Category: new release

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The Witching Hour {book spotlight}

Guess who’s late again? Google broke the ‘schedule posts’ feature on my blog, and I’m still working on a schedule that works, so here we go, a date late. 
Today I’ve got my sweet friend Savannah on the blog!

Do you love cats? Do you enjoy frolicking fantasy, sweet romance, good versus evil, and stories with a good redemption angle? If so, you’re sure to fall in love with The Witching Hour, a fantasy with fairy tale themes and lots of giggles.
Witching Hour_Character Card Graphic

{about The Witching Hour}

part one
As shadows encroach on the city of Lite, one cat stands between humanity and the hounds of darkness. Romeo takes it upon himself to find a suitor for his human Isabel in order to save the city and sets his sights on the unlikeliest of candidates. Can true love really save the day? Read Part One for FREE on Kindle and Most Digital Stores.

part two
When Isabel disappears in the middle of the night, matters take a turn for the worst. Romeo finds himself trekking through the dangerous wildlands to rescue the young queen with a clownish wizard, a sassy she-cat, a pretty healer, and a mysterious solider. However, their only hope may be the very thing Romeo fears most. Can Romeo and his friends save the day before the shadows consume them?

Preorder for $.99/Releases March 25! Don’t forget to add the novella to your Goodreads Shelf.

The Witching Hour is a frolicking fantasy adventure with fairy tale themes and clean romance. Perfect for fans of Diana Wynne Jones and Lloyd Alexander. Rated: PG for thematic elements and mild battle sequences

 You can enter to win a FREE paperback of THE COMPLETE STORY, Parts One AND Two in one cute paperback. To enter, simply enter the rafflecopter giveaway. Winner will be chosen March 30th.

This giveaway is US ONLY. Enter the Giveaway!

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{about the author}

Savannah Jezowski lives in Amish country with her Knight in Shining Armor and a wee warrior princess. She is the founder of Dragonpen Designs and Dragonpen Press, which offers author services such as cover design, developmental edits, and interior formatting. Her debut novella “Wither” is featured in Five Enchanted Roses, an anthology of Beauty and the Beast, and is a prequel to The Neverway Chronicles, a Christian fantasy series filled with tragic heroes and the living dead. She is also the author of When Ravens Fall, a Norse Beauty and the Beast retelling. She is featured in several Fellowship of Fantasy anthologies, including Mythical Doorways, Tales of Ever After, and Paws, Claws, and Magic Tales. When she isn’t writing, Savannah likes to read books, watch BBC miniseries, and play with cover design. She also enjoys having tea with her imaginary friends.

Learn more about Savannah Jezowski

Want to know about sales and new releases? Sign up for Savannah’s newsletter.

Be sure to check out all the stops in The Witching Hour Blog Tour. There will be fun character interviews, guest posts, book reviews and more!

March 18 – http://anniedouglasslima.blogspot.com
March 19 – http://cobonham.com
March 20 – https://thefoldedworld.wordpress.com
March 21 – https://tammylash.wordpress.com/
March 22 – http://jenelleschmidt.com www.angeleya.com
March 24 – http://corinnejet.wordpress.com
March 25 – https://dragonpenpress.com/ RELEASE DAY
March 26 – https://annielouisetwitchell.com/
March 27 – www.hlburkeauthor.com/blog
March 28 – http://megdendler.blogspot.com/
March 29 – http://sjeckert.wordpress.com

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Through the Pages {blog tour finale}

{This post was supposed to be shared yesterday, but my scheduling isn’t working on my blog (I had it scheduled and it wouldn’t publish) and I was so busy yesterday, I never had a chance to get on and post it. So here’s my finale post, on the 16th instead of the 15th. Oh well.}
Lately, I’ve been thinking about ‘why’. I saw an ad on Facebook for a promotion company, and they said finding your ‘why’ for your art can help a lot. I got upset at first because I didn’t have a why, and I felt a bit threatened. It was weird. 
And then the other night I was walking the dog and thinking about things and I realized I knew what my ‘why’ is. 
My friends have some pretty incredible reasons why they write, and mine isn’t very big or incredible like theirs, but it sums up the reason why I write, very well. 

I write to tell stories. 
That’s it. 
There are themes in my stories that stay the same through most of them–themes of hope, love, forgiveness, joy–but at the end of the day I write to tell a story. 
Like I shared in The Hobbit {my favorite book}, stories are terribly important to me. I write stories because stories are what saved me. Not a sermon thinly wrapped in prose, not someone else’s agenda. Just stories. 
The stories I write are varied, in all genres, of all types. My reason for writing is just simply to tell you a story. I hope that they will be stories you enjoy. I hope they will be stories that move you. I hope they will be stories that someday, will climb down into the pit with a kid and help them back up to daylight, just like I had happen. 
I’m learning. 
I’m growing. 
And as I learn and grow, my stories will grow with me. 
But today and always, my goal is to lay before you a good story. 
Join us on Sunday, September 16th for a Facebook party and a giveaway at the party! RSVP here.
The Kindle e-book edition of Through the Pages is only 2.99 for just a couple more days! Click here to pick it up. 

-Annie

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Through the Pages {blog tour and poems}


Today, I’ve collected a few of Harper’s poems to share with you all. Well, poems and journal entries. They often end up being the same thing when Harper writes them.

It feels so odd to be free. We’re not at war. Didn’t think the war would end. Didn’t think I would come home. But I did. Irene was waiting. We’re getting married. She’s beautiful but that doesn’t begin to describe her. She’s like the stars I could see from the ship, way out there in the ocean.

Been home a few weeks. Pa doesn’t care if I do chores. He didn’t think I was coming home but here I am. Found this old journal in the bottom of my duffel and forgot about it. I’d almost forgotten about Christopher. It’s been years. At the same time it hasn’t been any time at all and I can still hear his voice in the back of my mind. “Harp, you’re going to tell my girl that I love her, right?” I promised him I would but the issue is, I don’t know her name.

Irene’s an angel. I’m good if she’s here. Wish she’d sing more. Her voice is perfect because it’s home.
House is freezing. Some of the farm help didn’t come home. They won’t come home again. Pa’s collected their things to post back to their families.

I didn’t have to live, God. You know that, right? Sometimes I wish I hadn’t. Coming home and seeing all the dead hopes and all the new tombstones and — all the empty seats in the church pews. War is hell. God’s not there. I am sick of the stink of blood and sound of death. I can smell it. I can hear it. Said it was for right and freedom but I don’t know anymore. I can hear the shells in my mind. I can hear the screams. God, please, make it stop. I think I’m going insane.

I want to live on a mountaintop somewhere. A quiet place. With Irene and maybe some kids.

H.S.

1946


Do not weep for the fading of the autumn
Do not weep for the drifting leaves
Do not weep for the earth at rest
Do not weep for the changing of the stars
and the chilling of the air
The winter is near
A world of peppermint ice and frosted lace.
Do not weep for the changing tides, my love
Life is ever changing.
Life is the same.

H.S.
November 1982





These people here, these young and happy folk,
they don’t understand.

Their minds are filled with colors and equality and they fight, not in mud-filled trenches, but in minds and hearts. They don’t understand us but I think, maybe, I don’t understand them either.

They are young.

They are free.

They are brave.

They’re the future, and I am the past.

Both of us are soldiers, I and the little girl who stood at the front of the crowd on the sidewalk who jumps when the guns fire the final salute. My name isn’t on the memorial statues, but so many other names that I know are.

It will be good to rest, won’t it?

H.S.
Memorial Day 1992


Thanks for reading!

Join us on Sunday, September 16th for a Facebook party and a giveaway at the party! RSVP here.

The Kindle e-book edition of Through the Pages is only 2.99 for just a few more days! Click here to pick it up. 


-Annie


Copyright 2018 by Annie Louise Twitchell

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Through the Pages {blog tour launch}

Through the Pages never got a blog tour or a release party, because it was a secret birthday surprise for my mom. So we’re doing one now, a month or so after the release date. Better late than never, right? 

Spring will always follow Winter. 

Misty doesn’t know who she is. Nineteen years old, she’s trapped inside who she has been, with no idea who she could be. 

When she goes to Mill’s End to take care of her stubborn, book-loving grandmother, she finds herself torn between past and present. The answer to who she is lies hidden in her grandmother’s library. Her path to find herself takes her through the fading pages of dusty books and the memories of a woman who has lived a full life. It is up to Misty to write the final chapter to the dearest story of them all.

