I'm moving!

I'm leaving the nest! As I've been blogging less frequently lately, I've decided to move the main part of my blog over to my author website. It's a change I've been meaning to make for a while, but my overloaded schedule's made it tricky to find the time, and I was reluctant to lose my audience over here. However, I think it's time for a change. It's tough to manage both an author website and blog and keep everything up to date, so this is my attempt to make things more streamlined.

This blog was a wonderful way to build relationships with other writers within the community, but at this stage, I want to focus on reaching readers. You'll still be able to find me on social media and I might post the occasional update over here if I go travelling again or I think something might be useful to share.

For readers and fans interested in keeping up with my new releases, you can subscribe to my newsletter to get early updates on my latest books.

If you're interested in writing advice, I'll leave up some of my old blog posts here on the Writer's Nest. It's important to note that some of these posts are quite old, so the advice might be slightly outdated (especially when it comes to self-publishing).

Thank you to my readers for sticking with me over the years. Happy reading/writing!

Out now: Faerie Blood (The Changeling Chronicles, #1)

I’m Ivy Lane, and if I never see another faerie again, it’ll be too soon.

Twenty years after the faeries came and destroyed the world as we knew it, I use my specialist skills to keep rogue faeries in line and ensure humans and their magically gifted neighbours can coexist (relatively) peacefully.

Nobody knows those skills came from the darkest corner of Faerie itself.

When a human child disappears, replaced with a faerie changeling, I have to choose between taking the safe road or exposing my own history with the faeries to the seductively dangerous head of the Mage Lords. He’s the exact kind of distraction I don’t need, but it’s work with him or lose my chance to save the victims.

It’ll take all my skills to catch the kidnappers and stop Faerie’s dark denizens overrunning the city — but if the faerie lords find out about the magic I stole last time I went into their realm, running won’t save me this time…

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Top 10 faerie urban fantasy books!

Since the first book in my new urban fantasy series releases this week, I thought I'd recommend some other awesome urban fantasy series which feature faeries -- evil or otherwise!

Between Two Thorns (Split Worlds series)

This amazing series has recently been re-released, and it's a must-read! (Side note: I have a soft spot for modern fantasy set here in the UK.) This is a very British urban fantasy series with tons of colourful characters and inventive fantastical world.

Darkfever (Fever series)

I haven't reread this series for a while, but I vividly remember blitzing through it on my Kindle a few years ago. It's seriously dark, intense adult urban fantasy which lures you in slowly then grabs you by the throat.

Dog With a Bone (Black Dog series)

A fantastic new find in new adult urban fantasy. Thierry is half-mortal, half-fae, working as a marshal to keep humans safe from faeries -- at least until her estranged fae father goes missing, and she's dragged back into Faerie.

Feyland: The Dark Realm

A high-tech computer game turns out to be a portal into Faerie. I think that says it all! Fabulous read. Better yet, it's FREE to download!

The Iron King (Iron Fey series)

I reviewed the Iron Fey series here forever ago, and it remains one of my favourite YA urban fantasy series.

The Faerie Guardian (Creepy Hollow)

I really, really liked this series, too! A faerie guardian-in-training, Violet gets into trouble when she accidentally lets herself be seen by the human she's meant to be guarding. Added bonus; the first book is FREE to download.

Banished (The Blackhart Legacy)

I thoroughly enjoyed the first instalment of this series. Kit and the other characters are fantastic and I loved the action-packed storyline.

The Falconer

Okay, The Falconer is actually historical fantasy, but it's an awesome read set in the UK, so I had to include it. Aileana has the rare ability to sense and kill evil faeries, and she's out for revenge on the creatures that murdered her mother. The evil faerie creatures and steampunk-esque technology make this a winner!

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception.

It's been a while since I reread Maggie Stiefvater's first book, but you can't go wrong with faerie assassins! 

Rosemary and Rue (October Daye)

I've actually just started reading this one, but I've had Seanan McGuire's books on my list for ages!

Which is your favourite fantasy novel with faeries?

Random Authorly Updates!

It's been a while since I did a general update on where I am with all my series, and since I have another book out next week (EEEK), I decided now's a good time!

Firstly, it's less than a week until Faerie Blood hits the virtual shelves! I also finished writing the sequel, Faerie Magic, and I’m working on edits.

Speaking of edits, I finally finished the last round of edits on Divided (Alliance, #4), and now I'm proofreading and formatting it. I set a release date: 7th June. My cover artist is just starting work on the covers for the other Alliance books, so hopefully I'll be able to share the fourth book cover soon!

As for the Darkworld series, I finished the final check of the PDF file for Souls Forsaken (Darkworld Book 4)! Hopefully that means cover art’s on the way.

