Craving Beauty by Jennifer Silverwood - Fairytale/ Fantasy - A dark tale of enchantment and woe, perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Holly Black, Craving Beauty is the first installment of the epic Wylder Tales Series!
This is my post during the blog tour for Craving Beauty by Jennifer Silverwood. In Craving Beauty a lost kingdom is uncovered by an equally lost girl, and a hungry beast waits, ready to devour her soul.
This blog tour is organized by Lola's Blog Tours and the tour runs from 17 till 30 July. You can see the tour schedule here.
By Jennifer Silverwood
Age category: Young Adult/ New Adult
Release Date: 14 July 2023
A dark tale of enchantment and woe, perfect for fans of Margaret Rogerson and Holly Black, Craving Beauty is the first installment of the epic Wylder Tales Series!
Nineteen-year-old Vynasha's life is no fairy tale. The fire that killed her sisters was her fault, and the magic that saved her nephew cannot heal their scars. They shouldn't have survived, and the villagers either fear or loathe them. Until a mysterious stranger saves her, giving Vynasha the key to finding the only family they have left.
With nothing to lose, Vynasha dares the journey into the forbidden Wylderland. Through dangers untold, she makes her way to the forgotten city, but more than ghosts linger in the castle. A wicked curse shadows the land, shadows whisper that the one to break their curse has come, and a beastly prince makes a bargain Vynasha cannot refuse.
Become the beast's bride or become a monster herself.
Guest Post
Prompt: 28 July: “Blog could be about the MC as a child.”
Vynasha had always known she was
different.
“Wrong,” her sister, Adriaa whispered
when Mother’s back was turned.
“Unholy,” her other sister, Iona
sneered when Father wasn’t listening.
Tamyra, the eldest, was kindest. She
would spend hours brushing and braiding Vynasha’s unruly curls. “Don’t worry
about what people say. The village priest is afraid of Wynyth, and he spreads
that fear to others.”
Vynasha wished she could believe
Tamyra, but Adriaa and Iona never failed to remind her she would never truly
belong. Their father had brought Wynyth and Vynasha home from his travels, a
new mother and baby sister they had never wanted nor asked for.
“Does Father believe the priest, like
Adriaa and Iona?” she asked her eldest sister.
Tamyra’s brow pinched in a frown as
she threaded her fingers through Vynasha’s curls. “How could he when your
mother is the reason Papa smiles again, and our home is so beautiful?”
Tamyra meant the roses Mother grew.
The roses had been planted in the garden, among the wilting vegetable and berry
patch enclosed behind stone walls. And over the years, Wynyth allowed her roses
to crawl over the garden walls, then climb up the side of their home.
“How to you make the flowers last
through winter, Mama?” Vynasha asked the moment she was old enough to. It was
just the two of them in the garden, knee-deep in soft soil and new snow
drifting onto the shawls covering their heads. The cold never bothered them the
same way it bothered the others.
Wynyth smiled as she ran her hands
over the thorny stems. Beads of blood caught along the edge of the thorns and
the snow seemed to thin, the wind to sigh, and the flowers leaned closer to
their hidden place in the garden. “To give life requires sacrifice, you see.”
Mother’s hand was almost too warm as
she took Vynasha’s hand and showed her how to coax the other roses to bloom.
Buds unfurled before them and though the thorns pricked her skin, Vynasha
smiled.
“I see!” The air thickened with roses
and spices, and her blood burned hotter, her senses seemed sharper. “Is this
magick, Mama?”
Wynyth nodded and began to sing in the
lilting tongue of her homeland. Vynasha sang along as best she could, though
she barely understood the words.
Where
will you go, wolf child,
when
the blood calls you home?
What
will you do, seeker,
when
all hope is gone?
Go north,
to Castle Bitterhelm,
wherein
you may taste peace,
Before the long sleep.
The scent of magick was one of
Vynasha’s first memories. The other was her brother, Ceddrych.
As the eldest child and only boy, he remembered
their father’s sorrow best. And so Ceddrych loved Wynyth and Vynasha and
welcomed them without question.
“My sweet boy,” Wynyth called him.
“Will you promise me to always watch over your sister?”
“I promise, Mama,” Ceddrych swore, tears
streaming down his bare cheeks.
