I have a very important question! Feel free to email me at joanna@joannareeder.com to answer.
I have been contacted by several readers who want the ability to purchase signed books and book swag (character cards, bookmarks, etc.)
Is that something that interests you? If I have enough interest, I'll set up an Etsy shop this summer to have those things available. So LET ME KNOW!!
Thank you to everyone who purchased Hiding a Fae Queen! I was floored by the many pictures and shout outs I saw on social media about this book!
And I'm loving reading the early reviews! Here are a couple:
Oh my gosh!!! The twists and surprises so good!! I am loving this story so far. Wish the next book was available already to read. Need to know what happens next please. Highly recommend this series.
--5 star Amazon Review
Okay. Okay. I am not okay!! I thought I was prepared for book 2 in the Raven Court series. Aria comes back to Faerie with Tien and Sterling to fix some of the mistakes she made the first time pretending to be Carys... piece of cake, right? Nah, bro.... no cake. Carys was such an intriguing character, full of vivacity and complementing Aria in so many ways. The two could be a real force to be reckoned with. I might perish waiting for book 3. Send help.
--5 star Goodreads Review
If you haven't read it yet, you can get Hiding a Fae Queen here<—
If you HAVE read and loved it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Bookbub. Reviews are essential to authors like me. Thank you to those who already have!
Hiding a Fae Queen! It's available TODAY! This book was truly a difficult one to write, but it all came together and I'm proud of how it turned out! And early readers are liking it so far!
Get it here: Hiding a Fae Queen
“Riding cabbyll-ushteys would make a better grand entrance,” I say. “Especially with every king and queen of Faerie gathered at the Raven Court.”
“Grander than the queen’s schooner?” Tien asks, waving a hand at said schooner. A lock of dark hair at his temple lifts and dances in the wind.
“Yes. Definitely grander.” I keep my eyes away from the massive stark-white sails and my thoughts away from the powerful rolling of the waves beneath my sneakers.
The unsettling expression that keeps directing itself at me turns away with the rest of Tien, but the breeze wafts the smell of mint mixed with earth and exasperation in my direction. “Cabbyll-ushteys aren’t… practical.”
I blow air through my lips and wave a dismissive hand. “Practical, schmactical.”
Tien turns back so I face forward and close my eyes to escape his expression. I grip the smooth wood of the rail. The warm sun bathes my cheeks as I breathe in the salty air.
I’m back.
I’d much rather be riding the waters of The Sea of Neptulus on the back of Madseok, all soaked hair and flipped stomach, but I’m back.
“As far as the courts know, you’ve been taking holiday on a private beach on the isle of Calliope,” Tien adds. “A grand entrance would only raise suspicion. Not many know you’ve been in the human realm.”
“Noted.” My eyes remain closed.
Despite the swaying, rocking ship, my queasiness has finally settled. After the twisty and disorienting roller coaster ride feeling that shook me after coming through the portal, I worried I’d be sick. I almost wish I was unconscious when I entered Faerie like I was the first time, sans the whole kidnapping and bringing me here against my will part.
But I’m back.
“What reason for leaving did you give your people?” Tien asks.
Ha! My people. I forgot how strange the fae captain can be. I turn and lean back against the rail, gripping it with both hands. “I told Lindsey I was going to the mall with Holly and Cassie.”
“Good.”
“So… why did I tell my foster mom I was going to the mall?” I ask, a little disappointed he didn’t ask me what a mall is. “Can’t you just take me to the river again? Return me less than a second after I left?” I don’t say it aloud, but after all this, I probably won’t call Holly and Cassie. I’d rather spend Friday night at home after tromping around Faerie, pretending to be a queen again. As much as I’m glad to be back, it’s exhausting. Ruling a kingdom and worrying about assassination attempts is draining. But more than that—and a part I’ve only recently admitted—it’s strange to go from being an important person in a magical world with a stewardship over the lives of those I rule… to being just a regular girl where my only responsibilities are to get decent grades. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I have no memory of my life before seven months ago, and my only regular memories aren’t very extensive. Like I can’t compartmentalize correctly or something. Who knows, maybe it would be a hard transition either way even though being that important person is just an act.
Tien’s expression darkens in my peripheral. “We can’t use the river like before. Not every time.”
“Why?” I turn to him and drop my hands.
“It’s… complicated.” He rubs the edge of his jaw.
