Tag Archives: stand-alone fantasy

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The Necromancer’s Daughter Book Tour: Day 14

Welcome to Day 14 of The Necromancer’s Daughter’s Book Tour!

I hope you enjoy:

~ A lovely community of bloggers.

~ My favorite book from my host’s list, along with my review.

~ Something to make you smile. 

~ Something from or about The Necromancer’s Daughter (follow the link below).

~ Leave a comment on my hosts’ sites, and your name will be entered in a drawing for a $50 Amazon gift certificate. The more tour sites, the more entries!

Day 14, here we go!

Robbie Cheadle’s Blog: Roberta Writes

Robbie has two blogs and I follow them both. Robbie’s Inspiration is her poetry, fondant art, baking, and children’s books blog, which includes reviews of children’s poetry books. Roberta Writes is her adult writing blog where she shares her poetry and prose aimed at an older audience. She posts on a variety of topics, including her writing projects, responses to challenges, research, travel, and book reviews of adult books. She’s a huge supporter of the writing community.

Robbie’s one of those busy bloggers who somehow does it all. She’s written a series of children’s books, YA horror, a historical fiction/paranormal novel that takes place in her home of South Africa, and a memoir with her mother about her mom’s childhood during WWII in England. She’s also a prolific poet. Robbie’s poems and short stories appear in multiple anthologies and she has about 70 projects in the works (maybe a tiny exaggeration, but it seems that way to me). I could go on and on, but it’s time for a review:

While the Bombs Fell by Robbie Cheadle and Elsie Eaton.

Amazon Global Link

My Review: This story reads like a memoir, and I loved it. It follows the daily life of Elsie, a 4-5-year-old growing up on a farm in England during World War II. The story starts with the family listening to an air-raid siren and climbing into their shelter beneath the garden. And though the war is the backdrop to the story and impacts daily life in significant ways, this isn’t really a story about war. At heart, this is a story about the resilient spirit of children growing up within a strong family.

The details of daily life are incredibly well-researched, and this book could almost serve as a guide to rural life in England in 1942 when rationing required adults to make some careful and creative choices. At the same time, the story is filled with delightful anecdotes of family life and the perspectives of a child, including a fear of Jack Frost, the trials of a stinky outhouse, and a trip to the movie theater to see the Three Stooges outwit the Germans.

The story unfolds in an omniscient point of view, and there’s not really a plot (thus the feeling of a memoir), but from beginning to end, the book is thoroughly engaging. I read it in one sitting. As an added bonus, the author included a few wartime recipes. Highly recommended to readers of memoirs, historical fiction, WWII fiction, and warm family stories.

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If you have a chance, head on over to join The Necromancer’s Daughter tour at Robbie’s blog: Roberta Writes.

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The Necromancer’s Daughter Book Tour: Day 12

Welcome to Day 12 of The Necromancer’s Daughter’s Book Tour!

I hope you enjoy:

~ A lovely community of bloggers.

~ My favorite book from my host’s list, along with my review.

~ Something to make you smile. 

~ Something from or about The Necromancer’s Daughter (follow the link below).

~ Leave a comment on my hosts’ sites, and your name will be entered in an end-of-tour drawing for a $50 Amazon gift certificate. The more tour sites, the more entries!

Day 12, here we go!

Steven Baird’s Blog: Ordinary Handsome

There’s nothing ordinary about Steven’s blog. He doesn’t post often, but when he does, I’m soaking it up. Steven is a writer who shares stunning pieces of prose and poetry as well as peeks into his work in progress. He’s one of the authors I try to emulate. I drool a little over his lush imagery and the exquisite emotional depth of his work. His glimpses into character are breathtaking.

See what I mean… drooling again. Lol.

I’ve read everything Steven writes, and I hear there’s a new book floating around out there on the horizon. I can’t wait. Here’s my review of one of my all-time favorite books:

Ordinary Handsome by Steven Baird

Amazon Global Link

My Review: I just finished this book and sit here collecting my thoughts. From the first page, I knew I had happened upon something special, something that would sweep me into the otherworld offered by a talented author and his beautifully written book.

The story is grim, about the dying lives that labor on in the dying town of Handsome, Oklahoma. Ghosts in a ghost town. The book follows ordinary men dealing with the epic struggles that shape human experience: love and death, failure, fathering, poverty, murder, and lost hope. It revolves around a young man, Euart Monroe Wasson, and the men who participate in the tragedy made of his life.

The narrative isn’t one to speed through. Baird writes with a style that requires one to pay attention. He slowly draws aside the veils that reveal the interconnection of each man’s story. I had the impression that I was piecing together a mosaic, the tale assembled from the shards of shattered lives, memories, impressions, and illusions.

The narrative is informal and appropriate to the rural landscape. At the same time, the writing is textured, rife with precise detail, stunning imagery, and raw emotion. Baird is a master at finding the perfect word and painting a picture that shifts and clears with each new perspective.

