Friday, September 25, 2015

Wildfire, by J.D.Wright: Mini-Review/Excerpt/ Giveaway!!



Welcome to the Wildfire Blog Tour,
sponsored by 
YA Bound Book Tours!!

For my stop, I'm featuring a mini-review 
and excerpt!
There's also a tour-wide giveaway!!


This is the book's new cover!!



Wildfire
(Everealm, Book 2)
J.D. Wright
Kindle Edition, 270 pages
CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Second Edition (New Cover)
September 1, 2015
Fantasy, Romance
 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26308308-wildfire





The journey through Everealm continues as new evil arrives, casting mayhem about the realm. While war and wildfire are causing disorder, Bree and Rowan find that assistance from the fairies isn't what they imagined. As Dagan and Sidonie seek answers to uncover the truth about her family and her magic, they are plagued with even more mystery to unveil. As the wildfire burns, who will be left standing in the ashes?





What a great excerpt! The reader is here treated to a really nice "medieval slice of life", to coin a phrase! I think it's just great to see these fantasy people having a nice supper, just like regular folks! I like all the characters here presented; I want to get to know them all! I especially like the background information on Sidonie. She's a wizard's daughter, and has inherited an extra-strong dose of magic! Oh, I love this! 
There are touches of humor throughout this very engaging excerpt; I get the feeling that Bree is not one of those snobby queens so common in fantasy works. Instead, she comes across as just your average harassed monarch. Lol.
In short, I'm intrigued enough to have already purchased the Kindle edition of this book, but will, of course, also buy the paperback edition later on!






Sidonie had barely gotten to know Dagan's grandfather before he passed away. And even though Elric had left Dagan his wizard tower, with books, ingredients, and his spellbook, among other things, Bree was definitely right that having Elric here would have been better. Maybe he could have shed some light on the strange circumstances surrounding her magic. Growing up with the Sabras, Sidonie wasn't aware she had magic until she accidentally ran into Dagan's arms one night, somehow igniting her powers. They had continued to grow over the past several months.

The problem, however, was that female children of wizards were not supposed to inherit magic this strongly. Most females who had magic were healers. Some used their magic to tell fortunes. But they weren't able to do nearly as many things with their magic as Sidonie was able to do. And while she had been working with Dagan, learning about her abilities and trying to control them, she still didn't understand how or why it was happening to her.

Sidonie wished she could speak to her parents, to get answers. But her mother passed away when she was ten years old, and she didn't even know who her father was. The only family she had left was her sister, Adelphie, leader of the Sabras. And so far, Adelphie didn't know about Sidonie's magic, seeing as she still lived in the forest near the town of Elmber, and only visited Junacave occasionally. It was probably for the best that she didn't know, for now.

Murphy returned to the hall and brought the next person forward to speak with the queen. Bree forced a smile and managed to make it through the rest of the day without falling asleep in her throne.

When the kitchen maids brought supper out into the hall, Bree was delighted. The room was soon filled with people, eating, drinking, and gossiping. It was her favorite part of the day, as she watched over her family, friends, and knights of Junacave, ravaging the roasted pigs set out before them. Bree had just finished her first glass of wine, when Sir Raymun, Head of the Castle Guard, approached her table with a rolled-up piece of parchment in his hands.

"Your Majesty. This letter arrived for you, from Vale," he said, after a quick bow.

"Thank you, Sir Raymun," Bree replied as she took the letter and read it to herself. It was from her mother, who was visiting her family in Vale. Upon Bree's insistence, Cicilly had traveled to Vale with her sister, Celeste, just over two months ago. Bree feared for her mother's safety after she had been kidnapped by King Silas and held captive in Sire. And while they were able to rescue Cicilly and Silas had been killed, Bree worried that Silas's widow, Vallica, may attempt to harm Cicilly. Therefore, she had gone to Vale, taking Sir Nicholas, the First Knight of Junacave, along with her for protection. Sir Luthias was filling in for Nick, during his absence.

"Is it from Cicilly?" Rowan asked as he sat across the table from her, already enjoying his second plate of the evening.

"Yes. She has invited us to come to Vale. All of us."

"I thought they were coming home soon?" Sidonie asked, between bites.