“Okay. It was four in the afternoon when I left,” I say. “Lindsey and Blake will expect me home by midnight at the latest. Will this take less than seven hours?”
“While not always reliable, time in Faerie is still different. Sometimes days here are mere hours in the human world.”
“Sometimes doesn’t make me super confident, Tien,” I say, feeling my queenly air coming back. I was good at it before, almost too good. I’m glad I’ve still got it.
“We can use the river if we have to, but I bought you more than seven hours.”
“Does it include the word, sometimes?” I hitch an eyebrow.
“I left a note,” he says and suddenly Tien, the very Captain Tien Firetail won’t meet my eyes.
“A note?”
“A-a message,” he stammers. “On your…” He forms a small square with his hands.
“Sorry, I was never great at charades.” As far as I know, anyway. Again, memory loss.
When he holds his imaginary square to his ear, it clicks. I fold my arms and lift one corner of my mouth. “If you don’t know what a cellphone is called, how did you leave a message for my foster parents on it?”
“Sterling helped.”
I shift to throw accusations at my perfect-up-until-this-point boyfriend, but he’s nowhere in sight.
“You told Lindsey that you were staying at Cassie’s lake house for the weekend.”
I don’t need to do the mental math on sometimes to realize an entire weekend could equal… a very long time in Faerie. “Was that necessary? You’re just taking me to a meeting, right? Even if it takes over seven hours, if you’re right about Faerie time, you’ll still have me back in a few human hours. Did you need to buy me an entire weekend?”
AKA: He’s not telling me everything.
“For the love of Vejo, you’re not my prisoner, Aria,” Tien says.
“Vejo?” I snort. “Who’s Vejo?”
Tien lifts his chin and pinches the bridge of his nose.
I smile. He’s annoyed. It’s so easy to tease him. “Is it like a god or something? Is that like your swear?” I shouldn’t laugh, but I laugh. “For the love of Vejo, Aria.” I lower my voice to mimic his.
He waves a hand and moves to walk away, but I reach for his arm, stopping him.
“Sorry, that was rude.” Nice, Aria. Something else is going on, but he won’t bring me in the loop if I can’t take this at least somewhat seriously.
He glances at my hand, still gripping his arm. I remove it.
“Just remember, you came of your own accord.”
Those words do me in, and my happy mood deflates.
“I know,” I say, remembering my promise after screwing up the last time I was here. I turn away from him. I can’t meet his eyes. The guilt seems to sap the very energy from my legs, so I grip the rail and lean on it for support as my vision blurs. It was my fault. People died because I let enemies into the Raven Palace. That was my fault.
And it was my fault the kind, sweet maid, Maeve—who knew I wasn’t Queen Carys but liked me anyway and thought I could make a difference—was killed right in front of me.
“Aria?” Tien’s tone has changed. It sounds airy and far away. Even though it’s unexpected, I still can’t bring myself to look at him as a chill runs down my spine. “I think we should talk about—”
He stops so I open my mouth to ask him what he was about to say. But warm arms wrap themselves awkwardly around me, hooking underneath my elbows to grip the rail. A smile splits across my face.
Sterling.
“So, you’ve been teaching your brother how to use my phone, huh?” I say without turning.
The intake of breath followed by silence is reward enough. It’s rare when I render my perfect boyfriend speechless for doing something not-perfect. I twist around to see the guilt. He releases me and steps back, then drops his eyes.
“Look, I uh…”
I wave a hand. “It’s fine.” A sigh escapes. I glance at Tien, whose expression has darkened. “It sounds like I needed the alibi, just in case.”
Sterling moves to my side to lean his back against the rail next to me. From the corner of my eye, I see Tien walk away. It’s probably to give us some space.
“Oh! The game!” I say, clasping my hands together and leaning on one leg. “Will Coach be mad if you don’t make it back?” I’m about to mention that he didn’t need to come to Faerie with me this time—Tien says it’s just some boring meeting—but I’m glad he did. Even if it means he misses a football game.
Sterling shakes his head, and a flash of confusion pinches the skin between his eyebrows. “It’s a bye week. No game.”
“Well, that’s convenient.”
“Except I was going to take you out for a meal and a movie,” he says, dropping his tone and reaching out to take my hand in his. He seems disappointed. “But when Faerie calls, we come running.”
I frown. “Aww… you were going to take me on a date?”
His eyes lift to mine. The strange green glints in the sunlight. “I was. But this gives me a chance to see Zebsar.”
