Thank you, Booktamins and Heather Blair, for having me as part of the blog tour for this sweet gay time-travel romance! I’ve been in an odd reading mood recently, so reading something with barely any fantastical elements has proven a welcome distraction from my usual diet, and it was fun to read a new adult romance for once!

RELEASE DATE: 21/04/20

STAR RATING: 3/5 ✶

SUMMARY: When Diego Delgado closed his eyes it was 2020. When he awoke, he was one-hundred years in the past. Thrust into the dawn of the Jazz Age with no money and nowhere to go, Diego encounters a veritable bouquet of acquaintances including a kind-hearted factory owner, a free-spirited flapper, a worldly-wise mystic, and a strong-willed heir named Thomas Greely. Diego, desperate to return to the future and reunite with his young daughter, must blend in with the roaring twenties lifestyle while searching for answers. But distractions are all around him, especially Thomas who is both beautiful and charismatic, and Diego must grapple with the reality that even if he succeeds in returning home, half of his heart will stay behind.

OPINIONS: Now, I want to begin by saying that I really enjoyed reading For the Lost Time. It is a cute story about two men finding themselves and figuring out who they are and who they want to be, and as a romance, there is of course a HEA. While the main characters were not as deep as they could have been, they were written in ways that made the readers feel with them, and hints for the ending were strewn nicely throughout the book without giving too much away before it was time. And I mean, yeah, Diego and Thomas were the stars of the show, but Dora stole my heart. I love me a feisty woman who can hold her own in a man’s world.

However, as it is a self-published work, it shows that it has not been thoroughly edited by someone other than the author. This might partially be me picking up on this more as someone trying to get into the industry and editing myself, but the prose is inconsistent, and heavily overwritten at times. The author often tells rather than shows, and there are a few logical inconsistencies. I am confident that a professional edit could help improve the book immensely, as the bones of the story and characters are strong.

If you are intrigued, add For the Lost Time on Goodreads here, or order it from Amazon US as a paperback or ebook here!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Heather Blair is the author of new adult romance novels including Lucid Dreaming and Wide Awake. She was born and raised in Vermont and has spent much of her adult life in New York and Los Angeles. She currently resides in Connecticut with her two cats. You can find her here:

• Website – https://heatherblairauthor.blog/
• Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18185508.Heather_Blair
• Twitter – https://twitter.com/IamHeatherBlair
• Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/iamheatherblair/
• Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/heatherblair.author/

To finish off the big Titan Books blog tour for Eden by Tim Lebbon, I’m honoured to add my review to the lineup! A fascinating, unique read that got me scared, which is no easy feat.

Thank you to Lydia Gittins and Titan Books for the review copy and the inclusion on the blog tour! I’m feeling ill today, so I hope no silly mistakes have made their way into the post!

RELEASE DATE: 15/06/20 (UK)

STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶

SUMMARY: Earth’s rising oceans contain enormous islands of refuse, the Amazon rainforest is all-but destroyed, and countless species edge towards extinction. Humanity’s last hope to save the planet lies with The Virgin Zones, thirteen vast areas of land off-limits to people and given back to nature.

Dylan leads a clandestine team of adventure racers, including his daughter Jenn, into Eden, the oldest of the Zones. Jenn carries a secret––Kat, Dylan’s wife who abandoned them both years ago, has entered Eden ahead of them. Jenn is determined to find her mother, but neither she nor the rest of their tight-knit team are prepared for what confronts them. Nature has returned to Eden in an elemental, primeval way.  And here, nature is no longer humanity’s friend. (from Titan Books)

OPINIONS: Eden might well be the creepiest, scariest book I have ever read. This pacey read keeps you on your toes from beginning to end, trying to figure out its mystery. Rather than fighting a clear evil, this book’s villain is unclear throughout most of the story, and it is that uncertainty that drives the plot and atmosphere. Hopelessness, loss, sacrifice and love are all themes strongly present in Eden, and while it is a horror thriller, it is just as much a family drama at its heart.

Dylan and his daughter Jenn lead a ragtag group of adventurers into one of the remaining virigin zones, Eden. Ostensibly there to push boundaries and come out on top of the community, the team soon finds out that Kat, Dylan’s estranged wife and Jenn’s mother has gone missing inside Eden weeks earlier and that there might be more to their expedition than glory and adventure. And once they are inside the zone, they start finding impossible bodies before the first members of their own team start disappearing. That’s when things become creepy and terrifying. I think quarantine has made me a bit soft, but I actually had to take breaks while reading, which I don’t remember ever doing before.

