Blog Tour & Giveaway: Nocturne (The Guardian of the Opera #1) by Cheryl Mahoney

I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the NOCTURNE by Cheryl Mahoney Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!

About The Book:

Title: NOCTURNE (The Guardian of the Opera #1)

Author: Cheryl Mahoney

Pub. Date: June 5, 2020

Publisher: Stonehenge Circle Press

Pages: 300

Formats:  Paperback, eBook

Find it: Goodreads, Amazon

Set against the backdrop of 1880s Paris and the stunning Opera Garnier, The Guardian of the Opera: Nocturne brings you the familiar tale from a different direction. Meg Giry met the Phantom once when she was twelve years old, a new ballet dancer lost in the Opera’s maze. Years later, when an Angel of Music offers singing lessons to her best friend Christine Daaé, Meg is sure she knows what’s actually happening. But as strange events unfold and the pieces stop adding up, Meg has to wonder if she truly understands the Phantom—or Christine.

Erik is a man of many talents and many masks, and the one covering his face may be the least concealing. The opera house is his kingdom and his refuge, where he stalks through the shadows as the Phantom of the Opera, watching over all that occurs. He never intended to fall in love; when he does, it launches him into a new symphony he’s certain can only end in heartbreak.

Book Dream Cast

I know some authors “cast” actors as the characters as they’re writing, to help them bring the characters to life. I’ve never done that! But I did do some thinking about this question… I actually cast the roles twice: once with actors who could realistically play the roles if this movie was being made now, and once with the truly dream cast of actors who may not be the right age now, but in a timey-wimey world would have been great.

For a possibly real cast, I’d love Florence Pugh as Meg Giry – she played Amy March in the recent Little Women, and I especially loved her socially-aware portrayal, and how nicely she took down Laurie at one point. I think she’d be a good fit for my Meg, who’s often overlooked but is much more aware than people think.

For Christine Daaé, I think Felicity Jones would be very interesting – she played wide-eyed innocence very well in Northanger Abbey some years ago, but has also played much more subtle, complicated roles. My Christine is more complicated than most, and I think she’d be effective playing the nuances below the innocent surface.

The Phantom is harder to cast than the women, I found, but Michiel Huisman would be interesting. I expect he’s best known for Game of Thrones (which I have not watched – too bloody!) but I liked him in Age of Adeline. He has about the right look for my Phantom (minus the beard), and he played a slightly pressure-y but still likable romantic lead in that movie, which is probably about right!

If I was casting regardless of age, I’d cast Anne Hathaway as Meg, because I think she’s absolutely wonderful – and especially good at characters who are overlooked and blossom over the course of a story. She’s not usually blond (like Meg), but she can be, so it would work. I’d cast Meryl Streep as Meg’s mother, Madame Giry, because she’s a force of nature and would completely sell the scene in Book Two when Madame Giry threatens the Phantom if he harms Meg. And because you should always cast Meryl Streep if you can.

For Christine, I’d cast Natalie Portman. I’m especially thinking of her role in V for Vendetta, where she starts out quite innocent and transforms over the course of the movie.

And finally, for the Phantom, I would cast Earl Carpenter – not generally in movies, he was the first actor I saw play the role of the Phantom in Webber’s play, and I loved the nuance and gentleness he brought to the character.

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About Cheryl:

Cheryl Mahoney lives in California and dreams of other worlds. She is the author of the Beyond the Tales quartet, retelling familiar fairy tales, but subverting expectations with different points of view and new twists to the tales. She is also a co-author of The Servants and the Beast, and its companion piece, After the Sparkles Settled. Cheryl loves exploring new worlds in the past, the future or fairyland, and builds her stories around characters finding their way through those worlds–especially characters overlooked or underestimated by the people around them.

She has been blogging since 2010 at Tales of the Marvelous (http://marveloustales.com). Her weekly Writing Wednesday posts provide updates about her current writing, including excerpts. She also posts regularly with book and movie reviews, and reflections on reading. She has been a member of Stonehenge Writers since 2012, and has completed NaNoWriMo seven times.

Cheryl has looked for faeries in Kensington Gardens in London and for the Phantom at the Opera Garnier in Paris. She considers Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness Quartet to be life-changing and Terry Pratchett books to be the best cure for gloomy days.

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will win a finished copy of NOCTURNE, US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Tour Schedule:

Week One:

6/1/2020	Lone Tree Reads	Guest Post
6/1/2020	Mythical Books	Guest Post
6/2/2020	Hurn Publications	Guest Post
6/2/2020	Smada's Book Smack	Guest Post
6/3/2020	BookHounds ya	Interview
6/3/2020	Books A-Brewin'	Review
6/4/2020	Two Chicks on Books	Excerpt
6/4/2020	Twirling Book Princess	Excerpt
6/5/2020	Fire and Ice	Excerpt
6/5/2020	JaimeRockstarBookTours	Instagram Post

Week Two:

6/8/2020	History from a Woman’s Perspective	Review
6/8/2020	Lifestyle of Me	Review
6/9/2020	Locks, Hooks and Books	Review
6/9/2020	She Just Loves Books	Review
6/10/2020	Jaime's World	Excerpt
6/10/2020	Reese's Reviews	Review
6/11/2020	The Phantom Paragrapher	Review
6/11/2020	A Dream Within A Dream	Guest Post
6/12/2020	Popthebutterfly Reads	Review
6/12/2020	A Gingerly Review	Review