Yes, I wrote this book! Yes, I'm rating my own work five stars because if not me, then who?

Hearts of Clay and Tempest is an Irish Retelling of the Little Mermaid. The OG Little Mermaid, so throw out the happy ending you remember from childhood. Just a bit of a warning.


I wrote this story my sophomore year of college. I wanted a fantasy story that wasn't centered around romance, that had Queer characters and took me to another world. Darcy and Brendan, and Edric and Flavian, and Bridget and Anya are all pieces of my heart. I hope you'll see my heart in their story and maybe some of your own heart as well.2022-releases covers-i- mythology ...more13 s Courtenay41

Bait & Switch
This is not the Elizabeth Hunter we all know and love. Apparently I was not the only one fooled. But once I realized, I was already $10 in; so sure, I'll give it a try. The storyline has promise, but the execution is not there. The editing is absolutely atrocious, so much so that I have to re-read whole paragraphs to understand what's going on. This is no Hemingway we're reading, I shouldn't have to put this much effort into it. I gave up less than half way through. I feel spurned. I hope the real Elizabeth Hunter says something. Don't new authors need to add an initial or something to distinguish themselves?quit-reading4 s Stephanie AugustineAuthor 1 book29

*I received a free e-arc from Nymeria Publishing in exchange for an honest review. My thoughts are my own*

It really pains my heart to rate this as I did. I've followed Liz for a while now and was so excited to her that she was getting a book published. I love fantasy and retellings so I instantly was on board to read this book. Unfortunately it was not what I was expecting. The beginning of this book was so slow. By the time I felt it finally got interesting, I was already skimming because I just wanted to be done. The promise of a good story is there but the execution was not. If more focus had been on the actual plot and what was given towards the end, instead of a long drawn out beginning - I think this would have been more successful. The ending just felt so rushed but really is what the whole book should have been about. I understand that there needs to be character establishment done in the beginning of the book but it just did not work well.

Along with the pacing, I had a hard time with the characters as well. They all felt all over the place with only annoying characteristics. Darcy was a little all over the place. Her personality changed from paragraph to paragraph and even reading from her point of view didn't help make it less confusing what her character was really supposed to be. Brendan character was very bland. Flavian was beyond annoying because of how he was so off the rails. Brigit was the only consistent character throughout the story.

This part has no affect on my actual rating due to it being an advanced copy but there were a lot of editing errors. Some times it was really hard to follow due to it so if anyone else receives an advanced copy, please be aware of this. I really hope some more attention to detail went into the editing from the publishers.

Overall, Hearts of Clay and Tempest was just not for me. I really wanted to support Liz because I think she is just such a wonderful person but I could just not get behind this story. I know she is currently working on a more contemporary piece and I think that's going to be more successful. The pacing of the book wasn't there and when the plot finally became interesting, it was so close to the end that it could not save it for me. I did not connect, nor care, for any of the characters as it was really hard to actually know what they were supposed to be . I do hope more editing went into this because there were a lot of spacing and grammatical issues in the advanced copy itself. The premise was solid and I think as Liz continues to write, her stories will become more cohesive so I am looking forward to what she produces in the future.2022-read-arcs1 Karen Sage1 review

disappointed

Wrong Elizabeth Hunter, I downloaded this thinking it was the author of the Irin chronicles but it is not.
Nobody has proof read this before publishing, there is a lot of errors 1 Hannah Conway256 3

Weak, washy, dim witted characters. Author created no internal dialog. Sceneries are unrealistically created to feed a tenuous plot. A few characters are hypocrites and repetitive. The editing of the book is the worst I have ever seen. There are sentences that run on or don't make any sense, there's words that are missing or too many words added or use of a wrong word. The dialog isn't broken up into sections but instead running on throughout the paragraph. The main character is not only weak and terribly annoying but makes rash decisions decisions without thinking anything through through and continues making all the wrong decisions never learning g her lesson. Darcy strikes a bargain with the Queen even though she doesn't get anything return. Everybody keeps calling her halfling and she doesn't understand why even though there's clear evidence that she's not completely human. She says one thing but then does another for instance she said that she despises the finn but then she goes along with it and even calls somebody your Highness. This puts the real Elizabeth hunter to shame.This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review1 Rachel S17

Warning: This review contains some spoilers. 

After a series of difficult losses, Darcy is on a quest to provide for herself and her cousin, Anya, when she believes she has found the luck she needs. Instead, she finds herself entering the land of the Fae, full of beings straight from a fairytale: leprechauns, Fae folk, fauns, and more. These beings recognize Darcy is something more than human, and Darcy is sent on a quest to discover her identity as well as save not only herself and her cousin, but the Fae prince himself. At the end of the day, this is a story of the things we will do for love; although, it is not your typical romance novel. Rather, the main character sacrifices everything for the love of her dear cousin, who is a sister to her. 

This tale is a re-telling of The Little Mermaid that you would never have expected; it is an obscure re-telling, so don't expect Disney's "The Little Mermaid". Elizabeth Hunter presents the reader with beautifully described fairytale creatures in addition to the mermaids you would expect to read about in a re-telling of this famous tale. Fans of multiple POV reads will especially enjoy the way this book is written. Hunter includes passages of flowery language and well-written descriptions of the characters and scenes. 

I personally enjoy fantasy reads, but tend to avoid them since they typically involve too much "action" for my liking. This novel has a bit of action, but not so much that I got bored while reading the descriptions of the action-filled scenes. This novel is also LBGTQ-friendly and incorporates various representations. 

Overall, I found the story compelling and I was always ready to pull the ebook back up and continue reading. The plot of the story really picks up about half-way through, and I did wish that the "thickening" of the plot began perhaps a bit earlier to better capture my attention. I personally found myself enjoying the POV of female character Darcy over the POV of male character Brendan. I found the POV of Darcy to be more emotional, more descriptive, and I felt more personally connected to Darcy. 