Massive strengths of the book are worldbuilding and pacing, which both Eden, and the genre in general depends on. Sadly, one victim of this is character development – while a couple of characters are a bit more fleshed out, they are generally relatively one-dimensional. Think stand-ins for plot and world to happen to them, rather than agents of story as a driving force. I do think this is to a large part due to genre, but I would have wished for a bit more depth.

If you are looking for an escape from lockdown life, I definitely recommend you pick up this eco-horror mystery thriller! Add it on Goodreads here, and order it from Forbidden Planet or your indie of choice.

Today I’m here to talk to you about one of my favourite books of last year, Sanctuary by V.V. James. While it came out in a beautiful hardback last summer, it is being re-released in a shiny new paperback and Orion are celebrating with a full fledged blog tour (and obviously, saving the best for last!). I am very excited to share my first ever author interview with you all, and I’m very happy that it gets to be with one of the loveliest authors I know.

A genre-defying gem of a story, Sanctuary is the story of a murder in a small town, with all the drama and social implications that brings with it. However, in the world of Sanctuary, witches are a part of society, and this murder seems to have been committed through magic… Outsider Maggie Knight is brought in to investigate, and the young cop has her work cut out for her: the blame gets assigned quickly and factions built, murder becoming more of a social game rather than an objective investigation.

The story is intricately crafted, and reveals are written in the magical way where the balance between ‘I did not see this coming’ and seeing all the little hints dropped on the way build to the logical conclusion once you have gone past the point of the reveal. When I finished Sanctuary, I immediately wanted to reread it – apart from its unique approach to magic, it is the first book I’ve ever read that included tweets from the president. It is a great book, and we need more of them! Order yourself a copy of the shiny new paperback via Hive or Waterstones.

What was your inspiration behind the concept of having witches as a known, but strictly regulated part of society?

I’ve always loved writing worlds that are recognizably our own, but off-tilt by five or ten degrees. My first trilogy is recognizably modern Britain, with the tweak that the elite 1% who have all the wealth and power also have magic. SANCTUARY sprang from a world rocked by the Women’s Marches, and Me Too, and is about many things, but certainly women’s anger and disenfranchisement, yet also their strength. It seemed possible to embody those qualities within witchcraft.

Our whole notion of what it is to ‘be a woman’ has been created within a patriarchal culture that polices the boundaries and acceptable forms of women’s existence. So a policed and regulated witchcraft is my expression of that in the world of SANCTUARY’s alt-America.

Which character did you enjoy writing the most, and why?

Maggie. I love her humour and pragmatism, and the way she listens to both her heart and her brain. The way she respects but challenges her boss, and teaches and supports her assistant. The way she constantly strives to determine the right thing, on a case where nothing is simple or easy. The fact that she loves doughnuts. (I can’t tell you how many gratuitous doughnut moments were struck out by the editor’s red pen! I was definitely projecting…) Maggie is a good, decent human navigating a complicated world – like Luke in my first trilogy. I love inhabiting characters like that.

What was the biggest challenge writing SANCTUARY after your initial fantasy trilogy?

My trilogy used multiple narrators – my brain is really drawn to 360-degree storytelling – and is also very ‘plotty’, but one huge change was switching from writing in the close-third person to first person. Also, in SANCTUARY, our three key narrators are adult women, whereas in the trilogy we heard from both adults and teens, male and female. I knew it was vital that cop Maggie, bereaved mother Abigail, and witch Sarah were clearly distinguished, so I worked hard on their language and interior thought patterns, as well as their very divergent outward behavior. I was absolutely thrilled when the audiobook was cast with three different narrators, rather than one narrator varying her delivery. Go have a listen!

One of the central elements of SANCTUARY is fear and mass hysteria – do you see any parallels between the threat of Sanctuary’s witches and how we are dealing with the current pandemic?

It’s ironic, when I was writing SANCTUARY the one plot element I worried might strain the reader’s willing belief was the quarantine at the end, when Sanctuary is locked down by local authorities. And here we are in the time of Covid-19. I’m writing these answers in my London flat which I only leave for an hour a day to go for a run, and by the time you read this I maybe won’t even be able to do that. You’re absolutely right, the book is about what fear does to a community – and sadly we’ve seen plenty of examples recently, most shamefully in the panic buying of the first weeks of lockdown. And it is about how a frightened population can turn against individuals and the group they represent – just look at the boycotting of Chinese restaurants at the first whispers of Covid-19, the awful hostility endured by people of East Asian appearance, and the persisting narrative of the ‘Chinese virus’ that’s still coming down from the highest levels. Hatred is never the correct expression of fear. Community is the only answer.

