Daughter of Rage & Beauty Book Tour & Giveaway

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Daughter of Rage and Beauty Berserker Academy Book 1 by Amy Pennza Genre: Urban Fantasy Romance Publisher: Scribble Pretty Books Publication Date: November 4, 2019

The sagas claim you can’t fight fate. I’m determined to prove them wrong. They say your twenties are supposed to be the best years of your life. Clearly, they don’t know what they’re talking about. Because right now, my life is in shambles. As the daughter of one of the most powerful berserkers in the world, I should be taking my place among the noble guild of berserker assassins. By now, I should have mastered my emotions and conquered my rage—all the better to use it as a weapon when called upon to kill. But I’m not just Harald Berregaard’s daughter. My mother was a nymph, which makes me a magical mutt. When I was born, my father thought I might possess the best traits from both races. He was wrong. Now he’s shipping me off to the Berserker Academy, where the unofficial motto is “graduate or die.” Nice, huh? With the stakes this high, I can’t afford to get distracted. Too bad the academy’s headmaster keeps showing up at the most inconvenient moments, reminding me how much I suck at magic. And fighting. And basic conversation. It doesn’t matter that he does it with a smile. Or that his eyes fire silver when he’s amused . . . or aroused. Hauk Sigridsson has his own problems. He’s not going to be one of mine. On the other hand, he’s offered me a way to accelerate my studies and make it out of the academy alive. I just have to help him steal a priceless rock and defeat one of the most powerful immortals to have ever lived. No big deal. I’m in way over my head, but I’m determined to survive. They say you can’t fight fate. I’m going to show fate exactly what I’m made of. Goodreads * Amazon

Amy Pennza has been a lawyer, a soldier, and a copywriter. She’s worn combat boots and high heels in the same 24-hour period–and she definitely prefers flip flops. Actually, she prefers going barefoot while writing steamy romances about strong women and alpha men with hearts of gold. After years in Tornado Alley, she now makes her home in the Great Lakes region with her husband, kids, and more baskets than any one person should own. (You can never have enough.) Keep up with new releases, news, and giveaways by visiting www.amypennza.com Want free books and other fun stuff? Sign up for Amy’s newsletter at www.amypennza.com/subscribe Website * Facebook * Twitter * Instagram * Bookbub * Amazon * Goodreads * Newsletter

My face was hot.
I squinted. Wait, no, I didn’t.
Because my eyes were closed. Opening them seemed like a lot of work, so I let them stay
shut.
Except my face was really hot. Not my whole face, just the left side.
Which was kind of weird.
And something smelled amazing. My stomach rumbled.
Shit. I was probably going to have to open my eyes. How else was I going to find the
source of the amazing smell?
There was a faint shuffling sound, like a person walking across a stone floor. That’s what
it sounded like when someone crossed the floor at Bjørneskalle.
Oh no. Was I back at the castle? Because I was supposed to be somewhere else . . . In my
mind, I reached for the place, but it remained just out of reach. Frustration swept me.
The shuffling happened again, closer this time.

No, not closer. Louder. Because my hearing was returning.
Slowly, my senses cleared, my consciousness going from a dreamlike state to full
awareness. I opened my eyes and gazed at a . . . stone ceiling?
I sat up—
—and the blanket covering me fell to my waist, exposing my breasts.
I gasped and snatched it back up, pressing it to my throat. My heart pounded. After a
second, I pulled the blanket away and peered down my body.
Yep. I was bare-ass naked.
“Elin?”
I slammed the blanket back to my chest.
Hauk stood on the other side of a roaring fire, a plate of food in his hands. Behind him,
rough stone walls revealed we were in some kind of cave. He’d removed his coat and boots,
wearing just his body-hugging long underwear. The material clung to his chest and thighs,
revealing the muscle beneath. His hair was tied high on his head, the topknot damp and darker
than usual.
He started toward me. “You okay?”
“Stop!”
He stopped, alarm on his face.
“What happened to my clothes?”
His features relaxed. “Oh. They’re drying.” He jerked his head toward a spot past the fire.
“It should only take another hour or so.”

