“BREAKING NEWS!” Will Scarlet calls out. “Not the bit about how Danielle sometimes lies, claiming Saturdays on the blog are to be mine, all mine, then turning around and using a Friday post as an excuse to bump me off the roster. Nobody’s surprised by that anymore.”
I’m sorry, Will! I fully intended to leave you your Saturdays, despite the whirlwind of my ongoing blog tour. But then something came up!
“Oh-ho, did it ever! No worries, author girl,” he says, with a forgiving clap on my shoulder. “These are ultra-special circumstances.”
I’ll say they are! I mean, it’s not every day my writing bestie publishes her debut novella!
“Nope, pretty much just today,” Will says blithely. “Congratulations, Tirzah Duncan! Love you, ever and always! Danielle, release the Kraken! Whoops, read that wrong. The cover. Release the cover!”
Lol, proudly. Heck, I’m giving this the full Deshipley Book Review Treatment!
The Book: “Cry of the Nightbird” by Tirzah Duncan.
Genre: Fantasy.
Blurb: “Look—it’s a shadow, creeping on the wall.
Look—it’s a nightbird, feathered, black, and tall.
Look—o’er your shoulder; think ye twice,
Look—out, ye wicked rats, pray he finds ye nice.”
Risen suddenly to lordship of the fiefdom of Cavernad, young Ferlund struggles to fill the shoes —and carry on the marriage engagement— of his late father. Doubly sorrowed by the old lord’s death and his duty to part ways with his common lover, Ferlund also seeks to pursue his suspicion that his father’s death was no accident…
Elsewhere in this fantasy-tinged novella, another man is recently risen to power. Joreth, formerly an assassin by trade, is newly the master of the assassin’s guild responsible for the elder Lord Cavernad’s demise. Wren, a servant girl deeply enamored of her new boss, seeks to gain his favor, and happens upon his strangest secret.
A lone vigilante stalks this landscape of cloak and dagger, sense and madness, and grudge and ardor old and new; the preying Nightbird stands in judgement of injustice masked by night or noble station. In this tangle of stale bitterness and fresh affection, who will stand justified, and who will fall condemned? And will the cry of the Nightbird sound loud enough to go down as more than a washerwoman’s four-line ditty?
My Thoughts: Short answer: OHMYGOSH, MY BEST FRIEND PUBLISHED A BOO-OO-OOK!
*ahem* More professional answer:
This story is rife with suspense and emotion, peopled with characters to love and to hate, to cheer for and to grieve for – not to mention an element just about any book can benefit from: A cool guy in a cloak and mask.
Duncan is a true wordsmith with a sharp poetic style worthy of a shady vigilante’s ballad. I chuckled. I gasped. I had to blink back tears to get through the end. And I’m left with a whetted hunger for the eventual release of the first full-length novel set in this fantasy world.
HSYRT? (Hey, Should You Read This?): “Should you read this?” says Will. “Should you read this?! I dunno, lemme ask. Hey, Danielle – should they read this?”
Dude, I’m only even friends with the girl because her writing lured me in! YES, read her book! Buy it! Tell your friends to buy it! Coerce your enemies into buying it! And did I mention?… All proceeds from the book’s sales are going toward funding Tirzah’s upcoming wedding to her sweetheart in the Air Force.
(Will Scarlet leads the audience in a rousing “AW-W-W!”)
So seriously. As her BFF, critique partner, and maid of honor, I must insist that you purchase “Cry of the Nightbird”. BUY NOW.
…And if you want to pick up a copy of “Inspired” or something while you’re in the neighborhood, I’ll not say you nay.
Ever On Word 
Wow, congrats on the book AND the wedding! That is so amazing!
Right?? Have it all, why don’t you! XD
Thank you ever so much, my darling dear! 😀
You know how welcome you are, my lovely. Sell big!