As an aspiring editor, I am always curious about the author/editor relationship. What can you tell us about working with the fabulous Rachel Winterbottom?

Rachel is the person responsible for SANCTUARY existing in the first place! We were having coffee when she talked about how much she’d love to see a ‘Big Little Lies with witches’ book – and I just knew the right person to write it was me! We talked then about how I’d been in the US making documentaries during the time of the Women’s Marches after the Trump election, the national mood, Lana del Rey’s apparent call for witches to hex the new president … and the sinkhole that subsequently opened up in the White House lawn! SANCTUARY is really tightly plotted, and again, Rachel was pivotal – we kicked an outline back and forth, finessing twists. And then I went away and wrote it, and it all just flowed. The first thing you learn when your debut gets bought by a publisher is how close and collaborative the writer-editor relationship is. Usually that input comes after you’ve finished the first draft. In this case, it was front-loaded – Rachel literally waved a wand and magicked SANCTUARY into being, championing it within Hachette at acquisition. We were a coven of two!

What are some books you are excited to read in the upcoming weeks or that you have loved recently?

I just binged Jay Kristoff’s NEVERNIGHT – wow wow wow. Possibly the best fantasy trilogy of the past ten years? GIDEON THE NINTH by Taz Muir was a wild ride and I am desperate for the sequel. And I am loving that we’re seeing more of the feminist fantastical, from Samantha Shannon’s magisterial PRIORY OF THE ORANGE TREE to Mel Salisbury’s slender-but-devastating HOLD BACK THE TIDE, to the otherworldly SISTERSONG coming next year from Lucy Holland, which I was lucky enough to read in draft.

Thank you, Vic, for your wonderful answers!

March is almost over! Although it feels as if this month has lasted a lifetime, it is finally nearing its end – and with it the series of FFBC blog tours I had planned for you. But never fear, I have lots of fun and exciting content planned for April as well… Today though, we are here to discuss Between Burning Worlds by Jessica Brody and Joanne Rendell, the second the System Divine series, which is basically Les Mis in space!

Check out the full tour schedule here, and have a look at the posts my lovely co-bloggers have created for their stops on the tour. Many thanks to the Fantastic Flying Book Club for the inclusion on the tour, and to Netgalley and Simon Pulse for the eARC.

RELEASE DATE: 24/03/20

STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶

SYNOPSIS:

A thief. An officer. A guardian.

All from different backgrounds, but sharing one same destiny…

The planet Laterre is in turmoil. A new militant revolutionary group has emerged calling themselves “The Red Scar” and claiming responsibility for a spate of recent bombings. The infamous rebels known as the Vangarde believe that in order to bring about a peaceful revolution, their charismatic leader, Citizen Rousseau must be freed from prison right away. Otherwise the bloodshed will only escalate.

Soon Marcellus, Chatine, and Alouette all find themselves pulled into battle with extreme consequences.

Marcellus is determined to uncover his corrupt grandfather’s plan to seize Laterre—even if that means joining the Vangarde.

Aloutte, trying to unearth the truth about her past, becomes a captive of Marcellus’s grandfather, the general.

Chatine, who is serving time on Bastille, hopes to escape the brutal and horrifying reality of the prison moon.

But the failed attempt to break Citizen Rousseau out of prison launches Aloutte, Chatine, and Marcellus into the middle of a dangerous war for control of Laterre. And in the midst of it all is the legend of a secret and dangerous weapon that could mean complete and absolute power to any that wields it.

OPINIONS: Set at a bit of a distance from the first book, Sky Without Stars, Between Burning Worlds dives right into the action. Following the parallel strands of Chatine, Marcellus and Alouette’s stories, it continues to depict the social unrest on Laterre, and the threat of complete revolution and devastating war. However, at the end of Sky Without Stars, Marcellus had discovered that his grandfather, the General, had been behind much of the brutal, supposed revolutionary action, trying to rule the population through fear. In Between Burning Worlds, Marcellus and his friends discover that there might be even more to his grandfather’s plans than they suspected, a quest that takes them further than they ever thought possible…

While the first book dragged at times and needed to introduce a lot of world-building, this second installment is action-packed and thrilling. Introducing several new factions and places into the mix, as well as leaving more space for reflection and growth, this collaboration comes into its own in Between Burning Worlds. Characters get more depth, and a number of open threads get resolved – although we still end up with many unanswered questions by the end of the book!

