MYTHOLOGICAL MONDAYS: BETRAYAL by Mayandree Michel

Mythological Mondays is a feature I created to spotlight books brimming with--you guessed it--mythology! I adore this sub-genre and can't wait to share my love with all of my fellow bookworms! This feature isn't just focused on novel reviews; it may also include interviews, looks at original mythological (and heck, folklore/fairy tales, too) tales, etc.

Last week, The Flashlight Reader mentioned that she wanted to snag my picture and meme for her own blog. Please feel free! If you guys ever do a mythological feature and want to join this and snag my lovely mermaid, I would LOVE to see the feature. I’ve even included a Linkbox for you (I think…). It doesn’t have to be Greek mythology, or even mythology per say. It can be mermaids, unicorns, or heck, even fairy tales (because I’m too lazy to do a separate fairy tale feature…). It doesn’t even have to be every Monday. I’m sure there will be Mondays when I skip, too. ^_^






Welcome to the first of three posts in today’s Blog Tour Stop featuring BETRAYAL by Mayandree Michel. Today’s stop also features a guest post on world-building from BETRAYAL author Mayandree Michel, an interview with BETRAYAL cover designer Samantha Oyola, and a giveaway of an autographed copy of BETRAYAL!

BETRAYAL can be purchased as an e-book (for 99¢, what a steal!) or a paperback from sites such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

Where there is love and power, there is always... betrayal.

At seventeen, Cordelia is an ordinary teen with an extraordinary and frightening secret. A secret that induces vivid dreams which she not only experiences true love, but crippling fear while barely escaping with her life each night.

After a life altering event, Cordelia has an unexpected encounter with Evan, the mysterious boy from her dreams, who reveals who and what she is, a descendant of the Greek gods. At that moment everything she knows of her world is a lie, and she must leave the present and go into the past to assume the role she was put on this earth for, safeguarding her ancient empire amidst evil forces that toil hastily to destroy it.

In a race against time, Cordelia must decide if she is truly a part of this dangerous world, or risk defying the gods, and ultimately lose the boy who has put a claim on her heart.


From Goodreads

I always have certain expectations going into novels. Sometimes I’m let down, and other times, I’m stunned beyond my wildest expectations, as was the case with BETRAYAL by Mayandree Michel, the first in THE DESCENDANTS trilogy. I didn’t have many expectations for this book beyond salivating over Greek mythology and being caught up in an epic adventure. I wasn’t expecting historical elements such as the fact that the majority of the book takes place during the Victorian era or the inclusion of various paranormal beings. I also wasn’t expecting to like this independently-published novel more than much-buzzed about traditionally published novels such as THE GODDESS TEST and STARCROSSED. The story, however, completely blew me away and I can’t wait to continue my journey through the next two books.

BETRAYAL centers around Cordelia, a seemingly-ordinary teen living in our world. One day, she accidentally creates lightning and discovers that someone is after her. After living in fear without realizing the secrets lying within her, she is killed by an evil man bent on claiming her power. As a Greek descendant, or Ischeros, however, she still has 24 hours to be brought back to life, which occurs in stunning fashion as she’s brought back to 1891, her own era. Cordelia finds out she was sent to the future two years prior in order to protect her from the man trying to kill her. All her memories were wiped out, replaced with false ones of a childhood that never existed. In her own world once more with no memory of who she really is, Cordelia struggles to reclaim her identity and tap into her vast array of powers before someone attempts to kill her again. As heiress to a vast empire, if she dies, the hopes of all the Ischeros go with her. Without her memories, however, Cordelia has no idea how to be the powerful woman she once was.

Full of intrigue, mystery, suspense, and, of course, betrayal, Michel’s debut novel hits every sweet spot in a compelling way. Characters you thought you knew will completely surprise you. Michel is deft at building intricate layers; things that don’t seem important are thrown into the story, coming back to haunt readers later on. The climax is powerful and captivating, unlike some books where authors are unable to uphold what they’d promised to deliver. The final scenes are rendered in such a way that readers will want to continue on to book two and find out what happens next, especially in regards to events they never saw coming. I read a first-edition, who had a lot of grammatical errors, but BETRAYAL has since been edited and the second-edition promises to deliver a cleaner read. At times, the descriptions got to be overwhelming and bogged the action down, but for the most part, pacing was even and the storyline was captivating enough to keep me eagerly turning pages.

Book Two in THE DESCENDANTS trilogy, SACRIFICE, is expected to be released in December 2011.



[This entry is part of The Story Siren's Debut Author Challenge of 2011. See how I've done so far here.]