Hello everyone,
I know that in the title it says part one, and by this I mean, I am two different stops on the blog tour. I will also have another stop next week. Let me explain why…. First, this is a story, written in two different books, by two different people, from two different perspectives. It’s pretty cool. It’s the same story, but it’s not, because two different people tell it, and so you see and hear and feel different things. Trust me, girls vs boys always feel different, and see things in a different light. So, let me get on with it…
Today’s stop is for the book that looks through the eyes of Aniela Dawson, or as some of her friends know her as Ana… here’s an excerpt…
Excerpt: Blind Sight Through the Eyes Aniela Dawson
Written by Eliabeth Hawthorne
Prologue
A bundle of joy wrapped in a white feather boa streaked down the hall. Her long blonde hair flowed out behind her. Dressed in a vintage dress several sizes too large, Edaion’s youngest princess had just come out from playing dress up in her mother’s closet. Aniela wore oversized tortoise-shell aviator sunglasses and a necklace of pearls that dragged on the floor, threatening to trip her as she ran barefoot toward her sister’s room. The energetic four-year-old girl pushed open the bedroom door without knocking, still learning appropriate boundaries.
Seven-year-old Tatiana sat on her bed, her dark hair and dark eyes a stark contrast to Aniela’s baby blues. One of their mother’s favorite lamps levitated up and down; it moved slowly through the air. Tatiana never let it exceed six inches from the ground while she practiced her magic. All three of the Dawson children had inherited telekinesis from their mother. Tatiana specialized in large, heavy objects. Her twin, Theodore, who sat at Tatiana’s desk playing solitaire in the air, specialized in multiple small objects. Aniela had yet to develop a specialty.
“Hi Ana,” Theodore said. The door swung shut without any help from his sister.
“Hi Teo,” Aniela replied, sometimes still struggling with her t-h sounds.
Aniela tried to jump on her sister’s bed, but it was too high, causing her to miss and slide down until her feet once again touched the soft rug. She backed up and took a running leap. Aniela’s forehead smacked into Tatiana’s palm and she toppled backward onto to floor. Theodore frowned. His brow furrowed as he shook his head, but he did not comment as Aniela crawled up onto his lap instead. Much like his role in life, his looks fell somewhere between the two girls’. He had Tatiana’s intelligent brown eyes and Aniela’s light blonde hair. While he lacked Aniela’s innocence, he also lacked Tatiana’s smugness. He was the middle; one they could both enjoy.
“What do you want?” Tatiana droned in her ever present annoyed tone.
“Where does magic come from?” Aniela watched the lamp travel fluidly through the air as Tatiana moved it to the floor before answering.
“Everyone knows that a boat shipwrecked on the island and that one of our ancestors was the captain.”
“They were cursed for hunting on the island.” Theodore took up the story.
Aniela looked back and forth between her siblings, watching them trade off the conversation like a ball in a tennis match and quickly lost interest.
“I want to go to the park,” she announced.
“I’ll see if Marcus can drive us,” Theodore offered. Rarely did the king or queen have time to chaperone their children.
Simultaneously, and with practiced ease, the cards moved into a neat pile on Tatiana’s desk as Theodore picked Aniela off his lap and set her on the floor. Tatiana’s eyes flickered with new-found mischievousness as her twin closed the door behind him and waved Aniela over. Excited to be included, Aniela scrambled over, but Tatiana stopped her before she could climb onto the bed. She leaned in close, Tatiana’s voice barely more than a whisper. Something in her voice made Aniela feel the way she did before she snuck into their mother’s closet without permission.
Tatiana’s eyes glistened. “You know what we should do?”
“What?” Aniela bounced as she failed to contain her enthusiasm.
“We should play hide and seek at the park, but you know how Theo always finds you so quick?” She paused, lowering her voice. “So when we get there, you go hide, and I’ll give you a head start before I tell Theo it’s time to look for you.” If Aniela had known about Alice in Wonderland, she would have compared Tatiana’s smile to that of the Cheshire Cat’s.
