Shadows in the Silence Blog Tour: Will and Cadan Extras

Today I'm really excited to welcome back to the blog the promotional tour for Courtney Allison Moulton's paranormal young adult novel Shadows in the Silence! You can check out my first stop HERE for an exclusive (and smoking hot) teaser, and enter for your chance to win copies of the entire series.

For this second stop, I have the pleasure of sharing with you a sneak peek at the exclusive Wings of the Wicked (book 2) short stories, complete with an introduction by Courtney herself:

As with the paperback "Extras" edition of Angelfire, Wings of the Wicked also contains short stories exclusive to the paperback "Extras" edition. They aren't found in the hardcover edition or in the ebook - only in the paperback edition marked with "Extras!" I'm very lucky that my publisher enjoys these scenes from different points-of-view as much as I do and enough to add them in the paperback editions of my books for my readers to enjoy as well. To read the rest of the short stories, check out the paperback "Extras" edition of Wings of the Wicked!

• • • • • • • • • •

"DEFIANCE" SHORT STORY FROM CADAN'S POV

I entered through the revolving door and headed for the elevator, which shot me toward the sky and stopped at my floor. The moment the doors slipped open, I sensed demonic energy. It pulsed in my brain—against the walls and floor and ceiling like heavy pressure threatening to blow away these barriers if it were to build even the most miniscule amount more. The presence of the energy seemed to call to me, “I am here. This is what I am capable of and willing to do if I am displeased. All that exists in this world remains only because I have not yet destroyed it.” Only my father was ever that arrogant.
 
My keys jangled in my hands to announce my own presence. I didn’t realize I’d been holding my breath until I unlocked my apartment and pushed open the door. The lamp on an end table bathed the living room in low, steady light. On the other side of the room, Bastian stood with his back to me, gazing out the floor-length windows overlooking the city. I had to force myself to cross the threshold and enter my home which Bastian had violated and claimed. This was supposed to be my refuge from the carnage of my demonic purpose. This was where I could feel human.
 
“Where have you been?” Bastian’s voice was a cold steel knife through the silence. “You smell like blood.”

"HUMAN" SHORT STORY FROM WILL'S POV

Frank Meyer drew a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “I promise you, it’s her. I wouldn’t get this wrong. Some faces you never forget.”

He led me outside and into the sunlight. Across the green lawn dotted with trees were students intermingling after classes had ended, lingering to spend time with friends before departing or waiting for their rides.

“She’s around here somewhere,” Frank said distantly. “She’s usually picked up by her mother.”

But I had already spotted her before he finished that sentence and all the breath had been stolen from me. She was there, seated on the grass beside a blond-haired girl in the shade of a tree. She was laughing. Her smile crippled me. I struggled to stay standing and to not make a scene, but my knees wanted to buckle from my overwhelming emotions. She looked just as I remembered her. Her hair was a gleaming waterfall of cherries and dark chocolate, a color so unreal that sometimes I’d had to touch it to prove to myself it wasn’t some vision of dark fire. She was beautiful.

Thanks so much for sharing these with us Courtney! More information on Courtney and the Angelfire trilogy can be found here:

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Amazon Buy Link
Barnes and Noble Buy Link
IndieBound Buy Link

• • • • • • • • • •

SHADOWS IN THE SILENCE

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .

Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.

The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.

As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.

Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

• • • • • • • • • •

 

BLOG TOUR

Don't miss out on any of the previous or remaining tour stops! Each one has fun and exclusive content as well as a chance to win a complete set of the Angelfire trilogy.

1/30 - Once Upon a Twilight
2/1 - thebookcellarx

2/4 - supernaturalsnark
2/6 - MundieMoms
2/8 - Fiktshun

2/12 - PageTurnersBlog
2/13 - Once Upon A Twilight
2/15 - thebookcellarx

2/18 - supernaturalsnark
2/20 - Fiktshun
2/22 - MundieMoms

Shadows in the Silence: Teaser + Giveaway

Today I'm thrilled to be a part of the promotional tour for the final book in Courtney Allison Moulton's paranormal young adult trilogy, Shadows in the Silence. As a special treat, I have a short and super sexy teaser to share with you all, and I'd just like to thank Courtney for writing a character as delicious as Will. When you're done drooling (it's possible I've read this teaser an embarrassing number of times), be sure and check out the bottom of the post for all the tour and giveaway details!

