Series Spotlight is a new weekly feature here on Once Upon a Series, where I will be highlighting a series that I would either like to read if I get a chance to, or would like to finish reading at some point. Hopefully it will give you all some ideas for other series to read... or if you've read something similar that you think other fans of the series featured would like, then please do mention it in the comments.
Today we've chosen...
Elements of Power by Heather James
You can find out more about Heather James, author of the series, over at her blog.
Is control over the elements a gift, or a curse?
Enter a world where it's normal to spark flames in your fingertips, or produce gale-force winds with a flick of your wrists.
Roxy thinks that she is in control of everything: with flames flaring at her fingertips and an equally fiery attitude, what more could she need? But then she meets Brae, a prince from a rival Realm, who turns her assumptions of superiority upside down.
Jasmine has none of Roxy’s confidence or intensity. But she does have a secret - and Brae - and she’s not going to give either up willingly.
Water pooled around my feet, rising at an alarming rate. I stared - panicked - at the palms of my hands, willing the water gushing out of them to stop as miraculously as it had begun.
I only sneezed!
 |
| Cover now revealed and final release date to follow... After some editing methinks! |
Jasmine is struggling to control her new powers, causing floods and fires with an accidental flick of her wrist. In a desperate attempt to master at least one aspect of them, she travels to the Brizan Realm, where she comes closer to discovering the truth about her parents than ever before. But not everyone wants their secrets revealed.
Alone, powerless and, for the first time in her life, afraid, Roxy has only one thought occupying her mind: escaping Cinaer's clutches before it's too late. Her flight will take her across the ocean, but not in the direction she is expecting. Before she can try and get back to Brae, she needs to rescue herself.
Despite being on opposite sides of the world, the girls soon find themselves closer than ever.
Water is the second novel in the Elements of Power series and is due to be released Autumn 2013. Keep an eye on James' website for more details. Of course, you can buy and read in time for the sequel, Fire (see that big Amazon button?).You saw a teaser of Water in the first paragraph of its synopsis. The first two lines of Water... So, as I haven't read it yet either and I've read Fire I gladly accepted the offer of also giving readers of Once Upon A Series an excerpt, today it's an exclusive glimpse inside Water, continuing from the synopsis...
Excerpt continued...
But there wasn't time to complain about how it had started. I needed to make it stop. The water was already up to my ankles, drowning my feet along with my favourite boots.
My hair, streaked with vibrant violet strands, hung in drenched ringlets down my back as I reached, desperate, for the door to my bedroom, but the force of the water pushed me back from the handle before I could grip it.
I screamed in frustration. This was not happening! I was stuck in my own bedroom, water rising up rapidly around me. All I had to do was open the door, but I couldn't even do that because my hands were the source of the water!
It was up to my knees now. At this rate, it wouldn't take long to fill the room entirely and then…
No. I wasn't going to think about that. I was going to stop the water before then. I could do that. I could control my powers; I would not let them kill me.
Stop, stop, stop, I willed.
Think of something dry, Jasmine. Think of the Helian Realm, all that sunshine and heat.
The force of the jets increased. "No!" I screamed again.
The water was already at my waist. Tears were streaming from my eyes—as if I wasn't already producing enough water to contend with.
I spotted my dressing table by the window, the top of which was above the water line, for now. I climbed up onto it, dripping, and directed my hands towards the part of the room furthest from me; the bathroom door. Now, if that had been open, I would have been okay—I could have held my hands over the plug hole in the bath until the water stopped.
That was what I had done last time.
And the time before that.
But, of course, this morning I'd had to kick the bathroom door shut on my way out, hadn't I?
The water had already made it over the top of the table. I wanted to tear at my hair, clench my fists or hit something really hard. But I couldn't—my hands were completely unusable.
Defeated and frustrated, I settled for standing on my dressing table, cursing my out-of-control powers at the top of my lungs.
And then the bedroom door burst open and a torrent of water poured down the stairs...
