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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

#TeaserTuesday: The Last Tsarevich

I mentioned yesterday on Insta that, while Golden Eagle is mostly a book about Nik and Sasha, it's also a book about Alexei - it's from him we derive the book's title. I love his journey in this installment; I love that he's starting to face some of his issues head-on, and that he's growing. So today's Teaser Tuesday snippets are all about our tsarevich. (And Dante, the character I didn't expect to become so invested in, whom I can't wait for you all to meet.)

From Golden Eagle
copyright © 2019 by Lauren Gilley





“Turning didn’t fix that?” Dante asked, frowning, as he pulled back and tossed Alexei a tube of frozen margarita mix.
Alexei barely caught it, then pressed it to his lip, hissing at the sting of cold. “It’s livable, now,” he said. “But it could still send me into a sleep if I wasn’t careful.”

Thursday, November 21, 2019

From A New Dartmoor Novel (Title Forthcoming)

Technically not a #ThrowbackThursday post, because thsi is new material, but it's been about a year since I released anything official that's Dartmoor-related. 

Here's the first look at my NaNo project, a brand new novel starring Candy, Michelle, the Texas crew, and Michelle's favorite uncles. I'm not posting the title yet, because I'm not ready for it it be up on Goodreads, but progress is going well. The quick rundown is: a series of strange and specific murders in Texas leaves the club cooperating with the FBI - and Michelle reading out to her Uncle Charlie for help. If Fox has to mentor a terrible new little brother, and Mercy's wayward duckling, he might as well take them along... Lots of romance between several couples, and plenty of club action. Expected to drop early next year. 

Pairings:
Candy/Michelle
Fox/Eden
Albie/Axelle

(Also, Tenny is awful, and I love him)

**Raw text, unedited**



From A New Dartmoor Novel
(Title Forthcoming)

Evan muttered something petulant and stupid under his breath, and went to snag the water bottle he’d left sitting in the shade.
Reese still stood at the ready, coiled like a spring, not even breathing hard.
“Water break,” Fox told him, and the boy nodded, pushed his hair off his face, and went to get his own bottle.
Behind him, the back door opened with a squeal – Ghost would be busting someone’s ass, probably Evan’s, about oiling the hinges – and light footfalls heralded the arrival of Fox’s youngest brother. Tenny climbed up to sit beside Fox, slouching down, forearms on his thighs, relaxed, unbothered.
Seemingly so.
Everything Reese had Tenny had, too – plus the social, cultural, and governmental training to make him twice as dangerous. Reese was a bare blade, glinting, outwardly frightening. Tenny was a vial of poison, and you had no idea your life was in danger until the first drop hit your tongue.
Fox made a point of turning toward him slowly, like he didn’t care that he was an hour late to their scheduled session. Tenny wore fitted, dark jeans, harness boots, white t-shirt and a high-collar leather biker jacket so new it squeaked when he moved. His shades were aviators, his thick dark hair – the same glossy brown as Fox’s – artfully tousled, jaw shadowed with a few days’ worth of stubble.
“You look like you’re trying to land a cologne add,” Fox drawled.
Tenny shrugged and cracked his gum.
“Did you steal that jacket?”
“I bought it.”
“Did you steal the money you bought it with?”
Another shrug. Her nodded toward Reese. “He’s too obvious.”
Fox knew exactly what he meant, but he wasn’t going to agree with the asshole. “We can fix that.”
The smirk that tweaked his mouth looked like the one Fox had been looking at in the mirror his whole life. It was eerie as hell.
“And,” Fox continued, “unlike some shitheads, he actually shows up when it’s time to train.”
Tenny turned toward him, just as slowly as Fox had, tucked his chin, and made eye contact over the gold rims of his shades. The absolute douchebag. “Train?” he asked, voice just as flat as Fox’s. But his eyes – the Devin Green blue they all shared – sparked with a challenge.
Not the first time, Fox was struck by the notion that handling Ten was like riding a horse that was just waiting for the right moment to scrape him off on the fence, and go leaping off the track.
And now he used racetrack references, apparently, because he’d spent way too much time with Walsh lately.
“Why would I need to train?” Ten asked.
“To keep sharp.”
Tenny made a show of surveying their surroundings, the empty section of lock, the unremarkable, rambling backside of the clubhouse; the scrap yard, and the glint of the river at the far edge of the property, sliding slowly, darkly past. Then he turned back to Fox, and some of the showmanship dropped away, leaving him flinty-eyed, ruthless, and – most disturbingly – just as restless as Fox felt. “Keep sharp for what?”
Keep sharp because I fucking told you to, Fox thought, and recoiled mentally like he’d been burned. God, he sounded like Phillip.
He turned away.
Reese was watching them, not at all coy, blatantly staring. Fox wondered how good his hearing was.
“That’s not for you to know,” he said imperiously. At least now he sounded like Abe rather than his oldest brother. “Guys like us in this organization: we go where we’re told, kill who we’re supposed to, and we don’t question the higher authority.”
“Higher authority,” Ten said flatly. “Ghost.” No mistaking that for anything but an insult.
Fox sent him a sideways glare. “You could do – and have done – a lot worse than Ghost for a boss. Remember that.”
Tenny stared back, silent, refusing to bend.
One of these days, Fox thought, I’ll have to put him in his place for good.
The worst part was: he didn’t know if he could.


