On this Monday blog, I am happy to welcome Jennifer Foxcroft and her first novel, Sanquine Mountain--Book One in the Camazotz Trilogy
Author Bio:
Sanguine Mountain—Book One in the
Camazotz Trilogy—is the debut novel of Jennifer Foxcroft.
Jennifer was born and raised in
Australia. She spent her youth dreaming of far away lands and the crazy
critters that inhabit them. When she wasn’t swimming in the backyard pool or
training the family pet to ride a bicycle, she would visit those magical lands
and accompany her characters on their exciting adventures. Even as an adult,
her daydreaming of fanciful lands never ceased. To this day, she regards
herself as a teenager trapped in an adult body. This series is a glimpse of the
characters and places she often visits.
Jennifer adores
animals of all shapes and sizes, so it’s no wonder her first series features
shape shifters.
Sanguine Mountain blurb:
Connie
Phillips has never told a lie—until now.
An
anonymous letter shatters the world Connie thought she knew and trusted. The news that her parents aren’t really her
own leaves her angry, devastated and alone.
The search for the truth leads her down a dark, desolate forest road
where she meets a boy in the shadows who has secrets of his own.
Rockland’s
life has been ruled by an ancient curse since the day he was born. Forever labeled a misfit and a rebel, he is
desperate to convince his leaders that integration with the modern world will
be the salvation of their kind—not their demise.
After
their worlds collide in the middle of a dark forest, Connie and Rocks strike a
deal to help each other find the answers they both need—away from her lying
parents and the judgmental sneers of his colony. But can they find love on their journey to
discover who they are and where they belong in the world?
Teaser from Sanguine Mountain:
We stay
holding each other for a while and it’s nice. He’s warm. It’s so easy being
with Rocks even though I barely know him. He smells of the forest or the moon.
It’s weird to think he could smell like the moon, but his scent is clean and
fresh. I bite the inside of my cheek and pray he can’t read my mind. The last
teenage boy I was this close to didn’t smell this good.
Rocks suddenly
jerks back. He’s out of my reach. His eyes are giant and dark, full of fear and
something I can’t describe. He grabs the fob watch from his waistcoat pocket
and the silver lid clicks open. The noise seems loud against the night.
“What’s
wrong?”
“Shit.”
“What?” My
blood pressure is suddenly at ‘run, girl, run’ level again. Regardless of the
connection I feel, I don’t know this boy at all.
Anguish is the
only word that I can use to describe the look contorting his features. I want
to tell him he’s scaring me, but I think he knows.
He grabs the
back of his neck with both hands and looks up at the sky before squeezing his
eyes shut. His muscles are taut in his arms as though he’s trying to hold on to
something invisible I cannot comprehend. What the hell?
He twists at
the waist left and right, repeatedly. He’s breathing loudly in through his nose
and out through his mouth. He folds his bent arms around his head, but the
tension is still visible. Then he doubles over and takes a loud deep breath.
When he stands, he flicks his hair back and looks deep into my eyes. I can’t
breathe.
“I’m sorry,”
he whispers, and then he’s gone.
Rocks
has vanished.
He
was standing in front of me a second ago; now he’s gone. Simply vanished into
thin air before my eyes.
I
look around. No hot, Goth guy to the left, or right. Jumping off the car, I
peek around the bumper, expecting to see him crouching in the darkness. But he
has simply vanished—without a trace. This isn’t possible.
Am I losing my mind?
I’m
suddenly aware again of the isolation of this dark stretch of forest road. My
parents think I’m at Tiffany’s house painting our nails, and I just revealed a
hell of a lot of personal information to a complete and utter stranger,
regardless of whatever my gut was telling me. I can almost feel Horror Movie
Girl’s disapproving glare.
My
chest tightens indicating a need for my inhaler, but my lungs aren’t wheezing.
Where did he go? How could I be talking to a six-foot-whatever giant boy and
have him disappear INTO THIN AIR?
“Rocks? Rocks, please.”
An owl hoots
overhead.
The cool air
chills my skin. All I can hear in my ears is the hammering of my heart. I close
my eyes and focus on my breathing.
Something isn’t right. I need to take control, fill the water tank,
start my car and get the hell out of here. Now that I’m still and a smidgen
calmer, I swear someone is watching me. Spinning around, I’m convinced I’ll
come face to face with Rocks. Mere inches from my face, movement catches me off
guard and I scream.
GoodReads: http://bit.ly/1GD44b3
Amazon: http://amzn.to/1Gk34Z6
