Excerpt: Fae Heir (Royals of Embermere, #1) by Lucia Ashta + giveaway

Fae Heir (Royals of Embermere, #1)
by Lucia Ashta
April 19th 2023
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Romance
Win the trials, earn a crown—or fail and lose everything.

The heir of Embermere has unexpectedly died, and now a new prince and princess must be crowned.

I’ve been hiding out with the dragons, but then mysterious fae show up at the dragons’ stronghold and abduct me at the King’s command.

The royals of Embermere are hosting the Fae Heir Trials to find their successors. The winners will marry and become the next to rule the fae lands. Turns out I’m the King’s illegitimate daughter and the wicked queen intends to kill me off during the challenges.

I find myself thrust into a barbaric tournament where death is all but guaranteed. I’m competing against the most gorgeous, deadly fae warriors of the realm. Determined, agile men who’ve been training to claim this chance all their lives—including clan leader Rush Vega.

Rush Vega is the Crown’s favorite, devastatingly charming and dangerously tempting. His combat skills and dark secrets will be my undoing. With my survival on the line, my heart must resist his pull and those intriguing moonlight eyes. He’s the queen’s spy, and that makes him my number one enemy.

My life might have become a game of savage brutality, but the Queen of Embermere underestimated me.

I was born a fighter. And I intend to win.

Note: Fae Heir begins the Royals of Embermere series, which is romantic fantasy intended for a mature audience. Each individual book ends on a cliffhanger, but the series concludes with an uplifting and satisfying ending.

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Excerpt
“And you should be more aware if you wish to survive the tournament ... intact.”I scraped the tip of the sword I’d pointed at him across his junk, which bunched beneath a layer of tunic and breeches. And though my touch was soft as a feather, he jumped back as if I’d punched him, dropping his own sword to his side. “What the fuck?”he snarled, his eyes flaring. I batted my lashes at him, a picture of innocence as pure as freshly fallen snow. “Enlighten me, teacher. I thought that in a match of life or death I should press every advantage at my disposal.” “This isn’t a lethal fight.”With his shoulders tight with anger, he appeared even more dangerous than usual. I pushed off from the railing. “But that’s what we’re here preparing for. No one, not even you, thinks I’ll get out of the Gladius stage alive.” He glared at me. “See? You don’t even deny it.” “Still. There are some things you just don’t do.” I laughed. “Why not? Is your cock a sacred, bejeweled wand?” He stomped toward me. “Damn right it is. And you’d better fucking remember that from here on out.” I craned my neck back to look up at him. “Does it wear a crown upon its precious head?”I hadn’t meant to taunt him, but it seemed I couldn’t help myself.

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Lucía Ashta is the Amazon top 20 bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and paranormal women's fiction filled with wild magic, spicy romance, and quirky characters that make you snort-laugh.

A former attorney and architect, she’s an Argentinian-American who lives in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains with her husband and daughters.


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Book Review: When the Moon Shines (Six Shooter and a Shifter, #1) by Lucia Ashta + giveaway

When the Moon Shines (Six Shooter and a Shifter, #1)
by Lucia Ashta
April 1st, 2022
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Western
Welcome to Traitor’s Den. I hope you like it here, because there’s no leaving the small western town that’s more theme park than authentic. Once you walk through the portal, you’re stuck as a boot heel in a half foot of mud.

I’ve never seen the outside world and I don’t care. The cannon-toting, trigger-happy residents here are like family, even if most of them are a few spoons short of a full set. Eventually, everyone grows on you, kinda like nail fungus. But the booze flows freely, and Tiger keeps me company. He’s as much a prisoner as I am.

I don’t figure there’s much point in wanting what you can never have. I’ll eventually accept one of my boyfriend’s marriage proposals and then keep policing the one-way town while I pop out the babies he wants. I was born knowing how to make chicken salad out of chicken shit.

At least I won’t be bored. Denners aren’t fans of following the rules, and the longer they’re in town, the worse they behave, thanks to the spell that keeps us all trapped here.

