Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Memories!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl in which we create bookish lists about everything from our favorite characters to love triangles and everything in between! 

This Week's Theme: Bookish Memories! 

1. Reading in during math class. I would always end up in trouble but it was always 100% worth it! 

2. Attending BookExpo in 2018 and 2019! This will forever be my favorite bookish memories! 

3. Breaking my ankle at BookExpo in 2019. Most people wouldn't consider it a funny memory, but it is comical to me because it is such an Amber thing to do. (I even walked around on the broken ankle all day because I was in denial!) 

4. Creating The Book Bratz! Of course the birth of our. blog made the list! 

5. Going to my first ever book signing event in 2014/2015! 

6. Meeting all of my blogging friends in person! 

7. Meeting Taherah Mafi and Ransom Riggs at the Restore Me launch party! It was literally a dream come to true to meet my idols. 

8. Meeting Jennifer L. Armentrout at BookCon in 2014/15! She was so sweet and the first author that I have ever met in person!

9. Staying overnight in Manhattan for BookExpo 2019! (Sadly, it got cut short because I fell and broke my ankle, but it was fun while it lasted.) 

10. Being part of the book community! 

What are some of your favorite Bookish Memories!? Leave your link to your TTT below so we can stop back! 

Books We're Thankful For This Year

Happy Thanksgiving! To celebrate this holiday of giving thanks for those that we appreciate, we just wanted to take a moment to let you know that we are so, so thankful for all of you. You make us excited to gush about books every single day, and we truly wouldn't be where we are without you. So thank you, thank you, thank you for making our book blogging dreams come true!

Something else that we're thankful for is pretty much a given -- books! So to celebrate the holiday, we're rounding up some books that we're grateful for this year. Without further ado, let's jump into it:

              


So those are some books that we're thankful for this year! What are some of yours? Do you agree/disagree with some of our choices? Comment down below and let us know! 

If you need us, we'll be diving into the mashed potatoes today and spending the holiday with friends and family...Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!



Top Ten Tuesday: Characters I’d Love An Update On

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl in which we create bookish lists about everything from our favorite characters to love triangles and everything in between! 


This Week's Theme: Characters I’d Love An Update On

After finishing a good book where I fall in love with some of the characters, it's natural to want to know how the rest of their lives continue (especially since I'm such a big romance reader and really want to know how their happily ever afters go!). For this week's Top Ten Tuesday, we have to pick ten characters (or sets of characters) from books we've read that we'd love an update on. So without further ado, here are my picks:

1. Mateo and Rufus from They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera. I know Adam has actually hinted about this several times, and I would love to know if the two of them meet up again, even if I know it'll make me cry like a baby.

2. Elliot from Fresh by Margot Wood. Because she's so dang hilarious, and I'd love to see if she ever ends up really getting her life together.

3. Warner and Juliette from the Shatter Me series. Because let's be real: here at The Book Bratz, Warner and Juliette are our favorite characters of all time, so we want to know how the rest of their story plays out.

4. Zoey and James Stark from the House of Night series. I had the meanest crush on James Stark back when the books came out, so I would just really love to see where he is now. *swoon* 

5. Meredith and Whit from The Summer of Broken Rules by K.L. Walther. Because I've shipped them from the very first second that they were on the page together, and I would just love to see how that relationship is blooming right now.

6. Meg & Micah from Never Saw You Coming by Erin Hahn. Micah is another character that I had a big huge crush on while reading, so I'd love to see where he is now, and how thinks are going with him and Meg (and their families).

7. Josh and Clara from The Roommate by Rosie Danan. Anytime these two are on the page together, there's bound to be blushing and good times. So I'd love to see how things have changed for them, as well as what has stayed the same! We get a peek into their life in The Intimacy Experiment, which is a companion novel, but I'd love to see another book that focuses just on them, just so I can see where they are now.

