Tag: young adult novels

Cover Reveal & Giveaway for Queen of Shifting Sands

Published on by Micheline RyckmanLeave a comment

HELLO MY WHIMSIES!!!

I am DELIGHTED to share this cover reveal with you! We are proud to bring you this romantic fantasy debut from Kaitlyn Carter Brown! The gorgeous cover was designed by Salome Totladze.

Queen of Shifting Sands will be released on March 12, 2024 and is now available for preorder HERE in my shop! It’s available in paperback, hardback, and jacked exclusive editions. The first 80 orders will receive, for free, all the preorder incentive goodies you see pictured below (two art print postcards, one double-sided bookmark, and a signed bookplate). This book is also available for preorder as the kindle version on Amazon. (Please note: preorder goodies are not included with purchases through Amazon). The preorder postcards feature artwork of Lystra and Elerek (the book’s two POV’s) and were created by Hannah Rogers.

The Whimsical Exclusive edition will include a bonus scene, interior illustrations, and a hidden cover with artwork by Kateryna Vitkovska! This edition is only available from our website! You can’t get this one anywhere else!

Here’s my review of QOSS:

A young woman beloved by her people, a Prince cursed to the shadows, and a fantastical desert kingdom that everyone wants to rule. Queen of Shifting Sands is the perfect blend of epic fantasy and romance. A true romantasy at heart. The dual POV, the sweet mutual pining, the romantic angst, the high stakes, and the whodunnit elements will all have you glued to the pages. This clean, slow burn is a tale you should not miss!

THE BOOK BLURB: 

A crownless queen. A cursed prince. One summer to live.

The stars have aligned in the kingdom of Instanolde, or so Lystra believes as she eagerly awaits her wedding day. Her beloved, the king, is everything her heart desires, but when a brutal attack leaves her betrothed dead and Instanolde on the cusp of collapse, she finds her future in ruins, and the throne beyond her reach. With invasion looming across the desert, Lystra refuses to let grief keep her from defending her kingdom—even if that means forging a marriage alliance with Elerek, the brother of her lost love, a prince shrouded in secrets.

Elerek, now heir to the throne, has spent his life waiting to die. An untouchable curse lurks beneath his skin, and though he aches to see its suffocating hold severed, he’s long given up hope. When his brother’s death drags him from the shadows, Elerek must find the strength to shoulder the crown’s burdens and secure a queen—a wife to protect his kingdom after the curse claims him. With the adoration of the people already in the palm of her hands, Lystra is the ideal candidate. But even if she doesn’t spurn him for his ruinous curse, he’ll need to protect her from its dangers—and his heart as he finds himself steadily drawn to the girl’s unbreakable spirit. With death on the horizon, Elerek must become the king he never planned to be and save Instanolde before his time runs out.

Lystra and Elerek only have one summer to prepare their kingdom for invasion, but more than one threat prowls their desert, and the cost of survival might just destroy them all.
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Queen of Shifting Sands is a fantastical romance adventure where duty and endurance grapple amid the sands of chaos. Lovers of intrigue, high stakes, and slow-burn romance will fall in love with this escape into a rich, immersive fantasy world.

Want to be one of the first to read and review QOSS to help get the word out about its release?

Request an ARC of Queen of Shifting Sands

We also have a very unique opportunity to WIN a paperback ARC! CLICK HERE for all the details and to find out how to enter!

TITLE AND BLURB REVEAL!!!

Published on by Micheline Ryckman1 Comment

 

We are SOOOOOO excited to reveal the title and blurb for this upcoming romantic, sci-fi adventure by award winning author, Hayley Reese Chow!  Whimsical will be releasing this story on April 4th 2023!

Full cover reveal and preorder information will be coming within the next couple of months.

READ ON TO LEARN MORE !

Earth was tame. Belethea is not.