Just when I think I’ve made my peace with my lot, the portal pops open and two men shoot through, throwing punches before their feet even finish landing in my town. When they finally look at me, all I see is problems. Big, ginormous, entirely-too-handsome problems. And that’s before I even take into account the little “surprise” they brought through with them.

No one’s ever looked at me the way they do.

They aren’t the kind of men who back down after claiming something.

Or someone…

Did I say I had my life in Traitor’s Den all figured out? Hell, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

* A sexy fantasy western with growly shifters, sketchy vamps, peculiar mages and creatures, and one badass cowgirl sheriff. Within this small town, magic and gossip flow as freely as whiskey, and work and pleasure are nearly the same thing. Weird things happen on the regular in Traitor’s Den. Come and join the quirky family, where everyone’s packing. Oh, and don’t mind the tiger.

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The Wild West with cellphones! Cute story of a town created for magical individuals who find themselves trapped with no way to return to their “normal” realm. Created by a powerful mage to exact revenge on his brother, Traiter’s Den is now inhabited by many different colorful paranormals that have to live by a “Wild West” type code with many unusual rules!

New arrivals come by the portal randomly and are assigned a horse, a hat, and a new unique name. It is up to Loretta Maybelle Ray to keep peace and order in this town. The problem is she is the only non-magical being that resides there!

I felt the story was cute and original but there were only a couple of events that caught my attention. Perhaps this first book is just to introduce this “world” and there is more excitement to come. It’s a light read with NO foul language (one of the rules) and a couple of hot guys that might keep you entertained but I did have a hard time getting invested in the story.

Getting 3 “Motherflapping flashers” sheep

Jeanie G

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Lucía Ashta is the Amazon top 20 bestselling author of paranormal romance, urban fantasy, and paranormal women’s fiction filled with wild magic, spicy romance, and quirky characters that make you snort-laugh.

A former attorney and architect, she’s an Argentinian-American who lives in North Carolina’s Smoky Mountains with her husband and daughters.

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Excerpt: Perfect Pending (Witches of Gales Haven, #1) by Lucia Ashta + giveaway

Perfect Pending (Witches of Gales Haven, #1)
by Lucia Ashta
April 1st 2020
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Marla’s ancestors saddled her with frizzy red hair, sarcasm on tap, the Gawama last name, and the urge to run from her problems.

Her bloodline was also supposed to guarantee she’d be a powerful witch.

She isn’t, not by a long shot.

Only those with magic are allowed in her hometown. Now that her teenage children are awakening, and sparking enough power to be a fire hazard, she’s headed back.

Even if she isn’t ready. Even if she’s fresh out of divorce court.

Home is where her family is. Her nan is head of the council, and her aunts claim multiple orgasms are the source of their limber joints.

But then Marla and her kids all but blow up the town on day one. And her first boyfriend, the one who broke her heart long before her ex did, seems better than ever.

He has his eye on her…

So does everyone else.

Somehow it’s on her, and the magical creature who won’t get out of her head, to save Gales Haven. Before her former mother-in-law redecorates the town in baby pink … and breaks the centuries-old spell that keeps it safe and hidden.

Perfect Pending is a Paranormal Women’s Fiction novel. If you love snarky stories with women so empowered they’re a force to be reckoned with, then you’ll love Perfect Pending, the first book in the Witches of Gales Haven series.

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EXCERPT:
Clyde pointed forward, brushing the unruly hair he inherited from me from his forehead. “What’s that?”

My heart sped up. “What’s what?”

“Those wavy things in the air.”

I exhaled loudly, tension I hadn’t even realized I was carrying relaxing from my shoulders. “Damn.” “Damn?” he and Macy parroted at the same time.

“Yeah, damn. You had me freaking out there. Those waves distorting the air are magic. If Clyde can see them, we’re in the clear.”

“How come I can’t see them?” Macy asked.

“You must just not be looking right,” I said, though I didn’t know how exactly she could be looking wrong. The barrier was ahead of us, in plain sight. Anyone with magic should be able to see it. Even those with weak magic could find the town limits well enough to enter.

