Welcome to a new cover reveal!

Today we have the pleasure of help reveal with other bloggers the cover of Spark of the Divine, first book on the Kalaraak Chronicles, by the Aussie author Louise Holland.

Let's take a look at the blurb firstly.

As a Divine, Mae wields her strange gifts quietly as a mercenary—until a simple rescue job sees the crew uncover a plot to steal divinity from the gods themselves. When the god Mae serves is attacked, she must restore their power before the seven realms are thrown into chaos.

The first instalment in fantasy series The Kalaraak Chronicles, SPARK OF THE DIVINE follows a group of reluctant heroes on a quest to save a god while the fate of the realms hangs in the balance. Will they each find what they desperately seek, or will secrets of romance and betrayal break them apart? Can they work together to defeat an evil their realm has never seen?

Is it the strength of the god that matters… or the belief of the Divine?

Spark of the Divine is a high fantasy adventure that follows a group of reluctant heroes as they try to restore the stolen power of gods. It is told through multiple POVs, and features swords and action, magic battles, romance and betrayal, and a rollercoaster of emotions. The central themes are death, motherhood, and friendship, and ultimately how far you would go for those you love.

You can preorder the book using this link, or add it to your Goodreads using this other link.

The cover design has been done by Mike Knott (who you can follow on IG using this link). Mike is an amazing tattooist and artist from Adelaide, Australia, who specialises in microrealism tattooing. He is one of Louise's closest friends and is an incredibly talented person. He’s also part of the DnD crew!

And time for the reveal!

In words of the author, about her writing journey:

I’ve always loved writing, and I had lofty dreams of being an author for the fabled One Day away. I plotted and wrote blurbs and synopses for probably twenty different novels. But I never had any ideas that really stuck with me until I decided to write the Kalaraak Chronicles. Being based on and inspired by the true events of my D&D party (a three-year campaign, we’ve been playing since 2018 now) gave me the motivation I needed to really sit down and start, and the words just poured out of me. It wasn’t easy—I had to change A LOT of the story to make it more appropriate for the medium. Book characters don’t just roll history checks and ‘suddenly remember’ important plot points; plus, I wanted my work to be enjoyable by people who’ve never even heard of D&D before. In most ways, the campaign and this novel are extremely different. There was no great love story at our table, for example, but the one I ended up with in Spark happened almost organically—I finally understood why writers say things like “the characters made me do it”. Weaving the story *I* wanted to tell in with the bones of what “really” happened was where the magic blossomed. From first word to finished draft, it took two years, three job changes, half a pandemic, and an adult ADHD diagnosis, but I did it. I have never been prouder of anything I’ve created (except my daughter, of course). Now it’s finally coming together, and all I can think about is writing the next one!

In this post:

Louise Holland

Louise Holland is an indie author from Adelaide, Australia, and her writing is fuelled by 30% hyper-fixation and 70% spite. When not writing or procrastinating writing, she can usually be found sobbing to Taylor Swift or impulse buying another set of glittery pink dice she doesn’t need.