My second Local Author Spotlight is dedicated to two phenomenal authors – Anna Applegate & Helen Domico! I’m going to link their website so that you can learn more directly from the authors themselves. I highly recommend starting with Blooms of Darkness! More to come on that later… Before I begin, I want to wish these two a very happy Release Day for the third and final installment of the Broken Prophecy series, Crowns of Fate!!
Last year, I attended an A Court of Thorns and Roses Book Social at Kooper’s Tavern in Fells Point. This is where I finally got to meet my friend @Bookish.in.baltimore in person for the first time! She was the one who gave me the encouragement and confidence to start a bookstagram account a few years ago. She raved about a book that her friends had written, and let me know that one of the two authors would be arriving soon. This was the night that I got to meet Helen! We talked for hours about books and life, and it was comical that our jobs are quite opposite. I was adamant that I would be reading their book soon and that I would message her as soon as I did. A few photos are below, but I honestly forgot to take photos the entire night because we were so engrossed in conversation. I love going to Book events through the Bmore Book Coven – they’re usually held at Kooper’s Tavern or Slainte Irish Pub in Fells. Each month, a fantasy title is chosen and on the last Tuesday of every month, we meet at Kooper’s or Slainte for a discussion with a custom food & drink menu that relates to said book, collectible tarot cards with some of our favorite fantasy MC’s, and trivia that relates to the book w/ prizes!
I finished their book in March. Or shall I say – the book finished me? In the blink of an eye, I fell in love with a whole new world. Blooms of Darkness is intense and immersive – it kept me on my toes the entire time. With my memory issues, I tend to take detailed notes and I wrote out 6+ pages of my thoughts, feelings and questions about the future of the series. Lana was such a powerful main character and I was drawn to Kade quite quickly. The found family was so well done and the book is jam-packed with high-action twists and turns. I tend to struggle with falling in to book slumps and Blooms of Darkness yanked me right out of the slump I was in at the time!
When I saw that the @bmorebookcoven was doing Blooms of Darkness, I knew I had to attend. It was at this book club night where I had the pleasure of finally meeting Anna. Both Helen & Anna got to read through all of my notes and take pictures of them. It was such a pleasure to finally meet Anna in person and rave about their book. Anna & Helen are two of the most compassionate, creative and hilarious authors I have ever met – you can tell that this is what they love to do. Their interactions with their current readers, and any future readers, are so incredibly genuine and remarkable. They make every person they interact with feel seen, heard and valued. This is consistent in their writing as well – their mental health representation is phenomenal.
When they were getting ready to release the second book in the series, Shadows of Ruin, I was given the opportunity to read the book before it was published. I was eternally grateful for the chance to devour this and get some answers to some of my questions, but I was also left with even more questions! Anna & Helen are phenomenal at world-building, tension & cliffhangers (amongst so many other things!) It was so intriguing to learn more about the way their magic systems and their worlds worked, as well as see the relationship between our two main characters develop more. I continued to find myself screaming “the plot thickens” in a British accent…
At the end of book 2, we are left with a pretty big cliffhanger… the epic conclusion to the series and the inevitable answers to our questions will be coming on Tuesday, December 2nd. I was lucky enough to receive a copy before publication and am part-way through my read. I want to start by saying that Anna & Helen have been doing something I don’t see a lot of other authors do, that I think is really unique – they include a Recap of the most important events or information that took place in the previous book. As someone with memory issues, I thrive off of these! I do take my own notes to reread alongside my review before jumping into the next installment in any series, but I certainly do not always hit all of the pertinent information. Again, this is not something that a lot of authors do and I think that is so incredibly cool! I can say without a doubt that I am already hooked – every single one of their books has a way of keeping you on the edge of your seat. All I can say for right now is – get ready. And make sure you have tissues…
As for the future of Anna Applegate and Helen Domico – I think that it’s safe to say that we are all thrilled to hear that their journey writing together is nowhere near complete. They have started their next project and I can’t wait to hear more about it. Anna & Helen have become auto-buy-authors, as well as friends. I’m grateful to know them, to have the privilege to talk about their books and to continue to be a part of their life story moving forward.
To see more of Anna & Helen, feel free to check out their website, their social media pages, and you can find them at a bunch of events next year (their website linked with schedule) –
> RomantasyCon LA
> Imaginarium
> Romantasy in the Valley
> Fan Grrrl
They will have special convention editions available. Sign up for their newsletter to stay up-to-date on all of their upcoming signings and events, as well as what is coming next for these two. Don’t miss out!
To Anna & Helen, my favorite Little Rebels.
Bluntly Bookish in Baltimore 