Title: THE
HUMMINGBIRD HEART
Author: A.G. Howard
Pub.
Date: August 15, 2017
Publisher: Golden Orb
Press
Pages: 234
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
Synopsis: Set 19 years after The Architect of Song:
Shortly after escaping a circus tragedy, young Italian orphan, Willow
Antoniette, seeks refuge at The Manor of Diversions—a holiday resort in England
born of a ghost story. For eleven years, she’s raised alongside the children of
the resort’s owners: Julian, his twin brother, Nick, and their younger sister
Emilia. Now that Willow is of marriable age, she's determined to escape
finishing school along with everyone's efforts to make her a proper lady. The
only man she wants to spend her life with is Julian, after all. Yet how can she
tell him, when he thinks of her as nothing but a friend?
As a machinist and engineer, Julian Thornton prefers a governable life.
He can't allow his ever-deepening attraction for Willow to distract from his
amusement park plans to lure a younger, wealthier clientele to their family's
resort. In hopes to escape Willow and find investors, Julian sets off on a
transatlantic ocean liner headed for the St. Louis World’s Fair, unaware Willow
has secretly stowed away on the same ship.
A tiny, mute orphan named Newton and a pair of haunted Italian shoes
bring Willow and Julian face to face on deck. Forced to work together to solve
the mystery of Newton and his vindictive, ghostly companion, Julian and Willow
can no longer fight their untapped passions. However, time to admit their true
feelings is running out, for the ghost and her murderer have enlisted them as
unsuspecting pawns in a karmic game of cat-and-mouse that could cost all of
them their lives.
Grab book 1!
Title: THE
ARCHITECT OF SONG
Author: A.G.
Howard
Pub.
Date: August 15, 2016
Publisher: Golden
Orb Press
Pages: 425
Formats: Paperback,
eBook
A lady imprisoned by deafness, an architect imprisoned by his past, and a
ghost imprisoned within the petals of a flower - intertwine in this love story
that transcends life and death.
For most of her life, nineteen-year-old Juliet Emerline has subsisted – isolated by deafness – making hats in the solitude of her home. Now, she’s at risk to lose her sanctuary to Lord Nicolas Thornton, a twenty-seven-year-old mysterious and eccentric architect with designs on her humble estate. When she secretly witnesses him raging beside a grave, Juliet investigates, finding the name “Hawk” on the headstone and an unusual flower at the base. The moment Juliet touches the petals, a young English nobleman appears in ghostly form, singing a song only her deaf ears can hear. The ghost remembers nothing of his identity or death, other than the one name that haunts his afterlife: Thornton.
To avenge her ghostly companion and save her estate, Juliet pushes aside her fear of society and travels to Lord Thornton’s secluded holiday resort, posing as a hat maker in one of his boutiques. There, she finds herself questioning who to trust: the architect of flesh and bones who can relate to her through romantic gestures, heartfelt notes, and sensual touches … or the specter who serenades her with beautiful songs and ardent words, touching her mind and soul like no other man ever can. As sinister truths behind Lord Thornton’s interest in her estate and his tie to Hawk come to light, Juliet is lured into a web of secrets. But it’s too late for escape, and the tragic love taking seed in her heart will alter her silent world forever.
International and NYT bestselling author, A.G. Howard, brings her darkly magical and visual/visceral storytelling to Victorian England. The Architect of Song is the first installment in her lush and romantic Haunted Hearts Legacy series, a four book gothic saga following the generations of one family as - haunted by both literal and figurative ghosts - they search for self-acceptance, love, and happiness.
New Adult: Recommended for ages 17+.
Excerpt:
In the dream, Willow was a child again. With each barefooted step around
the stacks of baggage in steerage, she found them taking on new shapes:
pyramids of clowns, bears, horses and feathered performers, all balanced atop
one another. She was back at the circus, albeit a much hazier and dimmer
rendition than she remembered. She skipped along the center ring, excited to be
home at last. Grit and discarded trash snagged between her little toes. A
spotlight clicked on to illuminate a trunk. From within came a thumping sound,
and girlish giggles.
“Tildey!” Willow cried out, racing across the distance to find her doll,
her pigtails slapping her face and neck upon each bounding step. The creak of
abandoned trapezes swung overhead, cutting intermittently through a thick cloud
of fog. Yet it wasn’t fog. It was tobacco—a stench that seeped into her
leotard, her tights, her very pores, until she could taste it coating her
tongue like bile.
The spotlight shifted from the trunk to a trapeze just above her where a
shape took form in the light: a graceful silhouette in a shimmery leotard and
glistening tutu.
“Mama?” Willow whispered in the dream, forgetting Tildey for the chance
to see her mother perform once more.
The trapeze vanished into thin air but the aerialist continued a controlled
descent toward her, held in place by harnesses attached to the center pole. A
face came into view, painted white like a clown, with bloody eyes and a hollow
of a mouth—stretched wide on a perpetual scream. Willow yelped and squeezed her
lashes shut, willing away the creature … for it was not Mama.
When she opened them again, the freakish performer exploded into a flock
of hummingbirds made of ink. They skittered around Willow, buzzing wings
scraping her skin and hair, imprinting tattoos everywhere they touched. She
screamed and stumbled backwards, bumping into the trunk which was somehow right
behind her. A tinkly, off-key lullaby drifted from inside the giant box. The
lid shook and shuddered, as if something wanted out.
Whimpering, Willow tried to back away, but her feet grew heavy. She
looked down and ballet shoes, covered in steel spikes, swallowed them up. The
empty harness that had held the ghastly aerialist slithered toward her like a
snake, coiling itself around her legs and arms to hold her in place.
On the final haunting strains of music, the trunk’s lid popped open, and
out from the midst rose a hunched old man, holding Nadia’s haunted shoes upside
down. Blood and water gushed out of them—a stench of copper and stagnancy—and
the man laughed with a voice that gnawed into her bones like a thousand
snarling wolves.
About A.G. Howard:
A.G. Howard
was inspired to write SPLINTERED while working at a school library. She always
wondered what would've happened had the subtle creepiness of Alice's Adventures
in Wonderland taken center stage, and she hopes her darker and funkier tribute
to Carroll will inspire readers to seek out the stories that won her heart as a
child.
When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.
When she's not writing, A.G.'s pastimes are reading, rollerblading, gardening, and family vacations which often include impromptu side trips to 18th century graveyards or condemned schoolhouses to appease her overactive muse.
International
(1) Grand
prize: Signed set of The Architect of Song & The Hummingbird Heart PB
(1) First Place prize: Signed The Hummingbird Heart PB
(1) Second Place prize: Signed The Hummingbird Heart poster
(3) Third – Fifth Place prizes: Signed The Architect of Song
& The Hummingbird Heart swag pack sets
Ends on August 22nd at Midnight EST!
Wonderful post! I loved Howard's Splintered series and I adore her writing, so I can't wait to read this series :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing, Aneta. And for the giveaway!
Really looking forward to reading the series!
ReplyDeleteI'm yet to read any of A.G.Howard's books but would absolutely love to!! I've been meaning to read Splintered for so long as I absolutely LOVE retellings!! :) This giveaway is so awesome <33
ReplyDeleteI can not wait to read this books. A.G. is a new author to me and I'm so happy for this post. And! - one of the best covers I have ever seen.
ReplyDelete