If you enjoy a creepy paranormal horror, this one’s for you! Read on for more details about The Devil’s Pawn by Marilyn Levinson!
The Devil’s Pawn
Publication Date: January 22, 2024
Genre: YA Horror
After fifteen-year-old Simon Porte’s family is killed in an automobile crash, his father’s brother, whom he’s never met, brings Simon to live with him and his wife in upstate New York. Simon doesn’t trust Uncle Raymond, and for good reason. Raymond is dying and using his diabolical powers to take over Simon’s body. Simon must develop his own supernatural defenses to survive. With his dotty great-aunt, his young sister, and a pair of odd twins, he wages war against the evil Raymond and his cronies.
A former Spanish teacher, Marilyn Levinson writes mysteries, romantic suspense, and novels for young readers. Her books have received many accolades.
Her books for young readers include NO BOYS ALLOWED, RUFUS AND MAGIC RUN AMOK, which was awarded a “Children’s Choice,” GETTING BACK TO NORMAL & AND DON’T BRING JEREMY.
Marilyn loves traveling, reading, knitting, doing Sudoku, and visiting with her grandchildren, Olivia and Jack, on FaceTime. She is co-founder and past president of the now defunct Long Island chapter of Sisters in Crime.
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.
Open your eyes. See the truth. Make a choice.
Nearly 30 years ago, the PEACE Project rose from the ruins of a global war to take power over a new America. Providing stability in exchange for absolute authority, the Project controls every aspect of citizens’ lives through each of its five units:
Protect
Enforce
Advance
Control
Eliminate
Raised in the Project since infancy, eighteen-year-old Zira has been trained as an assassin under the stern guidance of unit E-2’s Chairman Ryku. After she makes a careless mistake on an assignment, the chairman partners her with Jared, the best operative in her unit. Their partnership transforms into friendship as they work together and learn to rely on each other. But when misinformation causes a solo mission to backfire, Zira’s deepest loyalties and strongest relationships are tested in a place where even a hint of doubt can be perceived as treason.
The life she knows is falling apart, and nothing will ever look the same again.
T. A. Hernandez is a science fiction and fantasy author and long-time fan of speculative fiction. She grew up with her nose habitually stuck in a book and her mind constantly wandering to make-believe worlds full of magic and adventure. She began writing after reading J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings many years ago and is now happily engaged in an exciting and lifelong quest to tell captivating stories.
She is a clinical social worker and the proud mother of two girls. She also enjoys drawing, reading, graphic design, playing video games, and making happy memories with her family and friends.
My thoughts: Zira has been raised inside the PEACE Project, she knows no different, trained to assassinate the Project’s enemies for her Chairman – she’s one of the youngest so far. But after an accident on a job, she begins to see things from a different perspective. One that makes her ask questions.
It puts her relationship with Jared under strain and with the Chairman, who doesn’t trust her all of a sudden. Maybe the Project isn’t the force for good they’ve all been raised to believe.
The first in a protected series, this is a smart Dystopian read with a controlling power that might be taking it too far and a young woman who needs to find her own way in a world where all she believes might be false.
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own
Circe goes YA in this unapologetically feminist retelling of the Medusa myth steeped in Indian mythology, a YA epic fantasy addition to the Rick Riordan Presents imprint.
All monsters and heroes have beginnings. This is mine.
Sixteen-year-old Manisha is no stranger to monsters—she’s been running from them for years, from beasts who roam the jungle to the King’s army, who forced her people, the naga, to scatter to the ends of the earth. You might think that the kingdom’s famed holy temples atop the floating mountains, where Manisha is now a priestess, would be safe—but you would be wrong.
Seventeen-year-old Pratyush is a famed slayer of monsters, one of the King’s most prized warriors and a frequent visitor to the floating temples. For every monster the slayer kills, years are added to his life. You might think such a powerful warrior could do whatever he wants, but true power lies with the King. Tired after years of fighting, Pratyush wants nothing more than a peaceful, respectable life.
When Pratyush and Manisha meet, each sees in the other the possibility to chart a new path. Unfortunately, the kingdom’s powerful have other plans. A temple visitor sexually assaults Manisha and pushes her off the mountain into a pit of vipers. A month later, the King sends Pratyush off to kill one last monster (a powerful nagin who has been turning men to stone) before he’ll consider granting the slayer his freedom.
