Nymph Blog Tour: A Conversation Between the Seven Star-Nymph Sisters

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Hi everyone.  Today, I have an amazing post to share with you as part of the Nymph blog tour: a conversation between the seven star-nymph sisters in which they discuss the mythology that inspired author Tonya Alexandra to write her novel.  A big thank you to Jaclyn from Walker Books Australia for organising the tour, Tonya Alexandra for sharing her characters with Treasured Tales for Young Adults, and the sisters for their gorgeous conversation.

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~  A Conversation Between the Seven Star-Nymph Sisters  ~

Merope reclined in the warm waters of the Augustine spring on top of Mount Olympus. She sat alongside her six star-nymph sisters; the Pleiades, daughters of the Titan Atlas.

“You know that book that’s been written about us?” Merope said, trying to sound casual.

Keliano corrected her. “You mean the book about you.”

“Isn’t everything about Merope?” said Elektra with a snort.

“No!” Merope protested. “Not always.”

“Things have changed since you became fond of that mortal,” Sterope said.

Taygete laughed. “Fond? Have you seen them together? Those two are way too salacious for fondness.”

“Yes, it’s monstrous,” Elektra agreed. “How do you get your lips anywhere near his mouth with that enormous nose of his?”

Merope growled at her sister. Elektra grinned back.

“What were you going to say about the book, Merope?” Maia interceded.

“Some mortals want to know about the myths which inspired it.”

Kelaino rolled her eyes. “Always about the myths – never the truth.”

“That Homer has a lot to answer for,” Alkyone said, nodding.

“I think it’s sweet,” Sterope said. “If we didn’t have the myths, how would anyone know about us?”

Maia frowned. “You do know, that Homer himself could be a myth? Mortals are starting to believe the Iliad and Odyssey were written by a collection of storytellers. The tales were passed down orally generation to generation being changed as they were retold.”

“I would believe that,” Kelaino said. “I never remember any Homer in the twelfth century BC.”

“They’re saying he was from the seventh or eighth century BC now,” Maia said. “Not from Trojan times.”

Taygete splashed at the water in front of her. “Who cares?”

“It’s sad, Tay! Homer is supposed to be the father of literature,” Sterope lamented.

“Don’t let Hermes hear you say that,” Maia replied. “He hates anyone getting credit for literature besides him.”

“Either way,” Merope said, “the Greek myths are important. They were the first mortals to write stories down, essentially inventing the book. And it happened almost 3000 years ago.”

“That’s no time at all,” Taygete objected.

“It’s a long time for them,” Merope replied.

“So they want to know about you in particular, I suppose. Not all of us Pleiad sisters?” Elektra said. “My story is pretty interesting if anyone had bothered to look into it.”

Maia ignored Elektra. “So just tell the mortals the truth – that the classic Greek myth is that your star in the Pleiades constellation is the faded one because you are ashamed of marrying a mortal.”

“As you should be,” Elektra muttered.

Maia’s voice was firm. “Elektra. Why do I need to reprimand you like a mortal child?”

“Well she should be ashamed!” Elektra retorted.

“And I was! I don’t deny that. I knew none of you would accept Lukas,” Merope said, feeling a hard lump in her throat.

“I like him,” Taygete replied. “He’s fun.”

“Only because he doesn’t have the power to smite you when you tease him,” Elektra said.

Taygete shrugged. “It could be that.”

Maia turned to Merope. “Lukas is agreeable enough. We have accepted him, Merope. He is much better than what we expected.”

“You expected a barbarian,” Merope replied with a huff.

Maia hesitated. “Well …”

“A barbarian would be better,” Elektra scoffed.

“Or Herc – why not Herc?” Alkyone suggested.

There was an awkward silence before Elektra replied between closed teeth. “Not Herc.”

Sterope sighed. “Please let’s not start on that again. Herc is everyone’s not just Merope’s, not just Elektra’s.”

“I’ll say,” Taygete said wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

“I’m going to go,” Merope said, standing up.

“Have we helped at all?” Maia asked.

Merope held her fingers a fraction apart. “A little.”

Elektra sunk further into the water and muttered, “Well that’s gratitude for you!”

