Brain to Books Blog Tour

Fast Facts

Author: Josh de Lioncourt

Genres: Epic Fantasy/YA/NA

Book: Haven Lost (Book #1 of the The Dragon’s Brood Cycle series)

Bio

Josh de Lioncourt was born and raised in California and enjoys writing projects in a wide variety of fields, including fiction, music, software, blogging, and tech articles. As a blind enthusiast of Apple products, he has written on Apple accessibility for Macworld and Maccessibility. He hosts or participates regularly on several podcasts in various genres, and writes and records music with Molly, his other half. Josh enjoys the works of Stephen King, the music of George Michael, Masters of the Universe, and Los Angeles Kings hockey.

Accomplishments

As a blind technology enthusiast, I try to raise awareness of accessibility options and issues for visually impaired users, with an emphasis on Apple products. I host the Maccessibility Round Table Podcast to that end, as well as Masters Cast, a podcast devoted to the fandom of Masters of the Universe.

Blurb

Legends never die; they just go into hiding …

Sixteen-year-old Emily Haven, heroine of the girls’ hockey team at Lindsey High, has spent her young life keeping two secrets: her rapidly deteriorating home life and the seemingly supernatural power that makes her a star on the ice. When she begins seeing visions of a lost and ragged boy reflected in mirrors and shop windows, a series of events unfolds that tears her from twenty-first century Minneapolis and leaves her stranded in another world with horrors to rival those she has left behind. Lost amidst creatures of fantasy and legend, she is forced to confront the demons of both her past and future to unravel the riddle of the mysterious boy and embark upon a journey to uncover long forgotten histories and the dark, cloaked figure in the shadows behind them all. Caught between opposing forces of a war she does not understand, Emily must find new strength within herself and, above all, the will to remember her friends.

Book Review

Emily is a high school hockey star in Minneapolis with an extremely dysfunctional family life. For the most part, she is a typical teenager, except for her strange ability to know when and where another player on the ice is going to move. One day it all changes when she starts seeing the reflection of a boy in mirrors and windows and, when she gets home, she finds her mother dead of a drug overdose. She runs away and when she awakes she is in another land, another time, another world? Haven Lost is the tale of Emily’s discovery of what is important to her and her life in this strange place. She makes friends, decides without any prior knowledge of people who is good and who is evil, and sets out on a quest she doesn’t understand. Along the way she picks up a best friend in Celine, a ward in Michael, and someone who just might become more than a friend in the future, Corbbmacc. Together they travel the land, looking for the answers that they need to understand what is going on. Josh de Lioncourt has done a wonderful job of mixing history, fantasy, and magic together into a tale that is compelling and exciting.

Haven Lost is set to be the first book in a series titled The Dragon’s Brood Cycle. This first book sets the story up very well; you have a grand adventure, and it is not a short adventure either. It takes time to tell, yet the story never seems to get bogged down or drag; it is always moving along and begging you to turn the next page and keep going. The answers always seem to be on the next page. Josh de Lioncourt is a wonderful storyteller in that he is able to keep your attention and have you guessing the entire book. I never saw the reveal from the last three pages coming until I got to them, and that is not usually the case with most books. This book and series has the potential to sky-rocket into the forefront of youth and teen reading, possibly becoming the next Harry Potter series.

—Michelle Randall, Readers’ Favorite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LRe4rv76J0

Read an excerpt

She fell to her knees in front of the mirror, unable to tear her eyes away from the strange boy with the pony-tail and the torn and ragged clothes. She could see every minute detail of his attire, from the thick red and black thread that had been used to mend his jeans and jacket, to the filth and tarnish on the old-fashioned fastenings.

He reached out toward her, and as he did, her own reflection in the mirror winked out. Only his face stared out of the dusty glass. His eyes were full of hope and sadness, and seemed the eyes of a much younger child. Those eyes spoke of suffering and loss, and Emily’s heart called out in recognition. She thought she saw the flicker of flames behind the boy, and then she was reaching out to him as well.

Their fingers met. She clasped his in her own, feeling their warm, rough reality, and wanting to give comfort as much as receive it. Such a simple action. Such a mundane, human gesture. And with that ordinary decision made, two worlds changed forever.

“Yes,” she whispered, and watched as the breath of that word fogged the glass between them, spreading until it filled the world with a cloudy, white mist.