3 Days Until Poisoned Prose!
Release day is coming up fast, y'all! Just to get you excited, here's an excerpt from the book!
https://books2read.com/u/m2eOKd
Chapter One
I stared at my sister, who had just knocked on my door. I hadn’t seen her in three years and had only spoken to her a handful of times since. So saying that I was surprised was an understatement.
She ran her fingers through her dyed jet-black hair and pulled a pair of lime-green-framed sunglasses from her eyes. “What? Don’t I at least get a hug?”
I moved in for an awkward embrace. “I’m just so…surprised to see you here. What are you doing?”
My gaze darted nervously to Snow, the ghost standing in the corner of the cabin. She nodded at the heaping gym bag that Cammie dropped on the floor. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that your sister is moving in.”
No. No. No. No. No. My sister couldn’t stay here.
Everywhere that Cammie went, bad things happened.
To me.
“Nice place you got here,” she said, dropping onto the couch and kicking her feet up. “Where should I sleep?
You got two bedrooms?”
I grabbed her feet and dropped them onto the floor. “No. There’s only one bedroom and it’s mine. All mine. You can’t stay here, Cammie. I’ve got…” Think, Paige.
Come up with something, anything that will convince her to go. “Cammie, look. There’s this book that I need to get to my agent. I’m in a bind, see. If I don’t write it, the publisher may void my contract and I’ll be broke.”
She gave me a stare full of pity. “I heard Walter already took your money. So you’re broke anyway.”
“Yes, but I’ll be more broke if you stay. You know how it is when I write. I can’t talk to people or have anyone around. I need all my focus so that I can conjure the story.”
“Trust me, you won’t even know that I’m here.”
She nestled farther back onto the couch. I could not let my sister get too comfortable. We were oil and water, you see, and didn’t get along. Not because we hadn’t tried. We just never saw eye to eye. And if I was honest,
I supposed there was some jealousy in our relationship as I’d become a once-successful author. Once being the primary adjective.
“Cammie, seriously. Don’t you have a third husband to get to? Or a job that needs help?”
“Nah, I took a vacation. When I saw in the paper that Walter was dead and found out that you were staying here at Willow Lake, I just knew that I had to come visit.
Oh, Paige, we are gonna have so much fun doing stuff
like fishing and boat riding. We’re gonna have ourselves a little vacation. But if you don’t mind, right now I’m dead tired.” She yawned for emphasis. “Just let me catch a few winks of sleep and then we can hit the town, and maybe I can catch me a good-looking rich man.”
Oh God. It was worse than I thought. She wanted to
stay. For days. “Listen, Cammie, all of that sounds great,
but maybe another time. Like, after I have this book written.” I laughed, trying to make light of a situation
that was terribly heavy. “Writing is so time-consuming.
There’s no room for anything or anyone else.”
“Nonsense. You’ll make time for me.”
Of course I would. This was just so quintessential Cammie, expecting people to bow down to her every whim.
“As much as I’d love for you to stay, I just don’t think now’s a good time.”
But her eyes were closed. She wasn’t even listening.
“Looks like you’re stuck with her,” Snow told me. “I’ll let y’all catch up. See you in a bit.”
Though I wanted to shout for Snow to come back and save me, the truth was, Cammie couldn’t see spirits.
Attempting to explain my recently acquired ability to communicate with the dead wasn’t exactly high on my bucket list.
“You doing okay?” she asked. Apparently my sister wasn’t already asleep. “You look like you just seen a ghost.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. But listen, maybe we can put you up in a hotel or something.”
She tsked. “I cain’t ask my baby sister to put out any money for me. ’Sides, you got your own problems, what with Walter taking you to the cleaners and all. What a jerk. I always hated that SOB.”
“Cammie!”
“What?” She shrugged. “The truth’s the truth. Now, I’m just going to get a little shut-eye, and when I wake up, we can catch up and hang out.”
“I don’t think…”
“You don’t think what?”
That it’s the right time for us to catch up? How the heck could I explain to my sister that I’d been conked on the head by a magical book, could now see spirits and work magic, and that I was also on the hunt for said magical book because it had disappeared after falling on my noggin.
When I didn’t answer, she glared at me. “You ain’t gonna play that I’m-better-than-you card, are you?”
“What?” I plastered a hand to my chest. “No, I would never do that.”
She looked at me a long time before nodding. “Good. Because we’re sisters and Mama would want us to be together. I’ll only stay a few days. Just long enough for us to have some fun. You know, like the good old days.”
What good old days? Did she mean the ones when she would break a window and blame it on me? Or was she talking about when she accidentally kissed my boyfriend in the closet while we were playing spin the bottle? Just which good old days was my sister referring to?
But right as I was about to ask her, the sound of soft snoring filled the cabin. Great. She was asleep.
Then I remembered that I had a date with Grim that night. Oh crap. If Cammie laid her gaze on him, she’d want to steal him from me.
