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Synopsis:
From NEW YORK TIMES & USA TODAY bestselling author, Tamara Rose Blodgett
Volumes 1-6 available now!
The Pearl Savage—where 19th century Victorian America collides with biospheres fueled by steam-punk technology. An epic romance between a "fated" princess and a Savage unfolds despite every obstacle thrown in their way...
Clara Williamson is a princess living in a dark post-apocalyptic future of bio-spheres fashioned to
protect 1890s America. A time when marriages are arranged for things other than love. When her
sadistic mother betroths her to an abusive prince from a neighboring sphere to secure their future in illicit trade, Clara determines to escape.
Leaving a life of familiar terror behind, she embraces the dangers of Outside that no one from the
spheres has seen in nearly a century and a half.
Clara escapes tyranny only to discover the sphere-dwellers are not the only people who survived the cataclysmic events of one hundred forty years prior. She finds herself trapped, unable to return to the abusive life of the sphere while facing certain danger Outside.
Can Clara find love and freedom with the peril that threatens to consume her?
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Genre:
Young Adult: Steampunk/Fantasy
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Excerpt:
“You lie.” She stood in her swirling gown of deep purple, her favorite color. A long, sensuous rope of black pearls looped and knotted around her throat, reaching her knees. Samuel's pearls, only the rarest for Ada. She never thought of her mother as such, it was always Ada, or The Queen.
“I do not. I was taking my leave before this celebration,” Clara turned to the many faces, some of which she was close enough to reach out and touch, and spoke to them, giving her back to Ada, a brave thing, “and saw him at the border of the Forest which lays Outside.”
More gasping. The sightings of the savages had increased in number, along with the sentries at the critical sphere passages between kingdoms.
Charles grasped her elbows, turning her to face him. “You say you saw one? How close, Cla...
Princess,” Charles corrected.
“I ask the questions here, not you.” The Queen turned her fearsome expression to Clara. “Perchance you use this ridiculous story as a ruse to grant you my mercy for the disrespect you show us by your lateness.” She looked at Clara, for all her drink, brightly and with a keenness that Clara knew very well.
Clara ignored the question, hoping to distract with her tale.
“He ran with great speed to my window which faces Outside.” Many voices began at once and Clara was forced to stop her commentary.
“Silence!” Queen Ada bellowed and the crowdsʼ voices faded.
Ada swung her attention to Frederick.
“What say you? Does my daughter bear tales?”
As if he would have a fig's reckoning of her state of mind.
Frederick glared down at Clara, she was a terrible but necessary inconvenience. One he would obtain to further his wealth, she was but a pawn on his kingdom's chessboard.
Frederick sat slightly lower and to the left of Ada, the King of Kentucky to Ada's right. It was he, not Frederick, who answered, “If I may, I feel disinclined Princess Clara would falsify such a tale at a time when these savages are unveiling their presence.”
Clara gulped back her anxiety, eternally thankful for King Otto, who inadvertently paved the way for her next comment, “I may know why they survive Outside,” the silence was that of a tomb but Clara continued, “the male had...” Clara gestured to the slender column of her neck, and the many faces of the crowd followed her motion, “...gills. They appear to aid in his breathing.”
Excited conversations exploded all around Clara, and she hazarded a look at Queen Ada—who looked as though her breath had been robbed, sitting down in a very un-royal heap upon her throne.
Charles studied Clara, his hand still encircling an elbow when Prince Frederick was suddenly there.
“Unhand my betrothed, Mr. Pierce.”
Charles stared at the Prince with an unwavering gaze, his brown eyes steady, his fingers loosening... then falling away. Clara looked at Charles, her eyes warning him. She saw in his gaze a wish to maim, which would not do—it would not do at all. Her gaze traveled and found the Prince's
guards.
“Come Clara,” he said her name with an intimacy he would never earn, “sit beside your future king.”
Clara would rather drown in the oyster fields than be near him. She turned to look at Charles, and he mouthed, I will be here.
Clara lifted her skirts to assure her footing as she climbed the dais, sitting in the small, gilded throne at the lower left of Ada. She was sandwiched between the loathsome Prince and her drunken mother. The one who would whore her for free grapes, giving up their precious legacy of pearls for Queen Ada's love of the cup.
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About Tamara Rose Blodgett:
Tamara Rose Blodgett is the author of over forty titles, including her New York Times and USA Today bestselling novel, A Terrible Love, written under the pen name Marata Eros. Tamara writes a variety of dark fiction in the genres of fantasy, science fiction, romance and erotica. She lives in South Dakota with her family and enjoys interacting with her readers.
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