Blog Tour (Guest Post): ‘My Journey to Romance’ – Dan Fitzgerald (The Delve)

On Feb 2, 2023Feb 2, 2023 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Guest Post, Romance, Self-PublishedLeave a comment

Hello,

It is my pleasure to be joining the Escapist Book Tours blog tour for The Delve by Dan Fitzgerald. This book is the first in a new trilogy of standalones, set in the same world as the Maer Cycle (but you do not need to have read them to enjoy this book). You can check out my review for The Delve here as I was lucky enough to read an ARC – and this book was one of my favourite reads for 2022!

Today, I am delighted to welcome Dan to the blog with a fantastic guest post about his journey to writing romance, it’s a fantastic post, very open and personal and for me incredibily relatable; and I want to thank Dan for sharing this post.

Book Summary:

The sword wants what it wants.

The Deepfold mine has gone dark on the eve of war. Without its supply of brightstone, the Maer’s technological advantage over the humans will evaporate. A rising knight named Yglind has earned his Forever Blade and been sent on a quest to uncover the cause of the blackout. Joined by his trusted squire Ardo and a prickly mage named Aene, Yglind hopes to cement his legacy and the Maer’s chance at victory in the coming war.

Inside the Deepfold, they are plunged into a world of bloodshed and chaos. Unknown foes have slaughtered many of the miners, and a gruesome dragon stalks the dark tunnels. While taking refuge in the mine’s impregnable keep, Yglind and Ardo seek solace in each other’s arms and the courage to face the cruel forces arrayed against them.

With their civilization hanging in the balance, they strike out against the invaders as their quest hurtles toward its bloody end.

The Delve is a fast-paced spicy romantic fantasy, the first in the Time Before trio of linked standalones, set 2,000 years before the Maer Cycle trilogy and the Weirdwater Confluence duology. The series are independent and can be read in any order.

Author’s note: this book contains explicit, consensual sex scenes, violence, gore, and death, and is not intended for readers under the age of eighteen.

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Blog Tour (Guest Post): Jonathan Nevair ‘Escapist Thriller vs. Space Opera’

On Dec 9, 2022Jan 6, 2023 By Rowena AndrewsIn Guest Post, Sci-Fi, ThrillerLeave a comment

Hello!

Today I am delighted to be joining the Escapists Tours blog tour for Stellar Instinct, the new spy-fi thriller by Jonathan Nevair the author of the Wind Tide trilogy (Goodbye to the Sun, Jati’s Wager, No Song But Silence). This is a fantastic book and you can check out my review HERE, and I can’t recommend it highly enough! I would also like to thank Jonathan for the fantastic post that I’m featuring today.

There is also a chance to win a copy of the book for yourself, so check out the giveaway details at the end of the post.

Please check out the rest of the stops on the tour.

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Book Summary:

A secret agent. A gaming mastermind. Two players in a dangerous competition blurring the boundaries of entertainment and reality.

Mysterious signals pulse from an icy planet in a remote star system. GAM-OPs wants answers. Enter Lilline Renault, secret agent extraordinaire. To ordinary citizens she’s Keely Larkin, an adventure company guide with a flair for the daring and a penchant for writing trite poetry. Lilline’s at the top of the spy game, but publishing her literary work is proving harder than saving the galaxy.

When the mission uncovers a dastardly plan threatening billions of lives, Lilline leaps into action. Verses flow as she rockets through space, dons cunning disguises, and infiltrates enemy territory with an arsenal of secret gadgets. But to prevent the whims of a self-obsessed entrepreneur from turning the galaxy into a deadly playground means beating him at his own game. Lilline will need her best weapon to stand a fighting chance: her instinct.

STELLAR INSTINCT: A spy-fi thriller set in space.

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Guest Post: Perspective on my Small Press Experience – Cate Pearce

On Nov 17, 2022Jan 6, 2023 By Rowena AndrewsIn Guest Post2 Comments

Hello!

Today it is my pleasure to be hosting a guest post from Cate Pearce, author of the Black Crown series from Hansen House Press. The second book, Defenders of the Black Crown came out last week so please do check out the series. Today Cate is talking about her experience with publishing with a small press.

Book Summary:

Traitors of the Black Crown

Three women will betray the black crown. A Knight. A Duchess. A Queen.

Raena Schinen narrowly escaped when the Queen’s guard murdered her entire family. If Raena’s survival is exposed, she’ll be next. For fifteen years Raena has hidden as a male Knight, “Sir Rowan”, consumed by her vengeful desire to assassinate the Queen.

