The Bookish Snob Promotions: WHIRL Tour Book Excerpt

As part of the WHIRL by Emma Raveling, I have a great excerpt from the book. Here's a little about the author and the book first.


Author Bio:
Emma Raveling is a fantasy author who leads a slightly eccentric life traveling throughout the world with her accommodating husband and charming, neurotic dog.
Hopelessly addicted to coffee and diet coke, she has a strange love of spreadsheets and organizational tools because they give her the illusion that she is somehow in control of the chaos that is her life. A dedicated practitioner of vipassana meditation, Emma loves to cook and often spends time scouring the Internet for new recipes. She adores beautiful art such as painting and sculpture, classical music, lyrical writing, and great graphic design.
Whirl is her debut book. She is currently busy at work writing Billow, the second installment of the Ondine Quartet series.

Seventeen-year-old Kendra Irisavie is an ondine, a water elemental caught in the middle of an ancient war. The Aquidae are immortal dark demons who will stop at nothing to destroy the fragile balance of the Elemental world. Fierce and independent, Kendra has always played by her own rules. Gifted with the powerful magic of Virtue and trained to be a deadly fighter, she has spent her life breaking hearts and getting into trouble.

When her life explodes one violent night in a northern California city, a dark stranger appears, promising answers to her mysterious past. Alone and with no one to trust, she must now navigate through a dangerous new world, face the temptations of a forbidden romance, and remain true to her duty and destiny. All while the Aquidae continue to hunt her down, in the hopes of eliminating her forever…



Excerpt:

"We've been trying to find you for days. But now that you’re seventeen…” He chuckled. My insides clenched in revulsion at the sound. “Your magical energy was easy to spot, even from halfway across town.”

He gave me a considering look.

“Happy birthday, by the way,” he added, almost as an afterthought. “You shine very brightly, sondaleur. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it. Your mother didn’t have half your glow.”

His two sidekicks laughed as though they shared a private joke.

I didn’t know why he was calling me sondaleur, and I didn’t care. What I did know was that he was the bastard who’d killed her. Snapped her neck as if she were nothing more than a chicken, leaving her body abandoned in an empty parking lot of a strip mall near the edge of town.

Rage fueled by grief exploded through my veins like molten fire.

I lunged with a slashing motion. He stepped aside, swatting at my arm like it was a pesky fly.

The contact sent me flying down the alley. I leapt back up, ignoring the pain in my arm and knees. Crouching, I balanced on the balls of my feet and sprang, spinning into the air with a kick aimed at the face of the nearest broad-shouldered target.

The guy, whose long black hair was tied back into a ponytail, dodged it with a bored expression. He casually flicked his forearm and it smashed into my cheekbone with a force that sent me reeling back to the ground.

They were so fast, so strong. Just like my mother had warned. My skills easily surpassed human ability. Slow and clumsy was not something I was used to feeling.

My cheek throbbed from the blow. I clenched my teeth, dug my fingers into the asphalt, and staggered back up.

Keeping my arms loose by my sides, I raced through my options. I had to strike them with my dagger. The silver of the blade would injure them, though it wouldn’t hold them for long.

But it might buy me enough time to get a head start.

Thanks to Emma Raveling and Bookish Snob Promotions for the excerpt! Make sure to check out the next stop on the tour on October 21 at ReaderGirls.

Don't forget to check out my WHIRL e-book giveaway post here going on October 20th-November 1st!

Tour Participation