Ally Aldridge Books, Ememies to Lovers, Fantasy, Fated Lovers, Festival, Fiction, Forbidden, Friends to Lovers, Mermaid or Siren, My Books, Ocean Heart, Romance, Shifters, Sky Heart, The Soul Heart Series, Young Adult

Coming Soon: A Mermazing Book Signing

It’s not long until I will be at the lovely Fantasy Paradigm shop for my Mermazing Book Signing event.

Full details about the event has been added to Felixstowe Magazine’s event page. Check it out here: Mermazing Book Signing at The Fantasy Paradigm Shop

Event Highlights:

● Exclusive Book Signing: Meet me, Ally Aldridge, author of Ocean Heart and Sky Heart, and get your copy personally signed and an official bookmark.
● Ask away: Do you have a burning question you want to ask an author? I am looking forward to answering any questions on publishing, writing, or my books. Or just come and say hi.
● Fantasy haven: The shop is full of delights to get Fantasy fans excited. There’s something for everyone, so come treat yourself.

Don’t miss out on this magical event to immerse yourself in a love of fantasy. Mark your calendars, gather your friends, and prepare for a mermazing book signing on 31st May!

Location: Fantasy Paradigm, 7 Orwell Road, Felixstowe, IP11 7HE
Time: 10am to 4pm

I look forward to seeing you there!

Ally Aldridge Adult, Age, Book Genre, Books, Childrens, Dystopia, Ememies to Lovers, Fae, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Fiction, Mermaid or Siren, Middle Grade, My Books, Mythology, Ocean Heart, Poetry, Review, Romance, Shifters, Uncategorized, Young Adult

Mermaid Reads for Mermay

As an author of a mermaid novel, I am always interested in other books about mermaids, sirens, and selkies. Today, I shall highlight some to show how different these stories are and why I recommend them. Here are some of my favourites.

Rhyming Children’s Tale

If you want a quick light hearted read, then Seal Mother by Rose English is a good choice. This book is inspired by local mythology and told in verse. It is suitable for young children but adults will enjoy it too.

Book Review: Seal Mother by Rose English – Ally Aldridge

Found-Family Fairytale

If you love stories with a fairytale vibe, and found family, then check out The Meramid’s Sister by Carrie Ann Noble. This story is about two sisters, who were found in unusual ways and adopted by their mum who cannot leave her home due to a curse.

When the mermaid sister gets ill, the other sister has to take on the task of returning her to the sea with the help of a family friend and his wagon. This story is full of charms and curses, a sisterly bond, and first love. It has the same energy as Stardust by Neil Gailman.

Book Review: The Mermaid’s Sister by Carrie Anne Noble – Ally Aldridge

LGBT Mermaid Graphic Novel

This is a sweet Young Adult Graphic Novel by Molly Knox Ostertag called The Girl from the Sea. The main character is dealing with a lot of coming of age issues in her life, but is able to find comfort in Keltie.

Keltie isn’t an ordinary girl, she once was a Selkie but after the girls sharing a kiss she was able to stay on land. The main character is struggles to come out to her friends and family about her girlfriend. This sweet graphic novel has a happy ending and the art is beautiful.

Book Review: The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag – Ally Aldridge

Dystopian Mermaid

If you love dystopian fiction, then The Seawomen by Chloe Timms is worth checking out. It is described as being the Handmaid’s Tale with mermaids. Basically, the main character lives in religious patriarchy society where anything that goes wrong from weather to disease, is blamed on the women. Men can do no wrong.

There is a rule that women cannot look at the sea but one day the main character is being chased by boys with ill intentions and knows that if they catch her and have their way, she will be blamed for it. She takes a risk to escape them and hides by the sea, leading to her uncovering a big secret that starts to unravel all the lies she’s grown up with.

Book Review: The Seawomen by Chloe Timms – Ally Aldridge

Steamy Mermaid Romantasy

Meraki by Naomi Kelly is about a sexy Warlord and a Syren. King Kellan is the descendant of a god and decides that he needs to capture a syren, then use her to defeat his enemy. The syren he captures in Wren, a syren on the run from her past.

The pair start off hating each other, but sparks soon fly leading to a steamy enemies to lovers type story. This is the first book in a duology and I’ve always meant to read the next book but not got around to it.

Book Review: Meraki by Naomi Kelly – Ally Aldridge

Mermaid Shifter Romantasy

Of course, there is my novel, Ocean Heart by Ally Aldridge. It is the first book in the Young Adult Soul Heart series and features a teen mermaid shifter. Ocean Heart has a strong romance plot with the main character torn between her crush on her male BFF and being perused by the hot swim team stud that rubs her up the wrong way. Her messy love life is what wakes up her dormant deadly mermaid powers, and now she is trying to keep her powers under control before someone gets killed.

