Summerwode by J. Tullos Hennig Blog Tour, Excerpt & Giveaway!

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Hi peeps, we have J Tullos Hennig popping in today with her upcoming release Summerwode, we have a great excerpt and a brilliant giveaway, so check out the post and leave a comment to enter the giveaway! <3 ~Pixie~

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Summerwode

(Wode 04)
by

J. Tullos Hennig

The Summer King has come to the Wode…

Yet to which oath, head or heart, shall he hold?

Once known as the Templar assassin Guy de Gisbourne, dispossessed noble Gamelyn Boundys has come to Sherwood Forest with conflicted oaths. One is of duty: demanding he tame the forest’s druidic secrets and bring them back to his Templar Masters. The other oath is of heat and heart: given to the outlaw Robyn Hood, avatar of the Horned Lord, and the Maiden Marion, embodiment of the Lady Huntress. The three of them—Summerlord, Winter King, and Maiden of the Spring—are bound by yet another promise, that of fate: to wield the covenant of the Shire Wode and the power of the Ceugant, the magical trine of all worlds. In this last, also, is Gamelyn conflicted; spectres of sacrifice and death haunt him.

Uneasy oaths begin a collision course when not only Gamelyn, but Robyn and Marion are summoned to the siege of Nottingham by the Queen. Her promise is that Gamelyn will regain his noble family’s honour of Tickhill, and the outlaws of the Shire Wode will have a royal pardon.

But King Richard has returned to England, and the price of his mercy might well be more than any of them can afford…

Release date: 16th May 2017
Pre-order: DSP Publications | Kobo | B&N | Amazon

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Shirewode by J. Tullos Hennig

ShirewodeLGTitle: Shirewode    

Series: The Wode 02

Author: J. Tullos Hennig     

Genre: High Fantasy, Historical (1192 – 1193 England)    

Length: Super Novel (370pgs)    

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (9th September 2013)    

Heat Level: Nil – Low    

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥♥4½ Hearts   

Reviewer: Pixie    

Blurb: The King of the Shire Wode. That is what they will call you. 

Years ago, a pagan commoner named Rob of Loxley befriended Gamelyn Boundys, a nobleman’s son, against seemingly insurmountable odds—and with horrific consequences. His home razed by order of the Church, Rob was left for dead, believing his sister, Marion, and his lover, Gamelyn, had perished.

But Gamelyn yet lives. Guilt-ridden by his unwitting betrayal of Loxley, one of the last bastions of the Old Religion, Gamelyn rides off to seek absolution in the Holy Land. Rob vanishes into the greenwode and emerges as leader of a tight-knit band of outcasts who revolt against the powers that be.

When the two lovers meet again, it will be in a brutal, blindfolded game of foxes and hounds that pits Templar assassin against Heathen outlaw. Yet the past cannot be denied, and when Rob discovers Marion is also still alive, the game turns. History will chronicle Robyn Hood and Guy of Gisbourne as the deadliest of enemies, but the reality is more complicated—and infinitely more tragic.     

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4163    

Review: This story is part of a series and must be read in order. Robyn Hood is making the nobles pay where it hurts most, in their pockets and their dignity, Robyn and his band of outlaws harry the nobles until the nobles turn to the Templar’s for aid… where Robyn will face his greatest challenge. Guy of Gisbourne is back from the Crusades with his fellow Templar’s, when he is given the task of hunting the wolfshead who has claimed the Shirewode as his own, Guy has his own personal reasons to halt the outlaw… but he discovers far more than he bargained for. Marion is in Nottingham with the Abbess lost to all that once was, but meeting the Templar she discovers just who she is and what she once was… and the vengeance beating in her heart.

At the end of Greenwode we saw how three youths lives were ripped apart, the bloody massacre that destroyed all that they loved and the fates that each were left to. Now they are 3 years older and the time has come for them to reunite. Robyn was born of Rob; he is the avatar of the Horned Lord and bids his time for his revenge, unable to forget all he lost. Robyn does what he can for those of Shirewode and now the final battle is about to begin when the Templar returns to England. Guy was born of Gamelyn, a man who has forged himself in battle and never looks back refusing to remember what he lost and burying the boy he was. Guy does Templar justice but now the time has come to face the past. Marion has been lost to herself for over three years; terrifying nightmares are all that linger of the past. Marion is about to awaken. 

This is an absolutely fantastic story that weaves history and folklore into a wonderful tale that has danger, heartbreak, and faint hope. We see what has become of our three young people after the night that tore them apart; we see how each of them has continued with life. As we progress through the story, we discover that Robyn hasn’t changed all that much but the scars linger deep. With Guy, we find that he is completely different to the Gamelyn we took to our hearts, and is now a man who is hardened by battle and has buried his heart. With Marion, we discover a lost soul who will enact vengeance once her memory is returned to her. 

