Isra Sravenheart's Blog - Posts Tagged "series"

Hey everyone, Isra here.

I just wanted to present to you, my debut novel "Her Blackened Soul" Brand new edition, all made for 2017! For both paperback and Kindle! It has taken some time to get it all up and running but here we are! At last. I am very excited to bring this work to you and look forward to feedback!

"Her Blackened Soul" is a dark fantasy fairy tale unlike no other! With dragons, angels, a raven and a snake featured, it plays host to a range of characters as you delve into the bewitching world of Lady Isra! Can you enter her kingdom and live to tell the tale?

I also am posting the giveaway winners books today as I have the hard copies, thank you to everyone who entered and if you didn't win you can still get yourself a copy of the book here.

Available on Amazon worldwide and some bookstores online.

UK : https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Blackene...

UK Kindle: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Her-Blackene...

US: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Blackened-...

US Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Blackened-...

Well that's all from me today, I have a lot to do. Blessings. Isra xxx

Hello everyone, I was going to combine this in another post but then I decided it would be more appropriate to address it in it's own post.

There has been a new review posted for "Her Blackened Soul" by a reviewer called Lady Rose.

Now I don't agree with all of this review's content but there has been some interesting questions posed so I will answer those and respond here, hopefully clearing up this person's confusion. I am very open to questions and this reviewer has raised some good ones! The fact that such questions have been asked is very interesting and poses some questions to myself as well so it does make for very good thinking.

I will address each part with " indicating that is the reviewer's part and then answer starting with *, showing my response.

The first part is as follows:

"This book lives up to its title of a blackened soul, and just when you think maybe she can be redeemed the witch will show you just how much she enjoys having a black heart. The book can be a bit repetitive in saying just how black of a heart the witch has and repetitive in her claiming how much punishment/revenge she will give long before she finally does give it. Though I thought maybe the ending final punishment would be what it was, I was a bit surprised the last punishment wasn't worse considering all that had gone before."

*Yes she does have a very dark heart, that is the very nature of her character, however she is not totally dark because she manages to fall in love. Somebody who is truly full of hatred would never be able to commit to such an act.

The next part: "The worse part was what happened to poor Astrid the raven in my opinion (to say more would spoil it), and for that it made me really not like the witch Lady Isra at all...though luckily that was at the very end of the book."

*Nothing bad happens to Astrid the Raven, he does not die. He does not get hurt by Lady Isra in any way. I am not too sure whether this reviewer understood the nature of this but nothing bad happens to Astrid.

Then we have:

"The flow of of the book can be a bit halting or jumpy as well, which took me a little bit to get used to it...once I did get used to it then it read very fast for me. There were a handful of glaringly obvious miswrites in sentences (parts where you can see the sentence begins one way and then ends in a different direction, making the middle more muddled--though it is only a handful of times). "

*Yes, this is a previous version of the work and the editor wasn't up to scratch. Thankfully I have found a better one since this experience.

The next part talks about the plot and this is what I have found interesting.

"As for plot holes, who killed the snake? "

*The snakes killer will not be revealed at this time. That is something that will be revealed in the third book.

"Where did the angels go? "

*More detail on the Angels will be revealed in the prequel. Book four, where we learn more about Isra's past.

"Was it the angels killed the snake in hopes of making Lady Isra think it was Astrid and get her to hurt him as well? "

*No. The angel's aren't even aware of Astrid's presence in Isra's life as they gave up on her, after she declined their advice. Isra would never hurt Astrid.

"Was it whoever had mysteriously hurt Lady Isra in the past to cause her heart to turn black to begin with? "

*The snakes killer will be revealed at a later date.

"Was it Lady Isra herself to test Astrid in whether he would tell her or not, and if so why act like she didn't know, and if she she didnt know why no care to find out who did it since she still thought him friend?"

*Interesting for many reasons. Isra did not know of Romeo's betrayal. It is clear towards the end, so Astrid takes the decision not to tell her. Therefore Isra did not kill Romeo the snake. Isra has no trust issues over Astrid. Isra has no reason to test Astrid as she knows he is loyal to her.

"How did Kane's gypsy seer family not see what was happening to him or to be wary of Lady Isra and friends? "

*It is revealed to Kane's mother, what has happened to him, thus learning of his fate.

"Where did Lady Isra go at the end of the story and more importantly why? "

*This will be revealed in "Her Blackened Heart"

Then we have this part:

"How can it be said back to back: stated person has control over another person, then no one knows of the controlled person's health or actions for days, then obviously controlled person is alive and kept alive because that is part of the plan. ???? Some of the logic in this book is totally not real logic, that is all you need tell yourself in order to keep reading and get to the end and discover the after plan that was never mentioned."

*The plan is discussed throughout, there is no complete knowledge of the exact outcome, until she executes it. Some of the logic isn't going to be real, it's a fantasy. Ultimately fiction wont have much logic, but an interesting point none the less.

And then finally we end with the following:

"It is a dark book, with dark plans, and dark actions carried out all by a lady turned witch whose heart has turned black and she enjoys it too much. I get the sense from the witch as many vampires in vampire books give about humans, a feeling of moral superiority and power superiority and the corruption that goes with it. So if you feel in the need for some truely dark story without any horror or suspense in the typical sense--this not a heart pounder or one that will make you afraid to read at night, just a story about the love and enjoyment of a witch becoming all powerful and then a killer for her own sense of warped justice, then you would do well to choose this one."

*It is a dark story, yes but it has many other facets to it. I truly don't believe the reviewer understand the story or maybe even read it fully. She does have a lot of superiority and that and the why will be revealed in time. There is a fair amount of horror in this, which again makes me feel like it wasn't completely read or maybe rushed.

Now there is the following:

"just a story about the love and enjoyment of a witch becoming all powerful and then a killer for her own sense of warped justice"

*She doesn't wholeheartedly love the darkness, there are many facets to her which are kept hidden in this story, because she is hidden. The coming of Astrid, will bring more of those facets to the surface and we will learn more about Isra and what makes her tick, and why she is who she is. She doesn't have a warped sense of justice, she believes it to be the ultimate price to show him what a mistake he made, again more details will be made of this in book three.

So in full, I found this review very intriguing. I don't see it as a negative, although I would be inclined to say that LadyRose didnt enjoy the book, which is fine, considering it is an older version, *ie not edited*. I am very intrigued with this person's questions about the story as a whole and the ones about holes in the plot. Those plot holes are there for a reason and will be revealed later on in the series. However I can understand the frustration in feeling like something is kept hidden from the reader, that is not my intention but as said before, Lady Isra has many facets to her personality. To get to grips fully with who she is and what happened to her in the past will take some time. "Her Blackened Heart" does go further into detail with that as will the third instalment in the series that I am currently writing. There seems to be a misconception about Lady Isra and Astrid. Nothing bad happens to Astrid. He does have a choice and he chooses to say yes to Isra's request. I won't say what that is but he chooses to do it via his own free will. Isra has no trust issues or doubts over Astrid. They become very good friends and she has no doubts over his loyalty to her. Over time Astrid and more details of him and his connection with Isra will be revealed.

I thank Lady Rose for her review and I hope despite her confusion over the story and details of the plot that I have managed to answer her questions and hopefully help with the confusion. Thank you again for giving me validation that there are some parts of the story that need fully addressing and will be later on in the series.

Isra xx

Hello everyone, Isra here.

I just wanted to let you all know, there is another giveaway posted for "Her Blackened Soul" this will probably be the last one for it as in Febuary/ March I will be releasing "Her Blackened Heart" that is currently in the hands of my capable editor!

If you want to enter, here is the link for it. https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sh...

I just wanted to clear up some vital information following "Her Blackened Soul" it has gone through a series of revamps, because at first I went with Author House and there was no editing or formatting done there and at the time I didn't know any better! Then when I first went indie, I hired an editor, she was so pants I won't even give her a mention. Then I had the work formatted, still with this editor's finished work.... and then finally in November of 2016, I found my editor Nina Clements and the difference between all the versions is astonishing, so yes there has been a lot of mistakes and mishaps along the way for "Her Blackened Soul" However we won't have to go through this process for any of the other books and I have truly have learnt a lot from the experience. I am also truly thankful for these trials so I know what not to do and truly I have learnt a lot, again.

