Cover Reveal: Reborn by Cherie Reich

To save a kingdom, a prophetess must challenge Fate.

 

On the day of Yssa’s death and rebirth, the god Apenth chose her as the Phoenix Prophetess.

Sea serpents and gods endanger the young prophetess’s journey and sour the omens. Yssa is cursed instead of blessed, and her duties at the Temple of Apenth prove it. She spends her days reading dusty scrolls, which does nothing to help her forget Tym, the boy back home. But the annoying yet gorgeous ferryman’s son Liam proves to be a distraction she can’t predict, even though he rarely leaves her alone for two sand grains.

Her boring temple life screeches to a halt when visions of her parents’ murders consume her. Yssa races across an ocean to stop the future. If she can’t change Fate, she’ll refuse to be the Phoenix Prophetess any longer. Fate, however, has other plans for her and the kingdom.

Yssa must either accept her destiny or fight to change Fate. 

Reborn, book one of The Fate Challenges, by Cherie Reich will be released on May 23, 2014. For more information about Cherie Reich and her work, please visit her website or blog. The cover art is created by Laura Sava. To add on Goodreads, click here. If you’d like to be notified when Reborn releases, please sign up for her newsletter here.

Here’s an excerpt from the prologue of Reborn:

He couldn’t forget the council’s words or how they’d cursed his fifth Phoenix Prophetess. But visions of the Kingdom of Amora in flames flashed through his mind. He could taste the ashes, like burnt charcoal, and hear her people’s screams. The prophecy of the kingdom’s destruction leaked sour bile into his mouth. The other gods, including Kisa, the Queen of the Gods, might be willing to turn their backs on their loyal people for Fate, but he wasn’t.

There was also this infant in front of him. She reminded him of his daughter. His mortal family resided in the Underworld, but he couldn’t let this child.

“I have to save her.”

“Think of the consequences, my son.”

He had. They both knew the gods would find a way to curse him and this innocent child, but the price was worth saving the kingdom.

Ignoring his mother’s shrieks, Apenth leaned over the lifeless baby again. His lips pressed against her ashen forehead, so cold to the touch. Postera clawed at his arms, but he shoved away her hands. Nothing would stop him from completing Amora’s prophecy, protecting the city named after his love.

“You are mine, little one.” His hand pressed over her heart. Electric heat flowed from his glowing fingertips. They tingled, nearly burning his flesh, but his hand remained steady. Luminosity brightened around the child and him, further blocking out Postera’s pleas. The room filled with the blinding white light.

“Live.” He commanded, pleaded.

“No!” Postera screamed as the child’s life-thread ripped from his mother’s hand and joined the pulsing jewel on her belt. The piece sizzled, reattaching to the gemstone, and transformed to blood red.

The light imploded into the child. Her flesh glowed for a moment before the room’s shadows returned. A tiny strawberry-colored birthmark in the shape of a phoenix blossomed upon the flesh over her heart. The baby’s lungs filled with air, and a cry broke from her lips.

The Phoenix Prophetess was reborn.

Insecure Writers' Support Group #10

Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a really awesome meme that you should be doing along with the rest of us writers. Unless you truly are happy with your writing and don't feel the need to vent about your insecurities because they don't exist for you. But, really.... Don't they?  
IWSG is hosted by Captain Ninja Alex at his blog, Alex J. Cavanaugh.

 

 

This month, I don't have insecurities to discuss, but rather triumphs in my writing, as of late! Well, I consider these obstacles I've overcome to be triumphs, anyway.

 

I've been so much better about writing without all the critical chatter in my head. I know I will write really terribly, at least during the drafting stages, and it seems to help. I also try to get into a very altered state of consciousness while I write, or it's just something I can do easier now, and that really helps. It's like getting the left side of the brain to turn off for a while so I can create.

 

The other thing that's been helping this issue is to say to my left brain, "Listen, I need your help, but not right now. I'm in the middle of trying to create this story and you're just getting in the way. When I'm finished with getting it all out, I'll contact you so you can help me clean up this mess. Creating is supposed to be messy! For now, please wait until I call on you. It's just too early for you to do any good."

 

That's a long talk to the brain! But, this attitude really seems to help ease that inner critical worrier perfectionist into feeling like it will get to do some work, but the part I need it for comes when I'm ready for editing and revising my manuscript. That part of the brain, that analyzing part, just doesn't know how to create. It's not what it's naturally good at, so using it only for what it is good at, editing/revising, when the time is right helps to quiet it down.

 

These days I'm feeling a lot better about my writing and it has been flowing better than it has in a long time. Soon, I'm going to clear out my schedule so I can just write all night and have no other distractions until I get this first draft finished. Instead of dreading that, I'm actually looking forward to it. I know, if I were the me of one year ago, I wouldn't even consider doing so much writing in any given day for fear of all the chatter in my head.

 

Are there tricks you've discovered that help you quiet down the perfectionist/worry wart/analyzer in your head when you write?