Welcome E.J. Russell who is here today to talk about her new Dreamspun Beyond release, Nudging Fate! She's brought an exclusive excerpt as well as a giveaway so be sure to leave a comment to be entered. Good luck!
A big
thank you to Boy Meets Boy for inviting me to stop by today as part of the Nudging
Fate blog tour! Nudging Fate is my first full-length novel with
Dreamspinner, and it’s another of my “paranormal romantic comedies.” To
celebrate the release, at the end of the tour I’ll be giving away a $20 Amazon
gift card and an ebook copy of Cutie and the Beast (another paranormal
romantic comedy) to one lucky commenter.
In this
exclusive excerpt, we meet Conall of Odstone, one of the
co-heroes of Nudging Fate, who is not
having a very good day.
Conall of Odstone wasn’t himself. As he paced the plush
carpeting of the royal suite, every turn past one of the excessive number of
mirrors showed him Rey’s body, Rey’s face, the velvet tunic in Rey’s favorite
color. Yes, once again, Con wasn’t himself—as far as anyone other than the
Faerie Queen herself could detect, he was his half brother.
Music wafted through the suite from some invisible
source—Con recognized the tune as one that his and Rey’s father, Thomas the
Rhymer, had brought into Faerie centuries ago. The melody was haunting,
insidious, seductive. No wonder Con’s mother, Emonie, had fallen in love and
made the ill-fated decision to cast a foolproof fertility spell on Thomas so
she could have his child—despite him being the Faerie Queen’s consort.
Love. Goddess preserve him, love and its inevitable
aftermath caused more trouble than any maddened dragon. Just as well Rey’s mating
wouldn’t be left to that kind of chance. With an intelligently chosen spouse,
Rey could at last counteract some of his mother’s more medieval notions of
government. He owed that much to Faerie, to their people.
Where the bloody hells was Rey anyway? With each passing
minute, Con’s belly sank farther toward his boots. Rey always shaved his timing
close—he said arriving early was a waste of time better spent elsewhere—but he
couldn’t be late to his own… whatever this was.
I never
should have agreed to activate the spell. Not this time.
When they were boys, Rey had liked to say they were
twins from different mothers—conceived on the same day, born the same hour,
named in the same ceremony—although Rey’s Naming Day gifts of charm, wit, and
beauty were a far cry from Con’s inconvenient gift of responsibility. He
wouldn’t even have gotten that if it weren’t for a wand misfire. After all, the
son of the court herbalist by the Queen’s consort wasn’t due Naming Day
gifts—or any consideration at all. The gods knew Con had gotten precious little
his entire life, except from three people.
His mother. Talus. Rey.
That was the reason Con had agreed to the idiotic,
gods-be-damned spell that would make Con identical to Rey whenever the two of
them chose—and Rey chose far too often for Con’s peace of mind.
Like now, for instance. Rey had begged Con to show up
for the festivities and Con had agreed. Of course he’d agreed. This was to be
his brother’s coronation and wedding. No matter how flighty Rey was, Con loved
his brother and believed that Rey, in all his wild and reckless glory, returned
the sentiment.
But Con should have realized, when Rey requested that
Con arrive as Rey, that his brother
had another scheme in mind—one that Con wouldn’t approve of at all. And I’m not sure I want to find out what it
is.
A knock at the door stopped Con his patrol next to
another dratted mirror. He moved so he wouldn’t have to see the
face-that-was-not-his-own. “Enter.”
The door swung open and Talus entered, the clank of his
metal boots muffled by the thick carpet. The creak when the door closed—was
that the hinges or Talus’s joints? The legendary Iron Knight was showing his
age, and it nearly broke Con’s heart.
“He has not arrived?” Talus advanced across the room.
“No word?”
“No. Where the devils can he be, Talus? It’s not as if
he doesn’t know how important this is to the realm, to our people.”
“Lack of knowledge has never been His Highness’s
problem. It is the use to which he puts that knowledge that can be…
questionable.”
Con sighed. “I know. But I thought this time would be
different.”
“What do you imagine would cause him to change so
fundamentally?” Talus’s voice reverberated in his metal chest with an edge that
meant he was slipping back into his old implacable mindset. “Men do not alter
their natures so easily.”
“Careful, my friend. It’s not your job to dispense
justice anymore.”