More Mermraid Books

There are plenty more that are worth a mention:

Middle Grade Under the Sea School: Book Review: Mermaid School – Ally Aldridge

Little Mermaid Retelling: Book Review: Balanced Scales by Laura Greenwood – Ally Aldridge

Little Mermaid Retelling: Book Review: Sea Witch by Sarah Henning – Ally Aldridge

Graphic Novel on a Ship: Book Review: Sailor Twain by Mark Siegel – Ally Aldridge

Young Adult Mermaid World: Book Review: Tenebrasco by Hannah Reed – Ally Aldridge

Fae Fiction: Book Review: Never Date a Siren by Byrd Nash – Ally Aldridge

Robots and Fantasy Adventure: Book Review: The Steel Princess by April Grace – Ally Aldridge

Ally Aldridge Author Tube, Books, Festival, YouTube

Why I will not be at Herts Book Fest 2025

It’s May, the month of Herts Book Festival and I’m sad that I won’t be attending. This Book Festival is special to me because it was the first Book Festival to accept me. Sadly, for 2025 I’ve made the hard decision not to go.

For me, I always do well at this event and make good sales. However, the sales are not enough to cover the expense of doing the event.

Petrol – This cost is roughly £70 there and back.

Hotel – About £240 for two nights, including breakfast

Eating – I tend to take snacks with me to eat during the day and have a proper meal in the evening. This is about £40 for two nights.

Stall – This is £40, a very fair price.

Overall it’s almost £400 for me to do this event before I make a penny. In addition, I often give attendees a good discount on my books which reduces my profit per sale.

In previous years, I’ve written off the loss for a few reasons.

The first time I saw it as a learning experience. I’d never done a festival before and the organiser and fellow authors were so supportive and helped it be less scary. A big shout out goes to author Roxy Eloise and organiser Katie.

Another reason was that I saw this as a good networking opportunity. I love being solitary but appreciate that I have a lot to learn and meeting up with fellow authors is really beneficial. I think of this as a retreat to connect with other authors.

Thirdly, probably the most important reason of all, it helps me to be seen by potential readers. There are so many amazing books out there competing for the spotlight but when I do an event I’m right there in front of people for them to see and meet. And, I love chatting to readers.

If I never did Herts Book Fest, I doubt I would have done many of the events that followed as it was through meeting other authors and building friendships that I got told about other events, like April Grace outing me forward for MK Lit Fest, or Rachel Churcher getting me in with Foreword Festival.

Last year, one of my close author friends couldn’t make Herts Book Fest due to her health and I really missed her. This year another author friend can’t make it as she’ll be heavily pregnant. So, I decided not to go too. The thought of staying at the hotel alone without knowing anyone else in the building makes me extra nervous. Hopefully one day, my hubby will be able to come with me to an event but he is often busy with the kids so I can go without worrying about them.

Previously when I’ve attend Herts I’ve only had Ocean Heart. Now I have two books I hope that it would benefit me to have more to sell. Plus I am writing book three; Maybe, by next year I might even have three books – wouldn’t it be exciting if the launch for Forest Heart was at Herts Book Fest 2026!?

To all the authors and readers going to Herts Book Fest for 2025, I hope you have an amazing time. I miss you all and I hope to see you at the next one.

Herts Book Festival – Because books are for everyone!

Check out my previous posts on Herts Book Festival Here:

Vlogs of Herts Book Festival 2024

Herts Book Fest 2024

Herts Book Fest 2024 – Ally Aldridge

Herts Book Festival 2023 – Ally Aldridge

Preparations for Herts Book Festival! – Ally Aldridge

This weekend is Herts Book Festival! – Ally Aldridge

Ally Aldridge Bad Boy, Books, Dystopia, Fantasy, Fated Lovers, Fiction, Review, Romance, Sci-Fi, Super Powers, Young Adult

Book Review: The Guidal – Saving Light by Roxy Eloise

This is book three in The Guidal series.

Wow! This was another amazing book in the series. There is even more magic in this one!

The book starts with Aurora disconnected from her feelings. This makes her less sensitive to the feelings of Pax & Tayo, and unable to use her powers. Don’t worry, her friends stick by her despite her trying to push them away, and they help her reconnect.

Meanwhile, we get to see more of the Kamalayans and the stakes rise. Aurora starts having dreams about the first Guidal and this reveals some of the history.

Beware, in this book Aurora suffers some hard losses. One that left me internally screaming NOOOOO at the book!

A lot happens in this book, and I’m desperate for the next one in the series. Really hoping for the return of a certain character.

You can buy this book from Amazon.

Book one in the series is The Guidal: Discovering Puracordis and book two in the series is The Guidal: Unearthing Secrets

Discover The Guidal

You can buy book one (Discovering Puracordis) and book two (Unearthing Secrets) from Amazon too.

Book Review: The Guidal – Discovering Puracordis by Roxy Eloise
Book Review: The Guidal: Unearthing Secrets by Roxy Eloise

If you like the sound of this book, you might also like these:

Ally Aldridge Adult, Age, Books, Dystopia, Review, Young Adult

Book Review: Knife Edge by Malorie Blackman

This book was a page-turner. Sometimes it felt like a thriller, as I knew Jude’s true dark intentions. He reminded me of that guy from You, except there was no love or protection in his twisted thoughts. He just cold.

