Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote

Breakfast at Tiffany's

(also includes House of Flowers, Diamond Guitar, A Christmas Memory)

Author:  Truman Capote

Published: 1958 (original publication date) 

Original Publisher:  Random House, Inc.

Publication this edition:  July 2012

Publisher:  Vintage (a division of Random House)

Format:  Trade paperback

Edition:  50th Anniversary Edition

Pages: 148
Source:  borrowed

In this seductive, wistful masterpiece, Truman Capote created a woman whose name has entered the American idiom and whose style is a part of the literary landscape. Holly Golightly knows that nothing bad can ever happen to you at Tiffany's; her poignancy, wit, and naïveté continue to charm.

This volume also includes three of Capote's best-known stories, “House of Flowers,” “A Diamond Guitar,” and “A Christmas Memory,” which the Saturday Review called “one of the most moving stories in our language.” It is a tale of two innocents—a small boy and the old woman who is his best friend—whose sweetness contains a hard, sharp kernel of truth.  (from Goodreads)

My thoughts:

Truman Capote's Holly Golightly is as confusing as she is confused, or at least she ought to be the way she lives but you cannot help but enjoy reading about this vivacious young woman who hides from her past, loves Tiffany's and fashion, constantly locks herself out and whom all the men love.  She's a bit of an enigma, witty, charming and beautiful and involved with the wrong men.  She's a bit of a wild thing that cannot be captured.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is a rich character study of a narrator, who is in love with a wild and unobtainable Holly Golightly, and especially of this young woman who is naive, beautiful and desired by men who uses all of the aforementioned to her financial advantage.  Her complexity of character makes her an interesting personality to get to know through the creative imaginings of a gifted writer.  Nothing in literature at the time this was written is remotely similar, though The Great Gatsby by Fitzgerald has been compared to this novelette.

The movie adaptation of the novel Breakfast at Tiffany's starring Audrey Hepburn is an incredible likeness of the book and once you've seen Hepburn as Holly, you won't be able to imagine her otherwise.  Hepburn is phenomenal in the role.

My favourite among the short stories included in this volume following Breakfast at Tiffany's is A Christmas Memory which is a story of a young child growing up in a poverty-stricken household and the simple joys that can be gathered by the work of one's own hand.

Capote's writing is eloquent while being creative and even lyrical.  I'm not sure which I enjoyed more, reading the stories or reading the writing.  

About Truman Capote:

photo on book cover

Truman Capote was a native of New Orleans, where he was born on September 30, 1924.  His first novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, was an international literary success when first published in 1948, and accorded the author a prominent place among the writers of America's post-war generation.  He sustained this position subsequently with short-story collections (A Tree of Night, among others), novels and novellas (The Grass Harp and Breakfast at Tiffany's), some of the best travel writing of our time (Local Color), profiles and reportage that appeared originally in The New Yorker (The Duke in His Domain and The Muses Are Heard), a true crime masterpiece (In Cold Blood), several short memoirs about his childhood in the South (A Christmas Memory, The Thanksgiving Visitor, and One Christmas), two plays (The Grass Harp and House of Flowers) and two films (Beat the Devil and The Innocents).

Mr. Capote twice won the O. Henry Memorial Short Story Prize and was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.  He died in August 1984, shortly before his sixtieth birthday.  (biography as portrayed in this copy of Breakfast at Tiffany's)

We Read in Bed

Source unknown.

Debut Mystery Release: Killer WASPs

Killer WASPs

A Killer WASPs Mystery

Amy Korman

Crime really stings in Killer WASPs (Witness Impulse e-book, on sale 9/16/2014, $1.99), a Witness Original from debut author Amy Korman. If you love cocktails, antiquing, parties, shopping and the occasional crime-lite thrown in amid vodka tonics and tennis matches at the club, then you’ll love Killer WASPs. The first installment in this modern and cozy series features crime, romance, and fun amid the classic estates of Philadelphia’s Main Line.

Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, is a haven for East Coast WASPs, where tennis tournaments and cocktails at the club are revered traditions. Little happens in the sleepy suburb, and that is the way the Lilly Pulitzer–clad residents prefer it. So when antiques store owner Kristin Clark and her portly basset hound stumble upon the area's newest real estate developer lying unconscious beneath the hydrangea bushes lining the driveway of one of Bryn Mawr's most distinguished estates, the entire town is abuzz with gossip and intrigue.

