As an avid reader of fiction (and an author who one day hopes to make the list) I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE checking out the New York Times Best Seller list. So, here it is… The independently ranked top 10 Young Adult selections for June 2020!
If you’ve read any of the TOP 10 selections and recommend them, please comment below and let me know. If you see something you like and plan to pick up a copy, you can do so by clicking on the cover image, the title or the [BUY IT HERE] button.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
When you purchase a book using a link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission.All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.
The final book of The Wrights series by New York Times bestselling author Skye Jordan, is here!
Gypsy Wright knows how to run a kick ass bar on Nashville’s infamous Broadway. She knows how to raise a son on her own and how to set her priorities. But when her longtime frenemy, country music’s golden boy, Wyatt Jackson, needs her help, Gypsy doesn’t know how to say no. She could never have expected how easily the man she’d kept at arm’s length for so long could slip under her skin or into her heart. Or how quickly he could tear apart the world she’s so carefully built.
Wyatt and Gypsy have been side stepping the heat between them for years. He admires the hell out of her dedication to her son and her success, so when he’s faced with the unexpected duty of raising his five-year-old niece, Gypsy is the first person he goes to for help. When sparks finally ignite, they burn hotter than either of them ever expects, and with the futures of two kids, two demanding careers, and two hearts on the line, those flames risk reducing everything that matters to ashes.
Skye Jordan is a New York Times and USA bestselling author of sexy contemporary romance and edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense.
A California native transplanted to the DC area. When she’s not writing, Skye enjoys travel and medical volunteer work. She is a lifelong learner, always taking courses in everything from spy craft to knitting and loves spending her summer rowing on the Potomac.
As an avid reader of fiction (and an author who one day hopes to make the list) I LOVE-LOVE-LOVE checking out the New York Times Best Seller list. So, here it is… The independently ranked top 10 Fiction selections for June 2020!
If you’ve read any of the TOP 10 selections and recommend them, please comment below and let me know. If you see something you like and plan to pick up a copy, you can do so by clicking on the cover image, the title or the [BUY IT HERE] button.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
When you purchase a book using a link on this site, I earn an affiliate commission.All commission earnings go back into funding my books; editing, cover design, etc.
Ordinary (Ordinary Series Book 1) by Starr Z. Davies Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian
Fans of Powerless, The Testing, Hunger Games and the Maze Runner will crave this world of iniquitous secrets, intrigue, and desire to find a place in society.
Divinic. Somatic. Psionic. Naturalist. Who will you be?
Having a superpower is ordinary. Your Power determines your job, social class, and future success.
But Ugene doesn’t have a Power. The only thing special about him is that he isn’t special at all. Ugene is Powerless.
So when the most prominent biomedical research company in the city offers Ugene a solution, he jumps at the possibility to be ordinary. All he has to do is agree to allow them to use him in their research. But the longer he stays at the research facility, the more he realizes something isn’t right.
Friendships are forged. Trust is broken built and broken. And everything Ugene thought he understood and believed is called into question.
Who can Ugene trust in his search for answers? What is he willing to sacrifice for Powers?
Unique (Ordinary Series Book 2) by Starr Z. Davies Genre: YA Sci-Fi Dystopian
He lost everything. His dad, his best friend, and the woman he loves.
Ugene and the other test subjects escaped Paragon. They thought they were finally safe. But the battle for freedom is far from over.
When a rouge group calling themselves the Protectorate offers to help Ugene, he worries that his friends are falling into another dangerous trap. The struggle for freedom becomes a desperate fight for survival. Ugene is determined to stand up for what’s right and save the oppressed citizens of Elpis from persecution by Paragon and the Directorate.
The deeper Ugene digs, the more he uncovers about the Directorate’s sinister secrets, the Protectorate’s true goals . . . and the dangerous game he is about to play.
It’s time for the deception to end. It’s time for the truth to finally come to the surface. And it’s time for everyone to finally learn that being Powerless isn’t weakness.
Would you like a chance to win a $20 Amazon gift card? Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
STARR Z. DAVIES is a Midwesterner at heart, and lives in Wisconsin with her husband and kids. From a young age, Starr has been obsessed with superheroes like Batman and Captain America, which inspired her novel, ORDINARY. If Starr had a superpower, she would be an Empath, because she is an emotional sponge and easily relates to how others feel.
While pursuing a degree in Creative Writing from the University of Wisconsin, Starr gained a reputation as the “Character Assassin” because she has a habit of utterly destroying her characters both emotionally and physically.
In her free time, Starr loves watching Doctor Who or anything with superheroes, reading books (duh!), writing about her favorite fantasy stories (Song of Ice and Fire, Mistborn, The Wheel of Time), and staring out the window as she dreams up more stories. Oh, and sometimes she steps out the door.