I really appreciate how these books advocate for peaceful rebellion over bloodshed, how violence on both sides is shown as something to avoid. All too often, righteous violence is depicted as positive, when, really, it too needs to be avoided. I’m glad the characters struggle with their conscience if they have to defend themselves, even if the situation is clear in context. In the current climate, we need more pacifism.

I recommend you check these books out yourself, add Between Burning Worlds on Goodreads, or order it from Book Depository or your retailer (or indie!) of choice.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

JESSICA BRODY knew from a young age that she wanted to be a writer. She started self “publishing” her own books when she was seven years old, binding the pages together with cardboard, wallpaper samples, and electrical tape. After graduating from Smith College in 2001 where she double majored in Economics and French and minored in Japanese, Jessica later went on to work for MGM Studios as a Manager of Acquisitions and Business Development. In May of 2005, Jessica quit her job to follow her dream of becoming a published author. Since then, Jessica has sold many novels for teens, tweens, and adults. Her books are published and translated in over twenty foreign countries. She currently splits her time between California and Colorado. You can find here here:

• Website: https://www.jessicabrody.com/
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1164465.Jessica_Brody
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/jessicabrody
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JessicaBrodyFans/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicabrody/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jessicabrody1
• Tumblr: http://jessicabrody.tumblr.com/

JOANNE RENDELL is the author of four novels and holds a PhD in English Literature. She teaches fiction writing to teens and kids, as well as online writing classes at Udemy.com and Lynda.com. Joanne is a board member for the youth Shakespeare company, New Genesis Productions. With her husband and son, she divides her time between New York City and New Paltz, New York. Her weblinks are as follows:

• Website: https://joannerendell.com/
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1211367.Joanne_Rendell
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/joannerendell
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joannerendellauthor/

Once more onto the breech, my friends! A mix of modern queer witchery and ancient Celtic legend, Witches of Ash and Ruin by E. Latimer hits the pulse of the time perfectly. I love that elements that rank among my favourites are such a trend at the moment – this book is perfect for fans of Toil and Trouble, Sanctuary, Amy Rose Capetta, Sarah Gailey, and the many other recent sapphic witch books!

This post is part of the Fantastic Flying Bookclub Blog Tour, and I encourage you to check out the full schedule here, and read some of my co-blogger’s opinions as well! As usual with the FFBC, there is also a giveaway for a beautiful finished copy of the book for a reader in the US – click on this link here to enter. Thank you to the FFBC for having me, and NetGalley and Freeform for the eARC to review. (I bought the finished copy in the picture myself)

RELEASE DATE: 03/03/20

STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶

SYNOPSIS: Seventeen-year-old Dayna Walsh is struggling to cope with her somatic OCD; the aftermath of being outed as bisexual in her conservative Irish town; and the return of her long-absent mother, who barely seems like a parent. But all that really matters to her is ascending and finally, finally becoming a full witch-plans that are complicated when another coven, rumored to have a sordid history with black magic, arrives in town with premonitions of death. Dayna immediately finds herself at odds with the bewitchingly frustrating Meiner King, the granddaughter of their coven leader.

And then a witch turns up murdered at a local sacred site, along with the blood symbol of the Butcher of Manchester-an infamous serial killer whose trail has long gone cold. The killer’s motives are enmeshed in a complex web of witches and gods, and Dayna and Meiner soon find themselves at the center of it all. If they don’t stop the Butcher, one of them will be next.

OPINIONS: Murrrrderrrr. Murder most foul in quaint Ireland. I love myself a good murder mystery, and especially one that involves magic and rituals. The premise of a serial killer reappearing after years intrigued me from the start, and was well executed into its details – E. Latimer went into a lot of nuance to craft things quite right and avoid potential loopholes! This is interwoven with Celtic legend, which made my medievalist heart very happy. It is not so mythology heavy to weigh down the book for those not familiar with Irish and the Irish tradition (which, from my experience teaching undergraduates is quite hard to get into at first), but just enough so to enhance the world-building and give it another dimension. As a nerd, I went and looked up the stories referenced, which made me enjoy Witches of Ash and Ruin even more – but that is absolutely not necessary.

