I'm not sure how many other writers do this, but I do read every review that I get. I don't get enough at the moment to be overwhelmed by them, so I do sit down and read through everyone's reviews. I hear everything you are saying. I want the next book in the Prophesized Series to be as good as it can be so I try to listen to all your advice. Yesterday, I got my first negative review. I'd gotten a few three star reviews on Goodreads, but I got my first two star review on Amazon. Surprisingly, I was happy about that. Now, I feel like everything is actually real. Not everyone who reads my book is going to like it. I'm glad to know that someone honestly didn't like and wasn't afraid to say that. I appreciate it!
Right after I read that review, I got a message from a reader saying that I was a great person to look up to and that she hopes to someday follow in my footsteps. If you're reading this message, it seriously made my day and I can't thank you enough for your kind words. You're not just some random kid :) That message pushed anything negative that I was thinking out of my mind and solidified my decision to publish this book again.
Since I have such awesome readers, I decided to post a longer teaser today. It's not from book two in the Prophesized Series. This is from the first book in my Guardians of the Chosen Series. This will be the next series that I attempt to publish in the fall. It's a YA series with a lot of Greek Mythology sprinkled in. I hope you like it :)
**This section is unedited and may contain a few errors. It's also subject to change before publication.
Another
twig breaks in front of me, closer this time. I stop and look around for
the animal. There’s something nearby. I know that some animals are nocturnal
and hunt at night. I’d be stupid to think that I was alone in here. Is there
anything bigger than a deer in Indiana? I’ve hear of a couple coyote attacks
recently though. What do you do if a coyote attacks? I know you’re not supposed
to run from a bear…does the same apply for a coyote?
I
continue standing still, waiting for something to come out of the covering of
the trees and reveal itself to me. A minute passes and nothing happens. Hesitantly, I move forward. I
should probably turn around soon. I’ve never felt like this before. I’ve never
been afraid to be out here at night before. My dad and I used to take nightly
walks through the woods. It’s so different without him here.
Snap.
I
stop again. It’s just an animal. It’s just an animal. It’s just an animal. I
repeat this to myself over and over as I continue to stare down the path trying to convince myself that it really is just an animal. I
don’t see anything. It seems like everything in the forest has stopped. The
breeze is no longer blowing through the trees and the trees are as still as
statues, standing tall and unmoving. I glance around me. Something is wrong.
Ok,
it’s definitely time to go. I turn around and smack straight into...a chest? I
push forward and try to fight him off. An arm wraps around my waist, pulling me
against his chest and restricting my movement. I open my mouth to scream, but his
other hand silences me. I stare up at the man in front of me. There’s a haze
around his face, so I can’t see anything about him, except for this eyes. His
piercing blue eyes stare down at me.
“I’m
going to remove my hand. Please don’t scream,” says a deep timbre voice. He
doesn’t seem like he wants to cause me any harm. When I don’t do anything, he
slowly releases his hand from my mouth.
“Who
are you?” I ask him.
“You
need to leave,” he says without answering my question.
“What?”
“Go
home, Elsie.”
“How
do you know my name?”
“Go
home and don’t come back here.”
“Who
the heck are you?” I yell. Because I’m scared and confused, I continue. “You
can’t just grab me and tell me what to do. And why the heck can’t I see your
face?”
Again,
without answering me, he turns around, releasing me from his grip and grabs
onto my wrist, pulling me forward. I attempt to fight against him, but this man
is strong. I dig my feet into the ground, hoping to slow him down, but it
doesn’t faze him.
Fine.
I run forward and jump in front of him. He can’t stop soon enough and both of us
fall to the ground. When he lands on top of me, the wind is pushed out of my
lungs. That wasn’t what I wanted to happen. He perches himself up and glares
down at me. Even without seeing the rest of his expression, I can tell from his
eyes that he’s angry.
“Was
that necessary?”
“You
won’t answer any of my questions!” I say through a clenched jaw as I try to breathe again. “What the heck
is going on?”
Another
twig snaps to our right. We both turn and look in that direction. When Mr. Mystery
Man turns towards it, something soft brushes against my cheek. Is that his
hair? Jumping off of me, he bends down and picks me up, slinging me over his
shoulder.
“Put
me down, you big egotistical jerk!” I hit his back, but he continues moving
briskly through the woods. I realize that my insult could have been better, but
I’m a little frazzled at the moment. It’s the best I could come up with under the
circumstances. “I don’t appreciate being manhandled!”
He
makes a strange sound. I stop fighting against him and push myself up. “Are you
laughing at me?”
“I
find you amusing,” he tells me.
I
hit his back again and he laughs again. “I’m serious. Put me down.”
“Why
are you still trying to fight me? I’m trying to save your life.”
“From
what?” I push my hair away from my eyes. I can tell that we’re getting closer
to the edge of the woods. “And I don’t need someone to save me, thank you very
much.”
“Oh,
but you do.”
I
open my mouth to refute his comment when I get a look at the trail again.
Something dark is moving quickly towards us. A high pitch sound echoes through
the forest. The man holding me stops and turns around. He pulls me down and
covers my mouth, silencing my scream. “Close your eyes,” he tells me as he
cradles me against his chest.
I
can hear the footprints of the man running towards us. They’re so much louder
than they were before. The man holding me yells at me to close my eyes again. I
listen to him this time. Plunged into darkness, I can feel his subtle
movements. What the heck is he doing? Shouldn’t he be running?
Suddenly,
I’m back on my feet. I open my eyes. I’m standing on the Daniels’ porch. The
blue eyed man steadies me as he leans down on the step below me. How’d we get here so fast? “Go inside and don’t come
back out, no matter what you hear,” he tells me.
“Wait,
what’s going on?” I ask.
Mystery man glances over his shoulder and pushes me towards the door. When I collide into its cold
surface, he starts backing up. “Please, just listen to me.”
With that he
disappears.
How?
I rub my eyes hoping that my mind is playing tricks on me. There’s no way he
could just disappear like that. I scan the yard, but find it empty.
What
the heck just happened?
I
reach for the doorknob when I hear a deep grunt in the woods behind the house. The
sound of wood breaking echoes through the stillness of the night. I turn the
handle and run into the house slamming the door in the process.
I
definitely need out of this town.
