In a land where twins are outcasts, identical princesses masquerade as one girl – Rylie, heir to the throne; a secret not even their father knows. 

♦♦♦

Kios has long been called barbaric by neighboring countries due to their practice of sentencing whole families to the City of Outcasts when echoes (two children at once) are born.

A political marriage brings kind and wise Queen Lena to the country. Due to her insight and endless work, the Echo Banishment Law has been revoked, and even King Dalan publicly proclaim echoes harmless. What few people realize is that King Dalan’s words are merely lip service – he is terrified of echoes due to superstitions that have ruled Kios for generations.

At sixteen, princesses Nicolette and Raquel, known to the world as Princess Rylie, have one goal in mind – see live to see the day when echoes have equal footing. Spurred on by the desire for the king to know their true identity, and to carry on the work Queen Lena was unable to finish due to her untimely death, the princesses are willing to risk everything to see their dream accomplished.

♦♦♦

Echoes is the first book in the Kios Trilogy, and comes in at just over 50,000 words. Told with dual narration by Nicolette and Raquel, the story is realistic fantasy (as in no magic) with a medieval flair.

♦♦♦

And now for the excitement! The plan (Lord willing) is to have Echoes ready for beta reading by the beginning of next week. *cue happy dance* This series is one I’ve worked on (with breaks) since I was 18, so I’m pretty thrilled about moving it to the next level. It’s also probably my favorite story I’ve ever worked on, so I can hardly wait to get feedback from some of y’all.

I’m pretty open to varying amounts of feedback, which means if you want to point out every grammatical error I’d be thrilled with that. Or, if you’d rather stick to the basics and talk about how much sense the plot made or point out inconsistencies, I’d be dancing in delight over that, as well.

I’m planning on sending the book out by March 20th, and I’m requesting the feedback to be returned by April 20th (although if you can’t fit it into that time frame, just let me know!). If you’d like to beta read (or even to just get more information) you can email me at: aidylewoh@gmail.com

Thank you so much, y’all! I can’t wait to hear from you!

And now, one last thing before I go…. Here’s a snippet from the story to give you a glimpse at the writing style.

♦♦♦

“Girls, are you decent?” The sound of Keagan’s voice made all three of us turn toward the closed door.

“If you mean are they fully clothed the answer is yes,” Marina answered as I opened the door. “If you’re referring to their level of early morning communication I’m afraid an affirmative answer would be pulling the truth a bit too taunt for comfort.”

Keagan grinned. “They do look fetching this morning though, don’t they?” Keagan picked up a second brush from the vanity and hit it on the palm of his hand. “This devise is what turns that scary beast,” he pointed at me, “into that sophisticated lady?” He aimed the brush at Nicolette. “I daresay, I should take these to the market and try to get a fair price for them. I’ve seen many a lass who could use one of them.”

“Did you come in here with a certain intent? Or just to mock the fine ladies of Kios?”

“I have not mocked any fine ladies.” Keagan tossed the brush back onto the vanity. “And maybe my intent was to save Marina from the tongue lashing I know you’re all to eager to provide in the early mornings.”

“Humph.”

“Princesses,” Keagan’s eyes went back and forth between us, “have you decided which one of you will attend the banquet tonight?”

“Aye.” Our answer was in unison, an occurrence that was fairly common among us.

“And?”

“I’ll be attending.”

“I thought that’s what you would decide.” Keagan gave a decisive nod of his head.

“How?” Marina finished Nicolette’s hair and stepped back to look at the two of for a moment before motioning me into the seat Nicolette had just vacated.

“How…?” Keagan asked.

“How did you know which one answered you?”

“Because I saw her lips moving?” Keagan quirked an eyebrow.

“Nay, I mean you said that was what you thought, can you truly tell them apart?” Marina was forever confusing the two of us even after living with us all of our lives. Sometimes we played up Keagan’s ability to tell us apart to bring Marina to a state of great annoyance.

“They act differently.”

“They are simply abiding, not acting.” Marina’s brushing was non too gentle as she began my hair.

“Then they abide differently.” Keagan shrugged.

“How so?”

“They breath with different cadences.” Keagan’s words were spoken with a straight face.

“Their breathing…?”

“Tis so,” Keagan nodded, wide eyed. “I used to lie awake at night wondering why they seemed so different to me and at last I came to the conclusion it was because Nicolette sounded like puff, puff, puff and Raquel sounded like puffpuffpuff.”

“You’re as childish as either of them.” Marina looked chagrined for a moment then laughed, “Really though, are you going to teach me how you can tell them apart?” Marina finished the simple knot on my hair and together we exited the dressing room.

“I know not, Marina.” Keagan put his arm around my shoulder and his other arm around Marina’s shoulder. “It’s instinct I suppose.”

“Did you come back to the dressing room the comment on our body oder?” I peered up at him with a straight face.