Book Watch: The Avalon Relics: Lilith Links by J.L. Clark

Title: The Avalon Relics: Lilith Links (Volume 1)
Author: J.L. Clark
Publisher: Createspace
Pages: 315
Genre: YA Fantasy
Format: Paperback/Kindle/Nook

Sophia Bennett is looking forward to celebrating her eighteenth birthday with her best friend Angie.  After graduating high school and enjoying the last days of her summer vacation the most important things on her mind are getting ready for college and catching the eye of her high school crush Jake...at least, until the night of her birthday party.

Suddenly, Sophia is thrust into a world that she never knew existed and finds herself in the middle of an ancient struggle between good and evil. Time is against her as she and her new friends struggle to take possession of a powerful magic before it falls into the wrong hands.

Can Sophia solve the mystery of the Lilith links in time to save her loved ones, or will the enemy triumph and destroy all that she holds dear?

The Avalon Relics trilogy is a fast-paced read taking the reader into the magical world of fairies and of good versus evil.  It blends references of mythology and tales of old in a very real way in that it takes place in two worlds simultaneously:  the world that Sophia and her friends physically live in and the fairy realm.

For More Information

• The Avalon Relics: Lilith Links is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

Book Excerpt:

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Angie asks as Sophia walks out of the bathroom, a dismayed look on her face.

Sophia waves her arms over her body. “All of it! I can’t wear this to the party!”

“Soph, you’ve got a great body! You need to stop hiding behind all those baggy clothes you like to wear.”

Angie gestures for her to come over by the full length mirror. “Take a look…you look amazing!”

Sophia reluctantly walks over and stares at the tall, thin brunette girl in front of her, wearing a skin-tight mid-thigh length black bandage dress. She shakes her head.

“It’s too tight…and it’s too short. I can’t even sit down in this! I’m going to flash the entire party.”

“Fine,” Angie says with a dramatic sigh. She grabs a sparkling lace dress off her bed.

“Try this one.”

Sophia looks at the dress doubtfully, but says nothing as she takes it with her into the bathroom to change. As she slips the dress on, she feels a familiar tingle run through her body, and finds that her bracelets seem to be shimmering once again. She blinks, but when she looks at them again, nothing seems out of the ordinary. As she pulls the dress into place, she calls out to her friend.

“Hey, how did the date with Jeremy go? You never did call or text me, so I assumed you didn’t need rescuing.”

“Actually, I had a really good time,” Angie replies. “We actually have a few things in common.”

“Are you going to go out with him again?”

“Yeah, I think I might.”

“Good for you,” Sophia encourages. She looks down at herself and gives the hem of the dress one quick tug downwards.

“Okay, here I come,” she announces before walking out to show Angie.

“Oh. My. God. That’s it! That’s the dress!”

Angie’s excitement stirs Sophia’s curiosity, and she steps over to take a look for herself.

She is shocked at the reflection in the mirror. The dress is sleeveless, with twin Vnecklines on the front and the back. The dress itself is light, the material almost sheer in color, with hundreds of luminescent silver sequins sewn in a floral pattern over the dress.

The dress ends right above her knees, and seems to glitter from every direction.

“Wow,” Sophia says, stunned. “This is a gorgeous dress.”

“That’s so strange,” Angie states. “I could have sworn I gave you a different dress just now.”

“What do you mean?” Sophia replies. “I saw you hand it to me.”

“I know,” Angie says, looking confused, “but I don’t even own a dress like this.”

Sophia raises an eyebrow and meets her friend’s gaze in the mirror.

“Are you sure? You do have a lot of clothes, Ang.”

She seems to ponder that for a moment, then shrugs lightly.

“Maybe you’re right. It does look like something I would buy. I probably just haven’t worn it in a while.”

“Oh, by the way,” Angie says suddenly, looking over at Sophia’s head. “Did you dye your hair this week without telling me?”

“No…” Sophia answers. “What makes you say that?”

“Look,” her friend states, pointing at her hair in the mirror. “Your hair is usually a dark brown. Now it looks almost…honey brown.”

“Honey brown?” Sophia asks, a smile on her lips.

However, the smile fades when she stares at herself hard in the mirror. Her hair

definitely looks like it has lightened several shades within the last few minutes. When she had put on the black dress, it looked like it had always looked, a dark, unremarkable brown, but now that she is in the sequined dress, her hair has taken on soft golden hues.

“That is so weird…” Sophia tilts her head back and forth, and then starts taking a step back and forth away and towards the mirror, trying to make sense of it. “Maybe it’s the lighting?”

Angie gives her a skeptical look, but still nods in agreement.

“Maybe. I have been meaning to tell Dad that the light in my room isn’t the right

wavelength for my well-being.”

Hair color forgotten, Sophia laughs out loud. “There’s a wavelength for well-being?”

“Of course there is, Sophia Bennett! You should know…I read it online…something about how natural light helps your mood.”

“Ah, right, I forgot about that,” she replies. “That explains your…sunny personality.”

Angie groans loudly. “Don’t ever say that again. That was terrible!”

Sophia chuckles. “Okay, I promise.”

Angie walks over to her closet again, and starts rummaging through the bottom shelves.

“Now all we have to do is find you a pair of hot heels!”