Tag Archives: Fantasy

Before the Emerald Crown Virtual Book Tour

Before the Emerald Crown banner
 

Before the Emerald Crown cover

The Before Series, Book 5

Fantasy

Date Published: 02-28-2024

Publisher: Sword and Thistle LLC

 

 

In a time nearly ancient, before a brave Scottish princess defied her
mother, a young woman has lost everything.

Except for her unexplainable talent for magic.

Now Magda’s being hunted, and in her attempt to survive, loneliness and
desperation take control.

Until she meets someone who offers her a chance at happiness, at normalcy,
at the fullness of life. Then she discovers something wrong, so shockingly
wrong with this hopeful future, and she must make a harrowing decision to
ensure her survival.

And she will have to draw on all her magic to do it.

Actions have repercussions — Magda knows this better than anyone else —
and with her magic, she will ensure everyone else learns that lesson as
well.

 

Before the Emerald Crown tablet

EXCERPT

All the sound suddenly died and I whirled around, dropping my basket of fruit and stepping back quickly. I wished I’d brought my whittling knife with me.

He was taller than me by at least a head, not that I was tall, and his dark brown-black hair peeked out from under a slouched cap perched precariously on his head, covered in a light dusting of snow.

Bright green eyes, greener than Geneen’s or the elder leaves at summer, than the glen at midday, than an emerald in a silver setting, sparkled at me from under that dark hair sweeping across his forehead.

They did not seem like suspicious or mean eyes, nothing like Robbie’s eyes when he had come to Geneen’s and met me.

My eyes dropped to his broad shoulders wrapped in a black and brown tartan wool cloak, down past his heather-hued tunic and brown braies to high leather books.

He could have been a fae stepping from a fairy ring for how easily he came up on me and how he blended into the woods.

His brilliant eyes squinted slightly. “Did ye hear me, lass? Are ye far from home? Or lost?”

I cleared my throat and focused my attention on my fallen basket. As I crouched to collect the bruised fruit, he joined me, placing a handful of berries into the basket.

“I’m no’ lost,” I answered in a shaky voice. 

Why was my voice shaky? Or my hands? The grainy, frost-burned apple threatened to fall from my hand.

“Och, no’ lost? What, a lass by herself in the woods this far north?”

This far north?

Oh nay. How far south had I come in search of food? Had I stumbled upon a MacCarron?

Or, mother-maiden-crone, a Galbraith? 

My breath caught in my chest.

I’d have to be more careful in the future.

I may have rambled too close to the Galbraith lands.

“Who are ye?” I asked, trying to keep my voice from quivering.

The man’s head bobbed up so those deep green eyes bore into mine.

“How rude I am! Grant. Grant MacCarron at your service.”

He bowed slightly as he spoke his name.

I thin, relieved breath escaped from between my lips.

So not a Galbraith.

The animals near me must have read my emotions because their low chattering resumed. Not nearly as loud as it had been, but enough for me to hear.

Their sounds soothed me.

“And ye are?” he asked.

I rocked back on my heels, brushing snow away with a flip of my cloak. Despite the snowy nip in the air, my skin was hot. Inflamed. Fevered.

What was wrong with me?

And those green eyes made my brain as hot as my skin. 

“Magda,” I finally answered, then bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. 

Gads! I should not have given him my real name!

“Magda. From which clan? Are ye a MacCarron I’ve no’ met?”

I shook my head, Geneen’s caution reverberating in my ears. 

I sucked in a deep breath. “Nay. Magda Ferguson.”

“Ferguson. From the north? Ye are verra far from home!”

I shook my head as I rose and adjusted my basket on my arm.

“No’ too far. I live in these woods, to the south of Ferguson lands.”

Why was I telling this stranger so much? Giving him so much information about myself? Geneen would be sorely disappointed.

Grant swiveled his head, studying the woods around us and giving me a good look at his chiseled jaw and strong, handsome profile. 

“Far, I think. Why are ye this far south on your own?” He glanced at my basket. “Food?”

An odd nervous shame came over me. I snatched the basket close to my chest. “A wee bit. Extra for the winter. And I walk these woods on my own all the time.”

I hope my voice conveyed more confidence than I felt.

His eyebrows creased slightly. “The woods can be dangerous. Wild animals and the like, aye?”

I bit my lips again so the grin that yearned to burst forth was held at bay. The wee creatures nearby tittered at his suggestion.

“I dinna think the animals are anything I must fear. Truly, I’m quite safe here.”

He did not appear convinced. 

“Are ye done collecting food? I’d feel better if I could walk ye home, make sure ye arrive safe.”

Now it was my turn to narrow my gaze at him. He might be a MacCarron, but was he a man I could trust or not? 

The tingling at the back of my head bloomed hard, and the animals nearby chattered, speaking into my thoughts about him.

They sensed nothing amiss about the man, thus my confidence in him grew.

A bit.

 

 

About the Author

Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple

Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple is an award-winning author of historical
romance — Scottish, Highlanders, and Ancient! To Dance in the Glen was
recently a bestseller! She also writes contemporary romance as M.D.
Dalrymple — police and campus romances, and as Strawberry Chase, paranormal
romance author.

Winner of the Top Ten Author Academy Award for 2018, Best Indie Book 2019,
and N.N Night’s 2021 Winner for Scottish Romance.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Goodreads

Instagram

 

Purchase Link

Amazon

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RABT Book Tours & PR

Comments Off on Before the Emerald Crown Virtual Book Tour

Filed under BOOKS

Before the Emerald Crown Blitz

Before the Emerald Crown banner
 

Before the Emerald Crown cover

The Before Series, Book 5

Fantasy

Date Published: 02-28-2024

Publisher: Sword and Thistle LLC

 

 

In a time nearly ancient, before a brave Scottish princess defied her
mother, a young woman has lost everything.

Except for her unexplainable talent for magic.

Now Magda’s being hunted, and in her attempt to survive, loneliness and
desperation take control.

Until she meets someone who offers her a chance at happiness, at normalcy,
at the fullness of life. Then she discovers something wrong, so shockingly
wrong with this hopeful future, and she must make a harrowing decision to
ensure her survival.

And she will have to draw on all her magic to do it.

Actions have repercussions — Magda knows this better than anyone else —
and with her magic, she will ensure everyone else learns that lesson as
well.

About the Author

Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple

Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple is an award-winning author of historical
romance — Scottish, Highlanders, and Ancient! To Dance in the Glen was
recently a bestseller! She also writes contemporary romance as M.D.
Dalrymple — police and campus romances, and as Strawberry Chase, paranormal
romance author.

Winner of the Top Ten Author Academy Award for 2018, Best Indie Book 2019,
and N.N Night’s 2021 Winner for Scottish Romance.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Goodreads

Instagram

 

Purchase Link

Amazon

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RABT Book Tours & PR

Comments Off on Before the Emerald Crown Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

Before the Emerald Crown Reveal

 

Before the Emerald Crown cover

The Before Series, Book 5

Fantasy

Date Published: 02-28-2024

Publisher: Sword and Thistle LLC

 

 

In a time nearly ancient, before a brave Scottish princess defied her
mother, a young woman has lost everything.

Except for her unexplainable talent for magic.

Now Magda’s being hunted, and in her attempt to survive, loneliness and
desperation take control.

Until she meets someone who offers her a chance at happiness, at normalcy,
at the fullness of life. Then she discovers something wrong, so shockingly
wrong with this hopeful future, and she must make a harrowing decision to
ensure her survival.

And she will have to draw on all her magic to do it.

Actions have repercussions — Magda knows this better than anyone else —
and with her magic, she will ensure everyone else learns that lesson as
well.

About the Author

Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple

Michelle Deerwester-Dalrymple is an award-winning author of historical
romance — Scottish, Highlanders, and Ancient! To Dance in the Glen was
recently a bestseller! She also writes contemporary romance as M.D.
Dalrymple — police and campus romances, and as Strawberry Chase, paranormal
romance author.

Winner of the Top Ten Author Academy Award for 2018, Best Indie Book 2019,
and N.N Night’s 2021 Winner for Scottish Romance.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Goodreads

Instagram

 

Preorder Now

Amazon

 

RABT Book Tours & PR

Comments Off on Before the Emerald Crown Reveal

Filed under BOOKS

Heart Stealer Blitz

Heart Stealer banner

 

Heart Stealer cover

Fantasy

Date Published: 12-08-2023

 

 

Without a heart, death and love are equally impossible.

James’s heart has been stolen. He knows because he got stabbed in the chest
and didn’t even bleed. On the plus side, he isn’t dead! On the minus side,
whoever has his heart can control him, and until he gets the heart back, he
is incapable of feeling love for anyone but the thief. Whoever that may
be.

