 Summer vacation time is nearing and what better way to spend it than to binge read an epic fantasy series… that is why we are bringing an interview with one such author to you! We sat down and talked to the incredible Jenn Lyons about her series A Chorus of Dragons and about her experiences as a writer in the publishing industry. All five books of the series are out so we do encourage you to grab them all for a binge read. This is a tale that is honestly best read in quick succession as you’re going to be hooked with this cast of characters and their lives. Perfect for fans of Patrick Rothfuss and George R. Martin.
When destiny calls, there's no fighting back. Kihrin grew up in the slums of Quur, a thief and a minstrel's son raised on tales of long-lost princes and magnificent quests. When he is claimed against his will as the missing son of a treasonous prince, Kihrin finds himself at the mercy of his new family's ruthless power plays and political ambitions. Practically a prisoner, Kihrin discovers that being a long-lost prince is nothing like what the storybooks promised. The storybooks have lied about a lot of other things, too: dragons, demons, gods, prophecies, and how the hero always wins. Then again, maybe he isn't the hero after all. For Kihrin is not destined to save the world. He's destined to destroy it. Jenn Lyons begins the Chorus of Dragons series with The Ruin of Kings, an epic fantasy novel about a man who discovers his fate is tied to the future of an empire.
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 May is here and we are super excited for our late spring and early summer line up of author interviews! Please keep an eye out for interviews with authors such as Jenn Lyons during the summer while we celebrate some of the latest releases. But today we are thrilled to have talked to Emily J. Taylor about her newest release, Hotel Magnifique. We devoured this book the moment we got our hands on it. It is full of magic and intrigue, including a scene with our main characters trapped on one bed together getting closer and closer. As soon as we started reading, we knew that we had to talk to Emily about her process and are happy to share some more background about this book with you all! We hope that you’ve enjoyed it as much as we did, but if you haven’t picked it up yet this will be sure to give you that final push to grabbing it from your local bookstore.
“All her life, Jani has dreamed of Elsewhere. Just barely scraping by with her job at a tannery, she’s resigned to a dreary life in the port town of Durc, caring for her younger sister Zosa. That is, until the Hotel Magnifique comes to town. The hotel is legendary not only for its whimsical enchantments, but also for its ability to travel—appearing in a different destination every morning. While Jani and Zosa can’t afford the exorbitant costs of a guest’s stay, they can interview to join the staff, and are soon whisked away on the greatest adventure of their lives. But once inside, Jani quickly discovers their contracts are unbreakable and that beneath the marvelous glamour, the hotel is hiding dangerous secrets. With the vexingly handsome doorman Bel as her only ally, Jani embarks on a mission to unravel the mystery of the magic at the heart of the hotel and free Zosa—and the other staff—from the cruelty of the ruthless maître d’hôtel. To succeed, she’ll have to risk everything she loves, but failure would mean a fate far worse than never returning home.”  It’s the end of April and the sun is shining here where we are. We hope the weather is just as beautiful where you are! Especially if the weather is gorgeous enough that you can sit outside with a good book and a nice iced tea. Today, we’d love to share an author with you that has many titles out where you can sit and binge read for days on the beach.
That’s right, we are speaking to British fantasy author Richard Ford! You might have heard of his previous series, Steelhaven, or you might know him better as R.S Ford with his War of the Archons series. He currently has a new series starting under R.S Ford with the first book, Engines of Empire, out now. Here’s a quick blurb about Engines of Empire and then keep reading on to find out more from Richard himself! “The nation of Torwyn is run on the power of industry, and industry is run by the Guilds. Chief among them are the Hawkspurs, and their responsibility is to keep the gears of the empire turning. It’s exactly why matriarch Rosomon Hawkspur sends each of her heirs to the far reaches of the nation. Conall, the eldest son, is sent to the distant frontier to earn his stripes in the military. It is here that he faces a threat he could have never seen coming: the first rumblings of revolution. Tyreta’s sorcerous connection to the magical resource of pyrstone that fuels the empire’s machines makes her a perfect heir–in theory. While Tyreta hopes that she might shirk her responsibilities during her journey one of Torwyn’s most important pyrestone mines, she instead finds the dark horrors of industry that the empire would prefer to keep hidden. The youngest, Fulren, is a talented artificer, and finds himself acting as consort to a foreign emissary. Soon after, he is framed for a crime he never committed. A crime that could start a war. As each of the Hawkspurs grapple with the many threats that face the nation within and without, they must finally prove themselves worthy–or their empire will fall apart.”  We are mid-way through April and wow have we read so many books that we’ve loved. Our author interview line up is amazing for this spring and summer so make sure to keep up to date through our instagram page. You don’t want to miss out on any of these interviews!
