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The Forest and the Sea: A Cinderella Retelling
-- EXCERPT: His father and Badenberg needed him to find a suitable wife. Ludwig’s solution was to host the two balls and hope Ehrhart found a wife among the wealthy and titled of Badenberg. But, though Ehrhart had agreed to such a plan, he couldn’t help but feel he’d find a wife on his own terms. Would that be Beatrice? He stared down at his hands loosely wrapped around the reins. Beatrice was certainly a plausible solution to his problem, but could she be a woman he’d love for the rest of his life? She appeared interested in him and his attention, but did he truly know her intentions? He had meant what he’d told his sisters, he was interested in more than just a pretty face. Suddenly, a loud thud echoed through the trees, followed by another and another. Then he heard a piercing crack to his left. Ehrhart peered up just in time to watch a tree fall along the path. The jarring movement and sound caused Storm to rear. With his hold on the reins so loose, the sudden jolt sent Ehrhart out of his saddle and towards the ground. He closed his eyes and braced for the impact, which came quickly. The wind was knocked out of him. He gasped and breathed deeply to restore the air to his lungs, but his vision was slow to clear. Squeezing his eyes tightly, he tried moving his limbs and muscles. His legs and arms moved without pain, but his back felt stiff from the fall. He opened his eyes, staring at the trees above him. Streaks of sunlight pierced the canopy. To his left, he heard light footsteps drawing near. Someone was attempting to sneak up on him. He was vulnerable while lying on his back. An urge to protect himself flooded his senses. He grunted as he lifted his head and reached for the dagger concealed within his boot. After drawing the knife from its sheath, he pulled the weapon into a defensive position near his face. The hilt was held securely in his palm while the blade rested upon his skin, extending up and past his wrist. He was still on the ground, but the knife gave him hope in defending himself. He waited for the steps to get closer. When they did, he swung his arm from his face and rolled to his left side, allowing him to look into the eyes of his would-be attacker. 
GIVEAWAY! --
Vibrations – Children of Atlantis
-- EXCERPT: Nada I can feel the gritty sand under my hands as I hit the ground. My battle partner lies still beside me, his chest barely rising and falling. I reach out, my fingers brushing through his blood-soaked hair, feeling the ragged rise and fall of his breath. The creatures’ footsteps grow louder, the sound of their approach heavy and unrelenting. We wait for the final blow, completely spent. Every movement sends a fresh pulse of pain through our battered bodies, blood seeping steadily from our wounds. I shut my eyes and think, Mom, forgive me. You told me to run, but I didn’t listen. The world around me starts to fade away. September 3, 2012 Sunlight streams through the windows, cutting through the pool’s surface, highlighting the rhythm of my strokes. I love swimming early, before the chaos of the swim team arrives. With my eyes closed in the water, it feels like I’m at the center of the universe, my universe. I don’t need to open my eyes to know I’m nearing the edge; I just feel it, flip, and head back. My body glides, my arms break the surface, pushing through the pliable liquid, brushing my thigh, rising into the air, and starting over again. The rhythm of my breathing, alternating between water and air, sets a gentle beat for my heart. It’s comforting, especially today. Lately, I keep having that weird feeling, like when Suddenly, everything changes, and chaos erupts. I reluctantly pull myself out of the water. I sit on the pool’s edge for a moment, water dripping from my fingertips, then turn to grab my towel. I keep my goggles on, hoping they’ll at least partially shield me from the cacophony of noise coming from the rowdy crowd of swimmers. As I’m trying to make my way out as quickly as possible, I sense someone behind me, reaching for my shoulder. I spin around, instantly on the defensive. «Hey, hey, hey! Easy…» my friend Carrie laughs, raising her hands. «Is it possible you never hear me when I call out to you?» I exhale slowly, not realizing how tense I’d gotten, smile at her, and gesture for her to wait a second. I pull off my swim cap and remove my earplugs. «Sorry C, I forgot to take these out… What’s up?» She shrugs and then nods toward the windows above the pool that overlook the school hallway. «Did you see who just arrived? I heard he starts tomorrow… and he’s ridiculously cute!» Carrie gushes. When it comes to guys, she’s always enthusiastic. I cautiously turn and spot the principal talking to a couple of parents standing next to a tall, lean guy with dark hair and an easy smile. Carrie shifts, turning her back to the pool so we can sneak a look. I sigh, watching as she effortlessly adjusts her perfect curls, which frame her smooth, deep-toned shoulders. Her confidence is something I can never quite understand. I can’t help but wonder, once again, why someone like her would want to be friends with someone as plain as me. «Who is this guy, anyway?» I ask, not really interested. «His dad is the famous Hawaiian artist Kalai Kekoa, and his mom is the Japanese author Riko Shirabe. I know you like them both!» «Oh, right… Well, you know how this is gonna go. The school’s royalty will pull him into their clique, and he won’t give us a second glance without their approval. At least, he won’t notice me, but you seem to have caught McAllen’s attention, haven’t you?» I say, giving her a wink. She giggles, a little embarrassed, and lowers her eyes. «I know you don’t trust that group, but they’re not so bad when you get to know them… They’re just kids who haven’t figured out their place in the world yet.» Gosh, she’s so sweet! I smile at her. «I think you picked the right major, you’re going to be an amazing psychologist! I just worry they might hurt you. Like my mom always says, a confused kid can be unpredictable…» She laughs. «Nah, you’re just too suspicious!» «And you’re too trusting! Together, we make one balanced person,» I laugh. I glance back at the guy, and something unexpected catches my eye. He’s talking to the principal, but the waves coming from his voice and body are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They’re bright, almost glowing, and take on a strange shape. I can’t make sense of it. Mom warned me, right up until the day she died: If the waves ever turn to images, run. But these aren’t images, they’re something else, and they terrify me. 
