This year, the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
There has been a string of disappearances in the Triumvir of Corundum. Someone is stealing royal children, and Thedra’s childhood sweetheart Dette, the princess of a neighboring kingdom, is the latest to go missing.
When Thedra suspects the sorcerer she blames for her mother’s death is behind Dette’s disappearance, she refuses to let him harm anyone else. She sets out with the help of a dashing soldier and a secretive servant girl to find and rescue Dette before it’s too late.
Thedra would do anything to stop the disappearances and save her friend–even cross a cursed forest that brings her nightmares to life. But one of her companions is hiding something, and the forest seems to want her dead. To defeat the sorcerer’s twisted magic, she must face her worst fears and risk losing what she wants most: the freedom to love who she chooses.
Lauri Starling writes historical romance with LGBTQ+ rep under the pen name L.S. Young. Poison Forest is her first published young adult fantasy.
She lives in Central Florida and loves to garden, read, and spend time with chosen family. She is an outspoken member of the neurodiverse and ex-evangelical communities.
Acacia Pines, USA. Sheriff Cohen’s life is falling apart – his father accidently burned down the retirement home, his wife has moved out, and his son is bullying other kids at school.
When high-school student, Lucas Connor, is abducted, Cohen sees a chance to get his life back on track – to win back his wife and scoop the reward money offered for Lucas’ safe return.
But as the body count rises, it becomes clear that Cohen’s going to have to make the kind of decision from which there’s no coming back … a decision with deadly consequences…
A furiously paced, edge-of-your-seat thriller exposing the dark underbelly of small-town life, His Favourite Graves is also a twisted and twisty story of father and son relationships, and the one last gamble of a desperate man to save everything…
Paul is an award-winning author who often divides his time between his home city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where most of his novels are set, and Europe. He’s won the New Zealand Ngaio Marsh Award three times, the Saint-Maur book festival’s crime novel of the year award in France, and has been shortlisted for the Edgar and the Barry in the US and the Ned Kelly in Australia. His books have been translated into more than twenty languages. He’s thrown his Frisbee in more than forty countries, plays tennis badly, golf even worse, and has two cats – which is often two too many. The critically acclaimed The Quiet People was published in 2021 and was followed in 2022 by The Pain Tourist – a number-one bestseller in three countries.
My thoughts: this was so good, all of the characters are morally compromised, not just the obvious ones. There’s a lot of terrible crimes that have gone unsolved so far, and if Lucas Connor hadn’t been kidnapped, a lot of them would still be a mystery.
Sheriff Cohen has a lot of secrets and is prepared to go to some extreme lengths to try to fix some of his problems, missing issues with his son, who’s not a very nice person and who might be about to get his comeuppance.
Lucas might be a victim, but he’s just as complicated and quite disturbed as well. As the true, horrific extent of how and what his dad has done to protect him is incredible, and not in a good way.
Dark, twisted, disturbing and set in a town I never want to visit.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Meet Olive. She’s just a regular gal looking for love, but navigating the wild world of modern dating is getting her no closer to finding the one – why are there so many weirdos out there?! Follow serial dater Olive on her quest for companionship, as she navigates the terrible world of app-based dating and goes on dates that go from bad to worse to even more disastrous, including a man who disappears after going to the toilet in a restaurant and is later spotted on shift waiting tables; a woman who vomits all over her on the beach; and a professional triangle player who gets into a fist fight and jumps out of not one but two moving cabs.
Will Olive ever find the one? And will they be everything she’s looking for? Following up on the popularity of her dating comics series on Instagram, Disaster Dates and Lucky Escapes is crammed full of outrageous dates illustrated in artist Tess SmithRoberts’s colourful and fun signature style. The sometimes gross, often relatable but always laugh-out-loud hilarious stories are weaved into a narrative, all happening to one main character who’s just trying to find love in an online world, with some dates submitted by Tess’s followers, some inspired by previous submissions and, of course, some fan favourites from her viral dating comics.
Tess Smith-Roberts is a freelance illustrator based in Southeast London, originally from Norwich, who studied illustration at Kingston School of Art. She approaches her work with humour, bold shapes, and a playful use of colour. Her varied clients include Comic Relief, TK Maxx, Apple, Bon Appetit, New York Times, The New Yorker, Chilly’s, Vogue, Medium and Soho House to name but a few. She was inspired to create her popular series of dating comics after a string of bad dates, which by doing so and getting her followers to send in their own, provided a form of cathartic therapy. @tesssmithroberts | tesssmithroberts.co.uk
My thoughts: this was a fun and short graphic novel relating the dating misadventures of Olive, from swiping through the no hopers on the various apps, to the weird conversations and hobbies of the oddballs she dates (the orange juice guy!) It’s very funny, and a bit sad, as a lot of these stories feel familiar from conversations with friends. Dating in the 21st Century is very strange.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
On Wednesday 8th November, the 400th anniversary of the publication of Shakespeare’s first folio, St Martin in the Fields London will host an exclusive screening of an original film shorts collection by the BAFTA nominated film maker Jack Jewers that reimagine six of Shakespeare’s most popular speeches and poems for the 21st century.
Each film short uses Shakespeare’s 400-year-old words as a lens through which to navigate the world in which we live today. The six films are narrated by award winning actors including Tom Baker, Eliza Butterworth, Cerys Matthews, Crystal Clarke and Amber Anderson.
Themes explored in the film shorts range the war in Ukraine, to social justice protests and the impact of COVID. With uncanny parallels between our lives now, and life in 1623, these poignant film shorts demonstrate that Shakespeare’s words have never been more relevant as we find ourselves moving from pandemic to global conflict. Despite centuries of change our very human experiences of loss, joy, grief and compassion remain the same. Film Shorts Trailer here
At this very special event on 8th November, an exclusive film screening of all six film shorts will be accompanied by readings of Shakespeare’s best loved poems performed by professional actors and special guests including GemmaWhelan (Game of Thrones, Upstart Crow), Lindsay Duncan (Rome, Mansfield Park, Birdman), Fra Fee (Les Miserables, Cabaret, Hawkeye), Eliza Butterworth (The Last Kingdom, The North Water), MelanieMarshall (Alice in Wonderland, Casualty), Jamie Parker (Becoming Elizabeth, The History Boys), Arthur Hughes (The Innocents, Shardlake) and Allie Esiri (Howard’s End, Sharpe) who will also be signing copies of her poetry collection Shakespeare for Every Day of the Year.
Jack Jewers’ innovative approach to film-making for this original shorts collection saw him send a speech from Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, along with a portrait of Shakespeare, into space, in the film short “Lovers and Madmen” narrated by Tom Baker (Dr Who).
In the film short “St Crispin’s Day,” Jewers remotely directed Ukrainian civilians in bomb-stricken Kyiv, with the powerful footage providing a striking new interpretation of Shakespeare’s rousing “Band of Brothers” speech from Henry V, performed here by Eliza Butterworth (The Last Kingdom, The North Water).
Written 400 years ago “The Strangers Case” is an intensely moving speech is an impassioned defence of refugees that rings as true today as it did in 1597. The film short uses real footage of refugees at sea and is voiced by Crystal Clarke (Sanderton, Empire of Light) with a stunning central performance from actor Yasin Morad who came to the UK as a refugee.
In “All the World’s A Stage”, Jewers invited international university students to narrate the famous speech from As You Like It in their first languages, as an exploration of British multiculturalism in the face of ever-changing immigration laws, and as a celebration of the universality of Shakespeare’s words.
For the film short “They That Have Power to Hurt” musician and BBC presenter Cerys Matthews narrates Sonnet 94. Traditionally seen as a love poem, here Jewers uses Shakespeare’s words to explore a rising sense of unrest and the tension between activists and law enforcement all over the world, as well as illustrating the power and complexities of protest movements.
