#SpecFic Bookworm News: A Review of Rachel Morgan's Scarlett #ya #fantasy

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Scarlett by Rachel Morgan

BOOK REVIEWS

Scarlett by Rachel Morgan

Beth must embrace her powers or be controlled by them in Rachel Morgan's Scarlett. This story is a companion tale for Morgan's Creepy Hollow series and tells how the character Scarlett came into her magical powers. What I loved most about this book is Beth's transformation into Scarlett. In the beginning, she's terrified of what her awakening powers can do and ostracized for it, even from her own kind, but she finds a way to embrace herself. The repetition of "I am independent. I am strong. I am powerful." speaks to Scarlett, and those three simple sentences hold power we can believe in. If you are a fan of the Creepy Hollow series or young adult paranormal books, then you won't want to miss out on reading Scarlett by Rachel Morgan.

#SPECFIC BOOKS RELEASING IN JUNE

Never Ever by Sara Saedi

SuperNova by Liz Long

The King Slayer by Virginia Boecker

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge by Paul Krueger

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Titanborn by Rhett C. Bruno

Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

The Book of Esther by Emily Barton

The Reaper's Sacrifice by Abigail Baker

Blue Moon by Lisa Kessler

Shadow Rider by Christine Feehan

A Faerie's Curse by Rachel Morgan
End of Watch by Stephen King
And I Darken by Kiersten White
The Fireman by Joe Hill
Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg
Legacies by Greg Cox

On Monday, June 13, I was over at Christine Rains' blog sharing some of my favorite parallel universes/alternate history books, TV shows, and movies.

Don't forget People of Foxwick and Their Neighbors is 99c for the month of June!

Amazon.com | Other Amazon Sites | Google Play | iTunes | Kobo | Nook | OmniLit | Smashwords

A reminder: #SpecFic Bookworm News is moving to the first Wednesday of the month in July. See this post for an explanation why.

I'd also like to say that my heart has been heavy since hearing about the mass shooting in Orlando at Pulse. As someone who did a little bit of clubbing back in the day, the gay clubs were always the best and most welcoming. My heart breaks for their friends and family. The brilliant Lin-Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame) wrote a beautiful, emotional sonnet for his acceptance speech that mentioned the tragedy. If you haven't seen it, you should.

(And a big shout out to Hamilton for their eleven Tony Awards! Even though I can't afford spending over two weeks' salary on a ticket to the show right now, just you wait, just you wait.)

Falling for #SpecFic: Jurassic World | A Faerie's Secret by Rachel Morgan | Wattpad Wednesdays: Reborn Chapter 27

I'm a huge fan of the Jurassic Park series from the books to the movies, so when I heard they were making Jurassic World, I knew I had to see it. To prepare myself for all the dinosaur goodness, I re-read Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World. The weekend before Jurassic World debuted, I re-watched Jurassic Park, The Lost World, and Jurassic Park III. Last Friday, I went to see Jurassic World with high hopes the movie would be as awesome as the trailers made it out to be, and it didn't disappoint. I loved it. And if they ever do make a real park with genetically engineered dinosaurs, I would be saving my dollars for it. Let's just hope they start out with the herbivores first, though. *winks*

Michael Crichton may have secured my love for dinosaurs, but Rachel Morgan has made me love faeries, particularly her kick-butt fae in her Creepy Hollow series. Rachel introduced us to Creepy Hollow with Violet Fairdale's story told in The Faerie Guardian, The Faerie Prince, and The Faerie War. Now ten year's has passed in Creepy Hollow, and we're introduced to Calla Larkenwood's story in A Faerie's Secret.

Calla Larkenwood wants nothing more than to be a guardian, but her overprotective mother has never allowed it. When circumstances change and Calla finally gets to join a Guild, she discovers guardian trainee life isn’t all she hoped it would be. Her classmates are distant, her mentor hates her, and keeping her Griffin Ability a secret is harder than she thought. Then an initiation game goes wrong, landing Calla with a magical ability she can’t control. She needs help—and the only way she can get it is by bargaining with the guy who just discovered her biggest secret.

