Hey everyone! I am thrilled to be hosting a spot on the blog tour for SHADOW CALL by AdriAnne Strickland & Michael Miller! I adore Adri and Michael and this book is just as amazing as the first one!
I have an excerpt to share with you today! And make sure to enter the giveaway below!
Haven't heard of SHADOW CALL? Check it out!
His throne. Her rebellion. Their war.
Qole is the youngest starship captain in living memory on her homeworld of Alaxak and has spent her life hunting a dangerous energy source called Shadow. Alaxans distrust and evade the galaxy’s royalty as a rule, but Qole is now harboring the exiled Prince Nevarian Dracorte, along with some very conflicting feelings about it—and him.
Nev’s feelings are just as complicated, but not towards her. When it comes to Qole, he knows one thing: he’d do anything to stay with her. But when Alaxak is attacked and Nev finds himself framed for murder, he realizes the only way to help Qole and her people is to fight for the throne that should be his. To become the royal she might hate.
As for Qole, she would never have imagined herself as the leader of a rebellion. Despite that, she soon realizes that hiding from her power is no longer an option. It’s time to answer the call, even if it kills her.
Now on to the excerpt!
“It’s about your Rendering, and your Flight,” he said. “You need to
complete these important rites of passage for anyone to truly take you
seriously as heiress.”
That was almost enough to make both my feet and my smile slip. I
hadn’t expected him to want me to pass the test of the Rendering at all, or
complete a Flight—a solo mission to bring something of value
back to the family—quite so quickly. “I had some thoughts on where I could go on my Flight to improve
diplomatic ties with our family, but—”
“That wouldn’t be to Embra, would it?” Father said flatly, with a
sardonic lift of one brow.
Embra was the Belarius homeworld. Heathran’s. Father thought I wanted
to use an honored family tradition in order to go flirt. He was taking
me as seriously as Marsius was.
I carried on, ignoring both him and my white-hot flash of rage. “But
surely you don’t expect me to complete the Rendering. Nev did that when
he was eight!”
He spun me in a circle. “All the more reason you should be able to
admirably undergo it at age eighteen.”
I laughed as I came back to him, though I wished I could scream. “You
expect me, in these heels, to stand around with weights on my shoulders
for an entire night in front of an audience just to prove I can?”
“It’s to prove your dedication to—”
“I know the symbolism,” I snapped, my cheerful façade breaking for just
a moment.
“And I know my dedication to my family and my subjects can be
demonstrated in other ways.” I couldn’t help a smirk. “Have Marsius stand in
for me. He’s young and resilient.”
No one else would have noticed, but Father missed a beat. “You can’t be
serious. You would allow your little brother to accept your burden?”
“It’s called a joke, Father
dear,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Must every moment be serious unto death?”
Father’s face was a perfect mask for the dancers around us. “I’m
disheartened to see that being made heiress has done nothing for your sense of
responsibility or decorum.”
My hand clenched sharply in his. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do
more, tear away or crush his fingers. Would that I could do either without
causing a scene.
Father shot me a disapproving look at what he probably perceived as a
childish show of emotion. “However, I can’t say as I’m surprised. Which is why
I’ve just come from speaking with Gavros.”
Whatever they’d spoken of, then, it couldn’t be good. “Gavros . . .” I
acted as though I couldn’t quite place the name. “Gavros Dracorte? The general?
Some second cousin or another of yours?”
“He’s a royal of the finest breeding, and of the highest military
distinction. Qualities which will make him an excellent match.”
Match. The word was like a punch to the stomach. “For whom?”
I asked, even though I knew.
“For you, of course. Don’t be obtuse.”
It took everything I had not to come to a halt, to let him lead me in a
few more steps.
To follow like an animal to the slaughter. “But he’s old.”
Gavros was younger than Father by a score of years, but he was still over twice
my age.
“He is hale and in his prime, with an unparalleled grasp of strategy.
You’ll find his intellectual prowess stimulating,” Father insisted in that
tone of his, as if he could direct gravity to weigh more heavily upon me.
“Anyway, you knew long ago that your eventual royal partner wouldn’t be someone
you’ve flirted with at a party.” His eyes flicked in Heathran’s direction.
“And you can never pollute the
Dracorte name with another royal line. Not even one that some may see as
superior to ours.”
I didn’t bother telling him that I agreed. I took a deep breath and
murmured quietly,
“That’s why I never intend to marry.”
Father paused for less than a beat this time, as if he was ready for
combat. “You will put the stability of the entire system at risk for a
childish whim?” Weighty or not, his voice was still calm. Rather, it was my hand
that twitched in his again. Childish whim? Hadn’t Nev been the one to
give up the throne over an infatuation, putting us all in this position in the
first place? “Solara, we are talking about the fate of our family, not a game.”
True. The game was up.
“Perhaps you’re right.” My vision glossed in tears, and I lifted my
lids enough so that only Father might see them, looking entirely vulnerable
despite how he might hate it. I kept my voice low. “I’m not ready for this, especially
not marriage. Nev had his whole life to prepare for rule, to accept the
responsibility. I thought I would have more time to adjust.”
