Today I'm spotlighting Evermore: The Rylakian Heir by Caroline Metzlaff, a YA Paranormal Fairy Tale. Who doesn't love fairy tales, right? 😍
{Below you will find information on the book and an excerpt}
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- Snow White fled from the huntsman that fateful morning and escaped in to the magical kingdom of Lonstas. Changing her name to 'Snowy Rutherford, she resides with the gentle intellect, Dr. Rutherford and his six brothers, living in a relative peace that is often overshadowed by the threat of her vindictive and unbalanced stepmother.
-Cinderella Vanholsten is the capricious and zestful daughter of the kingdom's most successful entertainment promoter. Lonely and quirky she is quick to seize the opportunity to recruit for her 'Prince Leonardo Charming' fan club.
-Mercury is a devoted, dashing and gallant werewolf that can never realise his love for the beautiful aristocrat Lady Red Adair, due to segregation.
-Manuel is a complex and weary vampire that has only now found the one heart that can open his...Rapunzel, newly liberated from her lonely tower .
As Snow watches her friends struggle, she realises that she has the power to effect change. But she must survive her stepmother's murderous plots first....
Evermore: The Rylakian Heir is available as an Ebook through most sites, including Goodreads, and in paperback through Amazon. You can visit the authors website or the novel's Facebook page for updates or discussions.
Excerpt:
EVERMORE: THE
RYLAKIAN HEIR (excerpt)
Hotels
beds, as inviting and comfortable as they might be with their freshly laundered
blankets and cool crisp sheets, can’t hold a candle to your own bed. That’s why
as soon as Snow had unpacked, and given a special greeting and hug to each of Uncle Doc’s six sweet brothers,
she did what can only be described as a swan dive, on to her own big cushy
bed.
What
bliss. Within
seconds she was out.
A very
annoying rapping at her window, brought her back from a very romantic dream
involving Prince Leonardo and a marble dance floor. Burrowing her head under
the pillow, she tried in vain to block out the sound. No, no, no.
Rap. Rap,
rap, rap.
She
growled softly to avoid uttering a word that she had once overheard in the
stables back home in Rylak, and realised that the noise was not going to stop
unless she did something about it.
Completely annoyed, Snow sprang out of bed and flung open her window,
only to find herself eyeball to eyeball with an enormous grey and blue
pigeon...a grey and blue pigeon with a note rolled and strapped to one
foot.
Crap.
Crap. And crap. There was only one being she knew, that employed a pigeon for
communication.
Manuel.
The big
jerk.
Sighing,
she removed the note and unravelled it carefully.
“The base of the forest, when the moon
hangs high.” It read.
What was
that supposed to mean? “When the moon hangs high?” She asked the impassive
pigeon.
“Huh? He
can’t say ‘Can you meet me at eleven?’ or ‘As soon as it’s dark enough out that
I don’t fry up.’ No, course not. That would be too easy. No, Manuel has to be
all codey-codey”.
The
pigeon merely blinked.
Cursing Manuel’s cryptic messages, she began
to pull a sweater on. She had no idea if the “moon was hanging high”, but the
annoying pigeon was sitting there waiting for her. What was it with him; did he
have the stupid pigeon casing the place, just waiting for her to fall asleep?
Knowing Manuel...he just might have. Jerk.
Grumbling
to herself, she slid in to some black pants, grabbed a cloak and began to crawl
out on to her windowsill. Grabbing on to
a branch of the nearest tree she began to slowly climb down from her second
story window; the pigeon started cooing annoyingly at her.
“Listen
birdbrain, I’ve only got two speeds. And you won’t like the other one.” She
grumbled at the peevish bird that appeared to snort in response.
Reaching
the bottom, she immediately crouched down to crawl past the window. Dashing
down the path she was surprised to notice that the pigeon was following her. Fluttering
from tree to tree, keeping time, the pigeon made noises that sounded curiously
like laughter. Now it was Snow’s turn to snort.
