A Tangle Of Magicks Giveaway - Winner

I had an absolute ball running my A Tangle Of Magicks week

And now have to pleasure of announcing the winner of my Giveaway

Congratulations to - 

CLAIRE M

Claire has been contacted and her copy of the book shall be on its way soon!!

Thank you to all who took part!!!

Guest Post - Stephanie Burgis - A Tangle Of Magicks Book Setting

One of the best gifts I’ve ever given myself was this: I set A Tangle of Magicks in Bath.

I first fell in love with Bath in 2005, years before I ever started to write Tangle. I went for a day trip, and I spent the entire day in a state of bliss. The Regency-era buildings…the Roman baths…the Jane Austen Centre…the fashion museum…for a history geek like me, it was total heaven. Then add in all the great shops (because even history geeks can enjoy some modern shopping!), and what was there not to love? I came home and spent the next several years thinking wistfully about how wonderful it had been.

Guess how many times I went back, though? Zero. That’s right. For years and years, I felt nostalgic for my daytrip, but somehow or other, I just never ended up going back. I was living in Leeds, after all, several hours away, so there was all the hassle of travel to be arranged…and what about our dog? What would she do if I was out all day? And then I had a baby, and everything else got overwhelmed by the single, overriding priority of oh, please, let me just get some sleep again someday…

…And it might have stayed that way forever, except for that one fabulous moment when I begun to wonder: where should my heroine go for her second adventure? It had to be a recognized centre for Regency-era society so that there would be plenty of snobs for Kat to shock with her escapades; it had to be really, really fun to write about (because otherwise, what would be the point?); and it had to be ripe and bubbling with magic. It only took a moment before I realized: I knew exactly where to send her.

And oh, what a wonderful excuse! For the first time in years, I didn’t just think, “Wouldn’t it be nice to go back to Bath one day?” Instead, I had a really compelling reason why I had to go back to Bath, immediately. No, really! It wasn’t because I wanted to soak up the magic of the Roman baths for purely selfish reasons…or because I wanted to sigh over the Regency dresses in the Jane Austen Centre…or because…

…*Ahem*. That is, for purely objective reasons of Historical Research I had to go back, whether I liked it or not. It was the only proper thing to do! Just ask any author!

But I have never in my life had as much fun doing research as I did researching Tangle, traveling back to Bath again and again to…er…make sure I’d got it right. Really. That was all. *Clears throat, whistles.*

Now I wonder where I should send Kat next? Not that I’m looking for a fun holiday with my family, or anything frivolous like that… ;)

Thank you so much Stephanie for the wonderful insight into your writing.  I'm thinking a great destination for Kat would be Barbados, but not quite sure  how that could be pulled off! ;)

My review Of A Tangle Of Magicks, plus a Giveaway of the book can be found HERE

Review - A Tangle Of Magicks By Stephanie Burgis AND Giveaway

"After her antics in A Most Improper Magick, Kat Stephenson is back to cause more chaos! Stepmama drags the family to Bath to find Kat's sister a new suitor. But, unknown to most of its gossipy visitors, Bath is full of wild magic. When Kat uncovers a plot to harness this magic in the Roman Baths, she finds her brother Charles is unwittingly involved. Kat must risk her newfound magical powers as she defies the Order of the Guardians to foil the plot and clear her brother's name"

This is my very first ARC I have been sent from publishers - uber excitement in my house I can tell you!!  So the book I read actually just had a yellow cover, but I was also sent a taster card of the actual cover which is once again so beautiful.  Fits in well with the first book, but has its own look.  I highly approve!

I will be as careful as I can with this post knowing that the book isn't actually out for a little while yet.  Lucky for me I got to read this straight after the first book, so the story flowed really well.  It would have flowed just as well with a 3 month break though.

There is some spectacular use of magic at the beginning of the book which I found fabulous!  If I had magical powers I would want to be able to do what the girls are able too!

This book changes location to Bath (the location for some of Jane Austen's books, also regency era books) I absolutely LOVED this.  Bath is one of my favorite places, I actually did a whole blog post on the place HERE!  I can confirm the town is EXACTLY how it is described in the book.  I did find myself reading and squealing a little as I knew and have visited the spots that the Stephenson's were visiting.  This book also answered a question for me - what the Bath pump rooms were used for!!  So huge thanks to Stephanie for that!!!

