Hey minions, we have now been blessed with Riptide Publishing’s Rachel Haimowitz visiting with her fabulous series Song of the Fallen, there’s two fantastic stories and Rachel talks to us about the journey of Song of the Fallen and there is also a fantastic, incredible giveaway of a signed set of paperback Song of the Fallen books… and seriously if I could rig this contest I would… anyway I will leave you to enjoy the post, my reviews and don’t forget to leave a comment with your email address. I’d say good luck but I wanna win 😉 <3 ~Pixie~

Song of the Fallen Re-Release Celebration

Song of the Fallen

(Books 1 & 2)

by

Rachel Haimowitz

Two enemies, three warring races, and a singular love with the power to change the future.

It is the twilight of mankind. Depleted by generations of war with a dark race, the human kingdoms and their ancient alliance stand on the brink of extinction. The outlands are soaked with the blood of the fallen. The midlands are rotting with decadence and despair.

Elfkind, estranged by past crimes, watches and waits for nature to run its course.

And then the two collide.

Ayden’s life has long been guided by two emotions: love for his sister, and hatred of all things human. When he’s captured in battle, he must for his sister’s sake swallow his pride and endure slavery in the service of a human prince, Freyrik Farr.

Freyrik’s always known elves to be beautiful and dangerous, but never has one affected him as deeply as Ayden. Can his life of service to his people leave room for this attraction? Dancing on a dagger’s edge between duty and high treason, Freyrik discovers that some choices can change a life, and some an entire world.

Between prejudice, politics, pride, and survival, Ayden and Freyrik must carve a new path, no matter how daunting. For nothing less than the fate of both their peoples rests on the power of their perseverance—and their love.

http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/collections/song-of-the-fallen

Rachel Chats Song of the Fallen

Hello all, and thank you so much for joining me to chat about the queer high fantasy duology Song of the Fallen! This series holds a particularly special place in my heart, not just because I absolutely adore high fantasy and sloooooooooooooow-burn enemies-to-lovers romance and there isn’t nearly enough of any of that to go round in queer fiction, but also because Counterpoint, the first book in the duology, was the first novel I ever sold.

One of the questions I—and probably most published authors—get asked the most often is how I got published. The path of the Song of the Fallen novels was both particularly easy and particularly fraught—Counterpoint is now at its third publisher (if you count a brief interlude of self-pub), and Crescendo, the second book in the duology, is also at its third publisher without any self-pub interludes. Though Counterpoint came out in 2010 and Crescendo in 2011, this month marks the very first time they have both been under the same roof—complete with gorgeous new cover art!—and I couldn’t be happier to have them there.

But when I first sold Counterpoint, it was to a teeny little startup epub called Guiltless Pleasure Publishing. The editor actually came to me, which was an unparalleled delight—she’d read and loved my fanfiction and wanted to sign me for original work. (Note: now that I’m an acquiring editor who also loves fanfic, I have the pleasure of doing this too.) She actually signed me on proposal, which, looking back, was pretty outrageously lucky for a first-time novelist.

What was meant to be one book of about 80,000 words grew and grew as the writing progressed (*shakes fist at high fantasy*), and at 120,000 words I found a natural conclusion to the first half of the story arc and told her there was no way to do this without a book 2. She agreed, and I set off to write Crescendo while Counterpoint went into edits.

Counterpoint came out to a fairly large splash, though I was new to queer romance and didn’t know it at the time. Again, looking back, I was pretty outrageously lucky. Unfortunately, halfway through Crescendo edits, the owner of Guiltless Pleasure came down with a serious, long-term illness, and despite Counterpoint’s success, she had to close up shop. Which left me with not one but two books without a home, one of which was literally paying my bills and the other of which was an eagerly awaited sequel. So, very slightly older and very slightly wiser than I’d been a year past, I self-pubbed Counterpoint, and went publisher shopping for a home for Crescendo. I was fortunate in that Counterpoint had sold well enough to open a lot of potential doors for Crescendo, but ultimately I went with another small press that was willing to use the same cover artist and offer very competitive royalty terms.

