WATERSPELL: A Fantasy Quartet
Magic, mystery, murder, and slow-burn romance: An intricate save-the-world fantasy adventure with complex characters, cosmic calamities, and the gothic sensibilities of Jane Eyre.
In a world where you don't belong, making a place for yourself takes courage. So does moving in with a warlock. Especially one who is a cauldron of seething anger on his worst days … half mad on his best … who is thinking, perhaps, of killing you. And you can almost understand why he would do it. But you'll fight to stay alive. Because maybe—just maybe—you've found the place where you belong: on his world, in his magic, saving the warlock from himself.
WATERSPELL (Books 1-4) follows the story of Carin, a lost traveler who embarks on a journey to discover her true identity and learn where she belongs. When she falls captive to a hot-tempered, secretive wizard, he draws her into schemes of magical power and possible murder. There's a world to save, even if it costs Carin her life. Does the wizard view his "peculiar guest" as nothing more than an expendable weapon in his fight to save his world from lethal alien plagues? Can he find it in himself to dispose of his fiery water-sylph when the time comes? The relationship between Carin and the wizard grows increasingly complex, balancing in a tense power struggle as, together, they navigate a world of dangers while yearning for redemption, a sense of belonging, and maybe a little unconventional romance.
Highly rated for:
Captivating Story • Compelling Characters • Detailed Imagination • Unpredictable Twists • Engrossing Narrative • Magical Voice • Writing and Series Quality
From the Publisher: Waterspell springs from the realm of high fantasy (with an eco-fantasy twist). It's got ancient and mysterious magic, a passage from one world to the otherworld, a (reluctant) Chosen One, a Hero/Heroine's Quest, and a search for belonging and redemption. It's a portal fantasy with complex characters and gothic sensibilities. There's mystery, murder, and a little enemies-to-lovers romance. Think "Jane Eyre meets a sorcerer."
Get the boxed set.
You won't want to leave this world.
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Words (4-book bundle): 456,000
Waterspell Book 1: The Warlock
Drawn into the schemes of an angry wizard, Carin glimpses the place she once called home. It lies upon a shore that seems unreachable. To learn where she belongs and how to get there, the lost traveler must decipher the words of an alien book, follow the clues in a bewitched poem, conjure a dragon from a pool of magic—and tread carefully around a tortured, emotionally scarred sorcerer who can't seem to decide whether to love her or kill her.
"It can be difficult to find a fantasy novel or series that is unique and interesting, so I was delighted to discover the Waterspell series. The books adhere sufficiently to fantasy conventions to meet expectations but have enough twists and turns to keep the reader guessing and turning pages. Verek was a riveting study of a flawed hero. By the 25% mark, I was hooked and immediately went on to the next story." EG Manetti
Waterspell Book 2: The Wysard
After blundering into the last stronghold of magic, Carin discovers that she is right to fear the wizard Verek. He is using her to seal the ruptures in the void, and she may be nothing more to him than an expendable weapon. What will he do with her—or to her—when his world is again secure? Or has he erred in believing that the last bridge has been broken? The quest may not, in fact, be over … and Lord Verek may find himself not quite as willing to dispose of his fiery water-sylph as he once believed himself to be.
"If you're a fan of graceful prose, devilish plot twists and sophisticated mind-games, The Wysard won't disappoint. It's living proof that great fantasy can be great literature as well." Brian Marshall
Waterspell Book 3: The Wisewoman
Plague and pestilence have come to Ladrehdin. With their worst fears realized, Carin and Verek set out to put right everything that has gone so badly wrong. On the final leg of their quest, they retrace Carin's journey north from the plains, accompanied this time by the village wisewoman, Megella. Along the way, Meg dredges up—from an increasingly unreliable memory—the oldest of the "old stories," revealing how the actions of the Ancients continue to menace every life on the Wizards' World, and beyond.
"Should be read by every fantasy reader who would like something a little different. The author cleverly creates tension without resorting to the battles, complex political intrigue and predictable structure favoured by many in the traditional fantasy genre. I give it five stars without hesitation." Tahlia Newland
Waterspell Book 4: The Witch
In the House of Verek, it's five years later. The waters are troubled. Memories are darkening. If the story is to end happily-ever-after for Carin and Verek, old demons must be laid to rest. Readers of the Waterspell fantasy series will welcome the long-awaited fourth book for the answers it provides to questions raised in volumes 1 through 3, not least: Did the necromancer die in the jaws of Carin's conjured dragon? Remember: there was no blood in the water. This question and many others are answered in Book 4: The Witch, which picks up the story of the lovers, Carin and Verek, half a decade after readers saw the pair separated in the closing chapters of the original trilogy. By the blood of Abraxas, it's about time we learned what happened next!
