Interview: Jessica Shirvington & Disruption

Today I'm thrilled to welcome author Jessica Shirvington back to the blog to answer a few questions about the first book in her newest duology, Disruption. I fell madly in love with Jessica's storytelling with her Violet Eden Series, and that love continued with One Past Midnight, so I can't wait to get sucked into Disruption:) If you've yet to read any of Jessica's books, they have my highest recommendation and I hope you leave here immediately and add them to your shelves!

Dystopian and Science Fiction novels often depict a rather terrifying future, altogether too believable even in their fiction. What Dystopian, Sci-Fi or Post-Apocalyptic world from any piece of fiction is the most nightmare-inducing for you?

Yes, they are all fairly terrifying. Oddly enough, I don’t mind the ones that take us back to the basics – where we have to rebuild and start again. There is a part of me that sometimes thinks that is the way things will probably go. The dystopian worlds which really frighten me are the ones run by technology. It worries me to think that we hand over so much trust to technology that is basically without morals, foresight, need, emotion or hope. That is really scary.



If Maggie could escape from her world and jump into any other YA novel, which would top her list?

Good question. I’m not sure there is any other dystopian story she would particularly like. However, there are a few worlds that I think she would survive well in. If I had to pick, maybe Under the Never Sky, by Veronica Rossi. It would certainly be interesting to see her in that world.

If Maggie could send a warning back to us about what the evolution of the smartphone and the effect it’s had on her world, what would she most like to say?

No matter how smart the technology is, you can’t map out and decide what and who people are going to become based on statistics and history. Every person is unique and deserves their chance to try and fail-or-succeed. Technology gives us too much of the wrong kind of information. 



Aside from the smartphone, what’s one other piece of modern technology you can easily see evolving in a disturbing kind of way?


Food and the way we eat it. If we don’t start looking after the environment we won’t be able to have the same kind of fresh produce and animal life that we are used to. Our food will become a technology based resource – it will be heavily processed and bolstered by more and more supplements on the side. Already an apple tastes different to when I was a kid. I worry that if we don’t take steps to look after the climate issue, my children’s children will have a very different understanding of food.

How would the Maggie at the beginning of Disruption describe Quentin Mercer, heir to the M-Corp empire? The Maggie at the end?

In the beginning, Maggie would describe Quentin as entitled and predictable. She would also describe him as nothing more than a stepping stone. In the end…well, I think she would describe him as someone she values greatly, and as the person who is her greatest weakness (amongst other things ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by Jessica!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

DISRUPTION

The heart-stopping first chapter in bestselling author Jessica Shirvington's Disruption series.

What if a microchip could identify your perfect match?

What if it could be used against you and the ones you love?

Eight years ago, Mercer Corporation's M-Bands became mandatory. An evolution of the smartphone, the bracelets promised an easier life. Instead, they have come to control it.

Two years ago, Maggie Stevens watched helplessly as one of the people she loved most was taken from her, shattering her world as she knew it. Now, Maggie is ready. And Quentin Mercer - heir to the M-Corp empire - has become key to Maggie's plan.

But as the pieces of her dangerous design fall into place, could Quentin's involvement destroy everything she's fought for?

In a world full of broken promises, the ones Maggie must keep could be the most heartbreaking.

Amazon • Goodreads • B&N

Find Jessica:

Website • Blog • Facebook

Frazzled Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

I'm crazy excited today to be a part of the promotional tour for Frazzled, the Middle Grade debut from Booki Vivat. Booki is an amazing artist, and her doodles have been blowing me away on Twitter for years, so I knew I needed this book in my hands the minute I learned of its existence. Booki was so nice as to answer a few questions for me about creative inspiration, fictional best friends, and of course her protagonist Abbie Wu, so I hope you guys all enjoy the interview!

If you could introduce yourself to readers in doodle-form only, what doodle might best sum you up as an author?

I think this pretty much sums me up—after all, my book is called Frazzled.

What’s one aspect of Abbie’s character that you absolutely share with her? One that’s nothing like you at all?

Honestly, I can’t think of anything significantly different between Abbie and I! So much of Abbie’s character is based on who I was when I was a kid and who I am now. I guess, getting down to the details, Abbie is a middle child, but growing up, I was technically the oldest!

