Hey, lovelies! It gives me great pleasure today to host Priya
Ardis and her new book, “Gods of Merlin”! For other stops on her Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the
end of this post to enter to win a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card OR
an autographed copy of the featured book!!
That’s right – there will be TWO lucky winners!! Also, come back daily to interact with Priya
and to increase your chances of winning!
See below for more details.
Thanks for stopping
by! Wishing you lots of luck in this
fabulous giveaway!
Please note that the
giveaway prize of the autographed copy of the featured book is only available
to US residents. Sorry INTL – but you
are still qualified to win the $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card.
Gods of Merlin
by Priya Ardis
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GENRE: YA Fantasy Paranormal
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BLURB:
GREAT GREEK GODS. THEY ARE COMING.
Foster
kid and occasional shoplifter Eowlyn Patience just wants to fit into her Boston
high school. When the Sword In The Stone falls out of the sky like a meteor
into the middle of London’s Trafalgar Square, everything changes. Then, an
enigmatic golden-eyed man arranges for her to attend a school for the gifted in
England, and the irritatingly perfect Matt Emrys from science class turns out
to be Merlin—the Merlin, King Arthur’s greatest wizard.
Frozen
in a cave for fifteen hundred years, Merlin has woken to find the next Arthur.
Eowlyn Patience’s mysterious admittance to Avalon Preparatory was not something
he foresaw…a disturbing aberration when his most powerful gift happens to be
visions of the future.
The
race to find the rightful heir rages between deadly gargoyles, wizards, and
Regulars, but figuring out the troubled Eowlyn might be by-the-book Merlin’s
hardest job yet. She’s altogether the wrong girl. Torn between what is right
and what saves lives, will Eowlyn do what it takes to win—even if it means sacrificing
Merlin to a god?
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EXCERPT THREE:
A
gorgeous underwear-model of a man in a black suit cleaned his sword with a
tissue. He threw the bloodied rag on top of the half-man, half-beast. I tensed
as he reached inside his coat pocket, but he only took out a clipboard and
black sunglasses. He put the sunglasses on. “Eowlyn Patience?”
A
little dumbstruck, I nodded at the beautiful killer with blood on his face.
“Pretty
name.” He smiled wistfully. “I once knew an Eowlyn.”
The
comment knocked me out of my trance. “No one has ever heard of the name
Eowlyn.”
He
shrugged. “Surprise. Now, you have met me.”
I
put my hands on my hips. “What do you want?”
He
gave me an amused smile. “I will be your driver today. Don’t forget to grab
your bags. We should leave now before you have any more visitors.”
I
pointed to the corpse on the floor. “I am not going anywhere with you, serial
killer.”
“Is
that so? Let me be clear—I just saved your life. More hunters will be coming.”
Black-Suit tucked a pencil behind his ear and the clipboard under his elbow. He
stepped to the side and pointed at an idling black luxury sedan. “I’ll be
waiting in the car. For when you change your mind.”
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MY BOOK REVIEW:
This book was an exciting, intriguing, adventurous read filled
with magical, mystical, and paranormal elements!!
I really enjoyed that this book was a modern day follow up to
the classic Sword and the Stone fairy-tales and mythologies that many of us have
grown up with.
I liked that Miss Ardis made sure all the lore love was ever so
present front and center as she made sure King Arthur, Guinevere, Merlin, Lady
of the Lake, Excalibur, and Camelot were all included and incorporated into the
modernization story line.
I love
when authors can pull a time-honored story and put a decent spin on it that
allows the reader to reconnect with a favorite pastime read and build on to the
story with a fascinating, but fitting story line that even the original authors
would approve of. I’d like to say for
the most part this book does just that.
I
liked Eowlyn (pronounced A-O-Lin) and I definitely felt for her character
arc. As she struggled through so many
hardships such as being a foster kid; it was hard to not want success and positive
opportunities for her. I liked her strength,
determination, tenacity, compassion, and stubbornness.
I
enjoyed all the crafty, (some of them) evil and creepy, and intriguing characters
and creatures that were featured such as the gargoyles, shadow dragons, wizard candidates,
and wizard guardians. I have always been
curious, but also fearful of gargoyles so it was interesting to have them be a
top antagonist and a main rival of securing the sword. However, I did enjoy learning more about them
and their mythology.
I liked
the training school angle at the Avalon Preparatory Academy that focused on teaching
the students regular and irregular magic and preparing them for battle. However, it was very similar to the Hogwarts
set up in the Harry Potter Book Series.
Still it was enjoyable and entertaining but felt very familiar.
I
enjoyed the race to find the successor of the sword and it was interesting to
see so many characters come out of the woodwork trying to prove their powers, virtue,
and claim as the champion and rightful heir of Excalibur, the one and true ruler
of Camelot.
Miss Ardis
did an excellent job of world-building and keeping up with the complexities and
details of a fantasy, paranormal story.
I felt the author did a skillful job at making sure all her bases were
covered and that everything seemed to sync up.
Although this was a fantasy, paranormal-based genre filled with magical
and mystical influences, for every out-there scenario the author seemed to have
a way to explain her reasoning, how it was possible, or how it came about.
I also would like to point out that I think the author did a
fantastic job with the historical content and authenticity of the Arthurian
Legend. It was very clear she was
well-versed on the tales and myths and used that knowledge to really bring the
story to life.
There are some predictable scenes. However, there are still a few very
unexpected twists and turns that you won’t see coming!
This book has a creative modern story line spin, excellent
writing style with vivid and detailed scenes, intriguing characters and
creatures, is steady paced, and keeps you entertained.
This book is not
part of a book series at this time and therefore, can be read as a standalone.
All in all, I enjoyed reading this book and would absolutely
recommend it! I think all young adult,
fantasy, and paranormal readers will like this book too! So, add it to your TBR List and get to
reading - you won't be disappointed!
Did you find this review helpful?
If so, please, please, please mark it as
helpful on Amazon here:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/review/RDKWG43CGVG6Q
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR BIO:
Priya Ardis loves
books of all kinds--but especially the ones which make your nose leak and let
your chai go cold. Her novels come from a childhood of playing too much She-Ra
and watching too much Spock. Her bestselling series, My Boyfriend Merlin, about
Merlin going to high school is a YA contemporary fantasy and romance for those
like road trips, wizards, Greek gods, and gender-bent quests.
Talk to me! Connect with me at the links
below!
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CONNECT WITH PRIYA:
Website:
Blog:
Email:
contact@priyaardis.com
Facebook:
Twitter:
Pinterest:
Instagram:
YouTube:
BookBub Author Page:
BookBub Book Page #1:
BookBub Book Page #2:
Goodreads Author Page:
Goodreads Book Page:
Amazon Author Page:
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon Kindle eBook:
Amazon Paperback:
Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:
Barnes and Noble Paperback:
Kobo eBook:
Apple iBook eBook:
Google Play eBook:
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Priya will be awarding a $25 Amazon or B/N GC to
a randomly drawn winner, and an autographed copy of the book (US only) to a
second winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.
**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a
purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this
blog. This does not cost you anything,
it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here.**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
Priya ~ Good morning! Welcome back! It is so great to have you here again! Congrats on your new book and good luck on the book tour! I enjoyed reading and reviewing your book, thanks for providing the copy! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteAnother great book to discover. Thanks so much for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt, thank you.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed the post, sounds good!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ally! I'm so thrilled you like Gods of Merlin and thank you for getting the word out!
ReplyDeleteWould you ever like to see your book turned into a movie?
ReplyDeleteI like the cover, looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteNice cover!
ReplyDelete