Hiding in the Pages: Secrets Kept Blog Tour--Guest Post

The Secrets Kept Tour!

This tour will explore the World of Nälu:
Where a story with adventure, action, love, betrayal, and a quest takes place.
We will get to visit sites, learn more about the cuisine, and be introduced to some elves, dwarves, and shape-shifters, at the least.

Secrets Kept

by JL Mbewe
YA Fantasy

October 30th 2013 by AltWit Press

With a curse, she will build an army.
With the dagger, she will undo the last sacrifice.
But first the sorceress must find the secret keeper.

Torn from her homeland and thrust into a betrothal against her wishes, Ayianna learns her family has a deadly secret that now has her on the run. She joins forces with Kael, an embittered half-elf, and Saeed, an elderly High Guardian, to seek answers to her father’s death, the destruction of Dagmar, and the plains people’s bizarre behavior.

Ayianna discovers there is more at stake here than just her mother’s disappearance and her familial duty to her betrothed. The sorceress has cursed the plains people, and it is a race against time to release them before the sorceress resurrects an ancient evil.

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Picture courtesy of Rafael Aveiro

The Forest of Inganno

On the northern edge of the Prathae Plains lies an ancient forest. Wisps of a grey mist ooze between bent and wrinkled trees. Silvery cobwebs sway loosely among their twisting limbs like tattered curtains of the dead. A force lingers at the edge of the forest like the foul stench of a beast.

It breathes of dark magic and death.

But it wasn’t always so.

Through the veils of time, a history long forgotten, it had once been a lush forest. Sammara. A place of enchanted trees and healing, it’s breath a song of joy and peace. The home of the Naajiso, the fairy-kind.

The Naajiso were not of this world. These fairy-like beings were the size of a large cat and had iridescent wings not unlike a dragonfly. They had no need for clothes or food like the other races, but later would adapt to the changing cultures around them. Legend has it, they were born from the tears of a spirit being kidnapped and imprisoned in a pearl. Others say they flew from the eternal realms of Zohar to rescue her. Either way, in Sammara they took up residence, watching and waiting.

The Tainted One came, and Lord Stygian ruled Raemoja and the plains with the blood of the innocent, his desire for the world. The forest concealed its secrets from him, a secret that would bring about his demise.

But it wasn’t the blood of the innocent that cursed the forest.

Years after the fall of Raemoja and Stygian’s defeat, the Tainted One lingered, her promise of power alluring to the young Naajiso nymphs who longed to be freed from the land and return to their eternal home. So they rebelled against their own kind, but instead of freedom, they found bondage. For their treachery, these fairy-like beings were cast into the Abyss, never to grow their wings. But the Tainted One had plans for them and covered their shame with thick wiry fur. To this day, they are known as the imps.

Thus the lies of the Tainted One consumed the forest, and Samara was no more. Or is it?

The forest, now called Inganno, is at war with itself, yearning to be free of the Tainted One’s presence. Beneath the struggle, it breathes a sad and weary song. Sleep.

So be forewarned, it is best to avoid the forest at all costs. If you find that your path will not alter its course, then do not sleep, do not linger, but travel swiftly upon the Naajiso Trail. You may yet leave the forest unscathed. At least, that is what the Guardians say.

FREE right now on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

Desert Rose

(A Tale of Nälu #1)

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NOW AVAILABLE: Tales of Nälu (all three short stories in paperback) on Amazon!

Living life balanced between reality and dreams.

Writing as J. L. Mbewe, Jennette is an author, artist, mother, wife, but not always in that order. Born and raised in Minnesota, she now braves the heat of Texas, but pines for the Northern Lights and the lakes of home every autumn. She loves trying to capture the abstract and make it concrete. She has two short stories published in The Clockwork Dragon anthology, and is busily creating worlds inhabited by all sorts of fantasy creatures and characters, all questing about and discovering true love amid lots of peril. Her debut novel Secrets Kept and her short stories set in the world of Nälu: Desert Rose, Dragon Thief, and Indestructible are now available. She is currently living her second childhood with a wonderful husband and two precious children who don’t seem to mind her eclectic collections of rocks, shells, and books, among other things.

For more information about her journey as a writer mama and all things creative please visit her at:

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