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Meri's Corner

~ A Writer's Thoughts and Reviews

Meri's Corner

Monthly Archives: August 2018

Cover Reveal: Twisted Gift by Jessi Elliott & Giveaway!

21 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by MBenson in Cover Reveal

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amreading, amwriting, Cover Reveal, Giveaway, goals, inspiration, Jessi Elliott, online presence, review, reviews, thoughts, time, Twisted Fate, Twisted Gift, update, Urban Fantasy

TITLE: Twisted Gift
SERIES: Twisted #2
GENRE: Urban Fantasy (New Adult Romance)
RELEASE DATE: September 21, 2018

 

GOODREADS LINK

 

SYNOPSIS
Being the new leader of the light fae really puts a dent in your post-grad plans.
Aurora, once a snarky business major, struggles to adjust to fae life—and the diet of human energy that comes with it. A change made worse by the overwhelming ability to feel the emotions of everyone around her, especially when she can barely manage her own.
Agreeing to work with her dark fae counterpart, Tristan, in an attempt to bring peace between their people is a painful reminder of how strong they are together. Even still, Aurora fights the urge to keep her distance. She needs to be sure what she feels for him is real, and not a result of the former light fae leader’s manipulation as a part of his plan to eliminate Tristan.
Aurora thought she’d encountered the worst thing since early morning lectures when she stumbled into the world of the fae. She’s about to find out that they may not be the most twisted creatures out there.

 

 PRE-ORDER
AMAZON | iBOOKS | KOBO | SIGNED PAPERBACK

 


TWISTED FATE IS ON SALE FOR 99c!

AMAZON | iBOOKS | KOBO

GIVEAWAY
Prize: Kindle Copies of Twisted Fate + Twisted Gift

Rafflecopter Link
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessi Elliott is a law clerk and author of both young adult and new adult romantic fiction. Her love of writing was born after many years of reading and reviewing books on her blog.She lives in Southwestern Ontario with her adorable cat, Phoebe. Yes, named after the Friends character.

When she’s not plotting her next writing project, she likes to spend her time hanging with friends and family, getting lost in a steamy romance novel, watching Friends, and drinking coffee.

You can find Jessi at www.jessielliott.com, on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can join her newsletter to stay up to date on book news and upcoming releases.

Join her Facebook reader group, Jessi Elliott’s Twisted Sweethearts, for exclusive news, promos, review opportunities, and giveaways!

WEBSITE | TWITTER | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | GOODREADS | YOUTUBE

Birthday Week

20 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by MBenson in Personal Thoughts, Writing

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amediting, amreading, amwriting, another year, birthday, creativity, discoveries, enjoy, fantasy, goals, life, musings, online presence, original fiction, original work, ramblings, real life, thoughts, time, update, what do, WIP, writing

It almost doesn’t seem like it should be Monday yet. However, here we are. Not only is it Monday, but it’s almost the end of Monday before I’m getting to this post. Mondays are always the worst at work, coming back from the weekend and all the fires. So it’s always slower to get to non-work things even during lunch.

I was able to get my current WIP typed up and ready for working on, however, Saturday I had my cousin’s engagement party to go to and that pretty much took the day. And Sunday I ended up with a super bad migraine and sleeping a third of my afternoon away. I’m just glad that I’m feeling better now.

This week, and the rest of this month, I plan to work on my WIP and see about finishing the story so that it can be edited. I was able to do some edits while I was typing up the two chapters I already had written. That felt good too. Soon. Soon it will be finished and out in the world.

And if you can’t tell by the title of my blog, it’s also my birthday week. My birthday is on Friday. I’ve taken the day off work so I can enjoy it because I almost always have to work it and I wanted to not have to worry about that this year. Just take some me time. I might write, I might play video games – I’ve fallen back into World of Warcraft recently so I’m trying to catch up on all my questing before I get the newest expansion pack. Just so I’m not overwhelmed with the new content before I really finish the content I already have. Yes, I’m on Legion currently, if you know WoW. And no, I don’t have a side for which I like better. I have a human rogue and a blood elf rogue. Though, I do play my human a lot more than any other character I have.

