Celeste, Author at A Literary Escape

Indieverse Awards Nominee

Published on March 19, 2024March 18, 2024 by Celeste14 Comments

Good morning, everyone! I want to share some unexpected and fun news I learned about yesterday. Nathan of Nathan’s Fantasy Reviews alerted me on Twitter that my blog is an Indieverse Awards nominee! The Indieverse Awards nominated my blog in the category “Book Blog I Always Catch Up On.”

I’m not sure what spurred my nomination (maybe my On My Radar posts?), but it was a nice surprise! Sometimes I’m lowkey sad that my blog follower count is low. But this surprise nomination showed me that that’s just a number and people do notice my little niche of the internet!

Other Indieverse Awards Nominees in this category are:

I hadn’t heard of the Indieverse Awards before. In case they’re new to you as well, the Indieverse Awards are to support indie authors. There are a ton of different categories with indie author and book nominees. You can read more about their inspiration here.

It looks like voting occurs in November 2024, with plenty of upcoming activities between now and then for readers. So I’ll try to remember to ask for a little blog loving later this year. Thanks, everyone, for helping make the book blogosphere a fun place to be! I’m honored to be an Indieverse Awards Nominee!

ARC Review: An Education In Malice by S.T. Gibson

Published on March 18, 2024March 18, 2024 by Celeste7 Comments

Today’s review is about AN EDUCATION IN MALICE by S.T. Gibson. It’s a retelling of CARMILLA set in 1960s Massachusetts at a historical women’s college. This dual point of view novel portrays a dark academia environment, vampires, and uneven power dynamics.

Author: S.T. Gibson
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Redhook
Publish Date: February 13, 2024
Print Length: 368

Want to support local bookstores? Buy a copy of An Education In Malice on Bookshop.org!*

*These are not affiliate links and I do not make a commission from any purchase made using these links.

Continue reading →

SFINCS Review: Blackcap by Benjamin Aeveryn

Published on March 16, 2024March 11, 2024 by Celeste4 Comments

Today’s review is about BLACKCAP by Benjamin Aeveryn. Though part of the Rainfallen universe, this novella stands on its own and is easy to follow. It’s a paranormal mystery in which Kade switches from sleuthing out human criminals, and inadvertently sending some to their deaths, to helping solve paranormal cases.

This review is brought to you by my participation in the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS). SFINCS, pronounced “sphinx”, is a yearly competition to recognize, honor, and celebrate the talent and creativity present in the indie community. It’s a sister competition to both SPFBO and SPSFC, and it highlights greatness in the novella format in all areas of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc.). I am part of Team Behind the Musings. You can find out more about us here.

Continue reading →

SFINCS Review: Ruins of Smoke by Joao Silva

Published on March 14, 2024March 18, 2024 by Celeste1 Comment

Today’s review is about RUINS OF SMOKE by João F. Silva. It is a novella within The Smokesmiths series. It jumps right into the action of saving an empire from an evil entity, with a very cool magic system to boot.

Continue reading →

Book Blogger Hop: March 8-14

Published on March 12, 2024March 5, 2024 by Celeste3 Comments

It’s been a while since I did a Book Blogger Hop. Since I was away on a short family vacation, I thought I’d find something lighter to post about while I get back into my routine.

The Book Blogger Hop was originally created by Jennifer @ Crazy-For-Books in March 2010 and ended on December 31, 2012. With Jennifer’s permission, Coffee Addicted Writer relaunched the hop on February 15, 2013. Each week the hop will start on a Friday and end the following Thursday. There will be a weekly prompt featuring a book related question. The hop’s purpose is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

The Book Blogger Hop post image was created by Coffee Addicted Writer.

This Week’s Question

Do you use a book’s synopsis for your review? (Billy @ Coffee Addicted Writer)

Yes, I currently use a book’s synopsis for my review. When I first started reviewing on my blog I used to write my own synopsis. At the time I chose not to use the official book blurb because I wanted to try my hand at summarizing it myself. Long story short, it caused me a lot of stress writing my own book synopsis. It often took me nearly as long to write that first paragraph as the rest of the review.

To reduce my writing freeze about the synopsis, I decided to make it easier on myself and just use the official book blurb instead. (Remember, this is supposed to be a fun hobby, not a stressful one!) I figured the publisher already paid someone to professionally write it, so why not use it. Sometimes I just let the official blurb speak for itself. But lately I’ve been trying to include a lower key synopsis of my own at the beginning of my review. I feel it just flows better that way.