Let’s talk immortals. Let’s talk about the ancient pagan gods. Who are they? What are they? Are they divine? I explore these questions in the Legends of the Pale Series, specifically with book 1, The Love of Gods. For brevity's sake, I have highlighted a few of my favorite scenes in this week’s podcast between Lugos, Rhiannon, Angus, and Bride. Settle in and give a listen.
This week’s news:
Amazingly my author copies of The Souls of Witches arrived this week! So this Saturday, I will roll this book out to the reading public both online and in-person at my book signing. (Just the way it used to happen before Covid.)
Beyond getting ready to celebrate Thanksgiving with family, I am marshaling my materials, props, and books for this Saturday’s signing. With Covid rates surging all over the country, this event will probably be the last one I attempt to do this year. Let’s hope a vaccine arrives soon so life can return to relative-normal.
Now let’s move on to updates on the Pale Characters.
Let me first say that I am not crazy, but the characters I create live on in my imagination, as I hope they will do in a reader’s mind long after they’ve finished reading the book. The following is a glimpse of what is still happening inside the universe I created. (I will try to keep this as spoiler-free as I can for anyone who hasn’t read the books. I should also mention that not all the information I share here will find its way into a book.)
Lugh, Keely, Murmur, and Gabriela have left Atlanta, Georgia behind and are on their way to a secluded Caribbean Island. I don’t expect to hear from any of them until after Christmas.
Because the characters of the Pale live in a Covid-free universe, the entire Azoulf werewolf pack is assembling for Thanksgiving. Brian and Christopher are doing the majority of the cooking. And this time around, Jerrod made sure to remember to have heavy whipping cream on hand for Brian’s famous sauce.
The little bit extra in this week’s letter: A Review
Broken Promises
Broken Promises by Quell T. Fox is a paranormal romance and the first in a trilogy. It is written in first-person, which is something that I don’t usually enjoy but after reading the book I realized that this story couldn’t have been told any other way. There are flashback/memory vignettes that are more impactful with the first-person point of view. The writing flows easily and once I’d started the book, I didn’t want to put it down until I’d finished it. It took me a day to read. With that said, I did stumble across several mistakes that could have been caught with another pass by a proofreader or by having Microsoft Word read the book aloud, but the mistakes weren’t jarring or frequent enough to set the book aside.
Broken Promises deals with love and time, favorite themes of mine. Asha’s character is introduced as a serial leaver. She leaves relationships and people as easily as she abandons places. She has always felt like she’s searching for something—but she doesn’t know what, where, or who that may be. This is a classic the heroine doesn’t know who or what she is book. Andrew is Asha’s drool-worthy boyfriend at the beginning of the book. She knows she’ll eventually leave despite moving to Rhode Island with him, the hot sex, and his sweet nature. She just isn’t normal and she knows it.
After arriving at Andrew’s family home, unusual things immediately start to occur. Eventually, the reader is clued in that much of the phenomenon is Jacob trying to find her. This book would have fallen into the love triangle trope except that both Asha and the reader are already aware that she’s going to leave Andrew regardless of the unusual future Jacob is offering.
Be prepared to dwell over Quell’s explanation of what immortalites are and how they come to be. It can get a bit confusing but if you absorb that bit of information then you’ll probably want to read the rest of the series once books 2 and 3 are released. Also, keep in mind that this a trilogy. Being a romance, the reader is going to get a happy-ish ending, choices will be made but Asha’s story-arc will not be wrapped up in a tight bow and that might leave some readers unsatisfied.
To learn more about Quell T. Fox and her other books, check out her Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/632201927243401/
(This review was first published on my blog Nov 7th, 2019. I believe the author has published an updated edition of this book with a new cover and additional editing. )
And as always, thank you for listening and spending time with Tales of the Pale. Please leave comments and share Tarrant.substack.com with your friends.
Tales of the Pale; Vol. 5