Book Feature: FORSAKEN NORSE WIND by Ciara Lake

About the Book:

A troll, a mortal, and a love hot enough to melt ice.
Trapped in a vicious life, Breanna Devion survives only by the strength of her heart. Determined to have more than what her abusive stepfather has planned for her, she's willing to risk everything to be free.
Axel Venrick is a troll who has spent centuries alone, isolated in his castle in Iceland. At the insistence of others, Axel crafts the ultimate tool to find his soul mate. He creates a beautiful ring which is bespelled, blessed by a god, and sent forth to locate Axel's other half.
The ring finds Breanna just in time to prevent her stepfather's disastrous plan from taking place. But angry gods, vengeful parents, and an evil lurking in the immortal world all conspire to destroy the love of the jaded troll and his innocent mortal. Can their love free them or will the evil spreading from the bowels of the earth destroy them first?

Book Links:

Goodreads * Amazon

Read an Excerpt:

“It’s going to be ugly if they get here. I may have to kill some of them. I’d prefer not to, at least this day. But they may leave me no choice.” He shrugged. “So, let’s go to avoid this problem. I didn’t come here to make war on these humans. I came to fetch my mate.” He stepped closer to the porch. “Trust me, Breanna. Let your heart guide you. If you listen to it, you will know what to do.”

“My mother’s in her room sleeping. I need help with her. She’s ill, and she can be difficult.”

“Let me inside, I’ll talk to her.”

“Okay.” She stood aside. “I’m your mate?”

“Yes, you’re my mate.” In a few quick steps, he stood inside the house. He had to duck as he entered, and once inside he hunched not to hit the ceiling. “Gather what you would like to take with us. Get the coat I gave you.”

Breanna picked up the coat to put it on. She took him to her mother.

“Mother, this is Axel. We need to leave with him. Hugh’s upset with us. He’s coming back to… hurt us. We have to go.” Breanna tapped her mother’s arm. “Mother, please wake up.”

Fiona rolled over to look at Breanna. Her eyes were crazed. “What is it, child?” Her voice sounded weak. “I was dreaming of Hema taking me to his realm.”

“We need to leave. This is Axel.” Breanna pointed at him. “Umm, he’s a friend of mine. We need to go with him, now.”

“No.” Her mother sat up in the bed, shaking her head. Her hair looked wild all over her head. “I must wait for Hema to return. If I’m gone he may not find me.”

“Mother, we have to go. Hugh’s not happy, and he’s bringing others to start trouble.” 

“You leave, I’m staying here. I’m not worried about Hugh.” She lay back down, rolling to the other side. “I cannot leave. Hema may come to get me.”

Axel patted Breanna on her shoulder. “They’re almost here. Stand back with me. Lay the coat down then give me your hand. We’ll watch to make sure your mother’s safe.”

He reached for her hand, and Breanna allowed him to hold it.

“No one can see us now. It takes less power if you hold my hand to make you invisible with me. We’ll wait and watch. They cannot hear us either.”

Breanna followed Axel out into the front room of the house. They stood to the right of the fireplace out of the way. The front door burst open, and Breanna jumped.

“It’s okay. They don’t see or hear us. You’ll be safe.” He gently squeezed her hand. “Relax.”

Hugh, along with two other men, entered the house. The door banged against the wall, and they pushed the chairs to the floor as they stomped inside. Others were outside the house calling loudly for her.

“Where’s the bastard? The damn girl’s in league with him."

About the Author:

Welcome to Ciara Lake's World. Meet Gorgeous Werewolves, Vampires, Dragons, Mermaids, Wizards, Witches, Mythological Gods and Goddesses, Mere Mortals And More! Fiction has always been a passion of mine. Creating worlds and developing characters is a great way for me to relieve the stress and strain of my everyday world. In fantasy (paranormal) and sci-fi stories, the author has the unique ability to invent wonderfully exotic places and people. I do that in my books. These fantastic genres provide a limitless ability to be creative and inventive. My stories provide an escape into a special world filled with unique and otherworldly things. And there is always a happy ending.

Contact the Author:

Website * Twitter * Goodreads

Follow Me: Mar sin leat na h-Alba (Goodbye Scotland)...we will miss you!

Friday, 13 April 😀

Johannesburg here we go! There is nothing like the sounds, smells, and sights of home, but we will always remember Scotland with fondness.

Fare thee well!

Find the two of us for a wave goodbye @ Instagram

There will be one last post with a selection of our photographs from our whole trip. Look out for that coming soon!

Until our next venture across the borders of South Africa (in whichever direction that may be), thank you for traveling with us!

PS: Remember to subscribe, the competition is only open to my mailing list!

💜 Linzé

Follow Me: Scotland - Balloch (2)

Thursday, 12 April, 21h43, UK time

Today has been another day with loads of stories happening. And as is the case with life, you cannot plan these things to happen, but you have to be open to spotting them and make the most of the experience. Well, tonight's post is about a dog, a tree, a coffee shop, and a camera.
Our first stop this morning was the Balloch castle with its beautiful woodland gardens. We didn't expect the woodlands and had a lovely walk through all those trees. After the requisite pictures of the castle, we set off on the walkways picking a tree here and a lake view there to capture with our respective cameras.
At one point Francois meandered closer to the water while I remained walking on the path, just enjoying the peaceful albeit cool morning. There were many dogs about, taking their owners for a stroll and a few ball games to exercise their legs.
One dog however, make me laugh. His owner, a lady, would throw his ball down the path and he would set off after it. Unlike other dogs who returned the ball to be thrown again, this black labrador ran after the ball, collected it, and then promptly put it down on the path. The woman would then walk to the ball, it was exactly on her way, collect it and throw it again, while the dog patiently waited for his human companion to catch up. Not your normal way of doing things, but it clearly works for them.
When Francois and I caught up again, we were both at the kiosk where a jetty is also constructed to launch a boat from. Two swans swan up to him, an adult, and a younger bird. The adult had no hesitation to come out of the water prancing around to show off his gorgeous wings. Had to be a male bird, if you ask me. When he returned to the water, he kept his wings posed high. I am no swan expert, but I looked at Francois with an arched eyebrow: "with a come-on like that, you would expect at least a dinner and a movie." He just shook his head at me.
After a visit to Dumbarton castle, we went shopping for glue tape. Weird, but I use them with my journal and travel journal, and yesterday the one I brought from home ran out. We found a craft store that stocked them, to my greatest delight since these things are scarce and expensive at home. I bought one, and two refills. Despite the exchange rate, it was well worth the expense.
After a light lunch at a nursery coffee shop (we sniff them out) we made a quick stop back at the Inn to try and figure out where the tree is everyone was egging us on to find. I mean, a tree? Seriously? We're in Scotland for crying out loud, there is hardly a mile where you don't fall over a whole forrest. But we found the tree, and got into the car.
And half an hour later, we found the culprit on the shore of Loch Lomond. And not in the water as people said it would be. Well, the lake was clearly not as full as the last time someone else took that 'tree' picture.
I cannot tell you which kind of tree it is, but I can tell you it was well and seemingly healthy. Judguing by the buds on the branches, it is preparing for spring that's for sure.
While Francois set up and took his next award winning photographs, I walked around trying to look useful. I found a pinhole camera stuck in another tree looking directly at 'the tree'. The question I asked myself is why would someone be recording the goings on of a tree, or are they rather observing the things that people do with and around 'the tree'. There was a note attached to the camera with an email address to get hold of the owner, if required for some reason. My first thought when I saw that: well, I hope you don't have to fly halfway around the world to fix the camera, because it will be a long trip. Here is to you, Simon Robertson, your camera recorded me taking a picture of it, and here I am putting your story on my blog. High five!

My story of my tour of Scotland is about to end, so if you haven't subscribed to my newsletter yet, you should hurry. The competition will run next week, and you are only eligible if you are a subscriber.

