Goblins of Lapland – Caedis Knight

If you are still looking for that perfect gift for the (adult) bookworm in your life, I have the book for you right here as I share my (overdue) review of Goblins of Lapland by Caedis Knight. Actually, the full set of the four Blood Web Chronicles books (so far), with their exquisite jewel covers, would make a really beautiful gift.

BLURB:

Saskia de la Cruz, Verity Witch and undercover reporter for the Paranormal Blood Web, has been sent on her first international mission…to Lapland!

Convinced she’s set for a magical Christmas adventure in the snow, she’s dismayed to find the Christmas village she’s investigating is a complete disaster. She also takes an instant dislike to the rugged Finnish inn owner, Elias, who’s so miserable he makes the Grinch look like Santa. How can she trust a man whose only friend is a reindeer?

But Elias has bigger things to worry about than a nosy journalist. Locked in a bitter feud with a Texan tycoon, Elias has already lost too much to hand over his family business to his rival. As more mysterious disasters befall the village, Saskia soon discovers that one local Christmas myth is still very much alive. Will Saskia manage to save the village in time for Christmas? Or will they all end up Feliz Navidead?

PURCHASE LINKS:

Amazon UK

Amazon US

REVIEW:

Whilst I might start planning the gifts I want to make for Christmas way back in March or April, I usually have a fairly strict “no Christmas books or films until December” rule. However, when the eagerly awaited Goblins of Lapland landed on my Kindle on 1st November, I knew there was no way I would be waiting a single second before reading it. By happy coincidence, I had finished my previous book the night before (okay, yes, I might have stayed up late to ensure that was the case), so I was able to jump straight in. A prequel to the main series, Goblins of Lapland sits after Mermaids of Los Angeles chronologically, but before Vampires of Moscow in the Blood Web Chronicles world, so if you haven’t read the previous books, it doesn’t matter, although you are missing out on multiple treats and I highly recommend you read them as soon as possible.

As always with Caedis Knight’s books, Goblins of Lapland is a real feast for the senses, filled with rich descriptions of wintery landscapes and festive treats. I don’t really eat meat, but even my largely vegetarian mouth was watering at the description of the reindeer stew. That said, it was all the sugary delights that really got my taste buds going – stocking up on the mince pies and lebkuchen before settling down to read is recommended!

Saskia’s stay at the Crazy Reindeer, the oldest Christmas village in Lapland is filled with mayhem, as she attempts to uncover the cause of some rather strange goings on – is the village being sabotaged by a rival, or is there something more unusual behind the mishaps being suffered? Whatever the cause, the situations that Saskia finds herself in are sure to have you spluttering in your Christmas cocoa!

Goblins of Lapland may be set in one of the snowiest spots in the world, but Caedis Knight once again ensure that temperatures don’t dip below scorching (and not just inside the sauna!).

The only problem with this book? It was just too short! I could have quite happily stayed with Elias in Lapland until spring! Maybe without the goblins though!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Established fantasy authors Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds joined forces in 2019 when they learned readers were looking for steamy paranormal stories with more diversity, more sass, and set outside of the US.

Between them, they have lived in ten countries and speak six languages fluently – all of which inspired them to create a fantasy world hidden within our own. The cities featured in the series are cities they have lived in (except for Lapland).

Jacqueline Silvester is of Russian/Ukrainian descent and now loves between Berlin and The Netherlands. She works as a screenwriter and producer and has collaborated with large names such as Netflix, Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon. Natali Simmonds lives in The Netherlands and has British/Spanish heritage. She writes fantasy as N J Simmonds, and feminist thrillers as Natali Simmonds.

Together they pen paranormal romance as Caedis Knight, and run the Caedis Knight Romance Academy where they teach a variety of courses on writing and self-publishing.

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Witches of Barcelona – Caedis Knight

Witches of Barcelona, the second book in the Blood Web Chronicles series by the fabulous writing duo Caedis Knight, released on 31st March, and I am taking a break from bingeing on Mini Eggs and Lindt Bunnies to tell you all about it today.

BLURB:

Saskia de la Cruz is a Verity Witch and investigative reporter for The Blood Web Chronicle, the biggest news outlet on the paranormal Blood Web.

After escaping murderous Vampires in snowy Moscow, Saskia can’t imagine a more difficult or more dangerous mission. That is until her editor sends her to Barcelona to investigate a high profile disappearance at the Mage Association, which just happens to be run by her evil mother Solina.