GIVEAWAY! --
Storm and Flame
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- EXCERPT: “Come on. Just work, dammit,” Elena muttered to herself, trying for the millionth time to cast her spell. Agon had stretched his lithe, weasel-like body across a long, skinny patch of sunlight on the floor of the testing room. He’d spent the morning basking in the warmth of the sun-drenched stone and flicking his fluffy blue-black tail back and forth. As her closest, and arguably only, friend, Agon knew nothing he could say would make her feel better. She was in a mood, and the best thing he could do was to leave her be. Sparks flared and quickly sputtered out from Elena’s fingertips. “Dammit. Why can’t I get this stupid spell right?” It was a rhetorical question, but Elena was so frustrated by her own ineptitude that she would have traded everything she owned to successfully complete a spell on the first try. Elena was easily the worst enchantress in her class, probably the whole school. The other students mocked her mercilessly. It didn’t help that her mother, Madame LaBelle, was the most famous enchantress in the whole country, possibly the world, and the headmistress of their school. She could turn a seed into a centuries-old tree with the flick of her wrist. Elena could grow a seed into a sapling with twenty minutes of chanting, flicking, waving, and praying. Maybe. On a good day. Madame LaBelle was notorious for her skills with magic as much as her beauty. Unfortunately for Elena, she inherited her looks from her father. At least, she assumed that’s where she got her flat hair and dull brown eyes. She’d never actually met him. In Waverly, as far as enchantresses were concerned, men served one purpose: impregnating women. The men were used and released of all parental rights, whether they liked it or not. Most men didn’t even know the woman they had lain with was an enchantress, much less that they had fathered a child as a result. The women opted to disguise themselves—bar wenches, visitors lost in the big city, damsels in need of aid on the side of the road, etc.—just to get what they needed and be gone before the man even knew her name. It was crass and cowardly, but Elena had been raised to believe it was for the best. Men weren’t capable of raising children, especially magical ones, and an enchantress always gave birth to another enchantress. Never in the history of the world, had an enchantress given birth to a non-magical child. Or a boy, for that matter. Enchantress beget enchantress. End of story. Elena dreamed of love and happy endings when she was younger. All the girls did, but their time at Harbor Ridge taught them that magic was their top priority, followed closely by their loyalty to the school and Madame LaBelle. Elena always felt that it was a tad hypocritical how often her mother preached about loyalty to their family—the school and their classmates—when she never paid any attention to her own flesh and blood. What sort of mother neglects her own child to favor those who are more adept at magic? Not a good one, Elena mused glumly. Agon had been with her since before she was born, like all familiars. They were born together and stayed attached for an “unusually long time,” according to her mother. Typically, familiars disconnected from the baby’s umbilical cord within a few days before settling into their permanent animal form. Agon and Elena stayed connected for two weeks, all the while Agon remained a blob encased in the placenta. Her mother had many specialists, including a Therionology Enchantress, or an animal enchantress, come and inspect Agon and try to coax him into taking any form at all. Nothing worked. Baby Elena just spent her days cuddling “this disgusting blob of goo” and sleeping. Madame LaBelle often liked to remind Elena of how unusual that was, and how that should have been a sign that her daughter was going to be different, and not in a good way. 
