The Mirror of the Moon by Travis Simmons

I am so excited to share with you this fantastic author and the second installment in the Revenant Saga, The Mirror of the Moon by Travis Simmons! First of all, the cover is gorgeous! I would so get this book based on that alone. But read on to find more reasons to get your copy today.

With the death of one of the companions, Grace must answer for the secrets she’s kept. The path before them is ever lengthening in their quest for Amber. There are changes they all must face, and when Joya enters her trials of sorcery, danger lurks around every corner. The power within Angelica and Jovian is strengthening and with it comes confusion. What are they? It is painfully obvious nothing like them has ever existed before. Why is it at times they seem more one person than two separate people? With all the mystery surrounding their latent power, Angelica stumbles upon a passage in a book of sorcery indicating she is evil. Could she be the Mask prophecy speaks of? Is she destined to turn against her own flesh? To make matters worse, the Well of Wyrding (a giant well that controls all sorcery) has been breached and Wyrd itself is spiraling into chaos.

So what does the author of a fantasy saga read, you ask?

TS: I am somewhat of a collector of books. Pretty hard to imagine right? Getting a new book is like Christmas for me. The issue is, I go out and buy books like Carrie Bradshaw buys shoes! I won’t even be finished with the other five I am currently reading, but I drop all of them to read the new book I have bought. The hardest thing for me is to finish a book before buying a new “must read.”

Currently I am reading many books, some of them I am reading over like The Hobbit and the Harry Potter series, while others I am reading for the first time. There are seriously probably more than ten books I am reading at the present time, and I am still buying more and downloading free books I want to read.

One of the best books I have read in a long time is Zombie Fallout by Mark Tufo. The book is great, mainly because it has zombies, but other than that it has a lot of humor and characters you can really see existing. To me, characters are the driving point of the story. You have to have a good setting and a good plot, but great characters can take you through the story like a best friend showing you around their favorite city. Mark does that beautifully.

One of the hardest books for me to read, which is on my shelf, is The Knife of Never Letting Go. I really like the story. I really like the setting. It is one of those stories that pulls you in and guides you along, but there is something I don’t like about stubborn main characters. This has nothing to do with the author. I think he is doing an excellent job with the book, but the main characters inability to read, and then his being too pride to get help from someone who can read and knows he can’t kind of tires me out and even made me put the book away for a while.

The Black Gryphon by Mercedes Lackey. I am 24% through it. I have read it before, when I was younger, and I absolutely loved them when I was younger. This time I am having a harder time with it. Sometimes it is because I have already read it, other times it is the characters again. Mercedes Lackey doesn’t have an issue with her intelligent animals being attracted to humans. In fact, in one of her other books (Four and Twenty Blackbirds I think) a human and a bird creature were lovers. Her animals make sexual advances on humans at times and when a human and an animal our bonded, there seems to be a relationship going on that makes me feel kind of icky at times.

There is one book on my to read shelf that I am dying to read. Mainly I want to read it because the movie looks like it will be good. Often I am sold on a book by watching previews of the movie. I want to read the book before watching the film. Beautiful Creatures looks to be an amazing movie, and I really, really enjoy movies about witchcraft since I was a teen and saw The Craft and Practical Magic. It is a huge bonus that the previews have Florence and the Machine playing along in the background. I really love her quite a lot.

I am still buying books to read, but I am actually forcing myself to finish some of the others I have started before going on to others. Zombie Fallout will be done soon, then I am going on to Beautiful Creatures before finishing others. I do review all of the books I read on both amazon and goodreads, so if you have found any of my reviews here helpful, feel free to follow me on goodreads and check out my thoughts on the books I am finishing.

Wow. I know, right? Here's a bit more about Travis Simmons.

   I have been writing since I was 14. I began writing a book called "The Calling of the Two" and while writing that on and off I started uncovering another idea.

"Yes, this is all well and good, but what about before? What happened in the world before these characters came into it?" I always knew there was a "before" and as I started wondering about it I got ideas. At first they were little ideas but as I discovered the names for my characters a whole story about them emerged.

I started working on The Revenant Wyrd Saga several years back and I am very happy I did because hearing and documenting Jovian and Angelica's story has been one wild ride.

I live in a remote part of upstate New York and honestly just hoofing around my neck of the woods gives me a ton of inspiration for my novels. I love research, and I love speculating on different ideas and theories.

        Did I mention there's a giveaway? Oh yeah, there's a giveaway.

Author links : website, facebook, twitter, goodreads