Misfit’s Rise
Alpha
Book 1
Alpha
Book 1
Sara E. Tall
Genre: YA Fantasy
Date of Publication: November 29, 2018
ISBN: 9780359258277
Number of pages: 268
Word Count: 82, 527
Cover Artist: Sara Eatough
Tagline: A Half-Fae misfit returns to the Magical Realm of her birth to discover it’s far from the fairy tale she imagined.
Book Description:
A century after the Mages of Earth found sanctuary in an underground Realm, those whose magic is sub-par or whose half-breed heritage leaves them powerless and forced into exile back on Earth. They can’t have them tainting the magic of the others, after all.
As a Fae/Human hybrid, Billie should fit right in. Except, she’s anything but powerless, making her a misfit among misfits. When her powers nearly destroy a human home, she's given a chance to return. Returning to the Realm has always been Billie’s dream, but the Realm is anything but a fairy tale.
Despite its claims of acceptance and equality, ancient rivalries between the Realm’s magical species are threatening to rip it apart. Billie somehow manages to land herself in the middle, a dangerous place for an outcast to be. What’s more, the powerful magic that brought her there suddenly vanishes, leaving her vulnerable to the attacks of those who think a misfit doesn’t belong in the Realm.
Staying in the Realm is her only chance to live life as a true Mage, but it could cost her life.
Excerpt:
“There’s the
little fire freak.” My eyes shot open. Standing before me was Tanya with her
usual wannabes. She was dressed in her predictable mixture of
bad-girl-meets-prep, wearing the pigtails only she could pull off as chic and
not goody two-shoes.
“What’s the
matter? Nothing to say to me?” She stepped forward. “Not even an apology for
blowing up my house?”
“Not really.”
People always said if you didn’t let bullies get to you, they’d get bored and
move on. It was time to put that to the test.
“When did you
become an arsonist, anyway?” she took another step. “Was it to deal with your
dad leaving you in that ghetto with all the other freaks?”
“My father
didn’t leave,” I snapped before I could stop myself. “He’s dead.”
“Oh, I’m sure
that’s what your mom told you.” She was right in front of my face now. “But we
all know if your daddy was dead, you would have gotten a nice life insurance
check and you wouldn’t be so dirt poor.”
At different
time I might have laughed at that. I guess it didn’t occur to Tanya not
everyone could afford a life insurance policy.
“You don’t know
what you’re talking about,” I said as I leapt off the bench and shoved my way
past her.
“I’m trying to
help you, Billie,” she said from behind me. “You and your friends. I know it
can be hard coming from nothing.”
Even though I
knew I should just keep walking, I whirled around. “You don’t know a thing
about us.”
“You know what
the number one profession is for girls from low-income neighborhoods?”
The people
around us gasped, though the ones trying to look cool laughed. I was almost
impressed with Tanya for being that subtle.
I glanced at her
Prada bag, my hand twitching. It would be so easy to just rip that thing open.
And it would be a lot better than she deserved. But the Officials had told me
not to use magic, and I had a feeling my ability to follow their order would
affect whether they sent me to the Academy, or to a containment facility.
Slowly, I turned
around again. “I’m not listening to you.”
“You and
tall-chick might be able to make it, but the chubby one? What guy would pay for
a night with that?”
There was more
laughter, but I barely heard it as I whirled around and screamed, “Shut up!”
Everything
happened too fast. All I knew was that one moment I was glaring at Tanya,
breathing hard while she folded her arms and smirked; and the next second the
tall, marble centerpiece from the fountain was hurtling toward Tanya’s head.
She screamed and
ducked, and the marble spiral crashed down just behind her shoulder. Even
though it missed her, it still drenched her and her bag with a splash of murky,
icy water.
For a second
nobody moved, as everyone’s eyes moved from Tanya, to the wrecked fountain, to
me.
About the Author:
Sara's enjoyed creating fantastic stories since she was old enough to hold a play sword, around the time she learned how to walk. Gradually she learned to direct her creative energy into writing, and it’s been a downward spiral ever since then. When she's not writing she’s probably either dancing or reading random wikipedia pages. She also enjoys spending time in her part-time home away from home, Yellowstone National Park, which is the most fantastical land she's ever been too.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SaraETall/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SaraEatough
Thank you so much for hosting me!
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