read novels in their full length in print. Therefore, the best I can do is settle inside the opening bits of the First Chapter or even a smaller portion of that if it is a chapter on the longer end of the spectrum. I consider these little ‘tastes’ prior to reading the novels in full. To understand what I mean, you might want to visit how I expressed my appreciation for another Fantasy novel for Middle Grade readers based on a Chapter Sampler. I will be separating my thoughts on behalf of The Artisans from this interview and publishing them (hopefully) lateron in the day.

Fun Stuff for Your Blog via pureimaginationblog.com

The Artisans by Julie ReeceBook Synopsis:

They say death can be beautiful. But after the death of her mother, seventeen-year-old Raven Weathersby gives up her dream of becoming a fashion designer, barely surviving life in the South Carolina lowlands.

To make ends meet, Raven works after school as a seamstress creating stunning works of fashion that often rival the great names of the day.

Instead of making things easier on the high school senior, her stepdad’s drinking leads to a run in with the highly reclusive heir to the Maddox family fortune, Gideon Maddox.

But Raven’s stepdad’s drying out and in no condition to attend the meeting with Maddox. So Raven volunteers to take his place and offers to repay the debt in order to keep the only father she’s ever known out of jail, or worse.

Gideon Maddox agrees, outlining an outrageous demand: Raven must live in his home for a year while she designs for Maddox Industries’ clothing line, signing over her creative rights.

Her handsome young captor is arrogant and infuriating to the nth degree, and Raven can’t imagine working for him, let alone sharing the same space for more than five minutes.

But nothing is ever as it seems. Is Gideon Maddox the monster the world believes him to be? And can he stand to let the young seamstress see him as he really is?

Published By: Month9Books (@Month9Books)

on 12th of May, 2015

Available Formats: Paperback, Ebook | Public Library | Add to Riffle

Converse on Twitter via:

#TheArtisans & #YALit OR #Month9Books

Read More

Divider

Posted Wednesday, 20 May, 2015 by jorielov in Blog Tour Host, Book Spotlight of E-Book (ahead of POD/print edition), Chapter by Chapter Blog Tours, Coming-Of Age, Debut Author, Debut Novel, Fantasy Fiction, Folklore and Mythology, Good vs. Evil, Gothic Literature, Indie Author, Indie Book Trade, Inspired By Author OR Book, Month9Books, Re-Told Tales, Stories on the Rise, Urban Fantasy, YA Fantasy, Young Adult Fiction