The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince (Heirs of Magic #1) by Jeffe Kennedy + giveaway

The Golden Gryphon and the Bear Prince (Heirs of Magic #1) 

by Jeffe Kennedy

January 25th, 2021

278 pages
Follows The Long Night of the Crystalline Moon in the UNDER A WINTER SKY fantasy holiday anthology.

A Legacy of Honor

Crown Prince Astar has only ever wanted to do the right thing: be a credit to his late-father’s legacy, live up to his duties as heir to the High Throne of the Thirteen Kingdoms, and cleave to the principles of honor and integrity that give his life structure—and that contain the ferocious grizzly bear inside. Nowhere in those guiding principles is there room for the fierce-hearted, wildly free-spirited, and dizzyingly beautiful shapeshifter, Zephyr. Still, even though they’ve been friends most of their lives, Astar is able to keep Zephyr safely at arm’s length. He’s already received a list of potential princess brides who will make a suitable queen, and Zephyr is not on it.

A Longtime Obsession

Zeph has wanted the gorgeous, charming, and too-good-for-his-own-good Astar for as long as she can remember. Not that her longing for him—and his perfectly sculpted and muscular body—has stopped her from enjoying any number of lovers. Astar might be honorably (and foolishly) intent on remaining chaste until marriage, but Zeph is Tala and they have no such rules. Still, she loves Astar—as a friend—and she wants him to at least taste life before he chains himself to a wife he didn’t choose. There’s no harm in him having a bit of fun with her. But the man remains stubbornly elusive, staving off all of her advances with infuriatingly noble refusals.

A Quest to Save the World

But things change when a new terror threatens the Thirteen Kingdoms. Following prophecy, Astar and Zeph—along with a mismatched group of shapeshifter, warrior, and sorceress friends—go on a quest to stop a magic rift before it grows beyond anyone’s ability to stop. Thrust together with Zephyr, Astar finds himself increasingly unable to resist her seductive invitations. And, in the face of life and death battles with lethal monsters, he begins to lose sight of why having her, just once, is such a terrible idea…

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About the Author:
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Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. 

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

GIVEAWAY

A digital copy (mobi or epub) of the anthology Under a Winter Sky, which contains the prequel novella of this book. 

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

Cover Reveal and Pre-order: Dark Wizard (Bonds of Magic #1) by Jeffe Kennedy

Dark Wizard (Bonds of Magic #1)
by Jeffe Kennedy

February 25, 2021

Genre: Dark Fantasy Romance
Lord Gabriel Phel wants one thing: to restore his shattered House to its former station in the Convocation’s complex and arcane society. Fortunately, through a wild chance of birth, he was born with the magic of a powerful wizard, the first in his family in generations. If he can obtain a familiar to supplement his skills, ideally one who is a highborn daughter who can also be his lady wife, then he’ll be that much closer to restoring House Phel. And to exacting his ultimate revenge on the Convocation that destroyed his family.

Lady Veronica Elal doesn’t have many choices. To her bitter disappointment, she will never be the powerful wizard she and her father hoped she’d be. Instead Nic is doomed to be a familiar like her mother, a second-class citizen in the Convocation, and one destined to be bonded to a wizard, serving his purposes for the rest of her life. Her one hope lies in entering the Betrothal Trials—and choosing a wizard from the Convocation candidates that she can manipulate. Whichever one of her suitors impregnates her will claim her as familiar and wife, and she can use her wiles to rule her wizard master, and the House she marries into.

But Gabriel throws a wrench into Nic’s careful scheming, by seducing and fascinating her. When she finds she’s pregnant by the rogue wizard she can never hope to control, Nic does the unthinkable: she runs.

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About the Author:
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goodreads

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. 

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

Excerpt Spotlight: Seasons of Sorcery: A Fantasy Anthology

Seasons of Sorcery: A Fantasy Anthology

by Amanda Bouchet, Grace Draven, Jeffe Kennedy, Jennifer Estep
November 13, 2018
370 pages
An anthology of fantasy novellas for all seasons from the hottest authors of fantasy romance and urban fantasy. 

WINTER'S WEB BY JENNIFER ESTEP
An assassin at a renaissance faire. What could possibly go wrong? Everything, if you’re Gin Blanco. This Spider is trapped in someone else’s icy web—and it seems like they don’t want her to leave the faire alive . . .