“I must not be looking right,” Macy repeated, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

My favorite.

“Right there.” I pointed ahead just as Clyde had. “It’s like heat waves coming off the pavement.” “Only they go all the way up to the sky,” Clyde added, and a bit more tension oozed from me.

Macy shook her head. “I don’t see anything. Seriously.”

“That’s …not possible,” I said.

She crossed her arms and turned the full brunt of her sass toward me: “I’m telling you, there’s nothing there. You think I’m lying or something?”

“Of course not. There’s no reason to lie. Actually, there’s never reason to lie to your mother.” I arched my brow at them in my I’m-dead-serious look.

Clyde chuckled. Super encouraging.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Ma,” Macy said. “I don’t see anything but more pot-holey road.” Clenching my fingers around the steering wheel, I debated what to do. I couldn’t call my family. There were no cell phones or landlines in the entire town, a fact I’d purposefully omitted in my brief rundown to my kids of what was to become their new home. They would’ve fought me to leave even harder if they’d realized their beloved iPhones were about to be rendered useless.

The barrier dome that protected Gales Haven from discovery behaved as a gigantic Faraday cage. No electromagnetic pulses got in, and none got out. The concentration of magic in the community interfered with connections to the outside world. Every time landlines had been attempted, the result was the same: crackle.

My options were twofold: I could drive through and hope like hell the protective barrier didn’t zap my daughter. Or I could turn around and abandon all hope that Macy would get the help she needed, guidance she could only get from my family.

I’d never heard of someone with magic not seeing the barrier’s signature shimmer. I had no idea what it meant.

“When your magic erupts like it’s been doing,” I asked Macy, “what does it feel like?” “Like I stuck my entire hand in an electric socket and shocked the shi—”

I gave her my mom glare.

“Like I get a monster shock every time,” she finished.

Nodding, I nibbled at my lip. “Okay. Good,” I said, mostly to myself.

“What’s good?” Macy asked.

“If your magic’s too weak, the barrier won’t let you through. I assume it also won’t let you see it. But if it’s shocking you like that, you’ve got enough. For sure.”

I hoped.

“What about me?” Clyde asked. “Do I have enough?”

“If you can see the barrier, we’re good.” I nodded to convince myself that everything would be smooth sailing from here on out, and kept right on nodding to myself when I didn’t fully believe it. Nothing had been particularly easy in my life.

Didn’t mean I didn’t kick ass and take names. I did—all day long.

I’ve got this.

I eased the car back onto the road and crawled toward the shimmer, throwing constant glances at Macy. With her big brown eyes and long, dark straight hair, she didn’t look much like me.

Maybe twenty feet from the barrier, I asked, “Still nothing?”

“Nope,” she answered, popping the p.

“I can’t believe you can’t see it,” Clyde said. “I can see it tons.”

“It’s not like that makes you better than me,” Macy retorted right away.

He hmmphed, and Macy swiveled in her seat. She gasped. “I see it! When I turned my head, I saw it out of the corner of my eye,”

“Good enough for me.” I exhaled loudly and pressed down on the accelerator.

I might have left Gales Haven under less than auspicious circumstances, but nineteen years had passed since then. Long enough to discover that in this world—magic or not—we make our own luck.

I had no desire to be some shrinking violet. Or the meek wife Devin had expected and tried his darnedest to mold me into.

I was returning to town on my own terms—sort of. And not a single woman in my family had ever done anything meekly—or quietly.

I gunned the engine, and yelling out “Towanda,”I crossed the shimmering barrier.

About the Author:

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Lucía Ashta is the internationally top 100 bestselling author of young adult, new adult, and adult paranormal, urban fantasy, and contemporary romance books, including the series Magical Creatures Academy, Sirangel, Magical Arts Academy, Witching World, and Supernatural Bounty Hunter.

When Lucía isn't writing, she's reading, painting, or adventuring. Magic is her favorite, but the action, romance, and quirky characters are what keep her hooked on books.

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