So, 1000 followers.
Y’all are as strange as I am, aren’t you? (I’m SO glad you are!)
It’s taken me forever to pick just a few (laughs!) of my favorite books. These are the first in series, primarily, because I adore series books. I buy and read them far more often than I do stand alone titles. This is a mix of traditionally published and indie titles and small press titles. I’m much more interested in voice and story than in the same old same old.
So, without further ado, one lucky twitter follower will get their pick of a new copy of one of my favorite books as listed below. (You have to be following me on twitter to win, I’ll check.)
Pay attention to the format listed after the books, I’m giving away the best deal for my budget on listed books. Unless otherwise stated it’s your choice as to paperback print or ebook copy. Anywhere Amazon delivers on ppb, ebooks may come from smashwords or kindle (depending on where the author will get the most money).
Open internationally as long as Amazon carries it there, cause I’m pretty sure I can figure out the international Amazon sites too.
Titles you can choose from and why I picked them.
Blood Song by Anthony Ryan I love this series, the world building is in depth and beautiful, the characters speak to me (read as Mr. Ryan reaches into my heart and squeezes it with his gift of words and beautiful prose) and I found the books very hard to put down. (Auto-buy author)
Stray by Rachel Vincent I adore this series and really wish there were more of them than the six. Stray is the first book in the series. It has everything I love, sexual tension, a kick-ass heroine, a sexy hero and romance. Plus shifters! Swoon. I’d also be happy to switch out Stray with Lion’s Share (ecopy only), the first book in her spin-off series, which I also love. (Auto-buy author on these two series)
Guilty Pleasures by Laurell K Hamilton Not all of LKH’s books are favorites of mine (she went through a period where a couple of books in each series were low on plot and high on gratuitous sex.) But I love this series (most of it) it has mystery, guns and knives, hot sex, polyamory, light kink, and lovely paranormal elements. (Auto-buy on the Anita Blake series)
Storm Front by Jim Butcher Gah, this series is on my Auto-Buy list for every book, in Hardcover AND ebook. It’s that good. It does take a few books to get really warmed up, but the first few books are short, so, READ THEM! (Auto-buy series)
Either Slave to Sensation or Angel’s Blood by Nalini Singh, the first book in my two ultimate favorite paranormal romance series of ever. (I eagerly await the release of the newest books in either of these series and if I grow up to be half as good of a writer as Ms. Singh, I’ll be happy) (Auto-buy on Psy-changeling and Guild Hunter series)
Blood and Tears by Jamie Zakian I was going to give away Ashby Holler, because it’s just such an amazing book, but as it’s free to read on kindle right now, I’ll give away a preorder kindle copy of book two (which I’ve already ordered and cannot WAIT to read.) The voice in these books is amazing. I laughed, cried and completely empathized with Sasha, the main character of Ashby Holler.
The Siren by Tiffany Reisz (e-copy) Accurate Kink! Well-written accurate kink on top of that. This series holds the ‘best flogging scene I’ve ever read’ title for me. I highly recommend. I’m utterly in lust and love with the polyamorous characters, and the polyamory is accurate, too.
Night Angel Trilogy by Brent Weeks (Omnibus paperback edition, US only) Some books and series just stick with you. This is one of them. One of my favorite of ever High Fantasy series and I dearly hope Mr. Weeks writes more of them.
Assassin’s Apprentice OR Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb. Another of my favorite High Fantasy authors. This series… I’ve read my paperback copies so many times that I had to buy the ebook copies (which never wear out). I highly recommend. She’s an auto-buy for these two series.
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss Such amazing world building, fantastic characters, and page-turning prose. If you haven’t read these yet, do. Auto-buy
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch. Love this series. It’s a classic anti-hero story like the Night Angel series and the writing is solid. Characters are fantastic! Auto-buy.
The Warded Man by Peter V Brett. Fast paced plot, great world building, and empathetic characters. Auto-buy series.
Murder In Absentia (ecopy) by Assaph Mehr Extremely well-written and researched historical fantasy. Auto-buy for the next book in the series.
First Grave on the Right by Darynda Jones Although she’s fallen off my auto-buy list because of what happened in Tenth Grave, (there are so many world myths we can use in writing other than Christianity, really), this series is still on my must-read list. Snarky, laugh out loud funny heroine and sexy as smoking sin hero. Swoon!
Dark Lover by J.R. Ward. Although Ms. Ward recently fell off my auto-buy list (with The Beast = my epic disappointment) I’ll probably always check the new books in the series out of the library. This is dark paranormal fantasy and epic authorial voice at its finest.
Skinwalker by Faith Hunter. This series isn’t an auto buy anymore. The passive voice and filter words bother me a lot, but, that said… the characters, detailed research and fast paced plot will stay on my to-be-checked-out-from-library list for a while yet. Another note about this series, although it isn’t ownvoices, it has a LOT of diversity in the prose. FMC is Cherokee, there are a lot of well written olive-skinned side characters and she reps pansexuality with more than one of her MMCs. It makes me happy to read these, even with the editorial issues I have with them. (As in my editor brain is on all the time when reading them. If I didn’t love the characters and research so much, I’d never read them.) Also dark urban fantasy.
Kushiel’s Dart OR Naamah’s Kiss by Jacqueline Carey. My editor brain turns on when I read the first trilogy, but I am still and always will be, in love and lust with Phedre and Joscelin. Star-crossed lovers, enemies to friends tropes just do it for me. I adore Naamah’s Kiss as well, it’s set in the same world, but a hundred years or so on, so you don’t technically need to read the first 6 books to enjoy Nammah’s. I love the Naamah’s trilogy so much because it represents mixed race, bisexuality and polyamory as well as a bit of light kink extremely well.
To enter the contest, send an email to me here (or kaelan dot rhywiol at gmail dot com) I’ll use paper in a hat method, cause I’m so technologically gifted. 😀
…and here is where I resist the urge to add even MORE of my favorite books. 😀 Entries for the drawing close on Jan 31st. I’ll ship the book the winner chooses the first week of February. Thanks for following me and listening to my words. It means a lot to me.