He has to get the heart back, and quickly. But with an assassin in the mix,
and a vengeful ex-lover, and a suspicious fiancée, and no idea who to
trust or where to look, the task won’t be easy. Especially when, with a
stolen heart, he can’t even really trust himself.

 

About the Author

Melody Wiklund

Melody Wiklund is a writer of fantasy and occasionally romance. In her free
time, she loves knitting and watching Chinese dramas. And she’s never
summoned a spirit or an assassin… or at least so she claims.

 

Contact Links

Website

Facebook

Twitter

Goodreads

Instagram

 

Purchase Links

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Kobo

iBooks

BookShop

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RABT Book Tours & PR

Comments Off on Heart Stealer Blitz

Filed under BOOKS

The Amber Menhir Virtual Book Tour

The Amber Menhir banner

 

The Amber Menhir cover

The Shadows of the Monolith: Book One

 

Fantasy, Grimdark Fantasy, Horror, Satire, Politics

Date Published: October 3, 2023

Publisher: Spinner Loom Press

 

photo add-to-goodreads-button_zpsc7b3c634.png

 

“A GRIPPING DARK FANTASY THAT IMMERSES YOU IN A WORLD OF DEADLY POWER
POLITIC AND CORRUPTION.”  Richard Moriarty – The Sun

 

With each new dawn, the celestial body known only as ‘Calamity’
draws closer – and with it the end of the world. Humanity’s only
hope from oblivion rests in the menhirs, towering bastions of scholarship
and imagination which cast long shadows across the lands. The scholars
within the menhirs devote themselves selflessly to the discovery of new
magic that will help avert the impending apocalypse … or so the
masses have been made to understand.

In a society divided between those with occult potential and lay
citizens, Tara Langcraw is recruited into the Amber Menhir with great
interest. The long-awaited heiress of a bloodline bearing the rarest of the
six magical disciplines, time manipulation, she is expected to flourish
within this noble citadel of learning, as are her friends and fellow
recruits, Roland Ward and Peony Bianchi.

They soon find, however, that those who fail to meet expectations, or who
dare to challenge the prevailing order, put more than their marks on the
line. For the menhir squirms with rivalries, and those who stand against the
status quo may not stand for very long.

The Amber Menhir tablet

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 2

Fast Friends

Countless rows of gnarled grapevines, some laden with fruit, glistened in the midday sun. Seeing them sent a pang of pride through Tara. Riding apart from the others, she drank in the hues of gold, crimson, and chocolate speckling the leaves. She adn’t ridden this far out from her manor in some time. Apart from fields and a few small vassal villages, there wasn’t much to see. 

Tara studied her fellow riders. The Architect and the menhir servants babbled amongst themselves, paying the heritage vines around them little heed. It was clear to Tara they knew little about winemaking; otherwise they would have been impressed. Ahead at the confluence of the Spring Road and the Langcraw estates, more menhir servants on horseback gathered, each of them clad in the customary grey robes. The servants adjusted their cowls as they spotted Tara and her escorts. Ms. Ash cued her horse to trot, passing by Tara to greet the other servants. Beside them rode a boy in plain trousers and a green shirt bearing scrollwork. He rode atop a workhorse; his considerable height and weight seemed to demand it. 

Tara took stock of the boy. Given his lack of scholar’s robes, Tara concluded he must be the promised Ward ascendant.

The boy twisted in his saddle and beamed at the riders as they approached.

“Ms. Langcraw, this is your first ascendant colleague, Mr. Roland Ward,” Architect Blanchet announced. 

Roland Ward boasted a tanner complexion than any field-worker Tara knew. A dense constellation of freckles and moles dotted his two helpings of brow.

“It’s good to meet you, T-Tara. I hope your ride was nice,” Roland offered. 

Tara wasn’t confident in how to respond. His odd breathing before words caught her off guard, and her skin went hot as she searched for words of her own. 

“I like your coat,” he added. 

Tara gave him a cool nod. “A pleasure.”

She kept her features still as she examined him. Ms. Ash and the others glanced between the two soundless ascendants. Tara found herself wishing, not for the last time, that she were alone. She took in a breath and shot the Architect a pleading look. 

“Well, there will be plenty of time for you to become acquainted later,” called Architect Blanchet. “We should be going, or we’ll miss dinner!” 

Roland’s face beamed again at the mention of food.

As the caravan headed east, Tara situated herself alone at its tail. 

