Last one!!!!

Wow, this is the last spoiler before DESTINED releases in (EST) 8 minutes. But this is also the very last teaser I will ever post from the WINGS series. Wow. My little series all grown up and leaving the nest!!! *sniff* It really is pretty nostalgic. Here you go!!!!

They slammed doors and started walking toward the forest when Tamani stopped them, his face deadly serious. “David, Chelsea, as I said before, there have only been the barest handful of humans admitted into Avalon. But those who have . . . sometimes, they don’t come back. If you come with us into the forest, I don’t know what will happen. And I don’t know what would be worse—if they turn you away at the gate, with no time to get back to your car, or if they were to actually let you in.”

He held David’s gaze for a long time before David nodded once. Then he turned his eyes to Chelsea.

“I can’t stay here,” she said softly. “I would hate myself for the rest of my life.”

“Fair enough,” Tamani said, almost under his breath. “Then let’s go.”

Tamani led the way down the serpentine path, moving through the forest with such confidence and determination that Laurel and her friends almost had to run to keep up. Laurel knew there had to be sentries marking their progress, and around every corner she expected them to appear, as they had often done when she’d entered the forest with Tamani. But the woods remained eerily still. 

Ciao!

New Teaser

 ***Warning, this teaser is just a leetle bit spoilery***

“All my men are back there!” Tamani snapped, pointing into the green mist that filled the walled Garden. “And the sentries here are refusing to fall back. There’s no one to send. Unless . . .” His voice trailed off and he looked at Chelsea. “You’re fast,” he said.

“No,” Laurel said softly.

“Chelsea,” Tamani said, facing her fully. “I need you to run.”

Chelsea nodded. “I’m good at that.”

“Up this path, the huge gray structure on your right—covered with flowering vines, you can’t miss it—go in the front gates, right up to the main doors. If you’re fast—faster than you’ve ever been in your life—you can save them.”

“No,” Laurel said, louder this time.

Ciao!

Teaser the Next

I am behind on teasers!!! In apology, you get a long one.:D

Yasmine glanced briefly at Laurel and Tamani before lowering her voice. “I can do great things,” she said, so quietly Laurel scarcely heard. “You have told me for years, that I can and will do great things.”

“That is precisely why you must stay here,” Jamison said, lifting one hand to touch her face. “What we go to do now is not great—it is only necessary. It is more important now than ever that you remain alive so that you can do those great things. Avalon cannot afford to lose you, or all our efforts will have been in vain, in the very moment they are nearest to blossoming.”

Whether Yasmine understood Jamison’s cryptic speech or not, she nodded her assent, then turned to follow Marion, who hadn’t waited for her. Jamison’s eyes followed the two Winter faeries until they reached the Palace and were safely inside with their Am Fear-faire. Only then did he turn back to the group. “Come,” Jamison said, his voice choked as he led them down.

“There are . . . so many,” Laurel said to Tamani, as they followed Jamison, passing lines of sentries still marching up the path that led to the Winter Palace.

“Two hundred, give or take,” Tamani growled.

“Two hundred?” Laurel exclaimed, her breath catching in her throat. “Does she really need that many?”

“Of course not,” Tamani said.

Laurel hesitated. “Can Avalon spare that many?”

“Of course not,” he repeated, weakly. “Let’s go.”

Ciao!

Saundra Mitchell and her Contest of Awesome!!!

I have a guest blogger today! Welcome Saundra Mitchell! Her amazing historical supernatural The Springsweet came out yesterday. (It's the sequel to The Vespertine from 2011.:D)

So here she is to share a bit about The Springsweet and a contest!

Ciao!

"Do you know what I've missed since coming here? Books. I do miss reading novels, don't you?"

-Zora, The Springsweet

Pretty much every writer started out as a reader; now that we're writers, we can't help but write about people who love books. Sometimes IN the books. It's meta upon meta, but it makes perfect sense to us.

To celebrate books, Saundra Mitchell's blog tour is all about sharing two great things that go great together: books + free.

Today, you can enter to win a copy of Aprilynne's WINGS, and a signed set of Saundra's THE VESPERTINE and THE SPRINGSWEET. All you have to do is comment in this entry, and leave an e-mail address where we can contact you. (US & Canadian residents only, please.)

And tell us about your favorite book, too. Growing a TBR pile is the best gardening there is!

THE SPRINGSWEET
A Companion to The Vespertine
by Saundra Mitchell
Hardcover & E-book

From Harcourt

“A lovely historical romance takes readers back to the 1890 Oklahoma territory. (T)he author conjures a convincing picture of life on the Oklahoma prairie, painting an absorbing portrait of the landscape and of the people there. A high-quality, absorbing drama.”

– Kirkus Reviews, 02/01/12

It’s a long way from Baltimore to Oklahoma Territory. But Zora Stewart will go any distance to put the tragic events of her sixteenth summer behind her. So this city girl heads to the tiny frontier town of West Glory to help her young widowed aunt keep her homestead going.

When another Baltimorean shows up in West Glory, Zora couldn’t be more surprised. Theo de la Croix made the long trip out west hoping to court Zora, whom he has long admired from afar.

But Zora has developed an attraction to a rather less respectable fellow: Emerson Birch, a rough-mannered young “sooner” whose fertile land is coveted.

As Zora begins to suspect that there may be more than luck behind Emerson’s good land, she discovers an extraordinary, astonishing power of her own: the ability to sense water under the parched earth. When her aunt hires her out as a “springsweet” to advise other settlers where to dig their wells, Zora feels the burden of holding the key to something so essential to survival in this unforgiving land.

Even more, she finds herself longing for love the way the prairie thirsts for water. Maybe, in the wildness of the territories, Zora can finally move beyond simply surviving and start living.

THE SPRINGSWEET

is available at Indiebound |Amazon| Barnes & Noble

Saundra Mitchell has been a phone psychic, a car salesperson, a denture-deliverer and a layout waxer. She's dodged trains, endured basic training, and hitchhiked from Montana to California. She teaches herself languages, raises children, and makes paper for fun. She's the author of Shadowed Summer, The Vespertine, The Springsweet, and the forthcoming The Elementals and Mistwalker. She's also the editor of the forthcoming YA anthology Defy the Dark. She always picks truth; dares are too easy.

DESTINED Teaser

David stepped hesitantly back, but stayed close by his side, wedging a foot in front of the door as Tamani reached it. “Then let me come with you,” he said. “I’ll drive. You can sit and think for a while. Decide if this is really the right choice.”

“Oh, so now you’re the hero? Now that Laurel’s here to see you?” Tamani said, feeling the grip he had on his temper begin to slip. “Last night you left. You ran away instead of doing what needed to be done with Yuki. I’ve been doing what needs to be done for eight years, David. And I haven’t failed or run away yet. If there’s one person who can keep Laurel safe, it’s me—not you!”

When had he started yelling?

Ciao!