Her Secret Past by Kerry Watts Book Birthday Blitz!

 

Her Secret Past

Jean Angus pours the last of the lukewarm tea into her chipped cup, shivering as she looks outside into the dark night. Her eyes are drawn to a slow movement not far from her cosy farmhouse. She’s not expecting visitors. And as the back door opens with a bang, she doesn’t even have time to shout for help.

On a dark winter night, the bodies of Malcolm and Jean Angus lie cold and still in a pool of blood in their kitchen. Detective Jessie Blake is called in to find out what happened to the reclusive pair.

Searching the couple’s property, Jessie learns about a vicious dispute with a nearby land owner, Rachel Ferguson, and when Jessie looks into Rachel further, she doesn’t expect what comes up. Rachel isn’t the person everyone thinks she is and a previous murder conviction just made her Jessie’s prime suspect.

The small Perthshire town begins to gossip about the double murder and Jessie’s own past comes back to haunt her, when her abusive ex-husband begins to interfere in her new life. As the town starts a witch hunt against Rachel, Jessie is under pressure to find out what really happened in the farmhouse that night. Because if it isn’t Rachel, then who is the murderer living  among them, waiting to kill again?

If you like LJ Ross, Val McDermid and Helen H. Durrant, you’ll love this addictive new crime thriller from Kerry Watts. Her Secret Past will have you

UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0813N28BD

US - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0813N28BD

Kerry Watts was born and grew up in Perth where she still lives today. The daughter of a Rangers mad window cleaner and Daniel O'Donnell loving dinner lady. She began writing over twenty years ago after reading Isla Dewar's book Giving up on Ordinary and decided she wanted to do that. Becoming a bestselling author is a dream come true.

Authors who inspire her are anyone capable of creating a character who lives inside her head long after she has closed the book. Her favourite fictional character's are Dexter Morgan, created by Jeff Lindsay as well as Hannibal Lechter created by Thomas Harris. She doesn't have a favourite genre as a reader. Kerry will read anything. Written by anyone. If the blurb has a good feel about it she's hooked.

When she's not writing she loves to spend time following her other passions - dogs, particularly rescue mutts and horse racing. The sight of a thoroughbred race horse at full stretch has been known to move her to tears, not just lump in the throat stuff but full on blubbing. And for that she is unashamed.

She also had a small role in a film called The Rocket Post but decided acting wasn't for her. She would rather create a character than play one. 

 https://twitter.com/kezzawattsbooks https://www.facebook.com/kerry.watts.397/

Giveaway to Win the Kindle copies of the 3 Detective Jessie Blake books (Open INT)

The books are Heartlands, Her Missing Child & Her Secret Past by Kerry Watts.

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Pretty Evil by Zoe Rosi Blog Tour!

 

Pretty Evil

You’ve done a bad thing. She has you in her sights. Now you’re going to pay.

Meet Camilla Black: an affluent, respected, influential fashion magazine editor, who lives it up in her beautiful Mayfair apartment. But Camilla’s glamorous life is a lie. Behind her poised exterior beats the cold dark heart of a vigilante killer, a murderer hell-bent on wreaking vengeance upon bad men.

Camilla expects to get away with murder. She’s careful. And anyway, it’s worth the risk. She’s making the world a better place with each predator she kills. But when one of her victims’ bodies is unexpectedly found, his gruesome death is splashed all over the papers.

To make matters worse, she’s now being pursued by Detective Wheelan, a new addition to the Met with laser-sharp focus and a worrying habit of solving impossible crimes…

She knows she should stop, but she can’t. Some men just deserve to die. Will Camilla’s insatiable appetite for justice be her downfall, or can she outsmart the police?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0B2R47M99/ 

Zoe Rosi has a background in journalism and copywriting. She worked as a reporter for local and national newspapers before moving into the fashion industry as a copywriter. Zoe had four romantic comedies published before writing her debut thriller, Pretty Evil. Working in fashion sparked the idea for the book, which Zoe describes as ‘The Devil Wears Prada meets American Psycho’. Someone’s Watching Me is Zoe’s second thriller.

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Study in Chocolate (Bean to Bar Mysteries) by Amber Royer Book Tour and Excerpt!

