Guest Post with Bex Hogan (Owl King), Plus Giveaway ~US/CAN Only!

Today we are excited to share a guest post from Bex Hogan (Owl King)!

Read on for more about the author, the book, and a giveaway!

About the Author: Bex Hogan

Raised on a healthy diet of fantasy and fairy tales, BEX HOGAN spends hours lost in daydreams. Writing her stories down was a natural progression and she enjoys sharing her time between the real world and escaping to her imagination. A Cornish girl at heart, Bex lives in Cambridgeshire with her family. She is the author of the Isles of Storm and Sorrow trilogy, Black Heat and, most recently, Nettle.

About the Book: Owl King

A dark, captivating YA tale of deception and survival, set in the same faery world as Nettle.

Long ago, kings and queens of the faery realms exchanged talismans with one another to maintain harmony in their world. The Stag King gave up a shard of antler, the Owl King a feather, and the Minnow Queen a shimmering, silver scale. But the Owl King has grown restless, and his kingdom has become dangerous as he feeds off the magic of others. Always he hunts for a new bride to sustain him.

When devoted sisters Ilsette and Lyla are summoned to court, the Owl King‘s eye soon falls on the beautiful Lyla. Determined to save her sister from a terrible fate, Ilsette sets out on a quest to find the prized feather and change the balance of power.

Lyla bewitches the king with her stories, but time is running out. Meanwhile, Ilsette’s search leads her to a realm with two moons and scarlet stars. Here she must trick King Locryn into revealing the feather’s secret whereabouts, so she can steal it. She’s befriended by a strange magpie and two shadow faeries, but all the while, she faces an impossible truth — to save her sister, she must destroy peace among the realms.

Publisher * B&N * Goodreads

~Guest Post by Bex Hogan~

Have you ever had that feeling that you aren’t alone? Walking through a forest, silver sunlight streaming through the leaves, a chorus of birdsong filling the air — there’s no one but you and nature. Yet you cannot shake that undeniable sensation that you’re being watched, that every step you take is being counted. Some primal instinct tells you to run, to flee this place while you still can, but you shake such foolishness away. Still, you don’t relax after that, and you walk a little faster than before.

Growing up in the Cornish countryside, this was an experience I had more than once. We lived close to an ancient woodland that was carpeted with bluebells for a couple of glorious months a year. It was a place dense with trees, rich with wildlife, and thick with magic. From the moment you set foot beneath the canopy, you could sense the shift in the atmosphere, and knew you were somewhere special.

For a child with a vivid imagination, this was a fertile ground. The temptation to explore the mysteries of the wild brambles, or the spaces created by fallen branches, or the strange fungi sprouting in peculiar patterns, was strong. But I had grown up with folklore, and knew better than to succumb to the tricks of faeries — who wanted to lure me through the veil, the place where the boundaries of our two worlds is thin.

Cornwall is synonymous with legends and myths. It is said to be the birth place of King Arthur, and Dozmary Pool on Bodmin Moor is where he threw Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake. According to the tales, the lost land of Lyonesse lies just beyond Land’s End. The ocean is home to the Sea Bucca and many mermaids. The tin mines house knockers, playful sprites whose knocks were either meant to warn miners of danger or intended to lure people to their doom. The moors are roamed by Jack o’ Lanterns, or Night Riders — a kind of piskie that steals horses and tricks travellers to follow their lights into deadly swamps.

It is perhaps no surprise that stories are in my blood. Growing up inhaling the very Cornish air, it was hard to escape the wonder and mystery of it all. I adored it and was thrilled by the possibility of hidden fables and creatures living just out of sight. My books set in the FAERY REALMS are inspired by this immersion in folklore, as well as my love of traditional fairytales. For OWL KING, I didn’t have to look far for inspiration. The village I lived in had its own legend . . . that of the Owl Man.

A creature that is half man, half owl, he has been sighted several times over the years, up on the headland by the ancient church. He stands like a human and flies like a bird. Blood red eyes shine from his feathery head, and his strange claws are shaped like a blacksmith’s pincers. To my great disappointment, I have never seen the Owl Man myself, but it delighted me to live so close to a fantastical creature, and I always knew one day I’d write a character drawn from this myth. Not to mention that an owl lived outside my bedroom window, its hoot a constant ghostly echo in the night air. It was inevitable I would write a book with these incredible birds at its heart.

So next time you go for a walk through the woods, keep an ear out for the screech of an owl, the snap of a twig, the cold breeze on a still day. It may be that the faeries are near and seek to call you to them. Do not heed them, never give them your name, and stay on the path. But cherish their presence — and read a book set in their realms instead. It’s far safer!

Title: Owl King

Author: Bex Hogan

Release Date: May 5th, 2026

Publisher: Tundra Books / Penguin Random House Canada

ISBN-10: 1774888785

ISBN-13: 9781774888780

Genre: YA Dark Fantasy, Fairy Tales & Folklore

Age Range: 12 years old and Up

*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*

Use the Rafflepress Form below to enter

*be sure to include complete mailing address for the second entry question to qualify to win*

Ten (10) winners will receive a hardback copy of Owl King along with a hardcover copy of the first book in the standalone series, Nettle (Bex Hogan) ~ US/CAN ONLY!

Tags: Bex Hogan, giveaway, Guest Post, Owl King, Tundra Books / Penguin Random House Canada

4 thoughts on “Guest Post with Bex Hogan (Owl King), Plus Giveaway ~US/CAN Only!”

vthen says:

May 8, 2026 at 3:59 pm

They both sound like books that some of my fantasy reading students would really like!

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Danielle Hammelef says:

May 9, 2026 at 7:33 am

I love reading fantasy with great world building. This sounds exciting!

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wrosereads says:

May 10, 2026 at 2:13 pm

These sound amazing, can’t wait to read! 😍

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hanfan says:

May 19, 2026 at 12:38 pm

These books sound like they will fly off the shelves!

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Guest Post with Bex Hogan (Owl King), Plus Giveaway ~US/CAN Only!

4 thoughts on “Guest Post with Bex Hogan (Owl King), Plus Giveaway ~US/CAN Only!”

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