Welcome to the Virtual Book Tour for a Choice of Crowns by Barb Hendee. On this post, you will get the synopsis for the first book in the series entitled Through a Dark Glass. For the synopsis, review and excerpt for A Choice of Crowns, please click here.
THROUGH A DARK GLASS
A Dark Glass
Novel Book 1
Author: Barb Hendee
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Synopsis:
On her seventeenth birthday, Megan
of Chaumont discovers she’ll be sold as a bride to the brutish Volodane family—within
hours. Her father grants only that she may choose which one of the ruthless,
grasping lord's three sons she weds:
Rolf, the eldest: stern, ambitious,
and loyal?
Sebastian, the second son:
sympathetic, sly, and rebellious?
Or Kai, the youngest: bitter,
brooding, and proud?
As shy, horrified Megan flees the
welcome dinner for her in-laws-to-be, she finds an enchanted mirror that will
display how her life unrolls with each man, as if she were living it out in a
breath. But there is no smooth “happily ever after” in her choices.
Deaths and honors, joys and
agonies, intrigues and escapes await her in a remote, ramshackle keep, where
these rough but complex men reveal one side and then another of their jagged
characters—and bring forth new aspects of Megan, too. But the decisions of one
teenaged marriage-pawn reverberate much farther than any of them have guessed .
. .
I looked nothing like myself. Miriam had arranged my hair even more elaborately and used a small round iron on the curls around my face. Then she’d put touches of black kohl at the corners of my eyes. I wore an amber silk gown with a low, square-cut neckline that showed the tops of my breasts. I don’t know where she’d found the gown. It wasn’t mine, and it was much too small to have fit Helena. I supposed my mother must have had it made at some point while anticipating its need.
However, at the sight of me, my father beamed. I couldn’t meet his eyes.
Seating at dinner was equally awkward with my father at the head of the table,
my mother and I seated on one side, and all four of the Volodanes seated on the
other—so I had no choice but to look at one of them when I raised my eyes from
my plate of roasted pheasant.
None
of them had changed for dinner, and with the exception of Sebastian, they all
wore armor and swords. Jarrod hadn’t bothered to shave his face and sported a
dark stubble. I could almost feel my mother’s discomfort, but she smiled and
made attempts at polite conversation.
Only
Sebastian responded to her questions about weather and wild flowers in the
northern provinces. Rolf spoke only to his father or mine. Occasionally, he
glanced at me as if I already belonged to him. I wasn’t listening to any of
them. My heart pounded too loudly in my ears. But then I did hear Rolf say
something about heading back north as soon as he and I were married.
A
long pause followed, and for the first time, I paid attention.
“It
is not settled yet that she will marry you,” my father finally responded. “Per
our agreement, Megan will choose for herself.”
Rolf’s
face clouded. “I never agreed to that. I am the eldest. She will join with me.”
Jarrod
turned in his chair. “You’ll do as I tell you! Nothing less and nothing more!”
Mother,
Father, and I all flinched at his tone and his unthinkable manner at the table.
Rolf’s face went red, and Sebastian leaned back his chair, smiling. Something
about him was beginning to strike me as sly. He clearly enjoyed his older
brother’s chastisement and discomfort.
“Now,
now,” he said, dryly. “We mustn’t seem uncouth.”
Kai
ignored all this. He ignored everything but his surroundings. His eyes were
light brown like mine, and they moved from the opulent tapestries on our walls
to the peach roses in silver vases on the table to the porcelain plates and
pewter goblets.
Then for the first time, he looked directly at
me.
“I fear you’ll find the furnishings at Volodane Hall somewhat lacking,”
he said.
His
voice dripped with resentment, and I knew I’d not been wrong in my first
assessment. He was angry.
His
tone was not lost on my mother, who answered him with a strained smile. “Of
course, we’ll be sending some household things with her, and Megan will give
your hall a woman’s touch.”
These
words made me wonder what had happened to Kai’s mother. I’d never asked and no
one had mentioned this, but it seemed I would be the lady of their house. The
very thought ensured I would not manage to eat another bite of dinner.
Kai
studied my mother evenly and breathed out through his teeth. “Our hall won’t be
good enough for her. Nothing of us or ours will be good enough.”
Then
I realized the source of his anger. He resented the need for this bargain as
much as we did. He knew that we—and most of the noble houses—looked down upon
the Volodanes, and the last thing he probably wanted was a permanent reminder
in his home of their lowly state in comparison to ours.
“Quit!”
Jarrod ordered him, pounding one hand on the table. In obedience, Kai stopped
talking and withdrew back inside himself, ignoring everyone again.
Sebastian
looked at me and raised one eyebrow in amusement. I glanced away.
Somehow—and
I never quite knew how—we made it through the rest of dinner.
By
the time my mother rose, signifying the meal was over, my heart pounded in my
ears again. I felt the edge of my self-control slipping away and knew that I
had to gain a few moments to myself or I might possibly do or say something I’d
later regret.
“Please
make my excuses,” I said quietly to Mother. “I will return quickly.” She
frowned briefly, but then her face smoothed in annoyed understanding, and I
realized she most likely thought I needed to relieve myself. I didn’t care what
she thought.
Turning,
I fled the dining hall as fast as I could without running. Upon reaching the
passage that led toward the kitchens, I couldn’t stop myself and broke into a
run, racing in my heavy silk skirts until I reached an open archway in one side
of the passage, just a few doors from the entrance to our kitchens.