I won’t get into details, but more or less from the moment I signed the contract to the moment I got the rights back to that book three years later, that experience was an unmitigated disaster. Thankfully, in the meanwhile, me and some writer and publisher buddies launched Riptide. I’d self-pubbed Counterpoint around January of 2011, and in December of 2011 I signed the rights over to Riptide instead, where it nestled in quite comfortably and saw a huge sales boost thanks to Riptide’s amazing marketing department. Around the same time, Crescendo released at the other publisher while I stared longingly at it and wished I’d conceived of Riptide before I’d signed over the second book.

So, like I said, weirdly easy but also kind of fraught. Fast forward three years, to just last month. I get rights back to Crescendo. It needs new cover art, so we decide, hey, let’s give the whole series a face lift. Plus, I’d been very excited about the work this particular cover artist had been doing for us (her name is Simoné, and I highly encourage you to check her out), and I was dying to get a cover from her on one of my books. Or, better yet, two of my books!

And so here we are. Three publishers and two covers per book, and my very first novel and its sequel are finally at home at Riptide. If you’ve read them, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making literally my entire writing career possible. If you haven’t, I hope you’ll consider sharing my babies with me!

To help make that possible, I’m giving away a signed set of the Song of the Fallen paperbacks with the gorgeous new cover art. I’ll ship anywhere in the world, too. To enter, just leave a comment with a way to contact you if you win. You can enter multiple times by commenting on each blog this re-release tour stops at, so be sure to visit the other stops!

About the Song of the Fallen Series

About Rachel

Rachel is an M/M erotic romance author and the Publisher of Riptide Publishing. She’s also a sadist with a pesky conscience, shamelessly silly, and quite proudly pervish. Fortunately, all those things make writing a lot more fun for her . . . if not so much for her characters.

When she’s not writing about hot guys getting it on (or just plain getting it; her characters rarely escape a story unscathed), she loves to read, hike, camp, sing, perform in community theater, and glue captions to cats. She also has a particular fondness for her very needy dog, her even needier cat, and shouting at kids to get off her lawn.

Connect with Rachel:

Giveaway!

Rachel’s giving away a signed set of the Song of the Fallen paperbacks with the gorgeous new cover art. I’ll ship anywhere in the world, too. To enter, just leave a comment with a way to contact you if you win. You can enter multiple times by commenting on each blog this re-release tour stops at, so be sure to visit the other stops!

Reviews

Title: Counterpoint

Series: Song of the Fallen 01

Author: Rachel Haimowitz

Genre: High Fantasy

Length: Super Novel (414pgs)

ISBN: 978-1-937551-20-9

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (12^th December 2011)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4 ½ Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: It is the twilight of mankind. Depleted by generations of war with a race of dark beasts, humanity stands on the brink of extinction. The outlands are soaked with the blood of the fallen. The midlands are rotting with decadence and despair.

Elfkind, estranged by past crimes, watches and waits for nature to run its course.

And then the two collide.

Ayden’s life has long been guided by two emotions: love for his sister, and hatred of all things human. When he’s captured in battle, he is enslaved in the service of a human prince, Freyrik Farr. Freyrik’s always known elves to be beautiful and dangerous, but never has one affected him as deeply as Ayden. Teetering on a dagger’s edge between duty and high treason, Freyrik discovers that some choices can change a life, and some an entire world.

Between prejudice, politics, pride, and survival, Ayden and Freyrik must carve a new path, no matter how daunting. For nothing less than the fate of both their peoples rests on the power of their perseverance—and their love.

Purchase Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/counterpoint-song-fallen-1

Review: Humans’ and Elves have been long divided, estranged by an act of betrayal the Elves watch each year as the Surge lays waste to the human lands year after year. Dark beasts tear into the human lands and elves see justice being served, but the human history is twisted so elves pay the price. Ayden’s watch is destroyed by his sisters careless act which now finds them both in the hands of a human regent, Ayden’s love for his sister keeps him bound but the human prince’s kindness begins to wear down his anger and hate. Freyrik has seen the beauty of the elves before but the male elf he holds prisoner affects him deeply and he shows a gentle hand. But the line is drawn when blood is demanded and Freyrik balances between his feelings for Ayden and his devotion to the crown, when races have hated for three hundred years could an elf’s and a humans love really make a difference?

High fantasy written in a medieval setting, two races set apart by betrayal and two males falling in love *sigh* what more could a person wish for on a lazy weekend? Ayden remembers the Great Betrayal and his satisfaction at the humans’ punishment still rings strong, but when he lands in the hands of the humans’ one man manages to sneak into his heart. Freyrik only knows the Great Betrayal through the history books and believes the Surge is carried out by the elves, as he faces the Surge again he ropes in his elven prisoner to help but it isn’t his only reason for keeping Ayden close.

