Hi All! Thanks for stopping by to hear my big announcement.
The final book in the uniquely paranormal Secret Keeper Series is out and available for purchase! Today, we’re taking a peek at a deleted scene from the newly released, Under The Broken Sky! Fun!!
But first, here’s the cover and blurb for Under The Broken Sky!
If this is your first time hearing about the Secret Keeper Series, I’m excited to tell you that for a limited time, you can pick up the award-winning first book in the series for FREE!
Here are the links to grab your FREE COPY!
Amazon
IBooks
Barnes and Noble
Already a fan of the series? You’ll love several new characters that are introduced in Under The Broken Sky and a finish to Winter and Liam’s story that rivals the intensity of the first three books, Belakane, The Secret Keeper, and In The Dying Light. So go grab your copy now and find out what happens!
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
IBooks
Now, onto the deleted scene. Enjoy!
From the small wooden dock Agni saw the rubble that was once his home. Huge wood beams were reduced to splinters and furniture he’d built by hand sat in broken pieces strewn along the forest’s edge. Seeing the total destruction of his handiwork made his throat tight and his mouth miserably dry. He smacked his lips in a futile attempt to create moisture. Little came.
“Tie off the boat.” Agni said handing a wad of rope to Winter before looking back at the island. She also gawked, mouth hanging open in direction of the debris littered beach.
Behind him, Winter and Liam debated the best way to tie a proper knot, but Agni couldn’t think of anything but the damaged shoreline where he’d lived for ten years.
Bela’s destruction left a pit in Agni’s gut. Securing the boat may not matter in the end. Belakane’s total annihilation of their island cottage let Agni know she was livid, even more furious than he could’ve imagined. He and his companions would be lucky to leave the island alive. Angry waves already licked the side of the boat, more violent than when they’d arrived, and the blue sky was quickly disappearing behind the purplish black clouds stirred up by Belakane’s magic.
Agni walked to the front of the rocking vessel.
“Stay on the dock. I want to look around for a minute.” Agni said without looking back at Winter and Liam.
Now that they’d arrived, Agni felt the full weight of his responsibility. Only he could save them from Bela’s wrath, and based on the burgeoning storm, the enchantress was ready for a fight.
Connect with Angela
Hi, I’m Author Angela Carling and I’m excited today to tell you Shackled. This book, Shackled, has an amazing story, one that pushed me to write this important and suspenseful story. Today I’m excited to share the new cover and make a big announcement! Shackled, originally written as stand-alone story will stand-alone no longer! I’ve already begun work on part two of this truly emotional story inspired by my sister’s own real-life struggle. The new book will be called RELEASED! If you’ve read Shackled and ever wondered what happened to Ryan, Released will change everything!
Before I forget…you can get Shackled on sale Thursday and Friday December 15-16 for .99 super cheap cents Here on Amazon
or to learn more about all my young adult books click Here
When people read Shackled, they have a strong reactions one way or the other. Here’s what they are saying….
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“I can’t remember the last time I read a book in one afternoon, but once I started reading, I couldn’t stop!”
“I was impressed by how Angela Carling tackled such a sensitive topic. You experience Lucy’s emotions with her, including her struggles when she starts to notice Ryan’s behavior changing. This is my favorite aspect of this novel. In such novels you more than often feel for the character but you do not always feel what they feel, as if you are that character. I also loved how she developed Lucy’s relationship with Mason. If only all those in Lucy’s situation had a Mason.”
“Read this book! And then read it with your sons and daughters. Make this very important subject part of what your family discusses.”
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Yay! It is time for the the blurb and, a little about Shackled, and best of all, the new cover created by the talent Kaelen Carling.
After shy, quiet Lucy and her family move from their small hometown in Minnesota to Seattle, Washington, she is surprised when Ryan, the most popular boy at school asks her out. Soon, she is swept up in a whirlwind romance and her naïve and trusting nature allows her to fall head over heels in love with her too-good-to-be suitor. Suddenly, Lucy finds herself enraptured by the excitement of her new relationship, leaving her blinded to the warning signs of danger ahead. Can her fairy tale romance last, or will she find that her prince charming is more like a wolf in sheep’s clothing?
Want a little more? Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter of Shackled. Happy Reading and most of all Happiest of Holidays!!
If you’d asked me about my life a year ago, I would’ve told you it was boring, white-bread, middle-class-peanut-butter-and-jelly-sandwich-in-my-pink-polka-dot-lunch-bag-every-day boring. That was before everything changed. That was before I met him.