The sound Talus made would have been a snort if it had
come from a flesh-and-blood person. “I cannot change my nature completely
either.”
“Noted. However,
you really need to restrain yourself. Not everyone here is subject to
Gloriana’s rule.”
“You forget, Highness, that I am not subject to her rule
either.”
“Please don’t call me Highness. I’m not the prince.”
“You wear his guise, and I would be remiss in my duty if
I did not so address you.”
“Yes, but—” A harsh shrieking interrupted Con. “What’s
that?”
Talus tilted his head in listening mode. “A firedrake in
distress? The death throes of a cockatrice?”
Con glanced around. On the table, a flat rectangle about
the size of his palm glowed and vibrated—cell
phone, that’s what the event official said. “Nothing so normal. I believe
we have a—what did she say?—an incoming call.”
Con strode over to the table, Talus clanking behind him,
and peered down at the tiny screen. “What do you suppose we do? I’ve heard of
these, but I’ve never used one.”
“Perhaps you acknowledge it, as you would someone at the
door.” Talus brought his fist to his chest with a hollow boom. “Greetings.”
The phone continued to beep and vibrate its way across
the polished surface of the table. “That doesn’t seem to have worked.” Con
peered at the screen, which displayed two large dots, one red and one green. He
pointed to the green dot. “Perhaps if we—” The beeping stopped as soon as his
finger touched the screen.
“Con? Are you there?” Rey’s voice sounded far away.
“Yes, I’m here,” Con shouted. “Where in blazes are you?”
Rey’s laugh sounded tinnier than Talus’s. “Pick up the
phone, you nimrod, and hold it to your ear.”
Con winced. He hadn’t bothered to study the information
Enchanted Occasions provided on the Earthside paraphernalia because he didn’t
expect to have to use it. He was just a bystander, after all, not a
participant.
He picked up the phone and held it gingerly against the
side of his head. “Rey. Where are you? You’re due to be presented to your first
prospective mate in less than twenty minutes.”
“About that…”
Nudging Fate
An Enchanted
Occasions Story
Not
exactly a match made in Valhalla.
Half-norn
event planner Anders Skuldsson is under strict orders from Asgard not to meddle
with Fate. But with Enchanted Occasions’ latest booking—a competition for the
hand of Faerie’s one true prince—crashing around his ears, it’s really
difficult to toe that particular line. But if Andy pretends to be a
contender for the prince…. It’s only temporary, so Odin can’t blame him. Right?
Conall
of Odstone’s half-brother, Prince Reyner, was supposed to choose a mate before
being crowned and wed. But the idiot left Con to impersonate him. Again.
When
Con meets Andy, his anger turns to desire… and despair. Even if Andy forgives
him for his imposture, how could someone eligible for a prince’s hand settle
for the court outcast? And the double-deception isn’t their only obstacle.
Unless Andy makes the right choice, their fates could be sealed by…well… Fate.
Buy
links:
Author
bio:
E.J. Russell–grace, mother of three, recovering actor–writes
romance in a rainbow of flavors. Count on high snark, low angst and happy
endings.
Reality? Eh, not so much.
She’s married to Curmudgeonly Husband, a man who cares even less
about sports than she does. Luckily, C.H. also loves to cook, or all three of
their children (Lovely Daughter and Darling Sons A and B) would have survived
on nothing but Cheerios, beef jerky, and Satsuma mandarins (the extent of
E.J.’s culinary skill set).
E.J. lives in rural Oregon, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult
children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.
Website: http://ejrussell.com
Newsletter: http://ejrussell.com/newsletter
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ej_russell
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ej_russell_author/
Amazon author page: http://www.amazon.com/author/ej_russell
Bookbub author page: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/e-j-russell
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/ej_russell
ICYMI, see our 5 ❤️ review of Nudging Fate HERE!
Congrats, and thanks for the post. This sounds like a great start for the series. - Purple Reader,
ReplyDeleteTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
Thank you!
DeleteLooks like a lot of fun!
ReplyDeleteTrix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com
Thanks, Trix!
DeleteThanks so much to Boy Meets Boy for hosting me today, and thanks to everyone who stopped by to meet Conall of Odstone (who is not himself :-)).
ReplyDeleteI am so ready for another of your fabulous adventures, and this one looks to be amazing.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait!
Congratulations on your book release, EJ
ReplyDelete