Blogoversary Excerpt & Author Spotlight: King of Ash and Bone by Melissa Wright


I'm excited to have one of my favorite authors (who I enjoy chatting with much to often - she's seriously great!) Melissa Wright visiting today as part of my Blogoversary! Melissa sucked me into her Descendants world when I read the first book in that series, Bound by Prophecy, and I've been a fan ever since. I've been excited about the new series she just released the first book for and asked that she share a little bit of the book with all of you. You can check out my review here and her release-day blitz here. Check out the except below...

King of Ash and BoneKing of Ash and Bone
(Shattered Realms, #1)
by Melissa Wright
YA, NA, Urban Fantasy, SciFi
February 2nd 2015

Summary

When flying monsters break through the veil into her world, Mackenzie Scott has nothing left to lose. Her brother has been taken, her future has vanished, and all that remains is a desperate need for revenge. After discovering the breach the creatures used as a gateway, Mackenzie devises a plan to stop them, whatever the cost.

When she finds an injured stranger in the street, he just might be the key she needs to succeed. What Mackenzie doesn't know is that this stranger isn't the helpless boy he appears to be. He's one of the monsters. And he's got plans of his own.

Thrown into a dying city in another realm, Mackenzie is powerless to get back. With the gateway closing, time is not on her side. But the stranger is, and if they can escape execution, this girl and her monster might be able to save both their worlds.

You can read a teaser here.

    

Excerpt
From King of Ash and Bone

     Mackenzie’s heart was hammering in her chest. Yes, he’d said. Yes. 
     She stood, reaching toward the washing machine where she’d stashed a second backpack and emergency supplies. “Okay, so all we have to do is find the army headquarters. On the news, it looked like Adamstown, which isn’t that far from here. It’d be a lot easier if we had gas for the car though.” She sorted which items belonged inside the backpack and which she’d stuff into jacket pockets or strap to a belt. “Riley saw this movie once, some kind of storm-of-the-century thing, and everyone tried to steal the last remaining cars to get out of the city. So he got this idea to take the distributor cap off, and it was genius, except that it wasn’t the car that got stolen. They just siphoned the gas.” She glanced over her shoulder with half a laugh.
     Hunter was staring at her.
     She turned to put a knee on the cot, sliding down to sit beside him and drawing the backpack onto her lap. “Don’t you see?” she asked. “We have to tell the army. To let them know where the monsters came from.”
     He was silent, and Mackenzie’s gaze caught on the blood of his shirt. “I know you were fighting the monsters, Hunter. But you don’t have to do it by yourself. We need to tell the army, we need to point this thing out so they can use it. The phones and the internet are down. We have to go to Adamstown ourselves.”
He looked at the package of crackers in his hand, and then the freezer and slats blocking the doorway, expression unfathomable. 
     “Please,” Mackenzie said. “It’s the only way.”
     “Tomorrow,” he answered. “We need to leave after sunset.”
     Mackenzie smiled, so grateful he’d agreed to help her that she hadn’t realized what he’d said. “You want to go in the dark?”
     “We’ll need to come into Adamstown in the midday sun. It will be too risky at night; if that’s where your army is, that’s where the Iron Bound will be headed.” He gestured toward his side. “We’re more than thirty miles outside of Adamstown, and it’s not as if we’re going to fly there. We’ll need time to find a vehicle, or to walk with supplies. Waiting isn’t the ideal scenario, but if neither of us makes it through, we aren’t doing anyone any good.”
     Mackenzie’s bottom lip pushed up. She blinked, reconsidering her opinion of this boy she’d found among monsters. “Are you some kind of rogue vampire-hunter or something?” Please don’t let him be into role playing, she thought. Please don’t let him think this is a game and Hunter is short for something really, really awful that has to do with wooden stakes and pointy teeth.
     “Do you believe in vampires, Mackenzie?” he asked her. There was something low, teasing in his tone, and she hoped it was only that he had picked up on her fear, understood that she’d needed him to see these were real monsters.
     “No, vampires don’t exist.” She smirked. “But if you’d told me two weeks ago we’d be invaded by flying beast-men, I probably wouldn’t have believed that, either.” Her eyes narrowed. “What did you call them… Iron Bound?”
     “It’s an old superstition. Didn’t you notice in all the debris? Your house is still standing. It’s not a coincidence it’s the only one left on the street.”
     She pushed away Riley’s concerns on that same point, the carved symbols on the rusted iron fencing lining their yard, the broken-down metal bridge in the park. “Superstition doesn’t protect us. Those things aren’t fairies.”
     “Of course they aren’t fairies. Fairies don’t exist.”
     She’d gotten sidetracked again, lost in his strange, matter-of-fact bearing. “I really don’t think we should be out there after dark. Riley and I, we saw what happens at night.”
     He stood, lifting the hem of his shirt to check the elastic strips covering his wound. “So I suppose you imagine nothing bad can happen during daylight.”
     She wasn’t sure if it was a vampire joke, or if he’d been pointing to the fact that he’d been attacked by five of them in broad daylight, but Mackenzie didn’t respond. His eyes cut to hers, where she was openly staring at the exposed skin of his abdomen.
     She glanced down, picking at the threads on the strap of Riley’s middle-school backpack. The thing was pretty worn, but given that she’d lost hers at the park and Riley had taken his good one with him, she didn’t have a lot left to choose from.
     “We can stay here until dawn,” Hunter offered. “When day breaks, I’ll scout a few streets over, see if I can find a working car or some gasoline.”
     She nodded, not raising her head.
     “Superstition is more powerful than you think, Mackenzie,” he said, reaching down to brush the tattered straps crossing her wrist. “Doesn’t hurt to keep that in mind when you’re up against beings from a world so different than your own.”
     She watched his finger trail over the leather and colored threads, stopping just shy of a small metal charm. “They aren’t magic,” she said. “They’re animals. Beasts.” She stood up, gripping the pack in her hands. “If they bleed, they can be killed. There’s nothing magical about that.”
     He smiled at her in the candlelight, tight-lipped as if the two of them shared some private joke, and she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.
     There was something terribly unexpected about this boy, something in the slant of his eye or the curve of his lip. He was too good-looking, one of those guys who always ended up being more trouble than they were worth.
     “I’ll pack you a bag,” she said. “Hope you don’t mind if it’s covered in pink ponies and glittering hearts.”