“Please
don’t tell me Manuel has you on escort duty as well.” The bird cooed even
louder.
“Oh jeez,
I hope he’s paying you for this.” The pigeon eyeballed her intently before
turning his head away from her and flying on to the next tree.
“Wait!
This is where we turn to get Cindy!” She protested but the pigeon waited
patiently, pointing with its beak in the other direction.
“Are you
telling me we have to go that way?” Was she really communicating with a bird? “So
you’re telling me no Cindy?”
Sure
enough the bird started cooing and hopping up and down on his branch. Sighing
deeply she began to follow him.
The bird
kept a ferocious pace, and Snow had to trot to keep up. The pigeon took her down
an unfamiliar path that just skirted the town, stopping every once in a while
to make low groaning noises, that sounded suspiciously like grumbling again, to
Snow. Finally they approached the base of The Lonesome Forest; but instead of
stopping, the pigeon kept on going. Snow had kind of expected Manuel to slide
out from behind a tree, all dramatic like, and throw an insult her way as he
usually did, but he didn’t appear to be anywhere in the vicinity. With no clear
alternative, she followed the disagreeable bird in to the dark and silent
forest, hoping and praying that she was not making a terrible mistake.
“Okay,
but you are going to have to have to take it down a notch, because I can’t see
where I’m going and I’m not going to be breaking my leg tonight.” She informed
him, the bird let loose a furious sound in response.
“I’ll
deal with Manuel, he’ll blame me anyway. What’s he gonna do...eat me?” She
started to laugh and abruptly stopped as the bird regarded her with a level
eye. She gulped.
“Okay,
but slow down just a little.”
And the
bird did. Just a little
mind you.
Just as
Snow’s eyes were finally getting accustomed to the gloom of the forest,
something reached out from the darkness and grabbed her arm. Shrieking she
jumped back, stumbled on a rock and fell flat on her bottom. Looking up, she
recognised a pale, familiar face, and that face was wearing a very wide grin.
On any
other face, and at any other time, she might have considered the grin attractive.
But as it was, she found it immensely irritating.
“And humans
are so clumsy too.” He commented, as he reached down and basically lifted her
up back on to her feet. Setting her straight, he took a step back, the grin
returning as he looked her up and down.
“What!”
Indignantly Snow questioned.
“You’ve
got-” He started, pointing at his glossily perfect hair.
Snow
pawed at her own completely disheveled hair, pulling twigs and bramble out
irritably.
“Oh, and
hi to you too Manuel. Yes, I did have a nice holiday, so nice of you to
inquire.”
He looked
at her in confusion for a quick minute before wiping his face blank again. Grabbing
her by her arm, he began leading her quickly through the forest.
“You’re
friend is in trouble, and if you do not stop him he is going to be in even
bigger trouble.” He whispered ominously.
“I don’t
understand; who is in trouble?” She asked as she jogged along to keep up with the vampire.
“He ran
in to some ogrenots two nights ago. They made the mistake of taunting him about
his great red obsession; he made the mistake of destroying their night
shelter.”
Ogrenots.
Really disagreeable creatures, not only were they quite unattractive, they were
also known for their loud mouthed mocking personalities. They looked like a cross
between an ogre and a pig, which is why most beings referred to them as “ogrenots”;
although some slang referred to them as “pigs”, which is quite inaccurate and a
major insult to pigs. Ogrenots, were for the most part, pretty unthreatening,
but they did have a tendency to mock, insult, provoke and were counted among the
most irritating creatures you could ever meet.
“Ogrenots?
Yuck.” Snow made a face. “What do you mean he destroyed their shelter? And who
is “He?”
“He blew
it down, it was made of straw.” Manuel stopped and carefully looked through the
trees.
“Well
straw makes a crappy shelter anyway, why didn’t they build it out of wood?” She
asked as she stood on her tip toes to look over his shoulder.
