Monday, November 29, 2021

#FantasyforChristmas21 • Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker

On tour with Prism Book Tours

Forestborn
(Forestborn, #1)
By Elayne Audrey Becker
Young Adult Fantasy
Hardcover, Paperback & ebook, 368 Pages
August 31, 2021 by Tor Teen

A young, orphaned shapeshifter in a world that fears magic must risk everything if she hopes to save her only friend in Elayne Audrey Becker's Forestborn, first in a new fantasy series with a timeless feel.

TO BE BORN OF THE FOREST IS A GIFT AND A CURSE.

Rora is a shifter, as magical as all those born in the wilderness―and as feared. She uses her abilities to spy for the king, traveling under different guises and listening for signs of trouble.

When a magical illness surfaces across the kingdom, Rora uncovers a devastating truth: Finley, the young prince and her best friend, has caught it, too. His only hope is stardust, the rarest of magical elements, found deep in the wilderness where Rora grew up―and to which she swore never to return.

But for her only friend, Rora will face her past and brave the dark, magical wood, journeying with her brother and the obstinate, older prince who insists on coming. Together, they must survive sentient forests and creatures unknown, battling an ever-changing landscape while escaping human pursuers who want them dead. With illness gripping the kingdom and war on the horizon, Finley’s is not the only life that hangs in the balance.

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Excerpt

Finley’s eyes are glazing over, far too fast, the pupils dilating as if he’s concussed. He shakes his head, holds out a hand, clutches mine when I step close to steady him. “I think—”

“Finley!” I cry, catching him when his knees suddenly give way. I’m dismayed at how easy it is to support his weight, considering he’s only one year younger than me. Or two, or three. It’s all a guess, really. “Fin, talk to me,” I say, my heart flinging itself wildly against my ribcage as I watch his eyes lose focus once more. His hand loosens its grip on mine, and both of us sink to the forest floor.

“Let him go,” I beg, bending over the body gone rigid, the heaving chest, the quivering, waxen skin. Alarm bells are screaming through my head, loud as the clocktower tolling the hour, and with them, the tingling in my core returns. Threads of numbness engulf my limbs. Fur along my back, then feathers all over—my body torn between the urge to hide or to flee, far away from this scene I never saw coming. “Please. Not him, too.”

I ignore the gathering sounds of creaking, groaning wood overhead with a vengeance. Tears are welling in my eyes, but I blink them away and shake my head, refusing to let them fall. Refusing because this day of truth has always been tainted by lies, so what’s one more to add to the tally? In the darkening wood, I set each one before me, all of the lies I reach for when the nightmares, the dirty looks, the hidden scars and endless self-loathing begin to drag me under—that my mother loved me before she left me, that my brother and I are not a curse, that I can be good and selfless and worthy of love in spite of the things I’ve done. I assemble them all, then set one more on the shelf: that my best friend, my only true friend aside from Helos, isn’t dying.

But the trees around me, leaves and branches straining against their holds, limbs pointing to Finley like a circle of swords—the trees all tell a different story.

Excerpted from Forestborn by Elayne Audrey Becker. Copyright © 2021  by Elayne Audrey Becker. Published by Tor Teen.

Other Books in the Series

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About the Author


ELAYNE AUDREY BECKER (she/her) is a storyteller with a passion for history, myth, mountains, and magic. She holds a B.A. from Vassar College and a master of science from the University of Aberdeen, and she has worked as an editor at a New York publisher. Born and raised in Georgia, she grew up with a lake and woods as her backyard, spending long days outside and visiting national parks with her family. Forestborn is her first book.
Tour Schedule
(Posts go live on the day they're scheduled.)

