"The Black Shard" Giveaway

CALLING ALL FANTASY FANS!

You might have missed your chance to win a copy of "The Magic Warble," but wait! More magic is coming and now is your chance to snatch some of it up...

For a limited time only, you have the chance to win a FREE copy of Victoria Simcox's illustrated, middle-grade (9-13) epic sequel to "The Magic Warble."

"The Black Shard" is 255 pgs long, with 1-2 pics per chapter, which means a lot of fun illustration.

To learn more, check out this blurb:

"Kristina's stay at summer horse camp is horrible to say the least, and it's all because Hester and Davina are there as well, making her life miserable. When Hester's cruel prank goes terribly wrong, it's actually what sends the three girls back to the magical land of Bernovem. In Bernovem, Kristina is very excited to see her former friend, Prince Werrien. When he invites her to sail with him on his ship to his homeland Tezerel, putting it simply, Kristina can't refuse. Reunited with her gnome, dwarf, animal, fairy friends ... and best of all, Werrien, things seem like they couldn't get any better for Kristina. But when Werrien becomes fascinated with an unusual seeing stone, the "Black Shard," Kristina is haunted by a ghostlike old hag. Struggling against suspicion, guilt, illness, and ultimately the one who wants to possess her soul, Kristina will see it's in her weakest moment that she will encounter more strength than she has ever known."

Chapter Two Excerpt

Hester brought her horse’s speed up to a canter, and the rest ofthe girls’ horses did the same. All the girls handled the canteringfine, except for Davina, who had let go of the reins and was holdingon to the front of the saddle for dear life. Her legs were floppinghaphazardly at the horse’s sides, causing the horse to buck up. ThenDavina lost control altogether, and her horse headed straight for ajump in the middle of the arena. Ms. Oldham, who was standingin the middle of the arena, scurried out of the horse’s way to avoidbeing trampled. Kristina felt compelled to help Davina, and shecharged with her horse directly behind Davina’s horse. Luckily,Davina’s horse didn’t bound over the jump, but instead, when abouta foot away from it, took a sharp left and headed for the arenadoor. The saddle slid down the horse’s left side with Davina still init. Then the horse made an abrupt stop at the arena door, causingDavina to fall to the ground.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Victoria was born in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, to an Austrian immigrant mother, and a Dutch immigrant father. She now lives in Western Washington with her husband, Russ and their three children, Toby, Kristina, and William. Her other family members are a Chihuahua, named Pipsy and two cats, named Frodo and Fritz. Besides being an author,
Victoria is a home-schooling mother of twelve years and an elementary school art teacher
of eleven years. In her spare time, Victoria enjoys managing her two older children's Celtic band. She also loves writing, reading, painting watercolors, hiking, good movies, and just simply hanging out with her family and friends.

AUTHOR LINKS

Blog: www.victoriasimcox.blogspot.com,

"The Black Shard" on FB: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/The-Black-Shard/264063053622412  

Victoria Simcox on Twitter: http://twitter.com/VictoriaSimcox

So why are you still staring at this screen? Don't hesitate to enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below, so you, too can share in Kristina's continued adventures. See y'all in Bernoven!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Coming Up Next...

I realized this week that I've been booking myself up and haven't let y'all really know what's what! Since I'm now officially a book tour host for Gliterary Girl Media (woohoo!) I'm helping host more tours than I had originally intended, lol. But it's all in good fun.
Some might wonder how I have the time to juggle two daytime jobs + writing+ networking and now this! But if you think about it, blogging and hosting is networking. Except the awesome possum part is I get to have these loverly ladies and their books represented here and it saves me coming up with something to write, haha.

UPDATES

ME :B (rabbit grin)

click me

I'm currently working on Vynasha with GG Media head, Sara O'Connor and my beta, Allison. I'm really excited about the direction this story is taking and I think you will too. For those of you who don't know much about Vynasha, check it out on Goodreads :)

HOSTING

I'm hosting four different authors this coming month.

First up is friend and fellow author/blogger Victoria Simcox. I'll be hosting a raffle giveaway for the sequel to her first illustrated, Middle-Grade novel, "The Magic Warble" called, "The Black Shard."
Doesn't that title just give you shivers? Great stuff! Love it, lol. The post will be up starting tomorrow.

Second is for GGMedia, already on tour, Sovereign, a dystopian novel by E. R. Arroyo.
I'll be sharing a guest post with y'all on the 22nd :D

Third will be friend and fellow author, Melissa Wright's new YA novel, "Bound by Prophecy." Having already read this one, I can promise you some serious awesomeness! I'll host her Playlist and Dream Cast (get ready for some eye candy ;) on June 3rd.

Fourth up we have "Armored Hearts," a Steam Punk novel by Pauline Creeden and Melissa Turner Lee! I've never read an actual legit steampunk novel so I'm really excited about this one! Here's her Goodreads page: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17736129-armored-hearts

Last will be "Ashes," sequel to "Embers," by Amy Keen. I'm really excited to review this one! Though I need to read the first book in the series, of course. I'm not sure on the date I'll be hosting her just yet, but stay tuned for more info.




As y'all can see it's gonna be a busy month and half, but I"m excited to give back to the lit community who have been so wonderful to me. :) And to you lovely readers, I love ya'll for being simply you!

Have a great weekend!

Books, Books and More Books: Qeya - Jennifer Silverwood - BOOK REVIEW

Books, Books and More Books: Qeya - Jennifer Silverwood - BOOK REVIEW: Book one in the Heaven's Edge series Qeya has spent her life set to drift on heaven's edge. Being Royal means more than b...