“They
did. That was last night. He blew it
over as well.” Manuel absently answered.
“Who is
this ‘He’?” She asked again.
“Tonight
they hide behind a shelter of rocks; they toss insults and innuendo at him.”
“And he
thinks he is going to blow it down?” Snow almost giggled. Whoever ‘he’ was, he
wasn’t very smart.
“Not
down, up.” Manuel said and moved away from the bushes so Snow could take a
look.
In the
middle of the dark forest, stood a hastily created shelter of stone and rock,
in some ways it closely resembled a fort that children would construct to play
in. It had what appeared to be one round entrance, that was currently sealed
with a boulder. Riotous laughter mixed with nasally sounding snorts came from the
‘fort’, it was a truly irritating sound.
The boy.
The boy with the beautiful eyes and the
longish, dark shaggy hair, was busy erecting a pile of explosives, a homemade
bomb; sweat on his brow, and a maniacal look in his eye. Now Snow knew what he
was, he was a werewolf; and he was really, really irritated. It was a very
stupid thing to do, antagonising a young werewolf; they took unpredictable to
an entirely new level. She turned to Manuel, intending to demand he take her
home immediately. She didn’t want to be anywhere near this particular situation.
“Oh
little pig, little pig...” the boy muttered, and then he used some words Snow
had been taught never to utter, his hands shaking as he hurriedly worked on his
bomb.
“Ha, ha,
ha-ha!! And she smells so good too! Num, num, num, num! Yah?” One of the ogrenots
cackled from inside the fort; followed by the sound of rapid lip smacking and
they all erupted in to hysterics. “We tells her you says hi! Yah!”
“Yah!
Yah!”
“Oh, this
is not good.” Snow murmured. “We’re all going to get killed.”
“He’s
your friend. Do something.” Manuel gave her a little push.
“What are
you talking about? I don’t know him! I don’t even know his name!”
Manuel
stared at her blankly.
“And he’s
apparently a nutbar!” She added, nervously looking over her shoulder.
“You mean
to tell me that the werewolf is not one of your beloved friends?” He
questioned.
“Absolutely
not, what would possibly make you think that?” Snow was getting really
frustrated very quickly, either that bomb was going to go off, or the young
werewolf was going to lose it; she didn’t want to be anywhere near, when either
of those things happened.
Manuel
sighed. “That damn wolf.”
He whispered to himself.
“Are you
going to huff and puff and blow our house down?” Another ogrenot taunted and
his companions cackled again. From the sounds of it there were at least three
of them in there.
“You
still talking?” The wolf answered as he searched through his pockets for a
match.
“Manuel,
we need to leave...now!” Snow whispered urgently. Manuel studied her intently.
“You have
no desire to intervene?” He casually asked.
“Oh,
maybe we should let him in, yah? Maybe we make some tea and he tells us all
about his sweetie?” Laughed another one. “Kissy, kissy!”
“What, do
I look crazy?”
The
vampire regarded her for a split second before shrugging.
“Yah,
yah! Not by the hair of my chiny chin chin!” And they all erupted again. “And
you have a lot of hair!”
“Yah! Oh
wolfie!” the creature taunted.
“No, big
bad wolfie!” Another one corrected.
“Yeah! Big bad wolfie? Does she likey-likey
all your hair? Your sweetie, yah?”
He found
his matches, and that was when Snow realised that if she didn’t do something
fast, they were all doomed. Manuel was right, she had to intervene. Her father,
in his prime had been considered a master negotiator; she only hoped it was
genetic.
Springing
from the bushes she yelled. “Hold it!”
That surprised
everyone, especially Snow. The boy spun around, a look of complete shock on his
face.
“What are
you doing here?” he gasped in a combination of recognition and irritation.
“Um, I
don’t really know and believe me this isn’t high on my list of places I really
want to be right now; but it looks like you’re having some trouble. You think maybe we can talk about
this for a second? You know, before you do something crazy?” Snow asked
thinking fast. “Like building a bomb...and setting it off in a dry forest.” She
laughed somewhat nervously.
