Latest Posts
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Cover Reveal: Songbird Heir (A World of Magic, A World of Steel #2)
Big update for the website today! Are you ready to see yet another gorgeous cover, designed by my lovely designer, Justine at Covers and Cupcakes? If you loved my first book, Steel Princess, I hope you’ll love this one just as much. It’s the second book in a series of four, so you have twoContinue…
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Steel Princess Is Now An Audiobook & Book 2 Cover Reveal Coming Soon!
Today is the day that Steel Princess is now out in the world in audiobook form! Finally. I am in love with this audiobook, the narration is amazing and I hope it brings the story to life for you when you come to listen! You can download it here! https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Steel-Princess-Audiobook/B0CW6M2VDW?action_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp Also, the cover for SongbirdContinue…
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Songbird Heir, Sequel to Steel Princess is Coming
Hi all! I’m excited to share with you that the second book in my A World of Magic, A World of Steel series is coming in 2024. I’m still in the drafting process of draft two, but I have my cover booked in with my designer for February, and I’m getting through this book inContinue…
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Happy 4th Birthday To My Website, & I’m Starting A Newsletter Subscription
I feel pretty blessed today to say that I’ve had this website for four years, and only a few days ago it was my four year anniversary for my editing business, Hooked On Words Editorial. (If you’re interested in finding an editor, email hookedonwordses@gmail.com for a free sample edit.) I offer developmental editing, copy editingContinue…
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What’s Been Going On?
It’s been a big year for a lot of reasons. I haven’t posted anything like this in a while, so I thought I would give a brief runthrough of everything I’ve been doing so far in 2023, because so far, a lot has happened, and it all still boggles my brain! In my personal lifeContinue…
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The Girl Behind The Glass, a dark retelling of Snow White, is now out!
Hi all! It’s been a while since I’ve posted here as I’ve been pretty busy with freelance editing this year, and writing, and rewriting this book! The Girl Behind The Glass is a dark retelling of Snow White, and my first book in a series of fairytales set in the same seasonal world. It startsContinue…
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Preorder Is Live For The Girl Behind The Glass!
My second novel, The Girl Behind The Glass, a dark retelling of Snow White, is now live for preorder! You can find the link here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Girl-Behind-Glass-Spellbound-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B0CBHP3J3D/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=the+girl+behind+the+glass+april+grace&qid=1690717938&s=digital-text&sr=1-1 Blurb: What if Snow White had a stepsister? Winnie is the daughter of the mayor of the cursed Mirror Village, Cranwick. She has always felt trapped, since her cityContinue…
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Cover Reveal – The Girl Behind The Glass, A Dark Retelling Of Snow White
Do you love dark fairytale retellings as much as I do? Well, if you’ve loved reading Snow White retellings like Marissa Meyer’s Winter, I hope you will love my newest book as much as I have loved writing it. I have been very lucky this week to be able to finally say that I receivedContinue…
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Book Review: Iron Heart by Nina Varela
Another fantastic book from Nina Varela! This one is the sequel to her first slightly futuristic fantasy book, Crier’s War. You can find my review to that one here: https://april-grace.com/2022/05/30/book-review-criers-war-by-nina-varela/ I thoroughly enjoyed Crier’s War. I loved the way Crier grew to empathise with the humans, and especially her handmaiden, Ayla. Well, she grew aContinue…
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Social Media For Writers: Is It Like Magic?
Everyone has social media nowadays, but how does it come in useful for writers? Well, I’m pretty sure I posted an article about TikTok for authors, but I wanted to give a more generalised view of my experience with other forms of social media since I published my first book last month! I’ve not hadContinue…
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Book Review: “Twin Crowns” by Katherine Webber & Catherine Doyle
What a wonderful story! This book had both witchy and fairytale vibes – two things I am all for. It also very much reminds me of my current WIP, a witchy story that retells Snow White, so it was strange to read this at the same time, but I absolutely loved it. So as theContinue…
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Book Review: “Ending In Cadence” by Catherine Dowden
Yet another indie read! I read and finished this one in a few days, while on holiday in Dorset with my family. I have to say, I’m not the quickest of readers but I finished two books while on that holiday and started on a third. I was having the best time. This one wasContinue…
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Book Review: “House Of Lies & Sorrow” by Emily Blackwood
This book was wonderful! I’ve been watching the author’s TikTok videos for a while now and I was intrigued by her cover and her little teaser snippets of the story. She made it clear that this book was an enemies to lovers (which I’m currently obsessed with!), with no spice but lots of tension. IfContinue…
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Big News For My Upcoming Debut Novel Steel Princess!
