August Editions of Fleet Life and Elvetham Heath Directory

I am lucky enough to write book reviews for 2 local magazines, for which I receive no monetary compensation. Approximately 7000 paper editions go out locally and both magazine have on-line versions too.

The August Edition of Fleet Life can be found at http://www.fleetlife.org.uk. Click on the on-line directory, then find my reviews on page 6.

This month the following books have been reviewed;

A Woman’s Choice by Annie Thomas

Fallen For Rock, by Nicky Wells,

The Rubicon Effect by Roy Dimond,

Some People Prefer Hotels, Motorhome Novices Tour Cornwall by Nigel R Hicks

and Irish Inheritance by Paula Martin.

The Elvetham Heath Directory has the following books. Go to http://www.ehd.org.uk, click on the on-line directory and turn to page 6 as well.

Suppose by Kathy Steinemann

Reborn by Cherie Reich

Gypsy by Cynthia Harrison

A Gunman’s Destiny by Randy Mixter

and A Change of Heart by Adrienne Vaughan.

Really fab to hear back from authors when my reviews get them sales, thanks Cherie.

Guest Author Cherie Reich

Today our guest is Cherie Reich author of yesterday’s book “Reborn” here is a link to the post if you missed my review http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-54p

Let’s find out more about Cherie and her writing

1) Where is your home town?

I live in Southwest Virginia.

2) How long have you been writing?

With publication in mind, I have been writing for over five years, but I used to roleplay and write fanfiction from 1999 to 2009.

3) What was the idea which sparked off this book?

I had a character named Clarissa I created for a Harry Potter roleplaying game. She was stillborn, but revived by a god and her father. From that moment on, she had the gift of prophecy. When I thought of ideas to write a book, that premise leapt to my mind and wouldn’t leave me alone.

4) Can you tell the readers a bit about the God Apenth?

The God Apenth is the God of Prophecy, Wisdom, Healing, and Music. He is modeled a bit after Apollo from Greek mythology. Apenth fell in love with a mortal (Amora) he saved and had two children with her. This joining created the Royals in the Kingdom of Amora. Apenth would do anything to keep Amora’s prophecy of the Phoenix Prophetesses going, and he wishes to protect the kingdom from harm.

5) Yssa and Liam both have marks of the phoenix on them. Does it make their relationship stronger?

The phoenix marks denote that Apenth has chosen them. Because they are chosen puts them together a lot, but it is who they are as people that strengthens their relationship.

6) I loved the woodwose people. Will we see them again in a later book?

Yes. The woodwoses will make a special appearance in Reigned, a prequel novel set 500 years before Reborn, as well as Redestined, Book Three of The Fate Challenges.

7) How many books are you planning for the series? Can you give us a hint of what to anticipate?

Reborn is book one of a trilogy (The Fate Challenges), but there are more than three books to the series. The main three are Reborn, Reforged, and Redestined. Liam is getting a novella between Reborn and Reforged titled Remarked. There will also be two prequels set within The Fate Challenges’ world: Repledged (a novella and set 800 years before Reborn) and Reigned (a novel set 500 years before Reborn). After The Fate Challenges, I plan to write The God Challenges, which will include a prequel novel (set 2000 years after Reborn) and a trilogy (set 2500 years after Reborn). So there are many more books set within the same world coming.

8) You’ve written lots of other books, can you briefly tell us about the Foxwick series?

The Foxwick Chronicles is a series of short stories set within a hundred or so years in and around the Kingdom of Foxwick, a Medieval-esque fantasy world I created. I am combining Women of Foxwick and Men of Foxwick with seven short stories about Foxwick’s neighbors in one collection later this year titled People of Foxwick and Their Neighbors. I hope to expand upon my Foxwick world in the years to come.

9) What are the Gravity and Nightmare series about?

Gravity is a collection of new adult space fantasy novellas set within the same universe. They revolve around couples (alien/alien and alien/Earthling) who somehow find a way to love each other despite the odds around them. They are coming of age tales, and they show a post-apocalyptic world where the Earthlings are often more fearsome than the aliens.

As for Nightmare, the three stories within the collection (a short story, a novelette, and a novella) revolve around one monster. Set within Southwest Virginia, this collection is loosely inspired by a real life event that happened to me and my friends, although we had a much better outcome than the people in this horror/thriller collection.

10) When can fans expect to see book 2 of the Fate Challenges series?

Reforged will likely be out around Summer 2015. Depending on how writing/edits go, it may be sooner or later.

To save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

On the day of Yssa’s death and rebirth, the god Apenth chose her as the Phoenix Prophetess.

Sea serpents and gods endanger the young prophetess’s journey and sour the omens. Yssa is cursed instead of blessed, and her duties at the Temple of Apenth prove it. She spends her days reading dusty scrolls, which does nothing to help her forget Tym, the boy back home. But the annoying yet gorgeous ferryman’s son Liam proves to be a distraction she can’t predict, even though he rarely leaves her alone for two sand grains.

Her boring temple life screeches to a halt when visions of her parents’ murders consume her. Yssa races across an ocean to stop the future. If she can’t change Fate, she’ll refuse to be the Phoenix Prophetess any longer. Fate, however, has other plans for her and the kingdom.

Yssa must either accept her destiny or fight to change Fate.

 

Available in Ebook and Print!

To purchase: Amazon | Createspace | Google Play | Kobo | Nook | OmniLit | Smashwords | Other Retailers

Click here to add on Goodreads.

The authors of Untethered Realms and I are giving away over $50 worth of books to one lucky winner. The giveaway is open internationally.

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A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her books include the horror collection Nightmare, a space fantasy novella collection titled Gravity, and the fantasy series The Foxwick Chronicles and The Fate Challenges. Reborn is her debut novel. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms. For more information, please visit her website.

Reborn by Cherie Reich (29th May)

Reborn by Cherie Reich

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Reborn is the first book in The Fate Challenges series, a YA fantasy. A short story prequel is available for the series called Magna’s Plea. Reborn opens with a prophecy about a baby girl who will be brought back to life to fulfil a role of Phoenix Prophetess to the people of Amora.

We meet the young girl Yssa just about to set off for her training as she turns seventeen years old. She’s been living quietly on an island with her parents until it is her time to have full training as a Prophetess.

Yssa has visions about her future and the future of the people, but there are plenty who want to see her fail. The Gods argue over her, and Fate must be left to find its way. Yssa has a guard whom she must learn to trust. After the death of her parents Yssa’s grief makes her run away. She finds peace in the forest of Waldbaum with the Woodwose, strange simple folk who make time irrelevant.

Although staying in the forest helps heal Yssa, ultimately she knows she must return to help save the land from the Great Beyonders, a race of fearsome Northerners who wish to plunder and kill. Dangled as a piece of bait, the Queen sends Yssa as an envoy to stop the Beyonders, but her mission fails and so the vision of a burning city looks like it will come true.

This book features magic and wonderful creatures in a well thought out land. The visions work really well and the relationships between Yssa and those that vie for her affection and attention tantalise just enough to keep the reader wanting more, without taking away too much from the main theme of the book. I look forward to reading the second book in the series and a continuation of Yssa’s journey.

Find a copy here from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

View all my reviews on Goodreads.

Cherie will be our guest author on the blog tomorrow, do come back and find out more about her writing.

The authors of Untethered Realms and Cherie are giving away over $50 worth of books to one lucky winner. The giveaway is open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good Deeds Week 23rd – 29th March

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong, I’m now entering my twelfth month. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

March 23rd – Took my daughter out for a driving lesson this afternoon, ended up helping my Mum on her computer while my Dad volunteered to do the driving lesson. It was great for my Dad to be able to spend some time helping his Granddaughter, it made him feel really useful.

March 24th – Sent my son to school with money for the Sports Relief collection.

March 25th – Sent off my book recommendation copies for the May issues of Fleet Life and Elvethan Heath Directory. Really early copy deadlines due to the Easter holidays.

March 26th – Traded help on the computer for another driving lesson today for my daughter and everyone was happy.

March 27th – Dropped some coins into the Diabetes charity pot whilst at the Supermarket, I feel it’s been a while since I last made a voluntary money donation. See how natural it’s become part of my life? I look back at Monday’s line and see I gave money only a few days ago. When you make a conscious decision to donate more “It’s only money, you can’t take it with you when you leave this life” It removes the guilt/ selfish factor which likes to yell “But it’s mine I earnt it”. Yes but giving some back to others sends out hope into the world.