Saskia’s plan is to spend as little time in Barcelona as possible, until she meets three junior members of the MA who know more than they let on – including information on Saskia’s missing sister, Mikayla. Among her new leads is Catalan bruixa Luisa, who has a hold over Saskia stronger than any magic.

It doesn’t take long until Saskia finds herself under the glittering spell of MA high society, where morals are few and magic is law. Can Saskia escape the clutches of a world that’s always been dangerous for her, before it turns deadly?

With vibrant characters, page-turning suspense and steamy romance, this second book in the Blood Web Chronicles series has been dubbed by early readers as ‘devilishly addictive’ and ‘a dark, magical world of power and passion.’ Co-authored by two established fantasy authors Jacqueline Silvester and N.J Simmonds, the second book in the Blood Web Chronicles series is perfect for fans of Crescent City, True Blood, The Elite, and The Craft.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Universal Purchase Link

Book Trailer

REVIEW:

With its utterly gorgeous cover, stunning setting, and the promise of sexy witches, I was in love with this book before I even owned it. Knowing how much I enjoyed Vampires of Moscow, the first book in the series, and the prequel novella, Sirens of Los Angeles, I had every confidence that Witches of Barcelona would live up to my high expectations. What I didn’t expect was for it to surpass those expectations quite so spectacularly.

Upon opening Witches of Barcelona, I discovered two things that I love in a book. Firstly, illustrations – be it a map, a family tree, curious symbols, include these in your book and you have won me over. I loved the inclusion of the sigils for each of the witchy factions. Being able to visualise these as Saskia discovered more about them added another level to my understanding of the world of the Blood Web, and the Mage Association in particular.  The second thing I found was a prologue. In the great prologue argument, I am most definitely pro prologue. I just love them, and this one was a real treat, offering an insight into Saskia’s childhood and why she dislikes the Mage Association so much.

The rich descriptions in this book whisked me back to Barcelona, one of my favourite cities, and made me long for the day I can return to Spain. The sights, sounds and smells of the city came flooding back to me, and it really felt as if I was right there beside Saskia and her new friends. Reading this book did nothing for my diet, leaving me craving paella, croquetas, jamon serrano, manchego, and so much more.  It was as if Caedis Knight had reached into my heart and extracted all my favourite Spanish foods and added them to the pages of the book.

Witches of Barcelona is a real contrast of light and dark, balancing the joyfulness of Saskia’s new friendships, against the emotional struggles of loss, trauma and corruption. I loved the chemistry and light-hearted bickering between Rafi, Luisa and Beatriz. Everything about their relationship made me want to be in their inner circle. Seeing Saskia interact with people she could relax and have fun with provided an insight to her character that we hadn’t seen before, and I feel that I got to know her a lot better in this book than I had previously. Her difficult family dynamic added an extra layer to this new understanding too, and provided a lot of insight to her motivations.

This book is littered with one liners that made me laugh out loud, but also with scenes that broke my heart. It is a book that tugs at the emotional heartstrings and keeps you on your toes throughout as Saskia uncovers the secrets of the Mage Association, and discovers who she can truly trust. There are so many wonderful characters introduced in the book, and I hope we meet a lot of them again in future books in the series.

Knight’s signature steamy scenes are once again present, this time featuring some very imaginative uses of magic. I may never view art the same way again!

Witches of Barcelona is a feast for the senses in every imaginable way, and I devoured it as I would a table full of delicious tapas. Book three has a lot of work to do to replace this as my favourite book of the Blood Web Chronicles.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Caedis Knight is the pen name of two established fantasy authors, Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds.

Silvester began her career in screenwriting and lived all over the world before going on to pen her highly successful YA series, Wunderkids.

Spanish Londoner Simmonds’ background was originally in marketing before writing her fantasy series The Indigo Chronicles, along with various Manga stories and writing collaborations.

Together, they created Blood Web Chronicles – their first paranormal romance series set in Europe. Great friends and avid travellers, you can find them whizzing between one another’s homes in Germany and the Netherlands, or having Zoom calls to excitedly plot Saskia’s next humorous sexy adventure.

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All these amazing book lovers are sharing their thoughts on the book over the course of April, so go check them out!

Caedis Knight

I am delighted to be joined today by Caedis Knight, the author duo behind the brilliant Blood Web Chronicles. Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me ladies, and a very happy birthday to you, Jacqueline.

First off, how did the idea of forming a writing duo come about? Whose idea was it and how did you know that you would be a good fit working together?

N J Simmonds: We’ve known one another since 2017 when we met at YALC. Jacky and I became good friends and spoke on the phone often. Then one day she told me about her idea to write a paranormal romance together and when she explained roughly what it would be about I couldn’t say YES fast enough!