Updated publishing schedule:

April 21st - Faerie Blood (Changeling Chronicles Book 1)
May 2nd - Souls Forsaken (Darkworld Book 4)
Late May - Faerie Magic (Changeling Chronicles Book 2)
June 7th - Divided (Alliance Book 4)
June 28th - Transcendent (Indestructible Trilogy Book 3)

Other miscellaneous updates: you might have noticed my blog header and website have changed. That's thanks to the wonderful Rebecca Frank, who designed my Changeling Chronicles series covers! I decided to update my website to make it more streamlined.

I'm also working on some new cool things for newsletter subscribers including a Changeling Chronicles prequel short story.

And I made a Pinterest board for the Changeling Chronicles series. :)

Author Interview: Jadah McCoy, author of Artificial!

Today I'm interviewing Jadah McCoy, fellow CQ author!

Tell me three interesting facts about yourself!

Three interesting things about me! Hmm… I like to pole dance, I’ve been to seven countries so far, and I do drunk book reviews on my YouTube channel, The Tipsy Reader!

Summarize your book in one line.

A girl goes on a quest to an android city to reverse the genetic splicing done to her and stop the person doing the splicing.

Tell me something cool/crazy/quirky about the book – it can be anything!

Because one of my main characters is an android in the sex industry, I did a bit of research on how an android’s sex organs would work. Interesting stuff! The things I do for my books...

Why did you decide to write this particular book?

I wanted to write something post-apocalyptic. I had this world in my head that was desperate to get out, and that made the whole world-building process easier. The characters and plot came after!

Best part of the writing process?

Writing ‘the end!’ Nothing feels better than finishing a book!

Share one thing you learned writing this book.

I learned to not take writing so seriously. What you’ve written can always be changed. It’s best not to judge yourself on a first draft, so just get the story out first and worry about polishing it later!

Tell me about one strange experience you’ve had. Again, it can be anything!

I’ll tell you a strange and wondrous experience. I was in Indonesia last December, getting my certification to teach yoga. I was sleeping, and not fitfully due to the storm raging outside. The retreat was a few minutes walk from the beach, and it was normally windy. But that night felt different. The storm was loud, like it was right on top of us. I lay in bed in some dream-haze when the loudest sound I’d ever heard woke me up. I knew something terrible had happened, but was too sleep-laden to get up.

When I awoke the next morning, it was to a giant tree resting where our pool used to be—only ten feet from my room. If the wind had pushed the tree even a few feet to the right, it would have landed in my second story room, probably killing—or at least badly injuring—me and my roommate. I think things happen for a reason, and I was fascinated with how close I came to serious injury, yet it didn’t happen. Perhaps some Indonesian spirit saw fit to spare me that night. Either way, it was a strange occurrence.

Name one fictional place you’d love to visit.

I’d love to visit the underground goblin city in The Hollow Kingdom. Or, heck, just take me to Jareth’s Labyrinth!!

Name one real place you’d love to visit.

Japan! It’s next on my travel list! I’ll be doing some research for my next book series. >:]

Share one sentence/mini-excerpt from the book!

Sure! Here’s the opening of Artificial!


There is a sign, dingy and broken, half buried in the water and moss in front of me. Faded brown handprints streak across the large board, staining it with dried blood. It reads: If you died today, where would you spend eternity?

I’ve heard stories of places called heaven and hell—children’s tales meant to keep you in line, make you act right.

There is no “act right” on this planet anymore. The only line I follow is the edge of my blade plunging into the throat of one of those goddamn Cull. And if there’s anything I know, it’s that hell can’t be any worse than this place.

About Artificial


She struggles to feel human.


In 2256, the only remnants of civilization on Earth’s first colonized planet, Kepler, are the plant-covered buildings and the nocturnal, genetically spliced bug-people nesting within them: the Cull. During the day, Syl leaves her home in the sewers beneath Elite City to scavenge for food, but at night the Cull come looking for a meal of their own. Syl thought gene splicing died with the Android War a century ago. She thought the bugs could be exterminated, Elite city rebuilt, and the population replenished. She’s wrong.

Whoever engineered the Cull isn’t done playing God. Syl is abducted and tortured in horrific experiments which result in her own DNA being spliced, slowly turning her into one of the bugs. Now she must find a cure and stop the person responsible before every remaining man, woman, and child on Kepler is transformed into the abomination they fear.

He struggles not to.

For Bastion, being an android in the sex industry isn’t so bad. Clubbing beneath the streets of New Elite by day and seducing the rich by night isn’t an altogether undesirable occupation. But every day a new android cadaver appears in the slum gutters, and each caved in metal skull and heap of mangled wires whittles away at him.