~*~

The high-beams flared and spun, a revolving disco ball as the truck tumbled roof-over-tires again, and again, and again. She steered her car around, and in her own headlights, she could see that the truck had ended up thirty feet off the road, upside down, motor choking and tires spinning down slowly; the roof of the cab was crushed. Ugly black streaks on the pavement veered off crazily toward the shoulder, and disappeared, a trail of laid-down rubber leading to the place where the truck had flipped.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Reading Life: Call Down the Hawk

(Going to start a new post tag: "Reading Life." A place to organize all my adventures in reading.)


Call Down the Hawk
Book One of the Dreamer Trilogy
By Maggie Stiefvater 



You are made of dreams and this world is not for you.

So says Bryde to Ronan Lynch, a refrain throughout the novel. This is true of Ronan, doubtless, but - without supposing too much about someone I've never met - I wonder if it might be true of Ms. Stiefvater, too. It's certainly a line still echoing in the back of my mind. What is an author if not a dreamer? And how melancholy it can be to learn that your dreams don't translate to others once you've pulled them out of your head and presented them on outstretched hands. 

Call Down the Hawk is a story about the Lynch brothers, who we met in The Raven Cycle. I love that series, so I'm of course going to recommend it; and it's in that series that we learn what a dreamer is; it's where Ronan loses his parents and learns how his strange powers work. Gansey and Blue, referenced in this book, but not seen, are front and center for most of TRC, characters worth reading, knowing, and loving. But I suppose you could start this new trilogy without the background. 

This is the first in a trilogy, and so, while we gain some answers, we end with mostly questions, and that's okay. That's how series work. We learn that the magic in this particular universe is much more dangerous and slippery and impossible than we originally thought reading TRC. This book takes the world built in TRC and blows it wide open; expands it in every direction. 

While reading, I was struck by the thought that, though technically a YA book, this new trilogy already feels very much like an adult series in a way that The Raven Cycle didn't. This isn't a criticism; I love YA, and The Raven Cycle is excellent; but it felt like our heroes were kids - because they were. They had kid worries - in addition to their supernatural worries. This novel has a more grown-up flavor, though. Probably because Ronan is growing up, and I can't tell you how wonderful it is to see a fiction saga grow as the characters grow. 

Ms. Stiefvater has such a gift for POV. She uses several in each book, and this one is no exception; a deft shift of personalities, mindsets, goals, and approaches with each one. Even if you don't like a character - Farooq-Lane for me in this one - they feel instantly knowable. In this book, we meet several new characters, among them Jordan, who is instantly sympathetic, despite her situation being one none of us could have ever experienced. I was pleasantly surprised to spend time with Declan, a character I previously didn't hold an opinion of, good or bad, and to find that I really like him, now that I've been inside his head. 

Craft-wise, I think this is Stiefvater's best book yet. I love all of her work, but it's fun to look across the entirety of her catalogue and see how she just keeps growing as a writer. This book reads like one she was meant to write; like something that was always brewing inside her, waiting to be let loose. 

I loved it. No complaints. I do have a wish, though - I'd love to see more of Ronan and Adam together. The moments she did give us were understated, and powerful, and made my heart so happy. Ronan in love is a beautiful thing. 

Monday, November 18, 2019

#TeaserTuesday 11/19



Posting this a bit early - a big, fat teaser for #TeaserTuesday - since I've got a busy day ahead tomorrow. 

We're more than halfway through November, which means we've just got about a month until Golden Eagle drops! How many times can I say I'm excited? Many more, it turns out, because I am! I've loved working on each book in this series; these characters are my darling monsters and I love having the chance to share their stories. But, as proud as I am of Dragon Slayer, I think Golden Eagle is something special. If you've enjoyed the series so far, I think you're really going to love book four. 

One of the things I enjoy most about this series is the way we get to explore every aspect of family: through romance, through found family, through parent-child relationships...and through sibling relationships. Val and Vlad's bond is unbreakable - but it's fraught with trauma, misunderstandings, and, at times, something like hatred. 

Though the brothers don't occupy the same physical space in this book, they do get several moments together to work on understanding one another a little better.

From:
Golden Eagle
Copyright © 2019 by Lauren Gilley
Expected December 2019

** Warning for totally raw, unedited text; beware of typos


Ramirez blew out a breath and bent to pick up her knife, wiping a sweat-glazed forehead with the back of a hand as she stood. “Pretty bold showing up here again,” she said to Val.
He felt his fangs elongate as he shifted his smile toward her. “Says the woman who wanted to practice hand-to-hand with my brother.”

Tuesday, November 5, 2019

#TeaserTuesday: Golden Eagle

In case you didn't see it on social media over the weekend, I finished Golden Eagle! I'm thrilled to be finished, but even more, I'm thrilled with the novel itself. I love the way this series allows me to keep exploring these characters as we go along, digging deeper on each chapter, exploring such a wide variety of themes. 

The book is set to release in late December - currently trying to get the KDP website to cooperate and let me order some proof copies. But for now, here's an extra-big teaser: chapter 26.




26

Sasha dreamed of the clearing.
A carpet of snow, and the reaching fingers of bare trees, and ravens, high and silent in the white-gray sky. It was the forest north of Stalingrad, where Rasputin had died.