Spotlight & Giveaway: The Stolen Throne by Abigail Owen

Today it is my pleasure to Welcome author Abigail Owen to HJ!

Hi Abigail and welcome to HJ! We’re so excited to chat with you about your new release, The Stolen Throne!

 
Thank you so much for having me! I always love visiting HJ!
 

Please summarize the book a la Twitter style for the readers here:

Heavy lies the crown in the second installment of Abigail Owen’s YA fantasy romance Dominions trilogy, The Stolen Throne, where the hidden princess must take on the role of queen in order to fight the man who has been killing her family for generations, all while figuring out what loving a Shadowraith looks like.
 

Please share the opening lines of this book:

Fear is like sand.

It’s impossible to get rid of once it touches you. The tiny grains in small amounts might only chafe, but if it’s left to build, to collect more and more, those grains turn into massive dunes that are exhausting to scale, or worse, become quicksand that will swallow a person whole.

I sit stiffly on my onyx throne, an inane half smile pinned to my mouth as before me, my kingdom dances.

Please share a few Fun facts about this book…

• We get to see more of the world of Nova visiting Tropikis and Mariana, as well as revisiting Wildernyss, Aryd, and Tyndra!
• We get to explore the secondary characters even more. And most won’t be like what you thought.
• Unrequited love is heartrending.
• I managed to sneak zombies in here, but in a…interesting way.
• There is an homage to The Little Mermaid in the scene with the whirlpool. I wonder if readers will catch it?

What first attracts your main characters to each other?

Reven and Meren are both lost and lonely souls. Her because she’s the hidden princess whose only purpose is to sacrifice her life to protect her twin sister. Him because he is the shadow of a monster finding his way. They see that in each other, the need to be loved for who they are and only that.
 

Using just 5 words, how would you describe your main characters”love affair?

steamy, frustrating, a true partnership, unsteady, breakable.
 

The First Kiss…

“I’ll be ready, asshole,” I spit at the closed door.
I crouch down, pulling out the knives I’ve hidden between the mattresses. I have no doubt I’ll lose the fight, but I plan to go down fighting all the same.
“Meren.” That voice—that velvet-and-iron voice that Eidolon shares with Reven—sounds directly beside my ear.
The king is back? Was he toying with me or something? The burst of anger tinged with fear is instant, like a snakebite, the poison of it spreading with every erratic pump of my heart.
I jump up and whirl around, a knife at his neck.
“That’s my girl,” someone else in the room says in a satisfied murmur, the words hardly penetrating through my shock.
Because the eyes I’m staring into aren’t Eidolon’s eyes.
“Meren, it’s me.”
As fast as I lunged, I stop, going dead still as recognition slowly dawns. I’ve dreamed this a thousand times, but after what just happened with Eidolon, I’m not sure this is real.
He lifts his chin, and the stubble on his cheek brushes against my hand holding the knife.
This is real.
On a gasp, I drop the knife. It hits the mattress with a muffled thud. I clap a hand over my mouth, trying to muffle the sounds that want to pour out of me.
Reven.
“Hells,” he mutters, then drags me against his body.
Relief and elation are a burst of light inside me as he captures my lips and kisses the ever-loving life out of me.
He feels the same, hard and solid, hand buried in my hair. He smells the same, fresh like the creosus willows that manage to thrive in the deserts. Like home.
He gives a low groan, like he’s been lost in the desert and has finally found a hidden spring.
Reven.
Goddess. He’s here. He’s really here in the palace. He came for me.
He’s kissing me.
His taste slides over my tongue and through my blood. Everything about me centers and settles. I tighten my arms around his neck and crawl up his chest to wrap my legs around him. To burrow into him.
Only, just as fast and way too soon, reality slices through my haze of happiness.
Eidolon.

Without revealing too much, what is your favorite scene in the book?

Oh my gosh there are so many. Ack! Um… Most of my favorite scenes are where we get to see Meren and Reven interact, especially when she’s sassing him. They’re a blast to write. But because of how they’re relationship needs to progress through this particular book, we get less of that. Which means many of my favorite scenes are the danger scenes where suddenly Reven isn’t the biggest threat and his love for her is obvious in the way he protects her. Like this one…

“Meren?” That’s the first time Reven’s talked to me since last night.
Why does his voice sound strange? Reedy. Maybe because of the rush of the winds?
I turn back, and every drop of blood rushes out of my head, leaving me woozy. He’s standing at the edge of the woods, just inside the trees, very still, gaze pinned to me, a warning in his eyes.
And a shadow is curled around him.
Like before, when Bene attacked, the rope of darkness is thick and oily. But it isn’t coming from Reven. I think…mother goddess…it’s coming from the woods. There’s menace in the way it’s snarling around his limbs, reminding me of the Hollow’s tentacles.
“Reven?” I take a tentative step forward.
“Don’t—” The word cuts off as another tendril of darkness curls around his throat and squeezes.
This isn’t him. He’s not doing this. I can see that much in the anger tightening his features, feel it in the spiky panic that even bleeds through the break he’s made in our connection.
“Tell me what to do,” I beg.
He visibly swallows. “Run.”

