Lost Time Update | Life in the Indie Lane
This year has been what I call “crazy-busy.” Lost Time has seen not one, not two, but THREE incarnations! When I published the second book in the trilogy, Lost Time had made it to round one of the editing stages. We were on track for an early fall publication. Then life happened — in spades.
Long story short, due to a change in my husband’s work, our family has been coordinating life between Tennessee and Florida, which left me to grab writing and editing time when I could. Each time I picked up the story, I found my main character, Jenna Wyatt, had morphed into someone who insisted on aging. She no longer held the musings of a sixteen-year-old psychic. To put it in her narrative: “Jenna wasn’t that girl anymore.”
What a sneaky thing to do…
But the muse was right. Isn’t he always? You’d think by now that I would learn to trust the little stinker. Still, I know every writer hits a few bumps along the road when the characters take on a mind of their own. A struggle ensues. And, yes, the characters always win. Because they are the true drivers. The rest of us are just along for the ride.
I’ll update the news here just as soon as I have a solid publication date. In the meantime…
Cover reveal and excerpt from Chapter 1!
CHAPTER 1
House of Mirrors
Autumn 2008 – Full Dark
The weathered old clapboard house had a sinister aura, a shroud of… something… dark. A single-story structure, the paint dulled by time, cloaked in the cover of night, as if hiding. Waiting to snatch anyone brave enough to venture close. Even the windows seemed sly, like eyes staring out at the gloom, watching.
Huddled into her jacket, Jenna Wyatt hunched her shoulders against the crisp air, her long sweep of jet-black hair fluttering as a breeze stirred. She swallowed back the knot of dread in her throat and stepped up to the porch. Behind her, speakers on stands pumped out the kind of manic music only heard at carnivals while the rumble of rides mingled with laughter and screeches.
She glanced at the flurry of activity, caught the scent of popcorn and another odor that lingered below the surface—vague, but foul. The stench of…
What?
Something dead and rotting.
Hands clenched to stop them from shaking, Jenna reached out with her mind for the source of the odor. The rancid smell vanished before she could draw another breath. Her gaze shot past the crowd. Not too far in the distance, a wall of shadows marked the edge of the woods, an entry point to miles and miles of untamed forest where a soul-eating demon had roamed.
Lazian.
A chill scampered up her spine. The demon was gone—destroyed. But the memory…
She had been so young then—just sixteen—when the demon’s servant sent a twisted, evil man to worm his way into the Sheriff’s Department, to gain trust there. Deputy Rick Hutchins, without an ounce of mercy, murdered her mother and stepfather. Jenna could still hear the muffled pops of the gun, could see the crimson splatters on the floor, the walls.
So much blood.
She shuddered. The air had reeked of death, a metallic, coppery stench that clung to the room.
The anger she thought she had buried gnawed at her. Fate had given Jenna no choice but to follow its lead to this once quiet, Tennessee town tucked into the foothills of the Smoky Mountains. Dawson Mills. Not a path she would have chosen for her life, but the unbearable grief, the loss, had brought her to the only family she had left.
And to a demon who gorged on the essence of humans.
Jenna couldn’t stop the surge of panic as a premonition—a knowing—rushed through her. The darkest moment of her life was about to come full circle.
A repeat.
This time around, she might not survive the evil with her soul intact.
I hope you liked this glimpse into the start of Jenna’s journey!
If you’d like to receive an advanced reader copy of Lost Time and future releases, please fill out the form on the ARC Team page to join my Read and Review team.
Thanks so much for reading!
Anne
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Ooohhh! I really like this! I hope you hurry up and finish soon. No pressure or anything. LOL
Thank you! I’m working on getting to that finish line… :-}
Always looking for great new authors, just ordered books 1 + 2 based on the descriptios and reviews and can’t wait to read what everyone’s talking about so excitedly!! I’m excited myself to find out :) thank you! -Lisa
Thank you, Lisa!
I am so looking forward to the 3rd book in the trilogy! Books 1 and 2 were fantastic! 5☆
Thank you, Mickey!