5 F U N F A C T S A B O U T S T A R R Z . D A V I E S
1. Starr is short for Starrburst, her given Native American name.
2. Starr is a big fan of cheesy puns and 5th grade humor and will often laugh at her own jokes before anyone else. Ex: What’s ET short for? Cuz he’s got small legs!
3. Starr’s favorite quote is from Batman Begins (of course, a superhero!): “It’s not who you are, but what you do that defines you.” She tries to live by this ideology.
4. Starr loves to fantasize about who would star in a film as her characters. In fact, she sometimes “casts” actors on her social media feeds by posting pictures. After seeing Detective Pikachu, no one else but Justice Smith would satisfy her as Ugene.
5. If she were to choose a superhero whose personality is most like her own, Starr would be Spiderman—nerdy, awkward, and witty, but always eager to do the right thing to help others.
In addition to being a newly published indie author, Tera Lyn Cortez is a wife, mother to five and a voracious reader. She is also a lover of coffee, the ocean and all things chocolate. Her home is in the lovely Pacific Northwest with her family, although she does admit to being consumed with Wanderlust. Life as a writer allows her to indulge in traveling both our world and those that live only in our imagination when she can’t leave her office.
Would you like a chance to win a $25 amazon gift card? Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Isolation (The Soul Scribe Trilogy Book 1) by Tera Lyn Cortez Genre: New Adult Fantasy
What if you woke up one day and discovered all the things about yourself that you thought made you a walking disaster, actually made you very special? Growing up on Earth left Everleigh totally in the dark about the magic that exists in the world. In fact, she was unaware that the realms beyond her own even existed. She spent her life struggling to hide her peculiarities from the world, believing she was an anomaly, a freak of nature. Then a stranger showed up on her doorstep one day, leaving cryptic instructions that would lead her to discover just how much she didn’t know. If she follows them, she will learn that not only do the other realms exist, but that she is an integral part of their survival. The abilities she spent years trying to bury inside are just the tip of the iceberg. She must not only embrace them, but nurture them, and master them as quickly as she can. The world is counting on her, whether they know it or not. By the time she’s capable of making a difference, will it already be too late to save the ones she loves?
Invocation (The Soul Scribe Trilogy Book 2) by Tera Lyn Cortez Genre: New Adult Fantasy
Everleigh’s life has gone from Isolation and loneliness to being bombarded with magical beings from all sides.
When she is forced to flee the safety of the cabin and travel to the other realms, her world is turned upside down yet again. As she struggles to meet the needs of those relying on her, will she be able to balance the demands of learning her magic and preparing for war?
If she wants to survive in a magical world, she’ll have to.
Inauguration (The Soul Scribe Trilogy Book 3) by Tera Lyn Cortez Genre: New Adult Fantasy
What steps would you take to ensure that you came out the victor in a war that had been brewing since before you were born?
Everleigh must answer that question correctly to ensure that magic as they know it will not cease to exist. To protect the realms, and those she has come to love, she must make life-altering choices guided only by her intuition.
She has gathered warriors from every magical race available, seeking out those who are willing to help her put an end to the dark mage’s reign of terror. As they march on to the final battle between good and evil, will their forces prevail? Will everything they have done be enough? Even if it is, will the cost of victory prove to be too much for them to pay?
At the end of the battle they can only hope that what is left of their world will be worth living in.
Any advice I give is solely based on the mistakes I am already aware I made. I’m sure there are plenty that I don’t even know about yet.
First, find a professional cover designer who is proficient in the genre you are writing in. The designer I originally hired made fantastic art, but did not tell me that the covers I asked for would not sell well in the genre. An expensive mistake when you have to turn around and hire someone else to do them over again!
Second, get yourself a good developmental editor. Yes it can be expensive, but it is worth the money. My editor told me originally to cut approximately 30,000 words out of a 60k novel. Ouch! I wound up throwing the whole thing out and starting over, then copying and pasting the portions of the original manuscript that I really loved. It stung, but she was right and the story is so much better for it.
Maybe the most important thing? Keep writing. Get the words down on the page. I have a post it note above my desk that says “You can edit bad writing, but you cannot edit a blank page.” It’s not my quote, I saw it on Facebook and the author was unknown, but it serves as a daily reminder that getting the words down means I am making progress and I can always revise and edit later.
Last, but certainly not least, find your tribe. Gather people around you who believe in you and truly want you to succeed. They are priceless.
Shadow Magic (Macabre Academy Book 1) by Sherry Soule Genre: Paranormal Mystery Romance
Ghost summoning? No biggie. Raising the dead? Bring it on. Solving my sister’s sudden disappearance? A bit more complicated…
I’m Serena LeStrange, a necromancer who prefers to hide her freakishly fabulous skills from others. Only my sister makes me feel less of a weirdo, so when she mysteriously vanishes from college, I enroll at Macabre Academy to start my own investigation.
