Exclusive Inside Peek: Beast of Shadow
Last week, Beast of Shadow was published as a Kindle eBook for only $0.99! Click here to view on Amazon. With no reviews yet, I wanted to push it a little bit with a sneak peek into the pages to pique some interest in the novel before it is released on paperback sometime next month.
Goodreads
Back Cover:
"First was the madness…then the sanity.
Reality is all in the perception of the beholder but what if the beholder is crazy? Aislin Welsh is a sheltered young woman with a secret, a voice inside her mind. It is a dark, black shadow named Bram. She’s got control of it, or so she thinks, but an accident in a research lab gives her reason to question it all.
Aislin finds herself within another world filled with dangerous beasts and nomadic people who fear two things: the mountain on which they survive, and a blood thirsty chief named Bram. Chief Bram pulls her into his life and into his tribe as Mother of the tribe.
Insane with the sanity, Aislin is forced to adapt to the new life in front of her full of danger, murder, and war. Soon enough she is faced with a choice: does she trust the man she’s known all her life or does she trust her newfound mind?"
So Why Read It?
So, what is all the hype about? Well, if you like fantasy novels bridged just enough in reality to give an easier read, it is for you. If you like mental illness and perceptions addressed in novels, it is for you. If you like adventure with unsure outcomes and unexpected results, it is for you. If you like complex relationships with people we both fear and adore, Beast of Shadow is for you.
Aislin Welsh is a character that is still sorting herself out, even within book two. She is built upon her own beliefs while forced into a world that is different in every way. Her own illness, a voice within her mind, is taken to a powerful body known as Bram. Their history gives the story a much needed sense of connection, as well as tension. Constructed on a world that is bloody and harsh, Bram is much more than she ever imagined, or feared.
Get lost in the world of creatures that lust for blood every minute, a life that is so uncertain that death is more of a constant companion than a stranger, and the renewed discovery of becoming a person in the midst of it all.
There is much more to their connection that ever suspected.
Sneak Peek:
The death of his voice in the night hung
like a howl of a lonely wolf. In all its silence, the sounded loudly
overpowering. His fierce eyes, dirt of the Earth as they burned with fire
light. Face hardened by the numerous battles he faced and overcame. Lifeless
fur of a fearsome animal slain by his own hands rested atop his noble
shoulders, the crown of thorns.
The very air was ignited by the fire
around. Red and orange stood behind him as his presence grew without containment.
Three pairs of women adorned with freshly
cleaned tunics and leggings stepped forward with a white cone of clay in
between their palms. Each pair stood facing the other.
The
white cone erect on fingers until there was a moment where all hands dropped
away and shattered the cones against the dirt. Aislin sat frozen in terror as
bits of brown rice and dried lentils smaller than her pinky nail flung into the
air.
She bit her lip as she glanced up to her
towering shadow outlined in flaming color. The softness of his eyes settled her
stomach, then her attention.
The cones were not cleaned. Instead, black
petals piled overtop. They blended in amongst the darkened grass, even as the
flames were bolstered higher into the sky. Petals coated the white, now a
blanket of black and a scent of elderberries on the wind like a sweet perfume.
Bram stepped forward. "I, chief of
all, below the mountain declare my blood as hers."
Blood. She heard it rip through her, over
and over.
Blood, blood, blood. Give me your blood.
"Not going to take my blood, are
you?" Aislin asked quickly. The calm in her fingers snatched away as they
clutched them near her thudding heart in constant wringing.
His knees dropped to the ground. "No,
you are going to take mine."
"What?
No!"
"You
must," he said. In his hand laid a knife.
Aislin's heart trembled as the cool metal
was thrust into her hand.
"Cut
me," Bram instructed.
"Where?"
She bit her lip. There was no place ugly
enough to scar.
"Anywhere
you want," he said. "Take the blade and push it into my skin. Drink
my blood."
Whoa, what. Drink it?
Everyone watched from the circle, eyes wide
with glares as they awaited to see their blood shared. A dark flush of red
burned her cheeks.
Slowly she whispered. "Can't do this.
I can't hurt you. What if I cut too deep? I could kill you."
The chief cupped his hand over Aislin's and
raised the blade to his breast. His brown skin battled the shiny reflections of
firelight as it danced on the blade. It twitched in steady pulse.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
When his hand fell away, all remained were
her pale fingers atop the hilt.
She'd never drawn blood before. So violent,
and harsh. There was no way she could do it. Her arm slacked, and the blade
fell away. Gasps rang out through the crowd. And again, Bram raised her hand
back to his chest. A new burn overtook his eyes.
"Do
it."
"But
I…"
Aislin glanced to her side where Fletcher
stood, bare chested in the night. His eyes called out to her. It was in
question asking her “do you have what it
takes?”.
Check out Beast of Shadow on Amazon! Subscribe to this blog for the paperback release.
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