I am a few days late, but the winner of the $50 Gift Card for the A World of Gothic Giveaway is Mary Preston!! Please email me at Alicia@AliciaDean.com to collect your gift card. Congratulations!
Thank you to all who participated. I hope you had a Happy Halloween and if you purchased any of the books, I hope you enjoy them.
If you didn’t grab them while they were 99 cents, I think most of them are still on sale, so it’s not too late. You can find all the links here:
Filed under Author Blog Post
Please tell us a little about yourself, where are you from? Where do you live now? Family? Pets?
I live in the foothills of North Carolina, and it’s absolutely beautiful here, especially in the morning when it’s misty. I’ve been married for nine years, and Greg is my biggest fan. He reads all my novels and loves helping me out of plot holes. We have three cats—Darby, Pepper, and Sox—and my writing day is never complete until Darby knocks the computer mouse on the floor. He’s a mischievous little boy!
Where did you get the idea for Arresting Mason?
I originally wrote this book for a bad boy anthology call, but by the time I was done, I had exceeded the maximum word count and still wanted to add more scenes. So I forgot all about the submission call and kept revising this story until I was finally happy with it. It’s now book one in the Arresting Onyx series.
For how I came up with the plot, I must thank my subconscious since I dreamed about it. For days after, I kept thinking about the hero, the heroine, and her brother, and those characters wouldn’t leave me in peace until I wrote out a rough plotline. Though I changed quite a bit as I put the dream down on paper (or rather computer), the main premise remained the same.
The hero, Mason Harding, appeals to me more than any other character in the book because I love redemption stories. Just because someone makes a mistake (depending on the mistake, really), I don’t think they should be ostracized from society, especially if they’re trying to live a better life and trying to make amends.
What do you want readers to come away with after they read Arresting Mason?
That everyone is worth a second chance.
What actors would you like in the main roles if your book were made into a movie?
That’s a tough one. Perhaps Evangeline Lily for Mia (heroine) and Theo James for Mason (hero).
What genre have you never written that you’d like to write?
I read most sub-genres of romance, but I’ve never written sci/fi or alien romance, which I’d love to do someday. Unfortunately, I don’t have any ideas for a story, at least one that hasn’t already been done a zillion times, but maybe inspiration will strike someday.
What is your favorite quote?
A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty. — Rudyard Kipling
Have you written any other books that are not published?
I have eleven books published, and I’m currently revising the next one. There are several more manuscripts collecting digital dust on my computer. I definitely plan on pubbing them in the future.
How did your interest in writing originate?
I read my first romance book when I was 12 after I snuck a Harlequin paperback out of my mom’s bedroom. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and I wanted to create my own story about two people having an adventure and falling in love. I wrote with pencil in a spiral-bound notebook and finished that 200-plus page story in about six months.
Your favorite…
Movie – Die Hard
Music – anything by Aerosmith
Places you’ve visited – Washington DC; Indianapolis, IN; St. Augustine, FL; Wilmington, NC and lots of other beaches in NC
Places you’d like to visit – my dream vacation is two weeks in Italy and Greece, one week in each.
TV show from childhood – The Simpsons
TV show from adulthood – Star Trek: TNG
Food – Lasagna
Sports team – You kidding? Don’t watch sports, but ice hockey is interesting.
Which do you prefer: Board games/card games or television? – Games, all the way. I rock at Canasta, Life, and UNO.
Giveaway!!!
Please join my Street Team on Facebook. Then comment on this post to let me know you’ve sent a request. Here’s the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/572204316296198/
One lucky entrant will receive any ebook from my reading list, which can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B00ALQITWY (Anthologies not included.)
Blurb for Arresting Mason
Once you’re in a prison gang, you’re in it for life. That’s what Mason Harding thought until the boss accepted his resignation. After the State releases him on parole, a sexy divorcée behind the wheel of a car almost ends his life quicker than a shank. His chance encounter with Mia Eddison results in a night of passion, but her brother—his parole officer—catches them together and doesn’t approve.
Mia falls hard for the cocky ex-con, but not because of his chiseled body. She vows to break through his walls and discover his secrets, but never expects those secrets to threaten her life.
When members of an organized crime ring kidnap Mia to force Mason’s return to the gang, he goes up against an old friend to save the woman he loves. Will his sacrifice be enough or will everything fall apart in a blaze of gunfire?
