Michelle L. Levigne's Blog, page 47

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 

"Big Ugly doesn't slap at anybody unless they're a threat," I said, more thinking aloud than offering something he didn't already know. "What did Pastor do to get attention and make himself a target?"

Ford came up with the possible answer. We weren't able to get the guardians together and meet with Angela at Divine's Emporium until that evening. I had to get to work, and Daniel had some meetings for the company. I wrote up a report and London took care of getting it out to the guardians, along with our questions and theories, and linked everyone to all the articles on the Magna Magma concerts and the crash. Everyone had the same information, and we all had most of the day to think about the questions. Ford didn't even wait until everyone was gathered in the backyard behind Divine's.

"The prayer vigil," Ford said. "It interfered with those crazy welcome signs, finagling the whole requirement that the enemy has to be welcomed, invited inside. The cyber kids even told us that the shield got stronger during the times that matched up with the prayer vigils at church. People were praying to protect our town. Big Ugly or whoever arranged for those signs has put a target on Rocky, because he's getting in their way."

"But why go to all the trouble of killing the entire band? And halfway across the country?" Arthur Sheridan said. "Don't they know Pastor Rocky is right here, within reach?"

Off the Bookshelf: FROGS AND KISSES, by Shanna Swendson

 

The Enchanted, Inc. series, Book 8

What fun! On a whim, I decided to check and see if there were any new installments in the Enchanted, Inc. series ... and there were TWO. (Which, if you think about it, says something about how busy I've been, that I haven't kept up with the series. And then there was the author's note that she wrote the first book in 2005 .... wow!)

Anyway ... what kind of trouble are Katie, the magic-immune girl and her super-powered, shy-guy boyfriend wizard fiance Owen getting into now?

This time ... it's a group that calls itself the Collegium, but Katie refers to it as the Magic Mafia. And yeah, they're pretty nasty folks. Indications are they're the ones behind a lot of the troubles -- but not all -- that Katie and Owen and their friends at MSI have been dealing with. The race is on to figure out what their next big scheme is, and how to defend against it.

Then there's the problem of all these people disappearing, and a sudden increase in the frog population of New York ...

And oh, yeah, in the middle of all this Katie and Owen are trying to plan a wedding. Actually, two weddings -- a magical one for their magical friends in New York, and a non-magical one for Katie's ordinary mortal family in Texas. Because, y'know, some of them are immunes and it'd be impossible to hide the magical stuff that might go on at the New York wedding. Don't want to drive her mother over the edge.

Major fun. Can't wait to read Book 9, Enchanted Ever After, when hopefully Katie and Owen finally get married. But not without major roadblocks and shenanigans along the way, of course.

Love this series.

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 

"London and I are searching to see what family they had," Sherwood announced.

"Thank you. That's a start." A choked little chuckle escaped him when Father Marty turned around, looking for the source of the voice. "Bo, meet Sherwood. He's the Neighborlee equivalent of Maxx Headroom, without the stutter."

"Excuse me?" Father Marty shook his head and blinked rapidly.

"I guess I went too slow, breaking you in to the wonderful weirdness of Neighborlee." He sighed and looked over at Daniel and me. "Thank you for being here for me, but I think we need some privacy to grieve."

"Sure." Daniel stood up and I gave my chair a good shove forward with brain power. Father Marty didn't notice. He was giving the office some searching looks, probably looking for the speakers and maybe video cameras that fed into Sherwood.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Daniel said, once we were back out in his truck, and he had my chair in the back.

"Time for a run to Sweeties' candy warehouse? Time for a death by chocolate feast? How about a Buffy marathon?"

He snorted and just grinned at me for a few moments. Then the smile faded, and he sighed and closed his eyes. "If those were doppelgangers, like the ones we fought … what do they have to do with the reunion tour for Magna Magma? Is Pastor Rocky a target? Why is he involved?"

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 

A choked sound and Pastor Rocky bowing his head to rest it in his hands told us the moment he read the headline of the first accident article.

"I've been thinking about the younger version in the pictures," Daniel whispered.