I think anyone who has seen my doodles or knows me in real life gets the sense that Abbie and I are very similar. Beyond our shared resentment towards piñata birthday parties and insatiable love of pastries, Abbie and I can both be a little… dramatic. In fact, the inspiration for Frazzled came from an especially dramatic doodle I had drawn in a moment of crisis. It said, “I live my life in a constant state of impending doom.”
Spoiler alert: Abbie feels the same. 



Inspiration can strike at the oddest and most inconvenient times. Where’s the strangest place you’ve ever felt the need to make a few quick doodles or jot down ideas to save them for later? The strangest medium you’ve ever used when paper wasn’t available?

The strangest place I’ve ever felt the need to doodle was this one time I went out dancing with a group of (relative) strangers. It was such a strange scene and there were so many hilariously awkward and interesting interactions happening around me. I got caught up observing the social dynamics within the space and I had this itching need to document it somehow. That night, I went home and drew a series of doodles about the culture of “going out.”

I usually just stick to pen and paper which isn’t unusual at all, though where I get that paper can range anywhere from receipts to candy wrappers to toilet paper. Contrary to what “toilet paper” implies, I have never doodled on the toilet. 



If Abbie were to write a story about you, what title might she give it?

She would probably title it something verbose and cheeky like, (Still) Frazzled: The Constant Confusion and Unavoidable Uncertainty of Adulthood. Something like that. 



Every once in a while I come across a character whom I know would be my best friend (obviously) if they were real. What one other fictional character might Abbie find a best friend in?

Abbie is the kind of kid who could probably spend all her time in her own head and drive herself crazy, so she really needs friends who can coax her out of that. I think someone like Harriet M. Welsch from Louise Fitzhugh’s Harriet the Spy would make a fantastic best friend. They might have a rocky start to their friendship and it might take a while for them to warm up to each other. Harriet is a bit purposefully mischievous, whereas Abbie is more accidentally rebellious. But ultimately, Harriet’s sense of curiosity and unapologetic honesty is exactly what Abbie needs in a friend.

Thank you so much Booki!

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

FRAZZLED

Meet Abbie Wu! She’s about to start middle school and she’s totally in crisis.

Abbie Wu is in crisis—and not just because she’s stuck in a family that doesn’t quite get her or because the lunch ladies at school are totally corrupt or because everyone seems to have a “Thing” except her. Abbie Wu is in crisis always.

Heavily illustrated and embarrassingly honest, Frazzled dives right into the mind of this hilariously neurotic middle school girl as she tries to figure out who she is, where she belongs, and how to survive the everyday disasters of growing up. With Abbie’s flair for the dramatic and natural tendency to freak out, middle school has never seemed so nerve-racking!

Packed with hilarious black-and-white illustrations and doodles throughout, Frazzled takes readers through Abbie Wu’s hysterical middle school adventures.

Amazon | B&N 

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

BOOKI VIVAT

Booki Vivat has been doodling somewhat seriously since 2011 and not-so-seriously since childhood. She grew up in Southern California and graduated from the University of California, San Diego. She currently works in publishing and lives in Brooklyn, New York. This is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @thebookiv and on Instagram @bookibookibooki.

Website | Twitter | Instagram

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WEEK ONE:

9/19: Swoony Boys Podcast - Review

9/20: Such A Novel Idea - Guest Post

9/21: What Sarah Read - Review

9/22: Supernatural Snark - Q&A

9/23: Mundie Kids - Review

WEEK TWO:

9/26: The Irish Banana Review - Q&A

9/27: Fiction Fare - Review

9/28: Jenuine Cupcakes - Guest Post

9/29: Wiritng my Own Fairytale - Review

9/30: Reads all the Books - Review

Review: Siren's Fury

SIREN'S FURY
Storm Siren Trilogy #2
Mary Weber
Young Adult/Fantasy
352 pages
Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins
Available Now
Source: Wunderkind PR for review

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Nym has saved Faelen only to discover that Draewulf stole everything she valued. Now he’s destroyed her Elemental storm-summoning ability as well.

When Nym sneaks off with a host of delegates to Bron, Lord Myles offers her the chance for a new kind of power and the whispered hope that it may do more than simply defeat the monster she loathes. But the secrets the Bron people have kept concealed, along with the horrors Draewulf has developed, may require more than simply harnessing a darker ability.

They may require who she is.

Set against the stark metallic backdrop of the Bron kingdom, Nym is faced with the chance to change the future.