 

About A Study in Chocolate

A Study in Chocolate (Bean to Bar Mysteries) 

Cozy Mystery 5th in Series 

Golden Tip Press (January 17, 2023)

Print length ‏ : ‎ 289 pages 

Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0BH46559N 

GoodReads Link - Coming Soon

Felicity Koerber’s bean to bar chocolate shop on Galveston’s historic Strand is expanding, as it has become a gathering spot for the community, despite having been the scene of multiple murders. Artists she met while doing a chocolate sculpture are now working out of the shop. So when Felicity is invited to tea by an eccentric art collector, she’s intrigued, especially when she gets asked to pose for a portrait done with chocolate on chocolate. Only, where there is a murder the next day at the same historic house where the tea was held, one of Felicity’s artist friends becomes the main suspect.

When the killer threatens that, unless Felicity unravels the murder, one of her two love interests will be the next victim, she finds herself unwittingly at the center of a puzzle, with a Sherlock Holmes obsessed murderer who wants to be the next Moriarty – and wants to cast Felicity as Sherlock.

Felicity starts finding unexpected connects between her friends and acquaintances, and has to deal with the idea that someone who knows her is a murderer. At the same time, she has to keep her business running, despite construction dust and unruly customers – and an unexpected order for thousands of truffles.

Satchmo the retired police dog turned therapy dog returns to help her sniff out a few clues, and the kidnapping of Ruffles, the quirky artist’s cat, helps lead Felicity into the puzzle. Can Felicity solve it in time to protect the people she cares about from becoming additional victims?

 

  Amber Royer writes the CHOCOVERSE comic telenovela-style foodie-inspired space opera series, and the BEAN TO BAR MYSTERIES. She is also the author of STORY LIKE A JOURNALIST: A WORKBOOK FOR NOVELISTS, which boils down her writing knowledge into an actionable plan involving over 100 worksheets to build a comprehensive story plan for your novel. She blogs about creative writing techniques and all things chocolate at www.amberroyer.com. She also teaches creative writing and is an author coach. If you are very nice to her, she might make you cupcakes. Chocolate cupcakes, of course. 

  Author Links Website: http://www.amberroyer.com 

  Blog: http://amberroyer.com/blog/ 

  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberroyerauthor/ 

  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Amber.Royer.Author/ 

  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoA_29HV2nPmRnox9LPVanw

  Twitter: https://twitter.com/amber_royer 

  Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Amber-Royer/e/B00PFV4CGM 

  Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8144619.Amber_Royer 

  Purchase Links - Amazon - B&N - Kobo 

I change the subject.  “What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

 

“Well, I wanted to offer to paint you.”  He throws up his hands, like it’s a hopeless idea now that I’m not as into art as he thought.  “In chocolate.  I thought it would be both flattering and profitable.  Don’t worry.  It wouldn’t be anything risqué.”

I blink.  “Is there money in painting with chocolate?”

 

“Not as much as dealing in famous paintings,” Mitch admits.  I realize he’s lost the affected way of speaking he’d shown earlier.  “But a hand-painted piece done on a thin chocolate slab for a canvas can go for close to a grand.  Especially if the subject is interesting, and you have to admit, you do have a rather unique following.”

 

The following he’s talking about is in the true crime circuit.  I’ve been trying to lead a normal life, to stop having murders drop into it, but I don’t seem to have much control over the events surrounding me.  After the last case I’d gotten caught up in, a local blogger had called me a mega murder magnet.  I feel heat coming into my face again.  I say, “That whole murder-magnet death-dare thing wasn’t the reputation I actually wanted for my chocolate shop.  I got into the craft chocolate business because I wanted to make people happy.”

 

“Well, you’ve certainly made the true crime people happy.”  Mitch laughs at his own joke.  It’s not really funny.  People come to my shop because of their curiosity about the murders I’ve help solve.  They buy chocolate – and often, they come back.  I hope that is because they’ve realized I make excellent chocolate, that there’s more to my shop than some cheap gimmick.

 

“Can we not talk about that?” I ask.

 

“That may be difficult,” he says.  “Because it’s part of my proposal.”

