Giveaway, Guest Post, and Review of Daughter of the Red Dawn By Alicia Michaels

 

 

Happy Monday Everyone!  And what better way then to start your week off than with an excellent NEW series that has just hit the circuits!!  I can't wait to share with you all about this lovely new read!  But first, let's listen to what Selena wants to share with us about the REAL big bad wolf!!

 

Selena McKinley here.

When Alicia asked me to come along on this tour and talk about my story, I was delighted. I mean, people have been getting my story all wrong for centuries and I’m here to set the record straight.

First off, I hate being called Little Red Riding Hood, Little Red Cap….I even hate being called red. For one, I’m not so little. I’m seventeen years old, thank you very much. For another thing, the red cape I wear doesn’t define me…but my great power does.

I had no idea who I was, or even where I came from. Not too long ago, I was living in a small town in Texas, counting the days until graduation, when this super hot guy showed up and changed everything. I know what you’re thinking; typical teenage girl gets all twisted up in the game over a guy and now she’s willing to drop everything for him.

You have to understand that Titus isn’t just some guy, and ours is more than just a case of puppy love. The first time I saw him, walking through the tall, brown Texas grass, the sun glinting off of that jet-black hair and those icy blue eyes of his, I knew that I would never be the same. Sure, he’s a scary shapes shifter with sharp teeth, claws and a very short temper. But, like me, the wolf in this story gets misunderstood all the time.

I mean, he only tried to eat me once. I set him straight though and now, well, I’m not going to tell you the whole story silly! Alicia’s already told it for me. All I can say is that this is not your mother’s fairy tale. This is nothing like something Disney ever told you.

This story is the truth.

And let's take a look at the book, and a peek inside:

 

Title: Daughter of the Red Dawn (The Lost Kingdom of Fallada Book One)

Genre: YA Fantasy/YA Romance

Length: Novel

Publisher:  Anchor Group

Description: These are dark times in the land of Fallada, and I fear that they will only continue to grow darker. Only the return of those we’ve lost will even the score.

It will begin with first line of the prophecy, which foretells of a red sun over the desert sky…

            --Adrah, Queen of the Fae

On the outside, seventeen year-old Selena McKinley is like any other teenage girl. Yet Selena has always felt as if she doesn’t belong and is counting the days to graduation and her freedom from the small town that makes her feel so out of place, when the arrival of a stranger turns her world upside down. Selena will learn just how different she is and the truth of where she comes from.

A lost princess, they call her, the catalyst for a war involving a world that Selena was taken from as a child. An evil queen obsessed with her own beauty with a plan to enslave the human race.…the notion seems so silly, yet Selena knows in her heart that it is true. Then there is Titus, the shape shifter whose blue eyes and claims of destiny hold her heart captive. Can Selena find the strength to do what she must while following her heart?

Release Date: October, 2012

 

Excerpt :

As Selena contemplated taking another lap around the field, she turned and found the lone figure of a boy standing at the edge of the meadow, which was ringed by cedar trees. Her eyes widened as she took him in from head to toe: impossibly black hair falling into his eyes, stony features, long legs, and slender form. In his skinny jeans, Converse sneakers, black t-shirt, and sleek sunglasses, he was unlike any other guy she’d ever seen in Twin Oaks, where Wranglers and large belt buckles were the dress code.

He raised his chin slightly in acknowledgement and Selena stood rooted to the spot, unable to move or even utter a sound as the boy stepped into the tall grass. The sun glinted off of his black hair, giving it a slightly bluish tinge, and his dark sunglasses mirrored her reflection to her as he closed the distance between them. The grass seemed to part to make way for him, and Selena couldn’t make her legs function as he approached.

He is strange, she thought as he stopped in front of her with his hands in his pockets. But strange was good. It meant that she was now one of two people that didn’t belong in Twin Oaks.

“Hey,” he said.

One word, but Selena couldn’t help but notice the silky smooth tone of his voice. He smiled, showcasing a row of perfectly straight, white teeth. The canines were a bit on the long side but she liked them. She also liked his pale blue eyes, which he revealed by pushing his glasses up into his hair.

“Hi,” she answered back breathlessly. She tried to smile, but her lips wouldn’t move. She fiddled with the strap of her backpack instead.

“I’m Titus,” he said, rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet.

“Selena,” she answered.

“Pretty name,” he said.

“Thanks. I like your glasses.”

I like your eyes. I like your hair. I like your skin.

Selena bit back the words, embarrassed by her almost instant crush on the cute stranger.

