Happy October, readers! Thank you to everyone who entered the Just Love Prints giveaway and congratulations to our winner, Stephanie.
What’s in this Edition:
Every Story Starts At the Beginning – Updates for Stars in the Storm
October Book Signings – Two Upcoming Events
Releasing in October– Other authors’ new releases I’m most excited about.
Every Story Starts At the Beginning
Note: If you have not read Larksong Legacy Books 1-3, you may want to scroll past this section to avoid spoilers.
If you missed the news last month, Stars in the Storm, the final book in the Larksong Legacy series, releases February 9, 2025.
The story is about 50% drafted at this point and hopefully scheduled to be with my beta readers by December 1. Many details related to the last half are still up in the air, but I think the first half is in pretty good shape. However, as most authors know, writing the first chapter can be one of the most challenging; therefore, I would love to hear what you think. The first chapter as it currently stands is included below. Thank you in advance for your feedback!
Stars in the Storm Chapter 1 (Unedited)
Alice Ann remembered everything; as much as she tried not to, she had no choice. Like her sister Coraline’s Gift for translation, Alice Ann’s perfect memory had appeared without warning, and for all the future she could see, there was no way to rid herself of it. From today’s first blink until she breathed her last, these horrid memories would always be with her.
Throughout their short marriage, Cade had often asked, “Are you happy, Alice Ann?”
In the beginning, she would laugh and lightly smack his arm. “Of course, you idiot.” But as time wore on, as her dissatisfaction with her mediocre husband grew, her responses held more hostility than joking affection. “How can you be happy in such a dismal place?” she had seethed. “There is nothing here for us. You have no ambition, no sense of adventure. If only you would let us sail away, then perhaps I could be happy.”
“Larksong is my home, Alice Ann,” he would reply. “Our family is here.”
“I’m your family, too! I’m your wife! Don’t I matter?”
“Of course, but everyone else matters, too.”
That was always where their quarrel ended. He would leave the house for his brothers’ or the fields or play with Julep to avoid further confrontation. Often, she considered telling him the truth behind her request, that it wasn’t only her sailor’s dreams that drove her, but there seemed little point in it. Whether she was Gifted or not, he would never leave Larksong, no matter how many arguments she threw his way.
Eventually, to her relief, he stopped asking. That was how she knew her time in Larksong was truly at an end. After penning Cade a letter she knew he would never forgive, she left it and her two-year-old daughter with Coraline. There on the Pacific shore, Julep snuggled into her blind aunt’s lap, finally asleep after her tiny fingers had shoveled sand into her mouth for the fifth time that hour. Small clumps of saliva-laced granules still stuck to her dress and her sticky hands, a baby trait Alice Ann would never find endearing.
“This is selfish,” Coraline had scolded, while cradling the child close.
“No, Cora,” Alice Ann told her, “This is the least selfish thing I’ve ever done. All my life, I’ve only looked out for myself, and you looked out for me. I was a bad sister, bad daughter, bad wife, bad mother. I’m the only one in our family who deserved to go blind, but I didn’t. You’re going to let me do this one good deed and take a little of the burden off your shoulders, since I know I placed so much of it there. Tomorrow, hopefully, I’ll be the best of everything everyone wanted.”
“This isn’t what we want,” her sister had begged; however, Alice Ann still walked away.
A year later, she had no sea-faring prospects and was living on her last dime. But she wouldn’t go back. Couldn’t. Didn’t deserve to, didn’t want to. Life was as she told Cora; she was a bad sister, bad daughter, bad wife, bad mother. The unwelcome memories—what she now referred to as memory moments—hadn’t stopped, but she would rather be alone and tortured in her mind than beg for forgiveness. Cade still had Julep and his family. That was who he truly wanted anyway. That was why he refused to sail away with her time and time again.
Are you happy now? she often asked herself. Now that you’ve gone?
She should have been happy then. She was certainly not happy now, and never would be.
All around her, the Ghost Forest’s barren trees rose from the stagnant waters before Washington’s mountainous splendor, their juxtaposition the perfect metaphor to all she was. Alone and broken, yet surrounded by beauty. Longing for home, yet resigned to shame and regret as her only companions, the only ones she deserved after all she had done…or considered doing. The intense nature of her frequent reminiscences was punishment enough, without peering into the eyes of all those she had wronged.
No one would come here. No one would want to. Not even Garrett could find her if he tried. He had never been able to find another one of their kind.
A ramshackle hut became her home, her wedding ring the last page of her desolate story. A place where she could open her mind to the Gift of her memories. Where she could scream and no one would hear.
Get More Info on Stars in the Storm.
Catch Up with the Rest of the Series.
October Book Signings
As a reminder, if you live near St. Louis, Missouri, there are two events in October where I will be selling and signing books with fellow author, Susan Laspe. If you already have copies of our books, feel free to bring them by for signing and to pick up some swag. Hope to see you there!
St. Joseph Cottleville School Craft Fair
October 12, 2024 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
1355 Motherhead Rd, Saint Charles, MO 63304
Ursuline Academy Holiday Boutique
October 13, 2024 from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.
341 S. Sappington Road, Saint Louis, MO 63122
Releasing in October
Need another read? Here are the new releases I’m excited about:
- Specters in the Glass House by Jaime Jo Wright – Dual timeline to solve a series of murders by the “Butterfly Butcher” in Prohibition-era Wisconsin
- Cocktails Before Midnight by Tanya E. Williams – The third book in the 1920s Hotel Hamilton series and my absolute favorite so far.
- Sadie’s Star by Colleen Marie – Young adult novel of dark secrets and spirit bears in the Redwood Hills
- One Must Die by Candice Pedraza Yamnitz, Amber Lambda, Sarah Everest, Claire Kohler, Lydia Mae, and C.C. Urie – In a contest of untold wealth for its winner, one contestant always has to die
- Before You Came Along by Sarah Whitley – Coming of age novel about choosing love over perfection and doing the right thing in the face of opposition
Want to know what I’m currently reading? Follow me on GoodReads.
Did you know reviews help both readers and authors? Even one sentence is enough, and every word greatly appreciated. Consider leaving a rating on Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, and/or your favorite retailer!
Until next month, happy reading!
Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam
Kelsey
Purchase signed copies of my books: kelseygietl.com
Due to variability in social media algorithms, the best way to receive this newsletter is through e-mail. If you were directed to this site via social media or a search engine, you can subscribe to updates by entering your e-mail on the Contact page. E-mail addresses are never sold or distributed. You may unsubscribe at any time.
Follow me on:
COPYRIGHT © KELSEY GIETL 2024
Purple Mask Publishing
2025 Zumbehl Rd, Ste. 33
St. Charles, MO 63303
