Writing Challenge- Day Three #TurvyTruthOrDare

Join the Sentinals as they navigate their way through a new writing challenge! Keep reading for my Day Three truth or dare!!

Admit Achilles heel OR Stand on Stand up and do four cartwheels in a row

It’s another Turvy-inspired #WritingChallenge! This time the stakes are raised: #TurvyTruthOrDare! AND this time it’s an easy-peasy 7-day mini challenge. So they say!!

Follow all the participants on Instagram.

You can find me at: https://www.instagram.com/helengarrawayauthor follow us and join in the fun!

The #TurvyTruthOrDare runs April 1–7 and is hosted by:
❄ @nimmisheikhauthor –Writing a New Adult, sci-fi murder mystery trilogy planned for 2023 release: #Frostieverse
👻@saffron.amatti –Writes the spooky, ghosty, and oh-so-twisty #LucasRathboneMysteries
🐾@sharitmitchell –Writes the thrilling #MarnieReillyMysteries with canine companions and haunting spirits
🎩@writertracybrown –Writes the quirky #DoorToDoorMysteries + 🔥#BelleroseWitchline fantasy series

#Writers, whether your characters are in a published book or percolating in your WIP, this challenge is for YOU!

Day Three – Time for a truth!

King Benedict observed Jerrol as he entered the study followed by Birlerion. The young Sentinal had been absent for a few days, but he was back behind Jerrol’s shoulder as if he had never left it.

An air of mystery preceded them, the silver-green uniform the two men wore giving off an archaic feel that was out of place in the city of Old Vespers. Birlerion towered over Jerrol, tall and straight with silver eyes and ancient weapons, people noticed whenever a Sentinal was present.

“I heard a strange story about some Sentinals in town,” the king said.

Jerrol rolled his eyes. “Someone thought it might be a good idea to try and impress the townsfolk. It seems they went to extremes.”

Birlerion huffed. “They were eager enough for a hug.”

“But not to see all that you offered,” Jerrol said, trying not to smirk.

A slight blush stained Birlerion’s cheeks. “At least they won’t take us so seriously anymore.”

“And why is that a good thing?” the king asked.

The ghost of a smile flitted over Birlerion’s face. “We’re trying to fit in. They won’t be so scared of us if they see us making fun of ourselves.”

Benedict pursed his lips and nodded. “I see. Though my preference would still be that Sentinals are treated with a healthy respect.”

“I don’t think you need to be concerned, sire,” Jerrol said. “Most of the sentinals are a serious lot. It seems we got the enthusiastic ones here in Old Vespers.”

“I’ll have you know we are all serious when it matters,” Birlerion said, “It doesn’t hurt to have a little fun now and then.”

“I’m sure,” Benedict murmured. He leaned back in his chair. “What is your weakness, then? Is there something I should be worried about?”

Birlerion twisted his lips. “We are not superhuman, Your Majesty. Just touched by a goddess. But she took all her magic with her, and we are no longer able to wield her power, only use the skills we’ve learnt.” He fell silent for a moment and then sighed. “We are formidable but not invincible.”

“And not very good at holding your ale,” Jerrol muttered.

Laughing, Birlerion shook his head. “Your ale is potent. I am not one for drinking. Tagerill would call Serillion and I lightweights. No matter how much he tries he cannot toughen us up. I think we’ll let him explore the taverns on his own.”

King Benedict grimaced. “Now that sounds like a disaster waiting to happen.” He considered for a moment. “I think it’s best we sustain the Sentinals’ reputation for now, at least until we know what is going on. Try and avoid any further revelations to the townsfolk. There will be plenty of time for you to make friends once we understand who our real enemy is.”

Birlerion exhaled, but nodded in agreement. “Of course, Your Majesty. I’ll pass the word.”

Start the award winning epic fantasy Sentinals series now with Book One, Sentinals Awaken.

If you enjoy fantasy books 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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Writing Challenge- Day Two #TurvyTruthOrDare

Join the Sentinals as they navigate their way through a new writing challenge! Keep reading for my Day Two truth or dare!!

