Welcome to Episode 12 of Turn The Page: The Indie Book Podcast!
In this episode, I dive into my recent winter reads, including a review of 'Oak King Holly King' by Sebastian Nothwell, and 'The Bear and the Rose' by E.K. Larson Burnett. I also give a quick update on my 2025 reading & writing goals, podcast plans, and share some of my highly anticipated indie books. Plus, I discover a new online bookstore featuring only indie books. Tune in for all of this, and to find out which indie author will be joining me next week to chat about their romantic murder mystery books. Listen Here:Show Notes:
Read the transcript:
Kay M. Weston (she/her):Welcome to episode 12 of Turn The Page: The Indie Book Podcast. It's great to be back, finally, at the end of the longest month of the year. I honestly used to think that I loved winter, and maybe I did back when I had fewer responsibilities, but this year I've found January just really hard. I've been very much in hibernation mode, just wanting to spend all of my time curled up under a blanket with books and movies, and music and candles filling the house, but it's just been so busy that there has been zero chance of that happening.
We also made the mistake of buying blackout curtains for the bedroom, which has just made me even sleepier. However, I am very excited to be heading into February with hopefully some lighter mornings, not too far away. Before we jump into today's episode then, just a quick reminder to hit subscribe if you haven't already, and if you have any friends you think might enjoy the podcast, I'd love for you to let them know. In today's episode, I'll be sharing what I've been reading since the last time we spoke. I'll also give a very quick update on my 2025 reading goals and my podcast goals for the rest of the year. Plus, I'm going to share with you some indie books that I'm really excited about, while also looking into a new indie bookstore that should make finding new indie books easier. And of course, tease my upcoming chat with a fantastic indie author who'll be joining me on the podcast next week. So, settle in with your favorite drink and let's dive in. Let's start with what I've been reading lately. Those of you who tuned in last episode might remember that I've been reading Oak King Holly King by Sebastian Nothwell, who was our indie author guest from episode 9, so do go back and listen to that if you haven't. Sebastian's just fascinating and has some really great historical fantasy books for you to read. I'm just going to precursor this though by saying that I had zero idea that Oak King Holly King was a fairly chunky book. It's 500 plus pages, which isn't loads, but combined with just the busy time of year, it's taken me a really, really long time to read. But I'm very glad to report that the entire time reading it has been enjoyable and hasn't felt like a bad long time, if that makes sense. It's actually been really nice because I feel like I've spent time with these characters and in this world and sort of gotten to know them. It's also been the perfect book to transition from one year to the other as the story begins around the winter solstice and then transitions into spring. So, it's been nice to sort of get that change of seasons while I am desperately waiting for spring to come back also. So, Oak King Holly King is an MM historical fae fantasy romance. It centers around two characters, Wren, a human clerk, and Shrike, a fae hunter, who form an unlikely connection. In terms of the romance, it's very low drama, low angst, which is really nice as the two main characters have a really nice connection. All of the drama and high stakes come from sort of outside sources that not only push the characters out of their comfort zone but also bring them closer together. I really love the historical fantasy blend and how it makes the story feel more real. There's lots of folklore interwoven into the story while historical themes and storylines from the supporting characters keep the tension building all the way through. It's actually really interesting because there are sort of dual storylines taking place throughout the story that weave together then in a very interesting way. The book was spicier than I expected just because I didn't get that from reading the blurb, but hey, I enjoy a bit of spice now and then. The ending though definitely signalled that winter was over. I think the heat coming from the pages may have even melted some of the snow that we've been having here in the UK. It's definitely one of the spicier scenes that I've ever read, so Kudos to Sebastian Nothwell for putting that in there. After finishing Oak King Holly King, I was craving something just a bit shorter so I dove straight into The Bear and the Rose by E. K. Larson Burnett. This book's been on my TBR for a while now. I think it was an Indieverse Book Awards nominee which it's I think is where I first heard of it. Sticking with the historical fantasy meets folklore style of Oak King Holly King, this one is set a little further back in, I think, sort of medieval times and takes place at the start of spring, also known as the beginning of bear season. For the main character of this book, a young woman who is the sole bear slayer of a small village, this means constant danger and vigilance