This is my stop during the blog tour for The Lily Singer Adventures by Lydia Sherrer. This blog tour is organized by Lola’s Blog Tours. The blog tour runs from 28 April till 14 May, you can view the tour schedule here.
This series contains 4 books at this moment with more planned. On 28 April 2017 the latest two books released: Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus Allies and Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus Legends.
Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings (The Lily Singer Adventures #1)
By Lydia Sherrer
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Age category: Young Adult/ New Adult/ Adult
Blurb:
Saving the world is such a bother when it makes you late for tea.
By day, book-loving wizard Lily Singer manages library archives. By night? She sleeps, of course. In between, she studies magic and tries to keep her witch friend Sebastian out of trouble. Much to her displeasure, he finds it anyway and drags her along with him.
From unmaking ancient curses to rescuing a town lost in time, Lily and Sebastian fight to avert magical mayhem. Meanwhile, Lily’s mysterious past begins to unfold–a past hidden from her by those she trusts most. Will she be able to discover the truth despite them?
Beginnings is the first installment of the Lily Singer Adventures urban fantasy series. Full of unexpected twists and snarky humor, this story has been known to cause: loud snorts of laughter, inexplicable craving for tea, and loss of work productivity. If you enjoy magic-filled adventures like Harry Potter and Sabrina the Teenage Witch then you’ll love Lydia Sherrer’s delightful new series.
You can find Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings on Goodreads
You can buy Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings on Amazon
Love, Lies and Hocus Pocus: Beginnings is part of Kindle Unlimited.
Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus: Revelations (The Lily Singer Adventures #2)
Modern-day wizard Lily Singer prefers to stay in her library, studying magic and drinking tea. But when her cat starts talking back and she discovers a plot to steal a powerful artifact, Lily’s chances of peace and quiet are slim. Her past is riddled with dangerous secrets. Will discovering the truth reveal her future, or doom it?
Links:
– Amazon
What’s worse than fighting with allies? Fighting without them. To stop her father’s evil plans, wizard and archivist Lily Singer must reconcile old grudges, make questionable allies, and bend the law to fix a problem that’s not even her fault. Can she and her friends work together to save the day? Or will they let their differences divide them?
Links:
– Amazon
Troublemaking witch friend and talking cat in tow, Lily Singer must pursue her father to England as he seeks to discover an ancient evil and steal its power for himself. But with a queen of the fae after the same thing, Sebastian’s past comes back to haunt him and the three friends have to think fast and act faster to defeat legends that are, unfortunately, no longer in the past.
Links:
– Amazon
Author Interview:
Today I’m welcoming author Lydia Sherrer to Comfy Chair Books blog. Welcome Lydia!
*You are a new-to-me author and I’m excited to start The Lily Singer Adventures series. Since the series just came across my radar, please give me an overview of the series.
Hi Lisa, and thanks so much for having me! The Lily Singer Adventures is a fun urban fantasy series full of magic, snarky humor, and a talking cat, ideal for fans of stories like Harry Potter, Supernatural, the Dresden Files, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch. The series follows Lily Singer, wizard and library archivist at a women’s college in modern day Atlanta. She is an introvert, and really just wants to be left alone to her books and tea. Unfortunately, her best friend/professional associate is a witch who thinks rules are just “guidelines” and is always getting into trouble and pulling her after him. They have many grand adventures as Lily seeks clues about her hidden past, finds what she was looking for, wishes she hadn’t found it, then has to save the world from it.
*How did you come up with the idea for The Lily Singer Adventures?
I’ve always wanted to write a magical adventures series, mostly stemming from my love of CS Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia and Rowling’s Harry Potter series. My husband is from Atlanta so when we sat down to brainstorm of course he insists it has to be set in Atlanta. I didn’t really have any grand plans when I started the first “Episode” (the first half of Book 1), I just wanted to write a fun, lighthearted story that you could escape into. It grew and expanded all by itself, starting with the idea that “the truth shall make you free” (a quote actually inscribed in the rafter beams of Agnes Scott College’s McCain Library after which Lily’s library is modeled). Well, the truth does free you…sort of. It also brings on a lot of responsibility, and sometimes painful consequences. That set up the premise of Lily’s hidden past, which leads to the main antagonist, and onto the much larger overarching plot for the whole series.
*The series sounds like a fun read. What age range is this geared for?
It is an adult series that is written to be YA appropriate. By that I mean the main characters are adults dealing with adult problems and situations, but I keep it clean so that anyone 13+ can read it and enjoy it without parents coming after me, haha!! So it is sort of YA, sort of adult at the same time. There are many YA elements because even though Lily is an adult, she is very introverted with a lot of personal growth and finding of herself to do, sort of coming into her own, which is something many teens struggle with. I don’t describe it as straight YA, though, because I dislike and stay far, far away from teen angst and drama.
*I know book 1 (Beginnings) and book 2 (Revelations) are available now and book 3 (Allies) & book 4 (Legends) released on April 28th. How many books do you have planned for this series?
This is a 12 book series. I’ve purposefully structured and written it to read like a TV series (yes, we’d love to get it picked up one day, shoot me a note if you know any TV producers, haha!). It is written in episodes, with 2 episodes per book and an interlude between them to give an alternate point of view for what’s going on. There are 8 episodes in each season (4 books) and 3 seasons total. So think of tiny plot for each episode, tying together into a larger plot for each book, which all tie together in an even bigger plot for each season, etc. With the release of Books 3 & 4 I’m very happy to be done with Season 1. It has turned out better than I ever thought I was capable of, and I have many exciting plans for Season 2.
