YA Book Addict: BLOG TOUR - GUEST POST, EXCERPT & GIVEAWAY: Daughter of the Red Dawn by Alicia Michaels

Title: Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada Book One)

Genre: YA Fantasy/YA Romance

Length: Novel

Publisher: Anchor Group

Description: These are dark times in the land of Fallada, and I fear that they will only continue to grow darker. Only the return of those we’ve lost will even the score.

It will begin with first line of the prophecy, which foretells of a red sun over the desert sky…

--Adrah, Queen of the Fae

On the outside, seventeen year-old Selena McKinley is like any other teenage girl. Yet Selena has always felt as if she doesn’t belong and is counting the days to graduation and her freedom from the small town that makes her feel so out of place, when the arrival of a stranger turns her world upside down. Selena will learn just how different she is and the truth of where she comes from.

A lost princess, they call her, the catalyst for a war involving a world that Selena was taken from as a child. An evil queen obsessed with her own beauty with a plan to enslave the human race.…the notion seems so silly, yet Selena knows in her heart that it is true. Then there is Titus, the shape shifter whose blue eyes and claims of destiny hold her heart captive. Can Selena find the strength to do what she must while following her heart?

Release Date: October, 2012

Excerpt:

As Selena contemplated taking another lap around the field, she turned and found the lone figure of a boy standing at the edge of the meadow, which was ringed by cedar trees. Her eyes widened as she took him in from head to toe: impossibly black hair falling into his eyes, stony features, long legs, and slender form. In his skinny jeans, Converse sneakers, black t-shirt, and sleek sunglasses, he was unlike any other guy she’d ever seen in Twin Oaks, where Wranglers and large belt buckles were the dress code.

He raised his chin slightly in acknowledgement and Selena stood rooted to the spot, unable to move or even utter a sound as the boy stepped into the tall grass. The sun glinted off of his black hair, giving it a slightly bluish tinge, and his dark sunglasses mirrored her reflection to her as he closed the distance between them. The grass seemed to part to make way for him, and Selena couldn’t make her legs function as he approached.

He is strange, she thought as he stopped in front of her with his hands in his pockets. But strange was good. It meant that she was now one of two people that didn’t belong in Twin Oaks.

“Hey,” he said.

One word, but Selena couldn’t help but notice the silky smooth tone of his voice. He smiled, showcasing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. The canines were a bit on the long side but she liked them. She also liked his pale blue eyes, which he revealed by pushing his glasses up into his hair.

“Hi,” she answered back breathlessly. She tried to smile, but her lips wouldn’t move. She fiddled with the strap of her backpack instead.

“I’m Titus,” he said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Selena,” she answered.

“Pretty name,” he said.

“Thanks. I like your glasses.”

I like your eyes. I like your hair. I like your skin.

Selena bit back the words, embarrassed by her almost instant crush on the cute stranger.

“Are you new in town?” she asked, trying her best not to gawk at him and failing miserably. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”

“Not that new,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve seen you around a lot, at school, on the track field, at the Dairy Queen.”

Selena’s eyes widened in surprise. “You have?”

He nodded, a sly smile spreading across his face. “Oh yeah. When I saw you today walking through this field I thought, ‘now’s the perfect chance to get to meet the prettiest girl in Twin Oaks’.”

Selena couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Prettiest girl in Twin Oaks? Hadn’t he laid eyes on Allyson, the cheerleader with the biggest boobs a teenage girl had a right to have? Or Janelle, who’s long, perfectly shaped legs had earned her the honor of being captain of the dance squad? Or what about Trisha, whose hair was that perfect shade of blond that most girls had to buy a box of hair color to achieve?

This guy obviously didn’t get out much.

Selena snorted. “Yeah right.”

“It’s true,” he said, taking another step toward her. Selena felt her hands shaking as he reached up to stroke a lock of her straight, red hair. “Besides, you’re different and I like different.”

“You must be the only guy in town that does.”

He laughed. “Would you believe me if I told you that we were two of a kind? That I’m as different as you are?”

Selena frowned. “What do you mean?”

He leaned even closer, his nose nearly touching hers as his grin widened. His white teeth flashed in the sunlight, the sharp canines displayed proudly.

“I saw you,” he whispered. “Running.”

