We're huge fans of Jennifer Estep here at Goldilox and the Three Weres so we're really excited to be a part
of the blog tour for Cold Burn of Magic, the first book in the Black Blade series! The book
releases on April 28th. Below is the blog tour schedule and an excerpt from the book! Enjoy! Make sure to check out all the other stops and watch out for Rose Red's review later today!
Genre: Young Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Synopsis:
There Be Monsters Here. . .
It's not as great as you'd think, living in a tourist town that's known
as "the most magical place in America." Same boring high school, just
twice as many monsters under the bridges and rival Families killing each
other for power.
I try to keep out of it. I've got my mom's bloodiron sword and my
slightly illegal home in the basement of the municipal library. And a
couple of Talents I try to keep quiet, including very light fingers and a
way with a lock pick.
But then some nasty characters bring their Family feud into my friend's
pawn shop, and I have to make a call--get involved, or watch a cute guy
die because I didn't. I guess I made the wrong choice, because now I'm
stuck putting everything on the line for Devon Sinclair. My mom was
murdered because of the Families, and it looks like I'm going to end up
just like her. . .
COLD BURN OF MAGIC EXCERPT:
Bad things always come in threes.
Three strikes. Those three bears that Goldilocks ran into.
The three guards with swords who were chasing me right now.
“Come back here, you thief!” one of the guards bellowed, his voice booming across the dark rooftops.
I grinned and ran faster.
Thirty minutes ago, I had let myself into the lavishly furnished, but poorly protected brownstone of a rich, Family-affiliated accountant who had bought a ruby necklace for his girlfriend—something his wife didn’t exactly appreciate.
So I had been dispatched to swipe said necklace on the angry wife’s orders and dime. It had been child’s play to climb up the drainpipe to the second floor of the brownstone, pick open a balcony door, and slip inside. I hadn’t even had to break into the office safe, since the necklace had been nestled in a black velvet box, the top open, sitting on the accountant’s desk, the rubies sparkling for my greedy eyes to see. So I’d closed the lid and tucked the box with its necklace into my long, sapphire-blue trench coat.
Then I had rifled through the rest of the desk to see what else I could steal.
I’d been mildly surprised and rather pleased to come across a pair of diamond cufflinks tucked away in another box in one of the drawers. The diamonds weren’t as large and impressive as the rubies, but into my pockets they’d gone all the same, along with a gold fountain pen, a sterling silver letter opener, and a crystal paperweight.
Nothing that I hadn’t swiped dozens of times before in my seventeen years. In fact, this job had been easier than most of the ones that Mo had sent me on recently.
You might say that I was a sort of modern-day Robin Hood, merrily stealing from the rich. Only I never, ever gave my loot away for free. There were only three people in this world that I cared about—me, myself, and I. Well, maybe four, if you caught me on a good day and I felt like including Mo. Either way, Mo could fend for himself, and mine was quite enough of a mouth to feed, as far as I was concerned.
Once I made sure that all of the loot was securely tucked away in my coat pockets, I scanned the rest of the office. But the vases and other knickknacks were too awkward and oddly shaped for me to carry away, and the furniture was far too large and heavy.
Satisfied with my haul, I decided to leave. Which, of course, was the exact moment that one of the guards had stepped into the room to fetch the necklace for his boss.
He had yelled for his two buddies, they’d come crashing into the office, swords drawn, and I had beat a hasty retreat through a side door, up some stairs, and out onto the top of the brownstone before leaping onto the roof of the next house over … and the one after that … and the one after that …
Now, here I was, five minutes later, still racing across the rooftops of some of the nicer brownstones in Cloudburst Falls, West Virginia. The guards had been harder to shake than I’d expected, but I had a plan to take care of that.
I always had a plan.
Jennifer Estep is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance.
Her Elemental Assassin series follows the life and times of Gin “the Spider” Blanco, a barbecue restaurant owner who also happens to be an assassin with magical control over the elements of Ice and Stone.
The Mythos Academy series focuses on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. She studies at Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors.
Her Bigtime paranormal romance books feature sexy superheroes, evil ubervillains, and smart, sassy gals looking for love.
Estep’s new Black Blade series is about 17-year-old thief Lila Merriweather, who has a Talent for sight, along with the ability to take magic others used against her to boost her own powers. She tries not to get involved with the Families who control much of the town, but ends up in the middle of a potential turf war.