Share a silly hidden talent OR Stand on corner holding sign for hugs for 10 minutes

It’s another Turvy-inspired #WritingChallenge! This time the stakes are raised: #TurvyTruthOrDare! AND this time it’s an easy-peasy 7-day mini challenge. So they say!!

Follow all the participants on Instagram.

You can find me at: https://www.instagram.com/helengarrawayauthor follow us and join in the fun!

#Writers, whether your characters are in a published book or percolating in your WIP, this challenge is for YOU!

Day Two- It’s a another dare!

Serillion lifted his head off the pillow and groaned. The room spun, and he swallowed, trying not to heave. “Oh Lady help me. My head.”

Jerrol laughed at him. “It’s not your head you should be worrying about.”

Serillion covered his eyes with his arm. Why did the sun have to be so bright? Jerrol’s words percolated into his brain, and he froze. Oh Lady! They hadn’t, had they? “Why?” he asked, hoping the fuzzy memories from the night before were just a drunken haze.

“Well, there are reports of three men streaking down the Port Road,” Jerrol replied. His voice turned thoughtful. “I suppose it was fortunate it was after midnight and there weren’t that many people to see it.”

Serillion groaned. “I’m gonna kill Tagerill.”

“I think Birlerion is already making him suffer.”

“They can’t be up already.” Serillion retched and Jerrol shoved a bucket towards him. After a moment that Serillion would prefer not to remember, he wiped his mouth and blearily stared at Jerrol. “Why are you here? Did they send you to torment me?”

“Birlerion said that if you needed a hug to help you feel better, you would find them on the corner of market square. Something about trying to redeem themselves in the Lady’s eyes. He thought you might want to help them.”

“Help them do what?”

“Someone dared them to beg for hugs. They seem to think it was Leyandrii. Anyway, that was the only explanation I could get out of them as to why they were standing on street corners with a sign asking people to hug them.”

Serillion chuckled and then groaned again.

“I was debating about joining them as there was quite a queue!” Jerrol said. “@writertracybrown was at the front, she seemed quite eager!! As were @mummybearreads, @D_a_i_s_ywood and @bookworm_oakey to name a few!” Jerrol said.

“They can have all the hugs. I’ll just die here, quietly,” Serillion moaned, covering his face with his pillow.

Start the award winning epic fantasy Sentinals series now with Book One, Sentinals Awaken.

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Sentinals Awaken Wins Wishing Shelf Book Award

I’m excited to announce that Sentinals Awaken, the first book in the epic fantasy Sentinal series, which was a finalist in the Wishing Shelf Book awards for 2021, has been awarded the bronze medal in the Adult Fiction category!

The Wishing Shelf Book Awards is run by an Independent author for Independent authors. Actual readers located in London and Stockholm read and review the books in each category, and then discuss them thoroughly to choose their medal winners.

Winners recieve a winners medal, certificate and promotion through press releases, and book promotions on Goodreads, Facebook and the Fussy Librarian.

You can find out more about the Wishing Shelf Book Awards here, and the list of 2021 winners here.

Sentinals Awaken is the first book in the saga of Remargaren, a vibrant, ancient world of high fantasy suffused with magic and adventure.

As a three thousand-year-old threat reemerges, only one man has the power to awaken the world’s greatest protectors and restore order to the realm. He just doesn’t know it yet. When Jerrol Haven, a captain in the King’s Rangers, discovers treason at the highest level, he knows immediately that the knowledge puts his life at risk. And indeed, though he expected the ailing King to shield him, the ambitious Crown Prince sentences Jerrol to death.

What hold does the Prince have over his weakened father, and who or what is he protecting?

With signs that the veil is weakening and the Ascendants are creeping back into power, Lady Leyandrii has returned and is in dire need of Jerrol’s help. For though he doesn’t know it, Jerrol possesses a rare gift: By chance, he touches a revered Sentinal tree and awakens Birlerion, one of the Lady’s personal guard who have been sleeping in the strange, tall trees since they were last called to battle. Aided by Birlerion, Jerrol flees and begins his journey to help Lady Leyandrii save Remargaren once more.