as she must ward off the threat sent by the bear goddess. So, far this book's been really interesting, it's quite fast paced. There's an insta love kind of connection at the moment, but I feel like things are probably gonna go south. So, I'm about, I think, 40 percent of the way through. So yeah, I'm getting this sort of vibe that the love interest maybe isn't exactly who they seem, or I think I know who it is but the other main character doesn't know who it is. So, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out. The romance is a little bit quicker than what I usually go for. It's very sort of insta attraction. I kind of prefer a bit of slow burn, but it's good and the setting is really well done and the writing style is great. The description is really nice, the book has lots of varied characters. I like that we have a main character who isn't sort of stereotypical, beautiful, kind of well put together princess. She's a bit rough and ready. I'm very interested in her backstory, sort of where she came from, because we don't know that yet. Also, I enjoyed her connection with another character in the story who is non-verbal. So, it's nice to see that representation there as well. So yeah, it's interesting and I'm excited to see how it plays out. I'm hoping for a bit more of a development on the relationship side of things, and a bit more magic as well. There is a lot of magic in it so far, but I also want to kind of see more on the page. So yeah, I'll let you know what I think once I finish this one. I also had a new indie book from The Butterfly Book Club this month and she is stunning. The book is Living Legend by Allie Shante and it is gorgeous. If you can, go and check out some of the reveals on Instagram because it's just too pretty to describe, especially the hardcover underneath the dust jacket. It's gorgeous and so are the sprayed edges. It's super detailed. Living Legend is an angels and demons paranormal fantasy romance about the shifting lines between good and evil. It promises enemies to lovers tension and forced proximity with witty banter and lots of plot twists. So, I'm really looking forward to this one. But what about you? What have you been reading lately? Drop me a line at [email protected] or find me on Instagram and Threads @myendlessshelf. So, last episode I talked about my reading goals and how I was aiming for 28 books this year while trying to take part in the Dungeons and Dragons reading challenge on Storygraph, created by Ridley Reads Things. I'm pleased to say that thanks to the one book that I read in January, I've now checked off the, oh my gosh, I think it was the Druid, yeah, Druid's Craft challenge from the Dungeons and Dragons challenge, which was either a green cover or nature on the cover, features a character who can shapeshift into an animal, and set in the woods or forest. Oak King Holly King actually checked all three boxes. So, that was great. And then the book that I'm reading at the moment, The Bear and the Rose, that I'm reading for the Animal Companions challenge, which was a book with animals or pawprints on the cover, a book featuring an animal companion or a familiar, and a book featuring someone who can talk to animals. So, I think it checks off definitely the first one, possibly the second one, who knows about the third one we'll see. So, that's been really fun. What's really funny to me and also slightly bittersweet though, as I'm now no longer a carefree child, is that my ten year old has set a reading goal of 12 books this year, but has somehow already finished like four just this month. Oh, to be young and free of responsibilities. She's gonna absolutely crush me this year. On top of the D&D challenge, I did also aim to take part in the Storygraph January Pages Challenge, where the goal is to read at least one page per day. I started off so well with this challenge, but then as soon as I started back to work after the break, my little graph just falls off. I did manage to claw back a few days, and I'm average now, I think, about 75 percent out of 100, which I'll take as sort of a personal win. I do just really want to keep the momentum going this year just to help me discover as many new books as possible. I'm also trying to plan more bookish trips this year, hopefully starting with a weekend in Hay on Wye at some point soon. Hay on Wye is a book filled village in Wales, which has been on my bucket list for ages. Like, honestly, Google it if you haven't heard of it. There's so many bookshops all in one little village. I also really want to go to Edinburgh. I just have dreams of strolling through bookshop filled streets while enjoying the scenery and then reading in little cafes while drinking copious amounts of tea. So, that is my aim for 2025 is to enjoy more things like that. My writing goal this year is not off to the best start. I had aimed to write a small amount each day but so far zero words have left my pen onto paper, other than just scraps of scribbly ideas and plot twists and things. I am hoping to commit more time to my writing this year but so far January has just been hectic. On the podcast side though, I have goals too, and they center just around being more consistent or as consistent as possible for you guys. I really want to commit to bringing