#1SENTENCESATURDAY - The Divine of Callaire

Every week, I'll be sharing a sentence from a WIP. This week I'm revealing a quote from the the next LEGEND MIRROR book, The Divine of Callaire, out September 28th!

Come back next week for another snippet!

~Saruuh

#1SENTENCESATURDAY Double Edition - The Divine of Callaire

Every week, I'll be sharing a sentence from a WIP. This week I'm revealing TWO SNIPPETS from the the next LEGEND MIRROR book, The Divine of Callaire, out September 28th!

Come back next week for another snippet!

~Saruuh

Announcement: The Divine of Callaire release date!

Hi guys! I'm revealing the release date of the next Legend Mirror book! DIVINE will be out ...

September 28th 2017!

This is Minnie's book, and tells the story of what happened with the Red while Yasmin was off on her quest for Pluto. The cover will be revealed close to the release date, so keep an eye out. You might have noticed the series covers have been updated on Amazon. You can check them out on my website. POWERS will be updated really soon!

Here's the summary of the book:

I’m Minnie, descendant of Apollo, and even my Divine power can’t protect me when Gods attack the human world.

While Yasmin searches for Pluto’s lost power, me and my Legendary family hunt for artefacts rumoured to kill Gods and Creatures. If we find one, it might give us a shot at defending ourselves in the coming war - but powerful enemies stand in our way and they’re determined to make our lives hell. Not to mention my ancestor Apollo has some messed up plans for me of their own.

But the biggest risk in my world isn’t Gods or incarnations. I’m falling for Ran, the phoenix descendant who plagues my visions with blood and arrows, and our love promises to ruin me.

The Divine of Callaire is a companion novel to Yasmin’s story and takes place at the same time as The Powers of Callaire. It’s not recommended that you skip it, but it’s possible to understand books three and five without reading it.

The Revelation Is Out Now!

In a new City with enemies hiding in plain sight, Honour and his rebel family build their forces. States is hunting them but that’s the least of their problems—Horatia is harbouring a secret that could kill them all, and Honour is dreaming he’s part of a secret experiment. Or is he remembering?

With Yosiah’s secrets catching up to him—so deadly that he and Miya will be lucky to get out alive—Bennet torn between two times and two loves, and Branwell doubting his place in the future, not everyone may reach the next battle.

The Revelation is the third book in the Lux Guardians series, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller with a historical twist. If you like sinister plots, desperate survival stories, and world-changing revolutions, you’ll love this story of family, friendship, and rebellion!

Scroll up to buy and join the rebellion!

BUY ON AMAZON UK

BUY ON AMAZON US

START THE SERIES FOR FREE WITH THE FORGOTTEN

When Honour breaches the fence around Forgotten London, he becomes #1 on the world leader’s hit list. To save his life, Honour joins an underground rebellion. But Honour is no fighter, and he may have just put himself – and his sister – in even more danger.

In 1878, when Branwell and Bennet’s genius father is murdered and an invention is stolen, the siblings discover his work is linked to the future destruction of the world. But when they’re transported to a derelict place far from home, how will they reclaim the stolen device?

The Forgotten is the first book in the Lux Guardians series, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi thriller with a historical twist. If you like sinister plots, desperate survival stories, and world-changing revolutions, you’ll love this story of family, friendship, and rebellion!

New Release: The Legend Mirror Bind Up (Books 1-3)

Welcome to Callaire, a town of shifters, magic, and secrets.

THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE

Yasmin is the daughter of a goddess and a mythical creature. As a Legendary, she has telepathic power and the ability to change forms every full moon. In her opinion, that's more curse than gift.

When a voice cries out to Yasmin in her head, and she’s drawn into dreams that aren’t her own, she's led to Fray - a girl who once saved Yasmin from hunters. In Fray’s dreams she has power no human should ever have. Legendary power.

When Fray’s magic catches the attention of a violent and invincible creature, both Yasmin’s mythical world and Fray’s human one will be changed forever. A Gods' war is brewing, and Yasmin and Fray are at the heart of it.

