The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy Wins an IPPY for Best Fiction Series

I just got a huge surprise that The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy won Best Fiction Series in the IPPY (Independent Book Publisher) Awards! It took home the Gold Medal, which is the highest award. I didn’t even know it was a finalist. It so wonderful to see that people like it and appreciate the 19 years of work that went into the series.

Daughter of Destiny Named Best Indie Book in Missouri

I’ve known about this since December, but now I can finally talk about it! Just when I thought Daughter of Destiny had won all the contests it could… it won the Missouri Author Project for adult novels! As Library Journal states, “out of all of the submissions, these winning titles reflect the best indie and self-published eBooks each state has to offer in Adult and Young Adult Fiction.” This is huge because Library Journal is a very important publication in the publishing world, especially for libraries (hence the name). Its endorsements rank right up there with Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus.

Here’s full list of winners from all eight states that held the contest in 2018. (Where there are two, like in Missouri, one is an adult book and one is YA.)There will be an article in Library Journal as well and I will post that when it is available. If you have a subscription, you might want to check in the January issue. I’m hearing that is where it is, but I don’t see it online yet.

Guinevere’s Tale Boxed Now Available in Print and Ebook on Amazon

Since 95% of my sales come from Amazon, I thought I’d let you know the single volume of The Guinevere’s Tale trilogy is available on Amazon. Because the title is showing up differently (which I will try to remedy on Tuesday, as soon as Amazon lets me) there are two links:
The ebook is $4.99. The print book is $40.00, which is cheaper than buying all three books separately.
If you are looking for the book on other sites, please check back on the sites over the next week. It is up to the companies as to when they release it.

Publication Day for Mistress of Legend and The Guinevere’s Tale Boxed Set

It’s here! It’s here! It’s here! I am soooooooooo excited for you find out how Guinevere’s story ends. I LOVE this book and am so proud of how it turned out. I hope you feel the same way.

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The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy (Boxed Set) Release Schedule

Due to production delays and differences in the way retailers handle final files, when you can get the boxed set (which is really a single volume of all three books) will vary. To the best of my knowledge, here is when it should be available on the various sites:

Want to Help Spread the Word?
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Please link them back to this page for Mistress of Legend: https://nicoleevelina.com/the-books/historical-fiction/mistress-of-legend-book-3/

Or this page for the boxed set: https://nicoleevelina.com/the-books/historical-fiction/guineveres-tale-box-set/

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Thank you all so much for your support!

