Hi everyone! I have a stop on The Witchling Grows Up blog tour today. There is a review of the book, an excerpt and a giveaway for you all.
The Witchling Grows Up
Family Pendragon # 1
By: Mary Moriarty
Blurb
Dylan Pendragon is not what she appears to be. She appears to be a twenty something, hippy, new-age follower… When in fact she is a ninety-year-old, witchling from one of the oldest families connected with witchcraft.
She has yet to get any powers so to speak. But she is destined to be the most powerful witch of them all…
And she is a virgin.
Justice is a seven thousand years old Vampire. He is the oldest friend to his former king of their kind, Cormac O’ Heachthanna. There are three things that vampires love. Blood, fighting and sex and not necessarily in that order. Justice lost his wife about six thousand years ago, so he has devoted his life to keeping mankind safe… and he has had no sex in that many years.
The Dark One has one thing on his mind. Capture Dylan Pendragon and take what he thinks is his… her virginity and her power which will blossom like a rose once she is taken. He will do anything to get her and that power or die trying.
In the course of one night under a full moon two become connected and set into motion events that can’t be stopped that will ultimately bring victory for some or one and the rest will be cast into the underworld for eternity and beyond.
Can Justice show Dylan he wants to protect her without touching her? Will he listen to his heart where love that has been dormant for so long, and is waiting to be released?
Will Dylan allow Justice to protect her so she can figure out how to get her powers and be strong enough to fight the Dark One? Or will she fall and be the sacrifice that the Dark One intends her to be.
My Review
Dylan may look young but she is actually a ninety year old virgin witch. Everyone says she will be the most powerful witch every but she still hasn't come into her powers. She has a happy life except now the Dark One wants her for his own. He knows once she is no longer a virgin her power will rise and he can take it. One man stands in his way. Justice is a very old vampire and after having lost his wife thousands of years ago he has had no woman since then. Dylan makes him want something more. He wants her and not just for a while he wants forever with her. He just has to earn her trust and get her to want him back. He will do anything to protect her.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Dylan is a delight to read about and I love how young she appears even if she is older than that. Her dragon was a nice edition to the story and I liked seeing him. Justice seems lonely and in many ways he is. He has his fellow vampires but no one really for him. He is super great about not pushing Dylan for more than what he thinks she can handle. He is in love with her but never pushes and allows tries to protect her. The Dark One is a good name for the villain in this story. He is indeed that.
I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Dylan is a delight to read about and I love how young she appears even if she is older than that. Her dragon was a nice edition to the story and I liked seeing him. Justice seems lonely and in many ways he is. He has his fellow vampires but no one really for him. He is super great about not pushing Dylan for more than what he thinks she can handle. He is in love with her but never pushes and allows tries to protect her. The Dark One is a good name for the villain in this story. He is indeed that.
his was a great story as you got to see where Dylan came from. You get not just her story but her mom's and grandmother's. I liked that back part of the story. They are all witches and along with them you also get the addition of Vampires when Justice arrives. I liked the combo of them. They are usually enemies but they try to work together to help Dylan. Justice has his hands full not just with The Dark One but a dragon and others as well. I loved seeing them come after him because some are so tiny they really shouldn't. There is danger as Dylan is being hunted but there is also the beginning of love. I couldn't believe how it ended and can't wait to read the next one. This was an amazing start to a series.
4 out of 5 Stars
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22854175-the-witchling-grows-up?from_search=true
Excerpt
Early 1920s, London, Belgrave SquareRose looked up into her Uncle’s face. She sat in bed, all ruffles and lace. A maid had just left to get her a pot of tea. Her Aunts and cousins all had left the room when William Pendragon had arrived from the continent.
“So Uncle Will what do you think of her? Isn’t she beautiful?”
Will looked down at the wee baby at his niece’s breast. It was funny, she was hundreds of years old but didn’t look a day over twenty. Now finally she had had a baby, but out of wedlock. Was that to be the way the women of his family conducted themselves?