There,
I took refuge in an old, familiar hiding place.
As
a child, I’d come to this storage room whenever I didn’t wish to be found. It
was filled with crates, casks, and places to hide. No one ever entered except
servants from the kitchens, and none of them ever noticed me secreted away
behind a stack of crates.
I
hadn’t come here in years, but now, I breathed in relief at the respite of
solitude and the illusion of safety.
Slowly,
I sank to my knees.
As
we were expecting a delivery of goods any day now, the storage room was nearly
half-empty. I didn’t even attempt to hide behind crates or casks, as I knew I’d
have to return to the hall long before anyone came looking me. A dismal
prospect.
What
was I going to do? I couldn’t face the thought of my life married to any of
those men. Until this afternoon, I’d never faced the prospect of marriage at
all . . . but to one of them? I was not a weeper. My parents had never allowed
such an indulgence, and I honestly wasn’t aware I knew how to cry, but tears
came to my eyes and one dripped down my cheek. The water in my eyes made the
following moment even more uncertain than it might have been.
The
air in the storage room appeared to waver. Alarmed, I wiped away my tears, but
the motion of the wavering air grew more rapid, and then...something solid
began taking shape.
Jumping up to my feet, I gasped.
There, near the far wall across the storage room, a great three-paneled
mirror now stood where there had been only empty air an instant before. The
thick frames around each panel were of solid pewter, engraved in the image of
climbing ivy vines. The glass of the panels was smooth and perfect, and yet I
didn’t see myself looking back.
Instead,
I found myself staring into the eyes of a lovely dark-haired woman in a black
dress. Her face was pale and narrow, and she bore no expression at all. But
there she was, inside the right panel gazing out me. Was I going mad? Had my
parents driven me mad?
“There
is nothing to fear,” the woman said in a hollow voice.
I
doubted that statement. I feared for my sanity, but as yet, I’d not found my
voice to answer her.
“You
are at a crossroad,” she continued, “with three paths.” As she raised her arms,
material from her long black sleeves hung down. “I am bidden to give you a
gift.”
Here,
sadness leaked into her voice, especially at the word “bidden,” and my mind
began to race. Was this truly happening?
“You
will live out three outcomes . . . to three different choices,” she said.
“Lives with men . . . connected by blood. Then you will have the knowledge to
know . . . to choose.”
I
shook my head. “Wait! What are you saying?”
Lowering
both hands to her sides, she said, “The first choice.”
Before
I could speak again, the storage room vanished. Wild fear coursed through me as
the world went black for the span of a breath, and then suddenly I found myself
back in my family’s dining hall, only everything was different.
Chairs
had been set up in rows, and guests were seated in them. I wore a gown of pale
ivory and held my father’s arm as he walked me past the guests toward the far
end of the hall. Flowers in tall vases graced that same end, and a local
magistrate stood there with a book in his hands.
Beside
the magistrate stood Rolf, wearing his armor and his sword.
Turning,
he looked at me in grim determination.
He
was waiting.
Through a Dark Glass is a tale about a 17 year old girl that must choose to wed 1 of 3 brothers she has never met or spoken with.
The Volodane brothers are from the nobility but are ridiculed and scorned because of their low place in the social hierarchy. Their father hopes to change their station by buying a bride whose family has a powerful bloodline and political connections. That bride is Megan. Her father has agreed to marry her off to one of the brutish brothers in exchange for money which he so desperately needs to pay off loans and to keep up appearances.
At the welcoming supper, Megan flees to a storage room to be alone. Here, she questions how she will ever make such an impossible choice. She is desperate and anxiety-ridden. As she begins to cry, an enchanted mirror appears. Inside this mirror, there is a woman who lets her know she is there to help. She will let Megan live out each of the choices available to her, one for each brother, to help her decide. One by one, the life she would have with each brother plays out.
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who will Megan choose of them all?
The premise of this book, in my opinion, is ingenious. For 1 heroine to live out 3 different lives and at the end, having to choose but not remember why she made the choice... I love it. This book is riveting. It kept me up late to find out what happened next.
The one thing about this book that readers may not like is the repetition. However, I believe it is necessary. For Megan to choose wisely, she would need to live through the same experiences with all the brothers. Then based on how they react or don't react, she now has her own decisions to make.
When I was first introduced to the Volodane men in the book, I did not like them. Their father, Jarrod, is brutish and demanding. The eldest Rolf seems grasping and hard. The middle brother, Sebastian, seems to be vain but friendly. The youngest, Kai, seems angry, petulant and brooding.
Throughout the 3 scenarios Megan lives through, my opinion on each of them changes vastly. My assumptions are put aside to realize the fact that one decision can affect others in a positive or negative way.
There is love, alliances, death, murder, intrigue, happiness, sadness, conflict and everything in between. Every life she leads in engrossing, you end up loving and sometimes disliking the same characters. I didn't want the story to end. This one should definitely grace your TBR list.
I can't wait to read the next instalment.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Rebel Based books for the ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Barb Hendee is the New York Times bestselling author of The Mist-Torn Witches series. She is the co-author (with husband J.C.) of the Noble Dead Saga. She holds a master’s degree in composition/rhetoric from the University of Idaho and currently teaches writing for Umpqua Community College. She and J.C. live in a quirky two-level townhouse just south of Portland, Oregon.
Barb Hendee will be gifting a $20 Amazon GC and a copy of the book to one lucky winner. Don’t forget to follow the tour HERE for exclusive excerpts and a giveaway!
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