Release Day Blitz + Giveaway: A Cold Legacy (The Madman's Daughter #3) by Megan Shepherd

You guys, I am so freaking ecstatic that A COLD LEGACY by Megan Shepherd releases today and I can’t wait to share the news with you and an awesome excerpt from the book itself! I realize that these books have been a little hit and miss with some people, either you like  them or you don’t, but I’ve personally found myself enjoying them a great deal. If you'd like to see my review on Her Dark Curiosity, the second book in this lovely maddening trilogy, you can find it on my Goodreads.

If you haven’t yet heard about this wonderfully deliciously dark and haunting book by the beautifully talented Megan Shepherd, definitely make sure to check out all the details below to get the skinny on it. She's crafted a dark, dizzying, and beguiling world of madness and chaos. In this brilliantly written conclusion to the trilogy, she's probably written the most tragically beautiful one of all. With underlying hints of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide and Mary Shelley's Frankenstine, to serve as inspirational narrative to the world building and the characters alone, I would definitely recommend this trilogy to anyone in a heartbeat if given the chance. 

I’m pumped to be sharing with you an awesome giveaway that includes a signed copy of the book and swag courtesy of Megan and Rockstar Book Tours. So if you’d like a chance to win, enter in the Rafflecopter.

But, first I want to tell you about a Twitter chat that's happening tonight in celebration of A COLD LEGACY'S launch. It's going to be tons of incredible fun, lots of stuff happening, and the amazingly talented Veronica Rossi is hosting the chat. There are FIVE FULL SETS of The Mad Man's Daughter trilogy and ONE FULL SET of Under The Never Sky series up for grabs for those who participate in this Twitter chat. 

So, like what are you waiting for?! 

Go on then, get to it!

Want to know about the conclusion to this mesmerizing trilogy?!

A COLD LEGACY

The Mad Man's Daughter #3

Megan Shepherd

Pubished: January 27, 2015

Publisher: Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins

Age Demographic: Young Adult

Pages: 400

Find it: Amazon * B&N * Goodreads

After killing the men who tried to steal her father’s research, Juliet—along with Montgomery, Lucy, Balthazar, and a deathly ill Edward—has escaped to a remote estate on the Scottish moors. Owned by the enigmatic Elizabeth von Stein, the mansion is full of mysteries and unexplained oddities: dead bodies in the basement, secret passages, and fortune-tellers who seem to know Juliet’s secrets. Though it appears to be a safe haven, Juliet fears new dangers may be present within the manor’s own walls.

Then Juliet uncovers the truth about the manor’s long history of scientific experimentation—and her own intended role in it—forcing her to determine where the line falls between right and wrong, life and death, magic and science, and promises and secrets. And she must decide if she’ll follow her father’s dark footsteps or her mother’s tragic ones, or whether she’ll make her own.

With inspiration from Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this breathless conclusion to the Madman’s Daughter trilogy is about the things we’ll sacrifice to save those we love—even our own humanity. 

A COLD LEGACY Excerpt
As written by Megan Shepard

Taken from pgs 21-24

Montgomery stopped the horses outside a tavern. He came to the carriage door, opening it just a crack to keep the rain from drenching us. “I’m going to ask directions. We can’t be far now.”

We watched him saunter over the muddy street as though he didn’t even feel the bite of freezing rain. A face appeared in the tavern window. The door opened and he spoke to a woman in a wool dress for a few moments, then stomped back through the mud. “This village is called Quick,” he told us. “The manor’s only five miles from here.”

“Did you hear that?” Lucy murmured to Edward, still stroking his hair. “We’re almost there. Just hold on. Everything will be all right once we arrive.”

Montgomery’s eyes shifted to me. Neither of us wanted to remind Lucy that the prospect of Edward’s fever breaking—and the Beast’s reappearance—was almost more frightening than the fever itself. Delirious, he was less of a threat.

“Let’s go then,” I whispered to Montgomery. “And quickly.”

He closed the door and in another moment we were moving again, passing through the rest of Quick. Then all too soon the village was nothing but fading lights. The storm grew and the road became rougher, and all the while Edward’s eyes rolled back and forth beneath shuttered lids.

