Honey Queen
by Christina Mercer
Release Date: 05/31/14
Summary from Goodreads
Love is honey sweet, but it comes
with a fatal sting . . .
Melaina Maris needs wings to fly the
gap between loving Sam and her family’s ancient curse that forces carnal love
and then kills the male lovers. She won’t let the same fate that killed her
father befall another. She refuses to allow her goddess-created bloodline to
continue. But there’s no easy way out, especially after the curse turns her
into the Honey Queen—savior to honey bees—intensifying her charms.
To help her fulfill the curse’s
demands in the least harmful way, her grandmother takes her to mate with
terminally ill Boyd. But Boyd’s gay. And an expert in mythology. Instead of
having sex, Melaina learns how she might summon the goddess who created the
first ancestor bee-charmer and cursed her bloodline. Melaina's magic—tears to
save honey bees from endangerment—could be enough to persuade the goddess to
end the curse. But an unexpected discovery soon changes that hope, spinning
Melaina into a swarm of love, friendship and death.
EXCERPT
On my way
home, I stop and grab the mail at the end of our drive, and Sam rolls up in his
white pick-up with the words Leonard’s Dairy Ranch painted across the
side.
“Hey, Mel,”
he says, chocolate eyes melting my insides. “Been a while.”
I swallow
hard, hoping the rush of heat to my face doesn’t show. “Yeah, well, I’m trying
to graduate early, and you know, busy helping Gran.”
He nods, and
his eyes flicker over my car. “You ever feel like riding shotgun in that thing,
I’d be more than happy to take the wheel.”
I get back
in my car and toss the mail on the seat next to me. “I’ll remember that.”
He laughs,
and just as I shut the door, he calls out, “Go out with me.”
Shit.
I take a
deep breath and roll down the window. His brown shag drapes around his smile.
His perfect, irresistible smile. “Sam, you’re my best friend. I don’t want to
ruin that. Besides, I have to stay focused on school.”
“That’s
bull, Mel, and you know it. Having a little fun isn’t going to turn you into
your mom.”
He knows me
well, has since I was in the first grade and he was in the second, but he still
doesn’t know what I am. Gran calls us Apis charmers; I call us Apis slaves. And
I’d bet him the pink slip to my car, he’d feel differently about dating me if
he knew the truth.
“You’re
right. I’m not going to end up like my mom, and the best way to make sure I
don’t is to stay away from distractions.” With a wave, I speed down the drive.
I
don’t realize how hard I’m biting my lip until I taste blood. Sometimes I
wonder if it’d be easier to run away and let the sickness take me. Sam is pure
torture—the sweetest hot fudge sundae, the rarest orchid, the love I can never
know.
Available
from Amazon
Praise
“HONEY QUEEN will leave you
tingling. Mercer delivers an unforgettable character connected directly to
nature with a twist of mythology that exemplifies the power of love, and with
enough courage, the power to change ones destiny.” Rachel Allen Dillon,
award-winning author and illustrator of Through Endangered Eyes
“In prose so delicious, you can taste
it, Christina Mercer’s HONEY QUEEN captures the genuine angst and
yearning of YA fiction with a powerful honey-sweet twist of Mythic proportions.
Readers will catch the buzz of Melaina’s riveting journey to convince a Goddess
to save her bloodline, the love of her life, and all the bees. A wonderful
reminder of the indelible bond between humanity and nature.” -Jordan E.
Rosenfeld, author of Forged in Grace, Night Oracle and Make
a Scene
About the Author
Christina Mercer is an
award-winning author of fiction for children and young adults. Honored
titles include Tween Fantasy ARROW OF THE MIST and its sequel ARMS OF ANU, and
YA Fantasy/Romance HONEY QUEEN. Christina enjoys life in the foothills of
Northern California with her husband and sons, a pack of large dogs, and about
100,000 honeybees.
For more about her and her writing, visit
Giveaway
1 $10 Amazon Gift Card (INT)
1 "Honey Bee" swag pack (USA). Swag will be bookmark, buzz card, beeswax lip balm, honey sticks, honeybee charm.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
1 "Honey Bee" swag pack (USA). Swag will be bookmark, buzz card, beeswax lip balm, honey sticks, honeybee charm.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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