Book Tour: Rae of Hope by W J May

About the Author:

Wanita May grew up in the fruit belt of Ontario - St.Catharines.  Crazy-happy childhood, she always has had a vivid imagination and loads of energy.

The youngest of six -- four older brothers, and sister -- they taught her at a young age to be competitive in all aspects of life.

At sixteen, she began competing in athletics (track and field) and before she turned seventeen, she was representing Canada in high jump.  She continued to compete, breaking Canada's JR High Jump record (1.92m - 6' 3 1/2" for those metric-ly challenged).  She attented University of Toronto, and Kansas State University - graduating with a BS degree in Kinesiology and beginning her Masters in Business.

She is currently married, and the mother of three adorable kids.

After her father passed away in 2009, from a six-year battle with cancer (which she still believes he won the fight against), she began to write again.  A passion she'd loved for years, but realized life was too short to keep putting it off.

Her first book, Rae of Hope - from the Chronicles of Kerrigan - is available Nov 15, 2001 by Mitchell Morris Publishing.  It is contracted as a four book series and available in print and ebook through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Smashwords and other online sites.

She is currently represented by Dawn Dowdle of Blue Ridge Literary Agency. Wanita is a writer of Young Adult, Fantasy Fiction and where ever else her little muses take her.

Where to find Wanita:  Blog ~ Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter

AISLYNN vs ASLAN

I just returned home from the school play at my kid’s school. My daughter, who is in grade one, was part of the choir and I had a number of nieces and nephews also in the play.

Get ready for this…

It was a musical of NARNIA!

My favourite books as a kid (and still as an adult) are the Narnia series. I’m not sure if the kids or I was more excited. Grade school kids playing animals and sharing CS Lewis’ story. IT WAS AWESOME!!

To quote the principle, “Narnia is a story of the redemption of a cursed and broken world. It is a story of a world made right again through a great sacrifice of a king, and the faithful service of those he called.”

It couldn’t ring more true. The story, the music -- if you’d asked me before if I could picture The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe as a musical, I’d have scratched my head and not been able to picture it. However, listening to my six year old sing the songs as she played in her room, or as we drove around running errands, or as she asked which song I wanted to hear, I fell in love all over again.

As a kid, CS Lewis could put me into this imaginary world of talking animals, kings and queens who were just kids, and all this excitement that I so wanted to be there. I dreamt at night of being there.

I see it in my kids now – my two oldest (6yo and 5yo) are doing the same thing – playing pretend, talking and dreaming and being absorbed in Narnia’s world. IT IS AWESOME!

CS Lewis was born in 1898 and his story still pulls at our heart strings. I’d love to write something so captivating. I think every author dreams of this. As a parent, I see this story come full circle and I can’t wait to read the entire series with my kids (We have actually started The Magician’s Nephew J )

I still can’t believe Narnia was turned into a musical and I got to watch it! Okay, I’m cheesy – the 5yr aged kind – and I had to write a guest blog on it. I’m so proud of my little girl, and all the work the school did!
Thank you Beacon Christian School for letting me enjoy the show!!

I wonder if other readers and writers have the same love for these books as I do. Or is there another series that seems to carry over through generations (possibly CS Lewis’ good friend JRR Tolkien – The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings ring a bell?) I’d love to hear your thoughts!

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How hard do you have to shake a family tree to find out the truth of the past?
Fifteen-year-old Rae Kerrigan has never questioned her family’s history. That is until she accepted a scholarship to Guilder Boarding School in England. Guilder is a very unique, gifted school.

Rae has no idea what she is getting herself into or that her family’s past is going to come back and taunt her. She learns she is part of an unparalleled group of individuals who become marked with a unique tattoo (tatù) on their sixteenth birthday. The tatù enables them to have supernatural powers particular to the shape of their marking.

Both her parents were marked though Rae never knew, as they passed away when she was young and never told her. Learning about her family’s past, her evil father and sacrificial mother, Rae needs to decide if there is a ray of hope for her own life.