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Happy Publication Day to Dark Tides Kimberly Vale! In this highly anticipated sequel to our favourite pirate fantasy in Crossbones Kimberly Vale is back with another spellbinding story of love, danger, and adventure!  From the blurb: Kimberly Vale’s swashbuckling pirates return for another high seas, high stakes adventure where Csilla and the Bones crew must battle more otherworldly creatures seeping in from Limbo, and threatening to swallow them whole. The Dark Tides are rising . . . When love is an anchor, the sea can swallow you whole. Csilla Abado has a full plate after becoming the first Queen of Bones. While leading Cerulia, she needs to find a way to mend the lingering crack between Limbo and the mortal realm. And when Lorelai and Nara go missing, the crew takes to the seas once more to try and find them . . . facing the worst of the villains and even more otherworldly creatures spilling in from the crack. Kane Blackwater, desperate to find Dominic Rove, washes up at Death’s Cove where he comes face-to-face with creatures who have no place in this world. When he’s wounded, his magic-laced injury seeps throughout his body, spreading an unknown evil into his veins. His time is running out and he must decide what's more important to him: Lorelai’s life or his own. Lorelei Storm isn't the same since her return from the realm of Limbo. A menacing and powerful magic rests under her skin, and she fears it as much as she craves its potential. When she flees Cerulia, she’s captured and taken prisoner by an Incendian Scout, and learning to control her powerful new magic may be the only chance she has at saving her own life. As the war between gods and mortals builds to a crescendo, Csilla, Kane, and Lorelei must not only protect their world from destruction, but also their hearts from looming devastation. The seas darken and not everyone will survive the rising tides.  Crossbones Goodreads / Crossbones Amazon / Crossbones B&N Dark Tides Goodreads / Dark Tides Amazon / Dark Tides B&N EXCERPT: “I don’t deserve you,” he murmured. “What you deserve is to be happy.” She traced the golden weavings on the collar of his coat. She meant to say more. That he deserved to find happiness with or without her. That he should love with his whole being and forgive himself his past. But his lips met hers before she could say anything else. His kiss was a burst of warmth that spread over her cheeks and down her neck. Then he was gone, shying away from her as he searched her face “Is this okay with you?” he asked, his voice a rasp, nearly pleading. “Is this what you want? She answered by grabbing the collar of his coat with both hands and pulling him to her. He chuckled under her lips and kissed her back, his hands fitting back into place around her like it was where they were meant to be. She bowed into him as his hand traveled up her spine, his fingers twining into her hair. She’d kissed a boy once back in Port Barlow, but not like this. Not with this type of hunger. She could kiss Kane under the stars until they faded into the bleeding light of sunrise and it still wouldn’t be enough. One moment they were holding each other, the next they were stumbling to a nearby pillar. Lorelei’s back pressed against it as Kane leaned into her, kissing her again, deeper this time. Their rushed breaths filled the quiet space of the terrace. His hands roamed over her ribs and onto her hips, clenching the black fabric of her dress. She lightly scratched the back of his neck and he sighed against her lips, the sound of it unraveling her. Sparks started in her core, spreading up her chest, through her arms and into her fingers before she even realized what was hap- pening. Her wild magic summoned itself so quickly, she didn’t have time to bite it back. Like an uncorked bottle, magic poured from her. The moment her sparks left her; Kane jolted. He convulsed under her touch, his entire body shaking like lightning swam through him. She let go of him, her heart in her throat as he crumpled to the ground. Though she no longer touched him, he still shook with tremors, his breaths more like ragged pants. Lorelei moved to crouch down next to him, her trembling fingers reaching. But then she straightened back against the pillar, looking at her hands, afraid she’d lose control again. Attempting to make fear a stranger had only left it clawing at her door. “What . . .” Kane said between breaths. He groaned as he rolled onto his side. “What was that?” Her tongue turned to sand. Words were lost to her, swept away with the sea breeze. “Lorelei?” he looked up at her from the ground, searching her with concern. “What happened? Were you harmed?” Her heart throbbed. He worried over her even though he was the one shivering on the ground. She’d put him there. Her lack of control could’ve killed him. The more she thought of her grave mistake, the brighter the spark inside her grew. She glanced down at her hands, her breath hitching. Her fingertips looked like they’d been dipped in gold. The terrace melted away and she was back in Limbo, her arms coated in the very same gold. In that realm, the power of her storm magic was unfathomable. Perhaps monsters weren’t the only thing slipping through the cracks in Limbo. Lorelei rubbed her fingertips together, but the gold remained like paint smudged into her skin. She couldn’t stay there. No, she couldn’t stay anywhere near the ones she cared about. It was foolish of her to think that she could find a sliver of peace, even for just one evening. A cloud of regret hung over her. Kane grunted, drawing her attention back to him as he crawled onto his knees. He lifted his head back to look at her, blinking as if trying to see clearly. “What’s wrong? Was it—was that you?” His expression was unreadable. She’d never seen him look at her like that before. It was a mixture of shock and wonder, but did she detect disgust or was that her mind playing tricks on her? “I’m sorry,” she managed to say. Her voice didn’t sound like her own, like she was speaking from behind a glass window. “I didn’t mean to. I can’t believe I—” Kane rose to his feet, the movement wobbly and labored. “Shh, I’m fine.” He reached out and cupped her cheek with his palm. “Are you?” His thumb softly stroked her cheek and sparks pricked at her fingertips again. She stepped away and curled her fingers into fists as if her golden fingertips would cease to exist if she couldn’t see them. “I have to go.” Lorelei’s voice cracked. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go.” She turned away from him, her face cold, her stomach churning, but she couldn’t take the chance of hurting him again. “Wait,” he rasped, grabbing her wrist. His hand was warm. She wanted so much to hold on to it tightly. “Please. Stay.” The pools of his eyes and the scratch in his voice nearly pinned her where she stood. She’d stay with him. She’d let herself lie in his arms until the sun woke up. She’d kiss him and he’d kiss her like nothing else mattered, like they were the only two in the world. But she couldn’t risk it. She tore herself away from him before she caved in. “I have to go,” she said, unable to hide the way her voice quivered. “Please. Let me go.” Kane dropped her wrist, his warmth leaving her skin much too fast, the evening chill sweeping into her quickly. Tears welled as she half-ran away, spilling onto her cheeks as she stumbled through the empty side halls of the courtyard. Faded guitars and laughter drifted on the wind, deepening the cold in her heart.
About the author:
Kimberly Vale is a reader, a bit of a hopeless romantic, and started writing on Wattpad as a teen. In the years since then, she has accumulated millions of reads online and has volunteered her time to mentorship programs and other efforts in the writing community. With a BA in Education, Kimberly teaches remediation and dyslexia intervention in public schools and lives in Arkansas with her husband, two children, and two dogs. She also enjoys playing video games, trying new recipes, and coming up with ridiculous theories about her current tv-obsessions.
Angel of Ashes and Dust
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo -- SNEAK PEEK: I glared at our wilted set of crops, trying to reconcile myself to the idea that the Earth’s soil was likely poisoned. One thing after another, I thought. We can’t overcome everything. “Kali.” I glanced over at him, meeting his even gaze. He smiled at me then, slowly, and I let the warmth of it spread through my body. “We will get through this,” he said, and I almost believed him. There was something about being with him—it was a feeling that everything was right, like some cold, wayward pieces of a puzzle were falling into place. I bit my lip and looked back over the field. But I can’t be with him… We can’t… And then I was warm. His arms circled around me, his chest pressing against my back. Without thinking, I leaned into him, and he brushed his lips along my neck. My emotions exploded and fire burned in my chest. I gripped his arms, holding him against me, trying to keep my reactions in check. “We will find a way forward,” he murmured, his breath against my skin. “And if we discover there is no way, then we will forge a new one. Together.” Together. An impossible word. Impossible, yet I wanted it more than anything. Here, so close to him, I was burning. I was drowning. Not able to resist any longer, I turned and kissed him, and the flame in my chest responded, exploding through my veins. My fingers curled into his shirt as his hands wound through my hair. I let myself float in it for a moment—a pure, blissful moment—before I gently stepped away. I moved out of his arms—to a place where I was cold. To where I was empty. His eyes were like an animal’s, wild and electric, and we watched each other as we silently reined ourselves in. The loss of him settled like a pit in my stomach. “There is no, ‘together,’ Tiamat. Not for us.” His lips parted, his face going blank from shock. “What?” “This is nothing new. We can’t even be near each other. It’s killing me!” “Kali,” he pleaded, grabbing for my arms. His nose had started bleeding, but he briskly swiped it away. Did he think I wouldn’t notice the blood? I backed up, yet he continued toward me, one step after another. “You’re wrong,” he said. “What you just said is entirely new! Proximity is difficult for us, I know. And yes, we have to be careful.” I climbed up on a mound of earth and debris we had cleared from the field, trying to put some space between us. Seeing it, he stopped his advance, his hands dropping to his sides. “But … we are meant to be together,” he continued. “Can you not feel it? Kali! Tell me you don’t feel that.” “I feel it,” I whispered. “And it’s too much.” “Don’t say that.” “I have to say it!” I blurted. “I can’t do this anymore, Tiamat,” I said, gesturing at the space between us. “I want to get close to you… I need to. Something inside me feels wired that way. And it isn’t fair.” His eyes were wide, swimming with a look of disbelief. And loss. I ripped my gaze away, fixing my stare on the dirt by my foot. “Have we been reduced to this?” he asked. “Where you won’t even look at me? Where our love has become pain?” “You’re wrong,” I said. “Our love isn’t just pain. It’s death.” “Then I choose death.” His voice was a growl. “I have said it before. It is mine to choose.” “No!” I shouted, snapping my eyes to his face. “I won’t argue about this anymore. It’s the same thing, around and around and around!” I felt my eyes burning and beginning to fill. I blinked, trying to keep the tears at bay. “Every second we’re close, I can feel your Shadow slowly killing you.” My voice softened as I took in his stricken expression. “Tiamat … How can I be okay with that? How can I allow myself to be the cause of that?” “Kali… you have never been the cause. It’s the Shadow.” He scrubbed his hands over his face in agitation. “I can figure this out. Just … hang on a little longer.” 