“Okay!” Aniela agreed enthusiastically. She put her fingers to her lips and turned an invisible key, offering it to Tatiana for safekeeping. Tatiana did not play along, letting the would-be key fall onto the bed untouched.
“And no telling Theo,” Tatiana emphasized. “I’ll tell him, but before we go you had better put Mum’s clothes back where you found them.”
“Okay.” Aniela sprinted out of the room and back down the hall. She placed the clothes back in the trunk at the back of her mother’s closet, pearls and all. She then returned to Tatiana’s room to find Theodore waiting and Tatiana ready to go. They piled into a waiting car; Theodore placed himself between the two girls. The driver would stay with them in place of a bodyguard, for while no one had expanded on the subject, Aniela knew there was some kind of protection in place that made them unnecessary.
Aniela pressed her face to glass as she watched the houses go by. “We here! We here!” she celebrated.
Theodore helped Aniela as she fumbled to get out of the car.
“You’ll want to chew some gum after you smoke or Mum will smell it on your breath,” Tatiana told Marcus as she climbed out. He coughed and Theodore’s eyes narrowed. “What? It’s true!”
Once Aniela was freed from her booster seat, she shot out of the car and went to find a suitable hiding place. She looked around and chose the jungle gym. Hiding in one of the many colorful tunnels, she listened for either of her siblings to start counting. When she did not hear any, she assumed she was safely hidden. Excited about the game, she was determined to stay put, at least until her short attention span got the better of her. Her gaze fell on two boys sitting in the gravel near the swing set; one was holding a vehemently protesting cat while the other pulled its whiskers.
“Stop it! Stop being mean!” her voice echoed through the tunnel. She crawled out and ran back to the twins.
She pulled on the hem of Theodore’s shirt with one hand and pointed with the other. “Mean boys are being mean to a kitty!” she screamed and turned to Tatiana. “Fix it!”
Aniela’s anger elevated once Tatiana’s eyes fell on the boys, able to read her sibling’s mood whether she wanted to or not. She moved behind Theodore, pushing on his lower back and keeping directly behind him as if he were an impenetrable wall. Tatiana walked over with an intimidating gait, so quiet in her movements that despite Aniela’s yelling, the boys did not look up until her shadow was upon them. One look at her and they both shot off in the opposite direction, leaving the cat to run off as well.
“Awe!” Aniela yelled, “Kitty! Kitty come back! I wanna take you home! Tia get it!”
“Ana, don’t be silly. The cat is not going to want to be caught after that.”
“But I wanna make it feel better. Tia use your ma-muh…” she was muffled by Theodore’s hand cupping her mouth. She huffed at him, but his hand remained firm as he began forcibly walking her back to the car.
“Not a word until we get home,” he hissed.
Confused, she looked up at him, unable to understand why he was angry now that the cat was free, but he remained silent.
“Marcus, gum please.” Tatiana shot out a demanding hand between the front seats once she joined them. He handed her two pieces and she passed one to Theodore.
“I want gum,” Aniela whined. The first and only time she had been given gum, she had swallowed it.
“You’re too young,” Tatiana gloated, blowing a large bubble and popping it with her teeth.
“Am not!” Aniela puffed out her bottom lip and made sad puppy dog eyes at her brother who she no longer felt was mad at her.
Tatiana reached across Theodore and pulled one of Aniela’s shoestrings, untying it in one fluid motion. “You’re too young until you can tie your shoe.”
“I can,” Aniela shot, bringing her foot up close and playing with the laces. Her tongue wiggled around, poking out of the corner of her mouth in determination. It kept her busy the whole way home until eventually, Theodore reached over and helped.
“Ana, you still want gum?” Tatiana asked once they were home.
“Yes please!” she held out her hand expectantly.
“Here.” Tatiana took the piece of gum out of her mouth and placed it in Aniela’s hand. A familiar grin spread across Tatiana’s face.