So, here I am a year later, on the floor of some stranger’s parked car, trying not to breathe for fear of being discovered. The inside of the car reeks of day old fast food and dirty feet, but I don’t dare raise my head, even for cleaner air. Instead, I wait for the headlights to fill the cracks where the doors’ hinges leave tiny fissures in the metal, letting small bits of light through. I know the light is coming from his headlights and when the light passes over me, there will be a brief window of opportunity I can use to escape and run for my life.
Finally, after I hear the distinctive ping of his diesel engine, and his precious cherry red Mercedes passes me, I carefully open the door and climb out of the backseat as noiselessly as possible. My eyes dart nervously, taking in my surroundings. The long, orderly, suburban street looks quiet. All the houses are black, with the exception of a few scattered televisions sending pulsing light out into the night. Now is my chance.
Mason is only ten houses away and he has the tools to free me from this hellish nightmare. He knows my anguish. Tonight he will be my white knight. Keeping low to stay in the shadows, I begin to move as quickly as I can down the street. I can see Mason’s house now. My skin starts to prickle with anticipation. Adrenaline is coursing through my veins and has been for several hours.
I stand up, making myself taller than the car for the first time all night. Suddenly, I realize how sore my back is and a little yelp escapes my mouth as my vertebrae complain at their mistreatment. My guard is down for ten seconds, and somehow, from some invisible hiding place, a dark figure emerges and grabs me from behind.
It happens so fast that I don’t even yell. All that comes out is a small murmur, not even enough to rouse the sleeping dogs. I feel his arms wrap around me like a straight jacket and I thrash wildly, made more powerful by my fear. Still, his strength trumps mine and he holds me tight.
“It’s okay, Lucyloo,” he coos in my ear. “I got ya.” He knows I don’t want to be held. His words are coming from some demented place from within him, some place that he kept hidden from me when we first met.
For a second, I rest, letting him believe that I am giving up. I need the time to think. No one is coming for me. He made sure of that. The worst part is that I let him. I even defended him when my friends warned me and then eventually left me, growing tired of my excuses. I watched him lull my parents, creating a persona that they could trust.
Heck, I believed him too. He looked the part—clean-cut, good grades, well spoken. Everything my parents wanted for me. His words were just right and his beautiful blue eyes were like quicksand, pulling me in, deceiving me without giving away the danger. Now I‘m in knee deep, covered in the toxic lies of his trap. I am like an insect, tangled in his sticky web of deceit, but I still have one last trick up my sleeve.
I know his ego is huge, and his need to feel control consumes his every waking thought. At least I finally understand this now. Taking a breath, I force my rigid body to seem relaxed. I lay my head back against his chest and let him feel my hair against his neck. He always likes that.
He doesn’t let go, but his stance loosens just the tiniest bit. “You got me,” I purr as I lie against him. “How did you know I wanted you to get me?”
Thanks for stopping by!
Creating an enchantment to protect her friends is risky, but so is having faith in mortals!
IT’S HERE! Finally the origin of The Secret Keeper Curse is told! BELAKANE, The Origin of the Curse is a novella.The book may be a little shorter, but the story is big on paranormal drama!
Here’s the blurb you’ll find on the back of the book:
Belakane lives during the terrifying age of the Salem Witch trials. And, unlike the women around her, she actually is a witch. When Belakane’s magic gets her best friend Martha accused of witchcraft, the powerful sorceress creates a risky enchantment to protect what’s left of the small group of friends that hide her secret.
Will Belakane’s power save her friends or will it be the demise of all she holds dear?
If you’ve already read The Secret Keeper you know that an ancient spell has the power to erase a mistake, making it like it never happened. In Book 1, that’s how Winter Merrill erases a choice that she regrets. But…she can’t imagine how her bargain with The Secret Keeper will change her life, especially when under the rules of the curse, she cannot tell her next secret AND IT’S A DOOZY THAT MUST BE TOLD TO SAVE THOSE SHE LOVES!
Here are the links to learn more about or purchase The Secret Keeper and In The Dying Light
Now for a fun little quiz: Which of these things was most likely to get you accused of being a witch in 1692?
a. You are a woman
b. You are close to an animal
c. You are middle aged
d. You talk to yourself
e. Milk or buttermilk spoiled while in your cooler
f. You have moles or scars
g. Or you were in a low social position
Okay…so it was trick question. All of these things could get you accused of being a witch in Salem 1692. Would you have been in trouble?? I would!!