When the attacker strikes again just days later, Kristin and her three best friends—Holly, a glamorous chicken nugget heiress with a penchant for high fashion; Joe, a decorator who's determined to land his own HGTV show; and Bootsie, a preppy but nosy newspaper reporter—join forces to solve the crime. While their investigation takes them to cocktail parties, flea markets, and the country club, they must unravel the mystery before the assailant claims another victim.

Fans of Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series will enjoy shaking up the Philadelphia Main Line. To learn more, check out the Killer WASPs Facebook page:https://www.facebook.com/killerWASPsseries.

About the Author: Amy Korman is a former senior editor and staff writer for Philadelphia Magazine, and author of Frommer’s Guide to Philadelphia. She has written for Town & Country, House Beautiful, Men’s Health, and Cosmopolitan. Killer WASPs is her first novel.

Purchase your copy here:  HarperCollins, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, iBooks

Mockingjay Movie Part I - trailer

Autobiography of Neil Patrick Harris Book Trailer

A Cry in the Night by Carolyn Hart (book review)

A Cry in the Night
Author:  Carolyn Hart
Published:  December 2013 (in paperback)
Publisher:  The Berkley Publishing Group
Pages:  246
ISBN 9780425269909
Format:  Mass Market Paperback
Genre:  mystery/romantic mystery
Source:  I own it.

From the national bestselling author of  Dead, White, and Blue and Ghost Gone Wild  comes a mystery of intrigue and danger in the world of international art theft.  Egyptologist Sheila Ramsay develops a newfound interest in MesoAmerican affairs after meeting an outspoken—and attractive—Mexico City curator, a harsh critic of museums that deal in stolen art. And her own museum gives her the perfect opportunity to see him again: a valuable Aztec manuscript needs to be returned to its rightful owners, the wealthy Ortega family.  

But things don’t go as planned for Sheila south of the border. An anonymous note threatens her with death if she remains in Mexico City. The curator she longed to see treats her with contempt. And the Ortegas are as mysterious as they are charming. What Sheila has stumbled into is much bigger—and more deadly—than she ever dreamed. And amid the splendor of Mexico’s ancient ruins and treacherous hillsides, Sheila will realize that there’s no one she can trust.

My Thoughts

"The first time I saw him, he was furious." 

A group comprised of museum staff had gathered for a lecture Museum Responsibility in the Art Trade given by Jeremiah Elliot, a visiting curator from Mexico City.  His anger is evident as he lectures and admonishes about procuring artifacts with dubious backgrounds.  The tension was palpable in the room, to say the least.

Following the lecture, though, Sheila and Jeremiah seem to hit it off and decide to do some sightseeing on the spur of the moment. Sheila finds herself attracted to him and is taken in by his change in demeanour.  So when the opportunity to travel to Mexico to return an artifact to a family in Mexico City is posted at the museum, Sheila volunteers, hoping she will find Jeremiah again.

Upon arrival in Mexico City, Sheila's senses are heightened when she spots a man watching her.  A letter of warning to return home, a scream in the night, and shots aimed at her should have sent her home but she is apparently very stubborn and determined. That's the makings of a good sleuth, right?  Sheila sets out to discover why someone wants her dead and what secrets the Ortega family is hiding.

Carolyn Hart is one of my absolute favourite mystery writers and I adore her Death on Demand series.  Cry in the Night is one of Ms Hart's stand alone novels that could be classified as romantic suspense or romantic mystery considering the plot has a strong thread of romance strung throughout the mystery.  Well written and designed, Cry in the Night is a fast clean read with an ending that will appeal to the romantics out there. While I really enjoyed this foyer into Hart's works that lie beyond her addictive series of Death on Demand and Henrie O, I rather prefer them to this novel.  Perhaps because I know the characters, but I thinks it's more like Hart invested more of herself in the series.  Cry in the Night is a good read nonetheless, especially if you enjoy travelling, archeology, art, mystery and a love story to boot.

Meet the Author

An accomplished master of mystery, Carolyn Hart is the author of fifty novels of mystery and suspense.  Her books have won multiple Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards.  One of the founders of Sisters in Crime, Hart lives in Oklahoma City where she enjoys mysteries, walking in the park, and cats.  She and her husband Phil serve as staff - cat owners will understand - to an orange tabby and brother and sister tables.  Visit her website at carolynhart.com.

