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My Timeout Book Blog

Jul 11, 2017

Excerpt Reveal ~ The Frost Series Omnibus By Liz DeJesus


THE FROST SERIES OMNIBUS
Title: The Frost Series Omnibus
Author: Liz DeJesus
Series: the Frost Series Books 1 – 3
Genre: Fantasy, Magical Realism, Fairy Tales, Young Adult
Publisher: Indie Gypsy
Release Date:  Nov 1 2016
Edition/Format: 1st Edition~ Format eBook & Print
Blurb/Synopsis:

First Frost: (Book 1)
For generations, the Frost family has run the Museum of Magical and Rare Artifacts, handing down guardianship from mother to daughter, always keeping their secrets to family only. Gathered within museum's walls is a collection dedicated to the Grimm fairy tales and to the rare items the family has acquired: Cinderella's glass slipper, Snow White's poisoned apple, the evil queen's magic mirror, Sleeping Beauty's enchanted spinning wheel...Seventeen-year-old Bianca Frost wants none of it, dreaming instead of a career in art or photography or...well, anything except working in the family's museum. She knows the items in the glass display cases are fakes because, of course, magic doesn't really exist. She's about to find out how wrong she is.

Glass Frost: (Book 2)
When Cinderella's glass slipper is stolen, Queen Felicia sends her faithful steward Terrance to the real world to retrieve his love and witch-in-training, Bianca Frost. The power of the glass slipper, when paired with its mate, and in the wrong hands, could ruin the peace of Everafter. Bianca must gather every bit of magic she has learned in the past few weeks to find the slipper and protect her new love.

Shattered Frost: (Book 3)
Bianca Frost and her BFF Ming Lee return to Everafter to attend the Winter Ball with their boyfriends, Terrance and Prince Ferdinand. They were looking forward to a short vacation, especially Bianca, who is being bullied at school. She is looking forward to the day when she can finally graduate from high school. But all is not cute hair and fancy shoes as a mysterious count sets his sights on Bianca at the ball. When Count Jonathan Bleu kidnaps Bianca and Ming, the pair must do everything in their power to escape his clutches.

Book Links

Excerpts
Excerpt from First Frost

Bianca got out of her car and ran inside the house. She called for her mother as she searched for her upstairs in all of the rooms. Nothing. She quickly ran downstairs and was ready to go down to the basement when a strange turquoise light caught her eye. She looked out the kitchen window; she couldn’t believe what she saw. Her mother was throwing what Bianca could only describe as balls of turquoise fireballs at a woman wearing a black hood. Bianca couldn’t see the woman’s face, but she could see her pale hands and slender fingers.

Bianca tried to make sense of it all. She kept expecting to see a special effects crew to come out from behind the trees and tell her that it was all part of an elaborate prank. But no such thing happened. All she knew was that a strange turquoise flame was coming out of her mother’s hands.
She knew that her mother sometimes read old dusty books on witchcraft, but she didn’t know she had actual powers. She thought about all the little quirks her mother had. Things that Bianca thought were essentially Rose. Her mother talked to plants and trees. She would sometimes stare off into space as though she were looking at something in another world. Something only she could see. She read tarot cards to random people and would tell them things about his or her life as though she were reading an open book. Bianca always thought she just made really lucky guesses. She chose not to believe in this other world and everything it stood for. Magic represented a life out of the norm, and Bianca desperately wanted to be normal. Just like everyone else.
Bianca pulled herself out of her thoughts. As she looked at the blue and green flashes in the backyard, she quickly realized that this was something she couldn’t escape. Normal was no longer a part of her world. Normal was no longer an option for her.
Bianca didn’t know what to do. She was frozen in place. She was afraid to distract her mother for even a second. She ducked behind the screen door; at least this way she could still hear what they were saying to each other.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t come?” the witch shouted. “Oh, I knew you’d be back,” Rose replied.
Bianca slowly lifted her gaze and peeked above the screen. She saw her mother standing behind the shed on the left side of their backyard. The witch was still too far away for her to get a good look at her, but Bianca could tell that she was on the far right corner of their yard.
“Where’s the book?” the witch demanded.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Rose replied with a smirk.
“Don’t be coy with me. You know very well what I’m talking about.”
“Sorry. I can’t help you.” Rose’s breathing was becoming more labored and she was drenched in sweat…obvious signs of exhaustion, but Bianca could tell by the look on her mother’s face that she wouldn’t give up.
“The wards in the museum are impressive. I couldn’t get past them. But maybe…she’ll know where the book is,” the witch said as she looked in Bianca’s direction and threw a sickly olive-colored fireball at the screen door.
Bianca shrieked and jumped out of the way. The screen door fell off its hinges and landed on the kitchen floor with a loud thud.
“Bianca!” Rose screamed.

