Welcome to my home on the web. You may have noted the mountains in the banner are the misty Blue Ridge of North Carolina. Did you know time traveling Highlanders live there? Read about them in the Highland Gardens series. Curious about the big cat? Florida panther~from the Crimson Storm paranormal novel, Sea Panther.

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Excerpt Wednesday and Goodreads Giveaway: Just Wait For Me by Dawn Marie Hamilton


 
 
Since I'm working on the next tale in the Highland Gardens seriesJust His Fae KissCaitrina and Douglas's story and I have a Goodreads giveaway ending today for Just Wait For Me, I thought it would be fun to share the prologue, featuring Caitrina, from Just Wait For Me
 
 
9 September, 1513
Near the village of Branxton in northern England

The king is dead.

Anguish tore from her halfling soul with a fae scream that reverberated over the field of devastation like rolling thunder. Silence ensued. Men frozen in fear.

Caitrina dropped to her knees beside the redheaded warrior and ran gentle fingers along the bloodied curve of his handsome face. Damn Oonagh! Damn the Fae Queen! She’d refused to allow Caitrina to intervene in the politics of the mortals and prevent this tragedy.

Now, the king lay dead, fatally wounded by an arrow and a bill. Be damned the English and their nasty weapon—the bill, a staff mounted with a hooked chopping blade and pointed projections. The Scots hadn’t stood a chance against the onslaught on the slippery, hilly terrain with their cumbersome pikes.

Heartbroken, she cradled the man to her breast. Such greatness lost. Tears spilled unchecked onto his precious face. Too late. Even the magic tears of a Sithichean princess couldn’t revive the king.

“Caitrina! Let us be away from here.” The brùnaidh, the Maclachlan Clan brownie, fussed at her back. “We must remove Stephen from the field before the English learn he lives and plunge a bill into his chest.”

She ignored the wee man. How would the Scots forge forward without their beloved king—with only a bairn and the sister of the despised English monarch to guide them?

“If we lose Stephen you will never regain your rightful place.”

Aye. She must deal with Oonagh and the stupid matchmaking challenge. Caitrina released James from her embrace and eased him to the ground. “Sleep in peace, oh, greatest king.”

The metallic tang of blood fouled the air. She rose and moved through the death and destruction. Oonagh had tricked her. Led her to believe after three matches she’d be free to return and live in Tir-nan-Og, the beloved faerie paradise, land o’ heart’s desire. But Oonagh had refused to reveal which match was the third and final. The one that would free Caitrina from servitude to the Fae Queen.

Caitrina and Munn had expended considerable energy on a third match only to learn Archibald and Isobell were the wrong couple. Therefore, one match remained to perform.

“Needs be we hurry!” Munn sidestepped one of the petrified English knights.

They found Stephen’s prone form not far from that of his king. Caitrina rolled him over and took stock of his injuries. Thanks be to Danu, the blond warrior would live. She cloaked the three of them in fae mist and whisked them away on the fetid breeze to the healing caves of the Gray Women.

The battlefield returned to morbid activity—an agony of pain.
 
 
Today, September 27, 2017, is the last day to enter the Goodreads giveaway for a chance to win a signed copy of Just Wait For Me.



Goodreads Book Giveaway


Just Wait for Me by Dawn Marie Hamilton

Just Wait for Me

by Dawn Marie Hamilton


Giveaway ends September 27, 2017.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.


Enter Giveaway


 
 
Hope you enjoyed this wee peek into 'Just Wait For Me', a Highland Gardens Novel.

 
~Dawn Marie  

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Excerpt Wednesday - Caitrina Plots an Escape From Tir-nan-óg - Just Beyond the Garden Gate by Dawn Marie Hamilton


 
 
Since I'm working on the next tale in the Highland Gardens seriesJust His Fae KissCaitrina and Douglas's story, I thought it would be fun to share excerpts from the other books featuring them. Here is an excerpt from when Caitrina was held prisoner by the faerie queen in Just Beyond the Garden Gate...
 
 

Most of Caitrina’s endless life, she performed impossibly difficult tasks at the dictate of the faerie queen with the hope of regaining her royal status. To once again live and play amongst the other faeries in paradise, in Tir-nan-óg, was her heart’s greatest desire.

Dammit, she’d been so close with Laurie and the MacLachlan.