Merope strode from the pool and slipped on a robe. She turned to the muse composing the piece. “Do you think that’s enough for Alishia?”

“Perhaps,” the muse replied.

Merope sighed. “Maybe you should just tell her, the author Tonya Alexandra read a book called Weight, by Jeanette Winterson about my father Atlas. She became obsessed by him and while researching she learned about me and my sisters. When she found out I was embarrassed to be in love with a mortal instead of a god she wanted to tell my story.

There are other different myths about me in Greek mythology. There is even another Merope character. But this is the myth she decided to explore because she could see the potential for love and adventure – and with Herc along for the ride, it is funny too.”

The muse smiled as she noted down Merope’s last words.

“And thank Alishia,” Merope added. “For supporting Lukas’s and my story. It will be cool to see this piece on her blog.”

The muse looked confused.

“Cool means great. And a blog – it’s like a musings on the internet.” Merope wrinkled her nose at the muse’s continued puzzlement. “Sorry, it’s an Earth thing. Don’t worry – the mortals will get it.”

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I just love the sisters’ conversation.

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Nymph (The Love Oracles #1) by Tonya Alexandra

Book description (from Goodreads) –

An idyllic Greek island.

Obsessed demigods.

A fallen nymph.

A mortal boy.

Merope, a beautiful but faded star nymph, is banished to Earth for displeasing the gods. She tries to fit in, go to school and live a normal “human” life. And then she meets Lukas … but relationships between men and goddesses are forbidden. Will their love grow? Or will Merope and Lukas feel the wrath of the gods?

Published by:  Walker Books Australia
Release date:  1st February 2014

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More information about author Tonya Alexandra and The Love Oracles series:

goodreads ~ twitter ~ website ~ facebook

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Check out all the stops on the Nymph blog tour:

Monday 17th March – Happy Indulgence
Tuesday 18th March – Nice Girls Read Books
Wednesday 19th March – Treasured Tales for Young Adults (thank you for visiting)
Thursday 20th March – Thoughts by J
Friday 21st March – whY.A.not Reviews
Saturday 22nd March – Inside my Worlds: R.L. Sharpe
Sunday 23rd March – Diva Booknerd
Monday 24th March – The Bookish Manicurist

The Disappearance of Ember Crow Blog Tour: Character Guest Post (Ember Crow)

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Hello everyone.  Today, is Treasured Tales for Young Adults’ stop on The Disappearance of Ember Crow blog tour.  I have a fantastic character guest post by Ember to share with you.  Thank you to Walker Books (especially Jaclyn) for organising the blog tour, Ambelin Kwaymullina for sharing Ember with Treasured Tales and, of course, a big thank you to Ember.

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Character Guest Post

~ Ember Crow ~

Who are you?

I wonder if you know? I wonder if you’ll tell me that you are a Citizen or an Exempt or an Illegal, as if it your status under the Citizenship Accords captures the essence of who you are. And perhaps it does. Perhaps you are a Gull City Citizen, living your life by the rolling sea waves untroubled by the greater injustices of our society. Or perhaps you are an Illegal, locked in a detention centre with a collar around your neck to block your ability, or an Exempt, walking around uncollared but never quite free. But no one is ever only one thing. And for those of us who wish to end the Accords – we must be more.

The Tribe is more. Among us are Firestarters, Runners, Boomers, Leafers … and our abilities make us Illegals. But we are also rebels. Protectors. Family, to each other and the trees and animal of the Firstwood. And we are allies, to anyone who would overturn the Citizenship Accords, whether they are Citizen, Exempt or Illegal.

So you had better know who you are – and which side you are on.

Because we are going to change the world.

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Thank you for the guest post, Ember.

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The Disappearance of Ember Crow (The Tribe #2) by Ambelin Kwaymullina

“However this ends, you’re probably going to find out some things about me, and they’re not nice things. But, Ash, even after you know, do you think you could remember the good? And whatever you end up discovering – try to think of me kindly. If you can.”

Ember Crow is missing.

To find her friend, Ashala Wolf must control her increasingly erratic and dangerous Sleepwalking ability and leave the Firstwood. But Ashala doesn’t realise that Ember is harbouring terrible secrets and is trying to shield the Tribe and all Illegals from a devastating new threat – her own past.