But time is running out: Jerrol must unravel the mystery of the Ascendants’ return, stop the sinister force that is dividing good families through bloodshed and betrayal, and rescue the King—and his troubles are only just beginning.

Ideal for lovers of The Witcher, Tad William’s Shadowmarch or David Eddings’ Belgarion series.

Start the award winning epic fantasy Sentinals series now with Book One, Sentinals Awaken.

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Writing Challenge- Day One #TurvyTruthorDare

Join the Sentinals as they navigate their way through a new writing challenge! Keep reading for my Day One truth or dare!!

It’s another Turvy-inspired #WritingChallenge! This time the stakes are raised: #TurvyTruthOrDare! AND this time it’s an easy-peasy 7-day mini challenge. So they say!!

Follow all the participants on Instagram.

You can find me at: https://www.instagram.com/helengarrawayauthor follow us and join in the fun!

#Writers, whether your characters are in a published book or percolating in your WIP, this challenge is for YOU!

Day One– It’s a dare!

The Sentinals sat in the king’s library and devoured all the books they could find on the history of Remargaren. Piles of dry and boring tomes surrounded them and Tagerill shifted in his seat, slamming the book he was reading shut.

“This is so boring. Why do we want to know what every official ever said in the last three thousand years?”

“We don’t,” Serillion replied, his eyes glued to the pages in front of him.

“We want to know how Vespiri came to be what it is today,” Birlerion murmured, turning the page.

“It would be much better if we just went into the town and asked the people,” Tagerill said.

“Via every tavern you can find,” Birlerion said with a wry twist of his lips.

“It would be better than sitting here.”

“It might be more entertaining, but you won’t find out much. Our history seems to be long forgotten,” Birlerion replied, taking the opportunity to stretch his aching back. They had been reading for a long time. He eyed Serillion and then Tagerill as an idea bloomed. “Tell you what. We’ll go into town, and the first one of us who finds a person who remembers the Sentinals can choose a dare for the others.”

“Yes!” Tagerill said as he fist pumped the air.

“Mmm,” Serillion replied, his nose still deep in his book.

“Right then,” Birlerion said closing his book and leaning over to flip Serillion’s book shut as well.

“Hey! I was reading that,” Serillion protested.

“Active research is much better,” Tagerill proclaimed.

“We’ve been sitting for too long! Truth or dare time,” Birlerion said as he rose. “First Sentinal to find someone who remembers us, gets to pick a dare for one of the others.”

Serillion scowled. “You are such children. No one is going to remember us.”

“Someone will.” Birlerion replied as he stacked the books in a neat pile. “Come on. We need some fresh air.”

As they entered yet another tavern, Birlerion was regretting his bright idea, and he groaned as another mug of ale landed on the bar before him. His innards were awash in beer and he grabbed it and turned towards the room. Raising the mug he said, “Whoever can tell me a true story about the Sentinals gets this ale!”

“Bribery is cheating,” Serillion shouted. His cheeks were flushed, and his silver eyes sparkled.

Tagerill laughed. “No one knows anything in this town!”

“Them Sentinals were cowards. They all ran.” A deep voice spoke from the shadows.

Silence fell, and Birlerion turned towards the voice. “Ran from what?” he asked, his voice deceptively quiet.

“Whatever it was they faced. They all disappeared. Cowards the lot of them.”

“Maybe they took the threat with them,” Birlerion suggested.

“Nah! The Lady punished them!”

“There isn’t an original thought among them,” Tagerill growled.

“Then we should plant a new seed,” Serillion said, his eyes glittering dangerously.

“Yes,” Birlerion agreed. “What impression would we like to leave?”

“Oh I don’t know. We should all streak down the high street, that would make an impression,” Tagerill said in a calm voice.

Birlerion choked. “Not the impression Leyandrii would like.”

Tagerill raised his mug in salute. “They wouldn’t forget us, though.”

Start the award winning epic fantasy Sentinals series now with Book One, Sentinals Awaken.

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It’s Launch Day!! Sentinals Across Time

Sentinals Across Time: Book Four of the Sentinal series, is now live!!!!