I was glad he spoke, because my eyes were aching a little, trying to watch Pastor Rocky but giving him some privacy.

"Doppelgangers strike again?" I said, and glanced at him.

He nodded. "How much good can we do him? Other than knowing how he has to feel, since we had our own lookalike problems."

"Yeah, but ours didn't … well, yeah, one of my doppelgangers went to dust when it hit the sunlight, and yours kind of burned up against the shield. Maybe. But neither of ours left behind a body to be declared dead at the scene. What is going on?"

"Peter?" Father Marty tapped on the door frame as he peered around it. His gaze landed on us, then shifted to the other end of the office. Pastor Rocky had his head in his hands again. I was pretty sure he was praying. And knowing him, grieving for the friends he had known so long ago, and had lost when he chose God over Magna Magma. 

 "Did they have anybody left behind?" Pastor Rocky said, raising his head. "How do we reach out to their families, whoever is grieving right now, when we wouldn't have anything to do with the reunion? What good can we do?" He took a shuddering, deep breath. "We failed them, trying to keep our hands clean."

Off the Bookshelf: THE SPELLMONGER'S HONEYMOON, by Terry Mancour

 

Audiobook, Audible exclusive

Narrated by John Lee

This is my first taste of the Spellmonger series, and I admit I'm intrigued. If only by the highly detailed worldbuilding. But yeah, the humor is a big draw too.

Minalan the Spellmonger and his bride, Alya, take off down a river on a luxurious barge for some well-earned relaxation, after the events of the previous books. But it seems that trouble follows them, and from comments about their courtship, in the middle of a war, and enemies he has made, they should have expected trouble rather than a lazy honeymoon voyage. 

This story takes place after the second book in the series, and is a good introduction to the series, the world, and the characters. The dangers come from many levels, many layers of society, and give a taste of what has happened and threatens to happen in the other books. There's also enough that isn't explained to make any reader curious to pick up the previous books and find out what happened, all the little events and people and history referred to in this story.

Will Minalan and Alya succeed in their plan to hold onto the memories and experiences that others want to erase -- without endangering their future and especially their unborn child?

I guess I'll have to pick up book 3 in the series to find out ...

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 "Sherwood, are you all set?" I asked, once we were all inside and Daniel was reaching to close the door.

In answer, Pastor Rocky's desktop computer monitor flicked into life.

"They found something?" Pastor Rocky walked over to his desk to turn the monitor around more so we all could see what was on it.

"We've seen it. You might want to read it for yourself," Daniel said. "We'll wait until you're ready to talk. Sherwood asked us to come here. He thought you might want to have company when you --" He gestured at the monitor.

"O -- o -- kay." He sat down and turned his monitor around. "Let's see what you've got, Sherwood."

Daniel and I settled at the table on the other end of the office, where Pastor Rocky counseled people or had business meetings. We both took the time to text the newspaper to let them know where we were and we wouldn't be back for a while. Vivian came in while Pastor Rocky was still reading. His face just had a slightly puzzled frown, instead of shock or confusion or grief, so he was still reading the online magazine article.

"Father Marty has been trying to reach you," she said, when he looked up from the monitor. "He's left a few messages, but with the power outage …" She shrugged. "His last message said he was on his way over."

"Send him in as soon as he gets here, would you? Thanks, Viv." His smile looked weary as he turned back to the monitor.

"Is he going to be all right?" she whispered, as she backed toward the door.

"He's getting some bad news," Daniel said, just as quietly.

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 

"Now I know what you go through," he said, once the doors had closed and we were heading down the hall again to the church office.

"Who?" Daniel said.

"Lanie. With her dreams." He rested a hand on my shoulder and walked with me as I wheeled down the hall. Not an easy thing to do, but it helped that he had long arms, otherwise there was a risk of my running over his foot once or twice.

"What did you dream, exactly?"

"That door creaking, and you two coming in and looking like you were about to tell me the Grandstones finally found legitimate reasons for throwing us out of the church." He managed a coughing kind of laugh. "But it was all tied up with that Magna Magma concert he wants."

Daniel choked. That got a frown from Pastor Rocky.

