5 Indie Books to Read #3

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Something that I am working hard on at the moment is promoting books by self-published and small press authors. Amazing books that tend not to be given as much credit as they deserve. This series is where I showcase 5 books by indie authors. Some of the books will be written by my Ko-Fi members who receive ongoing priority promotion from me. See my indie books page for more books. Check these books out!

May Day: If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. (Seekers)

If the murderer you’re tracking is a vampire, then you want a vampire detective. Just maybe not this one.

It’s not that Jack Valentine is bad at her job. The youngest member of Oxford’s Seekers has an impressive track record, but she also has an impressive grudge against the local baron, Killian Drake.

When a human turns up dead on May Morning, she’s determined to pin the murder on Drake. The problem is that none of the evidence points to him. Instead, it leads Jack into a web of conspiracy involving the most powerful people in the country, people to whom Jack has no access. But she knows someone who does.

To get to the truth, Jack will have to partner up with her worst enemy. As long as she can keep her cool, Drake will point her to the ringleaders, she’ll find the murderer and no one else will have to die.

Body bags on standby.

May Day is the first book in Josie Jaffrey’s Seekers series, an urban fantasy series set in Oxford, England.

These Violent Nights

Once upon a time, inhabitants of another world tore a hole through the universe and came to Earth. They called themselves Suriias, and rivalled humans in knowledge and skill with one great exception: they had magic.

War followed. Humanity lost. And three hundred years later, humans are on the brink of extinction.

Orphans Thorn and Thistle live in hiding. They are the last of their families, the last of their friends. They scrape by, stealing to survive and living on the streets or hiding in sheds. But even under the brutal regime of the Suriias, there are places where humans can mingle in secret with magical sympathisers, and one night Thistle gets an unexpected offer of marriage from a Suriia with high standing and friends in all the right places. For Thistle, it’s a chance at safety and comfort; for Thorn, it’s a chance to find the ones who killed her parents.

And so the pair move into the capital city of Courtenz. An urban monstrosity of magic and might, false friends and flying cars, drones and death tolls, the new city promises a fresh start – and new love – for both.

But if there’s one thing Thorn knows for certain, it’s that dreams can swiftly turn into nightmares.

Book Spotlight: Journey To Self-Awareness by Kushal Patel

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Title: Journey To Self-Awareness

Author: Kushal Patel

Buy links

Overview

This book goes into how we can be more aware of the negative thoughts that affect us in different areas of our life. The author goes into how we can navigate through our minds to achieve a more enjoyable life.

Book description

We all struggle with our own issues, Sometimes we do not know why they are bothering us. Thoughts come and go, but the affect they have on us sometimes never go away. The young author goes into how we can better understand ourselves and our thoughts so we can take the step to living healthier and more happier lives.

About the author

Kushal Patel is an advocate of mental well-being. He has studied the mind through being a neuroscience major at the University of Texas at Dallas. Currently, he is a medical student at the West Virginia College of Osteopathic Medicine. Through his own journey, he was rejected by medical schools multiple times, had past experiences hold him back, and lacked self love. A few years ago, he went through a period of personal growth that changed his life. He went to therapy, began reading more and took a course called Inner Engineering. This book hopes to share the lessons he learned along the way so that others can reshape the way they see themselves in the world.

Follow Kushal on Twitter

Book Spotlight: The Storm Curtain: A Story of Sularil by Adam Thomas

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Title: The Storm Curtain: A Story of Sularil

Author: Adam Thomas

Genre: Fantasy

Available on: Amazon.co.uk - Amazon.com (Also free on Kindle Unlimited!)

Synopsis

The Storm Curtain is open. 

The Three Sisters have fallen. 

War has come to Arillon. 

The orcs of Ornak have taken the islands known as the Three Sisters, bringing sudden war to the coast of Arillon. Hopelessly outnumbered, an alliance of humans, dwarves, and elves attempts to slow the orcs’ march towards the immense city of Thousand Spires. How could the small country of Ornak, which clings like a malignant growth to the western edge of the grand island of Sularil, contain such an overwhelming force? This is the question plaguing Sularin general and foot soldier alike. 

Only one person finds herself in a position to learn the answer. New recruit Grail, an elf of the Oruana Kir, is shipwrecked on her way to the front and washes ashore on the coast of Ornak. Will she remain alone to find answers in a hostile land? Or will she return across the sea to join the fight? Whatever she decides, one question haunts Grail more than any other. Why can she not commune with animals, taking their shapes like the rest of her people? 

Enter the world of Sularil with a beautiful tale of friendship, valor, and overcoming shame. 

More about the book

* Strong female lead 

* Normal length novel, not a massive tome 

* Many connections to a larger world in other books 

* Dungeons and Dragons-esque setting 

Content Warning

* One minor torture scene, mostly psychological 

* One traumatic remembrance of a forced breeding program (a male character remembers being forced to provide reproductive material for the program)

Find out more about the author and his work

Adam's website

Monthly Supporters Showcase #1

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Hi everyone and welcome to my first monthly supporters showcase! This is where I share the books and blogs of my Ko-Fi members. Please check out their amazing work!