Excerpt
“Which one is your car?” She glanced around the crowded parking lot. A few streetlights pushed back the darkness and shadows. The restaurant served customers until midnight on the weekends, but no one loitered in the lot, at least from what Mia could see.
“Don’t have one at the moment.” Mason hooked his thumbs in the belt loops of his jeans. “I took the bus. It stopped a few blocks from here.”
“Would you like a ride?” She pulled the car keys from her purse. “I feel a little ridiculous we met here tonight. I just wasn’t sure if you were some kind of freak.”
His eyebrow lifted, and he closed the distance between them as a tiger would zero in on its mate. A sexy, masculine smile curled his lips. “Have you made up your mind yet?”
“I’ll let you know in the morning.” Desire trickled down her spine. Mia nodded toward the passenger side of the car for him to hop in.
He confiscated her keys instead to unlock and open the driver’s side door for her like a gentleman. Then he leaned closer and nuzzled her temple with his nose.
Not sure if he planned to seduce her in the parking lot or if he merely wanted to tease her, Mia pressed her hand to his chest and tried to think straight. “You’re the first guy I’ve gone on a date with since my divorce. I haven’t slept with anyone since Evan.”
He tunneled his fingers through her wavy, chestnut-brown hair. “I haven’t dated anyone in a long time either. We’ll take it slow or fast, whatever you want, but I promise you one thing. After I’m done with you, you won’t even remember that bastard’s name.”
Oh, God. She almost melted right then and there. “Fast. I want you, Mason.”
“Take me to your place and you can have me.”
**************
Goodreads – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39005064-arresting-mason
Buy Links
Amazon – http://amzn.to/2ppcmEJ
Barnes and Noble – https://bit.ly/2uOj90J
iTunes – https://apple.co/2FVAQMP
Kobo – https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/arresting-mason
Google Play – https://bit.ly/2Izu3cZ
The Wild Rose Press store – https://bit.ly/2VDUTXI
Books2Read – https://books2read.com/u/m2vvY7
Audio Buy Links
Amazon – https://amzn.to/2Nbwr03
Audible – https://adbl.co/2CV6oVU
iTunes – https://apple.co/2NHwMqA
About the Author
Amber Daulton is the author of the romantic-suspense series Arresting Onyx and several standalone novellas. Her books are published through The Wild Rose Press and Books to Go Now, and are available in ebook, print on demand, audio, and foreign language formats.
Amber lives in North Carolina with her husband and four demanding cats. Feel free to visit her at http://www.amberdaultonauthor.blogspot.com.
Social Media Links
Facebook Author Page – www.facebook.com/amber.daulton.author
Twitter – https://twitter.com/AmberDaulton1
Street Team – https://www.facebook.com/groups/572204316296198/
Pinterest – http://pinterest.com/amberdaulton5/
Goodreads – www.goodreads.com/author/show/6624921.Amber_Daulton
Amazon Author Page – http://amzn.to/14JoZff
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/amberdaultonauthor/
Book Bub – https://www.bookbub.com/profile/amber-daulton
Book Gorilla – https://www.bookgorilla.com/author/B00ALQITWY/amber-daulton/kcc
Smashwords – https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/amberdaulton
LinkedIn – www.linkedin.com/pub/amber-daulton/87/538/368
Google Plus – https://plus.google.com/u/0/+AmberDaulton
The Wild Rose Press – https://catalog.thewildrosepress.com/2362_amber-daulton
Filed under Author Blog Post, New Release
Please help me welcome Olive Balla, an author with whom I had the pleasure of working with at The Wild Rose Press on a few books, the most recent being her fantastic suspense novel, Jillie.
WHY DO WE DO THAT VOODOO WE DO?
I tap the screen of my laptop and find a writer’s blog entitled Why Do You Write? Since the process of establishing a “motive” is central to my Suspense/Mystery genre, this gives me pause. I chew on the question, a frown creasing my forehead.
Other authors seem to have no problem defining their motivation, so why can’t I? It’s not a trick question – it’s something I should probably know.
Did my inability to name a consistent tune to which my Writer Spirit dances signify a lack of imagination? Was it a death knell to my aspirations to write something worth a few hours of someone’s life?
One blogger claims his raison d’etre is a drive for pure creative expression. His stories offer the perfect venue for building other worlds peopled with folk of his conjuring.
Yup, I say to myself, that’s a cool reason to write. Maybe I just feel the need to do me some creating.
Another writer vows she has no choice but to obey a powerful Inner Command to write. I consider the implied nobility of that statement. Maybe that’s why I write. I DO sometimes feel compelled. No, really.
What might happen to a writer who ignores such a command; would she expire? Would she explode into unfulfilled bits of gelatinous non-writer? I sigh.
With a grateful heart, I find one blogger who admits to purely mercenary motives. Time to get new carpet for the living room? No problem, just whip out a blockbuster. If only.
As a retiree living on a clenched-butt fixed income, that thought sets off a responsive gong. Perhaps paving a pathway to a gratifying payday is my true motivation after all.
Yet another blogger says his writings are borne of angst. His words, a therapeutic outlet, offer catharsis to his existential pain.
Then there is the writer who believes he has important information for the world, words of wisdom, answers to the mysteries of the human condition. And there are indeed those writers whose words change the course of history.
But alas, pleased to un-dangle participles and duct-tape split infinitives, I don’t have anything of such magnitude to say. One writer’s nuggets of gold are another’s horse puckie.
Then my hard-nosed Internal Editor sends up snarky questions on the quality of my own writing. Was my plot tight enough? Did my dialogue sing? Should I have included at least one scene of graphic sex? Or horror of horrors, did my characters behave uncharacteristically?
Perhaps I write to justify my mother’s never-flagging faith in my abilities, while jabbing a finger in my dad’s eye for suggesting I get a real job.
By the time the self-doubt and reflection are said and done, I arrive at a near-epiphany: Sometimes I write for all the above reasons but sometimes I write for none of them.
Mostly I write because I want to. If someone escapes a less-than-perfect reality for a nano-second by reading something I’ve written – that’s just plain cool.
My Internal Writer sighs. The tightness in my neck relaxes, and I bang out another scene.
Jillie dropped the metal lid as if it were red hot... Her stomach heaved, and something sour shot up her throat. She pounded against the locked, unyielding door until the muscles in her arms cramped. She fell to her knees and clawed at the floor, ignoring the pain radiating up her arms from torn fingernails...
The sound of approaching footsteps made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck move. She snatched up the broken shovel handle and stood behind the door. With her legs slightly bent, she gripped the pole with both hands as if it were a sword, aimed its broken, pointed end at the door and waited.
Filed under Author Blog Post
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
A shadowy figure haunts Turnberry House, and a trail of death follows…
When Olivia Lockwood leaves the comfort of her quaint Massachusetts home for an eerie mansion in Louisiana to fulfill her grandfather’s dying wish, she has no idea of the long-buried secrets that await her there. Or whether Jaxon Carter, her grandfather’s right-hand man, might steal her heart or put her life in jeopardy.
**************************************
Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
When Morgana Pierce accepts an invitation to Blackthorn Manor, known as Ireland’s most haunted property, she hopes to convince the gloomy owner, Sir Dermott Blackthorn, to allow her crew to film the property for her paranormal series.
Morgana has a secret of her own. She’s on a quest to find the father she never knew. Her only clue to his whereabouts led her to this bleak property on an isolated windswept Irish peninsula, where myths, legends and goddesses still seem to live and breathe.
Morgana’s ability to communicate with the dead soon puts her in danger as she learns there have been several suspicious deaths and disappearances in recent years. Threats against her own life force her to decide how to navigate an ever darker reality.
Dermott Blackthorn’s ancestral line has been cursed for nine generations, and he is the last one. His death is imminent if things unfold as they have for the previous eight Blackthorns.
Morgana is attracted to Blackthorn’s mysterious and moody house guest, Ronan McIver. He is both protective and dismissive of her, sending mixed signals. What is he doing at Blackthorn Manor?
As the danger surrounding Morgana intensifies, the setting is ripe for the perfect storm. She must rely on someone, but who can she trust?