Except this is no ordinary school for the magically inclined, it’s home to all monsters—even the most dangerous ones. And after meeting an incredibly gorgeous vampire and a sinfully hot reaper, I find myself entangled in a passionate, yet forbidden, flirtation. To complicate matters, I get stuck with a ghostly genie sidekick and suspect a sinister sorority of misdeeds.
But to solve the mystery, I’ll need all the help I can get. Someone at Macabre knows what happened to my sister, and I won’t stop until I dig up the truth.
Unfortunately, some dark secrets prefer to stay buried.
Do you enjoy not-so-cozy paranormal mysteries, slow burn romances, and unconventional heroines?
Welcome to Macabre Academy, the first spellbinding book in a paranormal mystery romance trilogy!
PG-13: *No F-bombs, sex (slow burn), or graphic violence, but there are steamy kisses.
Heroine: A quirky supernatural Nancy Drew.
Premise: An older university-age paranormal academy series with mystery and light humor.
Shadow Magic (Macabre Academy Book 1) by Sherry Soule
Would you like a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card? Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Sherry Soule is a Multi-Genre Author, who lives in Northern California with her family and two spoiled rescue cats. She likes to surround herself with positive people and reads daily.
Sherry writes exciting tales of passionate romance, epic drama, and thrilling suspense. Many of her books have been on the Amazon bestseller lists and nominated as top picks in the “Best Paranormal Romance” categories on numerous review sites.
Shadow Magic (Macabre Academy Book 1) by Sherry Soule
Why I Love Writing Paranormal Romance
GUEST POST BY AUTHOR SHERRY SOULE
Today author, Sherry Soule has some exciting news to share with us! Her new paranormal romance mystery, SHADOW MAGIC, was published on May 1, 2020. To celebrate the release of Sherry’s new series, she has put together this fun guest post for fellow booklovers.
As a reader, I have had a long-term love affair with all things dark and romantic in fiction. Paranormal Romance is one of my favorite genres. Ever since I was a child, I have recognized that books are a way to travel to faraway places, have epic adventures, and meet dashing fictional men.
The coolest part for me as a writer is that I can do things in the paranormal genre that are not acceptable in other ones. And as a reader, you get to step out of your ordinary world, where everything is predictable, and you can jump into a realm that is mysterious, magical, and exciting.
In my current release, SHADOW MAGIC, the original draft of this novel had a witch trying to join a local coven, but my heroine kept insisting she wasn’t a witch. No, it turns out that Serena is an animal-loving necromancer, who wants to get a necromancy license to resurrect pets and familiars. Then a sexy grim reaper and a handsome vampire showed up in the story, vying for Serena’s affection, and the story took off from there…
We all have diverse tastes in literature. Most of you will have various genres that you love to read, and that’s what makes reading so fascinating. Each one of us will enjoy different types of characters, genres, and tropes. And I don’t know about you, but I need some romance in almost every book I read.
In my own novels, I love getting my heroine into sticky situations, where even I’m not sure how she’s going to get out of them. And in my stories, the hero doesn’t always show up and save her—she usually saves herself. I also love adding in the budding romance, and creating fictional worlds with vivid settings. And I like the feeling that comes from stretching my imagination. It’s that continual “what if…”
Like…what if a vampire gave you his blood?
What if an opening to Hell was directly under your house?
What if you found out you were born into a family of witches?
What if you had the power to raise the dead?
What is your favorite paranormal romance novel or series? Let me know in the comments!
It was my honor to be your guest today. Thank you so much for allowing me to chat about my new series. I sincerely hope you guys enjoyed this post. Now go feed your mind with a book. Preferably one of mine. 😀
“A superb suspense writer…Brava, Ruth Ware. I daresay even Henry James would be impressed.” —Maureen Corrigan, author of So We Read On
“This appropriately twisty Turn of the Screw update finds the Woman in Cabin 10 author in her most menacing mode, unfurling a shocking saga of murder and deception.” —Entertainment Weekly
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs. Westaway comes this thrilling novel that explores the dark side of technology.
When she stumbles across the ad, she’s looking for something else completely. But it seems like too good an opportunity to miss—a live-in nannying post, with a staggeringly generous salary. And when Rowan Caine arrives at Heatherbrae House, she is smitten—by the luxurious “smart” home fitted out with all modern conveniences, by the beautiful Scottish Highlands, and by this picture-perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
Writing to her lawyer from prison, she struggles to explain the events that led to her incarceration. It wasn’t just the constant surveillance from the home’s cameras, or the malfunctioning technology that woke the household with booming music, or turned the lights off at the worst possible time. It wasn’t just the girls, who turned out to be a far cry from the immaculately behaved model children she met at her interview. It wasn’t even the way she was left alone for weeks at a time, with no adults around apart from the enigmatic handyman.
It was everything.
She knows she’s made mistakes. She admits that she lied to obtain the post, and that her behavior toward the children wasn’t always ideal. She’s not innocent, by any means. But, she maintains, she’s not guilty—at least not of murder—but somebody is.
