Sunday 21 April 2013

Book Spotlight & Giveaway: The Earl with the Dragon Tattoo by Teresa Wilde

The Earl with the Dragon Tattoo

by Teresa Wilde
A Regency Paranormal Romance
Available from amazon in ebook and paperback

Blurb:

Dark times have fallen over England. The war with France is taking its toll on the Calend, the hidden society of magic users devoted to keeping the country safe from magical and human threats.

Maeve Llwyd has spent her life trying to escape her mother's scandalous reputation, teaching at a magical academy for young ladies, obeying every strict rule in the hopes of being accepted in the Calend world. When she receives a prophetic warning that a dark power is gathering the pieces of a weapon that has been lost for a thousand years to bring down never ending darkness on England, her every fear becomes reality—she is called on to sacrifice her reputation in order to gain the power she needs to fight, ensuring that she will lose her position at her beloved school and be rejected by the Calend. But nothing is more desperate than finding the ancient weapons before the enemy—a shadow druid who craves using them to bring England to its knees.

Constantine Armitage, Earl of Evengate, lives his life at the bottom of a bottle, punishing himself for the death of his cousin. But one dark night, he is thrown into Maeve's life. The lovely witch lives in a strange world of spells and threats, driven to protect those around her, even though they will never thank her for it, or even know. Though she resents his interference and rejects his aid, he wants nothing more than to help her, and if he kills himself in the process, so much the better...

Excerpt:

Con watched as the woman rose from the floor and disappeared. A final whack at the invisible barrier separating them only resulted in smashing his mahogany cane into splinters. He threw the part that remained in his hand to the floor as the giant soap bubble disappeared.

What the blazes had just happened? One moment he’d been dancing with the most mysterious female to come into his life since—he fought to remember a more mysterious one—since he exited the womb.

The next moment, she’d been attacked by a man dressed as a druid, who had plants growing out of him, who had stolen the wheel from Lenthall’s already stolen chariot.

She’d created some sort of…his mind rebelled at supplying a word, his logic insisting that such a thing couldn’t be possible. But he wasn’t drunk and his eyes worked well.

It had been magic. A spell that had protected Lenthall’s guests from the evil-looking branches the druid had created. It had come from her. He couldn’t deny it. He found he didn’t want to, though he was left with even more questions than he’d had for her before. Now she was gone, taking whatever answers she may have had with her.

Clearly, though, she was not a fairy, as he’d suspected. She was a witch.

Worse, no one seemed to notice any of this, except for the guests near him, who studiously avoided looking his way. But he wasn’t the first man whose odd behavior at a party would be ignored.

Otherwise, all the men continued to try to look down the ladies’ cleavage and surreptitiously made arrangements to go into the stews for a proper drink later; all the debs batted eyelashes at the rich old baronets while trying to hide their admiration for the young men’s legs.

He strode over to the chariot and examined the empty spot where the wheel had been. The statue of Apollo seemed to be about to throw back his curly head in laughter. Perhaps at the way his chariot now listed to one side.

A scream gashed the air, making the band squeak to a halt.

“Charles!” Lady Lenthall called to her husband, raising her delicate wrist to a forehead gone pale.

“By God, the wheel is gone.” Lenthall stared at his prized possession, then he turned to Con. “The wheel is gone.”

“Of course it is, you idiot. The druid—” Con paused, recognizing a confused set to his friend’s eye. “You didn’t see any of it, did you?”

“What am I to do?” Lenthall wailed. He grabbed a passing servant by his collar. “You. Get me a Bow Street Runner this instant.”

The servant sprinted away, dodging through the stunned crowd.

Lenthall stared up at the pedestal. “A thief must have slipped in and taken it. A priceless object. They’ll never know what they had.”

Con thought of the strength of mind he’d seen in the druid’s eye. And the equal determination in the witch’s. Somehow, he imagined that both of them knew exactly what they’d had.

To win one of 3 ebooks of The Earl with the Dragon Tattoo, please leave a comment with your email saying whose your favourite fictional and why, along with your email and preferred ebook format - .mobi, kindle, pdf, epub etc. The winners will be chosen on Saturday April 27 by the author.

1 comment:

  1. I have so many favorites!!! Harry Potter, the poor orphan who becomes a hero. Eve from JD Robb's IN DEATH series, tortured as a child now a police office trying to save the world. Laura Ingalls, a strong young woman living in harsh times. Etc. Yeah I am that old;)

    Mobi please!!

    cc_clubbs at yahoo dot com

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