Antonia Aquilante
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Rainbow Snippets January 17-18

1/18/2026

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​The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend (I'll beg forgiveness in advance for sometimes going over the sentence limit!). Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ.

I'm working through edits and getting To Know a Dragon Spy, the second Dragons of Ivria book, ready to publish, so I thought I would share some snippets from the book. Here's a description of the book: 

Felix is a prince, cousin of the current king, ward of the old king. Knowing he would never sit on the throne, he set himself to become something else—the king's best spy. Aside from a trusted few, people know him as a frivolous, flirtatious prince. They don't see the keen mind behind the silks and jewels or the love of family and quiet behind the charming smile. They certainly don't know he is the eyes and ears of the king. Months later, he still blames himself for missing the plot against Ivria and its king, and he's going to find the last few members of the conspiracy out there. If the commander of the king's guard will get out of his way.

Alan is commander of the king's guard, a role he set himself on a path for when he was very young. He takes his duty seriously, so seriously there is little room for anything else in his life, even more so now with the heightened danger to the royal family—not the things he used to enjoy or family or even love. He buried his attraction to beautiful Prince Felix long ago, but when he finds out Felix is more than he appears, Alan immediately becomes suspicious. Is Felix working for the king or against him? Alan can't let himself be fooled by a pretty face, especially one that hides so much.

But the real danger is closer than Felix and Alan realize, and they'll have to get over their animosity toward each other—and deal with the desire that sparks when they do—if they're going to survive it.

This snippet is from the beginning of the book:

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To Know a Dragon Spy Cover Reveal

10/16/2024

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It's time share the cover of To Know a Dragon Spy. If you're subscribed to my newsletter, you saw this in October's edition, but this post also includes an excerpt, which wasn't in the newsletter. If you're a newsletter reader, you also know that I meant to have this book finished and released this past spring, but post covid issues completely messed up all my plans for the past year. Natasha Snow (who is amazing) made this gorgeous cover for me with that anticipated release date in mind, and I've been sitting here with it since then. 

I'm tired of keeping it a secret.

I'm still not certain when To Know the Dragon Spy will make it into your hands, but I'm doing my best and I'll let you know as soon as I know. In the meantime, feast your eyes on this gorgeous cover, and if you can tear your eyes away from it, read the draft blurb and excerpt from the beginning of the book (just as a warning, both will probably change as I finish the book). 
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Rainbow Snippets May 11-12

5/12/2024

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​The Rainbow Snippets group on Facebook asks its members to share six sentence snippets from their work each weekend. Check out the group's Facebook page to read all the snippets and add lots of great books to your TBR. You'll find all sorts of books with the common thread that the main character identifies as LGBTQ.

Since it's Mother's Day here this weekend, I thought I would share a snippet of a character with their mother, and the first one I thought of is actually the book I'm writing now. To Know a Dragon Spy is the second Dragons of Ivria book. There's more intrigue and a new romance and dragon shifters, of course. Natasha Snow has already done the cover, and I can't wait to share it because it's just gorgeous but that's for another day. Today, I have a snippet for you of Felix with his aunt/adoptive mother, the former queen (and mother of the current king, Felix's cousin). They don't get to see each other too often since she moved away, but she has come back to attend the king's wedding. I'm sure this will end up edited and changed before the book is finished, but here's Felix and his mother settling in for a good chat. If you read To Love the Dragon King, you've met Felix before, but Elysande is making her debut in this book.
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Felix sat and reached immediately for the pot on the table to pour himself a cup of the tisane, the bright scent rising on the steam. He inhaled deeply, then paused when he heard voices and then light footsteps coming in his direction. A moment later, Felix smiled when a woman appeared in the doorway.

“Aunt.” Felix stood, but Aunt Elysande had crossed the room to embrace him before he could move. “I didn’t know you would be here this morning. I was going to visit you later.”

“I thought it would be easier if I came and saw you all at once.” She took the chair he offered her. “I went to Lysander’s rooms, but he was in a meeting. So I visited the children, then I came to see my second son.”

Those last few words warmed him through, because she meant them and the love in them was so apparent to him. He didn’t remember his parents well; he hadn’t had them long. His aunt and uncle could’ve treated him only as a ward, though they never would have, or as a beloved nephew, as they had before his parents’ deaths, but instead, they'd opened their hearts to him as their son, a third child they treated no differently from the other two. And they became a second set of parents to him.

“I’m so glad you did.”

I'll have more about To Know a Dragon Spy for you soon. Until then, check out the first Dragons of Ivria book, To Love the Dragon King, here. Thank you for reading today!
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    Antonia is a writer and a reader and a copy editor/proofreader. She loves books, travel, art, photography, baking, pasta, and shoes.

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