Blurb:
Nathaniel
West’s mother is dead, his father a lost cause. Anger has become a way of life,
until he meets and falls in love with Cora Ewell. Only Cora has a secret, one
that could kill them both.
An age
old dark magic resurfaces and it becomes a race against time for Cora and Nate
to find the long buried secrets to saving everyone they love and each other.
After a
near fatal accident leaves Nate in limbo, he must find a way to get through to
Cora before time runs out and she is forced into life eternal with the evil
wizard, Elias Stafford.
Excerpt:
I came to stand on the branch that I
would jump from. Holding on to the branch above me, I edged my way out to the
dangled rope. With one hand, I grabbed the rope and pulled it toward me. I
inched back a few steps to give myself a decent amount of swing room. The rope
was fraying, coarse, and rough in my hands. I could hear loud shouts and whoops
of encouragement from below, but I blocked them out, shut my eyes…then jumped.
Free…Swinging
out in the air, I forgot everything in that brief moment of peace. Letting go
of the thick rope for that split second of suspension, I felt like I was
flying. Then, I was no longer flying. I was slamming—slamming into the cold,
glassy lake. The impact shattered every cell in my body as the pain of hitting
a sheet of solid water turned me to jelly. Then I was under. I opened my eyes.
Murky darkness surrounded me.
I don’t know how
far I was submerged but I could see rays of sunlight piercing through the
surface into the depths. I waited for the moment my feet would hit the bottom
so I could push off and resurface. Feeling the sludgy sand between my toes, I
closed my eyes again and prepared to launch myself skyward. I don’t know why,
but my feet were stuck. Something cold and slimy had wrapped itself around my
left leg, tendrils crawling like ants around my calf. All the air in my chest
escaped in a single cloud of air bubbles making a frenzied dash for the
surface.
Kicking and flapping about, I tried to
dislodge whatever had caught my foot. I needed air but every time I opened my
mouth it filled with the ceaseless rush of muddy water.
Don’t panic, don’t panic, don’t panic!
I crunched myself into a ball and stretched my arm down in a vain attempt to
remove whatever it was that had the vice grip on my ankle. I wrapped my hand
around the offending root that held me. Terror stopped my heart and froze my
blood, and my eyes shot open. Clamped around my leg was a grizzly,
white-knuckled hand extending out of the lake floor. I struggled and fought to
pry the digits loose. It was no use, my ankle was locked fast, and I had
nothing left.
Given the
go-ahead, the murky liquid hungrily searched for any way to penetrate and take
over my body. A thousand knives pierced through me as I battled for every last
scrap of oxygen. My arms and legs spasmed once, then twice, then stopped
fighting and went deathly still. An ethereal calmness took over. I knew right
then I was dying. I thought of Cora, imagining her warmth and fire, and I found
peace. I pictured her arms wrapped around me, holding me tight forever and
never letting go.
Danielle Belwater adores the concept
of true love and thoroughly believes everyone has their Prince Charming or Snow
White out there somewhere, even if they have to fight demons, ghosts, and
wizards to find it.
Danielle has been having a love affair with words since she was young and in primary school, writing some rather imaginative tales. This love has followed her into adulthood.
.png)
She lives in rural South Australia
with her husband, young daughters and way too many animals to mention. She
spends most of her time dreaming up characters, stories, ghostly tales, and
watching Firefly re-runs. She also cooks the odd meal for her family to
avoid them looking like skeletons at official author
functions!
Danielle is passionate about reading and her interests include pretty much anything with words from rolling four volume epics to the daily newspaper.
Where to Stalk Danielle:
Giveaway:
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment