In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. Circe is a strange child – not powerful and terrible, like her father, nor gorgeous and mercenary like her mother. Scorned and rejected, Circe grows up in the shadows, at home in neither the world of gods or mortals. But Circe has a dark power of her own: witchcraft. When her gift threatens the gods, she is banished to the island of Aiaia where she hones her occult craft, casting spells, gathering strange herbs and taming wild beasts. Yet a woman who stands alone will never be left in peace for long – and among her island’s guests is an unexpected visitor: the mortal Odysseus, for whom Circe will risk everything.
So Circe sets forth her tale, a vivid, mesmerizing epic of family rivalry, love and loss – the defiant, inextinguishable song of woman burning hot and bright through the darkness of a man’s world.
Reviewed: May 9th, 2023 Released: September 6th, 2022 Genre: Historical Fantasy Format: Audiobook narrated by Marian Hussey
A librarian with a mysterious past, a war hero with a secret, and the heist of a magic painting. THE LIBRARIAN OF CROOKED LANE is an intriguing new fantasy from C.J. Archer, the USA Today bestselling author of the Glass and Steele series.
Librarian Sylvia Ashe knows nothing about her past, having grown up without a father and a mother who refused to discuss him. When she stumbles upon a diary that suggests she’s descended from magicians, she’s skeptical. After all, magicians are special, and she’s just an ordinary girl who loves books. She seeks the truth from a member of the most prominent family of magicians, but she quickly learns that finding the truth won’t be easy, especially when he turns out to be as artless as her, and more compelling and dangerous than books.
War hero Gabe is gifted with wealth, a loving family, and an incredible amount of luck that saw him survive four harrowing years of a brutal war without injury. But not all injuries are visible. Burying himself in his work as a consultant for Scotland Yard, Gabe is going through the motions as he investigates the theft of a magician-made painting. But his life changes when he unwittingly gets Sylvia dismissed from her job and places her in danger.
After securing her new employment in a library housing the world’s greatest collection of books about magic, Gabe and Sylvia’s lives become intwined as they work together to find both the painting and the truth about Sylvia’s past before powerful people can stop them.
Today, I am pleased to welcome author LC Ainsworth to talk to us about her novel Too Many Shadows, Not Enough Light which was released on January 12th, 2023.
Helen: Welcome LC. I am so excited to meeet you and that we get to chat about your book today!! Tell us about your series and Too Many Shadows, Not Enough Light.
LC: My book series is called A Dark Passengers Story and book 1 title is Too Many Shadows, Not Enough Light.
It is a Fantasy/Sci-fi/Mystery/YA/Romance.
It is the story of a young princess from an empire called Yanar. Yanar is also the only country on Earth where humans have developed supernatural powers. She dreams of being a chef, but her position as the future queen does not allow it and instead is forced to choose between one branch of the Armed Forces. She chooses the Air Force because she loves flying.
She faces her enemies from another planet in Book 1 and has, at the tender age of 17, to learn how to become a leader. By the end of the book, she also faces another challenge. She develops feelings for a boy.
Helen: That sounds like an action packed premise. What inspired your cover?
LC: The cover I chose reminded me of the first scene in Terminator 1, one of my favourite movies. You have the bones of humans covered in some dark grey ashes and a robot just steps on a skull, crushing it while moving toward a group of rebels shooting at it and other machines.
In the early part of the book, the heroine is fighting aliens, and the fighting happens in space. But the war will inevitably reach Earth and the image that kept popping into my head every time I would picture the coming war was the robot crushing the skull. So I picked it and I think it is a good representation not just of book 1 but of the series.
Helen: The cover certainly embodies the threat. It is dark and brooding. I love your title, how did decide on that?
LC: The first title was meant to be The Fire Underneath but the more I wrote the more words like darkness came to me. Eventually, I settled with Shadow and Light but something was missing and my sister “Why not Too Many Shadows?”, I smiled, it was perfect.
Helen: I am so glad your sister piped up. It is a perfect title. What made you write this particular book?
LC: When I was 11, someone discovered the body of a woman near the school gates. My friends and I had a spot hidden where we loved to pretend we were spies. We called it the KGB. That day we found hair in our hiding space, a lot of hair. I remembered hearing my parents talk about the murdered woman. The murderer had cut her hair. We waited until we spotted a police officer nearby and told him about the hair we found; he laughed and ignored us.