Vynasha lay curled against Mother’s
side on the bed. Her skin was so cold, too cold. No matter how much
Vynasha tried to share her warmth, nothing seemed to work. No matter how she
pricked her palm on the rose stems adorning Mother’s bedside table…
Ceddrych found her like this hours after
Mother’s last breath. The fire had gone out, but Father hadn’t come back since drawing
the other children away. Alone, Vynasha had tried everything she could think
of. She sang every song Mother had taught her, recited every spell, but nothing
worked.
“Your mother is a witch, and so are
you,” Adriaa once told her, but Vynasha hadn’t believed her.
“Father Andrus says witches go to
hell,” Iona said, and it was this thought that drove Vynasha mad.
Mad enough that when she found
Father’s blade, she wondered if it would work better than the thorns.
“Don’t!” Ceddrych snatched the blade
and threw it across the room before gathering Vynasha in his arms. “Please
don’t! Don’t ever do that again, Asha. Promise me.”
“I was just trying to save her,” she
sobbed.
Ceddrych’s chest shook as he carried
her away from Wynyth’s bedside. The air no longer smelled of magick.
Vynasha cried and wished she felt as
cold as Mother. Anything but this endless fire, her cuts burning while Ceddrych
hid her in the barn and carefully cleaned and wrapped her hands.
“You have to promise me you won’t ever
do anything like that again,” he begged by lamp light.
Vynasha’s face was crusty with dried
tears, but her bound hands soothed by one of Mother’s poultices. She stared up
into her brother’s golden-green eyes and threw her arms around his neck. “I
won’t.”
Ceddrych sighed with relief and held
her close. “I promised Wynyth I would keep you safe.”
“And will you keep you leave me too
one day?” Her breath hitched as panic crawled beneath her skin at the thought.
What would happen if Ceddrych wasn’t there to sooth the burn? What if she lost
control over the magick trapped in her blood?
“Never.” Ceddrych shook his head and
squeezed her tight.
Vynasha was young enough to believe
him. But a seed of doubt had been planted. “Do you think Mama went to hell,
like Iona said?”
Ceddrych stiffened even as he ran a
gentle hand over her curls. “If God doesn’t let Mama into heaven, then it’s no
place I’d want to be.”
“Was she a witch like they said?”
Vynasha turned her head so she could listen to Ceddrych’s heartbeat. The steady
rhythm kept her heart from racing too fast. The fear still hadn’t gone away,
and it never fully would.
“It doesn’t matter,” Ceddrych firmly
replied.
“But the priest—”
“It doesn’t matter,” Ceddrych
repeated. He pulled back and forced her to meet his gaze. “Listen to me,
Vynasha. The priest doesn’t know everything. Remember the books and maps I
showed you?” He waited for her reluctant nod and smiled. “Not even the saints
know all the mysteries hidden on this earth. And if Wynyth was a witch, then
witches must be better than normal people.”
Vynasha returned his smile, and warmth
bloomed in her chest, the scent of the roses filling her senses again. “I love
you, Ceddrych.”
“Love you too, Asha,” he murmured as
he pressed a kiss to her brow.
Ceddrych would watch over her, just
like Mother made him promise he would. He’d never leave her, or so she hoped,
and so he would. Until the war came to Whistleande Valley, and their lives were
once again forever changed.
About the Author:
Jennifer Silverwood has been involved in the publishing world since 2012 and is passionate about supporting the writing community however she can. After studying traditional art at university, she began helping Qamber Designs bring authors’ books to life. In real life, she’s a mom of two, a passionate reader, and an occasional artist. Jennifer is the author of three series—Wylder Tales, Heaven’s Edge Novellas, and the Borderlands Saga—and the stand-alone romance titles Stay and She Walks in Moonlight.Author links:
- Website
- Website book page
- Goodreads
- Books2Read
- Newsletter
There is a tour wide giveaway for the blog tour of Craving Beauty. These are the prizes you can win:
- a $25 Paypal gift card.
- 3 paperback copies of Craving Beauty (US, UK and Canada only). If winner is outside those countries they’ll receive an ecopy instead.
- 5 ebook copies of Craving Beauty.
For a chance to win, enter the rafflecopter below:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you so much for sharing Craving Beauty with your readers! And for letting me share a bit more of Vynasha's world. Happy reading :)
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