“A heartwarming fantasy adventure featuring winning characters.” – Kirkus Review
Description:
Published: September 24th, 2018
Royal twins ripped apart at birth become reluctant champions of good and evil.
Kylie, a teenage science geek, has no faith in people. Instead, she relies on what she trusts the most, the facts––what she can see, touch, and hear but never feel. With enough pain to deal with in her own world, she is thrust into another––a kingdom at war whose strange inhabitants fear one thing the most––the return of the dragon. All of this is illogical to Kylie, but even more so, when she discovers she belongs there.
Her brother, Prince Jarlon, journeys to kill the dragon who has laid waste to his kingdom. His only hope for destroying the beast is help from his sister, whom he has never met. Will their paths cross before the beast’s malevolence infects Kylie and turns her into his creature or will Jarlon have to destroy her, too?
GUEST POST
Allison’s Favorite Books
(in no particular order).
I love to read. Here is a list of some of my favorites. Have you read any of these? If so, what did you think of them? What are your favorites? I’d love to know.
1. The Crystal Cave by Mary Stewart.
I’m a sucker for Arthurian stories. I loved The Once and Future King and enjoyed The Mists of Avalon and Le Morte d’Arthur but by far my favorites are Mary Stewart’s stories of Merlin. These books take a more realistic view of Merlin and place him in a recognizable medieval world as opposed to a high fantasy one. Yet, the story is no less compelling. (And, okay, there still is some magic J However, in this tale Merlin’s success is more due to his quick mind and open heart.)
2. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
This book is important, heart wrenching and spot on. It is the story of Melinda. She was raped by a classmate. The author submerses the reader in the character’s experience. You feel Melinda’s pain and understand her wry humor. In the end, the book is not a tragedy. It is a tale of how she overcomes the violence done to her, finds her voice and speaks her power.
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban –
All of the Harry Potter books are wonderful. Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite. The fun and hijinks of the earlier novels is here. Yet, this story goes deeper into Harry’s wish for family or more apt here, a father figure. Yet it is not any of the three father figures presented in the story that save Harry, he does it himself. Harry succeeds by facing his fears and believing in his abilities.
4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Most films of this book present it as just a love story but it is so much more than that. Yes, it tells a passionate story of love but it’s overriding theme is about Jane’s struggle for individuation despite her impoverished circumstances and the patriarchal expectations of her time. Great book!
5. Fathers & Sons by Ivan Turgenev
I first read this as a teenager and was struck at how modern this Russian novel (written in the 1860s) felt. Bazarov, a proclaimed Nihilist (believing in nothing), in the end is the most sacrificing and romantic of them all. He is not likeable but he is a character that has stayed with me all my life. Russian novels can be daunting simply because each character has at least three names, and they may be addressed using any one of the three. (Confession: When reading Russian novels I write a list of the names on the inside cover so I can keep tract of them.)
6. Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters
I am happy to follow Amelia Peabody on all of her journeys as she whacks criminals and ne’er-do-wells with her ironclad parasol. It’s a lot of fun! Begin at the beginning with Crocodile on the Sandbank.
7. Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly
A time travel novel about a privileged and disconsolate teen who has suffered a family tragedy, who finds herself thrust back and forth in time to be a witness to the French Revolution. I found this story beautifully written and powerful.
8. The Raven Boys by Stiefvater
Stiefvatter is brilliant in bringing the mythic and the modern together. In this series, her writing fills the senses and places the reader fully in the character’s world.
9. Persuasion by Jane Austen
This could easily have been Pride and Prejudice, a book I’ve read and re-read more times than I can count. Persuasion is a gentler work but still contains passages of acute observation of societal foibles. I found a kind of crystalized perfection in this shorter work. Protagonist Anne Elliott’s internal world richly and at times painfully moved my heart.
10. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Dickens is always entertaining. His vivid descriptions of a panoply of characters make him a joy to read. Great Expectations is my favorite. His early works view the world within a black and white frame. Here, the familiar poverty-to-wealth story infuses empathy for some of his cruelly acting characters by revealing the why behind their psychic damage. Dickens also shows us how desire and expectations may trick the heart into seeing something that is not there and missing what is, in fact, true.
About the author:
Allison Morse is the author of three very different novels: Fallen Star a Hollywood Gothic mystery, The Sweetheart Deal, a Rom/Com and Dragon’s Shadow a YA Fantasy & Adventure all published by The Wild Rose Press. She lives with her wonderful husband in a house in the hills filled with books.
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