"Imaginative, exciting, plenty of action, and an ending that will leave you satisfied." A Life Through Books
More About The Story
"Will Carin learn the mystery of her past or begin to understand the brooding lord who has taken her hostage? The narrative does an excellent job launching right into the action of the story, investing the audience in the protagonist. Kicking off the first chapter with Carin hiding in the woods from a potential pursuer immediately creates stakes and a sense of danger which pulls the reader into the story." —The Black List
Carin is a traveler, lost and without purpose in her life until a village wisewoman advises her to go north to the silent forest. There, she may find her identity and her destiny.
Lord Verek is a reclusive wizard, a grieving and embittered man. His reason for living died twenty years ago when his wife and child drowned (not accidentally) near their home.
Into Verek's lonely and claustrophobic existence Carin brings trouble, danger, and new meaning. The moment Verek finds Carin hiding in his ensorcelled woodland, he suspects something alien about her. No creature of his world may trespass there. Yet Carin not only defies his spellwork, she is blind to its existence.
Verek conducts a series of tests—some mundane, some magical—to discover who and what she is. His investigations uncover a wizardry more potent than any spellcraft of his. Of those few adepts who still practice the magic arts on his world, only one could have raised the power to spirit Carin from her natural home—Earth—across the void to Ladrehdin. That powerful, unprincipled wysard is an enemy to Verek and to the natural balance of life on his world.
Verek must stop the otherworldly fishing expeditions of his nemesis. It is urgent that he dismantle the bridges which link Ladrehdin to Earth and to other alien worlds. If left intact, those pathways will open Ladrehdin to invaders that are potentially more destructive than a headstrong young woman. Alien plagues threaten lethal epidemics that will devastate life on Ladrehdin.
To tear down the bridges, Verek must have Carin's help. Carin controls an otherworldly dragon that she conjures from the verses of an alien book. That dragon—born of a magic wholly dissimilar to Ladrehdin's wizardry—is Verek's only hope of defeating his nemesis. He must force Carin to use her magical monster to kill the wysard who stole her from Earth.
Carin, however, is much in dread of her quick-tempered captor and his darkly blazing, angry eyes. She doubts Verek's motives and her abilities. She knows nothing of her origins but deludes herself that she is a natural being of Ladrehdin. Though she's come north to the forests where the wizards are, on the advice of the wisewoman who sensed the potential in her, Carin denies possessing any talent for the wizard's art. But when Verek speaks of loosing her dragon upon the one he describes as an enemy of Ladrehdin, Carin recognizes the threat to her own life. Verek's enemy is not the only one who could die in the jaws of the monster Carin conjures.
She is right to be afraid. Verek does not intend for Carin to outlive her usefulness to him. He sees her as an alien invader, and he means to protect his world from her and all like her. But might he change his mind?
Mix environmental fantasy with magic, mystery, and a little slow-burning romance, add dystopian undercurrents, and that's the Waterspell series—a cross-genre story with too many layers for a single label.
WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock
ISBN 9780972876834 (Ebook)
ISBN 9780972876841 (Paperback)
WATERSPELL Book 2: The Wysard
ISBN 9780972876858 (Ebook)
ISBN 9780972876865 (Paperback)
WATERSPELL Book 3: The Wisewoman
ISBN 9780972876872 (Ebook)
ISBN 9780972876889 (Paperback)
WATERSPELL Book 4: The Witch
ISBN 9781737717300 (Ebook)
ISBN 9780972876896 (Paperback)
WATERSPELL: The Complete Series (Boxed Set: Books 1-4)
ISBN 9781737717324 (Ebook set)
ISBN 9781737717317 (Audiobook)
WINNERS' LISTS
Pikes Peak Writers
Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest
Science Fiction / Fantasy Category
Panhandle Professional Writers
Frontiers in Writing Contest
Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror Novel
Lu Spurlock Black Gold Contest
Science Fiction / Fantasy Novel
SouthWest Writers Contest
Science Fiction / Fantasy Novel