Taken from The Tempest,“Our Revels Now Are Ended” narrated by Amber Anderson (Emma, Peaky Blinders) deals with themes of loneliness and isolation caused by the pandemic – but also the feeling of liberation and celebration that reuniting with loved ones brought when lockdown ended.
Jack Jewers
Jack Jewers says: “Everything that has been happening to us in the past few years of upheaval – mass disease, concerns about immigration, protest, conflict in Europe, a growing desire to challenge authority and speak truth to power – was also happening in 1623 when the First Folio was published. In 1623 English migrants were going in boats across the sea to build a new life in North America. There was an outbreak of plague. Europe was entrenched in the Thirty Years War. And the ongoing explosion of trade, immigration and diplomacy meant that news of global events would have reached Shakespeare’s ears faster and faster. Just as today the 24-hour news cycle has us feeling our global neighbours are closer than ever, so it must have felt for Shakespeare 400 years ago. Now, as then, society is deeply divided. The parallels are uncanny and Shakespeare’s words are fresher now than ever before in their ability to speak powerfully to our own contemporary lives.”
*this post was created using images and information from a press release. All opinions remain my own.*
For fans of swords and sorcery! Check out The Yawning Gap by C.V. Vobh!
The Yawning Gap (The Wanderers Cycle Book 1)
Publication Date: June 2023
Genre: Epic Fantasy
A catastrophe a thousand years ago divided the world into isolated Fragments, eventually driving most of humanity back to a premodern lifestyle. Since then, an unexplained blight has been spreading, and strange and monstrous creatures have arisen in its midst.
Cor, the son of a whisky distiller, doesn’t know about any of this. His peaceful little village has been isolated for hundreds of years—until he finds a way out, wandering into another Fragment. It’s rather less peaceful. But with the help of Brayleigh—a spritely redhead teen he soon befriends, who is a bit wiser to the ways of the world—maybe our sheltered whisky stillman can survive and, in time, make his way back home.
Celeste has not been so sheltered. Her family was murdered by orks at age 8; she left the Academy at 18 to travel with a merchant caravan; and now, she’s the orator for the new leader of the People’s Commonwealth. Everything she’s dreamt of is finally in reach … so why does it feel farther away than ever?
Deliad, the Knight-Lord of Norvester—the former kingdom replaced by the Commonwealth—would like nothing better than to confront those responsible with the edge of his halberd, Celeste included. But, with his small band of former knights stuck hiding in remote hills and half-starving, it’s looking increasingly unlikely he’ll ever get the chance.
Nothing could be further from their minds than the workings of a Warlock a thousand miles away, and his obsessive decade-long pursuit of vengeance. Yet as fragmented as this world is, it’s also a small one. Will the hand of vengeance reach them across a thousand miles? … Or will they, perhaps, reach him first?
C.V. Vobh lives with his wife and children as far from his city job as he can manage. He grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Jordan, Raymond E. Feist, and R.A. Salvatore, and some of his favorite authors today are Joe Abercrombie and Matt Dinniman. When he’s not working, writing or reading, he’s running.
This year, the Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it into Round Two with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title. BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 15 finalists and one overall winner.
If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out the BBNYA Website https://www.bbnya.com/ or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.
Rodius Drach, the most evil and villainous wizard to have ever lived, has languished in the old wizards home for ten thousand years. Yet he is nothing but patient, and awaits the time of his inevitable return, when he will once again rain havoc and ruin upon The Three Kingdoms and rise as its dark ruler. Now his arch nemesis, the white wizard Delavar Godson is planning an escape. Will Rodius team up with his sworn rival? Will he once again summon his black army to torment the land and bring forth a dark age?
D.G. Redd writes fantasy and science fiction. His fantasy is heavily inspired by Dungeons and Dragons, whereas his science fiction is influence by Iain M Banks and Kevin J Anderson.
While he writes speculative fiction now, D.G. Redd grew up reading thrillers and horror. Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, and Tom Clancy are the inspiration behind Redd’s fast paced writing. Wilbur Smith, Eddings, Tolkien, and Hobb showed him the magic of fantasy and multi-novel story lines.