8. Lila & Orion from A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow by Laura Taylor Namey. While we get a glimpse into their lives at the end of the novel, being in love with someone from a totally different country from you has its struggles, I'm sure -- so I'd love to find out how they're making their relationship work right now.

9. Shay and Dominic from The Ex Talk by Rachel Lynn Solomon. I mean, come on. This is one of the best books I read this year, and I could always use more Shay and Dominic. I want to see what they're up to right now. *mega swoon*

10. Pretty much any love interest from any Christina Lauren novel. They're all perfect and I'd love all of them in my life right now, please.

So those are ten characters from books that I'd like an update on! Does anyone else wonder what they're up to? Have some others that you'd like to check in on? Comment down below and let me know!


Book Blitz & Giveaway: Merry Ex-Mas by Elizabeth Janette

Merry Ex-Mas
Elizabeth Janette
Publication date: November 10th 2021
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Holiday, Romance

It’s been ten years since Delaney Silverman last stepped foot on the Silver Bells Christmas Tree farm her family owns and operates, but when her father dies, she has no choice. Even if it means mending fences with her estranged mother. The last thing this reformed wild-child-turned-Manhattan-marketing-pro has in mind, though, is a second chance at first love. But after life brings her face to face with the sexy, ex-fiancé neighbor boy, she realizes he’s everything she never knew she needed.

Travis Harper knows two things to be true: 1. It’s time to adopt his foster daughter and build a custom home life for themselves, and 2. Laney Silverman is the last woman he’d ever trust with their hearts, even if she is everything he’s ever wanted. Especially since she has a bad habit of walking away from him.

Will twelve days be enough to give two former lovers a Merry Ex-Mas?

Goodreads / Amazon

EXCERPT:

Releasing her grip on the luggage, Laney wrapped her arms around her mom, pulling her into an awkward embrace.

Ruth stiffened. “What . . . are you doing?”

“Hugging you. Apparently it’s what people do when they’ve lost someone they love.”

“Yeah, well, stop it. I don’t need your sympathy.”

Whatever emotion Travis thought he saw when looking at Laney’s mother, it wasn’t there now. When she drew back and studied Ruth’s face, no tears clouded her eyes. No grief etched her expression. Only annoyance, pure and simple. Like always. Laney dropped her arms. Same old Mama. Lovable as a freaking porcupine.

Deep breath, girl. You can do this. For Dad. She peered up at the house. Despite the generous square footage of the single-story bungalow-style house, from the outside, the home appeared smaller, darker without her father’s presence. She swallowed hard to dislodge the lump of grief wedged in her throat and forced herself to enter the house.

Crossing the threshold tugged at the threads of memories she’d kept squirreled away. Not all of them welcome. It took only one whiff of the familiar cinnamon coffee scent before the years magically melted away, and she was eighteen again, chafing at the bit, dying for just one ounce of the freedom her friends possessed.

Laney shook off the ghosts that held her hostage and tried to only focus on the positive memories. The ones with her dad.

As she made her way through the living and dining room toward her old bedroom, a smile pulled at her lips as fond memories bubbled up. She’d been closest to her father and everywhere her gaze landed brought forth an image of him to warm her heart. Fingers drifted over the couch, threadbare now but still located in the same place against the wall. Her father’s most-coveted possession, a black leather recliner, nestled in the corner of the living room. The mantle above the stone fireplace where Christmas stockings once hung. The oil paintings of snow-covered barns in the middle of a forest.

An image of her father wafted through the recesses of her mind. Happy and smiling. The world could be falling apart around him, and he’d still be as jolly as good old St. Nick. Hard to believe he was gone. The urge to cry swelled, but she tamped it down like a good girl and turned away, plastering a smile on her face.

“Where on Earth are you going?”

“To my bedroom.”

Your bedroom?” Her mama tsked. “Good heavens, child, it stopped being your bedroom ages ago when you moved out.”

Laney used a foot to push open the bedroom door and stopped dead. “Good Lord Almighty, Mama, what have you done?”

