This is the story of the greatest funambulist who ever lived. How she was born and raised in the circus, neglected by her parents and groomed to be a star. How she had to learn what love was and what it wasn’t. How she only learnt her own true story when it was almost too late. How she left the circus and made herself into a star without their help. How that star fell brutally and dramatically.
Shiori is a spoiled princess who loves her brothers, hates her stepmother and doesn’t want to marry the random nobleman her father has picked out for her. Life is simple. Then she meets a dragon, learns of her own magic and discovers that her stepmother is keeping secrets. Life will never be simple again. Cursed into silence and anonymity, her only thoughts are finding her brothers and breaking the curse that keeps them as cranes by day. If only she knew that having cranes for brothers was the least of her problems. At least she has Kiki, her trusted magic paper bird.
To be published 27/01/2022…
Blake’s Emporium for Exotic Antiquities is a rundown shop of fakes; a mockery of the lustre and status it once held. Hezekiah Blake is to blame of course, him and his greed, but if her Uncle choses to run her dead parent’s legacy into the ground then there is not much more that Dora can do but watch. Watch and mourn and plan her escape. When the ancient Greek urn first arrives in the shop Dora sees it only as an inspiration for her jewellery designs. Little does she know that it will be the catalyst for the discovery of a lifetime and the shattering of her world as she knows it. Where did Hezekiah find the urn and why does he keep it hidden away behind a locked door? These are just the tip of the iceberg for the questions that Dora isn’t sure she really wants the answers to. But one way or another she will find out.
(A.K.A Lucy Hounsom)
Keyne, Riva and Sinne are sisters. Their King has a magical connection to the land that surrounds their home; through this connection he grants protection to his people and gives them access to small, everyday magic to make their lives easier. But a silver-tongued intruder whispers in his ear and the King turns against the magic of the land to worship a new god. The magic fades and the protection weakens and soon everyone in the kingdom is under threat. From the inside they face famine and from the outside the Saxon invaders creep ever closer. As the King’s children, it is up to Keyne, Riva and Sinne to save the kingdom. But will their own magic be enough?
Born poisonous to the touch, Soraya has lived her life locked away and isolated in the palace whilst her family travel to all corners of the kingdom with royal fanfare. When a captured demon offers her the answer to breaking her curse, she wants to jump for joy. But her curse might not be the only thing to be destroyed if Soraya follows through on the demon’s plan. And the demon isn’t done there. It has more answers for Soraya. Answers to questions she didn’t even know she had; dangerous questions that could change everything. Besides, the demon asks, who will Soraya be without her poison?
To be published 26/08/2021…
The war is over. Troy has fallen. Achilles is dead.
But life goes on for Briseis; life and pain. She is no longer a slave. Her new status is defined by Achilles’ child growing inside her and the wedding vows that his right hand man Alcimus swore to her. Yet she feels no freer than she did before, no less trapped, no less alone, no less scared. All she can do to fight against these feelings is to make sure that the Trojan women, the new slaves ‘earned’ by the sacking of Troy, are safe and cared for.
Continue reading “‘The Women of Troy’ by Pat Barker”To be published 24/06/2021…
When she got on the plane to New Zealand Ruth could never have imagined that she wouldn’t ever be going home again, that there would be no home left to go back to. Saved from a mysterious apocalypse by the bizarre chance of finding shelter inside a beached whale, all she can do is try to survive her new life with the handsome stranger she is now trapped in it with.
Continue reading “‘The Stranding’ by Kate Sawyer”To be published 11/05/2021…
In all her life Louisa LaRoche has never touched the ground. She floats through life doing her very best to hide the constant gap between her feet and the ground. Sitting is even more difficult because she has to hide the gap between her feet and the ground and the gap between her body and the chair. As a consequence she doesn’t get out much. But, when her mother dies and there is no one to pay the rent, out is the only place she has. Grieving, alone and confused, Louisa’s only hope is in finding her father; the man who floated out of the window and into the sky and never came back. A chance encounter leads her to the carnival but, after a lifetime of living in the shadows, is she prepared to step into centre stage for all to see?
Continue reading “‘The Forest of Stars’ by Heather Kassner”
Born Miren Elliot but raised as Miren O’Malley by her grandparents, a young girl grows up secluded in a grand house slowly falling into ruin. She lives off the stories that her grandmother tells her and is taught that the O’Malley name and reputation is important above all else. The stories tell of what her ancestors have given to protect the family legacy, their children to be exact; one in each generation, given as a sacrifice to the sea to protect the family’s fortunes.
Continue reading “‘All The Murmuring Bones’ by A.G. Slatter”To be published 27/04/2021…
Antonina Beaulieu is not like other girls. She prefers beetles to jewellery and has a habit of accidentally moving things with her mind when her emotions run high. Her aunt, Valerie, tasked with introducing her into high society, despairs. If only Nina would marry someone rich and noble quickly so that she could be somebody else’s problem, but Nina wants a romantic whirlwind love and her doting uncle is more than happy to indulge her whims.
Continue reading “‘The Beautiful Ones’ by Silvia Moreno-Garcia”
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