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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

First Frost series by Liz DeJesus

Description:

For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to “family only.”

Gathered within museum’s walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella’s glass slipper, Snow White’s poisoned apple, the evil queen’s magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty’s enchanted spinning wheel…

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or…well, anything except working in the family’s museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn’t really exist.

She’s about to find out how wrong she is.

Book#2
Description:
When joined together, Cinderella's slippers grant the wearer her heart's desire. But whose wish will be granted?

When Cinderella’s glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper in the wrong hands could ruin peace in Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love. Together, Bianca, Ming, Prince Ferdinand, and Terrance venture deep into the heart of Everafter to seek clues as to who has stolen the slipper and why. Along the way, they uncover what happened to the Seven Dwarves after Snow White married the prince, but also learn the awful risk of tampering with black magic and the high price that must be paid for magical aid, even when used for good.

Bianca and Terrance’s relationship is put to the test. Through the pain of suffering and loss, Bianca must determine if following her gallant boyfriend into his faraway world is in fact her heart's desire.

EXCERPT





Excerpt from both books
First Frost

Mother and daughter looked into each other’s eyes for a brief moment. She felt ready to fight alongside her mother and actually be of some assistance. Bianca wanted to argue with Rose, but instead she reluctantly obeyed and went upstairs. She made it as far as the top of the steps.
“Come out, you coward!” Lenore shouted.
If there was one thing Bianca knew for sure, it was that her mother would never, ever back out of a fight. She slowly inched her way down the stairs. Rose stepped out of the house and was far away from the safety of her wards. Bianca tried to call as little attention to herself as humanly possible. She duck-walked across the living room until she was directly underneath the broken window. She peeked every now and then to watch her mother in action.
“Where’s the book?” Lenore asked.
“Where is my husband?” Rose demanded.
“How about we make a trade? Your husband for the book,” Lenore said.
Rose remained silent. Bianca knew that somewhere in her mother’s mind she was seriously considering trading whatever book Lenore was talking about for her father.
“You’re not getting anywhere near that book,” Rose replied.
Lenore snarled and contorted her face in anger as she created a fireball and threw it at Rose.
She created a wall of water around her, and the fireball vanished with a hiss. She then used the water that surrounded her and attacked her adversary.
Lenore used an ice spell and froze the water, and caused it to crash all around her with soft clinks.
“You have to learn to control your brat. I can smell her better now that she’s downstairs,” Lenore said and then cackled.
“You shut your filthy mouth about my daughter,” Rose shouted.
“Want to come out and play, little one?” Lenore taunted.
“Bianca! Stay inside the house. Do you hear me?!”
“Mom, let me help,” Bianca pleaded.
“You do as I say!” Rose snapped.
Bianca’s heart skipped a beat as she ducked underneath the window. She knew she was safe inside the house because of the wards. Bianca risked a peek at the battle, and the witches were fighting viciously. They were both putting everything they had into their spells and doing everything in their power to destroy each other.
Lenore had Rose trapped in a small tornado. Bianca could see her bright red hair whipping in every direction imaginable as her mother struggled to counter the spell. It was enough time for the dark witch to reach in and take something out of her pocket. Lenore pulled out a tiny glass vial and drank a black potion that swam inside the container.
What is that?
Lenore flashed her sharp yellowed teeth at Bianca and then turned her attention to Rose. Bianca turned her gaze to her mother and saw that she had finally countered Lenore’s tornado spell. Lenore took a deep breath and then blew black fire at Rose. The dark flames took on the shape of a sinister dragon.
Bianca gasped; she had never seen anything so menacing in her life. The dragon’s yellow eyes zeroed in on Rose. It chuckled as it looked upon her. It launched itself at her mother and wrapped itself around her body. The dragon pried Rose’s mouth open and shoved its clawed hand down her throat.
“No!” Bianca shouted. The blood in her veins froze, her stomach dropped, and her heart leaped to her throat. She watched in horror as her mother did everything she could to fight off Lenore’s monster…and failed.
“Mom!” Bianca dashed to the front door and stopped herself from running into the front yard.
Lenore had kicked Rose in the stomach and grabbed a fistful of her red hair. The smoke dragon took away Rose’s voice. She was now mute. She looked like a fish out of water as she tried to cast a counter spell, but it was no use. The damage had been done. Her mother had lost her voice and the battle. Rose turned her green eyes to Bianca.
“There, now we can have a little chat…no interruptions. Come on out here and sit with me a while,” Lenore said. The false saccharine in her voice was obvious.
Rose shook her head violently. Bianca knew what her mother wanted her to do. She wasn’t sure she could obey Rose’s request to stay inside the house now that she was in danger of losing her life.
I can’t just sit here and do nothing. God…what do I do? What do I do?
“Come here!” Lenore roared as her face contorted with rage, making her look uglier and older than she actually was. Lenore yanked on Rose’s hair so hard she opened her mouth as though she were screaming…except no sound came out of her lips.

© Liz DeJesus 2012 


Glass Frost
Bianca let out a sigh of relief. Rose was distracted by the snakes that had scattered throughout the lawn. Her mother got further and further away from them as she followed the reptiles into the forest. Bianca thought that the worse was over. But then she turned around and found Marguerite still behind them. Smiling, as if she had all of the time in the world.
“What is she doing?” Terrance asked.
“I don’t know, but I can tell you right now, I don’t like it one bit,” Bianca replied.
“Looks like we have a wolf in our midst. Now tell me, little pup, what are you doing so far away from home?” Marguerite said with false sweetness in her voice.
Bianca’s stomach dropped. She looked at Terrance. With a single glance, she saw he understood as well what the witch planned to do. She was going to unleash the wolf that lived dormant inside of him. It would be easy to do since his wolf blood was so strong.
The witch cackled and muttered her dark spell.
The mouth will howl,
bones will stretch,
and his claws will scratch.
Misfortune and evil will appear,
when the moon is full and the sky is clear.
Become a wolf both dark and light,
Prowler of the night.”
It spiraled in the air, an angry yellow-green mass. Bianca watched in horror as the spell gnashed its teeth and reached out to Terrance. She could sense the rage and destruction that lived inside it. What would it do to Terrance? What would it turn him into? She shuddered at the thought.
“No, no, no. Don’t you touch him!” she screamed.
The spell shrieked with energy as it quickly swirled in the air and headed straight toward Terrance. Bianca stomped her foot and felt a surge of power rush through her body. Warm waves of magic ran to her hands and she imagined herself stopping Marguerite’s spell from reaching Terrance.
Bianca used all of her strength and will to grab the spell midair. At first it felt as though hot steam had passed through her fingers. Then she felt something sticky, like a large ball of spider webs. Her eyes widened in shock when she realized that she had actually caught the spell. She didn’t know such a thing was even possible. She wondered if it was her magic or sheer stubbornness that allowed her to do it. It burned her right hand something fierce. She could feel the spell fight against her grip. It pulled and tugged every which way. When she realized that the spell was trying to find its way to Terrance, she grunted and held on even tighter.
Terrance rushed towards Bianca, trying to reach her. He used his left hand to shield himself from the spell’s eerie bright light.
“No! Stay back,” Bianca cried.
“Let me help you,” he begged.
“The spell wants you. Just stay away from me.”
Reluctantly, Terrance did as she asked.
Bianca felt the red-hot fury coursing through her. She wanted to kill someone. She wanted to burn everything in sight. Kill. Destroy. Burn. It was all she could think of. She knew that it was the spell she held in her hand that was responsible, but it wasn’t something she had any control over. She narrowed her eyes at Marguerite and ran to her. The witch froze in surprise. Bianca tackled Marguerite, knocking them both down to the ground.
“Keep away from me!” the witch shouted.
“Why can’t you just leave us alone? Leave us alone!” Bianca cried.
Bianca pushed the spell back inside of her. She didn’t know how she did it, or how it happened, but the spell went back to the place it had crawled from.
Get rid of it. Get this thing off me. Keep it away from me. Don’t let it get Terrance. Can’t let this thing anywhere near him. The thoughts repeated themselves over and over again…like a strange mantra. Somehow Bianca felt that if she said it enough times it would actually come to pass.
Marguerite pulled Bianca’s hair, scratched, pushed, basically anything in order to free herself from Bianca’s iron grip. The evil witch’s eyes were filled with horror as she felt the effects of the spell. She gurgled and writhed in pain, then clutched Bianca’s shoulders and tried to stand up but failed. Bianca wriggled herself free. Marguerite glowed in a strange yellow-green light and screamed in agony. She vanished in a puff of smoke. She was no more.
What have I done?








About the Author:

Liz DeJesus was born on the tiny island of Puerto Rico. She is a novelist and a poet. She has been writing for as long as she was capable of holding a pen. She is the author of the novel Nina (Blu Phi'er Publishing, October 2007), The Jackets (Arte Publico Press, March 31st 2011) First Frost (Musa Publishing, June 22nd 2012) and Glass Frost (Musa Publishing, COMING SOON).

She is also a member of The Written Remains Writers Guild http://www.writtenremains.org/.
Liz is currently working on a new novel.

Author's Giveaway HERE

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