Excerpt from Glass Frost
Reluctantly Bianca sat down on a nearby stool; the chairs were so small that she worried she would break them. Luckily for her, they were quite sturdy. Bianca took a seat next to Terrance. Ming eventually joined them and sat beside the prince. Bianca noticed the awestruck look on Prince Ferdinand’s face as he ran his hands along the table.
“Are you okay?” Bianca asked.
He lifted his gaze at her. “Incredible. Isn’t it?”
Bianca grinned and nodded. When she closed her eyes, she could easily imagine a young Snow White living here. A beautiful little girl, scared, with nowhere else to go. Probably relieved to have found a safe place to call home. Someplace where she wouldn’t be abused, threatened, or killed. A steady energy seemed to run through the cottage. It hummed with warmth and love.
The three dwarves joined them in the dining room where they all sat and drank herbal tea. Bianca breathed in the warm and aromatic fragrance of the cloves and cinnamon.
“This cottage was half the size when Snow lived with us,” Collier said.
“Really?”
“Snow didn’t care though. She loved it here,” Howard said. “She helped rebuild the kitchen and planted a vegetable and rose garden beside the cottage. It hasn’t been touched since she passed away, but every year there is a fresh crop of vegetables ripe for the pickin’. I swear every year the roses smell sweeter and sweeter.”
Bianca imagined Snow White helping them build the kitchen and the other rooms in the house. She could picture her with silver-colored nails glinting on the corner of her mouth and a hammer in her hand, ready to do anything to help. Bianca wondered if she helped carve the designs on the walls, and if so, which ones was she responsible for.
“She loved you,” Bianca said.
“Aye, she did,” Knox said. All three brothers nodded in agreement.
“Were you angry with her when she left?” Terrance asked.
“No. Not at all. This wasn’t a place for a beautiful princess. We were sad to see her go, but never angry,” Knox explained.
Bianca was happy to hear that. Did Snow White know how they felt? She liked to think so.
Knox finished his tea and set his mug down on the table.
“Come…follow me,” he said. He grunted as he got out of his chair. “You’ll have to forgive my slowness…these old bones aren’t what they used to be. I am nine hundred and ninety seven years old after all.”
Bianca set her tea aside and followed Knox as he led her up the steps.
“Is it true?” Bianca asked.
“Is what true?”
“That dwarves live until they are a thousand years old.”
“Yes, it’s true.” Knox gave her a single nod.
“Doesn’t it scare you? Knowing that you only have three years left?”
“Death doesn’t frighten me, child. I’m looking forward to being finished with this life. I’ll see my brothers again. I’ll see Snow White once more. I won’t be so tired anymore.”
Bianca had a hard time believing what Knox just said. She had never met anyone that was looking forward to dying. In all honesty, she had never thought about what she would be like twenty years down the road. As far ahead as she was thinking at the moment was her senior year in high school and her eighteenth birthday. But other than that? She had no clue.
Bianca continued to follow Knox up the lopsided stairs. She had to bend a little so her head wouldn’t touch the ceiling. Once they reached the hallway, she studied her surroundings. There were four rooms. Three of them she could peek into, but all she could see was the foot of their beds. The door to the fourth bedroom was closed. That was the room he led her to.
Knox opened the door; it released a soft creak, as though it had been ages since anyone had stepped inside its threshold. It had a higher ceiling than the rest of the cottage. In the middle of the room was a full-size bed with white lace sheets and a single pillow. There was a small night table with a silver candlestick and a single half-burnt white candle. At the foot of the bed was a large wooden trunk. It was a beautiful polished cherry. All Bianca wanted to do was open it and find out what secrets it held.
“This was Snow’s room,” Knox said.
“It’s beautiful.” And Bianca meant it. She was struck by the simplicity of the place. It was elegant. Uncomplicated. Much like the woman that inhabited this space.
“We’ve left it just as it is. We come in every once in a while to dust and clean off the cobwebs.”
He opened the trunk and very carefully placed the items on top of the bed. There was a white dress, a pair of dusty-rose silk slippers, black work boots, a navy-blue and white quilt, and lace gloves that had yellowed with age. Then he tugged on a small piece of rope and revealed a secret hiding place. Patiently, Bianca waited. Knox pulled out a red velvet bag with gold ties.
“Here.” He handed the bag to Bianca.
“What is it?” she asked as she took the bag from him. She couldn’t get over the rich velvet fabric she held in her hands. The fabric felt soft against her fingertips. Bianca had never seen anything so luxurious in her life.
“I don’t know. I’ve never looked inside. She never said what it was or what to do with it. All she told me was that she would return someday to retrieve it. Unfortunately that day never came. And seeing as you’re her kin, I like to think she wouldn’t mind if you had it.”
Knox took the items he had placed on the bed and put them back inside the trunk. He gently closed the lid and walked out of the room. He closed the door behind him with a soft click, leaving Bianca alone to examine the red velvet bag.
She let out a deep sigh.
It never ends.
She sat on the corner of the bed. The color on the blood-red bag was still bright. It was as though it had been at the bottom of the trunk for a few days and not a couple of centuries. She undid the knot and emptied the contents on top of the bed.
“Apple seeds,” she whispered.
Excerpt from Shattered Frost
Excerpt

Tick.
Tock.
Tick.
Tock.
Bianca stared at the clock. She bit her nails until she broke the skin of her index finger. She hissed in pain when she tasted the bittersweet, metallic bite of blood. She forced herself to give her nails a break, only because she still wanted to have her fingernails intact by the time she went back home.
She tapped her pencil against her desk. A few more minutes and she would be free from the imbeciles that surrounded her on a daily basis. She had tolerated them for five long months. She promised her mother, Rose, that she would be on her best behavior and not use magic in public. That was the hardest part. No magic. Especially when she was getting picked on by the head cheerleader, who seemed to hate everyone, including herself. Being ‘accidentally’ pushed against lockers. And the school jerk, Brandon Campion, was currently throwing spitballs at her.
Even when she complained to the teacher, all anyone would get was a warning, and nothing else would ever come of it. So Bianca remained quiet and put up with it. All she wanted was to make it through the end of the day. Tiny droplets of sweat trickled down her temples, and she felt a single drop of sweat making its way down her lower back. Control was more difficult than she thought. Just thinking about everything she had endured so far made little white puffs of smoke flutter out of her fingertips.
Crap.
Bianca hid her hands underneath her armpits and closed her eyes. She did her best to meditate like Rose sometimes did. Her mom’s gentle instructions breezed through her mind.
“Clear your thoughts. Think of pleasant things like the rain, the ocean, flowers. Basically anything you like that makes you happy. You know, nice things.”
“As long as it doesn’t make me fly off to Neverland,” Bianca muttered.
“Neverland?” Rose asked.
“You know that whole thing about pixie dust and happy thoughts and that’s how you can fly? Although I have it on good authority that Tinker Bell carried Peter Pan everywhere.”
Rose arched an eyebrow. “Anyway, if you ever have trouble controlling your magic, just meditate and see if that works.”
“All right.”
All calming thoughts vanished the moment Bianca felt a saliva-covered piece of notebook paper land in her hair. Then another one immediately afterwards on the back of her shirt and several others that had struck her on the cheek. It took every ounce of willpower she possessed not to set the whole school on fire. She took a deep, steadying breath and made herself think happy thoughts all over again.
Fluffy kittens.
Cotton candy.
A quiet forest.
Terrance…
She glanced at her math teacher, Mrs. Carpenter. She sat at her desk and did nothing. Magic would’ve solved her problem. Bianca could already imagine herself setting Brandon’s notebooks on fire.
Stop. Don’t go down that train of thought. I can’t do that. Just two more minutes. Almost done with this place. Think happy thoughts. Fluffy kittens. Cotton candy. Gummy bears. Sour Patch Kids. Terrance. Terrance’s dark brown eyes. His smile…
Bianca sighed and wondered what Terrance would do if he were here right now. She was fairly certain that none of this nonsense would’ve happened in the first place. Her boyfriend would’ve stood up for Bianca and would’ve given Brandon a stern warning…since Terrance was a gentleman. And the second time around (because Brandon would’ve brushed off the first warning), Terrance’s wolf side would take over and Brandon would’ve learned the hard way not to mess with the grandson of the Big Bad Wolf.
It was a shame that her boyfriend lived in a different dimension.
Bianca drummed her fingers against her desk and did everything she could to push the thought of fire away, to stop her hands from literally bursting into flames and melting Brandon’s stupid, smug face off. Bianca jumped when she felt yet another spitball stick to her cheek.
That does it. I’m so sick of this crap. Stupid teachers not doing anything to stop jerks like him from bullying people for being different.
Bianca took a deep breath, got up and walked to Brandon’s desk. He snorted and covered his mouth to keep himself from laughing. She gave him a fake smile and placed her hands on each side of his desk.
“Miss Frost, I’m going to have to ask you to return to your seat,” Mrs. Carpenter said.
Bianca took a deep breath, looked over her shoulder, and said, “In a minute.”
