♥Donnie Darko Girl♥: The Beast of Callaire by Saruuh Kelsey ~ Blog Tour: 10 Random Things About the Book & Excerpt

Welcome to my stop on The Beast of Callaire Blog Tour hosted by Diverse Book Tours! Click here to follow along with the full tour schedule!

Title - The Beast of Callaire
Series - The Legend Mirror #1
Author - Saruuh Kelsey
Publisher - Smashwords
Pages - 190
Genre - Fantasy, Adventure, YA, LGBTQIA, Myth
ISBN - 978-1291790603/1291790608

Purchase - Amazon | B&N | Book Depository

Synopsis

Yasmin is a descendant of the Manticore. A creature of Persian mythology.

A Legendary.

But she doesn't want to be. Unlike the Legendaries in The Red, Yasmin wants nothing more than an ordinary life. She tries to fool herself into believing that she doesn't change into a beast every full moon and savagely kill innocent people.

But when Yasmin starts hearing a voice in her head and is drawn into dreams that aren't her own, she is led to Fray - a girl who once saved Yasmin from hunters, who has shadowy memories that hint at her having Legendary magic - and Yasmin is catapulted into a life of Majick and malevolence.

Despite the danger around her and Fray, Yasmin might finally have a chance at being a normal girl with a normal girlfriend. But with Legendaries being killed, a war between the Gods brewing, and the beast inside Yasmin becoming stronger each moon, her mundane life is little more than a dream.

Guest Post by Author Saruuh Kelsey

10 Random Things About The Beast of Callaire

The group of Legendaries in The Beast of Callaire are called The Red. Their leader named the group for his ancestor, Mars.
The first draft of The Beast of Callaire began with the tiny sentence, "Seven hours." It was a terrible way to start and I'm glad it changed.
The characters who are descended from Gods have different kinds of Majick. The main character Yasmin has Earth Majick and Psychic Majick, through which she can communicate telepathically.
Vic, one of Yasmin's friends, is transgender and has a blind girlfriend named Alice. Alice saves the day with common sense more than once throughout the series.
The Beast of Callaire will have five sequels.
Two of those sequels will be published this year!
The Goddess Juno visits Yasmin in a dream and brings an unhelpful and daunting warning.
One of Yasmin's friends has betrayed the Red.
The first draft of The Beast of Callaire began with the Thomas Hardy quote, "Though a good deal is too strange to be believed, nothing is too strange to have happened." At some point between the first draft and the finished book, I decided it was much too pretentious. Good call, past me.
The Beast of Callaire ends on a cliff-hanger.

Excerpt

Symbols have been smeared in red on the wall over my bed - the same language as the words I saw lit up on the building across the alley. the words the original Phoenix confirmed to be the language of Gods.

Without really thinking about it, I start running through my apartment looking for anything else out of place, avoiding what's in front of me. I feel my breathing quicken and I know I need to calm down but right now calm is elusive.

"It's a warning," Guy says, his voice edged in ice.

"How do you know?" I plead with my legs to hold me up as I dizzily return to my room. The liquid used to write the symbols is definitely blood - my Crea nose can smell the tang from here. Thankfully, it's not human.

"Mavers has been teaching me to read Numina," Guy tells me. "Do you want to know what it says?"

"No."

"It says to stay away from the Halfling or more Legendaries will die."

Air rushes from my lungs all at once. "Fray."

I disobey the warning without a second thought, rushing outside and tearing across the road, uncaring of traffic. When I reach the wood's edge, I rip off my talisman and reach out for Fray. Guy catches up just as I'm screaming for her.

The muscles in my thighs strain with how hard I'm pushing myself. I don't want to admit the truth to myself - that something is irreversibly wrong. I hear no static from Fray's mind and there isn't a single scared thought from her.

I unleash the monster I fight so hard to repress and scream a hostile growl into the woods. Guy flinches beside me.

Talons unfurl from my fingers. My vision sharpens all at once and I know I look beastly, that my eyes are the most golden they've ever been.

None of that matters.

My link to Fray is gone.

About the Author

Saruuh Kelsey is the author of several novels for young adults, including the free Lux Guardians series and The Legend Mirror series. Her latest releases include THE BEAST OF CALLAIRE, the first novel of a new YA fantasy series, and a collection of diverse fairy tales in LOVE IN THE GILDED AGE. Find her online at saruuhkelsey.co.uk.