In this tour, you can look forward to meeting some of the characters, reading some interviews and reviews, and at the end of the week, we’ll have a Facebook party and a giveaway!

Here’s the link to the Facebook party so you can RSVP: Through the Pages Release Party

The Kindle e-book edition of Through the Pages is only 2.99 for the length of the tour! Click here to pick it up. 

This is a week-long event! Here’s the approximate schedule:

Sunday, September 9th:
Monday, September 10th:
Tuesday, September 11th:
Wednesday, September 12:
Thursday, September 13th:
Friday, September 14th:
Saturday, September 15th:
I hope to see you around!
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The Worth of a King {blog tour}

The Worth of a King Blog Tour




Okay, for starters, look at this cover: 
Isn’t it AMAZING? I’ve been watching this for a while now, just because of that cover. I didn’t end up with time to do a review of it, because I didn’t have time to read it, because I’ve been a little busy with my own novel, but I have a short excerpt to share with you!

{Book Description}

Princess Obsidia’s father was killed the night she was born. Since there was no male heir, the crown went to the man who killed him, by Dialcian law. This never bothered her, growing up, and when it comes time for Obsidia to choose her husband, she chooses Prince Delaney, the son of that man, with little hesitation. Only then does her life start crumbling around her.

Adrian expected to live a normal life, taking his father’s place at the print shop when his father retired. But, on his eighteenth birthday, when the princess’ engagement is announced, his world is ripped out from under him when he learns that his life was a ruse, and he is the twin brother to the princess – and expected to take back his father’s throne.

Delaney knows that his country is hovering on the brink of war – and that his father may harbor murderous intentions towards his intended bride due to her Zovordian blood. He wants nothing more than to protect Obsidia and his people, but as merely prince, he has little power against his father.
The ancient war between the Dragons and the Immortal King and Queen is nearing its climax, and the three are already caught in it.


{Excerpt}

IN his panic, Adrian forgot that there was a party outside. A party for his twin sister. Because their father had been killed the day they were born.

It was impossible. It was a bad dream. It had to be. Perhaps a practical joke taking advantage of how he shared a birthday with the princess. Yes, yes, that was all this was. It had to be.
“Oh, Adrian!” Christa’s voice cut into his thought. “You’re awake! Oh, if I had only stayed just a few minutes longer! How did you like the cake?”
Adrian swallowed. He’d not even taken a bite of the cake, and he couldn’t tell her that. “I liked it,” he answered instead. It wasn’t a lie. It was a cream cake and she had made it.
“Good.” She gave a satisfied nod and then narrowed her eyes. “Are you all right, Adrian?”
As Adrian floundered for an answer because no, he wasn’t all right, he felt a hand on his shoulder, and Jerolin answered for him. “Oh, it’s just finally set in for him that he has turned eighteen and his carefree childhood is over. I’m sure that you’ll understand next year when you have to leave childhood.”
Christa rocked back on her heels, her frown easing, but not disappearing entirely. “Oh.”
“And you know how grumpy he always is on his birthdays,” Jerolin continued. “It’s just going to be worse this year. You might want to give him some space. Just for today, that is. Come tomorrow, everything should be back to normal.”
Normal? How could Jerolin say that? So flippantly, too. Things wouldn’t be normal tomorrow. Things couldn’t be normal. Never again. He was a prince.
He bolted again. Tore himself from Jerolin’s grip. Headed out of town. Dodging people. Trying to get away. To be alone. To think. He reached the edge of town and kept running. Down the road. Into the woods.
His foot caught on a root and he fell, face-first, into the dirt. He made no effort to get up. Just lay there as the world spun around him.
His parents weren’t his parents. He was the son of Queen Adelaide and the dead king. The murdered king. Was he expected to return to the castle and kill King Ossian in return? Was he supposed to become king?
Oh, but he hated politics.





{Add Book on Goodreads}
{Author Bio}

Kendra E. Ardnek loves fairytales and twisting them in new and exciting ways. She’s been or acting them on her dozen plus cousins and siblings for years. “Finish your story, Kendra,” is frequently heard at family gatherings. Her sole life goal has always been to grow up and be an author of fantasy and children’s tales that glorify God and His Word.


