Gas up and grab your snacks! It’s Entangled Teen’s Road Tripping Bloghop with some of their freaking-cool authors. I can’t think of a better way to keep our moods bright while physically distancing than getting socially closer online with a fun virtual party. So, come on. Let’s go!
We’ll be driving through each blog on our way to the virtual party at the end on March 25 on the Entangled Teen Facebook Event page at 6 pm PST/9 pm EST. I hope you will join us for all the fun and prize giveaways!
Also, TODAY IS MY BIRTHDAY. Do not ask how old I am. It’s just rude. Ha! Kidding. But I’m not. I’m sharing an excerpt from my latest release Analiese Rising today, and will be giving away a $25 Barnes & Noble gift card at the Facebook party on the 25th. To celebrate my birthday, I’m also gifting right here on my blog to three winners any ebook copy of one of my books (winner’s choice). Just leave a comment and tell me who is your favorite mythical god and why.
Analiese Rising is a book full of mythical gods from around the world with a modern twist to them. The story is filled with diverse characters and it’s ownvoices. Analiese and I both have panic disorder, but we don’t let it stop us. Sometimes it can knock us down, but we both are fighters. We’ve learned to accept our feelings and have adopted ways to control them. Everyone’s mental health and how they cope is different, this is just Analiese’s way. Marek’s character was important for me to add to the story. He gets it and supports Analiese. Supporting someone with a mental illness isn’t about trying to fix them. It’s about being there for them. Sometimes, even small gestures can make all the difference. That’s Marek.
Anyway, I chose a fun excerpt to share with Sid (aka Sidapa) who is a god from the Philippines. He’s just picked up our group from America and is driving them to their hotel. I hope you enjoy it!
After you read it, continue to the next stop with Kelly Anne Blount
Half-Blood meets Antigoddess in a thrilling, romantic new series from New York Times bestselling author Brenda Drake.
When a stranger gives Analiese Jordan a list of names before he dies, the last thing she expects to see is her own on it. Not. Cool. Her search for answers leads to the man’s grandson, Marek, who has dangerous secrets of his own. Both are determined to unlock the mystery of the list.
But the truth is deadly. Analiese is a descendant of the God of Death, known as a Riser, with the power to raise the dead and control them. Finding out she has hidden powers? Cool. Finding out she turns corpses into killers? No, thank you.
Now the trail plants her and Marek in the middle of a war between gods who apparently want to raise an army of the Risen, and Analiese must figure out how to save the world—from herself.
EXCERPT:
“To your right,” Cain mutters.
Sid glances over his shoulder. “What about it?”
Cain returns to looking out the window. “Blind spot.”
Sid slows down, and a gray Smart Car flies by, barely missing us.
A scowl scrunches those perfect eyebrows of his. “Next time maybe you can give me a better warning. Like some urgency in your voice.”
I lean against Marek when Sid takes a sharp turn. The warmth of his shoulder against mine causes all my nerve endings to ignite.
Shona scoots forward and wraps her arms around the front seat, resting her hands on Sid’s chest. “So what have you been up to?”
“Same as usual.” He honks the horn at a slow driver. “Partying. And more partying. However, I did go to the Philippines to see my people. Where I did some more partying.”
His people? That’s a strange way of putting it. Usually someone says they went home to visit family or friends. Maybe he doesn’t have any family. Or friends other than Shona.
“My family died ages ago,” he says as if he can read my thoughts. “I’m an orphan.”
I shift uneasily on the pleather cushion, and it makes an unpleasant noise. No one says anything. Not even a joke. If Dalton were here, he wouldn’t hold back. He’d embarrass me until I was the color of these pink seats.
We come to an abrupt stop that makes all of us jerk forward and knock back.
“We’re here,” Sid sort of sings out as if he didn’t just give everyone whiplash slamming on the brakes.
Shona opens the door. “You still can’t brake right.”
“Girl, I got you here, didn’t I?” He leaves the Fiat running and meets us at the trunk.
The boutique hotel Shona insisted we stay at is expensive looking. It’s the kind you see in movies. The ones with vine covered stucco, romantic balconies, and potted flowers. With small cars and brightly colored Vespas weaving in and out of traffic on the road in front of it, and with street cafés and baked bread and coffee beans scenting the air around them.
Cain takes out his small and Shona’s large suitcases from the back compartment. Marek grabs mine before I can.
He places it on the asphalt. “Here you go.”
My eyes linger on his face until I realize what I’m doing and quickly turn away and grab the handle. But I don’t latch onto plastic. Marek’s hand is still there. A yelp leaves my lips, and I stumble back slightly.
“You okay?” Marek grasps my elbow to steady me, and I’m not okay. Warmth rises to my cheeks, my pulse is out of control, and I’m not sure if he realizes how touching him affects me.
But Sid does, because he gives me a knowing smile and follows it with a wink.
Grasping the handle of my bag, I tug it up the curb, getting some distance from the whole situation. I just want to be somewhere alone. Heal my embarrassment. Avoid Marek until this little incident is forgotten.
The Greek goddesses of literature–the Muses–are my favorite because books have changed my life for the better.
Happy belated birthday!
I don’t think I have a favorite mythical god. Maybe it’s Zeus. I mean most of the books I read refer to him.
I don’t know that much about mythical gods, so I did a quick search.
I like Nyx – Greek Goddess of Night – best part is that Zeus was afraid of her.
She can impact mankind in a good or bad way. Her ability to bring sleep or death unto to the human race. This is not the goddess to mess with. My kind of goddess!!!
Happy Birthday Looking forward to reading this. Athena.