Giveaway! --
Like A Hero
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play -- SNEAK PEEK: Dennis lay face down on the soccer field, while men in ski masks strolled among his prone classmates waving semi-automatic weapons at anyone who moved. He considered employing his martial arts skills, but being skinny and only passably good, such foolish courage would probably get him killed. He shook his hair from in front of his eyes with a slight jerking motion and focused on James and Linda, lying on the field off to the side with the rest of the parents. James had his head slightly raised and Dennis caught his eye. When a gun- man approached, James quickly returned his face to the grass. James wanted to intervene. That was obvious by the way he kept looking around for some kind of opening. But could he do anything without getting people killed? The masked men called themselves “anarchists” and were well armed. Despite lying prone for the past forty minutes, Dennis had managed to spot sentries pa- trolling the rooftops, apparently stationed there to prevent the cops outside from storming the school and making their way to the field. He’d also noted the types of weapons these guys carried and considered how best each could be disarmed if this was a comic book scenario. Except it wasn’t. He considered the anarchists’ claims. They said they were “anti-capitalism” and “anti-public-school indoctrination,” but then they demanded twenty million as ransom for not killing him and his classmates, which sounded pretty capitalistic to him. Raising his eyes once more, he noted a big, broad-shouldered dude wearing a black and blue ski mask, staring right at him while chatting with a burly guy holding an Uzi. Dennis averted his eyes and hoped he hadn’t called too much attention to himself. He’d overheard them earlier as they conversed by walkie-talkie. Masked guy was called “C-1” and burly guy “C-2” by the other anarchists, so he figured they ran the show. He glanced over at Jackson and Kenny lying a few feet away. His two best friends looked terrified. Jackson’s curly hair partially hid his brown eyes, but Kenny’s bright blue ones screamed pure fear. Dennis tried for an encouraging smile, but it was difficult with his cheek pressed against the grass. All his comic book scenarios started much like this one, except the hero al- ways knew what to do. As annoying as Robin could be, he’d know what to do even if Batman wasn’t around. Dennis’s mind raced with ideas. He knew James was packing—on duty or off, James always packed. But if he pulled his gun, kids would die. I wish I’d thought of something when these guys first showed up. Instead, he’d frozen with fear when the masked men flooded onto the field. And now with everything that had gone down since, Dennis trembled with the terrifying possibility that someone would die. Maybe him. Sadly, he wasn’t the hero of his dreams. He peered at the administration buildings. Long and single story, the two main wings spread the length of the field. His gaze traveled up and he squinted with confusion. The sentry who’d been on duty at the north end was gone. What the…? Dennis knew his weaponry from playing Call of Duty and other war games, and that guy had been patrolling with an Artic Warfare Super Magnum sniper rifle, likely a .338 Lapua Magnum, but Dennis was too far away to be sure of the model. Only now the guy was gone. With C-2 barely ten feet away, Dennis used caution to scan the south roof. That sentry was gone, too. SWAT maybe? He knew James’ mean-ass boss would have called in the big guns for something like this. But he was also sure those sentries had been up there no more than two minutes ago. Could it be Invictus? His heart thumped with hope. Vincent must know about this by now. Dennis pressed his face into the grass and pretended to look scared. Hell, he didn’t have to pretend. He was scared! 
