Happy April, !
Do you enjoy book recommendations? I like to read in themes, and I was planning on sharing my latest theme with you—I read a bunch of the top-listed “cozy fantasy” books and thought you might enjoy a compare and contrast. Unfortunately I have had a migraine for the last three days. My writing partner says to get off the computer (what are writing partners for, after all?) and although I am clearly disobeying her, I did take the afternoon off. So there's pictures of my embroidery instead of complicated words and reviews.
I'm glad VRO has connected us—welcome! I usually share about something more interesting than myself, but I feel like familiar subject matter lowers the chance of migraine-induced mistakes.
It's been a couple weeks, so maybe you've had a chance to read "The White Deer of Kildare." It's a novella with an adventure at the end, so it's a quick read. I look forward to hearing what you think!
And we’ll chat about other books next time, mmkay?
- Last chance—enter the giveaway!
- Upcoming April events
- Roundup: what am I writing now?
- Free Books for April: Women’s Fiction, and Love & Laughter
- Stitching progress: beautiful mushrooms!
Meanwhile, what's your favorite comfort read? I've been having a slowww time getting into books lately, and I'd love suggestions. Maybe I'll review it for my next newsletter!
Last Chance for the Denik Notebook Giveaway!
I’m holding the drawing this weekend! Just reply to this email to enter.
In order to have an entry to win a lovely Denik notebook with my custom art (example below; you’ll be able to choose your design), just
- reply to this email
- indicate that you are willing to write review(s) for my book(s)
- bonus entries if you follow my Instagram, TikTok, or Substack
- hurry! Closes Saturday, April 12th
Since you received a FREE REVIEW COPY from Voracious Readers Only, I hope that I can put everyone here into my giveaway! I know that some of you have already left a review for "The White Deer of Kildare," so thank you. But I'm not matching up review names with potential emails (that feels a little stalker-ish); you have to respond to contact me in order to enter.
That’s all! If you’ve already emailed me, I have recorded your name and bonus entries, and now you don’t have long to wait before I do the drawing. I appreciate the reviews so much because….
Upcoming April Events: I’m going on (virtual) tour!
I am super excited to be taking THE WHITE DEER OF KILDARE on a blog tour with Goddess Fish! Over the next four months, I’ll be visiting 17 different blogs and doing interviews at each one. You will learn about whether I’m an oldest/middle/younger child; my bad library-book habits; and a day in my writing life. My favorite question: "What are your top five distractions from writing?"
Hahaha…I’ll give you a hint—I have five children!
But there are also lots of questions about world-building. Since I spent a lot of time with Irish history in order to retell Finn McCool’s myth from his first wife’s point of view, I am really excited share more of this process.
I will share links to the interviews in this newsletter, but if you want to follow along here’s the entire schedule. Some of these blogs look so fun!
Therefore, I am especially grateful for your reviews for White Deer! They provide “social proof” which makes a big difference when people scroll by a social media or blog post.
Since you received a review copy of this very book, it would help me so much if you could get your reviews in within the next couple weeks, as the tour kicks off! I'm seeing a good number of reviews for the first book in the series, but it would launch the tour to have your honest review for White Deer.
You can follow the "buy" links to leave a review on your favorite platform. Also see Goodreads and BookBub review pages—I need to figure out how to fix those covers!
Speaking of which…
Roundup: What am I working on writing now?
For one thing—I just wrote a special story for you! It’s a new novella that I will only distribute for my newsletter subscribers. This also means that you were the super lucky crew who received a regular Castle in Kilkenny novella for free…I’m going to be phasing that out now, so you guys get double the free fairy tale joy.
The new story isn’t ready yet, but I’ll give you a hint: it has a leprechaun.
And another hint: You won’t be surprised to know that I based my leprechaun off historical Irish fairy tales, not the modern football-and-Lucky-Charms guy in a green suit. He grants wishes and gold coins…but neither of them turn out like Hannah expects.
If you haven’t had a chance to read "The White Deer," you can skip ahead. I know it’s dull to read about characters you haven’t yet met. But if you have read, maybe you'll be excited to hear about these characters getting their own book:
In "The White Deer":
- Rian flirts with Maura, then plays a pivotal role in the ending. In “The Squire and His Magical Library,” we get the story of how Rian was chosen to be part of Finn McCool’s select warrior band. He doesn’t want to be fighting; he’d much rather read a book.
- What happens to the ladies-in-waiting after Queen Saba disappears? I just finished a short story that answers that question (Fionn makes trouble), and I'm planning a full fairy tale from Ailbe’s point of view. It has dogs—and a special white cat!
And in "The Knight of Terrible Valley & Aiden of Florida":
- There are two other teenagers who do something not-very-nice to Aiden. In my version, I couldn’t help but give them motivations, and backstory, and…
- Hannah Rowland (mentioned briefly as Dylan’s girlfriend—and soulmate), is ordinary and mousey and just wants her helicopter parents to leave her alone. But when Dylan puts a magical ring on her finger, Hannah tumbles into a world where she needs to make some extraordinary choices in order to save them both.
- Arthur acts like a jerk, but by the time we’ve learned more about him from Hannah…yeah, Arthur needs a story of his own, too. Also, I found this really unique fairy tale about a volcano and a city made entirely of gold. If you like explosive settings and “grump with a secret soft spot” love stories, this one is for you!
I haven’t abandoned Maura’s family. Oona’s going to bring home a pet swan and throw everyone into chaos. I have a 5-year-old and I can promise—they're good at chaos!
THE SQUIRE AND THE MAGICAL LIBRARY is available for preorder, but I had to move the release date back a little bit, so it can have enough time to get polished with my editor and team. However, the good news is that I'm going to have Hannah's book available in May too! I always love it when Past Me picks out a nice book for Present Me, so I try to have preorder links going so you can get a present for Future You.
I'll have Hannah's cover reveal. blurb, and link for you in the next newsletter.
(The cover and blurb on that link are not yet the final versions, but I think the cover is kind of cool!)
The short stories will be in two different anthologies. I love working with other authors, and can't wait to share more details with you.
Free Books for April
What’s your mood today, ? We’ve got some thoughtful women’s fiction, playful mystery, and sweet romance. I picked some titles that I think you might like, but there's dozens more in here!
Love, Laughter & Little Mysteries
Women's Fiction — Free Stories for April
If you don’t have your free copy of The Horned Women, you can grab it at one of these promos. As I said, I'm phasing out offering this one for free, so be sure you have your copy!
Beautiful mushrooms!!!
I took my last set of wool felt mushroom blocks on the New England trip. I got a little stitching in during college info sessions and other spare moments. I opened the last set on the plane ride home, and I finished it up during meetings this week.
I started this project as a block-of-the-month (from Sue Spargo) about four years ago, and have worked on it sporadically, when and how I have been in the mood for it, off and on ever since. This is the LAST mushroom on the LAST block on the LAST set, and I’m so excited!
So, I am signing off, with a little bit of beauty for your every day. Following are pictures of appliqué on wool feel mushrooms, and I hope you enjoy.
-Christy & the Shelties
(who are too busy playing outside to appear in this newsletter)
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