It was like Santa’s workshop had materialized right in the middle of the room. Her mouth hung open as she gawked at the atrocity. Where once stood a vanity filled with cheap cosmetics only a teenager would buy, now a fake Christmas tree loomed, wilting under the weight of too many ornaments. Garland hung from the high shelf spanning the top of all four walls. A toy train chugged its way around the room. A workbench sat along one wall with a dozen or so holiday crafts waiting to be finished. The walls had been stripped of the soft turquoise blue hue her sixteen-year-old self had painstakingly selected, and replaced with a dreadful shade of gold that mirrored the tree ornaments.

And her daybed? Nowhere to be found. The half dozen or so NSYNC and Jonas Brothers rock band posters were conspicuously missing too. Gone were her hot-pink curtains, fuzzy beanbag, and black shag rug as well as anything remotely resembling her teenage years. All signs of her life there had been erased.

She’d been erased.


Author Bio:

Born to parents who loved to read, it’s no surprise Elizabeth Janette’s lifelong love of literacy led her to become both a teacher and a writer. In fact, writing about getting RIF’d from her teaching job in the 2008 recession is what led her to publish an essay about the experience. From then on, she was hooked. Now days, when she’s not teaching sassy 5th graders, Elizabeth Janette writes romance that both sizzles and thrills. And when she’s not teaching or writing, she works for her local chapter of the National Writing Project teaching teachers how to teach writing. Visit www.elizabethjanette.com to connect and sign up for her newsletter.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram


GIVEAWAY!
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We'd like to thank the team over at Xpresso for allowing us to be part of this book blitz! If MERRY EX-MAS sounds like the type of book you'd be interested in, don't forget to add it to your TBR! What are some of your favorite holiday reads?



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Book Blitz & Giveaway: Warming by Winter Heart by Michelle Cornish

Warming My Winter Heart
Michelle Cornish
Publication date: November 22nd 2020
Genres: Adult, Comedy, Contemporary, Romance

You can’t run from love forever . . .

When Lexi Blair comes home to Little City from LA for Christmas, she gets the surprise of her life—the ex-fiancé she thought was dead is very much alive and wants her back!

It’s Christmas Eve and Lexi’s seen a ghost. Or . . . she thought he was a ghost until her mom admits to faking his death so Lexi would come home for Christmas.

After a humiliating run-in with her ex—which results in Lexi disowning her mother—she hides out at her best friend’s tree farm, babysitting a nameless puppy while her friend and hubby tend to a family emergency.

But farm life comes with a few perks Lexi isn’t expecting—mainly a hunky farmhand who’s helping Lexi run the place until her friends return.

While Lexi ran from Little City, John ran to it, and she quickly learns he’s healing from past hurts of his own.

Can Lexi and John stop running before it’s too late?

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

EXCERPT:

Before long, Mom has dinner on the table, and when we’re seated, she says grace. Mom’s always loved going to church on Christmas Eve, but after her big fight with Aunt Flora, she started going every Sunday and doing things like saying grace.

Dad gives me a fully loaded, sideways look that says, “Yeah, your mother still hasn’t talked to your aunt and we still do these things to make it okay in her eyes.” I give him a nod. Does he know what they fought about that Christmas? He took a misdirected punch while he and Ian pulled Mom and her sister apart. That was before Ian became the biggest boob on the planet. Ugh.

“Oh, Lexi, I almost forgot.” Mom draws my attention back to the present. She grabs a box from the kitchen. “I got Christmas crackers.” Ooh. Seems hardly worth it for the three of us, but I do love Christmas crackers. Their gold and silver foil shines as Mom hands one to Dad and me then places one next to her own plate.

I look inside the cracker for the pull tab and grip it firmly then cross my arms, offering the Christmas cracker to Mom on my right and reaching for Dad’s cracker with my right hand.

“Ready?” Mom says. I’m transported back in time as I nod then Mom issues her standard Christmas cracker instructions. “On three. One . . . two . . . three!”

