BryonySeries Mother's Day Special at The Book Market

Last week, Rebekah curated six books that she thought make a perfect gift for the mother (or mother figure) on your Mother's Day shopping list because of the mothers portrayed in the books.

In fact, "Visage," the second book in the "drop of blood" trilogy, even has a forward by a parent coach with suggestions for navigating a teen's poor choice in a romantic partner.

All six books are currently displayed  at The Book Market in Crest Hill, which you can pair with a handmade purple music rose (piano music and purple roses are motifs in the series) or with a one-of-a-kind bookmark, handmade for Cindy ($6 with a BryonySeries book purchase or $12 without the book).

Here's a peek at the books, along with their descriptions below the photo.

Nine Months of Kindness: They say “kindness” begins at home, and home starts with the person in the mirror. In “Nine Months of Kindness,” writer/editor Denise M. Baran-Unland spent part of 2020 exploring ways she could become kinder to herself and the people in her life. She shares her experiences, and her reflections, in this book.

Before the Blood is a five-novel prequel to the BryonySeries Gothic trilogy. Told in multiple points of view with Faustian elements, "Before the Blood" centers on the lives of four key characters and the choices that ultimately lead to tragic ending. In Book Three, read how little Bryony Marseilles, spoiled sheltered, and sickly, uses her introversion and imagination to make sense of her Utopia. 

"Summer Sisters" is the story of eleven-year-old Bryony Marseilles and her strict father, who live alone in a big house. Bryony doesn’t realize she’s lonely until she spends three months with a large family of girls at their farm. For the first time, Bryony can run free and enjoy the company of her peers. She learns people and situations aren’t always what they seem – and that people, even Bryony, can change.

Bryony: A 1970s teen trades her blood with a Victorian vampire for a trip back into time as his wife. The bargain doesn't go as she'd hoped.

Visage: While grieving the abrupt end of her blood bargain with 19th century pianist John Simons, 18-year-old Melissa flings herself into a relationship with a college music professor, a man with a shady reputation and an uncanny resemblance to John.

Staked!: A teen music prodigy who lives in a remote fishing village, works for a newspaper delivery uncle and a funeral director stepfather, has a princess in his mirror, and his father was staked by his best friend’s father. And that's the old normal.

Just so you know, the free purple roses and the special price on the bookmarks with purchase apply to any BryonySeries book, not just the ones displayed.

The other BryonySeries titles are located in the local author section, which is slightly behind and to the left of the display table. 

Or just ask Jan Staley, owner of The Book Market to help you find the other books.

Jan is super friendly and always ready to stop whatever she's doing to assist customers.

And for BryonySeries customers who live out of state...

...please visit our promotions page and reach out to bryonyseries@gmail.com with any questions.

At this time, we do not ship "swag." But we are happy to work out discounts on BryonySeries books to promote the love of reading to all ages.

Happy Thursday!

BryonySeries at the North Pole Christmas Market

So my "wish list" event for many years was participating in the North Pole Christmas Market at Joliet's annual "Light Up the Holidays" event, which is held every year in several downtown locations the day after Thanksgiving.

The Joliet City Center Partnership hosts a wonderful event with live entertainment, ice skating, horse-drawn carriages, visits with Santa, ice sculpture demos, children's Ferris wheel, slide, tree lighting (canceled this year due to construction downtown), and a large parade towards evening.

Usually by the time I had my family holiday schedule (who was doing what, when, and where), I'd run out of time to apply.

This year I was smart (it happens sometimes), and I applied early. And I was accepted!

So needless to say...

Bertrand and Uncle Barty are super excited to attend, especially since I was asked to also be part of the entertainment and read some Christmas stories to the children (with a special giveaway, details on Monday).

And we also have some special "extras" planned at my booth.

The main one is a BryonySeries miniature backpack, which is doubling as a swag bag for the event. I'll be giving twenty of these bags away from my booth during the event. I'll share the details of that bag on Tuesday.

But we also have two more giveaways.