 

“I don’t follow,” I say.

 

“I thought the chocolate paintings would be an excuse for you to come to the house, for us to be seen together.  Because what I really need is a private detective.”

 

For a moment, I’m not sure if I’ve heard him correctly.  Every time I’ve helped solve a case, it is because someone I care about has been involved.  It’s been a bit overwhelming, even if I have to admit I have enjoyed the puzzle aspect of it.  And here is a perfect stranger trying to hire me to get involved in something that is obviously none of my business.  I say as gently as I can, “I’m sorry.  I’m not a private detective.”

 

He says, “Maybe not a licensed one.  But I don’t need to hire you officially.  Let’s just say you can keep all the profit from the paintings.”

 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t-”

 

Mitch holds up a hand, stopping me mid-sentence.  Does he realize how annoying that is?  And the gesture seems to be a habit with him.  “At least hear me out.  Then you can say no.”

 

He moves over to the wall and removes a giant painting.  Behind it, the word Revenge has been scrawled on the wall with red paint.  The lettering looks like calligraphy, and there’s the image of an ornate knife painted underneath the word.  There’s something vaguely familiar about this scene, though it is difficult to place why.

TOUR PARTICIPANTS

January 16 – Literary Gold – AUTHOR INTERVIEW

January 16 – My Reading Journeys – REVIEW

January 17 – Cinnamon, Sugar, and a Little Bit of Murder – REVIEW, RECIPE

January 17 – Sapphyria’s Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 18 – Mochas, Mysteries and Meows – CHARACTER GUEST POST

January 19 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT

January 19 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST

January 20 – I’m Into Books – SPOTLIGHT

January 20 – The Mystery Review Crew – AUTHOR GUEST POST

January 21 – Celticlady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

January 21 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT

January 22 – Cozy Up With Kathy – CHARACTER GUEST POST

January 22 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT

January 23 – Lady Hawkeye – SPOTLIGHT

January 24 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST

January 25 – #BRVL Book Review Virginia Lee Blog – SPOTLIGHT

January 26 – Sneaky the library Cat’s Blog – CHARACTER INTERVIEW

January 27 – Maureen’s Musings – SPOTLIGHT

January 28 – Mystery Thrillers and Romantic Suspense Reviews – SPOTLIGHT, EXCERPT

January 28 – My Journey Back – SPOTLIGHT

January 29 – Girl with Pen – SPOTLIGHT

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The Year of Cecily by @laforesta1 Book Blitz! ⁣⁣#LisaLin #TheYearofCecily #XpressoTours⁣ @XpressoTours⁣⁣⁣

 

The Year of Cecily
Lisa Lin

(From Sunset Park, With Love, #1)
Publication date: January 17th 2023
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

This is the year of Cecily Chang.

San Francisco attorney Cecily Chang is ready to tackle the New Year head on, so she creates a list of resolutions guaranteed to reboot her life—right after her dutiful visit home to Sunset Park, Brooklyn, for the Lunar New Year. Cecily prepares to face her critical, meddling mother, nosy relatives, and the chaos and drama family togetherness brings. At least the food will be delicious. This holiday, Cecily vows to remain calm—as long as she doesn’t see him.

Jeffrey Lee deeply regrets how he ended things with Cecily ten years ago, but he felt it was best for her at the time. When he runs into her again during the New Year, he sees it as a sign. Now a successful screenwriter, Jeffrey is determined to win back Cecily’s heart.

But Cecily doesn’t believe in signs or second chances and embraces her new resolutions. This time, Jeffrey won’t give up—and he’s convinced he can write them a new Hollywood happy ending.

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Having escaped the madhouse, Cecily dutifully made her way down the street to the Lee residence. She knocked on the door and was greeted by Jeffrey’s younger sister Bethany. She was dressed in a soft blue sweater and jeans, with a bandana pulling her hair back.

“CeeCee!” Bethany exclaimed as she enveloped Cecily in a hug. Despite herself, Cecily couldn’t prevent a grin. She’d always had a soft spot for Bethany.

“You’re home for the weekend?” Cecily asked. Last she heard, Bethany was a senior at Columbia, majoring in biochemistry.

