Smorgasbord Christmas Book Fair 2022 – New Book on the Shelves and my review – Fairies, Myths, & Magic II: Book 2: A Winter Celebration by Colleen Chesebro

Welcome to the Smorgasbord Christmas Book Fair with a selection of books from personally recommended authors on my bookshelf I believe will make wonderful gifts for friends, family and for you.

Delighted to share the news of the lastest release by Colleen M. Chesebro. I loved the first Fairies, Myths & Magic and looked forward to reading this festive sequel and I was not disappointed.  A Winter Celebration

About the book

In this second book in the Fairies, Myths, & Magic series, step into a world where dark fairies and other magical beings converge in a collection of poetry and short stories inspired by winter and the celebration of the winter solstice.

From autumn’s scary fairies to the forgotten female characters of Yule, prepare to embrace the magical winter solstice myths from around the world. Meet Frau Holle in the Wild Hunt, Befana—the Christmas Witch of Italy, and the Japanese goddess Ameratasu who controls the springtime. Prepare to embrace the Scottish trows, the Irish Goddess of Winter—the Cailleach Béara, and Snegurochka—the Snow Girl.

Learn how to make Yuletide rituals part of your celebration by embracing the symbols of Yule by decorating with evergreens and crystals.

My review for the book December 15th 2022

This is a delightful collection of poetry, flash fiction and short stories for any time of year but particularly during this festive season.

The collection begins with a wonderful introduction to the Winter Solstice with dates of the other seasonal festivities throughout the year. Also the background to the word ‘Yule’ and its significance in pagan beliefs along with some of the myths that linger on in our modern day celebrations. We also get to meet the winter yule faeries and their interactions with humans.  There are some intoxicating Green Fairies that will certainly encourage you to lose your inhibitions.

A poem celebrating Samhain is followed by a mystical story of a family deeply indebted to an unforgiving faery queen leading to revelations from the past and a desperate attempt to change the future.

This is followed by over seventy other amazing poems and stories that are a mixture of light and dark elements associated with mid-winter around the world. From the author’s home near Lake Michigan to ancient myths of Yule from the Shetland Islands, Ireland, The Mediterranean, Scandinavia, Russia, Italy, Ancient Greece, Germany, Japan and within the Native American Culture. All these legends have a very similar theme running through them.

“Yule personifies the great darkness before the dawn, and before the growing light shines brightly again.”

Towards the end of the collection we are offered further explanations of the twelve days of Yule and the sacred plants, symbols, rituals and crystals associated with the season.

This is not just an entertaining read, it is packed with details about this festive season we all love. Deep rooted within so many of our cultures, it is a magical celebration that crosses different belief systems and differences to remind us of our connection to nature and the seasons. I can highly recommend.

Read the reviews and buy the book: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK

Also by Colleen M. Chesebro

Head over to discover more about Colleen Chesebro and buy the books: Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – Goodreads: Colleen at Goodreads – Website Wordcraft poetry – Author website and blog: Colleen M. Chesebro      – LinkedIn: Colleen M. Chesebro – Facebook: Colleen M. Chesebro Poet and Author

About Colleen M. Chesebro

An avid reader, Colleen M. Chesebro rekindled her love of writing poetry after years spent working in the accounting industry. These days, she loves crafting syllabic poetry, flash fiction, and creative fiction and nonfiction.

In addition to poetry books, Chesebro’s publishing career includes participation in various anthologies featuring short stories, flash fiction, and poetry. She’s an avid supporter of her writing community on Word Craft Poetry.com by organizing and sponsoring a weekly syllabic poetry challenge, called #TankaTuesday, where participants experiment with traditional and current forms of Japanese and American syllabic poetry.

Chesebro is an assistant editor of The Congress of the Rough Writers Flash Fiction Anthology & Gitty Up Press, a micro-press founded by Charli Mills and Carrot Ranch.

In January 2022, Colleen founded Unicorn Cats Publishing Services to assist poets and authors in creating eBooks and print books for publication. In addition, she creates affordable book covers for Kindle and print books.

Chesebro lives in the house of her dreams in mid-Michigan surrounded by the Great Lakes with her husband and two (unicorn) cats, Chloe & Sophie.

Thanks for dropping in today and I hope you will be leaving with some books.  Sally