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Book Title: Prince of Flowers (Wild Hearts Book 1)
Author and Publisher: Nazri Noor
Cover Artist: Christian Bentulan
Release Date: September 30, 2022
Genres: Contemporary MM, Fantasy M/M Romance
Tropes: Enemies to lovers, forced proximity, shared bed, found family
Themes: Trust, truth (Both MCs spend a good amount of the book deceiving each other, and have to learn that maybe they shouldn’t!)
Heat Rating: 4 flames
Length: approx 62 000 words
This is book 1 in a series and does not end on a cliffhanger. HFN.
Buy Links - Available in Kindle Unlimited
Universal Link | Amazon US | Amazon UK
He captured a fae prince, but can he capture his heart?
Blurb
Lochlann Wilde walks in the shadow of his father, a legendary summoner who commanded mythical beasts in battle. But Locke isn't legendary. He’s barely a summoner, never passing his academy’s trial of the elements.
And then he accidentally summons a fae prince with a beautiful body and a bad attitude.
Sylvain is fiery and ferocious, stronger than anything Locke has ever encountered. And hotter, too. But time is running out. Locke must tame the prince’s wild heart. If he fails his trial, he’ll lose his inheritance and ruin his family's name.
Without Sylvain, Locke could lose his chance to become a true summoner… along with his shot at true love.
Excerpt
The invisible entity’s breath rushed on the breeze, seductive and strong. The faint beat of its heart sounded like the playing of a distant drum. Above all things else I could taste the overwhelming power on the tip of my tongue, a palpable flavor of strange, alien magic.
I had to have it. I needed to earn my Summoner’s Crest. It was finally my time. I had to make my father proud, wherever he could be. I thrust my hand out, the grimoire levitating at eye level, pages fluttering in an eldritch wind as it turned to the correct section. The binding, the forging of a powerful contract.
“With iron will and stalwart heart I beseech you, great force of the ether. Make yourself known. Manifest. In the name of the summoners that have come before me, hear my words. Heed my call.”
A new wind swirled at my feet, sending leaves tumbling upward, whipping at the branches. Gooseflesh rose all over my skin, my body’s response to the tingle and thrum of gathering power. Something was here. Something was responding.
Time to finish the incantation, the barest minimum for me to qualify for the Summoner’s Crest. Time to complete the Pact of the Unknown.
“I invoke you, thing of the ether, unseen and unnamed. Grant me time and space enough to bargain and barter, to forge a bond that may yet be fruitful for us both.”
The wind howled, ripping at my cloak, shearing through my hair, screaming into my ears. It was coming.
It was here.
Time to bring it all home.
“Nameless of the ether, dweller in the unknown, I call you. I summon you. Come forth. Reveal yourself!”
Grass, leaves, and petals exploded in a burst from the center of the clearing, filling the air with a swirl of green and gold. I shielded my eyes, watching through the gaps in my fingers. Had it worked? It must have. I said all the words correctly, channeled the torrent of great magic through my soul, my flesh. Nothing short of a god could have resisted my summons.
And there he knelt in the center of the glade, his head low, his neck loose, a powerfully built man wearing leather trousers and little else. He propped himself up by one hand, groaning, rubbing at his forehead with the other, like someone recovering from a hangover. A side effect of the invocation, possibly.
Black hair fell in soft wisps over his brow, across his pale gold eyes. They took their time to focus, then filled with defiance, with wild devilry. He glanced up at me, eyes widening, mouth turning up in anger. But even in fury the man was devastating. That face, those lips, that — oh, gods, that body. He was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.
And then he opened his mouth.
About the Author
Nazri Noor is a California-based author of Filipino and Malaysian descent. While capable of fluently cursing in three languages, he only writes in English, and has been doing so in a professional capacity for over 20 years. His urban fantasy novels feature wise-cracking heroes who save the world with wits, style, and magic: think sass and class, while kicking ass.
Author Links
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Giveaway
Enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway for a chance to win
a $10 Amazon gift card,
an ebook from the author's backlist,
and 2 exclusive postcards featuring the Wild Hearts MCs (with greetings from author, not blank).
AUTHOR INTERVIEW PROMPTS
The temptation you wish you could resist…
Video games. I know they take up a lot of my time, but oddly, gaming might be the activity that inspires me to write the most. I try to take a more healthy mindset to it now, thinking of gaming as simultaneously an opportunity to unwind, a time to recharge, as well as a resource for inspiration. I’ve written an entire series on the premise of “what if a guy had a magical glove,” something loosely inspired by a weapon from a sci-fi shooter, of all things. That seed became Arcane Hearts, my first M/M series and, I’m proud to say, one of my most successful writing endeavors.