Purchase at Amazon | Nook | Kobo | iBooks | Smashwords

Add on Goodreads!

Rachel Morgan is the author of the bestselling Creepy Hollow series and contemporary romance Trouble series. Find her books on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks, Kobo, and other online retailers.

Haven't read books 1-3 of Rachel's Creepy Hollow series? Then pick up the boxed set now at Amazon | iBooks | Nook | Kobo | Smashwords.

Read Reborn from the beginning or Chapter Twenty-Seven.

Since I'm on a book blog tour June 22-26, I've decided to post my writing update on Monday next week along with all the tour activities.

Wednesday's Writing Update and The Faerie War by Rachel Morgan

 

Happy Wednesday!

Tonight I'll be giving a talk on writing horror, so if you're in the Charlottesville, VA area today, feel free to stop by, since it's open to the public. Click here for more information.

I got a very slow start to the month, but I do feel quite productive lately. I finished writing the short stories in Neighbors of Foxwick and have all my self-edits done, so the stories are now with my critique partners. I finished my map for the Kingdom of Foxwick. You'll get to see it next Wednesday on the blog. Also, I outlined Reigned for NaNoWriMo 2013. The premise of Reigned is: Challenged by Fate. Betrayed by Love. Imprisoned by Chaos. A new queen must break free and reign. Reigned takes place 500 years before The Fate Challenges trilogy.

Tomorrow, I plan to start fixing the beginning of Reforged, book two of The Fate Challenges, since a few things I'm changing in Reborn will change things in Reforged. My goals for the rest of the month are to edit Reborn and edit/write Part I of Reforged, so I'll be ready to start writing Part II in November for NaNoWriMo 2013.

---

It's party time!!! 

Today is the official online release of Rachel Morgan's third Creepy Hollow novel, The Faerie War. After that cliffhanger at the end of the second book, fans can finally find out what happens to Violet and everyone else in Creepy Hollow. If you'd like to get your copy, you can find it at the following online stores, plus a few others:

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble

iTunes

CreateSpace (print)

There are seven other teaser images displayed on various blogs today. If you'd like to see them, you can visit the following fabulous bloggers:

And there's a major giveaway going on!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Book Chat: Building a Fantasy World with Rachel Morgan, author of The Faerie Prince

 

 

Building a Fantasy World

I write fantasy, and the great thing about writing fantasy is that I get to make up so much stuff! My characters are faeries who are essentially as "human" as you and I are when it comes to their personalities, faults, dreams, fears etc. But the world they live in is vastly different from ours, and I had a lot of fun creating the fantastically magical realm of Creepy Hollow.


I'm sure we all have a picture in our heads of what faeries and a magic forest should look like based on traditional fairy tales. But I wanted to put a modern twist on that picture. Why shouldn't faeries' magical "technologies" have advanced along with advancements in human technology? Why shouldn't they have their own versions of social media, for example? Faeries interact with the human realm, but should all their words be the same as ours? Where do they go shopping? What are their magical equivalents for the things we humans use every day?

Here are some examples:

Computer/tablet – Faeries use mirrors for a lot of communication. They can use social media spells on them, or they can see and speak to each other in them. To quote Nate from The Faerie Guardian, a mirror is ... "Like the faerie version of Skype?"(And Vi had no idea what he was talking about, but she nodded anyway.)
Cell phone – Instead of a cell phone, faeries carry a rectangular piece of amber around with them. They use a magical stylus to write on the amber and send messages to one another. Just like with cell phones, you get different kinds of amber, with different levels of spells worked into them (Ryn rudely refers to Vi's old amber as having spells from the Stone Age on it.)
Bath and shower – Faeries refer to the bathing room where instead of a bathtub they have a self-cleaning pool to take a dip in. These pools often come with mini waterfalls to be used as showers. The bathing room is usually filled with grass, flowers and plants to give the feeling of being outside in nature.
Electric lights – Rooms usually have a shining glow-bug stuck to the ceiling to provide light. Unlike a light bulb, a glow-bug has a mind of its own and can sometimes choose to squirm away when you're not around, leaving the room in darkness.

