Blog Tour: My Name Is A'yen

Today, I welcome Rachel Leigh Smith to my blog. She is touring her brand new book, "My Name Is A'yen." When I first read a snippet from this book, I was intrigued by the main character, who happens to share my profession. An Archaeologist in space with romance? Yes please!

There was one little problem, 'archaeologist' was spelled wrong. It's a common mistake to spell it 'archeologist.' Unfortunately, this annoying misspelling permeates literature everywhere.

I wasn't sure if I should correct the author. It would be the very first interaction with Rachel and I didn't want to come across the wrong way. I went ahead anyway. If I could get the spelling corrected in one piece of fiction, I would be ecstatic. Rachel was more than happy to correct it and we have been talking ever since! When she started touring the book, I just had to host her! I'm very excited about this release!

Without further rambling, here's Rachel with a snippet of her Archaeologist at work:

Rachel Leigh Smith:

 

I met Kyndra not long after I joined the Science Fiction Romance Brigade and started participating in The SFR Brigade Presents. She corrected me on my spelling of 'archaeologist' and told me she was one. Cool! I’d never met an Archaeologist before.

The heroine of My Name Is A’yen, Farran Hart, is an Archaeologist determined to find the Loks Mé homeworld. A’yen, a Loks Mé, believes it’s a myth and never existed. The novel is set in Earth year 5231, so I made up most of the stuff Fae does, based on my basic knowledge of archaeology which comes from watching a lot of Egypt and Biblical documentaries.

I promised Kyndra an excerpt of Fae practicing her art, and here it is. The beetle is a recurring motif in Loks Mé culture. For the full scoop on it and what it means, you’ll have to read the book.

All her dates were wrong. Pete’s discovery of the year the recording had been made shook the foundations of history. Exactly two thousand years ago. How much of history had the mysterious Social Union rewritten? Or more appropriately, the Marcasians via the Union.

She hiked the ramp out of the dig and turned to survey the work. The last ten days, they’d focused on the wall. It now stretched fifty-three feet in a straight line. Chunks were missing, like a giant fist had punched through the stone, and she still hadn’t figured out how it happened.

“Dr. Hart, you need to come see this.” One of the grad assistants waved his hat in the air and she jogged over to him. A slab of stone met her gaze. “I think it’s a lid of some kind.”

She worked her way down the side, careful not to touch the stone with her feet. Bending over, she ran her fingers across the exposed edges. “I think you’re right.”

An indention in the stone caught her attention. No brush in her pocket, so she used her hand, then blew on it. A beetle. “A’yen, come here a minute.”

“I’m already scanning it in.”

She lifted her head, found him standing above her, scanner in hand. “There’s something I want to show you.”

He tucked the scanner in his pocket and joined her beside the stone. His eyes widened when he saw the beetle, and he held his hand to it. Nothing happened. “What do these things mean?” His whisper carried to her ears alone.

“I wish I knew.” She stood. Looking down at his back, the muscles across his shoulders and neck tensed. He covered the beetle again, leaned closer, pressed his ear against the stone.

“We need to open it.”

Bio: Rachel Leigh Smith writes romance for the hero lover. She lives in central Louisiana with her family and a half-crazed calico. When not writing, which isn’t often, she’s hanging with her family, doing counted cross-stitch, or yakking about life, the universe, and everything with her besties. There may also be Netflix binging . . .

She blogs sporadically at www.rachelleighsmith.com, can be found on Twitter @rachelleighgeek, and hangs out on Facebook, www.facebook.com/rachelleighsmithauthor. You can sign up for her newsletter here.

Buy Links:

Kindle

Nook

Kobo

iBooks

Google Play

Blurb:

They've taken everything from him. Except his name.

The Loks Mé have been slaves for so long, freedom is a distant myth A'yen Mesu no longer believes. A year in holding, because of his master's murder, has sucked the life from him. Archaeologist Farran Hart buys him to protect her on an expedition to the Rim, the last unexplored quadrant.

Farran believes the Loks Mé once lived on the Rim and is determined to prove it. And win A'yen's trust. But she's a breeder's daughter and can't be trusted.

Hidden rooms, information caches and messages from a long-dead king change A'yen's mind about her importance. When she's threatened he offers himself in exchange, and lands on the Breeder's Association's radar. The truth must be told. Even if it costs him his heart.

 

Question for readers: Who is your favorite romance hero?

 

 

Hello dear readers. Rachel Leigh Smith is having a giveaway to celebrate her new release! I love that it looks like an artifact, like ancient jewelry.

 

 

 

Rafflecopter code: a Rafflecopter giveaway