In Books 1 and 2 of the series we learn about how the secret keeper curse affects the characters that live
in our day, but in
Belakane we get to go back in time to 1692 in Salem Massachusetts, a very hostile time and place for a real witch like
Belakane.
You can pick up Belakane, The Origin of the Curse on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, I-books, and Kobo for only 1.99! Here are the links:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Discover the Secret Keeper series with Belakane or finally learn who created the powerful secret keeper curse and why it lives on in 2016! Thanks for stopping by and may you never need a secret keeper!
For those of you who already love
The Secret Keeper series, I’m excited to announce that
Belakane, The Origin of The Curse is almost here! Today, the cover reveal and just in time for Halloween, Belakane will be available for purchase October 7th!
If you haven’t discovered the O-So-Suspenseful-Uniquely-Paranormal Secret Keeper series yet you can read more about Winter and Liam and how Winter’s deal with the Secret Keeper alters her life forever!
Here is what readers have said about the series so far:
“I went through the whole gamut of human emotions from guilt to happiness to horror to sorrow through the heroine” —The travelogue of a Book Addict
“Couldn’t put this book down. The characters have grown and you can’t help but grow with them. The excitement and detail that is put into this story is fantastic! The way it is written has you believing that the story is real. I can’t wait for the next book.”
-Kim Snyder
To check out more reviews or purchase any of the books in the Secret Keeper series click Here
Now onto the cover reveal…and we’ll throw the blurb in just for fun! Enjoy–and may you never need a secret keeper!
The Blurb
Belakane lives during the terrifying age of the Salem Witch trials. And, unlike the women around her, she actually is a witch. When Belakane’s magic gets her best friend Martha accused of witchcraft, the powerful sorceress creates a risky enchantment to protect what’s left of the small group of friends who hide her secret.
Will Belakane’s power save her friends or will it be the demise of all she holds dear?
I’m excited to be a guest on Ms. Lima’s blog today. I just finished reading
The Gladiator and the Guard and loved it!
To celebrate the release of book 2 in the secret keeper series (IN THE DYING LIGHT) we are going to have some fun! In fact, at every stop in the blog tour, you’ll have a chance to enter to win my first two books and we’ll be talking about different people in history that really could have used a secret keeper. Who comes to your mind first? Don’t tell me yet. First I’m going to give you the skinny on Secret Keepers.
Book two of the Secret Keeper series, In The Dying Light recently released letting fans of the series slip deeper into Winter and Liam’s world now that their lives are forever changed by Winter’s deal with her Secret Keeper.
So what is a Secret Keeper? The Short answer, a mystic creature that has the ability to take on your secret, erasing it and the associated consequences.
Sounds pretty sweet, right? After all, everyone makes mistakes, everyone wishes they could erase the things that make them feel shameful—but there’s a catch. When you give away your secret to said enchantress, you agree to certain conditions, the most important, the next time you have a secret you will not be able to tell it—even if you want to. In The Secret Keeper (book 1 of the series) Winter thought she was done having secrets and made the deal with her beautiful but insidious Secret Keeper. Little did she know that she would be the only one to witness the murder of her parents and because the murdering called out to her as she fled, “if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you”. Despite needing to tell her second secret, Winter’s tongue was bound by the curse leaving everyone she loved in imminent danger. Yeah, holy something profane that I would never say…. and this is where the story really picks up steam.
Learn more or purchase the series here:
Also, if you want to take your chances, I’m holding a
giveaway for a digital copy of the first two books in the Secret Keeper series. All you have to do is click on this link and enter to win by telling me someone in history that you think really could’ve used a secret keeper or you can choose a different easy-peasy ways to enter, like follow me on twitter or like my Facebook page.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Now that you know a Secret Keeper is, we are going to talk about who could’ve really used one!
I’ll get the ball rolling. On today’s blog tour stop, I picked a former president of the good-ol USA, Bill Clinton as someone that really could’ve used a secret keeper. It may be true that all politicians could use a little help covering up their indiscrections, but I think Mr. Clinton rose above the crowd when he misled a grand jury and then lied to the American people. Just think, if Mr. Clinton had a secret keeper, he could’ve told her about Monica Lewinski instead and whoosh, his secret would disappear forever. The question is, what if his next secret, if not told could bring calamity to the world….hmmm. That could be really bad, even worse than Winter Merrill’s problem. Thank goodness mysterious secret keepers can only be found in the Secret Keeper series!
