Ties of Smoke by Claudia Herring - Excerpt Tour and Giveaway

Ties of Smoke

by Claudia Herring

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GENRE: Fantasy

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BLURB:

Lady Lavinia Bramley is master of a Djinni.

Lavinia runs away from her husband to make a life with the djinni Yasir, but it’s not what she thought, not pearls and flying carpets and wishes come true . . .

Her desperate efforts to find happiness with Yasir are foiled by her husband’s reappearance, murder attempts by the jealous magician who cursed Yasir to the urn, and Yasir’s desire for revenge.

Lavinia finds love, and loyalty, are as ephemeral as ties of smoke.

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EXCERPTS (Exclusive Excerpt):

Chapter 36, pages 1-2

“Milady.” Fleming curtsied and cleared her throat. “There’s a . . . a . . . visitor. In the kitchen. Mr. Dobson wouldn’t let her in the front hall, sent her ’round to the servant’s entrance. In this weather.” She made a clucking sound with her tongue.

“She’s wrapped in a hooded blue cape, drippin’ wet. Insists on seeing the lady of the house. Gives her name—a Miss Simza. Even swathed in that plain cape, with them dark eyes, she’s got gypsy written all over her.” Fleming looked expectantly at her mistress, then frowned. “Milady, is it the nausea what ails you again?” Fleming spoke softly as one would to a child. “Jesus, Joseph and Mary, you’re pale as milk.”

Lavinia felt her maid’s sturdy arm wrap around her waist. She clutched her stomach as Fleming helped her to a chair.

Lord in heaven. Simza. Here. At Bramley House.

Lavinia had done what the Chovihano asked. She hadn’t contacted Simza, hadn’t mentioned her suspicions that the gypsies stole her baby, hadn’t tried to find the gypsies. What had she done that would bring the lace romni to her home?

A lace romni to fulfill the Chovihano’s curse.

Blurry specks fuzzed the edges of her vision. She put her head in her hands. The buzzing in her ears almost drowned out the sound of the rain outside.

“Breathe slowly milady. Try and quit gasping like that. Milady? Milady?”

Someone was talking. Stop. Stop. That horrible buzzing. Like bees in the bushes before she encountered the Chovihano. She moaned as Fleming pressed the wet compress on her forehead.

“No. It’s too . . . too cold.”

“The cold will help. I have the bowl if you feel sick. Let me settle you a bit more comfortably.” Fleming bustled around, slipped a thin pillow behind Lavinia’s back and pressed the cold cloth against her forehead again.

Lavinia shivered. From the chill of the compress or from Simza waiting downstairs? She placed her hand on her chest, tried to breathe—

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Claudia Herring aspired to be a baton twirler when she was five and an archaeologist at thirteen. When she became a graphic designer and an author of fantasy, she decided she'd hit upon the perfect compromise.

Along the way she worked as a gift wrapper, a server in a Mexican restaurant at an amusement park (where she rode the Black Dragon at midnight—an actual ride, not a sexual allusion) and an illustrator in medical graphics (where they featured videos on wound healing during lunch) at the Texas Medical Center.

Her novel, His Master's Bride, a historical fantasy with romantic elements set in Regency England, won first prize in the Houston Writer's Guild Novel Competition. Ties of Smoke is the second in the series The Djinn Chronicles.

When she's not delving into the world of the Djinn, Claudia is practicing yoga to go to that hushed space where she imagines and plots her next fantasy novel.

If you like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series or Carol Berg’s Soul Mirror series you'll love Her Master’s Bride and Ties of Smoke.

Links:

Website: http://www.claudiaherring.com

Blog: http://www.claudiaherring.com/blog

Twitter: @claudiakherring

Facebook: http:www.facebook.com/claudia.herring.writer

Amazon author: http://www.amazon.com/author/claudiaherring

TIES OF SMOKE on amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Ties-Smoke-Novel-Djinn-Chronicles-ebook/dp/B01M2BXKD9/ref=sr_1_1

HIS MASTER’S BRIDE on amazon: http://tinyurl.com/mg83vjj

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION 

Claudia will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Be sure to visit the other blogs on this tour:

December 5: Books,Dreams,Life
December 6: Independent Authors
December 7: Tina Donahue Books - Heat with Heart
December 8: The Avid Reader
December 9: Edgar's Books
December 9: Long and Short Reviews
December 12: Beyond Romance
December 13: The Silver Dagger Scriptorium
December 14: Rogue's Angels
December 15: 3 Partners in shopping, Nana, Mommy, and Sissy, Too!
December 16: Mixed Book Bag
December 16: Two Ends of the Pen