I am thrilled to be hosting a spot
on the DELPHINE AND THE DARK THREAD by Alyssa Moon Blog Tour hosted by Rockstar Book Tours. Check out
my post and make sure to enter the giveaway!
About The Book:
Author: Alyssa Moon
Pub. Date: August 30, 2022
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Formats: Hardcover, eBook, Audiobook
Pages: 320
Find it: Goodreads, Amazon, Kindle, Audible, B&N, iBooks, Kobo, TBD, Bookshop.org
This sequel to Delphine and the Silver Needle delivers action, adventure, and magic in the most unexpected places.
Fresh off the heels of King Midnight's rat-army invasion at the Winterberry
Ball, Delphine, Alexander, and Cornichonne are on the run, making their way
through the far reaches of Peltinore. Unlikely allies pop up at every turn, but
so do new enemies. While evading the rats hot on their tails, the trio uncovers
new clues about the legendary Threaded tailor mice, including surprising
discoveries about Delphine's magical needle. And as Delphine's powers grow
stronger, she realizes she may need to head straight into Midnight's lair and
confront the villain herself.
Will Delphine solve the mystery of the Threaded and save the kingdom from
the nefarious rat king before it's too late?
Grab book 1, DELPHINE AND THE SILVER NEEDLE Now!
Excerpt:
Prologue
The wall
that had stood around the mouse city for centuries was crumbling. The invading
rats were strong enough to claw straight through the stone. Inside, they
streamed past the little farms toward the center of the mouse city. They ransacked
homes, dragging innocent residents into the streets. Somewhere, a pinkie
mouse was crying.
The rats
reached the elegant city square. Broad flagstones stretched toward a
stone fountain. From high above, mice
watched in
terror. The attackers spread, seizing torches from wall sconces. They
smashed windows and threw the torches inside. Within moments, acrid smoke
was curling angrily from the buildings.
At the edge
of the square, a dappled mouse snuck out of a doorway, hood pulled down
low. She held a scroll in one paw with a hastily scrawled warning to the
other mouse cities. If she could escape unnoticed . . .
She tiptoed
through the shadows, holding her breath, but a loose flagstone rattled
beneath her paw. The sound was enough to attract the attention of the
closest rat. He reached her with a single bound. She lashed out with her
claws and he lashed back, throwing the mouse halfway across the square.
She hit the side of the stone fountain and fell to the cobblestones.
“Find that
needle!” screamed the rat leader, his fangs dripping with foam. “Find the
mouse with the needle! For Midnight!”
The rats
redoubled their attacks, tearing doors off hinges and ripping through
walls. Screams echoed through the broad streets. No corner of the city
was safe.
The mice
could no longer defend their home. They turned tail and fled as the rats
pursued them.
Next to the
fountain at the center of the square, the dappled mouse lay crumpled
against the rose vines that grew around the base. Two stone mice stood at
the center of the fountain, gazing up at the golden spindle balanced
between their paws.
A thin
stream of shining water flowed down from the spindle like a silver
thread. The dappled mouse’s eyes fluttered open. With great determination,
she lifted her head to look up at the stone mice. “Arachne and Rhapso,
watch over my city . . . ,” she began, but her words came thick. She
gasped and fell back to the ground.
The air
around the two stone mice shimmered silver for a moment, then drifted
onto the rose vines. The statues remained cold and solid. But the thorns
of the rose vines were now silver.
The rats had
torn apart the city and found nothing. They moved on, hunting for the
mouse with the needle. They would not fail, no matter how many cities
they had to destroy.
In the mouse
city, the fires burned, staining the stone walls black with soot. Not
until snow began to flutter downward did the flames succumb. Soon, the
ruins of the silent city lay under a blanket of white. Only the figures
of Arachne and Rhapso remained, their stone eyes gazing into the
distance.
The war had
begun.
