Virtual Book Tour and Giveaway: Searching (Dragons of New York #1) by Rachel Graves

Welcome to my stop on the virtual book tour for Searching by Rachel Graves. This book tour was organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. On my stop, I have an excerpt from the book as well as a great guest post about magic in books! 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: Searching

Series: Dragons of New York #1

Author: Rachel Graves

Publication Date: October 17th 2022

Print Length: 443 pages

Genre: Urban Fantasy

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A dragon terrified of being discovered by the government, Ravenna Drake is constantly on the move. When the woman who raised her gets cancer, Ravenna trades her nomadic work restoring black market magical goods for a steady job. But her cautious life ends after her name is found at the scene of a werewolf murder.

Dr. Ian Chen, a sorcerer bonded to a powerful relic, works for the government treating supernatural citizens. He insists on investigating when his patient’s body is discovered completely drained of blood. His search leads him to the beautiful but frustrating Ravenna Drake, who refuses to stay away from the case or follow his instructions.

As more bloodless bodies surface, threats from secret societies and corrupt politicians force the dragon and the sorcerer to work together. If Ravenna and Ian can’t catch the killer, the people they love the most may be the next to die.

Amazon

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EXCERPT:

His foot reached out to blur the circle and the ghost changed. Agony forced every other emotion aside. He couldn’t breathe, a heavy weight settled on his chest. Panic set in as he wheezed, his heart racing the way hers had raced. Was he experiencing her last minutes or just panicking at the emotions? Could he trust himself? Darkness started to crowd the edges of his vision. Not enough air. Sweat broke out along his back. Somewhere, Cloak was saying something, but he couldn’t hear it over the pounding of blood in his ears. He was going to die here. The blackness got closer.

“No.” The flood of emotions stopped immediately, as Drake stepped in front of him. “That’s not how this works. You don’t get to scream at him.”

His head throbbed, stinging like acid dripping down his face, but he could breathe again. The darkness receded. The first thing he saw was Drake moving into the center of the stain, acting as if the blood wasn’t there.

“I’ll give you enough energy to manifest, but start screaming again and I will end you, even if we haven’t heard a damn thing you’ve got to say. Understand?” She paused, then reached her hand out. A shaft of sunlight came in through the window and her hand seemed to glow. Then the end of it disappeared, replaced with a chest. The shape grew outward, a filmy light turning into a woman. The process took less than a minute, and he heard the sheriff whisper to God.

“Dr. Chen, she can talk to you now.” Drake said it with a very deliberate emphasis on the word talk. Whatever the ghost intended, it wasn’t going to stand up to her. A deep surge of gratitude coursed through him.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rachel Graves writes mysteries that blend the supernatural with steamy, sexy scenes. Her work explores the many shades of gray found between the lines of right and wrong. Rachel's books focus on strong heroines who take charge of their own fate, their friends, and their families. Rachel is a member of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and uses research skills honed getting a graduate degree in psychology to seek out rare folklore and magical creatures. Her writing incorporates popular monsters like vampires and werewolves as well as diverse creatures like selkies and yuki onna. Rachel has lived in a cursed town, taken far too many ghost tours, and counts down to every Halloween starting in November.

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GUEST POST:

Making the Magic Happen
by Rachel Graves

One of the requirements for an Urban Fantasy novel is an element of magic. Whether it’s fairies, vampires, ghosts, or witches, eventually a UF novel has to include a fantasy element. Afterall, it’s right there in the name! But building a magical world, or even just adding a light dusting of magical characters to a book, isn’t easy. There have to be rules about how magic works and why. After an author has decided on all of those rules, they can write to them, to keep the story realistic. Sadly, they almost never get a chance to list them all out.

Which is what I’m about to do.

In Searching, Dragons of New York, Ian is a trauma surgeon whose life is grounded in science. He might be a practicing sorcerer, but he doesn’t believe in hunches, gut instincts, or making a guess to see where it takes you. For Ian, magic is very much like pharmaceutical drugs. If you can identify the type of magic, you know what it will do to a person and you can counteract it.

In contrast, Ravenna, the dragon, is a creature made of magic. She can shift into a form that’s pure magic, a golden mist. She’s never worried about how the magic works, because it’s a part of her. Just like people don’t walk around reminding themselves to breathe, Ravenna never worries that magic won’t be there when she needs it.

Magic is an energy, found in the ley lines – sometimes called dragon lines. Sorcerers and people doing spells can draw that energy out and control it. They may even choose to store it. If the object they use to store magic in is simply a battery, or a simple machine doing one thing over and over, it’s an artifact. If the object is sentient, has a goal and works to achieve it, that’s a relic.

Ravenna makes her living restoring both artifacts and relics, using her instinctive knowledge of magic to work safely where human researchers might end up hurt. When she moves into her third form, the one that’s pure magic, she can share her energy with the relics and artifacts around her. Magic that’s shared is increased. When Raven ends her time sharing magical energy with the objects she has restored, she comes back to her human form feeling refreshed and confident. It’s the equivalent of a great massage followed by a strong cup of energizing tea.

For Ian, magic is a thing to be understood and controlled. His spells are a method he uses to harness that energy, making it do what he wants. When he first starts using a spell, any spell, it takes practice, but eventually the spell becomes a habit. His spell work is like someone texting. It might take a few weeks to get the hang of it, but eventually you’re typing with your thumbs and adding emojis, barely looking at the screen.

Both of my main characters have to deal with the unbelievers of the world, people who refuse to accept that magic is actually happening. For Ravenna it’s usually museum patrons that manhandle artifacts without realizing the danger they’re in, while Ian has to deal with cops who think magic is just a convenient excuse or some type of scam. Because, of course, magic can’t do everything. People can still be jerks, even in a fantasy world.

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GIVEAWAY:

Rachel Graves will be awarding a $50 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to one randomly drawn 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