Aside from just having a good day, I don’t have any real plans for my birthday. Just something quiet I guess. At some point we’ll do family birthdays so I can celebrate with the family as a whole, and I may see if Mom wants to go out to dinner with me Friday or this weekend, but yeah.

Do you have any birthday traditions you always do on your birthday? Anything special foods you eat? Let me know down in the comments.

Book Review: Cocky Dragon Slayer – an Indie Author Adventure

15 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by MBenson in Reviews

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Alicia Chumney, amreading, ander and the cocky dragon slayer, cocky dragon slayer, creativity, discoveries, fantasy, J'nae Rae Spano, Maddie Blake, published work, review, reviews, thisishowyouindie, update

So there will be three shorts reviewed in this post. With everything going on with trademarks and things, a small group of us got together and wrote Cocky Dragon Slayer stories. Yes, I wrote one too, and you can find that one here. But this review is about the other authors that wrote their own story.

Going into this project, we wanted to show that not only could we work together and share titles – but that the title wouldn’t define the story inside that book so much as the author writing it would. Meaning, just because something shares a title, doesn’t mean it’s the same book or it was copied or stolen. That it can be unique and able to stand on its own. Because this is how you Indie.

 

Author: Maddie Blake 
Publisher: Maddie Blake
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5 Stars

Before the dragon arrived, Kiera thought that the town of Cresent’s Cove was known for the vast library the late king had bequeathed them.  But after a renowned dragon slayer arrives, Kiera realizes that some things might be worse than a potentially fire-breathing creature that flies overhead of her home.

Loved the take on dragons, dragon slayers, and how important a library can truly be! Kiera is fierce in both her quest for knowledge against the dragon that has taken up residence near her town and the protection of the library that she works at. This is a sweet, enjoyable read that I completely recommend.

 

Author: Alicia Chumney 
Publisher: Alicia Chumney
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 5 Stars

Ander the dragon has one major goal in her life – protect Princess Lilianna at all costs. When Arnold arrives to fill the shoes of his older brother – a renowned and feared dragon slayer – can Ander help him to see that dragons aren’t bad or a threat to their princesses?

Ander and the Cocky Dragon Slayer is a wonderful and fun read. It takes a fresh, interesting spin on dragons and why they’re always with princesses at castles, and a surprise twist will leave you scratching your head – in all the good ways.

 

 

Author: J’nae Rae Spano 
Publisher: J’nae Rae Spano
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4 Stars

Sephra has a choice. She can accept her fate to bare a War Dragon and become the concubine of his rider, or she can take a stand and battle to become the new Queen Dragon – letting her choose her own fate and live how she wants.

This was a beautiful take on both dragons and dragon slayers. The world building was stunning, the take on where dragons originated from, how they worked in this word was fresh and interesting, and Sephra was stunning as our main character.

Clinging to Health

14 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by MBenson in Personal Thoughts, Writing

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amreading, amwriting, balancing, creativity, discoveries, enjoy, fantasy, goals, inspiration, life, musings, online presence, original fiction, original work, possible wip, ramblings, real life, thoughts, time, update, what do, WIP, word count, writing

So my immune system pretty much handed my ass to me a day after I got back from my vacation. There’s nothing a boss loves more than having someone come back from vacation for a day before being out for two more due to sick, believe me.

So first, my vacation. I went camping. A week, Sunday – Sunday, of camping. Tents, air mattresses, limited to no cell service, camping. The first couple days weather wise were good. Then it rained. Then it got ungodly hot. And I was able to come home.