Chapter 1
“Cornichonne
your face!” Delphine couldn’t help laughing at the sight of the cat standing in
the snow. Frozen droplets hung from her friend’s short whiskers like tiny
icicles. “Yesh. This always happens to me when it’s cold,” Cornichonne
said in her gravelly voice. She exhaled and her moist breath escaped into
the wintry air, where it formed another layer of frosty crystals on her
flat face.
They were
standing at the mouth of an abandoned badger
burrow,
looking out at the forest. The sun was so weak that it barely managed to
break through the tree branches. Delphine clutched her needle, running
her paws along the engravings on the shining silver shaft. Somewhere out
there lay the next step on the trail of her ancestor, and perhaps the key
to Delphine’s true identity. But something else awaited her, too: King
Midnight, the murderous rat who would stop at nothing to get his claws
on Delphine’s magic needle.
“Alexander?”
Delphine turned and glanced back into the burrow. “Are you ready?”
“Hmm?”
Alexander emerged, swirling his creamy velvet cloak around him. It was
already the worse for wear after a week of living inside the dusty hole
in the ground. But he held his head high and managed a courtly grin. “My
lady, I am as ready as the day I slew the hawkworms.”
Delphine
smiled, despite her worries. The rats were still out there, searching the
forests. Her mind jumped back to the terrible night they had fled Château
Trois Arbres—how the rats had rampaged through the halls, taking down the
mice who were there for the Winterberry Ball. Delphine had realized
that the only way to protect everyone was to flee the château. She was
the one the rats were after. But what had happened to Princess
Petits-Oiseaux . . . and her pawmaids . . . and the footmice . . . and
the princess’s pet bumblebee? Delphine could only hope that they had all
made it to safety.
Now Delphine
feared it wouldn’t be long before the rats tracked them down in the dim
wood. “Then let’s get going. We’ve lost some time.”
Cornichonne’s
golden eyes widened. “How long was I asleep?”
Delphine
tried to remember. “Four days, I think? It’s fine. You needed to rest.”
The cat had collapsed to the ground after they had escaped the rats, and
no wonder: she had run straight through the night in order to save
them.
“I do feel
better,” Cornichonne said with a yawn. Drool dripped from her fang onto
the snow and froze.
Delphine
reached up and patted her friend’s tiny nose. “Good.”
They
strapped their makeshift saddlebags to the cat, and Delphine gave yet
another silent thank-you that the ballgown she’d been wearing when they
escaped included so many petticoats. She had gladly sacrificed several of
them to sew into saddlebags so they could carry the roots they had dug
out of the walls of the burrow. They were withered but would serve
as meager rations on the road.
Delphine
shivered, her paws already half-frozen through her thin silk dancing
slippers. She could see Alexander was trembling as well. “We need to find
better clothing,” she said. Her stomach growled. “And more food. Not to
mention shelter.”
“Just the
basics in Mouselow’s Hierarchy of Needs,” Alexander replied, ever
cheerful.
Delphine
felt grateful for his positive outlook, especially when 9
things were
dire. But she still couldn’t stop worrying. Why had she been entrusted
with a needle of the Threaded? For years, it had hung above her bed at
Château Desjardins, where she’d been found on the doorstep as a baby. Her
maman (oh, how she missed Maman!) had kept it—as well as the cloth bundle
in which she’d been wrapped—so Delphine would have mementos of her
mysterious past. But until very recently, the needle had lain
dormant.
Why could
she now tap into the needle’s ancient magic? Was it her fault that the
treaty with the rats had been broken, putting the entire kingdom of
Peltinore in danger from King Midnight? And if so, what could she, a mere
seamstress mouse, possibly do to stop him? Maman would say to solve any
problem, one must start by finding the knot. The trouble was, everything
felt so tangled. What Delphine wouldn’t do to be back at Château
Desjardins, talking it all through with Maman over their Friday croissant
crumbs and hot barley tea.