*Allies (book 3) & Legends (book 4) are both releasing the same day, April 28th. What is the reasoning behind this?
I wrote the first four episodes over the course of a year (2015) and was originally going to release them as individual novellas. But the book market seemed to indicate full novels would go over better with readers, so I planned to combine two episodes together to make a novel. I didn’t feel like just publishing Book 1 when I already had enough material to publish Book 2 at the same time (not wanting to duplicate effort). It might have been wiser from a marketing perspective to draw it out and release them separately, but I just wanted to get them out there. Same with Books 3 & 4. I wrote them both last year, so I thought I might as well publish them both before my fans died of impatience ;). I don’t know that I can continue at this pace, however. We are hoping to start a family this year and when my first baby arrives, he or she will definitely take precedence over writing!
*Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written and the type of books you write.
Oooh boy! Tell you about me? That’s a novel right there. But here are the Cliff notes: I’m a farm girl from Northen Kentucky who loves the outdoors but also comfy armchairs and reading nooks. I was homeschooled k-12, then went to college and double majored in Chinese and Arabic. I’ve lived in Syria and China, and visited half a dozen other countries, but at heart I’m a home-body. I enjoy archery, cosplaying, larping, reading, sewing, playing my ocarinas (I have a youtube channel! [https://www.youtube.com/c/LydiaSherrer]), camping, running, and not-cooking. Yes, that’s a legitimate hobby. I’ve always been a huge book-worm to the point of getting in deep trouble on a regular basis for reading instead of doing schoolwork when I was a kid. I have an extremely vivid imagination and strong emotions, so making up stories has always been a part of me! It just took till my mid twenties to get serious about writing them down.
My main series is urban fantasy, but I’ve also written post-apocalyptic, science fiction, and non-fiction short stories that have been published in various places. I think my favorite genre to write will always be fantasy, but I really enjoy reading just about every genre but romance and horror (ask me why sometime, you might be surprised at the answer!). I have started many books, but only finished 4 to date. I’m working on my 5th which is due out in August as part of a paranormal stories box with 19 other amazing fantasy authors (visit our FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/Creatures-Boxed-Set-1912622268970981/ )
*What are your writing habits/routines: do you prefer computer or pen, do you aim for a set amount of words per day, set aside a day or time of day to write, do you write up an outline, special writing place?
Whew, so many questions! I always write on the computer, I can’t stand to write by hand!
I do have word count goals to hold me accountable when I don’t feel like writing, but whenever I sit down to write my goal is always to write as much as possible. If I’m feeling in the groove and I meet a writing goal, I’ll just keep going as long as I can while the words are flowing. I once wrote about 11,000 words over a ten hour period! I usually write in larger chunks with a few days in between. I can’t seem to force myself to sit down and write every day, life always gets in the way, so I don’t try. I think it works for some writers but it doesn’t seem to work for me.
I usually end up writing late at night because that’s when things calm down, but I wish I got up early and wrote in the morning, they say that’s when your brain is the most productive! I’m a night owl though :P.
I’ll sit just about anywhere I’m comfortable to write, though generally it’s on my bed or in my “monster” chair (a lime green, shaggy dorm chair with footrest).
As for outlines, I always have a general outline for my books and series, so I can keep it all flowing the right way, with the right pacing, and keep everything in agreement. I don’t plan out the chapters beforehand though, they kind of grow organically. I usually know what my goal is in each chapter, and I know how each book will begin and end, but figuring out what is in the middle is an exciting process of discovery!
*What do you hope readers will experience or gain when reading your stories?
I hope they’ll laugh! Laughing is clinically proven to be quite healthy, so I’m a big believe in it ;). More than just laughter and a fun time, however, I hope my books make people think about the larger things in life, and maybe even question where they are and where they should be. I hope they help people better understand themselves and the world around them. I would be thrilled if my characters were positive role models (though watch out for Sebastian, he’s a troublemaker, you probably don’t want to have him as a role model, haha!) in people’s lives. Most of all, I just want to touch people’s hearts, in whatever what I can.
Lydia, thanks so much for spending some time today with us. I look forward to reading this series!
-Lisa
All four books in The Lily Singer Adventures series are part of Kindle Unlimited.
About the Author:
Author of the Love, Lies, and Hocus Pocus magical adventure series, Lydia Sherrer is a fantasy author whose goal is to leave this world a better place than when she found it. With an urban fantasy series, multiple short stories and a novella under her belt, Lydia has been writing for over a decade and enjoys nothing more than a good book, a cup of tea, and a comfy chair in the sunshine. When not writing she loves to play her ocarina (think Zelda), and also enjoys traditional archery, cosplay, larping, and art.
Growing up in rural Kentucky, she was thoroughly corrupted by a deep love for its rolling countryside, despite the mosquitoes and hay fever. She was instilled with a craving for literature early on, and her parents had to wrestle books away from her at the dinner table. Though she graduated with a dual BA in Chinese and Arabic, having traveled the world she came home and decided to stay there. She currently resides in Louisville, KY with her loving and supportive husband, and their very vocal cat.
You can find and contact Lydia Sherrer here:
– Website
– Amazon
– Youtube
Giveaway
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of The Lily Singer Adventures. These are the prizes you can win:
– 1st place is signed paperback copies of The Lily Singer Adventures Books 1 & 2 and ebook copies of Books 3 & 4 (US only)
– 2nd place is ebook copies of The Lily Singer Adventures Books 1-4 (open world-wide)
– 3rd place is ebook copies of The Lily Singer Adventures Books 1-2 (open world-wide)
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
comfychairbooks.com 