Author: cherylmahoney

I'm a book review blogger and writer. I have published four novels, The Wanderers; The Storyteller and Her Sisters; and The People the Fairies Forget; and The Lioness and the Spellspinners. All can be found on Amazon as an ebook and paperback. In my day job, I'm a Marketing Specialist. Find me on Twitter (@MarvelousTales) and GoodReads (MarvelousTales).

Quotable: Some things, you just don’t do

On By cherylmahoneyIn Novel News, Quotable1 Comment

As the release of my book Nocturne approaches, I thought it would be fun to offer a few glimpses of the story by sharing some quotes.  One of the most iconic scenes in the Phantom mythos is when Christine unmasks the Phantom.  In my version, we see that happen from the Phantom’s perspective, and hear about it again in Meg Giry’s point of view.  Meg is appalled by the whole business, and I have to agree with her!

Look for Nocturne on June 5th in Kindle, paperback and hardback, and pre-order your Kindle copy today.

Movie Review: The Gerard Butler Phantom

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews3 Comments

With Nocturne coming out in just a few weeks, you can probably expect a lot of Phantom around here for a while!  Today is no exception, as my review today is of one of the major Phantom of the Opera versions: the 2004 Andrew Lloyd Webber movie, starring Gerard Butler and Emmy Rossum.  I have mixed feelings about this one – and a theory involving Raoul and unreliable narration to explain everything from strange costume choices to the Phantom’s unstable character…  Enjoy watching!

Friday Face-Off: Surprisingly Pink

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations2 Comments

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: As pink as cotton candy – any cover that is pink

I went to hunt my bookshelves for this prompt, to see what pink covers I could turn up.  I was actually kind of surprised to realize that my Song of the Lioness quartet books actually have a lot of pink on them.  And when I started looking at covers online, this seemed to be a trend.  Considering I feel like they started the “woman as hero” genre of books, with the heroine disguising herself as a man, well…”pink” isn’t really what comes to mind.  Although Alanna does eventually come to discover that, while she definitely wants to be a knight and use a sword, sometimes she enjoys styling her hair and wearing a dress, so–bit of balance there.

Anyway, here are a few cover versions of the third book in the series, The Woman Who Rides Like a Man, selecting for pink ones!

This is definitely the pinkest.  The war horse and the pink background is…interesting.

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: Surprisingly Pink” →

Nocturne Virtual Launch Party

On By cherylmahoneyIn Novel News1 Comment

As you MAY have heard once or twice, my next book, Nocturne, will be out June 5th.  I would normally throw a book launch and signing party, but seeing as we’re in a pandemic, gathering lots of people together to share pizza and pass books back and forth is not going to be happening in the near future.  So the good news is that I’m throwing a virtual launch party instead – so you can attend whether you live down the street or on the other side of the world!

I’ve set up an online event on Facebook and will be posting there throughout Launch Weekend with fun Phantom trivia, chances to share your best mask photo, details about the book, and more.  I will also be streaming a live video presentation on YouTube talking about the book, reading an excerpt, and answering questions.  It’s all strange and different, but I think it will be fun!

If you want to get this on your calendar, head over to join the Facebook event, and vote in the poll for the best time for the video presentation.  And if you’re not on Facebook, don’t worry – I’ll be posting the link to the YouTube presentation here too, as soon as I schedule the livestream (which sounds contradictory, but is in fact a thing).

And as always, you can find out more about Nocturne here, and don’t forget that pre-orders are already available!

Friday Face-Off: Fairy Tales, in Pictures

On By cherylmahoneyIn Ruminations1 Comment

FFO.jpg

It’s time again for the Friday Face-Off meme, created by Books by Proxy, with weekly topics hosted by Lynn’s Book Blog.  The idea is to put up different covers for one book, and select a favorite.

This week’s theme is: Graphic novel cover – “Love belongs to Desire, and Desire is always cruel”

I don’t read many graphic novels, so I had to really think about this one…and then I remembered that I did read quite a few of the Fables graphic novel series.  Characters from fairy tales (and sometimes nursery rhymes) are living in a secret community in modern day New York, exiles from their magical home.  Despite what this might sound like, they’re very adult-oriented graphic novels, with mature themes and sometimes more blood than I really needed!  Still a fun series though, and I probably read eight or ten volumes.  But I thought I’d look at covers for Volume One.

This seems to be the most common cover, and I think the one on the copy I read.  I actually don’t like it!  It looks too busy, and even studying it, it’s hard to tell exactly what’s going on, or what sense I’m supposed to get of the book.

Continue reading “Friday Face-Off: Fairy Tales, in Pictures” →