Excerpt Wednesday – Magic Without Mercy

Ah-ha!  It is *still* Wednesday in my neck of the woods which means that for once, I am putting up the Wednesday excerpt post on time!

What’s been going on this week? Well, two of the four members of my house are down with a cold-bronchitis-plague crud, poor things. 🙁    Our house repairs continue, but the Do-It-Or-It-Will-Fall-Down list is much smaller now, so that’s good.  We’ve had more March weather (which I personally adore) including a  morning of snow on the ground, bursts of hail, rain, and a day of pure blue sky and sunshine.

Oh, and today, today I finished MAGIC FOR A PRICE and sent it in to my editor.  The book will go through revision (at least one), then copy edits and proofs, so I’m not at all done messing with it, but still….I have officially finished a series.  Wow.

But we’ll talk more about that later, now it’s time to talk about MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY, which will be out in just under 4 weeks!

The reviews for MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY are starting to trickle in (thank you, reviewers!)

RT Book Reviews gave it 4.5 stars!! Here’s part of what they had to say: “War is coming and Monk does an outstanding job ratcheting up the tension and danger, keeping both characters and readers on a knife’s edge.”

How nice is that? Thank you, RT Book Review, and reviewer, Jill M Smith!

Now let’s look at another quick excerpt (with Shame, of course) and see what Allie and the gang are up to.

Excerpt: MAGIC WITHOUT MERCY

Shame was pacing in the garage area of the warehouse smoking a cigarette. He didn’t even wait for me to get out of the car before he started in on me.
“Where the hell were you? It’s been hours.”

“We got hit by the Veiled.”

“Jesus, Beckstrom. You leave to call in one little gargoyle and end up tangling with the undead?”

“Zay’s hurt.”

That shut Shame up, which was what I had hoped it would do. He circled the car with me. I opened the passenger-side door, and Zayvion opened his eyes.

Relief washed over me. At least he was conscious.

He was sweating, his face covered in finger burns and bruises, blood flowing from his forehead and nose. His eyes were slits of molten gold. I don’t think he saw either of us.

“We’re going to get you inside,” I said, calm and matter-of-fact. “Shame’s here to help. Can you stand up out of the car, or do you want me to drag you out on a gurney?”

Zay closed his eyes. Swallowed. I could feel the mustering of energy he pulled inward. Not magic, just a steeling of will before the effort.

And then he swung both feet out of the car, held on to the doorframe, and pushed up on his own two feet.

“Bravo, hero,” Shame said around the cigarette in his mouth. “If you put one arm over my shoulder and don’t fall down before we get inside, I’ll give you a cookie.”

April 3, 2012