The magic system used by the witches in the book themselves is relatively separate from these legends, apart from referencing deities that individual witches pledge themselves to. And oh the witches. Traumatised Dayna, needing protection, after having been outed as bisexual in her conservative, religious community. Tall, mysterious and distant Meiner, too soft in her grandmother’s opinion, trying to figure out who she wants to become. I think I too fell a little in love with her. Ambitious Cora, and free-spirited Reagan. Well-crafted, though not always as nuanced as I would have liked, the young generation of witches have their distinct personalities and roles to play in the story. In general, many of the characters were not necessary likeable, but interesting – but then, I don’t read books because I’m looking to find fluffy, nice people I want to be friends with.

I really enjoyed reading Witches of Ash and Ruin, and raced through the story to find out how it ended. While elements of the story were predictable at times, it did not detract from the pacing and the book as a whole. It worked well as a standalone novel, and I am very curious to read what E. Latimer comes up with next! Witches of Ash and Ruin is out now, order it from Book Depository now, or contact your indie of choice to get your hands on a copy!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: E. Latimer is a fantasy writer from Victoria, BC. Her middle grade novel, The Strange and Deadly Portraits of Bryony Gray was published by Tundra Books, and was recently nominated for the Red Maple Fiction Award. In her spare time, she writes books, makes silly vlogs with the Word Nerds about writing, and reads excessively. Her latest novel, Witches of Ash and Ruin, will be released Spring/Summer 2020 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. You can find her online here:

• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3422739.E_Latimer
• Website: http://www.elatimer.com/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ELatimerWrites
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erin.latimer2
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elatimerwrites/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/YAWordNerds

I told you there would be a few blog tours this month! This one is for The June Boys by Court Stevens, a bit of a departure from the usual fare here on Libri Draconis. Rather than fantasy or science fiction, The June Boys is a YA murder mystery, and although I read them far to rarely, I do still have a soft spot for a good crime novel. There has been a recent resurgence of great YA mysteries and thrillers, and I’m all here for it – if you’re intrigued by The June Boys, check out the Truly Devious series by Maureen Johnson, A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson and Not Even Bones by Rebecca Schaeffer, and vice-versa!

Check out the tour schedule on the Fantastic Flying Book Club’s site to see all of the other amazing bloggers and bookstagrammers participating and read what they think of The June Boys. There is also a giveaway for a finished copy of the book for one lucky US participant, which you can enter by clicking on this Rafflecopter link!

As always, thank you so much for having me, FFBC, and thank you to Netgalley and Thomas Nelson for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

RELEASE DATE: 03/03/2020

STAR RATING: 3/5 ✶

SYNOPSIS: The Gemini Thief could be anyone. Your father, your mother, your best friend’s crazy uncle. Some country music star’s deranged sister. Anyone.

The Gemini Thief is a serial kidnapper, who takes three boys and holds them captive from June 1st to June 30th of the following year. The June Boys endure thirteen months of being stolen, hidden, observed, and fed before they are released, unharmed, by their masked captor. The Thief is a pro, having eluded authorities for nearly a decade and taken at least twelve boys.

Now Thea Delacroix has reason to believe the Gemini Thief took a thirteenth victim: her cousin, Aulus McClaghen.

But the game changes when one of the kidnapped boys turns up dead. Together with her boyfriend Nick and her best friends, Thea is determined to find the Gemini Thief and the remaining boys before it’s too late. Only she’s beginning to wonder something sinister, something repulsive, something unbelievable, and yet, not impossible:

What if her father is the Gemini Thief?

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Death, suicidal ideation

OPINIONS: Oh, YA, you wonderful genre where teenagers bumbling along using scraps are always the ones that find the culprit before the trained professionals in possession of the full evidence and data, please never change. As it is often the case with these kinds of books, The June Boys requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief to make the story work. It is interesting that for me, mysteries are much harder to just take at face value than fantasies, where I don’t have this issue at all.

However, The June Boys turned too much into a locked-house mystery once it became clear that Aulus’s disappearance was connected to the Gemini Thief. Blame was thrown around from character to character, as they were suspected and accused one after the other. Thea, as a main character, frustrated me to no end, as she had a tendency to trust or not trust others on a whim, sometimes changing her mind halfway through a conversation. At times, she would trust a complete stranger with her full life story and theories about the Gemini Thief, only to refuse to share a theory with someone who has proven trustworthy before.

What stuck with me was Aulus’s storyline. His harrowing experiences locked away were hauntingly told through letters written to a figure only named as ‘Elizabeth’. Days passing without food or water led to losing touch with reality and suicidal ideation, descending into desperation.