The moment Raena is close enough to exact her revenge, she is unexpectedly exiled to a foreign land. There she serves the common-born Duchess Aven Colby, whose suspicious kinship with the Queen further threatens Raena’s delicate secrets.

Just as they become united in a common goal to curb a looming invasion, unexpected heat and romance blossoms between “Sir Rowan” and Aven. The peril demands they set out on a journey to form clandestine political alliances, risking the Queen’s wrath, and drawing Raena and Aven closer together.

But no one in the kingdom could have imagined the sinister foe rising from below the surface. In order to save themselves and those they love, Raena, Aven, and the Queen must recognize who are the oppressors and who will unite against the Black Crown.

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Defenders of the Black Crown

The Queen is dead.

A new enemy is rising to power from beyond the coastline.

Raena, an heir to the throne, takes her place as ruler of Candor. But she cannot reveal her true identity as a woman or she will surely be executed.
Avenna, once a duchess, returns to her life as a commoner. She hardens her heart and leaves her true love Raena, but will a heinous assault reunite them?
Sylas, a Lord displaced, is forced to lead the refugees and prisoners out of the Boen slaughter. He may be the only one to stop the next war between dwellers of the ocean and the land.
And Bell, the noblewoman, finds the way to command a kingdom is sometimes through gaining the ear (and the bed) of a King.

In this second book of the Black Crown series, Raena, Aven, and their allies learn that it will take more than power and titles to overturn years of oppression, but they might die trying.

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Guest Post: Life imitates fiction: the war in Ukraine between good and evil – Anna

On Mar 11, 2022 By Rowena AndrewsIn Guest Post, Non-Review Book FeaturesLeave a comment

Hello!

This is not Rowena. Rowena has very kindly allowed me to use this platform to try to reach as many people as possible.

Let me start over.

Hello, friends. My name is Anna. I am a friend of Rowena’s from university. Right now, I live in Scotland, but I am originally from Kharkiv. You may have heard of it on the news lately. If not, I shall briefly explain: on the 24^th of February 2022, my home country of Ukraine was invaded by Russia. Since then, my grandparents have been living under constant, relentless shelling. One of them has already had enough and left. The three others remain. I am in touch with them every day and I try to make each phonecall count because I do not know when it will be the last.

These last two weeks have been a particular brand of agony I do not wish upon anybody. Places I once walked among now only exist untarnished in my memory, while what remains are ruins, hollowed out by missile strikes and fires. I have had to be a rock for my mother. I have felt rage and despair the likes of which had never lived in my heart before.

At the same time, I swell with pride for my homeland. The way my country has come together to fight, how our foolish president has blossomed into a true leader, the world’s overwhelming support and response; all these things bring me joy in these dark times. The only thing I have not yet allowed myself to feel is hope. The situation is far too tenuous.

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Guest Post: Atmospheric Writing by Nathan Hall

On Aug 12, 2021Aug 12, 2021 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Guest Post, Horror, Non-Review Book FeaturesLeave a comment

When I was invited to do a guest post on atmospheric writing, I was flattered. But I quickly ran into a problem: I don’t actively aim for atmospheric writing. So it’s not something I put tons of conscious effort into, and it’s definitely not something I have a checklist on hand to achieve.

I tried to look back and reverse engineer it, but that was making things harder than they had to be. In my experience, atmospheric writing isn’t a goal. It’s a natural outcome of my process.

I guess I should eventually explain what atmospheric writing is, and why you may or may not want it.

Atmospheric writing has a consistent tone. The very world through your characters’ eyes has a mood, almost a flavor. This is what this story FEELS like. It doesn’t mean you can’t add humor or romance or action in a story that is primarily in another genre. But it has a core identity, and it doesn’t betray that identity.

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Blog Tour: Guest Post – Magical Mayhem (A Noble’s Path – I.L.Cruz)

On Mar 16, 2020Apr 28, 2020 By Rowena AndrewsIn Fantasy, Guest Post3 Comments

Hello!

Today I am delighted to welcome the blog tour for ‘A Noble’s Path’ by I.L.Cruz, organised by Rachel Poli (@RPoli3) back to my blog. Today I am hosting author content about magic and magic systems. It’s fascinating reading both as a reader and a writer, and I hope that you will check out both the author and the book.

The Mayhem of Magic

It should come as no surprise that I love magic in books. I feel so strongly about it that I’ve written a series about magic that’s outlawed. When I started the series, I knew I wanted to include magic in my world, but I wanted to do it correctly. I’ve read more than one novel where the magic didn’t fit. My superpower is research, and this is what I learned.

Continue reading “Blog Tour: Guest Post – Magical Mayhem (A Noble’s Path – I.L.Cruz)” →