Better than expected success with The Dream Land trilogy (yes, other people beside my mother bought it, despite almost no promotion aside from social media).
Had my first guest blogger here (Kate Bitters, author of Elmer Left.), and had my first guest blogging experience there (on The Bitter Blog). Both were totally awesome (still a bit tingling from it all).
Now comes the opportunity to introduce my Myrddin Publishing colleague, Joan Hazel, and her newest novel, Burdens of a Saint, the second book in The Guardians series, which involves shape-shifters--and werewolves? (Book 1 is The Last Guardian.)
It may be hard to believe but, in her busy life, Joan Hazel has written three novels that range from paranormal fantasy to contemporary to historical fiction. She's also an accomplished actress and vocalist, and has performed with companies across the eastern United States.
In her spare time, if there is any, she plays with a colorful cast of characters who live in her head. Currently she resides in DeLand, Florida, with her husband, Ricky, and their two "fur kids"--which I suppose means wolves?
So what is this paranormal novel about? Here's a clip from the back cover of the paperback (also available for Kindle):
Your life will
change today...
When Janet
Beesinger writes the words in red on her calendar, she has no idea what they
mean. But, as a psychic, she knows when the universe gifts you with personal
information, you listen. How was she to
know the Universe meant an irritating and sexy shape-shifter who would
challenge everything about her life?
Saint Wolfe can
feel the gravity of his arrangement with the goddess Hel closing in around him,
forcing him to confront his past and the betrayal of the woman he was to marry.
Needing to make peace with his past, he returns to New Orleans in search of
forgiveness, only to be confronted by his own immortality. His only hope for
atonement lies in the hands of a woman claiming to be a psychic. Will she be
able to help Saint find salvation before his debt to Hel comes due?
“Geeze, Mom, get a room!” Eric’s voice broke
the silence between Saint and Janet, causing them both to jump back.
“I agree with the kid. Get a room.” Saint
looked past the young man to find his older brother standing there. He heard
the small whimper escape Janet’s throat before she pushed past everyone and
disappeared through the curtains to Princess Ryhinni’s reading room.
“What did you do to my mom?” Eric asked,
stepping up to Saint.
“Who? Me?” Saint stammered. “I did nothing to
your mother.”
Though the teenager was quite a bit smaller
than Saint, he didn’t back down. “Yeah? Then why was she crying?”
“You are the one who blurted out for her to
seek shelter,” Saint defended.
“To seek shelter? What are you talking about?”
Eric asked.
“You said to get a room, which makes very
little sense considering you live here.”
“Whatever, dude. I know she rented that room
to you, but don’t think that just because you made us breakfast, you can be my
new dad.” Eric said, poking Saint in the chest. “Stay away from my mom.” Eric
stormed up the stairs. The ceiling reverberated with each of Eric’s footsteps,
culminating in a WHAM.
Saint stared, wide-eyed, at his brother. “What
was that all about?”
“You tell me,” Fergus said.
“Was I wrong? Is that not what he meant by
'get a room'?”
“You are too literal, you know that?”
Saint’s brow knitted together. He did know he
took things literally. Ghost had accused him of that quite frequently, but
language usage changed too rapidly for him to keep up with every little nuance.
Fergus grinned. “He meant you looked like the
Big Bad Wolf about to devour Little Red Riding Hood.
“Preposterous!” Saint exclaimed. “She was
merely....”
“Merely what?”
“She was merely telling me my fortune.”
Fergus crossed his arms over his chest and
leaned against the bookshelf. “Is that what you kids are calling it these
days?”
Saint adjusted his vest. “Well, I’ve never!”
Fergus grinned widely. “Keep looking at Little Red like that and
you will.”
 |
| Wolf or Saint? |
Where to contact author Joan Hazel:
Website: www.joanhazel.com
Twitter: @guardianwriter
I'm looking forward to the third book in this series! Happy reading! Awooooooo!
(That last bit was intended to be representative of a wolf's howl. Close? ...Close enough?)
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(C) Copyright 2010-2014 by Stephen M. Swartz. All Rights Reserved. No part of this blog, whether text or image, may be used without me giving you written permission, except for brief excerpts that are accompanied by a link to this entire blog. Violators shall be written into novels as characters who are killed off. Serious violators shall be identified and dealt with according to the laws of the United States of America.
I love this excerpt (and the wolf howl at the end)! It's a great book - I can't wait to see what Joan comes up with next!
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