Skip to main content

Featured

note to self: i’ll be there for you, always

written june 6, 2021. Photo by Kristine Cinate on Unsplash I have always looked for myself in other people. I think the idea was that they would somehow hold the pieces of me that I felt were missing. That maybe, if I wrapped my identity up in theirs enough, we would somehow make a whole person. It's not healthy to live like this, but I did it anyway — burning through relationships and searching for something I couldn't quite name. It was never enough, not to be myself, but it was never enough to latch my identity to other people, either. I got close, several times — I thought I had reached the pinnacle of self discovery. I thought I had completed myself. But in the end, relying on other people to help build yourself is never a viable way to do things. It's only recently that I've started to become comfortable with the idea of being enough, as I am, on my own. Several years ago, in this same position, I would have searched for another person to attach my identity onto,...
1 comment
Read more
Labels

PORTALS OF WATER AND WINE by R. L. Haas || Cover Reveal

I've enjoyed reading R. L. Haas's blog for such a long time, almost as long as I've been on Blogger. Her perspectives on life and faith are refreshing, and frankly, inspiring. This incredible, magical perspective of hers is sure to overflow beautifully into her new fiction release, Portals of Water and Wine, releasing December 1st. I'm excited to be participating in the cover reveal!

Here is the gorgeous cover, designed by Megan Mahen of Megan Mahen Illustrations.

Drumroll, please!


Portals of Water and Wine

By R. L. Haas

"My skin prickled. For a split second, everything around me hummed. I played the word back in my head, slowly, syllable by syllable: Alonthiel"

Naya knows she has heard the name before, but where? A dream, perhaps. The word itself aches of ancient origins, magical and sacred. And it's better than Naya could have dreamed. She finds it all: magic, strength, and more answers about her lost mother, just hours from the home she's lived in her whole life.

And the man, the one with alluring green eyes, the same man she's been drawing in her sketch book for weeks. He's real. And magnificent.

Better still is the realization that she isn't an outsider in Alonthiel. Naya belongs.

When a dark force threatens to raze Naya's paradise, she must harness her newfound fire -- or watch Alonthiel fall.

Exclusive Excerpt

            The war had waged for nineteen years. Alonthiel had been overrun with the Fledgling Armies, the children of Ash and Iron. They were the sons and daughters born once to Alonthiel, now so twisted and dark that their former Fae heritage was barely a drop flowing through their veins.
There had been a treaty, but it had been broken…somehow…no one could even remember the reason anymore.  They had come in the night, with their feathered manes and glowing eyes the color of boiling blood and their fingernails set with iron. They had no need for swords, save the ones that grew from the ends of their hands. They were a deadly force, led into battle by their captain Flail, the son of the Fledgling King.
            The sounds of children laughing had been replaced with widow’s wailing. The smashing and splashing of men’s glasses and bar-house celebrations had turned into the sound of metal on metal, metal on flesh.
            The music was gone.
            King Aboras had been crowned for only six days, a rushed ceremony without much pomp or fanfare. He was the fourth King since the war had begun. There was no separation of monarch from common man in the eye of the sword. He crouched in his tent, eyes fixed on the maps splayed on the table in front of him but there was no focus or direction there.
            He knew that this would be the last night. His armies were exhausted, running on little sleep and handfuls of food they gathered from the nearby woods. The supplies were sapped, and their powers were dwindling down to sparks. This was the end.
            And so, in the darkness of the night with only the stars to provide light, Aboras gathered his people together, every last one that still lived. They circled around their king, loyal to the end. He could not lie to them. He told them of the losses, of the depletion of stores and the draining of magic. The end was coming; they should gather their families and run to the mountains, over the river that the Fledglings could not, would not, cross.
            No one moved. Not one child tried to run, not one husband left his family. They all stood. None would leave their king. 

About The Author

R. L. Haas is one of the wild ones, writing Faerie stories from her little self-declared cottage surrounded by Midwestern cornfields and never enough coffee. Her non-fiction work has appeared in such online publications as SheLoves Magazine and Literary Orphans. She lives with her beloved husband and equally wild daughter, along with their oversized Great Dane. They are ruled over by two fluffy cats. She blogs about her faith, her heart, and her ever-growing literary obsessions at
http://dramaticelegance.blogspot.com.

Author photo by Jennifer Upton.

Find out more about R. L. Haas and her work by perusing the following links:

Goodreads :: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5123290-r-l-haas
Facebook :: https://www.facebook.com/portalsofwaterandwinebook
Twitter :: www.twitter.com/souldancer1009
Instagram :: www.instagram.com/sacredselahchaser
Portals of Water and Wine's Facebook page :: https://www.facebook.com/portalsofwaterandwinebook

Portals of Water and Wine releases December 1st!
You can pre-order by going here.
And be sure to add Portals of Water and Wine on Goodreads, too!
Email Post
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments make the world go 'round... or was that chocolate?

Thank you for stopping by! I read every single comment and love them all. Seriously, it makes my day. I do my best to comment back!

My only rule is basic respect and honor. Disagreement is accepted, but hate and trolling is not. Otherwise, say what you need to say, and have fun. And don't forget to grab a free complimentary mint on your way out.

Popular Posts