Enchanted Beauty and Dragon's Heart-2009 CAPA Nominees!

I'm absolutely delighted to have two books nominated for CAPA's this year! I'm in some great company as well! 

Below are the reviews given to Dragon's Heart and Enchanted Beauty from the Romance Studio as well as a teaser excerpt. 

Enchanted Beauty Review: I have always love reading as a child the story of Beauty and the Beast. In Enchanted Beauty, Ms. Mathews introduces us to Annabelle, a brave, and compassionate woman, who struggled with the knowledge that she could die if no cure was found for the spell that had injured her, causing blindness and a the hastening of her last days on earth. Filled with betrayal and unending action, you will find Enchanted Beauty to be one of Ms. Mathews' truly loving stories to remember. ~Margo Arthur, The Romance Studio

Dragon's Heart Review: The bond that was forged between them was complemented by the loving way Ms. Mathews wrote the tender moments into the plots. Dramas that besiege these two give them both the strength to face and overcome the strong odds that they where up against, causing them to excel in great power to defeat the enemy. An excellent adventure story filled with magical elements that make this book one to enjoy. ~Margo Arthur, The Romance Studio

Teaser Excerpt From Enchanted Beauty,
Malachi didn’t know why he’d suddenly had a swift change of heart. All he knew as
soon as he saw her in flesh and blood was that he had to have her. He wanted her more than he’d
ever wanted any other woman. Annabelle could be the one. She could be the one to save him
from himself. She would be the beauty to his beast.
“Mercy? I am no monster for you to live in fear of, Annabelle.” He looked to her
walking staff. “You won’t need to use that. I will guide you back to the castle.”
He could feel her shivering in his arms. Without giving it a second thought, he whisked
off his cloak and draped it around her shoulders. She stiffened beneath it but she didn’t try to
pull away from him. She knew that there was no escape for her. She’d gone too far, and she’d
given him her verbal consent. Her word was binding no matter what she had to say to the
contrary. He had full power over her. She wouldn’t flee from him. Even if she could see the
way off his lands, she had to stay in order to secure her father’s release.
“Take me to my father, then. I’d like to see him ... I want to make sure that you haven’t
hurt him—or turned him into something hideous.”
“Hideous? There’s far worse out in this brutal world of ours than anything I could have
the heart to subject anyone to. Trust me, my beauty, I’ve endured it and survived it. I would
never ever wish what I’ve gone through on my worst enemy. Well, strike that—perhaps, I would
wish it on my worst enemy.” He gave a cynical laugh. She shivered again. He could smell her
fear. Annabelle was torn between trusting him and cringing in terror in front of him. Could he
blame her? He was a formidable man. He could have done far worse to her father ... and yet, he
hadn’t. No matter what his sister and Oliver had done to him, they hadn’t been able to rob him
of his heart.
And, if he wasn’t careful, his heart could end up betraying him again. He was already
falling headlong for Annabelle. Her beauty was the sort bards would sing ballads about. She
should have been the envy of most of the nobly born women in Thaliana, and yet here she was
trying to barter the freedom of a man that wasn’t fit to be in her presence, yet alone fit enough to
be her father.
Delbert Morton was a moron. He didn’t know how lucky he was ... he didn’t know how
thankful he should be for having a daughter so devoted to him, that she would risk giving herself
to a man like him. Sourness boiled in his stomach. He wanted Annabelle with a fierce craving,
but he knew he could never force her into wanting him in return. If he could, he would give her
a love potion, if he did that she would become entirely enchanted with him, and he would have
her in his bed before he could blink. But he couldn’t do that to her. He couldn’t deceive her in such a foul way.
If she did come to him, it would be of her own free will.
“I would like to see my father ... now, please,” Annabelle asked softly but firmly.
Her soft sweet voice broke through his thoughts. He sighed. “In due time.”
“No. Now!” He was surprised to find that she had steel running through her—perhaps,
she was strong enough to deal with what he had to offer her. She would eventually get close
enough to him to make out his visage. In the light of day, her vision would be improved. He
didn’t know what he would do if she recoiled from him in disgust. He’d had it happen to him
before—and it wasn’t something he wished to repeat anytime soon.
“Did you know that your father was here to steal the Hawthorne family Wish Jewel?”
“No...,” her voice faltered. “I’m sorry, switch that to a yes. I was told the entire story
from my cousin Glynnis.”
