First off, I know a lot schools started back this week (in one form or another), so I wanted to send good wishes out to all the teachers, parents, and students embarking on this new school year. My kids don’t start until next week, and I’m having a lot of feelings about it, many of which I’m keeping close to the chest because I want to stay as positive as possible for the kiddos. I wrote a post about change back in 2015 and find much of it is relevant to the year 2020.
This was the school year where all three kiddos were supposed to have some form of formal schooling. The year where I would have a little more time to write. The fact that this isn’t happening is a small thing in comparison to a lot of other problems, but I’m still trying to allow myself to feel some resentment about it without wallowing. I’ve had a ton of writing ideas lately, so at least my creativity is flowing again.
In bookish news, I have a secret project I’ve been working on. Some of you may already know this one, and it’s getting a second life! It’s a project I’ve been working on in the in-between spaces. I was stuck on it for a little bit, but now that I’ve solved a particular problem, it’s well on its way. I don’t have the timeline pinned down yet for a release. Maybe I’ll just do a surprise release with it whenever it’s done.
Here’s an adorable teaser image for it that I cannot take credit for as it was done by an illustrator. I’ll let you know all the details soon!
Leading up to the July 14, 2020 release of my latest YA fantasy ELIXIR SAVED, sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND, I’ll be posting teasers and tidbits on Tuesdays. As always, feel free to share the images.
I know I’ve been saying that ELIXIR SAVED has three point-of-view characters, but that doesn’t count the prologue and epilogue (yup, I went there despite the controversies that seem to arise over prologues and epilogues), which is from the POV of Odeletta, also known as the Ice Queen.
Today you get not only a teaser image, but the whole text of the prologue. Enjoy!
ELIXIR SAVED Prologue:
Odeletta, the Princess of Spring, had been holed up in the frozen wasteland of Blanchardwood for hundreds of years. Her only respite from the cold was the courtyard garden in Kristalis, her ice palace. But there was no respite from a broken heart. Or the bitterness that had turned her more frigid than the coldest of winter days.
Hopes of returning to her former self dwindled with each passing year. Her love, Fyren, had betrayed her, tricked her into loving him so he could steal the power of true love’s kiss. He’d taken what he wanted and abandoned her, never having loved her at all. His true love was power, and there was never enough of that to go around for creatures like him.
Odeletta was the Ice Queen now, and would remain so forevermore. The problem with stealing another’s power, though, lay in the bonds that tied the two together. A magic that—unlike hearts—was unbreakable. So when Fyren began using that power to amass magic in the old fort of Drim, Odeletta sensed this. For she didn’t know it, but all during her sojourn in Blanchardwood, she had slowly been strengthening. The hurt of a broken heart concealed her growing strength, but it was there. Oh, it was there.
The sensation, a tingling under her skin, a blaze of heat she had felt only one other time in the moment just before Fyren’s lips had touched hers, awakened one frozen morning and set it apart from all the thousands of frozen mornings before. And with it, she became aware of her strength, something she had long thought dead and buried beneath the mountains of snow.
All morning it rippled and wrapped around her, growing like poison ivy strangling a tree. She relished the feeling as it replaced the years of heartache, until finally it burst forth in a spark of fire. An arc of lightning surged into the sky and landed far, far away. With it three messages were sent, irrevocably.
Odeletta, spent of her power, retreated to her garden sanctuary where she would listen, and wait, and feel. For now that she had released her heartache into the world, her insides were no longer frozen. It was exhilarating and terrifying. There was hope once more that spring would return to Blanchardwood, but it would come at a cost. And it was no longer Odeletta who would pay the price.
If the messages were heeded, sacrifices would be made. Lives would be changed. And lost.
About ELIXIR SAVED:
Three lives saved by the Elixir; three lives bound by it.
