Title: The Claiming
Author: J.A. Nielsen
Genre: YA Fantasy
Book Blurb:
Spense is the unfortunate younger son of Lord Ferrous, with a growing talent for the magical arts and a larger talent for finding trouble, most often in the form of botched spells. Dewy is a Fae princess who tends to disappoint her aunt, the Summer Queen, through her—ahem—carefree life choices.
A chance encounter—and another failed spell—leaves Spense bonded to Dewy and able to control her will. But it's a violation of magic. Not to mention devastating to Human-Fae relations.
To free Dewy and save Spense’s kingdom, they must journey through faerie territories—facing feral magic, treacherous wilderness, and their own distractible hearts.
Excerpt:
Spense woke to the faint sensation of something small and light tickling his face. A feather. A breeze. The tickling increased. It was quite pleasant, much more so than the roots and pebbles digging into his ribs as he found consciousness.
He fluttered his eyes and stretched his still sleepy arms, expecting to reach the leaf or feather, but instead, his fingers brushed the form of a person. Hair like gossamer shifted in the light morning winds. Spense blinked rapidly. Tiny freckles accented a girl’s fine features like kisses of sun.
Spense bolted awake and scuttled crablike away from the girl. She widened her eyes and tilted her head to the side, as if surprised that the rare creature she’d been inspecting had moved. Her hair shifted and revealed delicate, pointed ears sticking out from her unbound tresses. “You…you’re a faerie!”
She giggled, but not like the coquettes of the Telridge court who were always trying to attract attention from his older brother. Her smile was playful and enchanting, at once both kind and menacing. “Oh no, silly, I am Fae.”
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What makes your featured book a must-read?
The Claiming is gaining attention in critical reviews, receiving 5 stars from Chanticleer and N.N. Light’s Book Heaven. Kirkus Reviews stated it is “an astute and tasteful fantasy tale with a valuable message.” It has already been selected for curriculum in school districts, earning the esteem of young readers and adult literary critics, alike. It is a fantasy treasure destined to grace the shelves of the young and young at heart.
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Open Internationally.
Runs September 12 – September 19, 2023.
Winner will be drawn on September 20, 2023.
Author Biography:
J.A. Nielsen is the author of the YA Fantasy, The Claiming (Fractured Kingdoms, Book 1), and winner of the 2020 Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest for Young Adult literature. She has spent most of her professional life in education—as a therapist, teacher, librarian, and administrator. When not writing, she is most likely playing with her family in the forest, on the water, or in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
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