**************************************
Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
Hired to write the biography of elderly tycoon Henry Wolfe, Dianne Grayson happily comes to Wolfe House, a Victorian mansion set deep in the piney woods of East Texas… a house she has always wanted to see. Henry Wolfe is just as autocratic and overbearing as she expected, but no matter how he acts she is determined to stay there until she gets the answers she wants. What she did not count on was his rugged grand-nephew and a startlingly handsome and attentive young cowboy, both of whom show great interest in her, nor how the mysteries of the past can affect and endanger the present day. Once she discovers the truth, is it too late for her to save her own life?
**************************************
Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
He wants her out of his house. The house agrees…
After losing everything—her family, her home, her sense of self—former heiress, Daphne Alesi, has no choice but to start anew. Broke, unwanted, and suffering from a rare condition that makes defining her emotions mind-numbingly difficult, the only thing she has left is a strong will to survive.
Starting over on a remote Greek island, in the dead of winter, just because it was her grandmother’s birthplace might be a foolish plan, but staying in England is not an option.
The people of Alonissos are far from welcoming, not least the brooding recluse whose home she literally invades. The infamous House at the Edge is rumored to host a ghost—the soul of the enigmatic owner’s deceased wife. But it will take more than an angry spirit to send Daphne fleeing.
Being emotionally detached has some benefits, after all.
**************************************
Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
Cassie O’Dey arrives in Virtue, Florida searching for information about Becca, the mother who abandoned her. While staying at the same bed and breakfast where Becca last stayed, Cassie encounters a familiar ghost.
Walker Thayner, a widower, has returned to Virtue to work on restoring the bed and breakfast his family has owned for generations. Hoping to find solace in his work, Walker has shut himself off emotionally. Despite his sullen demeanor Cassie finds herself drawn to him.
Even as hopes of a future in Virtue fill her heart, Cassie finds her thoughts drawn to the dark past of this small Florida town. Can she solve a murder that took place a quarter of a century in the past and put the ghost of Becca O’Dey to rest?
Excerpt:
The old radiator in the bedroom was putting out some heat, thank goodness. Florida had nothing on Pennsylvania when it came to cold weather, but North Florida was still colder than I had expected.
I finished the last few chapters of the book and still wasn’t ready to sleep. I was used to working the two till ten shift at the restaurant then staying up until two in the morning once I got home.
There was no TV, no internet, so I searched the upstairs bookcase in the hall for something to read. I pulled out a copy of Jane Eyre, one of those books I’d heard about, but never read. I held it in one hand, enjoying the feel of it, the worn leather cover and the gilt edging.
Had my mother read this book? Had her fingers turned the pages?
I shoved the book back into place. Why couldn’t I either forgive her for walking out on us or just let her memory go? Memory? That was a laugh. I hadn’t even been a year old when she left. I didn’t have a single memory of the woman. I wondered if Morgan or his sister knew where she had gone. If they did, what then? Did I really want to contact her? What was I supposed to do, call her up and say “Hey, remember me? I’m the kid you walked out on twenty-five years ago. So, tell me what you’ve been up to. Did you pop out anymore kids that you walked out on?”
I scanned the rest of the titles on the shelf, trying to take my mind off my mother but the thoughts persisted. For the thousandth time I wondered if I had a half-sibling or two somewhere.
The hall was colder than my room had been. I wrapped my arms around myself. Motion caught the corner of my eye and I turned my head.
A woman hovered at the end of the hall. Her face was turned away from me, facing the ceiling. Long, dark hair trailed down her back and the edge of the long, pale gown she wore swung two feet above the worn wooden floors.
**************************************
Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
A writer travels to a remove bed and breakfast to debunk the superstition of an eerie spook light. But when she encounters a ghost, she has to re-evaluate her beliefs. Now someone…or something…wants to harm her. Is it a long-dead spirit, or a living, breathing human being?
Excerpt:
A glimpse through the trees made me halt. A man. I moved closer and recognized Declan, although his back was to me. Three headstones were spaced four feet apart. Declan stood in front of a white marble teardrop-shaped stone with roses carved into the side that looked newer than the others.
His sister’s grave?
He wore a charcoal gray wool trench coat with the collar pulled up around his neck. His breath came out like wisps of smoke in the cold air. Snow dampened his dark blonde hair, making it look almost black. He was unaware of my presence. His focus was on the grave.
Sympathy pierced my heart, and I blinked back tears. He looked so forlorn, so alone. I had to tighten my hands into fists inside my coat pockets to keep from reaching out to him. My efforts wouldn’t be welcome.