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More information about The Tribe series and author Ambelin Kwaymullina:

The Tribe website ~ goodreads ~ Ambelin’s website

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Check out tomorrows stop on the tour:

VeganYaNerds

Character Guest Post: Eden Newman

Hi everyone. *waves hello*  I hope you are having a nice weekend.  Today, Eden Newman (the heroine of the Save the Pearls series by author Victoria Foyt) has stopped by Treasured Tales with a character guest post.  Thank you to Victoria for sharing Eden with Treasured Tales, Matt for arranging the guest post and, of course, Eden Newman.

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(This character guest post is slightly spoiler-ish if you haven’t read Revealing Eden and Adapting Eden)

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♥♥♥ THE RETURN OF LOVE ♥♥♥

Why is it so hard to find love on this cruel, misbegotten world? Most people who live in the Tunnels believe that love is long dead, nothing more than a childish myth. But if I fulfill my destiny, that’s about to change.

Kind of ironic, isn’t it? Me, Eden Newman, a Pearl who couldn’t find a mate to save her life, literally, has somehow inherited the job of goddess of love! And it’s no easy task, either. I will have to vanquish the overblown forces of war and hate that have hardened people’s hearts and made the world so unreceptive to love’s presence.

Believe or not, love once flourished on Earth. I know because as a researcher at a big lab, I had access to many secret files where I discovered an entire cache of what were called “romance novels.” Pretty silly stuff: girl meets boy, they have a misunderstanding, girl secretly likes boy, but won’t admit it, external forces conspire to bring them together, again and again, despite themselves, and finally, the underlying confusion is cleared up, they kiss and make up, and—this part always kills me—live happily ever after, way past age forty.

Still, I confess: I could not stop reading those romance novels. The implausible but achingly tender stories stirred something foreign in me. Longing, my mother called it, when I dared to tell her the truth.

Mother said that love still existed, even in our underground, post-apocalyptic world. She believed you could see evidence of it in a smile or kind word, however rare they were. And she wasn’t the only one, either. Our adopted aunt, Emily Dickinson, spouted some amazing lines about love:

That Love is all there is

Is all we know about Love;

It is enough, the freight should be

Proportioned to the groove.

Well, now I know for sure that love and longing are real because every day my heart beats true for my beloved, Bramford. I can hardly get through an hour without wondering when I will see him again, and if he is alive and well.

Perhaps, like in those Old World novels, Bramford and I were the two most unlikely people ever to fall in love. To start with, we stood on the opposite sides of wealth and status. He was a powerful Coal, and I was a lowly Pearl. What else do you need to know?

Okay, at first I hated him. And I’m pretty sure he hated me too. He could barely look me in the eye at the lab he owned. But forces conspired to bring us together in the most unlikely place—the last patch of rainforest.

Somehow, Bramford and I overcame our differences and found love. And so must the world’s remaining population, if life will continue, as we know it. Well, not exactly as we know it—man must adapt. Adapt with love. It’s the only way.

My head is spinning at the idea of love resuming its natural place in the order of things. Will songs be written about it again? Will people mate for love, and die for love? I will, for one.

Change has to begin somewhere, why not with me? Eden Newman, newly ordained goddess of love.

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Thank you for the guest post, Eden.

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Have you read Revealing Eden and Adapting Eden (books one and two in the Save the Pearls series)

Would you like Eden’s job – to be a goddess of love?

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Adapting Eden (Save the Pearls #2)

Book description (from Goodreads) –

In the sequel to the dystopian novel, Revealing Eden, Eden Newman must adapt into a hybrid human beast if she hopes to become Ronson Bramford’s mate. She has no choice but to undergo her father’s adaptation experiment at his makeshift laboratory in the last patch of rainforest. But when the past rears its ugly head, Eden and Bramford must abandon camp along with their family and friends.

Luckily, an Aztec tribe that has survived with the aid of a healing plant provides them with sanctuary—or is it? Too late, Eden realizes she is at the center of an epic spiritual battle between love and war.To survive, she must face her deepest fears or lose everything, including the beastly man she loves.

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For more info, visit the official Save the Pearls website:

~ Save the Pearls ~