Book Blitz & Giveaway!
Bound by Spells
by Stormy Smith
It’s always fun to talk about a second book, but we never want to spoil anything about the first one for you, so today, we have a special treat from Stormy Smith, author of the Bound Series. Right now, BOTH Bound by Duty and Bound by Spells are on sale for just 99 cents each on Amazon (US and UK).
To set this up, the Bound Series is a coming of age story. A clean, new adult, urban fantasy that has wracked up 190 5-star reviews between both books. Bound by Duty is the story from Amelia, our main character, and Bound by Spells alternates between Amelia and Aidan.
Right now, Bound by Duty is nominated for “Best Book Hangover” in the UtopYA 2015 awards and Bound by Spells was endorsed by USA Today’s Happy Ever After blog as “paranormal gold.”
For my part in this book blitz I've decided to go for the excerpt from Bound by Duty as I know many people who read this post, like me, haven't read it yet. I have to say though, I'm quite impressed by this excerpt and definitely fancy getting the book now!
What in the hell am I doing here? The thought raced through my head for the hundredth time. I scrubbed
both hands over my face and back through my hair, yanking on it a little and
trying to reason with myself.
You’re going to freak her out.
She doesn’t even know you.
‘Oh, hi, Amelia. I know you don’t know
me but I’ve been watching you the last few weeks and I think we’d get along
great. No, I’m not a creeper. Trust me.’
I groaned and dropped my head down. I was
sitting under some kind of beach pergola on a picnic table that had seen better
days. If I even took a deep breath it might crumple under me. I was hiding and
I knew it. It’s bad enough I heard Amelia and her friend talking about this
party and then psyched myself into showing up, but now I have totally chickened
out. I wasn’t interested in the party or the drunk chicks upstairs. Just her.
I don’t normally get worked up like this
but she has me all turned around. I’d been watching Amelia Bradbury since the
first day of class. I was the charmer. I knew from years of experience with
foster families how to make sure people liked me, but she never even gave me a
chance. She wanted to hide and never once even looked my way. I could see it in
the way her eyes darted all over the room without making eye contact with
anyone. And in the way she wore her hair down, trying to hide behind the long,
dark strands. She sat in the back, forcing me to the outer edges of the room so
that I could keep watching without making it obvious. When she got up she would
often run into things, but never people, clutching her backpack before hustling
to the next place.
The first time I saw her relax was by
accident. I was in the commons eating and suddenly, there she was. Her eyes lit
up and her posture straightened. She yanked the band from her wrist and flipped
her head down, coming back up with it in a ponytail. It was the first time I’d
been able to truly see her and I was captivated. Her eyes couldn’t decide what
color they wanted to be and floated between brown and green. Some people would
call it hazel but they didn’t mix so much as shift as the light hit them. She
was thin but curved. I wanted to run my hands from her shoulders to her hips
just to feel the dip and flare. I turned, anxiety flooding my system, and found
the source of her joy…another girl. I let go of a breath I hadn’t known I was
holding and couldn’t stop the laugh the erupted from my chest. Amelia strode
up, gave the blond a hug, and they immediately started talking. Then the blond
spoke and Amelia laughed. It was music to my deaf ears and something inside me
came alive. I wanted to be the one to do that. I wanted to make her laugh. For
the first time in my life I was jealous of a girl.
I was ready to call it. Being here on this
picnic bench was ridiculous and there was no way I was going to have the balls
to walk up to her now. I had completely psyched myself out of having any kind
of shot at this. I was ready to get up and head for my car when I heard someone
bouncing down the stairs. I worried first that something was wrong. Their feet
pattered down so quickly I thought they might be running. I stayed in my spot
in the shadows, but tensed my body in case I had to move quickly. Lately I had
had way too much excess energy and I’d been spending a lot of time in the gym.
I could do some damage if it came down to it. The last thing I expected was to
see shoes flipping off and long legs soaring through the air as Amelia leapt
from the last step and landed softly out into the sand. For just a moment she
was suspended mid-air and I could have sworn she was flying. When she hit the
beach she didn’t miss a beat, her feet moving her swiftly toward the water.
Her body was long and lean. A ballerina but
with curves. She was so focused on the water that it wasn’t until she was ankle
deep and had dropped her head back, a small satisfied smile pulling at her
lips, that she realized she wasn’t alone. I had barely moved, a low groan
coming from the bench underneath me. Her whole body stiffened in what I assumed
was fear. I felt like an intruder. This was going to be a great way for us to
meet, surely. But, you shouldn’t blow opportunities when they come. Or so said
my last caseworker before I turned eighteen and had been accepted into
Brighton’s community college. No sense in turning back now.
“So, you’re hiding from them, too, huh?” I
was going for charming. Like I had some kind of game. But the words felt like
peanut butter in my mouth and I was glad she couldn’t see my reddened face from
where she was standing. Amelia slowly turned toward me, her voice small as she
squinted and tried to see me better. “Do I know you?”
I felt like even more of a tool. She had no
idea who I was. She stared my way for a few more seconds and then whipped
around, facing back out into the water. I watched her chest moving quickly, her
breaths coming too fast. I slowly started to move toward her, worried she might
be getting a little too freaked out and wanting to reassure her that I wasn’t
actually a sociopath.