If your book was optioned for a movie, what scene would be absolutely crucial to include?

The whirlpool scene. It would be such an incredible scene to see on film with a lot of action and really cool elements (a shapeshifting siren, a whirlpool manipulated by a man who controls water, the need to find a “prize” of sorts). But it’s a pivotal scene in Meren learning what she can do with the power she wields as well as an important moment for her relationship with Reven, but also her relationship with her best friend, Cain. I love that scene!

Readers should read this book …

If you love intricate, lush fantasy worlds in which sassy, vibrant, characters who are not perfect try to defeat the big bad all while fighting a love that could be too dangerous to pursue, then you’ll love The Stolen Throne!

What are you currently working on? What other releases do you have planned?

I am working on the third and final book in the Dominions trilogy! It’s going to be a doozy. 🙂

Thanks for blogging at HJ!

Giveaway: $10 Amazon gift card!

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Excerpt from The Stolen Throne:

We disappear in shadow…a whiplash blink of darkness. I can’t see us moving, but I’ve done this with Reven before—traveled this way. It feels the same, though last time, I had a chance to take in the sense that we were moving. This time, it’s faster than a twinkle. I know it happened, but I’m standing outside the city of Oaesys so suddenly, if the view hadn’t changed, I’d think we hadn’t gone anywhere.
I stare at the skyline of the city, a stark relief in the starlight, a league or more from where I stand.
Realization of what just happened hits, and a bubble of panic squeezes through my shock. A sound I don’t even recognize bursts from me as I surge forward to run back to the city.
Reven wraps an arm around my waist, and my feet kick into the air as I try to get away.
“We left them!” I yell, flailing and pushing against his hold. We left Cain and Achlys behind.
His grip only tightens the harder I struggle.
I jam an elbow into his side. At his grunt that sounds pained enough to get through my panic, I still and swing my gaze to the man who yanked me out of the palace with shadow. Only, it finally sinks in that Reven looks as dazed as I feel.
Now that I’ve stopped trying to run, he lets go, giving his head a shake.
“We have to go back.” I point.
His lips flatten in a grim slash, but I can tell it’s less to do with who we left than how it happened. “We can’t.”
“What? Just—”
“I can’t.”
I stop. Reven looks like death on a stick. Sweat beads his forehead, and the pallor under his skin is visible even in the light of only one of the three moons.
He’s completely drained.
Teeth gritted, I leave him behind and start trudging through the sand in the direction of the city. If Cain returns with Achlys, they’re going to find a bad situation in my rooms instead of Reven and me. Eidolon will… Goddess, I don’t know what he’ll do to them. “They’re walking into a trap. They won’t know he’s waiting there—”
Reven catches up with me quickly, taking me by both arms. He leans over, face right in mine, even as I strain against his hold. “Think, Meren. Cain would be furious if I let you go back. If I let you put yourself at risk for him.”
“But he’d do it for me.” The words tear at my throat. I push at his chest. It barely moves him. “I can’t leave them.”
A clamor of bells goes off, able to be heard throughout the city and even here, far on the desert outskirts. The palace alarm.
“You can’t go back,” he says quietly.
I glance from Reven to the city and back, heart cracking with each peal of those wretched bells. He’s right. We can’t risk either of us falling into Eidolon’s hands now. I’m helpless all over again.
Powerless.
Goddess, I hate this feeling. One I’m all too familiar with—after all, my purpose in this life was written in stone before I was ever born—but that doesn’t mean I deal with it well.

Excerpts. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
 
 

Book Info:

My twin sister is the true queen of Aryd. She survives, hiding and clinging to life in the desert, while I reign as the false queen alongside the monstrous King Eidolon. There’s only one escape from this gilded prison: Reven. My Shadowraith. My heart. Only the shadows that he struggles to control are growing more sinister, more powerful.

It’s just a matter of time before they turn on him…and on me.

Even escape doesn’t mean true freedom, though, when we’re still on the run from Eidolon’s unstoppable armies. And when we discover there’s a traitor among us, I have no choice…I must become the queen I was never meant to be.

Because as one evil hunts me, the other loves me more than himself.

And my fate lies with both.
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Meet the Author:

Multi-award-winning author, Abigail Owen, writes adult paranormal romance & upper YA/new adult fantasy romance. She loves plots that move hot and fast, feisty heroines with sass, heroes with heart, a dash of snark, and oodles of HEAs! Other titles include wife, mother, Star Wars geek, ex-competitive skydiver, spreadsheet lover, eMBA, organizational guru, Texan, Aggie, and chocoholic.

Abigail attempted to find a practical career by earning a degree in English Rhetoric (Technical Writing) and an MBA. However, she swiftly discovered that writing without imagination is not nearly as fun as writing with it.

Abigail currently resides in Austin, Texas, with her own swoon-worthy hero, their angelic teenagers, and two adorable fur babies.
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