If you have been following this blog at all lately, you will probably have seen me mention my upcoming debut novel. The whole process of self-publishing has been a year in the running, and now it’s finally happening and it feels amazing to be able to tell you. It’s slowly starting to feel more realContinue…
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Book Review: From The Mouths Of Sirens by Abigail Hair
Yet another Booktok recommendation from a lovely indie author! She also designed the map for my book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book – I think it’s one of the best retellings I’ve read in a while. Do you love The Little Mermaid, and do you also love The Hunger Games? Because if you do, you’reContinue…
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Working On Multiple Projects At Once: Drafting Book 2 & Planning A Rewrite For An Old Project
This isn’t how I usually like to do things, but strangely I’m loving the process this time. Even when I studied Creative Writing at university and we had to deliver multiple creative pieces within a short time frame, I struggled with handling more than one at a time. I think I’m coming to realise thatContinue…
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Book Review: The Invisible Life of Addie Larue by V.E Schwab
This book was beautiful and heartbreaking all at once! It’s a wild ride, going back with a lot of flashbacks through history, but the way it’s told is beautifully done, and I really enjoyed it. (Even if it took me a while to read because it’s quite chunky.) I say through history, because our mainContinue…
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TikTok As A Marketing Tool For Authors
TikTok is great fun – it’s full of trending sounds that can make you laugh, stir emotion and more. But when you’re trying to relate videos to your own niche, it’s a brilliant resource. I’ve been using TikTok as a writer for over a year now, and I love finding great author and reader friendsContinue…
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Book Review: Crier’s War by Nina Varela
Wow, what a brilliant ride this book was. I usually get a bit nervous when I read books with a similar concept to my own, but as soon as I started reading this, I was hooked. The world-building is quite hard to understand at first, I found, but when you have taken in the lengthyContinue…
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Holding Myself Accountable – New Content Schedules!
We all have to do it sometimes, right? I don’t know about you, but I find it very difficult to motivate myself to create content if I don’t have a schedule in my weekly planner. So this is what I’m going to be doing from now on. I have a book coming out in justContinue…
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Writing & Publishing – The Indie Route & My Personal Experience So Far
Indie publishing is becoming a huge thing nowadays, but honestly, it was always something I swore against. I have spent years querying my various YA fantasy novels, and although I’ve had some lovely feedback from different industry professionals, it hasn’t worked out that way for me. I attended a YALC event with a writer friendContinue…
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Book Review: The High Mountain Court by A.K Mulford
It’s been a while since I posted on this blog. This year has been intense so far! I’m constantly busy with work, swamped with freelance editing projects, or working on my debut novel, Steel Princess. (More news to come on that one very soon!) I have read quite a few books so far this year,Continue…
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Book Review: “Girl, Serpent, Thorn” by Melissa Bashardoust
I have to admit, the gorgeous cover for this book was what gripped me and made me pick it up. (I suppose that’s what the cover is meant to do though, right?) But the immersive world-building, fast-paced plot and badass main character was what kept me in the book and made me want to keepContinue…
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Looking For Arc Readers For My Debut YA Fantasy Novel, ‘STEEL PRINCESS’!
Do you, like me, love a YA fantasy story about a Princess returning to her home Kingdom? With lots of fairytale elements, and some futuristic themes as well? If so, might you be interested in becoming an Arc reader for my upcoming debut novel about a teenage android, raised by humans, with a mission toContinue…
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Big News!
What a productive start to the new year: three days in to 2022, I’m quite excited to reveal that my debut novel, Steel Princess, is currently with my editor, Katie Wismer! I’ve watched her YouTube videos on writing and editing for years, so I was quite excited when I received her sample edit and thenContinue…
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Book Review: “Torn” by Jasmine Watson
I’ve been friends with the author on TikTok for a while now, and thought the cover and premise of her debut novel were really interesting. So I got stuck in, and I enjoyed it. I found it quite hard to get through and a little slow in terms of the pacing at times, but thisContinue…
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Book Review: An Heir Comes To Rise by C. C Penaranda
I’ve been seeing this author’s videos on TikTok quite a lot lately, so I was excited to get a hold of this one, along with a few other indie books I’ve seen on the site. I thought the cover was beautiful and as I was having my own book cover designed around the time IContinue…
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Book Review: The Bridge Kingdom by Danielle L. Jensen
This was probably one of my favourite books of this year, although it was a little slow to get through at times. It has some wonderful world-building, a badass heroine with dark intentions, the enemies to lovers trope clearly woven through the story, and well thought out characters. The world-building is unique, with a KingdomContinue…
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2022 Writing & Publishing Goals
So I have some very exciting writing plans coming in 2022, starting with publishing my first book, Steel Princess, a YA fantasy novel with both futuristic and fairytale elements about a teenage android who discovers she’s from the Steel City of Elysia, a Queendom ruled by a cruel android Queen. This book has been nineContinue…
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How I Manage My Time As A Freelance Book Editor, Soon-To-Be Indie Author & Arcade Assistant
That title was a mouthful, wasn’t it? Well, my week is just as insane sometimes, you could say. It’s felt more that way, too, since I moved in with my boyfriend two months ago. Well, the idea of having my own place and living on my own must have triggered the part of my brainContinue…
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Book Review: Ocean Heart by Ally Aldridge
You might have to call me biased for this review, but honestly, I don’t care! I’ve known this author for a few years now, as we met online through Instagram, but actually met at a YALC convention at London Olympia a couple of years ago. We both love YA books and were both planning onContinue…
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Happy Birthday Hooked On Words Editorial!