This trip has fully made me realize that while I used to love camping, I can’t do it anymore. I have hip and back problems – and I paid a pretty penny for a mattress at home to help with these problems. So sleeping on an air mattress just doesn’t cut it for my body anymore. I also have problems with the heat – I tend to get heat stroke super easily and so I can’t take prolonged exposure to heavy heat. The last two days of the trip the weather was close to 100 in the shade and I felt like I was going to die. And! And. The chigger bites. I looked like I had chicken pox from the knees down on both my legs. It wasn’t fun. And while I love the people I saw on this vacation, I feel like there’s a better way to see them that won’t leave me in itchy hell after.

Last week I was pretty quiet because after coming back and spending two days in my bed, I got sick. Not sure what it was but it had me going home Wednesday with a half day from work and home Thursday to try and sleep it away. I’m still not a 100% right now, mostly phlem in my throat and fatigue that I’m trying to shake. So trying to be productive has been difficult.

I’m drinking lots of fluids, I’m taking some over the counter meds that help to clear up the issues, and mostly I’m getting to bed at a reasonable time to try and get as much rest as I can so my body will get better faster. However, a couple nights ago I couldn’t get my body tired enough to sleep, but my brain was shot so I spent until Midnight on a video game because I just couldn’t get to sleep. It’s up and down, overall. I’m working on it though.

While I was camping, I brought a WIP that needs to be finished. My plan, because it’s been in progress for a while, had been to read and edit it and then be in the right headspace to finish it. It’s literally only a couple chapters from being done. That worked until I got to about chapter 5.

Then, I woke up at 4am one day and my brain refused to let me go back to sleep until I wrote what it wanted. An hour later I had about half a chapter of a brand new WIP. The rest of the week was spent writing on the new WIP. I finished two chapters before I got in the car to come home. My game plan this week is to get it typed up into a document (because with 100-degree weather this was all written in a notebook) and then continue to finish it. I know it’s going to be a short. And thanks to my friend that I discussed it with while I was writing it, I already know that it will have a sequel. I’m not sure if I’ll try to lengthen it past a mini duology set or not. Depends on how I feel after I get the second short done, I think. But yay! I’m hoping to get that short finished by the end of the month and get it out early September, with the second one to follow shortly after.

My WIP list grows every steady as I go. But I’m excited about this short and it’s sequel.

I’m also currently reading an ARC that will have a review posted soon! Super squeeing about that too. So excited to both read it and share my thoughts!

For now, back to the grind of getting everything set up. I can’t believe summer is almost over, the school year is almost back, and everything is zomg.

Are you ready for the school year? Are you ready for Fall? What’s your favorite Fall activity? Leave your answers in the comments below.

Book Review: Twisted Palace by Erin Watt

01 Wednesday Aug 2018

Posted by MBenson in Reviews

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amreading, Contemporary, Erin Watt, review, reviews, Royals, The Royals, thoughts, Twisted Palace, update

Author: Erin Watt 
Publisher: Erin Watt
Genre: Contemporary (Coming of Age)
Rating: 4 Stars

The compelling conclusion to Ella and Reed’s story! When book 2, Broken Prince, concluded Ella’s father had arrived at the Royal’s house and Reed had been taken into custody for murder of his father’s fiance!

Like the two books that came before it, I devoured this book – not because it’s a quick read but because I just couldn’t put it down. The pace moved quickly, and before I knew it hours had passed in my real life and the book just continued to suck me in until the very end.

The plot and drama, what would happen to Reed, how Ella’s father survived, why it took him so long to come home, and who the real murderer was kept the story flowing at a fast but not too fast paced. While it gripped me and continued to push me to read it didn’t feel like the story itself moved too fast. Just fast enough, with just enough suspense that I wanted to find out all the answers before I put the book down.

That’s not the only reason I liked this book though, I also liked how everything was brought together at the end. I felt satisfied and happy with the ending as I set the book down, though that also makes sense as it’s the end of this plot and was originally planned for the end of the series. Though, if the author ever happens to decide to publish a new Ella and Reed book, I’ll happily devour them as well.

And while this brings a close on the Ella and Reed trilogy, they did publish a duology that follows Reed’s brother East that I can’t wait to get into!

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