I am Anaïs Blue.Seventeen years of age. Trapped in the body of a five-year-old. And a witch.You see, we grow differently to the rest of you guys. It kind of sucks, but It’s not all bad. At least I get to experiment on naturals like you.If you were in London recently our paths may have crossed. Then your world probably looked a little strange for few hours.My caretaker told me I should apologise. … caretaker told me I should apologise. So, here goes…
Sorry!! 🙂
I’ve also been told I should explain myself. This short story should help clear it all up.
Before Amsterdam there was London. Follow Anaïs’s magical mishaps in the city of shades. Painting a town purple was never so much fun.
The City of Shades is the prequel to the Anaïs Blue series.
Volume’s One and Two out now
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A lovely prequel to what is turning out to be a most delightful series and one of my favourites this year.
Anais is absolutely adorable and devious. Her essence is captured perfectly in this novella. Had I not already read the next books, I would immediately have hunted them down and taken a day off life to read about her adventures. That said, it is an intriguing and captivating read, but does not require you to have read the other two (so far) books in the series – this truly is a prequel, and as such can be read first.
The writing is, as usual from P.J. Whittlesea, flawless. Each character has their own flair, so perfectly captured on paper that they are almost tangible beings. I am enamoured of this book, and this series, and can not wait for more.
For a short story, it’s cute even being an intro.
Anaïs Blue is a witch. Not one that you and I might assume, but an entity crammed in the body of a five year-old little girl. Yes, she’s still a novice and is learning the ropes, but we’re still not quite sure what her function is other than she must help shades, her term for ghosts, to cross over… I think. You can never be certain because she is so damn evasive.
Good thing I have KU because here is an excellent example of not wanting to risk $2.99 to determine if I want to spend the money on the series this story started. Right now, I am still debating. Maybe I’ll KU the next one and see if it’s worth it. I am looking for novel-length stories to amuse me while I recuperate, and I am sick and tired with indie writers writing novellas, thinking them to be superior to novels. (Sorry, folks, you cannot craft a story I’ll like and will re-read because a very good story cannot be adequately developed in a short number of pages, and continuation of the same storyline in a subsequent book is criminal because it should had been included in the first volume!)
I didn’t see any glaring editing errors – that surprised me. I will have to re-read it a little more slowly this time to determine the sanity in the insanity. That’s the best way I can explain it. You read something completely brain-unhinged, trying to decipher anything from the inane. This is something that, if done well, is done exceptionally well. (Does that make any sense? That’s what I mean!) That’s really the overall effect this story has.
But Anaïs isn’t happy being constantly restrained. Unfortunately, she finagles her benefactress to allow her some “personal time” so that she can explore prior to attending a land-breaking rock concert, and she concocts a ton of mischief while finding herself being attached by a shade who simply cannot be eluded. She tries her best, and with the help of a security guard named Carl, she plays around with her magic, only to cause her and her watcher trouble.
(heavy sigh)
Perhaps this is why our little anti-heroine Anaïs will have a change in scenery that brings her Amsterdam (oops! Spoiler alert! A little too late…) But we all knew she’d get in trouble for her efforts. There must be balance in all things, and she really messed up.
I guess we’ll learn more in Book One. I would highly advise all to read this story first before exploring beyond. Who knows? You may be intrigued or you might be totally turned off. At least you had warning.