A.J. Maguire

Tag: Novels

  • Happy Thanksgiving (2025)

    This is my favorite holiday.

    From the turkey and stuffing to the golden-brown hue outside my window, I can’t help but love this time of year. That’s why I scheduled Nora’s final book to release on the 28th.

    Well, technically it should have been released for Halloween but life had other plans.

    At any rate, the Nora Grayson Adventures have concluded, Advanced Readers have the novel, and pretty soon everyone else who wants it will be able to snag it from Amazon.

    I am deeply grateful to those Readers who have followed Nora’s journey from the beginning and whose comments and encouragements helped push me to the finish line. For the record, I know some questions have been left unanswered – not the MAJOR questions, mind you, but some of the littler things – and that is by design because I intend to return to this world.

    It just won’t be Nora Grayson leading the fray.

    I want to do a separate standalone with Derrick and Vessa that deals with Derrick’s mother and those known as the Lost.

    I also have plans for Eucilla. She’s a dracken and can outlive everyone else, so I imagine that novel taking place a century or so later.

    Also (mild spoiler alert), the romantic in me can’t help wondering what the Atlas Court will be like for Nora when she finally steps into that role, but insofar as the storyline of Nora’s family is concerned, we have an ending.

    For now, I have several novels that have been sitting on the back burner while I finished up Nora’s books, and it’s time I gave them the attention they deserve. (More on that in a later post.)

    So what am I thankful for this year?

    I have a home. Food in my pantry. Pets who adore me. My book is complete and I have a group of amazing readers who are ready to get their hands on it.

    I have a son who is also a creative and I know he is working on his own writing and worlds. He’ll be 18 in January, which hurts my heart in weird ways and terrifies me at the same time because he’s about to get his license.

    I have a loving husband who believes in me and works hard so that I can continue to live my dream.

    And I have family and friends who remind me every day that I am loved and appreciated.

    Thank you. All of you. Whether you’re friend, family, or reader, I hope your day is amazing and that you are equally blessed.

  • A Candid Conversation about Spice (Yes, Book Spice)

    Warning, this conversation may make some uncomfortable. But you know what, sometimes the hardest conversations to have are the ones that help us grow the most, so let us go ahead and dive in.

    Let me start by stating that not all books are for all audiences. Only you can decide what you like and dislike, so my job here is not to sway you one way or another in that argument.

    If you like spice, good for you.

    If you DON’T like spice, also good for you.

    You know yourself and that is a great place to begin.

    Now then, do you know what ELSE is not my job? Judging other people for what they like to read.

    The beautiful thing about humanity is that we are all different. Our tastes sometimes align, but then vary in the next instant, and that’s GOOD. What isn’t so good is deciding that because someone’s tastes are different from yours, that they are somehow lesser human beings and unworthy of respect and space.

    I beg of you, stop doing this.

    You breathe, you live, you laugh, you matter. And so does everyone else. Give people the space to live differently from you because, at the end of the day, the only choices you are held accountable for are your own.

    Now that we’re on the same page, I am going to admit that Blood of the Witch Heir gets a little racy. I still close the door/fade to black, but the intimate scenes are more noticeable in this book than in many of my other works, and this was on purpose.

    Trigger Warning – The book does deal with SA. The actual event is not shown on the page, but it is relevant to the characters and has to be dealt with, which means that the intimacy between our two main characters was as much a part of the story as the grander plot.

    Why?

    Because intimacy after SA is difficult. It can also be either a detriment or a healing moment for the survivor. This is a sensitive subject, I know, and I suppose I am risking a lot in how I have done things in the book, but I believe the message is important.

    Spice in books is not inherently bad. You either enjoy it, or you don’t, but please don’t shame the people around you who do because, quite frankly, it is none of your business. Not to mention the fact that books are a safe space where survivors often find healing.

    No, sincerely, this is a thing.

