Girl of Myth and Legend Tour: Mini-Review & Excerpt

Welcome to the Girl of Myth 
and Legend Tour,

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YA Bound Book Tours!!

For my stop, I'm featuring  a
mini-review and excerpt!

Girl of Myth and Legend

(The Chosen Saga, Book 1)

Giselle Simlett

Trade Paperback, 426 pages

WWS Publishing, Ltd.

January 1, 2016

Fantasy, Paranormal Fiction, Science Fiction, 
Young Adult Fiction

Amazon US/Amazon UK
Amazon CA

A girl with a past she tries to forget, and a future she can’t even imagine.
Leonie Woodville wants to live an unremarkable life. She wants routine, she wants repetition, she wants predictability. So when she explodes in a blaze of light one morning on the way to her college, it’s enough to put a real crimp in her day.

And things only get weirder…

Leonie learns from her father that she is last of the Pulsar, a phenomenally powerful member of a magical species called the Chosen. It will be her sole duty to protect the Imperium, a governing hierarchy, from all enemies, and to exceed the reputation of the Pulsar before her. So – no pressure there, then.

Leonie is swept away from her rigorous normality and taken to a world of magic. There, she is forced into a ceremony to join her soul to a guardian, Korren, who is both incredibly handsome and intensely troubled, a relationship for which ‘it’s complicated’ just really doesn’t cut it.

But Leonie is soon to learn that this ancient world is no paradise. With violent dissidents intent to overthrow the Imperium, and dark entities with their own agenda, she and Korren find themselves caught in a war where they will have to overcome their differences if they are to survive.Dare to dream. Dare to hope. Dare to be a legend.

I LOVED this excerpt! The mood is mysterious, there's a sense of impending danger, and the night is very still as the narrator -- Leonie -- sneaks out of her room and outside to visit a creature that looks like a human man, and yet isn't. 
I don't know much about this fantasy realm she's in yet, but it sounds very magical! She mentions 'Thrones', whatever they are, and an 'arux'. The creature she's going to visit is called a 'kytaen'. (I'm wondering if this is some sort of kitten. Lol.
Whatever is going on here, I am really fascinated and intrigued! I want more! The synopsis attracted me, and now this excerpt has enchanted me! Needless to say, I MUST read this book!!

Leonie
Labyrinths of Chaos

At midnight I decide to go to the kytaen. I get a blanket from the bed. Sneaking out isn't as hard as I thought. Though I see Thrones guarding certain shadowed hallways that lead to my room, there are enough opportunities to get by them unnoticed. I sneak by, my feet silent against the marble, and whenever one of the Thrones turns in my direction, I quickly hide behind one of the walls or statues. I manage to get to a hallway where there are no Thrones and tiptoe towards where the Breakfast Room is. The doors to the room open like they did before, and I hush them as they creak. It's not dark inside the room, the fake stars glinting above my head. There isn't any food left on the table, so I go to where the Magen exited with our breakfast this morning. The kitchen is smaller than I thought it would be, resembling the old kitchens I remember seeing in Windsor Castle. I guess Magen like things the old way. I grab a piece of leftover bread I find and make my way out of the kitchen. 

I gasp when I see a flash of black, and hide behind the door. I let my heart steady itself before peering out. There's a man wearing a black cloak, his face concealed by a scarf and hood. He stands near the table, looking up at the stars. After a moment, he turns away and exits the room. I sigh in relief that he didn't see me. 

I leave the room and go down the darkened hallways. I can hear the distant sound of hymns, and I shiver. Why do Magen have to be so creepy? I see the doors that lead outside, and slowly open one of them.

I regret being in my pyjamas as soon as the wind hits me. I'm about to reach the shed -- I refuse to call it an arux, since I'm sure 'slumber' doesn't come easily there -- when three silver orbs draw my gaze. Except, they're not orbs.

They are moons.

"Wow!"

Harriad told me about the moons before, and to be honest I didn't think too much of it, but looking at them now, standing under their soft, glittering light, I can't turn away. They are smaller than the moon in the human realm, and each one hangs behind the other. I had thought that Duwyn was another planet, but Dad said it was another realm. Well, you don't need to look around to see how different this realm is to the one I grew up in; the air itself tastes of magic and stardust. It's hard to imagine that if I were to walk outside the Temples of Elswyr's vicinity, such a beautiful night would be full of terror.

The cold bites at me again, so I force myself to look away and run towards the shed. I open the door without knocking. It's dark, but the moonlight filtering through the small window provides enough light for me to make the kytaen out. He's not looking at me, though he seems annoyed at my presence.

I stand stiff, my earlier confidence waning. It's not his beauty that reminds me to be nervous of him, but his unknowness. It's easy to forget he isn't human when he looks human, and that he is in fact another being altogether, one I didn't know existed until yesterday. I remember the fiery gaze of his bestial form, hostile and unrelenting, enough to set me alight. His eyes still reflect this aggression, but it's not as severe. I squash the anxiousness down into a dark place, and smile. 

"I sneaked you these," I say. I show him the bread and blanket.

He glances at them. "Why?"

I raise an eyebrow. "Unless surviving's become an old fad, I was brought up to believe eating is kind of a priority."

He stares at me for a moment. "I don't eat."

"Wow! Wish I could be a hard-core dieter like you, but then, I kind of enjoy living."

He answers me with a dark look. I stay unflinching. I will not be intimidated.

"If you don't eat, what then? D'you leech off me?" I ask. "Drink my blood?"

He says nothing in reply, but his nose crinkles as if in irritation.

"Don't talk much, I see," I say. "Hey, don't worry, I may be the great, extraordinary, phenomenal Pulsar, but I don't bite."

He narrows his eyes. Well, it's something, at least. I'm determined to get him to talk, or at least to grumble.    

Giselle Simlett was born in England. She has studied Creative Writing at both Gloucestershire University and the Open University. She has a diploma in Creative Writing, Language and Literature, and will soon complete her BA Hons Open Degree.

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