He reached down and touched the sleeping baby’s face. “She is truly beautiful. She has that little mark, just like my beloved sister, on her chin. It looks like a flame… but no one would ever know… it would look more like a strangely shaped strawberry to mortals.”
Rose smiled. Did grandmother ever know from that mark, that would be the way she went out of this world, by fire?”
Will shook her head. “She was powerful but didn’t have the gift of second sight” He sat down on his niece’s bed, his ward of all these years. They had settled in London, had blended with all the other aristocrats. Will had made sure of that. They had rode out all the turbulence of the years unscathed. His fortunes rose and with that property being bought. He bought the two homes side by side on Belgrave Square soon after it was built. One was for him and Rose, the other for the women of his family. He had bought up a great deal of land in Cornwall and Glastonbury. Now with the new babe, he would be giving that baby a gift.
“What of the father, Rose?”
Rose kissed the baby’s forehead and smiled. “What of the baby’s father? I don’t give a fig about convention and you never have either.
“What name will you give her? Her father’s?”
Rose shook her head. “No, she will be Dylan Pendragon. She should carry on the family’s ancient name.”
William sat down. He felt old all of a sudden. He let his finger touch the babe’s silky hair.Why had he never settled? He knew because he had spent his life on revenge all these years… the sun went behind a cloud and cast a shadow over the baby. He heard Rose start to chant. Looking up he saw her eyes closed as she recited an ancient protection spell. Listening to the words he knew he would never settle. His job would be protecting the women of his family… forever.
Reaching for the babe after Rose was done. He took the baby up in his arms. Like all the females of his family she already had those bewitching eyes. Holding her up, he said his own blessing. He spoke in the Gaelic more times than not and this would be her mother tongue. “efallai y byddwch yn yr un foretold i ddod รข'r holl greaduriaid at ei gilydd.”
Rose watched her uncle bless her baby. She watched as stardust fell from the ceiling and then a whirlwind came and in it a dragon.
It circled and flapped it wings, blew out fire and smoke then landed on the chair next to Rose and the baby.
William and Rose watched the beast. Though no larger than a small lap dog or crow it sounded like a lion with it purr.
Lord, why did you call me out of my sleep?
William smiled. “Because you have a job to do, one that will last for a millennium or more.”
The dragon nodded its head. I have been waiting, where is my charge?
William put the baby closer to the dragon.
The dragon looked down on the baby from his perch. Ah, the newest Pendragon. I have waited for such a time as this. She will be mine until such time her protector comes…
William shook his head. “Even then you will never leave her. Only with you will she have the power she needs. We still must watch for the darkness and never allow it to overtake.”
The dragon nodded his head. He sat looking at the babe. Then with quick movement flew to William’s arm. Getting a closer look he let his wing touch the babe. The baby sighed in her sleep and it looked like she was smiling.
The dragon looked up to William and then at Rose. It is good you called me… she is mine and I am hers, she is the one foretold who will bring all creatures together.
Buy Links
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/447931
Author Info
I grew up in New England surrounded by a lot of history and storytelling by my father who was from the Mid-Coast of Maine. What I remember of my mother was her love of fairy tales, the wee people and poetry. So it’s no wonder I would one day write.
When I am not writing, I read. Of course I love Romance but can’t read the same genre that I write so I read mysteries, memoirs and history… I love history, especially Medieval and WWII.
I don’t generally watch TV but I love Downton Abbey.
My favorite authors… Mmmm, well let me see. Jane Austen, the late Elizabeth Peters, LM Montgomery, Loretta Chase, J.R.Ward , Sharon Kay Penman and Pamela Kaufman to name a few that come to mind.
What do I do when I am not writing? I am a mother of seven, four still at home. I have a home filled with pets, four dogs and six cats. I write seven days a week.
Author Links
Website: http://marymoriarty.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaryMoriarty1
Giveaway
Be sure to check out the rest of the tour.
Thank you for hosting today!!!
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