Writing Update – A Churn in the Dark (Into the Churn #2.5) has launched!


Abstract high tech background in blue tones

We interrupt this book review blog for a book release update! A Churn in the Dark (Into the Churn #2.5) launched today and the blurb is below!

***

Love and murder stir between the stars.

Four months after the Belethea Race Royale team’s narrow escape from Otho and Casolla’s dark syndicates, Sylvia Long, Grady/Guns, and Belethea’s newest doubles team arrive on Crion for its inaugural New Year Race. But with Sterling/Hart enjoying their own holiday back home, Sylvia struggles to balance her ever-growing duties as both team coach and manager.

Meanwhile, Agent Shiro Tanaka—Sylvia’s boyfriend and the Belethea royalers’ one-man security team—is determined to use this working holiday to propose to Sylvia under Crion’s aurora-bathed skies. But when the race takes a dark turn, all their plans go out the airlock as Shiro and Sylvia rush to save their royalers.

The bad blood is still thick in Casolla, and someone isn’t about to let Belethea forget it.

***

Ebooks of this novella are available on Amazon and Whimsical Publishing’s website! If you want to check out the A Churn in the Dark vibes on Spotify, you can find the playlist here. And you can also add it to your Goodreads, here.

Also, the cover reveal for Into the Abyss (Into the Churn #3), the last book in the trilogy, is scheduled for December 3rd and will release in March, so keep an eye out!

As always, thank you so much for reading and all of your support—your recommendations, ratings, and reviews give these books wings! (And if you’d like to receive updates like this to your email, you can sign up for my author newsletter here!)

Writing Update – Into the Fire preorders live and ARC sign-ups open!


Into the Fire preorders are live!

We interrupt this book review blog for a book release update!

Into the Fire (Into the Churn #2) will be launching on 21 May, but preorders are now live and eARCs go out tomorrow! (Blurb below)

***

The finish line was only the beginning.

Champion race royalers Ezren Hart and Foster Sterling never dreamed winning the Belethea Race Royale and solving their teammate’s murder would only be the start of their troubles. With legal proceedings taking an unfortunate turn, accusations of a sham race, and a divided Belethea of warring ideals, they find themselves in the middle of a storm once again.

However, when a mysterious private investigator shows up at their doorstep with news that Ezren’s long-missing father’s life hangs in the balance, she doesn’t hesitate to chart their course to the incendiary moon of Otho despite Foster’s misgivings. But after political violence separates the pair before they even get off the ground, Foster scrapes together a crew to go after her.

While Ezren and Foster race toward Otho, the growing ripples of corruption bring the system to the brink of war with the two of them balanced on the tipping point. As they run, drive, and fight across an explosive land scarred with bullets and death, they’ll have to decide what sacrifices they’re willing to make for a dangerous discovery in a world prepared to silence their voices forever.

Because on Otho, there are no winners—only survivors.

***

Ebooks are available for preorder Amazon here! If you want to grab the preorder incentives, you’ll need to order directly from Whimsical Publishing, here! (As of this writing, there should be some left, but they’re going fast!) 

If you’d prefer to sign up for an advance review copy, you can apply here!

If you want to check out the Into the Fire vibes on Spotify, you can find the playlist here. And you can also add it to your Goodreads, here.

I’m so excited for eARCs to go out today and see what everyone thinks! As always, thank you so much for reading and all of your support—your recommendations, ratings, and reviews give these books wings! (And if you’d like to receive updates like this to your email, you can sign up for my newsletter on the homepage!)

If you want the gorgeous preorder incentives, be sure to preorder from Whimsical Publishing’s website before they sell out!

Into the Churn: Street Team Sign-Ups & ARC Requests Open!

This week Whimsical Publishing officially revealed the title and blurb for my upcoming Young Adult Science Fiction, INTO THE CHURN, launching April 4th 2023! 🥳 So now, I’m thrilled to announce some other exciting news!

First, the Into the Churn Street Team is officially open for sign-ups here! If you’re willing to help with the December cover reveal & spreading the word, we’d love your help & can offer some fun perks—including the chance to win a *very* rare physical advance reader copy (ARC) in return! And if you’ve never seen Whimsical Publishing’s books, they’re absolutely gorgeous. 😍

Second, if you’re interested in an electronic advance reader copy (eARC) you can request one on Whimsical Publishing’s website here!

