Gina Rae Mitchell

Searching (Dragons of New York #1) by Rachel Graves | Spotlight, Excerpt, $50 Giveaway

A book blog tour from Goddess Fish Promotions.

Thank you to the author, publisher, and Marianne & Judy at Goddess Fish for providing me with the information for this tour.

Book Details

Searching by Rachel Graves
Series: Dragons of New York Book #1
Published by Independent on October 17, 2022
Genres: Fiction, Urban Fantasy
Format: eBook
Pages: 443

A dragon terrified of being discovered by the government, Ravenna Drake is constantly on the move. When the woman who raised her gets cancer, Ravenna trades her nomadic work restoring black market magical goods for a steady job. But her cautious life ends after her name is found at the scene of a werewolf murder.

Dr. Ian Chen, a sorcerer bonded to a powerful relic, works for the government treating supernatural citizens. He insists on investigating when his patient’s body is discovered completely drained of blood. His search leads him to the beautiful but frustrating Ravenna Drake, who refuses to stay away from the case or follow his instructions.

As more bloodless bodies surface, threats from secret societies and corrupt politicians force the dragon and the sorcerer to work together. If Ravenna and Ian can’t catch the killer, the people they love the most may be the next to die.

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Excerpt from Searching (Dragons of New York #1)

His foot reached out to blur the circle and the ghost changed. Agony forced every other emotion aside. He couldn’t breathe, a heavy weight settled on his chest. Panic set in as he wheezed, his heart racing the way hers had raced. Was he experiencing her last minutes or just panicking at the emotions? Could he trust himself? Darkness started to crowd the edges of his vision. Not enough air. Sweat broke out along his back. Somewhere, Cloak was saying something, but he couldn’t hear it over the pounding of blood in his ears. He was going to die here. The blackness got closer.

“No.” The flood of emotions stopped immediately, as Drake stepped in front of him. “That’s not how this works. You don’t get to scream at him.”

His head throbbed, stinging like acid dripping down his face, but he could breathe again. The darkness receded. The first thing he saw was Drake moving into the center of the stain, acting as if the blood wasn’t there.

“I’ll give you enough energy to manifest, but start screaming again and I will end you, even if we haven’t heard a damn thing you’ve got to say. Understand?” She paused, then reached her hand out. A shaft of sunlight came in through the window and her hand seemed to glow. Then the end of it disappeared, replaced with a chest. The shape grew outward, a filmy light turning into a woman. The process took less than a minute, and he heard the sheriff whisper to God.

“Dr. Chen, she can talk to you now.” Drake said it with a very deliberate emphasis on the word talk. Whatever the ghost intended, it wasn’t going to stand up to her. A deep surge of gratitude coursed through him.

Excerpt provided by the author/publisher for use in this post.

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Purchase Links for Searching (Dragons of New York #1)

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Guest Post by Rachel Graves

Exploring DRAGONS OF NEW YORK – a post about the setting/era of your book

My latest book is Dragons of New York, which might be strange considering that I’ve lived in other major cities – Atlanta, Washington DC – that could have just as easily supported a community of magical creatures. So why New York?

First, because New York is famous for its amazing museums. Initially, my character Ravenna was going to work for the Smithsonian in Washington DC. I thought the tension between a dragon hiding from the government but working a federal job would make for some delicious conflict. But the Smithsonian is an old, established organization that houses many different museums.

The layers of bureaucracy and paperwork made it hard for my dragon to slip into a temporary part-time job. In my mythical museum (very, very loosely based on the Met), I could have a begrudgingly accommodating department director bend the rules to hire Ravenna while her best friend (and boss) shifts to part-time work to deal with her mother’s illness.

Second, because New York is known for welcoming immigrant groups of all kinds. Ian is a third generation Chinese-American. His mother’s family came from Hong Kong in the 1920s, and built the amazing mansion he still lives in. Unfortunately, there weren’t a lot of cities that would have allowed Chinese citizens to mix with the elite. San Francisco could have worked, and for a little while I considered moving the whole story there.

But ultimately, New York won the battle because it was closer to Ian’s British grandparents. I wanted his very rich family to be jet-setters, who fly to see grandma in Singapore, dash off to do some shopping on Seville Row with their other grandma, and then head down to DC for a political fundraiser. New York’s easy distance to all those things really helped.

Another big plus for New York? Gala events open to anyone who donates enough. At the end of the book the museum puts on a gala, a massive fundraiser where everyone dresses to impress. Ravenna has worked with a seamstress designing her gown and corset for over two years. When it comes to giant fashion events the Met Gala is always the first thing on my mind. While my event is a poor shadow of that celebration, it gave me another reason to think of New York.

The book was almost set in Boston. Ravenna and her two best friends attended Harvard together starting at age fifteen. They’re all brilliant, and their time at Harvard defines who they were. I could have shifted them to an Ivy league school closer to New York, but I wanted the name recognition of Harvard. Ravenna never brags about being the best, but she has three Ph.D.’s from Harvard and makes twenty-five thousand dollars a day. That sounded pretty impressive to me. The real reason I didn’t stick with Boston was that I needed a denser, more congested city to give my trauma surgeon, Ian, plenty of hospitals to consult with.

So why New York? Museums, people, and the energy of the city. If there’s any place in America that’s filled with supernatural creatures and magical artifacts, I’m betting it’s New York City. It’s easy to imagine a magical bar that caters to supernatural creatures in that great city that never sleeps. From the opulence of Ian’s Riverside Dr. mansion to the grand Gilded Age museum where Ravenna works each day, New York City is perfect for my dragons.

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I love my Amazon Kindle Unlimited Subscription. So many books, so little time!

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Amazon – OneLink for every country   

Searching (Dragons of New Y...Shop on Amazon

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Searching (Dragons of New York #1) Giveaway!

A randomly drawn winner will be awarded a $50 Amazon/BN GC.

Visit more stops on this Goddess Fish tour for extra chances to win!

Official Tour Page for Searching (Dragons of New York #1)

Full Tour Schedule:

October 17: Sadie’s Spotlight
October 18: It’s Raining Books
October 19: Ilovebooksandstuffblog
October 19: Momma Says: To Read or Not to Read
October 20: Hope. Dreams. Life… Love
October 21: Read Your Writes Book Reviews
October 21: The Pen and Muse Book Reviews
October 24: Fabulous and Brunette
October 25: The Key Of Love
October 25: Sandra’s Book Club
October 26: Literary Gold
October 27: Gina Rae Mitchell
October 27: The Faerie Review
October 28: Kit ‘N Kabookle
October 28: Yolanda Speaks
October 31: The Avid Reader – review
October 31: Sea’s Nod

November 1: Long and Short Reviews
November 2: Dawn’s Reading Nook
November 2: Words of Wisdom from The Scarf Princess
November 3: Author Deborah A Bailey blog
November 4: All the Ups and Downs
November 4: Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books! – review
November 7: Iron Canuck Reviews & More
November 8: Lisa Haselton’s Reviews and Interviews
November 8: Jazzy Book Reviews
November 9: Romance Novel Giveaways
November 9: FUONLYKNEW
November 10: Angel’s Guilty Pleasures
November 10: Celticlady’s Reviews
November 11: D. S. Dehel

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