A book review for Qeya! And probably the longest, most honest and indeed most flattering of any I've received for my first Indie book so far. It's a rare reviewer who not only praises and author and calls them out on their weaker points, but who teaches us at the same time. Thanks Sharon for your thoughts! And for finding the time to read around your excitable five year old ;) I work with children so I completely understand. :)

Qeya is FREE right now on Amazon, Smashwords and Barnes & Noble.

"I'm the Doctor..." "Doctor who?"

Tonight I finished watching series one of Dr. Who. So many feels, ack! I had to post a few Tumblr related goodies in honor of the Ninth doc, the fantastic Mr. Eccleston.

Tuesday Teaser: Silver Hollow Revisions

Yes, it's true, I am revising Silver Hollow again, lol. More like tweaking it, but mainly fine tuning. And shipping it off to my editor to brush up a lot, no doubt! Here's the latest.

Rain couldn’t possibly pour in such copious amounts without bringing on the Flood. She had been trying to hail one of those strange black London taxis to no avail and was now effectively drenched. Her summer clothes were far too thin for this kind of rain. It was a biting enough chill, she wouldn’t have been surprised if sleet and hail were next.

Just my luck!

Holding her map so it was tented comically over her head and officially useless by the time it had finished agreeing to keep her dry, she looked for Henry’s symbol. Neither the crowds nor the rain had let up. Blinking past the sting of ruined mascara, she looked for whatever it was she was supposed to be looking for while her skin grew pruned and chilled. Of all the people pushing through the airport, she was the only one without some kind of protection from the storm.

Except him, she thought with piqued interest and then dread.

Forgetting to blink, forgetting to breathe, Amie gasped her disbelief. She could have sworn she had glanced across the street seconds ago and hadn’t seen him anywhere close! Yet it was undeniably her stalker, the one who had pulled her back from the brink of death. He stood immobile in a sea of nameless sheltered faces. Rain had plastered his shock of black hair to his forehead and poured over an unremarkable face. His unsettling stare had formed a new intensity since their last encounter. Even in the distance, his eyes seemed to glow.

Cold gave way to heat, the kind of heat she had not felt in years, not since before the crash.

A taxi appeared before her feet with a screeching halt and splattered her with a wall of dirty water. Confused at its arrival, after she had been trying to get a taxi for the last hour, she glanced around for the person who signaled it. Instead the taxi driver tapped his horn and through the foggy window a rough-looking man peered up at her.

When she looked to the street, her stalker and savior was gone.

Laughing as she let down her ruined map, she tried to shake the troubling feeling that this was all becoming way too real. Of course the mysterious tall, dark and handsome man vanished into the night, leaving the heroine in suspense over their next encounter. It was an easy plot turn she had used multiple times.

Amie jumped when the taxi horn blared loudly in her ears. She frowned, eyes falling onto the stickers littering the side bumper of the cab. “Keep your panty-hose on! I’m coming!”

She froze when a very familiar symbol met her eyes, so tiny only someone intimately familiar with it would recognize the Celtic knot. She shivered. The strange interweaving crest she had seen a hundred thousand times in her memories was glaring her obscenely in the face. The same symbol she had only ever seen on her father’s old ring and which was now hanging between her breasts on a silver chain. The cool metal brushed recently healed skin.

Beep! Beep!

The horn startled her from her thoughts and something in her agreed with the cabbie’s insistence. The sooner she left this place the better. This was getting too Outer Limits for her taste.

End of An Era

Dark Whispers by Bruce Coville
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I began reading "The Unicorn Chronicles" when I was in Elementary School. My best friend and neighbor had shared it with me and we both were in love with the world Coville had created. A few years later we were ecstatic to find the sequel, "Song of the Wanderer," and hoped that the rest of the story would be told soon. And then we waited...and waited...and waited, lol. Finally, as a young adult, I realized he was in the process of writing the final book. But I lost track of it and it was difficult to find in bookstores. Imagine my excitement when I discovered it on Amazon! And not just "Dark Whispers," but a fourth book in the series, "The Last Hunt!"
Reading this book has been like reading a piece of my childhood. We grew up with these characters, not unlike Harry Potter. But admittedly, I think I love Cara's world even more because she is a girl and because Luster remains such a magical, wonderful, at times terrifying place. I promised my former neighbor, who is still my best friend, that I'd let her borrow these once I finished. She'll be pleased to hear it so she too can begin to finish the series we started when we were just little girls, dreaming of Unicorns.

View all my reviews The Last Hunt by Bruce Coville
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

How do you review a book you've been waiting all your life to finally read? I began the Unicorn Chronicles as a Second Grader, and finished them eighteen years later. So much changed with these last two books. A very strange but amazing thing happened as I dove into the final two installments. Cara remained basically the same age, lending an air of timelessness to this tale. It brought me back to my childhood, but the world of Luster expanded so much I felt like this series grew up with me. It is larger than life and I'm convinced no one can write epic Unicorn novels like Bruce Coville. There really are no words to do it justice. You'll just have to read it and discover the mystery behind the magic for yourselves. I finished this book with a hint of sorrow and a sweet satisfaction in knowing our beloved characters will continue to have more adventures. If only we could break into Grimwold's cave and read them ourselves!

View all my reviews

Spring Indie Giveaway!

Check out this big time cross promotion giveaway! My books are on here too, but all of these are up for grabs! You sign up and stand to win a free ebook or print copy of all these loverly Indie novels!

http://ellecasey.com/promotions/elle-caseys-springtime-indie-book-giveaway/