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Friday, February 25, 2022

Meet Connie Glynn's YA Fantasy The Rosewood Chronicles - Spotlight

It's been a while since I've featured books about princes and princesses so I couldn't skip this opportunity to feature spotlights for author Connie Glynn.

Connie's been writing her series The Rosewood Chronicles for some time and has recently released the fifth book in the series.

In this blog post, you'll see the book synopsis for books 1 and 5 (the latest) along with covers for each.

This post is part of The Write Reads blog tour for Connie Glynn's Rosewood Chronicles.

The Rosewood Chronicles Book 1 by Connie Glynn


Book: Undercover Princess

Series: The Rosewood Chronicles #1

Author: Connie Glynn

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publisher: Penguin

Length: 441 Pages

Publication date: 2 November 2017

 

Add Undercover Princess on Goodreads and check it out on Amazon.

 

Synopsis:

When fairy tale obsessed Lottie Pumpkin starts at the infamous Rosewood Hall, she is not expecting to share a room with the Crown Princess of Maradova, Ellie Wolf. Due to a series of lies and coincidences, 14-year-old Lottie finds herself pretending to be the princess so that Ellie can live a more normal teenage life.

Lottie is thrust into the real world of royalty - a world filled with secrets, intrigue and betrayal. She must do everything she can to help Ellie keep her secret, but with school, the looming Maradovian ball and the mysterious new boy Jamie, she'll soon discover that reality doesn't always have the happily ever after you'd expect...

A thrilling world of parties, politics and bad ass princesses, this is the first book in the brand new series THE ROSEWOOD CHRONICLES.

Now on to book 5 ;)

The Rosewood Chronicles Book 5 by Connie Glynn


Synopsis:

Return to the magical world of The Rosewood Chronicles in the fifth and final instalment of this gorgeous series for fans of The Princess Diaries and Harry Potter.

Ellie is a rebellious princess who is no longer hiding her real identity.

Lottie is her Portman, wishing that she could shield Ellie from the threat of Leviathan.

Jamie is Ellie's Partizan, a lifelong bodyguard sworn to protect the princess at any cost - but has mysteriously disappeared.

Not all of the trio have made it back to Rosewood Hall. Can they be reunited? And at what cost?

With the crown at risk, the stakes have never been higher...


Publication date: 17 February 2022

Length: 304 pages 


Add Princess Ever After on Goodreads and check it out on Amazon.


About the Author 

Connie Glynn has always loved writing and wrote her first story when she was six, with her mum at a typewriter acting as her scribe. She had a love for performing stories from a young age and attended Guildhall drama classes as a teenager.

This passion for stories has never left her, and Connie recently finished a degree in film theory. It was at university that Connie started her hugely successful YouTube channel Noodlerella (named after her favorite food and favorite Disney princess).

After five years of publicly documenting her life and hobbies to an audience of 900,000 subscribers on YouTube, Connie closed the book on the Noodlerella project in a bid for more privacy and to pursue her original passions in the performing arts.

Connie now writes music and fiction full-time.

 

Follow Connie on YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr @ConnieGlynn

 


Monday, February 21, 2022

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F-ck by Mark Manson – Book Review

I wasn't sure what The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson was going to be like when I started it but I was curious what 'the hype' was all about. So I figured 'why not?'

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F-ck by Mark Manson - personal photography
I bought both The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and the second book Everything Is F*cked. Though I was planning to read the latter in 2021, that never happened. So hopefully I'll be reading and reviewing it this year – 2022. (I'm just giving myself a timeline.)

"There is a simple realization from which all personal improvement and growth emerges. This is the realization that we, individually, are responsible for everything in our lives, no matter the external circumstances."


The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a book about life and experiences. While it's not for everyone, there's lots of storytelling and ideas that serve as food for thought. 

Here are my main takeaways and notes from the book: 

1)    Mark Manson is a great storyteller. No he's not a novelist but he can keep you captivated with a story for a few pages till he gets to the point he wants you to see.

2)    There are many worthwhile thoughts and quotes in there. (You'll see many of them here and the rest are on my Instagram page.)

3)    There's lots of food for thought. Particularly this next quote/section:

"Take a moment and think about something that's really bugging you. Now ask yourself why it bugs you. Chances are the answer will involve a failure of some sort. Then take that failure and ask why it seems "true" to you. What if that failure wasn't really a failure? What if you've been looking at it the wrong way?"