A CURSE FOR SPRING BY AMANDA BOUCHET
A malevolent spell strangles the kingdom of Leathen in catastrophic drought. Prince Daric must break the curse before his people starve. A once-mighty goddess trapped in a human body might be the key—but saving his kingdom could mean losing all that he loves.

THE DRAGONS OF SUMMER BY JEFFE KENNEDY
As unofficial consort to the High Queen, former mercenary Harlan Konyngrr faces a challenge worse than looming war and fearsome dragons. His long-held secrets threaten what he loves most—and he must make a choice between vows to two women.

A WILDERNESS OF GLASS BY GRACE DRAVEN
The stretch of sea known as The Gray rules the lives of those in the village of Ancilar, including widow Brida Gazi. In the aftermath of an autumn storm, Brida discovers one of the sea's secrets cast onto the shore—a discovery that will change her world, mend her soul, and put her in the greatest danger she's ever faced.

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A Winter's Web by Jennifer Estep 

Chapter One 

“I look ridiculous.”

I stared at my reflection in the mirror above the long counter that ran along the wall. Even though I had been peering at myself for the better part of a minute, I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Normally, my wardrobe could best be described as functional. Black boots, dark jeans, a long-sleeved T-shirt, a fleece jacket if the weather was cold. I never invested a lot of time or money in my clothes, since they had an annoying tendency to get ripped, torn, and covered with other people’s blood.

But today I had left functional behind for flamboyant.

A Wilderness of Glass by Grace Draven 

Chapter One 

The vestibule just outside the busy kitchens hummed with conversation and the thump of wet boots. One by one, the musicians shed their footwear for the clean shoes they’d carried with them during the slow wagon ride up the castle hill.

Brida Gazi laced her shoes with shaking fingers, still cold from the winds blowing off the Gray to scour the bluff on which Castle Banat perched. She blew on her hands to warm them before tucking them under her arms for additional heat.

“I can hardly tie my shoes,” she complained to the woman seated next to her. “I won’t be much good on the flute if I can’t move my fingers.”

A Curse of Spring by Amanda Bouchet 

Prologue 

Prince Daric touched his fingers to the giant column of mist and then jerked them back. He stared at his fingertips, but nothing had changed. His skin hadn’t reddened; the nails weren’t blackened.

Nothing, in fact, had happened.

With a nervous swallow scraping down his throat, he turned his head to check that no one had followed him from the royal encampment. The dying forest stared back with gnarled eyes, everything brittle, creaking, and ready to catch fire. Nothing disturbed the too-dry branches, but it was only a matter of time before someone noticed he’d snuck off and came looking for him.

The Dragons of Summer by Jeffe Kennedy 

Chapter One 

“Inspecting the defenses yet again?”

Ursula’s question startled me, as I’d been so deep in thought I’d missed her approach. From my vantage on the walls of Castle Ordnung, I’d been contemplating the lush, green, and apparently peaceful countryside. The early onset of summer seemed to please the locals. For farmers and merchants, the fair weather brought welcome warmth for crops and dry roads for trade.

For a warrior like me, dry roads meant enemy forces could reach the seat of the Thirteen Kingdoms all that much more easily—and fair weather only made it easier to pillage freely and set fire to the rest.

Story Behind the Story: Amid the Winter Snow Anthology with Jeffe Kennedy

Timing can become a funny thing when writing a series, particularly for those of us who don’t extensively pre-plot. I kind of have an idea of where the overall arc is headed, but the specifics often escape me until I actually write the story. 

It’s like I know I’m driving from Seattle to New Orleans. I know I’ll have to cross the Rocky Mountains at some point, so there’s that. And I went to college in St. Louis, so that’s always a good place to stop. I have old friends there, which means I might end up staying extra days. Those secondary characters have a way of luring one off the schedule.

My story in AMID THE WINTER SNOW is a novella that takes place in between THE PAGES OF THE MIND and THE SHIFT OF THE TIDE. And it happens concurrently with THE EDGE OF THE BLADE. That’s the other interesting thing about The Twelve Kingdoms and The Uncharted Realms books: because each story is from a different hero or heroine’s exclusive perspective the story goes with them. This was a simple scenario at the beginning of THE MARK OF THE TALA, the book that started it all, because the point-of-view (POV) heroine, Andi, was with her sisters and the plot centered entirely on the events taking place in and around Castle Ordnung.

But soon the sisters were separated, and then each went on her own adventure, in different places, at different times. Still, the original trilogy happened sequentially, with the chronological story handed from Andi to Ami (THE TEARS OF THE ROSE), then to Ursula (THE TALON OF THE HAWK). After that, however, with each new character and the growing complexity of the overall arc and everyone’s contribution to that, the timelines began to overlap.

When Thea Harrison asked me if I’d like to be part of her midwinter holiday anthology, I knew the story I wanted to write. All along I’d known, via hints dropped by other characters, that Ami and Ash had gone to Windroven for the winter. And they’d taken the twin prince and princess with them. This is how I find things out in my stories. Not because I plan them, but because the characters tell me. The problem is, everyone knew there might be a dragon beneath the volcano at Windroven, which made them going there—with the heirs, no less—an exceedingly bad idea.

All the elements for Thea’s concept were there: midwinter holiday, snow, fantasy, romance. All I needed to do was figure out why they went there!

I was also deep into writing THE SHIFT OF THE TIDE, and I knew that part of Zynda’s quest was going to Windroven to deal with the dragon. Because Ursula was worried about it. I ended up having to pause that story and write THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN, so I could figure out what happened there before Zynda arrived.

The other interesting piece of this is that THE SNOWS OF WINDROVEN revisits Ash and Ami’s love affair—which makes it the only time (so far) that I’ve added onto one of the main tales. This story switches to Ash’s POV, which made a difference, and I think it filled in a crucial piece. Of all the romances, Ami and Ash’s remained the most tenuous. They both have so many issues and conflicts that resolving everything so they can be happy together will take a long time.

But nothing like a little peril and being snowbound to force a couple to confront their problems, eh?

This story also let me spend a little more time with the young prince and princess, Astar and Stella, or Willy and Nilly, as they’re dubbed. All along I’ve had a story in mind for when they grow up. We might get there someday!

Amid the Winter Snow

Authors: Grace Draven, Thea Harrison, Elizabeth Hunter, Jeffe Kennedy

December 12, 2017

454 pages

As the snows fall and hearths burn, four stories of Midwinter beginnings prove that love can fight its way through the chillest night… 

The Darkest Midnight

by Grace Draven
The mark Jahna Ulfrida was born with has made her a target of the cruel and idle all her life. During the long, crowded festivities of Deyalda, there’s nowhere to escape. Until a handsome stranger promises to teach her to save herself…

The Chosen

by Thea Harrison
In her visions, Lily sees two men fighting for her tiny country’s allegiance: the wolf and the tiger, each deadly, each cunning. One will bring Ys chaos and death, one a gentler path—but she’s destined to love whichever she chooses. The midwinter Masque is upon them, and the wolf is at her door…

The Storm

by Elizabeth Hunter
When her soul mate died in a massacre of the half-angelic Irin people, Renata thought she’d never feel happiness again. She’s retreated to the snowy Dolomites to remember her hurts—until determined, irrepressible Maxim arrives to insist on joy, too. And before she can throw him out, they discover a secret the Irin have to know…

The Snows of Windroven

by Jeffe Kennedy
As a blizzard threatens their mountain keep, the new Queen Amelia of the Twelve Kingdoms and her unofficial consort Ash face their own storm. Ash knows a scarred, jumpy ex-convict isn’t the companion his queen needs. But when a surprise attack confines them together in their isolated sanctuary, the feast of midwinter might tempt even Ash into childlike hope…

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About the Author:

website-FB-twitter
Goodreads

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.

Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA® Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide, will be out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world is forthcoming from Rebel Base books in 2018.

She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. She’s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince.

In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book, The Orchid Throne, in a new fantasy romance series, The Forgotten Empires.

Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

Author Jeffe Kennedy: ZYNDA’S GUIDE TO MAGIC AND SHAPESHIFTING (The Shift of the Tide book tour)

ZYNDA’S GUIDE TO MAGIC AND SHAPESHIFTING 

Or 

Four Do’s and Don’ts for Mossbacks 

1. Do feel free to ask if I can take a particular form. If I’m in the mood, I might show you.

Don’t ask how many forms I can take. I’ll always give you the same answer: several.

2. Do have lots of food on hand for me. Shapeshifting is hungry work.

Don’t feed me in animal form. It’s dangerous.

3. Do pet me—in human or animal form. I love to be petted.

Don’t try to leash or tame me. Only one mossback has been able to get close to doing that and he’s special.

4. Do know that I have magic.

Don’t ask me to use it in a way that upsets the cycle of nature.