“Yep. Where else would I be?” Bethany readjusted her bandana. “Mom needs all hands on deck for the cleaning.”

Cecily made a face. “My mom’s planning a top-to-bottom deep cleaning today too. I’m on bathroom duty. She’s also grumbling because she needs to take me to Walmart later to buy new clothes. But you can’t fight tradition.” She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. It was a New Year tradition slash superstition to clean the house top to bottom, get a haircut, and buy a new outfit. It was all about out with the old, in with the new and generating good luck and a fresh start for the Year of the Pig.

Bethany had no response, just blew out a breath and looked at her expectantly.

“Oh, right. Is Jeffrey around? I need to speak to him.” Speaking of the devil, he appeared behind his sister in the doorway.

“If you’re here to pay me for the Uber, think again.” He crossed his arms, and a stubborn look came over his face.

All right. If he was going to be a hard-ass about this, then so could she. She had plenty of experience dealing with difficult clients.

“It’s out of my hands, Jeffrey. You know that I can’t go into the New Year unless I settle all debts. You wouldn’t want me to start the Year of the Pig with bad luck hanging over my head, do you? You really want that on your conscience?” She gave her most innocent look and blinked disarmingly.

Jeffrey just scowled. “You always were a spoiled brat when it came to getting your way,” he muttered.

Cecily took immediate umbrage. “How dare you!” Such an unfair accusation. Besides, how did he know? They hadn’t seen each other in ten years. Maybe she had her moments, but didn’t everyone?

Jeffrey just raised an eyebrow. “Who was the one who told our moms I scalped her Barbie doll when she really was the one who decided to give it a haircut?”

“Really with that? I was five years old for God’s sake!” Seriously.

An implacable stare from him. “Did you or did you not get a new doll for your birthday?”

“To be clear, the statute of limitations for that has come and gone,” Cecily sniffed. “Not fair for you to throw that in my face now. It’s been thirty years, and I doubt your ability to accurately recall the event in question. Besides, whether or not I got a replacement Barbie doll is irrelevant to the current discussion.”

“And I was the one who got spanked for something I didn’t do.”

She continued to glare, and so did he.

Bethany just looked at them back and forth like she was watching a tennis match. “You two are weird,” she decided with a shake of her head. She walked away and disappeared back into the house.

Jeffrey ignored her. “But if you insist, it was sixty dollars.”

As Cecily dug through her wallet and purse, he added nonchalantly, “Oh and just so you know, Guillermo gave us a four and a half star rating.”

Her head snapped up and she stopped searching for the money. “Why didn’t we get five?”

“You were always so competitive.” He chuckled. He leaned against the doorjamb and put his hands in his pockets.

“Well, why didn’t we get five? We did nothing wrong,” she insisted, with her hands on her hips.

“Go ask him,” Jeffrey suggested, his lips twitching.

Cecily frowned and went back to her purse. Finally, she scrounged up thirty dollars and thrust it at him.

“There you go.”

“Glad I could help you start the New Year with a clean slate,” he drawled. “Happy now?”

She raised a warning brow. “You’re lucky I didn’t ask for a receipt.”

“Your faith in me is touching.

Lisa has been an avid romance reader and fan since she read her first Nora Roberts novel at the age of 13 after wandering the aisles of her local bookstore. Lisa loves that romance has the power to inspire and believes that HEAs are for everyone.

Lisa writes light contemporary romantic comedies with a liberal dash of snark and banter. She enjoys delving into the complexity of Asian and immigrant family experiences, and celebrates female friendships in her trademark dry, witty style. As an Asian-American author writing own voices Asian American stories, Lisa hopes that her books will show the diversity of the Asian-American experience, and the importance of every reader being able to see themselves represented on the page.

Having grown up in Pennsylvania and helping out at her parents’ restaurant, Lisa has never bothered to learn to cook. She has two liberal arts undergraduate degrees and a J.D, and in her former life she was an intern, then Legislative Assistant for a PA State Representative. She also worked as a paralegal at a boutique law firm. Lisa is a politics junkie (don’t get her started on the wonder that is The West Wing!), indulges in naps whenever possible, and believes Netflixing in her pajamas and ordering take out qualifies as the perfect weekend.