Or was that Draewulf’s plan for her all along?

MY THOUGHTS
There's something oddly comforting about entering into a second installment when a terrible fate has already befallen a beloved character at the end of the previous one, knowing that what awaits us is not the typical middle book arc where everything built in the first book falls apart, but rather a journey to regain what was lost. There's always a certain amount of stress to be had for a reader with a sequel, watching and waiting for the moment when everything we hold dear crumbles before our eyes so that the third and final book of the trilogy can see joy restored. Ms. Weber takes a different tack with the Storm Siren series however, focusing on deepening the political (and supernatural) complexities of this world and building our heroine up as a way of showing personal growth rather than tearing her down.

Nym shows both how far she's come from the cursed slave girl of book one as well as how much further she has to go in this second book, her utter devotion to Eogan forcing her to make dangerous choices with far-reaching consequences. As is so often the case, good intentions are the stepping stones that merrily line the road to hell, and Nym's desperation to right the wrong in the final pages of Storm Siren forces her to become a darker version of herself. This sequel isn't all doom and gloom however, Ms. Weber's trademark humor present and accounted for in Nym's sharp wit and banter with pseudo-villain Myles, ensuring we have a smile on our faces even as our hearts hurt for all that Nym must go through before she can come out the other side.

Given the extenuating circumstances with Eogan, the romance between them is nearly nonexistent physically in this tale, but emotionally it's front and center, driving us to root for Nym as she does everything in her power to get him back. Thankfully no new romantic entanglements enter the picture to test Nym's loyalties while Eogan is effectively sidelined, just a young woman with grit, determination, and more than a few vulnerabilities fighting for all she holds dear. We're left with a clear understanding of Draewulf's endgame as we look forward to book three, and with Nym having learned a great deal about herself and the way she wants to wield the power she possesses, we can't help but start the countdown until she and her enemy come face to face once again.

Rating: 4/5
 

Find Mary:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Review: Storm Siren

STORM SIREN
Storm Siren Trilogy #1
Mary Weber
Young Adult/Fantasy
320 pages
Thomas Nelson/HarperCollins
Available Now
Source: BEA

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
In a world at war, a slave girl’s lethal curse could become one kingdom’s weapon of salvation. If the curse—and the girl—can be controlled.

As a slave in the war-weary kingdom of Faelen, seventeen-year-old Nym isn’t merely devoid of rights, her Elemental kind are only born male and always killed at birth — meaning, she shouldn’t even exist.

Standing on the auction block beneath smoke-drenched mountains, Nym faces her fifteenth sell. But when her hood is removed and her storm-summoning killing curse revealed, Nym is snatched up by a court advisor and given a choice: be trained as the weapon Faelen needs to win the war, or be killed.

Choosing the former, Nym is unleashed into a world of politics, bizarre parties, and rumors of an evil more sinister than she’s being prepared to fight . . . not to mention the handsome trainer whose dark secrets lie behind a mysterious ability to calm every lightning strike she summons.

But what if she doesn’t want to be the weapon they’ve all been waiting for?

Set in a beautifully eclectic world of suspicion, super abilities, and monsters, Storm Siren is a story of power. And whoever controls that power will win.

MY THOUGHTS
Storm Siren delights from beginning to end, giving us everything we could hope for in a fantasy novel: a strong yet vulnerable heroine, a forbidden romance, and a cause worth fighting for. The pacing of Nym's story is absolutely perfect, drawing us in quickly as we bear witness to how terribly wrong Nym's gift can go even when wielded with the best of intentions, and then providing us with quieter moments that allow us to peek into all the dark corners of our heroine's mind until we feel like we know her through and through.

Nym is a young woman who's known nothing but slavery her entire life, resigned to a fate of changing hands time and again as her ability with lightening has one horrifying consequence after another, but despite the life she's led she's doesn't allow herself to wallow in pity or waste time with “what if” musings. She does struggle with self-loathing when she feels the blood on her hands is particularly visible, but we can feel the guilt of the lives she's taken pressing down on her and it's nearly impossible not to allow our knees to buckle under the weight right along with hers. She balances the gravity of her gift and curse with humor though, the banter between her and fellow paranormally-gifted-trainee Colin a light in the ever-increasing darkness of this world.