Well I have more writing to do, so until next time. Isra xx

Hello everyone. Isra here. I had this idea for this post for a few days. While I am not criticising anyone for spending time on social media, I wanted to create something thought provoking that would inspire rather than criticise those for being on it.

First of all, I asked a question to my followers on my personal Facebook. I asked, “Just a genuine question, but if you weren't spending all day on social media what would you be doing?” And the answers were a mixed bunch that consisted of , “playing golf!” “Spending time with family/ loved ones” “on holiday” “in the Bahamas” so in short these answers were based around fun and leisure, which is great, nothing wrong with that but nobody grasped the concept that I was trying to outline so I decided to do this post.

Truthfully most of us spend most of our day, looking at our phones, on our computers on social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and the like. Now how many of us spend that time wisely and productively? I'm talking about those of us who set out to do something but instead we sit online and don't do anything except scroll. We all, including myself are guilty of this. It's human nature. So why do we do it? Is there a purpose to it? Does it change any aspect of our life? To bring us to a greater deeper purpose? In short, probably not.

I observed a few people on my friend's list. Obviously for privacy purposes, I won't be revealing any names or personal details. There is a great few who seem air their dirty laundry on there, some are sad and others are just in general lonely and seeking attention. Now the question here is, it's social media, so why not be social? A great majority of people, didn't seem to encompass the social idea, with posts such as, “Is there anyone who wants to chat?” Now it's great that people want to chat but whatever happened to going for a coffee round a friends or chatting on the phone? Are those communication methods obsolete now because of instant messaging and Facebook? Let's explore this further.

Some people are dependant on social media, yes dependent on it, meaning they cannot go a few minutes without checking their phone for their social network notifications! Crazy, right? Surely there are more awesome things to do with your day? But no, the majority, have such a compulsion to this that some could class it as an addiction. This means that phone calls and seeing people in the flesh could vanish in the next few years? That's a scary thought if so. Any ways, let's not focus on the dampeners of technology. I want to focus on how you can utilise social media in a productive and awesome way!


First of all, if you have message you want to share that is important, talks about serious issues or raises awareness to an important cause, social media is your best platform for getting your voice hard! Many charitable causes and organisations or simply those that want to share an inspiring message, go viral to thousands by simply telling their story! Make sure to reach your ideal audience by sharing in groups, pages or places of interest that fit to your message!

Promoting/ advertising. If you want to promote/ advertise something then social media is the best place to do it! You can connect with the people you believe will be interested by selecting the best audience for your object of promotion. Facebook advertising and twittter advertising services, work great for this and even work with a budget. You can further share value with those who fit your products catergory by sharing your promotion in places that connect with that area of interest. Just search the keywords you are focusing on and you are sure to find a wealth of pages, groups, people and more who may be interested. Remember, keep your advert, short and sweet but make sure you clearly explain what the product is. Don't spam people and then run, make sure it is something of value by replying to those who express interest or ask them how their day is going! Keep it connected!

Connecting with those with similar interests. You may have an interest or a hobby that is quite diverse and want to connect with others. You can do this by searching the interest and there will be a range of groups/ pages where you can connect and interact with people of that chosen interest!

Connecting with those who are not close by. Many of us, are not able to connect with friends/ loved ones who are not on our doorstep as much as we'd like. So social media is great for this! You can send a how are you message in the space of a few seconds, see updates via their photos and even start a video chat in Facebook messenger!

Now I am sure there are other positive ways to utilise social media without just idly scrolling through that I have missed, please feel free to comment any ways you know of below, or if this post inspired you or provoked some thought in you, alternatively you can contact me on twitter @israsravenheart or any of my social media links which you can find below on my amazon page https://www.amazon.com/Isra-Sravenhea...

Until next time. Isra xxx