Rising from the Ashes
I sometimes think of writers as being in a
proverbial boxing ring, gloves up, bobbing, on our toes as we take punch after
punch of rejection. I used to get it daily with my morning cup of tea, like
some kind of tooth-breaking biscuit that I had to swallow. It’s a fact that
unless you’re really lucky – and by
lucky, I’m talking trip-over-a-gold-ingot-and-land-on-the-winning-lottery-ticket
lucky – you’re going to get hit over and over with the usual bland not for me but keep trying. I still
dream of those achingly polite emails. *shudders* We’re no strangers to hitting
bottom, where you stare at your words until they begin to form a fuzzy question
mark of doubt.
Neither is the heroine in my book, Ashes. Ana is a phoenix, the last of the
royal line, and as such is scrutinized growing up for every part of her that
doesn’t fit in – and sadly for her, that’s everything. The only person who
allows her to be herself is her adored bodyguard, Cade, a shifter runaway. When
even he rejects her love, Ana flounders, desperate for a safe place. Her
parents are murdered, suspicion cast on her, so she flees her home to the
broken city where nobody will expect to find phoenix royalty. Forget bottom,
she’s hit hell.
But a phoenix was born to rise again, and
it doesn’t take long before her true self comes out swinging. And then Cade
returns to fan the flames…
It’s easy to curl into a ball and listen to
the doubt, that nagging whisper that never seems to offer praise, only
criticism. The hard part is pushing that aside and standing back up, rising
from the ashes of self-doubt and triumphing. Cue trumpets. We all get knocked
back, and like Ana, run from rejection. But like Ana, we all have to push aside
the negatives and search for a way to thrive.
Before Ashes
I’d written five books which were all rejected in various emails from agents
and publishers. Seven years on from when I’d finished my first book, I wrote in
my diary: Got another rejection. Struck
with unbelievable self-doubt.
The very next day, I got a contract offer
for Ashes.
Have you ever hit bottom only to soar to
greater heights?
Ashes
The Divided Kingdom
Book One
Sophie H. Morgan
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd
Date of Publication: 21 April 2015
ISBN: 9781619225756
ASIN: B00U3M5Z96
Number of pages: 318
Word Count: approx. 99540
Cover Artist: Kanaxa
Book Description:
Secrets can burn.
Reared from birth to rule the Phoenix territory, Ana fled her future and her past when her parents were murdered. Now she secretly leads a rebellion to stop the human ruler, Edward, from experimenting on supernaturals.
When she finds herself cornered by an assassin, she knows just what to do: Roast him and toast him. Then recognition sends blue-tipped flames licking through her veins. It’s Cade, the royal bodyguard who once rejected her youthful confession of love.
When Cade regains consciousness from the force of Ana’s punch, he’s still reeling from shock—and fury. He’d loved the princess, and for ten years he thought her dead. Though his inner jackal growls with desire for her, she is the key to completing his mission for Edward—hunt down the rebel known as Liberty.
Ana can’t believe Cade doesn’t know the truth about Edward. If she can convince him of it, his blade could turn the tide of the rebellion. But first they must get beyond their past, or the whole kingdom could go up in smoke.
Product Warnings
Contains incendiary sex between a phoenix princess with a secret identity, and a jackal shifter who can take a lot of heat. Boys from the “hood”, a king jacked up on enhanced DNA, and killer heels. Anybody got a match?
Excerpt:
A smile played
over his lips, a knowing one. “You were mine, once.”
When his thumb
brushed her cheekbone, dipping down to rub her bottom lip, it was all she could
do not to purr. For whatever reasons, this man could get beneath her barriers.
He could make her lose control.
But he made her
remember the past, something that threatened the foundation of the life she’d
built for herself.
The door
swinging into darkness. Cold, oozing puddles that cling stickily to bare feet.
A young voice, wavering as she called out for her parents. Her locket a dull
gold, mottled with red where it lay.
With effort, Ana
jerked her chin away from his touch. “Get your hands off me, Cade.” With a thin
smile, she added, “Only the vampire has those rights.”
That flash of
anger. For some reason, the man in front still viewed her as partly his—the
jackal, maybe, claiming her. Except jackals were solitary animals.
A growl rumbled
through his chest. Keeping eye contact, he stood. When he leaned forward, she
flinched, unable to help herself. Whether she was afraid of being touched or
tortured, she didn’t know.
His arms flexed
with muscle as he worked at something about her head. Something clunked, and
the chains fell away from her with a heavy jangle. They lay on the bedspread,
innocent and coiled like a false snake.
Grasping she was
free, Ana slid from the bed. “Son of a bitch,” she spat, putting out a hand to
help steady her. “Iron?”
She lunged at
him, confused when her body refused to cooperate. Her biker boots hit the floor
as she landed, tottering, two feet away from her intended target.
Focusing inward,
she registered how cold her embers were. They barely glittered, a few
halfhearted sparks at her prompting. A breath hissed from her.
Phoenixes
radiated at around one hundred and twenty degrees; she’d wager she was
operating on about human temperature. The lack of heat in the room and lack of
food and water equaled her core running on empty. Even as she thought it, the
sparks began to disintegrate, sucking inward to preserve the embers at her
core.
Determined, she
fought through the weakness, charging Cade.
He allowed
himself to be thrust backward. “You’re too cold,” he commented. “Hungry. You
can’t hurt me.”
“You wanna bet?”
Her knee jerked
upward, narrowly blocked by Cade’s hand.
“Don’t even try
it.” He pushed her away, making her stagger from weak knees. “You’ll be on your
back quicker than an eager whore. Then again,” he continued, the jackal’s
obvious pleasure at the verbal sparring spinning through his wicked smile,
“maybe you’d enjoy that.”
With a vengeful
shriek, Ana went for him. She jabbed with her fists, using her elbows when that
didn’t work. He avoided all her blows, laughing with a gut-deep amusement.
When she used
her scissor-kick, she saw her mistake too late as he caught her legs and
flipped her to the dirty gray carpet. He was on top of her before she could
curse, lazy amusement swirling like phoenix smoke.
His arms caged
her as an old dimple flashed. “What did I say?”
His weight
suddenly pressed down on her abdomen slashes. A wince tugged at her face before
she could stop it, a hiss pouring from between her teeth.
His face changed
immediately. “Fires above, Alana, you should have said something.”
“I thought you’d
hurt me if it was necessary.” She shoved him off her. He let her, a hunter
tracking her as she stumbled away. She dropped into the chair he’d claimed
earlier, unwilling to admit her jelly limbs. “You’re all mouth.”
A slow smile
spread over his face while his eyes altered to a dark velvet. Damn. She’d
always been a sucker for the shadow-drenched eyes.
He stalked
nearer, the jackal’s satisfied rumble curling out of his mouth as strong hands
came down over hers on the chair’s arms.
She couldn’t
dislodge him. Curses spilled from her as panic, not for her life but for something
more prized, surged up her throat. “Don’t you come near me, Cade Lorin.”
“All mouth?” he
repeated, his voice that dark drawl he’d once whispered her name with. “I’ll
show you all mouth.”
About the Author:
Sophie H. Morgan is a paranormal romance author with a love for hot guys, sassy heroines and HEAs that seem impossible. Currently residing in England, Sophie divides her time between her two crazy spaniels and plotting how best to drive her characters into each other’s arms. Ashes is her first book.
@SophieHMorgan
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment