Upcoming in Tales of the Mystics!

Traitor: Tales of the Mystics, Book Two, by Laurie Lucking

Author Laurie Lucking stops by today to share about her latest release, Traitor: Tales of the Mystics, Book Two. Plus she’s letting us in about what’s coming up in this young adult fantasy series. Learn more about Traitor below. But first, let Laurie set the stage. And check out her Facebook launch party at the link below!

What’s Coming Next in the Tales of the Mystics

Thank you so much for inviting me to stop by today! I’m thrilled to wrap up the Traitor Blog Tour with a look at what’s coming next in my Tales of the Mystics series! But before I look ahead, I’ll give a quick overview of the series so far for anyone who hasn’t had a chance to read it yet!

Common, Book One, features a quiet maid who ends up on an adventure to save her best friend (who happens to be the prince) from a disastrous engagement and her kingdom from an overthrow involving a dark sorcerer. Along the way, she encounters a group of mystics—women who have devoted themselves so completely to God (or the Luminate, as He’s called in my fantasy world), that they can channel His power.

Traitor, Book Two, centers on Princess Penelope—the fiancée in that disastrous engagement the prince needed to be saved from. To give her an opportunity for a fresh start after the events of Common, her father arranges a new betrothal for her, this time in a distant country across the sea. While seeking to redeem herself from her past mistakes, she makes plenty of new ones and ends up embroiled in another plot involving dark magic. Meanwhile, back at home, her little brother, Prince Dominick, is being spoiled rotten (that’s a relevant detail, I promise!).

Now, onto the future of the Tales of the Mystics! With the publication of Traitor, I’m both excited and a little sad to say that the series is halfway complete! Up next will be Scarred, a Beauty and the Beast-inspired story following Sister Clarice, one of the mystics in Common. Sister Clarice was haunted by visions of fire, and those visions come to fruition when she rescues a little girl from her burning home. In Scarred, that girl has grown to be a teenager and attends a ball where Prince Dominick, now an arrogant young man, humiliates her due to the scarring on her face. But he’s forced to give her a closer look when she later finds him cursed and on the run and is the only person available to help.

I’d originally planned for Scarred to be Book Two in the series, so it was an obvious choice as Book Three when my editor suggested I first write Princess Penelope’s story. But I wasn’t sure where to go beyond that. I’d planted a hint at another potential story in Common, but as I struggled to outline my initial idea for that book, it became clear it wouldn’t work for my storyworld. And the danger of a series of companion novels is they could go on indefinitely, adding one side character’s story and then another without ever coming to a satisfying conclusion.

Fortunately, I brainstormed a different story springing from that hint in Common, and soon everything fell into place! Book Four will have ties to each of the other books in the series and will even take readers back to the remote mountain retreat where the mystics were originally introduced in Common. Plus, we’re planning to call it Mystic, which will make for a nice pattern of adjective and noun titles—yep, I’m that much of a grammar nerd! 🙂 If I can pull it off, this finale will have the most epic battle scene yet and end the series with a powerful theme about following God’s path wherever it leads. Now I just need to write it!

I so appreciate you taking the time to stop by and learn about my series! I can’t wait to share each of these books with my readers, and I hope you enjoy every character’s journey along the way!

Traitor Synopsis:

Princess Penelope has finally found a way to redeem her past mistakes—if only it didn’t require betraying her new fiancé.

Princess Penelope has been the object of gossip and ridicule ever since she returned home in disgrace following her failed engagement to the Crown Prince of Imperia. When her father offers a new start in a country far across the sea, she has no choice but to accept.

Even if it means another betrothal, this time to a total stranger.

Penelope arrives in Delunia determined to avoid bringing further shame upon her family. But her devoted, caring fiancé makes it harder to guard her heart than she anticipated, and rumors of dark magic haunt her with memories she’d rather keep buried far beneath her pristine exterior.

When a poverty-stricken village outside the palace gates looks to her as their hope for a brighter future, Penelope embraces the opportunity to make amends for her transgressions. But in order to help, she must manipulate her new fiancé, putting her reputation on the line once more. And her heart.

Can Penelope rise above the failures of her past, or will she forever be branded a traitor?

Links!

Purchase Traitor here!

Facebook Launch Party, Click Here (Thursday, April 29th, 8-10 PM EST):

About Laura Lucking:

Laurie Lucking loves hoarding books, singing at the top of her lungs, playing games that don’t involve too much strategy, and spending time with her husband and three energetic kids. A recovering attorney, she now spends her days as a stay-at-home mom and has discovered writing young adult romantic fantasy is way more fun than drafting contracts. Her fairy tale–inspired stories combine the excitement of discovering new worlds with the