We all pull hard on our crackers against each other and our three little crackers pop and snap while bits of ripped paper scatter across the table. If Mom and Dad had a cat, it would have run for cover.

“Ooh, look,” Mom says. “I got a magnifying glass.” An urge to make a snarky comment about Mom’s eyesight and “how did the Christmas elves know?” pops into my head, but I let it go. I just got here, no need to start a fight just yet.

I check the table for my prize while Dad holds up a giant sparkly paperclip. “Not sure what this is about,” he says.

“It’s a bookmark, dear.” Mom touches Dad’s hand as she says it. She must have splurged on the premium crackers that encourage you to spend more money by showing you on the back of the package what you’ll get.

Something shiny catches my eye on the floor. “Ooh,” I say, leaning over in my chair to pick up my prize. “I got a pen.” I hold it up like it’s some kind of trophy. At least it’s something useful. I place it on the table right next to the fuschia paper crown that also spewed forth from the Christmas cracker.

“Put on your crown.” Mom flutters her hand in my direction. She’s already wearing hers. Dad somehow “accidentally” ripped his, so it won’t stay on his head. Lucky guy. I put on the crown. My cheeks burn a bit, and I feel like I’m ten again—the last year I remember actually liking these silly crowns. I scan the table hoping a bottle of wine has materialized in the last few minutes. Nope.


Author Bio:

Michelle Cornish is a recovering CPA with a passion for stories. Writing mostly romance and women's fiction with strong female heroines, Michelle's books often include nods to her former life as a CPA. When Michelle’s not writing, she’s hanging out with her two boys and husband in the beautiful Okanagan Valley, BC, Canada.

Newsletter / Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / Bookbub / Amazon


GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

We'd like to thank the awesome team over at Xpresso for having us be part of the blitz today! If WARMING MY WINTER HEART sounds like the type of book you'd be interested in, don't forget to add it to your TBR!



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Waiting on Wednesday: Something Wilder by Christina Lauren

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking The Spine where we highlight some of the upcoming books we can't wait to read! 



Title: Something Wilder
Author: Christina Lauren
Publisher: Gallery Books
Publication Date: May 17th, 2022
Summary: Growing up the daughter of notorious treasure hunter and absentee father Duke Wilder left Lily without much patience for the profession…or much money in the bank. But Lily is nothing if not resourceful, and now uses Duke’s coveted hand-drawn maps to guide tourists on fake treasure hunts through the red rock canyons of Utah. It pays the bills but doesn’t leave enough to fulfill her dream of buying back the beloved ranch her father sold years ago, and definitely not enough to deal with the sight of the man she once loved walking back into her life with a motley crew of friends ready to hit the trails. Frankly, Lily would like to take him out into the wilderness—and leave him there. Leo Grady knew mirages were a thing in the desert, but they’d barely left civilization when the silhouette of his greatest regret comes into focus in the flickering light of the campfire. Ready to leave the past behind him, Leo wants nothing more than to reconnect with his first and only love. Unfortunately, Lily Wilder is all business, drawing a clear line in the sand: it’s never going to happen. But when the trip goes horribly and hilariously wrong, the group wonders if maybe the legend of the hidden treasure wasn’t a gimmick after all. There’s a chance to right the wrongs—of Duke’s past and their own—but only if Leo and Lily can confront their history and work together. Alone under the stars in the isolated and dangerous mazes of the Canyonlands, Leo and Lily must decide whether they’ll risk their lives and hearts on the adventure of a lifetime.


As someone who is a huge fan of all of Christina Lauren's books, as soon as I found out about this one, I had to add it to my TBR. I just couldn't wait! Even though the cover isn't revealed yet, I knew I wanted to talk about this book, because I'm eagerly counting down the days until May, and I just can't wait any longer. Christina Lauren books are some of my favorite romances to read, and I know that this one is going to be such a treat!

What are you waiting on this week? Leave your links so I can stop back! 


