Tag: bbnya

blog tour, books, reviews

BBNYA Blog Tour: Clues to You – Claire Huston

ramblingmads

Clues to You was the winner of BBNYA 2024!

About BBNYA

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 (16 in 2024) 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 book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

One murder mystery weekend. Two rival sleuths.

They’re looking for answers. But will they find love?

Kate Brannon is delighted to be attending her first murder mystery weekend in a movie-worthy Victorian manor house. Still getting over being dumped, cracking the case would be a welcome boost to her flagging confidence. And the prize money wouldn’t hurt either.

But Kate’s dreams of victory become a nightmare with the arrival of Max Ravenscroft. Smart, enigmatic and annoyingly handsome, Max is Kate’s sleuthing nemesis. 

When she and Max are forced to work together, Kate despairs. But, as the investigation brings them closer, she finds being his partner in solving crime isn’t all bad. 

With growing suspicions that the game is rigged against them, can Kate and Max beat the odds to find the killer? And, as their partnership deepens, can they find romance too?

A sweet romantic comedy with a cosy mystery at its heart. Perfect for fans of Kathryn Freeman, Laura Jane Williams and Katie Fforde.

This rivals-to-lovers romance is a standalone romcom and part of the Love in the Comptons collection.

Amazon :  Canada  USA UK

Goodreads   The Story Graph

Claire Huston lives in Warwickshire, UK, with her husband and children. She writes uplifting modern love stories about characters who are meant for each other but need a little help to realise it.

A keen amateur baker, she enjoys making cakes, biscuits and brownies almost as much as eating them. You can find recipes for all the cakes mentioned in Art and Soul, her first novel, at clairehuston.co.uk along with over 150 other recipes. This is also where she talks about and reviews books.
You can also find Claire on various social media platforms. Find your favourite here

My thoughts:

A murder mystery weekend that leads to love! I really enjoyed this book, I loved Kate and her colourful outfits, she’s clever and funny and clearly a good friend putting up with Bella’s many absences from the event and her matchmaking antics.

She and Max have known each other for years but she always thought he didn’t like her, and vice versa. Thrown together for the weekend they discover their mistake and bond over crime novels and interrogating the actors playing the witnesses. Especially when they realise the man running the event is up to no good and out to prevent anyone from winning.

Working together, and even dealing with the appearance of Kate’s odious ex, draws them together and as they put together the clues, they realise they have more in common than just a love of classic crime.

Cute and funny, this is a lovely rom com, replete with moments of minor peril (trapped in a secret room anyone?) and thankfully a murder mystery with no actual murder (I read a lot of crime fiction too).

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

Blog Tour: Skylark in the Fog – Helyna L. Clove

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Skylark in the Fog was the 9th place finalist in BBNYA 2024!

About BBNYA

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 (16 in 2024) 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 book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

So when the universe falls to pieces, it doesn’t mean your life has to, right? That comes later.

Jeane Blake, captain of the spaceship Skylark, makes her living by looting dead worlds, planets fallen prey to naturally occurring wormhole-like rifts plaguing the cosmos. She survives the only way she knows how: avoiding commitment and arguing with her dead foster father’s ghost. But when her crew stumbles upon an alien device that could collapse the wormhole network and wipe out all sentient life, they catch the hungry eyes of the Union, a tyrannical empire hunting the sinister tech.

As she flees the Union’s brainwashed agents, Jeane is forced to take on a shady mission and gets stuck assisting the runaway monarch of a technocrat planet. Queen Maura Tholis is seeking the aid of an interstellar resistance to reclaim her war-torn world, with another trouble-magnet device as her bargaining chip: a glove that allows her to command AI systems. Jeane couldn’t care less about the whole deal, but things become personal when the Union annexes the place she calls home. And it might be her fault.

Reluctant to become weapons in the hands of power-hungry militants and desperate rebels, smuggler and queen join forces. But to save their homes, they must redefine themselves, work with the enemy, and face personal traumas they’d buried long ago-and only stars know which challenge might break them in the end. 

Amazon  Canada  USA  UK

Goodreads The Story Graph

Helyna L. Clove (she/they) is a lover of the written word, hot comfort drinks, a universe full of stars, and all things neat and kind. She was born in 1988 in Hungary, and was raised in a small village a few miles off the shores of Lake Balaton. Described as someone always having “her head in the clouds”, she spent the first fifteen years of her life mostly consuming books from her dad’s home library, watching some great 90’s sci-fi series and movies, slowly working on her eclectic music taste, and dreaming about being abducted by cool alien friends.

