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Vampires of Moscow by Caedis Knight – Blood Web Chronicles Blog Tour Book Review

Have I got not one, but two, treats in store for you today. Reviews of the prequel novella and book one of the Blood Web Chronicles: a scintillating new paranormal series. Currently available on kindle with paperback and audio versions on the way.

About the Author(s)

Caedis Knight is the pen name of established fantasy authors Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds. In 2019 they teamed up to write their first paranormal romance series BLOOD WEB CHRONICLES and never looked back. The first book in the series was released 15 Oct 2020.

Website: caedisknight.com
Twitter: @CaedisKnight
FB: facebook.com/AuthorCaedisKnight
IG: instagram.com/caedis_knight

About the Blood Web Chronicles

Dive into a fantasy world hidden among our own – a dark world full of vampires, witches, werewolves, fae, shifters, ghosts and mermaids. Co-authored by two established fantasy authors, Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds, the Blood Web Chronicles series is perfect for fans of Crescent City, True Blood and Veronica Mars.

With vibrant characters, page-turning suspense and steamy romance, this new series has been dubbed by early readers as “a fun crime-solving sexual adventure across Europe.” The series is classified as 18+ due to adult content. Book 1 in the series, ‘Vampires in Moscow’ (along with the prequel novella ‘Sirens of Los Angeles’) is available from 15th October 2020.

About Sirens of Los Angeles

Find out how Saskia de la Cruz became a reporter for paranormal newspaper The Blood Web Chronicle in this delicious prequel novella.

Saskia is a Verity Witch – her only magic being that she can tell the truth from a lie.

When she sets off for the glitzy shores of Malibu to spend spring break with her sister Mikayla, her one goal is to forget her university worries and issues with outdated witch hierarchies, and drown them in surfer six-packs and tequila cocktails.

But when local influencers and male models start washing up ashore, drained of their youth, Saskia knows something wicked dwells in the deep. Which is perfectly fine because she plans on staying the hell away from the water! That is until her powerful, siren-obsessed sister disappears, and the search leads Saskia deeper than she ever thought possible.

Accompanied by beautiful but suspicious surfers Eden and Zee, Saskia will have to travel for her answers to the home of Hollywood’s vainest residents – the ocean floor.

With vibrant characters, page-turning suspense and steamy romance, this new series has been described by internationally renown author, Anna Day, as “Addictive, sexy and wickedly funny.”

About Vampires of Moscow

Saskia de la Cruz is a Verity Witch – her only magic being that she can tell the truth from a lie.

As an investigative reporter for The Blood Web Chronicle, the biggest news outlet on the paranormal dark Blood Web, Saskia spends her days cracking twisted para cases hoping that someday, some case, will bring her closer to finding her missing sister.

In snowy Moscow drained corpses of illegal workers have begun to turn up, with hundreds more reported missing. When Saskia is sent on assignment to investigate an oligarch Vampire crime ring that might be behind the deaths, she plans to get in out of the city’s frozen grasp quickly…preferably with her neck intact.

But beautiful ballet dancer Konstantin Volkov and his wildcard brother Lukka complicate things. The vampire brothers have their own reasons for solving the string of murders, reasons that conflict with Saskia’s mission. Soon, Saskia finds herself enmeshed in the city’s glittering web of crime, passion, and violence, where truths and lies are one and the same.

With vibrant characters, page-turning suspense and steamy romance, this new series has been dubbed by early readers as “a fun crime-solving sexual adventure across Europe.”

What I Thought

Sirens of Los Angeles

This prequel novella starts with a bang. It’s steamy and sassy but also really explores the relationship between Saskia and her mysterious sister Mikayla. Sometimes novellas feel a bit like extra padding but this is a complete story in its own right and I’d highly recommend reading it before you get stuck in with the vampires.

The story was funny, hella sexy and very pacy. It shows that paranormals are not to be messed with but despite being a ‘lowly’ Verity witch it turns out being able to tell truth from lies and speak multiple languages is actually pretty useful.

Saskia is a modern woman and I love her air of confidence despite her inner turmoil at being ‘not as good’ as her sister. She is confident in her sexuality and sexual prowess but just a word of warning if you blush easily maybe don’t read this in public. She’s also super smart and resourceful so even when things look trike there’s no way out Saskia comes up with a plan. It may not be a good one but it’s much better than being passive.

We are left with a huge unanswered question that is set to be the driver of the whole series. The Blood Web Chronicles only gets introduced at the end but leaves the reader desperate for more, of both the mystery and Saskia’s need job, so it’s very lucky that book one is ready and waiting to bite.

