Paradise Found

Your legends have it wrong. Arthur never pulled that sword out of the stone. I did. I, Guinevere.

On the winter solstice, a mysterious sword in a stone appears in the churchyard. Not even the mightiest of the village men can remove it, until fifteen-year-old Guinevere gives a try. The sword heeds the unsuspecting maiden, proclaiming the unthinkable: she is the blood of Pendrakon, heir to the vacant throne of Camylot.

Guinevere never dreamed she was born royalty. Now, between apprenticing the eccentric wizard, Merlyn; swordplay lessons with an abrasive—albeit, attractive—boy named Lance; and clandestine, magical meetings with the formidable High Priestess of Avalon, Guinevere is swept up in a whirlwind of training and preparation for her monumental new role as future queen. But invasions by the barbarous Saxyns and visitations from mysterious dark forces constantly warn that she may be in over her head. Can Guinevere defend the kingdom from the darkness and deception that threaten to seize it? Despite her doubts and the sinister forces working against her, can she harness the power to wield Exkalibur and rule the realm? Or is Camylot already destined to fall? 

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C.K. Brooke is an award-winning indie author of over a dozen romance and fantasy novels. Her debut novel, THE DUCHESS QUEST (48fourteen, 2014), was selected by Shelf Unbound Magazine as a Top 100 Notable Indie Book of 2015, and her YA novel, SECRETS OF ARTEMIS, received the Indie B.R.A.G. Medallion Award in 2017. She is also the author of THE WRONG PRINCE, a Readers Favorite five star recipient and Global EBook Award Honorable Mention title, as well as the historical romance, CAPTURING THE CAPTAIN (Limitless, 2016), which was a RONE Award Nominee and a Finalist in the MMRWA Best Banter Contest. She lives in Michigan with her husband and son. Visit her at www.CKBrooke.com

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Her lips have the power to boost. Her love can grant power unparalleled. In an ongoing conflict against ravishingly beautiful beings from another dimension, Aurora Haddix’s abilities allow her to turn the tide of the battle.

Born a Natch, one of the population naturally endowed with superhuman powers at birth, Aurora tries to make the right choice. Her handsome, overprotective best friend and her tortured, grizzled mentor want her to use her powers for good. Kiss a Natch and they become more powerful for a few minutes. Allow one inside her and their powers are intensified for a full day. She wants to help, but she can’t get their roguish, virile former comrade out of her mind—and he wants her to join his underground band of Renegades. Then there’s the dark elf king, the leader of the otherworldly Nelians determined to infiltrate Earth—Aurora’s number one target and the most devastatingly gorgeous man she’s ever seen.

Aurora’s body makes her the most sought-after Natch in a war that might end on her say-so. Only with the way her inner passion ignites at each touch, she’s not so sure of her true reasons for pursuing the four alluring men who seek to possess her. 

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***Excerpt***

Nash ignored it. “You don’t think that’s a good idea, though?”

Wait, what? Time to focus on what was in front of me. What had Nash wanted again? Right. To have sex. Right now. As usual.

Roulette snickered. “Anything to get into Aurora’s pants, right?” She grabbed her can of ginger ale from where it rested precariously on the computer console and tossed her head back to take a sip.

Nash’s lips went thin. “I’m serious.” He looked back and forth at Roulette and me. “And you two should have sex, too.”

Roulette spit her drink out, spraying several feet in front of her.

I couldn’t help it. I laughed.

“I’m not kidding,” said Nash, not a trace of a smile on his face. “Every day. Like clockwork. Have sex with us all.”

Roulette and I locked gazes. She broke it first, shaking her head and putting her can back beside the computer keyboard. “You sure you just don’t want to watch, big boy? Me and Rora. Toss in Chastity, too?”

Nash was turning red again. “I wouldn’t need to watch, no.”

“How magnanimous of you,” I said.

Shaking his head, Nash scoffed. “You’re laughing at me. You’re both laughing.”

Roulette was indeed giggling, and I found myself stifling a snicker.

“Okay, look,” said Nash in an excellent imitation of Wade, the man whose Natch powers meant his intelligence outstripped the rest of ours combined by miles, “hear me out. Aurora, what do your Natch powers do?”

I rolled my eyes and hugged my arms to my chest. “You know what my powers do.”

 “Humor me.”

 I looked to Roulette for help, pleading, but she just smiled and shook that voluminous dyed bright red hair that popped so vividly against her imperfection-free dark brown skin. She turned back to the screen and the DM window popped up again, and I could see her sending Darien kissy emojis.

I sighed. “Yes, professor. I boost Natch power.”

“For how long?”

