Today, I'd like to welcome The Winter King Blog Tour.
Please scroll down to learn more about this amazing book.
If you like the excerpt, then be sure to click a buy link to purchase the book.
Giveaway:
Enter the rafflecopter for a chance to win a copy of The Winter King complete with a white rose snow globe pendant reminiscent of the book!
The
Winter King
C.L.
Wilson
Genre: Fantasy Romance
Publisher: Avon Romance
ISBN 13: 9780062018977
Book Description:
Wynter Atrialan, the Winter King,
once lived in peace with his southern, Summerlander neighbors, but when Falcon,
the prince of Summerlea, stole Wynter’s bride and murdered his young brother,
Wynter vows vengeance. Calling upon a dangerous Wintercraig magic called the
Ice Heart, he gathers his armies and marches against Summerlea, crushing their
armies and spreading icy winter in his wake.
After three long, bitter years of
battle, Summerlea is defeated and Wynter comes to the heart of the kingdom to
issue his terms for their surrender. The prince of Summerlea stole Wynter’s
bride and slew Wynter’s Heir. He wants the loss replaced. The Ice Heart is
consuming him. Wynter hopes holding his own child in his arms will rekindle the
warmth of love and melt the Ice Heart before he becomes the monster of
Wintercraig legend, the Ice King.
The Summer King has three very
precious daughters whom he loves dearly. Wynter will take one of them to wife.
She will have one year to provide him with an Heir. If she fails, he will turn
her out in the ice and snow of the mountains and claim another princess for his
wife. And so it will continue until Wynter has his Heir or the Summer King is
out of daughters. All the while, Wynter will enjoy the vengeance of knowing the
Summer King will suffer each day without his beloved daughter(s), as Wynter
suffers each day without his own beloved brother.
The plan is perfect—except for
one small detail. The Summer King has a fourth daughter. One of which he is not
so fond.
Blamed as a child for the death
of her beloved mother, Khamsin Coruscate, the forgotten princess of Summerlea,
has spent her life hidden from the world like an embarrassing secret. Dressed
in cast-off gowns and left to her own devices, with only the determination of
her loyal nursemaid to ensure she receives the education befitting an Heir to
the Summer Throne, Khamsin haunts the abandoned towers and gardens of
Summerlea’s royal palace, close to her beloved late mother’s treasures, and
waits for the day her father will recognize her as a Princess of the Rose. But
though she dreams of the valor and sacrifices of ancient Summerlea heroes and
pines for paternal love that will never come, Khamsin is no sweet, gentle,
helpless princess-in-a-tower. She is a fiercely passionate creature with a
volatile, rebellious temper that is often as reckless and destructive as the
dangerous forces of her weathergift, the power of storms.
Together will their stormy
personalities be able to meld or will their powers destroy not only their love
but the whole world?
Add it to your GoodreadsShelf
Available for purchase at Avon Romance
Amazon BN Kobo
About
the Author:
C. L. WILSON grew up camping and
waterskiing across America, from Cherry Creek reservoir in Denver, CO, to Lake
Gaston on the border of Virginia and North Carolina, to Georgia’s Lake Lanier
and Lake Allatoona. When she wasn’t waterskiing and camping on family
vacations, you could usually find her with a book in one hand and a sketch pad
in the other—either reading, writing stories, or drawing. Sometime around the
ninth grade, she decided she was better at drawing her pictures with words than
paints and charcoals, and she set aside her sketchpad to focus entirely on
writing.
Wilson is active in Tampa Area
Romance Authors (TARA), her local chapter of Romance Writers of America. When
not engaged in writerly pursuits, she enjoys golfing, swimming, reading,
playing video games with her children, and spending time with her friends and
family. She is also an avid collector (her husband says pack rat!), and she’s
the proud owner of an extensive collection of Dept. 56 Dickens and North Pole
villages, unicorns, Lladro figurines, and mint condition comic books.
Wilson currently resides with her
husband, their three wonderful children, and their little black cat, Oreo, in a
secluded ranch community less than thirty miles away from the crystalline
waters and sugar-sand beaches of Anna Maria Island and Siesta Key on Florida’s
gulf coast.
Website: http://clwilson.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/clwilsonbooks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clwilsonbooks
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1310735.C_L_Wilson
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/C.-L.-Wilson/e/B001JS38U6
Excerpt
Prologue
~ Scarlet on Snow
King’s Keep
Vera Sola,
Summerlea
“Do you have to
go?” Seventeen year old Khamsin
Coruscate clung to her beloved brother’s hand as if by her grip alone she could
anchor him fast and keep him from leaving.
“You know I do. Our treaties with the Winter King are very
important.”
“But you’ll be
home soon?” Whenever he was gone, the
ancient walls of the royal palace of Summerlea that had been her home and her
prison since birth seemed somehow more confining, more restrictive.
“Not this time,
little sister.” Falcon shook his
head. A strand of black hair that had
pulled free of the queue at the back of his neck brushed against the soft, dark
skin of his cheek. “It will take weeks
to negotiate the treaties.”
Khamsin scowled,
and the wind began to gust, sending Kham’s habitually untamed hair whipping
into her mouth and eyes. “Why does he
have to send you? Why can’t his
ambassador negotiate the treaty? He’s
sending you away because of me, isn’t he?
