Happy 10th Birthday, Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic (Dowser 1)! As part of the ongoing celebration (click here for the schedule of events), I’m giving away a bunch of Dowser Series rarities and one-of-a-kind items!
Are you interested in winning a one-of-a-kind, autographed, proof paperback copy of Dowser 1? A limited-edition travel mug, and a Women’s XXL premium I Do Bite T-shirt? A set of nine Dowser Series recipe cards? Plus a bookplate and sticker?
Yes!??
To enter, comment on this blog post with your favourite quote from the Dowser series!
Notes/Rules: OPEN INTERNATIONALLY. One entry per person. One winner will be selected by random number generator. Only entries that follow the stated requirements will be valid (i.e. it must be an actual quote, not just a vague mention of a scene, or a copy/paste of a synopsis, etc – yes, I notice. In my opinion, and this is my giveaway, this sort of giveaway should go to a true Dowser Series fan). Email addresses are not collected for any purpose other than to contact the winner. No purchase necessary – all my books are available for free via your local library. The comments are moderated. I will approve your entry just as soon as I have a moment to do so.
Giveaway closes MONDAY, JUNE 19, 2023 at 8pm PDT.
The vampire however was new. Even after reading the series three times and listening to the audiobooks twice, this is still my favorite quote.
““I am not your concern, Jade,” he called back. “And you are not mine. Take the gift. Be strong. Love who you love. The rest will fall into place as it will.””
— Artifacts, Dragons, and Other Lethal Magic (Dowser Book 6) by Meghan Ciana Doidge
https://a.co/cmtBIPR
OMG trying to pick a favorite is like picking a favorite child! But – scary monster men are not sexy – always sticks in my head! I have read all of your books AND all of Hailey’s books. <3
“Talking things out is a valuable tool,” I said. “So is chocolate. Eat the rest of yours.” “But then it will be gone. You taught me to savor.” “There are times to savor and times to consume.” Artifacts dragons and other lethal magic talking to drake
My mother was having coffee and cupcakes with a vampire. Not that Kett seemed to be eating or drinking any of his portion. Ironically, he’d chosen Sunshine in a Cup, a lemon cake topped with lemon butter icing. So he did have some sort of deeply hidden sense of humour.
My default disposition might be ‘nice’ with a swirl of ‘blissfully ignorant,’ but I wasn’t a complete moron or a glutton for punishment.
A glutton for chocolate and cupcakes, yes.
You’re hanging with me kid, never just went right out the window.
Makes me laugh every time!
Now I have to come up with a new answer lol.
I brushed my fingers along the necklace. It was mine. Every link. The individual magic if the instruments of assassination had been absorbed into the whole.
” the vampire however, was new”
This makes me laugh every time !!
Same!
“I wouldn’t have had it this way, Jade,” he whispered against my neck. I shivered at the cool touch of his breath, his magic. “What other way should it be between us, Kettil? You’ve done much, much more for me than what a few sips of blood will cost me.” He smoothed his hand down my back and up again. “You underestimate the power of your blood.” “You underestimate how loved and valued you are.”
My new favorite quote…
Because despite all the titles and the deadly instruments wrapped around my neck, I was a baker, not a mass murdering psycho.
If you had asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing, and dancing in a crowd of magic wielders-the adept- was better than sex, and that my life was peaceful and uneventful. Just the way I like it.
“I might be able to walk away from sexy, dangerous shifters but chocolate had me at its beck and call.” Me too Jade… me too lol
Oh. My. God. Times two. Kandy whistled. “That’s a useful talent.” Warner shrugged, perfectly mimicking the green-haired werewolf. Then he flashed me a movie-star grin that turned my knees to goo.
In my reread I just came across this that made me cackle. : “what? Did I use the expression incorrectly? The healer wants to take you to bed? To his bed?” The fourteen year old continue. “To have sex, you know”
I might be able to walk away from sexy, dangerous shifters, but chocolate had me at its beck and call.
Me to girl, me too. Lol!
“Power up, wolf,” I said. “It’s time to dance.” Kandy laughed. “I like it when you dance, dowser.” “Everyone likes it when Jade dances,” Kett said from the shadows to my left.