He was so close now that I could taste his breath and when he kissed me, it sent a rush of electricity to my toes. It only took seconds for the heat between us to set ablaze, his body scorching against mine, pushing me into the bed. I wiggled toward the pillows and away from the edge of the mattress, and he followed me, molding his body to my shape. Kissing him now, feeling his lips against mine and his tongue against mine, reminded me of how long it had been since we were alone together and truly happy. The kisses we’d shared in his dreams felt tangible at the time, but now I knew that nothing could substitute the feel of Will’s body in the real world. I’d missed him so much, missed the smell of his skin and the warmth and roughness of it brushing my own. I wondered what he felt when he kissed me back, if there was anything better than this to him.

Um. Who else is running to the bookstore immediately to buy this? *raises hand* More information on Courtney and the Angelfire trilogy can be found here:

Website
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads
Amazon Buy Link
Barnes and Noble Buy Link
IndieBound Buy Link

SHADOWS IN THE SILENCE

Your strength in heart and hand will fall. . . .
 
Ellie knows that the darkest moments are still to come, and she has everything to fight for:

She must fight for Will.
 
The demonic have resorted to their cruelest weapons to put Will in mortal danger, and Ellie makes an unlikely alliance to save him and to stop Lilith and Sammael, who seek to drown the world in blood and tear a hole into Heaven.

She must fight for humanity.
 
As the armies of Hell rise and gather for the looming End of Days, Ellie and her band of allies travel to the world’s darkest and most ancient regions in her quest to come into her full glory as the archangel Gabriel.

And Ellie must save herself.
 
Her humanity withers beneath the weight of her cold archangel power, but Ellie must hold tight to who she is and who she loves as she prepares for the ultimate battle for Heaven and Earth.

In this final installment in the Angelfire trilogy, Courtney Allison Moulton brings her dark world of epic battles and blistering romance to a blazing bright conclusion.

A DANCE WITH DARKNESS (An Angelfire Novella)

There were shadows in this alley that no light touched, and where there was no light, anything could hide.

At the end of the fourteenth century, angelic reapers struggle to defend London against a legion of the demonic who have their sights set on claiming human souls and ancient relics for a dark purpose. Madeleine, a young but powerful warrior, is duty-bound to fight the demonic, and she lives for this pursuit above all else. Then, on a routine night of tracking, she is ambushed by a cadre of reapers and, though she defeats them all, she is left wounded and at the mercy of their lord, the notorious Bastian.

Madeleine is astonished when Bastian lets her live. She goes deeper into the world of the demonic and is shocked to meet him again-this powerful reaper whose touch makes her restless and gives her a thrill unlike anything else. When they fall into a dangerous clandestine affair, her head and her heart must wage their war: can their love overcome his demonic nature? Will her dance with darkness burn her or bring Bastian into the light?

With scorching romance and fantastic action, this original novella is a prequel to Courtney Allison Moulton's gripping and epic Angelfire series. 

This Angelfire novella has recently released from HarperTeen's new Impulse line, you can buy it here:

Amazon Buy Link
Barnes and Noble Buy Link

GIVEAWAY

Thanks to Courtney, there are 3 sets of the Angelfire series up for grabs as part of this tour. To enter, please fill out the Rafflecopter form below and click on Terms and Conditions for all the giveaway rules. Don't forget to check out the previous and remaining stops on this tour for more teasers, behind the scenes tidbits and cover shoot pictures!

1/30 - Once Upon a Twilight
2/1 - thebookcellarx

2/4 - supernaturalsnark
2/6 - MundieMoms
2/8 - Fiktshun

2/12 - PageTurnersBlog
2/13 - Once Upon A Twilight
2/15 - thebookcellarx

2/18 - supernaturalsnark
2/20 - Fiktshun
2/22 - MundieMom

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Review: Angelfire

ANGELFIRE (Angelfire #1)
Courtney Allison Moulton
Paranormal Young Adult
464 Pages
Harper Collins/Katherine Tegen Books
Available February 15th
Received from publisher via NetGalley

THE STORY
Ellie considers herself pretty normal. She has normal problems like escalating tension between her parents and the gradual decrease in her grade point average. What is not normal are her nightmares. Every night she sees herself killing and being killed by great monsters who revel in the taste of her blood.

