House of Eclipse

                   by Casey L. Bond

 

History tells a tale of two lovers, Sol the sun and Lumos the moon who broke apart and formed a world divided. One ruled by Sol, Helios and one governed by Lumos, Lumina.  But both of halves of this great earth are dying for a world without both the sun and moon to shine down upon it will surely perish.

For each divide there is a powerful being that rules, in Helios it is Aten, a man filled with hunger for power, who pits his three daughters, each from a different mother, against each other. But reserves his greatest hatred for his youngest daughter Noor. Lumos has chosen a new Lumin, Caelum, the earthly ruler of Lumina, who sees a means to save both worlds. He offers peace through marriage to one of the Aten’s daughters. But what the Aten wants isn’t peace but power with no constraints, a power that is said to belong to the crown of moonlight, belonging to the land of Lumina.

Now the Aten will travel with his two youngest daughters, Noor and Citali, to a neutral area to met with the new Lumin to talk of this peace treaty. While, in truth, he will force them to vie for a place next to the new Lumin as his wife, while they search for the crown of moonlight and then hand it to their father.  Noor wants to stop her father, but must learn who to trust, she sees her starving people and wants to put a stop to the pain her father causes. Perhaps the answer lies with a union to Caelum whom she is drawn, but her sister, Citali sees a chance to grab power for herself and her father’s good will. And what of the eldest daughter, Zarina? She will stop at nothing to become the next Aten of Helios.

     Casey L. Bond has built a world that the reader can step into and get lost. The sun beats down always on Helios, a desert of blistering heat and starving people, while the Aten lives in great comfort.  Lumina, is dark and cold but it’s people are cared for and loyal to their ruler. There are main and secondary characters that bring their story to life as well as the romance, treachery, loyalty, and fear that carries the reader through the pages, worlds that are mapped out for us to see, and full of twists and turns that will delight a mystery reader as well. And while Noor, her sisters, Citali and Zarina and their father are not a loving close family, the opposite may be said for the Lumin, Caelum, his brother Beron and his mother Vada are very close and guard each other. The ending may well catch the reader unaware. So watch for the sequel to follow shortly.

This review is based on ARC I received. Casey, has never disappointed this reviewer when it comes to uniquely, vivid tales that more that capture the attention of her readers. For young adults and adults alike this is one tale not to miss.

☀️🖤 TITLE REVEAL: House of Eclipses 🖤☀️

Shares are greatly appreciated. 

RELEASE DATE: August 13th, 2021

COVER REVEAL: July 13th, 2021

Capture his heart.

Steal his crown.

Noor is the unwanted, unloved third born of the Aten, chosen vessel of the sun goddess, Sol. While she has no chance at inheriting her father’s title, what she truly longs for is peace from his unrelenting hatred. Hope builds that she may finally be able to claim that reprieve when a missive arrives from the House of the Moon.

The new Lumin, chosen of the moon god, Lumos, seeks to broker peace with the Kingdom of Helios for the first time in ages. He envisions open trade routes and an end to archaic rivalries. His dedication to this cause extends to visions of a union between the two families by marrying one of Aten’s daughters, if one of the matches is a fit.

Driven by his own twisted agenda, Noor’s father is willing to sacrifice his daughters as pawns to steal the crown for him to further his despotic reign, pitting sister against sister in a brutal battle for power. But Noor must come out the victor, either by capturing the Lumin’s heart or stealing his crown. For whomever wears the crown of moonlight, holds the power of the moon itself. With such strength at her command, she could finally defeat her tyrannical father.

Yet this endeavor cannot be accomplished without great sacrifice. As Noor learns more about Lumin Caelum, guilt over her betrayal consumes her, burning hot as the sun itself. If only he wasn’t kind, and selfless, and exactly what she wanted. If only she had greater dominion over her heart…

Can Noor carry out her plan and end her father’s vile reign? Or will unlikely alliances allow a new day to dawn?