Well, I couldn’t let that happen, now could I?
https://books2read.com/u/m2eOKd
https://books2read.com/u/m2eOKd
Chapter One
I stared at my sister, who had just knocked on my door. I hadn’t seen her in three years and had only spoken to her a handful of times since. So saying that I was surprised was an understatement.
She ran her fingers through her dyed jet-black hair and pulled a pair of lime-green-framed sunglasses from her eyes. “What? Don’t I at least get a hug?”
I moved in for an awkward embrace. “I’m just so…surprised to see you here. What are you doing?”
My gaze darted nervously to Snow, the ghost standing in the corner of the cabin. She nodded at the heaping gym bag that Cammie dropped on the floor. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that your sister is moving in.”
No. No. No. No. No. My sister couldn’t stay here.
Everywhere that Cammie went, bad things happened.
To me.
“Nice place you got here,” she said, dropping onto the couch and kicking her feet up. “Where should I sleep?
You got two bedrooms?”
I grabbed her feet and dropped them onto the floor. “No. There’s only one bedroom and it’s mine. All mine. You can’t stay here, Cammie. I’ve got…” Think, Paige.
Come up with something, anything that will convince her to go. “Cammie, look. There’s this book that I need to get to my agent. I’m in a bind, see. If I don’t write it, the publisher may void my contract and I’ll be broke.”
She gave me a stare full of pity. “I heard Walter already took your money. So you’re broke anyway.”
“Yes, but I’ll be more broke if you stay. You know how it is when I write. I can’t talk to people or have anyone around. I need all my focus so that I can conjure the story.”
“Trust me, you won’t even know that I’m here.”
She nestled farther back onto the couch. I could not let my sister get too comfortable. We were oil and water, you see, and didn’t get along. Not because we hadn’t tried. We just never saw eye to eye. And if I was honest,
I supposed there was some jealousy in our relationship as I’d become a once-successful author. Once being the primary adjective.
“Cammie, seriously. Don’t you have a third husband to get to? Or a job that needs help?”
“Nah, I took a vacation. When I saw in the paper that Walter was dead and found out that you were staying here at Willow Lake, I just knew that I had to come visit.
Oh, Paige, we are gonna have so much fun doing stuff
like fishing and boat riding. We’re gonna have ourselves a little vacation. But if you don’t mind, right now I’m dead tired.” She yawned for emphasis. “Just let me catch a few winks of sleep and then we can hit the town, and maybe I can catch me a good-looking rich man.”
Oh God. It was worse than I thought. She wanted to
stay. For days. “Listen, Cammie, all of that sounds great,
but maybe another time. Like, after I have this book written.” I laughed, trying to make light of a situation
that was terribly heavy. “Writing is so time-consuming.
There’s no room for anything or anyone else.”
“Nonsense. You’ll make time for me.”
Of course I would. This was just so quintessential Cammie, expecting people to bow down to her every whim.
“As much as I’d love for you to stay, I just don’t think now’s a good time.”
But her eyes were closed. She wasn’t even listening.
“Looks like you’re stuck with her,” Snow told me. “I’ll let y’all catch up. See you in a bit.”
Though I wanted to shout for Snow to come back and save me, the truth was, Cammie couldn’t see spirits.
Attempting to explain my recently acquired ability to communicate with the dead wasn’t exactly high on my bucket list.
“You doing okay?” she asked. Apparently my sister wasn’t already asleep. “You look like you just seen a ghost.”
“Yeah, I’m fine. But listen, maybe we can put you up in a hotel or something.”
She tsked. “I cain’t ask my baby sister to put out any money for me. ’Sides, you got your own problems, what with Walter taking you to the cleaners and all. What a jerk. I always hated that SOB.”
“Cammie!”
“What?” She shrugged. “The truth’s the truth. Now, I’m just going to get a little shut-eye, and when I wake up, we can catch up and hang out.”
“I don’t think…”
“You don’t think what?”
That it’s the right time for us to catch up? How the heck could I explain to my sister that I’d been conked on the head by a magical book, could now see spirits and work magic, and that I was also on the hunt for said magical book because it had disappeared after falling on my noggin.
When I didn’t answer, she glared at me. “You ain’t gonna play that I’m-better-than-you card, are you?”
“What?” I plastered a hand to my chest. “No, I would never do that.”
She looked at me a long time before nodding. “Good. Because we’re sisters and Mama would want us to be together. I’ll only stay a few days. Just long enough for us to have some fun. You know, like the good old days.”
What good old days? Did she mean the ones when she would break a window and blame it on me? Or was she talking about when she accidentally kissed my boyfriend in the closet while we were playing spin the bottle? Just which good old days was my sister referring to?
But right as I was about to ask her, the sound of soft snoring filled the cabin. Great. She was asleep.
Then I remembered that I had a date with Grim that night. Oh crap. If Cammie laid her gaze on him, she’d want to steal him from me.
Well, I couldn’t let that happen, now could I?
https://books2read.com/u/m2eOKd
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