And along with that are the different foods, the different animals, the different plants and trees, the different forms of transport. It's fun to come up with, but I also have to remember everything I've created!

If you want to lose yourself in this magical world, get yourself a copy of The Faerie Prince from the following online retailers (and if you haven't yet read the first book, The Faerie Guardian, you can find out where to get it on this page):

Amazon US | Amazon UK

Nook

Apple iBookstore

CreateSpace (print)

~  ~  ~

Rachel Morgan was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. After completing a degree in genetics, she decided science wasn’t for her—after all, they didn’t approve of made-up facts. These days she spends much of her time immersed in fantasy land once more, writing fiction for young adults.

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest

Don't forget the giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

A Book Trailer from Morgan Media

The fabulous and multi-talented Rachel Morgan has created Morgan Media, and here is an example of the book trailer she made for my The Nightmare Collection, which I just love in its perfectly creeptastic way!

Morgan Media is a small business offering quality services to indie authors at affordable rates.

Message from Rachel Morgan, the founder of Morgan Media:

"I'm an indie author, and it's taken me many, many, MANY hours of work to figure out how to navigate every step from finished manuscript to published work. There's the ebook formatting and the print book formatting and the ebook cover design and the print book cover design. Then comes the marketing--of both yourself and your book--and for that you need blog tour buttons and blog headers and Facebook fan page cover images and artwork for bookmarks and button badges and postcards and whatever else you might want to give away as part of your book launch. All of this takes a spectacular amount of time that you probably don't have, especially if you're busy promoting one book and trying to write the next one. So why not get someone experienced to take care of most of these steps for you? That's what Morgan Media is for."

Find Morgan Media in the following places online: 

Website | Facebook | Twitter | DeviantArt | YouTube

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And speaking of The Nightmare Collection, I have good news. Once Upon a December Nightmare is now free on Nook besides iTunes, Amazon, Kobo, Sony, and Smashwords! 

B is for Foxwick's Beginnings and Rachel Morgan's book cover reveal

 

This year's A to Z Challenge theme is: All About Foxwick.

B is for ... Foxwick's Beginnings

Once upon a time, an anthology was calling for assassin stories. Ooo, assassins. Sounds exciting, right? I knew I wanted to enter, but I wanted something different. For one, I decided my protagonist was going to be a woman. Since this was a fantasy anthology as well, I decided I wanted to create my own world.

I knew I wanted the world to be one with royalty, knights, dragons, and more. I searched a Fantasy Place Name Generator and thought about what I wanted to write. The assassin's name was easy: Umbria. The place became Foxwick. And through that anthology's request for submissions, a world was born filled with characters and places I'm still getting to know.

Now here is an excerpt from "Lady Death," the story that started a series. You can find the complete story in A to Z Flashes of Foxwick as well as Women of Foxwick.

Lady Death

“So, the quacksalver is dead?” 

“Yes, the false healer won’t be practicing his witchcraft anymore.” She slowed long enough to produce the thick gold ring Thaddeus enjoyed wearing, his finger attached.

“Thank you. He wanted to kill my wife to save the child.” Leon gnashed the words. His grip tightened around the sword, and he spat upon the floor and attacked. “The other healers aren’t much better.”

She grasped her weapon in both hands and took the brunt of his anger. What would her brother do if his wife and child didn’t survive? She couldn’t begin to imagine his despair and frustration. “Is there any news about Verona and your child?”

“They keep bleeding her, but she remains gravely ill.” He grunted. His movements grew wilder, more erratic, and Umbria struggled to keep up. “She’s delirious most of the time. They want to take the baby. Cut into her. Can you believe it? She’s been with child only six months. He won’t live without her.”

