BooksChatter: ☀✂ She's the One Who Can't Keep Quiet: The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters [5]

Thank you for joining us on the Virtual Book Tour for She's the One Who Can't Keep Quiet, a Historical Fantasy by S.R. Cronin (12 January 2022, Cinnabar Press, 245 pages).

This is the fifth book in the The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters series.

PREVIEW: Check out the book's synopsis, our Exclusive Excerpt, and the Kindle Cloud Reader Preview below, as well as full details of the series.

Author S.R. Cronin will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN gift card to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour. Please do take part: comment on our post and follow the tour where you will be able to read other Exclusive Excerpts (☀).

|| Synopsis || Teaser: Exclusive Excerpt || Teaser: KCR Preview || The Series || About the Author || Giveaway & Tour Stops ||

Synopsis

Do you know what your problem is?

Celestine, the fifth of seven sisters, is tired of hearing about hers. Father thinks she’s frivolous because she likes pretty clothes and caters to the crowds in the taverns who adore her music. Mother thinks that because she’s the most social daughter in the family, she can’t keep quiet about anything.

They’re both wrong. Celestine hides a secret she has kept for most of her life.

As the family beauty and a talented musician with a lyrical voice, she has the best prospects for marriage to a prince. When such a liaison never happens, people assume Celestine is too choosy. But even in somewhat tolerant Ilari, a daughter hates to disappoint her family. How can she tell them she’s in love with a princess instead?

Lucky for Celestine, all her sisters are obsessed with an invading army headed to their realm. Celestine would rather ignore the threat and enjoy the freedom their lack of attention gives her. But, her voice can unlock a power that may help save Ilari. And the woman she loves is determined to fight these invaders. And her family, for all their talents, seems clueless about how to motivate the masses.

Celestine knows she can inspire the citizens of Ilari to do what needs to be done. Is it time to put her inhibitions aside and use her voice to save those she cares about?

Teaser: Exclusive Excerpt

The next day a messenger arrived. My father once again worked on the porch. He’d now removed half the rail on one side, seeking to replace all the rotted wood. He held a tool in his mouth and directed the messenger inside with a nod of his head. The messenger saw me watching him through at the door, came inside, and stood.

“Please. Proceed.”

The young man stared at his hand, then he made a dramatic motion, moving his palm from his chin up to his forehead, the classic gesture indicating he now wore the face of the person who wrote the message. Most delivery people managed it with far less drama. This guy had to be new.

“I, Zamarran, herby notify you, Celestine, that I have secured another performance at The Crested Lark for two nights hence. We have a small but influential audience. Please make haste to Pilk. Be prepared to go from there to K’ba for our additional performances.”

He extended his palm in front of his face again, lowered it from his forehead to his neck, and bowed with a flourish. Perhaps he was desperate for a larger tip? Who knew what troubles plagued others. I reached into my pocket for a second coin.

He took both coins and held them to his chest. “I’ll never spend them, my lady. Rather I’ll tell the world these two coins came from the amazing and beautiful Celestine, given to me by her own hand.” He bowed again and left.

“What the Heli was that about?” my dad called to me from the porch as the messenger rode away. “Is that how all your fans behave?”

“I hope not.”

Teaser: KCR Preview

She's the One Who Can't Keep Quiet
Available NOW!

The Series: The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters

The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters consists of seven short companion novels. Each tells the personal story and perspective of one of seven radically different sisters in the 1200s as they prepare for an invasion of their realm. While these historical fantasy/alternate history books can be enjoyed as stand-alone novels, together they tell the full story of how Ilari survived.

Which sister do you think saved the realm? That will depend on whose story you read.

|| [1] || [2] || [3] || [4] || [6] ||

Click on the book cover to Look Inside the book on Amazon and read an excerpt.

She's the One Who Thinks Too Much [1]

Do you know what your problem is?

Ryalgar knows hers. People have been telling this over-educated 13th-century woman for years. So when an equally intellectual prince decides he loves her, it looks like everyone was wrong and her dreams have come true.

Except, this prince is obligated to marry another. He is leading the army training to defend their tiny realm against an expected Mongol invasion. And he is considering sacrificing Ryalgar’s home nichna by abandoning it’s rich farmlands to their foes. If only he wasn’t such a nice guy. Another woman would …..

Ryalgar has no idea what another would do. All she knows is she has a multitude of university intellectuals and a family of tough farmers behind her, and a newfound connection with the witches in the forest. Why not devise her own strategy to keep the invaders from destroying her home? Then she can figure out what to do about this problem prince.

It’s just the sort of thing that happens when a woman thinks too much.SIS

[Published 12 November 2020, 236 pages]

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She's the One Who Cares Too Much [2]

Do you know what your problem is?

