Good Morning!
I drove up to Toledo Bend on Thursday to spend the weekend camping and fishing. Really loving time out in nature and on the water. Hope YOUR weekend is as lovely!
Katie Clark is not new to our blog. She has shared
thoughts and
treasures and been in our
spotlight before, but today we're getting a peek into her latest novel, Whispering Tower so please extend her a big 'ole Southern (or Northern/Eastern/Western) W-E-L-C-O-M-E!!
Whispering Tower is book 2 in my Beguiled Series, which is a
set of modern day stories with elements of mystery, the supernatural, and a
little bit of romance. Each is a standalone, so you don’t have to read them in
order! Shadowed Eden is #1.
Here’s a little more about Whispering Tower, and you can
read a short excerpt below!
BLURB:
Stuck in London for one of her mom’s work trips, Skye Humphries can’t
help holding a grudge when she ends up roped into a summer tour group with
Philip-who-crushed-her-heart. But when Skye and Philip find themselves
barreling through time after unsuspectingly opening the veil between the past
and present, they’re thrust into a world where Skye’s very life is in danger.
If she’d known her choices were between summering with Philip or being sacrificed
to the god of the skies, Skye might have changed her attitude. Now she must
figure out what’s most important to her—getting even for the past or having a
future.
EXCERPT
Present Day
Skye
Skye stared at Big Ben in the distance, watched it tick away
the time, taking her life with it. A few blocks from her hotel window, the
London Eye Ferris wheel rose toward the sky. Tourists and locals mingled in the
streets around it, preparing to start their day. Too bad she wouldn’t be
starting hers down at the London Eye, instead of with breakfast in the hotel
restaurant.
“You’re not ready yet?” Mom’s impatient voice came from the
door between their plush hotel rooms.
Skye kept her mouth shut. She hated these trips, but she
tried not to take it out on Mom. Most kids at school would kill for a parent
who travelled the world and took their teen along, but long hours away from
home, while Mom worked eighteen-hour days? Not fun. At least at home, she had
the soup kitchen where she volunteered and the people who volunteered with her.
The people who had become her friends.
Here? She was on her own. Dad had offered to let Skye stay
with him, and she’d almost said yes. Almost.
“I’ll be ready.” She turned back to the window, her gaze
going back to Big Ben.
“Still working on homework?” Mom moved into the room. She
glanced over Skye’s shoulder. Skye looked at her laptop screen. She’d been
working through a lesson on ancient Mesopotamia from Mr. Kilpatrick’s class.
Now, that was something to smile about. The rituals of the ancient peoples
fascinated her. She’d gone over the information a few dozen times with her
history teacher. He was great about video chatting with her, delving deeper
into the customs, languages, and religions used four thousand years ago. He’d
even helped her narrow down the best college choices if she planned to pursue
archeology. Someone had to help her, since Mom never had the time.
“I’m about halfway through.” Really, she should have been
done hours ago. The time difference between Tennessee and London had jarred
her, and she’d been awake forever. Besides, last time she’d slept was on the
plane, and she’d had a bad dream she didn’t want to repeat. But Mom had
mentioned breakfast with her business partner and his son, Philip Matthews, and
Skye was hoping Mom would let her skip if she hadn’t finished her school work
yet.
“You’ll have lots of time to finish it later,” Mom said. OK,
not skipping breakfast. “Go get ready,” Mom called over her shoulder as she
moved back to her own room.
Skye stayed put, her gaze going back to that clock. Big Ben,
telling time for a hundred and fifty years. If only those fancy clock hands
could wind backward. Back to a week ago, when Mom had announced the London
trip. Back to just before she’d told Dad, and he’d invited her to stay with him
and his new wife, Gloria. She’d asked Mom, and Mom had freaked. Yeah, she
definitely would stop herself from asking that question.
Besides, Dad had only invited her out of pity. His eyes had
been anything but welcoming. She winced at the painful memory and quickly
turned back to her laptop. After saving her work and shutting down the
computer, she moved to the bathroom for a shower. Thick, plush carpet softened
every footstep, and floor to ceiling windows lined an entire wall of her room.
Three different shower heads blasted steamy water against the fancy tiles, and
Skye took a deep breath. She would make it through this breakfast. Make it
through this trip. As always. She’d already contacted All Nations Church, for
whom she’d done benevolence work on past London trips. Keeping busy was the
best way to keep her mind off of things like Mom yanking her around, and Dad
patronizing her. And staying on the same hotel floor as Philip Matthews—for an
entire summer.
The hot water was good at burning away the bad feelings,
allowing her body to relax and her mind to wander. Steam swirled through the
bathroom, and Skye took another deep, cleansing breath. Everything would be
fine. The billowing steam fogged up the mirror. It reminded her of something.
Billowing sand? She frowned. The dream. She had been somewhere dry and dusty.
Alone? No, not alone, but she couldn’t remember who had come. Mrs. Garrison,
one of the women who frequented the soup kitchen where she helped out back
home, would call Skye’s dream déjà vu. Skye always smiled along with Mrs.
Garrison’s crazy beliefs, but she didn’t go for stuff like déjà vu. Seeing into
the future--or past? A little too hard to believe.
KATIE CLARK started reading fantastical stories in grade school and
her love for books never died. Today she reads in all genres; her only
requirement is an awesome story! She writes young adult speculative fiction,
including her romantic fantasy novel, The
Rejected Princess, a supernatural survival series including Shadowed Eden and Whispering Tower, AVAILABLE NOW, and her dystopian Enslaved Series. You can connect with
her at her website, as
well as Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.
Wow, Katie, sounds like another GREAT book!
Good luck and God's blessings with it.
Hope you enjoyed today's spotlight friends and that you'll check back weekly for Wednesday Words with Friends and another Saturday Spotlight.
Until next time take care and God bless.
PamT