Umbria ducked and his sword banged into a marble column.

Leon’s chest heaved. “I can’t lose her, sister. Our relations with Lochhollow are tepid at best, and they will attack Foxwick, if she ....”

“Doesn’t Lochhollow realize how much you love their favorite daughter?” Her eyes narrowed in concern. She would do anything to prevent another war, to help him. “Would you like me to travel to Valdale? They have some of the finest physicians.”

“Did you know Verona’s parents first denied my marriage to her? They won’t hesitate to attack.” He swung the blade wide, completely missing Umbria. Frustration huffed from his nostrils like a bull snorting before attack. “There’s no use to journey to Valdale either. They can do nothing for her.”

“Tell me what to do. I’ll do anything for you and Verona. You know that.”

He swung his sword toward hers. “I want you to assassinate Death.”

And we have the cover reveal of Rachel Morgan's The Faerie Prince!

Title: The Faerie Prince
Author: Rachel Morgan
Publication Date: May 30th 2013
Description: Guardian trainee Violet Fairdale is just weeks away from one of the most important occasions of her life: graduation. After messing up big time by bringing a human into the fae realm, Vi needs to step up her game and forget about Nate if she hopes to graduate as the top guardian of her year. Everything would be fine if she wasn’t forced to partner with Ryn, her ex-friend, ex-enemy, current ‘sort of friend’. They might be trying to patch up their relationship, but does she really want to spend a week undercover with him for their final assignment? On top of that, the possibly-insane Unseelie Prince is still on the loose, free to ‘collect’ as many specially talented faeries as he can find—and Vi is still at the top of his list. Add in faerie queens, enchanted storms, complicated not-just-friends feelings, and a murder within the Guild itself, and graduation is about to become the least of Vi’s problems.

Add THE FAERIE PRINCE to your to-read list on Goodreads.
If you haven't yet read the first book in the Creepy Hollow series, THE FAERIE GUARDIAN, you can find it at the following places:

Amazon, B&N, Apple iBookstore, Smashwords

To connect with the author, visit Rachel Morgan's blog.

Cover Reveal of THE FAERIE GUARDIAN by Rachel Morgan

Today I have the honor of being a part of the cover reveal for Rachel Morgan's The Faerie Guardian. I've enjoyed reading Guardian, Labyrinth, Traitor, and Masquerade, and now they are all in one beautiful book with bonus scenes!

Title: The Faerie Guardian
Author: Rachel Morgan
Release Date: 5 Nov 2012
Add to Goodreads

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until a cute human boy who can somehow see through her faerie glamour follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? Not when you factor in evil faeries, long-lost family members, and inconvenient feelings of the romantic kind. Vi is about to find herself tangled up in a dangerous plot—and it’ll take all her training to get out of it alive.

[This novel was originally published in four separate parts: Guardian, Labyrinth, Traitor and Masquerade. It includes bonus scenes at the end.]

Giveaway Time!

The bonus scenes at the end of the book are NOT written from the main character's point of view. If you'd like to win a $10 Amazon gift card, all you have to do is guess whose point of view these scenes are written from! Head on over to the cover reveal post at Rachel Morgan Writes and fill in the Rafflecopter form. There's a list of characters there that you can choose from. Good luck!

Book Chat: INDIEpendence!

 

This INDIEpendence day, the Indelibles would like to celebrate indie authors (self-published and small-press) as a whole by holding up examples of outstanding indie works. The 25 Indelible authors all believe that amazing works of fiction can be found in indie novels. By highlighting and bringing greater awareness to quality indie books, people find great books to read, indie authors get support, and we continue to change hearts and minds about the gems that can be found among self-published and small-press novels.

So I've decided to help out by sharing books I think are fantastic that are self-published or small-press published. Click here for the list of people participating in INDIEpendence.

