The Arcadia Series, Books One & Three by Kelley Heckart @CelticChick #Romance #Fantasy #GreekMythology

Blurbs:

The Bear Goddess, Book One

Romance, fantasy and magic in Bronze Age Arcadia (Greece)

Forbidden love… Broken vows… Betrayal…

Callisto, the daughter of the great Arcadian King Lycaon and the nymph Maia, has studied all her life to attain the high position of Bear Goddess among the nymphs of Artemis, taking a sacred vow of purity. But when she meets a mysterious man, her life changes forever.

Kasin is a prince among the fierce centaurs and one of few who can take human shape. A follower of Zeus, he is mystified to save a nymph’s life and even worse, to fall in love with an enemy of the centaurs. He is torn between his duty to his people and his love for Callisto.

When the nymphs capture Kasin for their next sacrifice, Callisto cannot allow him to die, but before she can help him escape, they are caught together and their secret connection exposed. Surrounded by armed guards, they manage a daring escape. On the run from the nymphs, danger and betrayal follow Kasin and Callisto. To survive, they must evade a god obsessed with having Callisto for himself as well as others who also want to keep them apart. Will their love for each other be enough to save them?

The Crow Maiden, Book Three

She betrayed her goddess for him…

He betrayed her.

Plotting her revenge is her only solace. Until now.

Nahla is the Crow Maiden, an Arcadian, and once a priestess of Artemis. Now she is a captive, a being who lives in the shadows until her vile master the sorcerer-king Aramon summons her. Another releases her from the Shadowlands, and while he might be the champion she has waited for, the gods must be playing a cruel joke. Her champion is crippled.

An Achaean lord who once ruled a great city, Balin is a broken man. He has lost everything—his kingdom and his family. Revenge consumes him. Although wary of the mysterious, cold-eyed female who appears and claims he summoned her, she may be his only hope to exact vengeance on the king who ruined him, the same man Nahla seeks to destroy.

They are bound by revenge, and soon, both learn they are bound by much more, but the secrets she hides might tear them apart and ruin their only opportunity for vengeance—and their chance to love again.

About the Author:

Multi-published author Kelley Heckart writes romances with fantasy/paranormal elements set in ancient and medieval time periods. Her stories reflect her passion for ancient history, storytelling, and the supernatural. She is drawn in particular to the ancient Celts who are shrouded in mystery and associated with the otherworldly realm of the Fae. With her pen and paper, she recreates long ago places filled with fierce warriors, bold women, otherworldly creatures, magic, and romance.

Two of her favorite things are sunrises and men in kilts. When not writing or editing, she enjoys practicing target archery. She can be found online at www.kelleyheckart.com.

Review:

The Bear Goddess is Book One and The Crow Maiden is Book Three of the Arcadia Trilogy, each book of which stands alone. However, the books are tied together by the fact that they take place in and around Arcadia, and the crossover appearances of various characters among the three books. I reviewed Book Two, The Wolf Queen, last year, and missed nothing reading them out of order.

I greatly admire Ms. Heckert’s knowledge of Greek mythology and the way she weaves it into her fictional world along with the paranormal. Her characters are deeply drawn and engaging, and the plots are fast-paced and draw the reader in on page one.

But, as has been happening so much lately, there were editing issues that drove me nuts. When editors tell their authors not to use too many adverbs, they don’t mean the authors should substitute adjectives. Yet I see this happening over and over again. I even hear it in dialog on TV, and find myself yelling “LY!” at the screen, as I do to my Kindle. I yelled it at my Kindle throughout the entire Arcadia Trilogy. Please be sparing with your adverbs, but do NOT substitute adjectives for them. Use a stronger verb. But if you can’t find a stronger verb, go ahead and enhance it with an adverb. Use your “ly.”

Thanks for letting me rant. Aside from the adjective problem, The Arcadia Series was a good read. You might want to start with The Bear Goddess, then The Wolf Queen, and end with The Crow Maiden, but it’s not necessary.