Glitches—androids with empathy—are being murdered, their models discontinued and strung up as a warning. Show emotion, you die. Good thing Bastion can keep a secret, or he would be the next body lining the street.

He can almost live with hiding his emotions. That is, until a girl shows up in the slums—a human girl, who claims she was an experiment. And in New Elite, being a human is even worse than being a Glitch. Now Bastion must help the girl escape before he becomes victim to his too-human emotions, one way or another. 

Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28682101-artificial 

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/Artificial-Jadah-McCoy-ebook/dp/B01CDAA1IA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1459098442&sr=8-1&keywords=artificial+jadah+mccoy



Author Facebook page  Twitter

Jadah currently lives in Nashville, TN and works as a legal coordinator. When not babysitting attorneys, she can be found juicing her brain for creative ideas or fantasizing about her next trip out of the country (or about Tom Hiddleston as Loki - it’s always a toss up when she fantasizes).

She grew up in rural Arkansas, yet can still write good and sometimes even wears shoes! She did date her first cousin for a while but they decided against marriage for the sake of the gene pool.

Her true loves are elephants, cursing, and sangria - in that order. If you find an elephant that curses like a sailor whilst drinking sangria, you’re dangerously close to becoming her next romantic victim - er, partner.

She cut her writing teeth on badly written, hormone-driven fanfiction (be glad that’s out of her system), and her one true dream is to have wildly erotic fanfiction with dubious grammar written about her own novels. Please make her dreams come true.

New Release: Ablaze (Indestructible Trilogy: Book 2)

It's release day for Ablaze, the second book in the dystopian fantasy Indestructible trilogy!

Two years ago, the fiends invaded Earth. Two months ago, I joined the Pyros, a group of warriors with astonishing powers, to fight the monsters that destroyed our world.

But then I found out they were keeping secrets from me. Jared, the sadistic scientist who betrayed them, has captured my ally, who’s linked to me through a blood-connection that’s slowly killing us both. To get him back, I have to leave my new friends and face the wilderness alone. But Jared’s not the only threat out there. The fiends are moving, forces stir on the other side of the divide, and if Jared’s plan succeeds, it’ll spell disaster for our world.

And that’s if the dark transformation in my blood doesn’t kill me first.

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For a limited time, you can also grab the first book in the Indestructible trilogy for $0.99!

Two years ago, the fiends invaded, with a devastating explosion that split the world in two. Even now, energy blasts strike without warning, destroying everything in their paths. The fiends hunt anyone unlucky enough to escape.

My name is Leah. An energy blast killed my group. It should have killed me, too. Instead, I woke up alone in the wilderness, stalked by the fiends. Until a deadly, ruthless warrior appeared from the ashes and saved my life.

Swept into the world of the Pyros -- flame-conjuring warriors born to kill the fiends -- I learn to unlock the fire buried inside me. But I swiftly learn my allies aren't what they seem. The literal skeletons buried underneath their base are my first clue. The darkness stirring in my blood, showing me memories that don't belong to me, is another. And the man whose memories I see hides dangerous secrets behind his eyes.

If I don't uncover the truth about why the world ended the first time, my new safe haven might go up in smoke...

Amazon   Add on Goodreads  Read the first chapter

And the third book, Transcendent, is now available to pre-order. It’ll be out on June 28th!

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Previously...

"Previously" is a blog hop run by the awesome Cole Burke and Tracey Joseph.

Previously in Writing

I've spent this month working on the newly announced Changeling Chronicles, an adult urban fantasy series. :) I'm almost halfway through drafting the second book, and the first's ready to publish (21st April!).

Previously in Reading

Another great month for reading! This year, I'm not setting any challenges. I'm reading for two reasons. 1) Research for what's currently selling in the genres I like, and 2) Books I want to read. I haven't even set a Goodreads challenge goal.

Some of the highlights of the month:

The Dead House - a great horror story featuring a protagonist with a split personality. Recommended if you want to be thoroughly creeped out!



The Silver Tide - a fantastic ending to the trilogy. Adventure, pirates, dragons, evil gods and magic - what more do you want?



A Gathering of Shadows - the hype is real. It feels like sacrilege to say I found the first 70% of the book slow and packed with filler, but the worldbuilding and characters are great.



Their Fractured Light - excellent ending to this YA sci-fi trilogy.




Next Time in Goals

I want to have the second book in the Changeling Chronicles drafted and through the first round of edits by the end of April.

A Word of Advice

Writing sprints are awesome. The problem with having so many ongoing series is that there's always something important that needs doing, and actual writing can fall by the wayside. I had to rediscover my focus after spending so long travelling, and writing sprints really helped with that.

Also: Yayyyy, book signing. :D