Today is a very exciting day for author
Alythia Brown. Her new book,
Dakota Captive, is being released. I had the pleasure (although she may tell a different story, ha) of working with her as her editor for this book. In other words, yes. I am totally biased about how awesome this book is. (Hey, at least I'm honest about it!)
Dakota Captive is the first book in a trilogy. To give you an idea about the storyline, read the blurb below. In the meantime, allow me to explain to you why this is such an awesome story and why you need to go buy it as soon as you're done reading this blog. The story line is rich with vivid descriptions of both people and places. From the moment you first meet the Earth Spirits, you're captivated by who they are - their distinct personalities find a place within your heart quickly. Charli is thrown one curve after another and she handles each one with the combination of vulnerability and strength that comes from being a strong-willed and independent teenager. When she finds herself falling for the one man she shouldn't after trying to nurse a broken heart from the ex-boyfriend who just won't quite give up the fight for her, she does the only thing she can: survive all the chaos and find her way.
The process of working with Alythia to uncover the polish and shine of this amazing gem was truly enjoyable. She was enthusiastic, receptive to observations and suggestions, and most importantly, determined to present this book in the greatest shape she could. Go. Buy. This. Book.
Book Blurb
When the evil spirit of Jumlin returns with his army of Offspring, the Earth Spirits are summoned to protect the Lakota. Unbeknownst to Charli, these Earth Spirits are a sacred secret. So she probably shouldn’t have spied from behind a rock when they shifted from their animal forms, she shouldn’t have taken pictures, and she definitely shouldn’t have gotten caught. Now a hostile prisoner, Charli is forced to walk a long journey to reach the one man who can erase the knowledge of the Earth Spirits' existence from her mind.
Naturally, Charli thinks all she needs to do is keep her big mouth shut, get her memory erased, and go home. But Jumlin’s Offspring are stalking her. Since no one can explain this unusual behavior, it becomes imperative to enter the Other World--a place where the Lakota have lived traditionally and without foreign oppression (but not without menacing dragons). Aside from being kidnapped, whisked away to a foreign world, hunted, and forced to live amongst strangers, Charli must come to terms with a new nuisance: she's falling for one of her abductors.
Alythia Brown was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she now lives with her husband and their three small children. She found her inspiration to write
Dakota Captive after traveling to North Dakota to return an authentic peace pipe to the Lakota Natives. The artifact had been picked up after the Massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890, and eventually ended up in the hands of one of her ancestors—who, in turn, told everyone it was a wagon spoke. Alythia is the author of two short stories, published in the
Mertales anthology, and she aspires to publish many more books for children, teens, and young adults.
You can find Alythia at her
website, on
Facebook, and on
Twitter (@alyconnorbrown). If you'd like to learn more about her other books, you can go
here.
Finally,
here is the link to the first stop in her book release blog tour. Go check it out!