I am excited to share the fourth installment of the Sentinal series. In my latest book Jerrol is flung three thousand years into the past, and not only has to adjust to living in a different time, the Lady has a few tasks she needs him to complete as well.

And don’t forget Readers’ Favorite recommend the whole series, check out the Five Star book review for book two Sentinals Rising “…this is a book and a series that is likely to be adored by all fortunate enough to read it. Very highly recommended.”

5 Star Goodreads reviews are already being posted!!

“Helen Garraway has written a Fantasy Saga of epic proportions, and the story of these gallant young men – Captain Jerrol Haven and the Sentinals – will remain with you, long after you have turned the last page. A Beautiful read!!!”

“I cannot tell you how awesome this book was. It weaved so well in to the books we already know and love whilst creating whole new places to visit and fall in love with.”

“Helen is a master of the art of storytelling. Each scene is played out so well you find yourself not just the reader, but a willing participant, pulled into an amazing fantasy, where you feel every emotion that her characters go through. You cry with them, laugh, and feel their pain and terror.”

Sentinals Across Time is the fourth book in the saga of Remargaren, a vibrant, ancient world of high fantasy suffused with magic and adventure.

Jerrol’s fragile balance between duty and family life took two years to refine and one brief moment to tear apart as the Lady Leyandrii and the Oath conspire in a desperate bid to protect the Birtolian Empire. As a result, Jerrol finds himself stranded in the middle of an ocean, lost across land and time and seas.

Unsure what is expected of him, Jerrol learns to appreciate the idyllic life of the Birtolians, the vibrant people and the beautiful coastline. To his growing horror he realises the devastation which lies in their future.

Can Jerrol prevent the destruction of the gentle people he has grown to love? Is he meant to? Desperate to find a way home, he begins to leave clues in anything he thinks will survive the test of time. Taelia and the Sentinals are his only chance of ever returning to his own life but can they find him before the Lady sunders the Bloodstone and changes the Birtolian Empire forever?

The fourth installment of the Sentinal Series takes us the beautiful Island Empire of Birtoli. Only once, it wasn’t an archipelago of islands, it was a land of majestic mountain ridges, mystical forests and exquisite sandy bays joined as one to the southern Vespiri borders.

Purchase Sentinals Across Time h ere.

Novella o.5: Sentinals Stirring (Free novella if you sign up to my newsletter.)

Book One: Sentinals Awaken

Book Two: Sentinals Rising

Book Three: Sentinals Justice

Book 3.5: Sentinals Recovery (Novella)

Book Four: Sentinals Across Time

Book Review Alert: Through the Door by T.L Brown

Reviewed: February 28th, 2022
Released: May 21st, 2021
Genre: Paranormal Mystery

In this second book of the Door to Door Paranormal Mystery Series: relationships tested, friendships built, secrets revealed, and sacrifices made…

Salesman Emily Swift is back – and so is Templeton! After learning about her supernatural abilities and finding the Crimson Stone, thirty-year-old Emily Swift returns home to Kincaid to rebuild a normal life with her boyfriend. As she struggles to get a handle on her “door traveling” energy, a strange warning squawks from her car radio: a rogue, terrorist group called the Fringe is still watching her.

Before she can figure out if the message is from a friend or foe, Emily’s quirky mother, Lydia, goes missing – and resurfaces in the Empire! As Lydia travels from city to city in this peculiar world, a wake of chaos is created. Add the murder of a hated art critic and a kidnapping into the mix, and things go from bad to worse. The Fringe believes Emily knows where the magical Crimson Stone is hidden, and they’ll stop at nothing to get their hands on it.

Friends Tara and Rabbit join Emily as they race against the Fringe to catch up with Emily’s wandering mother. Will Emily’s nemesis, the mysterious Templeton, join her in rescuing Lydia? What will it cost her? Is the price too high? Read My thoughts…

Book Review Alert: Hunter by Nicole Conway

Reviewed: January 16th, 2022
Released: November 24th, 2020
Genre: YA Fantasy

One boy must earn the trust of a blind dragon and hunt down an elusive sorceress before she can rekindle the war that nearly destroyed their world.