Jacqueline Silvester: I’ve wanted to write about vampires, witches, werewolves and shifters for a long time – and I love discovering stuff about tech and the dark web – but the book ideas I had for such a long series were too intimidating to tackle alone. It wasn’t until I got to know Natali and her writing better that I thought about us possibly working together.

Can you tell us about your writing process? It must be tricky living so far apart and not being able to travel very much to meet up at the moment.

JS: I live in Berlin and Natali lives in Delft, Netherlands, so sadly we can’t meet up every day and write. That would be so much fun!

NJS: Although we’d probably get no work done, we’d laugh too much.

JS: True. I did manage to make it to her house in September for ten days of edits and that was brilliant. We worked from 8am until midnight non stop and although exhausting we got a lot done!

NJS: In general we speak every day on the phone and chat on FB messenger. We already planned and plotted the full six book and accompanying novella series last year, so our meetings are about the plot of each book and structure issues. We also add things to our World Lore shared doc like photos and character details so we’re literally on the same page. Then we write a paragraph per chapter and add it to a Word doc, then pass it back and forth writing a chapter at a time. We keep editing one another’s words until it all sounds like Caedis and not us, and when the first draft is done we then copy it on to a Google shared doc for structural edits which we go through together, and the rest we do over email. We have got into a great rhythm. No issues yet.

So far, we have visited Los Angeles and Moscow, and I know there are some beautiful locations still to come. How did you go about choosing the locations, and were there any you wished you could have included that just wouldn’t have worked?

NJS: Jacky has lived in 6 countries and I have lived in 4, she speaks 5 languages and I speak 2, and between us we have visited every continent and about 50 countries…so we have plenty of location ideas to work with. We decided to set all the novels only in the cities we have lived, all in Europe (bar LA) and all cool but gritty places. So we know exactly what we have coming up.

JS: Although we MAY write the odd novella or spin-off series based somewhere hot and exotic. Somewhere we HAVE to go to and research some day…

NJS: Count me in!

Having had the pleasure of seeing just a few of the photographs that inspired some of the characters that we have met so far, I can imagine that you enjoy this particular part of the writing process. Have you had any disagreements about who to base any characters on, or which characters are going to be the good guys and bad guys?

JS: Well we have slightly different tastes in guys, so sometimes I’ll say ‘yeah, I wouldn’t fancy him though’ and Natali will say ‘It doesn’t matter, the readers will!’ Although luckily we do agree on which girls we want to include pretty easily.

NJS: Jacky likes to send me ‘research’ Tik Toks and photos and I rarely disagree. I insisted on making Jackson English…like a hot, buff, black James Bond, luckily Jacky liked that too. To be honest I wasn’t visually excited about Lukka until we started writing him, then we both fell in love with the wild boy.

JS: He was based on Russian rapper Eldzhey. I’ve always liked him and I was adamant he was making an appearance.

NJS: To be honest most characters derive from the city the book is based in, that influences their looks, ethnicity and personalities somewhat, but we have a World Lore shared document where all the photos of each character go in plus Pinterest boards for each book. We do spend a lot of time looking up hot gorgeous people and sharing photos back and forth haha.

Let’s talk about Jackson – just how long are you going to make us wait to find out more about this particular para?

NJS: Oh, Jackson is a slow burn. You’ll get more and more of him as the series progresses. By the end you’ll know ALL about him…and so will Saskia.

JS: Yep, we have big plans for Jackson.

Do you have a release date for the next instalment yet? Can you share anything about it, or is it all top secret?

JS: We’ve just revealed the cover and title of the second book in the series. WITCHES OF BARCELONA is out 31st March 2021. We chose the week after Women’s day on purpose as it’s a hugely feminist/matriarchal book. Saskia is bisexual, so this time you get to meet some very hot girls too – plus you get an insight into the Mage Association as well as meet her mother, who we saw briefly in SIRENS OF LOS ANGELES.

NJS: I’m very excited about this book as I was raised in Barcelona and my family is Catalan. Expect lots of dark, gritty, witchy fun.

JS: And more crazy shifters!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Caedis Knight is the pen name of two established fantasy authors, Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds.

Silvester began her career in screenwriting and lived all over the world before going on to pen her highly successful YA series, Wunderkids.

Spanish Londoner Simmonds’ background was originally in marketing before writing her fantasy series The Indigo Chronicles, along with various Manga stories and writing collaborations.

Together, they created Blood Web Chronicles – their first paranormal romance series set in Europe. Great friends and avid travellers, you can find them whizzing between one another’s homes in Germany and the Netherlands, or having Zoom calls to excitedly plot Saskia’s next humorous sexy adventure.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

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For more information on the Blood Web Chronicles, check out my reviews of VAMPIRES OF MOSCOW and SIRENS OF LOS ANGELES – both books are on sale now, and the next book in the series, WITCHES OF BARCELONA is available for pre-order now. I will be reviewing this book just as soon as I can get my hands on it in 2021, so keep your eyes peeled!

Vampires of Moscow – Caedis Knight

I have the great privilege today to be kicking off the blog tour for the first book in what promises to be a very exciting new fantasy series, Blood Web Chronicles by Caedis Knight. Many thanks to Caedis for providing me with a copy of the book. What better day is there than Halloween for me to introduce you all to the Vampires of Moscow!

BLURB:

Saskia de la Cruz is a Verity Witch – her only magic being that she can tell the truth from a lie.

As an investigative reporter for The Blood Web Chronicle, the biggest news outlet on the paranormal dark Blood Web, Saskia spends her days cracking twisted para cases hoping that someday, some case, will bring her closer to finding her missing sister.

In snowy Moscow drained corpses of illegal workers have begun to turn up, with hundreds more reported missing. When Saskia is sent on assignment to investigate an oligarch Vampire crime ring that might be behind the deaths, she plans to get in out of the city’s frozen grasp quickly…preferably with her neck intact.

But beautiful ballet dancer Konstantin Volkov and his wildcard brother Lukka complicate things. The vampire brothers have their own reasons for solving the string of murders, reasons that conflict with Saskia’s mission. Soon, Saskia finds herself enmeshed in the city’s glittering web of crime, passion, and violence, where truths and lies are one and the same.

With vibrant characters, page-turning suspense and steamy romance, this new series has been dubbed by early readers as “a fun crime-solving sexual adventure across Europe.”

Co-authored by two established fantasy authors Jacqueline Silvester and N.J Simmonds, and set across a christmassy Moscow, Vampires of Moscow is the first book in The Blood Web Chronicles series. Perfect for fans of Crescent City, True Blood and Veronica Mars. 

PURCHASE LINKS:

Vampires of Moscow, and the prequel novella, Sirens of Los Angeles are out in ebook now, and you can order your copies below.

Vampires of Moscow – Amazon US

Sirens of Los Angeles – Amazon US

Vampires of Moscow – Amazon UK

Sirens of Los Angeles – Amazon UK

The paperbacks of both books will be released on 13th November (come back then to find out my thoughts on Sirens of Los Angeles).

REVIEW:

Let’s kick this review off with a little disclaimer – I am a huge fan of N J Simmonds’ and Jacqueline Silvester’s books when they are writing individually, so when I heard that they were teaming up to write a whole series of books, well, to say I was a bit excited would be a major understatement. In fact, it’s pretty safe to say that Vampire of Moscow and Sirens of Los Angeles were among the books I was most looking forward to this year. No pressure there then ladies! Whenever a book is so hotly anticipated, I always feel a bit nervous going in because there is always so much potential for it not to live up to my (possibly unrealistic) expectations. But, I am pleased to say that Vampires of Moscow exceeded them all on so many levels. It is funny, and dramatic, and steamy, and many other adjectives! If this is an indicator for the rest of the series, then we have a lot of thrilling books and sexy paranormals to look forward to!

Blood Web Chronicles introduces a fascinating magic system with a hierarchy of witches dictated by their very specific skillsets. Saskia, our protagonist for the series, is a lowly Verity Witch – something which seemingly embarrasses her mother, but means she has the perfect talent for her job as an investigative reporter. In Saskia, we are presented with a fierce, passionate woman who knowingly hurls herself towards danger in the pursuit of a story, rather than unwittingly stumbling into it. This made a refreshing change from a lot of urban fantasy novels where you often find a female character in need of rescuing. She makes her fair share of mistakes, but on the whole manages to get herself out of sticky situations in ingenious ways.

The Volkov brothers are vampires for grown ups. Twilight this is most definitely not. These boys have a bite and they aren’t afraid to use it – for good and for bad. For cold-blooded killers, they are red hot! Hedonistic Lukka felt a bit brash for my tastes at first but I fell hard for brooding Konstantin from the very first encounter, although this may be partly because I had a sneaky peak at the author’s inspiration for each of these characters. Throw in the fact that he is a ballet dancer and I was 100% under his spell before I had read more than a few pages. I love the ballet and Swan Lake is one of my favourites. It would be a dream come true to see it at the Bolshoi, especially in a (very) private box. I am not sure any version that I saw would be quite like Saskia’s experience though!