Seventeen-year-old Ezren Hart interns in her mother’s terraforming lab, studying Belethea’s deadly storms with the dream of giving her backwater planet open teal skies. But when budget cuts threaten to shut down her mother’s lab, Ezren enters Belethea’s Race Royale, the system’s deadliest and most lucrative race. To win, she’ll have to run, drive, and fight her way across Belethea’s barren landscape while navigating its savage and volatile storms. With her planet’s future, and her family’s, on the line, she can’t afford to lose. But first, she’ll have to convince her handsome royale partner that their planet is worth saving.

Foster Sterling is a jaded ex-prodigy royaler still reeling from his partner’s death in a training accident. When Ezren Hart comes charging into his life, her passion reminds him of what he once loved about racing and his dream of returning pride to their planet. Still, no matter how fast they go, they can’t outrun the mysterious string of deadly accidents following them like a curse. As Foster falls harder for Ezren, he races to piece the clues together. But with time running out and their survival on the line, he’ll have to decide if their dreams are worth their lives.

Perfect for fans of underdog heroes, slow burn romance, and high stakes sci-fi, INTO THE CHURN races across a new planet of savage storms and dazzling tech. Fall in love with Ezren and Foster as they battle side-by-side to save their scrappy world on a ruthless interplanetary stage where appearances are everything, speed means survival, and the only thing deadlier than the storms are the other racers.

Author – Hayley Reese Chow is a PowerPoint ranger by day and writer by night, but the book that Whimsical will be publishing in 2023 is heavily influenced by her experiences as an All-American collegiate fencer and ultramarathoner. Her first self-published novel won the 2020 YA Florida Author Project and was the 5th place finalist in the 2021 Book Blogger Novel of the Year Awards. She currently dodges hurricanes in Florida with her two wild boys, her long-suffering husband, and a dog that thinks she’s a cat. Follow Hayley on her website hayleyreesechow.com or on Instagram @hayleyreesechow

 

 

Title Release!

Published on by Micheline RyckmanLeave a comment

If you’ve been following along on social media, you may have already seen this reveal, but I wanted to share it here too.  Whimsical will be publishing the debut novel, A Daughter of the Trolls, by McKenzie Catron in 2022. We are slowly revealing bits and pieces of this new book over the rest of 2021, including the cover which we are are over-the-moon excited about! EEEEEEEKKKK!

This upcoming YA fantasy adventure is a tale you will not want to miss, trust me!

Tomorrow I’ll be sharing some more art and photos related to this book on both Instagram and Facebook so make sure you tune in for those.

Hoping today is the best it possibly can be for all of you!

Charting Stars COVER REVEAL!!!

Published on by Micheline RyckmanLeave a comment

Charting Stars is the first book in a spirited, heartfelt young adult fantasy series by Micheline Ryckman that will appeal to the minds of those who’ve always felt, well, ordinary. Talia’s adventures prove that even an average everyday girl can have skills enough to be a hero. And she’s joined on her journey by a lovable cast of characters—some human, some furry, some covered in ivy vines—who will steal your heart away. Book releases May 21, 2021.

Talia Benson would consider herself fairly ordinary. Anyone would. Diligent student, only child to a single mother, protector of three cats—nothing crazy has ever happened to her. And Talia wants it to stay that way: stable. Her knack for making friends, along with her obsession with the stars and her love for skirt pockets, coffee, and art, is more than enough to keep Talia happy for the rest of her days—that is, until a single evening in front of a blank canvas becomes the adventure she never dreamed she wanted.

Now, Talia finds herself lost in a world completely unlike her own, a land where monsters roam and magic thrives, where wars are born then die at the wave of a hand, and where strange entities decide the fate of those who live among the Nine Realms. The guardians of these foreign lands have seen a great shift in the heavens. Something has changed, a prophecy has been spoken—a darkness is coming. But maybe, just maybe, an ordinary girl thrown between worlds could be the key to saving it all.

This book is now available for preorder via Whimsicalpublishing.ca or Amazon.com.