So last night I went to my first ever Harry Potter part! It was awesome. The bookshop had various tents set up: fortune telling, sorting, transfiguration. You could take your picture in the “Have You Seen This Wizard?” sign. There was a tent selling Hogwarts merchandise. There was a Quiddich Pitch, and there were even wizards practising the Dark Arts (they attempted to convert me multiple times, but I consistently ran away). I felt like I was part of the world, and as a big fan of Harry Potter, I would definitely go to an HP part again!

But this all made me think of something I’d been hearing a little bit about over the past couple days: Kindle Worlds. Kindle Worlds is self-titled as, “A place for you to publish fan fiction”. Only certain worlds are available (Harry Potter isn’t one), but there are a number of worlds everyone’s probably heard of, like Veronica Mars and Pretty Little Liars. The premise is that Amazon has licensed a world for this purpose, and is paying people to write stories for worlds that people are dying to get more of. Writers get 35% royalty and world owners get 35%.

Worlds are addictive. People can’t get enough of them. Get people addicted to a world and you have a gold-mine (or a very passionate fan base which means as much-if not more). Last night at the Harry Potter party, I bought chocolate lollipops, a giant Hedwig owl sucker, and a Ravenclaw scarf (yes, I’m pretty sure I’m Ravenclaw even though I haven’t been officially sorted). When the last Veronica Mars movie was in the making, my sister funded the project on Kickstarter, and I proudly cheered her on (the movie had no problem reaching the kickstart goal). Worlds create trending Twitter topics, Facebook Clubs, and all kinds of world-inspired art work, music, poetry, stories, clothing, accessories etc. When it’s a good, believable world, people will fall in love. And once you’re in love, it’s hard to escape.

So what makes a world worth diving into? For me, it’s the little details. At the HP party last night, the restaurant had a special menu: butter beer, pumpkin pasties, and other such HP inspired treats. People were buying their own wands made from dragon heartstring and phoenix feather. People were wearing their wizarding wear. The addiction is in the detail, in characters that we know and love because of their little quirks-the things that make them exactly who they are. The kind of characters that are familiar best friends. We know what to expect from them. We know what they’re going to eat for breakfast, and we know what they’re going to wear when working out (or if they even go to the gym). Worlds are built on people we can fall in love with, people we would fight alongside of, fight for, and be (if it was only possible). Which is why people want more stories, because reading about the life of a character, is, for a brief moment, like living in their shoes.

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

 

So I did it. I caved. I pre-ordered a copy of Harry Potter and the cursed child. I can’t help it. I love the Wizarding World. But mostly, I want to go to my first ever Harry Potter party at the book store. I love books, I love parties, I love Hogwarts.

This is going to be great.

I let you know what I thought on Sunday!

Who threw this daisy away without plucking the petals? Why didn’t they play a game of “loves me, loves me not”?

Are you as excited for this as I am? Soon, Dead Water will be released and it will have the first cover ever featuring Caesar, from Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch. This charming pirate is going to look amazing! Below is a small portion of the cover I’m providing for a preview, thanks to my cover artist Leah Keeler, who’s done all the amazing work on the other Black Depths covers.

What do you think? Don’t forget to check out the Dead Water Blurb if you haven’t already. This light bit of summer reading is going to be great.

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

There are two bikes on the bank. Where are their riders? Who are they? Where did they go? Write a 1,500 words short story.

YA Book Review: Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch

This is another first in a teen fantasy series. Snow Like Ashes(associate link), written by Sara Raasch, follows young Winterian, Meira, on her quest to save her kingdom alongside future king and love interest Mather. It took me a while to get into the kingdoms, four named for seasons and four rhythm kingdoms. I guess that after reading A Court of Thorns and Roses (you can see my review here) this felt repetitive, which is unfortunate since Snow Like Ashes was actually published first (2014 compared to 2015 for ACOTAR).

In comparison to A Court of Thorns and Roses, Snow Like Ashes is much less racy, which I actually preferred. Snow Like Ashes is an adventure/quest story, whereas ACOTAR is much more of a romance. I like adventure. I like heroines that can hold their own. And Meira is definitely that kind of heroine. She’s tough, though unsure of herself, and she’s definitely naive in the ways of love as she’s been sheltered her whole life. But she’s lovable.

The writing was strong and fluid. There were a few places where Meira’s internal dialogue went on a bit longer than I really needed it too. Overall, this book brought me warm fuzzies like Hunger Games and Throne of Glass, though perhaps not quite as strongly. I will more than likely read the rest of the books in the series. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I want to read them. This world is addictive, apparently. I want to know more. Oh, and I also want a chakram. I heart chakrams.

4/5 Stars.

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

 

YA Book Review: With Malice by Eileen Cook

This was the first book on my summer reading list, which you can view here. I choose this book because of the bright cover, the catchy blurb, and the fact that it was a change from the fantasy I’ve been reading a lot of lately.

The basic premise of With Malice, is that a girl, Jill, wakes up with retrograde amnesia after a car accident. When Jill is accused of murder, she tries to determine whether or not she actually committed the crime. It was catchy, it was fast paced and it kept me reading right to the end.

But… Well, I’m still not sure I really liked the ending, but I definitely enjoyed getting there. And it was an ending that I kept going back to this week. it made me wonder, and think about a few things. Which was nice.

I liked that this book was told not just from Jill’s first person narrative, but through police interviews, media articles, and a few other devices like text messages and post cards. It was a breath of fresh air in that sense—pretty different than everything else I’ve been reading lately.

I’d give With Malice (associate link) a solid four out of five stars. If you like mysteries, then this one is for you. I didn’t enjoy it quite as much a 13 Reasons Why, which is one of my favourites, but With Malice was still worth reading. It definitely added some enjoyment to my summer.

 

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

A few years ago, I picked up Entwined, by Heather Dixon, because of the absolutely beautiful cover. When I read that it was based on the Twelve Dancing Princesses fairy tale, I knew it was for me. When it comes to the retelling genre, there are two ways the books tend to go: the first being that the original fairy tale is recognizable, and the second that it’s not. Well, in Entwined, the original fairy tale is definitely recognizable.

My favourite part of this book was all the sisterly love. With twelve sisters, it was very important for this to be done right, and I think it was. Their relationships were well developed, and each sister had her place, or niche, in the group.

Of course, what drew me to this book in the first place was this absolutely gorgeous cover. I have to say, this is still one of my most favourite covers. Definitely top 5. I just look at this picture and want to fall into the book. And again. And again. I just want to hold the book and hug it, that’s what this cover does to me.

If you haven’t read Entwined yet (it came out a few years ago but wasn’t a huge title), and you love fairy tales, then pick up Entwined(associate link) up now, you won’t regret it.

 

 

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

It’s finally here! It is subject to a bit of change yet, but this is pretty much the final. Read on to discover the next adventure in the Black Depths Universe.

J. E. Hunter is the author of the Black Depths Series. Tales of a Redheaded Sea-Witch, and Broken Tide, the first two books of the series can be found on  Amazon,  Kobo,  iBooks,  Barnes and Noble, and Smashwords. The third book, Dark Shores, was released April 1, 2016. The fourth and last book of the Black Depths series, Twisted Currents, will be released in the fall of 2016, after Dead Water and Doomed Seas, two Novellas featuring Caesar.

Write the story that happens after your favorite character walks through this gate.