Jill Horton

Jill Horton loves creating magical worlds for children to learn in and explore. She and her husband have four kids who love the adventures found in good books. One dog, two cats, and four parakeets joined the family’s fun and literary travels. Now, Jill is inviting you to pick up one of her books and start your own family’s storytime traditions too!

The Fast Little Fox (The Fast Little Fox & Friends)

Have you ever wanted to go on an adventure through the forest? Follow the fast little fox as he discovers more than he can imagine along the way! What will he learn? Can he make it home in time for supper? Read on to find out!

My review of The Fast Little Fox.

Jill's links:

Website

Pinterest

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn

Goodreads

Ko-Fi

Books that Sound Interesting #1

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Hi everyone! I wanted to talk about the books that I see that sound interesting. These will be from a mix of genres and age ranges. So let's look at some books!

Pandora

A pure pleasure of a novel set in Georgian London, where the discovery of a mysterious ancient Greek vase sets in motion conspiracies, revelations and romance.

London, 1799. Dora Blake is an aspiring jewellery artist who lives with her uncle in what used to be her parents' famed shop of antiquities. When a mysterious Greek vase is delivered, Dora is intrigued by her uncle's suspicious behaviour and enlists the help of Edward Lawrence, a young antiquarian scholar. Edward sees the ancient vase as key to unlocking his academic future. Dora sees it as a chance to restore the shop to its former glory, and to escape her nefarious uncle.

But what Edward discovers about the vase has Dora questioning everything she has believed about her life, her family, and the world as she knows it. As Dora uncovers the truth she starts to realise that some mysteries are buried, and some doors are locked, for a reason.

Gorgeously atmospheric and deliciously page-turning, Pandora is a story of secrets and deception, love and fulfilment, fate and hope.

Violeta

One extraordinary woman. One hundred years of history. One unforgettable story. Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first daughter in a family of five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.

Through her father's prescience, the family will come through that crisis unscathed, only to face a new one as the Great Depression transforms the genteel city life she has known. Her family loses all and is forced to retreat to a wild and beautiful but remote part of the country. There, she will come of age, and her first suitor will come calling.

In a letter to someone she loves above all others, Violeta recounts devastating heartbreak and passionate affairs, times of both poverty and wealth, terrible loss and immense joy, and a life shaped by some of the most important events of history: the fight for women's rights, the rise and fall of tyrants and, ultimately, not one but two pandemics.

Through the eyes of a woman whose unforgettable passion, determination, and sense of humour will carry her through a lifetime of upheaval, Isabel Allende once more brings us an epic that is both fiercely inspiring and deeply emotional.

The Atlas Six

The world's best young magicians accept the opportunity of a lifetime.

Six are chosen. Only five will walk away.

The Alexandrian Society is a secret society of magical academicians, the best in the world. Their members are caretakers of lost knowledge from the greatest civilizations of antiquity. And those who earn a place among their number will secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest dreams. Each decade, the world's six most uniquely talented magicians are selected for initiation - and here are the chosen few...

- Libby Rhodes and Nicolas Ferrer de Varona: inseparable enemies, cosmologists who can control matter with their minds.
- Reina Mori: a naturalist who can speak the language of life itself.
- Parisa Kamali: a mind reader whose powers of seduction are unmatched.
- Tristan Caine: the son of a crime kingpin who can see the secrets of the universe.
- Callum Nova: an insanely rich pretty boy who could bring about the end of the world. He need only ask.

When the candidates are recruited by the mysterious Atlas Blakely, they are told they must spend one year together to qualify for initiation. During this time, they will be permitted access to the Society's archives and judged on their contributions to arcane areas of knowledge. Five, they are told, will be initiated. One will be eliminated. If they can prove themselves to be the best, they will survive. Most of them.

Popular Romance Books!

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Hi everyone! Today we're looking at romance books that have been popular on YouTube and TikTok!

The Love Hypothesis

When a fake relationship between scientists meets the irresistible force of attraction, it throws one woman's carefully calculated theories on love into chaos.

As a third-year Ph.D. candidate, Olive Smith doesn't believe in lasting romantic relationships but her best friend does, and that's what got her into this situation. Convincing Anh that Olive on her way to a happily ever after was always going to be tough, scientists require proof. So, like any self-respecting woman, Olive panics and kisses the first man she sees.

That man is none other than Adam Carlsen, a young hotshot professor and well-known ass. Which is why Olive is positively floored when he agrees to keep her charade a secret and be her fake boyfriend. But when a big science conference goes haywire and Adam surprises her again with his unyielding support (and his unyielding abs), their little experiment feels dangerously close to combustion.

Olive soon discovers that the only thing more complicated than a hypothesis on love is putting her own heart under the microscope.

You and Me on Vacation

Two friends
Ten summer trips

Their last chance to fall in love

12 summers ago: Poppy and Alex meet. They hate each other, and are pretty confident they'll never speak again.