How time flies! I still remember when I first decided to create my little editing business two years ago. I’d been working for a charity in London as the Head of Literature, organising the charity’s book blog, writing book reviews and much more, running a book tour and organising workshops, as well as trying toContinue…
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Book Review: A Trial of Sorcerers by Elise Kova
I’ve been reading more indie books lately, mostly through watching a lot of authors talking about their books on BookTok, but I wasn’t even aware Elise Kova was an indie author at first. I first read her novel, A Deal With The Elf King, which I thoroughly enjoyed and will probably review on here atContinue…
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The World Of Disney & Its Influence On My Writing
Where did I get the inspiration for writing this blog post? That would probably be the fact I’m sitting here right now, watching Tangled on Disney +. I love this film! As a kid, did you and your siblings ever have that one film you’d watch on repeat? Well, Tangled was that film for us.Continue…
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Book Review: The Marionettes by Katie Wismer
Isn’t that cover gorgeous? I’ve been reading a lot of books by indie authors recently, but I thought I’d let myself get sucked into this book, since the author is going to be editing my first novel in January, and I wasn’t disappointed. If you’re a fan of Sabrina’s Chilling Adventures on Netflix, you’ll probablyContinue…
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Cover Reveal – Steel Princess, my YA Debut, Coming July 2022
Do you love stories with slightly futuristic elements, but also a fantastical twist as well? Think, Marissa Meyer’s Cinder, Spare and Found Parts by Sarah Maria Griffin, The Kingdom by Jess Rothenberg, and more? Well, my first novel has androids and cyborgs, but it also has pirates, elves, mermaids and sirens as well. I hopeContinue…
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How I Became A Freelance Editor
Ever since I was little, I’ve always loved books – reading and writing them. My sisters and I used to walk up to our local library and bring home about four or five books at a time, and keep them right up until the two week limit. This carried on right through secondary school, whenContinue…
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Book Review: Fable & Namesake Duology by Adrienne Young
Fable by Adrienne Young This has been one of my favourite YA fantasy books so far this year! Since the Wellerman song has been trending all over TikTok, I haven’t been able to stop drinking in everything pirate related, and this book didn’t disappoint when it came to refilling that thirst. I have a fewContinue…
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Becoming An Indie Author
Big news! This week, my first book’s cover has been designed, and I couldn’t be more in love with it. Even just seeing the mockups and how they’ve been changing, and speaking with my cover artist, has made everything so much more real. I’ve been working on this book since I was in my AContinue…
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2021 Reading Goals
Since I posted my 2021 writing goals yesterday, I thought it was fitting that I also give my 2021 reading plans for the year! In the video below, I talk through some books that have been on my TBR pile for a long time (some of them – years!), which I plan to finally sinkContinue…
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2021 Writing Goals!
As we’ve just begun a new year, and as this is my first blog post on this site, I thought it was fitting to start off by sharing my 2021 writing goals! But before you watch the very detailed video I filmed this morning, where I talk through my plans for the coming year, IContinue…
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How Are We Already Halfway Through 2024?
What a year so far! I like to try to write on here as much as I can, but I’ve had so much going on both as an author and in my personal life. But I won’t bore you with all of those little details. So, what have I been getting up to in termsContinue…
About Me
Hi, I’m April Grace. I have worked as the Head of Literature for a charity that aims to bring creative opportunities to young people, for a well known bookshop called The Works, and in a temporary role for a book distributor, a UK based Ingram Sparks company. So I have worked with books in all different forms! It’s pretty cool.
I also have a BA in Creative Writing from the University of Bedfordshire.
When I’m not spending time with my lovely family, friends and boyfriend, or working on freelance editing with both new and previous clients, I love writing my young adult fantasy novels.
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April Grace 