March 28th -Read a really great article this morning which has been trending on Twitter by Elyse Salpeter. It talks about a bit of a change on Twitter that’s taking place where people are looking to interact more with followers rather than posting AT them. We all know the biggest turn off are tweets which basically just shout “Buy my book, buy my book”. This turning over  a new leaf and treating people once more as humans is following a re-curing theme this week. Yesterday I finished 2 books, The Rubicon Effect by Roy Dimond which talks about a grounds up revolution to help solve our worlds destruction by taking back our rights to choose “Politicians are not the solution to the problems”. That should raise some eye-brows!

My second book was “Sugar Coatin’ is for Candy and Pacifyin’ is for kids” by Nonnie Jules. Apart from having a serendipity moment while reading her book on the back of Roy’s, she too has some great advice on interacting with your readers and followers. Her short book is a collection of her best blog posts and at 77p or $1.27 it is good value for money.

Set some of these new ideas into motion with some better wording of my own tweets. What type of Tweets do you re-tweet? What Tweets appeal to you?

Launched a Spring Reads collection on the blog today. Just some of the books that I’ve recently been really impressed by and I included one about Iceland for a good friend who reminded me of Iceland today as he is there on Holiday for a few days. Here is the link to the post. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-536

March 29th – A bit of a strange day, the internet struggles to hold on to just one open page at a time, let alone the multitude of tabs I usually have open all at the same time. So instead I got on with my reading and chuntered under my breath in frustration. Finished reading Reborn by Cherie Reich, read a short story called One Chance by Rishika Sitlani and began re-reading The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, it’s such a good series that it deserves more exposure. Agreed to help an author Paul Collins out with his request to have an author interview here on the blog in May.

Good Deeds Week 19th – 25th January

Welcome to my weekly roundup of my year long challenge to do one Good deed a day for a year. This challenge began back in April 2013 and is still going strong. My inspiration came from reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Here is what I’ve been up to this week.

January 19th – Went to visit my parents and return a book about the geology of New Zealand. A fascinating book, but I didn’t get to finish it, just a bit too academic this time. Mum had a friend whom she wished to lend the book to. Was able to help out with several small computer issues Mum had, just tweaks and finding files saved all over the system. Good deeds received: Have related the tale of our missing parcels (from last weeks post) Dad was able to lend us 2 clamps from his own workshop for us to continue with our bookcase project. Thanks Dad.

January 20th – A good morning helping out at school, no phone calls interrupting me and I successfully completed all my tasks. Sorted out a coffee date with a friend for next week to catch up with each other, and lucky me I’m also out to dinner with friends next Wednesday.

January 21st – Just heard of a friend who has been diagnosed with breast cancer, will be supporting the family any way I can in the next few months. Walked to the post box to post a letter and picked up litter on my way home. Met my neighbour who is just recovering from a stroke and had a chat.

January 22nd – Volunteered to be the driver today for my dinner date next week with a couple of friends. Set up two book reviews on sainsburysebooks.co.uk , they recently contacted me about doing some book reviews for them and I started with The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion and Roomies by Sara Zarr and Tara Altebrando.

January 23rd – Posting a cover reveal today for author Cherie Reich and her new book Reborn. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4ox Dashed to the post box with an urgent letter and took a calmer stroll home and picked up more litter. Good Deeds received; Lots of Thanks from Cherie for the cover reveal, she’ll be sending me the book to read and review in a few weeks time.

January 24th – Officially launched my A to Z April Challenge 2014 today, I’ve probably jumped the gun, but I need authors to sign up and so I need to give them time to start acting. Got a book you think could fit? Want to promote it for free? Check out the post and get in touch  http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4r7 The A to Z Challenge was set up in 2010 by Arlee Bird and last year over 1600 bloggers from around the world took part. I had a ball visiting other bloggers who write about all sorts of subjects that I wouldn’t usually seek out and I increased my followers to my own blog too. Good Deeds received; The first authors to jump in and sign up for the challenge are thrilled to have the opportunity of a free promotion.

January 25th – Today I have a guest author on the blog, L.T Vargus, if you’ve missed some posts this week do try and check out her interview. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-4o9. My A to Z Challenge has had a great start, I’ve filled 8 places already. Please do spread the word if you know an author who might like to have their book promoted during the challenge. There won’t be much work involved. Short punchy posts work well during the challenge because everyone is encouraged to visit and comment on as many blogs as they can, so they only have time for a quick visit to blogs. The trick is to make the post a memorable one with easy links for readers to buy the book or find out more about the author.

REBORN Cover Reveal (23rd Jan)

Today I have a cover reveal for you from author Cherie Reich. A YA fantasy which I will be reviewing later in the year.