11 summers ago: They're forced to share a ride home from college and by the end of it a friendship is formed. And a pact: every year, one vacation together.

10 summers ago: Alex discovers his fear of flying on the way to Vancouver.

Poppy holds his hand the whole way.

7 summers ago: They get far too drunk and narrowly avoid getting matching tattoos in New Orleans.

2 summers ago: It all goes wrong.

This summer: Poppy asks Alex to join her on one last trip. A trip that will determine the rest of their lives.

It Ends With Us

Sometimes the one who loves you is the one who hurts you the most.

Lily hasn't always had it easy, but that's never stopped her from working hard for the life she wants. She's come a long way from the small town in Maine where she grew up - she graduated from college, moved to Boston, and started her own business. So when she feels a spark with a gorgeous neurosurgeon named Ryle Kincaid, everything in Lily's life suddenly seems almost too good to be true.

Ryle is assertive, stubborn, maybe even a little arrogant. He's also sensitive, brilliant, and has a total soft spot for Lily, but Ryle's complete aversion to relationships is disturbing. Even as Lily finds herself becoming the exception to his "no dating" rule, she can't help but wonder what made him that way in the first place.

As questions about her new relationship overwhelm her, so do thoughts of Atlas Corrigan - her first love and a link to the past she left behind. He was her kindred spirit, her protector. When Atlas suddenly reappears, everything Lily has built with Ryle is threatened.

With this bold and deeply personal novel, It Ends With Us is a heart-wrenching story and an unforgettable tale of love that comes at the ultimate price.

How To Boost Your Blog’s Success In 2022

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So, you’ve launched a blog, posted a few times, and are now waiting to see what happens. You’ve heard of bloggers making huge successes out of their sites and are wondering what it takes to see the same level of success. (Some blogs even become so popular that they’re almost impossible to manage.)

The good news is that you’re already part-way to running a successful blog. You’ve launched your site and hopefully set up your social media channels, but you’ve still got a long way to go before your blog becomes as successful as you might hope. Don’t let that put you off though - it’s easier than you might think to build a blog that has the potential to be successful (and earn some money at the same time).

Photo source: Pixabay

Wondering what it takes to supercharge your blog’s success and turn it into a viable income stream? Below is a guide to all of the ins and outs of curating a blog that has the potential to be extremely successful - read on, take note, and implement the below tips.

Reading & Stuff Update 3

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Hi everyone! Welcome back to another reading and stuff update! See my previous update here.

I have now read volumes 1 to 3 of Giant Days! This is a comical graphic novel following 3 women in university and their dramatic lives and relationships. The first 3 volumes are free on Kindle Unlimited. Some of the volumes are on Scribd but I was experiencing weird formatting issues unfortunately so I've added the eBook versions to my wish list for now.

Promotion Options For Your Books, Blog or Business & A Supportive Community

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Hi everyone! So if you don't know, I started a membership option on my Ko-Fi page which is essentially like Patreon. You pay each month to support people to do what they love and you also get rewards. 

I originally had one universal tier but I have since developed three further tiers. The rewards are optional so you don't have to use all of them, or any of them, if you don't want to. With each tier you get more benefits but all of my members get priority promotion across my blog and social media platforms, as well as access to a Discord server to chat and help each other, a book club, sprints and more.

I can promote your book/s, blog, business, YouTube etc. with links at the end of every blog post, shout-outs on Twitter, mentions in multiple blog posts which are also shared on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Twitter. Additionally, for the higher tiers you also get sidebar advertising and I make and share TikToks of your work. Here are some statistics:

5 Indie Books to Read #2

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Something that I am working hard on at the moment is promoting books by self-published and small press authors. Amazing books that tend not to be given as much credit as they deserve. This series is where I showcase 5 books by indie authors. Some of the books will be written by my Ko-Fi members who receive ongoing priority promotion from me. See part 1 for more indie books. Check these books out!

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

It’s the most wonderful time of the year – except for Harold Trapp. With sales numbers plummeting, he and his company rush plans to create the perfect Christmas gift: the Hans and Heidi dolls. But with a tight deadline hanging over their heads, stress is a frequent visitor. As are the two cats that mysteriously appear on his doorstep. But there’s something sinister hiding behind their sweet and furry demeanor. And the town of Oakridge comes to know it well.When the Christmas lights shine and the snow falls heavy, something awakens. Something dark and ancient. Cold. And with it, unspeakable terrors are born. From legends of old black trains to holiday satyrs and straw goats of yore, the winter wind lurks in the deepest of shadows. Hungry for flesh. Waiting for the darkness to return.The spirit of the season is far more than Harold Trapp bargained for.

Into the Uncanny: 12 Tales of Terror

In every corner, something dark and unsettling lurks in the shadows. Waiting. From mysterious murderers to ancient forest spirits, the world of horror never strays far from home. Dorian J. Sinnott brings the shadows and what hides within closer in 12 original chilling tales. Open up, turn the page, and take a step into the darkness, into the unknown, and into the uncanny.