The Shift of the Tide (Uncharted Realms #3)

by Jeffe Kennedy
August 29, 2017
251 pages

A QUICKSILVER HEART
Released from the grip of a tyrant, the Twelve Kingdoms have thrown all that touch them into chaos. As the borders open, new enemies emerge to vie for their hard-won power—and old deceptions crumble under the strain…

The most talented shapeshifter of her generation, Zynda has one love in her life: freedom. The open air above her, the water before her, the sun on her skin or wings or fur—their sensual glories more than make up for her loneliness. She serves the High Queen’s company well, but she can’t trust her allies with her secrets, or the secrets of her people. Best that she should keep her distance, alone.

Except wherever she escapes, Marskal, the Queen’s quiet lieutenant, seems to find her. Solid, stubborn, and disciplined, he’s no more fluid than rock. Yet he knows what she likes, what thrills and unnerves her, when she’s hiding something. His lithe warrior’s body promises pleasure she has gone too long without. But no matter how careful, how tender, how incendiary he is, only Zynda can know the sacrifice she must make for her people’s future—and the time is drawing near…

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The Shift of the Tide
Excerpt
Water streamed over my skin in a rush, enveloping and responsive at once, like music following my dance.

Around me, the shapes of coral resonated with depth, shading moving beyond the visual and into other spectrums. That was one reason I loved this form, where my echolocation gave sound nuance like a rainbow of color. The crystal waters teemed with sea life of all varieties, most of them quite tasty looking, making my stomach tingle with animal anticipation.

I exercised enough conscious control, however, to refrain from sampling the living buffet. Unless pressed into it in order to survive—which had happened more often since I undertook this quest than ever before in my life—I didn’t eat as an animal. It was one of those rules taught to Tala children early, one of the tricks and habits to forestall the worst disaster imaginable for a shapeshifter: being trapped forever in a non-human form.

With the great exception of Final Form. I’d accepted taking that as my destiny, as the only way to save my people. I would do it for my sister’s dead babies, and for the ones I would never have. I’d be lonely, perhaps, but my family was dying off one by one regardless. My mother was gone along with all my siblings, but two. And if Anya kept trying to have babies, she’d soon go with them. I would live my life alone, either way, and nothing would change that.

One day, quite soon, I would become a dragon, and stay that way forever.

Though that day drew ever closer—if I succeeded in getting the invitation I sought—for the moment I savored one of my favorites of my many forms, swimming hard and working out the restlessness that plagued me. If I got a choice of what form to be stuck in forever, I’d pick the dolphin. Its large, mammalian brain contained plenty of room to retain a good portion of reasoning and higher thought. Fast, agile, being a dolphin was simply fun. I’d learned it early and returned to it often.

Learning a new form is part instinct, part observation and study, and part gift from beyond. Some say those are the gifts of the three goddesses—knowledge of the heart from the goddess of love, dawn, and twilight, Glorianna; disciplined study from the warrior goddess of high noon, Danu; and the mysterious arcane touch of Moranu.

Most Tala look to Moranu first, and that’s largely why, because we are shapeshifters—and each shift is a leap of faith in the goddess of the moon, night and shadows. But I needed more than Moranu’s guidance to take Final Form. I needed a real dragon to teach me.

Our ancestors had found a way to shift into it, becoming the great, virtually immortal dragons of old. In that form they retained full consciousness—some said greater intelligence than human minds—along with all the magical gifts the shapeshifter had possessed. Most important, being a dragon came with the additional and priceless gift of modulating magic, something we needed desperately if the Tala, the magical and shapeshifting last remnants of the great races were to survive beyond another generation. We’d preserved so much—and yet not enough. So much knowledge the ancients had taken with them, that we failed to understand.

How it would feel to be the dragon… well, no one had been able to take Final Form in generations. So, no one could tell me if taking that irreversible final step felt like being trapped in an unyielding cage. Even if it would, much as the prospect revolted me, I would do it. And, once there, I would be unable to turn back. But the reward would be worth it. I firmly believed that.

Taking Final Form was both the pinnacle of accomplishment for a shapeshifter and the ultimate sacrifice, but we’d lost the intangible path when the dragons disappeared from the world.

Now that my friend and scholar Dafne, now Queen Nakoa KauPo of Nahanau, had awakened the dragon Kiraka from hibernation beneath the volcano, I hoped to be the first Tala to take Final Form. But that required an invitation from the great dragon, and so far she’d only spoken to Dafne. I tried to be patient—after all I’d waited my entire life for this moment, and generations of Tala had lived and died without ever reaching it—but the sense of time slipping away rushed around me like the crystal warm waters.

