This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. S.R. Cronin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
GENRE: Historical Fantasy
Book Description
It’s the 1200’s, and the small realm of Ilari has had peace and prosperity for generations. That doesn’t mean everyone is happy, however.
Ryalgar, a spinster farm girl and the oldest of seven, has always preferred her studies to flirtation, yet even she finally meets her prince. Or so she thinks, until she discovers he’s already betrothed. Embarrassed, she flees her family’s farm to join the Velka, the mysterious women of the forest known for their magical powers and for living apart from men.
As a Velka, she develops her telekinesis and learns she has a talent for analyzing information. Both are going to come in handy. For she’s continued to meet her prince at the forest’s edge, thinking being his mistress isn’t such a bad deal. Then she learns more about his princely assignment. He’s tasked with training the army of Ilari to repel the feared Mongol horseman who’ve been moving eastward for years, killing all in their path. And, her prince is willing to sacrifice the outer farmlands where she grew up to these invaders, if he has to.
Ryalgar isn’t about to let that happen.
She’s got the Velka behind her now, as well as a multitude of university intellectuals, a family of tough farmers, and six sisters each with her own unique personality and talents.
Can Ryalgar organize all that into a resistance that will stop the Mongols? She thinks she can.
Book Excerpt
The woman I suspected was my grandmother stood waiting for me in the market. I struggled to remember her given name. Aliza? Aliz? Did the Velka keep their names? I had no idea. Yet it didn’t seem right to call her “Grandma.” What if I was wrong? What if she wanted nothing to do with me now that I knew her secret?
“Aliz?” It came out as a question as I strode up to her. She smiled when I said it.
“I’m so glad you’ve talked to your father. This nonsense has gone on long enough.” She reached her arms out towards me, to take my hands in hers.
I stopped where I stood, fidgeting with the coin purse in my hands. She made me nervous.
“Aliz will do for now,” she said. “I’m glad you came back.”
“I only came to tell you I figured out who you were. Even though I’ve been misled by everyone I trusted, I prefer truths.”
“Don’t we all. This ridiculous charade of being dead was hardly my idea.”
“Then what do you want from me?” It came out with more animosity than I intended, but she kept matching my defensiveness with warmth.
“I’m offering you a chance to get to know me,” she said. “If you want it. If you don’t, I’ll go back to being dead, at least as far as you’re concerned.”
“Don’t do that.” I finally managed a smile to soften my words. “This is a lot to sort through.”
Author Bio & Links
Sherrie Cronin is the author of a collection of six speculative fiction novels known as 46. Ascending and is now in the process of publishing a historical fantasy series called The War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters. A quick look at the synopses of her books makes it obvious she is fascinated by people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had.
She’s made a lot of stops along the way to writing these novels. She’s lived in seven cities, visited forty-six countries, and worked as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. Now she answers a hot-line. Along the way, she’s lost several cats but acquired a husband who still loves her and three kids who’ve grown up just fine, both despite how odd she is.
All her life she has wanted to either tell these kinds of stories or be Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise. She now lives and writes in the mountains of Western North Carolina, where she admits to occasionally checking her phone for a message from Captain Picard, just in case.
Author Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cinnabar01
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Number46Ascending
Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5805814.Sherrie_Cronin
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Sherrie-Cronin/e/B007FRMO9Q
Author Blog: https://sherriecronin.xyz/
Book Series Blog: https://troublesome7sisters.xyz/
S.R. Cronin will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Goddess Fish Promotions
September 4, 2020 at 5:46 amThanks for hosting!
S. R. Cronin
September 4, 2020 at 5:58 amThanks for hosting me here today.
Deborah Bailey
September 4, 2020 at 10:46 amYou’re welcome! Good luck on the tour!
S. R. Cronin
September 4, 2020 at 7:21 pmThanks and good luck with all of your interesting looking books too. I really like your blog!
Rita Wray
September 4, 2020 at 10:16 amI enjoyed the excerpt, thank you.
Victoria Alexander
September 4, 2020 at 11:39 amGreat post 🙂
Marisela Zuniga
September 4, 2020 at 10:53 pmthe cover looks so pretty!
James Robert
September 5, 2020 at 6:59 amSounds like a great read, thanks for sharing and for the giveaway.