Category: awesomeness

Earth Angel, by Ruth Ellen Parlour

Earth Angel is the first novel by UK author Ruth Ellen Parlour. This high fantasy novel, aimed at young adults, is set in a world completely unlike our own. The Earth Angels, serving their gods, fight to protect Eardesha in a world filled with many familiar fantasy creatures—like dragons—and many unfamiliar ones as well, including hybrids—human-animal crosses—and the monstrous Krieger. Earth Angels is the first in a series.

Gabrielle is imprisoned in sinister Khartaz prison, along with her brother, Oz. Desperate to escape the horrors of life there, she and her brother plot their escape, only to face the monsters in the surrounding desert that snatch their friends away one by one. Faith is an Earth Angel intent on reuniting with her lover, whom she left behind, and questioning the meaning of her calling. Zenovia is an orphan who only wants to find her parents, a search that will take her places she never dreamed of.

When an army of the vicious Krieger invades Eardesha with a dark power that threatens to destroy the entire land, the military turns Khartaz prison into a training ground for the convicts in the hope of stalling the destruction. Gabrielle finds herself drawn back to the prison against her will, called by the gods to help her people. Together with Faith, she will uncover a secret the gods have kept hidden for thousands of year, and race to stop the Krieger from destroying Eardesha forever.

Filled with varied landscapes and vivid creatures, Earth Angel is an intriguing first novel set in a fascinating world. The characters are well written and colorful, and the relationships between them bring the story to life. The pages are filled with action and adventure, and will keep the reader racing to find out what happens.

I enjoyed reading this book a lot. It’s a different type of YA fantasy–no vampires or werewolves in sight–and the strong female characters are a refreshing change as well. I liked the idea of the hybrids, too. Sort of SF, but it gave the world a neat twist, which is always a good thing. As an added bonus, Ruth Ellen Parlour will be doing a guest post here on Friday as part of her Earth Angel blog tour, and one commenter that day will receive a free e-copy of the book! So be sure and check back Friday to see what Ms. Parlour has to say about writing romance.

Paying it Forward

I’ve been nominated for two awards: the Reader Appreciation Award and the Beautiful Blogger award. Awesome, right? It’s not the Nobel Prize or anything, but I’m super excited about it (thank you, Candace Knoebel).

As part of the deal, I have to give you seven facts about myself, so here goes:

1) I’m a pescatarian. (This means the only meat I eat is seafood. For like 5 years now, although bacon is still really tempting sometimes…)

2) I have six tattoos. (Yes, only six. For now…)

3) I’m going to school for environmental biology (or, as everyone always asks “So you want to save the world?” Yes….)

4) I save all the fortunes out of my fortune cookies. Don’t ask me why..

5) I’ve lived in Texas most of my life, but New Orleans is my favorite city ever (and I lived just outside it for two years. Awesome.)

6) Ireland and Costa Rica top the list of Places I Want to Visit.

7) I’d really, really like to learn either Japanese or Gaelic. Not sure why, as there’s not a big demand for either in Texas…

I also get to nominate seven other deserving bloggers, so here they are: Ruth Ellen Parlor; JM Randolph, accidentalstepmom; bottledworder; Albert Berg; Lori Dyan, Stuart A. Etter; and Fiction Fanatic.