Vampires of Moscow

This book starts some time after Sirens and Saskia is already deep into the Blood Web and causing mayhem. Looks like she has had a number of ‘final warnings’ and this assignment in Moscow is not one she can refuse.

This woman is not afraid to put herself in harm’s way to get her story and it’s great being in her head as we get immersed into the city.

Once again this is a fast paced read and we waste little time in meeting the vampire brothers. Thankfully. I have struggled with reading this year but these stories I whipped through. Not going to lie some of my first fictional crushes were vampires so I am super here for this.

Love the pop culture references littered throughout which makes the story feel modern but with some added nostalgia, I particularly liked the Paul Rudd mention.

Brothers Lukka and Konstantin strike that great mix of evil brooding bad boys with a secret side and they soon take advantage of Saskia’s skills!

But is it a case of bad boy(s) turn good or simply bad boy(s) that you should keep well away from your mother. Considering who Saskia’s mother is though that question is a little misleading. Needless to say that she is unlikely to approve of Saskia’s connections.

A story with grit, in a murky paranormal underworld, and plucky determination from Saskia. I love that the backdrop for each will take us to a different locale and that she has that key driver for moving forward. Mikayla is there in the background. The research and theming makes us feel like we are investigating alongside Saskia and I wouldn’t say no to a future Blood Web Chronicles themed road trip post pandemic. Rachel, Elizabeth – are you in?

If you love crime, complex families, urban fantasy and paranormal romance then this series is the perfect combo and I can’t wait to see who, or what we meet next. Will they meet Santa at Lapland, is he is a fae?

Treat yourself to you some bloody vampires and seductive Sirens. This series is the authors’ gift to us for us having to do 2020.

I am part of the Verity Knights street team for the series and I did receive gifted copies of the books in exchange for an honest review but I’d already pre-ordered them and wish I could do a series link pre-order. Check out the rest of the stops on the blog tour to see what everyone else thought.

Posted in Book Reviews

Poisoned by Jennifer Donnelly – Blog Tour Book Review

Oct 27

Posted by kirstyes

About the Book

Beautiful Sophie, with lips as red as blood, skin as pale as snow, and hair as dark as night, is about to come of age and inherit her father’s throne. But Sophie’s stepmother wants rid of her – beautiful she may be, but too weak and foolish to reign. And Sophie believes her, as she believes all the things that have been said about her – all the poisonous words people use to keep girls like her from becoming too powerful, too strong.

When the huntsman carries out his orders of killing Sophie, she finds a fire burning inside her that will not be extinguished, and sets off to reclaim what was taken from her.

Jennifer Donnelly turns her feminist eye to this most delicious of fairy tales and shows Snow White as she’s never been seen before.

About the Author

Jennifer Donnelly is the author of seven novels and a picture book for children. She grew up in New York State, in Lewis and Westchester counties, and attended the University of Rochester where she majored in English Literature and European History.

Jennifer’s first novel, THE TEA ROSE, an epic historical novel set in London and New York in the late 19th century, was called ‘exquisite’ by Booklist, ‘so much fun’ by the Washington Post, a ‘guilty pleasure’ by People and was named a Top Pick by the Romantic Times.

Her second novel, A GATHERING LIGHT, won the Carnegie Medal, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Borders Original Voices Award, and was named a Printz Honor book. Described as ‘rich and true’ by The New York Times, the book was named on the Best Book lists of The Times (London), The Irish Times, The Financial Times, Publishers Weekly, Booklist and the School Library Journal.

REVOLUTION was named a Best Book by Amazon, Kirkus, School Library Journal, and the Chicago Public Library, and was nominated for a Carnegie Medal. The audio edition was awarded an Odyssey Honor for Excellence.

In 2014, Jennifer teamed up with Disney to launch the bestselling WATERFIRE saga, an epic series about six mermaids on a quest to rid the world of an ancient evil. The first book in the series, DEEP BLUE, was released in May, 2014; the second book, ROGUE WAVE, launched in January 2015.

Jennifer Donnelly lives in New York’s Hudson Valley with her husband, daughter, and two rescue dogs.

Follow Jennifer:

Website: http://www.jenniferdonnelly.com

Twitter: http://twitter.comJenWritesBooks

What I Thought

I love a retelling and this is a doozy with a feminist twist on Snow White.

The writing is divinely fairytalesque and pulls you in no matter whose perspective you are reading from – and there are a number of point of view characters included.

Boy did I empathise with Sophie and her struggle to manage her emotions. This part of the book actually hit me right in the feels. That voice of self criticism at feeling too deeply was all too realistic.

And I loved the addition of the extra layer of villainy, the societal pressure on women to be one way to be successful. The message that there is power in kindness is so important, goodness knows we’ve seen that this year with how Jacinda Arden led New Zealand through the pandemic.

And the seven brothers and their household is A-DOR-A-BULLLLL! Jennifer even got me liking a spider.

With the perfect touch of Grimm’s creepiness, to updating the message for a modern audience this has definitely encouraged me to bump Stepsister up the TBR.

Thank you to Blue at Kaleidoscopic Tours and Hot Key for the gifted copy for the purposes of this honest review. Check out the rest of the tour for some great content.

Posted in Book Reviews

Witch by Finbar Hawkins – Blog Tour – Publishing Journey Guest Post

Oct 26

Posted by kirstyes

I’m delighted to host a guest post from debut author Finbar Hawkins about his publishing journey for Witch. This is a powerful tale of revenge, grief and sisterhood and is perfect for Halloween week. Later in the week I’ll share my full review but for now I’ll hand over to Finbar.

My Publishing Journey

I’ve always written, but even with seeing ‘Witch’ out on the shelves, I still have difficulty describing myself as a writer. It’s not so much self-doubt, I think it more springs from each new thing you write feels like starting again, finding out how to write again. I’m not sure I’ll ever get over the feeling, and to be honest I feel it’s a good spur, a jab of the heels to keep me coming back to the blank page.

My route to publishing started with the Arvon Foundation. I had never experienced a writing workshop before, working on exercises to approach character, setting and emotion. The writing samples I brought with me were little short film ideas, so I wasn’t even writing prose at that time. But it was through a number of exercises in class, under our tutor Lucy Christopher’s guidance, that the beginnings of a story emerged, and I kept going through that amazing week and into the months beyond. Lucy is a lecturer at Bath Spa (now the Course Director!) and she had encouraged me (along with a number of my Arvon compadres) to apply. Through early morning starts before children were awake and work, the story that I started had now grown into approximately 30k. But I craved feedback, more of what I had experienced at Arvon – critical feedback from other writers.

I was delighted to get a place on Bath Spa, because over those two years part-time I started to write properly around critical workshops. And the thing is about workshops is that you have to raise your game – you’re delivering to a little audience, and you’re going to be hearing other people’s work, giving your own thoughts on it. I also learnt that giving a critique is just as important for writing, because you’re looking at the craft all the time, your training that writing muscle.

I decided to park the ms I had been working on since Arvon because in that first term, Witch came bowling along and demanded to be told. The workshop was integral again, because I had a very good set of notes from a group of other writers – who wanted to know what happened next. I was immensely interested also in the challenge of writing from a young woman’s perspective.

The core of the MA is about working on and delivering your ms, and from there we all then work on putting together an Anthology to showcase our work for a launch event in London. Agents and editors are invited along to this terrifying and exhilarating evening. There I met Catherine Pellegrino of Marjacq Scripts who had read and liked my anthology extract.

I knew Catherine was the agent for me, because she pushed me to make the ms as good as it possibly could be. So we set to work, and over several drafts pushed and pulled Witch into submission shape. I would stress that there is no real time frame for this, and you shouldn’t feel rushed. Let the ms ‘bake’ in between drafts, write other bits and pieces and then go through it taking notes. It will all be much the better for it.

Finally we both felt that Witch was ready to fly. And at the end of an excruciating week waiting to hear back from editors, it was Fiona Kennedy at Zephyr who from the outset pretty much demanded my book should be published by her. There were other others in the frame, but because of Fiona’s incredible passion for Witch, I knew I had found the right home.

My publishing journey has all been about some fundamental things – you need to take that first jump and put your writing in front of a critical audience (it’s hard, but you’ll get used to it); you need to trust your instincts when meeting agents and editors; you need to take your time; and you need to remember to enjoy it!

WITCH by Finbar Hawkins is out now in hardback (£12.99, Zephyr, an imprint of Head of Zeus)

Follow Finbar Hawkins @finbar_hawkins and find out more finbarhawkins.com

#WITCH

I’m not going to lie I’ve been eyeing up both the Arvon Foundation courses and the Bath Spa MA for years and like Evey’s jealously of sister Dill I must try and keep my green eyed monster in check. Maybe one day!

Huge Congratulations to Finbar on a wonderful debut. Come back on Wednesday for my full review and do check out the rest of the posts on the tour running this week.