Blog Tour: You Can Go Your Own Way by Eric Smith


Hi everyone! Today on the blog, we're very excited to share an excerpt of YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY by Eric Smith, who is one of our favorite authors and literary agents to work with. So without further ado, let's get into it!


ABOUT THE BOOK


Title: You Can Go Your Own Way
Author: Eric Smith
Publisher: Inkyard Press
Hardcover, 336 Pages
Publication Date: November 2nd, 2021 

 Summary: Adam Stillwater is in over his head. At least, that’s what his best friend would say. And his mom. And the guy who runs the hardware store down the street. But this pinball arcade is the only piece of his dad that Adam has left, and he’s determined to protect it from Philadelphia’s newest tech mogul, who wants to turn it into another one of his cold, lifeless gaming cafés. Whitney Mitchell doesn’t know how she got here. Her parents split up. She lost all her friends. Her boyfriend dumped her. And now she’s spending her senior year running social media for her dad’s chain of super successful gaming cafés—which mostly consists of trading insults with that decrepit old pinball arcade across town. But when a huge snowstorm hits, Adam and Whitney suddenly find themselves trapped inside the arcade. Cut off from their families, their worlds, and their responsibilities, the tension between them seems to melt away, leaving something else in its place. But what happens when the storm stops?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Eric Smith is an author and literary agent from Elizabeth, New Jersey. When he isn't working on other people's books, sometimes he tries to write his own. He enjoys pop punk, video games, and crying during every movie. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife and best friend, Nena, and their son, Langston.

Keep up with Eric: Website / Twitter / InstagramGoodreads 

EXCERPT

CHAPTER 1

Adam

“The playfield is truly the heart of every pinball machine. All of the player’s goals are right there, splayed out in front of them. And like life, it’s up to you to find a way to reach them, with the tools you’re presented. In this case, it’s a ball.”—THE ART AND ZEN OF PINBALL REPAIR BY JAMES WATTS

The sound of collective screaming and a massive crash shake my entire workshop, and I almost stab myself with a piping-hot soldering iron.

“Adam!” my mom yells from inside the arcade. If another pack of junior high kids from the nearby Hillman Academy “accidentally” flip over a machine trying to get it to tilt, I am going to lose it. I grip the iron, the cracked brown leather wrapped around the metal handle squeaking a little against my skin, and shake my head, trying to refocus. Maybe I can finish this before it’s time to pick up that custom piece—

And another crash rattles the walls. A few parts tumble off my shelves, tiny intricate pieces of metal and glass, bits of copper wire, all clinking against my table.

I attempt to catch a few of the electronic pieces, trying not to burn myself with the iron in my other hand, and then a hammer falls off the perforated wall of tools in front of me. It collides with a small cardboard box full of pinball playfield lightbulbs, and I wince at the small crack and pop sounds.

“Goddammit,” I grumble out. I toss the soldering iron aside and try to clean up the mess. At least those lightbulbs are like, ten bucks a dozen on arcade wholesale websites. But pinball machines have a lot of lights.

“Adam!” This time it’s Chris. “Dude, where are you?”

I’m about to bolt from the workshop when I remember Mom is out there. I reach for the latest read I promised her I’d finish—We Built This Gritty by Kevin Michaels, a book on launching small businesses by an entrepreneur here in Philly that one of her colleagues is teaching at the county college—and immediately yank my hand back. The soldering iron had gone right in between the pages when I tossed it, and the book is already smoking. I pull the iron out and set it aside and flap the book around wildly, little wisps pooling up from inside the bright orange book. I flip it open.

It’s burnt right down the middle. Great. Something tells me she won’t be able to trade this back in at the campus store.

I glance over at The Beast and give the forever-in-progress Philadelphia-themed home-brewed pinball machine a pat, the glass still off the surface, wires and various parts splayed out over the playfield. My well-worn copy of The Art and Zen of Pinball Repair by James Watts sits smack in the middle of everything. I’ve still got a way to go before I can try playing Dad’s unfinished machine again, but if anyone is gonna get me there, it’s Watts. If I could just get a free chunk of time in between the studying and the arcade and the—

An array of swears echoes from inside the arcade, snapping me back.

