Welcoming the Year of the Snake – #ChineseNewYear #ParanormalRomance #MFRWHooks

Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the Chinese Lunar New Year festival. This might not have made it onto your calendar, but if you live in Southeast Asia, as I do, Chinese New Year is a big deal.

According to the Chinese zodiac, we are entering the Year of the Snake. According to the South China Morning Post (the main English language newspaper in Hong Kong) snakes in Chinese culture are not necessarily evil but hold a more complex and varied symbolism. They are simultaneously associated with harvest, procreation, spirituality, and good fortune, as well as cunning, threat, and terror.

Sounds appropriate for the world we’re facing in 2025, doesn’t it?

To kick off the Year of the Snake in the MFRW Book Hooks blog hop, I’m sharing a hook from my paranormal erotic romance Serpent’s Kiss. Set in Guatemala, the book draws on Mayan legend and features the shape-shifting god Quetzlcoatl, the Feathered Serpent.

This novella features otherworldly passion passion and apocalyptic drama. I would not, however, recommend it to anyone with a fear of snakes!

Blurb

When a woman atoning for past sins heals the human avatar of an ancient god, she’s drawn into a perilous dance of destiny and desire.

From the first, Dr. Elena Navarro senses that the wounded man she discovers outside the gate of her rural clinic is not an ordinary mortal. With his chest ripped open, Jorge Pélikal still demonstrates unnatural strength and power. Elena is irresistibly attracted to Jorge, although he warns her their coupling could open the gates of chaos and cost her life. Despite his dire predictions, they fall in love. Gradually Elena comes to understand that Jorge is a supernatural player in a cosmic drama that will determine the fate of the earth and of mankind—and that even if he triumphs in his apocalyptic struggle with his nemesis, she may lose him forever.

 

The Hook

The feather woke her, trembling between her breasts like some trapped wild animal. Her eyes fluttered open. A virid radiance flooded the cave from outside, as if the sun had risen green instead of golden. The wind had risen, too, twining her hair around her face as she sat up and gazed around.

“Jorge?” Her voice sounded tentative. Gusts of air swirled around her, tearing at her clothing.

The cave was clearly still empty. But something was happening outside. Elena crept to the edge of the porch and gazed out at the night.

It was, in fact, still night. The sky was ebony velvet. The glow emanated from nearer the earth. Down in the field of maize, the stalks were whipped into a frenzy by the wind. And amid the stalks, or perhaps on top of them, something—someone—danced.

Hovering in a pool of emerald light, the figure was taller than a man. However, it was not shaped like a man. From above, Elena could barely make out the outline of the creature that swirled and twisted in that core of brilliance. She had a sense of limbs that folded at impossible angles, glittering sparks of red and gold, and plumes of extravagant feathers.

The pinion hung around her neck vibrated with joy.

Elena found she was humming some wordless tune that she could not place. The creature below seemed to be dancing in time. She slipped on her sandals and ran down the slope, drawn irresistibly to the flashing, leaping form below.

Bizarre as the scene was, she felt no fear, only an attraction that she did not question. As she drew closer, she could make out more details.

The body was elongated, elegant coils of gleaming muscle as thick as a man’s waist. It swept down to a narrower tail adorned with a brilliant feathery tuft. Instead of skin, the creature’s flesh was encased in a hide of finely-textured, jewel-colored scales. Talons like an eagle’s capped jointed limbs that he held folded close to his body. He danced on the tip of his tail, not on his feet. Enormous wings towered over the creature’s head, swaying in the wind, or perhaps creating it.

Half-snake, half-bird, the figure was bizarre but beautiful. A ridge of bone climbed up the forehead to blossom into a lush crest of green-gold feathers. A scaled snout pierced by nasal slits opened into fierce jaws. Huge, liquid, luminous eyes glowed on either side of the head, reflecting the radiance the creature generated.

Elena paused on the edge of the field, near the shrine where she had witnessed the earlier ritual. Without realizing it, she increased the volume of her wordless song. The glorious, alien creature paused in his dance. He looked into her eyes.

Wonder and terror seized Elena. She fell on her knees, hands clutched to her breast. She knew those eyes which stared dark and soulful out of the beautiful monster’s face.

The globe of iridescence drifted closer, with the plumed serpent at its center. Now he was dancing just in front of her—dancing for her. His gleaming body writhed and stretched, towering above her. He spread his resplendent feathered crown like a peacock’s tail. His wings fluttered in lazy arcs, holding him suspended above the earth. The bird-like limbs stretched themselves in her direction, claws flexing, but she felt no fear.

The vibrant apparition drew closer still. Now she was bathed in light, as the coils of his flesh spiralled around her kneeling form. She could, if she dared, reach out and stroke his scales. She tried to convince herself that she was not dreaming.

“Kulkulcan,” she heard herself intone. “Holy one, your servant attends you.”

The circling stopped. He bent his massive head to her, capturing her with his hypnotic gaze. “Worship me,” she heard him say, deep in her mind. The mental voice was familiar, like Jorge’s but stronger, richer, full of power, with no trace of her lover’s dark uncertainty.

She gazed back into the serpent’s eyes, fearless, adoring. “Show me, Lord. Guide me.” She spoke aloud, though she knew that was unnecessary.

Find all the buy links for Serpent’s Kiss on my website: https://www.lisabetsarai.com/serpentskiss.html

Be sure to visit the other authors participating in today’s Book Hooks.

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