The moment we walked into the front of the church office, the lights came back on. Pastor Rocky looked up at the ceiling, where one of the fluorescent tubes flickered, and his lips moved, silently counting. He shuddered when the flickers stopped, then offered us a crooked grin. 

"In my dream, the light flickered like that ten times. This was only six times, so I guess we're still safe from the Grandstones." He took a deep breath and let go of my shoulder, to move ahead of us down the hallway with staff offices on either side, to where his office sat on the end.

Off The Bookshelf: CAMP CACOPHANY, by Jessica Khoury

 

Audiobook, Audible exclusive

Narrated by Suzy Jackson

Mystwick School of Musicraft series

Fun short story, a before-the-story story.

Specifically, our heroine, Amelia, agrees to go to summer sports camp while her grandmother is on a quilt tour. Amelia knows she has no sports-related talent whatsoever, and of course, she gets paired as a bunkmate with a girl who is the ultimate athlete, and determined to win the trophy for best camper this summer. Again. Amelia is only there in a bargain with her grandmother, before her big audition to get into Mystwick.

However, she faces several problems from day one: no magical/musical practice is allowed on camp property. Amelia's bunkmate seems to have an antipathy toward music/magic. Everything she does goes wrong.

Bigger problem: magic is stirring, making the athletic equipment throughout the camp go crazy, then dangerous. But there is no music to be heard, and magic needs music to work. So what is happening?

Fun, short adventure, and a taste of Amelia's determined spirit that will stand her in good stead in the days and challenges ahead of her.

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 Pastor Rocky has always believed in putting his knees where his mouth is, so to speak. Prayer vigil teams signed on for one hour at a time, but he made a habit of putting in two shifts in a row. I've always had a hard time praying, mostly because my prayers seem to be more "gimme" and "can I?" than an actual conversation with God. Which, when I really take time to think about it, is kind of lame. Considering the miracle of my whole life, the crazy saves we pulled off, the battles with otherness we have won, my multiple brushes with death, and the fact I'm at least partially on my feet, when I should have spent a greatly shortened life paralyzed and probably on a respirator, you'd think I'd be a lot closer to God, right?

Thank God we had Pastor Rocky to give us the best example possible.

So we headed down the hall to the back doors of the sanctuary, and slipped in to try to find Pastor Rocky, so we could snag him as soon as the chime sounded to end this prayer vigil shift. The door creaked, sounding like a haunted house soundtrack. I was glad I was sitting down. It put me lower, about three-quarters hidden by the last pew in the row. Poor Daniel didn't have that protection.

Only one head raised up, and the tall, thickening body it belonged to got up almost before I saw Pastor Rocky's face. He had a long walk from the front pew, and he tipped his head slightly to the right and stared at us as he came down the right-hand aisle to the back of the sanctuary to meet us. He licked his lips, and for a moment looked like he might say something. Then he shrugged, gestured for us to follow him, and led us out of the sanctuary.

New release sample: THE LIVING PROOF GETS THE BLUES

 

When we came in the back door by the church office, Vivian was hurrying down the hall away from us, trying to keep up with Gabe McIntosh, our head custodian. All the lights were off in the office, but not in the hallway. Okay, so now we knew how Sherwood was keeping Father Marty from reaching Pastor Rocky before we did.

"They're kind of scary, you know?" Daniel murmured, as we slowed and watched Vivian and Gabe vanish down the hallway, probably heading for the utility room at the other end of the church. I knew all the back rooms and hallways and storage rooms, from part-time custodian jobs in high school.

"Yeah, but it's good to have them on our side," I said, and turned my phone to look at the blank screen and make a face, betting myself that Sherwood was listening and watching.

I was right. A cartoon of Groucho Marx flashed on my screen, waggling his huge eyebrows and his big cigar, and saying, "With friends like these, who needs enemas?"

Daniel laughed, then he sighed and straightened his shoulders and looked around. "So, what do we do? Just go in and hope he isn't busy?" 

"Doing what? No computer, no phone." I checked my watch. "He's probably still in the sanctuary with the prayer vigil team. The current shift isn't done for another fifteen, twenty minutes."