you two episodes a month and I feel like we've been doing that quite well for the past few months, and then just spotlighting as many indie authors and books as I can. I put a call out on Threads for indie authors who wanted to come onto the podcast and we had like over a hundred people respond. So, that's great. So, we should definitely have plenty of guests to choose from for upcoming episodes. I've just learned so much from our Indie book community and I just want to give back in any way that I can by supporting my fellow indies. So, I'm always trying to improve the podcast, and if you have any feedback for me, or if there's a particular book, author, or anything else you'd love to hear about on the podcast, please do let me know. You know the email by now, and it will always be in the show notes. In fun news this month from Indieland, I've recently heard about a new online bookstore that is solely for independently published books. It's called the Big Indie Author Bookstore and it's been put together by the Alliance of Independent Authors, who are a global non-profit for indie authors all over the world. The bookstore showcases books published by the Alliance of Independent Authors' thousands of members, and is currently in beta release. There are already over 500 books listed as I'm recording this, and it's been It seems easy enough to filter by genre or by format. For full disclosure, I am a member of the organisation and I work with them outside running this podcast. I'm not though getting any affiliate benefit here, I just think it's going to be a really great way to find a large selection of books by indie authors in one place. My book, Spellbound, is listed there too, and one of the things that's really great is you're not limited to buying from a single store. Basically, the author inputs all of their purchase links for Amazon, Kobo, Apple, their website, wherever their books are available really, and you, the reader, can then choose where to buy the book. It's a really great way for authors trying to sell direct from their websites and bypass the middleman, and some of those extra costs associated with marketplaces like Amazon, but also a really great way for readers to buy from the sites that you're most comfortable with. So, I'd highly recommend that you go and check that out while it's in beta release and also keep checking back as improvements are made and new books are added. I'm really in love with the idea of having such a large repository of indie books that I can look at and use to fill my TBR. So, yeah, definitely excited about that. You can find it at allianceindependentauthors.org/bookstore. You might want to bookmark that one because it's a little bit of a mouthful. As always, I'll include this link and any others I mention in this episode in the podcast show notes. As always, I try to add a few more indie books to my TBR each month, so here's a few books I'm excited for right now. A Hired Blade by J. C. Rycroft. This one is a novella that won best novella at the 2024 Indiverse Book Awards. It's about a sellsword tasked with a mission she's not sure she's ready for and promises a sapphic fantasy with a strong female lead. Fella Enchanted by S. O. Callaghan has been on my radar for a little while. That's down as a cute and cosy romantic fantasy. The Stray Spirit by R. K. Ashwick. I really loved A Rival Most Vial so much that I'd like to explore this author's other work. This is another cosy fantasy, this time about a bard and his possessed loot, so naturally I am already hooked on this one. Unbound is a collection of stories by various authors. The tagline is Stories of Transformation, Love and Monsters, and the bio sounds really intriguing. I'm really loving short story collections at the moment. They're really great when you're short on time, but still want to enjoy a good story. But also, collections like this are great ways to discover lots of new authors. Forests and Familiars is the last one on my list for now. I picked this up a month or two ago. It's issue 15 of the Indie Bites Anthology, a regular collection of short fantasy stories. I loved the Wishes and Wizards issue so much that I just really want to get all of these now. Let me know if any of these are on your radar or if you have any other recommendations I should add to my TBR. Kay M. Weston (she/her): Before I wrap up this episode, I'm really excited to reveal that our next indie author guest is Shana Frost. Shana is a very talented young indie author who blends mystery and romance with the Scottish Highlands as her backdrop in her Murder Mystery series. We'll be talking about why she fell in love with Scotland in the first place and decided to move there from India, her decision to choose indie publishing from the start, using Kickstarter to fund the latest book in her series, and what she's working on right now. Tune in on February 3rd to get to know Shana and her books a little better. Kay M. Weston (she/her): That's all for this episode of Turn The Page: The Indie Book Podcast. Thank you so much for tuning in. I'll be back soon with more bookish chats, updates on my reading goals, and of course the interview with Shana Frost. Until then, happy reading and keep turning the page.
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