A barracks full of beautiful boys. A girl in disguise, living among them.
Welcome to the January 13th stop on the blog tour for Journeys by Jeanne Roland with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
Please note that this post contains affiliate links, which means there is no additional cost to you if you shop using my links, but I will earn a small percentage in commission. A program-specific disclaimer is at the bottom of this post.
About the Book
Journeys
The Archers of Saint Sebastian Book One
by Jeanne Roland
Published 6 November 2021
Nepenthe Press
Genre: YA Historical Romance Adventure
Page Count: 644
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
A barracks full of beautiful boys. A girl in disguise, living among them.
It’s the 14th century, and the longbow is king. But in the northern European principality of Ardennes, archery isn’t just the nation’s defense. It’s the national obsession.
MEET THE JOURNEYS
12 young Journeyman archers, the best in the country
2 years of public competitions, in which looks count almost as much as ability
6 will win a coveted membership in the Archers’ Guild of St. Sebastian
1 will become the prince’s new Guardsman
MEET MARIEKE
15-year-old Marieke is as obsessed with St. Sebastian’s as everyone else in Ardennes. Only it’s the middle ages, and girls just don’t become elite archers. Except Marieke’s prospects as a girl aren’t promising either, after a well-timed kick from a mule has left her with a face that’s badly scarred and ruined for marriage. But when circumstances force her to leave her old life behind and flee to the guild for refuge, there are only two things Marieke really knows about the place. One is that a mysterious accident ended her own father’s time as a Journey. The other?
There are no women allowed inside St. Sebastian’s.
Marieke knows disguising herself as a boy and infiltrating the guild means embarking on a dangerous deception. But it may be her only chance to find out the truth about her father’s past and to stop a murderous plot from coming to fruition. When the dashing young Journeyman Tristan takes her under his wing as his squire, she’s got to stay – at least long enough to help him beat out his brutal arch-rival to win the competitions.
Keeping her identity a secret will be hard. Living in close quarters with a pack of gorgeous boys? That will be harder still. But the hardest thing of all will be keeping the vow she makes for herself: to see Tristan become the next Guardsman, without ever letting him find out she’s a girl – a girl, who loves him.
Part Robin Hood and part Princess Bride, with a pinch of Mulan and a dash of Cyrano de Bergerac in the mix, The Archers of St. Sebastian I: Journeys is a humorous action and adventure saga inspired by late medieval/early Renaissance Belgium and packed with romance, wit, and longbow archery. Perfect for young adults looking for an immersive read and for adults who love young adult themes, Journeys is an escape into the past that reads more like romantic historical fantasy than pure historical fiction.
Unrequited love? Ugly heroines who stay ugly? Friendship, coming of age, romance, adventure, and plenty of archery competitions? A unique setting inspired by the glorious city of Bruges, with a richly imagined world set within the walls of a male-only archers’ guild? Journeys: The Archers of Saint Sebastian has it all, so if you’re looking for a great escape, don your disguise and join Marieke as she enters the forbidden world of Saint Sebastian’s, and prepare to fall in love with the Journeys – that is, the twelve best and most beautiful archers in all of Ardennes, the Journeyman archers of St. Sebastian’s.
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK
Excerpt
(Context: 15-year-old Marieke is disguised as Marek, and she’s serving as a squire to the Journeyman archer Tristan at the archers’ guild of Saint Sebastian. She’s in love with him, but she’s sworn an oath never to let him find out she’s a girl. In this scene, after Tristan and Marieke find an abandoned windmill, and spend an idyllic afternoon daydreaming in its shadow).
“Do you know what I love about you, Marek?” he says. At the word ‘love,’ the band around my chest constricts painfully, though he’s used it lightly enough. “You’re completely without pretense!”
If he only knew. I blush, not only at the compliment, but out of shame, too. But Tristan doesn’t notice. He rolls back onto his back.
“Admit it. Much as we may love dear old St. Seb’s, it’s good to be away. It’s good to be able to let your guard down.”
“And, to stop acting?” I venture boldly.
“Oh, I’d never do that. Not entirely!” he laughs.
“Tristan,” I ask, “Just between us. Who are you, really?”
“I firmly believe, Marek, a man has two choices,” he replies, crossing his arms behind his head and looking up at the sky. “He can stage his life as a comedy, or as a tragedy. Personally, I prefer comedy.”
“Very clever. But that’s not an answer. Besides, not even you can really laugh at everything.”
“No. But I can try.”
“Come on, Tristan,” I say, refusing to let him brush me off this time. “Give me a real answer.”
“A real answer? Ok, Marek, my friend,” he says. “The real answer is, I wish I knew.”
On impulse, I say, “Well, I know exactly who you are, Tristan.”
“Oh really? Who’s that?”
“You’re the next member of the Black Guards, if I have anything to say about it.” And I mean it. I resolve right then and there that I’m going to find a way to make it happen.