For any book purchase in the $15 dollar-ish range, you may take home one of these purple music roses (while supplies last), created by Joliet Public Library Youth Services Clerk Jan Stack.

And we also have crocheted mice for adoption for adoption for those who purchase three Bertrand books for $15, which is discounted from $7 for each book, one mouse per three books (while mice are available).

Bertrand knows each and every one of them, and he can assure you they will make lovely companions, all of which will be very thankful to have a new home for the holidays.

Happy Thursday!

Back to The Book Market on Tuesday

If you're out and about the Crest Hill area tomorrow (Nov. 9), be sure to pop into The Book Market between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.

You can check out our BryonySeries Christmas display of eleven curated BryonySeries books, Cindy's backpack bear Ribbit-Ribbits, and free purple music roses with select purchases (all while supplies last). 

Rebekah and I will be hanging out with the rest of the books in the series, too. We'll be able to answer your questions about the series and maybe read an excerpt (or two) of your choice.

The Book Market owner Janet Staley is super-friendly, too, and always ready and willing to help you find the perfect book in this family-owned bookstore of new, used, and rare books.

We'll also have information about upcoming events, such as WriteOn Joliet's anthology release party on Dec. 5, where you can pick up a wide variety of locally written books in a wide variety of genres for all the bookworms on your holiday list.

Hope to see you there!

BryonySeries Christmas Special at The Book Market (With Ribbit-Ribbits and Purple Music Roses!)

Be sure to pop into The Book Market in Crest Hill soon and check out the BryonySeries Christmas display.

We've curated eleven books for preschoolers all the way through adult that are perfect for gifts and your own holiday reading.

Plus, we also have special prices on Ribbit-Ribbits with BryonySeries book purchases (while supplies last) and FREE purple music roses with BryonySeries book purchases (again, while supplies last).

These purple music roses are not for sale. 

The purple music roses are a "thank you" gift from the BryonySeries team for purchasing approximately $15 worth of books.

That means any novel, any two combination of cookbooks, any two books in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series, any two books in the Girls of the ByronySeries, or any three books in the Bertrand the Mouse series.

However, we are not putting a limit on how many roses a customer my receive. They are available for EACH $15-ish BryonySeries books purchase while supplies last.

Now, read on for the featured books.

"Before the Blood" is a five-novel prequel to the BryonySeries Gothic trilogy. Told in multiple points of view with Faustian elements, "Before the Blood" centers on the lives of four key characters and the choices that ultimately lead to tragic ending. 

You can read all five installments in one volume or buy the installments one at a time.

In Book One, read how John Simons goes from riches to rags to riches, and the price he pays along the way. 

In Book Two, read how Kellen Wechsler goes from rags to riches, and see the lives he discards along the way. 

In Book Three, read how little Bryony Marseilles, spoiled sheltered, and sickly, uses her introversion and imagination to make sense of her Utopia. 

In Book Four, read how Henry Matthews goes from rags to riches and what he sacrifices to serve the riches. 

In Book Five, read how Bryony Simons and those she loves destroy their dreams.

Denise M. Baran-Unland's Irish Genealogy: I'm not Irish. And this series of short, humorous essays by Ed Calkins, Steward of Tara, do not chronicle any part of my real genealogy. But they make for amusing reading.

"Bryony": Grief-stricken after a terrible loss, Melissa and her family move to a remote fishing village to start a new life. Little does she realize that the dreams she's having are far more sinister - and have repercussions far beyond those dreams.

And it's companion cookbook "Memories in the Kitchen: Bites and Nibbles from 'Bryony'": Make a difference in a child's life and enjoy a bit of culinary history by purchasing this BryonySeries cookbook of 1970s and 19th century recipes. All proceeds are donated to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Will and Grundy Counties.

"Cornell Dyer and the Flu": It’s Christmas Eve and a very sick Cornell Dyer is stuck in the hospital, frustrated because he can’t find the vending machine and because he’s too sick to solve his latest supernatural mystery. Another patient tries to help Cornell, not with food and medicine, but with a journey into realms Cornell doesn’t want to go. (This book is a parody of "A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens).

