The Audiobooks are here!

I'm very excited to announce that audiobooks are available! All links open in a new window. 

Rumours From The Attic is the first book in my Spirits of Beckton series!

On the surface, Beckton is an insignificant farming town in Yorkshire, England. Looks aren’t everything. The coven once ruled, but they weren't invincible. After a witch's ritual went wrong, two sisters died within the walls of North Troy Hill. The twins knew about the house's history when they moved in, but Kim and Kevin can't afford to be picky. They have Annie to think about. 

Kim notes the family cat’s behaviour changed, too. It’s not like Toby to pace round doors and hiss at shadows. The landlord warned them about pests, but birds are always crashing into windows, and Toby was never a hunter. Now he drops mice at her feet.

Kevin may not believe in ghosts, but when his little sister uncovers a diary dating back to the Victorian Era, he can't deny it's strange. Both approach Trevor. He's an old friend of Kevin’s with a keen knowledge of the paranormal, tarot, and the occult. When things turn deadly, Trevor is Kim's last hope. Will his knowledge save the family from blood magic, or will they suffer the same fate as the sisters who came before?

The Audiobook is on Audible and iTunes

This is a collaboration with my friend, Heather! If you've read RFTA, you'll notice two familiar Yorkshire Lads!  

Beware. Anything can happen at a carnival…

…especially in a town full of witches, vampires, and werewolves.

Dove has spent her life feeling like an outsider, not knowing her place in the world. Being the only human and self-taught witch in her coven, she must work twice as hard to fit in and accept the customs of her magical society. Still, she’s a young girl determined to follow the rules and make her troubles a thing of the past.

It’s not all bad, her boyfriend Damon loves her and makes her feel less alone.

There’s just one problem…he’s a vampire. And after a dark history of massacring witches, their relationship goes against all the rules.

They want a night of fun, but Dove is afraid to risk her good standing with her adoptive family and the coven, or worse, getting exiled and having them take away her powers and memories. Nothing, not even and adventure with Damon, would be worth changing her way of life. Without magic or friends, she’d never survive long enough to find happiness at a new school or fill the hole in her heart.

But the annual Halloween carnival has returned to Dewhurst; and for the first time in a year, it seems like a secret meet-up away from adults may be possible. After all, her tarot cards never lie.

Can they enjoy a night out and feel like every other couple for once? Or will their forbidden romance destroy them?

If you want to find out what happens in this clean & wholesome paranormal romance book for teens and young adults, you’ll need to tap buy!

*This is not a paranormal academy book.

You can find the Audiobook on Audible

See you soon

B.L. Koller x

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Home Before Dark by Riley Sager Review

 Spoiler review: I mark where I discuss the ending, so if you haven't read just look for the bold text!

 

I finished Home Before Dark about a week ago, and the book still lingers in my mind. Which I can assure is good. This means that the pages left an impact! 

If you've already read Home Before Dark, you'll know all about the twists and turns! In case it's been awhile, the basic premise is Maggie Holt has inherited a home made infamous by her father's best selling novel. A detailed account of the twenty days the family lived within the manor walls. Why only twenty? Snakes, and ghosts drove them away!

As with Final Girls, Sager has returned to multi-point of view. This time, however, we read both Mr Holt's bestseller, and a much older Maggie's perspective.

Maggie's intent was to put her profession to use, and flip the house. Those plans unfurred when Maggie and the groundskeeper's son find bones in the ceiling. From that point on, Sager puts the reader right on an emotinial rollercoaster. 

Thoughts on the writing:

As I mentioned in my Goodreads Review, Riley Sager uses adverbs. To some extent, we all do. I believe this is a stylistic choice because by using them; he creates fast pacing. According to Stephin King, the road to hell is paved with adverbs. Though is sager's case we could make the argument that by using them, the writing goes faster. In a fast-paced book like this, it needs such prose. 

That being said, there were a lot. Some adverbs could have been cut, and I don't fault Sager. His editor could have made suggestions to cut them. 

Though, I don't know their relationship. Perhaps Sager insisted that they remained. 

I don't think the critique above makes Sager a bad writer, or his editor poor. Once readers are given time to adjust, the Adverb abundance fades into the background. Kind of like how 'said' does when used in dialogue tags. 

Another critique I would offer is that Sager seems to struggle with character voice. Maggie doesn't read differently from any of the girls in his debut. Nor does Ewan's writing throughout the book, which for me was disappointing, Not enough to stop me from reading! No, far from it. Sager has made me a fan despite my critiques. I plan on picking up all his books because I find the stories themselves engaging, exciting, and he's mastered the art of the plot twist. 

A last word of caution. This review will spoil the entire book. So if you haven't read the book and continue reading now is your chance to look away.

 

Spoiler related thoughts

This is not so much a criticism, as it is a personal disappointment. Which, in Riley's defense, the reader knows. I hoped for this to be one of those rare instances of an unreliable narrator, or a character misdirection. The house wasn't haunted. Most of what Ewan wrote was a lie. A lie to cover a lie. Which did end up being a red herring! Maggie didn't murder Elsa. Though I understand why Ewan made the choice. He thought by keeping people away, he was protecting his daughter from prison. A parent's love out shined his honesty. 

Should he have done it? Not from a moral or ethical standpoint. Ewan didn't just save his daughter from a lifetime jail sentence, because he believed the lie. He gained quite a fortune by writing the book. All throughout the book, Maggie expresses deep resentment of the book. An opinion shared by the town. 

Elsa's mother suffered from Alzheimers, and Elsa's older sister had suspicions herself. It's a shame for them because it took them so long to get the closer they needed. 

I kept wishing that those paintings described in Ewan's book would appear on the walls. Sager gives readers the gift of interpretation, though. Maggie believes Elsa's ghost saves her from a terrible fate. I can forgive him.

But enough about what I thought! I want to hear yours!

-B.L. Koller x

An Apology to the Twilight Saga

    Recently I was a teenager in secondary (high) school. Okay, maybe not all that recent. As of this moment, it has been about nine years since graduation. I was also an avid Harry Potter fan. A series that needs no introduction.Harry Potter is an undeniable part of pop culture. This is important information to know before I continue, I promise! My love of Harry Potter was near incomprehensible. My friends and I devoured everything we could about the series. Around the same time, Twilight was becoming popular. The media pitted the Twihards' and 'Potterheads' against one another. In my youth, I fell into this trap when I was young and impressionable.

This is not a period in my life that I'm proud of. My self esteem and anxiety was at an all time high. I was angry all the time and nobody quite knew why, and I took it out on anyone, and anything. Which was wrong of me, but I have since come to realise that hormones were in part to blame, and the other half was me crying out for help in the only way I knew how. Rage. At both people and the poor Twilight Saga, which I hadn't given a fair chance because I perceived it as an attack on the precious Wizard boy that I was not quite ready to let go of, even as the series of films and books drew to an inevitable close.  I'd read the Twilight saga, but bias clouded any joy that I might have taken from it in those dark times. 

Now that I'm a little older, and wiser I decided a few months ago that I would give it another try. Just to see if it was really as bad as I remember. Spoiler alert: They weren't. Truth be told, I was having a dreadful day, and so I texted a friend. I asked 'What cheers you up when you're having a terrible day?' Her reply was 'I watch Twilight.'After staring at my phone for a few moments, I went to amazon, and bought the film because they were the same price either way, and I knew my friend was a tremendous fan, anyway. So I figured buying it would give us something to do. This was at a time where we didn't have to social distance. 

I watched the film and I was taken aback by how, in its own way, it was sort of charming. Or the blue Filter reminded me of all the Winterfell scenes from Game of Thrones. Whatever the reason, I enjoyed it. After the film was over, I texted another friend who may have had the books. Alas, he did not. They got lost when he moved house. I did the next best thing, though. I bought the Twilight Saga ebook bundle, devoured those, and now I consider myself a Twilight fan.