The Elixir entwines the lives of those it touches. Once upon a time, Kylene, Zelenka, and Devon tasted it and escaped death. None were left without scars. Now, a shocking message from the Ice Queen–one of Mother Nature’s higher beings–sends each survivor on a quest. Kylene travels to the frozen depths of Blanchardwood, Zelenka heads back to the wilds of Faway Forest, and Devon journeys to a reclusive mountain temple. The three paths converge in a war against an ancient and tricky foe. And even the Elixir cannot save everyone. The fate of the world balances on the edge of a sword, and the outcome depends on whether the survivors will sacrifice their second chances.
Escape back into the world of the Great Peninsula in this much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND. Perfect for fans of the Thrones of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.
Leading up to the July 14, 2020 release of my latest YA fantasy ELIXIR SAVED, sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND, I’ll be posting teasers and tidbits on Tuesdays. Feel free to share!
I haven’t shared any from Zelenka’s point-of-view yet, so this is her week. The Three River Split is also in ELIXIR BOUND (which is on sale for $0.99 if you haven’t read it yet), but I never tire of picturing it and attempting to describe it to readers. As you can probably tell from the excerpt, Zelenka never tires of this place either.
ELIXIR SAVED teaser text:
Then the tumult reached a deafening level. Poky followed the tilli around a bend in the path. Zelenka sucked in a breath as she witnessed the East Rauor River cascade over the cliff and split into three tributaries…
Three years gone without having been able to stare at this wonder of nature.
About ELIXIR SAVED:
Three lives saved by the Elixir; three lives bound by it.
The Elixir entwines the lives of those it touches. Once upon a time, Kylene, Zelenka, and Devon tasted it and escaped death. None were left without scars. Now, a shocking message from the Ice Queen–one of Mother Nature’s higher beings–sends each survivor on a quest. Kylene travels to the frozen depths of Blanchardwood, Zelenka heads back to the wilds of Faway Forest, and Devon journeys to a reclusive mountain temple. The three paths converge in a war against an ancient and tricky foe. And even the Elixir cannot save everyone. The fate of the world balances on the edge of a sword, and the outcome depends on whether the survivors will sacrifice their second chances.
Escape back into the world of the Great Peninsula in this much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND. Perfect for fans of the Thrones of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.
Leading up to the July 14, 2020 release of my latest YA fantasy ELIXIR SAVED, sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND, I’ll be posting teasers and tidbits on Tuesdays. Feel free to share!
It’s kind of weird to have a book with a snowy cover coming out in July, and the story mostly takes places in the fall, so that’s just one more layer of seasonal confusion to add to the mix. Still that’s the way the timing worked out for this particular book, and perhaps when we’re deep in the heat of summer, a snowy cover will be just the escape readers need. And for those in the southern hemisphere, it’ll actually be winter, so there’s that.
This week, I asked The Boy and The Prince for a topic idea and they suggested “snowflake.” The amazing artist Susan Tait Porcaro provided this iteration of the cover art, and I thought it was the perfect backdrop for this quote.
ELIXIR SAVED teaser text:
Kristalis seemed to appear out of nowhere. One minute Kylene and her companions were trudging through deep snow, surrounded by evergreens and swirling snowflakes. The next minute the trees parted and the snowfall cleared just enough for the sun to peek through the clouds. Light bounced off crystal towers in the distance, a shower of prisms glittering from the turrets. Kylene’s breath caught.
About ELIXIR SAVED:
Three lives saved by the Elixir; three lives bound by it.
The Elixir entwines the lives of those it touches. Once upon a time, Kylene, Zelenka, and Devon tasted it and escaped death. None were left without scars. Now, a shocking message from the Ice Queen–one of Mother Nature’s higher beings–sends each survivor on a quest. Kylene travels to the frozen depths of Blanchardwood, Zelenka heads back to the wilds of Faway Forest, and Devon journeys to a reclusive mountain temple. The three paths converge in a war against an ancient and tricky foe. And even the Elixir cannot save everyone. The fate of the world balances on the edge of a sword, and the outcome depends on whether the survivors will sacrifice their second chances.
Escape back into the world of the Great Peninsula in this much-anticipated sequel to the award-winning ELIXIR BOUND. Perfect for fans of the Thrones of Glass series by Sarah J. Maas.
