#killian brewer

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: M/M Christmas Romances Faux Ho Ho by Nathan Burgoine A Family For Christmas by Jay Northcote Glass Tidings by Amy Jo Cousins…

[julianwinters]

Book Review: The Rules of Ever After

Killian Brewer | Goodreads | Twitter | @killianbrewer

"Mirror, Mirror, my magical friend. Tell me, why did this fantastic adventure have to end?"

Delightful, enthralling, addictive, and comically sweet are just a few ways to describe The Rules of Ever After! This book takes almost every great fairy tale and turns it upside down without becoming too satirical. In fact, Killian B. Brewer makes it a point to layer the rich humor in this topsy-turvy adventure by ripping apart our favorite tropes and giving them new life. SPOILER ALERT: The princess doesn't need saving in this one. The characters are written in such a loveable way. Spanning from the Princess and the Pea to Sleeping Beauty, the main characters—Prince Phillip and Prince Daniel—are living quite interesting lives. One's fooling every princess in the kingdom and another is an insomniac. Yes, he can't sleep. The hilarity refuses to stop there as Brewer introduces character after character that either makes you laugh or kick your feet with glee. Birthday Fairies, a charismatic knight, a troll king, evil stepmother, a lovesick best friend, and princess after princess who eventually break every rule placed on them. This tale isn't short on characters that appeal to every heartstring. Told from various characters, Brewer paints the perfect image of a bumbling, outrageous, but endearing trip through several kingdoms. It's YA Princess Bride with a hint of Stardust magic. The romance is a slow burn, but it's perfect. You can feel the inevitable building between Phillip and Daniel but it keeps getting interrupted! Yet, you're so drawn to all the messages sprinkled throughout the tale that the romance is simply a sugary sprinkle of fairy dust on top of this epic cake. It's the messages that Brewer wallops the reader with that are the true gift of this story. Princesses can fight! Princesses don't have to wait around for a prince to be a Queen! Girls don't have to show off their shoulders to stand out! Women can support and rally around each other! Why do we have to follow the rules established so long ago that they seem ridiculous? Why can't a prince fall in love with and marry another prince? Why should your own desires deny someone else their happiness? Oh, there's tons more, and Brewer doesn't sugarcoat them. He sucker-punches you into shouting, "Yes, yes, yes!" because why aren't these the rules we live by? One of the best parts of this novel is that it reads like a Young Adult novel. It appeals to all ages. It's not restrictive or too mature or too childlike either. The valuable lessons in it make me wish this book was featured in libraries across the world. Teens need these messages. Children need these messages. And, without question, adults need toteach these messages. The novel leaves me with one final, important note—one that I think writers, new and old, need to remember: as great as the story is, as adventurous as it may be, none of it matters if there isn't someone courageous enough to write it. So write your story. Give someone a reason to smile. Create your own happily ever after.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ magical, fairy dusted stars!

[constantcompanion]

Look what I found at the library today.

[slayediest]

Just about a month ago I was offered the opportunity to read an advance copy of Killian Brewer’s new novel, Lunch With the Do-Nothings at the Tammy Dinette (released January 12 on Interlude Press). I loved his earlier novel The Rules For Ever After (also from IP), so I expected to enjoy this as well. (Spoiler alert: I did.)

Why me? They were looking for an outsider’s perspective on a story set firmly in the U.S. South.  I felt pretty qualified for that, having spent the last 30 years in the Northeast after being raised to adulthood decidedly north of Toledo, Ohio. I’ve never even so much as driven through the south. (I have been to Miami. But I don’t think that counts.) Outsider’s perspective. Got it.

(Let’s put aside for now the fact that I’ve never met a deadline that I didn’t wave politely at as it passed me by. Um, this one included. Sorry dude.)

A funny thing happened though. As I started reading, I realized that I wasn’t the only outsider here. The story follows Marcus Sumpter, a young man with no real hometown of his own, who arrives - via Atlanta - in the very small town of Marathon, Georgia to settle up some personal affairs he had been previously unaware existed.

It turns out that visiting Marathon is a bit like entering The Twilight Zone. Only it’s a version where instead of finding William Shatner sitting in a booth stuffing pennies into a mechanical fortune teller, desperate for a peek at his destiny, you’re offered genuine concern, friendship and family, and yes, even romance, and all it costs you is the willingness to trust enough to be honest with yourself (and maybe others), to share some of yourself, and to let it happen.

The story is filled with sparkling dialogue, including all sorts of Southern-isms that are, for the most part, pretty easy to pick up on if you aren’t from around there (though you can visit his web site at killianbrewer.com if you need a glossary), and characters whose warmth slips off the pages and pulls you right in. Marcus is a sweet soul who you cannot help but want to find happiness, even if he may not know whether or not happiness is a real thing he can have.

As for the Do-Nothings?  Well, I’m not here to spoil you (any more), but trust me when I say that everyone should spend some time doing nothing with them.

You can buy Lunch with the Do-Nothings at the Tammy Dinette at store.interludepress.com

[authorcblee]

Do you know if your novel will be available at libraries?

This is an excellent question! I believe it will be up to the individual libraries in question as they make their purchasing decisions for new books, however you, the reader-- definitely has influence on this! Every library does purchase requests, and you can definitely talk to a librarian about getting Seven Tears at High Tide on a shelf near you. 

And also putting it out there, this is the kind of story I would love to have read as a teenager-- stumbling upon it in a library, to read a fantasy story with a bisexual protagonist-- would have been amazing! So if anyone is purchasing the novel for themselves, I would love to put this idea forward: consider buying an extra copy to donate to your local library. 

My fellow Duet author killianbrewer wrote an insightful post here about his own experiences about growing up reading and why donating to libraries is wonderful.