Right. Chris. Mom. Chaos. Potentially broken and nearly irreplaceable machines worth thousands of dollars.

I unplug the soldering iron and place it in its little stand, like a quill pen in an inkwell. I wedge the now-toasty book under my arm and take a few steps to pick up some speed, to get a little force, and I push my shoulder against the dark red wooden workshop door. I push, gritting my teeth. The splintering surface presses into my arm, stinging with the pressure, until finally, the wood squeals against the frame, shrunken in and wedged together due to the sharp Philadelphia winter.

The whole workshop is like that, really, casting a major contrast to the polished, well-kept-despite-its-years pinball arcade. The cracked workshop table that is way more rickety than it has any right to be, tools showing their age with hinges that refuse to move and metal pieces falling off shrinking wood and weak plastic handles, vintage pinball parts that maybe still work, a concrete floor with a surface that’s chipping away, revealing dirt and dust, lightbulbs I don’t even remotely trust. My sad excuse for a drafting table sits off to the end of the workshop, and I’ve never really used it, preferring to fuss with plans right on the messy workshop table, next to all of Dad’s scribbles.

We could clean it up, have this room match the rest of the arcade. But I love it. It reminds me of him.

The door swings open suddenly and hits the wall inside the arcade with a loud bang.

And it is absolute chaos here.

~~~

We'd like to thank Inkyard Press for inviting us to share this excerpt today! If you're interested in YOU CAN GO YOUR OWN WAY, don't forget to add it to your TBR!

Calling All 2022 Debut YA/NA Authors!


Are you a 2022 YA/NA debut author who wants to be interviewed on our blog? We've already started compiling information for next year's interviews, so if you'd like to speak with us, we'd love to have you.

If you're interested, we'd love to send you a list of 6-7 questions for an interview post to go up the month of your debut's release. They'd be super conversational and nothing too strenuous, just to give readers a feel for you and your book! We can also collaborate on potential giveaway posts as well.

You can get a feel for how these interviews work by checking out our debut interview tag. 

If this sounds like something that would interest you, please fill out the Google form here. We're looking forward to working with a great lineup of 2022 debuts! :-)



Who's Participating in NaNoWriMo This Year?


Happy November! For any of the writers out there, you know exactly what that means -- it's time for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)! We've been participating every year for almost a decade now, and we're so excited to jump into it again. Which means it's time for our annual question: who's participating in NaNoWriMo this year?

Is this your first year? Are you a returning Wrimo? Are you doing a "lighter" version of it this year? Instead of drafting a brand new novel, I'm going to use this year's NaNo to work on revisions of my thesis novel for my MFA program. I know that's not technically the "rules," but NaNo can be whatever you want it to be! 

So, how's the first week of NaNo going for you? Are you reading this and deciding to jump in? Do you have questions about the process? Comment down below and let us know everything you want to know about, and we'd love to answer!

Power to the writers this month -- use that leftover Halloween candy as fuel! 


Book Blitz & Giveaway: The Dark Queen by M. Dalto

The Dark Queen
M. Dalto
(The Empire Saga, #4)
Published by: Parliament House
Publication date: November 2nd 2021
Genres: Fantasy, New Adult

For fans of Elise Kova, Sarah J. Maas, and Holly Black.

For centuries, the Empire has been enslaved to an infallible, revered Prophecy—one that controlled every thought and action, banished those who questioned its integrity, and promised to bring peace and tranquility to those who followed blindly and believed unconditionally.

But the Prophecy is flawed.

Amid broken promises and mournful lamentations, fates are changed, and dreams are destroyed.

When an ancient force resurfaces and threatens to destroy all they know, new alliances are formed as the heirs to the Empire’s throne struggle to put aside personal differences for the good of their realm.

Before it’s too late.


The Empire Saga is best enjoyed in this order:

1. Two Thousand Years

2. Mark of the Empress

3. Beginning’s End

4. The Dark Queen

Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play

EXCERPT:

Prologue

Welcome back, Empress.