My main issue with the story was the feeling of ‘Deus ex machina’ that permeated the book. There were plot holes gaping open (why is the FBI spearheading the investigation in Thea’s town, when all the June Boys except Aulus, who might not even be one, have gone missing in a different state, and why is everyone in Thea’s town panicking that their sons might go missing?), incredible coincidences of timing and entirely too much trust put in God. I also had the weird feeling that I had read this book before, but I don’t know why – if you know of a similar book published a few years ago, please let me know!

Overall, I did enjoy reading The June Boys, although I had some issues with the suspension of disbelief. If you’re slightly less knit-picky about your YA mysteries, I do recommend you give it a shot and see for yourself. Just because a book doesn’t work perfectly for me, doesn’t mean it won’t for someone else. You can add The June Boys on Goodreads here, and order a copy from Book Depository here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Courtney “Court” Stevens grew up among rivers, cornfields, churches, and gossip in the small town south. She is a former adjunct professor, youth minister, Olympic torchbearer and bookseller at Parnassus Books. These days she writes coming-of-truth fiction and is the Community Outreach Manager for Warren County Public Library. She has a pet whale named Herman, a bandsaw named Rex, and several novels with her name on the spine. You can find her at the following places:

• Goodreads
• Twitter
• Website
• Instagram

March is not only the month of many fabulous releases, it is also the month of blog tours at Libri Draconis! As of now, I’ll be taking part in FOUR blog tours organised by the wonderful people over at the Fantastic Flying Book Club this month – it’ll be another busy one here on the blog. And because I’ve always wanted to be cool enough to have secret publishing (well, reviewing) news: there is something I’m very very excited about that I’ll hopefully be able to tell you all about this or next week!

But back to business: Today’s book is The Winter Duke by Claire Eliza Bartlett, which I’m reviewing as part of the FFBC’s blog tour – check out the full schedule here for the other bloggers and their no doubt great contributions as well! I absolutely loved The Winter Duke, part fairy tale, part political fantasy and part wlw romance and am very happy to give you the chance to win your very own copy by following this link here to the Rafflecopter (two copies available, open until the 18th, sadly this is US only and out of my hands).

Thank you to the Fantastic Flying Book Club for having me, and Claire Eliza Bartlett and Little Brown / the NOVL for providing me with an advance copy of The Winter Duke!

RELEASE DATE: 03/03/2020

STAR RATING: 5/5 ✶

SYNOPSIS: An enchanted tale of intrigue where a duke’s daughter is the only survivor of a magical curse.

When Ekata’s brother is finally named heir, there will be nothing to keep her at home in Kylma Above with her murderous family. Not her books or science experiments, not her family’s icy castle atop a frozen lake, not even the tantalizingly close Kylma Below, a mesmerizing underwater kingdom that provides her family with magic. But just as escape is within reach, her parents and twelve siblings fall under a strange sleeping sickness.

In the space of a single night, Ekata inherits the title of duke, her brother’s warrior bride, and ever-encroaching challengers from without—and within—her own ministry. Nothing has prepared Ekata for diplomacy, for war, for love…or for a crown she has never wanted. If Kylma Above is to survive, Ekata must seize her family’s power. And if Ekata is to survive, she must quickly decide how she will wield it.

Part Sleeping Beauty, part Anastasia, with a thrilling political mystery, The Winter Duke is a spellbinding story about choosing what’s right in the face of danger.

OPINIONS: Last year, Claire Eliza Bartlett broke out with a unique feminist fantasy about a ragtag group of women pilots fighting for their role in the war, We Rule the Night. Now she is back with an utterly different, but no less charming and special book: The Winter Duke. Weaving together strands of political intrigue, personal growth, family drama, magic and love, Claire creates an immensely readable tale that sucks the reader into its lands of Kylma Above and Kylma Below, and spits them back out wanting more.

The story is excellently written and crafted – if you would like to see for yourself, check out this sample chapter on the NOVL’s site to get a taste of the book. But its true strength lies in its characters. Ekata, a princess who wants nothing more than escaping her family and the constraints of her role, is suddenly forced to confront the challenges of rulership. Inkar, daughter of an enemy ruler, suddenly finds herself married, in a land utterly different from her own. Sigis, the obvious villain, ex-foster brother to Ekata, now desperate for power, tries to marry her despite her best efforts. The rulers and citizens of Kylma Below, whose behaviour is truly a mystery… They, and the remaining cast of The Winter Duke, are portrayed multi-dimensionally, and all come with their set of aims and motivations behind their actions. Especially Ekata and Inkar undergo immense character growth over the course of the story’s progression, and it is beautiful to see how they grow into their own as independent young women.