Again Stephanie wrote with funny moments, suspense, peril all of which is hugely enjoyable.  I felt a lot of concern for the characters which are signs of a great writer and fantastic story!

The characters were all just as enjoyable to read about & I feel I have found mirror characters for a few of them, which I won't mention just yet.  It actually made me like and even bond with the characters even more!!  I will say that I could really do to have a tutor like Mr. Gregson in my life - I would definitely benefit from someone giving me some direction!!!

Another fantastic installment, that has left me wanting more - Please Stephanie Can we have some more???!

Rating 4 Out Of 5

Published In The UK By Templar

This can be ordered HERE and at Good Bookstores

A Tangle Of Magicks Week

I am thrilled to announce that this week will be A Tangle Of Magicks Week here at Leanne-Luce - YA FOREVER

I was very luckily sent an ARC of the book a few months back and absolutely adored it.  And to add the cherry on the cake I was asked to be a part of the Blog tour - YAY!!

On Wednesday I'm going to be posting my review of the book, followed by a contest to WIN a copy of the book.

Then the Fabulous author of the book Stephanie Burgis has kindly written a wonderful post for my blog, which will be up on Friday.  Its all about the awesome setting of the book - BATH!!!

I cannot wait to share all the goodies with you and am going to kick off the fun by sending you guys over to Stephanie's blog to read a Kat Mini story set between books 1 and 2 ENJOY!!!!

KAT MINI ADVENTURE - DUELLING MAGICKS

Review - A Most Improper Magick By Stephanie Burgis

"At twelve years old, any proper young lady in Regency England should be sitting quietly at home, practising her embroidery and keeping her opinions to herself. But Kat Stephenson is no ordinary young lady. Kat's father may be a respectable vicar, but her late mother was a notorious witch and Kat herself is the newest target of an ancient magical Order. In the first thrilling instalment of The Unladylike Adventures of Kat Stephenson, there are highwaymen to foil, sinister aristocrats to defeat and true loves to capture for Kat's two older sisters."

The first I actually heard of this book was when my other book blogger friends were receiving copies of the US version Kat, Incorrigible.  I remember seeing their cover & thinking WOW this is gorgeous.  I did a bit of digging & finding out about the book and soon realised we had a totally different cover & title.  At first I really did prefer the look of the US cover, but on actually seeing the UK book I have to say ours is quite gorgeous too.  In some ways its also more fitting to the themes of the book.

After my digging I was so excited to find a book that was not only set in the Regency period, but also included magic - HEAVEN for me to read.  Its a fantastic way to introduce younger reads to period set books, but with hints of what they are used to reading these days with the magic.

The book moves at a great pace with the right amounts of humour and building intrigue & suspense.  Totally enjoyable for me as the reader. 

Kat is a fantastic lead character and potential role model.  Of course you have moments of thinking 'No Kat, don't do it!!!' but at the heart of it, she is a lovely family orientated character that is admirable.
I also adored Kat's family!  Her step mother is quite a dragon, but the more you read of her the more I felt myself softening to her hard demeanor.  Her Dad is lovely, but quite useless.  Her brother is like most of us girl's brothers in that he is unreliable & needs to mature, but still makes everyone love him!!  Her eldest sister Elissa I got the most motherly feeling from and you can't help but feel sympathy for how she feels she has to look after her family.  Lastly Angeline her other sister.  She's the most like Kat with her fieriness and unpredictable nature, but is still a sister I would love to have had!!

The book comes together with a very neat resolution, but with plenty of room for follow ups, that's awesome as I really want to read more about the Stephenson family!!

This book is targeted at a younger age bracket than my normal picks of YA books, but I have to say at no time did I feel this was too young for me to be reading.  I would say the style is reminiscent of the Harry Potter books, just in the fact that anyone could read them.  Stephanie doesn't write down to or patronize the reader.  This is truly to be enjoyed by all! 

Rating 4 Out Of 5


This Is Published In The UK By Templar

This Can be Purchased From HERE and at all good stores