Bitter Envy, a YA urban fantasy romance, is on Kindle Scout!
Don't know what Kindle Scout is? It is, "reader-powered publishing for new, never-before-published books."
Readers nominate their favorite books, and those books may receive a publishing contract through Amazon. If a book scores a contract, everyone who nominated it receives a free Kindle copy!
I would be honored if you would consider nominating Bitter Envy! You can read the first chapter and a half on Kindle Scout.
As a special thank you, please enter my giveaway. You don't have to nominate my novel to enter, but I do appreciate your support if you decide to.
~Kimber Leigh
Bitter Envy
Enchanted Underworld, Book One
Kimber Leigh Wheaton
YA Urban Fantasy Romance
Currently on Kindle Scout
Scarlet
Angel—assassin, inquisitor, and overall bane to shifter existence.
Five years ago, my parents sold me to dark shifter
lord Uriah Amstead in exchange for a house and a monthly stipend. He took my
light magic powers, developed them, warping the light into something darker
through means that would make a hardened criminal flinch.
Born an enchantress, I wield the light magic that is
a natural constraint to shifter dark magic. But now I use my powers to help
Uriah grow his criminal empire. I torture shifters with my light magic, and
sometimes I’m forced to kill. Those who think it’s a choice don’t understand
the atrocities that Uriah would commit to keep me in line. I always
choose the lesser of evils. But even that doesn’t sit well with my conscience.
The faces of my victims haunt me every night. I’ve
always coped by knowing the shifters I tortured and killed were evil people who
thought they were above the law. Now Uriah has taken even that small comfort
from me. Through his orders, I tortured and killed an innocent man. Sure I
thought the man guilty at the time, but the damage is done.
In the shifter underworld of sunny San Diego, it can
be hard to know whom to trust. But I have to take a chance… because this time
Uriah has gone too far.
I am Envy Davis, the Scarlet Angel, and I am through
being a pawn.
Excerpt
As I round the corner, my heart slams into
an erratic beat. Donovan is leaning against my Camaro, and there’s no Jack in
sight. Though the sky is overcast, I consider digging out my sunglasses. But
that would be cowardly. I chased away one of Uriah’s hired goons with little
more than a flare of magic and a scowl… I can certainly face Donovan head-on
without getting lost in his eyes.
When I reach the car, I give him a bright
smile. “Hi, Donovan. Something you want?”
“I heard you scared one of Uriah’s henchmen
so badly he may have needed clean pants,” he says with a crooked grin. “Are we
alone out here?”
“I assume you’re referring to spies?” I
ask, not expecting an answer. “As far as I can tell.”
“Let’s get in the car so we can talk.” He
walks to the passenger door. “Does Jack sweep for bugs?”
“Mmm-hmm, every morning.” I unlock the
door, and slide into the driver’s seat. “Though, with that asinine thug here
today… he could’ve planted something.”
Donovan nods but doesn’t say anything as he
pulls out a small RF detector from his backpack. I watch in silence as he
sweeps the interior of the car for electronic devices. After several minutes,
he tosses it back into his bag before leaning back with a heavy sigh.
“It gets so old,” he says, shaking his
head. “Can you believe I’ve been sweeping for bugs as long as I can remember?”
“I never really worry about it.” I run my
fingers over the leather-wrapped steering wheel. “Jack was shifter special
forces for a long time. He’s paranoid enough for both of us. I wonder where he
is…”
“I asked for a few minutes alone with you,”
Donovan says, pulling one of my hands from the wheel. “He’s lurking nearby,
waiting to pounce if needed.”
“So, what’s up?”
“Well, I was planning to take you to see
High Priestess Rowena this afternoon. Sound good?” he asks while caressing my
knuckles with his thumb.
I bite back a sigh, unwilling to share just
how good his thumb feels on my fingers. “Yeah, that’d be great.” My relief from
his statement comes out in a slight giggle.
“Did I just hear the Scarlet Angel giggle?”
“I don’t giggle.” Of course another giggle
belies that statement.
“I think it’s adorable.” He leans in to
rest his forehead against mine. “I feel honored that you’re comfortable enough
with me to share the side you hide from everyone.”
“What side?”
My question comes out in a breathy whisper.
