Virginia Boecker

Obsessive reader, compulsive runner, author of THE WITCH HUNTER out now and THE KING SLAYER out 6/14/16 from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Let's talk about kale.

[thenovl]

Prepare to be bewitched…by this EPIC cover reveal!

This enchanting cover has got us ALL kinds of pumped up. Ever since we finished The Witch Hunter, we just can’t stop fantasizing about the second book in this oh-so-addicting series. The struggle is real! THANKFULLY, virgboecker—the rockstar author that she is—made the wait a little bit easier with a brand new story about a certain swoony guy we all know and love (!). And this kick-butt look makes all of our hopes and dreams officially official: The Healer is coming! 

So what’s this e-short all about? 

John Raleigh, one of the youngest and most talented magical healers in all of Anglia, can relieve any ailment except, perhaps, his own broken heart. Since the deaths of his mother and sister who burned at the stake for witchcraft, John has spent his nights lost in nightmares and his days drowning in melancholy. That is until he’s summoned to the home of Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful wizard in the kingdom, who suffers from a mysterious illness that has confounded every other healer.

John immediately knows that this is no normal sickness. Nicholas, it seems, is falling apart because of a dangerous curse, and their only clue for a cure is a single name–Elizabeth Grey.

Who is this girl and how has she become mixed up with such dark magic? John must put these questions aside when Elizabeth is brought to him from the palace’s prison on the brink of death. It will take everything he has to save her, and to save Nicholas, but perhaps he’ll manage to save his heart along the way.

DOUBLE SIGH. Virginia, you are way too good to us. We didn’t think it was possible to love John even more…OK maybe we did. But for real, our hearts are already exploding just thinking about this juicy tale! This one is definitely just what the healer doctor ordered.

Thanks again to everyone who voted—you guys rock. We can’t wait for our eReaders to be filled with the awesomeness of this novella on August 11th. Add it to your to-read shelf + get ready for The Healer next month! 

[thenovl]

Presenting… The Healer! 

If you devoured The Witch Hunter and can’t wait to be reunited with the kick-butt cast of characters, you’re in luck. Why? Because we have a digital original coming out VERY soon from Virginia Boecker. And if you haven’t guessed already, it stars OUR favorite swoony healer—John! That’s right, you’re going to get John’s perspective of the events leading up (with an overlap) to The Witch Hunter! But more on that soon.

First, we need YOUR help in choosing the final cover for this digital original.

Keep reading

[thenovl]

One of our favorite things about Pinterest is when an author uses it to collect images of the world they created. Visuals add a whole other dimension to reading and we are ABOUT IT.

So thank you virgboecker​ for giving us a peek into your “bookspiration” board for The Witch Hunter! 

[Check out the Pinterest board here.]

[maggie-stiefvater-deactivated20]

I debated about posting about this, because it’s a subtle and difficult issue, and I don’t want to tell the Raven Cycle fandom how to live their lives. I don’t want to hamper creativity or enthusiasm.

But.  

If you are going to racebend Ronan Lynch — aggressive, petulant, thuggish Ronan Lynch — as a POC, please, please, please consider racebending the rest of the characters as well. There are two big reasons for this:

1) When only Ronan is made into a POC, not Noah or Blue or Gansey or Adam, it begs the question: why is the fandom seeing him, and only him, as a POC? It just comes with a subtle suitcase full of stereotypes and questions, and I don’t know — it makes me uncomfortable to see only tough-guy Ronan racebent. 

However, I wouldn’t have posted merely for that. Also important is 

2) The books are shamefully white-washed; I’ve posted about how my next project is going to be better but there is no point sugar-coating the present. When the fandom continually racebends Ronan and only Ronan, you’re giving me credit for representation that isn’t there; people coming from the outside believe that POC Ronan is canon. 

Please: Point out that the books are white. Keep holding me to better writing. Racebend the characters. But please, racebend all of them, not just the punk-ass kid who gets into fights.  

[thenovl]

What will you choose?

The ultimate decision awaits. Are you ready to fall under the marvelous spell of virgboecker‘s debut novel? Witches, magic, ghosts, wizards, action… The Witch Hunter has it all, and now… the hunt begins. 

