Are You Ready for 2023?

Hello, friend! I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas celebration. Or perhaps your celebrations are still ongoing? In any event, the new year draws nigh… and I have one more scene to complete in Wyldling Trials. Do you believe I can meet the deadline and attain my goal? Will I finish the first draft by the end of New Year’s Day? I feel it’s a distinct possibility at this point.

How about you? Do you have a goal to complete by the end of 2022? Or a New Year’s resolution you’re eager–or not so eager–to put into action? I tend not to make resolutions for the new year. They fall flat so easily.

The only new thing I resolved to do is follow a schedule meant to get me through the entire Bible in three years. I have a little booklet with it all laid out for me– the books and verses I’ll be reading on any given day. This is a goal I believe I can accomplish.

Speaking of goals, after the first draft of Wyldling Trials is done, it’ll be time for revisions and trimming. The current manuscript could easily be chopped into two books, but the plot won’t allow for it. So… I must cut some things out. I don’t think anyone wants to read a book that’s over 133,000 words. But if you do, then let me know. An alpha read could be arranged. But don’t say I didn’t warn you!

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Ending December 31, 2022! https://books.bookfunnel.com/sffji20222023/lemwce67pa

One of These Things is Not Like the Others…

How about some book recommendations? I know I’ve been promising this for a while. Well, here you go: three excellent YA fantasy novels I have read cover to cover and thoroughly enjoyed.

A Soul As Cold as Frost (The Winter Souls #1) by Jennifer Kropf

“Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good fright…”

Sixteen-year-old Helen Bell understood tragedy better than most kids growing up. She knew what it was like to wear clothes from donation bins and be mocked in school. She thought those brutal experiences made her ready for anything, but when an encounter leaves her able to see a species of invisible people walking among us, and a young, handsome Winter guardian appears to aid her in a crisis, all the holiday legends she heard as a child begin to haunt her. After magical happenings infiltrate her daily life, and a train horn begins calling to her from across the city, she finds herself in the middle of a war of good versus evil.

The Tenets in the Tattoos (The King’s Swordsman #1) by Becky James

Breaking the tenets of Special Forces means one thing. Death.

Thorrn has his life mapped out – be the best swordsman in the king’s army and become Captain one day. What doesn’t fit in with his plans is some short, unimpressive waif claiming to be his soul companion.

Evyn cannot quite believe that this world of Oberrot is real, but grey grass is hard to fake. To expose her true origins risks all-out war with the magical community that covets her blood.

But when the king demands that he hand Evyn over, Thorrn is confronted with a choice: protect Evyn and keep her secret from the magical community who would drain her for the power resonating inside her, or turn her over to save his career, family name and reputation.

When a powerful mage moves against the kingdom, Thorrn and Evyn will have to summon all their courage. But they find allies from unexpected corners – including different worlds and times. For alongside the realms of Oberrot and Earth are the multiverses, and one of them should surely be able to help…

Wolf Healer (The Jade Stone Chronicles #1) by Huckleberry Rahr

Although she trips over her own feet during gym class, Jade’s confident her academics are spot on to become the next healer for her parents’ werewolf pack. But when her best friend invites her to spring break in Florida, everything she thought she knew shatters.

After returning to Wisconsin with carefully guarded secrets laid bare, Jade struggles to find acceptance. As the blows keep coming, she and her closest friends confront the pack’s intolerances.

Will she be able to hold the pieces of her shattering life together long enough to find a new path?

And in case you have holiday cash and are looking for another good read…

He’s become a leader too soon. She’s the sister he needed. Will a sorcerer’s plot destroy their dreams for the future?

Apprentice knight Enoch Northward isn’t ready to lead. But when he returns home to find the Baron-Knight, his mentor, dead and the heir-apparent vanished, he reluctantly steps into the position. 

Though soul-crushed at losing the only family he’s ever known, Enoch has no time to mourn. Three childhood friends have gone missing and It’s his responsibility to find them, and their trail leads into the forbidden forest. Within, Enoch discovers a portal to another world and the girl who shares both his faith and his dreams.

Upon learning the horrific truth about his guardian’s death, Enoch embarks on a quest for justice. With the entire realm hanging in the balance, Enoch must choose between his duty and his otherworldly friendship. Meanwhile, a mysterious enemy schemes to overthrow the rule of the Baron-Knights and Enoch stands directly in their path to power. 

But not all peril comes from the outside. Enoch harbors a secret that he fears will destroy everything he loves.

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That’s all I have for today. Stay safe and have a wonderful time celebrating the holidays. See you next year!

That joke NEVER gets old.