Thank you all for such an incredible release. The turnout, the messages, charts performance and the flood of enthusiasm have launched a thousand Mod R squeees. It’s been wonderful to watch the story resonate with the people it was written for.
And we are being absolutely spoiled today in recognition of our formidable fluffiness!
A brand new character art reveal from Helena Elias, plus an entire bonus scene featuring reigning fan-favorite, Clover.
Spoiler safe after Page 130 Chapter 13, first scene
“So, explain your lady to me.” Shana wiped the table down with a wet rag. “Is she a noble or is she not? Because she’s confusing me.”
Clover sighed. It was a fair question.
They were sitting in the kitchen. The sun had barely risen, and the tea in her cup was hot and aromatic. She’d made a pot this morning, and it had turned out just right. Shana had taken over the kitchen, but they both agreed that Clover’s tea brewing skills were superior.
When Shana showed up in the chainmail and carrying a mace, Clover wasn’t sure they would get along. It took her less than 24 hours to realize that when it came to household staff, they couldn’t do better. Shana was experienced, practical, and capable and she was… solid, somehow. There was something about Shana that said “Mom” to her, although her mother and Shana looked nothing alike.
Back home, she and her mother butted heads. There was a time she couldn’t wait to get out. When the Maid Mother came with the offer to take her to the capital, Clover had jumped on that chance. She could still remember her mom crying when she was leaving, but her own eyes were dry. She’d been too excited and eager. Divine, she was such a stupid baby five years ago.
Now… There were times when she wanted her mom so intensely, she cried quietly into her pillow. Too much had happened, and most of it wasn’t good. There was a time in Derog’s basement when the loneliness tried to strangle her, and she thought her life was over. And then Lady Maggie came, and everything changed.
It was important that Shana understood that Lady Maggie was special.
“She is a lady,” Clover said. “Without a doubt. She looks you in the eye when she talks, and she keeps forgetting to bow her head, like she isn’t used to it. She is very educated. She knows things others don’t, and she can’t do her own hair. When she needs it put away, she makes a three-part plait like she is a child. She has great teeth, and her hands are soft.”
“But?” Shana asked.
“But she carries herself as if she isn’t.”
“Why?”
Clover sighed again. “I don’t know. When we took the house from the slavers, she cleaned the kitchen with me.”
Shana paused. “This kitchen?”
Clover nodded. “On her hands and knees with a rag. Like it was nothing. I tried to stop her, but she wouldn’t listen. I really tried. She just…”
Clover imitated holding a rag and scrubbed the invisible floor with it.
Shana stared at her.
“She washed the blood off and everything.”
“Are you serious?”
“It happened. There is more.”
Clover hesitated. This was a very sore point, but she’d been struggling with it for days now, and it was so nice to confide in someone.
She leaned forward and lowered her voice.
“I went to dump the dirty water. When I came back, she was in the bathroom. Scrubbing the toilets.”
Shana blinked. “Divine, preserve us.”
“She told me that we had to clean the house top to bottom to make it ours.”
Shana frowned. “I would have scrubbed the house too, just to get the stink of those fuckers out, but she is a lady. Toilets?”
Clover nodded slowly.
“If you don’t stop her, she will try to do things. Brew her own tea, cook, try to do the laundry…”
“Does she not understand it’s an insult to our skills?”
“I don’t think she does.” Clover gave her a slightly helpless smile. “I think she wants to help.”
Shana put her hands on her hips. “Oh no. This stops now. She is not cooking in my kitchen, I’ll tell you that. I have never needed a noble woman’s help to do my job, and I am not about to start now. Everyone has their duty. I’m the cook, you are the lady’s maid, and she is the lady. She needs to stay in her own carriage.”
Clover sighed. “If only.”
Shana reached over and patted her shoulder. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. There are two of us now. We will steer her back on the road. If you have any trouble, come and get me. I will set her straight right quick.”
That was right. She was no longer alone. She had Maggie and Kaiden, and Reynald, who could kill anything, and now the Magnars. It felt like she’d been wandering in a dark forest for so long, she couldn’t even remember what the sun felt like and then stumbled out into a clearing with a fortress in it. The fortress wasn’t in perfect repair, but it was solid and strong, and there was sun shining on it, and everyone inside would defend it with their lives.