If you like your vamps more Spike than Angel, more Northman than Cullen, then the Volkovs are the boys for you.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Caedis Knight is the pen name of two established fantasy authors, Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds.

Silvester began her career in screenwriting and lived all over the world before going on to pen her highly successful YA series, Wunderkids.

Spanish Londoner Simmonds’ background was originally in marketing before writing her fantasy series The Indigo Chronicles, along with various Manga stories and writing collaborations.

Together, they created Blood Web Chronicles – their first paranormal romance series set in Europe. Great friends and avid travellers, you can find them whizzing between one another’s homes in Germany and the Netherlands, or having Zoom calls to excitedly plot Saskia’s next humorous sexy adventure.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

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Make sure you check out the fab blogs joining me on tour for this great book!

Sirens of Los Angeles – Caedis Knight

On 31st October, I had the honour of kicking off the blog tour for Vampires of Moscow, book one of the Blood Web Chronicles by the fabulous Caedis Knight (read my review of the hottest vamps on the block HERE). The paperback of Vampires of Moscow is released today, so I thought what better time to introduce you all to the sexy Sirens of Los Angeles, the prequel novella that accompanies the series.

BLURB:

Find out how Saskia de la Cruz became a reporter for paranormal newspaper The Blood Web Chronicle in this delicious prequel novella.

Saskia is a Verity Witch – her only magic being that she can tell the truth from a lie.

When she sets off for the glitzy shores of Malibu to spend spring break with her sister Mikayla, her one goal is to forget her university worries and issues with outdated witch hierarchies, and drown them in surfer six-packs and tequila cocktails.

But when local influencers and male models start washing up ashore, drained of their youth, Saskia knows something wicked dwells in the deep. Which is perfectly fine because she plans on staying the hell away from the water! That is until her powerful, siren-obsessed sister disappears, and the search leads Saskia deeper than she ever thought possible.

Accompanied by beautiful but suspicious surfers Eden and Zee, Saskia will have to travel for her answers to the home of Hollywood’s vainest residents – the ocean floor.

With vibrant characters, page-turning suspense and steamy romance, this new series has been described by internationally renown author, Anna Day, as “Addictive, sexy and wickedly funny.”

Co-authored by established fantasy authors Jacqueline Silvester and N.J Simmonds, Blood Web Chronicles prequel novella Sirens of Los Angeles is perfect for fans of Crescent City, True Blood and Veronica Mars.

PURCHASE LINKS:

Sirens of Los Angeles – Amazon UK

Vampires of Moscow – Amazon UK

Sirens of Los Angeles – Amazon US

Vampires of Moscow – Amazon US

REVIEW:

Although I am reviewing this after Vampires of Moscow, I actually read Sirens first, and I would recommend that you do the same. It sets the series up beautifully, and actually, to me it felt like the pilot episode for a TV show that you just know is going to be picked up for a full run (and hopefully for many, many future seasons). Sirens of Los Angeles is small but perfectly formed. It is full of dry humour and gives you just enough insight to Saskia’s crazy world and her messy family dynamics to completely hook you in to the series.

I must admit that while I have read plenty of books with vamps and werewolves, sirens were a group of paras that I knew little about. If all sirens are like the ones residing in Los Angeles, then I want to know more.  Forget sweet fairy tale mermaids, these paras are hot enough to melt the polar ice caps.

Sirens of Los Angeles left me wanting more, and I can’t wait to see what provocative paranormals Caedis Knight introduce us to next!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Caedis Knight is the pen name of two established fantasy authors, Jacqueline Silvester and N J Simmonds.

Silvester began her career in screenwriting and lived all over the world before going on to pen her highly successful YA series, Wunderkids.

Spanish Londoner Simmonds’ background was originally in marketing before writing her fantasy series The Indigo Chronicles, along with various Manga stories and writing collaborations.

Together, they created Blood Web Chronicles – their first paranormal romance series set in Europe. Great friends and avid travellers, you can find them whizzing between one another’s homes in Germany and the Netherlands, or having Zoom calls to excitedly plot Saskia’s next humorous sexy adventure.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

Website

Twitter

Facebook

Instagram

The ladies are revealing the title and cover of the second book in the series across their social media at 2:00 PM UK time today – make sure you tune in, because you do not want to miss seeing this!