He resides in Sydney, Australia and firmly believes that all the voices in his stories have Australian accents.
THE CAST OF SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING THE APPEAL RETURN FOR A FESTIVE MURDER MYSTERY *
One dead Santa. A town full of suspects. Will you discover the truth?
Christmas in Lower Lockwood, and the Fairway Players are busy rehearsing their festive pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk, to raise money for the church roof appeal. But despite the season, goodwill is distinctly lacking amongst the amateur dramatics enthusiasts.
Sarah-Jane is fending off threats to her new position as Chair, the fibreglass beanstalk might be full of asbestos, and a someone is intent on ruining the panto even before the curtain goes up. Of course there’s also the matter of the dead body. Who could possibly have had the victim on their naughty list?
Join lawyers Femi and Charlotte as they read the round robins, examine the emails and pore over the police transcripts. Will the show go on?
Janice Hallett is the Sunday Times bestselling author of The Appeal (a Waterstones Thriller of the Month, the Sunday Times Crime Book of the Year and winner of the CWA Debut Dagger award) and the Sunday Times bestsellers The Twyford Code and The Mysterious Case of the Alperton Angels. She lives in West London.
My thoughts: the Fairway Players are back, with all the bitchy backstabbing and murderous machinations as they put together their festive show – Jack and the Beanstalk, complete with rather elderly, done the rounds Beanstalk.
Emails, social media posts, texts and police transcripts build up the picture of what exactly happened and who the guilty party is.
Darkly humorous and with all the trademark red herrings and crazy goings on that made The Appeal such a hit read intact. A brilliant and entertaining festive crime read.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
Tracey has written fiction for as long as she can remember, covering a variety of genres and subjects. She is currently enjoying success with her first stage play WITCH, a historical drama based on original English witch trial transcripts, which premiered in 2016 and has been performed continuously ever since. It has been used as Theatre In Education for Years 8 and 9 and for Exeter University undergrads and has been included as a formal seminar in two Bristol University undergrad degree courses – ‘Witchcraft’ and ‘History Outside the Box’. Its 75th performance was also its London premiere.
Tracey’s most recent publication was ‘Dark Folklore’ (2021), co-written with her husband Mark, and she has several other titles currently in progress, one of which is a non-fiction expanding on the research she undertook to write WITCH. She has written regular folklore columns for the Dartmoor newspaper The Moorlander, and is an active member of the Exeter Authors Association, a network providing support to writers and promoting a love of books and reading.
When she is not writing, Tracey can be found behind a microphone, as one of the voices behind Devon-based indie audio production house and theatre company Circle of Spears Productions. She is a freelance narrator on Audible and has a sizeable list of stage, TV and film credits. She gives talks to a variety of groups on historical subjects such as witchcraft and early modern medicine. She doesn’t relax often, but when she does, it generally involves reading, coffee and her slightly unhealthy obsession with sock yarn. She, Mark and their daughter live near the edge of a forest in mid Devon with a feline trip hazard.
My thoughts: our unnamed narrator – who later adopts the name Viktor, is running away from her dangerous father, escaped from an asylum. She runs into the mysterious Anna Stenberg while disguised as a boy. The pair head to France, where Anna has an assignment in Amiens.
For Anna is a member of the order of Guardians, dedicated to fighting the forces of darkness and protecting the peace between humans and the other creatures that live among them. Amiens has a vampire, apparently, and it is causing uproar in the town.
She sees something in Viktor, an ability she has herself. As the pair deal with the problems, which are more human in nature than supernatural, they grow into close friends, and head to Paris to the headquarters of the organisation Anna works for.
Their relationship is the centre of this book, despite Anna having many secrets and not sharing too much, she and Viktor develop a bond. There are some twists at the end that you just won’t expect, and it suggests that there is a sequel in the works. An unusual historical fantasy thriller and one that gets better as the book continues, which augers well if there is more to come.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
We love this cover! It’s positively magical. Make sure to check out Children of the Earth and visit one of Bookstagram hosts for a great giveaway!