Clover smiled and sipped her tea.
P.S. Mod R: Now that we’ve had our goodies,
The US and UK editions of This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me are separate releases, from separate publishers. If your copy is arriving on the 2nd of April, that means you are expecting the UK edition. That timing is correct, not a publisher error or issue as I have seen confusion in the comments.
Thank you for the treats!
Whoa…first??
First cup of tea 🫖
Lovely,
Thank you so much for the treat, I love Clover! I stayed up until midnight last night to finish the book, it is sooooo good – and now I want my own little Sushi….
I will take every little scrap of this world. Thank you. I pulled an all nighter last night. Choices were made, regrets are zero.
So did I, Wendy! Sadly, had to wait until after work but I finished at around 2:30am this morning. Totally worth it!
And I will most definitely need to reread for the nuances.
Clover is so pretty! Helena did such a good job
This was beautiful! I am so happy for HA and their well deserved success. Had to share these rankings from Amazon:
Book 1 of 1 : Maggie the Undying
Best Sellers Rank: #35 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
#1 in Romantic Fantasy (Books)
#3 in Romantic Fantasy (Kindle Store)
#3 in Epic Fantasy (Kindle Store)
For the Horde
The snippet is so good… Was it from when Maggie was written in the 3rd person ?Or am I remembering wrong ?
It’s a bonus scene, I think it was always planned as a bonus and wasn’t part of the book?
Oop ! Saw this on instagram and they said “deleted scene” in the description that’s why 🙂 thanks !
Have fixed now! It’s a bonus scene, I just had a brain fart when I wrote the caption because Facebook decided to not post blog links anymore and I was on with tech support at the same time 🙂
no worries ! thank you so much for your answer and sorry about all that haha
Thanks for the goodies:) though I have to point out that I don’t live in the UK, so amazon uk won’t sell kindle books to me. I’ve always bought my kindle books from amazon.com, but apparently they can tell when you don’t live in the US(credit card, phone number etc) so they charge us more (and I suspect they don’t give any extra money to the authors) and they make us wait for the international edition. I wish someone who works in publishing would explain to me what the point of those extra two days is- I live in a European country and I’m buying a book in English. Is it the same for the entire European Union or just Cyprus? I even tried cheating by changing my VPN- didn’t work:(
This is unfortunately an Amazon thing, and a Brexit thing and so many gordian knots of policies and geographical legal rights and Amazon platform practices.
Publishing people would dearly like it if it was all simpler, too. Hugs, I hope you get the books tomorrow!
I just wanted to post to say how much I have loved “This Kingdom Will Not Kill Me.” I absolutely consumed the story yesterday (it was rainy and chilly in Boston and the absolute perfect day for this story!) and can’t wait to dive back in for a re-read at a slower pace. I loved the descriptions, the magic, the characters and Maggie’s growth. Waiting for the next two books to find out what’s next will be difficult but absolutely worth it. This story was delightful. Thank you for taking a risk in your writing and gifting us this.
Aaaah thank you so much! What a delightful scene and Clover is so gorgeous! Best lady’s maid ever!
Bonus content!!!!! I’m not finished with the book but I couldn’t help myself when I seen the post go up. I am super excited to she HA this weekend in WhiteMarsh BN!
Thank you for snippet. I love Clover
I love the bonus. This book was so wonderful. I sped through it so fast I’m going to have to go back and read it slower and many more times. There is so much going on that I know I missed things and I’m going to need something to do while waiting for the book 😁. I’m going to see the authors tonight in St. Paul and I’m so excited to hear what they have to share about the book and what’s to come!
I went to the signing in Austin last night. It was delightful to say the least. Interesting questions and answers and not just for Maggie. If the St Paul signing is also at B&N, go early and get your arm band, they are numbered. I was there at 4:30 and was way down the pack. Ilona and Gordon were still valiantly signing books when I left at 8:50. Still funny and so nice, talking to everyone. Just an fyi.
Mod R,
I’m still reading for the first time, but was wondering. Is there any chance we could have all the portraits of the characters in one file? I absolutely loved today’s illustration of Clover! Now that I’ve met the main players, the early teasers from the blog make more sense. Oh well, we can only dream.
Yes, I’ve had many many requests, will get it done for Friday :*
Anything the Horde wants, the Horde gets this week! You’ve given me more wings than Red Bull
🥳🥂 thank you Mod R! You’re the best!