    Books permit us to explore in a safe, private manner and (at least one hopes) showcases healthy relationships on the page. I know that often there are unhealthy relationships (codependency/ jealousy/ etcetera) in these books and we end up swooning anyway but they are FICTION and still a safe space.

    So whether you want no spice, low spice, closed door, open door, or the spiciest of the spice, please respect the rights of other readers to be different from you.

    Read responsibly. Read often. Read Happy.

  • A REAL Summer Reading List – 2025

    In response to the Chicago Sun Times debacle where they have printed an AI generated list of books for Summer Reading, which includes books that DO NOT exist, I thought I would be a little cheeky and send out a REAL Summer Reading List.

    Or at least, MY Summer Reading List, which is curated by my personal tastes and some of them are literally waiting on my TBR pile. I lean heavily Fantasy / Romantasy / and Science Fiction in my reading.

    FIRST UP – Broken Souls and Bones by LJ Andrews.

    This is for my Romantasy friends. It is a happy blend of Vikings and Magic following Roark Ashwood and Lyra Bien and you can bet it has all the yummy Romantasy elements we open these books to find.

    You can check it out HERE

    SECOND – A Taste for Lies by LC Whitehouse

    I devoured this book in a day and a half. It is new and I enjoyed the world the author built. This is also a Romantasy (hey, I like what I like) but its pacing alone is impeccable and the characters on the page were absolutely vibrant.

    You can check it out HERE

    THIRD – Litany for a Broken World by LJ Cohen

    Admittedly, this one is on my TBR. I have enjoyed this author before, particularly her novel Future Tense and the amazing Halcyone Space Series, so I am excited to see what loveliness is in store for me with her newest novel.

    You can check it out HERE

    FOURTH – The Maya Bust (Boneguard 4) by E. Chris Ambrose

    Again, this is from my TBR pile and now that I’m looking I see I have SO MANY to catch up on with the Boneguard series. I loved Indiana Jones when I was growing up, so of course I’m going to love Grant Casey and the thrillers that Ambrose writes. We get history and action and a whole lot of fun in these novels.

    You can check out the Boneguard series HERE

    FIFTH – The Crimson Moth series by Kristen Circcarelli

    I read the first novel, Heartless Hunter, and love the mix of magic and Scarlett Pimpernel that was presented, so its second book, Rebel Witch, is patiently waiting for its turn on my TBR pile. I’m putting them both on here because, if you haven’t read the first one then you’re seriously missing out.

    You can check them out HERE

    Actually, now that I’m looking at my TBR pile it is starting to grow teeth and I fear for my life. I have a lot of reading to do!

    But hey, Chicago Sun Times… There are at least 5 actual, real life novels by actual real life people you could have put in your list instead of consulting a robot. Please hear the creatives in the room when we say that Art, and the consumption of Art, is a purely HUMAN experience. Stop trying to cut the humanity out of it.

    (P.S. My own novel, Blood of the Witch Heir, debuts in June, so it could ALSO count as a Summer Reading Book. If, you know, you like fantasy. And romance. And witches kicking some serious butt.)

  • Book Review – Heartless Hunter: The Crimson Moth by Kristen Ciccarelli

    Laying all my cards on the table here, I love The Scarlet Pimpernel. I watched every iteration I could find as it came through the silver screen, to include the TV series in 1999-2000. To FURTHER lay my cards on the table, our English teacher in the 12th grade showed us the 1982 version in class over one of those weird weeks in school.

    You know, the ones where the teachers were busy finishing up grades and didn’t want to assign anything more until they had caught up.

    I loved the hiding in plain sight. The facade put forward to make everyone else unsuspecting of the true nature of one’s movements. I loved the frightening civility covering a bloodthirsty and desperate time.

    And, of course, I loved the romance.

    So when I picked up this book I did so with a wary eye. I did not think anyone could quite grasp all of those lovely things and implement it into a fantasy novel.

    I have never been more pleased to be wrong.

    I devoured this book. From start to finish I loved it. This is basically Scarlet Pimpernel meets Witches and I am all for it. The enemies to lovers (to enemies) was weirdly satisfying. Normally the angst eats at me and I put those sorts of books down, but this one kept me turning the pages.

    There is some mild spice in this book, for those who need to be warned of that.

    Five stars. Well done.

    Here’s the PURCHASE LINK!

    Happy reading!

  • Embracing the Pantser In Me

    In just 7 days, Nora and the Siren Song will be available to the world. Hurray! Throw confetti!

    Which means I’ve officially been alerted that I have 48 hours to make certain all those files are the right files and that I don’t have any further changes I want to make to the book. Which, honestly, induces a mild panic attack and forces me to re-read everything.

    Even though I have literally read this book over a dozen times from first draft to finished product.

    Nora has come a long way since her inception.

    I first got the idea for her books from a conversation on social media where myself and another author were fangirling over the show Lucifer. We both found it deeply amusing that Lucifer had a therapist in the show, and the conversation stretched to… What if all these paranormal romances we read about with vampires and werewolves and other said shifters/magic user suddenly had to go to couples therapy?

    What would that therapists life look like?

    Enter Nora Grayson, an empathic wizard living in Boston whose private home study sees couples from the typical vampires and elves, to the more exotic creatures hiding in plain sight of humanity.

    I made her an empath for two reasons.

    First, I love Deanna Troi from Star Trek the Next Generation. You can say what you want about me being a Trekkie or whatever, I really don’t mind. Star Trek was my mother’s favorite show when I was growing up, so I come by my geekery honestly.

    Second, because I am an empathetic person myself and I feel like this trait isn’t given center stage a lot. The ability to listen and identify the emotional state of the people around you, and then genuinely understand, feels like a skill that is undervalued in the world today.

    We’re too busy.

    We have our own problems.

    Or worse, we’re scared of people.

    I mean, who wouldn’t be given what we see plastered over the news?

    I digress.

    Nora’s first book, Nora and the Werewolf Wedding has a simple design. It’s basically Clue, but with magic and werewolves. And yes, I learned to embrace my Pantser in that book.

    Or, well, this whole series.

    Don’t know what a Pantser is?

    A Pantser is someone who writes without an outline. There is a vague idea – in this case, empathic wizard stuck negotiating a socialite wedding where at least one of the guests is murdered – and you build from there.

    Which means literally everything that happened in that first book came as a surprise.

    True story, I honestly thought Derrick’s grandfather would be the big bad guy on the page. Spoilers! He isn’t.

    There are pros and cons to embracing the Pantser side of my muse.

    First, I’ve had a blast writing. That’s a huge PRO. I sit at the computer, stare out the window for a little as the scene starts to show itself, and then the narrative tends to flow. (Assuming I’m not interrupted. Interruptions are a part of life. I do have pets, a teenage son, a husband, and general biological needs like eating.)

    However, that PRO is often checked by the CON where I literally had to build Fairy from the ground up whilst on the go. I have a handwritten notebook with all of my world building notes, many of which required that I flesh out the rules during the editing process of the book.

    I mention this as a CON because I know the world is bigger than what has been displayed on the pages and I feel like I can do better.

    Another PRO is that I am genuinely surprised by the endings when I get there. Or… things like the surprise wedding in Book 2, which is still one of my favorite moments.

    Writing this way has made it feel like this is Nora’s story and she is telling it, first to me, and then to the rest of the world. All my other books, where outlines have been heavily utilized, I was directing things more than the characters on the page.

    Sure, Jorry and Trenna both had a huge say in what happened in their stories, but it was still ME telling those stories.

    Maybe one day I’ll go back and revise their books from this new, Pantser-loving lens, but don’t hold your breath for it. Nora’s final book is still in the works. It will be out in October of this year. And I have several others novels in various stages of complete or near-to-complete that will get to see publication first.

