I’m so honored to be a part of this Crystal Storm Blog Tour! This is a post re-capping all that has happened thus far leading to Crystal Storm! You’ll find a giveaway at the bottom of this post. And don’t forget to pre-order your copy of Crystal Storm!

23367261 Crystal Storm by Morgan Rhodes
Publication Date : December 13, 2016

An epic clash between gods and mortals threatens to tear Mytica apart . . . and prove that not even the purest of love stands a chance against the strongest of magic.

MAGNUS and CLEO are forced to test the strength of their love when Gaius returns to Mytica claiming he’s no longer the King of Blood but a changed man seeking redemption.

LUCIA, pregnant with the child of a Watcher, has escaped the clutches of the unhinged fire god. Her powers are dwindling as she goes forth to fulfill a prophecy that will keep her baby safe . . . but could mean her demise.

JONAS treks back to Mytica with a plan to overtake Amara, but fate takes hold when he runs into the beautiful Princess Lucia and joins her on her perilous journey.

AMARA has taken the Mytican throne, but with no way to unleash the water magic trapped within her stolen crystal, she’ll never be able to seize glory and get sweet revenge.

And what kind of darkness will descend–and who will be safe–after Prince Ashur reveals the dangerous price he paid to cheat death?

THE SERIES SO FAR

12954620 Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes
Published : December 11, 2012

It all starts here in Mytica. A place divided into three kingdoms Auranos, Limeros and Palesia. Magic has been long gone and in some of these kingdoms those who are suspected of wielding magic are killed.

This book is told in the four main perspectives of Magnus (prince of Limeros) , Lucia (princess of Limeros), Cleo (Princess of Auranos) and Jonas (citizen of Palesia).

Princess Cleiona is in the wrong place at the wrong time when Aron, her friend lets his temper and pride get the best of him, resulting in the death of a Palasian citizen
Magnus is prince of Limeros and spends his time trying to win the good graces of his father while…also pining for his sister romantically.
Jonas, the brother of the man that was murdered by Aron, begins spending his time seeking for revenge as well as beginning the rise of the rebellion group.
Cleo’s sister Emelia has fallen ill and in attempts to save her Cleo flees to Palasia to find magical grape seeds. While there, Cleo and her friend Nic (who has helped her sneak out of Auranos) find an old woman and keeps them for the night as she tells them about The Watchers and the tale of the kindred. The story brings Cleo hope that magic will be the key to getting rid of her sister’s illness.
Lucia discovers she can wield magic and she tries her best to hide them in fear that her father will punish her for being a witch since magic is forbidden in Limeros and those found with magic are killed. She tells Magnus and he helps her grow her powers by practicing with her in secret.
While trying to keep Lucia’s magic a secret, King Giaus’ mistress Sabina catches wind of the magic and tries to get Magnus to spill Lucia’s secret by cornering him and trying to seduce him, while this is happening Lucia sees this happen and unleashes her magic and lights Sabina on fire…killing her.
King Giaus finds out about Lucia’s magic and plans to use it to bring down King Bellos in Auranos.
As King Giaus’ plan comes together he sends Magnus to Paelsia to get Cleo and bring her to Limeros for ransom. Jonas in the meantime has kidnapped Cleo and has been keeping her hidden under the watch of a guard named Theon. With Theon’s help Cleo and NIc escape and as this is happening Magnus finds them. Theon helps fight off the Limerian soliders but ends up dying at Magnus’ hand. Cleo, extremely distraught due to the fact her and Theon have expressed a hidden love for each other previously to escaping. Nic helps Cleo escape and they flee to Auranos.
Magnus tries to have a romantic moment with Lucia….that didn’t go over well.
Limeros and Paelsia gather together and begin to go Auranos to bring it down. A battle begins in Auranos where Magnus gets hurt, but is healed by Lucia’s earth magic as she also uses her magic to bring down the gates of Auranos which have been said to be forged by magic. While this is all happening, Emilia, Cleo’s sister is brought to the brink of death and Cleo tries to save her by the seeds but it does not work and Emilia passes. As Auranos is brought down by Limeros and Paelsia, Cleo finds her father, who gives Cleo a special amethyst ring. As he does this he dies in Cleo’s arms.
Lucia’s use of her magic puts her into a coma.
Auranos with the loss of their king surrenders and King Giaus moves into the castle at Auranos.
Cleo tries to flee, but ultimately is captured by Magnus….after trying the whole damn book.

16000044 Rebel Spring by Morgan Rhodes
Published: December 3rd, 2013

The road to power… is paved with blood and magic.

