Guest Post & Giveaway: Louisa Klein Author of Supernatural Freak

Short bio: Louisa Klein is 25, lives in the UK but was born in Germany and brought up in Southern Europe by a German dad and an Italian and French mum, which made her a little confused at first. She has a degree in Medieval Studies and a postgraduate one in Marketing. She’s been working in publishing on and off since she was 17 and during the day she is a freelancer and an Urban Fantasy writer. At night, she puts on a mask and fights British crime. She gets very little sleep. Supernatural Freak is her first book, a romantic yet action-packed urban fantasy set in contemporary London.
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5 Fairy books that will blow your mind!

1) The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa
I may sound banal, but these books make you dream: first, Kagawa draws from Shakespeare
and Meghan, her main character, meets up with familiar characters like Oberon, Titania, and Puck from "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Which I totally support, especially if you are a writer born/living in the UK: why not taking advantage of good old William for the world building? And there isn’t only Shakespeare, you know, but a lot more stuff, like Christina Rossetti’s the Goblin Market, or The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald. If you are a writer and immersed in the British culture, telling a story about Faeries is almost mandatory! (And of course I wrote one!:))

Another thing I liked is the secondary characters who are particularly well-rounded and fun. That is really what makes this book so fresh and interesting. I also LOVE the idea of Iron Fey! There's plenty of adventure, a lot of action, an intriguing love triangle, a charming cat, and a girl becoming something great after having been nothing for a long time. And don't even get me started on the cover. I mean, It’s awesome!

2) The Need series by Carrie Jones (I know, I love series!)
I particularly loved this series because, to an extent, reminds me of the film Labyrinth, one of my favourite films ever. I mean, the goblins in Labyrinth are, well, more than naughty in more than one occasion, but they are not exactly lethal. It’s a children’s movie by Jim Henson, no one for a second thinks that Sarah could die. The Need books are somehow a more adult version of Labyrinth, where faeries are far from only being naughty. In fact, they are voracious predators who glamour themselves to appear human and better trick their victims. I loved every bit of these books, the writing style, the plot, the fact that the main character is a wounded, fragile, neurotic girl. But, most of all, what I truly adored of this series, is the creepy and sinister feeling that will get a grip on your heart until you’ll finish reading this novel…. Priceless!

3)Faerie Wars by Herbie Brennan. 
Another series that will blow your mind! Here, Mr Brennan does something quite unexpected, disregarding Anglo-Saxon traditions and tales about fairies and instead taking inspiration from ‘the Continent’, as we call it in the UK (aka, the rest of Europe). There, fairies have a human appearance and human size, they have their flaws but usually grant you three wishes or/and are working for the king (think about the Sleeping Beauty’s fairies, for example). The author here takes a lot from European traditions to create his fairy world and in his book fairies live in a land similar to ours, only with magic and less technology. 

Here’s the blurb from Goodreads: When Henry Atherton helps Mr. Fogarty clean up around his house, he expects to find a mess and a cranky old man; what he doesn't expect to find is Pyrgus Malvae, crown prince of the Faerie realm, who has escaped the treacherous Faeries of the Night by traveling to the human world through a portal powered by trapped lightning. An egomaniacal demon prince, greedy glue factory owners Brimstone and Chalkhill, and the nefarious Lord Hairstreak, leader of the Faeries of the Night, all dream of ruling the Faerie realm and are out to kill Pyrgus. Enlisting the help of his sister, Holly Blue, and his new friend, Henry, Pyrgus must get back to the Faerie world alive before one of his many enemies gets to him instead. But how many portals are open, and can Pyrgus find the right one before it falls into the wrong hands?

This book is full of magic and demons, wonder and friendship, the story is exciting and magical while still being surprisingly realistic, since the characters are, at least in my opinion, well-rounded and believable. A book I wouldn’t miss if I were you!

4) Knife by R.J Anderson! 
 I discovered this book in the strangest way: during a job interview at Orchard Publishing, in London. It was the third interview for those who had been shortlisted and, at a point, they asked me if I knew the book and what were my thoughts about the story and the cover. I remembered I had seen the cover several times in the teen section in Waterstones (British chain of bookshops), but that was it.

Of course that didn’t make much of an impression and I didn’t get the job in the end. And
you what? They were right, whoever ignores such a great book doesn’t deserve to be hired! I mean, the cover alone won I don’t know how many prizes! How could I have missed it? I, of course, went to buy it straight away AND COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN UNTIL THE VERY END! This is supposed to be a book for early teen, but I totally recommend it to adults too, since it’s really gripping and full of twists! I suppose I liked Knife, the fairy, as a character because of her fighting attitude. And you might know it or not, but I love strong female characters! Knife is different.
She wants to be true to herself. It is through her inquisitive and sometimes reckless nature that she's able to help the fairies. This is a series worth re-reading because of Knife, and the fine blend of drama and humour. Our little fairy is also backed up by a fine cast of secondary characters who are as memorable and believable as she is. It would be really foolish to miss this book!

5) Tithe (The Modern Tales Of Faerie #1)by Holly Black
After Spiderwick, I am absolutely wild about Holly Black's voice and plots! In this dark faerie tale, Kaye Fierch, a teenager who has always believed in faeries, discovers that she herself is one, and that she is the sacrifice chosen for the tithe, a blood ceremony made every seven years to bind the solitary fey to the Unseelie Court. Kaye learns to control her glamour, gets help from her fey and human friends, and encounters some nasty beasties, including the Queen of the Unseelie Sidhe. She also finds her knight in shiny armour but, I have to warn you, said knight is not exactly 100% white, if you know what I mean.

Again, what really got my attention was the main character, a girl who went through thick and thin never losing her courage but resisting, enduring. If you are looking for a story about a misfit girl who gets a glimpse of another world and live to tell about it, than you really must read this book and the others of the series!

About the Book
“When paranormal expert Robyn Wise is offered an outrageous sum of money to cure a boy who is turning into a dead tree, she's very sceptical. A politician ready to pay that much to make his son stop growing branches instead of hair? Come on! She's more likely to be abducted by aliens. This is a trap. Or much worse. And, of course, it's much worse.
The child is turning into a dark portal, created by a powerful entity determined to absorb Fairyland's power.
This means that not only queen Titania and her court are in danger, but the very balance of the magic fluxes.
Robyn'd rather stick a pencil in her own eye but. to learn how to destroy the portal, she has to sneak into the Wizardry Council, a place full of wizards who are hiding something—though it’s certainly not their 
There, she discovers a terrible secret that could help to overthrow Fairyland's enemies for good, but puts her in the midst of an ancient and deadly war, and not as a bystander, but as the main target.”

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