Can you believe this gorgeous cover? Please welcome my friend Daisy Banks! She’ll have you right in the palm of her hand.
Thank you so much, Flossie, for helping me celebrate the release of my latest book, Marked for Magic, published by Lyrical Press, a Kensington Imprint, on the 28th of April 2015.
I decided that as palmistry was the initial inspiration for this fantasy romance I’d offer you and the readers a little something on palmistry marks.
1: Life line – 2: Head line – 3: Heart line – 4: Girdle of Venus – 5: Sun line – 6: Mercury line – 7: Fate line
These main lines above and their meanings are fairly well known, but the lesser lines are not quite so well understood and it was these I was studying when I got the idea for Marked for Magic.
For this post I have chosen one of the signs of self-confidence in the hand. Open your palm and try to hold your thumb out at a right angle. The wider the angle you can make the more self confident you are. If you struggle to get much more than a 45 degree angle you are more likely to be introverted and a little shy.
Thanks so much for reading. I’d love to know if any of you discover self confidence in your hand. Let me know.
Blurb:
The witch mark on Nin’s hand is a curse. She has no magic powers, whatever the lore says. But the village believes. The old crone’s wisdom is to see her banished. Ragged and hungry, she must serve the Mage. Alone in his tower, she is his chattel. But Mage Thabit is not what Nin expected—the bright green eyes and supple form under his cloak are not the stuff of nightmares, and kindness hides in his brusque heart. Thabit senses that Nin is more than she seems, too. When true nightmares haunt the land, it is precisely her elusive powers that might deliver them…
Excerpt:
Nin laced her fingers together. She squeezed her palms tight until her knuckles went white. He had to be here, and he must let her stay. Any moment she anticipated the gleam of golden wolf eyes in the nearby bushes to announce her death.
A deep breath pushed away the panic. A fragment of courage held tight in her fist, she rapped at the door. The loud thumps echoed on the wood to send the birds squawking.
About to knock again, she raised her hand. The door shot forward. Stumbling back, she yelped at the blow to her fist and stuffed her hand into her armpit to soothe the throb.
“What do you want, wench?” The deep voice came from the shadows.
She whimpered, gritting her teeth, while she pressed her hand tight under her arm. “I’m from the village.” Her voice came out like the squeak of a mouse.
He remained in the gloom of the doorway.
She squinted to make out a brown boot beneath the hem of a green robe. Her stomach rolled. “They’ve sent me to you.”
“Oh, by all that’s blessed! I don’t want them sending me wenches. Go back to your home. Tell them I won’t want a woman until after Samhain. Tell them to send me bread instead.”
She had no hope to do as he ordered. Though she quailed at the risk of his anger, she glanced up when he stepped forward, his green hood absorbing the light. She could not see into its depths. “I can’t go back. I have the mark. They said I belong here.” Tremors shook her so she couldn’t control the babbling words. “They closed the gate behind me.”
He pushed his hood back to reveal more of his face as he bent his head toward her.
“If you won’t take me, I’ll be lost to the forest…” Her voice drained down to a whisper.
His eyes gleamed like January lake water. Green, with dark flecks, and much colder than the lake ever got. “Show me this witch’s mark. Utter superstitious nonsense, but show me.”
Sickened he should name the horror, she held out her cursed palm.
Buy Links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
itunes
Kobo
About the Author:
Daisy Banks writes sensual and spicy romance in the Historical, Paranormal and Fantasy genres. She is an obsessive writer and her focus is to offer the best tale she can to readers. Daisy is married with two grown up sons. She lives in a converted chapel in Shropshire, England. Antiques and collecting entertain Daisy when she isn’t writing and she occasionally makes a meal that doesn’t stick to the pan.
Daisy Banks Links:
Blog
Website
Twitter
Facebook
Pinterest
Amazon
Thanks so much for sharing your fabulous new book, Daisy! I enjoyed learning more about palmistry. Thank you for sharing the thumb test.
Cheers & Happy Reading! Flossie Benton Rogers, Conjuring the Magic with Paranormal Fantasy Romance
Lovely excerpt and awesome cover.
Best of luck with the book, Daisy!
Apart from that I am on the shy part as I can see.
Thanks for the tip!
Thank you so much for commenting, Carmen. I do appreciate it. I’m glad you are enjoying the palmistry.
That is a gorgeous cover. And now that I know my bifurcated life line means my hand acknowledges my new career as an author, I feel so much better. I thought I’d be dead in a week.
Thanks so much for commenting, Liza. I’m glad you’re reassured about your fate. 🙂
Well, apparently I am extremely self-confident. I’ve always thought of myself as an introvert, so maybe the thumb test relates more to my professional career than my personal side. As always, very interesting post, Daisy. I hope the tour is going well!
Thanks for commenting, Mae. I think you can be confident as an introvert. Its the kind of confidence in yourself that you know what you are doing. So yes, I think you are quite correct. Thanks for the kind thoughts and I’ve had a lot of fun with the tour so far.
Flossie, thank you so much for hosting me. As ever it is a delight to visit with you. I hope I’ll have the chance to do so again soon.
Daisy, it’s always a pleasure to have you visit. Thank you so much!