A pod of actual dolphins sounded in the distance, their convivial feeding luring me to join them, to enjoy for a while longer the joy of freedom from responsibility. I swam in their direction. Paused when the alarm call went up.

Shark.

And they had calves in the family group. No question that they should be protected at all costs. Babies are the future. Without them we die the final death.

I shot past the group encircling the calves, joining those who attacked the shark. Finding my opening, I angled exactly and rammed its gills with my beak, exulting in the crunch of soft cartilage. It should have flinched—from my blow and from the other dolphins, attacking the gills on the other side, and its soft belly—but it swam on. Almost mindlessly.

I had a bad taste in my mouth, both literally and metaphorically. Like magic gone rotten.

A limitation of the dolphin form, however, is that I can’t use my magical senses in it. Otherwise I would have probed for the source of the distasteful essence. As it was, the pod easily herded the shark away. It floundered in the water, slowing and sinking. It would be no threat to them or the precious calves.

The group sang to me, promising fish and fun. Very tempting to join them.

But I’d made promises, and I intended to keep them.

With a mental sigh, I headed back to shore. That had been enough of an exercise break to clear my mind and restore my sense of self. Mossbacks didn’t seem to understand how shifting into animal form could be a kind of recentering, as it looked to them like the exact opposite of that—going farther away from self, not more firmly into the center—but mutability anchors me in a way I can’t easily explain. Or would, even if I found the words. The Tala have a reputation for keeping secrets, and it’s well earned.

It’s also a dodgy undertaking, full of fine lines and careful obfuscation. Especially as we have no hard and fast rules—the Tala rarely do—beyond making sure no one ever again has the power to destroy what we’ve so carefully preserved.

Though that too lay in our future. I don’t have strong foresight, but the visions plagued even me. Oily shadows penetrating to soil the white cliffs of my home in Annfwn. Blood in the water. My cousin, the High Queen of the Thirteen Kingdoms thought the Temple of Deyrr, with their unholy black magic and corrupt rituals to enslave the living dead was all her problem. But that ancient and lethal arrow pointed ultimately at the Heart of Annfwn. The beginning of this conflict, and the prophesied site of the end of it.

Not for me, however. My task had been set before the priestess of Deyrr showed up at the court of Ordnung, corrupting the former high king. Others would take up that battle. Though I’d helped my companions, doing my best to make sure the powerful jewel, the Star of Annfwn stayed out of the High Priestess of Deyrr’s fetid hands, ultimately protecting the thirteen—and the other realms inside the protective magical barrier—would fall to them. My allegiance belonged to the Tala and my personal mission, first and foremost. It would do us no good to turn back Deyrr, only for the Tala to wither and die.

As the dragon, at least, I’d be well situated to fight to defend my homeland of Annfwn.

Had that been the oddly familiar flavor of the shark? It didn’t seem likely. Not here in the waters of Nahanau, a fair distance from the barrier. I’d never encountered Deyrr’s living dead at Ordnung—they’d all been burnt by the time I arrived—but I had tasted the High Priestess’s magic when she attacked Ursula. They could be the same. Though why it would be in a mindless shark, I didn’t know.

Troubling.

Once in the shallows, I shifted back to human form, swimming with a relaxed breast stroke until my feet found the bottom. While the Nahanauns had become more accustomed to my presence around the palace, they weren’t accustomed to shapeshifting. After a few early displays to impress them with my abilities—at my companions’ behest, mostly to demonstrate that we weren’t captives to be underestimated—I preferred to shift discreetly. I rarely cared to make a show of it, regardless. It’s a private thing. Intimate.

About the Author:
website-FB-twitter

goodreads

Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.
Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and won RWA’s 2017 RITA® Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016, and is a PRISM finalist, along with The Pages of the Mind. The next in the series, The Shift of the Tide, will be out in August, 2017. A high fantasy trilogy taking place in The Twelve Kingdoms world is forthcoming from Rebel Base books in 2018.

She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. She’s begun releasing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections, which started with Last Dance and continues in With a Prince.

In 2019, St. Martins Press will release the first book, The Orchid Throne, in a new fantasy romance series, The Forgotten Empires.

Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

Cover Reveal: The Shift of the Tide – Uncharted Realms #3 by Jeffe Kennedy

The Shift of the Tide – Uncharted Realms #3
by Jeffe Kennedy
Expected release date: August 15, 2017
Free from the hand of a tyrant, the Twelve Kingdoms have thrown all that touch them into chaos. New allies appear--and enemies encroach--from all sides. To survive, they must adapt to this new reality without a moment of doubt...

Growing up in a country where magic was common as dust, Zynda never had to worry about her enchantments upsetting the balance of nature. But the land beyond the borders of the thirteenth kingdom calls to her. It may be foreign and ugly, but the strangeness is laced with an excitement she has never known. Outside her homeland, Zynda's shapeshifting and sorcery are a potent advantage to nations grasping for dominance--and the thrill of power lures her even as she recognizes the threat she poses to these magic-buffeted realms.

A ruthless enemy stalks them, promising destruction if she does not fight with all her strength--but if she upsets the equilibrium of the land, all will pay, the common people most of all. And a man of this outside world fascinates her, a mossback with no scrap of magic in him. He knows nothing of the fears and temptations pulling at her. But in his steady embrace she learns she must choose well--for the consequences may reach farther than she ever imagined…

pre-order links will be added to the website:
http://www.jeffekennedy.com/category/books/?series=the-uncharted-realms

And keep an eye out for The Shift of the Tide on Jeffe's Amazon Page as well:

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About the Author:

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Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include novels, non-fiction, poetry, and short fiction. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award.

Her award-winning fantasy romance trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms hit the shelves starting in May 2014. Book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review and was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose received a Top Pick Gold and was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014. The third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books followed in this world, beginning the spin-off series The Uncharted Realms. Book one in that series, The Pages of the Mind, has also been nominated for the RT Reviewer’s Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2016 and is a finalist for RWA’s RITA Award. The second book, The Edge of the Blade, released December 27, 2016.

She also introduced a new fantasy romance series, Sorcerous Moons, which includes Lonen’s War, Oria’s Gambit, The Tides of Bàra, and The Forests of Dru. With Last Dance, Jeffe is introducing a new contemporary erotic romance series, Missed Connections.

Her other works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion; an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera; and the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, which includes Going Under, Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Sarah Younger of Nancy Yost Literary Agency.

Spotlight and Excerpt: The Forests Of Dru (Sorcerous Moons book 4) by Jeffe Kennedy

The Forests Of Dru (Sorcerous Moons book 4)

by Jeffe Kennedy
January 24, 2017
180 pages
An Enemy Land
Once Princess Oria spun wicked daydreams from the legends of sorceresses kidnapped by the barbarian Destrye. Now, though she’s come willingly, she finds herself in a mirror of the old tales: the king’s foreign trophy of war, starved of magic, surrounded by snowy forest and hostile strangers. But this place has secrets, too—and Oria must learn them quickly if she is to survive.

A Treacherous Court
Instead of the refuge he sought, King Lonen finds his homeland desperate and angry, simmering with distrust of his wife. With open challenge to his rule, he knows he and Oria—the warrior wounded and weak, the sorceress wrung dry of power—must somehow make a display of might. And despite the desire that threatens to undo them both, he still cannot so much as brush her skin.

A Fight for the Future
With war looming and nowhere left to run, Lonen and Oria must use every intrigue and instinct they can devise: to plumb Dru’s mysteries, to protect their people—and to hold fast to each other. Because they know better than any what terrifying trial awaits…

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Sorcerous Moons series:

 Excerpt:

“We won the war and this is still the best the king’s table can command?”

Nolan poked at the meat with a sour scowl, and Arnon clapped him on the shoulder. “Not much of a homecoming, huh? You could have brought us game from the far forests and done better.”

“I brought the King of the Destrye instead.” Nolan shrugged him off. “That seemed more useful at the time.”

Lonen, that selfsame King of the Destrye, didn’t adjust his position to ease his aching side, lest his brother misinterpret that as a sign of discomfort with the topic of conversation. Nor did he miss the sidelong glance from Nolan that suggested he might be reconsidering Lonen’s inherent usefulness. Not that Lonen could argue much otherwise. Being laid up in bed recuperating for more than a week didn’t lend itself to high-profile—or even marginally effective—rule. Nevertheless, some remnant of his youthful self cringed, wishing he could do something to earn his older brother’s approval rather than his scorn.