Because he doesn’t want you spending so much time with me.” Her hands clenched into fists. The wind sent her skirts flying and a dark
cloud rolled across the sun.
Their father,
King Verdan IV of Summerlea, didn’t love her. She knew that. He kept her isolated in a remote part of the
palace, hidden away from his court and his kingdom, on the pretext that her
weathergifts were too volatile and dangerous and she couldn’t control them. That was all true. Kham’s gifts were dangerous, and she couldn’t
control them any better than she could control her own temper. Until now, however, he’d never stooped to
sending his other children away to keep them from visiting her.
“Here now. Be calm.”
Falcon smoothed her wayward curls back, tucking them behind her
ears. Compassion and pity shone softly
in his eyes. “I wish I didn’t have to
leave you. But Father believes I’ll have
the best chance of getting what we want from Wintercraig, and I agree with
him.” Summerlea, once a rich, thriving
kingdom renowned for its fertile fields and abundant orchards, had been in a
slow decline for years. Although the nobles and king maintained a prosperous
façade for political and economic purposes, beneath the gilded domes and bright
splendor of Summerlea’s palaces and grand estates, the rough tatters of neglect
were beginning to show. “Besides, you
won’t be alone while I’m gone. You have
Tildy and the Seasons.”
“It isn’t the
same. They aren’t you.” He was the handsome Prince of Summerlea,
charming, witty, heroic. He’d lived a
life of adventure, most of which he shared with her, entertaining her with the
tales of his exploits…the places he’d seen, the people he’d met. His hunts, his adventures, his triumphs. No matter how much her nursemaid, Tildavera
Greenleaf, doted on Khamsin, or how often the three other princesses, Autumn,
Spring, and Summer, snuck away from their palace duties to spend time with
their ostracized youngest sister, Falcon was the one whose visits she couldn’t
live without.
“Now there’s a
pretty compliment. Careful, my
lady. You’ll turn my head.” He smiled, and warmth poured into her. It was no wonder the ladies of their father’s
court swooned at the slightest attention from him. Falcon had a magical way about him. He could he literally charm the birds from
the trees with his name-gift—controlling any feathered creature on a whim--and
the weathergift inherent in his royal Summerlander blood was stronger than it
had been in any crown prince in generations.
It was as if the Sun itself had taken up residence in his soul, and its
warmth spilled from him each time he smiled.
Kham took a deep
breath. The sharp edge of her temper
abated, and in the skies, the gathering storm began to calm. Perhaps King Verdan truly had chosen to send
his only son as envoy to Wintercraig for political reasons. Long, long ago, as a small child crying
herself to sleep, she’d decided Falcon was the reincarnation of Roland
Triumphant, the Hero of Summerlea, the brave King who had defeated an overwhelming
invasion force with his wit, his weathergifts, and a legendary sword reputed to
be a gift from the Sun God himself. If
anyone could charm the cold, savage folk of the north into concessions most
favorable to Summerlea, Falcon could.
“Will you at
least write to me?” she asked.
“I’ll send you a
bird every week.” He tapped her nose
and gave her a charming, roguish grin. “Cheer up. Just think of all the swordfights you’ll win
when you’re fighting invisible opponents instead of me.”
Kham rolled her
eyes. He’d been teaching her
sword-fighting for years, but she had yet to best him in a match.
“You know,” she
said as they walked towards the doorway leading back into the palace, “it might
actually be a good thing that you’ll be spending months in Wintercraig.”
“Oh?”
“Yes. You can use that time to find out what
happened to Roland’s sword.”
Falcon tripped
on an uneven flagstone and grabbed the trunk of a nearby tree to steady
himself. “I’m sure I’ll be much too busy
to chase fairy tales, Storm.”
She frowned in
surprise. “But you’ve always believed
the stories were true.” Blazing, the legendary sword of Roland Soldeus, had
disappeared shortly after the heroic king’s death. Legend claimed it was the Winter King, the
father of Roland’s betrothed, who had spirited the sword away so Roland’s
brother Donal couldn’t claim it. Every
royal Summerlea Heir for the last two millennia had dreamed of finding the
legendary blade and bringing it back home where it belonged. Falcon had spent years chasing lead after
lead, determined that he would be the one to find Blazing and restore Summerlea
to its former glory.
“What about
those letters?” she added. “The really
old ones you found tucked in that monastery?
You said they proved the stories were true.”
“That was six
years ago. I was seventeen. I wanted the stories to be true.” He gave her a quick hug and a brotherly kiss
on the forehead. “I’ve got to run. I’m
meeting with Father and his advisors to go over our list of demands and
concessions one last time before I leave.
I’ll see you in a few months.”
“I’ll miss you
every day.” She trailed after him,
feeling bereft and forlorn when Falcon turned the corner and disappeared from
view. But this time, she also felt
confused. She’d never known Falcon to give up on something he felt passionately
about. And he’d been passionate about
finding Roland’s sword. He’d been
certain he was on the right trail. He’d
shared his discoveries with her because he knew she was just as hungry as he to
find the legendary sword.
So why would he
deny it now?
Tour Giveaway:
A copy of THE WINTER KING,
complete with a gorgeous white
rose snow globe pendant reminiscent of the book!
Open to US Shipping