Once they mated, she could move on to the second match of the queen’s three-match challenge. Then the third. Too bad Oonagh interfered.

Caitrina skimmed a hand along the length of a rich velvet curtain. Here she was, ensconced in luxury at the palace within Tir-nan-óg, on the whim of the queen.

But as a prisoner.

At least she was alone. Oonagh had left the palace to meet her consort for merrymaking at a distant faerie pageant. Had the queen not realized Caitrina would plot escape?

Caitrina paced the confines of the chamber, indifferent to its splendor. Lost in thought, she stopped before a crystal table and ran her fingers through the collection of sapphires displayed in a cut glass bowl. Outside, on the veranda, one of Oonagh’s boy toys strutted across the tile to the pool—nude—and dove in. He emerged to his waist a few steps from Caitrina, wet muscles on his packed chest glistening in golden sunlight. Her mind whirled furiously and she settled on a cunning plan.

With a thought, she changed her glamour to that of a veiled harem girl and stepped from the queen’s boudoir, through the curtains, onto the warm tile. She smiled with her eyes to entice the lesser faerie. She wouldn’t think of Douglas while she seduced her prey.

“Gabriel,” she purred.

Desire flashed in her quarry’s green eyes and with feline grace, he leapt from the water. She read his intention to dry himself with a thought and shook her head.

“I like you wet.” Her tone was a husky come-hither invitation.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Just Beyond the Garden Gate

Amazon : Kobo : B&N : Apple

 
 
 
Hope you enjoyed this wee peek into 'Just Beyond the Garden Gate', a Highland Gardens Novel.

 
~Dawn Marie  

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Excerpt Wednesday - Caitrina gets rid of Munn - Just Beyond the Garden Gate by Dawn Marie Hamilton


 
 
Since I'm working on the next tale in the Highland Gardens seriesJust His Fae KissCaitrina and Douglas's story, I thought it would be fun to share excerpts from the other books featuring them. Here is an excerpt from Just Beyond the Garden Gate...
 
 



Caitrina hovered at the edge of the wood, cloaked in the glamour of invisibility. She raised her arms over head in a languid stretch until her spine aligned with a soft crack. It felt so good to have shed the gardener glamour. Posing as a human in the twenty-first century was taxing beyond measure.

She ran tactile fingers over her silk gown, relishing its soft luxury and drew in the fragrance of fir with bliss. Magic hummed. The verdant forest nearly crackled with her power. Her smile widened as sparks ignited and flashed between the intended couple.

The plan progressed as intended. She clapped her hands, more pleased than she’d been since forced to leave the shores of her beloved faerie paradise Tir-nan-Óg—land o’ heart’s desire—centuries ago. She would outwit the queen and win the first part of the challenge.

Easy as snapping her fingers. Almost.

When Laurie ran after the MacLachlan chief, Caitrina purred like a feline who’d caught its prey. Satisfaction shimmered within her mind, but then she thought about Oonagh and her stomach clenched. The High Queen of the Fae believed the challenge would force Caitrina into an eternity of servitude. She curled her hands into fists. No way would she let that happen.

A change in atmospheric pressure prickled over her skin. Sensing Munn nearby, she stilled, closed her eyes, and summoned her image with a mere thought. Without a whisper of sound, her form emerged and took shape. Inhaling sharply, she spun to face the meddlesome brownie.

The wee man slowly approached, even though his expression twisted into a portrait of fear. Stubborn brùnaidh.

“What mischief caused thee?” he demanded. “Where be the old chief? His lady?”

Caitrina stepped in close and frowned at the fool. She needed to get him out of the way before he endangered the completion of her tasks.

Although she smelled his terror, he held his ground and returned her glare. “Be gone! You dinnae belong here. Cease darkening MacLachlan lands.

“’Tis none of your concern.”

“Aye, ’tis. You toy with the young chief.”

“You’ll not interfere.” With a flick of her wrist, she cast him far away.

His image blinked out on a horrified scream.

Caitrina smiled, brushed some residual dust from her gown, dissolved into a passing plume of mist, and rode the breeze toward Castle Lachlan and her pawns.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Just Beyond the Garden Gate

Amazon : Kobo : B&N : Apple

 
 
 
Hope you enjoyed this wee peek into 'Just Beyond the Garden Gate', a Highland Gardens Novel.

 
~Dawn Marie