I think the interconnected stories of the six main characters were well written enough that I did not feel confused at any point, as one might when reading a book with multiple main characters. I also particularly enjoyed Brigit's story of the Seelie and Unseelie kingdoms, and would love to see Elizabeth Hunter write another book telling this ancient story in greater detail. I also particularly enjoyed the relationship between Brigit and Anya, and surprisingly, between Darcy and Edric. I loved the way Darcy's transformation at the end of the book was written; it was perhaps my favorite portion of the book due to the wonderfully descriptive language. Elizabeth Hunter is definitely leaving room for a second book, as the ending comes very suddenly without answering all of the reader's final questions. 

I received this novel as a PDF/ebook ARC from Nymeria Publishing.
Nymeria Publishing: Instagram: @nymeriapublishing
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Author: Elizabeth Hunter Instagram: @thatlizhunter

I did notice a handful of spelling mistakes, plus spacing and grammar errors while reading, and I am not sure if that is due to this being an ARC or ebook copy. These errors did not impact my ability to read and understand the story. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full reviewbooks-i-own Sonora Hospital-Medina4

This intense retelling of the original Little Mermaid story was full of interesting characters, creatures, and settings. Elizabeth Hunter is very good at setting a scene and painting a picture of her magical world.

I loved the various locations described, from the human town to the various Fae, Faun, and Finn realms - so beautiful.

The story was told from multiple POVs, which I d for the most part. It was very fast-paced.

I do think the book needed to be longer. The characters needed more time to be fleshed out, especially their relationships to one another. For example, the most dramatic decision Darcy makes at the end of the book, is to save the life of the person that she blames for the violation and torture of her cousin Anya by completely changing herself into what she hates the most. There was some explanation, but it just needed to be explored more. This goes for most of the relationships that are formed in the book’s present timeline (i.e., Brigit and Anya, Brendan and Darcy, etc.). It sometimes just felt : why do these strangers care about each other so much?

The end of the book was also extremely fast. It felt we reached the climax of the book, and then it ended. There was no falling action or resolution. Not to say that it shouldn’t end in a cliff hanger, (I hope a sequel is coming!) but the reader goes through so much to get to this point and there is no closure.

I did enjoy this read, it kept my attention, and I can’t wait to see what Elizabeth Hunter does next!

Thank you to Nymeria Publishing for sending me this ARC in exchange for an honest review! I was honored to receive such a special piece.

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There were spelling mistakes, spacing issues, and
a lot of grammar errors. But this may be due to the fact that I was reading an ARC copy. This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.Show full review Olga49 3

Happy Release Day to HOCAT and the lovely author Elizabeth Hunter!! Thank you Nymeria Publishing for early access to this absolutely phenomenal book!

Darcy wants a better life for what is left of her family and to get away from the sea forever. She heard stories growing up about Fae but thought they were just stories...until she caught a leprechaun hoping to secure enough gold to get the hell outta dodge, what she got in return was way more than she bargained for.

Y'all, I loved this little mermaid retelling. It had love, adventure, action, friendship, and of course some cattiness and drama! I would 100% have my memory taken with a spell so I can reread this for the first time. Towards the last few chapters, my heart was beating out of my chest trying to guess what's going to happen or how will it end. Needless to say, I'm going to need a part 2 to catch up with all these characters and see how their life is lived after HOCAT. Rosa10 7

As many before me have mentioned, the absence of even minimal editing in this book was pretty glaring. Spacing, punctuation, grammar, and spelling in some cases badly needed another look through.

The story itself however was lovely. Compelling, fast paced, and with just the right number of characters, it showed a lot of promise. It could have done with a bit more exposition, as there were moments and plot points that were a bit abrupt or confusing. But this also ly would’ve been helped with proper editing. The author clearly shows a ton of promise, and I would love to see more of her writing with more thorough support from a publishing team. read-in-2022 Doni1 review

Beautiful told, a story that would draw deeper into its world with just a bit of editorial polish

This well told tale could use an editor's touch to clear the grammatic, punctuation and occasional misplaced word errors. Those are the only detractors from this truly remarkable introduction to a new take on a classic fable. And a whole new perspective on even older and more classic myths.
A bit of editorial polish and this could be the next bestselling series and an absolute staple in any mythology/fairytale/fantasy reader's library.

I can't wait to read more of this world. LK21

“I know the difference between wind and death.”

Darcy’s world is turned upside down when she finds herself in the land of the Fae while trying to provide for herself and her cousin. Darcy is after gold but ends up with much more than she bargains for.

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Such an impressive debut novel from Elizabeth Hunter!

You can definitely tell there was a lot of time in developing the back stories for the characters- which is so appreciated. The story is written in a way that you get lost in the world of the Fae and everything is so descriptive it’s almost as if you’re watching a movie (in your head) as you read!

I am really hoping this turns into a series because I felt the ending was a little rushed and did not give the level of closure I out of stand alone novels, but that is just a person preference!

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Overall, I’d give Hearts of Clay and Tempest 4 out of 5 stars! cynthia b relihan8

hmmmm

New genre for Elizabeth Hunter,
Somewhat entertaining, and kept with it as I have d many of Ms. Hunters books.
Overall disappointing. Characters just did not connect. Sad ending without a resolution for some characters
Jeanine Alexander72 3

disappointed

This feels rushed. The typos and incorrect grammar are jarring and detracted from the story. It needs an immediate review. Gah! Aubrey103

Just wanted to add the highlight that cinched it for me:
“I let out a scream, unbelieving what just happened.”i-give-up SJonas3

... Just not good? Baffled on how this was published Melody24

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