Full of spellbinding menace and told in Ruth Ware’s signature suspenseful style, The Turn of the Key is an unputdownable thriller from the Agatha Christie of our time.
This is the first book I’ve read by Ruth Ware, but I will definately keep my eyes open for other titles by her.
STORY (★★★★★)
I don’t often give a 5-star review, but loved this story. It was unique and just really engaging. From chapter one all the way until the end, I was sucked in and wanted to keep reading. Its a ghost story with so many twists that your constantly second guessing what you think you know is happening.
The entire book is a letter to Mr. Wrexham, a lawyer who the main character is hoping can get her out of prison for a murder she says she didn’t commit. The letter goes into great detail, pulling you into the world as if you were there with her the whole time.
WRITING (★★★★★)
Ruth Ware is a wonderful author with a skill for painting a picture with her words. If you aren’t a fan of ghost stories but you like thriller, you might not want to read this one late at night, but you’ll still want to read it! I have absolutely nothing negative to say about the writing. I even loved the first few chapters which were her throwaway letters…
CHARACTERS (★★★★★)
Rowan is easily relatable and written with such realistic characteristics that she seems real.
Mrs. Elincourt is the tired wife/mother who you feel sorry for and yet there is something about her that makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand up.
Mr. Elincourt… There is nothing good that can be said about this man. He is very well written, but as a reader, you are given more reasons to dislike him than to like him.
APPEARANCE (★★★★★)
I love this cover. Whenever I read a book, I’m always looking for the moment the book cover and the story connect. It took a while with this one, but when it did, it was a great moment. I hope you’ll read the story to find out what ‘the turn of the key’ means.
FAVORITE QUOTES:
“People do go mad, you know, if you stop them from sleeping for long enough…”
“The ghosts, she had sobbed. The ghosts wouldn’t like it.”
Ruth Ware is an international number one bestseller. Her thrillers In a Dark, Dark Wood, The Woman in Cabin 10, The Lying Game and The Death of Mrs Westaway have appeared on bestseller lists around the world, including the Sunday Times and New York Times, and she is published in more than 40 languages. She lives on the south coast of England, with her family.
Visit http://www.ruthware.com to find out more, or find her on facebook or twitter as @RuthWareWriter
Also by Ruth Ware
Click on the cover images below to read more about each selection and to order your copies today!
There are only two kinds of people left on the earth: Donors and Recipients.
Sixteen-year-old Aston Vazeto hates the idea of selling her blood for money and is determined to be the first Donor in New World history to never donate.
But after a suspicious accident at her father’s power plant leaves her family diving deeper into poverty, Aston has no other choice except to enter the annual blood auctions, where Recipients bid on the richest blood. With the highest test results ever seen, Aston’s blood becomes the most sought-after in history, and will likely bring a large price at auctions.
When her friends are caught tampering with their donations, they are arrested and tortured. Knowing she puts her family’s safety and income at risk Aston takes advantage of an opportunity to escape donation facility drugs meant to keep Donors complacent. Free to feel and free to love she is caught between Gannet, a kind facility technician, and Marcus, a sarcastic rebel like herself. Dancing at Blood Auction Balls and kissing a donor in coat closets under the stairs has Aston confused between joining the uprising she hears rumors about or merely following the life her blood was meant to lead.
I grew up with a pretty normal childhood, running barefoot in the Appalachian mountains, playing with turtles and innocently killing them by leaving them on their backs so I could play house with them again the next day. I don’t think I always dreamed of being an author. It was just something I did. I made up stories about my dead turtles. I named my fingers and let them battle out family feuds. I wrote about myself in my journal when what I wished would happen was better than what actually did (sorry, Mom for the scare. I still promise I never really snuck over to a party and kissed my brothers friend). What a wonderful surprise when something “I just did” suddenly became something others enjoyed. I’m so forever grateful to my publisher for giving me a chance to share my not-so-normal stories with the whole world.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
What is something unique/quirky about you?
I can whistle like a cricket? Lol.
Tell us something really interesting that’s happened to you!
I was born with a blood disorder called polycythemia which means my blood is too thick. It’s possibly why I’m so fascinated by blood. I’ve never been able to donate blood or plasma. I found out recently I also have a blood disorder called Von Willebrands, which means I bleed easily so maybe that balances out the thick blood, I don’t know. When I was born doctors wanted to do a complete blood transfusion. My dad refused, and a team of nurses stayed with me overnight. Somehow things worked out, and now here I am writing books about donors and blood banks.
Where were you born/grew up at?
A tiny town in the Appalachian Mountains called Low Moor, VA
What kind of world ruler would you be?
Probably a very inconsistent one. I’m no good at keeping up with schedules or routines. I’m a “live by the seat of my pants” kind of person, and it drives my husband crazy. But we get a lot of things done and have a ton of amazing adventures.
What are you passionate about these days?