"Bertrand and the Christmas Surprise": It's Bertrand's first Christmas, and he can't wait to meet Santa. But instead of the man in the red suit, Bertrand comes face to face with a bit of Christmas magic.

Just so you know, the Ribbit-Ribbits special and free purple roses with purchase apply to any BryonySeries book, not just the ones displayed.

The other BryonySeries titles are located in the local author section, which is slightly behind and to the left of the display table. 

Or just ask Jan Staley, owner of The Book Market to help you find the other books.

Jan is super friendly and always ready to stop whatever she's doing to assist customers.

And for BryonySeries customers who live out of state...

...please visit our promotions page and reach out to bryonyseries@gmail.com with any questions.

At this time, we do not ship "swag." But we are happy to work out discounts on BryonySeries books to promote the love of reading to all ages.

Happy Thursday!

Purple Music Roses (And Where You Can Get Yours)

So Jan Stack, the lovely youth services clerk at the Joliet Public Library, with which WriteOn Joliet has a partnership, recently crafted fifty stunning purple music roses for me.

As you may know, both piano music and purple roses are motifs that appear in quite a few books in the BryonySeries. 

Below this photo you'll find some quote examples from the books and a closeup of the gorgeous paper roses in several shades of purple.

And below THAT, you'll learn where to find these purple music roses this year (and how you can take one home).

Some quotes

Skidding on satin slippers, Melissa fled past the croquet grounds and then the tea garden, in full bloom with Henry’s forbidden purple roses. "Bryony" 

With a flourish, John removed his hand from behind his back and offered Melissa his gift. It was a bouquet of one dozen purple roses. "Visage"

Melissa sat at her desk correcting papers by the tiny lamp. It was the only light in the entire room except for the pink candle she burned near the vase of the fresh purple roses she always insisted Kellen buy for her. "Staked!"

For every stem on his experimental roses, roses that were bare when he left them that morning, roses that never bloomed despite years of tending and experimentation, every stem now bore a deep purple bud. "Before The Blood: Henry Matthews"

She dutifully placed them into cut glass vases and filled the room with their fragrance, but more than once her eyes strayed to Mr. Matthews' landscape oils with the tiny purple rose painted in each corner, and then to the chair near the fire where Mr. Simons had sat last night. "Before The Blood: Bryony Simons"

On other nights, Henry abandoned his art and restlessly wandered the vast Simons estate, peering past the seedlings and into the ground to their roots, wracking his mind as to why annuals and perennials once fascinated him, why his uncle built him a greenhouse at Arcadia, and why Henry spent years crossbreeding roses to create a purple variety. What value did it hold? "The Phoenix"

The final room boasted wine-hued carpeting and wallpaper, shelves overflowing with books on most walls, mahogany desks with typewriters and leather chairs, a settee with crimson and gold upholstery, and vases of fragrant purple roses. She strolled across the room and touched a velvety petal. Fresh. Weird. "House on Top of the Hill"

How can I get one?

These purple music roses are only available at The Book Market in Crest Hill (starting Wednesday and while supplies last) and at these two events:

"Light Up The Holidays North Pole Christmas Market: 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Nov. 29 (the day after Thanksgiving), Renaissance Center, 204 N. Ottawa St., Joliet 

WriteOn Joliet 8th Annual Anthology Release Party: 6 to 8 p.m., December 5, Joliet Public Library, 3395 Black Road, Joliet.

These purple music roses are not for sale. 

The purple music roses are a "thank you" gift from the BryonySeries team for purchasing approximately $15 worth of books.

That means any novel, any two combination of cookbooks, any two books in The Adventures of Cornell Dyer series, any two books in the Girls of the ByronySeries, or any three books in the Bertrand the Mouse series.

However, we are not putting a limit on how many roses a customer may receive. They are available for EACH $15-ish BryonySeries books purchase while supplies last.

Happy Tuesday!