A Bond Of Venom and Magic
Karen Tomlinson
(The Goddess and the Guardians #1)
Publication date: October 14th 2016
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult

The Wraith Lord is hunting; his prize, the key to unleashing darkness and Chaos upon the eight Kingdoms.

For Diamond Gillon the war raging in the south seems a remote danger until her home is brutally attacked. Having lost everything she holds dear, Diamond is catapulted into a terrifying new world in which legendary beasts arise, magic is condemned and half blood fae, like her, have no rights. Despite her growing feelings for her saviour, Commander Hugo Casimir, he remains a paradox – not only is he a heartless killer, he is owned by the cruel immortal fae queen; a queen who will murder her own people for magic.

As Diamond’s circumstances become ever more perilous she is drawn deeper into Hugo’s world and discovers the lengths to which he will go to save what he holds dear. Will Hugo become her friend, her protector, or – an enemy not worthy of her trust?

A Bond of Venom and Magic is a tale of two people bound by magic and secrets, but trapped in the complexities of love and betrayal. It is the beginning of an epic journey, one that will test Diamond’s resolve and determination to battle an evil that threatens not only her world but that of Eternity, the land of The Guardians and The Goddess.

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A Chat with the author-

Hi Lisa, Thank you for being involved in my book tour. I am very excited for you to bring A Bond of Venom and Magic to your blog.

You wanted a bit of background to my novel A Bond of Venom and Magic so I’ll do that first then I’ll tell you about the book too. My social channels are at the end of this post but if you would like to see what #ABOVAM is all about you can join my mailing list here and get the first five chapters free:

http://karentomlinson.com/newsletter-landing-page/

I have always loved reading and always wanted to write, but it seemed an impossible dream. As a child, right through to adult hood, I had stories zipping around in my head all the time, especially at night before slipping into dream land. I had written some cringe worthy romances in my twenties but I didn’t attempted writing again for a number of years; my career and family took over. When my twin girls were at the age they wanted a bedtime story, I found my story making skills and we began to make one up together. They wanted a tale with dragons, a prince called Jack, a boy called Tom and a girl called Diamond Sparkles (Hmm…?). We had castles with secret towers and tunnels, and fairy rebels in a cave with the dragon, who would help Diamond, Tom and Jack escape a demon lord…. I absolutely love fantasy stories and was so pleased they chose these elements, but I also love them more with a bit of romance thrown in too, hence, A Bond of Venom and Magic was born.

I then realised that my children were growing quickly, so I began to write the story down for when they were old enough to read it. I suddenly realised as I began to write, how much I loved it and how easily the words flowed. This wasn’t like the cringe worthy romances I had written before, this story made sense to me. I had a beginning, a middle and an end. I saw the characters in my head, I saw the world vividly every time I closed my eyes and I couldn’t wait to get back in that world whenever I had the time.

The story has changed immensely over the four years it took me to settle into my writing style. I started off trying to write for a younger age group but found it didn’t fit my writing style. I didn’t settle until I decided to aim for an older teen/early twenties age group and could include some of the darker elements of fantasy as well as more romance.

ABOVAM is a high fantasy tale and therefore has what I think are the elements of a fabulous fantasy story. Some people may called these tropes but I wanted monsters and magic and dragons and princes and romance and struggles for survival. I also wanted sexy hot men, romance and a bit of diversity. ABOVAM has big, broad shouldered fae who are tough warriors, and they have a society where the fae do not decide their mates dependent on gender. Most people think of faeries as delicate beings with butterfly wings, that are tiny and live in the woods. These are most definitely not the fae I had in mind. Mine are sexy, and hot and tough and tall. Their wings are armoured and the magic in this world allows them to have different skills depending on the colour of their wings. The fae Queen had outlawed certain colours of more powerful magic and we see the struggles our protagonists have to free their land from this oppression, as well as fight a far greater evil than they at first realise.

ABOVAM is not a glowing pretty romance with unicorns and starlight, it is an action packed story that deals with emotional indecision and will make you want to read more, besides I don’t think I have read any other YA fantasy with hot armoured winged fae.

If you have any questions for me you can find my Goodreads page here: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15259538.Karen_Tomlinson or email me email@karentomlinson.com.

Why not add A Bond of Venom and Magic and A Bond of Blood and Fire to your to be read on Goodreads and copy me in to any Amazon or Goodreads reviews you do? I love to read them, whether they are 5 star or not.

Here is the book blurb for #ABOVAM followed by my social links. Thanks for reading and I hope all you readers decide to give #ABOVAM a go. Feel free to stalk me on social media!

A half-blood magic wielder… A hard-hearted warrior…. A deposed prince. A Bond of Venom and Magic is an epic fantasy tale set in a dangerous world of magic, fearsome winged warriors, dragons and forbidden romance. It is ideal for fans of SJ Maas and Cassandra Clare, and readers who love to discover spectacular new worlds.

The Wraith Lord is hunting; his prize, the key to unleashing darkness and Chaos upon the eight Kingdoms.

For Diamond Gillon the war raging in the south seems a remote danger until she loses everything she holds dear. After her home is brutally attacked Diamond is catapulted into a terrifying new world in which legendary beasts arise, magic is condemned and half blood fae, like her, have no rights. Diamond is drawn ever closer to her saviour Commander Hugo Casimir. Despite her growing feelings for him, Hugo remains a paradox, not only is he a heartless killer, he is owned by the cruel immortal fae queen; a queen who will murder her own people for magic. Will Hugo become her friend, her protector or an enemy not worthy of her trust?

As Diamond’s circumstances become ever more perilous she is drawn deeper into Hugo’s world and discovers the lengths to which he will go to save what he holds dear.

A Bond of Venom and Magic is a tale of two people bound by magic and secrets, but trapped in the complexities of love and betrayal. It is the beginning of an epic journey, one that will test Diamond’s resolve and determination to battle an evil that threatens not only her world but that of Eternity, the land of The Goddess and the Guardians.

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Author Bio:

Karen Tomlinson is the author of The Goddess and the Guardians series of Young Adult fantasy books. Book one A Bond of Venom and Magic will be released October 14th 2016.

Karen has always been an avid reader. Her taste in books is eclectic but she likes nothing better than an exciting fantasy, set in a new and magical world. She lives in Derbyshire, England, with her husband, twin girls and her dalmatian, Poppy. Karen trained as a nurse and currently works as a resuscitation and clinical skills trainer, this involves training a wide variety of health care professionals and medical students in acute patient care. In addition to writing, and reading whenever she can, Karen likes to keep active. She has been training at Shotokan karate since being thirteen, likes walking, mountain biking and (for something completely different) cake decorating. She is currently working on book two in The Goddess and the Guardians series.

About me!

As soon as I could read I spent hours getting lost in the new worlds books could give me. Spending my pocket money had to be done (obviously) but not on sweets, well, not many…I spent my money on books. Back then it was Enid Blyton’s Famous Five which sparked my young mind. I didn’t rest until I had the whole set, then I migrated to the secret seven…(there was no Harry Potter then) As a teenager I would trawl through all my mum and dad’s discarded books. It was probably highly inappropriate for a thirteen year old to be reading swoony Mills and Boon romances followed by Ian Flemming, Alistair Maclean and Wilbur Smith!

Because I read anything and everything I could get my hands on back then, I now have an eclectic taste in books. I will read anything that catches my eye and absolutely love illustrated book covers! In my late teens I discovered fantasy and that genre has stayed my firm favourite. I am and will always remain a complete sucker for a fantasy with kick ass characters and worlds steeped in magic and romance!

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