GIVEAWAY! --
Every Scar Tells a Story
-- EXCERPT: Summer… I can’t help but smile. This one will be like no other. High school will be over, and I’ll be heading off to college in the fall. I’m so ready to leave this small town behind. It’s not a bad place to live, but I’m psyched to move to an actual city where the downtown is larger than a four-block radius. And I’m eager to get my career started. Working probably isn’t what gets most eighteen-year-olds jacked up, but I know the direction I want to go, and I’m motivated to get there. Hayden walks ahead of me without a backward glance, unlocking his early graduation gift—a shiny, new black Mustang. The jackass is sulking. Reaching for the handle, I happen to look left and catch sight of a herculean figure walking on the sidewalk toward me. His head is down, face mysteriously shadowed by a hooded sweatshirt pulled low over his eyes. Somehow, he must sense me staring because he stops and snaps his head up, then looks around like I’m blocking his path and isn’t sure what to do about it. “Are you coming?” Hayden says over the roof of his car with a tinge of annoyance. “Yeah, sorry.” After opening my door, I glance back. The stranger is walking at a brisk pace across the street. After we’re both seated in the car, he says, “Do you know that guy?” “No, but I think I startled him.” I pull the seatbelt across my chest and secure it. “Well, it seems like you did.” He starts the car with a vroom. “Is there something I should know about?” “No.” My heart races at the aggressive sound of the engine. “I’ve never seen him before.” I’m still plagued with nightmares and struggle with other people driving, all because of the accident I was in with my father when I was thirteen. Hayden knows this. The drive to my house is silent, and I wonder about the sudden awareness I had back at the restaurant. Am I really going to break up with him? I doubt he’s ever been dumped before. The guy is high school royalty. And it’s going to mess up our friend group, not to mention our plans for prom in two months. Maybe I’m being too hasty this time. I mean, aside from occasional insensitivity, the escalating moodiness, and the increase in his drinking, what’s really wrong with him? Yeah, aside from all that, my brain shouts back at me. 
GIVEAWAY! --
Refuge from the World
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- EXCERPT: Ash fell into step next to Caleb without talking. They had known each other for so long that they could be together without saying a word, and it didn’t feel awkward. When they reached the lake, they sat down on one of the large boulders scattered around the shore and stared out at the water. “The lake level goes down a little more each year,” Caleb said. “I’ve noticed. It used to be up to that cluster of rocks over there when we would go fishing when we were younger.” “Rain isn’t enough to keep it full. The last time I remember seeing snow up here was when I was seven, and it didn’t stick around. Seems kind of ironic that so much of the planet is flooded, yet many worry about having enough fresh water to drink and to irrigate crops.” “Why did we stop fishing?” Ash asked. “I didn’t stop fishing. I still go fishing at least once a week. When you started taking a more active role in the beekeeping and tree nursery, you were available less and less. I go first thing in the morning, and that’s when you and your mom do most of your work.” “I miss going fishing with you. I’ll see if Mom cares if we change around the schedule a bit unless you don’t want me tagging along like I did when I was younger.” “I miss it too. I would love for you to tag along even though you always out-fished me.” He put his arm around her and pulled her close. Ash laid her head on his shoulder and stared out at the lake. They sat like this sometimes, not as much as they used to, and she missed this too. She loved the feel of his arm around her and the warmth of his body next to hers, but never read too much into the gesture. Today, especially, she was in no hurry to break the connection. “Are you going to the community meeting tonight?” he asked, finally breaking the silence. “Yes. I keep getting these unsettling feelings, and I hope to find out if it’s just my imagination or if there is something I should be worried about. First, I find out you’ve been tasked with building weapons, then I had an odd conversation with your dad, found out we’re having an off-cycle community meeting, and all of a sudden Mom is all over me about marrying Tyler Hewitt.” “What!” Caleb shouted as he scooted away and turned his body to face her. “You’re not seriously considering marrying that old man, are you?” “No, but apparently, they’ve talked about it. I pointed out to Mom that he’s eleven years younger than she, but eighteen years older than me. In Tyler’s defense, I can only think of a couple of other eligible women between his age and mine.” “He has no defense. For him to even be thinking about it, is wrong. When he moved here, you were what? Three? Four? Why now?” “I think Mom is worried about getting old and leaving me alone. I don’t think she’s been feeling well, but I don’t know if it’s anything serious.” Caleb stood up and paced. Ash watched him, confused by his reaction. “I don’t plan to marry Tyler or anyone else not of my choosing. But, I’m not sure why you would care anyway since you’ve got eyes on Evelyn.” “Where’d you hear that?” “Apparently, her mother has been telling people that you two have been spending time together.” “That’s not true. She tagged along when I was delivering deer meat the other day to the storehouse, but that was it. I most certainly didn’t ask her to come with me, and all she did was ask me questions about Dillon. Besides, she’s just a girl.” Ash chuckled. “If people are happy to pawn me off on a man eighteen years older, a mere four years between you and Evelyn is nothing.” She watched as Caleb retreated to the water’s edge. He picked up a flat stone and skipped it across its glassy surface. Ash walked to his side and stood next to him. “We’d better get back. The meeting starts in a couple of hours, and I should help Mom with dinner,” Ash said as she turned to leave. Caleb grabbed her arm and pulled her back until she was facing him. “Let’s hear what they have to say tonight. If there is some reason why everyone needs to get married, you’re marrying me.” “And, what if there is no need?” she asked softly. “Well, maybe we should anyway.” 
