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

My Kirkus Indie Review Arrived!

I was in Australia for my daughter's wedding when I heard about Kirkus Review for Indie Authors. A friend had emailed information about it. I knew very little about Kirkus Indie at that point, but I had an instant gut feeling that it was what I should do. As an author struggling to make my mark, Kirkus seemed like the logical choice but I didn't have the PDF file of "What She Doesn't Know" with me, so I had to wait until I got home to send my book off for review.

I sent it the very day I arrived home. Jet-lag and all.

Yes, this review was a little more costly than what I had previously paid for promoing my work, and Kirkus is well known for being brutally honest in their reviews. Let's face it, they wouldn't have their renowned credibility otherwise.

I still had that gut feeling that I SHOULD do it, and after doing my research I learned that the review would not be posted for the world to see unless I wanted it to be. Therefore, if I got a less than stellar review, I could bury it deep within my files and it would never see the light of day. Needless to say, I hoped that wouldn't happen, but I was well aware of the possibilities.

On the upside, my treasure hunting romantic suspense was receiving very good reviews online. It is currently rating at 4.24 on Goodreads, and 4.6 out of 5 on Amazon. So, I waited - week after week, marking off the requisite time on my desk calendar. Nine weeks later I received an email. I was in the kitchen when the email came in, we'd just rushed home to start a late supper when I took a peek at my iPod and saw that the email from Kirkus was waiting.

Supper was even later that night, let me tell you! :) I told my husband to take over and I rushed down the hall to my computer so I could read the email on a bigger screen. Cliched as it might be, my heart was literally in my throat. My pulse had picked up, I held my breath in nervous trepidation/anticipation....


I read the review. My heart lurched. Wait! Had I read that correctly? I'd gone over it so quickly, I might have missed something. It seemed great to me. I read it again and I started to breathe, and smile and thank my lucky stars.... I had received a review to be proud of. And they even mentioned one of my favorite movies of all time, Raiders of the Lost Ark.

My gut feeling hadn't steered me wrong.

There are indie writers out there who are wondering about Kirkus Reviews. Should they risk it? My response: Writing is all about risk taking from the first moment you put pen to paper. We can say we're writing for ourselves, but the moment you publish, you're writing for your readers and you want it to be the best product you can muster. Kirkus Indie was a great choice for me. I'm thrilled with my review and I'd love to share it with you.

"Gardiner takes everything positive about romance novels, mixes it with a little bit of adventure and throws in an evil villain or two, resulting in a perfect petit four for sating a romantic craving. Just don’t be surprised if you are hungry for more 30 minutes later." -- Kirkus Reviews


https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lina-gardiner/what-she-doesnt-know/

NEW RELEASE

I'm soooo happy to tell you all that my newest book, Black Moon Awakening has just released.
If you like werewolves and shifters and a bit of a spy premise check out the free reading samples available at on-line locations.

BLACK MOON AWAKENING....  She could receive a death sentence for just talking with him, so why did she yearn for his touch?