Author Spotlight: Adriana Mather

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ADRIANA MATHER

"Adriana Mather is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Hang a Witch, with family roots that go back to Sleepy Hollow, the Salem Witch Trials, and the Titanic. She's also an actor and producer best known for her role in the award-winning Honeyglue. She co-owns Zombot Pictures, a production company that makes feature films. Her first acting scene in a film ever was with Danny Glover, and she was terrified she would mess it up. In addition, her favorite food is pizza, she has too many cats, and a deep abiding love for all things autumnal."

Published Works:

How to Hang a Witch (How to Hang a Witch, #1)    2016

Haunting the Deep (How to Hang a Witch, #2)         2017

Killing November (Killing November, #1)                2019

Hunting November (Killing November, #2)              2020 (expected)

http://www.zombotpictures.com/

Amazon

Adriana Mather surprised me. Books about witches are a weakness of mine. I had to read How To Hang a Witch. It was a book about witches written by a descendant of Cotton Mather, one of the key players in the Salem Witch Trials. I bought the book and read it pretty much immediately. I was blown away and will most likely read everything Adriana Mather writes. She is one that readers should definitely watch. I look forward to reading her future projects. 

**Bio above is from her Goodreads page and is not my personal words.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: JENNY HAN

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: JENNY HAN

"Jenny Han is the New York Times bestselling author of The Summer I Turned Pretty series; Shug; the Burn for Burn trilogy, cowritten with Siobhan Vivian; and To All the Boys I've Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You. She is also the author of the chapter book Clara Lee and The Apple Pie Dream. A former children's bookseller, she earned her MFA in creative writing at the New School."

Published Works:

Children's books

       Snug (2006)

       Clara Lee and the Apple Pie Dream (2011)

Burn for Burn trilogy

       The Summer I Turned Pretty (2009)

       It's Not Summer Without You (2010)

       We'll Always Have Summer (2011)

To All the Boys trilogy

       To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2014) 

       P.S. I Still Love You (2015)

       Always and Forever, Lara Jean (2017)

Short Stories

       "Polaris Is Where You'll Find Me" in My True Love Gave To Me: Twelve Holiday Stories

        (2014) 

                            

https://www.jennyhan.com/

Amazon

Jenny Han has become one my favorite Young Adult writers. I was given a copy of "To All The Boys I've Loved Before" and absolutely loved it. She writes in a way that pulls the reader in. Her characters are fantastic. The ones that you love, you really love. The ones that you hate, make your skin crawl. 

With each book, I have grown to love her work more and more. If you have not read any of her work, I recommend that you do so immediately. She has become one of those authors that I will preorder without even knowing what the book is about. That is a huge deal for me. Give her books a chance, you will not be sorry. 

**Bio above is from her Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: KAREN M. MCMANUS

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: KAREN M. MCMANUS

"Karen M. McManus is the author of the New York Times and international bestselling young adult novels One of Us Is Lying and Two Can Keep a Secret. Her work has been translated into 40 languages worldwide. Karen lives in Massachusetts and holds a master's degree in Journalism from Northeastern University, which she mostly uses to draft fake news stories for her novels."


Published Works:
One of Us Is Lying     2017
Two Can Keep a Secret     2019
One of Us Is Next     2020
The Cousins (expected publication date: December 2020)


https://www.karenmcmanus.com/
Amazon


Karen M. McManus surprised me. I had heard the hype surrounding One of Us Is Lying and wasn't sure I wanted to read it. I tend to ignore overly hyped books unless something about them jumps out to me. I'm not sure if this is a good way to approach books but it is what it is. I finally broke down and read One of Us Is Lying and loved it. I read Two Can Keep a Secret and One of Us In Next and I'm still intrigued. She writes characters that the reader roots for. They are complex yet seem approachable. I look forward to reading more of her work.


**Bio above is from her Goodreads page and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: L. Danvers..

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: L. DANVERS

L. Danvers has written books across a variety of genres, but is now sinking her teeth into paranormal romance. After binge-watching The Vampire Diaries and reading as many paranormal books as she could get her hands on, she felt "compelled" to write a vampire series of her own, Vampires of Crescent Cape.

Her goal as a writer is to offer readers an escape from reality—one in which they can explore new worlds, go on daring adventures, fight the bad guys and fall in love... all from the comfort of a cozy chair.

Her books are romantic, fast-paced and suitable for both teens and adults.

When she's not writing, you can find her in the kitchen trying out new recipes.

Published Works:

Stellix

Fate Abandoned

Fate Surrendered

Fate Reclaimed

Conspiracy Unleashed

Fostered Reality (The Kryptos Chronicles)

The Second Portal (The Kryptos Chronicles)

Curses and Crowns (Vampires of Crescent Cape)

Blood Heirs (Vampires of Crescent Cape) *Prequel*

Fangs and Fortune (Vampires of Crescent Cape)

Stakes and Daggers (Vampires of Crescent Cape)

http://www.ldanvers.com/

Facebook

Facebook group: Book Slayers Squad

Goodreads

Amazon

Want to read the bite-sized Vampires of Crescent Cape origin story for free? Learn how the Blood Heirs and Julian first turned by joining her Readers' Group: http://ldanvers.com/subscribe/

Life brought this author to my attention. I haven't read her entire body of work but I really enjoyed the books that I read. I look forward to reading more and to seeing what she else she will write. She is definitely an author to check out. 

**Bio above is from her Amazon, Facebook, and Goodreads pages and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: J. Bengtsson

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: J. BENGTSSON

J. (Jill) Bengtsson writes contemporary novels focused on love, humor, passion, and family. Her heroines are strong, nurturing, and quirky while her heroes are what dreams are made of - gorgeous, committed, and in need of a little saving. With her novels, you will rediscover the rush and joy of falling in love.

A stay-at-home mom for twenty-one years, Jill's debut novel, Cake A Love Story, was written for fun after she’d read a disappointing romance and felt she could do better. Just wanting feedback on her story, Jill released Cake onto Amazon and watched in stunned disbelief as the book took flight. Within a month of its release, Cake was a bestselling novel… and all that before she’d even told her family she’d written a book. Jill is now a full time writer.

Jill lives in Southern California with her husband and three children. She loves hearing from readers so don't hesitate to reach out to her at any of the sites listed below. 

Published Works:

CAKE: A Love Story

The Theory of Second Best

Fiercely Emma

CAKE: The Newlyweds

Roque Wave

Like The Wind

https://jbengtssonbooks.com/

Twitter

Facebook

Facebook group: The Banana Binder

Goodreads

Amazon

jbengtssonauthor@gmail.com

What can I say about this author? J. Bengtsson took me completely by surprise. Before I realized what was happening, I was finishing up Like The Wind. I started with CAKE and read every book without pause. I then gifted the books to multiple people. I greatly look forward to seeing what this author writes in the future. 

**Bio above is from her Amazon and Goodreads pages and is not my personal words. 

"A Change Would Do You Good"

Hello Everyone!

I believe that Sheryl Crow said it best when she sang that "A Change Would Do You Good.". We tend to fear change. It is frightening and unpredictable. No one likes it. We must embrace change. No matter how hard it may be.

This is the second time that I have decided to institute changes to the blog. Some of the changes that I mentioned before (see "Changes Ahead..." 11/28/17) were put into place. Some of them have yet to be started but I hope to bring them in soon.

Changes that are already in place:

• Author Spotlights
• Series Spotlights
• Blog Tours
• Email Subscription (just added)

Changes that have yet to be set in place:

• Giveaways
• Video Reviews

I would still like to apply all of the above changes to the blog in addition to these:

• Current Reads
• TBR Lists
• Reading Challenges
• Monthly Wrap-ups

Excited about the new changes that are coming. Thank you for reading. Be sure to sign up for the new email subscription. It is a great feature and I am very happy about being able to add it to the blog. 

InkedBookDragon

*A Change Would Do You Good [Recorded by Sheryl Crow]. Sheryl Crow. Hollywood, CA: A&M.

Author Spotlight: Ana Calin

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ANA CALIN

"Born in vampire land Romania and living in romantic Germany, Ana Calin writes paranormal romance with vampires, shifters and other mysterious creatures who stalk their love interests from behind mirrors, or using other paranormal powers. Dark, intense, these love stories are not for the faint of heart.

Influences: I.T. Lucas, Bella Forrest, Christine Feehan."


Published Works:
Christmas Stories
The Blacksmith
Hyperion
The Revenge of Audrey Jones
The Executioner: Part One (A Superpowers Romance, #1)
The Executioner: Part Two (A Superpowers Romance, #2)
The Soul Trapper (A Superpowers Romance, #3)
The Devil's Elixir (A Superpowers Romance, #4)
Prince of Midnight (Dracula's Bloodline, #1)
Prince of Obsession (Dracula's Bloodline, #2)
Prince of Blood (Dracula's Bloodline, #3)

https://ana-calin.com/
Amazon

Ana Calin writes in such a way that the reader is transported into her stories, feeling as though they are a part of them. This is a sign of a fantastic storyteller. I have not read her entire body of work at this time but intend to correct this soon.  I look forward to seeing what she does in the future. She is definitely an author to watch.

**Bio above is from her Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: Becky Albertalli

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: BECKY ALBERTALLI

"Becky Albertalli is the author of the acclaimed novels Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (film: Love, Simon), The Upside of Unrequited, and Leah on the Offbeat. She is also the co-author of What If It's Us with Adam Silvera. A former clinical psychologist who specialized in working with children and teens, Becky lives with her family in Atlanta."

Published Works:

Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda

The Upside of Unrequited

Leah on the Offbeat

What If It's Us (with Adam Silvera) Expected publication date: October 9, 2018

www.beckyalbertalli.com

Amazon

Becky Albertalli has completely taken my by surprise. I had heard the hype about Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda and was hesitant to read it. Too much hype tends to push me away. I finally read it and was blown away. The hype was there for a reason. Truly likeable characters. Situations that people can relate to. Simon won me over but I feared that there was no way she could captivate me that way again. I was wrong. She keeps writing stories that pull the reader in. I have read and reread everything that she has offered and am patiently (not really) awaiting her next book. 

**Bio above is from her Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: Pierce Brown

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: PIERCE BROWN

"Pierce Brown is the #1 New York Times Bestselling author of the Red Rising Saga. He spent his childhood building forts and setting traps for his cousins in the woods of six states and the deserts of two. Graduating college in 2010, he fancied the idea of continuing his studies at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a magical bone in his body. So while trying to make it as a writer, he worked as a manager of social media at a startup tech company, toiled as a peon on the Disney lot at ABC Studios, did his time as an NBC page, and gave sleep deprivation a new meaning during his stint as an aide on a U.S. Senate Campaign.

Now he lives in Los Angeles, where he scribbles tales of spaceships, wizards, ghouls, and most things old or bizarre."

Published Works:
Red Rising (Red Rising, #1)
Golden Son (Red Rising, #2)
Morning Star (Red Rising, #3)
Iron Gold (Red Rising, #4)
Dark Age (Red Rising, #5) - Expected to be published in 2018
Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares, #1 (1 of 6)
Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares, #2 (2 of 6)
Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares, #3 (3 of 6)
Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares, #4 (4 of 6)
Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares, #5 (5 of 6)
Pierce Brown's Red Rising: Sons of Ares, #6 (6 of 6)


www.redrisingbook.com
www.piercebrownbooks.com
Amazon

Pierce Brown is definitely an author to watch. His Red Rising series has taken off and has a true following. Rich storylines and great characters. He just keeps doing it! I look forward to seeing where else he will take us on this adventure.

**Bio above is from his Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: Marcus Miller

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: MARCUS MILLER

"Like the main character in my book, I also ran away from home at a very young age and was thrust into the underbelly of society where age matters not, and the only respect you receive is bought with strength and toughness. And like Steve Rawlings, I also survived against long odds, and am now able to tell some of my stories, and those of the characters I met along the way. My travels took me across the U.S. and through Central and South America and the Caribbean. I have worn many hats in his life, some of them being a cowboy, sailor, boat captain, scuba diving instructor, commercial diver, small plane pilot, gunsmith, hunting guide, rancher, horse trainer, firearms instructor, self-defense and edged weapons instructor, and adventurer.

Because I never completed high school or attended a college, my personal education was derived from working and living on the streets, back alleys, fetid jungles and dank ports in third world countries.

As you can tell, I have not experienced what might be considered a normal life. In fact, I have never known anyone whose life came even close to mirroring mine. As I traveled the world I absorbed my experiences and of those, of people I met on my journey's, and now I'm able to wrap these experiences into stories I hope will be enjoyed by my readers. I've always been a story-teller, and many over the years have encouraged me to write them down, but until I was laid up last year with a knee injury I never took the time. When I started writing, the words came easily, telling my stories as if I was in a room of eager listeners. I haven't stopped writing since. And I never want to stop....."

