Druids In The Mist by Cornelia Amiri is a Pot 'O Gold event pick #historicalfantasy #giveaway
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    • Mar 11, 2023
    • 6 min read

Druids In The Mist by Cornelia Amiri is a Pot 'O Gold event pick #historicalfantasy #giveaway



Title: Druids In The Mist


Author: Cornelia Amiri


Genre:Historical Fantasy Romance


Book Blurb:


As Queen Boudica leads her two druids against Rome… love leads them to their destiny.

Conquering Romans plunge the British tribes into chaos. The future of the mist-covered isle and its brave people rest in the hands of two druids, whose views are as different as fire and ice. Arch Druid Rhys is a master of the sacred mysteries but a novice in the ways of the heart. Sulwen, a survivor of the Roman massacre on the Druid Learning Center, discovers Rhys, the shapeshifter, has evoked a basic, feral desire in her.

But soon, the goddess may exact the unfathomable price of taking him from her.

Though their love is as potent as their magic, is it strong enough to survive the turmoil of the Romans, the Rebel Queen Boudica, and the gods?


Excerpt:


Hot, almost fevered, her heart hammered at a rapid speed. She breathed faster than any human. She felt hurried. She needed to hasten, to move swiftly. Sulwen needed to fly. She moved up and down, faster than any human could move their arms, she flapped her wings hard. She dove o the clift.


Fighting the urge to shut her new, keen eyes, she worked her wings with all her might until she caught a wave of wind and ceased the frantic flapping.


As she stretched out her wings, her entire body eased. That feels so good.


Like lying down on the most comfortable bed, all the tautness and tension in her body rolled off. She rode the wind, arching her wings slightly. Her tiny, light body had the strength and power to defy the pull of the earth and break free.


Sulwen coasted, effortless, across the sky with the speed of an iron pellet red from a slingshot. She whizzed through the air, breathless. A chariot at top speed was slow, compared to the swiftness of flight.


She tilted her head up and rode higher. With an empowering freedom, her body ran with little guidance from her brain as she soared beyond the clouds.


As her sharp gull eyes gazed upon the rocky sides of Ynys Mon jutting out of the tranquil blue water, she quivered with joy. She soared above strips of sandy beach, patches of huge white rocks blanketed in emerald green and the blueberry- toned mountain range. Making a large, playful loop in the air, she circled the ancient rocks of Holy Head where she rst fell in love with Rhys.


She glided above mountains topped with groves of trees crested with lush green leaves, and slopes covered with dense woodland. Sulwen flew free over splashes of bright blue she knew as lakes and streams, as well as strips of ebony rocks dotted with green, which stretched into the sea.


Lifting one wing higher than the other, Sulwen turned back to fly over Ynys Mon once more. As she flapped her wings slower and slower, the earth began to pull her closer. She flew past a grey seal basking in the sun on a rock jutting out of the white foamed water. She soared over a forest as she headed toward Eryri. Sulwen came to a clearing with a small ring of green sparkly standing stones.


With a twist of her wings, she slowed her landing, then spread and lowered her tail feathers to brake to a stop. With feet outstretched, she landed on top of one of two tallest stones in the center of the ancient ring. Like its mate, the long stone stood twenty hands high.


Glancing to the north, she looked upon Holy Head, but to the south across the sea she gazed at the peak of Eryri where Rhys stood, waiting for her sprit to return to her body.


Perched on the tall slab-like stone of green schist, she gazed at its mate. At the last Beltaine festival on the Ynys Mon, in the center between the two long stones, Madog stood, beating a bodhran drum as he led her and the other druids in a chant. She glanced to the smaller stones circling the larger two. She had stood there, between her best friends, Goewin and Brisen, holding their hands and dancing around the sacred ring. When the Beltaine sun set behind the stones, the shadows of this and the other center stone stretched across the ground, looking human like an ancient giant, like a god.


Goewin had often said that Madog was her favorite teacher at the learning center, so serene and wise, but now he grew nervous, erratic, and sprouted madness about destructive magic. The Romans had done so much damage. How she hated them.


She had watched her best friends die. Sulwen still felt empty, lost without them. Those who survived weren’t quite the same. She wasn’t. She woke up at night, covered in sweat, her heart racing, a scream on her lips, all her muscles clenched with fear.


Sulwen flapped her wings as fast as she could. She began to take off, her feet free of the earth once more. She didn’t rise, instead she hovered just a hand span from the stone. It was hard, like treading water, and her muscles soon tired.


She landed back on the sacred rock. As a bird she wanted to fly away from sad, intrusive thoughts. She had the answers Rhys wanted her to find. She knew as a beast, more aptly as bird, how she felt about another war with the Romans. No animal is as free as a bird in flight. The gulls lived on their own terms. Safe in the mountains where the Romans wouldn’t come, the druids and Boudica’s daughters could live free, like winged birds. There they could keep their ways, their beliefs, without Roman influence. If they battled Rome now, their freedom and their very beliefs would be at risk.


As far as this small stone circle with these huge, long stones facing the purple mountains of Eryri, she would participate in other rituals here. For in the near future, she would return to Ynys Mon. This island was where her heart was, this was her home. The Romans could never take that away.


Flapping her wings as fast as she could, she leapt o the long stone, and with a twist of her body and tail she flew away. Catching a wave of wind, she rode it up to the peak of Eryri.


The moment she saw Rhys, she cawed out to him and then landed beside her body. Rhys knelt beside her. Sulwen rose out of the seagull and suddenly she was in her own body. She heard Rhys call her name.


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What makes your featured book a must-read?


It is well researched and set in first century AD against the backdrop of the rebel queen Boudicca. The hero and heroine are both Druids. So, this is an unusual romance. Probably different than any historical or fantasy romance you've read before. There is druid magic, shape shifting, and the hint of Dragons. the tropes or second chance romance, mentor and novice, and fighting for a cause.


Giveaway –


Enter to win a $15 Amazon gift card:



Open Internationally. You must have a valid Amazon US or Amazon Canada account to win.


Runs March 9 – March 19, 2023.

Winner will be drawn on March 20, 2023.



Author Biography:


I never stopped writing for fun, but I veered off from professional writing due to the responsibilities and time restraints of a single mom. That was until I was introduced through books, to the woman who became my favorite historical character, Boudica. The Celtic Warrior Queen made me start writing professionally. I love history and in reading a book about the dark ages, I came across the rebel queen. She inspired me so much, I started jotting down notes, but they were fiction, visions of me involved in the Boudica revolt. Before I knew it, I had accidentally written a rough draft for a novel. And I've been writing books on purpose ever since. Drawing on my love of a happy ending I have currently penned over 35 published romance books.


Now, for the more mundane stuff. I and my muse, Severus the Cat, live amid the hustle and bustle of humid Houston, Texas. My latest release was, Rare Finds, a sci-fi comedy romance with a Celtic goddess as the heroine.


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