Right now I’m super into magic books. I just finished a contemporary magic book and then watched the Witcher on Netflix. Now I want to write a full-on dark fantasy novel.
What do you do to unwind and relax?
We may have just moved solely for the purpose of having a bigger bathtub. A hot bath with a fun Netflix show or good book is my favorite thing to do.
How to find time to write as a parent?
I think I’ve gotten really good at just zoning things out. Daniel Tiger no longer phases me. I also am a crossing guard, so five times a day I get to sit in my car, watch for kids coming to cross the road, and think all about my books. I’d say about 40% of my books are written on my phone in the car.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
When I wrote my first book. I typed “The End” and felt so much accomplishment. Writing a novel was so exhilarating and exciting to know all the in’s and outs and the behind-the-scenes parts of a story was so much more fun than reading. I got addicted pretty quickly. I wrote five full-length novels, six picture books, 3 short stories (one that won Silver Honorable Mention in the Writers of the Future contest), and won a few flash fiction contests all in the first two years after writing that first book. I’ve discovered that writing is everything that has made me weird my whole life. Now in the writing world I’m suddenly completely normal.
Do you have a favorite movie?
“While You Were Sleeping” is one of my all time favorite movies, but “Labyrinth” is a close second. If I could combine those two that’d be a super cool story.
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
All of them. This dystopian I think would be a cool Netflix series. After everything we’re going through now with COVID-19, my story is super relevant.
As a writer, what would you choose as your mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
Oh that’s a hard one. I love frogs, and collect little trinkets of them, but I don’t know if I’d consider myself one. I also love owls. I collect those too. As a writer I’m probably something that hibernates. Like a bear. Mostly because I can’t stay consistent with my writing. I’ll go weeks without turning my computer on and then sit down and write 40,000 words in a week.
What inspired you to write this book?
Well first off, like I said, I’ve always had a fascination with blood and donations, since it’s something I have no experience in. But the idea for this specific story started when my husband decided to donate plasma one year in order to have a little extra Christmas money. He saw other fellow teachers there, and it made me a little sad that they were making so little that they had to risk their health in order to afford things for their families. And then he got sick, and my husband never gets sick. Anyone who’s ever been in a plasma facility knows what I’m talking about when I say they’re a little trippy. Poster children on every wall and weird messages talking about how your donations save people are all over the place. The idea of a society separated by the need for blood formed, and the donors were patterned off my poor husband who gave so much for us to have a great Christmas one year.
What can we expect from you in the future?
I have lots of ideas all over the place, but something that seems to stay consistent is my angsty romance that I just can’t get enough of. I am querying a science fiction suicide story right now that has a lot of magical realism, and I’m sending in book two of this series to my editor next week. Lots of exciting things happening that I’m super stoked about.
Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
Yeah. Originally the best friend, Lazuli ( pronounced La – zoo- ligh) wasn’t supposed to be a main part of the story. As it evolved, though, she became a huge component to several plot points and subplots. I have lots of small stories that were her version of the story that I’ll probably put up somewhere sometime for fun.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Blood Numbers?
Oh man, I really got to know and love these characters. It’s weird when critique partners would give suggestions, and I knew my fake people so well I could say “nah, they would never say that.”
My main character is Aston. She’s a 16 year old donor who, as the fourth daughter of a man who wanted sons, was raised with strong opinions about their government. She is an artist. She’s impulsive and very naïve. She’s a bit selfish but has good intentions which is part of her story arc. She doesn’t want to admit it but she has a thing for her technician, Gannet. He’s got a pretty face but is clearly a robot to the system because of the drugs given to donors. When Aston finds a way to avoid the drugs, she doesn’t think she could ever be with someone so robotically happy all the time. Which is what makes Marcus so appealing even if a bit annoying. He’s rugged and sickly but free to do as he pleases. His determination and zeal draws her in even though her parents would never approve of a low-numbered sickly donor.
How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?
I knew I wanted a society divided by blood, the infected on one side of the wall that bid on healthy donors’ blood in order to be cured, and donors on the other side who are so poor they’re willing to donate themselves to death. But the idea for the characters came actually from watching Aladdin with my kids. Telling too much about that though would give too much away so you’ll have to just read the book:) * wink wink*
Where did you come up with the names in the story?
My husband is a birder. I think without realizing it I patterned Aston’s father after my husband. I love the kind of Dad he is and he loves birds, so I put a lot of the names of birds that we joked about naming our kids. Gannets are sea birds; Lazuli Buntings are beautiful blue birds, and Aston- well that’s not a bird. I actually took a job working at an apartment complex called “The Aston” the day I started plotting the concept in my head. It only seemed fitting.
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
The surprises. I always knew the basic skeleton of the story. I knew I needed to get from one plot point to the next, but the way I would get there sometimes was so exciting. “Yes, a ball! And at the ball there will be this crazy awesome thing that happens that leads us right to this ridiculous conflict!”