Find her online at: Website || Blog || Goodreads || Facebook || Twitter || Amazon 



-Annie
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Choose Your Own Story {blog tour}

Hey there! Today I’m taking part in Sarah Holman’s Choose Your Own Story event. This is to celebrate the release of her latest book, Escape and Endurance.
In this event, you get to pick the outcome of the story by making choices. A lot of different things can happen. What are you waiting for? Start your adventure by clicking the image below.

Sir Andrew sat on a rock, thinking about what his next move should be. That’s when he saw her. Not far away, the princess was moving about the trees. She was walking about as if she didn’t have a care. Perhaps she didn’t. Maybe this whole thing was a joke to her.
He continued to watch her and the woods around them. He wanted to make sure that they were alone. She walked about, gathering plants. She was acting on some sort of picnic!
A movement caught Andrew’s eye. An armed man stepped toward the princess and then…


Are you interested in reading about a knight, a tower, a princess, and a servant? Pick up a copy of Escape and Endurance! Haven’t read the other books in the Tales of Taelis series? Not to worry. Each book can stand alone.


About Sarah:
Sarah Holman is a not-so-typical girl, a homeschool graduate, sister to six awesome siblings, and lives in the great state of Texas. If there’s anything adventuresome about her life, it’s because she serves a God with a destiny greater than anything she could have imagined. You can find out more about her at her website: www.thedestinyofone.com
You can join the Adventurers (her newsletter) by going here: http://eepurl.com/bitBIf
Have fun! 
~Annie
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Through the Pages {my first novel}

Once upon a time, not too long ago, in fact, a little less than a year ago…

{August 19th, 2017}

“Hey, Annie, remember how you were asking, ‘what will I write next’ the other day?”

I did ask that question, after finishing Jump: The Things I Remind Myself. But when God asks a question like that, I’ve found He tends to have ulterior motives behind it. So I very cautiously said, “yeah, I remember… what about it?”

“Well, I’ve got one for you. Write a book for your mom.”

Cue wide eyes and a heck of a lot of confusion. And a scrambled message to my girl’s group. “I think I’m supposed to write a book for my mom. Help!”

Go figure, they all thought it was a brilliant idea.

“Hey Annie,” came the somewhat amused voice from the upstairs regions of the cosmos. “It’s for her birthday next year, by the way. And it’s about books. The interior will be cream paper, with an artistic book drawing for underneath the chapter headers. The cover will be purple.”

And that is the story of why I had a meltdown from August 19th to August 21st.

This was uncharted territory for me. I was pretty sure it would be a novel, not one of my short stories or a novella or something easy. (I’ve never completed a first draft of a novel, only a lot of partial first drafts.) And I had less than a year. And I needed to keep it a secret from everyone around me. (I’m horrible at keeping exciting things secret.)

{the journey}

The rest of August, September, and October were spent in a weird sort of stasis. I didn’t write a whole lot, at least, not that I remember. I did a lot of thinking. I spent a lot of time with books, and with my mom. And by mid October I had a pretty solid idea of what this story was supposed to look like.

November came around and I used NaNoWriMo as my excuse to pound out a 50k novel in a very short period of time. For the first time, I had a whole, finished, novel. And I couldn’t tell anyone.

Well, not quite true. I told my girl’s group (after making them swear to secrecy). I told Missie. And in June of 2018, I told my pen pal/adopted grandmother/great-aunt about it, because she asked what I was working on, and I was pretty darn sure that she wouldn’t tell anyone. 
The hardest thing this whole time has been keeping it a secret from everyone. Hannah helped; I had to tell her because I was in the middle of a stress-induced panic attack of “I can’t do this!” and needed help getting myself out. I told Jeremy because I conscripted him to receive the packages so my mother wouldn’t suspect anything. I made my cover designer, my editor, my beta readers, and my girl’s group swear themselves to secrecy, and… 
…here we are. 

Here’s one of my favorite quotes from this story:

“That’s the thing, Miranda, you never get over the butterflies if it’s the right person. They just settle down a bit. If it’s the right person, you just go your whole life being all tangled up with the butterflies in your stomach and the love in your heart.” 