Giller Prize Long List Announced Today

Giller Prize logo 2013

The long list for the Giller Prize has been announced.  Additionally, the prize has increased for the winner at $100,000 (thus making this the richest fiction prize in the country) and each of the four finalists will be awarded $10,000 each.  The longlist is:

• Arjun Basu, Waiting for the Man (ECW Press)
• David Bezmogis, The Betrayers (HarperCollins Canada)
• Rivka Galchen, American Innovations (HarperCollins Canada)
• Frances Itani, Tell (HarperCollins Canada)
• Jennifer LoveGrove, Watch How We Walk (ECW)
• Sean Michaels, Us Conductors (Random House Canada)
• Shani Mootoo, Moving Forward Sideways Like a Crab (Doubleday Canada)
• Heather O’Neill, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night (HarperCollins Canada)
• Kathy Page, Paradise and Elsewhere (John Metcalf Books/Biblioasis)
• Claire Holden Rothman, My October (Penguin Canada)
• Miriam Toews, All My Puny Sorrows (Knopf Canada)
• Padma Viswanathan, The Ever After of Ashwin Rao (Random House Canada)

The short list will be announced October 6/14.  The gala to announce the winner will be held in Toronto November 6/14 and will likely be aired live again.

The Christie Curse by Victoria Abbott (book review)

The Christie Curse
A Book Collector Mystery
Author:  Victoria Abbott
Published:  2013
Publisher:  Penguin Group (USA)
Pages:  296 (includes recipes)
Genre:  Mystery/cozy mystery
Edition:  mass market paperback
ISBN 9780425255285

In 1926, Agatha Christie disappeared—making headlines across the world—only to show up eleven days later at a spa under an assumed name. During those eleven days, did she have time to write a play?

Jordan Kelly needs a new job and a new place to live. She’s back in Harrison Falls, New York, living with her not so law-abiding uncles, in debt thanks to a credit card–stealing ex and pending grad school loans.

Enter the perfect job, a research position that includes room and board, which will allow her to spend her days hunting down rare mysteries for an avid book collector. There’s just one problem: her employer, Vera Van Alst—the most hated citizen of Harrison Falls.

Jordan’s first assignment is to track down a rumored Agatha Christie play. It seems easy enough, but Jordan soon finds out that her predecessor was killed while looking for it, and there is still someone out there willing to murder to keep the play out of Vera’s hands. Jordan’s new job is good…but is it worth her life?

My Thoughts:

It would seem the infamous play, it's very being in doubt, is a curse upon whomever seeks it.  Jordan's predecessor, while in New York seeking information about the possibility of a never before published Christie play, was pushed to his death in the subway.  This only makes Jordan more cautious as she investigates the whereabouts of a play that no one can ascertain even exists.  It's a rumour based upon the disappearance of mystery author Agatha Christie for a short period in 1926 when her first marriage ended.  Perhaps she spent her time at a spa?  Or, perhaps she spent her time in seclusion, writing a play.  No one knew for sure but conjecture would have it she was writing. This is the basis for the mystery The Christie Curse.

Jordan is hired to find it and her investigations soon become dangerous to anyone associated with her search.  Two attempts are made on a possible source's life and a woman is beaten. Everywhere Jordan turns, Officer Smiley is not far behind.  Everyone is suspicious to Jordan and it is uncertain who her enemies really are.  The search has become a matter of life and death.

Victoria Abbot is actually a mother and daughter writing duo.  The Christie Curse is the first in the new Book Collector series.  It is an excellent example of a cozy mystery with enough suspects to keep you guessing.  Like Jordan, I had brushed off the real assailant until it was too late.  Suspicion had been cast on a few others who had good cause or were just shady enough to be possible.  The characterization was plausible, scenarios wrought with suspense, and the plot twisted just enough to put me off.

For me this was a timely read as Sophie Hannah just released The Monogram Murders, a Hercule Poirot mystery and the Christie name is all the buzz right now.  The Christie Curse title caught my eye in the bookstore and the writing begs me to come back for more.  The Sayers Swindle is the second book in the series and I will be searching it out.  I'd love to collect them all.

Meet the author(s) of The Christie Curse

Victoria Abbott is a collaboration between the always very funny and creative artist, photographer and short story author, Victoria Maffini and her mother, Mary Jane Maffini, award-winning author of three mystery series and two dozen short stories. Mary Jane's two miniature dachshunds are understandably outraged that a pug and some Siamese cats have wiggled their way into the series, and now a pug has weasled her way into Victoria's home.  The indignity of it all.

Wherever I am....

I am reading Six Against the Yard, a mystery anthology with contributors like Agatha Christie and Dorothy L. Sayers.

What are you reading this weekend?

