Today we all get to meet Penelope from A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey! I love witch books and this one sounds awesome. I also have heard great things about the author’s other series so let’s see what this new one is all about!
A Breath of Frost by Alyxandra Harvey
Series: The Lovegrove Legacy #1
Published by Walker Books for Young Readers on January 7th 2014
Genres: Paranormal, YA
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In 1814, three cousins-Gretchen, Emma, and Penelope-discover their unknown family lineage of witchcraft. Beyond the familiar manicured gardens and ballrooms of Regency London, a dangerous, alluring new underworld visible only to those with power is now open to the cousins.
But unbeknownst to them, by claiming their power, the three cousins have inadvertently opened the gates to the Underworld.
Now the dead, ghouls, hellhounds-and the most terrifying of all: the spirits of dark witches known as the Greymalkin Sisters-are hunting and killing young debutante witches for their powers.
And, somehow, Emma is connected to the murders...because she keeps finding the bodies.
Can the cousins unravel the clues and mystery behind their heritage and power before their gifts are stripped away ...or even worse, another witch is killed?
Official Book Trailer:
An Introduction to Penelope!
Penelope Chadwick
Age: 18
Hair: black
Eyes: dark brown
Familiar: Spider
Magic: Pscychometry: sensing the history of an object and the people who have touched it
Penelope is romantic and spoiled and kind and very talented at the pianoforte. She’s mad for anything Shakespearean and likes to use odd random bits of Shakespearean insults. She also has a rather prickly temper when her loved ones are insulted.
Her mother is the daughter of and earl and is unconventional and artistic. She eloped with a wealthy merchant when she was young and they have bothencouraged Penelope not to be a slave to society’s strictures. They even allowed Penelope to let the stableboy take lessons with her when she was little, and she and Cedric have been fast friends ever since.
Cedric is also a witch and has always known about Penelope’s secretly bound powers. The entire household has been on guard to protect her. Penelope’s mother snuck spells into her daughter’s lullabies in order to train her to use magic before she even knew it existed.
But now that Penelope knows who she is, she will not be coddled or locked away for her own safety.
Not when her cousin Emma is in danger.
She’d take on Shakespeare himself to save her family.
Exclusive Excerpt that introduces Penelope
Penelope’s mother was currently drinking from a pot of chocolate and reading a salacious novel full of doomed maidens and ruined castles. Or was it doomed castles and ruined maidens? Penelope was desperate to find out. She leaned against her mother with a small sigh.
“Was it dreadful, my darling?” Bethany asked, slipping a ribbon into her book to mark the page. “Dancing debutantes and fortune hunters?”
“Worse.”
She raised a dark eyebrow. “Worse? Goodness, how did you manage that? I remember those horrid balls.”
“Mr. Cohen called me fat,” she replied, wrinkling her nose. “I didn’t even know I was fat until this wretched Season.”
“Mr. Cohen is a sad young man who does not deserve you.”
“That’s what Emma and Gretchen said.”
Bethany smiled her serene smile. “I assume they used rather more lurid language. But I did warn you, kitten. I don’t see why you insist on having a Season. You don’t need to marry, your father has set you up with an inheritance to rival what mine would have been.”
“If you hadn’t married Papa.”
“Yes.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Not for a moment,” she replied. “Friends who blow with the wind are not friends at all. I found a good man with a good heart. And he fills out his jacket rather nicely, if I do say so myself.” She reached for her cup. “I love your father and I’d be happy to be Mrs. Chadwick instead of Lady Bethany, if your Grandmaman wasn’t so….”
“Invested?”
“I was going to say violent,” she returned drily. “You know she loves my title, and your own, more than we ever shall. More than my own mother did.”
“I know. That’s part of the reason I agreed to this Season. It makes her so happy.”
“She wouldn’t want you to trade your happiness for hers, whatever she might have to say on earls’ sons and vouchers to Almack’s Assembly Rooms. She never had a Season. She can’t understand.”
Penelope stole a sip of rich melted chocolate from her mother’s teacup. “I know. But I want what you and Papa have. I want love.” She gave a dreamy sigh, perfectly able to picture it: a man with wide shoulders and tousled hair, reciting Shakespeare’s sonnets as they rode through a summer storm.
About the Author
Alyxandra Harvey lives in a stone Victorian house in Ontario, Canada with a few resident ghosts who are allowed to stay as long they keep company manners. She loves medieval dresses, used to be able to recite all of The Lady of Shalott by Tennyson, and has been accused, more than once, of being born in the wrong century. She believes this to be mostly true except for the fact that she really likes running water, women’s rights, and ice cream.
Among her favourite books are ‘The Wood Wife’ by terri Windling, ‘Jane Eyre’ by Charlotte Bronte, and of course, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet is her hero because she’s smart and sassy, and Mr. Darcy is, well, yum. Aside from the ghosts, she also lives with three dogs and her husband.
This post is part of the A Breath of Frost blog tour.
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Giveaway
Thanks to Bloomsbury Children’s Books, you can enter to win one of 5 Finished copies of A Breath Of Frost and a necklace!
- Necklace is to US and Canada
- Finished copies are open to US only
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