The book that holds everlasting resonance…
It’s hard for me to pick anything other than Sir Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal. The protagonist may just be the blueprint for the type of main character I love to write, this snarky, sneaky man who wins the day with his smarts and charisma. And there’s a touch of romance, a cast of memorable human and nonhuman characters, and a humorous, fantastical, suspenseful story. What’s not to love?
The film you can watch time and time again…
Mean Girls. It’s so, so quotable and has weirdly become such an inherent part of queer culture. I sprinkle little references to it in my books. The running joke with my readers is that I’ll eventually reproduce the entire script word for word as I put out more novels. Completing the ritual will summon Lindsay Lohan, who will appear in a puff of smoke to personally deliver me a cheese pizza.
The event that altered the course of your life…
Definitely moving to the United States. I’d spent most of my adult life writing in lifestyle and entertainment in Southeast Asia, but I had zero experience doing any work for American publications. I knew I’d have issues finding opportunities in my field and wanted to do something location-agnostic that still used my most marketable skill. I learned as much as I could about indie publishing and decided to pursue it as a career. I have zero regrets!
Your early recollections of writing fiction...
I never actually gave it a shot until I was in my thirties. Let’s just say that I sat down at my laptop during an altered, smoky state of consciousness and decided I’d start typing. It was something odd and patchy about the shaman of an ancient tribe who couldn’t figure out if he’d called lightning out of thin air, or if it was a fluke of nature. It was horrible, but it had a beginning, middle, and end, which was when it first hit me that maybe I actually had what it took to write fiction. I’m so glad I actually tried at all.
The way you would spend your fantasy twenty-four hours, with no travel restrictions…
It would take some pre-planning to make sure everyone was available, but I’d love to see family and friends in my two home countries. I’d do lunch in Sabah, Malaysia, where I still have a ton of family, and take a brief flight out to Manila in the Philippines for dinner, dessert, maybe even drinks, even if I don’t drink. Then I’d spend the night at one of the many gorgeous resorts in either Malaysia or the Philippines, preferably in a villa next to the water. Any time in between can and should be filled with beachside massages.
The piece of wisdom you would pass onto a child…
Take time to discover yourself and decide on what you want to do. If someone tells you you’re good at something, figure out if they’re just being nice or if this sounds like something you’d happily do all day. Know that it’s always okay to change your mind later. Weird advice for a child, but so many of us are boxed in by decisions that are pushed on us early on by parents or teachers. They may mean well, but often it’s stuff we don’t even love or enjoy. Also, start moisturizing as early as damn possible.
The philosophy that underpins your life…
The universe is enormous, and in the grand scheme of things we are unimportant specks of dust given limited time to exist. But just because we’re all slowly dying stars, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to shine our brightest. Does that make me an optimistic nihilist? I don’t know, but it’s my guiding star for how I live my life.
The character you enjoyed writing the most…
It’s so hard to pick, but my readers would probably agree that it’s Sterling the vampire. He was a supporting character in my Darkling Mage series who then received his own spinoff. I think he represents the worst side of me, the one that wishes it could get away with saying and doing the most ridiculous things. Sterling is a petulant brat, a foulmouthed pervert, but a loyal friend, and he’s so wildly entertaining to write each and every time.
The book you enjoyed planning/writing the most…
It’s almost always the last one, and in this case it’s definitely Prince of Flowers. It incorporates a lot of things that I absolutely love, like magical artifacts and mythical creatures. I’ve always wanted to write something featuring a summoner as a main character, too. I just adore the concept of summoning, and the instant tension and conflict it brought to the table made this book unbelievably fun to plan and write.
What happens when a snarky mage accidentally summons a feisty fae prince? Locke is a fledgling summoner with a big heart and an empty head, and Sylvain is a haughty fae royal who finds himself hopelessly entwined with a human, of all things. I couldn’t shake the central premise of Prince of Flowers once it sank its hooks into me, and truthfully it feels as if the book wrote itself from there.
The Wild Hearts may be my most ambitious series yet, which feels odd to say for something with a smaller cast of characters and more intimate settings than what I normally write. But it’s the first time I’ve done a lot of little things in this book, bumping up the romance quotient while still offering the same brand of action-packed fantasy I’m known for.
Sorcery, spice, and everything nice is what I like to call what I offer my readers, and I think that rings especially true for Prince of Flowers. The magic systems are richer, a little more indulgent, which the story almost calls for, considering the nature of the characters. And this is my first real foray into romance that directly involves one of the fae. Just exciting times overall!
Thank you.
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