Juno’s beloved Petra is dead.

Petra’s replacement, the mysterious Lady, has put Juno’s best friend Tilly under a dark spell that has left Juno with nobody she can trust.
With only Chax, her kitten, for company, Juno escapes from her school to a town at the bottom of the cliffs.
A town ruled by men.

Alone, scared, and without friends, Juno feels an unknown power growing inside her. A power she knows she will one day have to harness. With all lost, a dark figure from within the shadows cups her mouth and whispers in her ear to keep quiet.
Juno joins her new friends but just as she starts to learn how the world really works, the ill-tempered Dr Viktor demands an audience.

Juno and the Lady is a young woman’s journey into a land of the old ways, where men rule, and women are property.
With unlikely friendships, forbidden love and burning magic, can Juno change the conventions of old? Can she save the town? And will she figure out who the Lady truly is?

*Interview with G.J. Kemp*

A nomad at heart, GJ has lived in nine countries across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. His career has included working as a Divemaster in The Red Sea, a zookeeper in Israel, and a proofreader in Sweden.

Born with cerebral palsy, GJ has spent a lifetime trying to tie his shoelaces while standing up in the hope of not falling over. It is a constant challenge, but sometimes he occasionally succeeds.

​Finding the love for writing later in life, GJ spends most of his free time going for walks and dreaming of story ideas. He hopes to one day have a small place on the oceanfront where he can walk his dogs on the beach.

Which was the hardest character and the easiest character to write?

In Juno and the Lady, Miles was the toughest character to write. I use a lot of dialogue in my books and Miles is a quiet moody type of guy. To get his personality across I needed to take care in the way he acted around the different characters. It was well worth getting to know Miles though as he is the main character in the second book.

Where do you get inspiration for your stories?

Mostly from past experiences. All my characters I have met in some way shape or form. As for the stories, I like to apply the three-arc concept. Each story needs great characters, but they need several arcs to make it interesting for them. With three arcs. the characters get it from three different fronts.

The final piece is a good solid dose of daydreaming. Even when I am drafting I am still daydreaming. It adds to the excitement when new twists and turns present themselves.

Do you ever get writer’s block? What helps you overcome it?

I think the important thing here is looking at the definition of writer’s block. ‘the condition of being unable to think of what to write or how to proceed with writing.’

To me, the definition points to the issue of proceeding with a precise piece of work. To overcome this, I immediately move to another piece of work. Having another piece of work to move to is a great way of removing the block. And if that doesn’t work, journaling is a great way for me to get any words onto a page.

What is your next project?

Abbie Vera. It’s a series of 8 books that I am busy outlining. I am excited about this series as I have the three arcs mapped out. Abbie, the main character, has slowly grown in my imagination. I am afraid I cannot tell you too much about the series but feel free to keep up to date with my progress on my website.

Do you write every day?

I write a minimum of 1000 words a day. I must be honest and say it can be a struggle some days as I come home tired from my day job. I work four days a week which then allows me to maximise words on the three days I am not working. On those three days I get through 2000 to 5000 words. If I don’t get to write on a particular day I feel a little upset about it. I usually catch up the next day though with a flurry of writing sprints.

What is writing schedule?

In the early mornings I concentrate on journaling, outlining, and editing if I am at the editing stage. In the evenings, I draft. I feel my creativity is at its highest when I am a bit tired which means drafting in the evenings makes sense. It is a never-ending battle between being tired and having to write. I always struggle with motivation, but when I get into the sprints, it all flows nicely.

*Review*

Juno and the Lady is a really good fantasy novel.

I found that Juno and the Lady was a bit slow to start, with a good portion of the beginning being world building. A lot happens or gets mentioned, but it’s a bit under developed – but still providing a great start to the Acre Series.

I enjoyed that Juno was never predictable, she rarely acts how you would expect her to. Her character develops wonderfully, albeit a bit too fast paced with little shown. I would have really liked to see her train a bit more, as I’m not a huge fan of MC’s that automatically know how to use their powers with little to no effort. Her emotional maturity growth is astounding. She is a brave character, who – despite everything she had been through – still loves easily.

The entire book was full of awesome, butt-kicking female characters. Every one of them was amazing in their own way. Kemp did fantastic work portraying all of these characters. The sexism, and racism, in Fairacre draws from our history and the way many women all over the world are still treated today.

The fact that Kemp added a few different men throughout the story that seemingly wanted to truly help these women was great. Even the couple that had to be won over.

I was a bit disappointed with a few of the fighting scenes. There wasn’t as much detail as I was wanting.. a few of the battles just finished too quickly for my liking with nothing really happening.

The magical aspects in the novel were intriguing. Being able to spread essence or summon fire are both awesome abilities. I would like to learn more about it in the further novels.

I absolutely loved the humor thrown in to bring levity to an otherwise grim story. The twin cooks, Gem and Jen. A novella for just those two would be EPIC.

I am excited to read the remaining novels/novellas in the series and see what happens with the whole gang!

Scroll down for information on the giveaway!

Enter to win the first 4 books in The Acre Series.

Five (5) winners will receive the first four books in The Acre Series. US/CAN Only.

*Click the link below to be taken to the entry form.*

https://gleam.io/qT2O1/the-acre-series-book-tour-giveaway

You can find the tour schedule here.

Thank you to the author G.J. Kemp and iREAD Book Tours for the opportunity to participate in this fantastic tour!

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