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Welcome to the Book Owl Word Search, or BOWS 2021!
BOWS is an interactive word search where participants collect secret words from authors' posts, learn about new books, and enter to win prizes, like signed paperbacks.
BOWS 2021 begins on May 20th at noon central time and ends on May 23rd.
This year, there are three teams--an orange team, a blue team, and a purple team. I'm on the PURPLE TEAM. To enter to win, collect the secret words from the authors on each team and enter them into the corresponding form on the main page here.
Keep reading to find my secret word and the link to continue the search!
The book I'm giving to the winner of the PURPLE TEAM giveaway is a signed paperback copy of The Marcella II: Vampires and Gods, Book One. This is an action-packed young adult paranormal romance based on Greek mythology. The ebook is currently 99 cents at all vendors. To get the ebook, go here.
Speaking of deals, The Underworld Saga Box Set, Books 1-3 (a complete trilogy) is FREE in ebook for two weeks only. This young adult paranormal romance based on Greek mythology has been described as "addictive" and "sure to thrill"--Kirkus Reviews.
The second book in my Vampires and Gods Series, Pirate Academy, releases on May 23rd. Here's a sneak peek:
Hermie followed the captain and the others back to the ship, wondering where he’d gone wrong. He thought he’d had a connection with Del, but now she wasn’t giving him the time of day. Maybe that’s how vampires were. Maybe they were incapable of having deep feelings.
The Marcella II seemed empty without the vampires there. Jinsoo asked Hermie if he wanted to play Urban Fighter, but Hermie wasn’t in the mood.
“I think I’ll go to bed,” Hermie said.
On the way to his cabin, he passed the vampire crates in the laundry room. Still troubled by Del’s aloofness, he sat on her crate and decided to wait for her. Only a few minutes had passed, however, when he thought of a better idea: He would look for her in Sicily.
Not wanting to risk the scrutiny of the others, he told no one before god-traveling from the ship to the night sky. He stopped near the peak of Mount Etna, which towered from the east coast of Sicily, near where the Mediterranean reached the Ionian Sea. He scoured the land below, searching for his vampire friends. Compared to Malta, Sicily was an enormous island, its landscape teeming with people, even at night. Where should he begin?
As he hovered there beneath the stars, wondering what to do next, he sensed Selene not far above him, making her rounds in her silver, iridescent chariot. Her long, silver hair blew in the wind, as did her long, luminous robe. Her chariot was pulled by two silver horses with manes as long and iridescent as hers.
“Hello, Hermie!” she called from above.
“Hi, Selene!” He flew toward her and stroked the manes of her horses.
“What are you doing out here, all alone?” she asked him.
“Looking for my friends. They’re, er, vampire pirates who work for Hermes.”
The moon goddess smiled. “Hecate’s friends. Yes, I know them.”
“I don’t suppose you noticed where they went tonight?” he asked, highly doubting that she had.
He was surprised when she said, “Of course, I did. What else have I to do alone in my chariot but to study the creatures of the night?”
Hermie’s mouth dropped open “Really? Wow! Could you point me in their direction?”
“La Luna Rossa,” she said. “The Red Moon. It’s a pub in Syracuse, on the coast between The Musciara Resort and Hotel Sbarcadero. It’s very old. That’s why they like it. It’s nearly as ancient as they.”
“Thanks!” Hermie cried. “Have a nice night!”
“You, too, little god. Be careful.”
Hermie flew through the windy night toward the coast of Syracuse, where the streetlights lit up the city, and music could be heard pouring from the bars and cafés and into the streets. The streets were filled with the sounds of people talking and laughing. He spotted La Luna Rossa not far from a marina filled with ships. Two men stepped from the pub and stumbled across a parking lot toward the docks. One of them was singing while the other laughed. They were passed by another man leaving the docks for the pub. La Luna Rossa appeared to be a popular place for sailors.
Hermie followed the sailor into the pub, where it was loud, smoky, and crowded, and scanned the dark room for the vampires. They weren’t difficult to spot, because they were the most beautiful people there. Mahdi and Bach played pool with sailors, who, by the appearance of blood on their wrists, seemed to have been fed upon already. Penny and Sophia sat at a table with two men who had blood stains on their necks. Taavi stood near the jukebox with a blonde in his arms swaying to the slow music. His lips pressed against the woman’s neck. Alastair sat alone at the bar, staring at Hermie with a quizzical brow. He’d probably noticed Hermie the moment he’d entered the establishment.
Hermie sat on the empty barstool beside Alastair. “Where’s Del?”
“How did you find us?” Alastair asked.
“Does it matter?”
Alastair shrugged and pushed his sandy-colored hair from his eyes.
“Where’s Del?” Hermie asked again.
“She went to the ladies’ room.”
“I didn’t think vampires…”
“She went for a drink.”
“Oh.”
Hermie glanced around for the bathrooms and, after seeing a sign, followed it down a long, narrow corridor, where a man was standing against the wall outside of the ladies’ room. Del emerged seconds later and immediately noticed Hermie. Instead of greeting him, she went into the arms of the stranger. He kissed her on the mouth. Hermie shuddered as Del kissed the stranger back.
Hermie didn’t know what to do. He resisted the urge to pulverize the mortal. Should he return to the ship with his tail between his legs? No. He refused, no matter how awkward he felt.
Approaching them, he said, “Hello, Del.”
“Who’s this kid?” the man, probably in his mid-thirties, asked. He spoke Italian.
“No one, really,” Del said with a laugh before she resumed kissing the stranger.
Hermie fumed. “Can’t I have just a moment of your time? I came a long way to talk to you.”
“You are interfering with my dinner,” she said. “I promised Lorenzo that I would take him flying. Siete pronti, Lorenzo?”
“I’m always ready for you, Del,” he said.
So, he wasn’t a stranger, Hermie thought.
Go away, Hermie, Del said to him telepathically.
But, I don’t understand. I thought we were…friends.
Friends? With, what did you call it? An animal magnetism? A chemistry?
Yes.
To Lorenzo, she said, “Un momento per favore.”
She took a few steps toward Hermie, until they were so close that he could reach out and touch her long, curly hair, if he dared.
“You need to understand something,” she said. “The sooner you get it, the better.”
“I’m listening,” Hermie said, feeling lost in her deep, dark eyes. Was she mesmerizing him? No. She had once told him that her powers only affected mortals, not gods.
“We are on a team with an important mission. There is no room for romantic entanglements.”
“But, Del…”
“Besides, we both know it could never work. What happened to Mina—what I did to Mina—will always be between us.”
Before Hermie could object, Del flew to Lorenzo with lightning speed and vanished from the corridor.
Hermie thought of following her, but, in the end, he returned to the Marcella II.
To continue the search, you need to know that my SECRET WORD IS PROMETHEUS, a main character in this series.
If you'd like a chance to win a paperback copy of Pirate Academy, which releases on May 23rd, along with a digital coloring book of scenes from the story, simply follow me on Instagram at @evapohler and comment on my BOWS post.
To continue the search, please visit author Rhonda Hopkins here.
If you get lost, you can find links to all the authors on each team here.
Good luck and Happy Searching!