Alexstrayna felt cold.

It wasn’t like when she had been outside for too long without an overcoat or a cape. Or as if she were caught out in the rain without an umbrella and the chill of the evening air had penetrated through her clothes until it reached her bones.

No, it was the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night after a nightmare, body slick with sweat and heart racing.

This was the chill of fear.

Wherever she was, it was dark. She sensed the cool smoothness of stone around her, yet when she cast her arms out she couldn’t feel any walls. From the smell of damp rock, however, she knew they were there.

And they were cold.

It was paralyzing. Instead of running, or trying to find a way out, she wrapped her arms around herself as if to retain whatever last bit of inner warmth she possessed. Huddled within those biting, stone confines, she tried to keep her teeth from chattering and her body from seizing.

Where was she? And how did she get there in the first place?

She had just watched the others pack and head off on their trek to the Borderlands. She and Jamison had stayed behind, and as they were returning to the palace…

Crystal.

She had approached them with no limp, no hobble, no sign of any outward injuries. In fact, the way she had snuck up on Alex in the palace gardens, catching her completely unaware, it was as though she hadn’t been in the infirmary just moments before, allegedly healing from wounds inflicted upon her by Lexan.

She remembered seeing Jamison in the distance, sprawled on the ground, immobile. And that man…

She had never met him before, but those eyes—they bore into her soul as if she should have recognized him.

A sob choked in her throat as her head throbbed with pain.

Mom!

Despite the ache, Alex’s head whipped upward, and she stared desperately into the gloom. Sarayna? What was she doing there?

She tried to gather her legs beneath her, but they felt like lead. The pounding in her head—it was getting worse. Alex had to warn her daughter and maybe Sarayna could at least escape whatever this was, could tell Reylor and Treyan…

“Alexstrayna.”

Her name echoed off the stones as if someone were there with her, watching her all along.

“Who’s there?” she rasped; her throat was raw as if she had been screaming. Had she? She couldn’t remember anything since her path crossed Crystal’s in the gardens.

A smooth, feminine chuckle resounded around her. “Oh, we are going to have a fine time together, you and I.”

“Who are you?” Alex demanded, her voice growing louder. She finally regained her footing and pushed herself up into a standing position.

The pain within Alex’s skull was almost unbearable, but her eyes began to adjust slowly, taking in what was, indeed, a room. The moss-covered walls confirmed the smell of dampness and the sound of trickling water could be heard. There was a brightening light above, shining through the darkness from a window. It was as if the suns were rising on a new day—like a dawning ray of hope that she was going to escape this hell. Wherever it was.

Although every muscle in her body was tense, as if the frigid air was eating away at her from the inside out, she started toward the light.

And that voice remained all around her.

Laughing.

“Until we meet again, Empress,” it said, just as that light exploded within the room.

For a moment, illuminated by the flash, Alex swore she saw a throne—a black marble chaise carved into the wall. Upon that throne was a female clad in black.

A woman wearing her face.

Before she could take a step closer to investigate, that light exploded not only in that dark room, but also inside her head. The brightness intermingled with the pain that had been building between her eyes, bursting like a million pins and needles through every pore of her body.

Everything went dark as Alex screamed.

Author Bio:

M. Dalto is a bestselling New Adult author of adventurous romantic fantasy stories, having won a Watty award for excellence in digital storytelling for her debut novel, Two Thousand Years, in 2016. She spends her days as a full-time residential real estate paralegal, using her evenings to pursue her literary agenda, and when she’s not writing, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, playing video games, and drinking coffee. She currently lives in Massachusetts with her husband, their daughter, and their corgi named Loki.

Website / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram


GIVEAWAY!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you so much to Xpresso for having us be a part of this tour!



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