Coral knows hers. People have been telling this tenderhearted 13th-century woman for years. So when a heroic army officer proposes, she decides she's stronger than people realize and her dreams have come true.

Except, the perfect man turns out to be less than ideal. And she's gotten pregnant. And her homeland is gripped with fear of a pending Mongol invasion and she cries about everything now that she's with child.

When a friend suggests the ever-caring Coral possesses a power well beyond what anyone imagines, Coral's sister decides this formidable talent is what the realm needs. Can Coral raise a baby, placate an absent military husband who thinks he's stopping the invasion, and help her sister save her homeland?

This is just the sort of problem encountered by a woman who cares too much.

[Published 12 February 2021, 234 pages]

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She's the One Who Gets in Fights [3]

**Read an Exclusive Excerpt**
Do you know what your problem is?

Sulphur knows hers. This 13th-century woman has trained as a fighter all her life in hopes of joining the army. Then, within days, both of her older sisters announce plans and suddenly Sulphur is expected to find a man to marry instead.

Is it her good fortune her homeland is gripped by fear of a pending invasion and the army now goes door to door encouraging recruits? Sulphur thinks it is. But once she’s forced to kill in a small skirmish, she’s ready to rethink her career decision.

Too bad it’s too late. The invasion is coming, and Ilari needs every good soldier it has.

Once Sulphur learns Ilari’s army has made the strategic decision to not defend certain parts of the realm, including the one where her family lives, she has to re-evaluate her loyalty. Is it with the military she’s always admired? Or is it with her sisters, who are hatching a plan to defend their homeland with magic?

The problem with being a woman who fights for what’s right is that now, she has to figure out what is.

[Published 14 May 2021, 229 pages]

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She's the One Who Doesn't Say Much [4]

Do you know what your problem is?

Olivine knows hers. This quiet thirteen century artist has been hiding a secret as she travels to K'ba to meet her friends. Others assume she's fallen in love with another artist, and it's not a match Mother would consider suitable. But it's much worse than that. For on the way to K'ba is the dirt poor nichna of Scrud, a place scorned by other Ilarians. And in Scrud is the one man who understands her.

However, Bohdan recognizes the dangers posed by an impending Mongol invasion. When he learns of Olivine's unusual visual powers, he convinces her to pick up her bow and start practicing.

She does, though she's more concerned with producing enough art to run away from home and live in K'ba, where she can paint all day and see Bohdan as often as she wants. If only her sister hadn't learned of what she can do and decided Olivine and her fellow long-eyes hold one of the keys to defending the realm.

Then, as if life wasn't complicated enough, Olivine learns the artist community she yearns to be part of has developed a different take on the invasion. They're certain the only way to survive is to capitulate completely to the Mongols demands. Artists who feel otherwise are no longer welcome.

Where does her future lie? The supposed invasion is coming soon and Olivine doesn't have much time to decide.

[Publication date 13 August 2021, 240 pages]

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She's the One Who Won't Behave [6]

**Available for pre-order!**

Gypsum, the sixth of seven sisters, has always been a rebel. Yet no one thought she would go so far as to join the reczavy, a group living in tents on the edge of the desert and known for their sexual promiscuity and playful ways.

But as the date of the Mongols’ return draws near, Ilarians of all types must work together if they are to have any hope of surviving. And the reczavy, for all of their odd ways, do have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. Well, up their sleeves whenever they are bothering to wear clothes, that is.

Gypsum is touched when her oldest sister Ryalgar comes to call, and brings an olive branch with her. Ryalgar recognizes that the reczavy have as much to lose as anyone, and as much to contribute. Will Gypsum accept a key role in the plan to stop the invasion? Of course she will.

Unfortunately, her playmates don’t all feel the same sense of urgency. Many would rather simply enjoy the time they have left. A few claim to be allergic to long term planning. And some are too busy with their own poorly-timed plans to overthrow the government Ilari already has.

Good thing needlepoint is the one traditional skill at which Gypsum has always excelled. She will need to thread a fine needle in order to coax this recalcitrant group into becoming life-saving warriors of a very different kind.

[Published 8 July 2022, TBA pages]

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About the Author

Sherrie Cronin writes stories about people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had. She’s made a lot of stops along the way to telling these tells — living in seven cities, visiting forty-six countries, and working as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. She’s lost too many beloved cats to mention, but has acquired a husband and three children who are all doing fine, despite how odd she is.

Today she lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina where she writes, answers a hotline, and occasionally checks her phone for a message from Captain Picard. She still hopes to get the chance to pursue her remaining dream in life and become Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise.

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