Love Chosen by Marne Ann Kirk
Book One
Genre: Fantasy
Romance
Publisher: Crescent Moon Press
ISBN: 978-1937254490
ASIN: 978-1-937254-50-6
Number of pages: 277
Word Count: 86,100 words
Book Description:
For millennia,
dragon and fae have peacefully co-existed, but the fae themselves have lived
segregated and very different lives.
Now a malevolence
threatens to separate them all permanently. Can a Queen's guard and a
rebellious outlaw join forces to defeat this common enemy?
Tyler's touch
sparks fierce desire, drawing Issie to him, but she despises his way of life
and all that palace society represents. If he learns she wields majic to help
the less fortunate escape the kingdom, he'll charge her with treason. Her
punishment - death.
Issie is a sassy
rebel who is constantly looking for ways to circumvent the conventions of their
society. Tyler's head warns that she's a non-majical lower, beneath him. His
heart sees by her inner strength and outer beauty. Only a binding love will
lend them strength to save her life - their world.
Guest Post:
List of Favorite Movies that Influence Me
First, thank you so much for having
me today, Alisia. Crazy side-note: my mother was a twin, and she had older twin
siblings, so I always hoped I’d have twins. I didn’t, but I’m holding out hope
for my children to have twins.
And back to the blog…I love talking
about movies, so the idea of a list of favorite ones that influenced me was
fantastic and such fun! And, anything that influences me influences my writing,
right?
First let me say, I think
movies—good, bad, or eh?—are like vacations without all of the baggage and
planning. We get to experience so much within a very short period of time, and
the really well done ones can alter our perceptions…without us even realizing
it. It’s a powerful thing, the theatre…
Anyhoo, here’s my list of top ten
(plus a bonus one, and my first love story fave, Grease…I think it and Han Solo
of Star Wars started my too long love affair with the Bad Boy):
Star Wars
Titanic
Grease
Avatar
The Little Mermaid
Underworld (I loved
them all)
The Matrix (I loved
them all)
The Fifth Element
Dirty Dancing (the
original version)
Tangled
Anastasia
It’s amazing, as you go through and
think about movies that have influenced you, the ones speaking to you every day
and the ones that kind of…well, depend on your mood. Like, for instance, I
love-Love-LOVE Total Recall (oh, oh… I see another blog article); but I just
saw the remake (loved the steampunk element to it, btw), and it left me
feeling…confused, a bit like a traitor to the original. I saw myself comparing
the two, finding one lacking some times and the other lacking at other times.
Needless to say, it’s not on my list where last week it might have been.
I’ve noticed another interesting
tidbit about myself, by listing my faves (other than I totally dated myself and
I’m o.l.d.)…
I’m a bit of a sci-fi/fantasy geek.
Oh Gawd! Please, don’t tell anyone. I have an image to maintain… Okay, I just
celebrated my twentieth anniversary of being legally boring and I have seven
kids (six of which are old enough to serve our country). I have no image of
cool.
Eh-Hem…Moving on…
So how, you might ask, have these
movies inspired me?
I remember when I saw Star Wars at
a drive-in theatre in Michigan. Even at six, I understood and appreciated the
love story between Princess Leah and Luke…and her little thing with Hans Solo
(the hussy). I spent the rest of the summer (and probably through the next, as
well), playing Star Wars with my brothers and friends, wishing I was Princess
Leah and being cast into the role Chewbacca instead.
Hey! Don’t laugh. I learned a lot
about taking one for the team that year.
Seriously though, I was at the
perfect age for Star Wars to alter me for life. The idea of one person, or a
select few, being the means to saving worlds, that one can change the course of
everything…that is profound hope. I dream of influencing someone, some day, in
such a way. Epic.
Skip ahead a few years, to The
Titanic…Hello? Who doesn’t want a man to love you so much he would take a
beating, be willing to give up his freedom, and even FREEZE to DEATH for you,
instead of pushing your rich keister into the ocean and saving himself? That is
some serious love, there. It affected me, it influenced my writing. I want my
hero to be willing to DIE for the girl…even if I don’t think she deserves him.
As for the three Disney movies on
my list, The Little Mermain, Anastasia, and Tangled… who doesn’t love Disney?
Who doesn’t see the brilliance in the music, the animation, the story-lines? Oh
my goodness, there were very few movies by Disney I didn’t love…but I can’t
list them all in my top ten. Other movies I can’t put in the top 10: The
Nightmare Before Christmas, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Island, and The Village.
Now you know a bit about me. Tell
me, what are your faves? Why?
Excerpt:
Tyler pushed his way
through the onlookers. They reeked of sex and sweat. The foul odor made his
eyes water and his vision blur as he forced his way to the front of the crowd,
almost stepping on the female lying in a heap on the floor. He turned, saw his
guards at the rear of the crowd, and addressed the unfortunate Lowers. “Leave
now.”
He turned back to the
scene, expecting them to follow his orders. Disgust filled him as he assessed
the scene. Blood pooled on the bed where two bodies laid holding each other.
The heads from both bodies were missing. He wouldn’t bother searching for them
now. He wouldn’t find them. The killer, it seemed, liked to keep the heads as
trophies.
Tyler sighed, becoming
aware again of the others crowding the room. When he found those heads, he’d
find the sick bastard who did this.
“But what ‘bout
Lenore?”
“I ‘eard Issie
scream.”
“She all right?”
One chattered over the
next in their efforts to find out what happened. They weren’t listening to him.
His eye twitched. He
hated when that happened.
How could he make
these dullards leave? Did they not see the violent murders on the bed? Or did
they not care? Were their lives so barren and meaningless, death didn’t bother
them?
His gaze fell on the
female at his feet. Her face covered by her mass of honeyed tresses, she lay in
a limp pile, her robes undone and revealing a creamy swell of ample breast.
The two victims in the
bed were beyond help, but this unconscious female held the concern of the
others.
He knelt by her side
and lifted her in his arms. She smelled clean, like moss and sea air, instead
of the sweaty body he’d expected. Her hair caressed his arm when he stood with
her nestled to his chest. It fell like a lowered curtain and hung almost to his
knees. A waterfall of honey.
She
felt right in his arms; her neck fit into the crook of his shoulder, her breath
warmed his chest like she belonged there.
Where
had such a thought come from? He didn’t associate with the powerless Lower
class. Ever.
He
pushed aside a rising need to draw her even nearer.
Tyler
faced the crowd again. “As you can see, she sleeps. She’s not injured. Now go.
All of you.” He fixed a few of them with the glacial silver stare which always
yielded results. “Go back to your beds. I’m Tyler, of the High Council. My
warriors will take care of this.”
“But,
Issie. Is she hurt?” one barmaid asked, wrapping her arms around her waist as
if she feared retching.
“You,
take me to Issie’s rooms. The rest of you, go. She’ll be fine.” Or at least
I’ll be, if I can have some quiet to think.
“But--”
”What
‘bout Lenore? She pass through the gates?”
Everyone
began speaking at once, like a gathering of Lower younglings after a sweet.
They had no regard for his orders. Such disrespect was unacceptable. He had to
get this under control.
”Go,”
he roared, silencing the room.
The
crowd shuffled down the hall and disappeared behind different doors. Bits of
conversation-- “Can’t believe Lenore’s gone,” and “who could do such a thing?”
--floated back to him.
Who
indeed? The fae were peaceful caretakers for the dragons. Murder
didn’t happen among them. It was a coarse crime of the mortals--until three
moons ago. And now, it had happened again--to another messenger and another
whore-maid.
Author Bio:
Marne Ann Kirk grew
up wild, exploring the vast high deserts and mountains of the West with her
family as a child. Marne Ann loved making up stories and, well, lied about just
about everything. Thankfully, she grew out of the lying stage...now she calls
it story-telling.
Her debut novel,
“Love Chosen: Book One of The Fae Dragon Chronicles,” is available now. “Love
Dared: Book Two of The Fae Dragon Chronicles,” is coming soon. “Goddess on the
Run,” a paranormal romance, will be available September 17, 2012. You can find
out more about Marne Ann through her publisher, Crescent Moon Press, or visit
her at: www.marneannkirk.com or www.cowboysndragonscafe.blogspot.com
Twitter: MarneAnn
Like what you see? Follow me!
Check Out My Bookmarks! Page ^
Thank you, again, for having me on your blog Alisia. I'd love to mention, I also have a paranormal romance, Goddess on the Run, just RELEASED! I'm a bit excited about it, too. I'll be around, so please let's talk movies...
ReplyDeleteHi Marne - I just watch Battleship with my dh. Pretty good for an action flick with a touch of romance.
ReplyDeleteOh, I did like Battleship, Lynn. Except I didn't like it at all when they killed off my Alexandar Skarsgard. Blew the hottie right out of the water. It was a sad, sad day hottie-hunters everywhere...
DeleteThanks for dropping in!
Hi Marne,
ReplyDeleteI really like your remark about movies being vacations without baggage. I never thought of it that way, but you are absolutely correct. Like you, I would have a tough time limiting myself to a list of ten favorites. I love just about all of the ones you mentioned (except for Tangled and The Island, but only because I haven't seen them). I would also add To Kill a Mockingbird, The Help, all the Harry Potters, Jaws, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Fatal Attraction, Good Will Hunting, Bridget Jones Diary....boy, I could just go on and on! LOL!
Oh,and A Room With a View. That's another big favorite! :)
ReplyDeleteBoy, Maura. That's quite a list there, lol! I have to catch Good Will Hunting and A Room with a View, but other than that, I'm right there with you... Other than The Help. I can't bring myself to watch it... And I don't know why. Some movies strike you, and some don't, you know?
ReplyDeleteAnyways, thanks for coming and hanging out with me for a bit!
G'night...
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