We got angry and investigated the matter ourselves. By the end of the school term, we had concluded that our headteacher was guilty; the woman murdered was not his first murder, and he was having an affair with a teacher. Both were married. We proudly walked into a police station and handed over our evidence. They laughed at us and kicked us out of the station but not before complimenting us on our wild imagination and advising that we write books or scripts for tv series.
And this is how the idea of the plot for the first book entered my mind. By the time I gave writing a go, I had gained a passion for fantasy and sci-fi, not to mention romance. So I kept the vibe and the essence of the story alive while adding aliens, creating a new country, and adding some violence.
Helen: I can see why that idea stuck. Quite a traumatic event at such a young age. I’m glad you were able to purge it through your writing. What genre do you typically write?
LC: I write a mix-genre. I love Mystery; I am a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes and Agatha Christie’s books. I am also a huge fan of Jane Austen. Adding that to my love of Fantasy and Sci-Fi, I simply couldn’t stick to one genre. I tried to write a Fantasy book and ended up writing a Fantasy/YA/Romance/Mystery/Sci-Fi book. In a sense, I think the book took a life in itself. And when I got to book two, I had developed a taste in Smut books, so I added some explicit content.
Helen: I think the more we write the more confident we become, and so our writing reflects that. Which element of the writing process do you find most challenging and why?
LC: Editing. As someone who is writing in her third language, it is already difficult to put the words on paper. But it is nothing compared to the editing process which in my opinion takes even longer than the actual writing. For each book, I have had to reread, rewrite and delete entire chapters which is so painful because I cherished every word. Yes, for me editing is the most challenging part.
Helen: I am so impressed that you are writing in your third language. May I say that I think it is amazing. I struggle with grammar and English is my first and only language!
Thank you so much for chatting with me today. Final question for you. What is the best thing that has happened to you since you began writing?
LC: I would say I accepted who I was. I suffer from depression and anxiety and always lived in my head. I would create worlds and imagine what life could be if I didn’t have to hide from the world then I would put on a mask and walk among people, pretending to be ok. Writing allowed me to open about my depression and anxiety. I no longer fear to be seen as someone dealing with mental illness. I can accept it and work on getting better without fear of judgment.
Helen: I truly believe writing is carthartic and allows us to express freely what is inside us. I am so glad you found that on your writing journey. Thank you again, LC, for joining me today.
About the Author:
L.C Ainsworth is an author living in Wales surrounded by her loved ones while taking care of her mother’s garden.
As an Amazon Associate I may earn commission from purchases made using these links.
If you enjoy fantasy romance books then you will love SoulBreather, and my epic fantasy Sentinal series. As a new threat against Remargaren is discovered, only one man can wake the ancient guards who can protect them, only he doesn’t know how. Start the adventure and stay for the journey. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
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Reviewed: May 2nd, 2023 Released: October 31st, 2022 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy
Finding my husband in bed with another woman was not how I planned to start my day.
Or homeless the next minute. And broke.
So, when a job comes my way from The Twilight Hotel—a paranormal hotel in midtown Manhattan that serves as a sanctuary and residence—I take it.
Cue in tattooed, sexy as sin, grumpy restaurant owner Valen, who can’t do drama or high-maintenance women. The problem? He’s cruel and dangerous.
And he’s hiding something.
Rumors arise of a dark spell that would mean the hotel’s closure, and I don’t know who I can trust. Do I have what it takes to fight this new evil? We’ll see.
Reviewed: April 28th, 2023 Released: June 21st, 2022 Genre: Humourous Fantasy Romance
A heartwarming and humorous blend of fantasy, romance, and mystery featuring a witch with domestic powers and the royal household he serves . . . dinner.
When Finlay Ashowan joins the staff of the King and Queen of Daxaria, he’s an enigma. No one knows where he comes from or how he came to be where he is, which suits Fin just fine. He’s satisfied simply serving as the royal cook, keeping nosy passersby out of his kitchen, and concocting some truly uncanny meals.
But Fin’s secret identity doesn’t stay hidden for long. After all, it’s not every day a house witch and his kitten familiar, Kraken, take to meddling in imperial affairs. As his powers are gradually discovered by the court, Fin finds himself involved in a slew of intrigues: going head-to-head with knights with less-than-chivalrous intentions, helping to protect the pregnant queen, fending off the ire of the royal mage, and uncovering a spy in the castle. And that’s only the beginning—because Fin’s past is catching up with him just as his love life is getting complicated.
Reviewed: April 21st 2023 Released: February 26th, 2021 Genre: Gaslamp MM Fantasy
His second chance at life will be the bloody death of him.
Silas Mercer is a dead man. Or at least…he was.
Upon waking in his grave, he finds himself without a single memory of the life he once lived. Silas is bewildered and lost, and apparently, now in the employ of the mysterious Order of the Golden Dawn. A secretive organisation who specialise in all things supernatural.
But Silas’s odd new life takes a startling turn when the Order partners him with the scandalous rake, Tobias Astaroth. A quick-tempered, dangerously beautiful man who harbours some hellish secrets.
Their unlikely, and infuriating, partnership soon faces its first terrifying challenge.
A monster straight out of a nightmare is haunting the woods of Leicester, and the Order want Silas and Tobias to end its rampage.
But nothing in this world is as it seems. Not the Order. Not Silas himself, and certainly not the incorrigible and utterly beguiling Mr Astaroth.
For Silas, the perils that lie ahead are many. But few are as dangerous as the bewitching man at his side.
As Earth Day approaches, my thoughts turn to what we are doing to our planet, our home. For some time I’ve wanted to help with reforestation projects and help plant more trees. Return parts of our amazing country back to its leafy origins. To help protect those ancients forests that sustain so much natural life and can teach us so much.
I have always had a love of trees. Walking through forests, copses, elm trees lining a road, Pine firs bordering a moor, the horse chestnut tree in my backgarden (even through all its seasons!), a single oak tree in all it magnificent glory! Even the local cemetary which has many ebautirul specimens.
It’s so peaceful walking through nature, listening to the swish of leaves, the odd woodpecker or some energetic birdsong! That blackbird certainly has some lungs. But if we don’t protect our forests, nurture the trees, our children won’t get to enjoy the natural world in the way we do.
With my Sentinal series books being based around a magical sentinal tree which protected the Lady’s guards for thousand of years, it seems only right that these books should should also protect and give back to the environment.
So I’ve decided to donate 20p for every ebook or print book I sell. This includes all my books, both the Epic Fantasy Sentinal series and the Fantasy Romance SoulMist series.
In the UK it costs ÂŁ5.00 to plant a tree so for every twenty-five books I sell, we’ll plant a tree between us.
You can follow our progress on my sustainability page and see how many trees we’ve planted. Share the word, buy a book and help plant a tree!
If you enjoy fantasybooks then you will love my epic fantasy Sentinal series. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
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Reviewed: April 15th 2023 Released: October 26th, 2022 Genre: Paranormal Fantasy Audiobook narrated by Kristen Saburn
Charlotte McConnor has all the luck of the Irish… until she doesn’t. When she agrees to marry Colin, her boyfriend of several months, things go downhill fast. The second the engagement ring slips on her finger, things get strange—and hot. As in, he burns her hometown to the ground every night in a sick game of cat and mouse. Unbeknownst to Charlotte, she’s just met her sin-eater—the man cursed by her family to carry her sins to Hell and keep her cup of luck overflowing. Now he’s out for revenge, unless, of course, they can figure out a way to break the centuries-old curse that has enslaved them both.
Reviewed: April 13th 2023 Released: March 20th, 2020 Genre: Epic Fantasy
The Chosen One is dead.
Only his sister can take his place.
Disabled since childhood, Elenor was content to live in her brother’s shadow, besting her cousins at cards and sneaking her girlfriend into her room at night. Now she’s next in line for the throne and beset on all sides by factions out for blood. With time ticking down until someone manages to kill her too, Elenor will be forced to choose between accepting her father’s despotic rule or risking everything for her late brother’s lofty ideals.
Meanwhile, from the rainy streets of Lirin to the scorching dunes of the Mondaer Desert, the death of the Chosen One has inadvertently broken a chain of events five centuries in the making. Ancient forces move in the shadows, calling in debts and striking deals. A monster with a thousand faces fingers his knife, ready to kill, and a pair of fugitives run for their lives, unaware of the danger they carry with them.
Reviewed: April 10th 2023 Released: January 24th, 2022 Genre: Crime Thriller
A vicious sniper on the loose in Los Angeles. A grief-stricken empath. A ticking clock…
For Nathaniel Colt, Los Angeles is not the City of Angels. For the empath, LA is hell. A quick visit turns into a nightmare when the former special agent becomes embroiled in the hunt for a ruthless sniper terrorizing the city.
When the lurking evil puts the profiler and those closest to him in his crosshairs, a race against time begins and the consultant must rely on his psychic abilities before their time runs out.
Can Nathaniel save those close to him or will LA, once again, prove that it is hell on Earth for the empath?
Helen Garraway 