If you're wondering about how much profanity is in the book, well the title should be a strong indicator. Personally, I thought Manson overused the 'f' word. I mean there were parts where you could just move on without using it, but he just added it.

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F-ck by Mark Manson - personal photography at the beach


Though The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck involves good storytelling there were many stories where Manson speaks about ex-girlfriends that I thought were boring.

And since the book focuses on experiences, here's an interesting thought/comment/quote about experiences:

"Values underlie everything we are and do. If what we value is unhelpful, if what we consider success/failure is poorly chosen, when everything based on those values – thoughts, the emotions, the day to day feelings – will all be out of whack. Everything we think and feel about a situation ultimately comes back to how valuable we perceive it to be."

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck is a light read. It's a break from suspense and fantasy novels (that I like to read) and the heavy informative self-help and non-fiction books (that I come across).

But if you really want to summarize the book, then this is it: (excuse the profanity)

The 3 subtleties of not giving a f*ck:

Subtlety #1: Not giving a f*ck does not mean being indifferent, it means being comfortable with being different.

Subtlety #2: To not give a f*ck about adversity, you must first give a f*ck about something more important than adversity.

Subtlety #3: Whether you realize it or not, you are always choosing to what to give a f*ck about.

And if you're looking for some confusing wisdom, read this one. Think about it and you'll realize it makes a lot of sense:

 


Overall rating for The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson: 3 stars. Hopefully, I'll get to his second book over the summer.

Keep up with me on Instagram to see the remaining quotes that I liked in the book.


Monday, February 14, 2022

Meet Author Ian Price and His Debut Dystopia's Edge – Interview and Book Excerpt

Today, I'm excited to feature indie author Ian Price and his debut cyberpunk novel Dystopia's Edge.

I'd heard of cyberpunk before but never really looked up what it meant. So, I took the opportunity to ask Ian what cyberpunk is along with his research process, who does he imagine his main character would look like, and more!

This post includes an exclusive interview with Ian Price along with an excerpt from Dystopia's Edge. I look forward to reading the book over the summer :) so stay tuned for the review.



First, here's a quick bio about Ian followed by the synopsis for Dystopia's Edge.

About the author:

Ian Price author picture
Ian Rollins Price was born in New York, growing up there before moving to Massachusetts in order to attend Harvard University’s prestigious weekend bartending course.

Glad to have written a novel during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ian is looking forward to his next project while raising a newborn daughter alongside his wonderful wife.

Connect with Ian Price via his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Amazon.

 

Synopsis:

The year is 2121. The world has changed a lot, but in ways that you’d probably expect.

Dystopia's Edge by Ian Price cover
I thought I put my hitman days behind me. Turns out that couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’m Benjamin Edge, mercenary for hire. Running guns, carrying out hits, I’ve done it all. When you grow up as a child soldier fighting for one city-state against another in the crumbling ruins of a fallen civilization, killing becomes second nature.

This newest job seems a breeze, though. Smuggling lab equipment from San Francisco to New Tijuana means running a harsh gauntlet, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. A few hired guns—even a reformed drug addict who let me down in the past—should be enough to blaze a trail through the Badlands.

Or at least I thought it was.

Until a corpse came back from the dead.

Sergeant Reaver, a bio-engineered super soldier I killed a decade ago, is somehow still breathing. Not only that, but he’s brought all the crime syndicates in Los Angeles under his banner. Now that he knows I’m on his turf, it’s me against an army all the way to New Tijuana.

Good thing I packed plenty of ammo.

 

Interview with Ian Price by Nadaness In Motion

 

1.       Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing?

Ian Price: I was originally born in New York City and grew up in that area before moving up to Boston for college. I was a biology major at Brandeis University, but I frequently took literature classes for fun (it was a liberal arts school with a strong science program). By the time I found myself in a creative writing class, I found that I’d taken enough courses to pick up an English minor.

My writing style tends to have a sense of humor to it while attempting to tackle serious issues. A holdover from contributing to the humor magazine on campus.

 

2.     What are your favorite reading genres? Can you name a few favorite authors?

Ian Price: I like to read a bit of everything. In terms of non-fiction, I can’t recommend the works of Candice Milard enough. She writes historical novels about pivotal points in the lives of Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and other prominent figures.

For fiction, I don’t think it’s controversial to say that Neil Gaiman is one of the best out there.

