That’s right folks, it’s Advance Reader Copy season again!
I’m starting ARC reader recruitment for Lady of Pelts a little earlier than I did for Hunter of Seals, for a very fun reason. Obviously with the second book in a series, I can’t just send out ARCs without checking if people have read the first book. My worst nightmare (well, one of them, anyway) is getting a bad review from someone who didn’t understand that they were dealing with the second book in a series. To combat that, I am offering a free ebook of Hunter of Seals to anyone who signs up for an ARC of book 2!
How this will work is you fill out this form and let me know if you’ve read book 1 already. If not, I’ll send you the ebook some time in the next couple weeks. You’ll have a few weeks to read it (and review it if you feel so inclined!) before I start sending out ARCs of Lady of Pelts in mid-June. Please let me know when you finish book 1! If I don’t hear from you or do not respond to my follow-up email in mid-June, I’ll assume you aren’t interested in the ARC of book 2 (no hard feelings!).
What To Expect
Here’s your first look at the blurb for Lady of Pelts!
Against all odds, Maeve Lansing has saved the selkies from destruction at the hands of the Caledonian Seas Drilling Company. Her friends and crewmates aboard the drilling rig Sealg Ròin are alive, the sea witch Alinor is imprisoned, and the selkies’ subterranean reservoir of magic, the Well, is safe from being drained to sate corporate greed. And all it cost was the complete upending of everything Maeve thought she knew about herself, her family, and the world.
But dark family secrets and existential confusion are the least of Maeve’s problems. The rig is now in the care of a selkie admiral with the power of an ancient sea god and a grudge against anyone with human blood—including Maeve. Worse, sirens have been spotted in selkie territory for the first time in a generation, and Maeve’s former employer is still circling. Both want the same thing: a trove of magical artifacts left behind by Alinor, which could be the key to finally taking possession of the Well. Its location is a mystery… until it appears out of thin air on Maeve’s bed.
To keep the trove out of enemy hands, Maeve must learn to harness her own powers and accept the strange and dangerous legacy that Alinor forced on her—a prospect that terrifies her. She’ll also need the help of Tristan, the infuriatingly charming selkie spy-prince whose orbit she can’t seem to escape. As their feelings for one another grow, they must outwit their enemies or be dragged into a war there’s no way they can win.
The second installment in the Hunter of Seals series is a fantastical high seas tale of self-discovery, reclaimed heritage, ancient secrets, and heart-stopping romance.
Here are a few of the tropes and features you’ll find in the Hunter of Seals series at a glance:
- Slow burn enemies to lovers romance where he falls first
- A strong female woman-in-STEM FMC
- Mythology coming to life in the modern world
- Family secrets
- Ancient prophecies
- Epic battles at sea
- Found family
I’d describe it as Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries meets the video game Still Wakes The Deep.
And here are some random things that happen in Lady of Pelts that I think you’ll enjoy, with a minimum of useful context:
- Maeve starts a bar fight.
- I’m setting up the beginnings of an Achilles & Patroclus inspired subplot… but make them terrifying magical seal women.
- Bostick gives someone a chip as a business card.
- Maeve commits fraud.
Hunter of Seals is 340 pages long, and Lady of Pelts is approximately 460 pages.
I do not use AI anywhere in any part of my life, and especially not in the production of my books. No, not even for [insert whatever thing you inexplicably think is a small and inconsequential use of a piece of technology that is destroying our planet, taking people’s jobs and doing them badly, and rotting away people’s critical thinking skills]. I also make a conscious effort to only work with other professionals (e.g. my cover artist and my editor) who do not use AI either. Every word, every pixel on the cover, and every ounce of effort associated with this series was produced by human hands, human brains, and human creativity. You are getting a book that a real person wrote, and a story that came from a real person’s heart.
Content Warnings
Lady of Pelts is written for adult audiences, and contains graphic violence, blood & gore, strong language, closed-door (off-page) sex, sexual references, and a character death that you could technically say was suicide. Also some seals get hurt. If you’d like more specific detail about any of the above before committing, please feel free to reach out by emailing me (colleenmccrackenauthor@gmail.com) or DMing me on Instagram (@itsmywriterbrain).
If you haven’t read book 1, it’s a wee bit milder in some aspects, but still contains graphic violence, blood & gore, seal injury, and strong language.
A quick thank you
While I don’t think I can say these books have really taken off yet, I have come further with my publishing career in the past year than I ever expected to. I am so, so grateful to everyone who has picked up a copy of Hunter of Seals or left me a review. There are so many incredible indie fantasy books out there and it means so much that you would take a chance on mine. I hope you enjoy the next chapter of Maeve’s story as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Happy reading!