Shadowed - Online Serial - Part 6

Grevellia raced through the house. After she checked every room she tore outside again. Her heart raced while she surveyed the perimeter of the house. Shit! She strode to the side of the house and found fresh footprints in the soft earth near the living room window.

Big feet. Definitely a male. Her stomach twisted.

Someone had been standing here looking inside. Goddamn it! A freaking peeper? Or someone worse? Hair curled at the nape of her neck.

Barely keeping herself from panicking she squeezed her hands so tightly her fingernails bit into the palms of her hands. It grounded her enough to figure out what had happened to Verbie.

She’d known something was off all day. But she expected anything but Verbie being kidnapped. Why? Why would someone do that?
She stared down their quiet street.

Hell, she’d moved here because it was a good neighborhood. She’d even checked records at the precinct and had found out there’d been less calls from this location than anywhere else in the city. She’d promised herself she’d give Verbie a good home. A place where she could feel loved.

Energy built inside her until her body felt like it was on a low hum. She needed to do something! Whipping her cell phone out of her pocket she started to dial. Her hands were shaking, she could barely hit the buttons.
Nine-one….

“Aunt Grev? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve been run over by a Mack Truck.” Verbie walked along the sidewalk toward her, hoodie over her head and her shoulder scrunched up around her ears as if it was below freezing.

Relief rushed through Grev, then anger. She shut off her phone and rammed it back into her pocket. “Verbie, oh my God, kid, I thought you’d been kidnapped.” Not holding herself together now. She knew she was losing it, but had a hard time getting a grasp on her shattering fear.

“What? Why?” Verbie asked.

“You weren’t home. I found footprints outside one of the windows. Someone was watching from the side of the house. I thought they’d taken you.”

“Crap. I had the feeling I was being watched earlier, but put it down to being nervous at home alone.” She looked suddenly guilty. “That's why I followed you. I didn’t want to be alone, Aunt Grev.”

Verbie never called her Aunt unless she was being extra honest. That bit Grev to the bone and her gut twisted again. She glanced down and saw a pizza box in Verbie’s arms. The same pizza place she’d just left. “How’d you get that? I was just there. I didn’t see you.”

“I went to the bathroom. Just came out when you were leaving, I tried to catch you but I was too slow, you were driving away before I got outside. So I headed for home right away.”

Grev’s shoulders slumped. “You should have called me.”

“I tried. You didn’t answer.”

Grev glanced down at her phone. She’d put the ringer on mute when she was on surveillance and hadn’t turned it back on again. Grev had royally frigged this up. As it was, the poor kid had separation issues thanks to her nearly non-existent mother. Verbie constantly needed to know someone would be there for her. Grev wanted to give her that stability. But damn it, she’d failed Verbie tonight.

Grev reached out and wrapped her arms around Verbie. Not easy to do with a pizza box between them. “Oh doll, I’m sorry. I wouldn’t have even gone out there tonight if I didn’t need the scratch. I have bills due, and this gig covered the lot.”

“Sorry, Grev. I didn’t want to make you feel like you can’t do your job at night time.” Verbie’s voice came out squeaky like she wanted to cry but was holding it back.

“Oh hon, it’s my fault. Next time I do night surveillance, we’ll make sure you can stay over with one of your girl-friends. I won’t leave you home alone again.”

She felt a shudder go through her niece. “Good idea.”

Grev pulled Verbie toward the house. “What kind of pizza did you buy? We’ll be eating pizza all week.”

Safely inside, Grev eyed the street before locking the front door. Someone had been outside their house. But who? And why?

www.linagardiner.com

REVIEW of WHAT SHE DOESN'T KNOW

My Review: Smitten With Reading Christi Snow

There is a whole history in this book that neither you nor the heroine knows and that makes this book so much fun to read. Raven is the heroine of this novel and she is looking for her dead husband who tried to kill her. Something just isn't right about his death and she can't hide out in her house any longer, so she decides to take action. That action leads her to Sloan, her husband's look-alike cousin, although she doesn't realize that they are related, and a mystery about her life that she doesn't remember.

And I don't know what else to say about this book without giving something away. Before the book even starts, you are given a poem (which is just gorgeous) that plays into the story line of the entire novel.

On an Island

In an Ocean

Lies a Castle

Heart's Devotion

King and Queen

And Golden Princess

Behold their Realm

With Guarded Interest

Beyond the Sea

Beyond the Wall

A Name that Doesn't Suit

At All

The Key Becomes

For those who Seek

The Answer to its own

Mystique

I just love it and I really enjoyed the entire story! There is great suspense here and the basis for a gorgeous romance. There are several mysteries here. First, the questions about what happened to Raven's parents? Is her husband really dead? Why doesn't she remember a huge chunk of her life including Sloan? How does the Protectorate and the treasures they protect come into it all? Who's the mysterious stranger on the island? What is Raven not remembering? It's all really very good!

If there is one complaint that I have about this book, it's that the author didn't compound on the romantic story line and sexual tension more. All the elements were there and what is there was really good...I just wanted more. More in the way of sexual tension and more in the way of the HEA. I am thinking that this may be the beginning of an ongoing series with these two characters though. If that's the case, then I completely agree with how much the author put in this one. The door is definitely there for Sloan & Raven to create a partnership going after the American Protectorate and if that's the case, I can't wait until the next book!

Foray into Self-Publishing

Well, I did it.  I dared to step into the fray.  I thought about it long and hard before I took the step.  So many of my friends were on-board and doing very well.  Luckily, I found a wonderful lady who edited my book.  A general edit -- an overview, rather than a line edit -- that's what I requested.  Plotholes, timelines, etc.   She was wonderful.  Her name is Nancy Cassidy and her webpage is http://www.theredpencoach.com/home/ 
Next, I had a cover done.  And, is it a great cover!  I love it.  It was done by Kim Killion at Hot Damn Designs  www.hotdamndesigns.com/    Kim, took my suggestion for the bookcover to a whole new level.  It really does tell the reader what the story is about in a single glance.

Now, I'm lucky enough to have a friend who offered to format the document for me to get it online.  Thanks Rik!   Rik is one of Mark Coker's formatters.  You can find him online at Smashwords or at his website. www.rikhall.com/ 

Thing is, my friends were all ahead of me and talking about formatting and tweaking, and doing this and that.  I felt out of the loop.  I needed to know what it was they'd done.  I needed to do it for myself to understand the process. 

This experience has led me to understand that there is a mini techie lurking inside me.  LOL  I loved figuring it out and doing it for myself.   That said, my friend Norah Wilson shared umpteen messages with me to smooth the process out.  She's got several books online and is a Pro.   She's also a master marketer.  We all ask Norah for advice.  Thank you, my friend!

Next, I'm back to working on a requested book.  One that is three quarters finished and calling out to me.  After that, another self-pubbed book?   You bet!