One of my favourite parts of the book was that sexuality was a topic that was never discussed – when Ekata chose her bride, that was accepted as fact, and while the process and her motivations were questioned, the gender was never a topic of discussion. Despite queer relationships being more and more accepted these days, it is refreshing to read books where they are a matter of fact rather than discussion, where the narrative has moved so far past the need for discussion that things can just be.

Another thing I loved, and which reminded me of another of my favourite YA fantasies (which is far too underhyped!), State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury, is the inclusion of an election in the book. While its not a proper democratic process in this case, the fact that this is something YA novels are addressing is very important to me, and I am glad that it is becoming a thing. Politics and democracy are so crucial to our society and future, and, for someone who learns best through reading about issues, what better way to subtly encourage young people to engage with the matters!

If this sounds like a book that’s right up your alley, click here to add The Winter Duke on Goodreads, and here to order it from Book Depository. Naturally, all good book dealers should be able to provide you with copies as well.

ABOUT CLAIRE ELIZA BARTLETT:

She is writer and tour guide in Copenhagen, Denmark. Though she originally comes from Colorado, she left the US when she was eighteen and hasn’t lived there since. More permanent stops on her travels have included Switzerland, Wales and Denmark. The arrival of a Danish husband has somewhat cemented her living situation, but she gets her travel in smaller doses these days.

She like to write fantasy, mostly, though I dabble in soft sci-fi. Her short stories are more adult, my novels more YA. She has studied history, archaeology, and writing. She likes to take my inspiration from historical events, and the more unknown and inspiring the event, the better.

She is represented by Kurestin Armada of P.S. Literary. To keep up with what strange things she’s researching and writing, you can sign up for her newsletter here. She sends out a short newsletter once a month.

You can also find her at the following places:

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17293691.Claire_Eliza_Bartlett

Website: https://authorclaire.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/bartlebett

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bartlebett/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bartlebett/

I am very excited to be part of the big Gollancz Blog Tour for The God Game by Danny Tobey! Many thanks to Stevie Finegan and Gollancz for inviting me to participate and sending me an early copy for review. Please also check out my fellow bloggers’ posts for their thoughts about this fantastic book!

A Sci-Fi thriller you can not put down, addressing social issues, theology, video games, relationships and morality through the lens of high school seniors struggling to find their way, this is a must-read of early 2020. I loved reading this book, and could not stop thinking about it – it was quite upsetting to be reading this while finishing up an essay for University, which meant I couldn’t just read the whole book in one go.

RELEASE DATE: 09/01/2019

STAR RATING: 4.5/5 ✶

SYNOPSIS: Win and All Your Dreams Come True™!
Charlie and his friends have entered the God Game.
Tasks are delivered through their phone-screens and high-tech glasses. When they accomplish a mission, the game rewards them. Charlie’s money problems could be over. Vanhi can erase the one bad grade on her college application. It’s all harmless fun at first.
Then the threatening messages start.
Worship me. Obey me.
Mysterious packages show up at their homes. Shadowy figures start following them.
Who else is playing this game, and how far will they go to win?
As Charlie looks for a way out, he finds God is always watching – only He will say when the game is done.
And if you die in the game, you die for real.

OPINIONS: Once you get sucked into The God Game, it does not let you go. This is true for both the book, and the fictional game inside the story. Danny Tobey has done really well crafting a gripping narrative that keeps you invested throughout. Stakes and tension are high, and pacing is excellent. You almost expect to receive a text message yourself, asking you to join the game.

Through the clever inclusion of theology, and specifically biblical imagery, a vengeful, old Testament God is evoked, playing with their victims and demanding absolute devotion. This can be taken as an allegory for the many things our society has taken to believing in, such as popularity, technology, and, yes, still, the various kinds of religion and hate still propagated today. This system gives you points for following the system, which rewards you with tangible rewards, and so-called Blaxx for resisting, which, when accumulating lead to real-life consequences… It is a very scary perspective on society, and all too possible in many parts of this world, making The God Game an incredibly timely novel. While most of the central characters are teens, I would not classify this as YA (Gollancz is also an Adult SFF imprint).

There are no good people in this book. All the characters are morally gray and struggling, although as the story progresses, some will show themselves to be rather more villainous than others. They are well crafted and human, something which is very important to me as a reader, and which I’ve been lucky enough to encounter in many of the books I’ve read recently. Through the story’s structure, their aims and goals are very clear, and there is a strong focus on the question what they are ready to sacrifice in order to achieve these.