The trasure keeper ducked as all three instruments of assassination blew by him. They drove directly for me. And all I could do to stop them was to claim them. Once and for all. “Mine” I whispered, opening myself to their sweet deadly magic.
I like “The trinkets have no power—“.
It’s just so ironic.
Now my daughter and I both are rereading!! Love these books!!
Oh god, I hoped he was a shower and not a grower!
I’m really terrible at these questions. I see images when I read and never recall the words. It takes a bit of digging to get the words. “You dare to stand between me and those I love,” I purred, deadly and focused. “Mayeb it’s time for you to understand the meaning of caring enough to die for something. For someone.”
‘My guilt resided in my stomach, hence my need to constantly fill it with chocolate, and cookies, and cupcakes.‘
I am a HUGE fan of Jade and Kett’s friendship/relationship and so my favorite quote is:
“Who am I to judge you?” I finally whispered.
“The only one who truly could,” he murmured. “The only one whose opinion I would … care about.”
I thought maybe I’d hurt his feelings. Feelings I’d been previously unaware he even had.
Poor Kett, lol.
When Ket says at the wedding “we all have dark moments in our past that, on occasion, can be useful to resurrect”
In the pages of meeting Warner. Kandy laughing to Jade: “I love it when they underestimate you”
“That’s easy. You’re Jade. You’re cupcakes, trinkets, and deadly magic. Like that knife you carry. Pretty green stone, tasty magic, and deadly.”
I love how Kandy sees Jade. She’s a bada$$, even though she doesn’t always see herself that way.
I love this one as well.
“You attend, healer, but you don’t heal?” he asked without looking away from me. “The alchemist refused me, warrior.” A slow, wide grin spread across my father’s face, transforming him from a forbidding warrior into a good-natured buddy type. “Did you now?” I grinned back at him. “It was just a scratch.”
“Kandy is guarding you. I’m attempting to date you. Seeing as how you’re the common denominator, with the trinkets and all, it’s kind of a conflict of interest. But I find I don’t even remotely care. The vampire must think so, too. About you being the thing to watch, not the dating thing, I hope.”
“You move like a human” — this was not a compliment — “and you … feel … odd.”
Well, that was terribly flattering news. I’d always wanted to feel odd.
“I might be able to walk away from sexy, dangerous shifters but chocolate had me at its beck and call.”
One of my favorite quotes
Sometimes I feel like I am just a walking encyclopedia to you !
Mory said to Benjamin.
“You died Jade. Died saving me. Don’t do it again” One of the many many comments that made me tear up
This part gave me chills: “The treasure keeper ducked as all three instruments of assassination blew by him. They drove directly for me. And all I could do to stop them was to claim them. Once and for all. “Mine” I whispered, opening myself to their sweet deadly magic.”
“Never is a boring word.” Words are important and I had never looked at this word from that perspective. It stuck.in my mimd!!
For my deep abiding love of Kett..
“Let’s get closer,” he whispered. And then he was gone.
“Ah, but you’re the one who already wouldn’t agree to firsts without lasts,” he said.
Love me some Hudson ❤️
There are so many to choose from! I’ll go with: The vampire however was new.
I could never rule out my own inability to focus on things that didn’t interest me.” Because that’s how I am too!!
I was pretty sure he was going to eat me, but only after he played with me for a while. And not in a satiating, mutual bliss sort of way. This one liked to hunt, and he kept what he killed.
I won’t let you bite me.
You will, ” he said. “You will lift your own neck, of your own free desire. You will align yourself with me, Wisteria Fairchild. I am your doom and your salvation.
I have loved this one since I first cracked this book open 💖😊
“Jesus Christ on a freaking cupcake.” You would be shocked how much this one comes up in day to day life lol
I love this line because little does Jade know what’s in store for her, “My father was some Australian backpacker, whom my mother left — at sixteen — before she even knew she was pregnant. So all I’d inherited from him was my golden locks and sun-kissed skin.”
This was harder than I thought, I have a lot of favorite quotes but since I was rereading book 4 the other day and I don’t like Suanmi very much, I’ll take it from there. Here it is “it was one thing to stand up to Suanmi – the fire breather, and one of the nine guardians of the world. But it was completely another thing to waste chocolate out of some silly sense of perceived dignity”.