How did you come up with the title of your first novel?
Um, my husband, the Biologist, helped me come up with it, but I always thought it sounded kinda cheesy. I originally wanted Book One to be called “Donors”, and Book Two would be “Recipients”, and who knows what Book Three would be. But my husband kept insisting and then my critique group too. Then when the publisher took over they also agreed that they liked it more.
Who designed your book covers?
Ashley Litersky with Immortal Works Press.
If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything in your latest book?
Actually, yeah there’s a couple things. Now that I’m writing the third book there are a few ideas that come up that would have been really cool to put some foreshadowing about in book one.
Are your characters based off real people or did they all come entirely from yourimagination?
Aston calls her mother Mam and she is sort of the villain of book one. It was actually one of the characters that was the most fun to write. I kept having to call my own Mom though and make sure she knew I wasn’t writing about her, haha. I knew she would be concerned about what others thought about my relationship with her and so let me take this opportunity to say: my mom is one of my best friends. Mam however is an awfully nasty product of the system. She is patterned after the mother in Pride and Prejudice. I took all the rude and awful things about Mrs. Bennet and magnified them. She was the one voice in my head that was louder and more obnoxious sounding than Aston’s.
What is your favorite part of this book and why?
Weirdly enough it’s a torture scene. It’s a moment when Aston learns to have compassion on her own mother from seeing another mom get tortured. It helps her understand a little about why her mom is the way she is, and I cried through the whole thing. Mrs. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice, after all, was only trying to get her girls married in a society where that was the only prospect they had. Would she have been a different kind of mother if they lived today where girls are free to grow up and be astronauts and presidents of companies?
If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And whatwould you do during that day?
I actually found Gannet to be a much more interesting character than I originally realized. He felt so mysterious even to me. I think I’d pick him and want him to just show me his childhood home and tell me about his story. He’s one I’d love to write a backstory for as well even though I know the basics of it in my head.
Do your characters seem to hijack the story or do you feel like you have the reigns of thestory?
I have the reins but my characters definitely are vocal. Most of the time they were the ones leading from plot point to plot point. Lazuli wasn’t really unpredictable but just kept popping up as the solution to certain plot predicaments. She was somehow always the answer for how to answer certain needs for conflict. I put the poor girl through a lot, the poor thing.
Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.
One of the things that makes my book super interesting now is how relevant it is to our times. A society that recovers from biological warfare after viruses spread through and killed a third of the earth population? A new government that separates and quarantines society based on health? A system that is organized to take plasma from the recovered and inject it into the sick in order to save them? This is what we are experiencing now with COVID-19! The American Red Cross has agreed to team up with me and I’m holding a national blood drive on May the 4th and will be at the Provo Utah Library to help American Red Cross! They are asking for anyone who has recovered from COVID-19 to please donate plasma. The very first patient that received this treatment recovered in record time. It’s so crazy to read headlines that I made up in my novel. Even if you haven’t had COVID-19 please consider donating blood. The American Red Cross helps save lives everyday but their blood bank has dwindled significantly with the shut down. Use the link redcrossblood.org and enter your zip code to find your nearest blood drive. Using hashtag: #BloodNumbersDrive share a picture proving your donation whether a sticker saying you gave blood or a picture of you donating on any social media and be entered for extra chances to win Blood Numbers t-shirts, tattoos, and pens.
What did you edit out of this book?
There was a dream sequence that gives a huge foreshadowing of the end but the editor didn’t think it was super necessary. I love reading that kind of thing the second time through though once you know the ending and can say “Oh my gosh it totally told me right here and I didn’t even notice!”
Is there a writer which brain you would love to pick for advice? Who would that be andwhy?
Stephenie Meyer. I know she gets a lot of flak in the writing world, but no matter what you want to say about her writing she is an amazing story teller. She’s also who really opened up the world to this idea of stay-at-home moms turned authors. I remember years ago listening to her say in an interview that if you have an idea just write it. She is a big inspiration to me.
Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?’-type tidbits about book or the writingprocess of the book.
A vertical transfer virus is what I based my virus off of. It is technically a thing in biology but has never really occurred yet. It’s when a virus is passed down from mother to child. It’s, in the simplest of terms, making cancer a virus. So not only can you catch it if someone sneezes on you but then once you have it, it attaches to your DNA and you can pass it on to your posterity as well. Writing the backstory about the virus and the wars was actually more exciting than I thought it would be. The first draft version of the story didn’t have a whole lot about that. Originally I wanted it to be more about the romance but, then a reader mentioned that she was up late telling her husband about my book and all he had questions about were the wars. How did they get that way? What is the virus and why is it scary? It helped me realize I needed more about the details of their world and went back to the drawing board.
From National Bestselling author Melissa Bourbon comes a small town magical story with a heart-stopping hero, a sigh-worthy romance, beautiful writing, and characters that jump off the page. Get ready to be charmed by Storie and Reid, and watch out for the twist!