I chewed on the inside of my lip for a bit. “Anywhere from a few minutes to a whole day.”

“And how do you boost Natch powers?”

“Roulette?” I asked.

She flung a hand up in the hair, her attention still riveted on the screen. “You’re on your own with this one.”

I met Nash’s eyes. He just nodded at me, as if to convey he wasn’t dropping this until we finished our charade.

“I kiss them,” I admitted, my voice growing quiet.


Lina Jubilee loves reading, writing, drinking tea, and rooting for her favorite fictional romances. When not lost in a book, she cooks dinner at lunchtime, plans errands in fewer trips, and does everything she can to get back to romping through fictional worlds ASAP.

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Orphaned and alone, Jasminda lives in a land where cold whispers of invasion and war linger on the wind. Jasminda herself is an outcast in her homeland of Elsira, where her gift of Earthsong is feared. When ruthless soldiers seek refuge in her isolated cabin, they bring with them a captive--an injured spy who threatens to steal her heart.

Jack's mission behind enemy lines to prove that the Mantle between Elsira and Lagrimar is about to fall nearly cost him his life, but he is saved by the healing Song of a mysterious young woman. Now he must do whatever it takes to save Elsira and its people from the True Father and he needs Jasminda's Earthsong to do it. They escape their vicious captors and together embark on a perilous journey to save Elsira and to uncover the secrets of The Queen Who Sleeps.

Thrust into a hostile society, Jasminda and Jack must rely on one another even as secrets jeopardize their bond. As an ancient evil gains power, Jasminda races to unlock a mystery that promises salvation.

The fates of two nations hang in thebalance as Jasminda and Jack must choose between love and duty to fulfill their destinies and end the war.

If you love the idea of fantasy and romance combined, you'll probably have a hard time putting down Song of Blood & Stone.

Jasminda has humble ambitions: after losing her whole family, she'd only like to keep her ownership of the family home and live there in peace. She knows that the Elsiran community shuns her for her Lagrimari looks – not that she can change the colour of her skin, can she? – and so she visits the nearby village only when she really needs something. Like this she doesn't have to bear the locals' frowning looks very often. 

But when a dangerous storm starts to brew and her little cottage – the place she deems the safest in whole Elsira – is invaded by soldiers, she gets pulled into a chain of events that threatens to tear her whole world apart. The spy – a boy named Jack – who the soldiers brought with them is trying to convince her she is an important piece on a chessboard where the fate of both Elsira and Lagrimar will be soon decided. She finds it hard not to believe him because he looks and sounds like destiny. 

Jasminda and Jack manage to escape and they start to work together to ensure peace and prosperity in the two countries that have always been in war with each other.

Jasminda was born in Elsira but she is part Lagrimari, because her father came from the other side of the border. Since her skin is darker and that marks her as a Lagrimari, Elsiran people don't particularly like her. She is also a Singer like all of the Lagrimari. Her Song can create and heal, however, people are terrified of her power. Jack is the first Elsiran who sees potential in her and Jasminda is grateful for that.

I absolutely adored the world building in this book. The two countries share a history. Their two mysterious leaders from the past, whose identities are revealed through flashbacks, were once very close to each other. The reason why their relationship changed is very logical and believable, yet their tale is rather tragic. 

Jack, the male protagonist, isn't who he seems to be either and because of his true status him and Jasminda have to suffer quite a lot.

The Song as a power has interesting qualities; it makes a Singer capable of healing, growing crop or seeing into the distance, among other things. It is fascinating, though a bit all over the place and not much explanation is given how it works, unfortunately. Jasminda's Song, despite her being the MC is very weak, which I was happy to learn because I'm a bit fed up with super-strong protagonists, be they male or female. Her own Song doesn't develop, not even later in the story and yet she is the one who fights the good fight for the right of the Lagrimari (with a little help of course, but still... you see my point). It was a nice touch.

The romance between Jack and Jasminda is as tender as it comes. They care deeply for each other and stand up for one another when they need to. Their stolen moments are beautiful.

If you don't read this book for anything else, read it for the writing. It is phenomenal, it will blow you away. Oh, how I wish I could write like Ms. Penelope...

I'm sure I'll devour the second book just like I did the this one...

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What inspired you to write this series? What came first: The characters or the world? What was your inspiration for the magic of Earthsong? Were you inspired by other books? Movies? 


What were your favorite scenes to write for SONG OF BLOOD AND STONE? What was the hardest scene to write? Is there a scene or moment that really sticks with you? 


What advice would you give aspiring authors, especially authors or color, striving to have their stories and truths shared? 