Sighing,
Delphine settled herself on Cornichonne’s back and watched Alexander
finish strapping his decorative scabbard around his waist. It was an
elaborate affair, complete with the dress sword that had come with his
ensemble for the Winterberry Ball. Luckily he also had the sharpened rat
dagger he had snatched up as they fled, a dagger large enough to
serve as a sword for a mouse. He tucked that one into the strap of
his scabbard over the other hip, and bowed in her direction.
Delphine had
to laugh. “Always perfectly dressed for the occasion!” she teased as he
climbed up behind her. Cornichonne twitched one of her ears. “Which way?”
“Let’s head north,” Delphine replied after a moment. Cornichonne nodded
and set off through the thick, dark forest. “Why north?” said Alexander,
pressed up close behind her to keep them both warm.
“It’s the
opposite direction from home. It’s the best I could think of for
now.”
“Fair enough.”
The ancient
trees hung heavy with frozen webs of moss. Delphine began to relax as
Cornichonne padded along. The cat sang softly to herself.
Pollywogs
have froggy tails,
Slimier
than curtain snails,
Over
under over under,
Stop
before you make a blunder,
Tie a
tiny bow on top and go.
See a
fish and make a wish,
Put it in
a cooking dish,
Over
under over under,
Listen
for the coming thunder,
Tie a
tiny bow on top and go.
The song
went on like this for some time, until Delphine had stopped wondering
what it all meant and started wondering how in the world Cornichonne
could remember so many verses. Just then, Alexander poked his nose into
the top edge of her travel cloak. It felt like someone had pressed an
icicle onto her neck.
“Alexander! Stop
that!”
He pulled
back sheepishly. “My nose is cold.”
“You need a
nose like mine,” said Cornichonne. “Flat. It’s perfect.”
“Cornichonne
has a nose?” Alexander stage-whispered. “I heard that,” said the cat with a
snuffle.
At that
moment, a growl sounded in the trees nearby. All three travelers
stiffened.
“Wait—”
Alexander’s nose twitched. The smells of roasting potatoes and wood smoke
wafted toward them, along with more snorting sounds. They relaxed. The
noises weren’t growls; they were snores. Someone was napping by a
campfire.
Alexander
slid down from Cornichonne’s back and drew his rat-dagger sword. “Sounds
like the owner of those potatoes isn’t guarding them very well,” he said
in a low voice. “Anyone else fancy some lunch?”
“Are you sure
that’s a good idea?” whispered Delphine. “Only one way to find out.” He flashed
her an insouciant grin and disappeared between the trees.
Delphine
hopped off Cornichonne. The cat immediately sat down and began to groom
her paws. “Aren’t you worried?” said Delphine.
“Whatever
that creature is, it’s asleep,” pointed out Cornichonne. She licked
another chunk of ice from between her toes. “Just don’t wake it
up.”
Delphine
pushed her way between the branches in the direction Alexander had gone,
following the smell of roasted vegetables. She found him peeking between
the fronds of a dead fern, blocking her view.
“What do you
see?” she hissed, trying to see around him. His ears went pale. “Uh, Delfie,”
he whispered through clenched teeth, “I think we should go back now. No
potato is worth that risk.”
“Why?” She
stood on tiptoe, finally managing to peer over his shoulder. A squeak of
horror escaped her.
In a little
clearing lay a rat next to a campfire. It was indeed asleep, its head
thrown back with its mouth hanging open. As they watched, another
bone-rattling snore escaped. The sight made Delphine’s blood run as cold
as Lucifer the cat always had back at Château Desjardins. She squeaked
again.
Alexander’s
paw pressed against her mouth. “Shhh!” They retreated, one slow step at a time.
They had almost reached Cornichonne when an unpleasant grumble
erupted behind them. The rat was waking up.
“Go!” They
abandoned stealth and scrambled back onto the cat’s back. Cornichonne
leapt forward and the rat sounds faded into the distance.
When they
had gone far enough that the cat judged it safe to slow to a walk,
Alexander began chortling.
Delphine
turned on him. “What are you laughing at?” “Who knew rats liked
potatoes?”