And lastly, if you’d like to check out a sneak peek of a scene from the book, you can find it on Whimsical’s back-up Instagram account here!

As a author publishing with a small press, we depend on readers to help spread the word, so any social media shares, retweets, posts are so greatly appreciated!

Thanks so much for reading, and the text-version of the blurb is included below!


Seventeen-year-old Ezren Hart interns in her mother’s terraforming lab, studying Belethea’s deadly storms with the dream of giving her backwater planet open teal skies. But when budget cuts threaten to shut down her mother’s lab, Ezren enters Belethea’s Race Royale, the system’s deadliest and most lucrative race. To win, she’ll have to run, drive, and fight her way across Belethea’s barren landscape while navigating its savage and volatile storms. With her planet’s future, and her family’s, on the line, she can’t afford to lose. But first, she’ll have to convince her handsome royale partner that their planet is worth saving.

Foster Sterling is a jaded ex-prodigy royaler still reeling from the death of his partner in a training accident. When Ezren Hart comes charging into his life, her passion reminds him of what he once loved about racing and his dream of returning pride to their planet. Still, no matter how fast they go, they can’t outrun the mysterious string of deadly accidents following them like a curse. As Foster falls harder for Ezren, he races to piece the clues together. But with time running out and their survival on the line, he’ll have to decide if their dreams are worth their lives.

Perfect for fans of underdog heroes, slow burn romance, and high stakes sci fi, INTO THE CHURN races across a new planet of savage storms and dazzling tech. Fall in love with Ezren and Foster as they battle side-by-side to save their scrappy world on a ruthless interplanetary stage where appearances are everything, speed means survival, and the only thing deadlier than the storms are the other racers.

This is the Canva cover I put together when drafting. I can’t WAIT to share the real thing Whimsical Publishing created. It’s absolutely GORGEOUS!

Book Review – Skyward


So, I guess I should start by saying I’m not a huge Sanderson fan. I read Steelheart and got maybe halfway through The Way of Kings before my library loan ran out and I didn’t renew. But, my husband (a huge sci-fi fan), had this downloaded on my Kindle and basically demanded I read it on our last roadtrip.

Told from the first-person, Skyward follows a girl on a faraway planet besieged by aliens desperate to prove herself as a fighter pilot after living in the shadow of her father’s legacy as a coward.

Things I liked: this was a fairly quick read, the battle-mechanics of the ships were cool to imagine, it definitely kept me reading with my questions about the aliens and Spensa’s father, and the world-building (in the typical Sanderson fashion) is impeccable.

But… I did think it started off pretty slow, and the characters, in general, just didn’t do it for me. I didn’t really love any of them, and since there are a lot of characters, I didn’t really feel the super strong bonds I thought they probably had. Although I enjoyed how the plot came together, it just seemed like there was something missing for me. I think part of it too was the comedic relief of one character just didn’t quite hit for me, although my husband thought they were hilarious, so you know… to each their own. (Also, I feel like I may be currently under the influence of a reading slump… so I’ll put that disclaimer out there too.)

A solid read recommended for anyone that enjoys YA SFF. Although I probably won’t read the sequel, I can totally see how someone could love this series.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

I fear Locke has succumbed to the inevitable reading slump. Alas, what choice do we have but to press on!

Thanks for reading!

Book Review – Obsidio


Obsidio is the final book of a trilogy, so this review will be a little shorter. I *loved* the first two Illuminae books, so I was eager to dive into this one. Unfortunately, I do think this was the weakest of the trilogy. Asha and Rhys didn’t have a whole lot of chemistry to speak of, and I felt like Asha and her story just fell a little flat in general. I think the first half dragged a little, but the second half more than made up for it. I loved seeing the characters from the other books in action, and Aiden, to me, totally makes these books. For some reason, I can’t help but love our AI anti-hero.

In this book, we also find out who the analysts are that have been transcribing/narrating the videos… and weirdly it took me out of the story. I felt like the narrative of this book was less suited to the epistolary style. This book didn’t have the big mind-blowing twist of the other two, but it still made for a satisfying ending to the trilogy.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Tula giving the Illuminae series her full attention.

Thanks for reading!