Except Manisha doesn’t die, despite the hundreds of snake bites covering her body and the venom running through her veins. She rises from the pit more powerful than ever before, with heightened senses, armor-like skin, and blood that can turn people to stone. And Pratyush doesn’t know it, but the “monster” he’s been sent to kill is none other than the girl he wants to marry.
Alternating between Manisha’s and Pratyush’s perspectives, Sajni Patel weaves together lush language, high stakes, and page-turning suspense, demanding an answer to the question “What does it truly mean to be a monster?”
When guests arrived, Sita shooed Manisha and Arya behind the lattice walls, into a secret hallway between the grand hall and the wall facing the kitchens and residences. Manisha frowned but didn’t argue. After all this time, she still couldn’t interact with guests. It didn’t matter. She didn’t like socializing anyway.
She covered her head with her jade-tinted dupatta, slipping into the cool recesses. The latticework inner wall allowed the girls to view the grand hall while remaining hidden from guests.
“Who do you think is here that’s so important?” Arya asked, nearly poking her nose through a swirl-shaped hole in the marble wall. Billowing light from the hall cut through the carvings, covering her in an illuminating pattern of light and shadow.
“Why do you ask that?” Manisha countered, peering through the carved holes.
“Sita only hides you away when there’s someone important, or had you not noticed?”
The giggles of younger girls in the hidden hallway reverberated off the walls, their bare footfalls padding away as Arya shushed them. At least someone was having fun. Sita never bothered to use the darkened walkways, so this was probably the only place where the girls could play without being scolded. Manisha was tempted to join them, to run again, to laugh, and to let go of the shackles of proper etiquette.
A hush fell over the girls, drawing Manisha’s attention back to the hall.
Three guests entered the main room like giants, faces hardened, postures rigid, and bodies sculpted by brutal battles.
Manisha picked up on two pairs of soft, bare footfalls trekking across cold floors, and one pair of footsteps so muted, they were nearly imperceptible.
An apsara led the trio to offer prayers at the innermost shrine, the shadowy door inside the crystal pikes.
The apsara told them, “It is said that the ancient ones were born during the creation of the Akash Ganga. From the great sky river came both devas, the wise ones, and asuras, the monsters which you slay. The ancient ones came to us from the glimmer of faraway stars to battle the asuras who had escaped the faraway darkness. I suppose you must have a connection with them, since you battle on our behalf.”
Two men nodded with an acquiescent hum, but the third was silent.
They knelt on red-and-gold pillows in front of the central altar. The light cast from the diya sprayed against the contours of their faces, sharpening the angles of their jaws like a fine blade. The quiet one, the tallest of the three, was just a boy.
Many boys had visited over the years, typically sons of noblemen and diplomats, even royalty—cousins of princes, mostly. They escorted their families. This one, however, arrived with commanding officers dressed in formal uniforms. Maybe he was the son of a famed commander?
Manisha was so focused on the guests that she startled when a strange magnetic pull drew her attention to the boy. A sense of curiosity. She wasn’t sure how to feel about it. Flustered? Annoyed? Guarded? All three?
Arya clutched Manisha’s wrist and pulled her away, whispering, “Don’t get distracted by boys.”
“I—I would never,” she muttered. “Who is he?”
Whispers and excited conversations bubbled around them as all the girls glued themselves to the carved gaps to watch.
“They call him Pratyush. He’s a famous warrior.”
Manisha scrunched her brows, confused. “But he’s just a boy.”
Arya shrugged. “All warriors start out as boys. This one must be strong. The men he’s with look like commanders, so he must be important.”
Manisha intended to look away but couldn’t seem to move.
The boy was handsome. Broad-shouldered with long black hair, the top half of which was tied back. So young and yet so commanding. Everyone flocked around him as if he were the most important person in the hall. The men he was with, the apsara at his beckoning, even Sita and the Head Priestess had come to greet him. More than that? He was allowed to light the prayer diya, an act reserved for the highest-ranking men and the apsara.
Instead of leaving the delicate holder on the altar as most would, he picked it up and… broke it. The fragile clay shattered in his hands.