After the arduous years of acquiring her astrophysics degree (because if they were not coming for her, she would damn well at least try and spy on those aliens) she worked as a researcher in Budapest, moving onto the green pastures of South-France in 2018, then Wales in 2022, where she currently lives with her small family of a wonderful boyfriend and Puddle, the tortoiseshell cat. She spends most of her time commandeering telescopes, staring at molecular spectra, writing/reading, cooking, playing video games, and trying her hand at different crafts.

Although she has been, as the Hungarians say, writing to her desk drawer since she was a kindergartener, it wasn’t until 2019 that she stepped out into the world with her stories. In the hell-year of 2020 she finished her first full-length novel, Skylark in the Fog, a light-hearted but honest space opera featuring a grumpy spaceship captain and her wayward friends on a quest to find their metaphorical (and maybe literal) homes, and, if everything goes well which it rarely does, to save the universe as well.

Her current projects include Imbued and Untwined, a new adult/adult dark fantasy duology about magic and love and how those might break the world, a paranormal horror about a team of demonhunters, several other speculative story ideas, and the so-far-untitled sequel to the adventures of the Skylark-crew.

My thoughts: I loved this, it’s exactly the kind of sci-fi I enjoy, a crew of misfits, an impossible mission, chaos, adventure, secrets, overthrowing the evil empire. And it was just lots of fun. Jeane was my favourite, after ALU, that little tin can with its mysterious origin, love of helping and strong bonds of friendship, too cute.

Although if I’m really honest, I loved the whole gang – not a duff character among them. And poor Skylark, definitely here for Skylark 2: Taping the ship back together.

Jeane takes on a quick pick up job for an old friend, while avoiding the Union (evil empire) who are hunting their ship, because of the super secret alien tech they previously collected. Then they get involved in about three wars all at once. Everyone is forced to reckon with their families and upbringing, Jeane almost dies inside an AI system, the evil empire keeps trying to kill everyone, some stuff explodes, some people die (boo!) and then the gang goes their separate ways…which I did not like.

I really hope when book 2 arrives, my new pals are reunited, the evil empire is less evil and Jeane gets to smile occasionally, even though her permanently grumpy mood is very funny. Look, I loved this, it filled a sci-fi hole that I didn’t know I had.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

BBNYA Blog Tour: The Reanimator’s Heart – Kara Jorgensen

ramblingmads

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.

A reluctant necromancer, a man killed before his time, and the crime that brings them together.

Felipe Galvan’s life as an investigator for the Paranormal Society has been spent running into danger. Returning home from his latest case, Felipe struggles with the sudden quiet of his life until a mysterious death puts him in the path of the enigmatic Oliver Barlow.

Oliver has two secrets. One, he has been in love with the charming Felipe Galvan for years. Two, he is a necromancer, but to keep the sensible life he’s built as a medical examiner, he must hide his powers. That is until Oliver finds Felipe murdered and accidentally brings him back from the dead.

But Felipe refuses to die again until he and Oliver catch his killer. Together, Felipe and Oliver embark on an investigation to uncover a plot centuries in the making. As they close in on his killer, one thing is certain: if they don’t stop them, Felipe won’t be the last to die.

Amazon Canada Amazon US Amazon UK

Goodreads The StoryGraph

Kara Jorgensen (she/they) is a queer, nonbinary oddball with a penchant for all things antiquated, morbid, or just plain strange. While in college, they realized they no longer wanted to be Victor Frankenstein but instead wanted to write like Mary Shelley and thus abandoned their future career in science for writing. Kara melds her passions through her books and graduated with an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing in 2016. When not writing, they can be found hanging out with their dogs watching period dramas or trying to convince their students to cite their sources. 

My thoughts: I really liked this book, I loved Oliver and just wanted to give him a hug, thankfully he has Gwen and eventually Felipe for that.

Investigating a nun’s death is a little awkward, since the church frowns on their kind, but the sister isn’t just a nun, she has a gift and someone was willing to kill her to steal her secrets.

Oliver and Felipe are thrown together by circumstance and then when Oliver accidentally brings Felipe back from the dead, and might be the only reason he’s still alive, they can’t resist the pull between them, so they don’t.