This inspired another adventure to undertake, with a similar take away. How To Build A girl by Caitlin Moran. I read this the first time maybe two or three years ago fresh off a break up. Again, given the stae I was in at the time the book book didn't stand a chance. I also knew the film was coming out. (it's available to rent digitally at the time of writing this post) I wanted to give this another go with fresh eyes, and a not so broken heart. If you're interested on my more in depth thoughts, I think it would be fair to give HTBAG it's own post. So keep an eye out for that. 

My take away from this experience is that in my youth, I was determined to be mad.  I let anger cloud my judgment and take away things that I otherwise would have enjoyed had I not been so swept up in teenaged resentment. But it is never too late to try things again. Is Twilight the best series ever written? To some, maybe. If that is you, I applaud your enthusiasm! Love what you love! Shout it on the metaphorical rooftops. Write about it. Tell everyone you can. Let your passion fuel you, and if people judge you for it, allow it to roll off your back. As long as YOU enjoy it, that is the only thing that matters.

While the Twilight saga has many flaws, and many repeated phrases weaved throughout the prose, it can be fun. Yes, scoff at the fact that vampires are vegetarians, and sparkle in the sunlight if you must. Though I do believe that Meyer deserves some credit for freshening up the trope a bit. I think fans of the genre tend to forget that we all have a different introduction. We all have that first step. For people around my age, this series meant the world to many people. It inspired and touched. Like it or not, Twilight created readers, and as an author of paranormal things, I can appreciate what she did. 

But I have rambled on long enough.  Tell me, have you ever given something you hated a second chance? If you did, had the second go been more enjoyable? Or maybe this post inspired you to pick the thing you hated up again. Either way, let me know your thoughts!

All my love,

B.L. Koller

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The Books That Made Me Want To Become A Writer

    For those who know me outside of social media, it should come as no surprise who comes first on this list. The Beach by Alex Garland has to be my favourite book. It hooked me from the first paragraph. 

According to Garland, The Beach is a retelling of Lord of The Flies.  A book that was required reading when I was in year ten or so. I didn't fancy most of the reading in my school, but LoTF was an exception. These two works were my first introduction to fast paced thrillers.I didn't read these books, I devoured them in one sitting, and then reread them. 

With LoTF, I ended up buying the book from the school. I couldn't help myself. For the first time I wanted to take a pen to a book, and look for foreshadowed events. I wanted to underline bits I found interesting. It changed how I viewed story telling. If I had to pick one book that made me say 'I want to be a writer,' the award must go to Lord of The Flies.

There are other influences, but those two examples have been staples in my reading the moment they were placed in my hands. So, what was the series that inspired me to write Spirits of Beckton? The answer may surprise you because at first glance,  Rumours From The Attic and The Raven Boys don't look like they belong on the same shelf, no less the inspiration.

The Raven Cycle was my introduction to Paranormal Fantasy. Yes, you read that right. A book about a group of teenagers hunting for a dead Welsh king inspired me to write a haunted house series. I feel that it is safe to say that without Maggie, I would not have been brave enough to tackle the art of Tarot in my books. I wouldn't know how to write a character like Trevor without picking up these books. Yes, the similarites between them end at Tarot, but to not lend a tip of the hat to Mrs Stiefvater would be a crime. 

But enough about my inspirations.  Tell me about yours! Who inspired you to do something? This doesn't have to pertain to writing. It can be anything! 

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New Beginnings!

I gave this a go on Goodreads. Goodreads works and is fine, but isn't well suited for blogging. I also gave word press a try, but like most things with technology, just made me frustrated and uninspired. So, here I am on Blogger hoping this will be the answer!
Forgive me, I've never been very good at this whole 'blogging' thing.  We all have to start somewhere though, right?

That being said, I'm not sure what I should blog about. Anything you all would like to read about? Book recommendations? Writing updates? Those sorts of things. Should I get more personal? I dunno! You lot tell me and I'll do my best to oblige.

All my love,

B.L. Koller