The setting of Wings of Ebony was inspired by the neighborhood Jess grew up in, on the southeast side of Houston, where her younger teen sisters still live.įantasy author J. Releasing January 26, 2021, in time for Black History Month, Wings of Ebony is part of a YA fantasy duology about a black teen demigoddess named Rue who must rise up against racist deities who are poisoning her block with drugs, violence, and crime. Her debut YA novel Wings of Ebony was picked up by Simon & Schuster. Elle was discovered in October 2018, when she tweeted her storyline using the hashtag #DVPit, the Twitter book-pitching event for historically marginalized voices. Her young adult and middle grade fantasy novels, rich with adventure and contemporary themes, boldly depict Black girls using their own magic to influence their worlds and save the people and places they love.Īs a novelist, J. Elle, the prolific Black writer draws on her experiences as an inner-city kid, teacher, and military spouse to build fantastical worlds with a sense of home and community as family. Known to her friends as Jess, writing under the pen name J. Elle is rewriting the way Black kids see themselves and their communities.
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But having read some really stellar novellas/short stories, I know this could have been done better. It didn't bother me much since it wasn't as melodramatic or overdone (i.e., the lady doth protest too much) as some romances I've read. So the "tension" is just the heroine almost deliberately misinterpreting his interest for some vague fear that he's not saying he wants to try their relationship again he's just saying he'd like to be friends now that they've reconnected. In this case, the hero thinks of the heroine as "the one who got away" and almost immediately starts letting her know he wants to rekindle their relationship. The "second chance" trope is an easy way around that. Novellas and short stories in romance are tricky beasts because you don't get a lot of time to set up the romance and the characters. Who could resist a Christmas story about a woman who saves an adorable kitten (that she names Mistletoe) and ends up reconnecting with the vet who broke her heart years ago? It was exactly what I wanted at the time. Having just listened to several lengthy audiobooks, I wanted a short and sweet Christmas story. What did you like best about Mistletoe Magic? What did you like least? To save her mother, Xingyin embarks on a perilous quest, confronting legendary creatures and vicious enemies across the earth and skies. Disguising her identity, she seizes an opportunity to learn alongside the Crown Prince, mastering archery and magic, even as passion flames between her and the emperor’s son. But when Xingyin’s magic flares and her existence is discovered, she is forced to flee her home, leaving her mother behind.Īlone, untrained, and afraid, she makes her way to the Celestial Kingdom, a land of wonder and secrets. Growing up on the moon, Xingyin is accustomed to solitude, unaware that she is being hidden from the powerful Celestial Emperor who exiled her mother for stealing his elixir of immortality. Genres: Fiction / Cultural Heritage, Fiction / Fantasy / EpicĪ captivating debut fantasy inspired by the legend of the Chinese moon goddess, Chang’e , in which a young woman’s quest to free her mother pits her against the most powerful immortal in the realm and sets her on a dangerous path-where choices come with deadly consequences, and she risks losing more than her heart. Purchase Here Buy on Amazon US - Buy on Apple - Buy on Kobo - Buy on Google - Buy at Barnes and Noble - Buy on Waterstones - Buy on Audible - Buy on Amazon UK They ally, in the flesh, with King Gaius, who vows to use Lucia’s powers to unveil the Kindred.Īnd which side will Prince Magnus choose, now that everyone he’s been betrayed by everyone he’s ever loved? THE WATCHERS follow Melenia out of the Sanctuary. Ashur and Amara, the royal siblings from the vast kingdom across the Silver Sea, prove to be just as ruthless as they are charming as they manipulate their way to victory. Princess Cleo slays with sweetness-and a secret that might control Lucia’s magic-as she and vengeful Jonas lead the hunt for the all-powerful Kindred. The stakes have never been higher for Magnus and Cleo, who are brought together by a life or death decision that will lock their fates and change the course of the kingdom forever. Love will tear them apart.Īlliances form across Mytica and beyond as royals and rebels alike race to hunt down the Kindred-the four elemental crystals that give their owners god-like power. When you decide to re-imagine a mythology that already exists, what does that process look like? You re-imagine a lot of places-Vegas, New York, the British Empire in “The Ring and the Crown.” What do you understand about those places before you begin writing? This interview has been edited for length and clarity. We spoke with Melissa by phone about escapism, religion, mythology of the West by phone from her home in California. In 2016 alone, she will publish a four books of her own, including “Golden,” book three in the Heart of Dread series, out April 5, which is the same release day as “Surviving High School,” the book de la Cruz co-authored with Vine star Lele Pons. Whether she’s writing about the lavish Manhattan parties of beautiful powerful fallen angels known as Blue Bloods, or is in the mind of a young blackjack dealer in post-apocalyptic New Vegas, Melissa de la Cruz tackles questions of family, lineage, and inheritance in her bestselling young adult fiction - without kimping on magic, dystopia and myth. In her unhappiness at not fitting in, Robin blames her mother, but soon ditches this resentment, because her mother is her only true ally against the world. “Just like that, everything I loved was suddenly snatched away from me.” Robin can’t wait to return to Seoul, but then her mother announces her engagement to Mr. “I wondered what all these Korean people were doing here in the middle of nowhere in America.” Two younger children barely speak Korean, which astounds her. She also loves the city, where every corner “is full of stores and people.” When she and her mother visit her mother’s boyfriend’s family in Alabama, Robin feels uprooted, disoriented. Her mother owns, manages, and works in a beauty salon, and her father is never around. This autobiographical tale portrays childhood in Seoul, where Robin experiences the stigma of being an out-of-wedlock child. This is what happens in Robin Ha’s young adult graphic novel, Almost American Girl, which charts the journey of Robin and her mother from Seoul to Alabama to Virginia, and her salvation from isolation and misery: a comics-illustrating class. Please reload the page and try again.