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The Aspen Cove Series by @authorkellycollins Book Blitz! ⁣⁣#AspenCove #kellycollins #XpressoTours⁣⁣⁣ @XpressoTours

 

One Hundred Reasons
Kelly Collins

(Aspen Cove, #1)
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance

A woman who wants to leave.
A man who has to stay.
And a love that won’t be denied…

Nurse Sage Nichols’ life isn’t going as planned. When a favorite patient passes away, Sage abandons her post for a few minutes longer than planned — and just like that, she’s without a job and a paycheck.

But Sage’s patient left her a parting gift: a creaky bed-and-breakfast in the heart of the Rockies. So, determined to sell the rundown property and return to Denver for a fresh start, Sage heads north to the mountains.

When Cannon Bishop’s mother died, he gave up his dreams of leaving Aspen Cove for good and returned to run the family business. As owner of the only bar and son to the town drunk, he’s got no room in his life for a woman. But when Sage Nichols breezes into town, she changes everything.

And if there’s one thing Cannon hates, it’s change.

Recruited by the local doctor, Sage finds herself more involved in small town life than she intended. But the warm welcome she receives from the locals does not extend to the man next door.

Then trust sprouts unexpectedly between them and when Sage’s plan to return to Denver falls through, she is left wondering if her future might lie in Aspen Cove after all.

Sometimes love gets in the way of the best laid plans…

Welcome to Aspen Cove, the tiny Colorado town where fresh starts, hope, and true love live…

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“This feels kind of perfect.”

He adjusted the blanket and pulled her closer. The arm of her chair dug into her side, but she didn’t complain. For the first time since she arrived in Aspen Cove, she wasn’t alone or lonely. It was an odd sensation to be so comfortable with a man who made her temper flare, and her insides turn soft. The most interesting thing was he made her feel something other than empty. She would take rage and passion over apathy any day.

They sat in companionable silence for minutes. Cannon turned toward her and tilted his head. A kiss was coming, and all her questions about his lips would be answered. She leaned in, relaxed her lips and inhaled. Just as the lids of her eyes fluttered closed, she felt him shift.

“I think they’re done.” He rolled to his feet, taking the blanket with him. “Let’s get you inside and warmed up.” He offered her a hand and pulled her to her feet. “I’ll clean this up.” With his arm at her back, he led her to the door.

Sage wasn’t ready to say goodbye, but it was the smart choice. There was no point in starting something that wouldn’t go anywhere. She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. “Thank you. This was probably the best night I’ve had in a while.”

He held her close, and his lips touched the top of her head in a gentle kiss. “You need to get out more.”

“I do. I really do.”

“Tomorrow night, you should come to the bar.” He stepped back. “It’s karaoke night. Bring Otis.”

“Okay.” She nodded. It would be the first Saturday night where she wasn’t pulling a shift or spending it curled on the couch, watching reruns.

“It’s a date.” He stepped away and started down the stairs.

“Is it?” Did he mean a real date, or was he using it as a figure of speech?

“Just come to the bar.” He disappeared into the night. She watched his outline as he picked up the glasses and bottles by the water and moved toward his cabin.

She giggled as she walked into the house. Suddenly, nothing bothered her. Not her nose. Not the newlyweds going at it like rabbits. Not the thought of being stuck here until the house sold.

A voice from deep down told her she could be happy here if she’d let herself. Flopping onto her bed, she grinned up at the ceiling, thinking of the magical effect that a long hug and light kiss from the right man could have. She wasn’t sure if it was the wine talking or her hormones, but something was telling her to trust Cannon.

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International bestselling author of more than thirty novels, Kelly Collins writes with the intention of keeping love alive. Always a romantic, she blends real-life events with her vivid imagination to create characters and stories that lovers of contemporary romance, new adult, and romantic suspense will return to again and again.

Kelly has sold more than a quarter of a million books worldwide, and in 2021 she was awarded a Readers' Favorite Award Gold Medal in the Contemporary Romance category for A Tablespoon of Temptation.

You can learn more about Kelly at www.authorkellycollins.com.

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Gods of Inthya, Tales of Inthya, Book 5.5 by Effie Calvin New Release Blitz! @ninestarpress @indigomarketingdesign #LGBTQIA+

 Title:  Gods of Inthya

Series: Tales of Inthya, Book 5.5

Author: Effie Calvin

Publisher:  NineStar Press

Release Date: 01/17/2023

Heat Level: 1 - No Sex

Pairing: Female/Female

Length: 38600

Genre: Fantasy, anthology, Fantasy, gods, magic, romance, short stories

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At the beginning of time, the gods came together to create Inthya, a world where magic is common and hatred never had the opportunity to take root. 

But the Inthyan gods are young and imperfect. With countless failures behind them and unspeakable horrors lurking outside the borders of creation, they must not allow this world to meet the same fate as the last—without alerting their mortal worshippers that anything is wrong. 

Nineteen short stories from the perspectives of the gods themselves, some humorous, some horrifying, and all united by a theme of protecting the mortals who love them unconditionally.

Gods of Inthya
Effie Calvin © 2023
All Rights Reserved

Inthi, God of Creation and First of the Ten, does not generally manifest in cities. This is somewhat paradoxical, considering most new ideas come from places where mortals gather in large numbers. But Inthi is a quiet, thoughtful sort of god and has trouble focusing when surrounded by too much noise and commotion. Even when they are called to a mortal’s private workshop, away from shouting vendors and screaming children, they cannot block out the soft but persistent hum of countless souls going about their daily business outside, each mind a bright beacon of wants and worries and dreams.

But today, unfortunately, they must make an exception.

Inthi is intimately familiar with their own Great Temple in Birsgen, and the enormous district surrounding it. Some call it the Flame District, but others simply call it Inthi’s District. Most large cities have one, a place where smiths and artisans and inventors come together to work and exchange ideas.

As Inthi approaches their temple, they hear mortal voices raised in argument. Standing on the steps are two people—a neutroi that Inthi recognizes as their own archpriest here in Ieflaria, and a priestess of Eran dressed in silver robes. The priestess is the source of most of the noise, waving her clenched fist in the archpriest’s face.

Inthi’s archpriest, however, is unimpressed. They wave a hand dismissively and say, “Your concerns are unwarranted.”

The priestess’s cheeks redden. From the rage that emanates from her mind, Inthi can tell reason has failed and now she is about to start cursing. Inthi walks up behind her and rests a reassuring hand on the prophet-priestess’s shoulder. “It’s all right,” they say. “I will handle it.”

Eran’s priestess looks at Inthi with wide, disbelieving eyes. She takes a step back, too dumbfounded to speak. Inthi’s own archpriest has not recognized them, but she has. With more effort, they can disguise themselves completely, but Inthi is not inclined to do so today.

“I appreciate your efforts,” they add. Only rarely do Eran’s priests take an active role in events. Most adhere to the philosophy that attempting to alter the future is pointless at best and disastrous at worst. This priestess must have decided that no outcome is worse than what she’s already seen in her dreams. “Excuse me.”

Inthi walks past the bemused archpriest and enters the temple. Inside is warm from the heat of dozens of forges, and every stone is steeped in magic. Countless prayers have been uttered within these walls. Generations of priests and artisans have labored here. Even if the temple was disassembled and all the stones cast into the sea, it would take centuries for the magic to dissipate from the air.

After taking a few moments to admire the new bronze statues decorating the temple’s anteroom, Inthi takes a side door into a hallway. All around them, mortal minds buzz with ideas; mortal hands wrest iron and copper into new shapes. It is still early, but most of them have been awake for hours. Some have not slept at all.

Inthi could have manifested directly at the source of the problem, but there is time enough to enjoy being in the temple. They pass a few priests in orange robes, but most of the mortals are dressed practically, with heavy leather gloves and large aprons. Some carry boxes, or tools, or push carts filled with scrap metal to be melted down and turned into something useful. Inthi brushes each mind as they pass, appreciating every mortal’s unique focus.

NineStar Press | Books2Read

Effie is definitely a human being with all her own skin, and not a robot. She writes science fiction and fantasy novels and lives with her cat in the greater Philadelphia area.

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