Hey lovelies! It gives me
great pleasure today to host Christy Nicholas and her new book, “The Enchanted
Swans”! For other stops on her Goddess
Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the
images in this post.
Be sure to make it to the end
of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with
Christy and to increase your chances of winning!
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
The Enchanted Swans
by Christy Nicholas
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GENRE: Fantasy
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BLURB:
In
pre-Celtic Ireland, Fionnuala was a fae princess, born to a life of luxury. She
knew her duty and loved her family. She missed her mother, who died in
childbirth when Fionnuala was but ten years old. Still, she had hopes and
dreams of love and a full life.
All
her dreams were stolen from her, ripped away in a torrent of envy and magic.
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EXCERPT ONE:
It
was a good training session. It left me sweaty and tired, and I hadn’t thought
of Mother for a full hour. Mistress Scuida was gentle at first, but soon
realized I needed to vent my fury, so she increased her efforts. At one point,
I snarled and roared at the weapons mistress, while she parried my attacks with
grim determination. Aed still practiced on the pells, but I heard several good
whacks from his direction.
I
could never get inside Scuida’s guard unless she let me, of course. She was
Father’s best warrior, a student of the Morrigan herself. She allowed my
frustrations free reign with no damage to either me or her. I thanked her when
I was exhausted and panting.
The
thick bronze sword was not my favorite weapon. I did better with the bow. The
bow, however, didn’t allow one to push their anger through blows as the sword
did. I wanted to learn the spear, but Scuida didn’t believe I was ready yet for
the large weapon. I occasionally practiced in the woods with my father’s
fosterling, Tadhg. Just a few times, mind, but enough to enjoy it.
Aed,
however, had great skill at the bow. He could hit a mark from twice the
distance I could, despite being two winters younger. His skill ranked as high
as many young adult warriors. Not the older ones, those with several hundred
winters’ worth of experience and the physical strength needed to pull the great
bows, but still, not bad for his mere eight winters. Maybe that’s why he didn’t
argue as much with Scuida as he did with everyone else.
My
people, the Tuatha Dè, the People of the Gods, lived much longer than the
recent Milesian invaders. The humans lived a mayfly’s life, a mere fifty
winters or so. We, however, might live a thousand winters, though we may still
die through violence or disease. Mother had been barely thirty winters old.
After
I wiped the betraying tears from my cheeks and choked down the knot in my
throat, I changed from my practice breeches back into my simple dress. With a
splash of clean water on my face, I took a deep breath and cleared my head. I
must get control over this. My duty lay in being presentable at all times. As
the eldest, I must be a credit to my mother.
It
became easier this time to push the tears away. A good swallow, and they
retreated. Could I dismiss grief so simply, then? I didn’t think so.
I
headed toward the great hall. A quick meal and my afternoon lessons awaited me.
Aed
grabbed two apples from the kitchen and scampered by me.
“Aed,
where are you going?”
“I
can’t enter the great hall now. You must think me a great fool.”
“I
think you are the son of a king. Am I mistaken?”
He
shrugged and ran to his room
Father
sat silent on his chair. He stared into the middle distance. No one sat nearby
or spoke to him, though at least twenty of the guards ate their midday meal in
the hall. What conversation there was remained muted and strained.
I now wished I’d done the
same as Aed.
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REVIEW:
This
book starts out in pre-Celtic Ireland in 460 BCE which is approximately 2,500
years ago.
This
book is broken into four parts and twenty-three chapters, with just under 195
ebook pages.
This
book is about Fionnuala, also known as Nuala, and her three siblings, Aed, Fiachra,
and Conn. These children have had a
terrible childhood and an even more unfortunate life.
The
children’s mom dies in childbirth with the twins, Fiachra and Conn. The father eventually remarries and the
children’s new stepmom is pure evil.
Think Cinderella, but way worse!
Their stepmom curses the children and turns them into swans for 900
years.
This
book tells the story of the children, their family, their life as swans, and
their continued search to find a way to have the curse removed.
A top
reason I love reading fairytales is because I want to be whisked away and taken
to another world. More importantly, a
better, happier, peaceful world where dreams come true and happy endings not
only exist, but is the norm. Sadly, I didn’t
really get any of that with this book.
This
book is not a happy fairytale book – not even close. This book is dark and sad filled with sorrow,
loss, heartache, torment, and tragedy.
The
author’s writing is so detailed it was easy to picture the story in my head, as
if it were a movie that was playing.
The
research is top-notch and it is clear that the author knows Ireland, it’s
culture, heritage, and customs.
This
author shows great promise with such an intriguing and fascinating imagination
and a true passion for storytelling!
So,
I, like most reviewers on here, cried – a lot!
I was emotionally invested in this story and the characters.
You
don’t really relate to the characters as I’m sure not many of us are royalty or
have ever been turned into a swan lol.
However, you connect and sympathize with the children and have hope,
love, and courage for them and their chance to return back into human form.
There
are a lot of raw emotions in this book. I’m
glad I read this book at home since I don’t really enjoy crying in public.
I
loved that at the beginning of the book there was a map of Ireland. It was nice to be able to see where the
locations were in this book and see the distance between the spots.
I
also loved that at the end of the book there was a glossary of Irish terms and
pronunciations. There were names, places,
and such included in this glossary. This
was very helpful and overly utilized as the Irish lore and heavy Irish and
Scottish Gaelic names were difficult to pronounce. Maybe it was just me, but I definitely kept
flipping to the back and googling terms I didn’t quite recognize or understand. However, I am not very familiar with Irish
terms in the first place so perhaps I had to rely on these helpful tools more
so.
In
addition, at the end of this book, there is an author notes section that
provides more insight into Irish lore and background info. It was interesting to read and provided
understanding to the author’s writing style.
Another
helpful and unique feature in this book is that at the beginning of a new
chapter the year featured is listed.
This definitely helps for following and understanding the story and the timeline.
All
in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would recommend this book to readers
that like fairytales, Irish lore, and fantasy books. Just beware – you might need a box of tissues
on hand!
**Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book and have voluntarily provided an
honest, and unbiased review in accordance with FTC regulations.**
Did you find this review helpful?
If so, please, please, please mark it as
helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/R3MDV0DDFMITKD
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
My name is Christy Nicholas, also known as Green Dragon. I do many things,
including digital art, beaded jewelry, writing and photography. In real life
I'm a CPA, but having grown up with art and around me (my mother, grandmother
and great-grandmother are/were all artists), it sort of infected me, as it
were. I love to draw and to create
things. It's more of an obsession than a hobby. I like looking up into the sky
and seeing a beautiful sunset, or a fragrant blossom, a dramatic seaside. I
then wish to take a picture or create a piece of jewelry to share this
serenity, this joy, this beauty with others.
Sometimes this sharing requires explanation – and thus I write. Combine this love of beauty with a bit of
financial sense and you get an art business. I do local art and craft shows, as
well as sending my art to various science fiction conventions throughout the
country and abroad.
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CONNECT WITH
CHRISTY:
Website:
Blog:
Facebook:
Publisher's Website:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/Christy-Nicholas/e/B00E3ENH7C~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle:
Barnes and Noble:
Kobo:
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-enchanted-swans
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase made I may receive a small commission to help support this blog. This does not cost you anything, it just
helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and
Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions. Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not
Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are
solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win :)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting!
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting. I love the cover! Looks very interesting too!
ReplyDeleteI have enjoyed the tour. The book sounds good.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a book I'll enjoy reading. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway.
ReplyDeletemia2009(at)comcast(dot)net
I really enjoyed excerpt
ReplyDelete