Fantasy and Dreams: LOVE AND NEW BEGINNINGS By Sarah J. McNeal #I-Love-Books, #Love-In-The-NewYear @PrairieRosePub

Every Day Is A New Beginning

Today is the first day of a brand new year. It’s nice to have a fresh start with a clean slate. The New Year is like a blank page only without the scary pressure of writing a New York bestselling novel. If you’ve been doing something that hasn’t worked out, now is the time to ditch it. If you’ve been doing something that seems to be working, take the New Year as a chance to take it up a notch…at least that’s what we aspire to do.

Traditionally, many people have made their resolutions for the New Year or have made their intentions, but a study conducted by the University of Scranton revealed that only 8 percent the people actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions. So what’s the point to all this new beginnings fuss and bother? I’d like to suggest that maybe the driving force behind all these New Year’s resolutions, or whatever you want to call them, is hope; the hope that this year our desires and dreams might just come true. Hope is a powerful force.

We who write romance stories are the proliferators of hope. We give our readers characters who fall in love, but have a hard time getting to their happily ever after. But those readers hope that somehow, some way that couple is going to find happiness. They march through the pages with that hope in their hearts and the silent promise we gave them at the beginning of each story because hope is eternal and love conquers all.

And as luck would have it, my new book, CURSED, Legends of Winatuke, book 2 releases January 8^th and is ready to pre-order right now.

CURSED, Legends of Winatuke, book 2

(Formerly The Lake of Sorrows)

By Sarah J. McNeal

Fire Star Press

Pre-order Link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0833DG588

The legend begins when love and evil collide.

Blurb:

Hawk McKnight is a troubled man with a secret life. Emma Dawson is a burned out doctor weighed down by emotional baggage. Can Hawk and Emma put aside their past long enough to save Hawk’s brother, Peregrine, from a deadly curse? Is there a chance Hawk and Emma can find happiness again, or will the curse consume Peregrine and replace any joy between Hawk and Emma with regret and heartache under its evil enchantment?

Excerpt:

He downed another shot of Chegari whiskey as he remembered that terrible day when the demon, Inx, threw his brother into the Lake of Sorrows. It was certain death to even drink the water from the lake. It was said a man could lose his mind just by staring into the lake’s depths. Try though he did to reach into the lake to retrieve Peregrine, he couldn’t save him. The Nivasi creatures who occupied the lake’s murky depths, stole memories and created mind torture so terrible it was said the victims would pray for death to come quickly. Hawk shivered at the thought that Peregrine might have suffered in such a way before he died. No amount of alcohol could drive away the bitter loss of his brother or the terrible guilt that weighed on his heart for not being able to liberate him.

A messenger drew Hawk from his morose thoughts.

"My liege, I do not wish to disturb you, but Domingomae has delivered a message for you from Prince Raphael." Mericet entered the tent with a sealed parchment in his hand.

Hawk took the message and noticed that the boy's hair was wet and his clothes damp. "Water's scarce out here, Mericet. Mind you don't waste it by bathing in the middle of the day."

"Yes, my liege." Mericet nodded his head obediently and waited respectfully by the opening of the tent for further instructions.

Pulling the dagger from his wide leather belt, Hawk cut the seal from the parchment and began to read. The first words grabbed his attention immediately. "My God," he gasped aloud, "Peregrine is alive." He glanced at Mericet. "My brother is alive."

Mericet nodded. "That is good, my liege. I am glad for you."

Hawk leaped from his chair and paced as he continued to read aloud. Your brother is living among the Gypsies, playing his violin, and performing his water show twice a day. But he is altered, Hawk. You must come to Vel’ka Mulano with all due haste.

He stopped pacing. "Altered? What could he mean?"

Excerpt:

Emma held her breath. Something is wrong. Her heart began to pound against the confines of her ribs. Is someone in the apartment? She didn't have a gun or mace, or even a sharp object like a pencil nearby to protect herself. Maybe if she could quietly move across the kitchen she could grab a butcher knife from the drawer beside the sink. Every nerve in her body became electrified. Her muscles tensed with dread.

Out of the darkness, a big hand grabbed her by the shoulder. She took in a ragged breath. Her heart pounded in her ears. What to do now? Her vocal cords froze in her throat as the intruder turned her around to face him. She heard herself whimper and hated her weakness.

"Please don't hurt me," she whispered in a shaky voice.

She heard gruff laughter. "Why would I want to hurt you, Emma?" A light switched on and there, in the glow of a forty-watt incandescent bulb, stood the tall figure of Hawk McKnight. He appeared wild and dangerous, as if he'd walked out of a medieval movie scene. Dressed in a loose, white shirt open halfway down his broad chest and a short leather jacket with sleeves attached by strips of rawhide graced with buttons carved from what looked like horn or bone down the front he grinned at her. Around his slim waist was a wide, leather belt with a dagger tucked in it and a leather bag hanging from his left hip. In a scabbard across his back rested a heavy broadsword which looked as perilous as the man. Emma knew by his attire he must have recently come from that other place where his family and friends originated…Winatuke.