The Monogram Murders - Hangout with author Sophie Hannah and Mark Lawson

Discover the Secret! Monogram Murders Soon to be Released!!

My Life in a Nutshell: A Novel by Tanya J. Peterson (book review)

My Life in a Nutshell: A Novel
Author:  Tanya J. Peterson
Published:  June 2014
Publisher:  Inkwater Press
Pages:  382
Genre/Category:  Fiction
Edition:  Trade paperback
ISBN 9781629010724

Source:  a complimentary copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

HealthyPlace columnist, National Certified Counselor, and award-nominated author Tanya J. Peterson tackles anxiety disorders and the redemptive qualities of unexpected human connection in her new novel, My Life in a Nutshell.

A brilliant and talented man crippled by extreme anxiety and panic attacks, Brian has carefully crafted his world so that his interactions with others are severely limited. Although incapable of changing his situation, he discovers that, somehow, he is the only person seven-year-old Abigail can trust. Having bounced from one foster home to another, she has unexpectedly come to live with a childless uncle and aunt she has never known. For very different reasons, both Brian and Abigail are trapped in emotionally and socially isolated lives. Can they learn from each other?

Empathetic, insightful, and emotionally stirring, My Life in a Nutshell delves into the thought processes and erratic habits of a regular man dealing with life-altering mental illness, providing a unique, personal glimpse into a misunderstood and often stereotyped condition.

“Life in a Nutshell is a powerful and poignant novel. Written from a very clear and well-informed perspective, Peterson should be lauded for navigating the field of mental illness and presenting important relative issues in an affable fiction manner. It is a truly fine work that entertains, as well as informs.”

—The US Review of Books 

My thoughts

Brian, 37, works as a janitor and an IT fix-it person at a local school where his shift begins at 3pm, just before the bell rings and the school empties for the day.  Alone, he is comfortable to work on his own, cleaning and fixing.  But for the 1/2 hour that overlaps his shift with the day janitor, Brian is uncomfortable.  His counterpart chats with the children, high-fiving them; visits with the teachers and all in all is a jovial sort whom Brian envies for his ability to converse and develop these relationships.

Brian prefers the solitude of his job, the quiet, the lack of person-to-person interactions.  That's why he likes Walmart.  He can shop at 3 am and get what he needs without many people around. People make Brian anxious.  

"I'm trapped.  My chest constricts even more, and I'm suffocating.  I feel like I can't get enough oxygen, and my lungs spasm again in a  loud cough.  Now that I've started coughing fully, I can't stop.  .... I raise the bag to my face and begin to breathe into it.  It works, and my breathing gradually calms down.  My heart slows down again, and my vision returns to normal."

At the beginning of one of his shifts, Brian discovers a 7 year old girl, Abigail, sitting in the janitor room where she had gone to hide.    She screams at Brian, frightened at being found.  Brian can see the scars near her eyebrow and the tell-tale cigarette burns.  Abigail has been bounced from foster home to foster home and has obviously been abused somewhere along the way.  She doesn't trust and fears being abandoned.  But this little girl thrusts her hand into Brian's, that first day in a new school for Abigail, and a friendship is born as two people recognize in one another the frailties of the human condition, the scars seen and unseen; and together platonically find an avenue of inner redemption and release.  What they learn together and from each other helps them both to find their place in a world that seems so frightening.

As Tanya J. Peterson did with Leave of Absence, in My Life in a Nutshell, she created characters that bring mental illness into the light, shedding the stigmas related to such, and doing so in a manner that puts a face and heart to the illness.  Anxiety disorder affects about 18 percent of the US population and is one of the most common mental illnesses in the US.  That being said, Ms. Peterson uses her vast knowledge, education and experience to put a personal touch on mental illness.  Fiction is the avenue she does it with because she "believes that fiction is a powerful vehicle for teaching fact.  Further, she knows that people empathize with characters in novels, and commonly they transfer their empathy to real-life human beings."  Peterson has definitely hit on something there as you may recall movies such as As Good As It Gets and What About Bob, both of which address anxiety and mental illness; movies which have put a face to the illness and in doing so have enlightened the public, helping to change the perceptions one might have and helping to erase the stigmatization thereof.  Peterson achieves that very thing with her novels.