I followed his gesture. Sure enough, my gear was spread over a flat expanse of
rock—everything from my jacket to my socks and the black thong I’d pulled from my duffel that
morning. My cheeks heated, the right side of my face now just as hot as the left.
Hauk rounded the fire, his expression one of someone approaching a wounded animal in
the wild. His feet were bare—and, naturally, his toes were elegant and well-formed. Because he
couldn’t have just one ugly feature. Of course not. That would have meant there was justice in
the universe.
He crouched at my side and lowered the plate to the ground. “You should eat. We burned
a ton of calories today.”
“What happened?”
Understanding lit his gaze. “You got hypothermia. It’s my fault. I should have layered
you up with more gear. I think your dryad blood might have had something to do with it. You
crave light and warmth.”
Annoyance buzzed in my mind. Since when was he an expert on dryads? “I grew up in
Norway. It’s hardly known for its abundance of light and warmth.”
He frowned. “I just meant the extreme cold might affect you more. And this is no
ordinary cold. Didn’t you feel it?”
“I felt really freaking cold, yeah.”
“No, it was more than that. The storm out there is beyond anything natural. Radegast
must have bespelled this whole area.”
Great. I pressed a flat palm against my chest, holding the blanket there. “Why couldn’t
we just portal straight to his fortress? We have the coordinates.”

Hauk shook his head. “He’s set traps everywhere. That’s one of the things I learned when
I researched him.” He looked around the cave. “I got us as close as I could without alerting him.
We’ll have a bit of a walk in the morning, but it shouldn’t be anything like today.”
“You plan to sleep here tonight?”
He looked at me. “Well, yeah. Unless you want to try breaching his fortress in the dark.
Besides, you need to rest.” He gulped. “You scared me, Elin. For a while there, I wasn’t sure I
could feel your heart beating. Your skin was like ice when I brought you in here.”
He would know, considering he’d stripped me naked. Had he looked at me? Done a little
assessing of my chances of seducing Radegast?
“I’d like something to wear,” I said.
“You can’t put wet things back on right now.”
“Then give me something of yours.”
He looked startled. “You want me to take my shirt off?”
“It’s better than wearing a blanket! I can’t believe you”—I lowered my voice as
embarrassment crashed over me—“you took all my clothes off!”
“I had to.” Two spots of color appeared high on his cheeks. He lowered his gaze to my
chest, as if he couldn’t help it, then jerked his gaze off to my right. “I had to rub the circulation
back into your limbs.”
He’d rubbed me? Naked? I pointed across the fire. “I want you to go stand over there.”
“You’re joking.”
“Go!”
He clenched his jaw, then stood and stalked to the other side of the fire. “You’re being
ridiculous. I was trying to save your life. There wasn’t anything sexual about it.”

“You could have left my underwear on.”
“Don’t be a child, Elin.”
Outrage surged in my throat, nearly choking me. I scrambled to my feet. “You have a lot
of nerve calling me a child!”
“Oh yeah? Then don’t act like one.”
I took a few steps around the fire. “Like you’re some beacon of maturity.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know what it means.”
He rested his fingertips on his hips. He should have looked ridiculous, standing there in
skin-tight long underwear.
But he didn’t. Which just made my anger burn higher.
“No, I really don’t,” he said, sarcasm heavy in his voice. “Why don’t you enlighten me?”
My cheeks blazed, but I didn’t care. I lifted my chin. “You masturbated in front of me
last night. You call that mature?”
A humorless smile touched his lips. “You can call it whatever you want. All I know is
you loved it.”
My gasp was loud in the cave. “I did not.”
“You did.” He raked his eyes down my body in a deliberate slide. “And you were so wet
I could practically smell it.”
The air shifted. It seemed to grow thicker, as if it had a pulse. The atmosphere seemed to
buzz with an electrical charge.
It was primal. Unruly and wild.
It had consequences. As if Hauk and I were on the edge of something inevitable.

And the air itself knew it.
My heart pounded against my fist holding the blanket. The air danced over my skin, faint
flashes of power licking at my arms, my legs, my chest.
I drew an unsteady breath as I met Hauk’s stare. “You flatter yourself. I didn’t want it,
and I don’t want you.”
He stepped toward me, and a dangerous light entered his eyes. “Oh, you fucking did. And
you fucking do.”
I clutched the blanket tighter over my breasts. “Do not.” Even as I said it, images from
the shower flashed in my mind. Heat blossomed low in my belly.
“You do.” He took another step, his lips curved in a wicked smile that didn’t reach his
eyes. “You little liar.”
I backed up. “Stop that.”
He kept coming. Beside us, the fire crackled and danced. He lowered his voice. “You
were aching for it, Elin.” He lowered his gaze to my thighs. “You wanted me inside you.”
My nostrils flared. “You’re wrong.” But my voice was weak and breathless. Between my
legs, moisture gathered.
“I bet,” he said, still stalking me, “if I pulled that blanket aside, I’d find you wet and
aching for it right now.”
“You wouldn’t. I-I mean, I’m n-not.”
“Prove it.”
I took another step back, my bare feet sliding against rock. “You’re crazy.”
“Yeah.” He gave a huff of laughter. “You’re probably right about that. I’ve felt crazy
since the day we met.” He drew closer, and lightning flared in his eyes. “Crazy about you.”

