Talent Spotter #11. Featuring Author Elaina J Davidson.

Please join me as we explore just one of Elaina J Davidsons many books.

Firstly lets take a glimpse into Elaina’s world.

Elaina lives in the surrounds of magical Table Mountain at the southern tip of Africa and enjoys a wonderful Mediterranean climate all year. Having lived in both Ireland and New Zealand, she now realises Cape Town’s climate is close to perfection. She lives on the side of a mountain gazing upon the ocean with her husband, her adorable cat (sometimes her muse as well as her proof-listener!) and two large dogs. When writing she puts into words her travels and dreams, because she believes there is inspiration in even the most outrageous tale.

After studying Purchasing Management and working in the formal sector as a buyer, she chose to raise and home-school her three children. She started writing novels around 2002, moving from children’s stories, poetry and short stories to concentrate on larger works.

 Previously published by Wild Wolf Publishing, Elaina is currently with Tirgearr Publishing and 13^th Sign Publishing, and is also self-published. While her main body of work has been her Fantasy Series (Lore of Arcana, Lore of Reaume and Lore of Sanctum), she is a diverse writer and her credits include novels and shorter stories in the Contemporary, Humorous, Paranormal, Dystopian, Alternate History and Romantic genres, as well as a Non-fiction journal. Her novella Ancient Illumination has been translated into Spanish.

 Ireland’s ancient past has influenced her writing, gifting her work a Celtic twist, while the majesty of New Zealand has led her to mountaintops and extraordinary vistas. The vibrancy of Africa has much to do with the inspirational side of Elaina’s work. Something happens daily, something to shock, something to uplift, and the colours and diversity of nature itself fires her imagination.

 Come with her to places familiar and far, far away!

And now … her book for your enjoyment.

On the banks of a river, a boy sees and hears a girl laughing, the most glorious music, and falls in love. Time, however, is not the same for them. Erin is human; Kell is something other.

 Kell watches her from the shadows under the willow at the water’s edge, refusing to surrender to their differences. For Erin he plays the most beautiful music, for he may never speak to her and she cannot ever see him. Music becomes their words.

 Love, however, cannot measure time. The minstrel maintains his vigil; his muse listens for his song, and both move through the years alone, until the day something changes …

After his journey over the mountains to the east, at age ten, where he met and saw trolls, goblins, fairies and faeries – the former tiny, the latter man size- elves, dryads, gnomes, centaurs and many others, even the ever wary sidhe, he understood the warnings from his parents. He had grown in the years since Erin’s arrival, and heard the elders more readily.

He listened to the tales of war, of dying, of being pushed north and east into the inhospitable regions where it was hoped the races would succumb, flourishing instead. He heard of the raiding parties also and once saw such a party in the distance. Humans came to pillage … and murder.

He understood their swift years were their greatest disadvantage.

During their sojourn over the mountains, he was tested. At age ten all boys and girls of the long-lived races were tested to discover their inherent talent, the factor that would earn them their keep in the march of years.

Until his testing, he had not given it thought, but clearly his father had, for he brought forth the musical instruments from home.

Ever when it got dark or the days too cold for the outdoors, Kell would sit and strum something quietly in a corner, softly singing. Already he knew most of the old songs. He loved reading also, but when searching for tranquillity, he found it in music.

The purity in notes soothed his soul, especially when he could not see Erin for many days, the snow outside piled too high for a walk.

Often, when the weather was again good, he took an instrument with him, to softly pick out notes upon the boulder under the willow.

 

My review of ‘Minstrel of the Water Willow’ I purchased a copy for review.

Author Elaina J Davidson… has crafted a beautifully written short story, both lyrical and moving.

It has a delicacy of movement, that stands it apart from others in this genre.

The author captures your imagination, for who isn’t attracted to a romance of unrequited love.

Kell is drawn with clear definition, not human yet superbly empathic to human emotion. He falls irrevocably, eternally in love with a beautiful young woman, meet Erin, a laughing loving human.

Kell cannot become visible to the woman he loves so deeply, so he plays for her his music, the sounds encompass her life adding to its richness. He watches her closely, and responds to her different stages of human existence with an accompanying melody.

The depth of sadness he feels as he watches on, as his love suffers through the dreadful loss of her child, is reflected in the music she hears.

Erin ages … Kell does not. Her body wizens and old age takes her in its declining hand.

To reveal more would spoil this for the reader.

Suffice it to say, this story will stay with you. I can’t recommend it highly enough to lovers of romance.

Now available for $0.99 on Amazon…link below.

Anyone interested in writing an honest review in exchange for a free copy of “Minstrel of The Water Willow”  please contact Elaina on her Blog or Facebook page listed below.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01E02O6DK

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/628803

http://www.facebook.com/ElainaJDavidsonAuthor

http://elainajdavidson.blogspot.com/