Tanya J. Peterson holds a Bachelor of Science in secondary education, Master of Science in counseling, and is a National Certified Counselor. She has been a teacher and a counselor in various settings, including a traditional high school and an alternative school for homeless and runaway adolescents. Peterson is an active volunteer and support group facilitator with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), and she is a regular columnist for the Anxiety-Schmanxiety blog on HealthyPlace.com. She has presented at the national conference for the Mothers of Incarcerated Sons Society, the Avera Behavioral Health Center, and with libraries and book groups nationwide. Her previous titles include Leave of Absence, a novel about schizophrenia, grief, and the power of human connection, and Losing Elizabeth, a YA novel about an abusive relationship. 

You Could Win!!! Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf 3 Year Anniversary Giveaway!!!

Check out Melissa's giveaway post for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card, YA books or adult books and ARCs!  Help Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf celebrate their 3 year Blogoversary!!

Here's the link!!!  Good Luck!!

http://melissaseclecticbookshelf.com/3rd-blogoversary-extravaganza-giveaways-including-boxes-of-books-signed-arcs-and-gift-cards/

Hug a Book Week Begins Today!

A Memory of Violets - Cover Reveal

Coming February 3, 2015

 A story of two orphaned flower sellers and the young woman who was transformed by their experiences.

Barnes & Noble    Amazon  IndieBound  Books-a-Million  iTunes

From the author of the USA Today bestseller The Girl Who Came Home comes an unforgettable historical novel that tells the story of two little sisters - orphaned flower sellers - and the young woman who will be transformed by their experiences.

  ‘For Little Sister … I will never stop looking for you.’

 1876. Among the filth and depravity of Covent Garden’s flower markets, orphaned Irish sisters Flora and Rosie Flynn sell posies of violets and watercress to survive. It is a pitiful existence, made bearable only by the presence of each other. When they become separated, the decision of a desperate woman sets their lives on very different paths.

 1912. Twenty-one-year-old Tilly Harper leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London, to become assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls. For years, the home has cared for London’s orphaned and crippled flower girls, taking them off the streets. For Tilly, the appointment is a fresh start; a chance to leave her troubled past behind.

Soon after she arrives, Tilly discovers a notebook belonging to Flora Flynn. Hidden between the pages she finds dried flowers and a heartbreaking tale of loss and separation as Flora’s entries reveal how she never stopped looking for her sister.  Tilly sets out to discover what happened to Rosie. But the search will not be easy. Full of twists and surprises, it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places, including the depths of her own heart.

Hazel Gaynor is the author of The Girl Who Came Home (William Morrow Paperbacks; ISBN: 9780062316868; 04/15/2014). She is also a freelance writer, writing regularly for the national press, magazines and websites in Ireland and the UK. Her writing success has been featured in The Sunday Times Magazine and Irish Times and she has also appeared on TV and radio. Hazel is a guest blogger and features writer for national Irish writing website writing.ie for which she has interviewed, among others, Philippa Gregory, Sebastian Faulks and Cheryl Strayed. Hazel was the recipient of the 2012 Cecil Day Lewis award for Emerging Writers and appeared as a guest speaker at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference and the Historical Novel Society Conference in 2014. You can reach her at https://www.facebook.com/hazelgaynorbooks. 

William Morrow Trade Paperback; February 3, 2015; $14.99; ISBN: 9780062316899

The Medici Boy by John L'Heureux

The Medici Boy
Author:  John L'Heureux
Published:  April 2014
Publisher:  Astor+ Blue Editions LLC
Pages:  336
ISBN:  9781938231506

The worlds of art, politics and passion collide in John L’Heureux’s masterful new novel, The Medici Boy. With rich composition, L’Heureux ingeniously transports the reader to Donatello’s Renaissance Italy—directly into his bottega, (workshop), as witnessed through the eyes of Luca Mattei, a devoted assistant. While creating his famous bronze of David and Goliath, Donatello’s passion for his enormously beautiful model and part time rent boy, Agnolo, ignites a dangerous jealousy that ultimately leads to Agnolo’s brutal murder. Luca, the complex and conflicted assistant, will sacrifice all to save the life of Donatello, even if it means the life of the master sculptor’s friend and great patron of art, Cosimo de’ Medici. John L’Heureux’s long-awaited novel delivers both a monumental and intimate narrative of the creative genius, Donatello, at the height of his powers. With incisive detail, L’Heureux beautifully renders the master sculptor’s forbidden homosexual passions, and the artistry that enthralled the powerful and highly competitive Medici and Albizzi families. The finished work is a sumptuously detailed historical novel that entertains while it delves deeply into both the sacred and the profane within one of the Italian Renaissance’s most consequential cities, fifteenth century Florence.

