It’s always fun to talk about a second book, but we never
want to spoil anything about the first one for you, so today, we have a special
treat from Stormy Smith, author of the Bound Series. Right now, BOTH Bound by
Duty and Bound by Spells are on sale for just 99 cents each on Amazon (US and
UK).
Guest Post:
To set this up, the Bound Series is a coming of age story. A
clean, new adult, urban fantasy that has wracked up 190 5-star reviews between
both books. Bound by Duty is the story from Amelia, our main character, and
Bound by Spells alternates between Amelia and Aidan.
Right now, Bound by Duty is nominated for “Best Book
Hangover” in the UtopYA 2015 awards and Bound by Spells was endorsed by USA
Today’s Happy Ever After blog as “paranormal gold.”
Our treat, however, is an alternate POV scene from the
swoon-worthy Aidan, our main man in the Bound series. This scene happens near
the beginning of Bound by Duty and gives you a glimpse into what’s to come
without spoiling anything. Consider it a teaser of the man you’ll get more from
in Bound by Spells!
Bound by Duty – from Aidan
What in the hell am I doing here? The thought raced
through my head for the hundredth time. I scrubbed both hands over my face and
back through my hair, yanking on it a little and trying to reason with
myself.
You’re going to freak her out.
She doesn’t even know you.
‘Oh, hi, Amelia. I know you don’t know me but I’ve been
watching you the last few weeks and I think we’d get along great. No, I’m not a
creeper. Trust me.’
I groaned and dropped my head down. I was sitting under some
kind of beach pergola on a picnic table that had seen better days. If I even
took a deep breath it might crumple under me. I was hiding and I knew it. It’s
bad enough I heard Amelia and her friend talking about this party and then
psyched myself into showing up, but now I have totally chickened out. I wasn’t
interested in the party or the drunk chicks upstairs. Just her.
I don’t normally get worked up like this but she has me all
turned around. I’d been watching Amelia Bradbury since the first day of class.
I was the charmer. I knew from years of experience with foster families how to
make sure people liked me, but she never even gave me a chance. She wanted to
hide and never once even looked my way. I could see it in the way her eyes
darted all over the room without making eye contact with anyone. And in the way
she wore her hair down, trying to hide behind the long, dark strands. She sat
in the back, forcing me to the outer edges of the room so that I could keep
watching without making it obvious. When she got up she would often run into
things, but never people, clutching her backpack before hustling to the next
place.
The first time I saw her relax was by accident. I was in the
commons eating and suddenly, there she was. Her eyes lit up and her posture
straightened. She yanked the band from her wrist and flipped her head down,
coming back up with it in a ponytail. It was the first time I’d been able to
truly see her and I was captivated. Her eyes couldn’t decide what color they
wanted to be and floated between brown and green. Some people would call it
hazel but they didn’t mix so much as shift as the light hit them. She was thin
but curved. I wanted to run my hands from her shoulders to her hips just to
feel the dip and flare. I turned, anxiety flooding my system, and found the
source of her joy…another girl. I let go of a breath I hadn’t known I was
holding and couldn’t stop the laugh the erupted from my chest. Amelia strode
up, gave the blond a hug, and they immediately started talking. Then the blond
spoke and Amelia laughed. It was music to my deaf ears and something inside me
came alive. I wanted to be the one to do that. I wanted to make her laugh. For
the first time in my life I was jealous of a girl.
I was ready to call it. Being here on this picnic bench was
ridiculous and there was no way I was going to have the balls to walk up to her
now. I had completely psyched myself out of having any kind of shot at this. I was
ready to get up and head for my car when I heard someone bouncing down the
stairs. I worried first that something was wrong. Their feet pattered down so
quickly I thought they might be running. I stayed in my spot in the shadows,
but tensed my body in case I had to move quickly. Lately I had had way too much
excess energy and I’d been spending a lot of time in the gym. I could do some
damage if it came down to it. The last thing I expected was to see shoes
flipping off and long legs soaring through the air as Amelia leapt from the
last step and landed softly out into the sand. For just a moment she was
suspended mid-air and I could have sworn she was flying. When she hit the beach
she didn’t miss a beat, her feet moving her swiftly toward the water.
Her body was long and lean. A ballerina but with curves. She
was so focused on the water that it wasn’t until she was ankle deep and had
dropped her head back, a small satisfied smile pulling at her lips, that she
realized she wasn’t alone. I had barely moved, a low groan coming from the
bench underneath me. Her whole body stiffened in what I assumed was fear. I
felt like an intruder. This was going to be a great way for us to meet, surely.
But, you shouldn’t blow opportunities when they come. Or so said my last
caseworker before I turned eighteen and had been accepted into Brighton’s
community college. No sense in turning back now.
“So, you’re hiding from them, too, huh?” I was going for
charming. Like I had some kind of game. But the words felt like peanut butter
in my mouth and I was glad she couldn’t see my reddened face from where she was
standing. Amelia slowly turned toward me, her voice small as she squinted and
tried to see me better. “Do I know you?”
I felt like even more of a tool. She had no idea who I was.
She stared my way for a few more seconds and then whipped around, facing back
out into the water. I watched her chest moving quickly, her breaths coming too
fast. I slowly started to move toward her, worried she might be getting a
little too freaked out and wanting to reassure her that I wasn’t actually a
sociopath.