“Are you new in town?” she asked, trying her best not to gawk at him and failing miserably. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before.”

“Not that new,” he said with a shrug. “I’ve seen you around a lot, at school, on the track field, at the Dairy Queen.”

Selena’s eyes widened in surprise. “You have?”

He nodded, a sly smile spreading across his face. “Oh yeah. When I saw you today walking through this field I thought, ‘now’s the perfect chance to get to meet the prettiest girl in Twin Oaks’.”

Selena couldn’t help but laugh at that one. Prettiest girl in Twin Oaks? Hadn’t he laid eyes on Allyson, the cheerleader with the biggest boobs a teenage girl had a right to have? Or Janelle, who’s long, perfectly shaped legs had earned her the honor of being captain of the dance squad? Or what about Trisha, whose hair was that perfect shade of blond that most girls had to buy a box of hair color to achieve?

This guy obviously didn’t get out much.

Selena snorted. “Yeah right.”

“It’s true,” he said, taking another step toward her. Selena felt her hands shaking as he reached up to stroke a lock of her straight, red hair. “Besides, you’re different and I like different.”

“You must be the only guy in town that does.”

He laughed. “Would you believe me if I told you that we were two of a kind? That I’m as different as you are?”

Selena frowned. “What do you mean?”

He leaned even closer, his nose nearly touching hers as his grin widened. His white teeth flashed in the sunlight, the sharp canines displayed proudly.

“I saw you,” he whispered. “Running.”

Selena clutched her stomach as she felt nausea welling up in her. From the expression on his face, it was obvious that he didn’t mean to say he’d seen her on the track at school. How could she have been so stupid? She hardly ever allowed herself the freedom to run uninhibited in broad daylight. She had thought herself alone, completely oblivious to the watching eyes of a boy named Titus.

What to do?

Titus’ smile was blinding, a flash of white teeth that left her stunned while she tried to find words … any words … even ‘please don’t tell my secret and make me end up on the six o’clock news, or on a lab table with a bunch of tubes coming out of my body’.

Her mouth opened, but nothing came out. As panic gripped her, Selena could think of only one thing to do.

Run!

About the Author:

Alicia Michaels has always possessed a vivid imagination and strong ambition. At the age of 12 she decided that she wanted to be a writer, and promptly went about penning her first novel. Years later, she is releasing her first Young Adult Fantasy series based on the fairy tales as written by the Brothers Grimm.

When the Army wife and mother of two isn’t taking care of her home and family, she’s reading, writing, or arguing with the characters in her mind. She also enjoys cooking, movies, and music. Oh, and a good cup of coffee.

Social media and Web Links:

Website/blog: www.fantasybyalicia.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/fantasybyalicia

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/alicia_michaels

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fantasybyalicia

Email: fantasybyalicia@yahoo.com

 I love revamped fairy-tales and this one HAS to be one of my favorites of Little Red Riding Hood.  Alicia did an excellent job of putting a really good twist in this new series of fairy tales.  But of course all of them must have an evil queen, and I think Eranna will earn her legacy with the rest of the villainous leaders.  She certainly has loads of ambition, even though she sacrificed her own daughter as well.  Eranna had arranged for the seven princesses to be kidnapped and flung into the human realm just as it was being sealed off from the other side.  This pitted the kingdoms against each other and allowed Eranna to further spread her poison.  She then trained hunters and sent them out into the world to find and kill the lost princesses since the Fae queen was planning on finding them and bringing them back.  Eranna feared this because with their combined power they would be able to defeat her once and for all.

 

This is the first princess' journey to her real home, after being raised 16 years as a human.  Selena had always felt out of place in school, no matter how hard she tried to fit in.  She had really only one friend and her Gram, who had raised her after the death of her parents.  On her way home from school one day she meets the boy that will forever change her life.  What a surprise to find that he really isn't a boy at all...but a wolf!

 

I enjoyed this introductory into the new series very much.  It was extremely well written, with excellent descriptions.  All lovers of fairy-tale re-makes need to make this a must read!! 

 

 

 

Alicia has prizes to give away!!!  Just fill out the rafflecopter form below to enter!!  Good Luck and you could win:

 Prize List 

Three lucky winners will receive the Daughter of the Red Dawn official tour Prize Pack

including:

1 Ebook copy of Daughter of the Red Dawn

1 Daughter of the Red Dawn blog tour commemorative tote bag

1 beaded bookmark

1 Red Dawn notebook and matching pen

5 lucky winners will receive Ebook copies of Daughter of the Red Da

a Rafflecopter giveaway