My favorite is one that I quote often. “I’m not that kind of witch”
With each word haughtily emphasized as she has to say it so often lol
“ Witches don’t run with wolves,” I said, though I was slightly pained to do so.
He dropped his grin, suddenly serious and sexier for it. “ I’m big on firsts.”
I raised my chin. “ What about lasts?”
“ Those too,” He whispered quietly enough that the words were nearly lost in the din of the street. I just had to smile at his utter sincerity.
💗
Not really a quote, but I love Jade’s t-shirt ” never mind the cupcakes, I can totally kick your ass”.
“I wouldn’t have had it this way, Jade,” he whispered against my neck. I shivered at the cool touch of his breath, his magic. “What other way should it be between us, Kettil? You’ve done much, much more for me than what a few sips of blood will cost me.” He smoothed his hand down my back and up again. “You underestimate the power of your blood.” “You underestimate how loved and valued you are.”
He tasted of peppermint. And freedom. “Remember my love,” he whispered. “Remember who you are.”
I felt the power of love and friendship when Kett said this to Jade. It melted my heart ❤️
“Hey, Big guy!” I shouted. “Look here. Look at me. See my shiny knife. No touchy the green-haired one, or I’ll poke you.” Geez. Poke you. Brilliant threat. Hopefully, my tone was doing the heavy lifting. Too bad I didn’t have any bells. Bears didn’t like bells, right?
Oh, God. He’d made me black forest pancakes. – one of my absolute favorite scenes and shows the blossoming of their relationship and Warner getting more familiar with 20th century speak.
Aka Sarah Ann from FB 😁
Just at the thought of chocolate, I began jonesing. I was seriously deprived. I really wouldn’t recommend going cold turkey. Hell, I wouldn’t recommend going one day without some sort of chocolate-imbibing, let alone three and a half months.
Treasures, Demons and Other Black Magic
And I have to say I whole heartedly agree with Jade!!
“ I hadn’t had a chance to stab anyone with my knife, so maybe that was all that was bothering me. Putting up with all the annoying itch but none of the satisfying scratching.” Jade, Dowser 7
So many great quotes listed here!! Wish I had taken notes on my re-read!!
We were crafted by our choices, after all. Even the ones that everyone else knew were wrong. As long as I wasn’t leading Mory into any danger, I was perfectly happy being wrong. Because it was my choice leading me this time.
The power and the wisdom in those words 💜.
“I’m thinking of calling it Unity in a cup.”
“…Screw that… it’s a freaking orgasm in a freaking cup.”
While I LOVE so much of the dowser, what really got me was “The vampire, however, was new. What the hell was a full-blood vampire doing in Vancouver anyway?” I think about this more than I care to admit because I LOVE vampires and I thought this was such a fun way of having them. Jade’s way of talking and the anticipation of seeing where it was going. My sense of oh my gosh what is going to happen overwhelmed me. And then the vampire became one of my favorite characters ever. So I’m very attached to this 😂
“Half-witch, yes. But the other half is something I’ve never smelled before. Something spicy, like Chinese food from Shanghai.” I love this running joke and Jade’s various responses to it. “I do not smell like Chinese food.”
“Even chocolate can’t save the day every time….just most of the time. At least I’ve got that going for me.”
I have so many!
But right this second, this is my favourite scene and quote:
“That’s what you wear to perform great magic?” She asked, clearly perturbed by my jeans and t-shirt.
Me: one. Rabid koala: zero.
“The t-shirt seemed appropriate given our last encounter,” I said, gesturing toward the two crows and the ‘Attempted Murder’ emblazoned across my chest. “Seeing as how I kicked your ass.”
That rabid koala is so damned annoying! She needs her ass kicking! 😂😂
I cannot paraphrase it seeming as I read with Kindle but my favorite part of all the books was when Jade wakes up in the white room a prisoner and after a bit receives the gift of gelato, chocolate and peppermint candy.
“I tossed the leathers aside, opting for an older pair of skinny-leg Seven jeans, a black tank top, and knee-high black leather boots — my classic Cece Fluevogs. I added my wildly appropriate ‘Attempted Murder’ T-shirt to the ensemble, even though a section of the hem was loose. Then I smirked at myself in the full-length mirror. The entire outfit was a disdainful middle finger. Except the boots. They just rocked. I wasn’t about to compromise my footwear — not for fashion, or utility, or deadly grudges.”
