Blog Tour: Ensnared by Allana Kephart and Melissa Simmons

Book Info-
Title- Ensnared
Series- The Dolan Prophecies Series #1.5 (Novella)
By- Allana Kephart & Melissa Simmons
Expected Publication Date- August 22nd, 2014
Genre- New Adult Dystopian

Blurb- 

Patrick and Maeve Dolan left the safety of their New York human settlement on a sultry summer night and never returned. Ambushed by the Winter Court guards during their search for information on how to free humanity from faery rule, they are now ensnared in the Winter King Landric’s web, and he has some questions of his own.

The Winter King is curious about the way the Dolans run their city. In a surprising turn of events, he’s determined to learn all about their 16-year-old son, Eirnin. Landric separates the couple, threatens and tortures to the best of his ability, but the Dolans won’t give up the information he’s after.

Murphy, one of King Landric’s guards has been a ward of the Winter Court for as long as he can remember. Trained from childhood to be as quiet and obedient as possible, he’s always been the perfect servant. At least, until Princess Lumi strolled into his life and made him question everything he believes in.

When the princess vanishes without a trace in the middle of the night, Landric is determined Patrick’s people had something to do with it. Without the only connection to kindness and humanity they had, Murphy and Patrick both find themselves falling into very different kinds of insanity.

Will Murphy follow his heart just this once, choose his own side and find Lumi? Will Patrick’s hope dwindle before he can escape and save his family? Or will their unyielding resistance be the death of them all?

Excerpt- Murphy's Perspective:

“Do you like reading?” she asks me suddenly.

“Pardon?” I ask, startled by her question.

She smiles. “You’re staring at the books,” she says simply. “See something you like?”

I shake myself before I can say, There is, but it happens to be the girl in front of me, not the mumbo jumbo paper boxes on the walls. I bite my lip and look down at her arm again, realizing I’m still covering the scar with my palm, and I gently put it back in her lap and crack my knuckles nervously. “Oh, uh,” I start. “I’ve never read any of those.”

“None of them?” she asks, sounding shocked.

I swallow. I might as well tell her the truth, right? Maybe if she laughs at me the giddiness I feel when she smiles will go away. “I don’t know how to read, Princess. I wasn’t taught.”

Silence greets me and I feel worse than ever. Even if she’s not amused, she has to remember where I stand now. Though she’s not the favored princess, she’s still too good to be hanging around with the likes of me. I can’t make myself look at her, even though I get the feeling she’s trying to catch my gaze. I just can’t make myself see whatever emotion is in her eyes.

It feels like forever before the bed dips as Lumi hops off of it. But instead of running to the door, she walks over to the bookcase and puts her hands on her hips. I glance up and watch her through my eyelashes, seeing her scan a certain shelf. She waves her hand over the collection of brightly colored spines, and if I hear correctly she mutters, “Eenie, meenie, miney, mo…” Finally she plucks one out of its resting place, seemingly at random, and then scurries back over to the bed and crawls next to me. She’s even closer than before, her shoulder bumping into mine, when she says, “That just won’t do.”

“What are you doing?” I ask. I ask her that a lot, it seems. She’s difficult to figure out.

“Teaching you how to read, silly,” she says simply. “I haven’t read this one yet. So we can be clueless together.”

About the Authors

Allana Kephart has been making things up and bending people to her will from a very young age. She loves animals and reading and spends a large amount of time thinking up ways to torment her characters. She shares a brain, a love of coffee and the color purple with her alter ego/best friend/co-author, Melissa Simmons.

Melissa Simmons is an avid reader who married her soul mate and is the proud mother of a spoiled cat. She spends her days helping promote independent authors and doing what the voices in her head tell her to. She shares a brain, a love of coffee and the color purple with her alter ego/best friend/co-author, Allana Kephart.

Allana Kephart: Melissa Simmons:

Allana Kephart:        Melissa Simmons: