Title: Monarch
Author: Belle Whittington
Release Date: October 1, 2014
Blurb
Blair Reynolds was born to rule. Worlds, that is. Destined to reign over an ancient intergalactic race, it may seem her fate is written in the stars. But she’s willing to risk it all for another chance to spend forever with her true love – even if it means traveling through time and space to the other side of the universe. As far as Ash is concerned, Blair's happily-ever-after involves him, not the mere mortal with whom she seems so infatuated. She was bequeathed to him by her father, and Ash will go to any lengths to keep Blair and her true love apart. And Ash isn’t the only one. Deep in the jungles of Brazil, where tribal drums call to Blair and her true love, other forces carry out dangerous secret plans. However, Blair has secrets of her own … secrets so lethal she dares not even remember them.Secrets so painful they could ruin everything. Because some secrets kill.
Excerpt
Finally, the waitress brought my coffee. It was much better than I’d imagined it would
be. She smiled at me and placed a pastry
coated with colored sugar on the table next to my coffee.
I smiled and held the wad of money out to her,
unsure of how to make change with it.
But she refused to take it. She
was giving me an offering. I smiled and
nodded to her, and she returned to waiting on the other tables.
The sugar coating on the pastry crunched against
my teeth and filled my mouth with its sweetness. My mind suddenly rushed back to when I’d
first tasted sugar in my former alien life.
Ash had introduced me to it. He’d
been scouting with some of his soldiers and came back with some from the sugar
cane fields.
It was long before Nyx and Orion were born, and
during a time when I’d grown complacent and thought I could grow to love
Ash. He’d dipped his finger into the
burlap sack of sugar and placed it on my tongue. Then he’d kissed me deeply and ardently as if
he’d missed me while he was away. And
perhaps he had. He’d picked me up and
carried me to our chambers in the Queen’s City far beneath the jungles.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts just as the
door swung open. As if on their own,
both my barriers raised themselves and locked into place. He swaggered in, completely comfortable in
his own skin.
Ash. The
alien warrior god. I hadn’t seen him
since he’d placed the armband on me and held me, engulfed in flames, as I
fought to keep from burning alive.
He looked good.
He dropped a coin in the jukebox and pressed a
button. Immediately Lana Del Rey began
singing Blue Jeans as he casually
walked over to sit on a barstool with his back against the bar. Dayum. No matter what he did, he looked like sex on
a stick.
Ash leaned back, resting his elbows on the bar
and his knees spread wide. Everything
about him spoke domination. His white
t-shirt was purposely ripped so that the tattoos across his chest showed. The silver chain and vial still hung from his
neck – a sign of marriage on our home world.
His jeans fit oh-so-nice, and his boots were
loosely-laced. His hair had grown
quickly as mine had. It flowed down over
his shoulders and framed his gorgeous face perfectly. Seriously, he could make a million as a male
model. But he wasn’t interested in such
insignificant things.
I bit into the pastry once more and looked him
over head-to-toe. I knew him better than
anyone on this planet. He could be kind
and protective, and he could be the god of destruction.
I’d never feared him, because my alien powers as
a daughter of the royal house had always been more potent than his. Besides, he was never a threat to me. He was loyal to my father and intended on
following through on the promise he’d made of protecting me. But others feared him with good reason.
He regarded the group of men at the table with an
air of indifference, but I knew he was watching and listening. If he was doing reconnaissance, which I was
sure he was, he’d have all the information he needed in the blink of an
eye. The men had a map out now and were
speaking in whispers. I couldn’t hear
them over the jukebox. Ash could,
though.
The waitress approached him, and I was surprised
that he could speak her language. He
looked her over as if she was what he was there for. She leaned in to take his order, holding a
menu close enough that she could rest her elbow on his shoulder while they
discussed what he wanted.
I knew what he wanted though. An ancient flame lit inside of me. Was it
jealousy after all these centuries? Or
was it a certain sense of betrayal? I
couldn’t pinpoint it. And why did it even matter anymore? I sipped my coffee and reminded myself that
I’d managed to win my freedom and revive Ky.
Charm rolled off him. He’d completely ensnared his prey. It was always too easy for him to get
whatever girl he’d wanted … all except for me.
He could never quite have me, because my heart and soul had always belonged
to another – my chosen Other. And that
made him even more determined to own me.
He wasn’t thinking about me tonight, though.
He whispered something into the girl’s ear, and
she giggled and nodded.
“You’ll do,” he spoke in our alien language. She didn’t understand, but she didn’t seem to
care. He tossed her over his shoulder
and carried her out into the rain, her giggling all the while, and the
bartender shouting behind them.
I looked down to see that I’d crushed the pastry
in my fist, and it was smoking. I
quickly patted out the embers and stuffed the mound of crumbs into my coffee
cup.Meet the Author
Belle was raised in deep East Texas. She now resides somewhere north of Houston, Texas in a small inconsequential town with the smallest, most inconsequential name. There, in the shady reaches of the pines, elms, and oaks, she daydreams adventures and secrets she weaves throughout her stories. She’s the author of CICADA, FIREFLY, and MONARCH, a Young Adult/New Adult cross-over trilogy with excellent reviews. She studied literature and history at University of Houston where Beowulf, Shakespeare’s works, and the history of the Vikings were her favorite topics. Belle is positive her readers and fans are the best in the universe.
5 Fun Facts about Belle Whittington
- I went to a 3-week summer camp in Minnesota when I was 15. We shot guns, bows and arrows, learned rock climbing, and canoed into Canada in two giant birch canoes where we camped in the great outdoors and drank water out of the lake.
- Once upon a time, I was a professional seamstress.
- I was a beauty school dropout way back in 1987.
- I once worked in an art group as a Graphic Designer.
- I minored in History with an emphasis on the history of the Vikings and Normans.
Where to Find Belle Whittington
Website: http://www.bellewhittington.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AuthorofCicada
Authorgraph (for free
e-book autographs): http://www.authorgraph.com/authors/AuthorofCicada
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/authorofcicada/
- Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/bellewhittington
- Spotify: Monarch Inspiration Playlist
Where my books are
sold:
Paperback & eBook:
Paperback & eBook:
- Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Belle-Whittington/e/B005CVY8R8/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1378750383&sr=8-1
- Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/belle-whittington
E-book:
- Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/c/belle-whittington
- Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/bellewhittington
Where to find out
more about my books:
Book Trailers:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Book Trailers:
- CICADA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF2fd2GxVKo
- FIREFLY: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa5I9JH0OBk
Giveaway
Thank you so much for featuring me on your lovely blog! <3 <3 <3
ReplyDelete~Belle