"I did, too," Bree replied. "But my mother is requesting we come to Vale, to see my grandfather. She will return with us, after."

"Are we going to go? I've never been  to Vale. I want to go. Can we?" Sarita squealed. Because of her studies, Sarita had stayed in Junacave when Cicilly left for Vale. Sarita's tutors could have easily traveled with her, but there were other children that lived in the castle and shared the same tutors. Taking them away from the other children for so long hadn't seemed fair. And at the time, there hadn't been enough notice to find a second set of tutors. Even though Sarita had been disappointed in being left behind, Bree and the others had done their best to keep busy. Sarita was  thrilled at the idea of visiting Vale now, and barely able to contain her excitement as she bounced up and down in her seat. 

"I don't see any reason why we can't go," Bree said. "Dagan, would you and Sid like to accompany us? My mother has mentioned that you are welcome, too."

Dagan nodded with his mouth full of food, then reached up to tuck a stray strand of his white hair behind his ear. While Rowan may have been on his second plate of supper, Dagan was easily on his third. Wizards must eat a lot of food to help maintain their energy. And with all of the casting Dagan and Sidonie had been doing lately, Bree was forced to almost double their portions.

"When would we leave?" Rowan asked. I'll need to make arrangements with Raymun before we go. Make sure my guards will be covered, in my absence." He had been taking his new job of training the guard very seriously. Having spent the last seven years as a Junacave spy, Rowan was happy to take time from traveling the realm and focus on teaching. He had also been working with Sir Luthias, training for knighthood while his father, Nick, was in Vale with Cicilly. Come this spring, Rowan would finally fulfill his father's wishes and become a fourth-generation knight.

"I guess we should leave as soon as possible. Two days from now. Three, if necessary. My mother says that Leitis has predicted more snow next week. We should aim to arrive in Vale before the snowfall."

"This is exciting!" Sidonie said. EVen though she grew up just south of the Valerian Mountains, she had never been to Vale. "Do you think we can stop by and see my sister, on the way?"

Dagan choked on the water he was drinking, then coughed. Sid gave him an angry look. She knew he wouldn't be happy about the thought of visiting the Sabras, especially after they had kidnapped him, simply for being a wizard. 

 





 Writing has always been a hobby of mine, beginning as a young child. It was a way to cope with losing my father at seven years of age. I started with poetry and was featured several times on the amazing poetry blog, Autumn Leaves, by Sondra Ball. My love for poetry soon led to writing songs in middle school and beyond, which I still do occasionally. Music has always been an important part of my existence, so writing songs came naturally to me. In high school, I started my own novel, however, life got in the way and I never finished it.

Fast forward many years later and I find myself married with four children, absorbed in my busy life with commitments to my family, work, school, church, and charities, among other things. One day I came across my old binder, with notes from my first novel, and it was with those notes that I conjured up the elusive Everealm.

I write to please readers such as myself, who have a love for fantasy and romance, but like a little danger and sex in their reading. I wrote the book with a mature audience in mind, who can appreciate a hearty imaginary world with magic and the unknown, but want more than fluffy love stories with wizards in them. They want the romance, magic, and danger, all wrapped into one.


Website/Goodreads/Twitter
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Everealm, Book 1

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/26632469-everealm



 


You can access the complete tour schedule by simply clicking on the button below!


http://yaboundbooktours.blogspot.com/2015/09/blog-tour-kick-off-wildfire-everealm-2.html#more



4 comments:

  1. Havent read the first book but hey the cover looks pretty! I judge book by its cover (don't blame me) 😊😊

    Thankyou for the review!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Vania!

    I haven't read either of these books, but definitely will. I bought the Kindle edition of each the other day! And yes, these new covers are lovely! (Although I like the previous covers, too.)


    Thanks for the compliment and the comment!! : )

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thank you for participating in the tour for Wildfire and for your awesome post! :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi, J.D.!

    I was very happy to be a participant in this tour! I LOVE "Wildfire", and already have it in the Kindle edition. I also have "Everealm"! I want to read them both soon!

    You're very welcome for my post, and thank you SO much for the compliment on it!!

    Thanks for the visit and the comment!! : )

    ReplyDelete

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