A look of shock crossed his face… and just about everyone else’s. The girls behind the wall gasped, their eyes bulging as the centuries-old antique crumbled in his palms.
Had any of the girls broken something so precious, Sita would’veexiled them, kicking them off the floating mountains with nothing more than the clothes on their backs.
What would she do to this famed warrior boy?
Sita’s face flared red, her lips pressing into a tight line. She fell to her knees to collect the destroyed remains from the floor.
Manisha cracked. A bubble of laughter tore through her. She immediately covered her mouth.
Arya shot her an incredulous glare, as if she’d been personally offended. Manisha cleared her throat. Only to end up cackling. She hadn’t laughed since she’d arrived at the temple. She, in fact, didn’t think laughter was even permitted by Sita.
Sita’s look of horror and utter disbelief, tangled with the inability to do a single thing, was a moment to behold. But add a commanding warrior gaping at his mess like any other awkward boy… well, Manisha couldn’t help it.
She was now covering her mouth with both hands, cackling up a muffled storm.
Her laughter must’ve escaped because Sita glared daggers of wrath at the lattice wall. All the girls took three careful steps away from Manisha.
The boy, whose face had been flustered, went from embarrassed to indifferent as he, too, looked at the lattice wall splattered with Manisha’s laughter.
Sita, the Head Priestess, and the host apsara had gathered every last speck of the broken diya holder, reverently holding the pieces in their hands. The commanders shook their heads, rattled. Yet all they did was give the boy a pat on the back as if saying, This is why we can’t have nice things.
“We should get to the kitchens to help with supper,” Arya whispered, ushering the younger girls out of the walkway before they suffered Sita’s wrath.
Manisha knew she should go, too, but she was rooted in place, unable to remove her stare from the boy. He kept glancing at the lattice wall. There was no way he could possibly see her, not with how the marble carvings had been designed to conceal persons in the recesses. But his intense focus made her question if he could.
She walked to the end of the hallway. Yet, when the boy looked up, his gaze immediately found her. She walked back, toward the entrance. Again, he found her. How was this possible?
When the prayers ended, the warrior boy meandered toward the sweets. A table and a wall were the only things separating them. He picked up a diamond-shaped kaju katli, made from the pistachios growing in the courtyard and dusted with edible silver.
He popped the entire sweet into his mouth and glanced over his shoulder. Then he dragged his gaze across the lattice wall until his eyes landed on Manisha. She stilled in the shadows.
He had the strangest-colored eyes, lavender and poetic. Such a stark contrast against dark brown skin and the harshness of warrior-worn clothes.
“It’s not nice to laugh at someone, you know?” he said, his voice scratchy. He couldn’t be older than sixteen.
How could he pinpoint her so easily?
“I know you’re there,” he added, the corner of his lips tipping upward. Suddenly, he seemed less like a grumpy warrior and more like a regular boy. “I smell your rose oil hair perfume and hear the crunch of a leaf under your foot.”
She scowled, not having felt anything beneath her steps. But when she gingerly lifted her left foot, there it was… a leaf.
Sajni Patel is an award-winning author of women’s fiction and young adult books. Her works have appeared on numerous Best Of the Year and Must Read lists from Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, Apple Books, AudioFile, Tribeza, NBC, Insider, and many others.
My thoughts: Medusa meets Indian mythology sounds like an odd mix but works surprisingly well in this YA fantasy about men and monsters.
Manisha is a nagin, an ancient line descended from goddesses with an affinity to snakes. After her people are almost wiped out, her family send her into hiding. Forced to pretend to be a faithful temple servant, she encounters a young man, Pratyush, a renowned monster killer, who just might be her destiny, or her fate?
After a terrible incident ends with her broken and blooded, thrown out from the temple, Manisha vows to find her family. Aided by a snake sidekick, Noni (the cuddliest giant serpent ever), she heads in the direction of home, making new friends along the way.
Pratyush is also on a journey, and when the two paths collide, decisions must be made.
I really enjoyed this book, I loved Manisha, she’s a wonderful protagonist. I liked playing spot the Greek mythology mixed in with the Indian, and the way the two very different cultures had been blended so well. The tiny hint for what’s to come in book 2 has me excited already!