“It’s not
funny, Alexander,” she said, crossing her arms, but even Cornichonne was
snuffling in amusement. “All right, it was a little bit funny,” she said,
penitent. Then she remembered something. “Did you see what it was
wearing?”
“Wearing?”
Alexander sounded confused. “Tan breeches, I think? And a straw
hat?”
“Exactly!
Not the uniform of Midnight’s rats. I don’t think it was one of his
troops.”
“A random
rat, traveling through the forest in the dead of winter, like us?” She
felt Alexander shrug behind her. “I suppose stranger things have
happened.”
They rode
for a while in silence, until Delphine started smiling again. “The look
on your face was pretty funny.” Alexander chuckled, a cheerful sound in
the gloomy murk. “It’ll be a good story.”
***
The forest
was not only dark and murky, it was also far more overgrown and
foreboding than anywhere they had yet been.
The craggy
branches of the old trees hung low like fingertips, reaching for them as
they passed.
Alexander
leaned forward. “So what’s your plan, Delfie?” “I’m working on it.” She didn’t
want to admit that she had no plan at all. Find King Midnight, somehow.
Figure out how to stop him. All while not getting captured by his minions
swarming the countryside. And if the sheer number of rats camped around Château
Trois Arbres had been any indication, he had an enormous army.
He gave her
a squeeze. “You’ll know what to do when the time is right.”
She wished
she felt as confident as he did. She was about to say so, when a sharp
crack echoed through the trees. Cornichonne froze. Delphine strained to see
through the gloom.
Another crack,
closer, as if someone had stepped on a brittle twig. Cornichonne’s head
silently pivoted toward a clump of undergrowth nearby.
Now they
could hear heavy steps approaching, and bizarrely, a thrumming buzz.
Delphine spotted something large and round floating through the gray fog
toward them. “What is that?” she blurted.
“Shhhhh!”
Alexander hissed.
A narrow
figure pushed through the branches behind the floating shape. Despite the
fog, Delphine could make out a slim snout beneath a hood pulled down
low.
The object
was still floating straight toward them. The buzz ing burned her ears, and she
shook her head to try to clear it. Wind began to blow around the shape,
wafting the fog away in sinuous strands of gray. She could see a blur
like the beating of a beetle’s wings.
They were wings,
Delphine realized. Moving so quickly they were causing the air to
shimmer. The last webs of fog melted away, and they saw a bumblebee
hovering in midair, its faceted eyes like blocks of onyx staring at them.
The aristocratic figure reached up to pull back her hood. Delphine
gasped.
It was Ysabeau, Princess Petits-Oiseaux’s pawmaid. With the princess’s pet bee.
About Alyssa Moon:
Alyssa Moon grew up in the Pacific Northwest, which explains her
undying enthusiasm for rainy weather. She does her best writing in tea shops,
independent bookstores and at home under her grapefruit tree. She lives in
Southern California with her husband and her cat, Picklepop, along with three
other cats who are a little grumpy at the fact they weren’t also given roles in
this book. Delphine and the Silver Needle is Moon’s debut novel.
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Giveaway Details:
1 winner
will receive a finished copy of DELPHINE AND THE DARK THREAD, US Only.
Ends September 20th, midnight EST.
a Rafflecopter giveawayTour Schedule:
Week One:
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8/22/2022 |
Excerpt |
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8/23/2022 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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8/24/2022 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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8/25/2022 |
Excerpt/IG Post |
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8/26/2022 |
Excerpt |
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8/27/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/28/2022 |
Review |
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8/29/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/30/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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8/31/2022 |
Review |
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9/1/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/2/2022 |
Review |
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9/3/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/4/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/5/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/6/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/7/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/8/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/9/2022 |
IG Spotlight |
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9/10/2022 |
Excerpt |
Week Four:
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9/11/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/12/2022 |
Excerpt |
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9/13/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/14/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/15/2022 |
IG Review |
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9/16/2022 |
Review/IG Post |
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9/17/2022 |
Youtube Review/IG Post |
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