With the horrific murder of one of her teachers and the sudden appearance of attractive and mysterious Will, Ellie's whole view of normalcy is radically changed. According to Will, she's an ancient being sent from above and placed in a mortal body to wield angelfire, thus destroying the demonic reapers that feed on innocent souls and trap them in Hell for all eternity.

As it turns out, Ellie is the only one capable of harnessing angelfire, and Will has been her Guardian for the past five hundred years. Upon her death, she is reincarnated in another mortal body and raised in a human family until her powers are ready to be awakened. Only this version of Ellie can't remember all of her history despite her awakening, and as she attempts to learn her abilities all over yet again, the demonic reapers are uncovering a way to destroy not only her body, but her very soul, thus eliminating her forever instead of a paltry seventeen years.

MY THOUGHTS
Fun, fast, and full of action, Angelfire never gives us the opportunity the get up and walk away, forcing us to keep our noses firmly adhered to the pages as we voraciously consume every morsel of information provided. It's a beautifully balanced story, one where the supernatural is tempered by the regular trials and tribulations of a teenage girl, where impressive fight sequences are offset by quiet moments wrought with romantic tension, and where the overpowering weight of responsibility is paralleled by a light-hearted humor. No single element dominates the story and we are spared some of the prominent plot devices running rampant in paranormal young adult fiction, leaving us with a story that perhaps isn't as profound in the emotions it evokes as some, but one that keeps us thoroughly entertained and constantly questioning, reminding us with every devoured page why it is we enjoy getting lost in books so very much.

Utterly refreshing in her acceptance of the supernatural, Ellie surprises us after her initial understandable denial by fully embracing a destiny that has haunted her dreams with its violence and bloodshed. Her moments of "o woe is me" are blissfully limited as we read on with unabashed eagerness, just waiting for the physical strength and mental confidence of Ellie's past incarnations to catch up with her present mortal body. She brandishes some wickedly curved blades with enviable skill, yet remains completely accessible as she juggles her new preternatural obligations with her desire to cling to what is normal and understood–fending off the unwanted affections of a best friend and nursing a foreign yet intimately familiar connection to Guardian Will. It's in these moments of relatable emotional unease, both romantically and between her family members, that Ellie truly wins us over, her fighting prowess impressive but her mental and emotional insecurities ensuring the formation of a tangible character and reader bond.

The lack of a love triangle scenario is yet another welcome exclusion from this story, with Will being the only male of interest, and their relationship progresses at a gloriously reserved pace as they get to know one another again despite multiple lifetime's worth of knowledge. We sense this latest version of Ellie varies more significantly from those who came before, and her temporary amnesia leaves Will on equally unsteady footing in terms of his feelings, unsure as to where he stands with her when she can't remember their shared past. Though Will isn't quite as memorably attractive as some other notable male protagonists, and his utter subservience to Ellie outside times of training or battle is a bit grating at times, the chemistry between them is undeniable–the strands of history connecting them pulled so taut they seem to dangerously vibrate in time to our thudding heartbeats, each loud thump echoing in our chests bringing those fine threads, and them, that much closer to sensually snapping. The tension seems to be a character in and of itself; a living, breathing, pulsing, entity radiating from the pages in waves we greedily inhale as we lick our lips in anticipation of feeling that blistering warmth on our faces one more time.

Completing the sense of balance and leaving us fully satisfied is an ending where the details of the first leg of Ellie's journey are thoroughly explained and her mission accomplished. We aren't left with a teasing last sentence or a taunting epilogue, instead able to close the back cover with a pleasant sense of fulfillment and a strong, but not frustrating, desire to continue onward with Ellie and Will. There are enough questions remaining, along with a multitude of interesting characters in place, that the second installment shouldn't feel like a forced continuation of a completed story, and it will hopefully be sure to stand as alone as this first book has while returning us to a world that pairs angels with demons, romance with mystery, and a troubled past with an uncertain future.

Rating: 4/5