Speaking of author interviews, we had the absolute privilege of interviewing the one and only Tara Sim, author of Scavenge the Stars and the thrilling Timekeepers Trilogy. But we talked to her about her newest book “The City of Dusk” which kicks off an epic fantasy adult series. It gripped us from the very start so we hope you’ll click the link to your right and grab a copy for yourself as it will take hold and never let you go, becoming your favourite epic fantasy series to date. Here’s a little sneak peek into what the book is about and then onto the interview after the read more break! “The Four Realms—Life, Death, Light, and Darkness—all converge on the city of dusk. For each realm there is a god, and for each god there is an heir. But the gods have withdrawn their favor from the once vibrant and thriving city. And without it, all the realms are dying. Unwilling to stand by and watch the destruction, the four heirs—Risha, a necromancer struggling to keep the peace; Angelica, an elementalist with her eyes set on the throne; Taesia, a shadow-wielding rogue with rebellion in her heart; and Nik, a soldier who struggles to see the light— will sacrifice everything to save the city. But their defiance will cost them dearly.”  Happy April everyone! We are super excited that spring is on the way so hopefully there is a little more sunshine to read by soon. Today we are excited to announce some more changes to our blog as we have decided to streamline everything. As you know, we have mainly fantasy and historical fiction books as a common genre that we both enjoy. Therefore, we have decided to stick with those genres as much as possible. You’ll see some content on our Instagram page with other genres that we love to read, but the blog will be strictly in that fantasy/ historical genre theme. With that said, we are also going to keep our reviews to the Instagram page. This leaves our blog free to bring you all many more author interviews where we talk to authors about their writing process, inspirations, and try to get the juicy details about what our favourite characters are up to. Many of the interviews will have some spoilers but we will try to warn you so you can skip those questions until you’ve read the book yourself.
With that said, our first interview with this change is one that we are very excited about! You’ve seen our interview with Nghi Vo on her Gatsby retelling so you know that we had to pick up “Wild and Wicked Things” by Francesca May immediately. It is beautifully inspired by Gatsby with the addition of illegal magic, gender swapping Gatsby, LGBTQ+ romance, and a lot of gothic darkness hidden just under the surface. Usually we have Q&A style interviews for you, but this time was special because Ashli got to sit down with Francesca over Zoom and have a full conversation. Therefore, this interview will be styled a little bit more like a Rolling Stones article so please keep on reading and let us know which style you prefer best on our Instagram post sharing this interview.  Happy March everyone! The goal this month was to buddy read Gallant by V.E. Schwab but Erin’s copy was delayed from England so we took the first week of March off and skipped to our second read of the month; The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley. We both loved her Reese Witherspoon book club pick, The Guest List, so this was a no brainer to read as soon as we heard about the release. Because of the style that this book is written in, we decided to focus on the actual writing and our thoughts of the general plot/ characters/ locations. We do fully recommend clicking on the book depository link on the side of the page and grabbing a copy yourself. Keep in mind that there are multiple trigger warnings that include alcoholism, sex, mental health, and abuse in this book. Now, without further ado; our review!
“Jess needs a fresh start. She’s broke and alone, and she’s just left her job under less than ideal circumstances. Her half-brother Ben didn’t sound thrilled when she asked if she could crash with him for a bit, but he didn’t say no, and surely everything will look better from Paris. Only when she shows up – to find a very nice apartment, could Ben really have afforded this? – he’s not there. The longer Ben stays missing, the more Jess starts to dig into her brother’s situation, and the more questions she has. Ben’s neighbors are an eclectic bunch, and not particularly friendly. Jess may have come to Paris to escape her past, but it’s starting to look like it’s Ben’s future that’s in question. The socialite – The nice guy – The alcoholic – The girl on the verge – The concierge Everyone’s a neighbor. Everyone’s a suspect. And everyone knows something they’re not telling.”  It’s the penultimate blog post of the month of Maas! We got our copies of House of Sky & Breath and devoured them immediately. There was a lot of texting back and forth as we discovered new information throughout this easter egg filled story which we finally get to share with you all! It has been just over a week since the book was released, so we hope that you have all got to read it but we do warn that there are spoilers in this conversation; especially towards the end. Grab your nearest Suriel and some mugs of tea, because it’s gossip time…
“Bryce Quinlan and Hunt Athalar are trying to get back to normal―they may have saved Crescent City, but with so much upheaval in their lives lately, they mostly want a chance to relax. Slow down. Figure out what the future holds. The Asteri have kept their word so far, leaving Bryce and Hunt alone. But with the rebels chipping away at the Asteri’s power, the threat the rulers pose is growing. As Bryce, Hunt, and their friends get pulled into the rebels’ plans, the choice becomes clear: stay silent while others are oppressed, or fight for what’s right. And they’ve never been very good at staying silent. In this sexy, action-packed sequel to the #1 bestseller House of Earth and Blood, Sarah J. Maas weaves a captivating story of a world about to explode―and the people who will do anything to save it.”  As everyone knows, we adore Sarah J Maas over here. She’s our fantasy queen and we will devour anything she throws at us. So it is no shock that we are crazy excited for the second Crescent City novel being released later this month. That excitement pushed us to do a re-read of House of Earth and Blood so we could reboot our memories of what happened and we wanted to share our thoughts with you all, including our predictions for what will happen in House of Sky and Breath. Please join us in this journey and don't forget to check out our teas! They are available on this site as well as Etsy.