Find more pictures of our story @ Instagram

💜 Linzé 

Follow Me: Scotland - Balloch (1)

11 April 2018, 16h58 (UK time)

My post today is early, since the WiFi connection seemed to be constrained to certain websites, like Facebook. I am writing this in the hope that I will be able to post, otherwise our last three days will have to wait until we get home, or until we get back to Heathrow airport. I will however, try from the pub connected to this Inn. Maybe the connection there will be more forgiving.
We are in Loch Lomond - if you look at a map, Balloch is right at the southern tip of the famous Scottish lake.
After a few more pictures in Ballachulish, we made our way here past some incredible (although freezing) sceneries. At one point we shared the lookout point with three bikers and a couple (and their dog) traveling with a motorhome. The bikers were trying to make a selfie that included their bikes, so they put one phone a distance away, and activated the timer on the camera. Unfortunately, the phone kept being pushed over by the cold wind. It was quite funny. In the end the man (and his dog) popped over to take their picture for them. So they got their picture and we all shared a laugh, despite the nasty weather.
After a stop for coffee, and some shopping, we decided to skip booking-in and shot straight through to Glasgow. It wasn't a willy nilly visit, since I had a destination in mind: the Hard Rock cafe. The usual t-shirts and teddybear acquired, we stopped for a few pictures (and selfies) at this very atmospheric place. The rock music that characterises this establishment playing over the speakers, made us both smile and tap along for a moment or two. Something we didn't experience in Edinburgh. Francois was the first to mention this, and I had to agree with him that the Glasgow Hard Rock was more of what we expected at a Hard Rock.
Glasgow itself reminded us of Johannesburg - it has an industrial feel to it, although there are some really beautiful buildings. Of course, we saw but a small part of this big city, so please forgive us if we got it wrong.

We will be spending tomorrow doing things in Balloch and surrounds, so there is more to come then.

Find the two of us @ Instagram

💜 Linzé 

Follow Me: Scotland - Ballachulish

10 April 2018 @ 21h11 (UK time)

A quiet day since we spent most of it traveling back to the mainland. Since we wanted to avoid using a ferry across the sea, we retraced our steps via the town of Kyle of Lochash.
We went back to Eilean Donan castle too (it was on our way) to see if we could get a few more shots with better light this morning. But good light or not, good shots were not on, thanks to a guy named Jack. We don't know who Jack is, but one of his vans was parked right next to the castle, ruining any photographs from almost any angle. Thanks for nothing, Jack!
We did have a very nice lunch at an honest to goodness tearoom in Onich, just a mile or so away from the hotel Ballachulish, our home tonight. Our dinner at the bistro in the hotel was very good too. I had a Scottish pheasant with the nicest dessert ever. The lemon meringue was presented in a glass (like fancy chefs like to do these days) but it was the blackberry sorbet that made me want to lick the plate afterwards. Yum! Times 2!
I mentioned that I took over a 1000 photographs so far. I asked Francois and he had clocked over 2000 already. Of course, his photograph count excludes the odd selfie he does of me. Okay, technically not a selfie, but you get the idea.

Have you signed up for my newsletter yet? I don't spam people, but if you don't subscribe you cannot win in the competition coming about my Scotland trip.

Tomorrow we will make our way to Balloch.

Find the two of us @ Instagram

Always 💜 Linzé 

Follow Me: Scotland - Portree (2)

Portree - Day 2 (21h30 local time)