Published Works:
The Redemption Wall
Slave Tracks (The Redemption Wall Book 2)
The Forgotten Man
The Ghost Operator (The Forgotten Man Book 2)

Facebook
Amazon


I have encountered a number of authors since I started blogging and they all have interesting stories on what brought them to writing. Marcus Miller is one of those authors that can captivate your attention in basic conversation. I greatly enjoy every opportunity that I have to talk to him about his craft. The man doesn't have just one story to tell. He has many and wants to share them with the world. Readers are truly honored to get to be a part of his literary adventures. I look forward to seeing where he takes us.


InkedBookDragon





**Bio above from his Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: Joel Crofoot

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: JOEL CROFOOT

Joel Crofoot was raised in northern New York state on a large family sheep farm, then left home to join the United States Marine Corps at 18 years-old. After spending four years in Japan as a radio operator, Joel re-enlisted into the bomb squad (explosive ordnance disposal) and was stationed out of California. Two tours to Iraq later, Joel decided to leave the Marine Corps to pursue higher education and recently graduated with a doctorate in psychology in July of 2017. 

Published Works:
Michael's Passion (A Series of Angels Book 1) - September 7, 2016
Ramatel's Vow (A Series of Angels Book 2) - December 3, 2016
Asael's Nature (A Series of Angels Book 3) - May 27, 2017

Amazon
Joel's Blog
Facebook
Twitter


I have had the opportunity to have many discussions with Joel. He is witty and quite fun to talk to. He loves writing and sharing his work with others. His life experience is interesting and I look forward to seeing how it will come into play with his future works. He is definitely one to watch.

InkedBookDragon





**Bio above from his Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

Author Spotlight: Angela Stevens

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: ANGELA STEVENS

Angela Stevens is the author of the contemporary adult romance books, The Cocktail Series. She also writes YA/ New Adult Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal and has a Children's Classic Style Fantasy book (8-12y.o).

Angela is British born but moved to the United States a decade ago. Always a keen traveler, she has enjoyed spending time living outside of her native country. She is an ex-teacher and the mother of two children. When empty nest syndrome threatened, Angela turned to writing novels to fill her growing free time. As her hobby grew she found storytelling began to fill her waking hours.

Her debut novel, Lemon Drops and Love grew out of her voracious appetite for reading. After one particularly momentous year, where she consumed over one hundred paper backs, Angela Stevens decided to attempt her own. The story is set in her local town and the setting for her love story was partly inspired by her passion for ice hockey. "I discovered ice hockey when I first moved to America. We went first to see an Anaheim Ducks game when I was visiting L.A. We all loved it so much when we came home we went to watch our local team. Now I'm a rabid Washington Capitals fan, and can often be found 'rocking the red' at the Verizon center supporting the Washington Capitals."

In Angela's stories, you will always find a hero to fall in love with and a heroine who will be worthy of his love. Her characters are three dimensional and down to earth. She writes with a strong voice and in a gritty style weaving tension and suspense throughout her narrative. Her characters come to life and whisk you away, whether into a romantic or fantasy setting. Whichever you chose, be prepared to laugh out loud, cry and fall in love.

Angela began her writing career on wattpad.com and she highly recommends it for anyone beginning writing or for someone wanting to get their stories out there. Part writing site and part social media, the website has been the driving force in getting her work published.

Angela is an eclectic reader, but romance is always her fall back genre. She will try pretty much anything but generally avoids reading science fiction and crime thrillers. Some of her all-time favorite books are The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey, anything written by Kristen Ashley or J.A. Huss, Eva Luna by Isobel Allende, and J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood.

When it comes to her own work, Angela has a hard time deciding which is her favorite. Let’s face it, it is like asking her to choose her favorite child. So, if she had her arm forced behind her back, she’d probably opt for Dark N Stormy, because the character development of Finn was about as perfect as she has ever done. Though, perhaps she might change her mind and say An Unbreakable Will, because she just loved the group of hunky warriors who made their appearance in that book and sparked off a whole new series of their own. But if you ask her next year, she is probably going to say Rebekka’s Child. A whole new genre and style, this book has given her sleepless nights for almost two years and as long as she finishes editing, it will be the book she is most proud of.

Social Media
https://www.angelastevens.net
https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAngelaStevens
Or follow Angela on Twitter. @Angelastevens13
Published Works

The Cocktail Series (Steamy Contemporary Romance)
Lemon Drops And Love published 2014
Ice Cold Mint Juleps published 2015
Dark N Stormy published 2016
Learning To Love Southern Comfort published 2017
Finding Comfort In Champagne published 2017
Champagne Moments (companion Novella and prequel) published 2015

The Vargr Clan Trilogy (Contemporary Fantasy)
The Wolf You Feed published 2014
Hold On published 2015
An Unbreakable Will published 2015
The Splits In My Skin published 2016

The Black Walker Warrior Novels
Blood Or Destiny published 2016

Standalones
Mariquita (written by Angela Stevens and Illustrated by Matthew Moir, Children’s book) published 2015

Coming In 2018
Blood Brothers: A Black Walker Warrior Novel publishing January 9th 2018
Rebekka’s Child (standalone) Magical realism- (set in1876 Iceland)
Ambushed (working title): A Black Walker Warrior Collection of Short Stories
Also book 1 in a new Romance collection, coming soon…




I have had many conversations with Angela. She is a lot of fun to talk to and absolutely adores writing. She is actually one of the authors that helped take me out of my comfort zone with reading. I hardly ever would read romances of this form and then I read the first book in The Cocktail Series and I was hooked. She exhibits a true mastery of her craft. I geniunely look forward to reading more.

InkedBookDragon


Amazon


*Bio information provided by author upon my request.

Author Spotlight: Emily Anne Brandon

AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: EMILY ANNE BRANDON

Emily Anne Brandon is an author of fiction for women. She released her debut novel in 2016 and has been working away since then, trying to write whenever she can.

She has now released three full length novels and a Christmas novella.*

Emily lives with her husband in the north-east of Scotland and works in local government. She dreams of being a full time author and finally getting the dog she's craved since childhood, so get one-clicking and make her dream come true!

Emily's favourite authors include Jane Austen, Melissa Nathan, Jenny Colgan and Sophie Kinsella.

Emily's favourite of her own novels is Love on the Rocks, set in the beautiful, fictional village of Whitehorse Bay in her native Scotland.

When she's not at the day job or writing, Emily can regularly be found at the cinema or in the swimming pool.

* Note: She has another Christmas novella coming out on December 1, 2017.


Published Works:
All That Glitters - August 20, 2016
An Auchenvale Christmas (Novella) - October 14, 2016
In The Stars - December 23, 2016
Love on the Rocks: Summer in Whitehorse Bay - June 1, 2017
Christmas in Whitehorse Bay: A Novella - December 1, 2017


Twitter: @emilyabrandon
Amazon




I have had multiple conversations with Emily about her books. She is a delight to talk to and obviously adores what she does. Her style of writing is refreshing and it is hard to put her work down to go about ordinary life. Her use of locales as an additional aspect makes one want to pack a bag and take a trip. I have high hopes for her. I really think she could go far with her work. I look forward to reading future pieces.


InkedBookDragon


**Bio above from her Amazon Page and is not my personal words.

Changes Ahead...

Hello Everyone!

I have been thinking a lot about how I can make this blog better. I could sit down and write about all the events of my life but I am pretty sure that is not why you are here. You are here to read about books. Maybe you are here for recommendations to take you out of your comfort zone. Maybe you are just bored and trying to pass the time. No matter what brought you here, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to read the words of a nerdy tattooed bibliophile. I appreciate it.

As I was saying earlier, I want to make this blog better. Time for some changes.

• Giveaways. Yes, you read that right. Giveaways! I am still working on the details but I will be hosting giveaways from time to time. 
• Author Spotlights. Have not figured out the frequency yet but I will be doing spotlights on authors. This is a good way to introduce people to authors that they may never have encountered before. 
• Series Spotlights. Some books are a part of series and so reviewing every single book in that series may be exhausting. Not just to me but also to you. I will be discussing some series as a whole (or at least up to where they currently are). 
• Video reviews. I am not sure when I will start this one but I hope to post videos once in a while of me reviewing books. I feel that this will allow you to see me more as a person and not just a machine that reads and reviews books quickly.
• Blog Tours. I am currently in discussions with some authors about me taking part. This should be fun. 

There you have it. There are the new changes that will soon be intergrated into this blog. I am sure that I will think of more so keep a look out. You never know what you may find here. 

InkedBookDragon