Review: Power Surge by Sara Codair

February 19, 2019March 4, 2019 / jlgfellers / Leave a comment

Title: Power Surge (The Evanstar Chronicles Book 1)

Author: Sara Codair

Publication Date: October 2018

Publisher: Ninestar Press

ISBN13: 9781949340921

Length: 293 pgs

Genre: Urban Fantasy, NA

Note: I was provided an ebook copy of this novel by the author for review, and I thank them for the opportunity. This is also an #ownvoices novel, which I highly appreciate.

Amazon Blurb: Erin has just realized that for the entirety of their life, their family has lied to them. Their Sight has been masked for years, so Erin thought the Pixies and Mermaids were hallucinations. Not only are the supernatural creatures they see daily real, but their grandmother is an Elf, meaning Erin isn’t fully human. On top of that, the dreams Erin thought were nightmares are actually prophecies.

While dealing with the anger they have over all of the lies, they are getting used to their new boyfriend, their boyfriend’s bullying ex, and the fact that they come from a family of Demon Hunters. As Erin struggles through everything weighing on them, they uncover a Demon plot to take over the world.

Erin just wants some time to work through it all on their own terms, but that’s going to have to wait until after they help save the world.

Spoiler-Free Review: It’s been a while since I’ve done a review, so let’s get to it.

(Takes a slow breath) Honestly, I didn’t write this until three weeks after I finished Power Surge for several reasons, the primary one being the main character, Erin. In fact, Power Surge was almost a DNF read, but hold on, I want to tell you the things I enjoyed about the novel first.

What I liked: The concept of a part-elf demon hunter isn’t a new one, but Codair does an excellent job of creating a world hidden in plain-ish sight. I liked many of the characters, especially Erin’s grandfather and many of the side characters too (I specifically discuss one below). Erin has a lot to deal with both in their real and their magical lives, and the side characters are all there to help them. The sneaky demons were a treat too, but I like qualities like wordplay and compelling in my antagonists.

Considerations: I struggled with this novel on multiple levels. Continue reading →

#FictionFriday Featured Author: Jana Denardo Blood Red Roulette

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018 / jlgfellers / Leave a comment

Today I’m featuring a new release from fellow author and online friend Jana Denardo! Make certain to read to the bottom for an exclusive post from Jana, one that particularly interested me since I deal with magic in both my own writing and private life.

Title: Blod Red Roulette

Publisher: DSP Publications

Novel: 123,179 words

Cover Artist: Tiferet Design

Genres: paranormal, romance, MM – it’s more paranormal but there’s a strong romantic subplot with Arrigo Giancarlo & Luc St. John

CW: Luc’s family is homophobic and violent. There is violence in the book from the villain, Eleni as well

DSP Publications Amazon Barnes & Noble Kobo

Book Blurb:

Arrigo Giancarlo’s friends think he’s a rich young man with the unusual job of paranormal investigator, working with his psychic assistant in Las Vegas. In truth he’s a two-thousand-year-old vampire and member of the Chiaroscuro, a group of Supernaturals dedicated to keeping humanity safe from the more dangerous of their kind. He’s also openly bisexual… but alone.

When he spots Luc St. John in a bar, Arrigo is intrigued. What begins as an effort to repay the kindness shown to him in the past quickly turns into much deeper feelings for the suffering and displaced Cajun. For Luc’s part, he feels too poor, too uneducated, and too bound to his hateful family to ever be worthy of elegant and cultured Arrigo.

An old enemy, Eleni, blames Arrigo for murdering her true love. On the anniversary of that death, she’s back to take revenge. As Arrigo’s closest friends fall victim to savage attacks, he fears nothing will keep Luc safe. Should he break both their hearts and let Luc go, or is it too late? If Luc’s already in Eleni’s sights, Arrigo knows that like most things in Vegas, the odds are against him.

Continue reading →

#AppalachianElementals #FictionFri The Rhodes Family Tree

November 9, 2018November 9, 2018 / jlgfellers / Leave a comment

One of the major themes in the Appalachian Elementals series is family. It was central to Cleaning House, to Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, and is central to Keeping House, my current work in progress. Family is also, like in many cultures, central to Appalachia. We’re traditionally close-knit, though that has somewhat changed over the last few generations. That said, I might, at a later date, take a closer look at Tess and Roslyn Rhodes’ generation (meaning write a story where they’re the MCs, but that’s for another day since I’m currently neck deep in #NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).

When Cleaning House was a rough draft, I scrawled out the Rhodes’ family tree as it relates to Cent and her cousin, Aubrey, adding details like birth/death dates, where the magic derives from in each family member, if there’s any magic at all, and ended up with four-five generations (depending on your take), going back to Cent and Aubrey’s great-great-grandmother Amadahy, a fictional member of the North Carolina Cherokee tribal rolls (one of my own ancestors, six generations back, is listed on those same rolls, I’ve been told).

Anyway, that initial scrawl to set down a lineage has become the graphic below, an actual family tree.

Creating the family tree helped bring the characters to life, to give them roots. It helped me determine how they might have thought, their experiences, how things developed between generations and, more specifically, where things have gone wrong. Continue reading →

#WriteLGBTQ #HolidayTreeNovella First Yule

November 8, 2018November 8, 2018 / jlgfellers / Leave a comment

#WriteLGBTQ Excitement. Yes, of course. It’s that time of year, and Betty’s anticipating good things at her first Yule celebration.