Cleo is now a prisoner in her own palace, forced to be an ambassador for Mytica as the evil King Gaius lies to her people.
Magnus stands to eventually inherit the new kingdom but is still obsessed with his feelings for his adopted sister, Lucia.
Lucia is haunted by the outcome of the breathtaking display of magic that allowed her father to capture the kingdoms.
Jonas watched at the palace gates a troop of rebels behind him, waiting for him to tell them how he plans to overtake King Gaius.

After a bloody siege, Auranos has been defeated, its young queen orphaned and dethroned. The three kingdoms—Auranos, Limeros, and Paelsia—are now unwillingly united as one country called Mytica. But the allure of ancient, dangerous magic beckons still, and with it the chance to rule not just Mytica, but the whole world over…

At the heart of the fray are four brave young people grappling for that magic and the power it promises. For Cleo, the magic would enable her to reclaim her royal seat. In Jonas’s hands, it frees his nation, and in Lucia’s, it fulfills the ancient prophecy of her destiny. And if the magic were Magnus’s, he would finally prove his worth in the eyes of his cruel and scheming father, King Gaius, who rules Mytica with a punishing hand.

When Gaius begins to build a road into the Forbidden Mountains to physically link all of Mytica, he sparks a long-smoking fire in the hearts of the people that will forever change the face of this land. For Gaius’s road is paved with blood, and its construction will have cosmic consequences.

King Giaus announces that MAGNUS AND CLEO ARE SUPPOSED TO GET MARRIED?! He also announces a new road that will run through all three kingdoms and bring unity (yeah okay.)
Jonas begins to gather people as a rebel group. One being Brion one of his friends and a girl named Lyssandra who has lost her brother.
Lucia is still snoozing.
This crazy lady Milenia ends up being the “King’s Adviser” and tells him if he listens to everything she says, he’s going to be an immortal god based off the magic she can provide for him (HOW IS THIS NOT A RED FLASHING SIGN OF EVIL?!)
Giaus is building this road to find the kindred who are supposedly at the bottom of the forbidden mountain, but as he builds the road he’s killing people because you know, blood magic is a great idea. When in reality blood magic is supposed to awaken the kindred by causing natural disasters when blood is spilt.
Lucia meets Alexius who is a watcher in her coma dreams, and they end up quite fond of each other (most people ship it, I didn’t). The king is anxious for Lucia to wake as is Magnus but Queen Althea has been giving Lucia potions to keep her asleep. Althea has been getting the potion from a witch who uses blood magic, one night when Althea goes to get more potion, she gets murdered.
Jonas kidnaps Cleo (again) and leaves a note for Giaus telling him to stop construction on the road or Cleo dies. Cleo ends up choosing to help the rebels while with Jonas, and they also share a kiss. Cleo decides it’s probably for the best to go back and be a spy for the rebels and pretend to go on with the wedding as planned, where at the wedding the rebels can rise and try to kill Giaus and Magnus.
Manus finds out that his mother is dead and Giaus shows Magnus the dagger that killed her. Matches the dagger that Aron used to kill Tomas(Jonas’ brother) so it MUST be Jonas who killed Althea. (Must be).
Cleo’s wedding day comes, and the rebels strike. But the King isn’t an idiot so he also had soldiers dressed as citizen and tons of people die, but blood magic happens and a mighty earthquake brings down the temple of cleonia (cleo’s namesake). The King is pissed at Cleo and slaps her and forces her to continue the ceremony and marry Magnus. (I kinda ship it)
Cleo meets Prince Ashur of Kreishia (the land across the sea) at her wedding reception/banquet and they chat about the Kindred.
Lucia has now woken up due to the fact that Althea can no longer bring her sleeping potions. Lucia’s magic is strong within her and feels darkness pulling her.
The king makes Magnus and Cleo go on a wedding tour ending in Limeros. Where a wedding gift they receive is a stone wheel commonly used for Watchers to come in and out of realms. Cleo (for some reason) touches the wheel and her ring starts glowing.
Magnus and Cleo kiss and Cleo digs it. (YAAAAS MAGNEO)
Nic confesses his love to Cleo but she denies him, he goes to a bar and meets Prince Ashur who asks him about Cleo’s ring and he doesn’t tell him anything and leaves and runs into Ashur again where Nic thinks he’ll die at Ashur’s hand BUT Asher kisses him instead. (*throws confetti* YAS YAS YAS)
Magnus is sent to the forbidden mountain camp site to get info for his father. When he gets there with Aron, Aron sees a woman he likes and asks her to have dinner with him. Magnus leaves and roams about and when he goes back to the tent, Magnus sees Aron trying to force himself upon the young woman. Magnus sends the girl away and ends up having dinner with Aron after noticing his dagger (fyi it matches the one that killed Althea). Magnus and Aron fight, resulting in the death of Aron.
Rebels attack the camp and Jonas gets stabbed when a watcher who has been following Jonas takes human form (now she can’t go back to the sanctuary) and saves Jonas with grape seeds that have earth magic
Phaedra saves Jonas from Magnus and Phaedra’s brother (who runs the campsite and is an exiled watcher) shows up and under Milenia’s orders kills Phaedra.
Jonas and the rest of the rebels flee the site. Jonas gets away but Lysandra is caught and put into prison where she is re-united with her brother who was graced with dreams where Phedra would appear.
Cleo goes to see Lucia, Lucia is upset she killed her rabbit with her magic and Cleo goes to comfort her, touching her makes her ring glow and calm Lucia’s magic down. They decide to be friends.

17342700 Gathering Darkness by Morgan Rhodes
Published : December 9 2014

In GATHERING DARKNESS, book three of the New York Times bestselling Falling Kingdoms series, the stakes have never been higher as three teams push forward on a race to find the Kindred, the four elemental crystals possessing ancient all-powerful magic, first:

Prince Magnus has just witnessed torture, death, and miracles during the bloody confrontation that decimated the rebel forces. Now he must choose between family and justice as his father, the cruel King Gaius, sets out to conquer all of Mytica. All Gaius needs now are the Kindred – the four elemental crystals that give godlike powers to their owner. But the King of Blood is not the only one hunting for this ancient, storied magic…

Jonas is caught by a group of Limerian guards. He’s saved by Felix and they end up pairing together.
Princess Amara shows up from Kreashia to meet up with her brother.
Nic tells Cleo about him and Ashur and Cleo asks him to keep up appearances so Nic can feed her information about him and his sister.
Jonas sends word through Nerissa, the rebel disguised as a palace servant, to give to Cleo. Jonas and Cleo meet at a temple, and Cleo agrees to be a spy for him.
Giaus asks Gregor to tell him about his dreams, he refuses to do so, but then breaks down and tells him everything, so he beheads him in front of lysandra (He’s not crazy at all) .
The Kraeshians are looking for the Kindred as well (Thanks Nic!)
Lucia meets Alexius in his human form, he’s no longer allowed to go back to the Sanctuary (He’s done it all for her because he loves her) Alexius goes to the palace with Lucia and tells the king he’s there to be Lucia’s tutor. And they practice her elementia. When Alexius and Cleo meet, he tells her about the ring and it’s origin.
Lucia starts performing rituals to awaken and summon the elemental crystals with Alexius’ help. The first being the earth crystal which they find out is at the Temple of Cleiona. Lucia, Alexius, Magnus and Cleo go there to claim it but someone has already taken it. Turns out, Cleo had given Jonas a head’s up and he went to the Temple and got it before Alexius,Lucia, Magnus and Cleo got there.
Lucia uses a lot of her power to awaken the final crystal which resides in Limeros. When she uses as much power as she can she has a vision revealing that Melenia (her father’s advisor) had a hand in killing Eva. She also finds out from Alexius that Melenia had spies and saw Jonas take the crystal which means Cleo has been lying to them about where she stands allegiance wise.
Cleo goes to see Lucia where Lucia uses her magic and almost kills Cleo where she is then taken to the dungeons and kept there as a prisoner. Lucia then goes to find Alexius telling him they should flee and go elope and get married at the Temple of Veloria in Limeros and they run away.
Cleo is in the dungeon and Magnus goes to interrogate her. She tells him that she’s done nothing wrong and Magnus reveals that Lucia and Alexius have eloped. Cleo then tells Magnus that Alexius is using her to get the kindred, and then Magnus kills the guard on duty and they escape.
Cleo and Magnus get to Limeros and stay in the home of someone Magnus knows. Cleo and Magnus share a moment where Magnus says that she’s someone who can make him better and brightens up his life with her bravery. And then they kiss (DEAR GOD I SHIP THEM SO MUCH). Meanwhile, Amara is on her way to Limeros with Nic in tow (via sleeping potion) and meets up with Cleo and Magnus and she drags them to the temple.
Lucia goes to the temple to claim the final Kindred. Blood has to be spilt to awaken it, and Alexius stabs Lucia in the stomach to awaken the crystal under Melenia’s command. Alexius then kills himself.
The Kraeshians, Cleo and Magnus show up and Amara tries to claim the crystal but someone has already claimed it. Nic appears revealing he has the crystal with the help of Ashur who then tries to talk to Amara. Ashur then gets stabbed by Amara and Nic goes to hold him as he dies and drops the crystal and amara takes it and leaves.
Before Amara leaves she commands her guard to kill everyone and the guard tries to kill Magnus but before he can do so Cleo kills the soldier first.
Lucia returns to the cliffs near the Limerian Palace. There she does a ritual Alexius had taught her to do and in reality it’s to release the fire kindred. He appears and as does Melenia. The kindred, being Melenia’s former lover. She was happy to see him but he was furious at her. With no more use for Lucia, Melenia went to go kill her but Lucia used her magic to drain Melenia of her power and stabbed her to end her life.

The fire kindred then asks Lucia for her help in re-uniting him with the rest of his other kindred spirits. She agrees.

17342701 Frozen Tides by Morgan Rhodes
Published : December 15, 2015

CLEO: Reeling after a bloody showdown in Limeros ending with Amara’s abduction of the water crystal, and a vacancy in the Mytican throne, Princess Cleo must cast aside her feelings and look toward her kingdom with the eyes of a Queen.

MAGNUS: With the kingdom in chaos, Princess Lucia still missing and quite possibly in danger, and a shocking realization about Cleo, the steely prince is once again torn between love and duty, leaving him wondering whether he’s strong enough to rule his people.

LUCIA: The young sorcercess has had her vengeance after the cruel death of her first and only love. Heartbroken and unable to trust anyone, she allies with the awoken Fire god, who also seeks revenge.

JONAS: After escaping death by the skin of his teeth, the defeated rebel—along with a mysterious stranger–leader reunites with Princess Cleo, only to find himself a mere pawn in a dangerous hunt for the elusive Kindred.

KING GAIUS: Abandoned by Melenia and betrayed by his own children, Gaius flees Mytica and sails to Kraeshia, where he attempts to ally with the famously brutal emperor across the Silver Sea.

Lucia and Kyan (Fire Kindred) are on their way to Paelsia.
Felix has the air kindred (unawakened)
Jonas and Lysandra have the earth kindred (unawakened)
In Limeros Magnus claims his throne from the kingsliege who is a total jerk
Jonas and Lysandra try to assasinate the king (again) but they miss him before he leaves to Kraeshia. -Jonas gets stabbed in the shoulder which starts to fester.
Lucia and Kyan go to find the portal to the Sanctuary to kill Thimotheus the Elder in the Sanctuary. Because he’s the only person who can imprison him again. And Lucia decides that she wants to search for her birth father.
Felix is trying to get into the good graces of the king, and gives King Giaus the air crystal and becomes his body guard for the trip to Kraeshia.
When Amara arrives to Kraeshia her father gives her a bit of a cold shoulder. We learn that Amara was part of a Kraeshian ritual where the king tries to drown his unwanted daughter, but she survived due to her mother giving her a potion that would save her life.
In Limeros Magnus now allows Cleo to sit in on council meetings even though the rest of the council sees having a woman on the council as unethical but Cleo completely dominates and makes a suggestion on exporting wine to help bring in funds. Magnus agreed while the rest of the Limerian Council does not due to the prohibition of alcohol in Limeros.
Jonas runs into a witch named Olivia who heals him and joins Jonas and Lysandra and helps them travel to Limeros to kill Magnus. When they get there, they then meet up with Cleo and end up working with Magnus to Kill King Giaus.
Lucia and Kyan are in Limeros and seeking the stone wheel that lets Kyan travel into the sanctuary. Lucia uses her magic to make Magnus tell her the location of the stone, but when she goes to find it, it is gone. Lucia notices Kyan’s irritability and begins to question whether or not she should be working with him. But they travel through Mytica anyway to find gateways. Timotheus goes to Lucia in her dream and tries to tell her not to pair with Kyan but she continues to align herself with him.
King Giaus and Felix get to Kraeshia where the King of Kraeshia forces Amara and Giaus to wed. Giaus tells Amara’s father that he has all the Kindred and Amara ends up poisoning all her brothers and father at their wedding banquet and blames it on Felix who then gets put into the dungeons and tortured.
Lucia ends up finding her sister and Lucia ends up quite disappointed by Laelia. Lucia and Kyan keep moving and run into Jonas, Lysandra and Olivia. Kyan ends up killing Lysandra (such an upsetting scene) and Olivia’s secret that she’s a watcher sent by Timotheus is revealed, she then flees for her own protection.
Jonas and Nic go to Kraeshia to kill King Giaus. While there they find Kraeshian revolutionaries. They break Felix out of prison and find out that King Giaus has already begun to return to Mytica. Jonas sends message to Magnus and Cleo via Olivia (in her hawk form) that King Giaus is coming home with Amara as his new queen.
Lucia finds out she’s pregnant through Timotheus telling her in her dream.
Magnus finds the earth Kindred in Cleo’s room and ends up fighting with her about it.
King Giaus wants to kill Cleo in order to get Magnus under his control once again. Cleo bucks up and performs a speech in front of the Limerians asking them to claim Magnus as their true King (Pretty sure this is when Magnus legitimately falls in love with Cleo). The Kraeshians show up and kidnap Cleo, Magnus goes to rescue her but gets stuck in a snow storm. Cleo escapes and grabs a horse and heads to the woods where she meets up with Magnus in a hidden cottage (she almost attacks him, by the way). They spend the night there and holy cow, that’s a great scene because they just get all lovey dovey and I can’t stand it but I love it too.
Lucia and Kyan figure out that magic is in the forbidden mountains and they go there. Lucia and Kyan fight about whether to destroy the world or not and Lucia ends up in a fight with Kyan where she beats him with a blast of fire.
-Cleo and Magnus are found by the King. He tells Magnus to kill Cleo but Magnus decides not to. Instead Magnus and the King get into a sword fight which is short lived due to Cleo threatening to throw the Earth Kindred off the cliff. She ends up dropping it and The King ends up falling down the cliff while Cleo is saved by Magnus. They end up going to his body (more to retrieve the earth kindred) and finding out he’s not really dead.
Jonas, Nic and Felix get on a ship to go back to Mytica. They also find Theon’s twin brother (Cleo’s love from book 1) and he decides to join the crew to avenge Theon’s death (which Nic and Jonas get in a bit of a tiff about) And as they leave they see Prince Ashur approach them…but….he was dead though…WHAT!?