Donatello: Art, Pain, Passion, Murder

Renowned Literary Writer Renders Controversial Life of

Mysterious Renaissance Genius

My thoughts

Thoroughly researched, The Medici Boy is a historical fiction novel ideally suited for the art connoisseur and/or a history buff.  This novel takes place in renaissance Italy and is told through the voice of young Luca Mattei.  His relationship with Donatello goes beyond that of a mere assistant as he watches the sculptor carve and create masterpieces.  Another side of Donatello is visited as well as his forbidden passions are brought to light.  Jealousy and conflict arise and Luca finds he would sacrifice anything, even another's life, for Donatello; such is his loyalty.

Donatello's sculpture of David

I was excited to read about Italy in the renaissance ages, of the incredible art of that time, and of Donatello.  I could imagine the architecture, the land, the people and this was appealing to me as a reader.  

Donatello was commissioned by Cosimo De'Medici to sculpt a statue of David, as in David and Goliath of the bible.  In 1430, Donatello completed a life-size nude depicting a triumphant David after battle.  He called the piece "Triumphant David."

The author, Mr. LH'eureux, upon visiting Italy and seeing the statue of David,  thought that someone must write the story behind the sculpture and of the artist Donatello.  That someone turned out to be him.  Mr. LH'eureux wrote this novel based upon the assumption of Donatello's homosexuality,  using historical research to help support this possibility, drawing upon the fact that during this period in time and in the city of Florence this was punishable by death.  

The beginning of this novel was challenging for me to really immerse myself in.  I found it difficult to build a reader/character relationship but it may be just me.  However, if you love art history and want to know more about the master sculptor/artist Donatello, look for The Medici Boy because beneath this fictionalized plot, lies a glimpse into the life and time of one of the undoubtedly most famous and gifted of artists. 

Meet the author

Award-winning poet, novelist, and short story writer, John L’Heureux has taught at Georgetown University, Tufts, Harvard, and (for more than 35 years) in the English Department of Stanford University where he was Lane Professor of Humanities.  There he received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and earned it again in 1998.

A prolific writer, L’Heureux has written more than twenty books of fiction, short fiction and poetry.  His works have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Esquire, Harper’s, The New Yorker, and have been included in dozens of anthologies including Best American Storiesand Prize Stories: the O. Henry Awards.

John L’Heureux has twice received writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2006 he was awarded a Guggenheim Grant to do research for The Medici Boy, his new novel.  

He is retired and lives in Palo Alto with his wife Joan.

The Watchers Book 1: Knight of Light Book Trailer

Not only do I have an exciting new book to announce, I have a contest to win a copy of The Watchers and..... a $100 Amazon gift card!!!  How cool is that?  Read on for more.. (to enter for a chance to win, just click on the Rafflecopter link at the end of this post.  Good luck to all!!)

The Watchers Book 1: Knight of Light

In England, 1270 A.D., Auriella (pronounced yurr-ee-ella) flees her village after being accused of witchcraft. Pursued by nightmarish creatures, she struggles to accept the truth about her humanity. 

Filled with fairies, dwarves, pixies, dragons, demons, and monsters, Knight of Light is an enthralling tale that will capture the imaginations of readers young and old.

The Watchers Series has been described as Braveheart meets Supernatural.

The mythology for the series is based on many theological texts from dozens of sects with correlating themes. Ancient writings include The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Traditional Apocrypha, The Pearl of Great Price, and The Kabbalah.

“The Watchers” are supernatural beings in human form whose duty it is to protect and guard mankind from the armies of darkness.

Unfortunately, as the Book of Enoch mentions, some of these Watchers go bad. Although the mythology is based on these texts, Deirdra Eden’s The Watchers Series is written in a traditional fairytale style with a young girl’s discovery of incredible, but dangerous powers within herself, a cast of humorous side-kicks, a quest for greater self-discovery and purpose, and villains of epic proportions

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About the Author

"My goal in writing is to saturate my books with intrigue, mystery, romance, and plot twists that will keep my readers in suspense. I want to see fingerprints on the front and back covers where readers have gripped the novel with white knuckles!

Aside from writing, I enjoy jousting in arenas, planning invasions, horseback riding through open meadows, swimming in the ocean, hiking up mountains, camping in cool shady woods, climbing trees barefoot, and going on adventures."

-Deirdra Eden

Find Deirdra Eden and The Watchers Series online on Amazon, Deirdra's website, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, Wattpad, and Pinterest.

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