A twinge of jealousy stabs my core.
“You don’t mind, do you?” he asks. “I won’t be allowed at this royal whatever, anyway.” He waves a hand and rolls his eyes. My world is rubbing off on him. It makes me smile. “I’d like to get some riding time in and check in on Canyon.”
“Right. Make sure he isn’t feeding the cabbyll-ushteys cream, right?” I tilt my head and smile smugly.
His eyes widen with pleasure. “You remember!”
I nod.
“So, you don’t mind if I run off while you play queen?”
I do mind. But I don’t want him to feel guilty. “Just promise I can ride Madseok before I have to go home?”
His smile reaches his eyes. In his mind, he’s already riding the waves on the back of his water horse. “I promise.”
Hiding a Fae Queen releases May 18, 2021.
Preorder Hiding a Fae Queen! <——here!
Another character card! This is Sterling Firetail. Sterling is Aria's boyfriend/best friend and he's a star fae (half human/half fae). He meets Aria in the human world while looking for the lost Raven Court queen who looks exactly like Aria and the two quickly hit it off.
His brother, Tien is the Captain of the Guard, but Sterling loves his less-prestigious role in overseeing and taking care of the many horses and cabbyll-ushteys (carnivorous water horses) for the court.
If you're located in the US, you can still get this character card and Aria's character card sent to you by helping out with the book launch of Hiding a Fae Queen, or sending me a screenshot showing your preorder! (Email joanna@joannareeder.com)
I don't know about you, but the world is opening up a bit where I live.
We took the kids to a local amusement park recently (we have season passes) but it was more crowded than we were comfortable with so the kids only rode two rides before we left. It was a weekend, so that might have been the reason for the crowd, but hopefully it won't be so crowded once summer begins and we can go during the week.
Still, it was nice to finally get out!
What do you think of this aesthetic? I don't typically make aesthetics, but I love how this one turned out for Hiding a Fae Queen! Maybe I'll do more!
And speaking of Hiding a Fae Queen… Enter to win one of two signed paperback copies of Hiding a Fae Queen on Goodreads
Here's the link: Enter Giveaway
Hiding a Fae Queen is in the hands of my alpha readers. I'm anxious/excited for their feedback. No matter how many books I write, it's always nerve-racking to have other people (especially other writers) read my books. But I'm always so thankful for their comments because it helps make my stories better.
I've seen so many fun character cards in other authors emails and on social media, I decided I wanted some for my characters too!
Check out this one of Aria!
Aria is the main character in the Raven Court series. She's a girl from the human world, snatched away to Faerie by her boyfriend's brother to pretend to be the lost queen of the Raven Court.
If you haven't dived into the world of the Raven Court yet, you can get Book 1 here: Imitating a Fae Queen
And Book 2 is available for preorder here: Hiding a Fae Queen
You can also get one of the prequel stories Bargaining with a Fae Queen for FREE here: Bargaining with a Fae Queen
Life has been a bit rough for me lately. I've been dealing with some mental health issues, and my family has had some struggles too, but I wanted to thank you for reading this blog post and being a fan! I know I have some fantastic fans here. So again… THANK YOU.
I've been working hard writing book 2 in the Raven Court series. This book has been HARD to write! I'm sure a huge part was my personal struggles, but I tried something new and finished the first draft last week.
So now that I'm in the thick of edits and things are coming together, it's finally time to announce…
Hiding a Fae Queen: Raven Court Book Two is available for preorder NOW and will release on May 18, 2021!
You can preorder it here ——> Hiding a Fae Queen
Thank you to everyone who purchased the Frost Boarding House Boxset! It means so much!
If you haven't yet, you can still get it for a few more days for only $0.99, but that price is going up soon! You can get it here: Frost Boarding House Boxset.
If you read and loved it, please consider leaving a review on Amazon, Goodreads, and/or Bookbub. Reviews are essential to authors like me. When I wrote this email, there were currently zero reviews anywhere, so please, please leave a review!
Even if you read the books back when they were first released, please consider leaving a review on the boxset. Here are the links:
The COMPLETE Frost Boarding House series boxset is now available! Thank you to everyone who preordered!
If you didn't, you can still get it for only $0.99, but it won't stay at that price for long, so get it now!
In it are some never-before-seen bonus scenes exclusive to the boxset!
(Psst… but you can also read it HERE. But warning: they contain spoilers.)
