What I’ve Been Reading Lately (April, 2023)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews1 Comment

Happy Spring!  The weather is finally turning warm near me, but even though I do love reading under a warm blanket, my reading is still continuing along.  Mostly fiction in the last few weeks – and not quite as much Martha Wells as last month!

I did read two more installments in Wells’ Raksura series though – Book 4, The Edge of Worlds, and an anthology of short stories set in the same world, Stories of the Raksura, Volume One (of Two).  I should have read the short stories before Book 4, I think – no real harm in spoilers, but the chronology would have fit better.  I enjoyed both books – the short stories had some interesting alternate perspectives and filled in a few pieces of world building, and Book 4 started a new adventure that continues into the final book.  Still highly recommend this series! Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (April, 2023)” →

Launch Day: The Princess Behind Thorns (Thorns 1)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Novel News3 Comments

It’s launch day, and I’m so excited to share this brand new series with you!  After four years in the writing, The Princess Behind Thorns is finally available, and I hope you’re going to love this new world and characters.

You can buy your copy in Kindle, paperback or hardback.

Here’s a little more about the book:

For this princess forced under an enchantment, escaping from her spell is only the first ordeal. Claiming the throne is even more dangerous.

Princess Rose Amelia has spent a hundred years trapped in a magical garden, surrounded by walls of thorns that protect her from rescuers she never wanted. Nothing ever changes – until the spell twists to threaten her as well, and a prince finally breaks through the thorns.

Prince Terrence knows he would never be his father’s preference to inherit the throne. But he also knows his oldest brother won’t take care of their people, and rescuing the Princess Behind Thorns is the only way he can become heir. He planned on marrying her to claim the inheritance; he didn’t plan on falling in love with her.

Escaping from the magical garden and returning to court will plunge Terrence and Rose both into a deadly world of politics, intrigue and betrayals. Making a claim to the throne doesn’t guarantee it will be accepted, and deciding to marry doesn’t mean that they actually can. To protect the country and themselves, they must learn who to trust and who is an enemy – and somehow learn how to admit their feelings for each other too.

This fantasy romance, the first in a series, brings a new angle to the story of Sleeping Beauty by starting where most versions end. If you enjoy heroines finding their strength, fantasy worlds with a touch of intrigue, and slightly magical cats, you won’t want to miss the Thorns Saga.

Writing Update (March, 2023)

On By cherylmahoneyIn Writing1 Comment

I’ve had lots of writing progress since my last update, so that’s exciting to be sharing.  As you hopefully saw, The Princess Behind Thorns (Thorns 1) will be published in just over a week!  The book will be out on April 4th; the Kindle is already available for pre-order, and it will be available in paperback and hardback too.

I also finished my current round of revisions for Thorns 2, and sent that off to beta-readers last week.  I wrote the first draft in November of 2019, so it’s really great to hit this point finally.  The draft will be with beta-readers for a couple months, and I plan on more revision in the summer.  So hopefully it won’t be too many months before I can share this one with everyone too!

For now, I’m doing some revision on my collaborative novel, Pesto, Pirouettes and Potions…which has also been in process for a few years (there’s a theme here, and it’s very much pandemic-related!)  That’s a relatively brief project for now, and then I’ll be on to revisions of Thorns 3!  This one was drafted just last November, so it’s a comparatively recent project.  It’s exciting to be onto something new, so I’m looking forward to diving back into that.

I expect to be in this series for a while…but it feels good to be moving on to later parts of the story!

What I’ve Been Reading Lately (March, 2023)

On By cherylmahoneyIn ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ve been reading a lot of good books lately, some quite varied…although you could sum a surprising amount of it up just by saying “Martha Wells” – who, even though it’s only March, is a serious contender this year for new addition to my favorite authors!

My recent reads have included no less than three Martha Wells books, all strikingly different – although I think I finally clued into the through-line between them.  First I read Emilie and the Hollow World, a YA novel that feels like a homage to classic sci fi, which centers on Emilie who stows away on a rather steampunk ship and finds herself accidentally on a mission to another world inside the – well, I don’t think it’s Earth, so let’s just say planet.  Then I read The Siren Depths, Book 3 of the Raksura series, and possibly my new favorite – more for the character drama than the action, though that was pretty good too.  And then I caught up on the Murderbot Diaries with Fugitive Telemetry, one of the best of the series I think, with the main character fully realized by this point, and easier to follow than some as a pretty tightly-plotted murder mystery. Continue reading “What I’ve Been Reading Lately (March, 2023)” →

Proof Arrival for The Princess Behind Thorns

On By cherylmahoneyIn Novel News1 Comment

Earlier this week I announced that my next book, The Princess Behind Thorns, will be published April 4th.  In another exciting thing, the proof copy for the paperback version arrived a few days ago.  Check it out in the video below, and don’t forget you can preorder the Kindle version!