Well there is no way that you can miss this book if you love high fantasy, the world that is created in this story is amazing taking you to a medieval setting that is so alive that you can picture the stone castle and the forest and canyon for yourself. We are pulled into a harsh setting where elves are held as slaves in the human world, they are treated worse than cattle and there is no escape. The humans don’t have it much better and we see harsh punishments dished out just like there would have been in medieval times, we see the Surge as it hunts across their lands and we see the misplaced hate in effect for the elves. But, what we also see if an elf and a human breaking convention as they fall in love and try to protect each other, it isn’t an easy journey or uneventful in fact it is a long hard slog as Freyrik begins to show Ayden that humans aren’t all alike.

Now as we get pulled into this story we discover that nothing is easy; Ayden fights to hold on to his anger refusing to give an inch to Freyrik, and Freyrik refuses to let Ayden think he is right about all humans… but being kind to an elf might also get Freyrik killed. Freyrik is torn after getting to know Ayden, but going against the laws of the land will see him beheaded for treason and if anyone ever guessed at his actions then it would be all over for him. As we approach the end of the story we are given hope that things will begin to go right for Ayden and Freyrik, but we are left hanging as Freyrik and Ayden are called to the High Kings court.

I have to recommend this to those who love high fantasy, adventure, danger, a daring battle, breaking down emotional walls, a love that seems doomed and a heart stopping ending.  

Title: Crescendo

Series: Song Of The Fallen 02

Author: Rachel Haimowitz

Genre: High Fantasy

Length: Super Novel (394pgs)

ISBN: 978-1-62649-238-7

Publisher: Riptide Publishing (15^th September 2014)

Heat: Moderate

Heart: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: Bridging the hatred of centuries did not come easy for Freyrík Farr and Ayden Vaska. As prince of a war-torn human province, Freyrík could ill afford to fall for an enemy. And Ayden, an elven warrior with three hundred years of bitterness in his heart, wanted no part of love. Yet they came together despite themselves and the wills of their peoples, joining hearts and minds to fight a race of Dark Beasts threatening the extinction of mankind.

Yet the Dark Beast threat pales beside the dangers of a summons to the human High Court, home of the Aegis Exalted and the harshest test yet of Ayden’s and Freyrík’s fledgling love.

When the Aegis strips Ayden of his magic, Freyrík is forced to choose between his love for elf, Aegis, and king, all the while seeking the one uncertain path that might save his doomed race. Time is fast running out for mankind, and only by making peace amongst themselves and with their ancient elven enemies can they end the Dark war—and undo the tragedy that’s plagued humans, elves, and Dark Beasts alike for the last three hundred years.

Purchase Link: http://riptidepublishing.com/titles/crescendo

Review: Please read Song Of The Fallen 01 – Counterpoint first as Crescendo is a continuation of the story. Ayden has to put his faith in Freyrík if they are both to survive the human High Court and it is not easy to hold onto that faith no matter how much he loves the human. Freyrík is torn between his elf, his brother King Berendil and his High King Aegis, no matter which way he turns he has to betray one while always hurting his elf.

This is an incredible wonderful fantastic story that is written by a true storyteller who keeps you reading with every word written. We already know that these two, elf and human love each other deeply. In this part of Song Of The Fallen that love is tested beyond measure as they both face challenges that are thrown at them while they are at the High Court and then as they journey into the Feral woods to find the source of the Feral’s on an impossible task set by the High King Aegis.

This is a brilliant story-line and plot, the characters are incredible and the emotions of both the main characters are touching in places. You can’t help but feel sorry for Freyrík and Ayden as they are in a position that they can see no way out of. Ayden’s treatment at the hands of the humans is just terrible and then later Freyrík gets a taste of it from the elves.

The world building is again fantastic giving us a wonderful picture of the world they live in. Discovering why it’s called Song Of The Fallen is an enlightenment that I never even suspected. This is an incredibly woven tale that I couldn’t put down and didn’t want to end.

I recommend this to everyone… it’s a fantastic fantasy, it’s got some hot loving, it has mistrust, angst, danger, hatred, anger, adventure and it’s brilliant.