Through the Pages
Annie Louise Twitchell

LOOK AT THIS COVER
*all the heart eyes to That Book Gal for this amazing design*
Available at Amazon

Fun Fact: I had the hardest time finding an editor until I was actually ready to see about hiring one. At that point, Facebook hiccuped and showed me a notification for a post from an editing page I’d been following and hadn’t done much looking into. If you’re in the US, I highly recommend Lemons to Lemonade Editing. Not only did she do a wonderful job with my line edits, but she works on paper, meaning I had a marked up paper copy to make my changes from. That was perfect for how my head works and the way I prefer to do things, and made my process of fixing things so much easier.

Fun Fact #2: I’m still a bit giddy that I actually did this thing. I will probably be varying degrees of giddy for the next two months.

Fun Fact #3: I’ve actually been so overwhelmed since I gave the book to my mom on the 5th that I’ve had two or three headaches and gone swimming a lot and written almost nothing. Just this blog post. I’ll get back in my groove eventually. I think.

The Bunny approves. This is important.

~Annie

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The Witch of Belle Isle {upcoming release}

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Okay, so now that’s over with…

I have some news.

Rebekah DeVall and I are doing a project.

Two separate projects, actually, but we’re doing them together.

Last winter we wrote short stories for the Rooglewood Fairy Tale Contest, themed on/inspired by Snow White.

Click here to learn about her half, a story called Death’s Mirror, and read on to hear a little about mine — I’m borrowing the same tag she used, to describe my story, The Witch of Belle Isle.

{Pitch your story with an aesthetic}

A Snow White inspired historical fantasy set towards the end of the American Civil War.


{Introduce the main character with a line} 


The door of the long barracks, the hastily constructed building in which we lived, was open and a ray of sunlight trickled pale fingers inside. The rain had stopped, finally. I dragged myself to my feet and trudged for the door, following the other ghost-like men. This was hell. Hundreds of men wasting in filthy barracks, starving for food, starving for light. Hope seemed too far away, even as I stumbled into the sunshine. 

{If The Witch of Belle Isle wasn’t mine, why would I want to read it?}

Okay, I hate answering questions like these. And right now I’m sick with a cold. Here goes:

  • Historical Fantasy. I love it. Taking something old and familiar, making something new out of it? DUDE. 
  • Fairy tale from the male’s POV. I don’t meet many of these, but I love reading the different perspectives. 
  • The main character, Henry. He’s been sucked into this war between brothers, and now he’s trapped in a Confederate prison camp, and all he wants now is to go home where it’s safe, and warm, and quiet.

{If the antagonist were the main character, how would the story open?}

I did not ask for this, you know. All I wanted was to be safe, and loved, and desired. I did not ask for this. But now that power is within my grasp, I find I am loathe to give it up. 

{What am I doing in Belle Isle that is new for me, as a writer?}

Using a real historical place that I’ve had to research myself. The Christmas Ladder is a historical piece, but it’s based on my own family history, and there wasn’t a lot of research involved for it. Spinner of Secrets is only a loose historical fantasy. But The Witch of Belle Isle is a historical fantasy set in a very real place. I’m so used to making things up as I go that sitting down, researching, fitting my story into the boundaries presented by my research–it was a fun and exciting challenge. I’m not a historian, I won’t promise that it’s 100% accurate–but if you’re looking for that in a historical fantasy, then my friend, that’s a different problem.

{What does the main character want to change in their lives/world?}

Henry is a Union soldier in a Confederate prison camp. He’s tired of the fighting, the killing, the death. He wants to go home. He also wants his country to be at peace, but he hasn’t figured out how to make that happen, and in fact he’s kind of given up on it for now.

{Share a newly written line}


“Keep hope,” Reverend Morris had told me, day after day. “You’re young and strong. You can beat them still. Wouldn’t that be the greatest triumph, to defeat them by living?”

Reverend Morris hadn’t been particularly old, but he was one of the men whom we were burying. 

{You’re stranded in The Witch of Belle Isle~! Who do you go to for help?}

Definitely Faith. She’s full of determination and love and yes, faith. Here’s one of my favorite lines from her so far: 

“We should win the war because of the strength of our convictions, not because of magicks and charms. That is no true victory.”

The Witch of Belle Isle and Death’s Mirror are coming out on July 20th, 2018, so be looking for them! You can pre-order Belle Isle on Amazon, here.

Oh, and here’s the link to Rebekah’s post again: Death’s Mirror

~Annie

Copyright 2018 by Annie Louise Twitchell
Images from Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash 

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