He’s close enough to kiss… all I have to do is lean forward an inch or two and
close the distance. His hand moves to the back of my head, his fingers
entwining in the hair at my nape.
“The softer side,” he says, brushing his
lips across my cheekbone. “The vulnerable side.” His lips caress my temple.
“The side that makes me want to hold you in my arms and protect you from
everything… even if you don’t really need it.” He cups my face in both palms.
“Why do I feel this way?”
“I don’t know,” I reply in a choked
whisper. He just put into words everything I’d been feeling for the last two
weeks.
“Since the moment our auras melded
together, I can’t seem to stop thinking about you.” He shifts back so he can
gaze at me. “At school, at night, my aura constantly searches for yours.”
“Our magic calls to each other… but it
shouldn’t.”
“No, it shouldn’t,” he says with a
strangled groan. “You’re light and I’m dark.”
“Sun and moon?”
He laughs. “Something like that. Our magic
should seek to destroy the other… so why doesn’t it?”
“I’m not the light you claim me to be, and
you aren’t the dark you claim to be.” When he continues staring at me like he
expects some sage answer, I sigh. “Maybe your Wiccan will know.”
“You ready to go see her?”
The moment I nod, my cell rings—the opening
riff to “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’” by Judas Priest. Uriah’s ringtone.
Jack programmed it in last week as a screw
you to the spider shifter. It’s the last thing I want to hear at this
moment.
“It’s Uriah,” I say, clenching the phone to
the point of pain.
“I suppose it wouldn’t be good to ignore
it.”
“Yeah, prob’ly not.” After swallowing
around my dry throat, I answer the call. “Envy.”
“Ah, my precious Angel, I have wonderful
news.” Uriah’s voice oozes syrupy saccharine.
I flinch from his words. Wonderful news for
him is always devastating for me.
“What?”
“So impolite, little one,” he says with a
dry chuckle. “All work and no play… well you know the rest.”
“I have tons of homework, Uriah.” The lie
rolls off my tongue. Lying has become so easy, almost second nature. The realization
makes me sad. “What do you want?”
“Someone has become too meddlesome for his
own good,” Uriah says in a flippant tone, like he’s commenting on the weather
rather than torture. “Not only that but this particular individual crossed a
line last night when he raped Mickey’s fourteen-year-old daughter. No one
crosses my people. An attack against them is an attack against me. Kill him.”
“I… uh—”
“That’s an order I expect to be obeyed,” he
says in a much harder voice. “Don’t make me regret my decision to waive
punishment for your earlier transgressions.”
“N-no. I-I mean yes,” I stammer as
childhood traumas resurface at his words. “Please contact Jack with the info,
and I’ll get right on it.”
“Tonight, darling Angel. I want Alfonse
Dupree dead tonight. He’s one of Heinrich’s scientists. It shouldn’t be too
hard for you. The man is closing in on the millennial mark, so I doubt he has
much fight left in him.”
He disconnects the call. I stare at the
phone clutched in my hand in silence. Another assassination. Is this one legit,
or will I kill another innocent man? What
choice do I have? It’s this criminal or something so much worse. Hot tears
prick my eyes as the memories threaten to surface.
So many
lost lives… all because I said no.
“Envy, are you okay?” Donovan asks,
breaking my trance.
“Um, yeah. Fine.” My light sniffle betrays
my true emotions.
“I’ll call my father. Maybe he can shed
some light on this Alfonse Dupree.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Not that I have a
choice either way. It’s him or… well I simply can’t deal with the alternative.
“Father, what do you know about one Alfonse
Dupree, works for Heinrich?” Donovan puts the phone on speaker, and his
father’s voice fills the car.
“Bottom feeder. Scientist willing to
experiment on children,” Tiberius says in a booming voice. “Rapist, murderer,
Nazi war criminal. He’s been a blight on our society for over nine hundred
years… or so he says. In fact that lunatic claims to have created the Black
Plague in his laboratory and unleashed it across Europe.”
I’m struck silent for a moment as I
contemplate the atrocities this madman committed. How many innocent souls died
at his hands? “What a relief,” I finally manage to blurt out.
“Who’s with you Donovan? No don’t answer
that. Scarlet Angel—assassin, inquisitor, and bane to shifter existence.” His
blunt words make me flinch. “You were supposed to go see our high priestess
today… I suppose that’s off the table now.”