“Glynnis? The woman he was acting so besotted with? I should hope she isn’t his niece,
that would be quite—revolting.”
She forced out a short laugh. “So there is something more to my father’s relationship
with my cousin than I originally believed. I’ve been snookered. They really pulled the
proverbial wool over my eyes. You can rest easy in knowing that Glynnis shares no blood bond
with my father—I’m the only one he can call a blood relation. Lucky me.” She let out a shaky
laugh.
Malachi’s heart went out to her. How many times had she played damage control when it
came to her father’s colossal muck ups? The man was a poor thief. He couldn’t see him ever
getting away with a grand score. He warranted that Delbert had spent more than his fair share of
time in various prisons.
Malachi swallowed and looked up at the sky. “We should get to the castle. You look
tired, and you’ll need time to adjust to your new surroundings.”
“Adjust? That’s what you call getting used to being your prisoner?”
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Teaser Excerpt from Dragon's Heart,
Grania hit the nail right on the head, with her latest statement. He watched her
catch his gaze and hold it. Nodding her head to him, she drew her sword from its
scabbard. In the next second, she held her hand up and his mother, father and uncle were
moved toward him so they stood flanking his sides.
“Be safe.” Flames erupted in her green eyes. A wall of fire enshrouded them.
“Damn.”
His mother’s horrified face turned to meet his. “She’s going to burn us alive!”
“Come now, mother. You should know better than that. Do you feel hot?”
“Strangely ... no.”
“Dragon shifters have control over the elements. They can influence the
temperature of their flame to either be scolding hot—or lukewarm, cool, or icy cold.
This flame is cool to the touch ... hence, the reason why it’s blue.”
“She does know her stuff, Dylan.” His father beamed over at him. “We could
have helped her—I’ve fought my fair share of dragon shifters in my day.”
“You are out of practice, Timothy. Don’t even think about walking through this
flame barrier to assist that young girl. She was entrusted to protect our son, I highly
doubt her king and queen would have given her such a responsibility if they didn’t
believe she could keep him safe.”
“Even if father wanted to walk through the flame, he couldn’t. It’s been erected
as a bloody shield. Bloody hell, she’s got grit, I’ll hand that to you.” Pride welled in him.
“She’ll hold her own. I’m certain she’ll drive them away.” Her mother gave him
a confident smile.
“She said there was six or seven of them coming.”
“No, Dylan, she didn’t.”
“Your mother is right ... she never said a thing about how many were coming.”
“Oh, my aching head.” Earlier that night, Denys had played with his head, and
now Grania was doing it.
“I’m afraid, Dylan, that you don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of ever getting
away from young Grania.”
He looked at his uncle sharply. “What do you mean, Uncle Jonas?”
“I meant exactly what I said. You must be her mate ... she probably
unintentionally allowed you to hear her thoughts. I’ve heard about the wonders of these
dragon shifters when it comes to love. Your own aunt once held a torch for one of
them.”
“That’s true. Rachel was quite smitten with one of them once. She even offered
her magical services to many of them when it came to enchanting their lands so the
humans wouldn’t notice when they shifted.”
“Aunt Rachel. Of course. That’s why I had such a bloody hard time working
past her enchantments—family spells are bloody hard to impregnate. She had to have
been the witch that Grania got to bless her cottage.”
“Indeed. Our sister does know how to write them.” His father nodded, beaming
with pride.
The sounds of battle met their ears.
“Oh, dear. They’re going to make such a mess of the hall. And after all of that
restoration work we had done.” His mother lamented.
“We’ll repair it, mum.” His heart pounded loudly. His hand tingled again. He
should be helping her. He didn’t like the thought of having a woman protect him—he
was all for women having equal rights as men, but it made him feel unmanly to have such
a beautiful and fragile looking woman caring for him. She had to learn that he could help
her.
A resounding crash shook the floor. Screams of agony met their ears.
Glancing over at his mother, his stomach fell at the look of fear on her face.
“What if she loses?” Her change in mood was swift—for being so confident only
moments before, she now faltered in her faith.
His heart stood still. He didn’t know why—but he couldn’t allow that to happen.
Maybe it was the fact that she was meant to be his—“Father, if you can’t go through a
wall of fire—you can go around it, correct?”
“Son, I don’t know what you’re concocting in your head—but stop. If you try to
interfere you run the risk of ruining it completely. She’s in a fighting zone right now—
she could hurt you without meaning to.”