November 28th: Launch
November 29th: Elayne Audrey Becker - Forestborn
November 30th: Michelle Diener - The Turncoat King
December 1st: Jes Drew - Agents Adam and Eve
December 2nd: Sharon Hinck - Windward Shore
December 3rd: Kara Linaburg - The Broken Prince
December 4th: Cathy McCrumb - Recorder
December 5th: Sandra Fernandez Rhoads - Realms of Light
December 6th: Chawna Schroeder - The Vault Between Spaces
December 7th: Melissa Wright - Beneath Stone and Sacrifice
December 8th: Kristen Young - Elite
December 9th: Grand Finale

Tour Giveaway


One winner will receive a $50 (USD) Amazon eGift Card

Open internationally
Ends December 13, 2021

ENTER HERE
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Sunday, November 28, 2021

Fantasy & Sci-Fi for Christmas Tour Lauch!

On tour with Prism Book Tours

We're excited to be sharing books from ten fantasy and sci-fi authors with this
holiday season, a different book each day! There is also a giveaway to enter below.

Tour Schedule
(Posts go live on the day they're scheduled.)

November 28th: Launch
November 29th: Elayne Audrey Becker - Forestborn
November 30th: Michelle Diener - The Turncoat King
December 1st: Jes Drew - Agents Adam and Eve
December 2nd: Sharon Hinck - Windward Shore
December 3rd: Kara Linaburg - The Broken Prince
December 4th: Cathy McCrumb - Recorder
December 5th: Sandra Fernandez Rhoads - Realms of Light
December 6th: Chawna Schroeder - The Vault Between Spaces
December 7th: Melissa Wright - Beneath Stone and Sacrifice
December 8th: Kristen Young - Elite
December 9th: Grand Finale

Books on Tour




Bloggers & Bookstagrammers Participating


Tour Giveaway


One winner will receive a $50 (USD) Amazon eGift Card

Open internationally
Ends December 13, 2021

ENTER HERE
 
Grab Our Button!






Book Tour Spotlight: The London House by Katherine Reay





Synopsis

Uncovering a dark family secret sends one woman through the history of Britain’s World War II spy network and glamorous 1930s Paris to save her family’s reputation.

Caroline Payne thinks it’s just another day of work until she receives a call from Mat Hammond, an old college friend and historian. But pleasantries are cut short. Mat has uncovered a scandalous secret kept buried for decades: In World War II, Caroline’s British great-aunt betrayed family and country to marry her German lover.

Determined to find answers and save her family’s reputation, Caroline flies to her family’s ancestral home in London. She and Mat discover diaries and letters that reveal her grandmother and great-aunt were known as the “Waite sisters.” Popular and witty, they came of age during the interwar years, a time of peace and luxury filled with dances, jazz clubs, and romance. The buoyant tone of the correspondence soon yields to sadder revelations as the sisters grow apart, and one leaves home for the glittering fashion scene of Paris, despite rumblings of a coming world war.

Each letter brings more questions. Was Caroline’s great-aunt actually a traitor and Nazi collaborator, or is there a more complex truth buried in the past? Together, Caroline and Mat uncover stories of spies and secrets, love and heartbreak, and the events of one fateful evening in 1941 that changed everything. In this rich historical novel from award-winning author Katherine Reay, a young woman is tasked with writing the next chapter of her family’s story. But Caroline must choose whether to embrace a love of her own and proceed with caution if her family’s decades-old wounds are to heal without tearing them even further apart.

Advance Praise

“Carefully researched, emotionally hewn, and written with a sure hand, The London House is a tantalizing tale of deeply held secrets, heartbreak, redemption, and the enduring way that family can both hurt and heal us. I enjoyed it thoroughly.”— Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Vanishing Stars and The Book of Lost Names

“An expertly researched and marvelously paced treatise on the many variants of courage and loyalty . . . Arresting historical fiction destined to thrill fans of Erica Roebuck and Pam Jenoff.”— Rachel McMillan, author of The London Restoration and The Mozart Code

“Reay’s fast-paced foray into the past cleverly reveals a family’s secrets and how a pivotal moment shaped future generations. Readers who enjoy engrossing family mystery should take note.”— Publisher’s Weekly

About the Author

Katherine Reay is the national bestselling and award-winning author of Dear Mr. Knightley, Lizzy and Jane, The Brontë Plot, A Portrait of Emily Price, The Austen Escape, and The Printed Letter Bookshop. All Katherine’s novels are contemporary stories with a bit of classical flair. Katherine holds a BA and MS from Northwestern University, graduating Phi Beta Kappa, and is a wife, mother, former marketer, and avid chocolate consumer. After living all across the country and a few stops in Europe, Katherine now happily resides outside Chicago, IL.