Make sure to pre-order your copy of Crystal Storm and go to this link where you can get these awesome set of pins.

GIVEAWAY

Enter for a chance to win a set of the Falling Kingdom books by Morgan Rhodes, which includes paperback editions of Falling Kingdoms, Rebel Spring, Gathering Darkness and Frozen Tides and a hardcover edition of Crystal Storm (Approximate Retail Value (“ARV”): $63.00).

In addition, four (4) Runner-up Winners will each receive a paperback edition of Falling Kingdoms ($11.00 each).
a Rafflecopter giveaway
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Enter between 12:01 AM (EST) on December 5, 2016 and 11:59 PM (EST) on December 16, 2016. Open to residents of the fifty United States and the District of Columbia who are 13 and older. Winners will be selected at random on or about December 19, 2016. Odds of winning depend on number of eligible entries received. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Morgan Rhodes lives in Ontario, Canada. As a child, she always wanted to be a princess — the kind that knows how to wield a sharp sword to help save both kingdoms and princes from fire-breathing dragons and dark wizards. Instead, she became a writer, which is just as good and much less dangerous. Along with writing, Morgan enjoys photography, travel, reality TV, and is an extremely picky, yet voracious reader of all kinds of books. Under another pen name, she’s a national bestselling author of many paranormal novels. Falling Kingdoms is her first high fantasy.

TOUR SCHEDULE

WEEK ONE:

12/5: Steph in Wonderland (Book Look)

12/5: Young Adult Hollywood (Book Playlist)

12/6: Live to Read (Review)

12/6: Adventures of a Book Junkie (Reasons to Read Falling Kingdoms)

12/7: Take Me Away to a Great Read (Falling Kingdoms Mood Board)

12/7: Fiction Adventure (Character Fancast)

12/8: A Page with a View (Favorite Fictional Princes)

12/8: Star Crossed (Review)

12/9: Seeing Double in Neverland (Guest Post)

12/9: Bibliophile Gathering (The Series So Far)

WEEK TWO:

12/12: Once Upon a Twilight (Quotes + Review)

12/13: Dark Faerie Tales (Excerpt)

12/13: Mundie Moms (Review)

12/14: The Book Nut (Reasons to Read Falling Kingdoms)

12/15: Scifi Chick (Spotlight)

12/15: Tales of the Ravenous Reader (Guest Post)

12/16: Two Chicks on Books (Q&A)