Selena clutched her stomach as she felt nausea welling up in her. From the expression on his face, it was obvious that he didn’t mean to say he’d seen her on the track at school. How could she have been so stupid? She hardly ever allowed herself the freedom to run uninhibited in broad daylight. She had thought herself alone, completely oblivious to the watching eyes of a boy named Titus.

What to do?

Titus’ smile was blinding, a flash of white teeth that left her stunned while she tried to find words … any words … even ‘please don’t tell my secret and make me end up on the six o’clock news, or on a lab table with a bunch of tubes coming out of my body’.

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. As panic gripped her, Selena could think of only one thing to do.

Run!

About the Author:

Alicia Michaels has always possessed a vivid imagination and strong ambition. At the age of 12 she decided that she wanted to be a writer, and promptly went about penning her first novel. Years later, she is releasing her first Young Adult Fantasy series based on the fairy tales as written by the Brothers Grimm.

When the Army wife and mother of two isn’t taking care of her home and family, she’s reading, writing, or arguing with the characters in her mind. She also enjoys cooking, movies, and music. Oh, and a good cup of coffee.

Social media and Web Links:

Website/blog: www.fantasybyalicia.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/fantasybyalicia

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/alicia_michaels

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fantasybyalicia

Email: fantasybyalicia@yahoo.com

Shape shifters and Breaking All The Rules

By Alicia Michaels

Am I the only person that’s sick of all the Twilight rip-offs out there? I mean, it seems that ever since the explosion of the movies on the big screen and the resulting fan frenzy, the book publishers and movie makes are churning out vampire and werewolf stories like clockwork. It’s everywhere, it’s popular, and to honest, before I started work on Daughter of the Red Dawn, it was getting on my nerves.

I’ve never been one for vampires—still am not, if I’m being honest—and werewolves were on my list of ridiculous book characters just behind them. I would never write about them. I would not fall into the trap of becoming the kind of person that writes about sparkly vampires or shirtless werewolves.

Then, I started plotting the Lost Kingdom of Fallada Series. I knew going in that I wanted it to be loosely based on the fairytales of the Brothers Grimm. I knew that I would create a fantasy world that incorporated all of the fairytale characters and mythical creatures into one setting because it’s so hard to choose my favorite: faeries, elves, dwarves….Yeah, I’m one of those people that can’t wait for movies like The Hobbit to be released. After drafting up my plans for the kingdom and base of the series plot, I then started studying my fairytales and trying to decide where to go first. Little Red Cap, or Little Red Riding Hood as we know her in America, became the star of the my first book. I knew immediately who she would be. Selena, a seventeen year old girl who lives in the boonies with her grandmother; sound familiar? Yeah, so by now I’m guessing you know where the big bad wolf comes into play. Groaning in defeat, I capitulated and broke my own rule against werewolves and shape shifters by writing Titus, Selena’s love interest, hunter, and a sexy shape shifting werewolf to boot.

Turns out, I’m not so opposed to the idea of people morphing into animals. Instead of trying to go with what I’d read in books or watched in movies, I formed my own ideas about how the animal and human characteristics of a shifter would combine into one personality. Loyalty, heart, courage, and companionship were ingrained into Titus’ personality, as well as a controlled ferocity and strong sense of family. In the end, all of my preconceived notions about shifters and werewolves went out the window and I wrote from the heart. After all, there is always room for the creation of new and different ideas in Paranormal Fantasy, and that’s what I love most about the genre. The freedom to break the rules.

What’s next, you may ask? Well, I might just break some more of my strict rules and write about vampires someday. Not tomorrow, mind you, because I don’t think they fit anywhere into the world of Fallada or Little Red Riding Hood. But, hey, anything is possible if a girl like me can get on the shape shifter band wagon!

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Tour Schedule

October 1: The Romance Writer’s Reads

Promo Post, Extended Excerpt, Giveaway, Guest Review

October 3: Candace Shaw

www.candaceshaw.net

Promo Post, Interview, Extended Excerpt

October 5: Sapphyria’s Book Reviews

http://saphsbookblog.blogspot.com/

Promo Post, Extended Excerpt, Giveaway

October 6: Bex N Books

http://bexnbooks.blogspot.com.au