Month9Books Birthday Bash! Halloween Stop

Hey all! Today I’m hosting this awesome post to celebrate Month9Books’ Birthday Bash! Make sure you follow this haunting schedule! The full schedule is below and make sure to stick around for the EPIC Giveaway taking place!

Here’s a quick note from Georgia McBride, owner of Month9Books!

“Month9Books is turning 2 this year and I could not be happier. We are living proof that if you have a dream to write, create and inspire, you should follow that dream and let nothing keep you from realizing it. Thank you to all the readers, writers, agents, partners and friends who have made this possible. We write for you.
--Georgia McBride, Publisher and Owner of Month9Books”

Here’s a slide show of some of Month9Books 2015 releases!




☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Wraiths – The Ghosts Haunting CROWN OF ICE

It might seem that CROWN OF ICE—my dark YA retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen”—is a story more suited for winter and the Christmas holiday season than Halloween. But ghosts are actually a major aspect of CROWN OF ICE. The wraiths, who are the mindless, bodiless spirits of former Snow Queens, haunt the icy corridors of the current Snow Queen’s palace.

My protagonist, Thyra Winther, has lived with the wraiths for years, ever since the wizard Mael Voss brought her to the ice palace and transformed her into the Snow Queen. She’s seventeen, and knows if she can’t complete the reconstruction of a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday, she’ll end up just like the wraiths. This is truly a fate worse than death for Thyra, who values her brilliant mind above all things.

At the beginning of CROWN OF ICE, Thyra describes the wraiths and their fate:

At night the palace’s crystal halls are tinged sapphire. One of the first bits of magic that Voss taught me was to set the carved walls alight so that I’m not forced to walk the halls in darkness. I conjure a cold light that glows within the thick walls without melting the ice. I mastered this trick quickly once I knew what those shadows held. If I leave an area in darkness, they come—the girls who reigned as Snow Queen before me.

“I must find it.” Their hollow words wind about me like a shroud. “The last piece. I must place it. Give it to me.”

They are only shadows—swirling mists that occasionally coalesce to create phantoms of their former selves. So many girls, from so many eras. Some from the far past, their ghostly bodies attired in ancient robes and strange, peaked headdresses, and some dressed in the garb of more recent years. I know there is nothing left of their real natures—a curse has destroyed their minds. All thought is lost to them, except for the memory of their final terror. Of every shape and size and time, they share only one trait—the absolute agony that burns within their hollow eyes. They suffer a fate that makes ordinary death look like a blessing—the loss of so much more than a body. It is the sacrifice of the soul and the destruction of mind and will.

I would free them if I could. Allow them the respite of a true death. Send them to their rest. But it does not matter what I might desire to give them, I cannot alter their plight. They thrust their hands at me, but their fingers can neither hold nor grasp. They are not dead, they cannot die. Mael Voss made them immortal when he made them queen. (From: CROWN OF ICE by Vicki L. Weavil).

Many of Thyra’s actions are driven by her burning desire to escape this terrible fate. She is haunted by the consequences of failure, which she can see and experience only too well:

I often encounter them in the shadows, their translucent faces frozen into masks of grief, their eyes devoid of memory, of sense. I stride past them. Or through them, if necessary. A disgusting sensation, like walking through a spider’s web—light as milkweed floss but clinging to my skin. Still, I’d rather endure such unpleasantness than stay in their company, haunted by a constant reminder of my fate.

“The final piece,” they whine. “I have it. I hold it. I will place it correctly. I will remain queen.”

They cannot truly speak with me—their words are those burned upon their tongues when their lives were ripped into shreds of mist. Only when they warn of my future, channeling the power of the mirror’s curse, do they speak anything other than their foolish, repeated phrases.

“You’ll do nothing.” I snap at them. “You are smoke and air and unending stupidity.”

It does no good for me to show any kindness. They comprehend nothing. Their gaze is turned inward, focused on their own memories of horror.

I stalk away to the safety of my bedchamber, where a cold flame fills the icy fireplace and the skins of slaughtered beasts cover the walls and floor.

