Giveaway + Blog Tour: Nudging Fate (Enchanted Occasions #1) by E.J. Russell


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.


ICYMI, see our 5 ❤️ review of Nudging Fate HERE!

7 comments:

  1. Congrats, and thanks for the post. This sounds like a great start for the series. - Purple Reader,
    TheWrote [at] aol [dot] com

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  2. Looks like a lot of fun!

    Trix, vitajex(at)Aol(Dot)com

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  3. Thanks 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 :-)).

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  4. I am so ready for another of your fabulous adventures, and this one looks to be amazing.
    Can't wait!

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  5. Congratulations on your book release, EJ

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