#p.m. freestone

‘Tis the season to be grateful and give thanks! We’re thankful for books all year round, but since it’s Thanksgiving time, we wanted to take a moment to call out a few books that have meant a lot to us lately. ❤️

STEPSISTER by Jennifer Donnelly

It’s about time that the “ugly” stepsisters from Cinderella had their story told! In this retelling of the classic fairytale, stepsisters Isabelle and Tavi deal with the fallout after Cinderella leaves for the palace - and go on a journey of redemption and empowerment. We can all take some inspiration out of this story and learn that there’s truly nothing more beautiful than courage.

CALL DOWN THE HAWK by Maggie Stiefvater

Anyone who has read The Raven Cycle has a LOT to be thankful for this holiday season now that Ronan Lynch’s story has continued in the first book of The Dreamer Trilogy! Luckily for everyone, this story has plenty to offer for non-Raven Cycle fans, too - from fantastical dream-creatures to art forgers to the end of the world. Reading Call Down the Hawk will prove to you that anything is possible!

I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST by Mason Deaver 

This year, we’re thankful to have read this incredible debut from Mason Deaver about a non-binary teen coming out to their parents and finding love, acceptance, and friendship. If you haven’t read this book yet, move it to the top of your TBR pile, because I Wish You All the Best is the perfect book to remind us that while we all have our own struggles, what matters most is being true to yourself. 

SHADOWSCENT by P.M. Freestone

Sometimes you need a fantasy to really envelop all of your senses. In Shadowscent, P.M. Freestone has created a stunning world where magic is linked to fragrance. We’re thankful to have spent time in the Aramtesh Empire on an epic quest and to have been brought in so fully to this world! 

TARNISHED ARE THE STARS by Rosiee Thor

An Ember in the Ashes meets Indiana Jones in an electrifying, steal-your-breath away, supercharge-your-senses YA fantasy adventure.

Across the Aramtesh Empire, scent is everything. Prayers only reach heaven on sacred incense, and perfumes are prized status symbols. 17-year-old Rakel has an uncanny ability with fragrances, but her skills aren't enough to buy her dying father more time. Ash bears the tattoos of an imperial bodyguard. When his prince, Nisai, insists on a diplomatic mission to an outer province, Ash is duty-bound to join the caravan. It's a nightmare protecting Nisai on the road. But it's even harder for Ash to conceal a secret that could see him exiled or executed. Rakel and Ash have nothing in common until smoke draws them to a plantation of the Empire's rarest flower. Nisai's been poisoned, flames devour the priceless blooms, and the pair have "suspect" clinging to them like a bad stench. Their futures depend on them working together to decipher clues, defy dangers and defeat their own demons in a race to source an antidote . . . before the imperial army hunts them down.

START READING! 

Shadowscent Excerpt by I Read YA on Scribd

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Guest Post from P.M. Freestone, author of Shadowscent!

Would you try something for me?

Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and imagine the scent of freshly mown grass.

What came to mind? The first days of spring? Sports fields and ball games? Hay fever? Picnics? Something else entirely?

Neurologically, our sense of smell is linked to memory. Thinking of a familiar scent conjures up thoughts of people, places or emotions. Yet it’s often the least used of the senses in books. 

How cool would it be, I thought, to build a fantasy world where life revolves around scent?

I love perfume, and I knew from my archaeology degree (nerd alert!) that we’ve long been taking extraordinary measures to make ourselves smell nice. But when I hit the library for Shadowscent, I found that scent was historically much more than fashion. It could determine if you were trustworthy, like in Ancient Rome, where your aroma was believed to reflect your morals.

Pleasant smells were often associated with the divine. Other scents were believed to hold the power to protect or heal. 

In Early Modern Europe, for example, people carried camphor in their pockets to ward off plague. Today, we know camphor’s chemical composition makes a good cough suppressant. But centuries ago?

 It was magic. The kind of magic that infuses the ‘scentlore’ of Shadowscent.

Speaking of chemistry, the first known record of a perfumer is from a three-thousand-year-old clay tablet from Babylonian Mesopotamia. In contrast to recent centuries, when the sciences increasingly became male domains, this historical chemist was a woman. Her lab partner was a woman, too (go STEM ladies!). I figured it would be a good idea to speak to the present-day equivalent, so I sought out Sarah McCartney from my favourite perfumery – 4160Tuesdays in London.

I was so excited when Sarah invited me to visit! Seeing behind the scenes of a working perfumery and learning about the industry was incredibly helpful. I sampled a vast array of ingredients—some that I wanted to feature in the Empire of Aramtesh but were too rare or expensive for me to otherwise sniff (Frankincense! Labdanum! Opopanax! Real sandalwood!). 

I had the chance to create signature fragrances for Shadowscent’s main characters, Rakel and Ash. It made them seem so much more real to me… I hope it brings them to life in readers’ minds, too!