The Witchling Grows Up by Mary Moriarty Series: Family Pendragon #1
Published by Self-Published on 31st July 2014
Genres: Love & Romance, Paranormal
Pages: 91
Format: eBook
Source: for a Blog Tour
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Amazon Kindle, Audible
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.
Thank you to Lisa for letting me take part in this blog tour.
This is the first book I have read by this author and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be reading some of her other books.
There is a whole host of supernatural characters in this book. From a vampire to a dragon. Witches to a hell hound. I loved the dynamics of Justin and Tân’s relationship. It was very entertaining to hear them constantly bickering. Mary’s writing is excellent and she does a very good job of describing all the characters both how they appear to the witches and to humans.
The story gives you a complete history of the Pendragon family going all the way back to Dylan’s great-grandmother. They are a very powerful family of witches who have been through a lot and Dylan is set to be even more powerful than the rest of her family.
This is a quick read which sets you up for the rest of the series perfectly. It has left me wanting more and I cannot wait for the rest of the series.
Excerpt
Prologue
He came from a large, powerful family of witches. To him they were no different though, than any other family. His father was a demi-god. His mother, a witch of marvelous and great powers. Their match had been one of convenience but had turned into a marriage of love. With that marriage came years of happiness. Then came their little boy who looked the spitting image of his father. He would follow his father around, when he was home from a campaign. As the years wore on, the wars also became many and his father was away more times than not. So the boy would sit at his mother’s feet and listen to wonderful stories of days gone by and the magic his mother made and the love that was between her and his father.
When his father returned, and he always did. He brought gifts from faraway lands. The boy would go out to play while his parents would spend time together.
Then in the boys twelfth summer a baby girl was born. She was as beautiful as his mother. Fair of skin and beautiful golden hair. As she grew it was evident she would be a special child. She had the gifts of not only her mother but the gods also.
The boy knew he had the ability to work magic. He would practice by himself. He would see his mother watching him for signs. He was more interested in being a soldier like his father though. So in his fourteenth summer, his father started to train him. It became evident along with his size that he was a warrior.
The years turned into centuries and the family moved to Albion, old England. They settled on the wild,west coast. With them came his mother’s sister and her girls.
So they settled and became part of their new home. The mother and her sister healed the folks of the area. The girls broke hearts but never married.
Finally the time of the Civil War in England came. People turning their own family members in for a favor. It was then that his sister found love. Or so she thought. She was hundreds of years old but she looked like a mere girl of sixteen. The fresh blush of love on her cheeks as she ran into her home. Her brother and father were home after a long absence.
She caught herself. She wouldn’t say anything until her mother was alone. Her mother glanced up from the fire, as she stirred a soup. She sensed her mother knew without her words being spoken.
Later after her husband and son were asleep she sat sewing by the fire. She waited for her daughter to come to her.
Rose picked her way down the stairs of their home. Dogs the size of colts and cats lay on the stairs. Some were curled up at the fire. She tiptoed to her mother.
“There be no need to walk like my cat… I knew ye would come down stairs.” She waited till her beautiful daughter was seated. “Now tell me why? You know your father and brother will go to him, and he being a titled landowner. You know he is engaged to be married.”
Rose looked up at her mother. “Why can’t you put a spell on him? He loves me not her. I carry his child not her.”
Her mother’s heart pained for her child. Even if she was centuries old, she looked to be but only sixteen. She was her child nonetheless and always would be.
“I can not… not even for you, darling daughter of mine. For you are not meant for the likes of him. He will only bring hurt. He is a Talbot and her family who he is betrothed to, is even wealthier. His family needs the money to save their estate.”
Rose was crying, she didn’t care. “But what of me? Your own daughter. Blood of your blood, bone from your bone. Can’t you stop that?”
Her mother looked down at her sewing, and saw she had pricked her finger and a drop of blood spilled onto the dress she made. “No, because I made the spell to bring the marriage to come to pass. The girls mother asked me to. You see the girl is also with child.”
Rose jumped up and cried out. “No, she can’t be. He loves me, and loves my child, our child. He said so today, said he would find a way.”
Her mother shook her head. My powers are too strong, there will be no finding a way. We will move. You will have the child and our family will raise the babe.
“No!” cried Rose.
They didn’t see or hear the father and brother come down the stairs. “What is all this noise?” The father asked. His voice the sound of thunder.
Rose dried her eyes. She wouldn’t tell the men of the family. “Nothing Papa… She ran past him, but she bumped into her brother. Glancing up and with the help of the firelight, she saw his black eyes light up with knowing. She ran up the stairs.
She thought her bedroom door was latched but it flew open. In strode her brother, his presence filling the room. “He must be made to make things right.”
Rose grabbed her brother’s nightshirt. “Hush you fool, you will bring father up here. She then latched the door and then turning, went to add more wood to the fire in her fireplace. “Father need not know. He will soon leave for another campaign and I will carry the baby. Mother can’t undo her own spell and I am not strong enough to cast another against hers.”
Her brother glanced up. “I am.”
Rose stared at her brother like he was another creature. “You? How? You don’t practice.”
“I do and can put a spell on that simpering witch of his betrothed.”
Rose looked up into her dark brother’s beautiful face. “You are sure? I can not even work magic if it’s against mother’s spells.”
Her brother pulled his sister close. “Anything for you.”
Giveaway
About Mary Moriarty
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.
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