Storie Bell is a witch. Not the kind that lives in Harry Potter’s world. No, she is more like Glinda, the good witch of the North, minus the munchkins and Dorothy. But a witch trying to blend in in a small southern town is no easy feat. She’s grown up believing that mortals and witchcraft don’t mix.
Storie thinks the biggest threat to her future—opening The Storiebook Cafe, where happy endings begin— is Reid Malone, the very man she ran away from years before. He seems hell bent on getting in the way of her bookstore’s grand opening. But when a mysterious woman from Storie’s past shows up and makes claims that leave Storie confused, she rethinks her entire future.
Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Melissa Bourbon, the author of the Magical Dressmaking Mysteries (A Seamless Murder, A Killing Notion, A Custom-Fit Crime, Deadly Patterns), sometimes answers to her Latina-by-marriage name, Misa Ramirez. She gave up teaching middle and high school kids in northern California to write full-time amid horses and Longhorns in north Texas. She fantasizes about spending summers writing in quaint, cozy locales, has a love-hate relationship with yoga and chocolate, is devoted to her family, and can’t believe she’s lucky enough to be living the life of her dreams.
Can you tell readers a little bit about yourself and what inspired to write in this particular genre?
I’ve written cozy mysteries, caper mysteries, and romantic suspense novels. A light paranormal romance is a completely different type of book. Weaving in just the right amount of magic into a contemporary romance takes more finesse than you might imagine. Turns out it’s right up my alley, though. It’s how I’d like the world to be. Making Storie a witch gave me the opportunity to bring that big of magic into my writing. I can’t wait to do it again!
What inspired you to write this book?
The whole concept for the Storiebook Café, the bookstore/café in the book, was inspired by a store of the same name in a little Texas town called Glen Rose. Glen Rose is a cute little town, and the owner of the store, also named Storie, just sparked this idea. I asked her if I could base a book off of her store and name, she said, “Of course!”, and I went to town writing!
Basically, Storie is a down-on-her-luck witch who’s not very good or experienced at what she does (for a variety of reasons). She and her friend, Harper, set up a bookshop/café in Whiskey Creek, and she runs into Reid Malone, a man she once had a, um, run-in with years ago. They don’t see eye to eye on things and sparks fly. It’s a lot of fun!
Please tell us about your latest release.
I’d love to! Storiebook Charm is a short contemporary romance with a light paranormal twist. It’s about Storie Bell and Reid Malone and the love story that began for them twelve years prior to when the actual story takes place. It’s Southern, has a little spicy, and is a lot of fun.
What is your favorite scene from the book? Could you share a little bit of it, without spoilers of course?
The moment when Storie first realizes that maybe Reid Malone isn’t so bad is a favorite of mine. She thinks he’s going to do (and want) one thing, but he does something different and that surprises her. It felt right and was a great way to bring them together, even if later in the scene a big conflict rips them apart again.
Storiebook Charm (A Spellbound Novel 1) by Melissa Bourbon – Genre: Light Paranormal Romance
What is the most interesting thing you have physically done for book related research purposes?
I visited a nudist resort when I was researching Bare-Naked Lola, the 3rd book in my Lola Cruz mystery series. Talk about surreal. It was a very interesting experience.
Do you ever suffer from writer’s block? How do you deal with it?
Sometimes, when writing sex scenes, I struggle a little bit. My mom is my biggest fan and when she first bought Silent Echoes, I was horrified that she’d be reading the sex scenes. She laughed and said she knew she’d be shocked that I knew the things I wrote about! I’m 53 with 5 kids, so I got a good chuckle out of that. Still, I always think, holy smokes, my parents might read this!
Where is your favorite place to read? Do you have a cozy corner or special reading spot?
My nighttime ritual includes reading just before I go to bed. I have a NOOK and that’s typically what I read on these days. If I don’t read just before bed, something feels off.
What can readers expect next from you?
I’m working on a new mystery series. The series is Book Magic, and the first book is as yet unnamed. I’m so excited about it. It’s about a bibliomancer. I am also finishing up book 6 in my Bread Shop cozy mystery series. I have lots of balls in the air!
Storiebook Charm (A Spellbound Novel 1) by Melissa Bourbon Genre: Light Paranormal Romance
I’m so excited to be one of many tour hosts sharing information aboutStoriebook Charm (A Spellbound Novel 1) by Melissa Bourbon Genre: Light Paranormal Romance
Tori V. Rainn is a Texas-based fantasy novelist who is on a lifelong mission to inspire her readers through the power of imaginative storytelling. During her creative journey, an array of her short stories have been showcased in various online zines. It all started when she took a writing course at Writer’s Village University, which earned her a Creative Writing Certificate. The moment she penned her first story, she knew writing was her ultimate calling and greatest passion.