But Father hadn’t given me any time.
“We’re not talking about him,” Father growled under his breath,
sending me into another spin that was a little too fast.
“Why aren’t we?” I’d promised Marsius, after all. It was just happening
sooner than I’d expected. “Everyone thinks Nev should be here instead of me,
only no one is saying it aloud.” I held Father’s eyes as he led me in a complex
series of steps, and he blinked first. I’d watched him stare down my brothers
more times than I could count, but he’d never managed the same with me. “If you
believe I’m not cut out for ruling, then just say so.”
“Nevarian”—he had a difficult
time saying the name—“is a traitor to
the throne. Your throne, someday, even though you seem not to care much
about it. I don’t want to hear his name again.” This lapse in Nev’s duty was a
failure to be taken so seriously it couldn’t even be discussed, not
childishness, as he saw my own shortcomings. Even as a disappointment, Nev had
done better than I, in Father’s eyes. “He is no longer our concern.”
Father sounded like he meant it, but my older brother still had worth
to many here, not the least of whom were Mother and Marsius. Many people still
looked to him, idolized him, even in his absence, even after all the damage
he’d done to our capital,
Dracorva.
No one would take me seriously as his replacement. I cast a glance at
the farthest planet in the model of our system, its sun a faint spark at the
distant edge of the ceiling, nearly lost in darkness, where Nev was spending
his exile with his common girl.
“Erratic, irresponsible notions such as these are all the more reason
for you to make haste in marrying,” Father continued. “Gavros will be able to
support you, guide you in decisions—”
Rule for you, make you into a figurehead.
“I refuse to marry him, or anyone.” My voice turned to steel, slicing
through the lecture and making Father blink and miss another step. “And you
can’t make me.”
He stared for a long moment. I could see the flash of desperation, as
brief as the twitch of my hand, in his eyes. Our family was in peril, and yet
he viewed me, a young woman assuming the throne alone, as its greatest
danger. In that moment, if there was a way he could have forced me to marry, I
knew he would have.
And I hated him for it.
“You yourself just conceded that you aren’t ready for this
responsibility,” Father said slowly, “and yet you refuse my solution. What
exactly are you proposing?”
“If I need help, there is one person who has trained for this from
birth—if no longer to
rule, then to advise me as I rule, from behind the throne. His failures
will be hidden in my shadow, and his strengths will become mine. We need to go
to Alaxak.” My voice didn’t waver now. “That will be my Flight. And”—I swallowed—“I promise I’ll complete the Rendering afterward.”
Father only had to see Nev again and he would understand. No doubt he
believed Nev to be an unforgivable traitor. But perhaps not before he would at
least try to treat with him. Try to see him differently, despite
his past behavior—the same courtesy he refused to extend to
me.
When he met Mother’s eyes across the ballroom, I knew then that he
would do it. Mother missed Nev. Underneath all her layers of prim and proper,
she was completely sentimental at heart. Father missed him too, but the
difference was that she’d admit it.
The music swelled. Despite losing Heathran for the moment, the night
was indeed mine.
Want more? Go to Bookhounds YA
on 4/18 for the next part!
About Adrianne & Michael:
ADRIANNE STRICKLAND and MICHAEL MILLER met in their hometown of Palmer,
Alaska, where they agreed on 99% of book taste and thus decided to write
together. Adri spends her summers as a commercial fisherwoman in Bristol Bay,
Alaska, and the rest of the year writing. Michael grew up off the grid in a homestead
in Alaska and now works in IT and tech. This is their second book together.
Find AdriAnne:
Find Michael:
Giveaway Details:
3 winners will receive a finished copy of SHADOW CALL, US Only.
Ends on May 4th at Midnight EST!
Tour Schedule:
Week One:
4/2/2018- Here's to Happy
Endings- Review
4/3/2018- Wonder Struck- Review
4/4/2018- Rhythmicbooktrovert - Review
4/5/2018- Jena Brown Writes- Review
4/6/2018- YA Obsessed- Review
Week Two:
4/9/2018- Emily Reads
Everything- Review
4/10/2018- laura's
bookish corner- Review
4/11/2018- Literary Meanderings- Excerpt
4/12/2018- Two Chicks on Books- Excerpt
4/13/2018- Good Choice Reading- Review
Week Three:
4/16/2018- Rachel's Book Reviews- Review
4/17/2018- Skye's Scribblings- Review
4/18/2018- BookHounds YA- Excerpt
4/19/2018- The Desert
Bibliophile- Review
4/20/2018- Seeing
Double in Neverland- Excerpt
Week Four:
4/23/2018- Book-Keeping- Review
4/24/2018- lori's little house
of reviews- Review
4/25/2018- Books at Dawn- Excerpt
4/26/2018- Read. Eat. Love.- Review
4/27/2018- MNBernard Books- Excerpt
Week Five:
