NBtM Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: The Virus of Beauty Series by C.B. Lyall

Welcome to my stop on the NBtM virtual book tour for The Virus of Beauty Series by C.B. Lyall. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the first book as well as a fantastic guest post from the author. There's also the tour wide giveaway for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card. Be sure to visit the other stops on the tour for more content. Enjoy!

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Title: The Virus of Beauty

Series: The Virus of Beauty #1

Author: C.B. Lyall

Publisher: Hazel Publishing Company

Publication Date: November 16th 2020

Print Length: 243 pages

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

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Ugliness is power, and the Virus of Beauty is spreading causing panic throughout the witch population.

Wilf Gilvary is a teenage wizard who is terrified of using magic. When his father dies under mysterious circumstances, Wilf is plunged into the middle of a political struggle between the witches and wizards in the Magical Realm. He’d rather play soccer than practice magic, but he’s forced to make a choice between the life of a normal Hong Kong teen and one of wizardry after a powerful virus begins to decimate the witch community. The cure is spellbound in a journal Wilf inherited from his father and when his friend Katryna contracts the virus, Wilf understands that he must overcome his fear of magic to unlock the journal’s secrets – but will it be too late to save her?

Goodreads * Amazon

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EXCERPT:

“You’re late,” Enzo said, leaning against the bamboo scaffolding enclosing the sidewalk. “Another couple of minutes and I’d have left.” His friend had inherited his Italian father’s dark curly hair and olive skin, but his almond-shaped hazel eyes came from his Chinese mother. Wilf hadn’t inherited any of his mother’s Chinese characteristics. He was his father’s double, an all-Anglo-Saxon mixture with dark hair and gray eyes.

“Tell me something I don’t know. I’m lucky to be here at all.”

“Your old man at you again?”

Wilf nodded and cut hard to his left around a group of tourists blocking the street. In accented English, their guide explained the history and architectural value of the blue house with its wrought-iron balconies, old style wooden staircases and no running water.

Wilf stormed forward with Enzo flanking his right wing.

“Tunnel or dragon?” Wilf asked, pausing at the end of the street.

“Dragon. We should pay our respects for the luck we had in last night’s match,” Enzo said, heading down Morrison Hill to the giant golden dragon that guarded the entrance to Causeway Bay.

“That wasn’t luck, it was pure skill.” Wilf reached over to stroke the dragon’s nose.

“A bicycle-kick goal from that angle? Pure wizardry.” Enzo turned to watch a group of chattering girls walk past.

Wilf gasped as his wizard’s tattoo tingled.

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Title: The Veil of Corruption

Series: The Virus of Beauty #2

Author: C.B. Lyall

Publisher: Hazel Publishing Company

Publication Date: November 23rd 2020

Print Length: 302 pages

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

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Witches and magic are taking over Wilf's life.

After being thrust into a long-standing conflict between the witches and wizards that has destabilized the Magical Realm and finding the antidote for the Virus of Beauty, Wilf would like to return to his normal soccer playing teenage life. But he can’t rest until his stepsister, Myra, is caught and brought to justice. It’s been three days since Myra took to the skies above Hong Kong and disappeared. Now Wilf is accused of corrupting the Veil, a defensive barrier between the witch and wizard cities. As the spell expands throughout the magical realm it is attacking witches and wizards. But Wilf would rather embrace his witch friend, Katryna, than his wizard powers. When evil forces have other plans and they kidnap Katryna, Wilf realizes that he’d do anything to save her and the Magical Realm, even if it means risking his own life by connecting to the primary source of all magic.

Goodreads * Amazon

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Title: The Vassal of Magic

Series: The Virus of Beauty #3

Author: C.B. Lyall

Publisher: Hazel Publishing Company

Publication Date: May 19th 2022

Print Length: 320 pages

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

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Wilf Gilvary is a slave to the magic he hates.

Yet his powers seem a solution for saving the Magical Realm and Katryna, the girl he loves. If only he could figure out how to tap his magic’s full potential.