It was sad to see Sephy unravel. The way it hurt her to hang onto hope that not everyone was bad, wanting to see the good in others, but consistently being proven wrong. It took its toll.

The ending was a shock. I replayed it several times to try and make sense of it. It ended again with another tragedy. My heart felt heavy with all that had happened.

I think I will read more of the series, but this was a sad story, and I need a little time to process how this book made me feel.

Ally Aldridge Books, Fantasy, Review

Book Review: Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lyn Tan

This is book one in the Celestial Kingdom series.

I’m not familiar with the Legend this story was based on, which made it a new and fresh idea for me. I listened to the audio and loved the world-building and powers. For me the main character and love interest were a bit plain and about midway I sped up the audio hoping to get to something more emotive and passionate but the characters are very reserved. I still enjoyed the story and was pleased I tried something different.

Here are some other books you could check out:

Ally Aldridge Books, Fiction, Review, Romance

Book Review: Icebreaker by Hannah Grace

The book is a sport college romance set in America, and suited for 18+ readers due to the steamy scenes.

Anastasia and Aaron are pairs for figure skating. On the ice they are flawless and destined for gold. She trains hard and has no time for a boyfriend.

Nate is the captain of the ice hockey team. When the hockey rink is destroyed by a rival team, they have to share the ice skaters rink. This messes up everyone’s schedules making the team unpopular on the Maple Hills campus.

The damaged rink gives Ana and Nate a rocky start, but there is an obvious attraction that makes it difficult to avoid each other. The pair have some funny banter which was a real highlight for me. Their differences bring out the best in each other. I also enjoyed their friends, especially Lola and Henry.

Ana and Nate’s romance was fun to follow with all the ups and downs, and challenges they overcame. Best of all it had a satisfying ending with everything tied up in one book.

Please note the intimate scenes were detailed (no mystery, a fully open door). If that’s not your thing then avoid, but if it is you’ll enjoy this.

If you enjoy romance, check out these:

Ally Aldridge Alternative, Books, Contemporary, Fairy Tale, Fantasy, Fated Lovers, Fiction, High, Humour, Middle Grade, Period, Review, Romance, Young Adult

Book Review: Stardust by Neil Gaiman

I always loved the movie and didn’t know it was based on a book. Once I discovered this, I borrowed the audio version from Borrowbox with my library card.

This was one of the best audio books I have ever listened to. There was a main narrator, and every character had their own voice. The story was as magical as I remember. It is a perfect modern fairy tale that will be loved for many years to come.

If you enjoyed this, you might like:

Ally Aldridge Books, My Books, Ocean Heart, Personal, Review, The Soul Heart Series

Ocean Heart was in the Press

I was reading a post on Linked by local author Rachel Churcher where she shared an article from the Bury St Edmund’s Flyer on recommended books set in Suffolk.

It was a lovely surprise to see my YA Fantasy Romance novel included. Ocean Heart is set in Felixstowe and the story is of a teenage girl that has no idea she’s a mermaid until her messy love life awaken her dormant dangerous powers.

If you know any local Romantasy fans that this might appeal too, there’s still time to get a copy for Christmas. Plus books are a nice easy shape to wrap.

If you’d prefer a different genre, then check out the article and see if you can discover a new local author today! https://e-magazine.flyeronline.co.uk/p/bury-st-edmunds/21-11-2024/r/11/20-21/6959/1717391

Ally Aldridge Author Tube, Book Tube, Books, Festival, YouTube

Pop up book stall at Dunelm

On Sunday, 8th Dec, I did my last in person event of the year.

I met up with Suffolk authors, Laura Graham to share a stall to sell books at Dunelm in Bury St Edmunds.

We met for the first time, a few months back at Felixstowe Book Festival.

Dunelm allowed us the space as they wanted to support small local businesses. They charged us only £10 for the stall and donated this money to charity. I think the charity was Age Concern.

Blurb for Odd Wolf by Laura Graham

An Own Voices take on paranormal romance in which a chronically ill misfit becomes a werewolf and develops a target on her back. She’s used to living in a society that’s not built for her; but not one where many want her dead.

If you like flawed characters, ultra slow-burn romance, healing after trauma and own voices disability rep then this just might be for you.

Sometimes an act of violence strips away the last lingering illusion of romance in a relationship.

When one of her mysterious blackouts leaves her covered in fur, Alice feels normal is definitely out of her reach.

And when she gets kidnapped by the local shifter pack, Alice knows her life will never be the same.

Terrified and more alone than ever at their rural estate in England, she learns that wolf society and wolf laws are drastically different from what she knows. Most want Alice dead. But the Alpha claims to have other plans for her. To survive will she find allies or will she again choose freedom?

You can buy Laura’s book, Odd Wolf from Amazon