Monday. As far as Mondays go, it was probably not a bad way to spend it. After a breakfast of salmon with scrambled eggs and blueberries (we thought it odd too, although the blueberries were a nice 'dessert') we set off north on the east coast of Skye. At a lookout point we had incredible views of the Sound (sea) of Raasay. We spent a long time taking photographs and just gaping at the beauty of nature. Of course, the grazing sheep thought we were nuts, but at least we didn't eat their food!
Our next stop north was the Kilt Rock where the rock formations look like the folds of a kilt (duh!). But the views were just as beautiful. We again spent some time there, doing the picture taking thing like idiots (okay, that would just be me).
After a quick visit back to the guesthouse, we went the castle of Dunvegan, the longest inhabited castle in the British Isles. It has been inhabited by the McLeod family for more than 800 years. Make that 30 generations. No, I didn't count, they have the family tree of the direct descendants in one of the public rooms of the castle. It is still their home, so all tourists were watched with eagle eyes so we didn't take off with one of those life sized paintings.
It is truly an impressive home, I have to say, but grateful that it isn't my responsibility to look after.
We also spent a lot of time in the gardens of the castle, and they alone are worth the money and effort. Although structured and walled, and planted within an inch of every foot, there are wild areas too. Everywhere something to appreciate and photograph, of course.
I spent the afternoon sorting all the info I collected for my travel journal. Cutting up pamphlets and brochures, discarding what I don't want, and sorting everything in the timeline of our visit. It is already becoming a bit of a blur, and I had to use the pictures on my phone to keep everything straight in my mind. Note to self: once back home, get the journal sorted as a first priority (after the laundry) before the memories fade.
Tonight we went to the same place for dinner, that we did last night- The Lower Deck. We gorged ourselves on simple, but excellent seafood, and struggled the uphill back to the guesthouse. Uphill walking after a good dinner doesn't seem like such a good idea, even the second time around.

Tomorrow we will make our way to Ballachulish.

Find the two of us and lot of the beautiful views @ Instagram

As always 💜 Linzé 
PS: Remember to subscribe, the competition is coming closer!

Follow Me: Scotland - Portree (1)

8 April 2018 @ 22h16 (UK time)

Today was a day of stories. Not the kind of story perpetuated by the history books of centuries, but by the happenings of our modern world. I didn't plan these stories, nor are they ones I sought out. They happened on our journey today, and while what I saw where purely the observations of evidence that crossed my path today.
While we stopped on the side of the road to take photographs of a waterfall (and the surrounding landscape), I noticed a lock (a padlock) hanging from the side of the metal barrier at the edge of the road. The barrier had holes in its structure (not unusual) in some places for positioning or mounting, and the lock was locked into position in one of these unused holes. It was not holding anything closed or in position, so I took a closer look.
It had two names, Graeme and Gareth, written on it along with a date, 29-08-17. Two lovers committing themselves to each other? Two friends traveling together and stopping here to take a break? Who knows the real story behind this oddly placed lock on the side of the road between Loch Ness and the Isle of Skye?
The second story is one of tragedy and it too happened in this exact same place. While I walked back to the car, after noticing the lock, I happened to look down towards the river below. I spotted something that looked out of place: a piece of blue-gray plastic. A rather large item that took a moment to register, especially since I saw a second piece a few meters away. It suddenly explained the reason for the metal barrier next to the road, something we hadn't seen many of in Scotland. They were pieces of a car that went down that very steep embankment to the rocks and river below. Did the occupants survive the accident? Was that the reason for the lock I had seen earlier? No answers at the site, but somehow I sensed a story here too.
A third story came to mind as we drove off, away from the waterfall, onwards to our destination. A young man was sitting at the edge of the cliffs playing a beautiful copper red guitar. Was he composing a song, inspired by the loch in the distance? Did he know the people in the car that went over the edge? Was he Graeme or Gareth, returning to relive a memory with a friend?

We went from Tomintoul to see Urquhart castle a the shore of Loch Ness. After the encounter with the waterfall mentioned above, our next stop was Eilean Donan castle, and then on to our destination in Portree, on the Isle of Skye. We will explore the surrounds tomorrow, and who knows how many stories we will encounter?

PS: Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter today, since I will be running a competition about my Scotland experiences in the second half of April. There are Amazon giftcards to win, but only if you subscribe. 

Until tomorrow!

Find more pictures of our journey through Scotland @ Instagram

💜 Linzé