Like Some Dark Themes With Your Romance? 🖤
Sep 13, 2023 5:31 pm
Gift of Light has been out in the wild since Sunday, and I want to personally thank each one of you who decided to buy a copy or leave a review. I kind of flung Helena & Konstantin's story into the ether without much notice, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot of excitement on that fateful day.
But to my great surprise, 11 readers have already bought copies of Gift of Light, and the sales have been spread across nearly every retailer! 🥳
As an indie author who came to expect 5-ish sales on release day for her first series, the fact that we broke into double digits is something to celebrate. So I'll be dropping a lovely photo of the Alps further down this newsletter—in honor of the Teuton light witch who never imagined she'd discover her one true love lurking at the top of a threatening peak on the Austrian-German border. 🏔
What Readers Are Saying
Curious about readers' reactions to Gift of Light?
Check out a pair of early reviews for an inside look!
I'm starting to think maybe the next series I work on after I finish Elemental Bloodlines ought to be a series of fairy tale retellings set in the Teutonic Fantasy Realm. 🧚♀ Several months ago when I ran a survey to get your opinions on such topics, the concept of fairy tale retellings seemed pretty popular.
So what do you think? Should I create witchy versions of Cinderella, Snow White, and Rapunzel and then see what sort of shenanigans they get into in a realm filled with elemental magic and meddling priests? Let me know in a reply!
If you haven't gotten your copy of Gift of Light yet, you can get it from my book shop or from your favorite retailer at the button below.
🪨 FREE For The First Time 🪨
I've dropped a hint or two in recent newsletters about a limited-time opportunity coming your way. Today the cat's out of the bag. For the month of September, the second full-length novel in my Elemental Bloodlines series will be FREE in eBook form for all readers subscribed to the LoveBite Books newsletter!
Look at Zehra and Henning standing proudly beside their literary peers! This is the first time I've ever offered Gift of Stone for free, aside from the copies I gave out to my beta readers and ARC readers. That means if you sighed in longing back in January and February when I offered insight into the tale of a Turkish witch and her fiery, fated mate plumber...now you can finally read all of it!
Broke readers, unite, right? 🙋♀️
If you'd like to add the free copy of Gift of Stone onto your e-reader, please note that LoveBite Books is a newsletter service. That means you'll be subscribed to the LoveBite newsletter, which sends out book fairs with limited-time deals every week or so, plus a monthly freebie in the genre(s) you choose. You'll also be subscribed to the newsletters of each indie author in the genre(s) you choose.
So by joining LoveBite's paranormal romance newsletter in order to download Gift of Stone, you'll be joining 13 author-related newsletters. (Actually 12 since you're already subscribed to mine!) Of course you can unsubscribe at any time. Or hang around and find out whether my author peers are as weird as me.
The jury's still out on that. 🤪
Zehra and Henning await all readers who enjoy urban fantasy romance with super dark twists and a triumphant resolution. Are you ready?
Alpine Views
As promised, here's a photo I took in Germany about seven years ago when my husband and I explored the peaks around the Partnach Gorge. If you've ever been to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, you might have wandered along this very path and admired the same view!
(Though the lazy hiker admits: by this time I was incredibly exhausted and annoyed that I had to climb the darn mountain and trudge through the forest after exiting the gorge. I mean...whyyyy??? 😝)
More power to Helena, who ran all the way down Konstantin's mountain in Gift of Light. 💪
Other Books You Might Like
Got one fantasy revolution and one instalove freebie to share with you today, so a little something for a wide variety of tastes. Heads up that the BookFunnel page for Queen of the Raej claims the book is on Kindle Unlimited. It's not. I checked. But it seems to be on sale right now, so be sure to take a look.
Can a jaded billionaire athlete and an ambitious career woman lower their defenses and take a chance on forever?
Siena
I am only here because of my PR job. I do not have time to be distracted by his chiseled jaw and perfect body. Or those tattoos. Who am I kidding? He’s a successful race car driver so he will not give an awkward curvy girl like me a second glance. But he does. He won’t take his eyes off me and before I know it, I’m pressed against his muscular body, seeing promises in his eyes I know I shouldn’t believe.
Rex
I have no interest in doing this stupid photo shoot and I want to get out of here in a hurry. That is, until I see Siena. Her gorgeous body and pouty lips make me rethink my self-imposed vow of celibacy. So when the female model doesn’t show up, I pull Siena into the shoot with me. I’ll use any excuse I can to get my hands on her curves and maybe just talk her into being mine for forever.
Stay hidden to stay alive....
Terhese has escaped the Academy and is on the run. She is taken in by a ragtag group of Ràej supporters who fight side-by-side with her against Officials and strive to get her to the safe house unharmed. Captains of the underground Ràej group take charge of training and delegating the efforts to prepare for the rebellion. Jensen helps Terhese learn her powers and teaches her more about their Ràej heritage.
A mysterious person visits the Ràej safe house, acknowledging the real Queen. Just a few days later, the Ràej strikes out to destroy the First Pebble in the Northern Plains. The war has begun.
Will Terhese be able to control her powers, earn the respect of the Blood of the Ràej, and accept her responsibilities as a leader?
I think that's all I've got to yap about this week. It's time I sneak back into my authorly cave and work on the blurb and outline for Book 5 in Elemental Bloodlines. I did the official "brain dump" on Monday, and it looks like this story is going to be a complex one. We've got a heroine with a traumatic past who struggles with alcohol addiction, plus a hero with a bad habit of scramming anytime something in his life goes wrong. 🫢
Hopefully I'll have some sneak peeks to offer in the coming weeks. For now, don't forget to grab my latest releases from the links below, along with a free copy of Gift of Stone. And stay weird! 💖
Talk to you soon,
C.L. Carhart
Get Gift of Stone free at LoveBite Books:
https://geni.us/LoveBiteBooks20
Get Gift of Light:
https://clcarhart.com/products/gift-of-light-ebook
Get Gift of Water:
https://clcarhart.com/products/gift-of-water-ebook
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