🖤 Blurb by The Blurb Doctor

☀️ Praise for House of Eclipses:

"A gorgeous journey you'll want to take again and again." ~New York Times bestselling author, Wendy Higgins

“Stunning world-building, a fierce heroine, gorgeous writing, and a storyline unlike anything you've ever read. House of Eclipses will pull you in until the very last page.” – Celia McMahon, author of The Unspoken Series

“House of Eclipses is full of compelling characters, beautiful worlds full of whimsy and wonder, an edge-of-your-seat storyline, a love story for the ages, and an ending that packs in incredible punch.” – Ethan Gregory, One Guy’s Guide to Good Reads

#TitleReveal #ComingSoon #HouseOfEclipses #CaseyLBond #TBR #YAEpicFantasy #YAReads #EpicFantasy #YA #books #bookish #booklover #youngadultfantasy

 Gravebriar by Casey L. Bond 

            available this Friday, March 19, 2021

Double, double toil and trouble is brewing in Cauldron, a city of witches where magic, discord and secrets abound. Where life and power will soon hang in the balance, change hands and will drive innocents from within its walls.

Within the protective hedge that surrounds the city of Cauldron, meant to keep the witches within safe  from those who fear and would destroy them, there is a once beautiful realm. Witches with many gifts live gathered in covens that share similar powers while the most powerful of each serves as their voice on the council of Cauldron. Which though started out as open-minded and impartial, now have many who crave more power, a greed that causes strife and unrest, that is spreading though the realm. There are witch hunters outside the hedge that seek to destroy what they cannot have or fear those who are different.

On the night of a great revel, that welcomes all covens to join together and celebrate, one seeks to destroy. Arbor of Gravebriar Coven’s powers have grown, leading him to be the next great power within that coven. Until on this night of merriment, he falls gravely ill from a poison whose only cure is a vine, with a life span of only hours, that grows solely on the grave of a newly deceased Gravebrair witch. As the counsel convenes all are pointing fingers at a single would-be assassin, Castor. Castor a young female witch of Gravebriar whose deadly secret power is now revealed which causes some on the counsel to order her immediate death, until Castor offers a way to save Arbor, a coven mate and long-time friend. Others lay the deed at the feet of the Silverthorn Coven, specifically Forge. Forge a young male witch whose deadly powers and questionable deeds, have been hidden as well, will now join Castor on a perilous trek to find the vine that may or may not exist, in an ancient graveyard, that likewise may or may not be found.

Castor has been warned to return with the gravebriar vine or face death. Forge has been urged to take Castor’s life and only then will all be forgiven and he may return to Cauldron. Untrusting, each must find a means to work together to find not only the gravebriar vine but to uncover the one true witch responsible for Arbor’s illness. As they travel together, they will learn more of each other, surmise why there is such distrust and division within Cauldron; while also searching for Witch Hunters that may be at the center of it all.

 

The is beauty in the realm that Casey L. Bond has given us. It is there is her narrative of the world and the witches within, there is romance that has sprouted and will bloom, there is greed and malice that is festering and rotting away at the roots of story. Forge and Castor will have to learn to put aside their enmity of each other if they are to succeed. Many secrets and twists abound, adventure and old-time circus grandeur that would surprise and delight even P. T. Barnum himself.

I found myself wishing for an anthology full of the backstories of all the mystical, magical characters, their cities and worlds. Casey L. Bond with few words gives the imagination a rich environment in which to take root and grow with no limits for all to see. And if the eyes are the windows of the soul, when I look into Castor and Forge’s eyes it is as looking through colorful stain glass windows to all their secrets, needs, wants, loves, loyalties and fierce devotion to their people and their world.

Casey L. Bond's latest book has a new trailer.....

 

Title: Gravebriar

Author: Casey L. Bond

Genre: YA Epic Fantasy

Editor: Stacy Sanford/ The Girl with the Red Pen

Proofread by: Kendra's Editing and Book Services

Blurb by: The Blurb Doctor

Cover Designer: Melissa Stevens/ The Illustrated Author Design Services

Publication Date: March 19^th, 2021

Hosted by: Lady Amber’s PR

 

Blurb:
Sometimes witches hunt their own…

 

Someone knows my secret and they’re wielding it as the weapon of my execution. I stand accused of poisoning my Gravebriar coven mate. To my fatal regret, I can’t prove my innocence without revealing the truth I’ve long kept hidden: while every other Gravebriar witch are green witches and healers, my magic lies in poisons.

 

There is one witch who believes me – the same boy who was sent to kill me with instructions to pluck the briars that sprouted from my grave – the only cure for a Gravebriar witch. Forge Silverthorn will be my undoing… or my salvation.

 

He claims there is a malicious plot vining through the witch town of Cauldron that threatens to tighten around my throat in a deadly noose. Promising I can escape by seeking the help of a banished witch who hides our kind in plain sight, he leads me to a dark circus full of witches.