Title: Reborn

Series: The Fate Challenges #1

Author: Cherie Reich

Genre: YA Epic Fantasy

Approximate Word Count: 95,000 words

Release Date: May 23, 2014

To save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

On the day of Yssa’s death and rebirth, the god Apenth chose her as the Phoenix Prophetess.

Sea serpents and gods endanger the young prophetess’s journey and sour the omens. Yssa is cursed instead of blessed, and her duties at the Temple of Apenth prove it. She spends her days reading dusty scrolls, which does nothing to help her forget Tym, the boy back home. But the annoying yet gorgeous ferryman’s son Liam proves to be a distraction she can’t predict, even though he rarely leaves her alone for two sand grains.

Her boring temple life screeches to a halt when visions of her parents’ murders consume her. Yssa races across an ocean to stop the future. If she can’t change Fate, she’ll refuse to be the Phoenix Prophetess any longer. Fate, however, has other plans for her and the kingdom.

Yssa must either accept her destiny or fight to change Fate.

Reborn, book one of The Fate Challenges, by Cherie Reich will be released on May 23, 2014. For more information about Cherie Reich and her work, please visit her website or blog. The cover art is created by Laura Sava. To add on Goodreads, click here. If you’d like to be notified when Reborn releases, please sign up for her newsletter here.

Author Bio: A self-proclaimed bookworm, Cherie Reich is a speculative fiction writer, freelance editor, book blogger, and library assistant living in Virginia. Her short stories have appeared in magazines and anthologies, and her ebooks include the horror series Nightmare, a space fantasy trilogy titled Gravity, and a fantasy series The Foxwick Chronicles. She is Vice President of Valley Writers and a member of the Virginia Writers Club and Untethered Realms.

Good Deeds Week December 1st – 7th

I now head into towards my 8th month of my year long challenge to complete at least one good deed a day for a year. I started back in the middle of April when I began reading “A Year of Doing Good” by Judith O’Reilly. Her book inspired my own challenge. If you are looking for a Christmas gift for someone who sets themselves up with New Year’s resolutions then this may be ideal. Find a copy here on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

December 1st – It’s been a busy blogging morning. My weekly Good Deeds update, plus the launch of a new competition to win an e-copy of “Family Ties” by E. L Lindley. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-30T and the launch of my “Rosie’s Good Read Collections” http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-37B where I am sharing my joy of books with you the reader.

December 2nd – Easy Good Deed today ticked off, my morning of helping in school. Spent an enjoyable afternoon entering book giveaway competitions, signing up to authors facebook and twitter pages. I’m always ready to receive more books! My 24 Sleeps ‘Till Xmas tour is underway with a Christmas book theme.

December 3rd – I’ve done a spot more Christmas shopping today and this year I’ve gone in a different direction for one of my gifts. I’ve bought books from the charity shop at bargain prices so I can afford to give more than 1 book and the charity benefits as well. I know the books will get passed around other grateful readers after Christmas and will come full circle back to the charity shops for them to sell once more. I’ve thanked the “voice of doubt” in my head for its concern at giving a gift that isn’t brand new, and I’ve let go of any guilt associated with it. I know more people will benefit from the gift of multiple books than just one brand new one.

December 4th – Spotted a lady just about to drive off from the next petrol pump with her petrol flap open. Stopped her and closed it for her so she could drive off safely. Good Deeds received: My lovely postman delivered a signed copy of “It’s NOT a Holiday” by Andy Robinson and Kirsty McGregor as thanks for all my help and support promoting their book, thanks guys, had a teary moment there! If you’ve missed any of my posts about them click over here. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2RV Also had some amazing feedback from my 24 Sleeps ‘Til Xmas guest Nicky Wells, here’s a link to her post. http://wp.me/p2Eu3u-2Pt

December 5th – I spread the word about a free kindle download today “Driving Me to You” by Julie Farrell. A really windy day today and I rescued my neighbour’s wheelie bin which was blowing down the road.

December 6th – Dropped some money into the Diabetes collection bucket at Tesco where workers were cycling the equivalent miles to Lapland to raise money for the charity. Signed up to post a cover reveal and to do a book review and interview for Author Cherie Reich’s new book “Reborn”  next year.

December 7th – Had friends over for supper this evening, which was lovely. Good Deeds received: They were extremely grateful as they had had a very busy day and having someone else cook them a meal at the end of it made all the difference.