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Sunday, January 10, 2016

Divide and Conquer Champions of Elonia by Carmen Fox Blog Tour and Giveaway










Divide and Conquer

Champions of Elonia

Book 1

Carmen Fox



Genre: Urban Fantasy with romance elements



Publisher: Champagne Books



Date of Publication: March 2, 2015



ISBN: 978-1-77155-175-5

ASIN: B00U0W2BIM



Number of pages: 377 print pages

Word Count: 97k



Cover Artist: Ellie Smith



Book Description:



Two women. One prophecy. Zero places to hide.



Flung from her mundane Seattle existence into a world of magic, scientist Lea struggles to make sense of a destiny she doesn’t want. The moment she finds comfort in the arms of a man who appreciates her inner nerd, a new magic sweeps the realms.



Nieve, Lea’s instructor, may be seasoned in the art of war, but she’s clueless when it comes to romance. To save her world, she allies herself with her enemy, a kindred warrior soul, who leaves no doubt he’s after more than her cooperation.



As each tick of the clock swallows another person’s memory, Lea and Nieve will do anything to hang on to theirs, but betrayal drives a wedge in their friendship. Can they reconcile and rally the troops before the magic wipes out their pasts?









"Urban Fantasy doesn't get better than DIVIDE & CONQUER. Action, excitement, and 2 kick-ass heroines to root for fill this rich, complex and dynamic world. Carmen Fox does not disappoint!"



~National & USA Today Bestselling author Anna J Stewart



Excerpt:



NIEVE


I dropped my magical defenses, allowing my luster to envelop me in a powerful light. Without the sun’s ready supply of energy, that meant using some of my precious resources.


“Holy crap.” Lea jumped out of her bed and squeezed against the far wall of the room.


Finally, some reaction. “It’s called luster.” I twirled to prove I wasn’t hiding a flashlight behind my back. “It’s a by-product of an Elonian’s affinity with light. Anyone sensitive to magic can see it unless I suppress it.”


In my mind, rows of thick bricks piled one on top of another around me, extinguishing my luster.


“A-are you an angel?” Her airless voice barely traveled the distance between us.


I kinked back my head and laughed. “Definitely not.”


She unglued herself from the wall and took a few steps toward her bed. “You said I’m an Elonian. Why don’t I shine?”


“You can’t see your own luster, but it’s there. Without the training to suppress it, you’re a living flame to the Shades. It’s the reason they call us Sparks. It’s also how they’ll identify you. You know, before they kill you.”


Lea picked up a sweater from the floor. Her focus went distant, no longer in this world. Something I’d said must have triggered a switch in her brain. Not a day too soon.


I trotted to the corner by the window and picked a collection of stuffed animals off the armchair. From the deep V between Lea’s brows, I concluded her thought processes weren't going anywhere fast. Once the toys occupied the windowsill, neatly arranged by height, I sat.


With her dark lashes, a tiny nose and a sprinkling of freckles, she looked so young and so…Kindred. Unexpected sadness ripped through my chest. The misery pressed onto my diaphragm, making me feel like I was an evil monster come to chop up her innocence like next week’s firewood.


Even though she was predicted to be my ally through the dark days, she was still a total stranger. Yet her pale, elfin face stirred something in me, some glimmer of recognition, of familiarity even. My childhood friend Belinda had a similar innocence about her. She’d chew the end of her pen for hours while pondering her words. Her poems were meant to bring joy to a war-torn land. They burned with her when Galleo invaded her village.


Lea would not share Belinda’s fate. I’d see to that. By the end of her training, she’d be able to take on a whole battalion of Shades by herself. I squinted at her short stature and took a sobering breath. If not a battalion, then a group of ten.





About the Author:



Carmen Fox is an Amazon no. 1 bestselling author in the vampire and werewolf mystery categories for her book Guarded (The Silverton Chronicles). Guarded was also the Amazon no. 1 urban fantasy novel in Australia.



She lives in the south of England with her beloved tea maker and a stuffed sheep called Fergus. An avid reader since childhood, she caught the writing bug when her Nana asked her to write a story. She also has a law degree, studied physics for a few years, dabbled in marketing and human resources, and speaks native-level German and fluent Geek. Her preferred niches of geekdom are tabletop games, comics, sci-fi and fantasy.






Twitter: @authorcarmenfox














Sample Interview questions



Tell us about the role of women in your writing.



They’re strong. This is particularly true for Lea and Nieve, the two heroines of DIVIDE AND CONQUER. They’re happy to accept help, but are perfectly capable of beating the odds by themselves.



What makes DIVIDE AND CONQUER different from other books?



Many books rely on a main female character and a male character working together. The importance of female friendship often falls by the wayside. I wanted to create a book with an ambitious plot that celebrates women and their friendships. Think Lethal Weapon, or any other buddy movie, but with women, magic and a chain-smoking gargoyle.



Who are Lea and Nieve?



Lea is a physics geek who searches for meaning. She starts out as a newbie to all things magic, but proves herself to be resilient and stubborn. Nieve is a tough warrior, but over the course of the book her softer side comes through, helped along both by Lea and by a man she wishes she didn’t have feelings for.



So, what about romance?



Neither Lea nor Nieve have had typical high school experiences so their romantic entanglements throw both for a loop. Lea is too cerebral to simply fall for a guy, or at least she thought she was until she meets a certain someone. Swept away by her first real crush, she must find a way to balance who she is with who she wants to be. If anything, Nieve is even worse off. She’s a warrior, and the men she knows are put off by strong woman. The one guy who isn’t might just be the last man Nieve wants to get involved with.



Do you have a close best friend?



No. Even though most of my life my best friends were male, for a few years I did have a best female friend called Kim. She moved away from my home town when I was about thirteen and we kept in touch until we went off to college. I haven’t seen or spoken to her since. As you get older, making close friendships gets tougher. You end up with many good friends, but this one meaningful other who is willing to accept you for who you are is a rare beast to find.





Tour giveaway



2 copies of the Divide and Conquer e-book


1 copy of the Guarded paperback (unsigned) 3 $10 Amazon giftcards


a Rafflecopter giveaway

10 comments:

  1. Thank you for the chance to win :)

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  2. Sounds like an interesting read!

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  3. I cannot wait to read more about Lea and Nieve!

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  4. This looks very interesting! I'd love to check it out!

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  5. Thank you for informing me about this book.

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  6. Thanks for featuring my book, and good luck to all rafflecopter entrants.

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  7. Sounds intriguing, I'd like to learn more about the spotless-mind angle.

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  8. I enjoyed the excerpt, thank you.

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  9. Enjoyed reading your interview, thank you!

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  10. This looks interesting, thanks for sharing :)

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