Title: Serenade Author: Morgan Shamy Series: The Dark Nocturne #1 Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Mystery
St. Paul’s Academy of the Arts isn’t your usual boarding school…
When November Huntington is sent away to live with her long-lost family, she’s forced to attend a music school for the gifted—which wouldn’t be a problem if November were musical. She’s an athlete through and through, and hates being different.
The kids at the school don’t welcome her, they’re wary of her presence, especially Vincent, a brooding teenage boy involved with dark spirits, who can make time stop when he plays his piano. In fact, all her classmates are all obsessed with playing their instruments. And odd things happen when the do.
But something is off about the school. Deaths have occurred through the years, students showing up dead the same way November’s parents were killed—with their throats ripped out.
A killer is on the loose… November must figure out a way to stop whoever it is, balance her feelings for Vincent, and solve her parents’ past before she, too, is numbered among the dead.
The first in a Paranormal Fantasy Saga by debut author Morgan Shamy.
She started forward once more, silently cursing, when a soft melody drifted from the woods. The sound jarred her to a stop, and her heart suddenly spiked. She wasn’t alone. Someone was out here. The music drew closer, heightening. It was slow and haunting, tinkling, like a music box. It didn’t sound like music from a radio or phone. It moved through the trees, wrapping around the bushes, spreading out toward her. She could feel it all around her, soaking into her.
“Hello?” she asked, backing up a step. She squinted into the trees. “Hello?”
No one answered.
The music continued, and she wrapped her arms around herself, backing up further.
“Hello?”
Deep into the forest, a bright light appeared, small at first until it burst outward. The light seared her eyes, large and white, and she ripped her gaze away. A voice in the back of her mind screamed at her to run. The music continued to play on the air, soaring toward her. It was getting closer, becoming thicker, heavier.
This couldn’t be happening. She was having hallucinations. She needed to get out of here. She needed to find stability. Ground herself.
She pushed herself faster, her feet pounding on the forest floor. But the music slithered after her, brushing along her back, carrying with her as she ran.
“Stop!” she yelled. “Stop!” She continued to race, until she dropped to her knees. She covered her hands over her ears, squeezing her eyes shut. “Stop!”
In a blink, the music halted, and the light dissipated, but the music still echoed inside her head, hanging on the air. She stretched her eyes wide, her gaze darting side to side. She stayed frozen, her knees on the dusty ground. Her heart beat loud as the breeze picked up and tickled the hair off her face. Birds chirped, and the forest came alive again. She slowly lowered her hands.
Everything was normal. Everything was fine. She had been hallucinating.
She huffed out a frustrated breath and headed back down the trail, shaking out her arms. She was stupid to think someone had been after her, or to think she’d heard music or seen such a bright light, but the sweet melodic sound wouldn’t leave her alone. The melody lingered inside her head, weaving through her memory. Maybe someone had been there, and maybe she had been its target.
Morgan Shamy is an ex-ballerina turned YA writer. She has been immersed in the arts since the young age of 4, where she performed various roles alongside a professional ballet company for over seven years, and has danced on prestigious stages like soloing at Carnegie Hall in New York City. She has taught hundreds of girls in her fifteen years of teaching, where some of her students have received full-ride scholarships to schools like School of American Ballet, the Harid Conservatory, Kirov Academy of Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, to name a few.
Morgan discovered writing when her three-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer. It was through that experience which instilled the need to share art and magic with children through words on the page.
Morgan is also an accomplished concert pianist. She was the first girl in Utah to receive the 75 pt. Gold Cup in the Utah Federation of Music in piano solo/concerto competition. Morgan currently lives with her X-Games gold-medalist husband and four children in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Title: Surrender Author: Ariana Rose Genre: Contemporary Romance
Ava Caron, a successful and hardworking PR strategist, finds herself in unfamiliar territory when her engagement is unexpectedly and dramatically called off. A getaway with her best friend seems to be exactly what’s needed to clear her mind, body and spirit. She never expects to make a connection with a man who appears to have walked right off the silver screen and into her life without warning, much like the heroes of her favorite fairy tales.
Rafael Varallo is made of leading man material with his rugged good looks, chivalry, and charm that would make any woman fall at his feet. The last thing he’s expecting is to take a fall of his own, when an accidental encounter involving spilled coffee and a pair of beautiful hands capture his attention immediately. His proposal for adventure to step outside of their comfort zones is all it takes.
To surrender isn’t weakness, it’s strength.
Sand, sex, laughs and perhaps even love make for a heady combination and in paradise things may not always be what you expect.
Author and hopeless romantic, Ariana Rose, dabbles in all forms of contemporary romance. All of her novels do have one thing in common. Her heroes and heroines are as passionate about life and love as they are about each other.