 

The ringmaster will only help us if we agree to join his circus of uncanny tricks and diabolical feats for two nights only, using our magic to thrill his patrons. In exchange for our participation under the big top, he’ll divulge the information I need to save my coven mate and clear my name.

 

But when dark secrets emerge from the shadows of this promised sanctuary, I’m forced to decide if I can truly trust anyone, especially Forge… my would-be executioner, my coven’s sworn enemy, and my could-be love.   

 Casey L. Bond has a new book that hits the shelves on March 19, 2021. 

Sometimes witches hunt their own..... GRAVEBRIAR

 

With Shield and Ink and Bone

review by Katy Grant

In the time of Vikings, the world is cold and brutal. Born into a family of warriors, Liv Eriksson and her brother Hodor have trained since childhood to fight for their shields, allowing them the right to join the longships in battle raids. To prove their strengths and ability to fight, each must defeat one of their parents in hand to hand combat, no quarter given. On the eve of their victories over their elders, at the winter celebrations, a visiting Jarl is murdered.

The melting snow and the first sign of flowers heralded the change of seasons. But it also brought death across the seas. Clan Wolf sailed in under the cover of fog destroying and killing everything in their path, leaving Liv’s life ebbing away as the waters flowed over her. Fenris Wolf had killed to avenge his father’s death but reveled in the slaughter and destruction.  He began to believe himself to be invincible, to see himself as the Jarl of all the lands. He would conqueror other tribes, wipe the villages clean and take their lands for his own.

As Liv lay dying at the edge of the fjord, it is her hatred, her need for vengeance that gives her the strength to call out to the gods to save her long enough to kill Fenris Wolf, the beast who invaded her home leaving nothing but death and destruction behind.  It was Skuld, the Norn who weaves the future, that would come to her aid. She would give Liv power filled with magical abilities that would strengthen Liv well beyond human capacity. Skuld could see that Fenris Wolf would bring Ragnaök, down upon them; she demanded vengeance and she would use Liv to get it.

Liv took the ashes of her family to form the ink for her runes, their bones to form her armor and staff that would protect her and strengthen her power, for there is power in blood, bone, and ink. But she would need help. Liv would gather the other clans together, use her powers to make them strong enough to battle Clan Wolf and their Jarl. Through her leadership and guidance, the clans would have a chance to stop the Wolf in his tracks. 

Skögar Village was under attack by Clan Wolf. Calder had to save his people, force the raiders away from the village. She was there beside him on the deck of the longship, a spirit, one he could see through. Calder had lost the fire he had carried to the longship to burn the sails, as she reached out touching the sail, it ignited and flamed.  With the firing of the sails, Calder was able to draw the rest of the Clan Wolf away from his village before they had completely destroyed it. Even as Calder sets out to raise the warning of Clan Wolf’s treachery, he wondered about the spirit. Instead he finds a living breathing Liv who shares the tale of death and destruction of her clan. Calder took Liv back to his Skögar where she would convince his people and another powerful Jarl to join forces in trying to stop Clan Wolf’s reign of terror.  It would be Liv who lead of the army they gathered. She was the volva, the witch, they all feared, but she had the power to turn the tide of the battle to come.

It is a time of hardships, crippling winters, magic, gods, witches, greed, and love. Casey L. Bond brings it all together in this Viking fantasy that offers a bit of a twist to the Norns of Norse Mythology,  There are well laid out battles, with the heartache of death and annihilation, but there is also hope. In spite of the harsh environment, constant threat of death, and raiding battles, many were farmers who fought for their families and their land.  This young adult novel introduces the reader to young people who had a voice in clan life, taught to fight in great battles, and were such an important part of the village. Told mostly from Liv’s point of view, her love of her family, the heartache of losing them her need for revenge and then the realization that there is more to life then vengeance. There is a dusting of Calder as we learn of his life and how he connects to Liv that adds to the story. With twists and turns, love blooms on grounds that are soaked in blood.  The reader sees the villain, tastes his hatred and greed, building the plan to stop him isn’t always a straight line. Liv changes as she battles to save the people she has grown to love; she finds a reason to fight to live but it may be too late. 

Even the Norns can learn from the humans that live under their rule. There are three Norns, weavers of the gods and men, who can change the present and the future, according to Casey L. Bond. In this tale there is power in the blood, bone and ink, but there is also rousing spirit in a good tale. The story is packed with life, not as we know it, but of days long past, even as it lives and breathes with the pages of the book. Thank you, Casey.