A beautifully subtle romance between Nym and trainer Eogan complements the action and suspense of a kingdom on the brink of war, giving us a seed of hope we can't help but want to see grow with each chapter. Always in the back of our minds lingers the fear of it being squashed before it reaches its full potential though, and we read with breath held to see how bloodied and bruised Nym will emerge from the mental, emotional and physical battles she faces.

We of course end with a gut-wrenching opening gambit from the kingdom of Bron and its allies against Faelen, and just when we think we'll be left in a good place to lick our wounds as we gear up for the second installment, we're hit with a parting line that effectively steals our breath and brings Nym's world crashing down around her. As far as cliffhangers go it's particularly well done, not something tossed in just to shock us into picking up the next book, but rather a carefully orchestrated chess move that lets us know we're facing a master in Ms. Weber. Overall, Storm Siren is a hugely enjoyable first installment, overflowing with memorable characters who refuse to vacate our minds and hearts long after we've turned the final page.

Rating: 4/5

Find Mary:

Website • Facebook • Twitter • Goodreads • Amazon

This book was sent to me by the publisher free of charge for the purpose of a review. 

I received no other compensation and the above is my honest opinion.

Guest Post: Katherine Harbour + The Night And Nothing Series

I'm so pleased today to welcome author Katherine Harbour back to the blog to talk a little bit more about her Night and Nothing series. I'm a huge fan of all things fairytale or mythology related, so I was thrilled when Katherine was more than willing to tackle that topic and give us all a few goosebumps by discussing things with teeth. Take it away Katherine!

There’s something almost supernatural about teeth. Teeth remain after we die. Teeth are alive although they appear lifeless. Teeth in mammals contributed to the success of human evolution. (In Laini Taylor’s Daughter of Smoke and Bone series, teeth are used to resurrect an entire race of beings.) Children’s teeth, lost naturally, were once given to Norse warriors as amulets and believed to bring good fortune in battle. In some cultures, children’s teeth were destroyed or hidden as a preventative against their being used for malevolent purposes.

For most children, losing a tooth is an unpleasant experience—a piece of them is falling off, there’s blood. But it’s a rite of passage, a first step toward adolescence. In J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan, Peter is described as “a lovely boy, clad in skeleton leaves and the juices of trees, but the most entrancing thing about him was that he had all of his first teeth. When he saw she was a grown-up, he gnashed the little pearls at her.” On the other hand, the title character in Graham Joyce’s The Tooth Fairy is a disturbing presence who ushers the protagonist into adulthood.

And what does the Tooth Fairy do with all of those teeth she collects? The Tooth Fairy goes rogue in Gregory Maguire’s children’s book What-the-Dickens. In Zenoscope’s graphic novel series Grimm Fairy Tales, the tooth fairy is a sexy dentist by day and a bloodthirsty monster at night. The sinister aspect of this childhood icon, established in the twentieth century, has been the source of horror films such as Darkness Falls, in which the tooth fairy becomes a vengeful entity, and The Haunting of Helena, where she’s portrayed as a terrifying spirit with a bloody history. In Guillermo del Toro’s Hellboy movies, the tooth fairies are as vicious as swarming piranhas.

Teeth become terrifying when in the mouths of monsters, alluring (to some) between the lips of (attractive) vampires. In my dark fantasy novels Thorn Jack and Briar Queen, the supernatural Fatas use human teeth as currency, as weapons, but, to the protean Fatas, who can sometimes shift into monstrous shapes and who are really the formless children of nothing and night, we are the things with teeth.

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by Katherine! And I just want to add that the movie Darkness Falls traumatized me. It said it was rated PG-13 and I was all "I'm an adult, I've got this, how bad could it be?" and then I nearly died of terror. Just saying ;-)

• • • • • • • • • • • 

THORN JACK

Finn Sullivan has lost her older sister to suicide. Fleeing the memories left in San Francisco, she and her father move to an upstate New York town filled with socialities, hippies, movie and Theatre folk, where every corner holds possibilities and mysteries. As she settles in and begins college at the local university, HallowHeart, she discovers her sisters journal, filled with ominous musings on otherworldly beings.  She also meets the devastatingly handsome Jack Fata—and the rest of the enigmatic Fata family. 

As Finn’s fascination with Jack and his family deepens—and theirs for her does the same—she learns that they and the rest of the town denizens are far more than they seem, both for good and evil. Her sister’s journal suddenly seems much more menacing and realistic than she could ever have imagined.

