I am pleased to report the arrival of my second (self-)published novel: Hope the Little Fox!
Here’s a blurb:
Hope is a wild and carefree child growing up in a remote cottage near the coast. Hope’s high-born mother worries her unruly daughter will never become a proper lady living out in the wilderness, while her father, a grizzled military leader, does not share this concern. Instead, he encourages his crafty daughter to run free and explore, giving her the nickname “Little Fox.” When tragedy strikes their peaceful household, Hope must learn to fend for herself — even if it means taking up the blade. But girls can’t fight…
Or can they?
Follow the Little Fox as she develops her combat skills secretly, with the help of some unlikely friends. When she realizes her abilities may reach beyond protecting her family, will Hope keep her talents hidden? Or will she understand the importance of her powers in a changing world, and unleash them for the greater good?
You can buy it!
Now available here on Amazon!
Paperback – $12.99
Kindle – $2.99
Check out the book’s Goodreads page and review here: Goodreads
Please do me a huge solid and go add this book to your to-read list! And then, you know, it would be even more awesome if you went ahead and read the book, then loved it, then rated it 5 stars and told everyone you knew about it. But to-read list is also great. 🙂
I am exceedingly pleased with this amazing artwork by the monstrously talented (plus professional and prompt) Argentinian artist Mara Amaya. You should all hire her. Check out how she transformed my cruddy concept sketch (left) into a total masterpiece (right):
I am also grateful to my proofreader DreamRaven (whose real full name I never got) for her work catching every single wonky apostrophe (and there were a lot of them!). Thanks to my sister for being the only person to read an early draft; her words gave me the encouragement I needed to keep pushing! And thank you to the countless Facebook friends who chimed in with critiques of my book cover. I think it came out great:
I mean look how cool this thing is!
On a personal note, this book has been in the works for a long time; I first started writing it in 2012. I had just published my first novel (Holly, the Captain, and Handsome Jack) and decided I needed to build momentum and put out a second novel fast. I had a couple ideas swimming around in my head, but this one seemed like it would be the quickest to pull off. Ha! The truth is that I struggled a bit writing this one. At points I got frustrated by my own story and would simply walk away. My ideas seemed very original at first, but in the meantime plenty of badass young lady warriors were hitting the popular pages and screens (think Merida, Katniss Everdeen, and of course Arya Stark), and I wondered what new angle I could possibly see myself bringing to the table. But, with the ever-motivational help of a couple years worth of NaNoWriMo, and a promise I had made to a contest-winner to include a character based on them in my next book (can you guess who it is?), I kept returning. I am so glad that I did; it turns out I have plenty to say (or so I’d like to think) and I am beyond pleased with the result. I hope you all enjoy it, too!
I’ll end with a trigger-warning regarding content: this is not a children’s book, though our protagonist is quite young. There is violence, including sexual violence, and some rough language. The worst incidents occur at the very beginning, but are alluded to occasionally throughout the rest of the story.
Helga without the H 