Into the Dragon’s Lair #MFRWHooks #MFRWAuthor

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Welcome to another edition of MFRW Book Hooks featuring another snippet from Chapter One of Tova’s Dragon.

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A flash of lightning startled her, followed by a clap of thunder. Oh, goddess, just what she needed. She quickened her pace as the skies opened and rain poured down. Lightning flashed again and again as the thunder grew louder. Closer. Boulders littered the path, forcing her to weave around them and skirt the edge of the cliff. She made the mistake of looking over the rim and her heart lurched in fear, but she kept on.

She skidded to a halt when she came to a fork in the path. The right fork led toward a cleft in the mountain, but appeared to go nowhere. The left fork wound upward to the castle, but would leave her completely exposed to the storm. As she hesitated, a bolt of lightning darted at her. She raised a hand and directed what magic she had left to deflect the blow. Lightning hit a nearby tree, strong enough to split it down the middle.

She dropped to her knees and rested her hands on the earth, exhausted, her physical energy and magical powers depleted. ::Earth Mother, guide me.:: Her silent plea was answered when a voice beckoned her from the right. ::Follow the path to the cave.::

A cave! Thank the goddess.

The wind at her back propelled her through a narrow opening between two pine trees toward a steep cliff. She stumbled to a halt, searching for the cave. A brilliant flash of lightning revealed an opening just large enough for a man to crawl through. She tumbled inside as thunder shook the mountain.

Safe inside, she sank to the ground, gasping for breath and chilled to the bone. Her entire body trembled from fear and exertion. She closed her eyes and sent up a prayer of thanks for the relative safety of the cave and waited for her eyes to adjust to the blackness.

What had she seen outside? She searched her memory for what she knew of the area. On the rare occasions she’d seen the dragonfolk, they’d looked much like everyone else. But they kept apart, and visitors to the area were discouraged. True, dragon motifs decorated the doorframes of their houses—she’d seen that herself—and rumor said they worshipped some kind of serpent god.

According to Mutti Zee, over the years, travelers through these mountains had claimed to see large winged creatures soaring in the sky at sunrise, while others swore they’d seen men and women change shape and fly into the night. She’d thought the stories to be old wives’ tales, but now she wasn’t certain.

When she opened her eyes again, she spied a darker area. She moved toward it and found a passage leading farther into the mountain, along with a torch propped against the wall. She sighed in relief and reached into her pouch for her flint to light it.

The oil sparked to life, and she entered the passage, one hand on the tunnel wall for balance as she followed the trail down into the mountain. As she rounded a bend, she slipped on a loose rock and lost her balance. She dropped the torch, her head banged against the tunnel wall, and everything went blank.

Tova's Dragon coverTova’s Dragon
by Lyndi Lamont
Kingdoms & Legends Part 2
Steamy Paranormal Romance Novella

An earth mage sets out to save the kingdom, but must team up with a sexy outlawed dragon shifter. Together, they have the power to defeat the evil wizard, but only if they survive the coming battle. And if they do, can an earth mage find happiness with a dragonshifter?

Available for purchase or loan at Amazon:

US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07635W1SR
AU: https://www.amazon.au/dp/B07635W1SR/
CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07635W1SR/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07635W1SR/

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Lyndi

My Favorite Book? 2018 #MFRWAuthor 52-week Blog Challenge

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The #MFRWAuthor 52-week Blog Challenge is back for 2018, and this week’s question is what is the “Favorite thing I’ve written, and why”. Yikes, asking an author this question is like asking a parent which is your favorite child.

Tova #bookqw graphicThat isn’t to say that we authors don’t have favorites among our book babies. For instance, Tova’s Dragon really is my favorite of all the novellas I’ve written. That story was a gift from the muse that came to me in the middle of the night. Luckily, I had the good sense to crawl out of bed, go into the living room, grab a pencil and yellow pad, and write it down. There’s no trusting middle-of-the-night memory!

As for my three historical novels, each one is special in one way or the other.

Rogue's Hostage thumbnailRogue’s Hostage starts in Western Pennsylvania where I grew up, and ends in old Quebec, a favorite destination I traveled to with my DH. It’s also my first historical romance novel, the one that wouldn’t leave me until I’d finally sold it. It took me three years to research and write the book, and nine years to sell it. But Jacques and Mara just would not let me rest until their book saw the light of day!

Lady Elinor thumbnailLady Elinor’s Escape, my sweet Regency romance, is special because I fell in love with the Regency subgenre, but hadn’t thought I could summon the voice. When I discovered that I could do so, I happily wrote a reverse Cinderella story set in one of my favorite cities in the whole world: London. In 2003, and again in 2015, I had the opportunity to visit London and see some of the places where Lady Elinor and her hero Stephen Chaplin lived and loved. I’m hoping to add some sequels to Elinor and Stephen’s story, though when I’ll find the time, I do not know!

Lily and the Gambler coverMy Western romance, Lily and the Gambler, also holds a special place in my heart because the idea came to me when my husband and I traveled to California’s Gold Country. I fell in love with the area around Grass Valley, which has a large Cornish population. Back in the 1850’s, Cornish miners were brought in to work the gold mines, which were deep vein mining, meaning they had to tunnel under ground. The Cornish had lots of experience tunneling down to mine tin, and the mines were played out. My Cornish heroine was born, as was the carefree gambler who tries to steal her heart.

I participated in the blog challenge sporadically last year, and I make no promises that I will manage 52 weekly Friday blogs this year. If things go as planned, there will be weeks I’m off traveling, and I know there will be weeks when I’m simply to busy to squeeze in another blog. All I can say is I’ll do my best in the challenge as I make the jump from 2017 to 2018.

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Happy New Year to all!

Linda McLaughlin / Lyndi Lamont

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