The Queen of the Realm of Faerie Book Blitz

Blitz Featured Blogs:

Krystal's Enchanting Reads
Kassie's Book Thoughts (Giveaway + Spunky Half-Faerie Interviews Heidi Garrett)
Fae Books (Giveaway + Excerpt)
The Book Tart (Giveaway + Fairytale Magic)
The Shadow Realm (Giveaway + Excerpt)

Tuesday, June 18

The Diary of an Engineer (Giveaway)
Bookwyrming Thoughts

Itching for Books

Wednesday, June 19

Why I Can't Stop Reading (Giveaway + Excerpt)
The Indigo Quill (Excerpt)
Mom With a Kindle (Top 10 TV Shows)

Thursday, June 20

Jany's Book Blog (Excerpt)

Friday, June 21 

Share My Destiny (Giveaway + Excerpt)

Nazish Reads (Giveaway + Excerpt)
Love in a Book (Top 10 TV Shows)

Saturday, June 22

The Rest is Still UnWritten (Giveaway + Excerpt)

alwaysjoart

Monday, June 24
Dee's Reads(Giveaway)
Deal Sharing Aunt (Giveaway + Spunky Half-Faerie Interviews Heidi Garrett)

Tuesday, June 25
Reviewing in Chaos (Giveaway + Excerpt)
The Fantastical World of Wonders (Giveaway + Fairytale Magic)
Darlene's Book Nook (Giveaway + Fairytale Magic)
My Life is a Notebook  (Giveaway + Excerpt)

The Short and Long of It Giveway: WINNERS!

Thank you to everyone who took the time to comment and enter the The Short and Long of It Giveaway. I learned a lot from reading your thoughts about whether you prefer to read shorter or longer books!

While shorter books are quicker to read (great for our Goodreads reading challenge) and easier to digest in some regards, it seems that plenty of readers prefer to get caught up in longer reads. I'm not sure why this surprised me, but it did.

When submitting books to agents and editors in traditional publishing, a rule of thumb is nothing much longer than 100,000 words. That's a respectable size novel, not too long, not too short. However, it seems like when books are longer, and the length is not padding, but involve character growth, necessary world building, and an intriguing plot, readers enjoy that getting-lost-in-the-world feeling.

THE WINNERS*

Shorter:

Anne

Debra

Dena

Elizabeth

Longer:

Christina

Rebecca

Summer

Tanya Y.

*All the winners have been notified. 

The Weekend Extract: Wicked Nixies & Wicked Games

After everything Melia survived in Half Faerie, you might think the poor half-faerie could get a break. Maybe fly off into the sunset and live happily ever after…

Uhm. Not yet.

This weekend's extract is from Half Mortal:

They heard the song—a duet—before they saw the singers. A siren’s ethereal face peered over the cliff’s ledge; her enormous wings—they looked like they belonged to an oversized butterfly—beat a slow and steady rhythm, suspending her in midair. Two arms wrapped around her neck. Her singing partner—a glamorous nixie—peeked from behind the siren’s neck through a tumble of golden hair.

Tatou stepped back.

Melia froze.

Sirens lured mortals to a watery death, but a powerful one could seduce a creature from the Enchanted World, too. All of a sudden, Illialei, which had always struck Melia as a lush and whimsical paradise for overgrown children, filled her with horror. Never mind that the siren and nixie were technically from the Muannai Valley.

“We were coming to dive.” The siren sounded like a swan. “We couldn’t help but hear your call.”

Melia and Tatou backed up one step at a time. Distance was the only thing that might protect them.

“It’s the black eagle,” the nixie said in the common tongue.

Melia clamped her beak. A row of small pointed teeth contrasted with the nixie’s pouty mouth. Nixies—distant kin to Illialei’s mermaids—were the water faeries native to Tyrannis. They were smaller than mermaids, although not as small as pixies, more like the size of a short field faerie—about three feet long. They were reputed to be wicked.

“You know me?” Melia asked.

The nixie showed more teeth.

Melia flinched before she realized the water faerie was smiling.

This week's song is siren Heather Nova's silky cover of "Wicked Game"…because Melia's still having a hard time letting go and falling in love...

the Siege Perilous: Nandana's Mark

I'm  honored that Nandana's Mark has been featured on Episode 3 of the Siege Perilous. I just listened to the podcast and have to admit: It had me in tears, I was laughing so hard in certain places. It was also very instructive.

I'll update this post as soon as I can with some choice quotes….

Until then, you can download or listen to the podcast here. (Sorry, the podcast is no longer available.)

About the Siege Perilous podcast:

In Arthurian legend, the Siege Perilous (also known as The Perilous Seat) is a vacant seat at the Round Table reserved by Merlin for the knight who would one day be successful in the quest for the Holy Grail. The Siege Perilous is so strictly reserved that it is fatal to anyone else who sits in it.