She turned her attention back to Brandon. Her eyes locked with his muddy brown ones. Bianca felt the heat being generated by her hands. A fiery ocean rolled through her body. She needed to stop herself from setting stuff on fire. Little wisps of smoke fluttered from her fingertips.
“Stop it,” Bianca said in a loud, clear voice.
“Yeah, right.” Brandon leaned forward and narrowed his eyes at Bianca.
A dark shadow moved between them, and a cold breeze caressed her briefly…even though all of the windows in the classroom were closed. Bianca frowned. What was that?
He whispered, “Who’s gonna make me? I own this place, Freak.”
Bianca hated that word. It made her stomach feel twisted and sick. She gave him a tight-lipped grin and pulled her hands away. It took a moment to free her hands; it was as though his desk had been covered with glue.
“Whoa!” he cried.
Brandon’s jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in shock. Bianca’s hands had molded the fiberglass desk. Every wrinkle, and fingerprint on her hands were visible on top of Brandon’s desk. It made her think of the clay with her handprints that Rose kept on the mantle above the fireplace in the living room. She waved her hands to repair the desk before anyone else noticed. She snatched the straw from behind his left ear as well as the notebook he used to make the spitballs and tossed them in the trash can by the door.
“Look at what she did,” Brandon cried and pointed at his desk.
Bianca ignored the teacher’s beady little eyes and returned to her desk. She crossed her arms across her chest, grinned, and let out a happy sigh as she gazed at the clock.
Five.
Four.
Three.
Two.
One.
The clock struck three. Bianca didn’t wait for the teacher to dismiss them. She snatched her backpack and headed out the door.
“Did you see what she did?” Brandon shouted as she walked down the hallway.
Mrs. Carpenter yawned and dismissed the students. Bianca was already halfway to her locker when the bell rang. A few minutes later, she heard the familiar click-clack of Ming’s high-heeled boots.
“B!”
Bianca turned toward her best friend’s voice.
“Hey, Ming.”
She gave her friend a warm smile. The only person who was ever truly kind to her in school. How hard was it for other people to be nice? Was it really that complicated?
“You ready for next week?” Ming asked.
Prince Ferdinand had invited Ming and Bianca to the Winter Ball although he mainly wanted Ming to attend. Bianca was fairly certain that Prince Ferdinand didn’t care whether Bianca joined them or not. He only had eyes for Ming. She had no problem with that. Bianca was going to the ball with Terrance and would spend every single moment of her vacation with him. She let out a sigh. She had gotten used to that sting in her heart every time she wished to see him. Bianca didn’t want to get used to missing her boyfriend. She wanted them to be together, like a normal couple.
Sometimes, it sucked having a boyfriend who lived in another time period, dimension, and shared a set of genes with the Big Bad Wolf.
Complicated didn’t even begin to sum up their relationship.
Bianca and Ming had been preparing for the Winter Ball by taking ballroom dancing lessons. They learned the waltz, quadrille, the spiral and other traditional dances. Ming did well enough that she wasn’t stepping on her instructor’s toes anymore. Bianca, who was a natural dancer thanks to years of taking Irish step dancing and ballet lessons, had the steps down after a few lessons. She did her best not to rub it in since Ming often suffered from two left feet.
“Yeah, I seriously can’t wait to get out of here,” Bianca replied.
“I still can’t believe we’re going to an actual ball,” Ming said. She bounced on the tips of her toes. Safe to say she was excited.
“Shh. We can’t let anyone know,” Bianca whispered.
Ming rested her back against the metal gray lockers. “I know. I just…I wish I could tell someone. You should’ve heard Betty Rodriguez bragging about going to Disney World on her winter break. I wanted to say, ‘Oh yeah? Well Bianca and I are going to a ball in another dimension, and my boyfriend’s the prince’.”
Bianca giggled. “You know you can’t say anything.”
Ming huffed and crossed her arms. “It sucks.”
Bianca opened her locker. She was just about to reach for her coat when a book tumbled out of her locker and landed on the floor.
Weird.