    In the meantime, here is me, embracing my Pantser. It’s difficult, but apparently well worth the editing time I have to spend after that first draft is done.

    Nora and the Siren Song will be available on April 8th!

  • Alterations, Updates, & Fun

    With Nora and the Siren Song about to be released, I’m doing my usual brushing up of the website, book covers, and general marketing upkeep.

    Those who frequent this site are no doubt noticing it is shiny and pretty, with a new theme that I have to admit I love. Depending on what device you’re using, you’ll find my new LinkTree either at the bottom (phone devices) or at the side (computer) of the screen.

    I am new to LinkTree. I only discovered it thanks to Threads, where I’ve had the joy of connecting with Indie authors I had never met before. I do still have an account on X, for those of you who linger over there, but sometime over the course of the last couple years X took away the ability to auto-link my posts to its site, so it is not as up to date as Threads or Facebook.

    I’m sure there’s a way I can pay for that function, but quite frankly, I’m tired of every site known to man charging a fee for being ‘verified’ or whatever. I’m on a budget, guys. If I’m going to spend money, it’s going toward actual publishing costs. Or, shock of all shocks, trying to get author copies of my own books.

    Nora’s books got new covers. Again. Yes, this is in preparation for the series being competed this year. They have a matching theme and yes, one day when I can afford an artist who can do all four of them at once, then these covers will change yet again.

    And finally, to the last announcement, Torven & Tales from the Wood has been published through Draft2Digital. This is an experiment on my part to see how that publishing program works.

    For those who don’t remember, Torven is my Fairytale Novelette written several years ago for my son, who told me he hated reading and broke my heart. I wrote the little volume FOR him and read it to him every night over the course of eight days, and he admitted he actually liked that story.

    It must have been the right move because he’s a storyteller himself now.

    Anyway, Torven was taken off virtual shelves a couple years ago because it was too small to be worth printing anymore. I’ve been gathering some short stories to add to its volume and while I still think I should have added one or two more, I’m simply too busy to know when I’ll get around to writing another such tale, so it seemed a good trial book for the Draft2Digital site.

    When I figure out how to sell physical copies through this site, this will be the first one available. Since, you know, it is my test subject.

    That’s it. Those are my current updates!

  • Countdown to Siren Songs!

    As of today, we have 66 days before Nora and the Siren Song hits the virtual shelves.

    I am so very excited for everyone to get a chance to read the next step in Nora’s journey. The early reviews have been excellent. You can check them out on Goodreads if you don’t believe me. Or Bookbub, if you would rather.

    I know there are several other review sites out there, but Goodreads still tends to garner the most reviews and ratings for me.

    So what is this new adventure about?

    Well, it’s a romance.

    As in, the other books the romance tends to hide in the background, but in this next volume it takes center stage. I know this might annoy some people who prefer their romances in the light version, but Nora is growing and as such, she has reached a point of crisis where she must confront what she truly wants out of life.

    Which includes knowing what she wants out of a partner.

    I thoroughly enjoyed writing this book. It is a huge journey for Nora, not only because she must come to some decisions about who she is and what she wants, but because the world around her is getting far more dangerous.

    I can’t say much more than that without spoiling the book for you, so I will leave you with the current Book Blurb (subject to change between now and Publication Date.)

    Nora Grayson never meant to be a criminal.

    Raised by the very people who murdered her parents, Nora’s memory has been shrouded by spell-work and heavy drugs. Sensing that something terrible is in the works, Nora is desperate to uncover the truth of what her caretakers forced her to do, but there are other powers at play both Earthside and in Fairy. When the Vampire Court demands Nora be shackled from her power, she and Constable Elliot Cade must flee. Her only hope rests with the last known Great Wizard, Lady Helle, but reaching the wizard’s tower proves more difficult than either of them imagined.