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” I
said, trying to keep my voice steady but soft. She turned to face me slowly and
the full moon sliced its light just perfectly to illuminate me but keep her
face mostly shadowed. She was close enough that I could see her eyes widen and
roam from my nose to my knees, without ever meeting my own. I stood up a little
taller and couldn’t stop the smirk as I realized I might have some of the same effect
on her that she had on me. She raked her gaze up and down and it wasn’t until I
tried to get her attention that her eyes finally snapped back to mine.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I waved a hand
in front of her face and said, “Hello?” Then the Amelia I knew came back in a
mad rush. She fumbled over her words, looking anywhere but at me. She tugged at
the ends of her hair and a tried to walk away, but I couldn’t let her. I wasn’t
ready to let her go yet and I needed to know her. I couldn’t stop myself from
reaching out and taking her arm. It was our first contact and I don’t know what
I had expected, but it wasn’t heat blooming under my fingertips or her
heartbeat inside my head. In milliseconds of my skin on hers she was inside me,
and I knew I’d never get her out.
“Wait. Just wait.” More quiet, controlled
words. I couldn’t let her leave. I had to keep her there. I had to keep
touching her. “I’ve seen you before. You’re Amelia, right?” Normal, Aidan. Act
normal.
“Yeah,” she whispered. I had forced her to
look at me and I would swear to any judge that we wore the same expression. She
felt something. I knew she did.
“We have a couple classes together, but you
always sit in the back and never say anything.” Dammit. So suave. So
charming. You’re an idiot, Montgomery
I was instantly ashamed. I watched her
reaction and I knew it too well. She squeezed her eyes shut and her lips
smashed together, holding in the pain of not fitting in. I might be a charmer
now, but I’d been sent away by enough families to know what I had just done.
“Oh, that was dumb. I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m
Aidan. Aidan Montgomery.” I took advantage of the opportunity to trail my
fingertips from her bicep down to her wrist and then folded her hand into mine,
shaking it softly. I felt fire the whole way and judging by the widening of her
eyes and the swift intake of breath, so did she. For a second, she gripped my
hand, but as our eyes connected again and I couldn’t stop my grin, she dropped
it and without a word took off running. I couldn’t move, my hand still in front
of me and my jaw hanging open, as I watched her bound up the stairs and
disappear. I dropped onto the hard-packed sand and didn’t bother to move as the
tide rose and the salty water surrounded me.
Well, that couldn’t have gone better.
---
Personally, I'm a little desperate to find out what's her problem. I definitely see a pretty exciting relationship developing from this is well!
Ready to read more? For the duration of this book blitz (June 11th to June 14th, 2015), BOTH Bound by Duty and Bound by Spells are on sale for just 99 cents each on Amazon (US and UK).
Buy the books:
-
Bound
by Duty (Bound Series, Book One) Release Date: July 24, 2014
-
Bound
by Spells (Bound Series, Book Two) Release Date: March 19, 2015
See UK Amazon link for Bound by Spells at the bottom of the post.
Bound
by Duty Synopsis: Amelia grew up in a world of
half-truths. She knows she's an Elder, but has no idea what that means. Her
father reminds her daily that she must maintain control, but he refuses to
explain why. Even worse, she's betrothed to the prince of the Immortals and
doesn't even know his name.
Finally breaking free to live a few normal
years at a community college, the last thing Amelia expects is to find her best
friend in a cheeky southern girl, or fall for a self-assured human who sees her
for who she is, not what she will become.
As she learns more about herself, Amelia
realizes the line between love and duty is a thin one. As her power continues
to increase exponentially and her questions are slowly answered, Amelia must
make the ultimate choice. The question is, will her head win the battle, or her
heart?
Bound
by Spells Synopsis: Aidan Montgomery hadn't been
prepared for Amelia Bradbury to walk in and then out of his life. He also
hadn't expected to find the powerful magic hidden deep within him for the last
nineteen years, but he's embracing it -- finding more control and more answers
every day. Now, with the help of Amelia's best friend, Bethany, Aidan is on a
quest to understand his destiny and find Amelia.
Amelia decided to stand by her duty, which
meant walking away from her first chance at love. Trapped in Cresthaven at the
Queen's mercy, she spends her days with Micah -- an ally she still holds at
arm's length -- struggling to manage her heartbreak while keeping her mind
focused on the task at hand. As she continues to unlock the secrets of the
Keeper power, Queen Julia's true motives reveal themselves, forcing Amelia to
decide, yet again, how much she's willing to sacrifice.
Will Aidan get to Amelia before it's too
late, or will the very power that sustains them keep them apart?
Giveaway!
Blitz-wide giveaway (INTL)
a Rafflecopter giveaway
"Featuring a cast of
mages and shapeshifters with unique magical abilities, one
destiny-shaping prophecy, a genocidal megalomaniac, and a budding, heated
romance (or two!), this book is paranormal gold! Read the first book in the
series first, of course, but once you finish this one you're sure to be
salivating for the next release in this not-to-be-missed romantic
paranormal series."
-- Serena Chase, USA Today's
Happy Ever After blog
Links
Goodreads
Amazon UK
Amazon US
Abi Ainley