GIVEAWAY! --
Sweetheart
-- EXCERPT: “Can I ask you something?” he said. “Okay…” “Why are you dressed like that?” I lifted a brow. “Like a blueberry?” Sam gave a shrug. “I was going to say a cross between Elsa and Cinderella.” “Well, well,” I said, “the Sam Bishop knows his princesses. Who would’ve guessed?” “Thanks to my sister,” he said. “And I still don’t get why you keep saying the before my name. Makes no sense.” It made sense to me. He’d always been the Sam Bishop in my head. As in the one and only, the original, the Sam Bishop who stole my heart at age ten and refused to give it back. I couldn’t say any of that to him, though, so I just shrugged. “I was hired to play a wedding,” I said. “And they asked you to dress like a princess?” I shook my head. “The bride wanted a very specific shade of blue. Not baby blue, aqua or cornflower. Royal blue is what they asked for. This is what I had, so…” Sam nodded. “Looks good on you.” “Yeah, right,” I said with a scoff. “I’m serious.” Feeling my cheeks heat, I crossed my arms. “Gotta be honest, though, I wasn’t sure if you’d be able to fit all that in the car. That’s a lot of material.” His words startled a laugh out of me, and I gave a mental curse. I would not be charmed by him. The guy couldn’t even remember my name for goodness sakes. “Is part of it still hanging out the door or…?” he said innocently. “Ha ha,” I said, “very funny, Bishop.” “Got a laugh out of you, Kent.” Well. At least he remembered my last name, I thought. “And I’m assuming if I hadn’t been able to fit inside your inadequately-sized sports car”—he scoffed—”you would’ve just left me on the side the road?” Sam shook his head. “Nah, I would’ve just had you take the dress off.” 
GIVEAWAY! --
A Strange Affinity
-- EXCERPT: Glory adored her new magician’s studio. The space was outfitted as a smith’s shop, furnished with a long workbench, a wall hung with gently worn but serviceable tools, and a small, portable blacksmith’s forge. She was awkward with many of the tools at first but grew better and more proficient by the day. Glory worked long into the evenings, well past the end of her classes. She came to love the feeling of being surrounded by scraps of different metals: gold, silver, copper, and iron. It felt like being surrounded by friends, or family. It was hard for Glory to describe but she felt that each metal had a different personality. Glory thrived under Jacinda’s tutelage. She went on to master a series of ever-challenging tasks she had set before her: Molding new shapes, melding metals together, and extracting the elements. Soon each new task seemed easier than the last. In a recent conversation, Jacinda had warned Glory these new skills were among the easiest for a magician. True transformation of physical properties was much harder, and in some cases, impossible without several years of further study. “Lead to gold?” Glory had asked, skepticism and humor in her voice. She remembered reading such silly tales among her father’s library. Jacinda had chuckled. “Not quite. You’re bound by the chemical properties of the source material. But with study and practice, who knows what’s possible? The magical properties of metal are vastly understudied and largely composed of myths and legends about alchemy. And because there are so few metal magicians, we still don’t know what they — you — are capable of.” 
GIVEAWAY! --
The Secret of Sweet Treats Kingdom
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- EXCERPT: A rumbling sound filled my ears and the ground started tilting and rolling. The light hanging over the dining room table began swaying and the wood mini-blinds rubbing against the windows sounded like fingernails on a chalkboard. “Amber?” Ava grabbed my hand and held on tight. “Don’t worry. It’s just an earthquake.” Growing up in Southern California you got used to this kind of thing. “Remember what they taught you at school? Drop, cover, and hold on?” I pulled her toward the dining room table to hide beneath it, although I was positive by the time we got into position the quake would be over. We were ten steps away from the table when Ava stopped walking. She yanked my arm and started pulling me backward, toward the family room. I heard the crash of glass breaking on the kitchen tile and was glad I had flip-flops on. Our family portrait fell from the dining room wall, the glass splintering from the black frame sent shards of glass flying across the room. A small piece caught my ankle, sending a sting up my leg. “Knock it off, shrimp. We need to get under the table right now!” While I had been in several earthquakes, this felt different. It wasn’t slowing or stopping, like I thought it would. I didn’t want to admit it, but I was scared. Could this be the “big one” grownups talked about? Instead of letting me lead her toward the dining table, Ava began pulling me harder toward the family room. With my feet sliding on the slick tile, I couldn’t stop. “What’s that?” I had never heard my sister screech like that before, so I turned around to see what she was talking about. The small fragments of the Sweet Treats board game were hovering in midair, swirling in a circle, going faster and faster. The floor tilted us toward the flying pieces, and we were slipping toward the growing whirlwind. The edge of the vortex was expanding outward at a rapid rate, while the center was a dark, black hole. It looked like a giant vacuum hose, and it was sucking us toward it. My terrified sister started screaming, clinging to my legs. “Do something, Amber!” I started shrieking as I tripped over Ava, and we were pulled head first into the middle of the vortex.