[Get your copy today!] 

[thenovl]

Look beyond what you see, to one made blind. The thing you seek only she can find. Betrayed, sent to a place of no return, Elizabeth Grey, forsaken to burn.”

—The Witch Hunter by virgboecker

[virgboecker]

I have no words for how much I love this trailer. Wait, here's one: "ahhhhh!"

[thenovl]

The Witch Hunter is packed with all the essential ingredients of a kick-butt fantasy novel, and we can’t wait for it to become one of YOUR favorites. Thank you Liza for sharing your thoughts on virgboecker‘s debut novel—coming out this Tuesday, June 2nd! 

[Check out the first four chapters here.]

[virgboecker]

Sunday.

[thenovl]

It’s always hard to say goodbye to a favorite character. You get that feeling of: argh I can’t wait that long for the next book or I can’t believe this is the end! With that in mind, we bring you… the NOVL digital imprint. 

Needless to say, we’re really excited to spend more time in the awesome worlds that our rockstar line-up of authors NOVLists created.

A perk of the NOVL imprint? We want you to get involved!

How, you ask? Remember that time you voted for your favorite abs cover for Played by Jennifer Rush? Well, we got pretty ab-tastic results, and we want more! We’re going to need your design expertise in choosing the cover for all NOVL eBooks. 

Next up…drumroll please…the first of FOUR all-new stories set in the Beautiful Creature universe by margaretstohl and kamigarcia: The Mortal Heart. 

Voting begins NOW. This is just the tip of the iceberg for all your Caster cravings. You read that right, there are FOUR Beautiful Creatures: The Untold Stories coming your way over the next year. eReaders, get ready to be claimed.

And keep your eye out for more to come from NOVLists like… Jennifer E Smith, Emily Lloyd-Jones, and Virginia Boecker (!!!!!) 

For the full story on the NOVL digital imprint, check out all the deets in Publishers Weekly.

[virgboecker]

Hooray! So excited to be a part!

[virgboecker]

Whole Foods in the morning is a glorious place. #nofilter #nofilterneeded

[virgboecker]

Who needs Cupid when you can win **24** signed YA Books for Valentine's Day, including THE WITCH HUNTER? To enter: 1. Repost this pic with hashtag #YAcupid. 2. Follow ALL the YA Authors who are participating. 3. Play YA Cupid with your friends! Tag 3 people you promise to share some books with if you win. (We won't judge if you read them first.) US Only. Contest closes 2/14. We'll announce winner 2/15. Happy Valentine's Day & Good Luck! @andeehannah @apriltucholke @bethrevis @bigblackcat97 @christinaLfarley @iwgregorio @jayerobinbrown @jessrlove @karamoomoo @karenakinsya @katekaryusquinn @katekaryusquinn @lkblackburne @lorimlee82 @lydiakang @mauxbot @meredithmcp @mesummerbooks @michellekrysbooks @reneeahdieh @rgraudin @stephanieediaz @trishaleaver @virgboecker

[mordioux]

I had to.Click to enlarge and god save us all :D

[in-love-with-movies]

The Other Boleyn Girl (UK - USA, 2008)

[medievalistsnet]

These days when chivalry is everywhere on the decline, and no one dares to tourney anymore, and all knights are cowards, women are all the more courageous in battle.’

This plaintive voice, lamenting men’s loss of military prestige, sounds the alarm over the figure of women fighting during the high Middle Ages. On one level, it heralds the classic “world-upside-down” syndrome, teasing its thirteenth-century French public with an image of social disorder. On another, it fields the idea of women in a martial setting, bespeaking a thorny issue touching families and communities across medieval Europe…

[vwcampervan-aldridge]

St Matthews Parish Church at Harlaston, Staffordshire, England

All Original Photography by http://vwcampervan-aldridge.tumblr.com

[artdetails]

El Greco - Burial of the Count of Orgaz (1588). Detail.

[wordsnquotes]

New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings.

Lao Tzu (via wordsnquotes)