But they’re still on the case, especially after Oliver’s lab is broken into and he and Gwen attacked. But why would anyone want some medical curios?

A fun and clever adventure with a sweet romance at its centre.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books, reviews

BBNYA Blog Tour: Sorrow’s Forest – Kaitlin Corvus

ramblingmads

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.

Sorrow’s Forest teems with beasts, some ugly, some beautiful, all unnatural. A ban restricts travel beneath her branches, existing for as long as Lakeview Township has, and most who disobey do not return.

To win a bet, twelve-year-old Mackie King enters the forest, and in its depths, he discovers a boy-like devil. Then he steals him from the trees.

In as little as an hour, the devil names himself Blue and fits seamlessly into the Kings’ life. No one seems to remember he wasn’t always there. Only Mackie knows the truth.

Now, Mackie and Blue are grown, Queen Sorrow has awakened, and she wants her devil back. She’s willing to tear the town apart to reclaim him. Mackie has always been resourceful, but it will take every bit of ingenuity he and Blue possess to thwart Queen Sorrow and her minions, save the town, and free themselves from the shadow of the bittering forest.

Amazon: Canada USA UK Goodreads  StoryGraph

Kaitlin Corvus is from Ontario, Canada. The north holds the best part of her. She writes about nobodies, monsters, and gutter glitter, loves the stars, the deep dark sea, and a good horror mystery.

My thoughts: when Mackie steals a forest devil, Blue, from Sorrow’s Forest, she doesn’t forget and eventually she wants to claim back what’s hers. The forest consumes the missing, and never gives them back.

But Mackie is afraid, afraid of the forest and increasingly of Blue. He is exhibiting strange power over people and events, and keeps spending time with his school bully, in what Mackie thinks is an abusive situation. Blue has always been openly gay, and the relationship between him and Mackie is shifting into something different, something more.

As the forest attempts to assert its power and draw Blue back to it, Mackie fights harder to keep his brother/friend/lover with him. Meanwhile his father is dying and more people are being swallowed up by the forest.

An intense bond and a story that draws you into it, as the forest does the two young men. What will become of them if the forest succeeds or indeed, if it doesn’t?

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.

blog tour, books

BBNYA Semi-finalists: Wings of the Storm – Bunce & Guhl

ramblingmads

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.

My name is Vayo, and I am a slave.

My people lived in Argia, the City of Light, before Nabonidus the Defiler swept across the land. He conquered, murdering and enslaving the other tribes. I was born after the fall, in a crumbling pit of despair and sadness.

Nabonidus crowned himself ruler of the land, building his new kingdom from the rubble of our fallen world. I live and serve them now, my head bowed, and my eyes down. That is, until a master servant chose me.

My new duty? Attending the King himself, serving the man that ruined my people. Desperate for blessings, I placed an offering to the Mother Goddess on my roof. Afterwards, I fell into a strange dream. One where I soared over the dunes on wings of radiant feathers. Shouts and screams startled me awake, and I watched as the King’s men carried my friend away. I followed, deep into dark tunnels beneath my fallen city.

Fleeing the horrors I witnessed below, I hid in the one place they would not think to look. Inside that forbidden temple and buried beneath the rubble of our broken past I stumbled upon a peculiar sight. A beautiful warrior, with her arms wrapped around a shimmering, blue egg.

Life as I know it will never be the same.

Amazon UK Canada USA

Goodreads TheStoryGraph

Around every turn, Christopher Guhl expects to be dazzled by something unexpected, amazing, and fantastical. Though still waiting for the day when a wizard shows up on his doorstep, he now creates the worlds he dreams of on his own, plucking them from his mind like seeds and allowing them to grow after proper nourishing. He fell in love with writing while attending school at the University of Iowa. Then took those skills and began writing multiple science fiction and fantasy novels. After molding his own stories, he is ready to tackle his next adventure, joining forces with a strange, cloaked man that showed up on his doorstep…

A devoted scribbler and award winning author, Aaron Bunce has been seeking a portal to another world since childhood. Once he finally gave up on finding a magical wardrobe or teleporting phonebooth, he decided to write about new worlds instead. A graduate of Southern New Hampshire’s English program, Aaron has been a writer, editor, publisher, and audiobook producer. His passion is stories, but more so, characters, as they drive the experience. He started writing in fantasy, bounced to science fiction horror, veered into LitRPG territory, and has touched many other genres in between.