Mostly, though, he longed to be back in that bed, under the furs with Oria, sharing her warmth, basking in the surety that she slept beside him. To be there when the strange dreams woke her.

Oria hadn’t wanted him to be up and about yet, but Nolan—believed lost in battle, now miraculously returned and restless with unsatisfied expectations—had decided he’d waited long enough for explanations. Rather than risk having Nolan barge into his bedchamber and interrogate Oria, Lonen had conceded to the lesser of the evils and gotten himself to this private dinner with his two remaining brothers. The last three of Archimago’s line, sadly diminished in robustness of every kind.

But three was one more than they’d thought they had.

That had to be a good thing. A blessing from Arill herself. Somehow, though, under the sharp scrutiny of Nolan’s piercing blue stare, Lonen nursed a few doubts.

He gave in and shifted, easing the pinch in his gut. The infection no longer poisoned him, but the massive tissue damage had yet to replace itself—however much ever would—despite Oria’s foolhardy attempt to give her life to heal him. That side of his body sagged inward, as if part of him had been carved out.

Which, come to think of it, it pretty much had.

With a grimace for that, he forced himself to finish the slice of stringy roast on his plate, then picked up his warmed wine and drank, hoping to mute some of the ache.

“It’s not good for you to be upright in a chair like this,” Arnon said, frowning at him. “I can see it pains you.”

“Father would say a warrior can suffer far more than a bit of pain, especially in the service of Dru,” Nolan replied, gaze never wavering from Lonen. “He would have expected his successor to be sitting the throne and handling the pressing issues of the Destrye, not lying abed with a foreign mistress.”

“You mean Her Highness, Oria, Queen of the Destrye?” Lonen didn’t raise his voice, but his tone carried all the iron resolve of his battle-axe. Enough that Nolan sat back slightly, a hint of surprise flickering through his eyes before they sharpened again. That’s right. I am not the same little brother you knew before the war. He might not be ruling impressively, but neither was he a pushover. Not anymore.

“She is Báran,” Nolan said flatly, tempting Lonen to remark on his brother’s powers of observation. But this was no time for levity. This conversation had been a long time coming and Nolan clearly intended to have it out now. So be it—and Arill hold him in her hand for this battle.

“I’m fully aware of that, Nolan, as I met her in Bára, where she is in fact, a princess and should be queen of her people by her own right.”

“What exactly happened there?” Arnon put in, full of curiosity. “What?” He gave Nolan’s frown a scowl of his own. “You’re not the only one who’s been sitting on questions while Lonen concentrated on not dying,” he added pointedly. “You’ve dragged him out of bed for this, so we might as well get the whole story.”

About the Author:

website-FB-twitter-blog
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including Redbook.

Her most recent works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera. A fourth series, the fantasy trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms, hit the shelves starting in May 2014 and book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014 and the third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books will follow in this world, beginning with The Pages of the Mind May 2016. A fifth series, the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, started with Going Under, and was followed by Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.

Release Day: The Tides of Bára (Sorcerous Moons book #3) by Jeffe Kennedy + Excerpt

The Tides of Bára (Sorcerous Moons book #3)
by Jeffe Kennedy
October 29, 2016
174 pages
A Narrow Escape

With her secrets uncovered and her power-mad brother bent on her execution, Princess Oria has no sanctuary left. Her bid to make herself and her new barbarian husband rulers of walled Bára has failed. She and Lonen have no choice but to flee through the leagues of brutal desert between her home and his—certain death for a sorceress, and only a bit slower than the blade.

A Race Against Time

At the mercy of a husband barely more than a stranger, Oria must war with her fears and her desires. Wild desert magic buffets her; her husband’s touch allures and burns. Lonen is pushed to the brink, sure he’s doomed his proud bride and all too aware of the restless, ruthless pursuit that follows…

A Danger Beyond Death…

Can Oria trust a savage warrior, now that her strength has vanished? Can Lonen choose her against the future of his people? Alone together in the wastes, Lonen and Oria must forge a bond based on more than lust and power, or neither will survive the test…