After several moments of silence, I began to wonder if I’d really heard his voice. Although I’d had to take the path to get here, a small grouping of trees were all that separated this area from the carriage house, so it was possible. But had he been speaking to his sister? He didn’t seem the type of man to give in to sentiments such as talking to a dead loved one.
I no sooner had the thought than he spoke again. “I’m sorry, Eleanor. I wish we’d gotten along better, but I did love you. I never wanted this to happen. I only wanted to protect you.”
Feeling like a spy and not wanting to continue intruding on his privacy, I stepped back. My foot landed on an icy tree branch lying on the ground, and the sound exploded like a firecracker in the still afternoon.
Declan whirled to look at me.
My heart leapt to my throat.
His expression tightened in anger. “Ms. Burditt? What in God’s name are you doing out here?”
“I—I was just…taking a walk.” I cast a guilty glance over my shoulder, then looked back at him.
He peered in the direction from which I’d come. “You were at the carriage house?” The words were barked like an accusation.
“Y-yes. I just…” I took a deep breath, suddenly feeling the cold even though the wind was still calm. “I just came upon it. I didn’t go in. The doors were locked.” I realized my error as soon as I said the words. Too late to take them back.
“You tried to get in?” He stalked over until he stood directly in front of me, looming like a dark angry cloud. “The carriage house is off limits. Stay away from it, do you understand me?”
I swallowed. “I wasn’t going to hurt anything, I was just curio—”
“I said stay away.” His voice was deadly, his eyes molten steel. “Do I make myself clear?”
For one brief moment, the fury in his eyes made me think he might be capable of murder after all. Namely, mine. I couldn’t speak, so I only nodded. He held my gaze for a few more gut wrenching moments, then stormed away.
**************************************
Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
A group of authors from countries all over the world were drawn together by our love of the classic gothic mysteries by authors such as Daphne du Maurier, Victoria Holt and Phyllis A. Whitney.
While the stories are stand-alone, they each share a recurring thread of a Spinel stone, which can play a small or large part in the plot. We have stories set in Scotland, Greece, Oklahoma, Florida, France, Ireland, and more.
ON SALE for 99 Cents!!
**** Contest! Win a $50 Amazon Gift Card – I’ll be sharing all 10 books on my blog on various days and on Oct 31st, I’ll share all 10 in the same post. On November 5th, I’ll draw a winner. Receive additional entries for each task you perform. (Details below)
France, 1890. Sandrine Duplessis was raised to be a fine Parisian lady. But when her scholarly father dies and leaves her penniless, she must take a position as lady’s companion at the crumbling Chateau de Pierpont in faraway Normandy. Her employer suffers from a mysterious illness in the old house, which is filled with strange and beautiful Tahitian artifacts, and the servants are silent. Mystery–and possibly love, with the enigmatic Mathieu Favril–are in the chilly air.
Excerpt:
Chapter One—Rouen, 1890
I couldn’t help but feel that I was suddenly living a life that was not my own.
I folded my hands tightly on the handle of the valise on my lap, the old, cracked leather case that held nearly all I owned in the world, and studied the room around me. That sense of cold distance, as if I saw everything in a dream, grew stronger as I watched the receptionist at his desk, the crowds that hurried past in a blur of identical dark suits. No one spoke loudly there, in the city council’s mairie. They merely murmured to each other, making the rustle of papers on the receptionist’s desk all the louder.
A mairie was always a discreet place, especially the section that housed the foreign services, as I remembered well from when I accompanied my father there as a child. Then, as we journeyed there from our comfortable apartment so he could give them his translation work, I had been awed by it all. The soaring, vaulted ceilings of the old buildings, the stone staircases, the solemn air of quiet, secret importance. It was almost frightening, and I was always glad when we returned home to our books and fires, our own company.
Now, though, there was no one to return to, no Papa waiting for me, no fine apartment. There was only a tiny room in a dusty boarding house along a back street. A room I would soon be hard-pressed to pay for, since I had lost my most recent position as a governess.
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Check out all the stories here…
**** Contest! You will receive an additional entry for doing each of the following:
If you missed the other posts, start here and catch them all for additional entries…
Filed under Author Blog Post, Ebook Deal, giveaway
Author Alicia Dean 