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
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.
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.
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?
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
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.
IF YOU COULD ALTER YOUR DNA WITH ONE PILL…WOULD YOU?
When the president declares all unadjusteds must take a nanite, sixteen year old Silver Melody has no choice but to flee the city. She has no genetic enhancements. She is 100% human, and wants to stay that way.
Escaping with her family and friends, Silver plans to hide out and deal with an awkward love triangle while her scientist father makes a cure. But she doesn’t count on her father being captured, on the president setting an immortal army and hellhounds on her tail, or dealing with her crippling anxiety.
Her only chance to recover her father involves teaming up with a new group of unlikely friends and rescuing him before the unadjusteds are wiped out.
Marisa Noelle writes tense and pacy novels in dystopian, science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. The ocean and mental health are her two deepest passions (besides her family, naturally, and let’s not forget the dog). Although quite a few ocean settings a have made it into her novels, she can’t find an excuse to set everything by the sea. After dealing with her own mental health issues, mental health representation will always be reflected in her writing and 10% of her profits go to mental health charities.
Her books include:
The Unraveling of Luna Forester (Short listed for the Booklife Prize (Publishers Weekly))
The Shadow Keepers
The Unadjusteds Trilogy
The Mermaid Chronicles (5 book series)
Screen Writing:
When the Water Runs Dry was shortlisted for the 666 horror film competition.
Marisa’s side freelance editing and mentoring aspiring MG & YA authors through the Write Mentor program — helping many authors to achieve agent representation and gain traditional publishing deals. With dual citizenship, Marisa has lived on both sides of the Atlantic and uses both UK & USA settings as inspiration for her novels.
You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @MarisaNoelle77, TikTok @MarisaNoelle12, or her website www.MarisaNoelle.com
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.
Welcome to Arcanium, where the fairies never play fair
All Demi Darcy dreams of is a new life. Tormented by her human sisters for being born part-fairy, she wants to find somewhere she can truly belong. When she is invited to join Arcanium, one of the most prestigious organisations that oversees all Faerie realms, she believes it’s her big chance.
But all is not well in Faerie. Despite her best efforts to stay out of trouble, Demi soon stumbles on a plot to murder the Queen by an outcast group of Court Fae. Their goal? Return Faerie to the dark days of old, when humans were used for sport and half-breed fairies were ostracised.
Letting the Queen die isn’t something Demi’s willing to do, but neither is ruining her chance at a new life. A choice must be made, but time is short and life in Faerie soon turns out to be more dangerous than Demi’s darkest nightmares.
Emma lives on the UK south coast with her husband, her plant collection and a very lazy black Labrador who occasionally condescends to take her out for a walk. Aside from creative writing studies, an addiction to cereal and spending far too much time procrastinating on social media, Emma is still waiting for the arrival of her unicorn. Or a tank, she’s not fussy.
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.
Seventeen-year-old Lucas Rowland is spending the summer with his family at the exclusive Lake Avalon, and things are getting… weird. His wealthy peers welcome him and his younger sister Fay with seemingly open arms, and by the time Lucas discovers why, Fay is already fully enmeshed in both high—and questionable—society. But does she need saving? Or is it all a harmless game? Lucas must decide whether to play along or put a stop to it.
Amanda Innes is the award-winning author of THE GHOSTS OF MARSHLEY PARK and the popular Drew & Rayze series. Find her on YouTube at https://youtube.com/@mplbooks and on TikTok as Amanda_Innes.
Welcome to the tour for Legends of Astrea: Cupid’s Arrow by Sophia Alessandrini. Read on for more details and visit one of our Bookstagram hosts for a chance to win a book box!
Ailie, a gutsy girl who possesses a sharp wit and a playful, irreverent voice that pairs well with that of her best friend’s, a werewolf; embarks on a quest for revenge with the help of her psychotic, warmongering, and good-hearted legal guardian. She alone can open the gates of hell just like Pandora did when she opened the jar that contained all evils.
And evil wants those doors open.
Fallen Angels conspire to help her with Cupid’s Golden Arrow.
She finds herself in a whimsical world of myths, legends, glittering gowns, priceless jewels, life threatening enemies, and eccentric immortals that call themselves Strzyga.
