Book Haul: Self-Pub Fantasy Month 2019 Edition

Earlier this week there was a sale going on for books related to the Self Published Fantasy Blog Off (#SPFBO). A bunch of self-published/indie authors got together and put their books on sale for $0.99 each. Most of the books were part of SPFBO5 that is currently underway, but there were a few books and authors from SPFBO4 that I noticed.

Anyway, what’s important for this conversation is there were a bunch of self-published/indie books on sale. This of course meant I had to buy some. Because you know, there was a book sale going on. It’s what one does.

I bought five books. I’m pretty sure at least one of these will be read and reviewed for Self-Published Fantasy Month in September though I haven’t decided which one or whether there will be more than one.

Here’s what I picked up…

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Author Interview: Nancy O’Toole Meservier

Today I’m excited because I have Indie/Self-Published author Nancy O’Toole Meservier joining me here on Off The TBR for a little chat as part of her blog tour for Black And Blue!

Nancy is the author of the Red And Black series, which as of July 29th is now up to two books with the publication of Black And Blue. Red And Black is superhero urban fantasy with perhaps a little bit of a romance twist. Let’s talk to Nancy and find out more…

2019 Reading And Blogging Goals IX: Mid Year Update

Wow…the year is half-way over. Like many of you I’ve hit this point in the year and I’m feeling like I’m behind on reading and reviews and life is just crazy busy. It seems like this happens to me every year. I set goals that may be too high, or over-commit to a few too many things, or life just gets busy, or all of the above. This year isn’t as bad as last year though thank goodness.

I haven’t done one of these updates since about April. This one will be be a little different though because I’m not discussing specific goals. Instead this post is going to touch on some big picture things for the remainder of the year including an Indie-Publishing Month, and a Read-Along.

Ben Galley Blog Tour: Chasing Graves Review

I was contacted back in April about participating in a crazy blog tour event hosted by TheWriteReads. Over 100 bloggers reading and reviewing one of four books by independent fantasy author Ben Galley. I chose Chasing Graves as it had been on my list of want to read titles since it was published and I figure this was a great opportunity to knock it out. I was sent a copy of this book by TheWriteReads as part of this blog tour. Now…Let’s jump right in…

Book Haul: 6/1/19

I’ve been trying to think of ways to diversify my posts so you’re not just getting reviews and month-in-review updates. It’s been a while since I made a book haul post and I bought a couple of books today so I thought, “why not do another book haul post?” My last one was probably over a year ago, and I know you’re all dying to critique my spending habits. Maybe I’ll make this a more regular thing.

For this post I don’t just want to tell you what I hauled, I also want to tell you why I hauled it. Today I bought two books on my Kindle. Here they are…

Legends Of The Exiles Review

Author: Jesse Teller
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date:  April 15, 2019
Format: e-book (read on Kindle)
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars

I was sent a copy of this book for review by the author’s spouse.

The Story

“The isolated barbarians of Neather have deep ancestry and strict traditions. Four resilient women defy tribal customs as they fight to overcome their own tragedies. Abuse. Addiction. Assault. Grief. What struggles can they endure to defend their hopes and their hearts?

Helena seeks a love as bold as she, yet finds the men of her village lacking. 

Jocelyn fears her strange visions and sacrifices a life with the man she loves for the one her destiny demands. 

Torn apart by abuse and grief, Ellen is a brilliant woman who must focus her intellect on finding reasons to persevere.

Rachel, a brash girl of noble heritage, dares all men to challenge her and longs for one who will.

In this set of four interwoven novellas, award-winning author Jesse Teller challenges assumptions and showcases the strength of feminine resolve.”

Legends of The Exiles tells the stories of four legendary women of the Ragoth, a seemingly barbarian mountain people in the decades leading up to “The Escape.” They are stories of love, life, strength, loss, and suffering, where the characters struggle to fight back against the fate of tradition, choose their own paths, and forge their own destinies.

I’ve been sitting here a while trying to decide how I want to tackle this review. A book that is four stories woven together could be approached in a number of ways. It isn’t just a collection of short-stories (or novellas) and it isn’t a single story with a single story arc. At first I was going to dish on what I liked and didn’t like but sometimes they could go together. So instead I think I’m going to just talk about the things that really popped out to me.

Month In Review: April 2019

Well March has come and gone and I don’t have much to show for it. I kinda slacked off this month. Well…that isn’t really fair. I was busy all month, just busy doing other things. In the end I didn’t do nearly as much reading and blogging as I’d planned. Which is OK I suppose, only now my whole reading schedule is thrown off and I need to rework it. That’s just how it goes sometimes.

Here’s a quick overview of what I’d planned to read and review in March:

• Seven Blades In Black, by Sam Sykes (I was actually reading this as February ended and March began)
• Legends of The Exiles, by Jesse Teller
• SWORLD: The Chronicles of Malick, by William Harris
• Up To The Throne, by T.A. Frost
• Holy Sister, by Mark Lawrence

Here’s what I actually read:

• Seven Blades In Black (reviewed this one)
• Legends of The Exiles (didn’t review this one yet)

So what happened? Well I’ll tell you…