Soon Finn learns that attention from the Fatas brings dangerous consequences. To free herself and save her friends and her love, Finn must confront the Fatas and unravel the secrets surrounding her sister’s death.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

• • • • • • • • • • • 

BRIAR QUEEN

Serafina Sullivan and her father left San Francisco to escape the painful memory of her older sister Lily Rose's suicide. But soon after she arrived in bohemian Fair Hollow, New York, Finn discovered a terrifying secret connected to Lily Rose. The placid surface of this picture-perfect town concealed an eerie supernatural world--and at its center, the wealthy, beautiful, and terrifying Fata family.

Though the striking and mysterious Jack Fata tried to push Finn away to protect her, their attraction was too powerful to resist. To save him, Finn--a girl named for the angels and a brave Irish prince--banished a cabal of malevolent enemies to shadows, freeing him from their diabolical grip.

Now, the rhythm of life in Fair Hollow is beginning to feel a little closer to ordinary. But Finn knows better than to be lulled by this comfortable sense of normalcy. It's just the calm before the storm. For soon, a chance encounter outside the magical Brambleberry Books will lead her down a rabbit hole, into a fairy world of secrets and legacies . . . straight towards the shocking truth about her sister's death.

Lush and gorgeously written, featuring star-crossed lovers and the collision of the magical and the mundane, Briar Queen will appeal to the fans of Cassandra Clare's bestselling Mortal Instruments series and Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely.

Goodreads • Amazon • B&N

• • • • • • • • • • •

KATHERINE HARBOUR

Born in upstate New York, Katherine Harbour is now a bookseller in Sarasota, Florida living with a tempestuous black cat named Pooka and too many books. She has been writing since she was 15 and has had several short stories published. THORN JACK is her first novel.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

Illusionarium Blog Tour: Interview + Giveaway

I'm crazy excited today to welcome author Heather Dixon to the blog as part of the promotional tour for her latest release, Illusionarium. I've always been fascinated by the idea of parallel worlds, so as soon as I read the synopsis for this book I knew I needed it in my life immediately. Given my obsession with the multiverse concept, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to ask Heather all sorts of parallel world-based questions, so I hope you all enjoy the interview and add Illusionarium to your lists if it's not already there. Welcome to Supernatural Snark Heather!

If Jonathan were asked to introduce himself to all the readers out there about to share in his story, what’s one fun personal fact he would toss out to help break the ice?

Jonathan would emphasize that he’s no one important; in fact, he might not even introduce himself at all. In the book, he insists that he’s a sort of person. Sort of tall. Sort of smart, but sort of not. Sort of curly hair, sort of thin, just…sort of. He’s a behind-the-scenes character who’s thrown into an adventure and has to rise up to meet it.

One thing that Jonathan does love: helping others. It’s manifested in his goal of becoming a surgeon, but throughout the story he gets kicked in the teeth time & time again, just so he can save his family. He’s selfless, and that isn’t sort of at all.

If you could step into the world of Illusionarium and bring with you one small thing from our modern world, what do you think would fascinate Jonathan most?

Ooo, good question. Jonathan would probably be fascinated with any kind of medical technology—x-rays and MRI’s and such. Super exciting, I know. I’m pretty sure he’d be fascinated with a moon rock. Heck, I’d be fascinated with a moon rock. That generation went to the moon with technology less powerful than a cell phone. Insane. I really respect that.

Let’s say parallel worlds truly do exist and you manage to find your way into one only to come face to face with another version of yourself. What would you most want to know about the life she’s lived?

I’d hope my alternate-world version is super exciting; maybe I’ve done adventurous things like, you know, eaten llama meat or something. Since real life is a lot more boring than fiction, I’d bet my alternate-version self isn’t much different than my real self. 

In fact, the encounter would probably just be me getting mad at myself for being such a loafer.  Like Calvin here, when he meets himself.

click to enlarge

Go figure.

A deadly plague is always more terrifying to me in a piece of fiction than any villain or monster could ever hope to be since it feels much closer to our reality. Which is more likely to send you into a state of panic: The threat of a plague or the zombie apocalypse? *shudders*

Zombie apocalypse, for sure. With plagues, you just need to remember to wash your hands. But avoiding zombies—while they are crawling through your windows, scratching at your doors, clawing through your flowerbeds, waiting in the plumbing for you to go to the bathroom—that takes a lot more work. I’ve been building up my food storage and practicing with a machete, of course, but could you really machete a family member if they wanted your brains? I couldn’t. Thankfully, I don’t have any brains…so this will never be a problem.

If the worlds of every piece of fiction were in fact parallel worlds that we all could travel between, what one character would you most like to meet in person and what villain would you hope never crosses your path?

THEY ARE THE SAME CHARACTER.

The Child Catcher, from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. So amazingly awesome, so absolutely terrifying…kids had to live in the sewers to avoid him. In a lot of ways, the Child Catcher is symbolic our own vices, dressed in candy and roses to lure us from safety and entrap us in our own misdeeds…yeah.  Best Villain Ever.

*Jenny falls down dead* This guy haunted my dreams for YEARS. YEARS HEATHER! *takes deep breaths*

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions!

• • • • • • • • • • • • 

ILLUSIONARIUM

What if the world holds more dangers—and more wonders—than we have ever known? And what if there is more than one world? From Heather Dixon, author of the acclaimed Entwined, comes a brilliantly conceived adventure that sweeps us from the inner workings of our souls to the far reaches of our imaginations.

Jonathan is perfectly ordinary. But then—as every good adventure begins—the king swoops into port, and Jonathan and his father are enlisted to find the cure to a deadly plague. Jonathan discovers that he's a prodigy at working with a new chemical called fantillium, which creates shared hallucinations—or illusions. And just like that, Jonathan is knocked off his path. Through richly developed parallel worlds, vivid action, a healthy dose of humor, and gorgeous writing, Heather Dixon spins a story that calls to mind The Night Circus and Pixar movies, but is wholly its own.

Amazon • B&N • iBooks • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • 

HEATHER DIXON

Heather Dixon grew up in a large family with four brothers and six sisters. She is a storyboard artist as well as a writer, and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah. The Viennese waltz is her dance of choice. She is the author of the novel Entwined.

Website • Tumblr • Instagram • Pinterest • Goodreads

• • • • • • • • • • • •

GIVEAWAY

One lucky winner will receive a finished copy of ILLUSIONARIUM, plus an ARC of THE UNQUIET by Mikaela Everett! Please enter via the Rafflecopter form below. Giveaway is open to US addresses only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

WEEK ONE
5/11/2015- Chapter by Chapter- Interview  
5/12/2015- Bumbles and Fairy-Tales- Review  
5/13/2015- Fiktshun- Guest Post  
5/14/2015- A Dream Within A Dream- Review  
5/15/2015- Two Chicks on Books- Guest Post

WEEK TWO
5/18/2015- Mundie Moms- Guest Post  
5/19/2015- Falling For YA- Review  
5/20/2015- Fire and Ice- Interview  
5/21/2015- Reading with ABC- Review  
5/22/2015- Supernatural Snark- Interview

Excerpt + Giveaway: It Started with a Scandal

I'm an enormous fan of the historical romance genre (even though I would 100% fail at all the pomp and circumstance, not to mention the rigid social etiquette, that dominates majority of the time periods), so I'm super excited today to share with you an excerpt from It Started with a Scandal, the newest release from Julie Anne Long. Be sure and follow this tour in its entirety (full list of participating blogs below) as there will be two additional excerpts as well as more chances to win!

IT STARTED WITH A SCANDAL CHAPTER ONE, PART ONE

“In light of your ...circumstances...Mrs. Fountain, I'm certain you're aware that it is a bit unusual for you to be granted an interview at all. But this is an exceptional...situation...and the Redmond family did put in a good word.”

So many words requiring delicate choosing and pillowing with little silences. Circumstances. Situation.

Elise gritted her teeth clamped together, withstanding all of them the way she had for years.

“I understand,” she said somberly.

“—that is not to say that you could not satisfactorily perform the duties, and I should hope you would not be influenced by Mrs. Gordon, whose temperament proved unequal to the job—”

Mrs. Gordon must be the sobbing woman Elise had passed departing the house as Elise came up the walk. She'd been carrying a valise and muttering “heartless bastard” viciously under her breath.

 “...because the successful candidate will possess a clear head and a mature outlook...”  Mrs. Winthrop continued. She paused briefly in her torrent of words to narrow her eyes at Elise.

Elise had donned her most severe gown and ruthlessly pinned her hair motionless with approximately three hundred pins. She nodded, serenely confident she looked mature and that nothing as frivolous as a curl would escape.

And she kept her fingers laced tightly in her lap, as if this alone could keep her nerves from shattering. It had at least disguised the trembling.    

Would that she'd managed to keep her stays laced just that tightly six years ago.     

Alas, spilt milk, and all of that.    

“...and as you know, I'm employed by the Earl of Ardmay, and they have volunteered me to undertake the selection process as a special favor to their family...”    

Mrs. Winthrop had not ceased speaking since Elise arrived fifteen minutes ago.   

“...and as for the current staff, there will be no steward or butler, as this is a relatively small household and the tenant is temporary. So you would head the small entire staff, which is comprised of—”    

Something unmistakably large and glass, hurled from a considerable distance with considerable force, exploded into thousands of jingling fragments.     

Both women froze.    

It was exactly what Elise expected her nerves would sound like when they finally shattered.      

In the stunned silence that followed the rain hurled itself at the window like a warning. Get out! Get out while you can!    

Ah, if only she'd a choice.     

Mrs. Winthrop cleared her throat at last. “He likely won't ever aim at you. All the same, there's naught wrong with his arm and it's best to be well clear of him if you think he might be in a throwing mood.”         

Elise hoped this was black humor. How on earth to respond? She glanced down at her bloodless knuckles as if they were crystal balls. No help there.    

She decided to nod sagely.     

“I understand they're blessedly rare. The throwing moods,” Mrs. Winthrop expounded.            

“And we must always count our blessings.”    

It emerged more quickly and dryly than Elise intended.      

In other words: More herself than she had intended.    

This she knew because Mrs. Winthrop's eyebrows launched like birds flushed from shrubbery.         

She eyed Elise sharply for a moment.    

Elise held her breath.    

Then Mrs. Winthrop smiled a vanishingly swift smile.  It was like a cinder thrown off a distant campfire, when Elise had been lost in the dark woods for weeks.    

“All right then, Mrs. Fountain, I should be pleased to introduce you to his Lordship, Lord Lavay, who is a Prince of the House of Bourbon. If he's...amenable.”

*****

The loquacious Mrs. Winthrop went curiously silent as she led Elise through a labyrinth of Alder House's too-dark hallways. The candles hadn't been trimmed; a few were fitfully, smokily, burning in their sconces. She frowned. The house was handsome enough, but tn the rooms they swiftly passed the fires burned low or not at all. She surreptitiously dragged a fingertip along top of the wainscoting; she could feel dust cake it.     

She saw no evidence of the rumored household staff.     

They scaled a flight of marble stairs with a smooth, modest banister, and Mrs. Winthrop finally halted paused on the threshold of what appeared to be a study.     

It was as dark and soft as a cave, but a huge leaping fire picked out glints from around the room, and Elise's eyes tracked them reflexively:  the polished legs on  a plumply upholstered settee and a pair of gorgeous chairs, the inlay on a small round table, the gilt on a framed map and the stand of a handsome globe, an empty crystal decanter, a tiny bottle of Sydenham's Laudanum on a sideboard, only half full.    

She stopped when she reached the mirror-like toes of a pair of Hessians by the hearth.    

And followed them all the way up.    

Inside them stood a man.    

A very tall man.     

He in fact all but loomed; the firelight threw his shadow nearly to where she stood at the door.      

Elise took an unconscious step back from it, as though it were a spill of lava.    

His face was aimed rather pointedly at the window, as if he was expecting someone.    

She followed his gaze curiously.     

She just saw the same ceaseless slanting rain, like bars on a cell.      

A spray of sparkling shards surrounded his feet.  The remains of a vase, from the looks of things.   

“Lord Lavay...”     

Elise shot Mrs. Winthrop a worried look. The seemingly indefatigable Mrs. Winthrop's voice had gone faint. As if she suddenly didn't have enough air to form words.     

The man turned. Slowly, as if he was the earth itself on its axis. Or as if an invisible sculptor was rotating him to present a finished work.     

Voila! Elise thought to herself. An attempt at bravado.   

It was too late. She'd already sucked in her breath and tightened all of her muscles, like a creature who had stumbled across a predator in a clearing and wished to make herself unnoticeable.    

He was so clearly of that singular species, The Aristocracy, that she might as well have bought a ticket to see him, the way she had once when her father had brought her, as a little girl, to see the Royal Menagerie in London.      