“She won’t hurt me. She’ll never hurt me. I’m under her skin ... and in her
heart.”
“Now you are talking plain nonsense, Dylan. You can’t fall in love with a woman
in only a matter of hours. Think rationally. You need to settle down with a nice little
witch, and have nice little magical witches and wizards.”
“Mother ... just knock it off.”
She gasped. “Dylan, if you carry on with her—I will, I will have to ....”
“What? Disown me?”
Heartbreak glistened in her brown eyes. She turned away from him. “Do what
you have to do. You always have.”
He nodded. Looking up at the ceiling, he slowly drew in his breath. “Here goes
absolutely nothing.” Releasing his magic, he levitated himself up into the air and made
himself intangible so he could float straight through the ceiling. He’d come back down
right in the middle of the fray. “I’m a scholar not a fighter—I guess I’ll just have to learn
a few new tricks.”
“Good luck!” They all said in unison. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled.
He drew his wand. He hadn’t used his wand to channel his magic for years—he had to
use it now in order to amplify his powers. In order to do the sort of damage he intended
to mete out, his firepower had to be on equal playing ground of the dragon shifters.
He heard her voice in his head just before he phased through the ceiling. She’d
been wounded. Yet, she still fought on. He admired her courage—he’d never met such a
brave woman. She was going to protect him no matter what. In that instant, he found an
entirely new kind of respect for her ... and her people.
As soon as he transported himself through the ceiling and turned himself solid
again, he had the attention of the evil dragon shifters. He felt Grania’s surprise—
concern—and rage all at the same time.
“No! Dylan!” She raced to put herself in front of him. He moved too swiftly for
her—she was injured—he wasn’t.
“Hi, Grania! How’s it going?” He tried to sound cheerful. At the sound of his
cheekiness, she frowned. Evidently, she thought he’d just committed an unthinkable act.
“My, my, it is quite hot in here, isn’t it?” he joked.
“We have him. Take him, and retreat before we, too, feel the sting of her sword.”
Silently, he assessed the situation. He saw three dragon shifters. Which meant
she’d likely taken out half of their force. Admiration welled inside of him again. He
definitely was being protected by one bad-assed dragon shifter—bad-assed, but oh, so,
good. He was certainly glad she was on his side.
Her sword dripped red blood. Dragon shifter blood. No bodies remained, since
they had disintegrated in their death fire.
“Say hello to Mr. Wand, boys and girl.” Waves of his magic channeled through
his body and then in a rush, exploded out through the tip of his wand. He hit two of
them. Shrieks rent the air. He looked over at Grania. Her eyes widened to the size of
emerald colored golf balls. She stepped backward. He could feel her fear—and
revulsion.
His attack spell whirled around the two male dragon shifters. Their skin started
turning to leather. They were transforming from the inside out. Their dragon skin ripped
through their human flesh.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, fear still glittering in her eyes.
“Killing them—to save you.” At his words they blew up. He threw a shield
charm around both her and him.
Tears glistened in her eyes. She continued backing away from him. “You truly
are the destroyer of my kind. Mistress Kendra, return to your master and tell him that his
end is near. Tell him, his journey is coming to an end. A most gruesome end.”
Kendra directed her attention to Grania. “Lady Grania, you can’t allow the
wizard to live. He will obliterate our kind. Dragon slayers make him look like .... ”
She raised her hand. “Silence. I will not listen to what you have to say. Your
side has already killed too many of my friends—tell Lord Draco that his end is near.
That is all.” She hurled a flaming fireball at her.
Kendra disappeared.
“We should probably go back to your cottage now. I guess it's my home for the
time being.” He walked toward her. Unsettling stillness draped through the hall.
He touched her face, gently tilting her head to meet his gaze. “You withdraw
from me,” he said softly.
“Why shouldn’t I? You put us in this situation. You created this—this hall of
death. I knew those men you killed. I grew up with them.” She was crying. “I wasn’t
going to kill them—unless they tried to kill you. I wasn’t going to hurt them.” Her voice
cracked with emotion. Coolness exuded from her. In a heartbeat, she turned frosty
toward him.
Raising her hand, she showed him her palm. “The dragon mark has disappeared.
What you have done tonight might have resulted in the impossible.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I should thank you. You have released me from a heavy burden. You have
broken our bond. You are free.”
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