Beauty Within by Jae El Foster 💕 Behind the Scenes, Book Tour & Gift Card Giveaway 💕 (Fantasy Romance)

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An enchanted mask. A harrowing castle. A reclusive dark lord. With the helping hand of the village witch, these three ingredients form a spell that will warm your heart as much as it chills it. Madame Howell makes her second appearance in Jae El Foster’s literary universe in this fairy tale that puts a new twist on an old classic. When a village maiden finds herself in a forbidden castle, she discovers that its sole occupant might be less of a monster than he has been made out to be. However, dark secrets and black magic are afoot, and a ‘happily ever after’ could turn disastrous. Will true love conquer all, or will a dark power make their world come crumbling down?

Thank you for stopping by today! Here are some interesting behind-the-scenes tidbits and facts that I hope you’ll enjoy and find the ‘beauty within!’

Beauty Within is a complex novel for a fairy tale, but a fairy tale is exactly what it is. Although I have another fairy tale called ‘To Adventure’ that was published in the anthology Enchanted Fairy Tales before this book came out, Beauty Within was my first attempt at the genre and found a delay in publication.

I had the idea for this book years ago – at least, I had the idea for whom I wanted to build one of my main characters, and my cover, from. During a DCL Publications company get-together in Nashville, my good friend Mary and I accompanied the handsome Golden Lord of Romance CJ Hollenbach on a very fun night through downtown. While I’ll leave the more interesting moments of the evening for another time – you’ll have to ask Mary about those – I took notice to how people reacted to CJ on the streets. They recognized him. They knew his face, but they could not quite place him. They asked him if he was a television or film actor. They asked if he was a country music singer. They flocked to him and feasted upon his enormous sensuality. That was when I knew CJ had to be a romantic lead in one of my books. That way, millions more could feast upon his enormous sensuality for generations to come.

Onto other notes of great proportions, Beauty Within finds the return of my character Madame Howell in its pages. Readers might remember the Madame from ‘To Adventure,’ but it was in the pages of Beauty Within that she was originally created. While Madame Howell’s role in this novel is much different than it had been in ‘To Adventure,’ it is no less grand or of lesser importance. Perhaps, depending on your take, it would be of greater importance. Madame Howell is one of my favorite characters that I’ve created, so much so that I’ve decided to use her again in a collection of fairy tales told under her narration. It should be enjoyable. Also, arriving November 30 is DCL Publications’ winter anthology The Greatest Gift of All. I join authors Kristi Ahlers, Roxy Q. Reise, and Jennifer Patricia O’Keeffe in this collection of holiday-inspired tales of romance. My entry, ‘Elisabeth’s Holiday Gift’ offers a mention of Madame Howell, although the Madame does not actually have an appearance in the story.

For those of you that enjoy a good, healthy competition, the race is on. Beauty Within holds the first clue of Jae El’s Hardcore Fandom Easter Egg Competition inside of its pages. The first clue will lead readers to the second clue, found in my paranormal romance release Restive. Clues must be entered as they are found at www.jaeelbooks.com/contests in order to qualify. Each clue leads to another until the final clue is discovered – an anagram that will need to be solved. The first person to have correctly identified all clues and solves the anagram will win the Easter Egg – a prize bundled with goodies.

The ending of Beauty Within will astound you. I promise. It is unlike any ending out there, and it was not the original ending to the book. When all was said and done, my muse returned to me and I added a last minute addition to the end of the book, tacking on a few more chapters that threw even my editor through an unthinkable loop. Much to my gratification, the new ending worked.

My thanks to one of my favorite places to visit, Romance Novel Giveaways, for hosting me today! It is always a ton of fun to be here! Thanks also to Goddess Fish Promotions and DCL Publications for making this possible. To those of you that have stopped by today, thank you for the visit and I hope you’ve enjoyed what you’ve read. Please, send your friends over to enjoy also! For those of you hungry for more of my writing, visit www.jaeelbooks.com/free-flash-fiction for some great free reads that will thrill you! Ciao!

Hanging his head low, he sighed with a deep sadness, and in a bout of self-anger, he jerked his head up to the ceiling and cried out with an agony and a rage that he had never expressed with such intenseness. His scream ran long, and it echoed loudly throughout every hall and chamber of the castle and even into the blackened air outside. When this scream fell silent, he cried out once again, this time falling down to his knees in bitter self-loathing. His hands fell across his face, touching upon the scars that had sealed his doom. Running his fingers from his face to his hair, he grabbed two fistfuls of the golden locks and pulled hard, adding pain to his already crippling misery.

“Lest he who hath created his hell perish in his hell…” he whispered as the tears began to dry from his eyes. Then, with a leap, he rose to his feet and crossed the foyer to the staircase. With slow, steady movements, he began up the stairs, formulating in his thoughts what his next actions would be. His mind was hazy and in a fog, and thinking made his head only hurt more.

The stairs seemed to continue up for an eternity, but he was used to the climb and he made it to the belfry of his castle with practiced ease. There, he rushed past the old brass bell that had not rang in many, many years, and he forced his hands to brace him as he stopped abruptly at the stone encasing that prevented him from falling to his death below.

With tear-stained cheeks, he stared down at the foggy ground, barely able to see the dirt of the hill. He looked over just slightly and gazed at the village of Foliage, which was completely lost in the night and the thick of the fog surrounding it. The wind still blew with massive force, rocking against his chilled body but never once ringing the bell behind him. Had the bell decided to ring, it would have rocked up against him with enough strength that he would have been pushed from the belfry and down to the ground below, shattering every bone in his body.

This thought chilled him more than the powerful wind, and he held himself in his arms as he tried to find the cottage of the mistress with the mask. Even though he could see none of the buildings contained within Foliage, he knew now the exact location of the fair maiden’s home, and he stared in that direction for the longest of time.

“What I would give,” he whispered, releasing fog with his breath, “just to touch you… to hold you… to share but one dance with you.”

 

Jae El Foster is an author with whom you question going to bed with at night, but you dare to venture beneath the sheets with him anyway. As the venture concludes, you are perhaps romanced by it, or perhaps you are frightened by it. Don’t worry, because you are always satisfied by it. Despite the title or genre of the book, Jae El sets out to please you with climatic and unexpected conclusions that will make you tremble with emotion. Hop aboard the Jae El train and give it a good ride.

   

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