Hey'a, everyone! Hope y'all had an excellent Thanksgiving if you celebrated! Of course, it's now Black Friday and the start of the Christmas season — specifically, for purposes of this post, the start of the Christmas gift-shopping and gift-giving season. (Unless, of course, you're the type of person who does all your Christmas shopping way in advance.) Because of that, I thought it would be fun to think about what books I would gift to some of my characters . . . but with a twist: I'm specifically choosing books that are available in the Perry Kirkpatrick Black Friday book sale. This sale runs from Black Friday (today, November 25) through Cyber Monday and includes literal hundreds of clean and Christian indie reads from authors like Kendra E. Ardnek, Jaye L. Knight, H.S.J. Williams, and myself. There's free and $0.99 ebooks, plus some special deals on print and audiobooks. I strongly recommend checking it out; I always end up picking up some good deals for myself . . . and, of course, today, I'm also picking out some books for my own characters. Let's get back to that, shall we?
Books I'd Give My Characters: Black Friday Sale Edition
1. For Princess Grace Chambers (Mechanical Heart): the Elven Alliance books by Tara Grayce. As I've said before, Grace is one of the biggest readers out of any of my characters (at least in my published books) — she enjoys just about anything as long as it's well-written, it has good characters, and she can talk about it when she's done. So, while she'd be happy with pretty much all the books included in the sale, I'm giving her the Elven Alliance series by Tara Grayce. She'd see a lot of herself in Essie, the lead, and would certainly relate to many of the challenges the characters in the novel face. (After all, she's a princess — she's seen equivalents to some of them firsthand.) But, most importantly, Elven Alliance has a very enthusiastic (albeit small) fandom, which Grace would join with utmost pleasure.
2. For Roselle Dennel (Gilded in Ice): Moonscript by H.S.J. Williams. As those who've read Gilded may remember, Roselle loves stories of adventure, danger, magic, and mystery — preferably featuring adventurous-but-relatable leads, strange, faraway, and exotic locations, and plenty of character banter and relationships to get invested in. And if there's a little twist of romance or a dark-and-tortured hero (or dashingly dangerous rogue or swashbuckler), all the better. Moonscript does not check every box in that list . . . but it does check most of them. Roselle would happily spend quite some time exploring this world of elves and humans, and she'd absolutely fangirl over Errance (and Coren) as much as the rest of us do.
3. For Kona Dennel, by way of Roselle (Gilded in Ice): The Dark King's Curse by Wyn Estelle Owens. So, hear me out. Kona is not the type of person who really enjoys reading for the sake of reading. But she, like many people, enjoys being read to — and the only thing Roselle likes better than a good book is sharing that good book. So, The Dark King's Curse technically goes to both of them. Why this book? The storyworld has enough similarities to their own world that it would be almost like historical fiction for them — and both of them would enjoy the family elements of the story. Roselle would be all over Laisren and Siobhra (Laisren is the kind of dramatic she loves, and Siobhra is a cat and therefore wonderful), while Kona . . . Kona probably actually likes Fionn best, with Fiachra a close second. Their enjoyment of the story is not hindered by Bastian wandering in and out of the room, adding commentary, and making offhand predictions (though he's secretly enjoying the book as well).
4. For Zhu Baili (Blood in the Snow): The Worth of a King by Kendra E. Ardnek. Baili's a hard character to pick for; like Kona, she's less inclined to read for pleasure or for the sake of reading — her preferred way to experience a story is in the form of a play. But I think she'd like The Worth of a King. She'd probably relate well to Obsidia and Delaney (and, to a lesser extend, Adrian) and Obsidia's plight, and she'd enjoy the romantic elements of the story. I can even see her reading it together with Xiang as they curl up together for a precious bit of alone time or sharing it with her friends. (Gan enjoys the dramatic flair of the Zovordians; Chouko makes snarky comments every few pages but is secretly just as invested in Obsidia and Adrian's problems as Baili is.)
5. For Azuma (Blood in the Snow): Wrought of Silver and Ravens by E.J. Kitchens. Canonically speaking, Azuma is a poetry-lover first and foremost. But he also enjoys novels on occasion, with a preference for the complex or epic tales. So, I'm giving him Wrought of Silver and Ravens, a high fantasy take on "The Twelve Dancing Princesses." He'd probably see himself in Athdar and his situation (and Athdar's relationship with Thea), he'd like Galen as much as I do, and he'd appreciate the twists and turns of the plot quite a lot.
Have you checked out the Black Friday sale yet? Which books in it are you eyeing up, either for yourself or (in this hypothetical scenario) your own characters? Please tell me in the comments!
Thanks for reading!