įor immigrants, arriving in a new country, learning a new language, starting at a new school, and making new friends can be tough enough, but blending in with a cold, new family makes it even tougher. Whoops! There was an error and we couldn't process your subscription. In May, the brigade was ordered to hold a position code-named ‘Blackpool’ near Mogaung in northern Burma. On the death of General Orde Wingate on 24 April, Lentaigne became the Chindits' overall commander and Masters commanded the main body of 111 Brigade. From March, 1944, the brigade served behind the Japanese lines in Burma. This caused a small scandal at the time.Īfter Staff College he first served as Brigade Major in 114th Indian Infantry Brigade before being "poached" by "Joe" Lentaigne, another officer from 4th Gurkhas, to be Brigade Major in 111th Indian Infantry Brigade, a Chindit formation. Here he met the wife of a fellow officer and began an affair. In early 1942, he attended the Indian Army Staff College at Quetta. Masters subsequently served in Iraq, Syria and Persia. He saw service on the North-West Frontier with the 2nd battalion of the regiment, and was rapidly given a variety of appointments within the battalion and the regimental depot, becoming the Adjutant of the 2nd battalion in early 1939.ĭuring World War II his battalion was sent to Basra in Iraq, during the brief Anglo-Iraqi War. On graduating from Sandhurst in 1933, he was seconded to the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry (DCLI) for a year before applying to serve with the 4th Prince of Wales's Own Gurkha Rifles. He was educated at Wellington and Sandhurst. Masters was the son of a lieutenant-colonel whose family had a long tradition of service in the Indian Army. Followers of this excellent series have stuck with Uhtred of Bebbanburg, the dispossessed pagan nobleman in thrall to the professionally Christian Wessexian monarch, through enough battles and perils for a dozen ordinary men. Suddenly forced to weigh his oath to the king against the dangerous turning tide of shifting allegiances and deadly power struggles, Uhtred-Alfred's sharpest sword-must now make the choice that will determine England's future. Read 1,250 reviews from the worlds largest community for readers. This thrilling adventurebased on existing records of Cornwell’s ancestorsdepicts a time when law and order were ripped violently apart by a pagan assault on Christian England, an assault that came very close to destroying England. But a dead man has risen, and new Vikings have invaded the decayed Roman city of London with dreams of conquering Wessex.with Uhtred's help. Sword Song (The Saxon Stories, 4) by Bernard Cornwell Sword Song book. Warrior by instinct and Viking by nature, Uhtred, the dispossessed son of a Northumbrian lord, has land, a wife and children-and a duty to King Alfred to hold the frontier on the Thames. The year is 885, and England is at peace, divided between the Danish kingdom to the north and the Saxon kingdom of Wessex in the south. 2007 by Bernard Cornwell (Author) 3,847 ratings Book 4 of 13: The Last Kingdom Kindle Edition £6.49 Read with Our Free App Audiobook £0.00 Free with your Audible trial Hardcover £22.99 37 Used from £1.34 2 New from £22.99 10 Collectible from £7.99 Paperback £7.18 28 Used from £1.16 18 New from £4. The fourth installment of Bernard Cornwell'sīestselling series chronicling the epic saga of the making of England, "like Game of Thrones, but real" ( In 2022, women earned an average of 82 of what men earned, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of median hourly earnings of both full- and part-time workers. In the next novel in this “constantly surprising series that deepens and darkens as it evolves” (New York Times Book Review), Gamache must face a horrific possibility, and a burning question. The gender gap in pay has remained relatively stable in the United States over the past 20 years or so. Increasingly hounded by the question, how would you feel…, he resumes the search.Īs the rivers rise, and the social media onslaught against Gamache becomes crueler, a body is discovered. But with a daughter of his own, he finds himself developing a profound, and perhaps unwise, empathy for her distraught father. In the middle of the turmoil a father approaches Gamache, pleading for help in finding his daughter.Īs crisis piles upon crisis, Gamache tries to hold off the encroaching chaos, and realizes the search for Vivienne Godin should be abandoned. Flood waters are rising across the province. It’s Gamache’s first day back as head of the homicide department, a job he temporarily shares with his previous second-in-command, Jean-Guy Beauvoir. Louise Penny discusses her novel, 'A Better Man', at a Politics and Prose event at George Washington University.It's Gamache's first day. Candance Chen’s life is full of sudden cutoffs and transitions outside of the office as well, including the end of society itself. The book’s title is a clever reference to the sudden end of our protagonist’s career as well as a theme of the entire work. In the same way that it seamlessly merges genres, Severance manages to maintain a tart sense of humor while facing the absurdities of living through an age of planned obsolescence as well as its ensuing demise. In each scenario, our protagonist has to figure out how to survive and find meaning in a world that is overcome by routine, leaving its citizens brain-dead at work and unaware that they’re dying. In her debut novel, Ling Ma contemplates whether a world plagued by global capitalism is that different from one plagued by zombies. Severance is a zombie apocalypse tale, a workplace comedy, and a classic coming-of-age story all in one. |