 


Tuesday, November 23, 2021

Review: The Lumberjack's Bride by Pam Hillman


My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it



Synopsis

City girl Lucy Denson cooks for a logging crew in the Mississippi backwoods until she can return to her idea of civilization back in Chicago. Can lumberjack Eli Everett convince that her happiness lies not in the city, but with him in the piney woods?

(Originally published in The 12 Brides of Summer Novella Collection)


My Review

I've loved books featuring lumberjacks ever since I read The Measure of Katie Calloway by Serena B. Miller. It also reminds me of a movie I saw in my childhood- The Journey of Natty Gann. I love the setting of the woods, the era, and the hardworking ethic of the people in the industry- both men and women. This novella by Pam Hillman brought all of that to life. Eli's first impression of Lucy is that she's too fragile for the life, but she quickly proves him wrong with her eagerness to help and determination to learn. It's so sweet how Eli's mother teaches Lucy how to cook since she no longer can. I wish the timeline was a bit longer for their romance to add more depth, but it is a lovely story and one I enjoyed reading. This author's writing style appeals to me.

Disclosure statement: A complimentary copy of this book was provided from a tour group, publisher, publicist, or author, including NetGalley, OR was borrowed from the library, including OverDrive, OR borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, OR purchased. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.

Don't miss the previous book in the Mississippi Piney Woods series . . .







Review: Manor for Sale, Baron Included by Esther Hatch



My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing

http://www.amazon.com http://www.amazon.com http://www.bookdepository.com http://www.goodreads.com

Synopsis

She has everything Lord Farnsworth wants, including his manor.

Lord Farnsworth would rather rot in debtor’s prison than sell the one place that feels like home to him—his mother’s manor. That is, until he meets the woman who wants to buy it. Sally Duncan is beautiful, intelligent, and as rich as a baron—a rich baron, not a cash-strapped one like Lord Farnsworth. She’s the solution to every one of his financial problems and is bewitching to boot. All he needs to do is sell her his beloved manor and then charm her to the altar, and the manor will be his again. Simple, right?

But nothing is simple when Sally starts tearing apart his ancestral home and renovating it in a way no one would consider tasteful. She is wreaking havoc on everything, but he cannot give up on owning his mother’s estate again, nor can he imagine anyone but Sally as his wife.

And so he sticks with his plan.

What a horrible mistake.


My Review

This was such a fun story to read! The mannerisms, the banter, the humor- they were all subtle enough to avoid silliness, and beautifully balanced with character development. I loved the unique aspects that brought even more interest and humor- the squirrel, Sally's sister, Lord Farnsworth's hobby, and the significance of the winter garden. Sally is independent and so clever, and she can see right through John... except when he really falls for her. I loved how she kept him on his toes, and her vibrant personality made him quickly realize how much he needed her as a partner, something he didn't even know he wanted. Even with his flaws, I admired John's sincerity and smiled at his bafflement when tradition flew out the window as Sally and her sister help his perspective shift. So much to love about this book! The romance between these two stubborn characters is not as easy one but highly entertaining!

Disclosure statement: A complimentary copy of this book was provided from a tour group, publisher, publicist, or author, including NetGalley, OR was borrowed from the library, including OverDrive, OR borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, OR purchased. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.




Saturday, November 20, 2021

Review: Charming Artemis by Sarah M. Eden


My rating: 4 stars / I really liked it



Synopsis

Charlie Jonquil is mild-mannered and kind—except when it comes to his one true adversary, Artemis Lancaster. Though Charlie has a brilliant mind for mathematics, Artemis poses a problem he can’t seem to comprehend: how can one be so lovely and so infuriating? A party in London brings him into the company of the maddening young lady, and it is clear that Charlie’s disdain is mutual. But when an unfortunate incident between the pair involving Charlie’s jacket and a glass of raspberry shrub leads to scandal, the sworn enemies are left with only two options: be ruined or be married.