When she sees Warner and Candy at BC place: I’d thought I’d have to beg for forgiveness from my BFF and fiance. For what I’d done. For leaving them behind. Apparently not.
I love the way you make their friendships so deep and real and loving.
“I’m thinking of calling it Unity in a Cup.” “Screw that,” Kandy said, her mouth full. “It’s a freaking orgasm in a freaking cup.”
“So, all I could do was what everyone else did — cherish the good relationships and attempt to avoid the bad. I didn’t have a great track record doing either, but I was sure as hell trying.”
Although it always makes me tear up, even now, this is still my favorite quote…
“Jesus, Jade. We thought you were dead.” Her voice cracked, haggard. She pressed her face against my neck. I felt tears streaming down her cheeks. “I thought … I thought you’d left me. And that’s not the deal. That’s not the deal. I get to go first. Promise. Promise me, Jade.” I closed my eyes, terribly weary. “How about together?” Kandy laughed huskily. “Okay. Together. In a blaze of glory. You, me, Kett. And Warner, if he wants. I thought old toothy was going to end his immortal existence when he set eyes on you, lying here … Pearl thought that she and the sorcerers were going to have to figure out how to contain him. With everyone so drained, they didn’t know if they could hold him. And Warner wasn’t being at all helpful.”
So many that I liked but I do love all of your books. The one I picked was: “You brought a dragon to storm a castle, eh Jade?”
“What kind of fucking witch are you?” he groaned.
“Not the kind you were thinking I was. You know, the open-hearted, earth-loving kind.”
Funny because even though she’s not that kind of witch. Deep down she kinda is hahaha.
“There is only forward for me, Jade,” Sienna said. It was her truth. It always had been, no matter how many walls she hit along the way, no matter that no one loved her as their one and only. No matter that she’d always been lost and floundering, she moved ever forward.
This speaks to me as no matter what, I have only survived by going forward, similes very painfully, one step at a time even when I felt lost.
They had captured me.
Imprisoned me.
Compelled me.
I didn’t know who I was.
But I wasn’t a pet.
I wasn’t a tool.
I wasn’t a pawn.
I placed one foot, then the other, on the wall under the window. Using the strength in my legs, I pulled and pulled and pulled at the bars. They creaked, slowly bending. My feet broke through the drywall, then cracked the concrete underneath.
“No one holds me …” I whispered.
The bars ripped free from the window frame.
This gives me chills and an overwhelming sense of pride every time I read about her finally breaking the elves’ hold on her.
“Vampire,” I said, naming him before I thought it best to shut my mouth. He tilted his head and said, “Witch.”
I was, l after all the wielder of the instruments of assignation. Apparently, cutesy cupcakes and being nice only stretched so far
“When had I become the stick-in-the-mud between a vampire and a werewolf?“
I had to all but reread the book. I never mark my fav parts. But as a librarian and avid reader I liked this line from Sienna. “Reading something can’t hurt me, Jade.“
“Your friend doesn’t approve of me?”
“Witches don’t run with wolves,” I answered.
Oh but you will Jade 😄
“There’s a reason for everything,” I murmured.“So you have been listening during your lessons with Chi Wen, warrior’s daughter,” Drake said with a grin. “Nothing happens without purpose. It is just the why that is obscured.”
“ Apparently, absorbing a crapload of power didn’t make me any less of a brat.” 😂 jade is THE BEST!! -Artifacts, Dragons and Other Lethal Magic. So happy to get a tease into Jade’s life after all that chaos and achieving her HEA!
No one controlled me. No one made me hurt my friends. I was the dowser. I was the wielder of the instruments of assassination. I was Jade Godfrey.
“The vampire contributed to your personal warding. I figured it was fair to do the same.”
My favourite quote has always been “Dowser. Alchemist. I wasn’t a lightning rod at all. I was the storm.”
Out of the first book what hooked me was when Hudson and Jade stopped dancing and he whispered “Take me home, little witch. I like the way you dance.” Not sure why but I love that line.
Apparently, cutesy cupcakes and being nice only stretched so far.
Train. Learn your magic. You will walk among the humans once again. But not today.
great lead in to the rest of the 3×3 trilogies
““I am not your concern, Jade,” he called back. “And you are not mine. Take the gift. Be strong. Love who you love. The rest will fall into place as it will.””
I love how Chi Wen tells Jade she is enough, she is on track, and it will be ok in such a simple yet strong way. For once not being cryptic.
“The vampire, however, was new.” I fell in love with Jade and her story with this line. Her voice is the best.
You know both of them, Kandy & Kett, would follow you to hell, somehow manage to burn it down, then gleefully watch you back cupcakes over the embers. Right? – Jasmine Gemstones, Elves and Other Insidious Magic
My favorite quote is when jade tells Kett, not our circus not our monkeys
“Impressive knife, but certainly you know better than to raise it against a dragon.”
Excerpt From
Trinkets, Treasures, and Other Bloody Magic
This was the line that sealed my love of the series. It’s started with cupcakes
And chocolate but dragons?! The snark/dragon/weapon combo had me all in!
“Never is a boring word.”
It truly is a boring word. I’ve been trying to remove it from my vocabulary when it comes to new, positive, experiences.
‘the vampire however, was new’ probably a really boring answer, but I think it’s the first but if the book that I found amusing. And also the development from random concerning vampire, to firm friends is something I really enjoyed.
“You didn’t mention any murders.” “I didn’t?” “No.” “The evidence obviously points to you, but you don’t seem right … you are very … blond.” “Being blond makes me less capable of murder?” What the hell was I arguing that point for?
In all seriousness, my absolute favorite is “never mind the cupcakes, I can totally kick you ass” but since it is probably well know. I do also love “I never did play follow the leader well”
“Wait, I’m having some sort of epiphany.”
“Yes, sugar. But maybe not now?”
I love how this is dialogue is so reflective of Jade and Scarlett’s personalities.
I love this quote:
“And I’m simply telling you that when I die, you can rip them from my cold corpse. Until then, you must remain in a perpetual state of displeasure.” Jade to Pulou, Gemstones, elves and other insidious magic
“You may lead me to the dance floor, Kettel. We shall show the children how it is properly done.” from dowser 8, I can just imagine Haoxin and Kett dancing.
My default disposition might be ‘nice’ with a swirl of ‘blissfully ignorant,’ but I wasn’t a complete moron or a glutton for punishment. A glutton for chocolate and cupcakes, yes.
The vampire stood at the door to my bakery.
Who could have predicted that this was the start of a magical ten year ride!
“It’ll be warmer in San Francisco”
“San Francisco?”
“Yeah, we’ve got a date with a vampire”
“Great. Just….great.”
There was some chemistry to it, of course. However-spoiler alert-the sciences had never much interested me. Ha! Ha! I am a Chemistry Teacher!
The one that drew me in and made me a forever fan would have to be my favorite. “The vampire however was new.”
I love Jades “I’m not that kind of witch”. I always visualize it what a dramatic eye roll!!
As others have said….too many quotes to pick one! But here it is….
“He had time to frown before I plastered my lips across his. It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was a terrified, lost, I-just-almost-drowned-and-can’t-find-my-friends kiss.
He didn’t kiss me back.”
😉
Here we go, although there are several but this one made me giggle: “ I really am so sorry.” “Jade. Come on. I’m trying to say something important, and you’re being all Canadian with the ‘sorry’”
“You are far too delighted for someone who just watched her best friend take an energy spell to the chest, werewolf.” Kandy sneered. “You love a challenge, dowser. You’ve been complaining about it all day.” “Not out loud.” “I can read you like a book.”-Champagne, Misfits, And Other Shady Magic
***I just love Jade and Kandy’s friendship. I added this entire section of quotes but my favorite is from Kandy saying she can read Jade like a book! As true friends should be able to do!
“Wrong era, baby koala. We do what we want around here.”
There are a lot of really good quotes. Thanks for writing such a wonderful series.
“He had time to frown before I plastered my lips across his. It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was a terrified, lost, I-just-almost-drowned-and-can’t-find-my-friends kiss.
He didn’t kiss me back.”
He called after me, laughing. “You’ll still bake, right?” Desmond hardly ever laughed, and now he was compelled to laugh at me. I didn’t answer. I would have liked to swear to never bake another cupcake for him ever again, no matter how childish it sounded. Except there was no way I could uphold a self-imposed injunction of that sort for more than an hour or two. If there was good chocolate in the house, at some point, I would bake.
This is so hard! But here it goes “The vampire stood at the door to my bakery”. You had me right there and the rest is history. I have read every book you have published and can’t wait for when the next one comes out. And now, you have me hooked with the Conduit. And I guess if I am completely honest, you probably had me at “If you’d asked me a week ago, I would have told you that the best cupcakes were dark chocolate with chocolate cream cheese icing….” followed by “… except for the cupcake part. That’s a universal truth.” I knew that Jade had good taste in cupcakes and I loved the humor. Thank you for writing such great books!
When Jade and Kett “met” for the first time, through the window in her second bedroom:
“Vampire,” I said, naming him before I thought it best to shut my mouth.
He tilted his head and said, “Witch.”
“Yeah, I know all about Adept bedtime stories coming true. I’m still waiting on the elves to show.” Jade in Dowser 3.
One of my favorite quotes:
“He found me a difficult meal, “ Desmond managed to wheeze. “He just hung on chewing , waiting for me to drop from his damned venom shit.”
You’re hanging with me kid, never just went right out the window.
“Good kiss,” he said.
I laughed. “Cool cat form.”
“All the better to stalk you with.”
Something bit me in the ass. I shrieked like a toddler deprived of her ice cream cone, whirled around with my jade knife poised to gut the offender, and found myself staring at yet another endless wall of musty old books.
“Good kiss,” he said.
I laughed. “Cool cat form.”
“All the better to stalk you with.”
I adore everything you write. There is no way I could pick just one favorite.
“In this demension, we introduce ourselves before attacking each other.”, I said. “ It’s just polite.” Dowser 8. 🥰
“In this demension, we introduce ourselves before attacking each other.”, I said, “ It’s just polite.”
Dowser 8
Having lived in New West, I love all the little local tidbits, like “So I walked, happy that my Fluevog boots were sexy but still practical…and hoped it didn’t rain. I didn’t hear or see the vampire until he was matching me stride for stride”. Makes me wish for rain again!
Ah, damn it. I left my knife in the zombies skull.
“The things we do for each other aren’t favors, my friend.” I smiled at him. “Anything I can give is yours.”
Dowser Book 9
He had time to frown before I plastered my lips across his. It wasn’t a soft kiss. It was a terrified, lost, I-just-almost-drowned-and-can’t-find-my-friends kiss.
He didn’t kiss me back.
I quashed a second round I inappropriate laughter. ‘I’m Okay’ I muttered, more to myself than anyone else.
‘You’re the only one who doubts it Dowser” Kandy said.
Really it’s the whole waffle house scene, but I just love how her friends get her and trust her.
“You don’t get to say you’re my father, then play the ‘I’m so busy I’ve forgotten carrying a crazy teenager out of a mountain and leaving my flesh and blood behind’ card.”
“Warner shifted off the couch to settle on the coffee table in front of me, grabbing my calf and shucking off my sneaker. He began to massage my foot with the focus he usually reserved for gutting demons … or for sex.”
It’s my fav but I just realized it’s my misfits and I can’t delete.
Just a second… I’m thinking
You don’t have to blow a gasket about it.
You don’t even know what a gasket is.
So?
So don’ use phrases you don’t understandz
It’s old speak. You- being old- get it.
“I was pretty sure he was going to eat me, but only after he played with me for a while. And not in the satiating, mutual bliss sort of way. This one liked to hunt, and he kept what he killed.”
From “Cupcakes, Trinkets, and Other Deadly Magic” I have to choose an excerpt from Book One because it’s what started it all for me.
She joined me in the doorway. “You know both of them, Kandy and Kett,
would follow you to hell, somehow manage to burn it down, then gleefully
watch you bake cupcakes over the embers. Right?”
I smiled, a little stiffly. “”It goes both ways. All three ways.
Conversation between Jasmin and Jade. Makes my ❤️ ache every time.
He was trying to dampen the hurricane, quell the tornado. I parted my lips breathing him in… He tasted of peppermint. And freedom.
“Remember, my love” he whispered.
“Remember who you are.”
The respect Kett has for Jade and their friendship is just so apparent in this scene.
I wouldn’t recommend going one day without some sort of chocolate-imbibing,