“No one is more disappointed than I am, my
lord,” I reply, trying to control the rising anger. Yelling at Tiberius won’t
help my situation at all.
“So I guess Uriah is having you play judge,
jury, and executioner tonight then?”
“No, sir. Just executioner.”
“As you can imagine, based on what happened
with Alexander, Envy is a tad reticent to follow Uriah’s orders without
confirming the intel,” Donovan says, cutting through an awkward silence.
I close my eyes as a wave of nausea washes
over me. Alexander was innocent, and I killed him. His poor family… how can I
ever atone?
“Well, you can sleep easy tonight, Scarlet
Angel,” Tiberius says, his voice mocking. “Dupree is a perfect target. Our
government protected him after Germany fell in World War II. He’s as bad as
they come.”
“I never sleep easy.” My voice is hard,
grating. “I always choose the lesser of evils. But even that doesn’t sit well
with my conscience.”
“Such the little philosopher.”
“Father, stop mocking her!” Donovan snaps
at his father. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“You bet we will, son,” Tiberius replies in
a deep baritone. “Now, Envy, I want you to meet with High Priestess Rowena
tomorrow afternoon, no matter what… or I refuse to speak with you further. If
you pass her tests, we’ll meet for dinner at Jake’s.”
He disconnects the call before I can
comment. I really wish I didn’t need his help, but I can’t afford any pride
right now.
My
Favorite Time Period
By
Kimber Leigh Wheaton
When Nancy asked me to write about my favorite time period,
I thought it would be quite easy. I love the Middle Ages: knights, princesses,
honor, and chivalry. Just don’t look too deeply into it because you’ll find:
chamber pots, livestock living inside the castle in the winter, women treated
like chattel…
Sorry.
I sat back and really thought about it, and I realized that
I loved a fantasy version of the Middle Ages. The world found in the sweeping
romances I read when I was a teenager. That fantasy where the hero loves the
feisty heroine who speaks her mind (and somehow manages to avoid the many
villains who would cut out her tongue for such an offense). I haven’t read
about that time period in quite a while, so I guess that go-to response was
actually the favorite of a teenager from years ago.
Lately I’ve been editing quite a few Victorian and Regency
novels. I love that time period! It’s gothic and dark, where anything
supernatural seems possible. Women are starting to come into their own or at
least trying to. London society is always interesting to read about, and I love
the books that take place in the wild New World. Add a steampunk or paranormal
element to these novels and I’m there! Oops. There’s the fantasy aspect rearing
its ugly head again…
What about the future? I read lots of dystopians and urban
sci-fi. Of course that time period is nothing but fantasy since it hasn’t
happened yet. I love the “In Death” series by J.D. Robb. It’s one of my favorite
series of all time. I’ve been devouring those books for years—they never get
old. I think I enjoy the gritty yet hopeful future societies like Robb’s to the
despondent societies of many dystopians. Seriously, how can they possibly end
well? Answer- many don’t and I need a
happy, or at least satisfying, ending.
So what is my favorite time period? All of them—as long as
they contain an element of fantasy. Why? Life can be hard and cruel. With the
internet, we hear about atrocities hourly from all over the world. To balance
things out, I need my books to have a happy ending, the characters to live a
fantasy where it’s possible for everything to be okay despite the odds from the
nature of the time period they’re in. I love variety, and my reading habits reflect
it… but there will always be that element of fantasy in every book I read.
About the Author
Kimber Leigh Wheaton is an
award-winning, bestselling YA author with a soft spot for sweet romance. In
addition to writing, she works as an editor for two publishers, as well as
select indie authors. She is married to her soul mate, has a teenage son, and
shares her home with three dogs and lots of dragons. Kimber Leigh is addicted
to romance, video games, superheroes, villains, and chocolate—not necessarily
in that order. (If she has to choose, she’ll take a chocolate covered
superhero!) Winner of the 2014 Rising Star Award at the BTS Red Carpet Awards
in NOLA & a Silver Medal for YA Mystery/Horror in the 2015 Moonbeam
Children’s Book Awards.
Giveaway
1 comments:
Thanks for sharing my campaign, Nancy! I had a lot of fun writing that guest post :)
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