I’m currently working with the final stages of getting Moon Song out into print. I’ve got a smashing cover done by an artist friend, Danielle Barlow. Now the whole, both book and cover, being printed.

So what is Moon Song about? It’s magic, mystery and romance, a love story and one with complications as one of the heroes is dead! So it’s partly a ghost story.

The heroine is Isoldé. She hears that her lifelong hero, Celtic folk singer Tristan Talorc, has just committed suicide. It strikes home for and makes the oppressive London, where she works, just after “nine-eleven” feel nearly as oppressive as the Belfast of The Troubles where she grew up. An ex-boyfriend offers her a job with him down in Exeter in the West Country and so she goes. She enjoys it and is doing well when the cathedral invites the international concert organist, Mark King to come and play there. She’s liked Mark’s playing for years. She meets him in a strange encounter where he rescues a sparrow and they fall in love … then she discovers that he’s Tristan’s adopted brother. She goes to live with him in Cornwall. She meets the faerie folk of the wild wood who helped Tristan create his songs. They tell her Tristan died too soon without finishing his last song. The lost song, the Moon Song, will bring back the balance and they ask Isoldé to find it. She agrees.

There’s lots of ups and downs. Isoldé and Mark have lots of difficulties in their quest for the Moon Song, it nearly break their relationship. The journey to find Tristan in the Isles of the Dead and bring him home to write the song is full of danger for both Isoldé and Mark … but she has to find it and Mark has to help.

Well … there you go, lots of excitement and romance.

I’m currently looking for endorsements and reviews to get the book rolling as it will come out later this year. I’ve got the first one and a couple more are in the pipeline but I’m still hunting, or should that be stalking?

We all look at reviews, read what other people say about something we’re thinking of buying so reviews are really important. You need to ask people who will review honestly, sycophantic reviews are no good at all, we can all recognise them and they tend to put us off completely.

I do reviews myself and it’s quite a task. You must read the story you’re going to review and if it’s not to your taste then you really have to say so. It’s just as important for other potential readers to know that it’s not your cup of tea, and why. I try to say this in a way that shows it’s my opinion rather than just slagging off the story – after all, not everyone shares my taste so other people may like it. When I review books in Goodreads I see this often, people really like books I cannot stand. Folk are all different, thank the gods!

Things I think about when I’m doing a review are …

• 
  
• Did I get the story or did I miss it?
• 
  
• Were the characters credible and did I feel a strong emotion for them or did they leave me cold?
• 
  
• Were the crises exciting and convincing?
• 
  
• Did I like the book?
• 
  
• Would I recommend the book to someone else?
• 
  

So here’s hoping some more people will want to do a review of Moon Song. I’m pleased, so far, the people who’ve read the book seem to like it … I must be doing something right, at least for some of the people.

***

Elen Sentier has also been working on a new blog, so you can keep up with more of her thoughts and projects, including news about her Moon Books titles. http://elensentier.wordpress.com/

Categories:

0 comments on this article