Want more!
Oh my gosh this bonus scene gave me life, I was grinning the whole time while reading. And Clover is gorgeous!!!! Got one of my copies and now waiting for the other two, I’m so excited to reread!!
This Kingdom is amazing. Thank you so much
Thank you for the bonus and the art! I’ve loved seeing the character art and visualize them while reading.
I have the audio book too so that will be another couple days of yumminess!
Well that was fun! And I seriously like the art per usual. Thanks so much!
Absolutely loved so very much about the book.
Had that moment in chapter 23 😳, loved chapter 40 (I mean really, it’s kind of new since the Edge series, and just very beautifully crafted!), and there’s so much more coming at you, keeping you totally engaged!
Just left a review so hopefully the BDH grows as Maggie reaches a broader audience, who will then dive into the other worlds HA has created.
Left with that “what’s next” feeling, so time for a Maggie reread.
I has it.* However I am about 2/3 through This Inevitable Ruin from the Dungeon Crawler Carl series, and at this point I get really lost if I take even a short break from that world. So ~275 pages to blaze through AQAP before I can dive into Rellas. See you in a few!
*The newly opened, local B&N** had one – ONE!!! (1) copy. I told them they would be needing more very shortly.
**The local mall raised the rent a year or more ago, and the existing B&N had to close. Then that same mall couldn’t rent out one of its other vacancies, so several months later B&N moved into that vacancy. Took quite a while to fill the space B&N had previously vacated. *eyeroll*
Yay! Thank you for the extra goodie! I’m a little over halfway through and am trying to pace myself because I don’t want it to be over (and I have stupid adult things to do like work and feeding myself).
But I love this extra insight into Clover, as well as the amazing artwork of her. Thank you!!!!
Thank you so much for the bonus scene. Clover is such a smart young woman. Her image is perfect; young but you see the strength of the woman growing in her. All the artwork is amazing!
She really is a fan favourite, if you ask me <3 thank you so much for the treat. Love these two conspiring to make Maggie more ladylike. I noticed in the book that she used more and more phrases from the kingdom with time (Aspects preserve us instead of Oh my god), it is beautifully done
The artwork gets more beautiful everytime. I cannot wait to see the whole collection of all Characters! Please do a special blog post appreciation post with them all <3
Wonderful bonus with great character information, and cool artwork. Love the keys showing that Clover really is the chatelaine.
Oh, this makes me wonder if they originally envisioned the book from multiple POV third person perspectives. What a different experience that would have been!
I can confidently say, Maggie has been a 1st person POV since the first draft years ago.
This is a bonus for us, because we’re koo-ko for Clover puffs 😀
I’m loving getting to know Maggie and her crew.
Thank you, All Hail IA 🙌
The art is so beautiful! Loved this scene. It kind of reminded me of the most recent season of bridgerton…really delightful.
I am still struggling with Jet lag and kept falling asleep and having to re-read paragraphs.. so this member of the BDH will be in a slow setting for a while I guess! I love it so far!
So happy it’s been a great release so far!
This is awesome.
Thanks this made me smile 🙂
Yay! It’s so special to see what other characters think of our Maggie and her modern mentality.
Love this book! I’m 68% finished, but want to take my time (I’ve been w*iting so long I must savor my first read). Also love Sushi!! I’m new to crochet and I’m already trying to figure out a pattern to make myself a little Sushi. Thank you so much for the snippet today! I would welcome help cleaning my house ha ha ha!!
Just finished, love it, now I gotta sleep and start my second go at it. I am sure there will be sooooo many things that I missed the first time, or will hit differently. I can’t wait!
Oh, and we BDHers do REALLY need all the artwork compiled so we can gaze lov—- ahem, fondly at all the thirst traps as they come up in the story. INCLUDING the MAP, please please please, Mod R???
I love to do the combined Kindle/Audible playback, so if I didn’t catch something, I can see on page how far I need to dial back to read/hear it again. And I kept wanting to find all the places they go on the map, but it’s a pain to keep jumping back to the first pages and then back to the storyline. Having it on a webpage will allow me to check it out while I still hear the audio playing, and yet still be on the right page for reading too. I think I’ve waaaay overexplained this. Time for a nap!