Review Time!

Well, the time has come. My review of "The Burning of Cherry Hill" has been published on ACReads! Hopefully, this will be the first of many! Be sure to check it out!

Liar Liar

Alright, you caught me. I'm a damned liar. This is not "tonight" but actually more than a week later...The sad thing? I actually have lots to say! Well, kind of.

Let's see if I can quit singing along to the new(ish) Fall Out Boy album long enough to write this...

The first thing I would like to announce is that I've agreed (more like I begged) to do some guest reviews on the blog ACReads. I'm very excited for the opportunity. As any reader of this blog knows, I'm not the best at posting regularly. I'm hoping silly things like deadlines, etc.. will help push me to write more updates and such. My first review will be posted Sunday July, 28th, so check it out!

And in relation to that--cue excellent segue--the first book I'm reviewing is "The Burning of Cherry Hill," the winner of this year's Indie Reader Discovery Awards. The same award for which "Benajah's Keeper" was named winner in the paranormal category! 

IndieReader is a website dedicated entirely to independently published books, striving to prove that there is quality self published literature out there. They do reviews (you can read mine here) and interviews, work with industry professionals, and run various contests throughout the year. 

Being named a category winner is a great honor! I've already been featured in an online USAToday article, in addition to seeing "Benajah's Keeper" on the front page of their website for a week. I can't express my gratitude! 

Also in award news, "Benajah's Keeper" was given "honorable mention" in the Fantasy category for ForeWord Review's Book of the Year Award! I can't remember if I mentioned this in an earlier post, but in case I didn't, the book was named as a finalist in both the Romance and Fantasy categories. I would have been happy with just that...to be given an honorable mention (in a category my book doesn't neatly fall in to) far exceeded my expectations!

Hopefully, in addition to some presence at all the big book fairs this summer, all this good press will grab someone's attention. If not, I shall plug on, ever determined.

And finally, I just wanted to give a shout out to all of the excellent reviewers/bookish people I've talked to over the past month. You guys have all been great, and it's been a real treat to hear what everyone has to say about the book! Thank you all so, so much!

THE REVIEWER HAS SPOKEN

I got my my first editorial review back this week! Take a look!

Clarion Review
ROMANCE

Benajah's Keeper

Aeryn Dougan CreateSpace 978-1-4775-6232-1 Five Stars (out of Five)

Aeryn Dougan’s luscious debut romance novel, Benajah’s Keeper, introduces Evanna Amaranthine, a cool, calculating vampire who protects humanity by killing and sucking the blood of heinous criminals. She carries out instructions given to her by Keeper, the head of the vampire fortress in which she lives—a place known as Benajah.

What begins as a seemingly typical mission to assassinate a threat to Benajah turns upside down when Evanna finds herself questioning Keeper’s truthfulness. She also begins having dreams of a past life and experiencing vulnerabilities she once disdained as the province of her ostensibly weak-willed, human-loving vampire friend, Zak, and those pesky humans themselves. Worse still, she finds herself falling in love with a human.

Although billed as a romance, this nuanced novel, in fact, straddles genres. In a masterstroke, the book begins with a Bible-like prologue about how vampires were created with the blessing of God. By connecting vampires to the Creation story, the author gives the beings a mythic, sacred quality not generally found in works about vampires.

As the bloodsuckers struggle to balance their human and vampiric qualities, as well as their relationship to their prey, the plot plants itself firmly within the personal realm of finding oneself. The inner conflict Evanna experiences is combined with outside threats from menacing vampires, evoking the timelessness of a battle-laden epic while exploring age-old themes of love, war, and identity.
The human and vampire characters are well drawn, although Evanna’s aloofness initially makes her irritating. Her transformation from emotionally unavailable to deeply feeling occurs with layered realism. Even though the protagonist’s love interest has the annoyingly symbolic name of Messiah, he nevertheless manages to transcend traditional Christ-like attributes and become a believable character. Readers will also find themselves invested in the doings of the secondary characters because they are similarly multilayered, even the villians.

Dougan enriches vampire lore by creating a fascinating code by which these beings live

and a society of guilds that they inhabit. Anyone tired of standard-issue vampire fare will welcome the complexity the author brings to her bloodsuckers. For those who enjoy tales of reincarnation, the past-life vignettes integrate themselves seamlessly into the present-day plot. Both teen and adult audiences will find themselves drawn to Benajah’s Keeper.

                                                                                        Jill Allen 

A CALL TO ACTION!

Benajah's Keeper springs from project I began while in high school. It originally spanned no more than 60 pages and had a very youthful plot. Six years ago, I decided to revisit the document. Now it well surpasses 300 pages, and the manuscript has also received very positive reviews by both beta readers and professional editors.

As you have read (or should read!) here Benajah's Keeper is set in a world where vampires govern man, beginning with a prologue entitled “Genesis." The plot arc begins when the reader is introduced Evanna, the heroine of the story. To quickly describe her “adventure,” Evanna leaves her beloved vampire guild (Benajah) to complete a bloody assignment; while on this mission she is introduced to the realm of human beings on an entirely new level, plagued by dreams of a past life, and finds controlling her emotions a difficult task. While incorporating many of the characteristics of Urban Fantasy novels today, Benajah's Keeper also touches on the importance of loyalty, family, and being true to who you are. I like to call it a “coming of age” story...with vampires.

However, the publishing world today is somewhat difficult to penetrate. It's not simply a matter of finishing a manuscript, sending it off to a publishing company, and having a published book. There are agents involved who you first have to convince to represent both you and your work. Then they find a publisher. It is a long, time consuming, frustrating, and difficult path. 

I have decided to self publish with a company that offers global distribution, availability online, in bookstores, on the Kindle, and other e-readers. The main downside to self publication, however, is the marketing of your title relies greatly on self promotion and word of mouth. That is where you come in.

That being said: I need your help!

What I am asking: Read my book!

It can be purchased from Amazon in both hardcopy and digital form (coming soon); when you've finished, leave a review. Secondly, I am hoping to form a “street team.” It's fairly simple: you let people know about my book.

Here are some ways you can help:

• You could go through your contacts and contact people you think would be interested in reading my book.
• Social media: like, tweet, share, or submit to your favorite sites.
• Stop in at a local library or an independent bookstore and see if they would be interested in carrying my book. Just ask if they are open to self-published work and if the genre fits with their customer base.
• If you REALLY wanted to be more involved, I am considering putting together promotional packets which would have flyers, bookmarks, etc...that you could leave at local coffee shops or post on public bulletin boards.

These are only the few simple ideas I have come up with, but I am sure there are more. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please let me know. I can't guarantee a reward if you choose to become involved. I am not giving out prizes or money for new readers; it is my hope that my work will be enough to convince you to help me. However, I would gladly compensate you by returning the favor on any of your endeavors.

I truly believe that I have written an entertaining novel that people will love and it's my goal to simply get exposure. With your help, on some distant day, you might be able to say to any stranger on the street that you “knew that girl when...” or you “taught that girl to read/write/live...”.

If you want to get involved, have any questions, suggestions, please reply or send an email to aeryn.dougan@gmail.com. Thank you so much for your time!