A proud mother of two, she was born and raised in the Minneapolis area. She’s always been a storyteller and known to have a flair for the dramatic. Her daughter is just across the border finishing her college career and is a go to for all things graphic design. Her son is a busy middle schooler who loves all things penguins, science, gaming, cars and the weather. Ariana’s fur baby (a beagle/lab) can be found curled next to her while she writes unless chasing squirrels and finding puppy friends become a higher priority.
When Ariana is not writing, she can be found at the rink in a figure skating lesson, binge watching her favorite shows, screening an 80s movie she’s seen hundreds of times, exploring history or traveling to any of her current or new favorite places.
Ariana first published in August of 2018. Her Stone Series was the leaping point. It’s fourth installment will debut in October 2021. She has two novels in K. Bromberg’s Driven World, Twisted with its sequel Entwined. The concluding chapter Pivot, will follow in February 2022. You can find her first sports romance, Bitter Edge, in the Cocky Hero World. Double Exposure, her first co-write, also releases in February 2022.
You can find her exclusively in Kindle Unlimited. You can also sign up for her newsletter, watch her website or find her on all her social media to catch all the latest and greatest on upcoming projects.
Always remember that passion is never a bad thing, it’s where dreams and reality collide.
Two widows, six kiddos, and a will that leaves them a massive cattle ranch, but only if they work it for a year.
Abigail and Amanda may have married brothers, but they have almost nothing else in common (and really, they never did get along very well). After their husbands both pass away, they have no reason to interact. Their connection drops to an awkward phone call on birthdays and an exchange of holiday cards.
Until an eccentric uncle of their husbands’ leaves a massive cattle ranch to the women’s minor children. . . if they work the ranch themselves. A ranch that’s located near a small town on the border of Wyoming that isn’t too keen on outsiders.
They’re both going to turn the bequest down, clearly. It’s not like either of them could properly raise their kids or find love again in a backwater province like Birch Creek. But when things at home change dramatically—for both moms—they decide to give it a try. . . just for the summer.
What could possibly go wrong in a mere three months? (Or more importantly… what might go right?)
I pay, and we’re out the door. It takes almost five minutes to get all the kids and all the groceries squeezed into the car, but with the sun setting, I’d rather not try and find a place to buy dinner. My son Ethan lets me pile him up with stuff, including a rather precarious stack of produce. At least no one argues with me or begs for McDonald’s. With four kids and more than fourteen hours of travel under our belts, it’s a small miracle.
“I’ll hurry,” I promise.
The sun has lit the entire sky an orangey pink by the time we’re cruising down the street off which the ranch is set. Ethan’s so excited that we’re close that he’s belting “On Top of the World” by Imagine Dragons. It’s making it hard to think, much less hear The Jetsons in the back.
“Cut it out,” Izzy says.
He ignores her.
“We’re almost there,” I say.
“Shut up, Ethan!” Whitney throws something—not sure what—that knocks the bag of apples sideways. They roll off Ethan’s lap and spill all over the center console. One rolls down into the floorboard.
“Guys!”
“Sorry, Mom!” Whitney says. “But Ethan won’t shut up, and I can’t hear.”
I slow way down so that I can grab the apple. I finally end up stopping in the middle of the road while I rummage around for it. I’m lucky this road has no traffic on it.
My hand finally wraps around the shiny, smooth skin. “Ha!” After I sit up again, I look around to make sure it’s clear for me to drive.
There aren’t any other cars, but there is a tall, shirtless man mowing the front lawn of a small white farmhouse. It may not be that warm outside, but his body still glistens with sweat. I can’t look away from the defined pecs, the bunched biceps, and the washboard stomach. Ohmygoodness, I’m too old to go entirely blank when I see someone who’s magazine centerfold hot. I’m sure he’s young enough to be—
But then he looks up, and I realize he’s not young at all. He’s close to my age. And he’s staring right at me staring back at him, and he has no idea I wasn’t staring at him the entire time we were stopped. My foot slams against the gas pedal and we shoot forward, but he waves in spite of my quick departure. I wonder whether this man who must be a relatively close neighbor could see through the window and might recognize my face. I really hope not.
The sun has dropped so low that there’s barely a golden glow when we crest the ridge and turn into the driveway my map is bleating at me to take, and my heart has finally settled down to a sustainable rate. “I think this is it, guys.”
Bridget loves her husband (every day) and all five of her kids (most days).
She’s a lawyer, but does as little legal work as possible. She has three quarter horse geldings, a Holsteiner (jumping) horse, and she spends too much time riding and not enough time writing. (Or too much time writing and not enough time riding, depending on your perspective!)
She has more chickens than she’ll admit to having, two lions head rabbits, a cat, two dogs (one bouncy and one yappy). She makes cookies waaaaay too often and believes they should be their own food group. In a (possibly misguided) attempt at balancing the scales, she kickboxes daily.
So if you don’t like her books, her kids, her horses, her chickens, or her cookies, maybe don’t tell her in person.
B.E. Baker is the romance/women’s fiction penname for Bridget E. Baker, who also writes fantasy, end of the world, and dystopian books that add a little magic to the world.