The Siege Perilous Podcast reviews independently published ebooks of the fantasy and science-fiction genres and their sub-genres.

New episodes are released every two weeks on Tuesdays and last approximately one hour each.

Each episode focuses on one book and its author only and feature a roundtable of reviewers. The host, Eric Guindon, and his guests, Valerie Doucette, Sean Helferty, and Ted Whitmell, discuss the book and then assign it a rating, which can lead to very lively debates and arguments.

grumpy, lovable—and wounded ... Flora's Secret by Enya

Today's excerpt from Half Faerie and playlist song highlight Flora, the grumpy, lovable, wise—and wounded—spring faerie. In my wildest dreams, Peter Jackson directs Daughter of Light and Kathy Bates stars as Flora. SIGH.

 From Half Faerie, "Chapter 45: A Dinner Party"

“One day the muannai will be as free to travel between the Mortal and Enchanted worlds as the rest of you are. That’s my dream,” Goring said.

“No, they won’t,” Flora said.

“Ah. You can foresee the future. Is that a special talent spring faeries possess?”

“Anyone can read the times, compare them to the winds of change, and draw their own conclusion.”

“Now you’re a poet.”

“Flattery doesn’t become you, Zachariah. Umbra’s incarnation will close the ancient doors. It won’t open new ones,” Flora said.

Goring twisted the cuff of his fitted white shirt. “And you know this, how?”

“The Whole is self-protecting, and Umbra is mortal ash. Everything about him is dead to the Mortal World. Incarnated or not, it will repel him.”

“Then why bother?”

“No one argues the Whole is out of balance. That something must be done,” Flora said.

Goring prodded her. “Least of all you.”

Her eyes flashed. “Least of all me.”

The muannaye leaned back in his chair. “The truth is that none of us here, at this table, or anywhere in the Whole, know what new age Umbra’s incarnation will usher in.”

Flora raised her glass of beer. “But we can all agree that it will be a new one.”

Goring picked up his glass to match Flora’s toast. “To the advent of a new age, a springtime in history,” he said.


This week's song comes from @RachmiFebrianty's Half Faerie playlist. She selected "Flora's Secret" by Enya as the perfect musical expression of the spring faerie's soul…I agree.

And yes, Flora does have a secret…

Giveaway: The Short and Long of It

The Winners!
How do you like your books?

Would you rather read three shorter books?

Or one longer book?

We're going to give away 4 ebook sets of the first three books in the Queen of the Realm of Faerie fantasy fairytale series (Nandana's Mark, The Flower of Isbelline, and The Dragon Carnviale), AND 4 ebook copies of True Love's First Kiss (a compilation of the first three books in the series)!

How can you win?

Tell us whether you prefer your books shorter or longer in a comment below.

If you prefer shorter books, you'll be eligible to win one of the 4 ebook sets. If you prefer longer books, you'll be eligible to win one of the 4 ebook compilations. The winners will be picked in a random drawing. Please leave your email address in your comment so we can contact the winners.

Want to increase your odds of winning?

Tweet about this giveaway.

Include a link to this giveaway page, mention @heidigwrites, and use the hashtag #longer or #shorter in every tweet for more entries! Each tweet will count as one additional entry.

This contest will run until midnight PST on Sunday, June 16, 2013. The winners will be announced on this blog on Monday, June 17, 2013.

In the Enchanted World, true love’s first kiss is magic.

Nandana’s Mark, Book 1: When two half-faeries—Melia and her younger sister—are cursed under dreadful circumstances, true love’s first kiss is the remedy.

The Flower of Isbelline, Book 2: Nothing but true love’s first kiss can save Melia’s younger sister from blind ambition and ruin.

The Dragon Carnivale, Book 3: Melia must choose the freedom she cherishes or true love’s first kiss—and a relationship that promises to secure her place in the Whole.

Queen of the Realm of Faerie is a fairy tale fantasy series that bridges the Mortal and Enchanted worlds. It is also an epic fantasy. The main character, Melia, is an eighteen-year-old half-faerie, half-mortal.

When the story opens in the first book, Melia is troubled by her dark moon visions, gossip she overhears about her parents at the local market, and the trauma of living among full-blooded faeries with wings—she doesn’t have any.

As the series unfolds, the historic and mystical forces that shape Melia’s life are revealed. Each step of her journey—to find the place where she belongs—alters her perceptions about herself, deepens her relationships with others, and enlarges her world view.

True Love’s First Kiss is a compilation of the first three books in this ongoing series.

Note: We've been notified that some people are still unable to make comments. GRRR!!!!! and Sorry!!!!! Not sure why that is, if anyone knows… Otherwise, if you try to make a comment and can't, please email me at heidi _ g @ comcast . net! I'll post your entry for you, Thank you.