Clearly she had no idea what to do, but Manuel
had brought her here to help, so try to help she would; but this was an
irritated young werewolf, in a fair fight she wasn’t completely sure even Manuel
would win. That being said, the boy wasn’t a complete stranger to her; she had
to try.
“Sweetheart
I-” he started before she cut him off.
“My name
is Snowy, and I would appreciate you using it, and I’m no sweetheart, trust me.
What is your name?” She swiftly asked.
“Mercury.
They call me Mercury.” He offered almost reluctantly, clearly he was not used
to being cut off like that.
“Mercury.
I’ve seen you around town a few times. You didn’t strike me as a merciless
killer, or a crazed mad man though. Then again, what do I know about people, I typically think most people
are better than they really are; then I end up almost getting killed
and...yadda yadda story of my life.
Okay, so maybe I pegged you all wrong. You are a horrible merciless
killer about to roast these childish ogrenots in their ridiculous fort, greedily
snack on their bones just like all of the folktales say you would and burn down
most of the forest while you are at it. I thought you guys just got bad press;
apparently it’s deserved. Okay, carry on.”
She stepped back feigning acceptance. “Just give us a minute to get
clear of the firestorm.”
The
expression on the wolf’s faced changed from agitation to amusement with a dash
of curiosity.
“Oh
little girlie!” One of the ogrenots sang out. “Are you trying to get us all
killed and roasted?”
“Yah,
yah!” Another one agreed. “The big bad wolfie is-”
Snow cut
him off. “About to blow you up, and a large portion of the forest as well. I suggest
you settle down and let me deal with this my way, or I just might let him,
cause believe me...you aren’t helping.”
“Yah!
Listen to that. The little girlie is getting mad!” And with that he erupted in to fits
of laughter. He stuck a pudgy green finger through a tiny hole in the rocks.
“Oh little girlie! Pull my finger! Yah?”
To which
the other ogrenots began yelling. “No, No Hazzo!” before the laughter took up
again.
Mercury
made a gesture with his matches, still more than eager to rid himself of the smelly
green irritants, but Snow shook her head sternly.
“You
know, not only do you have a severely irritated wolf, but I’ve got a vampire
here with me too, and he would just love to try roast ogrenot, so don’t test me
buddy. Settle down and shut it!”
Stepping
out from the bushes, Manuel rolled his eyes upwards and shuddered at the
thought; clearly the idea of snacking on an ogrenot offended his palate.
“Seriously?
You brought a human here?” The young werewolf blasted the vampire. “What were
you thinking?”
“I
thought you were friends. Why else would you have tasked me with her
protection?” Manuel casually stated, brushing invisible dust off of his
beautiful coat.
“That was
you?” Snow whirled around. “You’re the reason we got stuck with Mr. Personality
over there? I don’t know whether to thank you or slap you.”
The boy
recalled sharply; darting his eyes from Snow to Manuel, he looked rather
shocked at the slender human child’s outburst.
“He is
the biggest pain in the you know what!”
She declared. And at that both werewolf and vampire threw a stunned look her
way. “Well he is.” She finished.
Manuel
took an indignant breath. “The ‘pain in the you know what’ that procured a
rather costly spell of protection for you, rescued you from Drina and took you
to a Unicorn Blessing.”
“You send
pigeons to wake me from a beautiful sleep and insult me every chance you get!”
Snowy snapped back. “Face it! You’re a pain! And you’re rude too!”
“I didn’t
know what else to do, this forest is so dangerous and you and the other two keep
traipsing around at night; what were you thinking?
You really keep me busy.” Mercury
defended.
“You were
protecting us?” She asked in a small voice.
“Every
night.” He responded with a touch of exasperation.