Is there a character in SONG OF BLOOD & STONE that you most relate to? How do you select names of your characters? 


If you had to choose a song that, according to you, describes Jasminda and Jack's relationship perfectly, which song would you pick? 

What do you most hope that readers take away from SONG OF BLOOD AND STONE?

I really just hope readers enjoy the story and the characters. Jasminda is a heroine that I had been longing to see, so I hope people get as much joy and heartache from her story as I did when I wrote it. 

Can you tell us more about the next books in the series? What are you working on now? 

Book 2, WHISPERS OF SHADOW & FLAME, follows a parallel timeline to SONG. It’s about Darvyn, a character we hear about in SONG who was the Earthsinger responsible for disguising Jack. The disguise’s failure gets Jack captured and he wonders what happened to Darvyn. So in WHISPERS, we find out. But it also pushes the story forward, showing what’s going on in Lagrimar in the days before the Mantle comes down and setting up the next challenge that Jack, Jasminda, and Darvyn will face. 

Book 3, CRY OF METAL & BONE picks up the story of how Elsira and Lagrimar deal with the fall of the Mantle and the new threat facing the nations. 

I’m also working on a brand-new series with dragons ☺ 

What are your favorite books you would recommend to readers? 

Among my favorites of all time are Wild Seed by Octavia Butler, The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay, Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta, Maybe Someday by Colleen Hoover, Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor and Sheltered by Charlotte Stein. I could go on and on, but I’ll leave it there. 

About the author:

Leslye Penelope has been writing since she could hold a pen and loves getting lost in the worlds in her head. She is an award-winning author of new adult, fantasy, and paranormal romance. She lives in Maryland with her husband and their furry dependents: an eighty-pound lap dog and an aspiring feral cat.


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In the summer of 1869, beleaguered for-hire killer Zach Dimitru arrives in Eastport, Maine, bearing an amulet and searching for absolution. His salvation is dependent on the Benoit Family, who are also pitiless and tormented. Zach's deliverance is reliant on Juliette Benoit. The young woman is grieving the loss of her soul mate, whom she believes has reincarnated without her. Miraculously, the amulet imparts messages to Juliette. The fate of both Zach and Juliette, as well as the town, depends upon her ability to learn and convey those lessons before the arrival of a hurricane--one with the force to devastate Eastport.

My Thoughts:

The events in Salina B. Baker's The Shipbuilder play out on two levels: physical and spiritual. Of course I noticed in the synopsis that reincarnation as a belief would be present in the story but before going in I had no idea that spirituality would be a central motivator in the plot.

While on the one hand the spiritual side of the story was fascinating (since I next to never read books that involve reincarnation into their plot), on the other, sometimes beliefs in The Shipbuilder were a bit confusing, given that reincarnation got mixed with christianity. If I tell you that a bit of Obeah (a kind of sorcery that was widely practised in the Caribbean area at the time) was thrown in as well, you can imagine the complex inner routes that are travelled in this book.

Don't get me wrong, I don't say spiritualism ruins your understanding of what's going on but you have to know that at certain points I found myself asking loads of questions that only got answered at the end. Anyway, the characters fully compensated me for the mild difficulty of the challenge that this 'less tangible' side of the novel provided.

The members of the families whose past and present are intertwined in Eastport have to face themselves and each other to answer for past wrongs and present grudges. Ben Benoit is in love with the family's black maid, Seneca. He knows that at some point he has to let his mother know about their relationship but he is terrified of the reaction of the people around them. Adele, Ben's mother has lost the deep connection she'd had with her children before her husband died. She is having a secret affair with Daniel, the head of another family. Daniel's son Aaron is a womanizer and he also had a secret relationship in his past. We see some serious character developments in all these cases.

I liked the interracial  relationship and the true depiction of the difficulties Ben and Seneca had to go through to be together.

Zach arrives into this tight community with a mission. He has to save himself and some others on Moose Island from the storm. Whether the storm is symbolic or real I won't say, because you might like to find out for yourself.

Altogether I enjoyed The Shipbuilder because it had a lovely set of characters that ended up in tough situations and helped each other out of it. If you liked my review, don't hesitate, give it a try!

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Prologue

Shelby Rolle’s hands shook as he threw his fishing net into the blue water. His knuckles, stiff with arthritis, ached as he pulled the cast net toward the shore. The pain didn’t matter—he had to hurry. He could smell it coming, riding on the horizon as it rushed toward Cat Island. Soon cumulus clouds would appear, gray swirling monsters packing killer winds, which commanded palm trees to bend their fronded heads; winds that formed rain into blowing sheets of vertical glass and lifted waves into mountains of destruction until the storm surge finally swallowed the land.

