Book Review: Enchanted Forests Charity Anthology
A delightful collection of ten short fantasy stories about magical forests and the creatures living in them.
If you go down to the woods today…
You’d better not go alone…
Discover the secret world between the trees where fairies, unicorns and even monsters dwell. Take a stroll through enchanted woods and dance with pixies and dryads by the light of the stars. Escape Baba Yaga and fall in love with a prince in disguise. Taste the fruit at the goblin market and be whisked away on a magical adventure.
Among ancient trees, find beauty, danger and adventure in these enchanting short stories by award-winning, best-selling, and up-and-coming fantasy authors.
GENRE: Fantasy (Anthology)
PURCHASE LINK: Amazon
ABOUT: Enchanted Forests is a charity anthology, a collection of ten short fantasy stories about magical forests and the creatures living in them. It is fully illustrated by the talented Elena Shelest. All profits from the anthology will be donated to the Rainforest Foundation, who support indigenous and traditional peoples of the world’s rainforests in their efforts to protect their environment and fulfill their rights. The audiobook, narrated by Jillian Yetter, is now in process and will hopefully be available by September.
For more information about the team behind this, please check out their websites:
Alice Ivinya (author)
Alice is a USA Today bestselling author. She is also an award winning international and Barnes and Noble bestseller. She lives in Bristol, England. She is wife to Sam, mummy to their toddler and owns the best dog in the world, Summer. She has loved fantasy all her life and is currently writing three fairytale retellings. When she's not off galivanting in other worlds, she loves walking the dog and spending time with her church family.
Ben Lang (author)
Ben Lang is a fantasy and myth obsessive who loves monsters, adventures and exotic lands. His stories aim to include an awesome setting, a great monster and an emotive plot. He lives in Nottingham, UK at the sufferance of Megan who tolerates his over-consumption of tea and eternal state of foggy optimism.
Jennifer Kropf (author)
Jennifer Kropf is the author of The Winter Souls Series and was a finalist for the Indie Fantasy Book of the Year award with Caffeinated Fantasy in 2020. She lives amidst lush Canadian farmland with her husband and three kids, and writes Christmas themed fantasy stories meant to inspire family traditions in households at Christmas time. She is the founder of Winter Publishing House, and always loved The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis growing up.
Xander Cross (author)
Xander Cross lives a quiet life with his spouse in Maryland. He holds a bachelor’s in History, which he uses to write paranormal fiction. A lifelong enthusiast of Japanese culture and folklore, Xander cosplays as a kitsune yōkai on occasion. In addition to the supernatural cyberpunk series, “The Atlas Dystopia Apocalyptica,” he has also published a paranormal romance novella trilogy entitled “Come by Night” on Wattpad.
Sky Sommers (author)
For most of her life, Sky has lived and worked in Tallinn, Estonia, with brief escapes all over the world in search of her muse. Penguins and polar bears, beware, I will get there. Eventually. Sky’s debut e-book was about ancient goddesses running amok, trying to get their wilted powers back. She then proceeded to publishing her own books and found her way from Greek and Arthurian myths and legends to fairytales retold for young adult and adult audiences. So far, Thumbelina has been updated for suspicious adults, more sinister versions of Cinderella, Red Riding Hood and The Wizard of Oz were released in 2020-2021 (Cinders-Embers-Ash aka the Magic Mirrors Saga) and a dystopian book made a blip in October 2021. All her books are peppered with dry humor, linked by some character or another and usually she loves making you choose at the end—depending on whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. Sky lives in a house with a small garden with her husband and mostly one, but on occasion plus four kids. No dog.
N.D.T. Casale (author)
N.D.T. Casale is an Italian-American author who lives in the United States. She creates magical realms for others to escape to and enjoy. When she is not hard at work writing, N.D.T. Casale spends her time riding horses, working out, traveling, snowboarding, and looking for her next adventure. She is fluent in multiple languages and always ends her day with a cup of tea.
Donna White (author)
Donna White is the author of The Whitmere Legacy series. She was born and raised in the South and moved to Southern California as a young adult. She splits her time between her husband, children, large dogs, and her passion for nature photography. She writes epic paranormal stories of gracious women with enhanced martial arts skills in exotic locations. Charm and humor are her trademarks while keeping the scare factor at bay.
Elena Shelest (author and illustrator)
Elena Shelest immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine at the age of 15. She currently resides in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, two busy kids, and three pets. She is a full-time nurse, an artist, and an avid reader of fantasy and inspirational books. She is hoping to encourage her readers to be able to look beyond what’s possible and believe again that everyday miracles do happen. Her contemporary fantasies about dreams coming true, The Seven Lives of Grace and Sweets Make Everything Better can be found on Amazon along with other books.
Astrid V.J. (author)
Astrid V.J. is an award-winning and USA Today Bestselling Author born in South Africa. She is a trained social anthropologist and certified transformational life coach. She currently resides in Sweden with her husband and their two children. In early childhood, she showed an interest in reading and languages--interests which her family encouraged. Astrid started writing her first novel at age 12 and now writes fantasy in a variety of genres, exploring her passion for cultures and languages. When she isn't writing, Astrid likes to read, take walks in nature, play silly games with her children, do embroidery, and play music. She writes transformation fiction: incorporating transformation principles in novels, rather than writing another self-help book.
Lyndsey Hall (author)
Lyndsey Hall lives on the edge of Sherwood Forest, one of the most magical places in England’s history, and the inspiration for her debut novel, The Fair Queen. She grew up surrounded by books, and loved to write from a young age. She loves to travel and try her hand at new things, but is most at home when curled up in a chair with a cup of tea and a good book, usually accompanied by at least one dog. She’s fortunate enough to share her home with two cherished humans and two beloved dogs.
Jillian Yetter (audiobook narrator)
Jillian Yetter spent 10 years as a high school English Teacher. For anyone who has attempted to interact with teenagers or, even more difficult, keep them engaged, you know that this can be a daunting task. One of the most beneficial strategies was to bring the books to life through character voices, dramatic tone, and emotive storytelling. Performing the story helped the words jump off the page and come to life for a generation of bored Netflix-bingers and TikTok-creators. She also worked as a voice and performance coach for students after school in preparation for speeches and an oral recitation competition called Poetry Out Loud. As an Audiobook Narrator, her goal is to breathe life into a story through a performance that lifts the characters off the page and builds a world around the listener. As a former English Teacher, she grasps the nuance of written-word and carries each piece as she transforms it into spoken-word.
Emily's World of Design (cover artist)
Review & Recommended Listening
This was a delightful collection of fantasy short stories, all involving forests in some form and degree. Like actual forests, there's so much variety; no two stories are alike, despite the anthology's theme. It made me really excited to go from one story to the next because you didn't really know what was in store!
I enjoyed all of the authors' writing styles. The stories were easy to read, had some great worldbuilding, and introduced a lot of fun, lovable characters. Most of the stories were prequels of some sort to the authors' other works, which made really good introductions to their works. I've certainly noted a few to check out further. My favorite was Feather Green, though I pretty much loved everything!
If you're looking to support a good cause and get lost in fantastical new worlds at the same time, this anthology might just be perfect for you.
My Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Recommended Listening: As I mentioned in my open call for books to review, I’ll now be adding a song to my reviews! It’ll be one that either sums up the book for me, what I’d imagine in a trailer were it a movie, something that I associate with the story or one of the characters for whatever reason… or maybe even an original inspired by it 😉
About the Creator
Marie Sinadjan
Filipino spec fic author and book reviewer based in the UK. https://linktr.ee/mariesinadjan • www.mariesinadjan.com
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