Tag: author Shannon Mayer

Review: Inked in Emeralds (Inkbound Book 3) by Shannon Mayer

Rating: 4.5⭐️

Shannon Mayer has taken her readers on quite the fairytale journey in her Inkbound Trilogy. 

After her mother, the Queen of C’aan Saas,  sealed her away in the book of fairytales for her safety, Mayer has sent the heroine, Harmony, and her best friend first through the tale of Cinderella, with some horrific twists, in Inked in Ashes. The second story, Inked in Onyx, saw Harmony and friends fall over the page into the world of Peter Pan , Tinkerbell, the Lost Boys and Captain Hook. 

That was another world where nothing was as it seemed, Harmony showed even more development, and important friends were left behind by Harmony as she and Hook traveled over the page to find the answers necessary to go through to Harmony’s final chapter.  

They end up in Oz! The Emerald City. Land of Flying Evil Monkeys and Munchkins. And the Wizard behind the curtain. And more twists before ending home for the final battles. 

This last book is so good. Familiar yet not as Mayer throws in her own twists and surprises here, making this familiar tale new , poignant and exciting. 

The battle scenes were great, the characters in their respective emotional growth and relationships were fantastic and beautifully executed. Harmony and Hook each are so well done. 

Inkbound is a fabulous fairytale fantasy trilogy. One I’m highly recommending. 

Love the covers. 

Cover by HiJinks Ink Publishing

Inkbound series:

Inked in Ashes #1

Inked in Onyx #2 

Inked in Emeralds #3

Buy links 

 Book 3 of 3: Inkbound 

Blurb 

There’s no place like home… 

Surviving a pirate-infested hell-scape—complete with a giant crocodile and a fairy with bad intentions—was rough. I’d been hoping for better days when a cyclone of story-magic dropped me and Hook smack in the middle of a place called Oz.

At first it seems like paradise, but as always, there’s a catch. The Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkeys are terrorizing the townsfolk, and they’re in desperate need of saving. A job made near impossible when I find out that my mortal enemy, Almira, and The Wicked Witch of the West are one and the same… And she will stop at nothing to end me.

If I ever want to get back to C’an Saas and save my own people, my band of misfits and I will have to defeat the strongest witch who ever lived. With the right combination of wits, heart, and courage, we might have a chance. I just have to hope that the dark pirate of my dreams and Prince Charming don’t kill each other in the process…

  • Publisher: Hijinks Ink Publishing
  • Publication date: September 16, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Print length: 381 pages
  • Book 3 of 3: Inkbound

Review: Inked in Ashes: A twisted fairy tale retelling (Inkbound Book 1) by Shannon Mayer

Rating:  5✨

I love stories where the author has twisted known fairy tales into their own interpretations of these beloved characters and takes on their universes and themes. 

Inked in Ashes is author Shannon Mayer’s first novel in her new Inkbound series about a princess hidden in a book of Fairy Tales until the time is finally come for her to make her way back home and save her kingdom. 

From such a simple sounding premise comes an incredible story, starting with a devastating scene of sacrifice, death , and the magic that sends a toddler princess into a book of fairy tales just as her father’s enemy destroys everything around her.  It’s heartbreaking and terrifying as any a prologue. 

Harmony Fallowell is the young woman we meet in a slum town, Hollow, along with her best friend, Moll, trying to get her friend out of going to the ball. Harmony’s got a stepfather, stepmother, and her kids. Yes, she’s not been treated well as an extra mouth or adopted sibling. 

Things go badly at the ball for Moll and then Harmony who is there for her. 

Mayer beautifully pulls in many of the familiar themes and fairy tale staples here, ones that will make the reader nod in acknowledgment.  But those are just a fantastic framework for a deeper story. 

One that has inspired characters, including falcons, violence, gore in action scenes, and some detailed deaths. There’s also an off the page mention of a SA. 

So think Grimm’s instead of Disney and you would be more prepared for the type of characters and scenarios found here. 

The journey that propels Harmony throughout this book is so well written. It combines a number of different elements, all perfectly executed to give the feeling of multiple layers being utilized at the same time to help her develop and become the person needed at the end of her journey. The one needed to save her kingdom. 

How I love this book and characters. Absolutely amazing. 

Molli too. She’s a tremendous character. 

I need Inked in Onyx asap!

Highly recommended!

 Cover by HiJinks Ink Publishing

Inkbound series:

Inked in Ashes #1

Inked in Onyx #2 – June 10,2025

Buy link

 Book 1 of 2: Inkbound 

Blurb 

For fans of Once Upon a Time, and Wicked.

Escape the page, or die trying…

I’ve spent twenty-five years in the Hollow, poor as dirt, cursed with a stepmother who hates me, and dreaming about a faraway land that I don’t understand. Only two things that make life worth living are my falcon, Fetch, and my best friend, Molly.

But when Moll’s plot to land a royal husband at the palace ball goes horribly wrong, I find myself staring at a king with a glass stiletto buried in his chest and a blood-covered Molly standing over him. We’ve got to move…and fast, or we’ll both wind up swinging from the hangman’s noose.

Worse? The palace sorcerer is using everything he can to find the culprit including raising the dead.

More complicated? Duncan…brother to the King, whose eye I’ve unintentionally caught, a man whose secrets might be deadlier than the undead soldiers breathing down our necks, is making me second-guess everything I’ve ever known.

With revolution brewing and a mysterious man calling to me from my dreams, I have no choice but to embrace my fate…

But what if my fate is beyond anything I could ever imagine? What if the only land I’ve ever known isn’t home at all?

What if I’m trapped inside a fairytale, and the only way out…is through?

  • Publisher: Hijinks Ink Publishing
  • Accessibility: Learn more
  • Publication date: May 13, 2025
  • Language: English
  • Book 1 of 2: Inkbound