 

3.     Your novel Dystopia's Edge is in the 'cyberpunk' genre. What is cyberpunk exactly?

Ian Price: Cyberpunk is a genre pioneered in the early 1980’s by artists like William Gibson in his work ‘Neuromancer’ and Ridley Scott’s ‘Blade Runner’.

It explores the idea that advancements in technology aren’t inherently linked to advancements in how people treat one another; that the human condition could involve the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. The 1% getting flying cars while everyone else is forced to build those cars in corporation-run work camps. ‘High tech, low life’.

 

Ian Price writing and editing tip
Ian Price writing and editing tip - from his interview with Nadaness In Motion

4.     Is Dystopia's Edge your first book or have you published other books?

Ian Price: I was a hobbyist cartoonist all throughout college and published comic strips in various school-run publications during my time there. I later collected all of ‘em in a paperback published through Lulu, so I guess that’s my first book?

I’ve had other outlets for my creative side since then (a little stand-up, some extra work in a couple Boston produced movies, etc.) but I guess Dystopia's Edge is my first proper fiction novel!

 

5.     What inspired you to write Dystopia's Edge?

Ian Price: Short answer—when the pandemic hit and the world seemed to be falling apart around me, I tried to distract myself by playing video games in my free time. My April wedding got cancelled due to safety concerns, watching the news had my nerves on a razors’ edge, and eventually I just needed to do something more constructive with all that anxiety.

So, one night at 3 AM, I was physically unable to fall asleep. Not knowing what else to do, I picked up my laptop and started writing until I was able to fall asleep. That’s what I did for about a year. The result was completing the first draft of Dystopia’s Edge.

Cyberpunk just seemed like the best genre to express the anxieties I felt at the time. Eventually, after I submitted the first draft to a few beta-readers, I was told that the story also had some Western vibes to it. So that’s cool.

Some characters in the book let me explore themes like drug addiction, the value of nature, and how much I idolize the children’s’ entertainer Fred McFeely Rogers. But I won’t talk too much about them. I wouldn’t want to get into spoilers.

 

6.     If Dystopia's Edge were to be made into a movie or series, who would you like to play the main character Benjamin Edge?

Ian Price: Oh gosh, Jason Mamoa? Or maybe Bo Burnham if he went on one of those Hollywood workout regimens to get absolutely jacked? If some studio somewhere wants to adapt my novel, they’re welcome to cast whoever they please.


7.     Dystopia's Edge has a lot of military-and-gang-themed parts How did you go about researching this?  

Ian Price: In my novel, California isn’t really a unified state anymore. It takes place about 50 years after a period of tremendous global instability that subdivided that area into 3 regions.

The area around San Francisco is what we would consider the most normal. It’s where the wealthier population lives a comfortable lifestyle that’s equitable to our own. Political power is in the hands of big corporations. My day job is as an office-worked in the pharmaceutical industry, so that was easy to write.

In Dystopia's Edge, the area around Los Angeles has been taken over by a fascist dictatorship. I’m a big fan of history. I studied the rise of Stalin and the Soviet Union back in college, watched more than few documentaries on pre-WWII Italy / Germany documentaries, and even visited Argentina shortly before the pandemic happened. Military coups are no joke and I wanted to express the anxiety they give me when I think about them.

The land just outside those two cities is largely decentralized. They’re controlled by a loose collective of organized gangs. Growing up in a well-off New York suburb, I always thought the divide between rich and poor was obscene. All one needed to do was walk over a tiny bridge into an underprivileged neighborhood and find themselves in a place where the crime rate had tripled. I spent some time on that other side and based the gang stuff on my experiences there. I’ll leave it at that.

Ian Price quote about cyberpunk


8.     Dystopia's Edge is quite a big book :D – how much editing did you have to go through? Can you tell us a bit about your writing and editing process?

Ian Price: I did A LOT of editing. I spent about a year on the first draft and a second year on post-production work. After reading through the book and editing a 2nd draft myself, I then submitted it to 6 beta-readers. Three were close friends and 3 were people I hired on Fiverr. In addition to catching typos I might have missed, they also helped me fine-tune the plot. If 1 beta-reader doesn’t like a portion of your book—it might just be personal taste on their part. But if 6 beta-readers don’t like a portion of your book—it’s something that just doesn’t work and needs changing.

I also hired a professional proofreader. Always hire a professional proofreader.


9.     Have you set a Goodreads goal for 2022? If yes, how many books would you like to read this year?

Ian Price: I have not set a Goodreads goal for 2022. My wife is due for a baby in April and I’ve got a few more baby books I need to finish up, though. Shout-out to The Expectant Father by Armin Brott. It’s a baby book written by a Navy Seal who became a stay-at-home dad.


10. While we're still not sure how travelling will work in the summer of 2022, if you could travel anywhere this year or in coming years, where would you go? (This is an invitation to come visit Egypt, where I'm from ;) )

Ian Price: I would LOVE to come to Egypt. My wife and I were supposed to have a honeymoon in Italy back in 2020, so at some point I’d like to do that to. Heck, it’s a wonderful world out there and I want to see it all!


Watch Dystopia's Edge book trailer



If you're thinking Nada (me) and Ian are chatty – I must admit we are! But there's a lot to be said about Dystopia's Edge, which I'm looking forward to reading in a couple of months.

Now here's an exclusive peak at Dystopia's Edge, the cyberpunk novel that's kept Ian busy during the pandemic.

The book is written from the first person perspective of Benjamin Edge (the Jason Momoa maybe-lookalike ;) )


Excerpt from Dystopia's Edge by Ian Price

We kept heading east, veering ever slightly to the south as we went. I told Rita that we’d need to go that way to steer clear of some old, abandoned copper mines that could be found nearby. Those caves had been stripped clean of their precious metals a century ago. Now their winding, underground caverns functioned mainly as the perfect hideout for marauding raider clans.

Corvin, myself and the rest of our old mercenary company had once been hired to go there for a job. A group of about thirty or so crazed barbarians had taken up residence in those caves. This particular clan had been vigilant in their apparent goal of robbing every passing cargo truck they laid their eyes on. The lot was especially violent in their methods too.

So violent, in fact, the U.S. government itself actually took notice. They were willing to pay a flat fee to any private mercenary group that went in there, rooted them out, and brought back proof of their eradication.

When our troop got there, the first thing I remember noticing was the smell.

There was a sick, sweet aroma floating out from the underground… a stale odor wafting from the mouth of those caves like bad breath.

Once everyone got inside, we realized it was the dead bodies of all the passengers they’d robbed. We’d been briefed that they’d gone missing, abducted for some twisted purpose by the raiders. Honestly, though, I still believed we’d find them alive… forced into manual labor at gunpoint. I thought they’d be tired, a little beat up, but still capable of rescue.

Instead... the raiders had cannibalized them all for food. I was the sole member of our group who was surprised by this, so maybe I was just more naive back then.

Our shootout with those barbarians was won easily enough. There were a lot of ‘em, sure. But we had much better guns and even better training. The hostiles were only used to dealing with one or two security guards who’d been hired to protect any cargo transports they’d robbed. Against us, they didn’t stand a chance.

Most of my team spent the day behind cover, waiting patiently for the barbarians to get aggressive and charge us. They were cannibals, after all, so it didn’t take much to get them angry. A few smoke bombs, a couple well-placed taunts… that usually set them off enough to make ‘em fight sloppy. They’d rush out from cover, guns blazing. Then we’d pick ‘em off.

A few of them tried to retreat, fleeing the caves through tunnels we hadn’t known about. When they got outside though, Corvin was waiting for them. He’d found a perch from where he was able to snipe the yellow ones at a distance. Most of them couldn’t make it ten feet before they received a bullet in the head.

Their war chief had been a little more challenging to deal with. Every time his clan had raided an armed truck, he’d always pilfer their best weapons for himself. Our team eventually fought our way into his deepest lair (an underground lake located at the bottom of the mine). I remember thinking that the fella looked like a walking arsenal.

Buddy, this guy was carrying everything except the kitchen sink. Submachine guns in each hand, every inch of him covered in body armor, night-vision goggles, a shoulder-mounted rocket launcher…

He looked ridiculous. We ended up killing

   

Don't forget to connect with Ian Price via his Website, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Goodreads, and Amazon.

 

Sunday, February 13, 2022

The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast – Book Review and Blog Tour

The moment I learnt that the new Beast and the Bethany book has been published and is available for review, I jumped on the blog tour by @TheWriteReads!

And the new book doesn't disappoint!

In this blog post, I'm sharing my book review of The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast.


