BOOK DESCRIPTION:
As
an old woman's lifeless body lies on a cold stone floor, her soul
stands before an angel who offers her a miraculous opportunity: the
chance to do it all again. But that is easier said than done. In order
to change the path her life has taken, she must put aside years of
self-loathing and pain, so she can help the young girl she once was
become the woman she should have been.
At
17 years old, Grace Bennett is a bitter young woman.
Though blessed with a loving family, looks and brains to spare, she
hides her light under a bushel, spending most of her time in the
darkness of her mind with little more than sarcasm and self-pity to keep
her company.
But
things are about to change for Grace. While delivering food for her
family's bed and breakfast, she turns onto a desolate dirt road and
drives straight into her destiny.
It's on this isolated country lane that the damaged girl meets a strangely familiar old couple and two mysterious
young men. Together the group fights the demons that surround Grace, and they teach her what it means to let her light shine.
"Illuminating
Gracie" is, at once, a metaphorical tale of the fight between good and
evil and a spiritual saga of one girl's journey from darkness into the
light. If you liked "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games," you will love the
story of Gracie.
Excerpt:
Of all the sights I expected to see, a wet Merc being attended to by not one but two visiting airheads was about the last thing on my list. I would rather have been greeted by the sight of the entire bed & breakfast group floating through the air toward the Devil himself than my beautiful Romeo caught in the clutches of the Doublemint Twins. But there he was, smack dab in the mid- dle of the two blonde bimbos, their ample bosoms visibly heaving through soaked wet T-shirts. I wanted to throw up right on the spot but instead I stood on the deck of the inn – right next to the barbeque grill – and did a little heavy breathing of my own. I was seething with anger as I watched their every movement and though I didn’t join the group of folks now milling around the pier, I heard enough of their talk to get the gist of the story.
The sleaze sisters had commandeered the inn’s fishing boat in order to row across the lake and meet up with two boys from town. Apparently, all went well on the first crossing but problems arose for the girls on the return trip. One or the other of them (they’re interchangeable) stood up to wave to her townie boyfriend and the small boat flipped, throwing both the girls into the dark lake. Since neither had the foresight nor intelligence to secure life vests for the voyage, they were in serious peril when they hit the water.
At that moment, I was wishing they were still in the water. Not a particularly charitable or Christian thought – but a truthful one. More disturbing still was that as I stood steaming and staring into the melee, I couldn’t help noticing how perfect Merc looked sandwiched in between the two blondes. Weak and disheartened, I felt all my newfound confidence drain away even as I scolded myself for the lack of faith I had in Merc – and in me. Only minutes before I would have bet my life on Merchison’s devotion. Maybe I’d just been caught up in the powerful grip of first love, but in that bedroom with Merc by my side I felt as if we would be together forever. And now all those dreams were being washed away by a pair of mindless miscreants in tight, wet T-shirts.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lisa
C. Temple is a lifetime resident of Montgomery, Alabama where she lives
with her husband Dana, with whom she has a 21-year-old son, Temp. She
is a graduate of Huntingdon College and Jones School of Law.
Illuminating Gracie is her debut novel.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
No comments:
Post a Comment