The first one is Cas Peace's King's Envoy. I received a printed ARC copy from Rhemalda Publishing, a fantastic small publisher, after requesting one. I had assumed I didn't get the request since I was expecting a e-copy, but I was thrilled with the printed ARC. I started reading the book and finished it that same weekend. It was amazing. I mean, I want to write fanfiction and live in this world amazing. Cas Peace had created an intricate and fascinating fantasy world filled with characters I loved. I can't wait for book two to come out on August 1st.

Taran Elijah’s quest for knowledge uncovers a plot that threatens the world…

In Albia, the fourth realm, the precious Artesan gift is dying. Although born to the craft, Taran is struggling to achieve his potential. Against his friends’ advice, he embarks on a foolhardy plan to acquire the teaching he craves. Alone, he crosses into Andaryon, the fifth realm, but instead of finding a mentor, he stumbles upon a treacherous plot. 

In the wake of Taran’s actions, Albia suffers a series of vicious raids. Major Sullyan of the High King’s forces is sent to oppose them. But a dark and treacherous force is moving through the realms and both Taran and Sullyan will feel its power. 

Their craft, the lives of their friends, the very existence of their realm are under threat unless they expose and oppose the evil.

Click here to read my review.

Add this book to your Goodreads list here.

Available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Rhemalda's Shop.

The second book I want to feature is the Creepy Hollow series of novelettes by Rachel Morgan. She decided to self-publish them in a series, kinda like TV episodes. I am completely hooked and need my next one. Rachel has taken the time to produce a stunning product from beautiful cover art to a fantastic interior design besides writing a great story with interesting characters.

1. Receive assignment.

2. Save a life.

3. Sleep.

4. Repeat.

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until one of her assignments—a human boy who shouldn’t even be able to see her—follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? But Nate and Vi are about to land themselves in even bigger trouble—and it’ll take all Vi’s training to get them out alive.

Click here to read my review.

Add this book to your Goodreads list here.

Guardian trainee Violet Fairdale has officially been suspended for bringing a human into the fae realm. No assignments, no training, and goodbye to that position at the top of the class. While this sucks, it at least allows her time to secretly keep visiting Nate, the human boy who caused her suspension in the first place. It’s not the wisest move to continue breaking Guild Law, but no one’s going to find out. And Nate is worth the risk, isn’t he?

To prevent herself from going into assignment withdrawal, Vi throws herself into investigating Nate’s real mother, Angelica, a woman who seems to be mysteriously connected to the world of the fae. Nate’s never given her much thought, but that was before an insane faerie abducted him in order to blackmail Angelica out of hiding. Now Nate wants answers, and Vi’s got the perfect ability to help him.

Click here to read my review.

Add this book to your Goodreads list here.

Violet and Nate may have escaped the labyrinth, but only one of them came out unscathed. Nate is now the bearer of a mysterious eye-shaped tattoo, a mark he has no memory of receiving. While Vi is intent on discovering the meaning of the tattoo, Nate seems less interested. His experience in the labyrinth has caused recurring nightmares, and he’d prefer to pretend none of it ever happened. But Vi has never been one to let a mystery go unsolved, and she’ll do whatever she can to discover who’s behind the tattoo—even if it means leaving Nate out of her plan. 

Click here to read my review.

Add this book to your Goodreads list here.

To purchase the series on Amazon.

What self-published or small press published books have you enjoyed?

Don't forget to check out the other participants!

Fantasy Tuesdays: The Fantasy World of Creepy Hollow

 

We have a special guest post today. Rachel Morgan is here to talk about her new series Creepy Hollow. Guardian, book one, is now available, and it's awesome. Take it away, Rachel.

The Fantasy World of Creepy Hollow

For Cherie’s Fantasy Tuesday I’m sharing a little about the fantasy world I created for the Creepy Hollow series.