Betty’s been behind Ivan the entire time, a foot taller and full of excitement. This is her first Yule celebration, and she’s said she’s curious. She wants to experience the entire wheel of the year before she decides which direction her path might lead, but I see her making one that’s truly her own.

#AppalachianElementals #HolidayTreeNovella #Paranormal #Fantasy #HappyHolidays

A dozen handmade holiday ornaments, that’s all, but it might be an impossible task.

Centenary Rhodes and her mother are at constant odds. It’s one of the many reasons Cent left home when she was eighteen. Mama’s difficult for anyone to manage, but now that Cent’s back home, she has to try. Mama, however, won’t acknowledge who Cent’s become, even though she’s repeatedly been shown the truth.

It’ll take more than popcorn strings and paper snowflakes to heal the rift that’s formed between Cent and Mama. It’s going to take bushels of patience, heaps of magic, and assistance from everyone on both sides of Embreeville Mountain to reset the Balance between them.

But with Yule and Christmas just around the corner, it might already be too late.

Mama, Me, and the Holiday Tree is available for preorder in both print and ebook formats. And the ebook format is only $.99 for a limited time!

Amazon | Amazon UK | Kobo | Barnes & Noble

#IndieTuesday #HolidayTreeNovella The Release Day Afterparty

November 6, 2018November 6, 2018 / jlgfellers / Leave a comment

Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, my eighth print/ ebook and my first novella was released yesterday and to celebrate I made a quick tour of a slew of authors and websites that I’d like to thank for their hospitality.

I’m also hosting a giveaway for the release of Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, so make certain you read to the bottom of the post so you can enter.

The giveaway closes on 11/7, so enter now!

Thanks to Jessie G at Jessie G Books Thanks for letting me share an original post on your site!

Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree at Jessie G’s

Thanks to Queer Romance Ink for hosting a slot on my release day tour!

Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree at Queer Romance Ink

Continue reading →

#HolidayTreeNovella Release Day Celebration: Quick Descriptions and Best Lines

November 5, 2018November 6, 2018 / jlgfellers / Leave a comment

It’s finally release day for Mama, Me, and the Holiday Tree! To kick this celebration off right, I’m sharing a little about every character in the novella and giving you what I think might well be their best line within the story. Like most of my stories, there’s an ensemble cast, and I’ve fourteen characters, two of whom are so minor in their presence that they really don’t have lines. That said, pay attention to them because you’ll see them in the second novel in the Appalachian Elementals series, Keeping House, which will be released next year.

Here’s some info about Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree to get you started.

A dozen handmade holiday ornaments, that’s all, but it might be an impossible task.

But with Yule and Christmas just around the corner, it might already be too late.

Mama, Me, and the Holiday Tree is available for preorder in both print and ebook formats. And the ebook format is only $.99 for a limited time!

Amazon | Amazon UK | Kobo | Barnes & Noble

And now, what I promised, quick descriptions of and the best lines (IMO) from each character in Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree.

Centenary Rhodes (Cent) [protagonist] in an obvious moment of distress or doubt

Nonbinary, she/her/they/their, happily married, multi-lived witch, possessor of important secrets

“I’ll try since y’all think it’s so important.”

Stowne [Earth Elemental] (some of their many forms)

Cent’s spouse, they/them, a true mountain soul

“Patience. You said you find grace in it, so find that grace in yourself.”

Continue reading →

2: #HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-One 11/3: Chamomile and Lavender Tea

November 3, 2018October 30, 2018 / jlgfellers / 11 Comments

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2… This marks the ninth day of my ten-day countdown until the release of my novella Mama, Me, and the Holiday Tree. You can read more about #HolidayTreeNovella at the bottom of this post

Welcome to this week’s installment of Rainbowsnippets*! This one is uniquely mine, but there are lots of other great snippets to read, so after you finish here click the FB link at the bottom of the post to discover other great LGBTQIA authors and their works.

This week I’m sharing from my soon-to-be-released novella Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, which is set within the Appalachian Elementals Series. At 22K words in length, it’s a shorter novella, but it packs a lot of great things within its 74 pages.

The setup: It’s late evening on the homestead, and Cent’s talking with Aubrey and someone y’all have been worrying over.

Continue reading →

3: #HolidayTreeNovella #AppalachianElementals #FictionFriday Where do you Find Creative Inspiration?

November 2, 2018November 1, 2018 / jlgfellers / 2 Comments

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3…This is the eighth day of my ten-day countdown to the release of my holiday novella, Mama, Me, & the Holiday Tree, #1.5 in the Appalachian Elementals series. Today, I’m talking about inspiration and where best to find it.

Inspiration (noun)

An inspiring or animating action or influence: I cannot write poetry without inspiration.
Something inspired, as an idea.
A result of inspired activity.

(courtesy of Dictionary.com)

All artists, writers, and creative sorts, need inspiration. Ideas don’t generally manifest out of thin air. There has to be something to trigger creativity. An idea. An image. An emotion. A hallucination. A bender (not suggested).Insert your own trigger here.

Continue reading →

Jeanne G'Fellers

Science Fiction, Fantasy, & More

#fictionreads

Review: Power Surge by Sara Codair

#AppalachianElementals #FictionFri The Rhodes Family Tree

#WriteLGBTQ #HolidayTreeNovella First Yule

2: #HolidayTreeNovella #RainbowSnippets Seventy-One 11/3: Chamomile and Lavender Tea

3: #HolidayTreeNovella #AppalachianElementals #FictionFriday Where do you Find Creative Inspiration?