THE DRYAD OF CALLAIRE

Reeling from the battle with Discordia – the incarnation of chaos, an invincible creature - Yasmin and her Legendary family search for answers. Who is Discordia? Why are they stealing power? And where have they taken the girl Yasmin loves? Yasmin will do anything to get Fray back, even if it means unleashing the violent beast beneath her human skin. 

Fray has been kidnapped and taken to an impossible place that is slowly changing her. Her captors are monsters with venom in their teeth and bloody hands, and they want to use Fray to win a war. But armed with a terrifying and empowering new ability, Fray will die before she becomes their pawn. 

THE POWERS OF CALLAIRE

Yasmin’s girlfriend is dead, but she will stop at nothing to bring Fray back. Even if that means going to the Otherland and making a bargain with the Ruler of All Souls. If Yasmin finds Pluto’s lost power, they’ll return Fray’s soul to her body. 

Yasmin’s search takes her, and two of her friends, from Bucharest to France to Wales, and exposes a horrifying secret with Venus, Yasmin’s mother, at the heart of it. With a murderous, fiery god and the incarnation of death in her way, Yasmin will have to compromise her morals and harness the Legendary power in her veins. If she fails, Fray’s soul will be lost forever. 

READ THE ENTIRE LEGEND MIRROR SERIES: 

Book 1: The Beast of Callaire
Book 2: The Dryad of Callaire
Book 3: The Powers of Callaire
Book 4: Coming 2017!
Book 5: Coming soon!
Book 6: Coming soon!
Book 7: Coming soon!

Books included:

BUY ON AMAZON UK

BUY ON AMAZON US

ADD TO GOODREADS

New Release: The Powers of Callaire (YA Urban Fantasy)

Yasmin’s girlfriend is dead, but she will stop at nothing to bring Fray back. Even if that means going to the Otherland and making a bargain with the Ruler of All Souls. If Yasmin finds Pluto’s lost power, they’ll return Fray’s soul to her body.

Yasmin’s search takes her, and two of her friends, from Bucharest to France to Wales, and exposes a horrifying secret with Venus, Yasmin’s mother, at the heart of it. With a murderous, fiery god and the incarnation of death in her way, Yasmin will have to compromise her morals and harness the Legendary power in her veins. If she fails, Fray’s soul will be lost forever.

BUY ON AMAZON UK

BUY ON AMAZON US

ADD TO GOODREADS

You can read the first two chapters as part of my 500 words series!

Previous books:

START THE SERIES FOR FREE WITH THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE

Welcome to Callaire, a town of shifters, magic, and secrets. 

Yasmin is the daughter of a goddess and a mythical creature. As a Legendary, she has telepathic power and the ability to change forms every full moon. In her opinion, that's more curse than gift. 

When a voice cries out to Yasmin in her head, and she’s drawn into dreams that aren’t her own, she's led to Fray - a girl who once saved Yasmin from hunters. In Fray’s dreams she has power no human should ever have. Legendary power. 

When Fray’s magic catches the attention of a violent and invincible creature, both Yasmin’s mythical world and Fray’s human one will be changed forever. A Gods' war is brewing, and Yasmin and Fray are at the heart of it. 

JANUARY: The Legend Mirror #2 gets a title and blurb!

Happy 2015! I hope the new year is treating you good. I'm having an ... interesting January. I'm experiencing a totally new pace of writing, which is to say: slow. Agonizingly slow. Snail's pace. I'm hoping it picks up pretty soon so I can actually finish a book this year. Oop.

But enough of that. The title probably clued you in - I'm working on the second book in The Legend Mirror series, my YA mythological fantasy. If you haven't read it (or have and just can't remember what it's all about), The Legend Mirror follows Yasmin, a teenage girl who shape-shifts into a mythic beast, others kids like her in the Red - a group of Legendaries - and Fray, a human girl with a psychic connection to, and romance with, Yasmin. If it interests you, you can find more into on the nav bar at the top and buy links on the side.

The title of book two is

You've probably seen this title floating around my blogs and my website if you happen to go into the individual book pages, but now it's official!