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by:
Designed
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks -- SNEAK PEEK: “Warning. Collision alert. Warning.” The loud electronic voice reached me a second too late. I’d already stepped off the curb into the street and directly into the path of a delivery van. A flash of white and chrome filled my peripheral vision as the bumper made contact with my left hip, sending me to the pavement with a wince and a yelp. The good news was I wasn’t flattened by the thing. The nearly silent electric vehicles were programmed with collision avoidance tech that slowed them automatically in case of a sudden obstacle, which meant it hit me hard enough to knock me over but not hard enough to crush bones. The bad news was I could already hear the shouting of the obviously perturbed operator through the van’s closed windows. No doubt the accident had surprised him as much as it had me. He’d probably been relaxing in the back of the self-driving vehicle watching vids or reading when he’d felt the jolt and sudden stop. Now he was storming around to the front of it, spewing a stream of profanities. “What the hell are you doing?” the van operator demanded. “Didn’t you see me coming?” Before I could respond or get up on my own, a pair of strong hands slid beneath my arms. He picked me up off the ground and set me upright. I would have protested the invasion of my personal space, but it all happened too fast. Brushing off the seat of my uniform, I tested my footing, lifting and wiggling one foot then the other. The ache in my tailbone told me I would be sporting some very colorful bruises tomorrow, and my butt couldn’t have been any wetter if I’d cannonballed into a swimming pool. Lovely. “So are you okay? Say something.” Anger still emanated off the guy in waves, but his deep voice now held a note of concern. What could I say? I felt like an idiot. “Of course I saw you. I just thought getting run down would be a good way to score some tech augmentation in my lower limbs.” I finally glanced up at the man– who hadn’t responded and was not laughing at my joke. My hair was in my eyes, disheveled from my fall. I pushed it from my face, and the sight in front of me nearly knocked me backward again. Technically, I supposed he was a man, but he was younger than I’d expected, close to my age. He was big. And angry. His dark brows were drawn together tightly. It wasn’t the forbidding expression that stunned me. It was his eyes. Their color was like nothing I’d ever seen before– a spellbinding combination of blue and green so beautiful, so piercing, it almost defied reality. I was so mesmerized it took me a second to realize he was staring at me, too. He’d been in the middle of a question. “So then you’re not hur–” but he’d broken off mid-word. After a long pause during which he continued to stare at me like he’d never seen a girl before, he spoke again. “Your eyes. They’re brown.” “Yeah…” I dragged the word out into a question. “… last time I checked.” Something about his troubled expression struck a cord of recognition. I glanced from his incredible eyes to the shock of dark hair above them and down to the breadth of his shoulders then the rest of his tall, big boned frame and then at the name badge on the front left pocket of his company uniform. Heath. “Have we met before?” The guy blinked rapidly and back-stepped toward the delivery van, his head moving in a tight, rapid shake. “No, I don’t think so. You’re okay? You’re not hurt?” He paused for my answer, but his back and shoulders were plastered against the front of the van like I was dipped in flu virus and he hadn’t had a vaccination in years. The instant I said, “I’m fine,” the guy turned and climbed into the van. Within seconds it was whispering away down the road, the unmistakable Gideon Corp logo on its back doors shrinking then disappearing as the vehicle rounded the corner. Oookay. It was obvious why he was a delivery man for the world’s largest biotech company and not employed in some capacity where he might have been required to interact with actual humans on a regular basis. Totally awkward. But cute.
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by: #Book Blitz #The Shadows We Make by Jo Allen Ash #YA #Dystopian #Science Fiction @Xpresso Book Tours22/9/2022
The Shadows We Make
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo -- EXCERPT: Grace A stench swirled on the winds as flames devoured ancient timber and more—so much more. I didn’t want to think about the more, but I drew a deep, desperate breath, coughed, spat on the ground, imagining the more despite my best intentions. For fifty-one days, Citadel had been burning, filling the air with the smell from those faraway fires. Sitting with my back to the wall, knees drawn up to my chest, I studied the flames coloring the distant horizon like a rising sun. Ash traveled on the wind across the miles. Delicate, paler than sand, it settled on my arms, caught in my hair, dusted trousers and tunic. When I rose, my muscles had cramped. I stretched and listened. Voices drifted from neighboring dwellings as people came out to converge on the nearby common, assessing events, speculating about the emissaries who had ventured into Citadel, my parents included. They had not yet returned. As only a few days had passed, no one worried overmuch. At least not out loud. I heard others speaking, too: strangers whose desert vernacular differed slightly from ours. I had no trouble understanding them. I had always been fluent in the various dialects, as well as the languages used within the city and elsewhere. It was my gift, to be so empowered. I supposed word of it had conferred on me the value which had caught Stone Tiran’s interest. My particular ability, and my warrior status. I turn and spat on the ground again, this time in disgust. Crossing the yard, the sand shifted beneath my bare feet. I had left my sandals on the doorstep. No matter. Who would see? And even if they did, I did not care. Rules, law, traditions, none concerned me the way they did my brothers, my parents, our tribe. I tried to keep my disdain to myself, but sometimes it leaked out, resulting in fury or an occasional, reluctant amusement among my family members. I had at one time wondered if my recalcitrance was the reason for their agreement to the bonding with Stone Tiran. The man possessed, after all, nothing to elevate our family. Indeed, the Irese clan was held in such high esteem the gain was to Tiran alone. Bonding was arranged between city dwellers and influential desert clans as a way to increase power, prestige. Stone Tiran possessed none of those with which to barter, and yet my parents had agreed to his request. I resisted spitting on the ground again. It was a nasty habit I could well do without. At the wall, I leaned my forearms atop warm stones, blatantly eavesdropping while I watched a girl with hair as dark as mine. We shared a birth anniversary, she and I, having been born the same day a year apart. She was now fifteen and I, sixteen. A wide lavender streak curved through her braid. Mine was the color designated to the Ser Irese, a blue as dark as midnight, identical in shade to the tattoo upon my left cheekbone. Mara had not yet received hers. Her warrior training was incomplete. Snatching a tiny white pebble from beneath my fingers, I lobbed it at her. She jerked around, eyes flashing angrily until she saw me. She hurried over to the wall. “Grace!” “They left,” I said. “When?” she cried, thinking of Connor, I knew. We had strange names, my siblings and I. They came from our mother. It was her blood which gave me my green eyes, my paler skin like bronze rather than the ruddy brown most possessed. “Three days ago.” “I’m grateful she’s here,” I said. Mara shrugged, glancing over her shoulder to the crowd on the common and back again. I narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t pout,” she said. I almost walked away, right then, but I stayed, watching her, listening to the others. “Mara, have you heard anything? I think communications are down.” She shook her head. “They are, or so my father says. No one can get through to anyone who’s gone to the cities.” Cold fire danced along my spine. I reached my fingers across the small gap between the wall and Mara’s shoulder, but she didn’t see them, her attention diverted by two men arguing. I didn’t know who they were. Several more stepped in, voices raised. I pulled my hand back. “Come inside,” I said. “I can’t. My uncle is calling me.” I saw where she looked now, to her waving relative urging her to his side. “I’ll try to see you tomorrow, but you know how it is now.” She started to turn away, swung back to me, eyes on mine. “But how could I have forgotten? I’ve wanted to ask for ages now. Is it true? Tell me, quickly.” I didn’t need to ask her meaning. Although my parents had attempted to hide what happened, secrets had a way of surfacing like worms working their way up through the soil in the garden. “Yes,” I admitted. “It’s true.” Mara’s mouth dropped wide. “That can’t be.” “It is.” She stared a moment longer before wagging her head from side to side. “You’re a fool, Grace Irese,” she said, “a terrible fool.” I flinched and she was gone, disappearing quickly into the gathering. Releasing a long sigh, I turned on my heel and went back inside, whisking my sandals from the step as I went. Maybe I was a fool. It didn’t feel that way to me, though. I’d made a stand, angering everyone in the process, but I felt no shame in having done so. The first glimpse of Stone Tiran’s enraged countenance should, perhaps, have given me pause, yet somehow it hardened my resolve. His threats had made my final words easy. I refuse the offer of bonding. The deceptively simple ceremony promising me to a veritable stranger had been the next step, with the official ceremony to take place two years after, when I reached majority. Some girls welcomed it, worked on their wedding clothes during the intervening years with joy and anticipation. I couldn’t imagine why. I had never been able to imagine why.
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Forgotten
-- EXCERPT: “Careful,” he warned, helped her get seated. He sat down and turned to face her, his expression concerned. “Your ankle? Is it hurting?” She reassured him with a smile. “It’s fine. Thank you.” Relief settled over his features. He took her hands in his and brought them to his lips where he planted a gentle kiss. “My love, I seek only to make you happy. Why did he have to be so good? Guilt stabbed at her as she looked into his golden eyes. He was so sincere … so kind … so handsome. She could almost convince herself that she could live the lie and be the doting maiden he believed her to be. He was a prince, destined to be a king. How easy it would be to simply accept his love. Even as she thought the words, her heart cried out, Traitor! And she knew she could never escape her innermost desires, for it was not the fair-haired prince with his genteel manners but the dark-haired rogue with the sharp tongue and stormy blue eyes that tormented her dreams. If Edward was the sun, then Rushton was the shadow forever crossing over her heart. She loved Rushton—loved him with a passion that consumed all else. At that moment, she longed to be far away from the complex life of the castle. She longed to be a simple peasant girl again—a girl who’d long ago given her heart to an impulsive, hot-tempered squire.
GIVEAWAY! Hosted by: #Book Blitz #The First Dark Sorcerer by Abby Arthur #YA #Fantasy #Steampunk @Xpresso Book Tours25/8/2022
The First Dark Sorcerer
-- EXCERPT: Flipping Gelrá open, I search for a spell to try. “Something simple,” I say to him. “Rudimentary, even.” Of his own accord, my grimoire flips through the pages, stopping on a page that looks like all the others. A spell fills the middle of the page, written in Ancient Naerthen. The title implies it’s about moving inanimate objects. I scoff. “We know what happened the last time I tried my hand at telekinesis.” I move to flip the page, to find a spell that might be easier. Gelrá doesn’t budge, but makes his pages stick together like glue. Heaving a sigh, I nearly give in, but the room is empty. “What good is a spell if there’s no object to move?” Gelrá blurs the spell to sketch a drawing. He shows a surprisingly good rendering of Truff, tapping the list of rooms on the wall and calling up a cart of cleaning supplies. I slap my legs in reluctance. “Fine.” Getting up, I try touching the words that say Ævin Hall. Nothing happens. “I’m going to clean Ævin Hall,” I say aloud and tap the list. Again, nothing happens. My lips pull back in disdain as I cross my arms and pace. “Opera house.” As I speak, I let my senses feel the air. Magic lingers on every side, like snow suspended in space. I can’t see it, but I can feel it. “Opera house, can I have a broom?” The magic clusters before me, driven by an invisible force. There’s a bright, white shimmer, and then a broom appears sticking straight up with its brushes on the ground. As soon as the light disappears, the broom falls. Catching it by the wooden handle, I marvel at what just happened and scan the Court Room again. “Thanks,” I say, not sure if this room cares about manners, but it feels wrong not to be polite. Inspecting the broom, I expect it to be charmed, but it doesn’t glitter with magic. Nothing about it is fancy. It’s just a broom, but unlike the one I used this morning, it isn’t broken. […] “Let’s go back to the telekinesis spell, please.” The pages flip again, and the spell Gelrá originally showed returns. For a second, all I do is stare at it. This spell is one of the first I ever memorized. It’s true that I know it by heart, but as I stare at the page, reading it over and over, my body shivers. I’ve never enacted any of these spells correctly. Not since that fateful day … Taking in a huge breath, I blow it out with an exasperated sigh. “Okay,” I whisper. “Mac says this room can contain me. I can do this.” Setting the broom neatly before me, it rests flat on its side. Sweat glistens on my arms and makes my shirt stick to my stomach. Please listen, I internally think to my magic. I need you to work. Then I begin the spell, and a swirling of power builds into a tiny vortex in my chest. It’s working! I almost smile, but then blue light swirls prematurely down my arms. I hastily finish the spell, and my magic bursts forth to swirl angrily around the broom. It stands up right, and for half a second, I think the spell worked. But then the bristles lift off the ground. I barely have a second to roll out of the way before the wooden handle comes jerking towards me like a mace. 
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A Heartbeat Away from You
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo -- EXCERPT: The tears spilled down my heated cheeks as I stumbled down the steps to the lawn. Fabulous. Now I was crying like a little kid. I needed something to kick or throw or-- Thud. I crashed into someone. The top of my head whacked into what felt like a chin. Grunting, I stumbled backward. Two hands gripped my arms, steadying me. “Whoa. Slow down.” A broad chest hovered just inches from mine, clad in a grass-stained T-shirt. Dazed, I lifted my head—and found myself staring into a pair of gorgeous eyes. We’re talking deep chocolate brown with little flecks of gold and framed by sexy dark eyelashes. Those eyes peered down at me, laced with a mixture of surprise and concern. His hair—a shade darker than his eyes—fell in a tousled wave across his forehead. Stubble dusted his strong jawline, and his tanned skin practically glowed in the afternoon sun. He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back on his heels. His shirt was too small for him, fitting snugly across his chest. Tingles danced along my skin as I scanned his well-defined torso and arms. Who was this hot stranger in my backyard? “You okay?” “Huh?” I tore my eyes from his abs and forced myself to focus on his face. His amazing face. “You hit your head pretty hard. Are you okay?” Oh. My. Freaking. God. I swiped my hands across my tear-stained cheeks and took a step back. I knew that voice. This was no stranger. My eyes widened. “Max?” A faint blush tinged his cheeks. He flashed me a sheepish smile, wide enough to display a row of perfectly straight teeth. “Hi, Ali.” Shock radiated through my body, keeping me rooted to the spot. This couldn’t be Max. Max had poufy hair and a mouth full of metal. He was stick thin with an acne-covered face and thick-rimmed nerd glasses. And his eyes… his eyes had never looked so bold and brilliant. “I got contacts,” he said, as if reading my mind. “Oh.” His gaze tracked the length of my body. “I didn’t expect you to look so… well, so different.” His mouth tipped up on one side. “This is a good look for you.” Nothing sheepish about his smile now. It was mocking. Arrogant. And there was his critical tone, the one that made me want to slap him across the face. The strange tingly feeling completely evaporated, and my body tensed. His looks might have changed, but his personality hadn’t. “What are you doing in our backyard?” I asked in a terse voice. “Your dad pays me to mow the lawn.” My enemy doing my yard work? Not when I was around. Contrary to what Dad thought, I was perfectly capable of physical activity. My heart may have been slow, but the pacemaker brought it up to a rhythm that was just as normal as Max’s. “You can stop,” I said. “I can do it now that I’m here.” “I don’t think so.” “You don’t think so?” I let out a harsh laugh. “Oh, excuse me, I didn’t realize you had a say in my family affairs.” He whistled. “Wow, still the same hotheaded Ali.” He stepped away and grabbed the lawnmower from where it stood in front of the shed. “This is my job. I get paid to do it, and as far as I can tell, Mr. B. wants to keep it that way.” Oh, I bet he does. “Besides,” he continued, “this is newly sodded grass, and there’s a bit of an art to mowing it.” He raised his eyebrows at me. “I doubt you’re familiar with the method.” Anger burned in my veins. “Still the same condescending Max.” I jabbed my forefinger at the observatory next door. Sun glinted off its walls, blinding me. “Look, why don’t you go help your own father? I’m sure he’s got…” I trailed off, but I’d realized my mistake too late. Between my dad and Max, I’d been so riled up that I’d completely forgotten about what had happened to Mr. Delaney. I quickly dropped my hand, my cheeks hot. When I opened my mouth to do damage control, nothing came out. Max turned his own gaze to the observatory and curled his fingers over the lawnmower’s handle. A shadow crossed his face and something that looked like pain flashed in his eyes. But when he refocused on me, it was as if he’d flipped a switch. His expression was void of emotion, his stunning eyes vacant. “Yeah, that might be a little difficult,” he said in a cool, detached voice, “since my father’s dead.”
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Two Boy Summer
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play -- EXCERPT: “Your mom’s really young, isn’t she?” Heath says. “Yeah. She had me when she was sixteen.” “She looks like she could be your sister.” “Yep,” I say, that being exactly the eighteen hundredth time I’ve heard that. I reach for my suitcase, but he lifts it and heads up the stairs. “I’ll take it up for you.” I hesitate before following him. Craig would sooner gouge his eyes out than have something happen to me on his watch, so he must trust this guy implicitly. But that’s not to say I do. Heath stops at the top of the stairs and scoots to the side. “Lead the way.” I poke my head into each of the rooms, Heath doing the same. “This one looks out on the pool and it’s got its own bathroom,” he says. I had already pretty much settled on that one, so I shrug and head inside. He points to the window on the far wall. “It’s got a view of my room too.” I lift my eyebrows. “Excuse me?” He hefts my suitcase onto a bed and then points again. “My family’s in that one.” He squints one eye. “My room’s right there. The blinds are pulled right now, but I’ll be sure and lift them, especially when I get out of the shower.” I peer at him, starting to seriously question Craig’s judgment. “I’m kidding. One of us had to break the ice. You’ve been looking at me like I’m a serial killer since before you got in the car. I don’t bite…unless you want me to.” He waggles his eyebrows and then picks up a decorative shell and inspects it. I eye him. “Who are you?” His lip quirks up in a smile, his gaze still focused on the shell. “Such disdain already. I must be doing something right.” “You want me to dislike you?” “Oh no. That’s impossible. I’m far too charming for that.” I try to make out if he’s being irreverent or if he’s a cocky a-hole. I can’t tell yet. I plop down on the bed. “So, you’re starting the apprentice program, huh?” “For the summer, yeah.” I frown. “You mean you’re not doing the full five-year plan? The high school to college to real life program?” “Nah. Just the summer. Just to occupy my time and keep me out of my parents’ house. What about you? What’s your gig this summer?” “I’m working at the boardwalk. My uncle manages the place.” He nods, picking up a turtle knick-knack from a bookshelf and then setting it back down. “Sounds fun,” he says with sort of a sigh, and again, I can’t tell if he’s being sarcastic or serious. “What’s there to do around here?” he asks peering out the window at the pool. “Have you never been here before?” “Nope. Just got here yesterday. Spent last night right out there.” I rest my hands on my hips. “Why are you so familiar with this house? Don’t you live at the one next door?” He shoots me a dry look. “My family’s over there.” I nod, like I get it, but I really don’t. I’ve got a great family. I’ve got two of them actually. Craig and my mom are always including me in everything they do, and when my dad is in town, we do all kinds of stuff together. I guess I never went through that whole my family sucks phase. Because my family’s kind of awesome, even after what I’ve put them through the past five years. He drops his hands down to his sides. “Well, it’s been stimulating.” He goes to head out of my room. “Hey,” I say, at my limit with trying to figure this guy out. “Are you an asshole or are you just hard to read?” He huffs a little laugh and then looks me up and down. “Wouldn’t you like to know.”