However, there are side effects to the arrow. What’s not to like about a gorgeous, two-hundred-year old Strzyga prince who is totally and completely head over heels for her?
But things never go as planned, do they?
Will Ailie manage to save the world, or will she accidentally open the gates of hell?
Find out in the exciting pages of this whimsical, legend-filled fantasy romance.
Sophia Alessandrini is a cum laude BS graduate in Mathematical Physics and a degree in International Relations. She studied and traveled all over Europe, always fantasizing about the middle ages, dragons, ghosts, and fairies. For fun she wrote short stories to read to her sister and young cousins during Christmas family gatherings. When she returned to America and discovered cooking, she became a Chef. However, stories were always popping in her head all the time, making her realize that her first love was writing.
She resides in sunny Southern California and enjoys walks on the beach at sunrise, collecting seashells and beach glass, always wondering about mermaids. She loves anything cute with little four legs, including frogs, and iguanas (although she avoids the kissing part), that she names after green food items when they show up at her doorstep.
When she escapes into the magic of the California forests, Sophia ponders about the existence of elementals, fairies, werewolves, and Big Foot. A geek at heart with an odd fascination for Chinese Kung Fu movies, Star Wars, and Vampire TV shows, plotting a way to time travel to the middle ages, meet dragons, talk to ghosts, and perhaps become a Ninja with pink hair like a forest fairy.
Her books keep her readers on their toes with her adrenaline-fueled adventures, suspense-filled cliffhangers, and romantic whimsical scenes. You will find her sitting down with a book in hand, hiding in corner of the nearest coffee shop when she isn’t writing.
My thoughts: Ailie has had a difficult childhood, orphaned and raised by nuns, bullied by her classmates and mistreated by the Sisters, some of whom think she’s possessed.
But as her sixteenth birthday arrives, it’s finally time to learn about who she really is and why she’s so important. In a war between two races hiding among humans, she’s vital to the survival of her people, as long as she doesn’t open the gates to Hell first.
This was an interesting take on angels and demons, vampires and werewolves. Centered around a teenage girl who doesn’t know anything about this hidden world of ancient beings, cursed and at war.
I liked Ailie and felt for her, her confusion and mine matched at times, she was inundated with new information and struggled with understanding it all, and then trying to reconcile all of that with what she does know.
After sixteen-year-old Harriet Flynn trips over an ancient gravestone etched with strange markings in a seventeenth-century holiday village and reads the inscription, she and her friends are alarmed to wake up with supernatural powers.
Having magical abilities is fun at first, but when a series of accidents cause the group to become frightened, Harriet becomes determined to find out what’s going on.
While investigating the history of the gravestone they came across that night, Harriet realises she has unwittingly awakened a centuries-old, deadly curse and she is the only one who can put an end to it – and she has less than a day.
With time running out, Harriet must find the true magic key, to save herself and the ones she loves.
Lisa Wakely is a writer, performer and radio presenter from Essex born to an Anglo-Indian mother and Anglo-Burmese father. She has been writing since she was twelve years old, after spending most of her evenings reading stories from the school library. Lisa lives in Colchester with her husband, dog and a cat.
She enjoys engaging in heart-pumping activities such as skydiving and abseiling, all in the pursuit of charity. Her passion for writing and teaching performing arts is matched only by her boundless energy and unwavering determination. Her time working as a Guest Host at Madame Tussauds London really gave her a taste of what life at an entertainment attraction was like.
Very much how it comes across in Hexed – minus the magic and 17th century madness!
My thoughts: as a teenager my friends and I did occasionally wander through the various local church yards and cemeteries, but luckily never woke anything up! Harriet accidentally seems to have stirred up the ghost of a 17th Century woman executed as a witch. And she might actually have been one!
Passing on her powers and a warning to Harriet, she sets the teenager and her friends on a mission, but time is of the essence and there isn’t much of it.
Only by helping each other and working together can Harriet and her friends break the curse and stop Silas from destroying everything.
It’s a twisted, creepy story with lots of action and adventure, all in costume as they recreate the 17th Century village for a Halloween festival.
Click the image for more on the tour
*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in the blog tour but all opinions remain my own.
ramblingmads 