They all failed, all those who came before me. But I will conquer Voss’s task. I am no ordinary girl—nothing like the wraiths, although they were once a bit like me. I am brighter than the borealis, sharper than an ice crystal, stronger than the northern winds. I will reassemble the mirror and reign as Snow Queen forever. (from: CROWN OF ICE by Vicki L. Weavil)

The wraiths are a constant horror woven throughout the story, haunting Thyra with the threat of future terror. These ghosts are a major force in the book, so reading CROWN OF ICE for Halloween is perfectly appropriate!


☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

About the Book

Thyra Winther's seventeen, the Snow Queen, and immortal, but if she can't reassemble a shattered enchanted mirror by her eighteenth birthday she's doomed to spend eternity as a wraith. Armed with magic granted by a ruthless wizard, Thyra schemes to survive with her mind and body intact. Unencumbered by kindness, she kidnaps local boy Kai Thorsen, whose mathematical skills rival her own. Two logical minds, Thyra calculates, are better than one. With time rapidly melting away she needs all the help she can steal. A cruel lie ensnares Kai in her plan, but three missing mirror shards and Kai's childhood friend, Gerda, present more formidable obstacles. Thyra's willing to do anything – venture into uncharted lands, outwit sorcerers, or battle enchanted beasts -- to reconstruct the mirror, yet her most dangerous adversary lies within her breast. Touched by the warmth of a wolf pup's devotion and the fire of a young man's desire, the thawing of Thyra's frozen heart could be her ultimate undoing.

CROWN OF ICE is a YA Fantasy that reinvents Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" from the perspective of a young woman who discovers that the greatest threat to her survival may be her own humanity.

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

About the Author

Raised in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, Vicki L. Weavil turned her early obsession with reading into a career as a librarian. After receiving a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Virginia, where she was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, she received a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Indiana University. Her library career took her to New York City, where she worked for the New York Public Library at Lincoln Center and the Museum of Television and Radio (now the Paley Center for Media). An opportunity to truly integrate her background in theatre, art, and music with her library degree then drew her to North Carolina, where she is the Director of Library Services for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Her love of learning led her to earn a second masters, a M.A. in Liberal Studies, from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

An avid reader who appreciates good writing in all genres, Vicki has been known to read seven books in as many days. When not writing or reading, she likes to spend time watching films, gardening, or traveling. Vicki lives in North Carolina with her husband, son, and three very spoiled cats. Vicki’s debut novel, CROWN OF ICE – a Young Adult retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Snow Queen” – will be published by Month9Books in December 2014. She is represented by Jennifer Mishler at Literary Counsel.





☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆


This is a tour hosted giveaway!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY
(1) New Kindle with touchscreen (US only) loaded with all our Month9Books titles. US Only.
(1) Paperback prize pack of 5 Month9Books Titles. US ONLY.
(2) eBook Prize Packs of 5 Month9Books titles. International

a Rafflecopter giveaway

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

☆ The Tour ☆

Read for your Future: Jessica Arnold
Pretty Little Pages: Vanessa Barger
In Vogue with Books: Lisa M. Basso
A Book and A Latte: Sarah Bromley
Jump Into Books: Steve Bryant
A Backwards Story: Brynn Chapman
Two Chicks on Books: Nicole Conway
Books and Ashes: Scott Craven
The A P Book Club: Ty Drago
Her Book Thoughts!: Dorothy Dreyer
Oops! I Read A Book Again: Dorothy Dreyer
Book Briefs: Jennifer M. Eaton
Book Lovers Life: Kit Forbes
All Things Urban Fantasy: Janice Gable Bashman
Aspiring Joy: Amanda Gray
Book Geek Review: Kelly Hashway/Ashelyn Drake
Tales of a Ravenous Reader: Elizabeth Holloway
Once Upon A Twilight: Missy Kalicicki and Abi Ketner
ReadWriteLove28: Nicola Marsh
YA Sisterhood: Georgia McBride
A Dream Within A Dream: Jen McConnel
Dark Faerie Tales: Jackie Morse Kessler
The Unofficial Addiction Book Fan Club: Beck Nicholas
Doodle's Book Reviews: Michelle E. Reed
Bookish Things & More: Heather Reid
Fiction State of Mind: A. Lynden Rolland
Chicklit vs Fantasy: Kristal Shaff
Classy Cat Books: Pab Sungenis
Jessabella Reads: Rachel Tafoya
Magical Urban Fantasy Reads: Vicki L. Weavil