Aniela’s jaw dropped and her nose wrinkled in mortified disgust. Saliva pooled in the palm of her hand as it slid off the damp wad while she stared at it until Theodore took it from her. Aniela wiped her hand on Theodore’s shirt and he made no signs of minding, but as soon as Tatiana started to do the same, he gave her a dark glare and she wiped her fingers on her own shirt instead.
Theodore took Aniela by the hand and walked her to her room. “Stay. I will be right back and we can talk about why I had to cut you off in the park,” he commanded. He closed the door behind him. She waited for his footsteps to fade down the marble hallway before tiptoeing out of her room and back into her sister’s.
“What now?” Tatiana groaned.
“Why can’t we use magic outside?”
Tatiana had been lying on her back but rolled over on the bed before she answered. The same grin she had worn that morning pulled at the corners of her lips. “If you use magic, or mention it outside the house, in the middle of the night, when the lights are out and you’re sound asleep…”
“You just don’t!” Theodore interjected firmly. The door to Tatiana’s room had swung open so forcefully it collided with the wall, cutting Tatiana off mid-sentence. “Inside is one thing, but outside it is forbidden.” Theodore informed Aniela before Tatiana could contine.
Tatiana pouted and rolled back over, but Aniela could not help but worry where the story had been going. All sorts of terrible scenarios played through her vivid imagination involving monsters in the closet or bugs that came and carried people away in their sleep, but she did not want to know badly enough to ask Tatiana to continue. Theodore took her by the hand, this time more gently, and led her back to her room.
“Ana, don’t let Tia scare you. Magic is not scary; it is a gift. You will understand when you are older. For now, you do not want to get in trouble, do you?”
Aniela shook her head.
Now I know I normally just give you a bunch of links to click if you wanna see my review, but today I am making an exception, so you can read it right here… and then click the links 🙂
I would like to thank the author for giving me a copy to read and for letting me participate in the release blog tour 🙂 This has got to be the most unique type of thing I have ever read… This edition is through the eyes of Ana (Aniela formally known) and she is a fascinating creature. She is literally the princess, but her family of royalty is very different from what you normally think of royalty being. No body guards, or major security, or special treatment. She goes to school with normal people, and stumbles upon a new girl, who immigrated into the island, and is blind… and also happens to have some serious powers. The island brings people to her (the island), in order to manifest their powers. It’s quite a unique story, with such an interesting twist. It’s hard to explain unless you read both, but I can tell you this, I really liked it. They are both very well written! and Ana is such a good person, with a big heart, she never wants to let anyone down, even when it constantly hurts her. I really hope that these continue to go on, especially when that ending-the last sentence really- has me holding my breath. I mean, I can’t call it a cliff hanger, but I can call it open-ended, if that makes since. I am so glad Ana got her prince charming, and I truly like Odette & Leocardo. I really dispise her mother, Alaya, and her sister, Tatiana, but her brother, even if he has a hidden agenda, seems like a good person at heart. I love her dad 🙂 All in all, I really enjoyed this, and it’s so awesome to see the same things but through different eyes… It’s a special thing these two authors working together have done. 4 big PAWS from me 🙂
Since all the links are posted at the bottom of the page, I will let you click them down below 🙂 Now, here’s a little something from the author 🙂 check this out…
Guest post: By Eliabeth Hawthorne
Inspirations from literature and bad table manners
There are two sides to every story.
That’s the major premise behind how Blind Sight is written. Anyone who has ever listened to grandparents talk to each other without their hearing aids knows how funny those conversations can be. What one of them says is not always what the other one hears. Or trying to understand someone when their mouth is full, I wanted to capture the misunderstandings that occur when the perspective is limited to a single point of view, but I couldn’t do it alone.
I was first inspired by Tom Stoppard who turned Shakespeare’s tragedy, Hamlet into the comedy Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Tom Stoppard’s play follows the plot of Hamlet through the point of view of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, giving them their own voice and own plot so that even though it is the same story line, it is a very different story. It was exactly what I expected out of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
I made a few futile attempts to write the same story from different perspectives and eventually let the idea drop. I couldn’t get the two sides different enough to where it felt like two different voices, but then I met Ermisenda on an RP site of all places. She was a brilliant writer, but more than that, she made me a better writer. We played off each other in a way that I just can’t explain unless you’ve ever found that other RPer with whom you just click.
It was a true partnership, making Blind Sight a superior novel to anything we could have put together individually. It wasn’t working from an already written manuscript and trying to put a new spin on it. We worked together every step of the way, literally RPing scenes over MSN and Skype since we live half a world apart.
Eliabeth Hawthorne
Before we get to the goodies… I thought this was fun… HERE is where you can VOTE for which character’s team you have chosen… Now for me I will say this… I don’t think either are more right or wrong. I think they are both right, but in a different way… let’s just say I think Odette is even more powerful than these two think, and I think she may a bit of both… but now, you gotta read to see exactly what I mean… 🙂 TUNE IN FOR MY “LEO” REVIEW NEXT WEEK 🙂 AND NOW….
That sounds crazy doesn’t it… but it so works 🙂 so here we go, for the giveaways…
PRIZES: Did you enjoy the review? You could win a gift card and I could win one too! Just leave a comment about the review below and you’re entered in the drawing….
Learn more about Blind Sight: A blind girl drawing is abnormal even on the magical island of Edaion where leaves brush themselves into piles in the middle of the night. So when Odette Reyes, a girl blind from birth, begins to experience ominous side effects of the island’s “gift,” her brother Leocardo and best friend Aniela must figure out what 
the doctors cannot. As an immigrant, Leocardo is not biased by accepted rules of magic and determines that Odette’s drawings are premonitions. Aniela grew up with magic and knows premonitions are impossible. She determines Odette is a medium channeling voiceless spirits.
Who is right? Whose eyes will you read through?
Both books are “volume one” you can read one without the other and still get a complete story, but you won’t see how the characters interpret the same situation differently.
Buy the book! Both volumes are available as an e-book for Kindle (Aniela’s vol. / Leocardo’s vol.) and Nook (Aniela’s vol. / Leocardo’s vol.) Don’t have an e-reader, pick up a PDF on Smashwords (Aniela’s vol. / Leocardo’s vol.)
The paperback special edition will be available in the fall (northern hemisphere).
The authors:
Eliabeth wrote her first mini-series in second grade when the teacher told her she was not old enough to write a chapter book. Regrettably, for fear of turning into a starving artist, Eliabeth played it safe in college and is now a recent William Jewell graduate with a BA in International Business and Japanese. She now returns to what she truly loves, creating worlds for people to escape to and characters for them to fall in love with. 
Ermisenda began writing Harry Potter fan-fiction at the age of twelve and started developing her own writing at fourteen when she joined play sites and completed her first crime novel at fifteen. Although her favorite genres were crime and fantasy, she reads a bit of everything. Driven by the desire to evoke the kaleidoscope of emotions her favorite authors are able to, she kept writing. Growing up bilingual amongst her Spanish family in Australia, she found a love and deep appreciation for language and the power it wielded. She is now a Psychology major at the University of Newcastle. Together, they write as Ermilia.
Connect with us! We love to talk to our readers.
Blog
Facebook
Goodreads (Eliabeth / Ermisenda)
Tumblr
Twitter
you can also see some of the other blog tour spots here… http://ermiliablog.wordpress.com/books-by-ermilia/blind-sight-blog-tour/
Now that you’ve got all the goodies 🙂 make sure and leave a comment here on my blog to win a gift card-think UNIQUE comments… we are looking for some fun, fresh, new comments, ya know, a little more than “hey I wanna win” 🙂 … and don’t forget… Happy Reading and later my reading gators 🙂
Happy Tails and Tales Blog 