She bent down to pick it up and saw that it was a copy of Grimm’s Fairy Tales. She had completely forgotten that she had that book in her locker. It had fallen open to the story of Bluebeard. Bianca cringed. It was her least favorite fairy tale. Mostly because it was about a serial killer that had a thing for torturing and murdering his wives. She shuddered as she closed the book and put it back inside her locker.
Bianca grabbed a few nonessentials, her coat, scarf and gloves from her locker and slammed it shut. “Come on. We gotta go. I almost set Brandon Campion on fire in math just now.”
“Seriously?” Ming arched an eyebrow.
“Yep.”
“Yikes.” Ming smirked and shook her head. “Never a dull moment with you, is it?”
Bianca rolled her eyes and chuckled. Together, they walked out of school.
“You wanna come over my place tonight?” Ming asked. “We can order Chinese or pizza, watch movies, eat candy, and paint my nails.”
“What about my nails?” Bianca examined her short, plain and uneven nails. She was a notorious nail biter.
“I know for a fact that I currently own one hundred shades of pink—which is your least favorite color. Besides, you hardly ever paint your nails. So I spoke correctly, thank you very much.”
Bianca laughed. “Sounds great. Let me call Mom and see if she needs anything. I’ll see you at your place in an hour or so.”
“Later!” Ming waved and walked away.
Bianca stood by the front doors and put her dark purple coat on and zipped it up. She wrapped her emerald green scarf around her neck several times and put on her cherry red gloves. She stepped out into the winter cold and shivered. It was at least twenty degrees outside. Bianca hated the cold. Winter was her least favorite season. She always preferred autumn—not too cold, not too warm. Just right.
She braved the bitter wind and searched for her car in the school parking lot. It was hard to miss the oldest car in sight. Her loveable white VW Beetle. It was a classic. She even bought a book on how to fix a few simple things. She was now able to change the oil, the brake pads and the tires. Safe to say, her parents were impressed with her newfound skills. Bianca unlocked the car and was a second away from opening the door when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, Freak,” the male voice said as he spun her around.
Her heart leapt to her throat and found herself face-to-face with Brandon Campion.
Bianca narrowed her eyes and stared at him. She remained silent.
“What did you do to my desk?” he asked.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about. You are clearly losing your mind,” she replied. She put on a brave face even though her heart hammered against her chest so hard and fast that she thought it would burst out of her chest.
“What are you?” Brandon squinted as he studied her.
She ignored his question and tried to get inside her car once more. The faster she got away, the better. She needed to get home.
“Hey! I asked you a question.” Brandon put his hand on her shoulder and forced her to meet his gaze once more.
Bianca placed a gloved hand on his chest and called the wind to aid her. A gust of air shot straight at him and slammed him into the car parked next to hers. The glass cracked. Brandon slid to the ground and gasped in pain.
Bianca squatted down next to him, her hands clenched into fists. “Don’t you ever…ever put your hands on me again. Do you understand?”
Brandon’s eyes widened in shock as he nodded. He tried to push himself away from Bianca but pushed himself further against the car behind him.
“Touch me again, and I promise you it will be the last thing you do. Are we clear?” Bianca growled.
Brandon remained speechless.
“Understand?”
“Y-yes, yes. I-I understand,” he stammered.
“Good. Merry freakin’ Christmas, you big jerk.”
With that, Bianca got in her car and drove away.
© Liz DeJesus 2015
 
Liz DeJesus was born on the tiny island of Puerto Rico.  She is a novelist and a poet. She has been writing for as long as she was capable of holding a pen. She is the author of the novel Nina (Blu Phi'er Publishing, October 2007), The Jackets (Arte Publico Press, March 31st 2011) First Frost (Musa Publishing, June 22nd 2012) and Glass Frost (Musa Publishing).
Liz has a story featured in the Indie Gypsy anthology Stories in the Key of Erotica. Look for her novel Morgan, to be released in July 2014 through Indie Gypsy.

Feel free to email her at lizdejesus23@yahoo.com


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