I stopped. My nipples ached. The fire blew warm air up the blanket, teasing at my damp
sex.
“Take off that blanket,” he said, tiny forks of electricity sizzling across his irises—a
reminder that he wasn’t just Crom Cruach’s son. His mother had felled armies. Had stalked
across ancient battlefields, lightning webbing the sky above her.
Now, the son of a god and a legendary berserker had me in his sights.
I swallowed. “No.”
He put his shoulders back, his chin lifted. With the flames dancing beside us, he looked
every bit as proud and haughty as his father.
And just as dangerous.
“Take it off.”
My limbs seemed to move of their own accord. Slowly, I loosened my grip on the
blanket. The fabric slipped to the ground. I let my arms fall to my sides.
He took his time looking me over. Starting with my feet, he drew his gaze up my body,
pausing at the secret spot between my legs.
Warmth surged there, and I bit back a whimper.
He closed the distance between us as he continued his long perusal. When his gaze
reached my breasts, he stopped inches away. He lifted his hand and touched the tip of one taut
nipple.
His hand trembled just a bit, exposing his bluster.
“Ah, Elin. You are perfection.” He lifted his gaze to mine. Lightning streaked across his
eyes.
I pushed my chest out, desperate for more contact.

He closed his fingers around my nipple, pinching the sensitive peak. Desire streaked
through my breast. Instantly, my nipples became tighter, the pink tips proud and distended.
I gasped. I started to throw my head back, but Hauk tangled his other hand in my hair,
catching my nape.
“No, no. Look at me.”
The command in his voice made me even wetter.
His nostrils flared.
Beside us, the fire leapt, sparks shooting from the tops of the flames.
He held me that way for a moment, hard fingers locked on my nipple, his free hand
gripping the back of my neck. He rolled the peak, then pinched harder. He kept his gaze on my
face, watching my reaction. The contrast between us—me nude, him fully clothed—only
heightened my arousal. My sex clenched, my clit throbbing. The urge to rub my thighs
together—to create any kind of friction—was overwhelming.
He rolled me again, his swordsman’s calluses abrasive against my sensitive skin. He
squeezed harder and raised his hand, forcing me onto my toes.
I wriggled, caught and quivering like a fish on a hook. “Please . . .”
“Please, what?” he whispered. “What do you want?”
Something. Anything! I wanted him to lower his mouth to my chest and suckle me. I
wanted to grab his head and push him down to my sex, to feel his mouth on the hot skin between
my legs.
My sex throbbed. At the bottom edge of my vision, his big hand held me. My other
nipple poked from my chest, the tip begging for his touch. My breasts seemed bigger, rounder, as
if they preened under his admiring gaze.

“What do you want, Elin?” He pinched harder, making my eyes water.
I answered on a sob. “More.”
“Then I’ll give it to you.” He tugged my nipple gently, pulling me into him. When my
belly brushed his crotch, he released me and ran his hands over my hair, his touch reverent.
My bare breasts nudged against his shirt, the slick fabric gliding against my stiffened
nipples. Heat poured off him, warming me. Even so, goosebumps pebbled my skin.
“You’re cold,” he murmured, sliding his palms up my arms. With light pressure, he
pushed my shoulders down.
I sank to my knees, bringing my face even with the thick bulge between his legs. His
thermal underwear were little more than tights, and the material left nothing to the imagination.
A tingle of apprehension drifted through me. He was a big boy, his shaft long and heavy
against his inner thigh, a damp patch on the fabric near the crown.
Before I could give it much thought, he knelt in front of me. Then he guided me
backwards. “Lie down on your back.”
Confusion swamped me. “What—”
“Shhh. I need to taste you.”
The confusion fled, replaced with a gripping awareness. There was no question what he
wanted. “Hauk . . .”
He lay me back, taking time to gather my hair so it wouldn’t get caught under my
shoulders. When I was prone, he sat back on his heels, his gaze on my raised knees.
Protests gathered in my throat. I couldn’t let him do this. Could I?
Moving slowly, he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside.
Then he let me look my fill.

I took advantage. The fire painted him in bold colors, rippling over defined pecs and
ripped abs. His beard seemed to glitter in the firelight, little highlights of gold sparkling against
his firm jaw. With his hair pulled back, his high cheekbones and straight nose were sharper and
more defined. His broad shoulders rose and fell in a steady rhythm, his muscles rippling as he
watched me.
The rock was warm beneath me. More heat trickled between the lips of my sex. I was hot
and swollen there, my clit throbbing with its own beat.
His glittering blue gaze fastened on mine, challenging me to say no.
I knew I didn’t have the willpower to deny him.
He knew it, too.