The Faeries
They’re not tiny and winged. In fact, they look pretty much like humans, apart from their hair and eyes. To make things interesting, I decided that all faeries are born with streaks of bright color in their hair, and that color matches their eyes. So Violet, for example (you can guess this one) has purple streaks in her dark hair, and purple eyes to match (yeah, her parents thought they were being clever giving her that name).

The Fae Realm
This is a realm not accessible by humans (at least, not without the help of a faerie). The part of the fae realm that Violet lives in is called Creepy Hollow (hence the name of the series. Duh). It’s a forest. The Guild of Guardians that Violet is a member of (as there are several Guilds throughout the world) is situated here.

The Faerie Paths

Faeries travel within and between the fae and human realms by using the faeries paths. The paths are basically a black, empty nothingness between the realms, and they can lead anywhere. A faerie needs to open a doorway to the paths and, once inside, think of the destination he/she wishes to arrive at. It’s a pretty lazy way of traveling, actually. Only faeries use the faerie paths (hence the name), while other fae creatures have their own magical methods of disappearing and reappearing.

The Guild
The Guild is the protective force of the fae realm. There are several Guilds throughout the world, and they train and employ guardians. The Guild Councils, together with the Seelie Queen, determine the Laws that should be upheld by all fae (I say 'should' because, of course, not everyone obeys the Law . . .).

The Guardians

Guardian are faeries that have been specially trained to protect humans (and other innocent fae) from attack by dangerous magical creatures. A faerie choosing to be a guardian would begin training with the Guild at age 13, and continue for a period of 5 years (like high school, but fighting is actually part of the curriculum). After graduation, a guardian would continue working for the Guild, or find some other job requiring a guardian’s skills, such as a guard in the Seelie palace.

The Stylus

This is kinda like a wand, but not exactly. It has no magic of its own, but rather it “channels” a faerie’s magic when necessary. Faeries need their styli to perform certain magic, like writing the words that open a doorway to the faerie paths.


Thanks, Cherie, for letting me share some of the stuff that’s been bouncing around in my imagination!

~  ~  ~

Rachel Morgan is the author of Guardian, the first novelette in the Creepy Hollow series. She was born in South Africa and spent a large portion of her childhood living in a fantasy land of her own making. These days, in between teaching mathematics to high school children, she writes fiction for young adults.

Buy Guardian from

Amazon US | Amazon UK | Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

Book Chat Special: Release Day for Rachel Morgan's CREEPY HOLLOW series

 

First off, I'm at Sherri Lackey's blog talking about combining genres (romance and space fantasy).

Today the Creepy Hollow series kicks off with the release of the first story, GUARDIAN!! It's an awesome story. Please go out and buy and read now.

GUARDIAN introduces readers to the magical world of Creepy Hollow, a realm where fae creatures — both safe and definitely-not-so-safe — dwell. Things are cool as long the fae stick to their own realm. It's when they find their way into the human world that things start going wrong...


1. Receive assignment.

2. Save a life.

3. Sleep.

4. Repeat.

Protecting humans from dangerous magical creatures is all in a day’s work for a faerie training to be a guardian. Seventeen-year-old Violet Fairdale knows this better than anyone—she’s about to become the best guardian the Guild has seen in years. That is, until one of her assignments—a human boy who shouldn’t even be able to see her—follows her into the fae realm. Now she’s broken Guild Law, a crime that could lead to her expulsion.

The last thing Vi wants to do is spend any more time with the boy who got her into this mess, but the Guild requires that she return Nate to his home and make him forget everything he’s discovered of the fae realm. Easy, right? But Nate and Vi are about to land themselves in even bigger trouble—and it’ll take all Vi’s training to get them out alive.

Buy from Amazon US
Buy from Amazon UK
Buy from Smashwords

The Creepy Hollow Series

Website | Goodreads | Facebook | Book Trailer

Author Info

Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Google+

To find out more about the series, the author, and the characters, check out the blog tour that’s happening over the next two weeks.

Click here for the blog tour schedule