Thunder struck close by, and Lucy shrieked. Montgomery whipped the horses harder, pulling us along the uneven road impossibly fast, trying to outrun the storm. I twisted in the seat to look out the back window at the pelting rain. A stone fence ran alongside us.

“We must be getting close,” I said.

“Not soon enough,” Lucy breathed. “We’re going to crash if he keeps driving like this!”

The road widened, straightening, letting us travel even faster. Lightning struck close by, blinding me. The horses bolted. Lucy screamed and covered her eyes, but I couldn’t tear mine away. The lightning had struck an enormous oak tree, twisted from centuries of wind. The oak took flame, blazing despite the rain. A smoking gash ran down the trunk—the lightning’s death mark. I watched until the rain put out most of the flames, but it still smoldered, billowing hot ash into the night.

The horses pawed the earth, and I grabbed the window to steady myself. At this wild speed,

just hitting a single rock at the wrong angle would send the carriage shattering to the ground. It was madness to go so fast. Couldn’t Montgomery calm the horses?

Just when I feared the carriage would careen out of control, it stopped short, throwing me

against the opposite wall. I tangled in Lucy’s limbs as the chains around Edward’s body clinked. Balthazar grunted, jerking awake at last. We scrambled in the bottom of the carriage until the door flew open. Montgomery stood in the pelting rain. I feared he’d say we’d broken another strut or the horses had gone lame or we’d have to spend the night in the harsh storm.

But then I saw the lights behind him, and the night took shape into a turreted stone manor

with bright lamps blazing and gargoyles on the roof vomiting rain into a stone courtyard.

Montgomery’s eyes met mine beneath the low brim of his hat.

“We’ve arrived,” he said.

 Giveaway Details

1 winner will receive a signed copy of A COLD LEGACY and swag! US Only. This giveaway ends on

February 6^th at Midnight EST!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About The Author

Megan Shepard

Website * Twitter * Facebook  Tumblr * Goodreads

Megan Shepard has been many things, like a professional exchange student, a park ranger in Montana, and a LOST enthusiast, but she now is a writer.

It's fair to say that she was born into it. She grew up in the mountains of North Carolina, was raised behind the counter of her parents’ independent bookstore, Highland Books in

Brevard. Ah, so many free books. But she never thought being a writer could be a real career. After college she thought she’d end up as a foreign service officer somewhere dashing and exotic, like Canada. She studied French, Spanish, German, and Russian and still speak a few of those. Then she joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Senegal, where she learned a few more languages She’ll never speak again and lived in a mud hut with no electricity or running water. You can probably imagine how that experience went, but if you’re curious, here are the dirtydetails. 

It wasn't until a chance acquaintance read something she had written and said, "have you ever considered being a writer?" that something clicked and she then realized it was possible. Her husband encouraged her, and she quickly fell head-over-heels in love with writing and children's literature in particular. She started out writing articles, which have appeared in Faces, Appleseeds, and Calliope magazines, and stories for younger children. She soon realized she wasn’t sweet enough to write fiction for that age and found herself writing young adult literature instead, which doesn’t require nearly as many tender moments and includes a lot more cursing.

When she's not writing, she can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina. She loves to hear from readers, so please drop her a line!

She is currently represented by Josh Adams of Adams Literary. Her author Photo is by Kristi Hedberg Photography.

Book Review for Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter #2) by Megan Sheperd

Her Dark Curiosity (The Madman's Daughter #2)Megan Shepherd

Published: January 28, 2014

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Age Demographic: YA Historical Mystery

Pages: 432

To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it.

Months have passed since Juliet Moreau returned to civilization after escaping her father's island—and the secrets she left behind. Now, back in London once more, she is rebuilding the life she once knew and trying to forget Dr. Moreau’s horrific legacy—though someone, or something, hasn’t forgotten her.

As people close to Juliet fall victim one by one to a murderer who leaves a macabre calling card of three clawlike slashes, Juliet fears one of her father’s creations may have also escaped the island. She is determined to find the killer before Scotland Yard does, though it means awakening sides of herself she had thought long banished, and facing loves from her past she never expected to see again.

As Juliet strives to stop a killer while searching for a serum to cure her own worsening illness, she finds herself once more in the midst of a world of scandal and danger. Her heart torn in two, past bubbling to the surface, life threatened by an obsessive killer—Juliet will be lucky to escape alive.

With inspiration from Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, this is a tantalizing mystery about the hidden natures of those we love and how far we’ll go to save them from themselves.

To Purchase Her Dark Curiosity by Megan Shepherd visit: Amazon & B&N

Note: I received an ARC of this book for review approved by the publisher's through ATW ARC Tours, in exchange for an honest review.

To defeat the darkness, she must first embrace it.
When I first read the The Madman's Daughter I was intrigued by the dark and maddening synopsis that drew me in, so when I learned of Her Dark Curiosity I was even more excited! I sat on pins and needles waiting to have a copy of this darkly rich and gorgeously told story in my hands and when it finally arrived, I could barely contain myself. I sat down immediately and became so ensconced in the world that Megan Shepherd had elaborately stitched together, that I could not put it down. I was so entranced by the world that she had created around this character, Juliet Moreau, that I have come to love and feel so much for. The mystery of the hidden nature of love and humanity, are the two biggest elements that have really drawn me to this dark, suspenseful, and intense tale of deceit, destruction of oneself, and the undoing of others.

Her Dark Curiosity is a dark illustrious macabre of deep seeded mystery, compelling drama, and the unraveling of ones own being. Juliet has experienced more horrors at the hands of her father and this illness that she is fighting hard to find a serum for, than any other character that I have read about this year and that's saying quite a bit. She's a beautiful fragile soul, who is being forced to reconcile with a past that is rising to the surface, a heart torn in two when it comes to love, and escaping the secrets that she left behind on the island. I honestly don't know if I've ever seen a more quietly strong individual as her, whom I can feel for in the manner that I have come accustomed to feeling for her. Terrified, she is determined to find the killer who is wrecking havoc and death on those who are closest to her. Her strength and determination, in the face of the overwhelming painful issues she's dealing with, truly astound me. Actually, they inspired me on many human levels.

Shepherd has definitely cornered the market on breathing new life and inspiration into a story inspired by the original Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. One of the most interesting elements or perhaps, facets of Juliet's personality, is dealing with the two different sides of her. One where she is tipsy with cleverness, high intelligence, and a tiny bit of madness mingled in and the other where she is caring and sweet. She becomes this sort of unhinged wrapped up ball of intrigue for me, filled with so many human flaws that make readers either enjoy her or dislike her. For me, she is one of the most real things this novel or series has going for it, and I find that incredibly refreshing. The idea that a character can be so incredibly broken with the ability to spin out of control on one hand, but can be reigned back in and possibly put back together. The idea that all hope isn't lost when it comes to Juliet, is what keeps wafting through my mind. It's always there in the shadows, staying with me long after I'd turned the last page of these tumultuous twists and turns.

There are books that pique your interest and arouse your curiosity and for me, Her Dark Curiosity, is one of those books that I became so taken with this year. I am eagerly anticipating the next book in this series, because I know it's going to as dark and deceptive, so filled with even more beguiling madness swirling around it as this one. Gritty and full of action, this book is definitely a must read for any fan of the idea behind Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You absolutely won't be able to put this book down, until the twists and turns have all be taken, the deep secrets have been unraveled and revealed, and you have reached the final destination - the last page. I do think it's one of the year's best written novels, in the sense that it shows the dark and dueling sides of more than one personality and a person so fragile, that they must fight to just to keep fighting in order to survive. I don't think I've witnessed anything like this since Buffy Summers came back as dark and broken as she did in Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and I found myself discovering a new love for the character for that reason. As unhealthy as it may have seemed, no one can deny that it made her character that much more interesting and compelling as the story unfolded, the same I believe applies to Juliet.

Website Twitter Goodreads

Megan Shepherd was "born" into the book world, growing up in her parents' independent bookstore in Western North Carolina. She is the author of THE MADMAN'S DAUGHTER trilogy (Balzer+Bray/2013), and THE CAGE trilogy (Balzer+Bray/2015). When Megan is not writing, she can usually be found horseback riding, day dreaming at coffee shops, or hiking in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. She is represented by Josh Adams at Adams Literary.