Children of the Earth (The Mothmar Trilogy)
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genre: YA Fantasy
Receive from above or take from below,
Light versus Dark, you reap what you sow.
With her newly acquired Gift burning inside her, Solyana Marusda leads her group through the Mothmar snow in search of the prophecy’s secrets. But when they stumble upon the city of Takanah, they find themselves surrounded by the Taka Reu and all it threatens to unleash. Desperate for answers, Solyana finds herself on a path paved with the sacrifices of others—sacrifices that make her wonder whether she is the savior or the destruction of her people.
In the wake of carnage, nearly everything Pallah Bogson holds dear has slipped through her fingers. With a rumor of hope, she sets out in search of the truth that promises a place of belonging. But as her connection to the Mother Below grows, so too does the influence of forces beyond her control—and when Pallah finds herself the instrument of chaos, there is no way of telling what is or isn’t her own will.
All the while, someone is watching, waiting—with more sinister schemes than either girl can know.
A story of friendship, family, and the choices that shape us. Dive into the world of Mothmar and experience magic, animal companionship, and adventure layered through time and dipped in mystery.
Amanda Auler is the author of Daughter of the Sun, the first in the Mothmar trilogy. As an advocate for stories steeped in theme, it’s no wonder some of Amanda’s favorite authors are Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, and Juliet Marillier. When she’s not at her laptop, Amanda can be found roasting coffee in her garage (usually with a book in hand), baking bread, and trying to keep up with her three growing boys. She and her husband live in central North Carolina where they stay up too late watching Top Chef and eating fancy ramen.
We have a something to get you excited before release day! Check out the book trailer for Gasparilla by S.T. Fernandez and visit one of our Bookstagram hosts for a chance to win a signed copy of the book and some pirate booty!
A signed copy of The Legend of Gasparilla • The Legend of Gasparilla Bookmark • Pirate Booty Book Club Christmas Ornament from @spicybookmerch • Pirate Booty Book Club Sticker from @spicybookmerch
The Legend of Gasparilla: A Historical Pirate Romance
Publication Date: November 7, 2023
Genre: Historical Fantasy Romance/ Pirates
Bridgerton meets Pirates of the Caribbean in a story many argue is not a myth but a legend.
Admiral José Gaspar of the Spanish Royal Navy had it all: the love of his life, Joséfa de Mayorga; the confidence of the King; and a plan to become one of the most successful merchants in all of Spain. But when a jilted former lover accuses him of stealing the crown jewels, he escapes Sevilla only to realize he’s duped into piracy, further staining his legacy. Gaspar continues down an immoral path he works relentlessly to resist. The dream life he yearned for with Joséfa slowly slips away, his reputation far too ruined to be worthy of her honor.
After having her beloved ripped from her life, Joséfa and Gaspar’s friends work tirelessly to clear his name to no avail. When fate finally hands her a chance, she sets sail to find José, but fate is both friend and foe. Joséfa discovers the man she lost is different from the viscous pirate she rescues from certain death.
When infamous pirate hunter Lieutenant Kearny of the USS Enterprise sets his sights on the new pirate, Gaspar must decide between a dark and perilous addiction to piracy or living a subdued life in the shadows. His darker inhibitions may take his soul hostage, and Joséfa’s love may not be enough to save him.
S.T. Fernandez, known as Stephanie, is originally from Orlando, Florida, and was born to two parents from La Isla del Encanto, Puerto Rico. She now resides in the beautiful small beach town of Ventura, California with her husband and their two wiener puppies.
Stephanie is an avid reader of all levels of spicy, steamy romance—mostly in fantasy, historical, or paranormal genres. Just as much as she enjoys disappearing into a good book, creating a story that readers can disappear into brings her immense joy.
She is currently working on her second book in the fantasy romance genre, full of wonderfully diverse characters and themes. S.T. Fernandez’s fantasy romance intertwines Puerto Rico’s Taino indigenous culture’s beautiful themes and language into a fantasy world. She is thrilled and excited to present it to readers when completed.
ramblingmads 