I had the pleasure of receiving a glowing review from a winner of the Goodreads giveaway I did not so long ago. Thank you, Goodreads. Once again, you’ve proven yourself an underutilized and underappreciated tool for authors. I stand corrected.

It’s doesn’t get any better for an author than to know that some person, entirely unknown to me, enjoyed spending time in the fantastical Regency world I created.

The best part of his review was when he said, “This reads like an episode of Penny Dreadful…” (You can’t see me, but I’m blushing.) Now, truth be told, I don’t watch Penny Dreadful because it’s a mite on the sketchy side for me. But it has 8 out of 10 reviews and is hugely popular. So I am happy to be compared with something that is widely accepted as entertaining.

I like to think of my novel as something along the lines of Sherlockian fantistorical (that would be fantasy – historical for those of you who aren’t in the line of making up your own words, hehe). I’ve struggled in giving this book a genre. Is it paranormal? Do I want to get tied to a genre that is by and large almost exclusively sketchy romance? Is it fantasy? Is it speculative?

Reviewer to the rescue. He called it Regency Gothic. Yaaahsss. That’s what it is. Perfect.

So this Goodreads giveaway was a win for me on a few different levels. A) A few lucky readers out there received letters from protagonist, Mr. Grissom. B) One of them really enjoyed my book. C) My novel was compared to a hugely popular SHOtime TV show. D) I figured out what genre to place my novel in.

If you haven’t read it yet, I am two reviews short of ten on amazon. If you’d like a free e-copy in exchange for an honest review, all you need do is sign up for my newsletter, The Fantastical, and I will contact you for a free .mobi file of the book.

I promise not to drop leaflets all over your email, just the monthly dose of serialized novella set in the world of John Grissom, announcements on new books coming out or updates on progress, and a couple other fun things like the best homemade remedy against vampires… and spouses.