Hey Guardians!

It’s cover reveal day! Check out that gorgeous royal blue. I can’t get over how pretty it is. I know we aren’t supposed to pick favorites but Shattered Souls has to be my favorite book baby. Not only because of the cover, but because of the journey our Guardians go through.

I have lots of goodies for you today. Keep scrolling for the synopsis, preorder gift, plus book sales, and a giveaway! Extra bonus: I have a little sneak peek for you at the end. 😉

***insert crazy dancing and screeching here***

Look at how beautiful they all look together! The royal blue really pops and I love the frost element following the season theme. Prepare yourselves, Guardians. This book is thick and it promises to make you swoon, cry, laugh, and rage. I'm coming for your pretty little hearts. 😈💙

Mourning the loss of her cousin and missing bond, Dyna lies trapped with the enemy. Alone and afraid, the time has come to be her own savior. She will use every skill and spell her Guardians taught her to survive. Because the damsel is dead. This time, she fights. 

Cassiel and the Guardians are desperate to find their Maiden. Except they cannot do it alone. The journey to cross Troll Bridge proves harder than ever as they race against the impending winter. When the High King summons him to answer for his crimes, Cassiel will sacrifice everything in order to save the one person he can’t live without. Even if it means his fate will end in exile—or a throne. 

Dyna and her Guardians will all face a trial by fire as they confront their greatest threat yet. Themselves. And when ice meets flame, will they be willing to pay the price? 

The hunt for Mount Ida reaches new heights and dark lows as the Guardians of the Maiden continues in this heart gripping tale about the bounds of love, duty, and power.

Check out my stories on Instagram for more fun stuff. Q&A’s are open as well so drop in and leave me a question for Shattered Souls or anything else about the series.

Exclusive Editions

Leah Fry @the.sketching.hour, our main artist for the exclusive edition of Shattered Souls has started on the art last week. I have already seen the preliminary sketches and you are going to swoon when you see the artwork going on the cover. It’s to die for.

I have commissioned all the artists for the box and for the Shattered Souls release campaign. Its a full house of talent! Some reveals will begin in May like the exclusive edition cover and the rest will be spoiler art for the box. We will have more details on preorder dates for books 1-3 as we get closer to summer time.

Divine Blood in German

Well, I did it. I have hired a German cover designer to make new covers for the German editions of Divine Blood, Bonded Fate, and Shattered Souls! Divine Blood has been sent off to the translator as well. I expect book 1 to release sometime between this late summer to fall. Books 2 and 3 will come out next year. Stay tuned for the cover reveal. Now on to Spanish!

Release Day Giveaway! 🎉💙

To celebrate the cover reveal for Shattered Souls, I am giving away signed copies of book 1, 2, and a swag pack! For a chance to win, check out my latest on Instagram and follow all the prompts to enter the giveaway. Good luck!

That is all for now, my lovelies. I will have more fun stuff to share soon. Keep reading for a Shattered Souls sneak peek. As always, stay safe and read good books.

Love,

Beck Michaels

(Shattered Souls unedited snippet. Parts of it or all may change in the final. CONTAINS SPOILERS! Skip if you haven’t read book 1 and 2. )

She let out a disgusted scoff. “Are people so worthless that you do not care who you kill?”

Tarn only looked amused by the question, as if her anger enticed him. The candlelight haloed his white-blond hair as he canted his head. “Only the strong survive, Maiden. And if he died, it was because he lacked the strength to live.

She limply shook her head at all the countless deaths he must be responsible for, and the death of those from her past. “Killing must come easy to you. Saving people, that is more difficult. The day you come across someone you wish to save and cannot is the day you will truly feel powerless.”

His eyes became glacial, seeping a chill through her veins.

Tarn leaned forward in his chair and his icy fingers took her chin, forcing her to meet those wintry orbs he had for eyes. She couldn’t look at him without holding her breath or feeling goosebumps prickle her skin. 

And when he spoke, his voice sent a cascade of shudders down her spine. “Oh, Maiden. You are so far out of your depth, you fail to see what this world does to the weak. One day, you may have to make a difficult choice that will no longer keep your hands clean. And I wonder what that will do to your sweet, innocent heart.”

Dyna’s knees trembled where she knelt, her bruised hands curling into fists on the hard ground. He must enjoy this position, of having her kneeling and prostrated at his feet. With his self-importance in his fine black coat while she was covered in cuts and blood, leathers caked in dirt. 

“I question if you even have a heart when your soul must be black with all the lives you have taken,” she said.

“When someone attempts to take my life, I will not hesitate to take away theirs. Survival demands more than blood. It demands souls.” His thumb brushed over the small split on her bottom lip she hadn’t known was there. It throbbed, making her wince. “If you want to live, you must pay the price. And most do.

Dyna jerked her chin away.

“No one is ever purely evil, as no one is ever purely good. We all have darkness in our hearts, Maiden. Even you.” He lifted a goblet from the bedside table. “The only difference is in which degree.”

“I will never be like you.”

“Because you think you would never take a life?” Tarn smirked, swishing the contents in his goblet before taking a drink. The scent of spiced wine reached her and she swallowed down her thirst. “You pretend to be standing on some moral high ground from which you judge me, but the truth is when danger is put between yourself or another you care for, you will act. It is an instinct we all have, or did you forget our first meeting outside the grove when you lifted a sword and aimed at me?”

The memory was a cold splash across her shoulders. She could only glare at him as it sprouted a tremor in her chest.

“In that moment, what were you thinking? Not how to escape. To protect your friends, your only thought was to stop me—permanently.” He leaned forward until all she could do was stare into his pale eyes. “And the only way to do that was to kill me.”

She couldn’t deny it. Couldn’t pretend her only goal had been to run him through. Now the very thought of murdering anyone churned her stomach. She wasn’t a killer. But he was right. In that moment, she wanted to end him in a sheer moment of desperation. She’d been willing to coat her hands with blood to stop him.

Tarn crossed one leg over the other and propped his elbow on the armrest to prop his chin against his fist. “You assess what I have done and paint me the villain. But when everything you treasure is stolen from you by the world or those plotting against you, your pure little Maiden heart will become cold and full of hatred. Revenge will be all you want and the only thing that will ever bring you joy is watching their world corrode at your feet.”

Coming August 30th, 2022!