So it is that Artemis finds herself in a most outrageous predicament: she must wed a gentleman she’s hated for years—and she pledges to avoid him at all costs. But it is only when they enter into this mockery of a marriage that Charlie and Artemis learn things are not as simple as they once appeared. As their tentative ceasefire leads to friendship, it seems their marriage born of desperation might lead them to a love that was destined to be.


My Review

So happy to read another book featuring the Jonquil brothers and Lancaster siblings! Charlie and Artemis are the youngest of those families, so this served as the last book of both series, but it also connects the author's two newer series- The Gents, which is about Lucas Jonquil's generation of friends, and The Huntresses, which focus on Artemis and her friends. This book is not what I expected, but it was still wonderful. Charlie's deceased father is actually a bit of a scene-stealer in this book- much of the story revolves around him and his influence on the characters, as well as the impact of his passing. It was highly emotional at times, and I felt like there was quite a bit of resolution and closure of issues that had been hovering throughout the series. What most surprised me was how through this experience Artemis and Charlie's spicy relationship mellowed. I missed their banter which hinted at romantic tension, so when that was removed I felt like their interactions were missing something. In their new marriage the development focused more on overcoming prejudices about each other and giving friendship a chance. The romance was gentler than anticipated, but still it was very sweet and woven in with both Artemis and Charlie's secret vulnerabilities and their healing as the Jonquil family comes together for a final endowment from their well-loved and missed patriarch.

Disclosure statement: A complimentary copy of this book was provided from a tour group, publisher, publicist, or author, including NetGalley, OR was borrowed from the library, including OverDrive, OR borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, OR purchased. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.



Review: A Yorkshire Carol by Jennie Goutet



My rating: 5 stars / It was amazing



Synopsis
 
The heart is deceitful above all things. Who can understand it?
 
When Juliana Issot’s godmother invites her to spend the month of Christmas for a house party in Yorkshire, Juliana feels compelled by affection to accept. Never mind that she escaped Yorkshire at first chance to secure a more glittering match in London, and the only matrimonial prospect at home is her childhood playmate, Willelm.

Willelm Armitage is a born and bred Yorkshireman, and as far as he is concerned, Juliana belongs here, too—and at his side. However, the one time he tried to convince her of this, she speedily gave him the right-about, making him question whether she truly was the right choice for him. After all, if she cannot see how well they suit, he is not about to force her hand.

A Christmas house party with pudding, games, charades, riding, and carols turns out to be just the thing to remind Juliana of how much she loves Yorkshire. But when her nostalgia slips into love will she be able to admit that Willelm knew the longings of her heart better than she knew her own?


My Review

I loved the Christmas setting at the Yorkshire house party! It was interesting how the characters expressed the vast difference between London and Yorkshire culture and customs. London is seen as more refined and high society, while Yorkshire is country, with rougher manners. It was sad that Juliana didn't understand how to balance the two, and felt that she must shun one to belong in the other. I appreciated the character growth she went through, and was able to realize the comfort and authenticity of Yorkshire can compete with the shallow glamor of London. Willelm had his eyes opened with Juliana's London behavior, but their childhood bond helps them renew their friendship during the house party. He is the ultimate good guy, being able to forgive her and understand that she wants something different from life, while still enjoying her company. I loved reading as Juliana's more genuine character begins to shine and Willelm can't help but hope for a future together. A lovely story for the holidays!

Disclosure statement: A complimentary copy of this book was provided from a tour group, publisher, publicist, or author, including NetGalley, OR was borrowed from the library, including OverDrive, OR borrowed from Kindle Unlimited, OR purchased. A review was not required and all views and opinions expressed are unbiased and my own.

A Christmas Match series