urban fantasy

Lineage

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Lineage
By: C. Vonzale Lewis

Finished: 3/8/2021

Wow, this book absolutely blew me away! It has multiple parts to love, from evil corporation, to mysterious ancient magic, to a number of very sexy scenes. Not to mention the ending was incredible!

Lewis has a wonderful knack for piecing together many parts into a whole, cohesive world that makes it easy to fall into. She excels at creating multi-faceted characters to the point that you end up cheering for all of them. You fall in love with them without even realizing it. She slowly builds the magic of the world, dripping out piece by piece of information, until all the puzzle pieces come together. The further you get into the book, the more the train starts to build up speed and you have a hard time putting it down! At the end you are fearing for all of them and horrified by the people they are up against. And boy, are the villains in this tale twisted!

Lewis also tackles some dark themes in this book while also exploring the difficulty in dealing with trauma in a realistic way. Just as the magic system slowly evolves, so too does our lead character Nicole, a woman who has been kicked out of so many places of employment that she has to work for the seedy corporation that appears to be the only option left. Her fiery temper and quick wit make her bristle under authority. I absolutely loved her. She is confident and determined to speak her mind, which of course leads her to making some not-so-great decisions. But you understand why she does it because Lewis is so good at making her believable, relatable, flawed, and human.

A wonderful read for anyone who enjoys complex magic systems, a complex love life, detailed world-buidling, and plenty of hot and heavy moments!

My rating: 5/5 magical stars

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Didn’t Think I’d Make It

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I totally won Camp NaNo! *tosses confetti*

That’s even with this annoying stomach bug that tried to waylay me when I still had 5k left to write. So pleased I got so much written here at the end! I honestly didn’t think I’d make the April Camp NaNo this year because of an annoying sickness, and with so few words left to go.

The story of course is still not complete, but it’s far closer than it was. This book is probably going to be the first in a series, but I just have to figure out where the cut-off points need to be. I’m thinking somewhere between 60-80k is a good length for a YA fantasy book, but we’ll see how this goes.

Project: Madam Cloom’s Garden

Summary: Shaleigh’s world is so complicated, that it’s no wonder she’s known for being rebellious and argumentative at school. With her father constantly crying over what he’s lost, and a friend going through major life changes, Shaleigh finds herself feeling more and more out of touch with the people around her. She feels isolated, ignored, and angry.

Then she and her father get into a car accident, and her entire world changes. When she’s greeted by a talking stone animal, she realizes that she’s either dead, crazy, or in another world. But the beautiful land Shaleigh has landed in has its dark secrets, and she’s not as welcome there as she believes.

Current Word Count: 50,280

New Words Written: 11,701

Progress: Teagan and Shaleigh are back in the real world for better or worse, and are having to deal with normal problems. Well, I guess getting attacked by a street gang isn’t exactly a normal problem, but still, there isn’t any magic involved at least!

Total Words for 2013: 53,457

 

Running, Peacocks, and NaNo

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Say you find yourself trapped in another world that looks very similar to our own, meaning it’s not obviously another planet or another dimension for example. What’s the first thing you would do? I say you would pull out your phone and check your Maps app to see if you could figure out where you are.

Am I the only one that would do this? Surely this isn’t just the silly ramblings of an IT gal, right? 😉

That’s the only little tidbit I’m going to reveal in Shaleigh’s story at the moment, but it’s definitely an important piece. I’ve been playing catch up on Camp NaNo today after falling behind this past weekend. I tell you what, I’ve never been so happy to have a general outline before during a NaNo. Hopefully I can keep this steady pace up though as I move forward. I really don’t want to fall behind again this month!

Because mud makes everything more interesting.

Because mud makes everything more interesting.

On Saturday I ran in a 5k, the second I’ve participated in. It was through a wet, muddy trail through the woods, and we had absolutely gorgeous weather for it. I’ve discovered the hard way that running on uneven terrain like mud, through hay (for the mud puddles), and with muddy feet (I slipped into a puddle) is definitely way more difficult that running on a treadmill. The sides of my calves are still hurting and it’s two days later.  I really enjoyed it though, and I wish I had a place where I could do off-road running more often.

Project: Madam Cloom’s Garden

Summary: Shaleigh’s world is so complicated, that it’s no wonder she’s known for being rebellious and argumentative at school. With her father constantly crying over what he’s lost, and a friend going through major life changes, Shaleigh finds herself feeling more and more out of touch with the people around her. She feels isolated, ignored, and angry.

Then she and her father get into a car accident, and her entire world changes. When she’s greeted by a talking stone animal, she realizes that she’s either dead, crazy, or in another world. But the beautiful land Shaleigh has landed in has its dark secrets, and she’s not as welcome there as she believes.

Current Word Count: 13,421

New Words Written Today: 4,993 (Total from my weekend of trying to catch up!)

Progress: The first major climax hit, and Shaleigh isn’t making the best decisions in the world. In the wise worlds of Tolkien, she’s out of the frying pan, and into the fire.

Total Words for 2013: 16,598

Final Thought: Did you guys know peacocks could fly? I feel so silly that I didn’t know this! They’re also good at obstructing vehicles…

I thought it was Spanish moss at first glance.

I thought it was Spanish moss at first glance.

RealLies is now Available!

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If you’ve seen much of my writing, you know that I like stories that aren’t exactly obvious. Stories that start out one way and then flip the entire plot around before it gets to the end. Characters that you think you’ve got figured out, but then do something outrageous and crazy that either make you cringe or laugh out loud. Well I’m happy to say that Zharmae has put an anthology together that is packed full of these stories.

RealLies

RealLies: A Zharmae Collection of Short Works

My short story that appears here is more like a novelette at 9,900 words. “The Mysterious Disappearance of Charlene Kerringer” is what I would call a fantasy noir piece. It follows Detective Harris, a man who is rather out of luck and decides to take a gamble on a case. His gamble ends up on a sour note of course when he realizes the mess he’s fallen into. It’ll take more than his typical gruffness to resolve this conundrum, and you can bet there will be plenty of amusing characters along the way. This anthology is for those that like worlds with several layers.

RealLies is coming soon or available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Zharmae.

Be sure to also check out the Goodreads page!