The Bull Riding Witch by Jamie Marchant

The Bull Riding Witch

by Jamie Marchant

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GENRE: Urban Fantasy

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BLURB:

Daulphina’s father, the king of Asteria, has always wanted a male heir. Unfortunately for him, Daulphina’s magic means that will never happen unless her bastard half-brother displaces her on the throne. But she’ll take on all the gods herself before she lets that happen. He isn’t nice enough to be a good king.

But apparently, the gods don’t like being challenged because she’s flung across the void and into the dumpy old trailer and chiselled body of Joshua Killenyen, a rodeo bull rider from Alabama. With nothing to eat but Frosted Flakes and no knowledge how she got there, she better find a way home before she gets her head stomped in by the bulls she must ride. Or her brother will take the throne and reduce her people to slavery. Remember, he isn’t nice.

And then, I woke up as a man. 

I stared at the warm water falling over me. It had to be magic. Somebody magicked me into a man’s body. Dear gods, did that mean this hairy man was in my body? Was body-switching possible? Granny had never mentioned any such thing when she taught me everything she knew about magic, not that I’d ever been anything but a disappointment to her. I never had the raw power she expected of her successor. Or was my body empty? Or dead?

I was still staring at the falling water when Jocelyn yanked the stall door open. “Joshua, I told you you had ten minutes. Damn it, what’s wrong with you? You still have your boxer shorts on. Have you even washed yourself?” She turned the knob, and the water went away.

I stared up at her. “Miss, you have to believe me. I’m not Joshua.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Who are you, then? The queen of England?”

“No, I’m not a queen. I’m the crown princess of Asteria. I’ve never heard of England.”

She put her hand to her forehead. “Joshua, just how drunk are you?”

“I’m not drunk. This isn’t my body. Somebody magicked me into it.”

Jocelyn stared at me for a second. “I don’t know what you’re playing at, but it isn’t going to get you out of going to Meemaw’s.”

I rose abruptly. “I’m not going anywhere until someone explains what’s going on! 

Just how did I become a man?”

I read this book while on a road trip yesterday.  It was a fun book to read parts aloud to those I was traveling with.  Suitable to young adults, and older, this is a clean read.

Have you ever wondered what it might be like to wake up one morning as the other gender from that to which you  are accustomed? Throw in waking up in a different era of time and a place you are unfamiliar with and the possibilities are endless.
Not only does no one believe you are not the person they are seeing, but they think you are making things up and slacking to get out of doing chores and tasks you don't care for. Maybe you are just being lazy.

We only get glimpses of Joshua's life as he must reside in the Princess's body.
Daulphina's experience is shown all the way from the beginning. Not only must she please Joshua's very involved family but she must become a champion bull rider while trying to dodge a powerful witch, actually at least two,  who consider her an abomination of black magic and are trying to destroy her.  All she wants is to go home and be a princess.

Things are more complicated as Daulphina's father is dying and the next heir to the throne is being decided. Switching back sits firmly on her shoulders as Joshua has no magic in him.
Combining both worlds of cowboys and rodeo and knights and jousting, this read will keep you wondering what could happen next. Just when you think Daulphina has a chance of figuring things out -- MAJOR plot revolation leaves us with a cliffhanger!

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Jamie began writing stories about the man from Mars when she was six, and she never remembers wanting to be anything other than a writer. Everyone told her she needed a back up plan, so she pursued a Ph.D. in American literature, which she received in 1998. She started teaching writing and literature at Auburn University. One day in the midst of writing a piece of literary criticism, she realized she’d put her true passion on the backburner and neglected her muse. The literary article went into the trash, and she began the book that was to become her first novel. She writes about the fantastic . . . and the tortured soul. Her poor characters have hard lives. She still teaches writing and literature at Auburn University. She is the mother of a grown son.

Links:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Bull-Riding-Witch-Jamie-Marchant-ebook/dp/B072PD19DT/

Website: http://jamie-marchant.com/

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/jamieofkorthlundia/

Twitter: @JamieMarchantSF

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5258855.Jamie_Marchant

B/N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bull-riding-witch-jamie-marchant/1125829418

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Jamie-Marchant/e/B009L7ZGH0/