I highly recommend Ordinary Handsome to any reader who wants to get lost in an exquisitely written tale. This book will stick to your heart.

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If you have a chance, head on over to join The Necromancer’s Daughter tour at Steven’s blog: Ordinary Handsome.

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The Necromancer’s Daughter Book Tour: Day 9

Welcome to Day 9 of The Necromancer’s Daughter’s Book Tour!

I hope you enjoy:

~ A lovely community of bloggers.

~ My favorite book from my host’s list, along with my review.

~ Something to make you smile. 

~ Something short and different about The Necromancer’s Daughter (follow the link below).

~ Leave a comment on my hosts’ sites, and your name will be entered in an end-of-tour drawing for a $50 Amazon gift certificate. The more tour sites, the more entries!

Day 9, here we go!

Harmony Kent’s Blog: Dissonance

Harmony has a fascinating backstory as a person, and very active blog with book reviews, new releases, short stories, and poems. She’s also an award-winning author and a member of the team at Story Empire, a place where she shares her writing knowledge for the benefit of other writers.

She writes in multiple genres from fantasy to post-apocalyptic sci-fi, thrillers, mysteries, and erotica (to name a few). She also has a couple of anthologies of poetry that I highly recommend: Slices of Soul and Life & Soul. I haven’t read all the books in her long list yet, but I’m working on it.

Here’s my review of her first poetry collection:

Slices of Soul by Harmony Kent

Amazon Global Link

My Review: I picked up this book after learning that the author spent 13 years in a Zen Buddhist Temple. I was curious about how her experiences influenced her poetry. The poems are divided into seven sections beginning with Shaved Head, Short Hair, and Long Hair, representing the journey from the monastery back into modern life.

“The Path”

The ten directions all merge into one
this winding road leads nowhere
and goes straight there

Many of the poems read like koans, statements used for meditation. The poems are simply written and it’s easy to appreciate how they reflect of the author’s journey of change and discovery. Several favorites are Rebirth, Diamonds, Waterfall, and The Alchemist. A lovely collection that I read in less than an hour.

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If you have a chance, head on over to join The Necromancer’s Daughter tour at Harmony’s blog: Dissonance

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The Necromancer’s Daughter: Aster

With a book launch on the horizon, I’ve started introducing my three main characters. This is Aster, a young woman who was born dead and resurrected by Barus, the necromancer. He’s raised her as his own, and though he’s warned her away from dragons… she can’t find it in herself to be afraid.

I hope you enjoy this (slightly modified) snippet introducing Aster.

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As it always did, the tide of emotion started as a trickle of anticipation at the base of Aster’s spine. The swelling excitement flowed into her chest, and her fingers tingled. It spread over her skin and rushed into her face. The feelings belonged to the dragon, not to her, but she’d become accustomed to the foreign sensations thrumming through her bones.

The dragon whooshed up the cliff into the ether, nearly knocking her from her feet. Whipped-up wind thrust her grandmother’s blue shawl open, and it flapped from her shoulders like a fledgling’s untested wings. Her fine white hair whirled with the blowing snow. Though she’d expected the creature’s striking entrance, she laughed in surprise.

The beast’s leathery wings angled for a spiraling descent far above her head. Sunlight shone through the webbing, enhancing the mottle of silver and black. She’d encountered this one many times before and raised an arm to wave. “Come down. I’m not afraid.” Would it finally heed her call? A gift for her eighteenth awakening day?

A scar striped the dragon’s snout, jagged as a thunderbolt. Its long neck arched, ruby eyes gleaming as its head dipped toward her, jaws agape. Curved incisors glinted in the raw light, and the serpentine tail snapped at the frozen stalks of asters quivering in the wind.

Barus had told her, long ago, to hide behind a tree and make herself small, and for years, she’d obeyed his wishes. But no more. If the dragon meant to terrify her, it had failed every time. She trusted her instincts, knew to her core that the creature wouldn’t shred her to pieces or whisk her away in its teeth.

But what about an apple?

She reached for the armor of scales as the massive body undulated above her, its back bristling with spikes, clawed feet sweeping the air just beyond her fingertips as she held an apple aloft. The beast circled, rising higher.

“Come down,” she teased, giving the wrinkled fruit a toss. “I brought an apple for you.”

The dragon’s wings swept back, and it dove from the cornflower sky. Aster shrieked and flung the apple. The toothsome jaws snapped the fruit from the air, and she laughed with delight.

As though in answer, the beast bellowed a cry and plummeted beyond the cliff’s wall. Aster darted to the edge as the dragon’s wings unfurled, capturing the wind with the ripple and snap of a galleon’s sails. The colossal beast skimmed the gray sea, flying for the Isles of White Sands glimmering like a mirage on the horizon.

As the drumming of wings surrendered to the waves’ roar, another sound assumed its place. The voices of men.

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Thanks for reading!