VBT – SHE’S THE ONE WHO CAN’T KEEP QUIET
She’s the One Who Can’t Keep Quiet
(Book Five of the War Stories of the Seven Troublesome Sisters)
by S. R. Cronin
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GENRE: Historical Fantasy
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BLURB:
Do you know what your problem is?
Celestine, the fifth of seven sisters, is tired of hearing about hers. Father thinks she’s frivolous because she likes pretty clothes and caters to the crowds in the taverns who adore her music. Mother thinks that because she’s the most social daughter in the family, she can’t keep quiet about anything.
They’re both wrong. Celestine hides a secret she has kept for most of her life.
As the family beauty and a talented musician with a lyrical voice, she has the best prospects for marriage to a prince. When such a liaison never happens, people assume Celestine is too choosy. But even in somewhat tolerant Ilari, a daughter hates to disappoint her family. How can she tell them she’s in love with a princess instead?
Lucky for Celestine, all her sisters are obsessed with an invading army headed to their realm. Celestine would rather ignore the threat and enjoy the freedom their lack of attention gives her. But, her voice can unlock a power that may help save Ilari. And the woman she loves is determined to fight these invaders. And her family, for all their talents, seems clueless about how to motivate the masses.
Celestine knows she can inspire the citizens of Ilari to do what needs to be done. Is it time to put her inhibitions aside and use her voice to save those she cares about?
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EXCERPT:
“Wait. Are you telling me you’re a luski?”
“Well, yes, but I try not to use that word. It scares children.”
I laughed. She was right. Most children feared luskies because parents threatened to use one to coerce obedience. “Do as I say or I’ll find a luski who will make you do it.” That sort of thing.
Because I behaved well as a child, at worst frustrating my father with the time I spent on my appearance, no one used luskies to intimidate me. If they had, though, my response would have surprised them.
Please! Are they real? I want to meet one.
Anyone who could be so powerful with their voice fascinated me. The fact that luskies were almost always women made them even more intriguing. If my sister was one of these fascinating creatures, I wanted to know more.
Coral warmed when she noticed my curiosity and she described her skill by using a word seldom heard outside of musical circles. Timbre.
“Timbre is hard to define. It’s that part of music that makes a flute sound different than the plucked string of a psaltery even when their pitch and volume are identical,” I told her. I asked her to demonstrate.
“Aren’t you afraid?”
“No. I’m too curious to be scared.”
She told me she’d oblige, but I needed to make her bed first. I didn’t think that was part of my job, frankly, but it was a mess and difficult for her to make it in her current state. Why not? A more orderly room would be more pleasant to be in.
She let me finish, all the way to fluffing the pillows and placing them in a pretty arrangement.
“Now dump that bucket of water over your head,” she said, pointing to the water I’d heated for washing her hair.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
She laughed. “Okay. That’s pretty much how this works.”
Pruck. That was impressive.
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AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Sherrie Cronin writes stories about people achieving the astonishing by developing abilities they barely knew they had. She’s made a lot of stops along the way to telling these tells — living in seven cities, visiting forty-six countries, and working as a waitress, technical writer, and geophysicist. She’s lost too many beloved cats to mention, but has acquired a husband and three children who are all doing fine, despite how odd she is.
Today she lives in the mountains of Western North Carolina where she writes, answers a hotline, and occasionally checks her phone for a message from Captain Picard. She still hopes to get the chance to pursue her remaining dream in life and become Chief Science Officer on the Starship Enterprise.
Author Social Media Links:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/cinnabar01
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Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/author/show/5805814.Sherrie_Cronin
Amazon: www.amazon.com/Sherrie-Cronin/e/B007FRMO9Q
BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/s-r-cronin
Author Blog: https://troublesome7sisters.xyz/
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RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY
S. R. Cronin will be awarding a $20 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
