Tag: recommendation

Posted in Blog, Sapphic Indie Spotlight

March Spotlight: Thea Hawthorne

Posted on by

Hello everyone! For the first in my Indie Sapphic Author Spotlight series, I’m pleased to feature Thea Hawthorne! She’s a cozy sapphic romance author, and her books are dreamy and beautiful. She recently released a new novella entitled A Reverie of Roses, and I got the chance to sit down with her and ask a few questions!

Q: What was your inspiration for writing A Reverie of Roses?

    A: Nora was a side character in my first novella, and I found her really interesting. I liked the idea of exploring an artist who hated networking and marketing (a really common frustration for real-life, modern artists on social media) but in a fantasy/historical setting. So that’s where it started!

    Q: The cover is absolutely gorgeous! Did you design it yourself, or do you have a cover artist?

    A: I designed and illustrated the cover myself! I’ve been a painter and designer for over a decade (though not in book illustration/cover design) and so it’s been a lot of fun to use those skills with my writing, too.

    Q: What does a typical writing session for you look like?

    A: I’m a morning writer, mostly! I like to make a cup of tea, put on a playlist, and write for a few hours before the day begins. My day job is flexible (art) so it means I can write from around 8am to 10am each day. I also write in the evening a few days a week, if life allows!

    Q: What’s next for you? Any exciting projects we should keep an eye out for?

    A: I have three more books out this year, hopefully! One novel and two novellas, including the next novella in the Muses of Esk series.

    Check out A Reverie of Roses, available now!

    Thea Hawthorne’s Website
    Purchase Here!

    If you’re interested in being featured in my next Indie Sapphic Author Spotlight, please contact me using the contact page above!

    Posted in Blog

    7 Sci-Fi/Fantasy Series by Women You Need to Read.

    Posted on by Avery Carter

    I love love LOVE the recent push for diversity in the publishing industry, and I thought it would be a good time to bring back some old content I created a while ago, and give it a bit of a fresh face.

    Just a note: the links on this post are Amazon Affiliate Links, and I do earn money from any qualifying purchase. With that out of the way, let’s get started!

    1. The Tortall Series by Tamora Pierce

    A series of quartets, duets, and trilogies, the Tortall books cover every aspect of high fantasy that you want. They begin with The Song of the Lioness, a quartet about Alanna of Trebond, a ten year old girl who disguises herself as a boy to become a knight. With knights, magic, magical creatures, and dragons, these books are full of diverse heroines and messages that are definitely worth reading.

    2. Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

    If you want to be a better writer, read these books. The prose is stunningly beautiful, and the worldbuilding is something to be envied. In three books, Taylor creates a world so vividly imagined that you will cry when you finish the trilogy, if only because you won’t get to read about these characters anymore. Beginning with the mystery of who Karou is and ending with the glory of peace after a war, the Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy are easily some of the best books of the decade.

    3. Unraveling by Elizabeth Norris

    Holy seven hells, these books need to be on your “to-read” list now. The duet introduces the concept of parallel universes that are crashing together because three boys just want to get home. The main character, Janelle, is a breath of fresh air, with a badass skill set and an actual reason for having it, as well as a maternity streak a mile long. The book starts with her dying and being brought back to life, then continues on with a clock that seems to be counting down to the end of the world, and a string of bodies dying from radiation poisoning. Fast-paced and wholly original, Unraveling will sink its hooks into you from the very first page.

    4. The Ward by Jordana Frankel

    It’s rare that I put down a book and say “this needs to be made into a movie immediately,” but The Ward inspired this immediate reaction. Set against a post-apocalyptic New York, Frankel’s tale of a young street-racer who accepts an impossible mission from the government to save her younger sister is gripping and ambitious. New York City has been flooded, and Ren has been given the task of finding a new freshwater source. In a city full of saltwater, what should be a simple mission turns out to be Herculean in its execution. When she starts looking, she uncovers an astonishing truth about the city and what lies beneath the water’s surface. With a woman of color as the protagonist, and Native American legends to draw on, Frankel’s debut novel is a home run of a work.

    5. The Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir

    Do you like lesbians? Do you like space? Do you like necromancers? Well, have I got a book for you! Set in a haunting echo of our own solar system, The Locked Tomb follows Harrowhark Nonagesimus, better known as Harrow, and her cavalier Gideon as they vie to serve a mysterious deathless emperor. Full of brevity, bones, and body horror, this series is one you’ll find yourself coming back to again and again.

    (This is also my wife’s favorite book series, and she wants more people to read it.)

    6. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

    For those of you who love the Dark Academia trend but want something a little different, look no further. Akata Witch follows Sunny, an albino girl living in Nigeria as she struggles to find her place in the world. Unexpectedly, she find it with a secret magical society and discovers that she herself has magical powers too. Bursting with childlike wonder and a terrifically ripping climax, this book is nothing short of fantastic.

    7. Station Eleven by Emily St John Mandel

    Many people have heard of this book thanks to the television series of the same name, but it’s difficult for TV to properly capture the truly powerful impact of Mandel’s writing. Sliding back and forth across timelines, Mandel uses multiple character perspectives to take us through a deadly pandemic, past to present day. Though it may seem a little on-the-nose, given how we’re currently 2 years into our own pandemic, Station Eleven is a stunning reminder of the beauty and terror of humanity.