GIVEAWAY! --
False Haven
--
GIVEAWAY! -- #Book Blitz #The Hanging Night by Sasha Hibbs and Christina Hooker #YA #Romance @Xpresso Book Tours19/12/2023
The Hanging Night
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- EXCERPT: You know you can’t see the air, and you don’t have to see it to know it’s there—it just fills the space, and you’re grateful (whether you realize it or not) because if it didn’t fill the space, you’d suffocate. That’s how I knew she was in the room. I had my head down, searching through magazines, when what I can only describe as a heat chill rippled in me, causing me to shiver and the skin on the back of my neck to tingle. When I heard the cooler door pop open, I stopped breathing and stayed perfectly still, hoping this wasn’t the day I got arrested for shoplifting … for stealing stale food and one lousy, domestic beer, no less. If I had to go to jail, I wanted it to at least be for something worth it—money, jewelry, a car. FYI: I’ve never stolen any of those things or anything like that—only necessary or completely useless items, which I know is paradoxical. Let me explain: I’d take a plastic bobble-head of an off-brand, generic Batman or a sandwich before I’d take something sentimental or valuable to an individual—it’s just how I roll, ya know? And only from stores. Like, I don’t want your shit, but if it’s some dumbass thing on a shelf in a Dollar General, it’s fair game, and of course, like I said, I learned to be my own chef at a very young age. And can I really be held responsible for what I do when I am hungry? Isn’t that a famous candy commercial these days? I wasn’t startled when she spoke, but expectant, and resigning myself to the fact that I was busted, I turned to face the girl. When I looked at her, all I saw was sadness. There wasn’t a stitch of makeup on her face, but she didn’t need any because even in sadness, she was striking. The circles under her eyes were so dark and deep, they almost echoed, but her brown irises were flat, like something was missing in them—a spark, maybe, and at the very end of her left eyebrow, there was a tiny, pink crystal. I immediately loved it—it gave her an edge no girl I’d seen in this boring ass town had. Her espresso-colored hair was knotted up in a bun with frizzy strands sticking out everywhere, which, though messy, was somehow endearing. Overall, she looked defeated, though, like all the air had been let out of her balloon. So, despite the circumstances, despite me being caught, red-handed, stealing my dinner, I immediately wanted to make her smile. So, I made jokes, trying to be cool. I’m not really into labels. “Put those back!” “C’mon. They’re five-day old pepperoni rolls. You’re going to pitch them anyway. I’m hungry.” She seemed to contemplate for a moment, tilting her head and looking at me, taking me all in, trying to figure me out. Her shoulders relaxed a little, and she let out a quick breath, seeming to judge that I wasn’t a threat. “And cigarettes? I know old people do, but what teenager smokes these days? News flash. They’re bad for you. And if you’re only hungry, what about the beer and the magazine?” “Uh … after dinner entertainment?” I asked, trying to justify myself. She reached out and grabbed for the 40oz beer I had, and as her hand brushed mine, my brain short-circuited. Ice formed around each of my ribs, cracking then melting, and in that moment, I felt the color red splash through me. She paused, momentarily looking dead into my eyes, and somehow, I knew she felt it too. Our hands had to have only touched for a nanosecond, but it passed in an eternity. The intensity—our brains somehow sharing the same image, as if connected by some weird fiber optic cable—was overwhelming, and I gasped, but the rest of my body was paralyzed as I got stuck in this strange moment with her. But for as quickly as it came and as long as it lingered, the cable snapped, and the moment broke, and the world spun in real time again. My body jerked at the sharp snap back to reality, causing me to yank my hand back, and when I did, the beer exploded in foam and glass shards at our feet, a kind of drunken mosaic. 
GIVEAWAY! -- |
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