The first in the Dobrenica Urban Fantasy Series.
Young Aurelia Kim Murray is in Europe seeking information on her family's past. Her grandmother has become mysteriously mute and unresponsive after saying "Your mother is too gentle, I cannot ask her to seal the breach." Driven by an unexplainable urgency, she is following the few clues her family provided when she meets a handsome stranger who seems to recognize her... and awakes the next morning locked in a train compartment.
Kim draws deeply on her bravery and stubborn nature as she confronts the family her grandmother left behind. The danger increases the closer she comes to the answers she seeks. In order to find the truth, she must adjust her view of the world to accept a new reality and open her heart to love.
Not your standard urban fantasy, CORONETS AND STEEL is mostly based in the mundane world until Kim enters the country of her ancestors. In Dobrenia, magic lives side-by -side with religion, ancient ceremony blends with modern amenities, and roses are grown to defend against vampires.
Sherwood Smith skillfully builds tension almost imperceptibly, and keeps the reader off balance and guessing until the final page.
In this new fantasy series, a young woman takes her own
destiny by the hand-and the hilt. California
girl Kim Murray is unsatisfied with grad school and restless
in life. Modern men disappoint her, and she studies ballet
and fencing because they remind her of older, more romantic
times. She lives with her parents and her beloved
but secretive aristocratic grandmother, who speaks only
French and refuses to share stories about the mysterious
family she left behind in Europe, inspiring Kim to travel
there and find her roots. Kim soon finds herself
swept up in an adventure of fantastic deceptions and
passionate intrigue-and a shocking realization about her own
bloodline that leaves her reeling.
No excerpt available.
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