The dance we see through this story of both Robyn and Guy is fascinating, just what will become of them as they face each other as enemies? Will they ever rediscover their friendship and love? Or has the past forged them into foes forever? We fall headfirst back into this incredible story as J. Tullos Hennig weaves the incredible Robin Hood folklore with the Greenman, bringing the Templar’s into play and making an incredible story come to life. We see danger and death, regret and hope, lost dreams and new beginnings and every step of the way we see the internal conflict of both Robyn and Guy. The lengths these young people go to when faced with insurmountable odds are daunting, but with the backing of the Horned God and the Lady, they all might live to see another day.  

I recommend this to those who love historicals mixed with legends, conflict and hope, reemerging feelings, justice, vengeance and the reuniting of a couple which is far from smooth sailing. 

 

 

 

Greenwode by J. Tullos Hennig

GreenwodeLGTitle: Greenwode

Series: The Wode, 01

Author: J. Tullos Hennig

Genre: High Fantasy, Historical (1185/1190), England

Length: Super Novel (350pgs)

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (18th January 2013)

Heat Level: Low

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: The Hooded One. The one to breathe the dark and light and dusk between….

When an old druid foresees this harbinger of chaos, he also sees whom it will claim: young Rob of Loxley. Rob’s mother and father, a yeoman forester and a wisewoman, have raised Rob and his sister, Marion, under a solemn duty: to take their parents’ places in the Old Religion as the manifestations of the Horned Lord and the Lady Huntress.

But when Gamelyn Boundys, son of a powerful nobleman, is injured in the forest, he and Rob begin a friendship that challenges both duty and ideology: Gamelyn is a devout follower of the Catholic Church. Rob understands the divide between peasant and noble all too well. And the old druid has foreseen that Gamelyn is destined to be Rob’s sworn enemy—to fight in a blood sacrifice for the greenwode’s Maiden.

In a risky bid for happiness, Rob dares the Horned Lord to reinterpret the ancient rites—to allow Rob to take Gamelyn as a lover instead of a rival. But in the eyes of Gamelyn’s church, lust is a sin—and sodomy is unthinkable.

Purchase Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3522

Review: Rob is the son of the forester and firmly believes in the pagan Gods; he is being groomed to take the place of his father as the Horned Lord. Gamelyn is the third son of a nobleman and is firmly steeped in the Catholic Church; he isn’t sure of his future, but has thoughts that he will join the church. When the two meet, it sets them on a course that is steeped in confusion, hope, love, betrayal and danger. Can you really take on the Gods and change the course they have placed you on?

This story takes a legend of folklore, Robin Hood, and gives us a rich, descriptive tale of his beginnings and his doomed love. Rob and Gamelyn are worlds apart; one is the son of a forester, the other the son of a nobleman. Gamelyn has no clue as to the real world; he thinks everyone is treated the same, and everyone gets the same fairness as the nobles do. Rob knows the truth of the matter, having been witness to the many injustices served to the peasants, which is made worse because many of them still worship the pagan ways.

The conflict in the book is much more spiritual than you would first think, the pagans just wanting to be left alone to live their lives, while the Christians demand penance from all who live. The setting of such an early time (1190) was a time of still great conflict for those who didn’t follow the White Christ (Jesus), a time when they were declared heathens and witches, and the Church was set to wipe them off the face of the earth. It was a time when the nobles truly believed every word written in the bible, and the nuns and monks were treated with reverence and the higher in the church they were, the more godlike they were treated. One pagan, one Christian, drawn together against the odds, finding a love that is forbidden by the church. This is one of those stories that draws you in with the mystical setting of Greenwode; it tells the tale of a young Robyn fighting against what is expected of him by the pagan ways and the destruction that befalls him because of his love. Gamelyn is stuck in a world that would never allow his love, a nobleman’s son and a peasant or two men, no matter which way that it was looked at; it was forbidden, and it shows his anguish as he tries to resolve his beliefs in God with what he sees around him.  

I loved this story for taking a legend and giving it a twist; I loved the way that it shows the clear line between peasants and nobles, and between the pagans and Christians. Both sides are shown well, drawing us into the conflict of a time that was cruel, and of the destruction caused because something is different. As we progress through the book, you really don’t know what will happen, how can these two young men be together when they are from different worlds? This book takes the Robin Hood legend and gives it a whole new standing… the beginning of a legend.

I have to recommend this to those who love folklore, mystical legends, historicals, fighting for a love against insurmountable odds, danger, betrayal and an ending that is devastating while giving you faint hope.