Aaron and Christopher are excited to bring their newest offering to readers, as they launch an all-new fantasy saga—THE DUNES OF AELARON. Featuring wind-swept dunes, dark, meddlesome gods, and massive stormbirds, the electric first offering, WINGS OF THE STORM, will blow readers away.

blog tour, books

BBNYA Semi-finalists: Wings and Wounds – Dr S.K. Burkman

ramblingmads

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.

An injured dragon. An ordinary veterinarian. Will their chance encounter lead to salvation or death? Doc only ever wanted to be a “normal” veterinarian for typical dog and cat patients, but her life turns upside down when she discovers that dragons exist… and they need her help.

Doc learns dragon medicine on her own, in secret, terrified that discovery will spell disaster for her incredible, endangered patients, not to mention her career. If that isn’t daunting enough, dragons challenge Doc far more than dogs and cats ever could. Not only are the unpredictable creatures considerably larger than livestock, they have sharp teeth, huge claws, horrid stinky breath weapons, and sometimes belch or sneeze fire. What could possibly go wrong?

Can Doc save the dragons? Will she lose her life in the attempt, or at least her eyebrows? Join the Dragon Doc in Wings and Wounds as she tells of her many frightening, dangerous, and yet hilarious misadventures in the world of dragon medicine.

Amazon UK USA Canada

Goodreads TheStoryGraph

On a summer day long ago, Dr. S. K. Burkman climbed a mountain, got sick, and hallucinated a dragon. Thus began a lifelong fascination with dragons, and many, many exhaustion-fueled musings on what they might be like as patients.

Originally from Colorado and British Columbia, Dr. Burkman earned her doctorate in veterinary medicine at Colorado State University. As a busy veterinarian, Dr. Burkman keeps her sanity by writing about dragons. Many of her own adventures and misadventures are woven into her novels. Outside of work and writing, she enjoys hiking, backpacking, kayaking, travel, cake baking and decorating, power tools, DIY projects, and looking for dragons. She has been married to Joshua for over twenty years, and they have one child. Dr. Burkman and her family reside in Idaho with their motley assortment of pets, and maybe, just maybe, a dragon or two.

Find out more on Dr. Burkman’s website, thedragondoc.com. Also, follow Dr. Burkman on social media: Facebook IAmTheDragonDoc, Twitter @iamthedragondoc, and Instagram iamthedragondoc.

blog tour, books

BBNYA Semi-finalists: Where Fate Whispers – E.G. Tudor

ramblingmads

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.

BOOK ONE IN THE FATED PARTNERS TRILOGY

In the Twin Realms of Nos and Sol, Ceridwen Moonshade anxiously awaits the Fated Pair Choosing; she hopes to be partnered with her best friend, Malakai Ostara.

But the Fates have other plans.

Something insidious lurks amongst the shadows, and Ceridwen’s whole life will turn on its head, when an ominous prophecy is foretold. In order to save the realms and stave back the horrors of the lower realm of Fog, she must put aside her own growing feelings for Malakai and do what is right.

But in the process of discovering who she really is, and what she is capable of… will she realise that Fate isn’t always set in stone?

Amazon UK Canada USA

Goodreads TheStoryGraph 

E.G. Tudor is an award-winning multi-genre author from the original land of myth and legend; Wales. She lives on the beautiful coast with her husband, four children and crazy dog. She loves to connect with her readers and can be found on Twitter: @E_G_Tudor or on Instagram: @from_the_shelf_of_e_g_tudor

blog tour, books

BBNYA Semi-finalists: What I Hid From You – Heleen Kist

ramblingmads

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.

SHE THOUGHT SHE WAS HER OWN WORST ENEMY … UNTIL THEY CAME ALONG

Following the death of a patient in her care, Radha begins taking Valium to control her anxiety.

She tells herself she’s fine, but as the pressures of being a perfect wife, mother and daughter mount, her little habit spirals into addiction.

When she’s forced to find a new source of pills, she stumbles into the blackmailing clutches of Glasgow’s underworld.

A mistake that could cost her everything.

They give her an impossible choice: face personal and professional ruin or have blood on her hands by helping them deal.