When she isn’t crafting thrilling plots, you can find this avid video gamer watching her favorite shows, collecting unique knives, or going on meditative walks in the heart of nature. She is also a chocoholic and tea aficionada with an unquenchable sweet tooth. Above all else, Tori enjoys spending quality time with her loved ones.
Samuel dreamed of being a lot of things, but a monster trapped in a forest realm never entered his mind. The Blacknoc Curse wasn’t supposed to be true, only a children’s story meant to persuade them away from evil. Yet, here he was tasked with hunting cursed kids. There’s nothing left for Samuel except the horror surrounding him.
Layla, a young girl tormented by the same curse, is dropped into the terrifying forest every night, running from the monsters intent on taking her life. She meets Samuel and vows to save all the children, especially Samuel, from their torment.
Working together can they defeat the Blacknoc Curse?
Would you like a chance to win a $15 Amazon gift card and a swag pack with a bookmark and keychain? Follow the tour HERE for special content and a giveaway!
Can you, for those who don’t know you already, tell something about yourself and how you became an author?
I’m the typical introvert who couldn’t contain her wild imagination. In my late teens, I started dabbling in writing. Since I didn’t really know much about writing I couldn’t really go too far until I took an online writing course that explained the basics of fiction writing. Once I understood the basics it was like something clicked within me. I wanted to learn more and write more. I wrote short stories, and then eventually took on bigger projects like novellas and novels.
Describe yourself in 5 words or less!
Laid-back. Goofy. Loyal. Creative. Pensive.
When did you first consider yourself a writer?
I think the first time I made it official was when I decided I wouldn’t treat it as a hobby anymore. I had to change my state of mind. I wanted to stop dreaming and make my dream of getting published a reality. I invested more time in reading about the craft of writing. I tried to write more, even when I didn’t feel like it. Another process was slowly coming out of my shell and letting others read my work for feedback. I think it’s the little steps taken that slowly start to define who I am as a writer.
Which of your novels can you imagine made into a movie?
How about my current one? Curse of the Blacknoc Witch. I’m sure most know it’s every author’s dream to get their book adapted into a film. I wouldn’t mind seeing my book as a Netflix movie. Not as a series but a movie. How cool would that be, right? I’d imagine awesome CGI to portray the monsters and the magic. A real forest shot in the dark to show the setting. Ah, I could dream though.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in Curse of the Blacknoc Witch?
The main characters of Curse of the Blacknoc Witch are Samuel Fawcett and Layla Marlowe. They’re teens who are both hunted by a wicked curse. Samuel was a teen at one time before transforming into a monster. He’s supposed to hunt and eat all the wicked kids but he was given a choice and uses that chance to protect the weak. Layla is under the protection of Samuel. She’s bent on breaking the curse for herself and the others who are tormented by the curse. Samuel may not have hope for a new day but Layla holds onto that hope for a day to come.
Where did you come up with the names in the story?
I google names for inspiration but I’m very picky about choosing the names of my characters. The name I pick usually reflects the personality of my character. If the name matches who the character is or symbolizes them or their circumstance in any way, that’s the one I’ll usually go with. For example, I could not decide between using Layla or Lilith. Both names can have a similar meaning. ‘Of the night’ or ‘beauty.’
What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
I enjoyed watching the interactions between my main characters, but really it was just a blast to see some of the action scenes unfold. Monsters fighting monsters. Kids fighting monsters. So much fun. I love action scenes!
Who designed your book covers?
I’m in love with the cover. Abigail Owen at The Wild Rose Press, Inc designed the cover. She did such a great job of capturing the feel of the book. The story takes place mostly at night in a forest. It has a witchy and fantasy feel all while setting that dark mood. My publisher lets you have a small say in the cover. I had the option of including one important element in the cover. The designer worked those awesome witch knots you can see at the corners of the book.
Anything specific you want to tell your readers?
As a reader myself, I just like to sit back and enjoy the ride. So a note to the readers, I do hope my stories can be that escape for you like the way I enjoy books. My characters are to inspire and entertain and it is my wish that they are that influence for you.
Convince us why you feel your book is a must read.
Eep, I really must sell it here, huh? Well, it’s filled with twists and turns, and if you don’t mind a little creepy in your story about two unlikely heroes filled with fantasy elements, romance, a sprinkle of humor, and action, then I do believe this is a must read for you.
If your book had a candle, what scent would it be?
It would probably be a scent that reminded me of herbs to match the witchy part and with a tinge of pine or forestry to match the setting.
What is your writing process? For instance, do you do an outline first? Do you do the chapters first?
Most of the time, I use an outline. An outline is like a map that helps me see where I’m going. I like to have a plan to follow. Depending on how much detail you put into the outline, you can only see as far as the light sprays. Without any light, I feel like I’m walking blindly and this can be chaotic. Now, sometimes chaos is good. It’s rare but I do like to write by the seat of my pants. The results can be positive if you’re in search of something spontaneous.
Nina Soden 