A Tale of the Other Kind by Leandi Cameron

The long-awaited release of A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel (ISBN 13: 9780620526586) (ISBN 10: 0620525991) (ASIN: B009H68YMO), published by House of Leavik, and written by author, Leandi Cameron, has finally made its debut.

As an award-winning journalist, Cameron spent a lot of her time grooming this young-adult paranormal fantasy book to meet her strict specifications.

While writing the book, 31-year-old Cameron relived her years as a teenager, infatuated by horror, fantasy and paranormal books – even before these book genres started a worldwide frenzy, along the likes of Twilight.

Growing up, Cameron loved to read books such as the Vampire Diaries series by LJ Smith, and the Lestat series by Anne Rice, among others.

She set a goal for herself to one day follow in the footsteps of her beloved authors.

Her vision was to create a novel that captures the para-genre to the best of her ability, and incorporating a range of mythological elements from South Africa and other cultures into one, and by that, create a whole new world of how paranormal beings came into existence.

In the first in the series, A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel, Cameron created multiple storylines, with diverse characters and a captivating romance that will make any reader, young and old, wish that they were living the life of Sienna Fynn, loved and protected at all costs by protagonist Kai Emery.

In the A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel, each character has a solid background, and Cameron believes that each of these backgrounds deserve a spin-off.

The story is set in the beautiful mountain range and forest-covered area of Sabie, in Mpumalanga, South Africa.

Kai Emery is mysterious, quiet and rather keeps to himself, but this makes him all the more alluring.

However, his infatuation for his classmate, Sienna Fynn, has made his invisibility status all the more impossible to upkeep. From the start of his journey, Kai experiences ominous symptoms, which he refuses to acknowledge.

Kai experiences his first shapeshift into a were-leopard, and his world spirals out of control when he discovers that he isn’t completely human – leading him towards an internal struggle with his new-found anatomy. However, unpredictable vampire Astrid, enters his life, and leads him down a path that soon reveals his destiny - a world filled with magic and terrifying darkness.

His inability to stay away from Sienna soon leads him towards a dangerous path, for disobeying the unwritten rules of the shapeshifting kind, forbidding them from falling in love a human. This leads Kai towards a fight for his life, and he learns that he has to find it within himself to protect everyone that he loves, or lose them to the wrath of the god of the underworld and magic.

About the Author

Leandi Cameron is an award-winning journalist and assistant editor for the the Boksburg Advertiser, and has now also added the titles "author" and "publisher" on her plaque with the release of her first novel, A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel. Cameron is from Johannesburg, South Africa, (maiden name Rostoll).

At school she wasn't the most popular girl, as she was a victim of bullying, but found comfort in her books, and soon discovered her talent for writing at a tender age. She, therefore, resorted to spending most of her time writing poems, short stories and songs during her afternoons and evenings. Cameron confesses that she filled her nights reading every young-adult horror, paranormal, romance and fantasy novel she could get her hands on.

Her father used to take her to a travelling library that passed by their house on a weekly basis, and she would stock up on her weekly dose of young adult novels. Cameron, obtained her Honours Degree in Journalism at Tshwane University of Technology and soon found her feet in the print media industry, walking away with the Siemens Profile Award and being nominated for the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award and a National Science & Technology Fund Award.

In 2009, she was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Ankylosing Spondylitis, which she began suffering from when she was only 12 years old.

"No one, including myself, took it too seriously, as we shrug it off as growing pains. However, the trauma of losing my father to a heart attack in 2006 rapidly fastened my symptoms and aggressiveness of the disease within my body," says Cameron.

Cameron then had to put her life on hold, and had to leave the magazine she was working at during that time, while the doctors went through a trial and error process to treat her disease.

While at home, she wrote as a freelance journalist and established a writing and editing service company.

This was when Cameron decided to work full-time on her debut novel, A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel. This novel wasn't the first one to have made it onto the pages of her laptop, but it was definitely the one that stuck. A Tale of the Other Kind: A Therian Novel, hit the shelves in September 2012, and she is working on the second novel in the series, called A Tale of the Other Side: A Therian Struggle.

The story of Kai Emery, plays off in Sabie. He finds out that he is part man and part wereleopard (shapeshifter), and falls in love with the school beauty Sienna. He then has to fight for survival and protect everyone that he loves from danger. It is an interesting read for anyone who enjoys young-adult paranormal fantasy. "When I write, I lived out every character, and each one has a bit of me in them," says Cameron.

Cameron also published her debut novel herself by establishing an independent publishing division within her multi-discipline business, House of LeaVik, which she co-owns with her sister Vikki Rostoll-Olivier.

Follow up novels:

The second book in the A Tale of the Other Side: A Therian Struggle, is currently in production.

For interviews, blog tours or book reviews you can email leandi@holv.co.za or visit www.leandicameron.com for the book excerpt, trailer and media pack etc.

My Review:

The sub-plots were a little too much for me. They really didn't even them out. The build up was really long, then all the sudden the middle and end. I would have liked to see them spread out more.  I liked the shape shifter aspect, and Kai was a great character. Like he doesn't have enough issues, now he is a wereleopard. I am not quite sure what this is, but I have an image in my head that is pretty cool. The minor characters were what I expected for their backgrounds, and there were really no surprises there.  I did like the ending though. I am giving this book a 3/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.