“Bryce Quinlan had the perfect life—working hard all day and partying all night—until a demon murdered her closest friends, leaving her bereft, wounded, and alone. When the accused is behind bars but the crimes start up again, Bryce finds herself at the heart of the investigation. She’ll do whatever it takes to avenge their deaths. Hunt Athalar is a notorious Fallen angel, now enslaved to the Archangels he once attempted to overthrow. His brutal skills and incredible strength have been set to one purpose—to assassinate his boss’s enemies, no questions asked. But with a demon wreaking havoc in the city, he’s offered an irresistible deal: help Bryce find the murderer, and his freedom will be within reach. As Bryce and Hunt dig deep into Crescent City’s underbelly, they discover a dark power that threatens everything and everyone they hold dear, and they find, in each other, a blazing passion—one that could set them both free, if they’d only let it.” 
It’s almost the end of January and so much has already happened this year. As most of you know, we’ve launched our first four blends of tea based on some of our favourite books which you can check out on our site or on etsy. There are limited amounts of tins available so please grab them while you can! On other news… we have also become affiliates with Book Depository! This is one of our favourite sites to buy books from when we can’t grab them from our local bookstores. The price that you see is the price that you pay… even textbooks can be found at a reasonable price. So make sure that you click on the banner at the end of the post to check them out. You’ll maybe even be persuaded to pick up a copy of today’s review book: Good Rich People by Eliza Jane Brazier. “Lyla has always believed that life is a game she is destined to win, but her husband, Graham, takes the game to dangerous levels. The wealthy couple invites self-made success stories to live in their guesthouse and then conspires to ruin their lives. After all, there is nothing worse than a bootstrapper. Demi has always felt like the odds were stacked against her. At the end of her rope, she seizes a risky opportunity to take over another person’s life and unwittingly becomes the subject of the upstairs couple’s wicked entertainment. But Demi has been struggling all her life, and she’s not about to go down without a fight. In a twist that neither woman sees coming, the game quickly devolves into chaos and rockets toward an explosive conclusion. Because every good rich person knows: in money and in life, it’s winner take all. Even if you have to leave a few bodies behind.”  Welcome to 2022 everyone! It’s already been a big year here at Books, Tea & Whiskers. If you haven’t already noticed, we have branched out from only doing book reviews! Please don’t hesitate to check out our line of book inspired teas on this very site. But don’t fret because we are still going to do reviews at least twice a month with the newest releases.
Our first book is slightly different from our usual reviews as we decided to read and review a contemporary romance. This year we are going to do our best to read from a variety of genres in order to get outside of our fantasy comfort zone. So sit back, check the weather, and be prepared for some cozy romance with Rachel Lynn Solomon’s Weather Girl! Warning: This review does have some spoilers so we really do recommend grabbing your copy, curling up with this perfect love story, and then coming back to see what we thought. “Ari Abrams has always been fascinated by the weather, and she loves almost everything about her job as a TV meteorologist. Her boss, legendary Seattle weatherwoman Torrance Hale, is too distracted by her tempestuous relationship with her ex-husband, the station’s news director, to give Ari the mentorship she wants. Ari, who runs on sunshine and optimism, is at her wits’ end. The only person who seems to understand how she feels is sweet but reserved sports reporter Russell Barringer. In the aftermath of a disastrous holiday party, Ari and Russell decide to team up to solve their bosses’ relationship issues. Between secret gifts and double dates, they start nudging their bosses back together. But their well-meaning meddling backfires when the real chemistry builds between Ari and Russell. Working closely with Russell means allowing him to get to know parts of herself that Ari keeps hidden from everyone. Will he be able to embrace her dark clouds as well as her clear skies?" |
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