As she fights to protect all she holds dear, can she protect herself?

A gripping and emotional suspense novel about a woman who risks it all to juggle it all.

Amazon UK USA Canada

Goodreads TheStoryGraph

Heleen Kist is a Dutch, formerly globetrotting career woman who fell in love with a Scotsman and his country, and now writes about its (sometimes scary) people from her garden office in Glasgow. ‘What I Hid From You’ is her third novel, inspired by many an overworked dentist friend. Her fourth, ‘KIller Bodies’ is out now.

blog tour, books

BBNYA Semi-finalists: Unbound – Ash Finley

ramblingmads

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.

Sometimes it’s the family you can’t choose who are the ones to save you.

un·sound /ˌənˈsound/ adjective not safe or robust; in poor condition. not based on sound evidence or reasoning and therefore unreliable or unacceptable not competent, reliable, or holding acceptable views.

As I watched the rich Washington landscape of mountains and thick green forests, I didn’t know what to expect. Granted, I was watching it from the back of a squad car, so it’s not like I had a choice in the matter.

High school is hard enough—dealing with hormones, grades, the pressure of college, social media, prom, sex ed… the list can go on forever. I wished for that kind of normalcy. Instead, I was being shipped way up to the middle of nowhere woods of Washington state—a serene community of cozy cabins, the smell of burning firewood… and enough troubled, drug-addicted, almost-criminal teens to make me wonder if this was a better option than juvie.

Little did I know that these drug-addled, societal misfits were exactly what I needed to become myself again.

Written in four cohesive POV’s, Unsound follows a tight-knit group of troubled teenagers living at a boarding school for at-risk youths up in a remote forest in Washington State. These kids have had childhood ripped away from them but they’re on the journey to take their lives back.

345 page standalone with a sequel is in the works!

But no cliffhangers, because who really likes a cliffhanger!?

There are TRIGGER WARNINGS ranging from mental abuse, eating disorders and depression to underage drug & alcohol use, underage sex and mentions of rape. But I promise, it’s not as dark as the warning sounds.

Amazon Canada USA UK

Goodreads TheStoryGraph

Author Bio:

I’m an author in Brooklyn, trying to promote my first book Unsound. Unsound is a 20+ year project and I’m so proud of where it is now from where it was in 1999 coming out of a 14-year-old brain.

I love Manhattan. I love my cat. I have the best boyfriend in the world who tries not to show his frustration when I want to write and therefore need to ignore him for hours.

I love music, my latest obsessions being Bastille, 21 Pilots, Old Dominion, Dan+Shay, and AJR. I love having the radio play all day long in the background. I love old school WB: Buffy, Dawson’s Creek, Charmed, just to name a few.

And most importantly, I’m constantly reading. After all, Stephen King said: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There’s no way around these two things that I’m aware of, no shortcut.” “If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

Besides the sequel to Unsound, I’m also working on a new project that is fantasy based.

blog tour, books

BBNYA Semi-finalists: Under the Lesser Moon – Shelly Campbell

ramblingmads

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.

Dragons once led our people across the wastelands, away from storms, and toward hunting grounds.’

That’s what the elders say, but eleven-year-old Akrist has squinted at empty skies his whole life. The dragons have abandoned them, and it’s Akrist’s fault. He’s cursed. Like every other firstborn son, he has inherited the sins of his ancestors. In his camp, he’s the only eldest boy left. Something happened to the others.

Something terrible.

When Akrist befriends Tanar, an eldest boy from another tribe, he discovers the awful truth: they’re being raised as sacrifices to appease the Goddess and win back her dragons. The ritual happens when the dual moons eclipse. Escape is the only option, but Akrist was never taught to hunt or survive the wastelands alone. Time is running out, and he has to do something before the moons touch.

Amazon UK Canada USA

Goodreads TheStoryGraph

At a young age, Shelly Campbell wanted to be an air show pilot or a pirate, possibly a dragon and definitely a writer and artist. She’s piloted a Cessna 172 through spins and stalls, and sailed up the east coast on a tall ship barque—mostly without projectile vomiting. In the end, Shelly found writing fantasy and drawing dragons to be so much easier on the stomach.

Shelly’s tales are speculative fiction, tending toward literary with dollops of oddity. She enjoys the challenge of exploring new techniques and subject matter, and strives to embed inspiring stories in her writing.