    Boxed in on all sides, ancient rivalries rush to the surface, and the ocean powers Cade has been hiding from set out to prove that there is nothing more treacherous than the sea in a storm. With options and allies dwindling, and the wizard’s tower far out of reach, Nora faces an impossible choice: clear her own name or save the man she loves.

    Pre-Order Here!

  • Tips and Tricks – Writer’s Edition

    I am in the thick of things where it comes to completing the Nora Grayson series, and because writing is a constant learning process I thought I would share some things that are helping me get through this final book.

    For those just joining us, the Nora Grayson series is my urban fantasy/paranormal/fantasy mystery series that follows Miss Nora Grayson, an empathic wizard living in Boston. It is honestly difficult to place in a single genre here, which I know will have professionals screaming at me that I just don’t know my market the way I should and that I should study it more, but if you read the books you’re going to see why I am so fickle.

    Suffice, sometimes you’re on Earth and sometimes you’re in Fairy. Magic is hidden in plain sight of humanity, but I don’t have any fully human characters on the page, and the ties that bind Fairy to Earth are very, very important. Especially in this last book.

    It’s weird. I know. But so far readers seem to be enjoying the books so I’m just going to keep trucking along with it.

    Nora and the Siren Song will be released in April. That’s the third novel in the series. You can snag Werewolf Wedding and Duke of Autumn right now through Amazon. (Yes, I do little Kindle sales throughout the year so those of you readers who are on a tight budget, don’t fret. Follow my Facebook/X/Threads/Instagram and you’ll see when they’re on sale.)

    As we speak, I am working on the 4th and final book in the Nora Grayson series, which brings me to the point of this Blog Entry.

    Ending a series is far more difficult than beginning one. Or even continuing one.

    All of those BIG questions that I have left hanging in the air for Nora need to come to a satisfying conclusion. And I need to do it in such a way that I don’t sacrifice the main theme of the series. AND all the characters on the page need to feel like they have come to a place of resolution somehow, not just Nora but the team/family she has managed to grow over the past three books.

    So, what are some of the things I’ve learned during this process?

    Tip #1 – Record your books

    This is just for you. You don’t need to sell it. The sound quality doesn’t have to be amazing. You can do it on a shoddy little voice recorder you got for five bucks at a secondhand store, but record your books. The physical act of doing this will remind you what you’ve written, keeping the larger narrative alive in your head. AND, you can listen to the books while you do all the other necessary things of life like cooking dinner, washing dishes, or folding laundry.

    Again, this is to keep the narrative alive in your head. It might feel funny at first. I know I felt weird, like it was a sort of vanity to listen to my own work, but at the end of the day it had practical applications. Characters I had forgotten about from the first book suddenly answered a major plot issue in the fourth.

    Tip #2 – Story Bibles

    Yes, I’ve mentioned these before. This is where you have written down characters and their rough descriptions in case they show back up because you don’t want a character to go from having green eyes to blue in the last few pages of the series. I use Scrivener for this, and I have pasted pictures to go along with said descriptions for these characters, because it’s fun and it makes me smile.

    Tip #3 – Trust your instincts

    If you aren’t satisfied with something on the page, then you can be certain that your readers won’t be either. I can tell you that I was stuck in November/December, so I went ahead and took a break. Something wasn’t working on the page, so I went back and reviewed and read the other books and poured over my plot notes. Granted, it took COVID forcing me into a hazy dream state for two weeks for me to really pinpoint what was wrong, but I’m confident I would have come to the right conclusion even without the illness.

    The point is, my instincts were telling me it was off and I needed to listen to them. Sure, I kept shoving words on the page because no forward momentum = nothing ever gets done, but the struggle was important.

    Which brings me to the fourth and final tip…

    Tip #4 – Don’t be afraid to revise

    Take this with a grain of salt. A lot of people can’t finish a book if they keep going back and revising. PLEASE USE THIS WITH CAUTION. If you know that you are one of those who will get hung up on making that first chapter perfect, then DON’T DO THIS. Just make a note of the changes you want to make on the next pass of the manuscript and move on.