He wasn't young. There was no softness to his face—not in the set of his mouth, or the burn of his gaze, or the severe right angles of his jaw. His beauty was austere and inarguable and there was a palpable force to him, as if he had sprung from the earth due to violent underground activity, a bit like a mountain range. She thought about the things she'd been told about him.    

Privateer. Soldier. Prince.     

Power,  violence, privilege.    

He looked like all of the things he was purported to be.      

Do we carry around our pasts so visibly? She wondered. Because if she so, she was certainly in trouble.    

There was no denying that he frightened her.     

And after a moment, this made her angry. She'd been so certain she was impossible to frighten after the events of the last five years. She could not afford to be frightened. She thought she deserved never to be frightened again.    

She squared her shoulders.    

Life is full of tests, children, she'd once primly told her students.     

That was before she'd been tested.
   

The woman Mrs. Winthrop brought into Phillipe's study was petite and colorless. Her face and the folded knot of her hands were twins, both white and tense. Her dress was demure, long-sleeved, high-collared, fashioned of serviceable gray wool. Her hair was dark. She could be any age.     

Her eyes dropped instantly upon meeting his. It was deference or fear, or perhaps fascination. He was accustomed to all of them. None of it interested him.    

She was, unsurprisingly, unremarkable in every way.     

Apart, that was, from her posture, which was almost aggressively rigid. It reminded him of a drawn saber.    

This made him smile faintly.     

He sensed it wasn't a pleasant smile when both women gave a little start.    

“I'd like to introduce Mrs. Elise Fountain, my lord.”     

Miss Fountain dropped an elegant enough curtsy.     

“You may leave us,” he said to Mrs. Winthrop, without looking at her.     

Mrs. Winthrop bolted like a rabbit released from a trap.    

Mrs. Fountain's gaze rose again, rather like a man struggling up the side of a cliff, wavered, and held.

END IT STARTED WITH A SCANDAL CHAPTER ONE PART ONE! To read the rest of Chapter One, check out these blogs:

3/26—

Urban Girl Reader EXCERPT PART 2

Eater of Books EXCERPT PART 2

3/27—

Buried Under Romance EXCERPT PART 2

3/28—

Toot’s Book Reviews EXCERPT PART 2

Doing Some Reading EXCERPT PART 2

Ramblings from this Chick EXCERPT PART 2

3/29—

The Lusty Literate EXCERPT PART 3

Romancing the Readers EXCERPT PART 3

3/30—

Snarky Mama EXCERPT PART 3

Curling up with a Good Book EXCERPT PART 3

4/1—

The Jeep Diva EXCERPT PART 3

4/2—

After Hours at Lily Bloom Books EXCERPT PART 3

To Read or Not to Read EXCERPT PART 3

4/3—

I Heart Romance EXCERPT PART 3

• • • • • • • • • • • •

IT STARTED WITH A SCANDAL

Lord Philippe Lavay once took to the high seas armed with charm as lethal as his sword and a stone-cold conviction: he’ll restore his family’s fortune and honor, no matter the cost. Victory is at last within reach—when a brutal attack snatches it from his grasp and lands him in Pennyroyal Green.

An afternoon of bliss brings a cascade of consequences for Elise Fountain. Shunned by her family and ousted from a job she loves, survival means a plummet down the social ladder to a position no woman has yet been able to keep: housekeeper to a frighteningly formidable prince.

The bold and gentle Elise sees past his battered body into Philippe’s barricaded heart . . . and her innate sensuality ignites his blood. Now a man who thought he could never love and a woman who thought she would never again trust must fight an incendiary passion that could be the ruin of them both.

Amazon • B&N • HarperCollins • iTunes • Google Play

• • • • • • • • • • •

JULIE ANNE LONG

USA Today bestselling author JULIE ANNE LONG originally set out to be a rock star when she grew up (and she has the guitars and fringed clothing stuffed in the back of her closet to prove it), but writing was always her first love. Since hanging up her guitar for the computer keyboard, her books frequently top reader and critic polls and have been nominated for numerous awards, including the Rita, Romantic Times Reviewer’s Choice, and The Quills, and reviewers have been known to use words like “dazzling,” “brilliant,” and “impossible to put down” when describing them. Julie lives in Northern California.

Website • Facebook • Twitter

• • • • • • • • • • • 

GIVEAWAY

a Rafflecopter giveaway