Guest Author: Sharon Ashwood

I am excited to welcome author Sharon Ashwood, who is here to celebrate the release of Enchanted Warrior, the first novel in her Camelot Reborn series.

An ancient evil rises. An ancient warrior awakens.

In an age clouded by legend, Gawain was one of King Arthur’s greatest knights. When he awakens centuries after the fall of Camelot, he faces his most daunting quest yet-the search for his missing companions. His hope is that Tamsin Greene, the alluring historian at Medievaland Theme Park, can help him. Then he senses the magic within her… Gawain will now have to trust a witch-and his own heart-to rouse the knights of the Round Table and save humanity from a faery onslaught.

Make sure you stick around to the end. We’ll be giving away a signed copy + a digital copy of Enchanted Warrior.
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Gawain Rising

The Camelot Reborn series begins with Enchanted Warrior. The books tell the tale of King Arthur’s knights when they arrive in the modern day to save humanity from an old enemy. Their world has fae, witches, sorcerers, demons, and assorted monsters and all those still lurk in the modern world, though humans have forgotten all about the things that go bump in the knight—er—night.

This tidbit of story (exclusive to this post!) happens months before the start of the book, when Sir Gawain is fully immersed in the modern day and trying to find out what happened to his friends. However, it explains how and why Camelot came to pay us a visit.

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Without warning, Gawain sucked in a deep gulp of air that strained the confines of his aching chest. The breath was impossible, a reminder that he was all but dead. But then he inhaled again, smelling grass and the tantalizing aroma of food. He could also hear the sound of voices, but all those things seemed far away, as if they were coming from outside the building where he lay. What is happening?

Consciousness flooded in, bringing with it memories of the last great battle. With the help of Merlin the Wise, Camelot had banished demonkind from the mortal realms—but at a terrible cost. The spell had torn the souls from their allies, the immortal fae, bringing that noble people to their knees. And the terror hadn’t ended there.

Alarm flooded through the knight, a cold, creeping sensation that spread from his core like melting ice. Events were jumbled out of order in his mind, making it impossible to tell which were immediate threats. An image flashed through his mind of galloping through the forest, the enemy only a heartbeat behind him—but was that a moment ago, or had a thousand years gone by?

He struggled to rise, to spring into action so he could find and protect his king, but his muscles would not move. He’d had nightmares like this as a boy—trapped, with the monster at his back, and unable to run.
Gawain strained to turn his head, but his flesh and bones would not obey. He gave up the struggle and remained still, questing for answers with all his senses.

After Camelot’s victory, the fae had fled to the Hollow Hills with a promise to return and take vengeance upon the humans for doing them harm. King Arthur, furious with Merlin for casting such a catastrophic spell, had banished the enchanter. Still, Arthur had demanded one last work of magic even as he’d shown Merlin the door.

The knight’s breath hitched, for now he could feel his heart pound like a drum. Terror flashed with a sudden, freezing edge. He remembered everything now. By the saints, what did I agree to let Merlin do?

The sorcerer had turned the knights into stone effigies, each one stretched in eternal sleep upon his empty tomb. At the moment of greatest danger—whenever the immortal fae returned—the knights would awake in the prime of their strength to fight again. It was a mark of the Round Table’s courage that every knight had volunteered to follow their king into the unknown.

The stone sleep had taken effect in moments. Merlin told him to keep still—and after that had flooded blind, deaf, and frozen darkness. But that cold death was leaving him now. Warmth trickled upward from his feet, leaving the sensation of pins and needles behind. It reached his hips, his chest, his arms, and finally his face. All at once he could feel the weight of his armor and the fact that the room was too warm for the fur-lined cloak draped around him. Suddenly he was anchored in the living world once more.

The animal part of him rejoiced. He had no true sense how long he’d been in the stone sleep, but he instinctively knew it had been lifetimes. He wanted to stretch and run and fight. He craved the touch of sunlight as a starving man craves bread.

Gawain wasn’t aware of rising, but all at once he was standing beside his tomb. He blinked, realizing that he was staring down at a stone effigy with his own features. He drew away, irrationally afraid that touching it would suck him back inside.

He heard a noise and spun, his reflexes still battle-quick, and saw a window to the outside. It was dark and he couldn’t make out much, but he saw nothing he recognized. Horrified, his gaze skidded away until he found a doorway, and then instinct took over.

Gawain drew his sword with a whisper of steel on leather. There was no telling what dangers lay in wait outside that room. When it came to survival, it paid to be the most savage wolf in the forest. Come what may, he would find and protect his king.

For an excerpt from Enchanted Warrior, click here.

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Meet Sharon Ashwood!

Sharon Ashwood is a novelist, desk jockey and enthusiast for the weird and spooky. She has an English literature degree but works as a finance geek. Interests include growing her to-be-read pile and playing with the toy graveyard on her desk. As a vegetarian, she freely admits the whole vampire/werewolf lifestyle would never work out, so she writes her adventures instead. Sharon is the winner of the RITA® Award for Paranormal Romance. She lives in the Pacific Northwest and is owned by the Demon Lord of Kitty Badness.

Contact Info: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | GoodReads | Amazon | Pinterest | Newsletter

Want to purchase Sharon’s novels?
Camelot Reborn

1. Enchanted Warrior
2. Enchanted Guardian (August 1, 2016)

Ravenous (Dark Forgotten #1)
Lord Dragon’s Conquest
Possessed by a Warrior (Horsemen #1)
Valkyrie’s Conquest
Harlequin Bundle: Possessed by a Warrior and Possessed by an Immortal
Harlequin Nocturne Bundle: Untamed Wolf\Possessed by a Warrior
Harlequin Nocturne Bundle: Demon Wolf\Possessed by an Immortal

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Contest Time!

Thank you Sharon for taking the time to stop by Literary Escapism!

Sharon is giving away a signed copy of Enchanted Warrior + I’m adding in a digital copy to a second winner. To enter, all you have to do is answer this one question: After centuries of sleep, what would be the first thing you would do? Remember, you must answer the question in order to be entered.

Even though I’m not giving the additional entries any more, you can still help support the author by sharing their article, and this contest, on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, or anywhere you can. After all, the more people who are aware of this fabulous author ensures we get more fabulous stories.

The winner must post a review of the novel someplace. Whether it is on their own blog, Amazon, GoodReads, LibraryThing or wherever, it doesn’t matter. Just help get the word out.

The contest will stay open until April 1st at which time I’ll determine the winner with help from this snazzy plug-in that I have. All giveaways are subject to LE’s Giveaway Policy.