Traitor's Niece.

The Complications of Being Lucy.

To my dearest friends and followers,

I wonder if you remember fellow writer and friend of mine, Gus Kenney? He is the author of The Complications of Being Lucy series. I bring him to your attention today because I began reading the third book in the series this week, Traitor's Niece.

In April of 2017 (dang, it's crazy that was almost 2 years ago!!), I wrote a post where I reviewed the first book in the series. I completely enjoyed it and rightfully gave it the 5 stars it deserved!!
I happened to come across the first book on Facebook. I asked Gus Kenney if I could review his book on my blog, and he sent me the first book, The Changeling and the Cupboard, free. It was so good, I had to purchase the second book, The Changeling and the Borrowed Family. The third book, Traitor's Niece, was yet unpublished, but Gus was having a giveaway. Basically, whoever won would get a free copy of the book once it was published and would get a character named after them. I won and though I have yet to finish reading the third book, I am super excited to learn about the character I inspired for the story!!

As you are already well aware, I love fantasy and fairies, and I enjoy reading and studying the original folklore and myths around these creatures. I even read a book about a changeling several years ago (The Moorchild by Eloise McGraw to be exact) and really enjoyed it. Needless to say, I was excited when I came across the first book by Gus Kenney. In case anyone is wondering what a changeling is, here you go:

"A changeling is, in brief, the fairy being left behind by a fairy when it steals a human child."†

 Based on my past research of changelings, I expected a great fantasy novel about a changeling. While I did get a great fantasy novel, Gus Kenney threw in several surprises, one of them being the changeling itself. I guess I was previously uneducated, but upon doing some research, here's what I learned:

"In some traditions, a log rather than a being is left behind..."†

While this isn't quite the case in Kenney's books, this is closer to the version in his story.

Here's what the series is about based on the first two books I've read:
Lucy Bison has lived with her uncle, Mortimer, for as long as she can remember. She doesn't know her parents and Uncle Mort never answers any questions concerning them. Uncle Mort is a stern man with a list of rules for Lucy to follow, the most important being that she is never allowed to go into the park. On her birthday, Lucy meets a boy from the park, and her world is soon filled with fairies, magic, and deception. Lucy's uncle amongst other family members may not be her real family and Lucy may not even be human. When Lucy was an infant, she was taken by the All King, a.k.a. the Fey (fairy) King, and thus a changeling was left with her parents. However, Lucy was taken from the fairy world and another changeling was left in her place.
The stories follow Lucy and her family as mysteries unfold, the changelings are captured, the truth comes to light, and enemies arise, each one desperately trying to find and kill the real Lucy while her family does everything in their power to protect her.

Here's the synopsis for the book I am currently reading as written by Gus Kenney:
Traitor's Niece (book 3)
Sever all ties.
Lucy is a pawn. A dark means to a deadly end. An enemy, burning with centuries of betrayal, has made the opening move to shatter an already divided empire. His first step, the slaying of one of Lucy's guardians. Broken with grief and compelled by rage, Lucy embarks on a journey of vengeance to the shadowed and forgotten corners of five lands. With those she has left by her side, sacrifices will be made to bring her closer to retribution, but only if she doesn't succumb to the manipulations of a ruthless enemy first.

The Complications of Being Lucy series quickly became some of my favorite books, with Gus Kenney one of my favorite indie authors. He hopes the series will consist of 6 books. He is currently working on the 4th book, Daughter of Ash. Again, I cannot wait to finish the third book and find out what happens in Lucy's world (I'm a bit scared to find out as well though..."slaying one of Lucy's guardians." Nooooo!! ). If you want to know more about Kenney's work or just have a conversation with him (he's seriously a cool guy!), you can follow him on Twitter or check out his Facebook or his Facebook page @Lucybison.
As always, thank you so much for reading!!

Yours truly,
Me

P.S. Random fact: After I reached out to Gus Kenney in 2017, he quickly became interested in my writing. It was wonderful to hear from him and he offered to proofread Beyond The Veil to which I agreed, so thank you Gus!!

† Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology by Theresa Bane @TheresaBane 2013 © McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers