Ties of Smoke
by Claudia Herring
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GENRE: Fantasy
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Lady Lavinia Bramley is master of a Djinni.
Lavinia runs away from her husband to make a life with the djinni Yasir, but it’s not what she thought, not pearls and flying carpets and wishes come true . . .
Her desperate efforts to find happiness with Yasir are foiled by her husband’s reappearance, murder attempts by the jealous magician who cursed Yasir to the urn, and Yasir’s desire for revenge.
Lavinia finds love, and loyalty, are as ephemeral as ties of smoke.
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EXCERPT:
1811, the garden of Bramley House, twenty miles from London, England
The deafening boom stopped the birdsong. A sluggish coil of smoke from the pistol lingered, a tracing of chalk on the air. In an instant, the noises flooded back. The birds’ warning cries shrilled in her head, the snap of their wings like brittle sticks hitting flagstones. Frantic stragglers dodged her and winged after the flock.
Lavinia stood there, frozen in panic. She had been caught, found out, and her husband Peter had shot Yasir. Her breath came in ragged bursts. Yasir’s confused expression when he couldn’t heal himself alarmed her almost as much as his wound. The djinni slumped, his voice fading, “Send me to the urn.”
She had commanded Yasir to take her with him. Would his magic fail again in his weakened state? Before this, she had suffered from Peter’s violence. Her husband had an even better reason now.
Lavinia ran, bloodied skirts in her hand, the gravel of the path sinking at the pressure of her footfalls. Fear made her fleet. If the djinni could not help her, the garden ended at the wood’s edge. After the woods there was a road. Then what? And where?
She kept her pace even when the pull of the djinni’s magic made each step lighter. Even when the garden blurred as she was swept away.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Claudia Herring aspired to be a baton twirler when she was five and an archaeologist at thirteen. When she became a graphic designer and an author of fantasy, she decided she’d hit upon the perfect compromise.
Along the way she worked as a gift wrapper, a server in a Mexican restaurant at an amusement park (where she rode the Black Dragon at midnight—an actual ride, not a sexual allusion) and an illustrator in medical graphics (where they featured videos on wound healing during lunch) at the Texas Medical Center.
Her novel, His Master’s Bride, a historical fantasy with romantic elements set in Regency England, won first prize in the Houston Writer’s Guild Novel Competition. Ties of Smoke is the second in the series The Djinn Chronicles.
When she’s not delving into the world of the Djinn, Claudia is practicing yoga to go to that hushed space where she imagines and plots her next fantasy novel.
If you like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series or Carol Berg’s Soul Mirror series you’ll love His Master’s Bride and Ties of Smoke.
Links:
Website|Blog|Twitter|Facebook|Amazon
TIES OF SMOKE on :
amazon
HIS MASTER’S BRIDE on
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GIVEAWAY:
The cover of this book is gorgeous.
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Thank you, Debra. I designed it, trying to represent the mood of my novel.
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Thanks for hosting!
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Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway
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My pleasure, James.
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Thank you for the excerpt and giveaway.
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Thank you for reading!
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Thank you for hosting my novel, Ties of Smoke. Great Job.
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Congrats on the tour and thanks for the chance to win 🙂
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Thanks, Lisa.
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Thank you for checking it out, Lisa.
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Congratulations on the new release!
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Thanks, it’s exciting.
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Thanks, Andrea.
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I absolutely love the book cover.
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Cathy, thanks so much. I designed it and think it reflects the mood of the novel.
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Seems like a very intense and stressful time for the characters.
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Yes, Lavinia and Yasir go through a lot!
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Thanks for the giveaway; I like the excerpt. :)
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Thanks for reading, Cali.
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Beautiful cover! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Thank you, I designed the cover to reflect the mood of the book.
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Happy Hump Day! Have a great one and thank you once again.
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You too, James.
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Good afternoon to all you beautiful people. Hope your day is going great. Thanks again for the giveaway.
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We made it, finally Friday even though I will work for most of it. I will ask my sister to help me out on here. Thanks again for this opportunity to win and have a great day!
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Have a wonderful weekend, James and thanks for checking the site out!
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Thanks for stopping by.
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Finally I am back to see y’all. Thanks again for all you do and the chance at winning amazing giveaways.
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Thanks for stopping by
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I sure have been messing up this week with my visits to you. Sorry about that! I am back tonight to say thanks again for the chance at winning and have a great Friday evening.
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