Reflections on 19 Years and a Wild Dream Achieved

Today is a momentous day for me. Not only does it mark the publication of my sixth book, Mistress of Legend (Guinevere’s Tale Book 3), and a single-volume compendium of The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy, it is also the end of an era. You see, 19 years ago Saturday is when I first heard Guinevere speak in my head. (Yeah, I’m one of those authors – wouldn’t have it any other way.) I tell the whole story in the Author’s Notes to Daughter of Destiny, the first book in the series, but for now suffice it to say she told me she wanted me to tell her story and that it would be unlike any written to date. I’ve always loved Arthurian legend, and Guinevere in particular, so I thought, “why not?”
I am Guinevere. I was once a queen, a lover, a wife, a mother, a priestess, and a friend. But all those roles are lost to me now; to history, I am simply a seductress, a misbegotten woman set astray by the evils of lust. This is the image painted of me by subsequent generations, a story retold thousands of times. Yet, not one of those stories is correct. They were not there; they did not see through my eyes or feel my pain. My laughter was lost to them in the pages of history….
It goes on for a bit longer, but you get the idea. That prologue is mostly intact in the published version of Daughter of Destiny (though it was shortened a bit). I can’t tell you how many times I rewrote the first few chapters of the book (it was in the double digits for sure) as I learned to find my own voice as an author and developed a plot and style that was doing more than simply aping The Mists of Avalon (which was the book that inspired it). But somehow, Guinevere’s words remained. (Some of you know this story, so feel free to skip down if you have heard it before.) I never thought I would become a published author. For the next 10 years I played around with the book when I had free time from college, then grad school and my first two grownup jobs. But it was just a hobby. Then in 2008 I started taking my writing seriously. The catalyst? Twilight. (Shut up.) By that time I was about halfway through what would become Daughter of Destiny and realized I had something worth reading on my hands. At this point, I still thought the book would be one doorstop of a volume (which is why I’m publishing the compendium). Upon researching the publishing industry, I realized it would have to be trilogy. Fast forward another 10 years – past an agent, countless rejections (okay, I counted, it was like 40), three damn-near book deals with Big 5 publishers, self-publishing and three Book of the Year awards – and here we are, on the precipice of the final book being published. And I have to say I am very, very proud. It may have taken me two years to finish this book (much longer than I know my readers wanted to wait), but I think it was worth it. I set out to give Guinevere back her voice and give her the fair shake I never thought she had from other authors (at least the ones I had read). In my mind, she was a full-fledged woman with hopes, dreams and desires, not the one-dimensional adulteress we usually see. In order to show that I set out to tell her whole life story, not just the part that involves Arthur. That meant dreaming up a youth for her in Daughter and imagining her heading into old age in Mistress of Legend. I feel like I’ve told the best possible story I could and did as much as possible to redeem her from the stain of sin past literature has laid upon her. Apparently others think so as well. I sent an ARC of Mistress to my friend and fellow author Tyler Tichelaar so he could review it on his website. He liked it so much, I ended up using the opening of the review as a blurb on the cover. But the part that brought tears to my eyes was this line: “She has given back to Guinevere, an often overlooked and derided figure, her dignity and endowed her with a true personality.” Mission accomplished. Completing a trilogy is no small feat. There were years upon years where I wondered if I could do it and feared I could not. I remember burning with jealousy the day one of my friends completed her first series. But now all I feel is tremendous accomplishment and pride. I want to jump up and down and yell “I did it!  I did it! I did it! I did it!”
More than that, I feel like each book on the series got better as I grew as a writer. One of my biggest fears was that my story would end up like so many other trilogies and peter out or go totally off track in the last book. (Breaking Dawn, anyone?) In fact, I feel like this is the strongest book in the series, and early reviews are indicating the same. Now I face for the first time in nearly two decades a future without Guinevere. (Well, not totally. She’ll be one of the point of view characters in Isolde’s story whenever I get around to writing that.) I will  be forever grateful for all she as done for me. She was meant to get me started in my career, and I know she will gracefully cede the stage to the characters who come next. I just hope this trilogy is repayment enough.
PS – If you want to catch up, Daughter of Destiny and Camelot’s Queen are only $0.99 for a limited time… PPS – For those who know of my obsession with the band Kill Hannah, the reference in the title of this blog to “a wild dream achieved” comes from their song “Believer.”

Guinevere’s Tale Boxed Set Delayed, Another Honor for The Once and Future Queen

First off, breathe. Mistress of Legend is still coming out on Saturday, September 15.

We’ve had some production delays with the boxed set/compendium of The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy. Right now, I’m not exactly sure when it will be available – sometime this month for sure – hopefully next week. It will depend on exactly when I get the final files and how long it takes various retailers to get them online. I’ll let you know more as soon as I know.

Also, last but not least, The Once and Future Queen was named a finalist in the general non-fiction category of the Reader’s Favorite Book Awards. While there is no medal for that level, it does mean it was in the top five general non-fiction books submitted to the contest. Yay!!!

Presales for Mistress of Legend and Guinevere’s Tale Boxed Set

Mistress of Legend
We are less than two months out from the publication of Mistress of Legend, the final book in the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy! That means you can pre-order the ebook now.

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Guinevere’s Tale
Also available for pre-order is The Guinevere’s Tale Trilogy, which is all three books (Daughter of Destiny, Camelot’s Queen and Mistress of Legend) in one volume. This version holds a special place in my heart because it is how I always pictured the story being published. Fair warning: it’s looking like it will be close to 1,000 pages!