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On Destiny
Goodreads / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iBooks / Kobo / Google Play -- EXCERPT: Haden cleared his throat. I opened my eyes and made myself watch his face. “Shit has been going down since we talked. They’ve been hunting us, and we’ve been on the run, but every time we hide, they find us. I don’t know how they’re finding us so fast. We’ve lost nearly half the Crew, and no matter what I do or where I go, nothing helps. Nothing stops them. I’m scared about what will happen the next time they find us. I can’t…I can’t end up in an execution arena. Please. I’m scared.” Suddenly the room was gone and all I could feel was Lorne’s hand tightly gripping mine. I couldn’t breathe because the weight of this news was crushing me until I had no breath left in my body. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t be true. But it was. And it was my fault. The Crew had been everything to me. They’d given me a purpose, a life, a family when I had nothing but my mother. We’d been on the streets, close to starving, and I knew my mother was only moments from giving up. The only thing stopping her was me, but even my strength was ending, not because I was giving up but because I didn’t have any food. I’d been slowly starving, we had no money, no job, nowhere to go, no hope of surviving. But then Jorge saw me and took pity on us. He gave us food, shelter, jobs. He taught me about Earth’s history, how to pilot ships, how to fight SpaceTech, and he never once cared that I was a halfer. All he saw was someone he could help, and boy, did he help me. I owed him my life. No. This couldn’t be happening. I couldn’t lose Jorge, the Crew, any of them. I couldn’t let them suffer Jason Murtagh’s revenge. Because that’s what this was. He couldn’t reach me now, so he was going after the people I loved on Earth. “I should tell you that we did manage to find Ahiga, but he’s hurt and trapped in a building where they thought Declan was being held. Some of his guys are with him—and some of ours, too—but they’re all hurt. Ahiga’s intel was bogus. We’ve since found out that Declan’s in the main building of the SpaceTech HQ here. He was transferred there a few days ago, which explains why we’ve had so many officers swarming in, patrolling the streets. If he’s got any of your secrets, you best consider them spilled. So be careful. They want you, and anyone who ever spoke to you, dead, and so far, they’ve been pretty fucking successful. As usual.” I tried to think of the key points. We had a location for both Ahiga and Declan. Wherever Haden was, he was safe for now. But the panic was still there—its claws still gripping my heart—because I knew none of them would be safe and alive for long. “Jorge and I have been doing our best, but we’ve hit the end. We have no more places to run. Nowhere to go. And we’re running out of food. Water will be gone soon, too. I don’t think they can find us where we are right now, but we can’t risk leaving for supplies. We need help or we’re all going to die down here. And I’m not talking just me and your guy Ahiga and Declan. I’m talking all the Crew and the entire resistance because it’s not just us in ABQ that are hurting. We’re hearing the same across the planet.” My father might’ve fought against me going back, but Lorne wouldn’t. Lorne knew how important they were to me. My father would have his war in the stars, but mine? Mine would be on Earth’s streets, alleyways, cities. “We want to help take SpaceTech down, but we can’t do it alone. We’ve tried, and it’s only made them hunt us harder. And I know you’ve been doing some diplomatic shit with the Aunare, but it’s a distraction. You can’t be falling for that shit, babe. They’ve already stolen your allies and while you’re off chasing the dream of getting them back, SpaceTech is murdering the Earther resistance, starting with us. By the time you realize you can’t win back your allies, we’ll all be dead.” Damn it. I already knew that. Lorne and I learned that the hard way on Telnon. The war lay on the backs of the Aunare, and alone, the Aunare would win it. Haden leaned closer to the screen. “Please, Amihanna. If you ever cared for any of us, please come home. I’m begging you. We will do anything you say. We will fight how you want us to fight. We will run when you say run. We will do whatever needs doing. But I’m begging you, please come. Now. Right now. Don’t let whatever bullshit happened between us keep you away. I swear. This isn’t a ploy.” He wiped a hand down his face. “We’re in the place where we hid that night. The night when everything went wrong.” He looked down. “Shit. I hope you haven’t forgotten.” There was desperation and defeat in Haden’s voice, and I wanted to cry. Of course I hadn’t forgotten. “Please help us. We have nowhere else to go. This is it. You’re it. You’re all we have. We’re waiting for you.” The screen went blank, and I closed my eyes. I was all they had. Me. If I didn’t go there now, they’d be dead soon. 
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