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Excerpt

Oria held the barrier against her raging brother.
At least, she did the best she could with her magic draining by the moment, its potency attenuating with distance and diminishing with the lack of opportunity to replenish her sgath—or to even take a full breath. Of course, her upside-down position, bouncing over Lonen’s shoulder as he ran headlong through the palace, did nothing to make any of it easier.
“We may be in luck,” Chuffta, her Familiar, reported. “Yar’s magic is running low also. He’s sent for more priestesses to feed him sgath, as Gallia can’t.” He paused to mentally cough at that. Oria’s Familiar had also telepathically received Gallia’s urgent message for them to run. As Yar’s wife—particularly a newlywed in a temple-blessed marriage—only Gallia should be feeding Yar sgath to fight the magical barrier Oria had erected to save herself from execution, and Lonen from retribution. But Gallia had only recently arrived in Bára and, unused to the city’s native magic, so different from her home at Lousá, she had not reached her full power.
But Gallia was stronger than she’d claimed. As a sister in magic, Oria could judge quite precisely how much Gallia had been capable of channeling. Oria’s new sister had exaggerated her weakness—in a move shockingly disloyal to her new husband and against all expectation—to allow Oria to escape. If all went well, Yar would never discover the deception. Between his unstable temper and Gallia’s status in Bára, that could turn out badly for her sister sorceress. Hopefully, she’d take Oria’s advice and appeal to her and Yar’s mother, the former Queen Rhianna, for assistance.
“I can’t imagine Priest Vico will allow other priestesses to feed sgath to Yar. It’s against temple law if his ideal wife is alive and well,” she replied to Chuffta.
“Yes, but it depends on what Vico considers to be ‘well.’”
She framed a reply—speaking mentally took concentration—then grunted in pain as Lonen ducked around a corner, the sudden shift in direction making his shoulder dig into her belly. It looked so much more romantic in the illustrations. In reality, being carried off over a barbarian’s shoulder left much to be desired.
“Sorry,” Lonen shot the word out between panting breaths. “Unavoidable.”
She didn’t reply. Couldn’t. It would be handy if she and Lonen could speak mind-to-mind the way she could with Chuffta—and unexpectedly with Gallia—particularly under circumstances like this. He might not like it, though. At the moment, all of his considerable personal energy was focused away from her, no doubt on fighting them free of Bára. At least that saved her having to screen out his emotions along with everyone else’s.
“You are correct,” Chuffta reported from his vantage, flying well above Yar’s group. Her Familiar seemed to be enjoying his spy activities. “They are arguing about it. Yar is most put out. He’s losing focus and less able to fight your barrier. Vico is gently suggesting he check his hwil, which has not gone over well.” No, Yar would not do well with the suggestion that he might be showing any loss of the crucial equanimity that allowed the priests and priestesses of Bára to handle their dangerously powerful magic. Loss of hwil could be grounds for the temple taking back the mask that was their badge of office. With no mask, Yar could not be king. Could she somehow use that to her advantage—push Yar into losing hwil entirely?
“No, Oria.” Chuffta’s mind-voice was both sorrowful and deadly earnest. “Without your mask, you cannot be queen either. And now that they know you can use grien, your life would be forfeit, regardless. It’s not worth the risk.”
It might be, though. If only to save Bára and Dru both from the devastation that would be Yar’s rule.
“I won’t let you sacrifice yourself. Neither will Lonen,” Chuffta added.
“I’m already regretting that I encouraged you two to become friends,” she grumbled.

About the Author:

website-FB-twitter-blog
Jeffe Kennedy is an award-winning author whose works include non-fiction, poetry, short fiction, and novels. She has been a Ucross Foundation Fellow, received the Wyoming Arts Council Fellowship for Poetry, and was awarded a Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including Redbook.

Her most recent works include a number of fiction series: the fantasy romance novels of A Covenant of Thorns; the contemporary BDSM novellas of the Facets of Passion, and an erotic contemporary serial novel, Master of the Opera. A fourth series, the fantasy trilogy The Twelve Kingdoms, hit the shelves starting in May 2014 and book 1, The Mark of the Tala, received a starred Library Journal review was nominated for the RT Book of the Year while the sequel, The Tears of the Rose was nominated for the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2014 and the third book, The Talon of the Hawk, won the RT Reviewers’ Choice Best Fantasy Romance of 2015. Two more books will follow in this world, beginning with The Pages of the Mind May 2016. A fifth series, the erotic romance trilogy, Falling Under, started with Going Under, and was followed by Under His Touch and Under Contract.

She lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with two Maine coon cats, plentiful free-range lizards and a very handsome Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Jeffe can be found online at her website: JeffeKennedy.com, every Sunday at the popular SFF Seven blog, on Facebook, on Goodreads and pretty much constantly on Twitter @jeffekennedy. She is represented by Connor Goldsmith of Fuse Literary.