The Dryad of Callaire follows on from book one, taking you into the aftermath of the fight with Discordia and the abduction of Fray. As the title suggests, a dryad (or two) features heavily in the story. This book will also see the introduction of a new Legendary main character! Here's the initial blurb:

The Legend Mirror series returns with more mythology, more danger, and more Majick as Yasmin Wikke sets out on a grief-driven quest to find her missing girlfriend. To get her back, Yasmin will have to ally with Gods, rely upon strangers, and go to extreme lengths. But is rescuing Fray the right path? Has her time away from Callaire altered her beyond repair? And will Yasmin and Fray’s relationship survive even if one of them doesn’t?

A release of August has been penciled in, but nothing is definite so this could change. You can expect a full blurb, cover reveal, and a reveal of the redesigned The Beast of Callaire cover in the months to come!

Let me know your thoughts on the blurb and title! Will you be reading The Dryad of Callaire?

~Saruuh

How to battle the lack of representation in YA

I realise I have yet to make a post about diversity in young adult literature, which is odd since it's something I talk about all the time outside the internet.

As a white, cis-gendered, able bodied person, I've always been able to find myself in books. Go to even the smallest library and there will be a thousand teen books about a white girl falling in love with some supernatural creature. Or if contemporary is your thing, a white girl falling in epic love with a white dude. Or a white girl becoming a princess of a distant land, etc. Whatever genre is your thing, you will find white ladies and guys.

Now try finding a young adult book with a person of colour as the main character in that library. You might find one book, if your library is exceptional. More than likely, the white heroine of the book will have a one-dimensional coloured friend. Which is great for the white heroine, but what about the readers who aren't white, who have different ethnic backgrounds? They could almost take from these books that they're meant to be the supporting character, that they'll never be the main character or hero/ine of their own story. Which is bullshit.

Now how about a disabled teen trying to find him/herself in a book? Will they be able to find a young adult book in which a disabled character is at the forefront, saving the day, falling in love, battling evil creatures? Probably not. And the sad truth is, that even with my extensive knowledge of YA books and with the help of  Google, Tumblr, and Goodreads, I have not found a single one. The same sadly goes for transgendered characters in YA genre fiction. There are some amazing (I am assuming) contemporary books in which transgendered and disabled characters are featured, but why should these characters be limited to contemporary fiction? I don't see why a transgendered lady of colour shouldn't be killing vampires in a wheelchair. But that's not practical, I hear you say. How would one kill a vampire whilst in a wheelchair - they're fast, they're deadly, they'd kill that character in a heartbeat. To which I say: if a vampire exists, why can't a wheelchair with super speedy propellers? Why can't this wheelchair be made of silver? (Notoriously not fun for vampires to touch!) Why can't there be deadly spikes on the wheels and a secret place to stash stakes? Why can't it eject garlic mist? Alright that might be taking it a bit too far, but you get my point.

There's no excuse for leaving anyone out of YA fiction, genre or otherwise. In my next post I'll be recommending some YA authors that didn't, and some books that have these characters center stage.

But here's the thing. If you want to see more books that feature diverse characters, you need to be buying and reading the ones already published. If a publisher sees that a book with a lady of colour MC is doing well, they'll be more open to publishing books with POC in the future. The same goes for all of the different under-represented characters. There are some publishers, such as Tu books, that focus on diversity, but the major publishers need to see that we, as readers, want equal representation in their books.

So that's how you battle the ~spooky~ lack of representation in YA. By reading. A tonne of other things will also help combat the spooky, such as writing blog posts, making a racket on tumblr, twitter, facebook etc., and if you're a writer, write diverse.

~Saruuh

((Never fear, I have not forgotten about ladies who like ladies and boys who like boys, and ladies who like ladies and boys, and boys who like boys and ladies. I've not even forgotten about ladies and boys who like people, and not a person's gender, or the ladies and boys who like ladies and boys without all those complicated want-to-have-sex feelings.

I'll make a post about sexual orientation in young adult books in the near future, but since my focus is on genre books and speculative fiction, I'm having a little difficulty finding asexual and pansexual representation in YA. And this is an issue. If you have any recommendations, please comment with them!))