As factions of witches and wizards vie for control of the Magical Realm, Wilf embarks on a harrowing journey that plunges him into the realm’s ancient secrets. At first, Wilf begins to doubt everything. His affection for Katryna might be the remnants of a broken love spell. And he still struggles to control his magic.

But Wilf risks his life to learn more about his powers and his destiny. It leaves him facing an impossible choice: forever abandon his dreams of life as a Normal in Hong Kong, or allow magic and the Magical Realm to perish from the world.

Goodreads * Amazon

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Carolyn Lyall was born in Stockton-On-Tees, United Kingdom. As a child Carolyn growing up in Northern England in the sixties Carolyn loved sports, reading and amateur dramatics. She joined a renaissance group, practiced the broadsword and dreamed of visiting other worlds. Her passion for what could be drove her forward when faced with everyday struggles. Her first memorable skirmish with gender inequality came at nine-years old when she was told that only boys were allowed to play soccer. In response, she simply refused to do any classwork until they changed their old-fashioned policies. She won that battle.

At the age of 18, she took a role as typist for a nursing school in Middlesbrough. She then moved to London and enrolled in night school. She was quickly recognized for her ability to fit in anywhere and for not being afraid to push back on the predominantly male leadership. She eventually became a project manager in software development and micro-computers, bridging the gap between computer programmers and management.

Her dream to travel was finally realized in 1990 when she moved to New York City, USA with her husband and the first of three sons. This was the steppingstone to a lifelong adventure that has taken her and her family to India, Belgium and Hong Kong.

Raising her family in multiple countries around the world, she saw that each move, while a shock, was an opportunity for her sons to redefine themselves against new challenges and different cultural norms. Now, that her sons have left home, Carolyn has used her passion for the fantastic to create a world where every day gender inequalities are at the forefront of a world ending conflict. She shares this story through the eyes of a young man who is suddenly thrust into this new world along with all of his own woes and prejudices. The introduction to this world was in Carolyn’s debut YA fantasy novel, “The Virus of Beauty,” released July 31, 2019 under C B Lyall.

Carolyn has published two short stories in an annual anthology by 25 Servings of Soop. She wrote a number of articles for the American Women’s Associates Magazine. Fueled by her love of the works of Terry Pratchett, Sarah J Maas, Cassandra Clare, Brandon Sanderson and others, Carolyn has completed a number of writing courses, which included a Master Fantasy/Science Fiction writers course with Gotham Writers’ Workshop, a YA Voice class and Advance Novel Writing course at Sarah Lawrence College’s Writing Institute.

Website * Amazon * Facebook *

Goodreads * Instagram * Twitter

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GUEST POST:

Background of The Virus of Beauty Series
by C.B. Lyall

When I first began writing this series I lived in Hong Kong. The story was supposed to be a short story for a workshop. I Knew my protagonist would be called Wilf, he’d live above a souvenir store in Hong Kong’s Central District, and he’d hate magic. That was it. As my story progressed Ermentrude arrived – a mature witch from another realm. Her role was to start Wilf on his journey to accepting he was a wizard. A virus was attacking witch magic and, since ugliness is an outward sign of power, the witches were becoming beautiful. Wilf was the only person who could gain access to an antidote contained within a spell-bound journal. The story’s end was Wilf agreeing to help and leaving with Ermentrude for the Magical Realm. My instructor liked my characters, setting and storyline, but she advised me that I was writing a novel not a short story.

As I developed the storyline, Wilf became a sixteen-years-old, soccer player, who had a contentious relationship with his father, Reginald, due to Wilf’s unwillingness to use magic. From there the story grew with additional sub-plots and characters. I went on to develop the rules of magic for the story and imagine the topography of the Magical Realm.

It took me three years to write The Virus of Beauty – Book 1. In that time, we relocated from Hong Kong back to New York. Since then, my initial short story developed into a three-book series.

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GIVEAWAY:

C.B. Lyall will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to one randomly chosen winner via Rafflecopter. Good luck!

(All the Ups and Downs is not responsible for this giveaway, its entries, or the prize. Goddess Fish Promotions and the author assume all responsibility over this giveaway.)

a Rafflecopter giveaway