Book Spotlight: The Pretender by Katie Ward

France, 2000: Two babies are born on the same day just two hours apart - but to very different lives. Isabella is a Princess and heir to the French throne, while Sophia is born into a life of poverty and abuse. At the age of 18, Sophia runs away from home. That same night, Isabella is also fleeing from the burden of her royal life when she finds Sophia slumped at the Palace gates. Amazed by how alike they look, Isabella proposes a daring plot - to exchange their lives for one week.

The Pretender is an emotionally intense and compelling story of friendship, love and the strange power of destiny.

GENRE: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction, Romance

LINKS: Amazon | Goodreads | StoryGraph

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Katie Ward always knew that she wanted to write for a living. After completing a degree in Journalism at the University for the Creative Arts, she moved to Dublin. While there, she had a short story published in an anthology titled 'Do the Write Thing' which was part of a competition being run by Irish TV show Seoige and O’Shea (the Irish equivalent of Richard and Judy!). The anthology reached the top 20 in the Irish Bestsellers List in 2007. Shortly after this, Katie was also shortlisted for a competition judged by Man Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle with an excerpt of her second novel Red Roses.

Katie returned to Devon where she continued to focus on her writing and in 2015 she began writing her debut novel, The Pretender, which became a top 30 bestseller on the Amazon Young Adult chart and was also awarded a BRAG medallion. Katie lives in Devon and aside from writing, she also loves to sing, dance and travel.

If you wish to follow Katie on social media, you can via @katiewwriter on Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook and X.

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About BBNYA and the Spotlight Tours

The Book Bloggers’ Novel of the Year Award (BBNYA) is celebrating the books that made it to the semi-finals with a mini spotlight blitz tour for each title.

BBNYA is a yearly competition where book bloggers from all over the world read and score books written by indie authors, ending with 16 finalists and one overall winner.

If you want some more information about BBNYA, check out www.bbnya.com or take a peek over on Twitter @BBNYA_Official. BBNYA is brought to you in association with the @Foliosociety (if you love beautiful books, you NEED to check out their website!) and the book blogger support group @The_WriteReads.

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Hi! I'm Marie, a Filipino SFFH author and book reviewer currently based in the UK. I’m the co-author of The Prophecies of Ragnarok, a Norse myth new adult urban fantasy trilogy, and I also have several short stories published in anthologies and literary journals.

You can find more info about me and my books, and also subscribe to my newsletter for more content, here. And if you like what I do, please also consider supporting me on Ko-fi! 🩷 https://ko-fi.com/mariesinadjan

If you fancy a short read, I have a cozy reimagining of the Norse myths about Hel, but it's just under 70 pages and can be read in one sitting. ✨ Plus there's a swag kit coming soon! Includes a "membership card," a bookmark, a sticker, an origami dog, and an exclusive 500-word story 🫶🏼

All things end, and all must die.

But death is not always the end.

When Geiravor Lokisdottir was stripped of her name and cast out of Asgard, torn from her family and the life she had known, she thought she’d lost it all. But in the shadows of Niflheim she discovers the path to her destiny, and what it truly means to be queen.

This is a prequel short story to THE PROPHECIES OF RAGNAROK trilogy by Meri Benson and Marie Sinadjan, and a retelling of the myths involving Hel, the Norse goddess of death and the queen of the underworld.