Author Website:  www.kelleyheckart.com

Heat Ratings (Both):  R

Lengths: 

The Bear Goddess:  285 Pages

The Crow Maiden:  269 Pages

Prices (Both):

Print:  $11.99

Digital:  $2.99

Buy Links:

The Bear Goddess:  https://amazon.com/dp/B00P74X0WY

The Crow Maiden:  https://amazon.com/dp/B01N1ZBAF1

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The Owl Goddess by Jenny Twist

Blurb:

The boy watched the star fall. It fell very slowly, and it was not one light but a multitude of lights spinning lazily through the night sky. Then great silver fish flew through the sky and other mysterious lights began to appear on the mountain. At last a great thunderbolt struck the ocean. The sound was flat and hollow and unbelievably loud, as if a giant had stamped on the earth. And the sign of the Goddess appeared in the sky—the sign of the Sacred Mushroom. These are the events that mark the arrival of the Atlantis, the doomed starship, bringing new gods who would change the lives of the boy and his people forever.

About the Author:

Jenny Twist left school at fifteen and went to work in an asbestos factory. After working in various jobs, including bacon-packer and escapologist's assistant (she was The Lovely Tanya), she returned to full-time education and did a BA in history at Manchester and post-graduate studies at Oxford.

In 2001 she retired and moved to Spain where she lives with her husband, Vic, and their rather eccentric dog and cat. Besides writing, she enjoys reading, knitting and attempting to do fiendishly difficult logic puzzles.

Review:

Back in the seventies I read a book called Chariots of the Gods that posited the gods primitive peoples worshipped were actually explorers from other planets who landed on Earth. It suggested these people built such structures as the Great Pyramids, the Parthenon, and created the Nazga Lines, the patterns of which can only be seen from the air. In her acknowledgments at the end of The Owl Goddess, Ms. Twist admits to having read the same book and been greatly affected by it. Although, she puts her own spin on the story—one you’ll have to read the book to discover.

Prometheus is a member of a tribe called the Titans. Around sixteen years old, he’s already a man, and he’s been cast out of the group by Atlas, who wants to be King, and knows he can’t beat Prometheus in the footrace that would determine who will marry Pandora, the Queen who represents the Mother Goddess, and ascend the throne with her. He witnesses the landing of the Atlantis and its eventual scuttling by its captain, Zeus.

The crew settles on a plateau toward the top of Mount Olympus, setting up camp and traveling about in shuttles and escape pods they’ve salvaged from their damaged vessel. They use an energy shield to protect their camp from indigenous animals or people, and wear similar suits when they leave camp, so they appear to be impervious to the Titan’s weapons. On the other hand, when Pandora falls and hits her head on a rock, Prometheus appeals to Athena, Zeus’ daughter for help. Using modern technology, they’re able to heal Pandora, and the two groups become friendly—except for Atlas and some of the younger warriors who resent being bested by the “Olympians” superior defenses.

Many of the Greek myths play out in The Owl Goddess, but in ways that fit the premise. Athena adopts a baby owl, and the Titans worship her as a wise goddess. Zeus banishes Atlas and his cronies across the Mediterranean to Africa as punishment for attacking a group of Olympians who were no longer wearing shields. Pandora talks Prometheus into stealing “fire” from the Olympians and does, indeed, open something that releases chaos and death. However, Ms. Twist left out the fact that at the bottom of Pandora’s box, there was hope.

Altogether, The Owl Goddess was a fascinating look at Greek mythology from a slightly different point of view. Athena doesn’t see herself as a goddess at all. In fact, having been born aboard the Atlantis, she’s the only teenager in the colony, and she kind of has a crush on Prometheus, who is in love with Pandora, so there’s a bit of a romantic triangle going on there. She’s a clone of Zeus, so Hera is her mother, but not in the traditional sense. There’s not too much love lost there, and Athena tends to keep her distance from her. Hera is homesick, bored, and wants her creature comforts back. She’s cranky and demanding, and even Zeus avoids her as much as possible.

The Owl Goddess grabbed me from the beginning and held my attention throughout with well-drawn characters and a really cool twist at the end. I highly recommend it.

Author Website:  https://sites.google.com/site/jennytwistauthor/home

Heat Rating:  PG

Length:  273 Pages

Prices:

Print:  $15.99

Digital:  $4.33

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Owl-Goddess-Jenny-Twist-ebook/dp/B01DL35084

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