As the Kingdom of Maldobar emerges victorious from the brutal invasion of the Tibran Empire, much of the land is left in utter ruin. With his home destroyed and family gone, 16-year-old Thatcher Renley has no one left to turn to. And when he’s mistaken for a Tibran soldier and banished to a wartime prison camp, Thatcher knows his only hope for freedom lies in appealing to Queen Jenna directly.
But getting out of the prison camp might be the least of his worries— especially after he stumbles across a feral dragon locked in an iron cell.

As far as dragons go, Fornax is a lost cause. The battle that killed his rider also left him blind and too aggressive for any knight to control. But Thatcher can’t deny feeling drawn to the beast. Does he have what it takes to calm Fornax and join the proud ranks of Maldobar’s dragonriders? Only time will tell. And with a bloodthirsty Tibran witch threatening to rekindle the chaos of war, everyone’s time may be running out. Read My thoughts…

Preorder available on Amazon – Sentinals Across Time

Fourth book in the Sentinals Series. Release Date: March 22, 2022.

Preorder Now!

Sentinals Across Time

Have you started the adventure yet? Here is the next chapter in the journey.

If you like Epic Fantasy then check out my Sentinal Series

Get ready for Book Four of the Sentinal Series coming Spring 2022- Purchase the first book Sentinals Awaken now:

Book One: Sentinals Awaken

Book Two: Sentinals Rising

Book Three: Sentinals Justice

Book 3.5: Sentinals Recovery

Book Four : Sentinals Across Time (Add to your Goodreads shelf.)

Book Review Alert: Dead Serious by Vawn Cassidy

Reviewed: January 8th, 2022
Released: October 31st, 2021
Genre: Contemporary Gay Fantasy

Tristan Everett had always preferred the company of the dead because they were quiet and didn’t talk back. As a slightly awkward introvert working as a pathologist at the Hackney Public Mortuary suited him just fine. That is, until a freak accident with a rogue ice cube and suddenly he can see ghosts. No longer content to just lie on the table and let him figure out how they died, they’re now peering over his shoulder critiquing his work and confessing their most lascivious sins before skipping off merrily into the afterlife.

Just when he thought his life couldn’t get any weirder, London’s most infamous drag queen, Miz Dusty Le Frey, is wheeled in with a toe tag and she’s not prepared to go quietly into the light. Not only is she furious at the prospect of spending eternity in last season’s gold lamé, she’s determined that he help her solve her murder.

Suddenly Tristan finds himself thrown into a world of sequins and fake eyelashes, and worse still, he may have developed a bit of a crush on Scotland Yard’s brand new drool-worthy detective, Inspector Danny Hayes, who’s been assigned to Dusty’s murder. Oh, and as the icing on top of a really crappy cake, the killer now wants him dead too…

All he ever wanted was a simple life but suddenly he’s juggling work, a deliciously sexy detective, a stubborn ghost and a relentless murderer … and things have just gotten dead serious … Read My thoughts…

Book Review Alert: In Daylight and Darkness by Dana Ardis

Reviewed: January 4th, 2022
Released: June 29th, 2021
Genre: New Adult Fantasy

When Kate’s dearest childhood friend returns to warn her of danger, she’s not happy to see him. After all, Cor isn’t really a monster-slaying master swordsman from another world.

He’s a hallucination. Kate spent years in a mental ward for believing otherwise.

Cor did his best to honor Kate’s wishes when she sent him away five years ago. Her own family abandoned her because they couldn’t see him the way she could and that just made her tempting, easy prey for Hunters from his world. Cor couldn’t leave her to die, not if he had the power to protect her, but he can’t protect her forever.

If Kate returns to his world and learns how to defend herself, he’ll walk out of her life forever, just like she wants. Cor’s world is wilder than Kate remembers and Cor is keeping secrets, but the more time they spend together, the more she sees in him the boy she used to love. It’s getting harder to imagine saying goodbye.

If Cor is real, so are the monsters. Kate lost everything the last time she believed him. Can she risk both of their lives to follow her heart?

Read My thoughts…