Mirror of Shadows
T. Lynne Tolles
T. Lynne Tolles
Genre: Young Adult
Paranormal
Publisher: Troll
Publishing
ISBN: 978-1478398073
ASIN: 1478398078
Number of pages: 200
Word Count: 51,376
Book Description:
Ella
McKaye returns home for her grandmother's funeral to find she's inherited a ton
of money and a run down mansion she never knew existed, called Grey Manor. Her
greedy mother is appalled when the will stipulates specifically that Ella can't
give her any of the inheritance. She
quickly throws Ella out of her home forcing her to take up immediate residence
in the spooky old mansion.
Within
minutes of entering her new home she has a strange interaction with a creepy
old mirror in the main hallway and the ghostly inhabitants of the past get more
and more agitated the longer Ella's there. Nearly fatal back to back accidents
make Ella start to wonder if she's angered some ghost or if there is something
more sinister at work.
Will Ella unravel the
deadly mystery before she becomes a ghost herself? Or will fate take another
one of the Grey ancestors to the grave.
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Guest Post:
Warm sunny days met with chilly evening,
and gusts of wind that release the once clinging leaves into a lilt and tumble
dance to the ground tells us we have entered into the season of fall. Depending
on where you live the changes in foliage can be a grand display of vivid
yellows, oranges and reds that would make an artist cry with delight, or a less
impressive brown with with some yellows and reds. Either way, its a beautiful
time of year.
Those of us who are not sun goddesses,
but more a touch of vampire, relish this season and raise a toast in good
riddance to the hot temps of summer. If you hadn't guessed, I am one of those
people. I can get sunburned, fully clothed, under an umbrella, and slathered in
70SPF, looking much like a boiled lobster. Along with the entrance of fall,
comes my favorite holiday of the year - Halloween. For a person who is more a
big kid than an adult, Halloween allows me to be myself for one day, without
the "don't make eye contact" look I usually get when I wear my
favorite Scooby-doo t-shirt as my cell phone rings the theme from Dudley
Do-Right when my husband calls.
Yes Halloween is something I look forward
to every year. Much to my husband's dismay, I start hunting for my next amazing
addition to my ever growing collection of decorations before summer even begins
(the cool things always sell out quickly). Now I'm not talking cheesy stuff,
but items that other Halloween enthusiasts say, "Ooooh! I want one of those."
Like one year I spent two months putting together a leather hand bound Book of
Shadows with sections like "Spells and Charms", "Creatures of
Light", "Potions and tinctures" etc. Last year's handy work were
hand made black candles I made from PVC, black glue (glue gun glue) and battery
operated tea lights that insert up top. I had black glue everywhere, but they
came out amazing and they got lots of "oohs and awes".
I suppose I owe a debt of gratitude to
the holiday, as it brings out my creativity in many different ways, and gears
me up for the holidays and another possible book. Now you may not enjoy
Halloween or fall as much as I do, but I hope that this blog post at least has
you thinking about all the possibilities fall has to offer you. It's the beginning
of the holiday season in my house and that means family, food and good times.
So I say to you, embrace this season and enjoy the smells of apple cider on a
cold day, the crunch, crunch, crunch of crumbling leaves under your footfall,
the feel of a kitten soft scarf on your neck and chin, while you wrap your arms
around your family and friends in big warm bear hug.
Short Excerpt:
It was a perfect day for a
funeral, if there is such a thing—gloomy, gray, and cold. With steady tears of
rain, the heavens seemed to be mourning along with the funeral guests. Though
Ella stood strong as the pastor droned on, she would never be consolable for
the loss of her beloved grandmother, Rose Grey McKaye. Ella had known for a
while this day was coming as her grandmother combatted bouts of cancer, a
stroke, and dementia, but all of that was not enough to prepare her for the
overwhelming loss she now felt.
Ella heard no voices of
condolences from those who one by one took her hand in sympathy. She only heard
the rain tapping on the shiny mahogany casket covered in a blanket of
chrysanthemums and peonies in front of her. Occasionally she would nod her head
to the speaking sympathizer but she never took her eyes off of the coffin.
Instead, she watched as a drop of water hung to the tip of a fern frond,
gathering more volume until it could no longer hold on and dropped down the
curved lid of the casket, and then meandered down the side stopping only for a
moment by one of the carrying handles. It continued down to mingle with other
drops at the base of the aluminum stand. It lingered and swelled until it could
no longer resist the relentless tug of gravity and it fell to the fake green
grass carpet laid out to disguise the recently excavated mound of dirt from the
grave into which her grandmother would soon be lowered.
The long line of
umbrella-toting guests passed before her then scattered among the graveyard to
their warm, dry cars to go on with their lives. How odd, Ella thought, that
time doesn’t stop for a moment to acknowledge the passing of one so loved. She
felt sure that she hadn’t taken a breath since she had received the call two
days before, notifying her that her grandmother had died. How would she ever
survive life without her grandmother?
Ella’s childhood had been
hard and she’d grown up fast and insecure in herself. The only happy memories
she’d had as a child were in those blessed, short-lived visits to Grandma
Rose’s house where Ella knew without a doubt she was welcome, safe, and loved.
Ella’s mother had not been
a bad person, but Ella had learned at an early age that she was an anchor to
her mother’s freedom. Patricia had been widowed when Ella was a toddler. She
had no family of her own to speak of, and found herself a single mother with no
job and no real skills. First the parade of men came, none of which ever seemed
to measure up to her late husband, and then came the drugs which made the
unhappy, lonely woman lost and unstable. Needless to say, this brought about a
rather turbulent life for Ella’s early years.
A warm hand touched Ella
from behind, guiding her away from the men now lowering the casket into its new
home. They cleared away the fake grass carpet, revealing the reality and
finality of what was happening. Goodbye Grandma Rose, Ella said without
speaking. I love you so...and the car door shut on Ella’s words and
pulled away from the curb as its wipers slapped the sides of the windshield
with a squeaky but constant beat.
About the Author:
T.
Lynne Tolles is a lifelong avid reader of all things paranormal and now is a
writer of young adult paranormal romances for readers 15 to 115. She grew up in
the sunny California San Francisco bay area. She's the mother of two, wife to
one and pet mom to three cats and Newfie dog.
Blood of a Werewolf is
the first of five books in a series called, the Blood Series. Other titles
include Somber Island and Mirror of Shadows - both unrelated to the series.
Website: http://tlynnetolles.netfirms.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/tlynnetolles
LibraryThing: http://www.librarything.com/home/tlynnetolles
Kindlegraph: http://kindlegraph.com/authors/tlynnetolles
Trailers: http://www.youtube.com/user/tlynnetolles
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