Author Guest Post & Giveaway: Janet Lee Carey talks Library Love - Dragonswood Blog Tour

I’m excited to welcome author Janet Lee Carey to the blog today. Her new book, Dragonswood, releases very soon and it is pretty darn amazing!

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Thanks for inviting me to do a guest post here at The Fiction Enthusiast, Christie. By the way I like your sprouting books!

photo by Heidi Pettit

I’ll just sit down and make myself comfortable here on your blog today if I may?

Go for it, Janet.

Today I wanted to talk a bit about my new book DRAGONSWOOD (Dial Books, Jan 2012), and spread a little Library Love along the way.

One Girl. Bound by Fate. Breaks free.

In a dark time when girls with powers are called witches, Tess escapes the witch hunter and hides with a mysterious huntsman until magical voices draw her deeper into Dragonswood where she learns the secret of her birth. Caught between love and loyalty, Tess chooses the hardest path of all – her own.

Dragonswood launches in just two days. Readers can find it on bookstore shelves, online, e-book format, and in libraries across the U.S. 

Library Love

I’m especially excited to know it will be on library shelves. I have a special place in my heart for libraries because I spent a lot of time there as a child. Exploring the aisles, I fell in love with the endless stories crammed on the dusty shelves. Stories I could take home and read for free. It’s difficult to find anything that’s free to the public these days, but all of us can still enter a library and check out a book or video without putting down a single penny. For those who can’t afford to buy books or don’t have another way onto the internet, this gateway to knowledge provides an essential freedom. (Not to mention a warm place out of the wind and rain.)

Library Lions Roars 

In 2010 I decided to put my library love into action and created the Library Lions blog  http://LibraryLionsRoar.blogspot.com . As an author I want to support the ongoing health of our public libraries. I’m also very concerned at how fast libraries are vanishing from our public schools. We can’t let this happen in our schools.  We need to stand up together and Roar!

At Library Lions blog we Raise a Roar for Public Libraries and School Libraries across the U.S. Readers learn about amazing youth programs in their communities, librarians search the blog to dig up new program ideas to try in their libraries. In the past two years I’ve interviewed people like NYPL’s children’s librarian Elizabeth Bird, showcased school libraries from coast to coast, hosted Banned Books Week galleries, and interviewed fellow authors about their Library Love.  

“Google can bring you back 100,000 answers, a librarian can bring you back the right one.”
   --Neil Gaiman

When I think of Dragonswood tucked into the library shelf – free to any reader who wants to check it out – I smile.

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Thanks so much for stopping by, Janet!

Dragonswood Trailer:

"Painful, cathartic and cautiously hopeful; a fairy tale for those who have given up on believing in them, but still yearn for happily ever after." -- Kirkus starred review

Follow the Dragonswood Blog Tour

Read my review of Dragonswood

Giveaway Details:

Up for grabs is a signed paperback of Dragon’s Keep and a hardcover of Dragonswood

Open to residents of the US

Ends 1/10

Fill out this form to enter

ARC Review: Dragonswood by Janet Lee Carey - Blog Tour

Title: Dragonswood
Series: Wilde Island Chronicles #2
Author: Janet Lee Carey | Website
Available: 1/5/2012
Genre: Fantasy
Reading Level: YA












Synopsis via Goodreads:

Wilde Island is in an uproar after the recent death of its king. The uneasy pact between dragons, fairies, and humans is fraying, and a bloodthirsty witch hunter with a hidden agenda whips villages into frenzies with wild accusations. Tess, a blacksmith’s daughter from a tiny hamlet near the mysterious Dragonswood, finds herself caught in the crosshairs of fate when she is accused of witchery and has to flee for her life along with her two best friends. 

Not even Tess’s power to see the future can help the girls as they set off on their desperate journey, but she keeps having visions of a man wielding a sword. And when she finally meets him, Tess has no idea how to handle the magnetic attraction she feels for him, or the elusive call she hears from the heart of the Dragonswood. 

In this epic romance, an ancient prophecy comes true in a way neither dragon, fairy, nor human would have predicted.

My thoughts:

Dragonswood satisfied a craving I wasn't even aware I had. Obviously my book diet has been seriously lacking fantasy lately. I just didn't realize how bad until I started reading this enchanting novel.  Tess takes readers on an incredible journey. I found myself staying up late at night because I just couldn't bring myself to put her captivating tale down. The magical combination of a historical setting, dragons, fairies and romance had me falling in love at first page.


I absolutely loved Tess. She craved an independence that women during her time didn't typically have. Instead she was forced to live in fear with her mother and abusive father. Who would of thought being accused of witchcraft and forced to flee could be so liberating? Tess is a strong and admirable character. She stayed true to herself throughout the book and as a reader I appreciated this. The secondary characters were also a pleasure. I wish the dragons would have had a little more time in the spotlight. The few scenes where they spoke or interacted with the characters were without a doubt my favorites. I just have so much love for those scaled beasts ♥ 


I found the pacing of Dragonswood to be wonderful until the end. The ending just seemed a little rushed and the writing didn't flow as nicely as it did throughout the majority of the novel. I also had difficulty with the epilogue. Tess seemed to have a different "voice". I'm not sure if this was to help reflect the time that had passed and how she had changed. It just didn't feel like I was reading from the POV of the same girl I'd just spent almost 400 pages with. 


While the ending could have been smoother it didn't in any way squash the massive amount of love I have for this wonderful book. I still found Dragonswood an absolute delight to read! I highly recommend it and hope to read more by Janet Lee Carey very soon.


While visiting Janet Lee Carey's website I discovered Dragonswood is technically the second book in the Wilde Island Chronicles. I wasn't aware of this little bit of info when I first started reading. I haven't had the pleasure of reading the first novel, Dragon's Keep. I don't feel reading out of order made Dragonswood any less enjoyable and never really felt like I was missing anything. 

My Rating: