Do you have a taste for the lush, the mysterious, and the genre-bending?
Are you tickled at the thought of delicious character chemistry and amateur sleuthing with some hidden pasts thrown in?
Interested in reading about a scientist FMC with a fascination for poisons and her streetwise brother?
Would you fancy a jaunt into a whimsical, alternate 1700’s Budapest where an enigmatic layer of society waltzes about with secrets and mysterious counts?
If you answered ”yes” to any of the above, you might be a great beta reader for my upcoming mystery novel and Bladewings-spinoff, ”Foxglove & Nightshade!”
I wrote this odd creature as a book I’d love to read, but struggle to find on the shelves. It doesn’t really fit into neat boxes, nor does it happily bow to clear genre labels. It is set in the same world as the YA alternate history/adventure/sort-of-fantasy that the Bladewings trilogy is, yet possesses a flavour all of its own and revolves around a dual POV mystery instead of the multi-POV, epic journeys and political intrigues of its predecessor.
Back Cover Blurb
~ One man’s poison is the other’s antidote ~
Biochemistry student and ex-spy Izidora Vadas gets entangled in a mysterious poisoning by digoxin right before her final research project is meant to begin. To clear her name, Izidora must return to the old, clandestine life she used to share with her brother Imre, one of secrets and moonlit escapades at the underworld haunt of the Golden Stag. The siblings race to find the true cause of the murder before it’s too late, aided by their best friend and the Stag crew.
Soon Izidora realises the ghosts of the past don’t stay dead. The Budapest underworld is whispering, and the poisonings accumulate as odd details emerge, connecting the puzzling events to the spies’ own past. The siblings venture deeper into a web of murky connections and dangerous favors, in a world where masquerade is a way of life and betrayal is business only.
Time might devour all, but Izidora can no longer ignore the way a hidden hand has been moving pieces on the board. The moves of the masked players muddy the waters until trust becomes a dangerous currency – a poison that can hurt or heal. When an enigmatic Count approaches Izidora with a job offer that seems related to the mystery at hand, she has to ask herself: what really is the price of letting sleeping dogs lie?
Spoiler Notice: ”Foxglove & Nightshade” contains some spoilers and character elements of the Bladewings’ overarching plot, but it’s not deeply referred to. If you plan to read the Bladewings and like your plot twists and revelations in pristine condition, I recommend you check the trilogy out first. But reading F&N first shouldn’t ruin the experience too badly 🙂
Interested? The beta reader sign-up link is below, with an initial reader questionnaire and more details about the process. The whole thing is divided into three smaller reading sections with their own feedback forms.
Happy reading!
x The Foxglove Scribe
🌟 Link to the signup Google Form with initial reader questionnaire 🌟
The Foxglove Scribe 