Synopsis:

Lemony Snicket meets Roald Dahl in this riotously funny, deliciously macabre, and highly illustrated sequel to The Beast and the Bethany in which Bethany and Ebenezer try to turn over a new leaf, only to have someone—or something—thwart them at every turn.

Once upon a very badly behaved time, 511-year-old Ebenezer kept a beast in his attic. He would feed the beast all manner of objects and creatures and in return the beast would vomit him up expensive presents. But then the Bethany arrived.

Now notorious prankster Bethany, along with her new feathery friend Claudette, is determined that she and Ebenezer are going to de-beast their lives and Do Good. But Bethany finds that being a former prankster makes it hard to get taken on for voluntary work. And Ebenezer secretly misses the beast’s vomity gifts. And neither of them are all that sure what “good people” do anyway.

Then there’s Claudette, who’s not been feeling herself recently. Has she eaten something that has disagreed with her?


Book title: The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast

Author: Jack Meggitt-Phillips

Number of pages: 288 pages

Genre(s): Middle grade, fantasy, humor

Publisher: Farshore Books

Publication date: 30 September 2021



Book Review by Nadaness In Motion

 

"There was fear in their eyes, and that fear looked awfully like respect."

The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast is the second book in The Beast and the Bethany book series by Jack Meggitt-Philips.

Revenge of the Beast opens with a flashback to Ebenezer Tweezer's life and when he first met the beast. The chapters alternate between the past and the present, where Bethany lives with Ebenezer in his 15-story house.

In the present, Bethany is on a mission to "de-beast" the house, her life, and Ebenezer's from all things beast-related. And it's going swimmingly!

"Why do we need to de-beast?" Ebenezer asked. "Claudette killed the beast, I'd say that's pretty thorough de-beasting already."

But things aren't what they seem. While Bethany is trying to get rid of all reminders of the beast, the beast is secretly alive and plotting his revenge...

And what a revenge it is!

"Throw me at the one with the unpleasant face, if you want to have some fun."

Like the first book, The Beast and the Bethany, Revenge of the Beast is filled with laugh-out-loud speech and events.

"I bought [these paintings] myself. If we got rid of them we wouldn't be de-beasting, we'd be de-Ebenezering!"

In addition to the old cast, we meet many new characters, all integral to the book's progress and to the characters' development.

Revenge of the Beast sees a lot of growth for the pompous, selfish, 500-year-old Ebenezer. There's also development for Bethany but since she's young (11-ish?), we see her become easily influenced by others and ignore her instincts.

There were moments where I was laughing, others when I wanted to hug Bethany, and then there were moment where I was "Noooooo" and "Focus, Bethany!"



If you're reading Revenge of the Beast, you'll likely be talking to yourself so make sure no one is in the room with you or they'll think you're crazy. And if they see the book you're reading, they'll probably get a confirmation of that craziness.


Overall, Revenge of the Beast is a 5-star must-read children's book. 


Overall rating of The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast by Jack Meggitt-Philips: 5 stars.

 

Note: I received a free copy of The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast as part of a blog tour via The Write Reads Blog Tours. This has not, in any way, affected my review.

Note: Can't wait for book 3 in the series.

 

Add The Beast and the Bethany: Revenge of the Beast by Jack Meggitt-Phillips on Goodreads.

Purchase the book via Amazon.


Check out my review of book 1 The Beast and the Bethany


About the Author

Jack Meggitt-Phillips is an author, scriptwriter, and playwright whose work has been performed at The Roundhouse and featured on Radio 4.

He is scriptwriter and presenter of The History of Advertising podcast. In his mind, Jack is an enormously talented ballroom dancer, however his enthusiasm far surpasses his actual talent.

Jack lives in north London where he spends most of his time drinking peculiar teas and reading P.G. Wodehouse novels.

Connect with author Jack Meggitt-Phillips via Twitter.

 

Check out my review of book 1 The Beast and the Bethany

Looking for more middle grade fantasy fiction?

Here are a few titles I recommend: (Links will take you to my book reviews)

Looking for Dei by David Willson

Magora: The Gallery of Wonders by Marc Remus (Book 1)

Magora: The Golden Maple Tree by Marc Remus (Book 2)

Tales of the Forest by Johanna Aldridge

Ronaldo, the Flying Reindeer Academy by Maxine Sylvester