Several small fish were trapped in Shelby’s net. He plucked them out one at a time and threw them toward a dune. The fish flopped around in the loose sand. He cast again and again all the while muttering an Obeah prayer, pleading with God to find his family worthy and to grant them safety. He tried to picture the local Obeah men huddled in their huts, chanting in an effort to tap the source of a higher supernatural power. In that power, they would find the ability to turn the storm away from the island. Shelby silently pleaded for them to achieve the spiritual plane and channel the necessary strength.

The smell of the ocean intensified as the clouds, now churning at the edge of the eastern horizon, stirred up the pungent odor of salt water and seaweed. He looked toward the sand dunes. The roof of a plantation house was visible on the other side. Its once grand stature had crumpled with age like the spine of a stooped old man. Fifty years of tropical environmental elements had eroded the dwelling. It was Shelby’s home.

The house had fallen into Shelby’s hands ten years earlier. It once belonged to an Englishman named John Monroe. At that time, John had been the master of the cotton plantation. Shelby had been a slave, a field hand born to third-generation Africans who had lived in the Kingdom of the Kongo until the Trans-Atlantic slave trade took them to the Caribbean. But there were things much worse than servitude. Shelby’s daughter suffered under the groping hands of John Monroe. She had pleaded with her father to deliver her from her living hell. He turned to those whom he believed had the capacity to help, but the Obeah curses and attempts at poisoning the plantation owner did nothing to stop the abuse.

Her salvation appeared imminent when the British abolished slavery in 1834. Despite the law and rebellious uprisings, John held fast to his Bahamian dream, refusing to free his slaves for two more years. Under pressure from the local authorities, he succumbed to the mandated emancipation. Without slaves to toil in the fields and seed the cotton, the plantation dissolved. John Monroe, with his wife and children, took their belongings and moved to Nassau. Among John’s personal belongings was Shelby’s daughter.

The cast net sailed into the water. The sea undulated as the rising wind heaved rolling white caps toward the shore. Shelby’s son came down to the beach. The young man’s white cotton shirt billowed like a sail in the wind. He gathered the fish from the dunes and tossed them into a basket.

The young man waved his hands at Shelby. “We have enough fish to ride out the storm!” the young man yelled. “Come on now, Father. Let’s go. Mother is waiting.”

Shelby gathered his net in his arms and ran to his waiting son. The entire island was wrapped in swirling gray clouds. The wind pushed at their backs as they made their way to the plantation house. Rain spurted from the sky. Shelby looked back toward the beach. What he saw stopped him in his tracks. The mast of a clipper ship appeared on the horizon. Its sails hung limply on their rigs as it glided on the tumultuous ocean.

“Can’t be,” Shelby said to himself. He cupped his hands above his eyes to block out the rain and wind. He squinted. There was no mistaking it. His daughter’s salvation floated before him as if the day was sunny and the winds were calm.

“Father?”

“One minute,” Shelby said to his son. Rain soaked his hair and clothing as he stared at the clipper ship. In his heart of hearts, he knew that she had finally been emancipated. He sensed something else. A strong aura of kindness enveloped him. It radiated across the hurricane crazed waters and reached out to him from every timber of the ship.

The ghost-like clipper moved further down the horizon. Soon it would be out of his range of sight. He raised his hand to his throat. His fingers searched for the chain that no longer hung around his neck. Ten years had passed since the amulet lay on his chest, the cool silver a reminder of its power. He had given it to his daughter for protection the day she was taken from her family.

“Father, come on!” His son’s words, scattered in the wind, were barely audible.

Shelby turned his back on the clipper ship and climbed the sand dune. He and his son walked the short distance to their home.

Three hours later, at the height of the hurricane, the plantation house roof collapsed, killing Shelby and his family. The Obeah men had failed to harness the power they sought or perhaps, they had unknowingly redirected it.

Review from Fantasy Author: 

The Shipbuilder is moody and somewhat grim. It has a strong undercurrent of fate and magic at its core, strongly reminding this reader of the work of Daphne du Maurier and Emily Brontë. With her passion for history and the accurate portrayal of the period, author Salina B Baker brings this time and place to harsh, vivid life. In doing so, she’s crafted a resonant and compellingly readable novel. 

Susan Rooke, author of The Space Between

Salina is an avid student of Colonial America and the American Revolution. Her lifelong passion for history and all things supernatural led her to write historical fantasy. Reading, extensive traveling and graveyard prowling with her husband keep that passion alive. She has three forthcoming novels in the works for 2017. Salina lives in Austin, Texas and is a member of The Writers’ League of Texas.





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