She watched Roland Ward as he made small talk with each of the menhir servants and the Architect. After their second afternoon stop, it seemed it was her turn for Roland’s attentions. Tara spotted his approach and spared him a feeble smile. A huge grin split his face. Tara looked away, suppressing a sigh. 

“How’s your ride going?” he called, drawing his mount beside hers.

“Fine,” she replied. She studied the apple orchards lining the north side of the road. She wished to be alone, but she didn’t want to appear heartless either. At least, not before she had a better measure of Roland.

 

Roland grinned at her. “You seem like you m-might be thinking about something important.”

Tara did not answer. He hadn’t really posed a question.

“Maybe you’re worried about your aptitudes?” he asked. His face twisted up with concern, which only made Tara want to vanish even more. Was he pitying her? “I w-worry about mine too. My family says 

that’s normal for ascendants.”

Tara rolled a shoulder to relieve some tension from the long ride and insipid conversation.

“Do you think you’ll be like the rest of your f-family?”Tara sighed. “Whatever do you mean?” 

The boy’s eyebrows shot up. “I mean . . . you know,” he stumbled. “With your aptitudes.” 

“You are not making sense,” Tara replied, with a bit more iciness than she intended.

“I mean, the aptitudes we’re supposed to learn at the menhir,” he clarified. “The th-th-thaumaturgical kinds.”

Tara turned away from him and suppressed another sigh. “My bloodline is strong. I will develop the same aptitudes as my mother, grandmother, and so on. It is why I am here.” 

Roland scrunched up his face. “You’ve never thought it might work out different?”

“No, Roland,” she assured him. “My family has transmitted their aptitudes with absolute fidelity. Our records go back thousands of years. Ask Architect Blanchet to see them, if you’re doubtful.” 

He blinked at that. Perhaps he was worried for himself? Perhaps he wanted to develop a sense of solidarity with her? Tara could not be sure. 

“S-some ascendants show different aptitudes than their parents,” said Roland. “I’ve heard some ascendants don’t show any thaumaturgical aptitudes at all.”

Tara had never heard of one of the Wards being denied full admission to the menhir for thaumaturgical barrenness, though the phenomenon was not unheard of. Still, Roland’s concern suggested his lineage might not be as firm as his family projected.

“I suspect those kinds of ascendants stem from poor developmental environments. That is not the case with the Langcraw line,” said Tara, letting an edge creep into her voice. “Do you have any other personal questions for me?”

He barreled on, “Will you really live forever?”

Tara groaned, then hated herself for doing so. “Nobody knows how long they will live, Roland. Not you, not me. I may be thrown from this horse and sever my spine. We could be killed by bandits from the Independent Cities. It’s the same for all of us.” 

She gave him a stony look, hoping his curiosity might be stayed. “Not like that.” He chuckled. “I mean, you know, if nothing bad happens to you, won’t you just go on living?” No one had ever conveyed to Tara how the typical noble knew about the Tilters of the Hourglass. Larus seemed to understand the gist. Langcraw servants had to. Generations of servants grew and died, While Eva Langcraw remained unchanged. It was not the sort of thing people overlooked.

“You’ve g-got to tell me!” Roland pleaded. He sounded like a child.

“Not exactly,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Assuming I manifest the aptitudes of the Tilters, I will age slower than most, but parts of me will age more than others.” 

Tara scowled at herself. She hadn’t meant to reveal the last bit. How soon she forgot her mother’s warnings. 

“What about you?” she parried.

“Oh,” he replied with a shrug, “my f-family are farmers. We’re Weavers of the web through and through.”

Seeming satisfied with the fruits of his interrogation, Roland took to ferreting out bits of lunch from his teeth with his tongue. When that failed, he made obnoxious sucking sounds to excavate the stubborn bits. After a long while at that, Roland turned his attention back to Tara.

 

About the Author

JONATHAN N. PRUITT

The Amber Menhir, book one of The Shadows of the Monolith series, marks the
debut of high fantasy author Jonathan N. Pruitt. A lifelong educator who has
taught around the world, Pruitt enjoys spinning spellbinding tales of dark
magic and political intrigue. When not toiling away on writing projects,
Pruitt can be found traversing about the great outdoors. For more
information, visit www.TheShadowsoftheMonolith.com.

 

Contact Links

Facebook

Instagram

 

Purchase Links

Amazon

Kobo

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

RABT Book Tours & PR

1 Comment

Filed under BOOKS