About the Author
Roland hails from Davis, California, where she spent most of her youth lounging at the pool, soaking up the sun, and daydreaming. She had a key ring that read ‘I’m running away to join the circus,’ and her favorite moment of the day was when the local movie theater went dark, and the slogan ‘escape to the movies’ appeared on the screen. As an adult, her passions include all things melodramatic and beautiful — everything from classic movies, British romantic poetry, ancient tragedy and epic, to Italian opera. She is now a professor of Classics in a small midwestern town, where she lives with her Greek husband, her fraternal twins, and a Bernese mountain dog named Franco Corelli.
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Amazon | Goodreads
Giveaway Alert!
Jeanne Roland will be awarding a $40 Amazon or B&N gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway| Dec 27 | Mythical Books | Dec 28 | Rogue’s Angels |
| Dec 29 | Momma Says To Read or Not to Read | Dec 30 | Locks, Hooks and Books |
| Dec 31 | Stormy Nights Reviewing & Bloggin’ | Jan 3 | Fabulous and Brunette |
| Jan 4 | Long and Short Reviews | Jan 5 | All the Ups and Downs |
| Jan 6 | Literary Gold | Jan 7 | Welcome to My World of Dreams |
| Jan 10 | Books in the Hall | Jan 11 | It’s Raining Books |
| Jan 12 | The Reading Addict | Jan 13 | Westveil Publishing |
| Jan 14 | Bibliomanaic Aza | Jan 17 | Hope. Dreams. Life… Love |
| Jan 18 | Sybrina’s Book Blog | Jan 19 | Straight from the Library |
| Jan 20 | The Avid Reader | Jan 21 | Seven Troublesome Sisters |
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Good morning, and thank you so much for hosting!
Thanks for hosting!
I read your book and loved it! The characters were so fun and hilarious, and the archery competition was great. I’ve been telling my friends about it. Can’t wait for the next one to come out.
Hi Amy, how fabulous of you to come by and comment! I’m so glad you liked the book, and thank you so much for telling people about it. Word of mouth is so important for authors like me, so I greatly appreciate it. I’m so very thankful for every reader! I’m getting excited about the next one, too – Squires should be out this spring, and I can’t wait to share it with you!
This sounds like a fantastic book especially for my nieces
It’s for anyone 14-15+, so why not get one for them, and then read it yourself? I think most of my readers have been adult women who like coming of age stories
The cover is absolutely beautiful and fitting.
I’m so glad you think so, Mya! I particularly like the “fitting.” I thought so, even though it probably doesn’t “scream” the genre the way a cover is supposed to do – I think anyone who likes the cover will like the book. It’s a good indicator.
I enjoyed the excerpt and Journeys sounds like a great adventure for my granddaughter to enjoy! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a wonderful day!
Thanks for stopping by and giving it a read, Eva!
This book sounds like a fascinating read. I love the cover!
The cover is a pretty accurate indicator of the style of the book, except perhaps it doesn’t hint at the wry humor. But I love it, too, so thank you!
Such a great book! What is your vision for how the next one will shape up? Have you had any changes of heart on the direction it will take after the launch of the first one?
Hi Julius (what a great name, by the way) – it sounds like you might have read book one, and if so, thank you so much for that, and for stopping by to comment! I really appreciate it, more than you know. As for your question, to be honest, the next one is all written, and it was already finished before I published this one – so basically, the answer is “no,” there’s no change of vision. That said, it does need some editing and proofreading, and a few choices to make about a few details. But the basic arc of the next installment of the story and the ‘heart’ of it, that’s set. I want to be sure to tell the story that I want to tell, and not to second-guess that or change it to try to make it more marketable. I think that’s an easy way to ruin something. Nothing will please everyone, so you can only hope that if you write something you love, there will be others out there who love it, too. Thank you for the great, thoughtful question! It was a pleasure to answer, thank you!
I love the cover. Was it hard to decide on it?
It wasn’t, and it was – if that makes any sense. I’ve always known that I wanted a painting of Saint Sebastian on the cover. It was a painting of Saint Sebastian in the archers’ guild in Bruges that in part inspired my story, and a gorgeous painting of the Saint plays a role in the book. Even though the painting in my book is not identical to the one on the cover, I’ve also known that I wanted this specific painting on the cover for a very long time. However, I also know that simply because the painting is meaningful to me doesn’t mean that it will mean something to anyone else, and I have no doubt broken marketing rule no. 1 by having a cover that does not instantly scream the exact genre and content of the book. In the end, I chose to use a cover that I can love rather than one that might have been more successful, because at the end of the day, to me a book isn’t a product. It is a work of art, inside and out, and it should be true to the artist’s vision.
This sounds like an excellent story that my teen-aged granddaughters will enjoy reading as well. Thank you for posting about this book
Thank you, Bea! Don’t discount the appeal to grandmothers, however – this book isn’t just for the young, but the young at heart. Most of my readers are adult women, and the writing is for mature tastes
Thanks for the excerpt! I enjoyed it!
Thank you, Glenda!
Thank you again for hosting, Westveil Publishing, and for the great post!