    For me, however, I literally cannot move on with the story if I know a major thing needs to change. In this case it WAS a major thing, it altered the course of the book in several ways, and I needed to make the words on the page match the story in my head before I could move on. I recognize the danger of constant revision for that first chapter, so please hear me when I say that I did this with my eyes open, I know that chapter is still not perfect, but now that it fits the rest of the narrative my internal Muse is happy and ready to continue the book.

    That’s it. That’s what I’ve learned so far.

    For those interested, we are sitting at 15k on the final novel, which isn’t where I wanted to be but I really did have COVID and was miserably tossing and turning in bed for nearly two weeks. Don’t worry, though. I’ll meet the deadline.

    Happy Writing!

  • Novel News – September 2024

    For those who may check my Amazon account you might have noticed that Witch-Born and Deviation are no longer available in Kindle. Long story short, something went down between the publisher and Amazon and they are no longer able to sell any of their books on Amazon’s site. There are paperback copies still available on the site, but insofar as I understand it, any purchases made from this point out are not going to be reflected in royalties.

    Leastwise, that’s what the publisher announced when they sent the email.

    I don’t know why. I don’t know what’s going on over there. To be frank, I had already contacted this publisher to request a termination of the contracts so that I could get the publishing rights back to all books under their label. They were very professional and agreed to the termination and we had set things up to be official in February 2025.

    In the meantime, I have been going through a brand new edit of Witch-Born that I intend to release in the Spring. This includes new cover art and, after much deliberation on my part, a whole new title.

    For funsies, it’s good to know that titles are not really under copywrite. I did not know this until recently, but there you have it.

    I digress.

    The current circumstances that the publisher finds themselves in with Amazon has pushed the timetable up for announcements and what have you. I hadn’t intended to announce the switch until January, with a publication release in May or June . Because this is a re-release, I felt it would not overshadow Nora and the Siren Song, which is still due to release in April.

    Now, it should be noted that Witch-Born is not the only title I have under this publisher. And really, the original publisher was Double Dragon Publishing but they sold to this newest publisher several years ago. I feel like that’s an important detail. I stuck with them because at the time I could not conceive of seeking out a new book cover, and there are some sticking points about material that has been edited by in-house editors at a publishing company.

    It’s a weird gray area, but suffice… the book would require both new edits AND a new cover because the publisher paid for both, and Past Aimee was too busy to do either.

    Present Aimee, on the other hand, has rolled up her sleeves and is getting the work done.

    The other two books under this publisher are Deviation and Dead Magic and yes, I have plans for these as well. I know more about the business now than I did back when they were first sold to Double Dragon, and I am a better writer today than I was yesterday, so you can safely assume I’m working on them.

    Bottom line… If you have a copy of any of these books, they are about to be Out of Print. Everything is OK. We’ve got a handle on it.

    Happy Reading!

  • Book Review – Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

    A while back I read the first book in this duology – Divine Rivals – and I loved it. The magic was subtle, the war was tense, and the romance was sweet. I had to wait a bit to get to this second book because it was not on Kindle Unlimited (which is honestly the only way I can afford to read so many books) but once I spotted it on there I snagged it up.

    It should come as no surprised that I loved the second book too. We pick up a little bit after the first book left off, so the war is still in full swing and the newspapers for which Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt both work are still covering that war. Everything that I loved in that first book was present in this one.

    I don’t do spoilers but I will say that, while I loved this book, I loved the first one more. But I think that’s normal. It’s always a lot more fun to be actively engaged in the mystery and wonder than it is to have mysteries revealed.

    That said, it was a satisfying conclusion to a story I deeply enjoyed. I highly recommend this duology for any of my Fantasy lovers out there. For parents who may be checking, these books are rated SAFE for younger readers. There are no explicit scenes that are going to cause an uncomfortable conversation at the dinner table.

    Happy Reading!

    Purchase Link for Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross