The blog tour for Dark One’s Mistress approaches and sign ups are live, so my fellow Weekend Writing Warriors and Snippet Sunday Folk, I’m letting the spellster series novels take a little break in lieu of that New Adult Gothic Romance…
Blurb: Kidnapped by the Great Lord’s men, seventeen-year-old Clarabelle Weaver is determined to escape before his plan to make her his mistress comes to fruition. That is until she learns his heirless death will free the soulless criminals enslaved in his army and, with the enemy all but knocking on their doors, she must decide if her freedom is really worth a kingdom.
In this piece, we have Clara’s second attempt to escape the Great Lord’s Citadel…
Branches snagged on her hair and clothes as she struggled to free herself. Gritting her teeth, she plucked at them, snapping off what she couldn’t remove to be dealt with later. In any case, Katharina was a far better fit for such a life than her. If he’d just deigned to look at the woman instead of stopping at Clara, he would’ve seen it too.
The steady thud of hooves marching along hard ground reached her over the muted rustle and creaking of branches. Halting all movement, she waited for the sound to fade, hoping the plainness of her skirts would blend with the bushes.
“Quite the tumble you took there.” The owner to the smug voice soon came into view as Lucias nudged the horse to stand before her. He leant forward, an arm resting on the black beast’s neck. “Are you whole?”
Bugger…
Don’t forget to check out other people’s little snippets. And, if you’re so inclined, consider participating/helping spread the blog tour sign up.
Aldrea Alien 
You gotta give her points for never giving up. Good snippet, Aldrea. 🙂
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Thank you.
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Well, she tried. I don’t think mere effort will win her any consolation prizes, though.
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No, it won’t. Still, if first you don’t succeed…
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She did try–great descriptions of her trying to get away.
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Thanks. 😊
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I certainly give your heroine points for trying to escape and I liked her ‘voice.’. Nit that tripped me up (and I realize this is a fantasy set on another world), but at 17, she’s a minor. How old is the Great Lord? New Adult heroines are typically 18 at least…
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Typically, yes, and I did consider making it YA. In fact, I’ve been wobbling on it ever since it was first released under a publisher three years ago, under an adult classification, but the overall arc of the trilogy is more NA in definition.
In New Zealand, the age where a person can legally do the majority of things is at sixteen, that includes sex (not that there’s more than kissing in this particular novel, it was originally marketed as a clean read before the rights returned to me and I haven’t altered much). But, for this world, I went with seventeen.
Oh, and the Great Lord is twenty-five.
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She did her best. I felt her hopelessness in this snippet.
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She did. Guess she’ll have to do better.
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It’s not easy for her to escape. Who is the smug man?
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None other than the Great Lord himself.
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Great description.
Editing alert: should that be “clothes” and not “cloth” in the first sentence?
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That, or I’ve an errant “her” running about. Thanks for that.
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Aw, foiled again! Maybe she can convince him another woman would be better for the job, though I have my doubts.
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No, he wants the spirited redhead.
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Intriguing first meeting. She’s a sassy heroine.
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Second meeting, this was the first one…
https://aldreaalien.wordpress.com/2016/07/23/weekend-writing-warriors-8sunday-8
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I wish your character wasn’t named Clarabelle. All I could think of was Clarabelle Clown from the Howdy Dowdy Show. (That dates me, doesn’t it?) Your snippet is great. Clara certainly has guts. 🙂
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Howdy Dowdy Show never showed here. Most people tell me it reminds them of Clarabelle Cow, which isn’t exactly well known to me either.
Clarabelle spends most of the time being called Clara and rather dislikes her full name.
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Good on her for not giving up!
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Pretty sure she’s the embodiment of never giving up.
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Well that didn’t work! Props to her for not giving up though.
This is really starting to intrigue me. The whole storyline is very eerie and captivating, right up my alley.
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😀
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Ah Clara. ❤
I got signed up for the tour!
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Hehehehe. Still stubborn.
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