In any case, I strongly recommend you check out this thrilling, intriguing book, add it on Goodreads, and (pre-)order it from Book Depository or your retailer of choice!

Baby’s very first blog tour! And I’m very excited that it’s such a special one – I’ve really enjoyed Rin Chupeco’s Bone Witch series, and am thrilled to get to delve into another of her worlds. Rin writes beautiful fantasy infused with her Filipino heritage, full of diverse and nuanced characters. Sadly, her books are very much underrated here in the UK – I have never seen them in a bookshop – so I’m extra happy to be able to shout loudly about how great they are!

So, thank you Shealea (https://shutupshealea.com/) and Harper Collins for the opportunity to be part of this amazing group of bloggers celebrating The Never Tilting World! To support my fellow bloggers and see what they think, click through to Shealea’s official launch post here!

PUBLICATION DATE: 15/10/2019

STAR RATING: 4/5 ✶

SUMMARY: Frozen meets Mad Max in this epic teen fantasy duology bursting with star-crossed romance, immortal heroines, and elemental magic, perfect for fans of Furyborn.

Generations of twin goddesses have long ruled Aeon. But seventeen years ago, one sister’s betrayal defied an ancient prophecy and split their world in two. The planet ceased to spin, and a Great Abyss now divides two realms: one cloaked in perpetual night, the other scorched by an unrelenting sun.

While one sister rules Aranth—a frozen city surrounded by a storm-wracked sea —her twin inhabits the sand-locked Golden City. Each goddess has raised a daughter, and each keeps her own secrets about her sister’s betrayal.

But when shadowy forces begin to call their daughters, Odessa and Haidee, back to the site of the Breaking, the two young goddesses —along with a powerful healer from Aranth, and a mouthy desert scavenger —set out on separate journeys across treacherous wastelands, desperate to heal their broken world. No matter the sacrifice it demands.

OPINIONS: Aranth and the Golden City. Ice and Desert. Odessa and Haidee. This novel is full of dualities, and it explores both what breaks us apart, as well as what binds us together. In a world split asunder eighteen years ago, the young goddesses, who grew up in opposite worlds, both ultimately want to achieve the same goal, which for me symbolised a form of hope in a rather bleak world. And oh, how well said world was written. No one in their right mind would want to visit there, ever, but Rin has managed what few authors have been able to do: she has been able to evoke images out of my mind. I am not a visual reader AT ALL (I know, I’m weird that way), but I have clear images of multiple places in this world, of Odessa and Haidee with their colourful hair. This really speaks for her skill with words, and I can’t wait to see what else she comes up with!

Another aspect of The Never Tilting World that I really loved is the character development. I don’t want to go into too much detail here, so I don’t end up spoiling anything, but all four of the main characters go through major learning processes throughout the story. They grow as people in a way that makes sense, and the reader’s sympathies change throughout the story, as there are often no clear-cut moral lines. As a Bi girl, I was also really happy about the f/f relationship between Odessa and her healer, Lan, which was extremely well written and nuanced, and picked up on a lot of social cues and nuances as well as the feelings and chemistry that clearly existed between the two girls.

There are so many subtle details and hints built into the story that only become clear after having read the whole story and having thought about it again, which makes it all the more wonderful. I loved reading this story influenced by Mesopotamian mythology and the Philippines, and hope you will too! I can’t wait for part two of the duology to come out, and book one hasn’t even been published officially yet…

If this sounds right up your alley, add The Never Tilting World on Goodreads, order it off Book Depository, or from your retailer of choice, and join us for the official book tour twitter chat next Sunday, October 19th using #CBTTC! 9AM EST / 9PM PH time means 2PM UK time, so it is quite a humane time for us Europeans to make it!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rin Chupeco has written obscure manuals for complicated computer programs, talked people out of their money at event shows, and done many other terrible things. She now writes about ghosts and fantastic worlds but is still sometimes mistaken for a revenant. She is the author of The Girl from the Well, its sequel, The Suffering, and the Bone Witch trilogy. Despite an unsettling resemblance to Japanese revenants, Rin always maintains her sense of hummus. Born and raised in Manila, Philippines, she keeps four pets: a dog, two birds, and a husband. Dances like the neighbors are watching.

You can find her online on quite a few sites:

• Author website —https://www.rinchupeco.com/
• Goodreads — https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7055613.Rin_Chupeco
• Pinterest — https://www.pinterest.com/rinchupeco/ 
• Twitter —https://www.twitter.com/rinchupeco 
• Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/rinchupeco