Now it’s your time, drop on over to my blog and enter to win. I’ll be posting your “people who could’ve used a secret keeper” on twitter all week so favorite the tweet if you see your guy or gal!
Below, I’ve attached lots of ways to connect and an excerpt for Book 2, In The Dying Light. Come and find me. I love my readers even more than I love chocolate!
A little about Angela
Angela Carling was raised in Palm Springs California, but lives Arizona with her husband, three kids and five felines. After years of denial she finally admitted that she is a hopeless romantic which led her to write her first Young Adult book Unbreakable Love. Since then she’s published three more books, Shackled, Becoming Bryn and The Secret Keeper. Shackled won the silver IPGA award in 2012 and has been optioned as a screenplay. She always eats the frosting off her cake and leaves the rest, and can be caught singing in public bathrooms. When she’s not writing YA novels, she’s mentoring teen writers, making pizza with her family or dreaming of taking a nap, not necessarily in that order.
Links to connect with Angela
A book excerpt from Winter’s perspective
Chapter 1
I knew he had a secret. After six months as a secret keeper, I could always tell. Usually their eyes gave them away. This time it was his body language: his shoulders slumped and his hands hung low, barely touching the sides of his pressed business suit. I wasn’t fooled by his expensive clothes. Rich people do stupid things, too, and this was going to bad one—one that would break hearts and destroy lives. It might be infidelity or a business deal gone wrong. Whatever it was, his confession was going to be painful to me. He was the cocky type, bound to do something stupid again. He might even come back to me. I could entice him to make a final deal, and I would be free of the secret keeper curse. I pushed aside my own despicable thoughts.
He prodded along, inching ever closer to me. He knew I was his savior. I didn’t know who’d told him, but he was sure I could make his secret go away. I leapt up from the park bench and ran. My bare feet made almost no noise on the long sidewalk that pushed me deeper into the city. “Wait!” he called, his footsteps pounding overly-loud like angry blood coursing through my veins. I ducked behind a one-story building and slid my body against the scratchy stucco wall. My shirt snagged and tore, leaving my tender skin vulnerable.
He kept in pursuit. “I have to tell you my secret,” he screamed into the long alley that bridged the distance between us. “You have to fix it!”
The word it reverberated off the walls like an odd, taunting echo. I turned, and the man behind me was inexplicably next to me. He grabbed me, pinning me to the wall with his whole body. He smelled of rot, stinky wet forest rot, of life breaking down and disappearing forever. I hated that smell. It was the scent of the secret keeper before me. Now, because I bore her curse, it would become my stench. I thrashed against him, but he held me firm. Every muscle in my body tensed. I closed my eyes and braced myself.
“I killed my partner so I could have control of everything,” he confessed.
Words sank through my porous skin and into my defenseless soul. I arched my back in pain as I absorbed and erased his unthinkable crime. A scream tore through me and out into my dark apartment.
I sat up, abruptly woken from my nightmare, gasping for air. My hand went to my face to find it sticky with sweat, and my heart raced as if I’d actually been attacked.
The dreams were getting worse. The longer I was a secret keeper, the more real they felt. Now I wasn’t just taking on secrets during the day, I was reliving them at night with unforgiving clarity. Is this what my secret keeper experienced? No wonder she hid herself in a forest so no one could find her. No wonder she was willing to let me suffer so she could be released.
I blinked my burning eyes and tried to focus. With fumbling fingers, I reached for my phone. It was a gift from my boyfriend Liam so that I’d never have to feel alone. Once I’d become a secret keeper, no one, not even my parents remembered me.
My heart rate was slowing down, but I still struggled to push the right buttons. I hit send, and my eyes darted to the clock. I’d been in such a fog, I hadn’t considered the time. It was 3:00 a.m. Liam would be sleeping, exhausted from his classes and work. I quickly mashed the glowing rectangle with the words End Call. The screen went blank, and then a picture of Liam and I standing in front of a sign that read Welcome to ASU filled the dark space.
I ran my hands down my face as if I could wipe away not just the bad dream but the last six months of my life. I let myself fall back on the bed. On my unclad arms I felt the dampness left by my sweat. I’d have to wash my sheets again tomorrow. I’d do it after I met Liam tomorrow night.
Thanks for stopping by, and may you never need a Secret Keeper!