Wow, she
thought. That stopped her in her tracks; they never even thought to question
their apparent safety. How many times had he saved them? She would never know;
she wasn’t planning on asking.
“Thank
you.” She whispered. “But he really is a pain.” She couldn’t help but add.
“I know.”
The wolf, Mercury whispered with a grin that for a moment made him almost as
beautiful as Manuel. Actually, he was just as good looking as the beautiful
vampire; only Mercury wasn’t so much beautiful with his olive complexion and
shadowed jaw, he was...rugged. Manuel was beautiful, Mercury was handsome. Really
handsome.
“If the
two of you are quite through...” Manuel drawled attempting to hide his
indignation at being called a pain. “I do have other business tonight.”
“Yeah!”
One of the ogrenots called out. “It’s getting hot in here and we want to get
out now.”
“It’s not
getting hot in here you idiot, Hazzo has the gas!” Another one yelled. “Help
us! Help us!” They all started to yell.
“So come
on out, we aren’t stopping you.” Snow shook her head; ogrenots were incredibly
irritating creatures.
“We
can’t! The boulder
is too heavy! We can’t lift it!” They all yelled in unison; not really a pleasant
sound.
Mercury
looked perplexed. “So how did you get it there in the first place?”
“Oh, we
asked a troll to close us in yah!”
“Why on
earth...” Snow trailed off.
“Well, we
didn’t want the wolfie to get in did we?” And then the Ogrenot began to make
choking noises; obviously 'Hazzo' was not quite through.
Manuel
nodded at the boulder and sent a questioning look Snow’s way.
“Hmmm.
Are you three ready to apologise to Mercury? If Mercury apologises to you that
is?” She asked.
“Hey lady-“
Mercury threw her an indignant look.
“Not
lady. Snow; my name is Snow, but you can call me Snowy.”
“Snowy.
I’m not going to-” He stopped short as he caught the very dark look Snow sent
his way.
“I was
woken up from my much needed beauty sleep by a fat and irritating pigeon, sent
by an exceedingly irritating vampire to assist an equally irritating werewolf!
Now apologise!” Snow growled, her dark eyes blazing.
“I’m sorry I blew your houses down.”
Snow shot
him another look.
“And that
I tried to blow you up.” He finished with a shrug mouthing the word ‘humans’ Manuel’s way. Manuel could hardly suppress his
smirk.
“Guys?”
She prompted with impatience.
“Yeah!
Yeah! We are sorry already!” They cried in unison. “Just move the boulder! Get
us out of here!”
Snow
nodded to Manuel, who casually sauntered over and pushed the boulder, making
what must have been a several hundred pound piece of rock seem light as a
feather. She made a mental reminder to be kinder to him; he was really, really
strong.
Out from
the fort, bearing a surprising resemblance to pigs, waddled three fat, little green
ogrenots, each holding their necks and pretending to gasp for air. They threw
themselves on the ground inhaling deeply. Jumping back up, they began
giggling and ran back in to the forest, leaving Snow to watch in silent wonder,
shaking her head.
Manuel
took an emotionless look at them before grabbing Snow’s arm once again.
“Come.
Now there is someone else who needs you.” He said.
About the Author:
Caroline Metzlaff is a Canadian author and actor. Her love for books began before she, herself, could even read; by the age of three she could often be found 'reading' much loved tales to neighborhood kids from memory. This great love for stories has carried through her entire life, as a teen she wrote cringe worthy John Hughes inspired screenplays, and eventually found herself on stage and on film breathing a different kind of life in to the stories that so captured her.
An avid reader and voracious writer, Caroline is also a great fan of Star Wars AND Star Trek, and would feel equally at home in either world. She requires chocolate, coffee, wine and metal music to function.
Although her own taste in reading is quite eclectic, she has always been drawn to the world of fairy tale, paranormal, the world of epic fantasy. It is here that she truly feels alive. So much so that she wrote a paranormal fairy tale of her own, Evermore: The Rylakian Heir.