About the Author

Melissa Wright is the author of the Frey Saga and Descendants Series. She is currently working on the next book, but when not writing can be found collecting the things she loves at Goodreads and Pinterest.


Other Books by the Author
(Each links to my review, if there is one, or to Goodreads.)

 Shifting Fate (Descendants Series, #2) 
Frey (The Frey Saga, #1) Pieces of Eight (The Frey Saga, #2) Molly (The Frey Saga #2.5)
Rise of The Seven (The Frey Saga, #3) A Vision for the Future


First Rafflecopter Giveaway (US & INT)
- $15 Amazon Gift Card
- Choice of ebook of Shifting Fate, Reign of Shadows, or King of Ash and Bone by Melissa Wright
- Audiobook of The Midnight Queen by Sylvia Izzio Hunter
- Choice of For Elise, Hope Springs, or As You Are by Sarah M. Eden
- Choice of Defy or Ignite by Sara B. Larson

Second Rafflecopter Giveaway (US Only)
Undeniably Yours & Meant to be Mine by Becky Wade (US Only)
- Signed paperbacks of the Fire and Thrones Series by Rae Carson (US Only)
- Signed hardcover of Now That You're Here by Amy K. Nichols (US Only)

Must be able to enter and receive winnings by law. Must be eligible for free shipping through Amazon or Book Depository or be able to receive the ebooks. You must be at least 13 years old to enter and have parental approval if under 18. Please ensure that you correctly enter your email (and check your junk mail folder if I'm not on your contact list) so that I have a way to contact you. You can read my giveaway policy on my policies page. Void where prohibited by law. Enter via the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 comments

  1. This book looks intense! Thanks for sharing an excerpt!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know I hav Bound by Prophecy. Thanks for reminding me I got it :D


    Happy Blogiversary!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Just from the synopsis, when I read about it on your blog a couple of weeks ago, I knew this one was one that I absolutely wanted to check out. I love your review. What you have to say about Mackenzie as a character, and Hunter, definitely intrigues me. Yeah, I am absolutely interested in this one. I am going to have to check it out soon!

    ReplyDelete
  4. As a matter of fact, I just hit the kindle button and bought it for myself! I am very excited to get started with this one!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments! I try to read and reply to them all. Feel free to agree or disagree and generally share your thoughts with me.