Blue Violet – A New Beginning

Blue Violet is the first book of my Svatura series of books. I originally self-published it along with the other three books of the series. In January I contracted the series with The Wild Rose Press. The past few months I’ve been working on the book with my editor, Mary. No major/huge changes (for my awesome readers who’ve already read it), but we’ve cleaned it up. And…given it a new beginning. The book now starts earlier in the story, and I think has a much better beginning now. Below is a sneak peek at the new start. Blue Violet will be out (this summer I hope) soon!!!

 

Description:

When fairy tales turn into nightmares…

Ellie Aubrey has spent most of her unnaturally long life hiding her extraordinary abilities from the world. On the run from the shapeshifting wolves who murdered her family, she risks discovery in order to secretly watch over another group of similarly gifted people, determined they won’t suffer the same fate.

Alex Jenner has come home to protect his family from an unknown danger lurking in the woods. Suspicious of the new girl in town, he challenges Ellie in ways that will spark one of two possible outcomes: they’ll spontaneously combust, or she’ll lose control of the one power she’s fought so hard to contain.

In this fairy tale, the dragon the prince must slay is also the princess who holds his heart.

 

Excerpt:

“You can’t go!”

Ellie Aubrey closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and resumed her packing.

“I have to,” she said quietly.

She moved from where her suitcase lay on her bed, half-full, to the old-fashioned wardrobe that held the rest of her clothes. Grabbing another handful, she dared a glance at her twin brother Griffin, then immediately wished she hadn’t. He stood rigid in her doorway, his face a mixture of anger, fear, and pain.

Ellie swallowed and resumed her packing.

“They’re Svatura, like us. How can you walk away from that? We’ve been alone for so long. Don’t you think it’s worth the risk just to know for sure they exist?”

She knew the argument would fall on deaf ears. They had been fighting about this for the last six months, ever since she’d first had the dream. One where she’d discovered a large family of people like them existed. It had taken Ellie the rest of that time to try to locate those people based on clues in the dream—mountains, certain buildings, a name.

But she had found them.

“It was just a dream, Ellie. No one in our family line ever had an ability related to visions or prophesy. There’s no explanation for why you might suddenly develop one. Which means it’s not coming from you.”

“I know.”

“Then you know that you risk too much. We haven’t stayed hidden, stayed alive on our own for almost a hundred and fifty years, just to blow it on a whim.”

“This isn’t a whim!” Ellie realized she was yelling. Again. She stopped packing and took a deep breath. Then she turned, sat down on the bed, and folded her hands in her lap.

In a calm, controlled voice, she said, “We were raised to be in a community. We were part of the Darane Svatura.” The pride she felt in her ancient and rare heritage pulsed through her very soul. “We were a part of the largest gathering of our people in existence, an extraordinary assembly of abilities in one single tribe. Hundreds strong—”

“And every single one is dead…except for us.” Bitterness laced Griffin’s words.

“—and as much as I love you, I need a family again. I need to be able to share who and what I am with others like me. No matter the risk.”

Ellie looked at Griffin—tall and strong. Sadness weighed her down. He was her best friend, her only family, and the one person who could help her keep the darkness lurking inside her leashed. She couldn’t imagine doing this without him.

He remained silent. Which was no wonder. In all of their arguments about this, she’d never told Griffin she needed family…that she needed more than just him.