“You don’t have anything to worry about,” I said, trying to
keep my voice steady but soft. She turned to face me slowly and the full moon
sliced its light just perfectly to illuminate me but keep her face mostly
shadowed. She was close enough that I could see her eyes widen and roam from my
nose to my knees, without ever meeting my own. I stood up a little taller and
couldn’t stop the smirk as I realized I might have some of the same effect on
her that she had on me. She raked her gaze up and down and it wasn’t until I
tried to get her attention that her eyes finally snapped back to mine.
I couldn’t help but laugh as I waved a hand in front of her
face and said, “Hello?” Then the Amelia I knew came back in a mad rush. She
fumbled over her words, looking anywhere but at me. She tugged at the ends of
her hair and a tried to walk away, but I couldn’t let her. I wasn’t ready to
let her go yet and I needed to know her. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching
out and taking her arm. It was our first contact and I don’t know what I had
expected, but it wasn’t heat blooming under my fingertips or her heartbeat
inside my head. In milliseconds of my skin on hers she was inside me, and I
knew I’d never get her out.
“Wait. Just wait.” More quiet, controlled words. I couldn’t
let her leave. I had to keep her there. I had to keep touching her. “I’ve seen
you before. You’re Amelia, right?” Normal, Aidan. Act normal.
“Yeah,” she whispered. I had forced her to look at me and I
would swear to any judge that we wore the same expression. She felt something.
I knew she did.
“We have a couple classes together, but you always sit in
the back and never say anything.” Dammit. So suave. So charming.
You’re an idiot, Montgomery
I was instantly ashamed. I watched her reaction and I knew
it too well. She squeezed her eyes shut and her lips smashed together, holding
in the pain of not fitting in. I might be a charmer now, but I’d been sent away
by enough families to know what I had just done.
“Oh, that was dumb. I’m sorry. Anyway, I’m Aidan. Aidan
Montgomery.” I took advantage of the opportunity to trail my fingertips from
her bicep down to her wrist and then folded her hand into mine, shaking it
softly. I felt fire the whole way and judging by the widening of her eyes and
the swift intake of breath, so did she. For a second, she gripped my hand, but
as our eyes connected again and I couldn’t stop my grin, she dropped it and
without a word took off running. I couldn’t move, my hand still in front of me
and my jaw hanging open, as I watched her bound up the stairs and disappear. I
dropped onto the hard-packed sand and didn’t bother to move as the tide rose
and the salty water surrounded me.
Well, that couldn’t have gone better.
---
Are you sucked in yet? Here’s everything you need to know.
Buy the books:
-
Bound
by Duty (Bound Series, Book One) Release Date: July 24, 2014
Bound by Duty
Synopsis: Amelia grew up in a world of half-truths. She knows she's an
Elder, but has no idea what that means. Her father reminds her daily that she
must maintain control, but he refuses to explain why. Even worse, she's
betrothed to the prince of the Immortals and doesn't even know his name.
Finally breaking free to live a few normal years at a
community college, the last thing Amelia expects is to find her best friend in
a cheeky southern girl, or fall for a self-assured human who sees her for who
she is, not what she will become.
As she learns more about herself, Amelia realizes the line
between love and duty is a thin one. As her power continues to increase
exponentially and her questions are slowly answered, Amelia must make the
ultimate choice. The question is, will her head win the battle, or her heart?
Bound by Spells
Synopsis: Aidan Montgomery hadn't been prepared for Amelia Bradbury to walk
in and then out of his life. He also hadn't expected to find the powerful magic
hidden deep within him for the last nineteen years, but he's embracing it --
finding more control and more answers every day. Now, with the help of Amelia's
best friend, Bethany, Aidan is on a quest to understand his destiny and find
Amelia.
Amelia decided to stand by her duty, which meant walking
away from her first chance at love. Trapped in Cresthaven at the Queen's mercy,
she spends her days with Micah -- an ally she still holds at arm's length --
struggling to manage her heartbreak while keeping her mind focused on the task
at hand. As she continues to unlock the secrets of the Keeper power, Queen
Julia's true motives reveal themselves, forcing Amelia to decide, yet again,
how much she's willing to sacrifice.
Will Aidan get to Amelia before it's too late, or will the
very power that sustains them keep them apart?
Endorsement for Bound
by Spells: "Featuring a cast of mages and shapeshifters with
unique magical abilities, one destiny-shaping prophecy, a genocidal
megalomaniac, and a budding, heated romance (or two!), this book is paranormal
gold! Read the first book in the series first, of course, but once you finish
this one you're sure to be salivating for the next release in this
not-to-be-missed romantic paranormal series."
-- Serena Chase, USA Today's Happy Ever After
blog
Bio: Stormy Smith
is the author of the Amazon best seller, Bound by Duty, and Bound by Spells.
She calls Iowa’s capital home now, but was raised in a tiny town in the
Southeast corner of the state. She grew to love books honestly, having a mom
that read voraciously and instilled that same love in her. She knew quickly
stories of fantasy were her favorite, and even as an adult gravitates toward
paranormal stories in any form.
Writing a book had never been an aspiration, but suddenly the
story was there and couldn’t be stopped. When she isn’t working on, or thinking
about, her books, Stormy’s favorite places include bar patios, live music
shows, her yoga mat or anywhere
Title: Little Miss Somebody
