Cover Reveal: Spellhaven by Sandra Unerman

The Unseen Spirits must be entertained, so that the city may prosper……

In the summer of 1914, Jane Fairchild, a young English musician, is kidnapped by magic and sent to Spellhaven, an island city ruled by magicians. Here, peace and prosperity are maintained with the assistance of Unseen Spirits bound to the service of the Lords Magician. The Spirits must be kept in good humour by the performance of all kinds of shows, dance, drama and music. Jane is one of many people kidnapped from the outside world and forced to contribute to these entertainments for a set period of service.

Only Jane is having none of it. She will not perform for her kidnapper, Lucian Palafox, but agrees to undertake an apprenticeship with another magician impresario, provided she is taught magic in return. Jane’s forays into magic lead her deeper within the mysteries of Spellhaven, her rivalry with Lucian escalates and the quarrels between them grow strong enough to shake the city to its foundations.

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Magical Realism
Release Date:  August 17, 2017
Publisher:  Mirror World Publishing
Mirror World Publishing eBook Pre-Order Link:  https://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/poetry/products/spellhaven-ebook
Mirror World Publishing Paperback Pre-Order Link:https://mirror-world-publishing.myshopify.com/collections/poetry/products/spellhaven-paperback
Amazon Pre-Order Link:  http://amzn.to/2tpdL2x

 Visit the Tour Hosts:http://saphsbookpromotions.blogspot.com/2017/07/cover-reveal-spellhaven-by-sandra.html

Sandra Unerman lives in London in the UK. When she retired from a career as a Government lawyer, she undertook an MA in Creative Writing at Middlesex University, specialising in SF and fantasy, and graduated in 2013. Since then, she has had a number of short stories published. In 2016, these included stories in Three Drops from a Cauldron, the Midwinter issue and Aurora Wolf, the September issue, both available online. She writes reviews and articles for the British Science Fiction Association and the British Fantasy Society. She is a member of London Clockhouse writers and other writing groups. Her interests include history, folklore and medieval literature.

Connect with the Author:
Sandra’s Website:https://sandraunermanwriter.com/
Sandra’s Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Sandra-Unerman/e/B0034NS9VM
Goodreads Author Page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6566116.Sandra_Unerman

This book is available for pre-order and will officially launch on August 17th, 2017!!!

 

Top 5 Magical Settings in Disenchanted

This Month’s Featured Book is Leigh Goff’s magical young adult romance Disenchanted. Last week, we talked about Disenchanted’s main character, Sophie Goodchild, and this week we’re going to talk about what makes Leigh Goff’s world so enchanting!

Wethersfield, Connecticut is a town rich in history and ghostly stories. Puritans founded the town in 1634 and because of its religious roots, Wethersfield has been connected to witches and witchcraft ever since. That history combined with the architecture and ancient cemeteries creates an amazing atmosphere in a fantasy romance where magic rules. Here are some of my favorite spots.

The Rare Muse

The Rare Muse appears to be a regular bookstore, but the appearance is meant to deceive the ordinary shoppers. When Sophie, the sixteen-year-old white witch main character, stumbles into the shop with her magical currency, Celtic coins, she is able to trade them for access to the rare, rare book room. This room, with its theatrical movie screen framed by red velvet curtains, and tiers and balconies filled with book shelves was inspired by the real life El Ateneo Grand Splendid, a former Parisian-style theater turned bookstore, the largest bookstore in South America. Sophie meanders through the grand room until she finds the Book of Dark Spells. When she tries to return the nefarious tome to the shelf, the shop owner, a diminutive goblin, tells her she cannot. The book now belongs to her whether she wants it or not. When she opens the cover, she sees the list of previous and deceased owners, and her name has been mysteriously added.

The True Love Tree

The True Love Tree is an old mulberry tree growing in front of Sophie’s house where she lives with her quirky Aunt Janie. For the first time in three hundred-and-fifty years, the tree is bearing fruit. Long ago, beneath the tree, two lovers first met and exchanged promises. When this girl, a witch ancestor of Sophie’s, fell in love with Francis Mather, a cursed ordinary, she herself was cursed to die. After her death, the grief-stricken boy, drank a goblet of wolfsbane potion and dropped dead beside her grave, where he was soon after buried; ill-fated lovers resting for eternity. In the present, it is where Sophie’s true love, Alexavier Mather, goes to die when he falsely believes Sophie has died trying to break his family’s true love curse.

The Village Cemetery

Inspired by the real life Village Cemetery in Wethersfield, this setting is where Aunt Janie tells Sophie the story that sparks her curiosity about Alexavier Mather’s family secret. The story involves Judge Mather, Alexavier’s father, digging up one of their ancestors to have genetic samples taken so he can get to the root of a family medical problem. The judge learns the problem is not genetic, but rather a curse that has affected the Mather bloodline since his ancestor condemned Sophie’s ancestor, the witch, Rebecca Greensmith to hang at Gallows Hill. Very creepy!

Kingshill Detention Center

Kingshill Detention Center is a fictional setting inspired by the Crownsville Hospital Center in Crownsville, Maryland, which served as a hospital for the insane and was where patients died from shock therapy and botched lobotomies in the early part of the twentieth century. The hospital was closed decades ago, but looks eerily pristine as it sits off a main road outside of Annapolis. And ghosts have been known to haunt its empty halls. In Disenchanted, this detention center is on the outskirts of Wethersfield and where Judge Mather, taking revenge on the witches, locks them up for crimes of public mischief and con artistry when he spies them unleashing their magic around town. The old iron locks on the doors make it nearly impossible for the witches to escape. Nearly.

The old fairgrounds

The old fairgrounds are the fictional setting for the climax scene where Sophie comes into her power and shows her unsuspecting coven exactly what she can do. The haunted grounds are filled with dilapidated buildings and rusted amusement rides. There is a circle of white marble columns surrounding a stone basin that holds the witches’ fire for the Seeking ceremony, an event that happens to coincide with a very powerful eclipse and causes Sophie’s power to surge.

 

Disenchanted is ON SALE for the entire month of February in our Bookstore! You can get $4.00 off the ebook, making it only $0.99 or use your discount towards a paperback with the code: MAGIC at checkout. We are also hosting a goodreads giveaway AND there will be more blogs on this subject coming up, so make sure to subscribe above!