I'm excited to have the wonderful Crystal Collier here with me today sharing an excerpt from her new release, MOONLESS.
Unravel the mystery of the Moonless night! Hidden in each of the 8
blog tour excerpts is a single
word. Gather all 8 and figure out the sentence to win a free copy of
Moonless. Send your mystery sentence to crystal (AT) crystal-collier.com with
the subject MYSTERY SENTENCE before December 10, 2013, and you will be
entered to win one of 10 copies of MOONLESS—just in time for Christmas. Happy
hunting!
A body dangled from the rafters,
several inches above the dirt floor.
Alexia’s scream froze in
her throat.
Soft honeydew tresses
spilled loosely over thin shoulders, the child’s eyes heavily-lashed and
downturned. Her cheeks were blotched, wide, and white, contrasting with vibrant
crimson lips. Scarlet skirts hung about the girl, like the bleeding petals of a
rose, still as death.
Alexia swallowed. A child.
She couldn’t be more than thirteen. Great wide irons looped her wrists, cutting
wicked lines in the little one’s skin.
It wasn’t right. Disgust
bubbled through her chest. She covered her mouth and hurried down the steps,
anxious to rescue the body, or at least lay it to rest.
The girl’s eyes turned up.
Brown, chocolate, swirling.
Alexia tumbled back. She
thunked into the stairs and landed on her rump. Hard. She sucked in a breath.
The little face watched her, expressionless, innocent, beautiful. Her
stomach twisted. No one should be that perfect—not even in death.
READ
MORE EXCERPTS
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Blurb:
In the English society
of 1768 where women are bred to marry, unattractive Alexia, just
sixteen, believes she will end up alone. But on the county doorstep of a
neighbor’s estate, she meets a man straight out of her nightmares, one
whose blue eyes threaten to consume her whole world—especially later
when she discovers him standing over her murdered host in the middle of
the night.
Among the many things to change for her that evening are: her physical appearance—from ghastly to breathtaking, an epidemic of night terrors predicting the future, and the blue-eyed man’s unexpected infusion into her life. Not only do his appearances precede tragedies, but they are echoed by the arrival of ravenous, black-robed wraiths on moonless nights.
Unable to decide whether he is one of these monsters or protecting her from them, she uncovers what her father has been concealing: truths about her own identity, about the blue-eyed man, and about love. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with the man of her dreams and risk becoming one of the Soulless.
Among the many things to change for her that evening are: her physical appearance—from ghastly to breathtaking, an epidemic of night terrors predicting the future, and the blue-eyed man’s unexpected infusion into her life. Not only do his appearances precede tragedies, but they are echoed by the arrival of ravenous, black-robed wraiths on moonless nights.
Unable to decide whether he is one of these monsters or protecting her from them, she uncovers what her father has been concealing: truths about her own identity, about the blue-eyed man, and about love. After an attack close to home, Alexia realizes she cannot keep one foot in her old life and one in this new world. To protect her family she must either be sold into a loveless marriage, or escape with the man of her dreams and risk becoming one of the Soulless.
Buy MOONLESS here: Amazon & Smashwords
Author Bio: Crystal, author of MOONLESS, is a former
composer/writer for Black Diamond Productions. She can be found
practicing her brother-induced ninja skills while teaching children or
madly typing about fantastic and impossible creatures. She has lived
from coast to coast and now calls Florida home with her creative
husband, three littles, and “friend” (a.k.a. the zombie locked in her
closet). Secretly, she dreams of world domination and a bottomless
supply of cheese. You can find her on her blog and Facebook, or follow her on Twitter.
❀Unleashing the dream world, one book at a time ❀
Congrats to Crystal :)
ReplyDeleteHi Christine and Crystal - the decisions Alexia has to make .. would make me want to become a hedgehog and hibernate!! Sounds an interesting premise for a story ..
ReplyDeleteCheers to you both - Hilary
Loved the little blurb. Congrats to Crystal!
ReplyDeleteI found one word! This time of the morning, that's an accomplishment for me.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Crystal.
Congrats to Crystal! I've read so many good things about her book!
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Crystal- what a beautiful cover.
ReplyDeleteYay for Crystal! I'm so excited to have her here today. Thank you to everyone that stopped by. :)
ReplyDeleteFirst off, Christine, thank you SOOOO much for having me here today.
ReplyDelete@Suzanne--thank you so much!
@Hilary--You would make an interesting hedgehog. ;)
@Natalie--It's a little intense, right?
@Alex--Yeah, you were up a little too early for me. =)
@Dana--Thank you, with cheese on top.
ReplyDelete@Decadent Kane--Much appreciated.
That's a great excerpt!
ReplyDeleteVery cool excerpt. Just the right amount of ominous creepy stuff in there. I'm hooked! :-)
ReplyDeleteThis is such a fantastic excerpt. Makes me so much more eager to check out Moonless!
ReplyDeleteFabulous excerpt!!
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of reading to do once NaNo is finished :)
Oh the story sounds so exciting! Best of luck!
ReplyDeleteCreeepppyyyy... I want more ;)
ReplyDeleteCONGRATS, Crystal!
ReplyDeleteWow, another scary excerpt. Very nice. And I found an underlined word :)
ReplyDelete@Sherry--Thanks!
ReplyDelete@Lexa--Hold on. Let me get my fishing reel.
@Heather--You're awesome.
@Lynda--Don't we all? ;)
@TMB--Thanks. It is.
@sjp--You're welcome to more. =D
@Susanne--Thank you!
Emilyann--Wahoo!