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Print books and ebooks on Google Play will be available for both books on September 15 when the books are published.

Mistress of Legend Cover Reveal and Publication Date

I sent this out to my newsletter subscribers and Street Team members last week, but totally forgot to post it here!

Mistress of Legend, the final book in the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy, will be published September 15 – exactly 19 years to the day when Guinevere first spoke in my head and I started writing the prologue of Daughter of Destiny. (Which is still in tact, minus one paragraph BTW.) Here’s the back cover copy:

Legend says Guinevere spent her final days in penance in a convent, but that is far from the truth.

Having escaped death at the stake, Guinevere longs to live a peaceful life in Brittany with Lancelot, but the threat of Arthur’s wrath quickly separates the lovers. Guinevere finds herself back in Camelot, but it is not the peaceful capital she once knew; the loyalty of the people is divided over Arthur’s role in her death sentence. When war draws Arthur away from Britain, Mordred is named acting king. With Morgan at his side and a Saxon in his bed, Mordred’s thirst for power becomes his undoing and the cause of Guinevere’s greatest heartache.

In the wake of the deadly battle that leaves the country in civil war, Guinevere’s power as the former queen is sought by everyone who seeks to ascend the throne. Heartbroken and refusing to take sides in the conflict, she flees north to her mother’s Votadini homeland, where she is at long last reunited with Lancelot. The quiet life she desires is just beginning when warring tribal factions once again thrust her into an unexpected position of power. Now charged with ending an invasion that could bring an end to the Votadini tribe and put the whole island in the hands of the Saxons, Guinevere must draw upon decades of experience to try to save the people she loves and is sworn to protect.

Pre-order print and ebook

  

Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo pre-orders will be available in July.

Audiobook
Right now I don’t know if audio will be available at the same time or slightly after print and ebook. I need to work that out with my narrator.

Guinevere’s Tale Box Set
I will also be releasing all three books in the Guinevere’s Tale trilogy in a box set on September 15, both as an ebook and a huge print book. Cover, ordering info and details to come.

Cover Reveal: Camelot’s Queen (Guinevere’s Tale Book 2)

I’m happy to announce that Camelot’s Queen, the highly-anticipated sequel to Daughter of Destiny, will be published in ebook and paperback on Tuesday, April 12 (audio book release date TBD). You can pre-order the Kindle version on Amazon and/or add it to your Goodreads list right now.

And, without further ado, here’s the cover and the back page copy…

Camelot's Queen eBook Cover Large

History remembers Guinevere’s sin, but it was Arthur who transgressed first.

Forced into a marriage she neither anticipated nor desired, Guinevere finds herself High Queen, ruling and fighting alongside Arthur as they try to subdue the Saxons, Irish and Picts who threaten Britain from every direction. Though her heart still longs for her lost love, Guinevere slowly grows to care for her husband as they join together to defeat their enemies.

Meanwhile, within the walls of Camelot their closest allies plot against them. One schemes to make Guinevere his own, another seeks revenge for past transgressions, while a third fixes her eyes on the throne. When the unthinkable happens and Guinevere is feared dead, Arthur installs a new woman in her place, one who will poison his affections toward her, threatening Guinevere’s fragile sanity and eventually driving her into the arms of her champion.

Amid this tension a new challenge arises for the king and queen of Camelot: finding the Holy Grail, a sacred relic that promises lasting unity. But peace, as they will soon learn, can be just as dangerous as war. As the court begins to turn on itself, it becomes clear that the quest that was to be Arthur’s lasting legacy may end in the burning fires of condemnation.

This highly anticipated sequel to Daughter of Destiny proves there is much more to Guinevere’s story than her marriage and an affair. See the legend you think you know through her eyes and live the adventure of Camelot’s golden days yourself – but prepared to suffer its downfall as well.