The Keepers: Sienna - Excerpt

A full moon in Rapid Falls.

Sienna Beckham is a powerful witch, and along with her four fiercely protective Keepers, it is her destiny to maintain the balance of nature in this world.

Tonight, it's the town carnival and everyone will be there: Sienna's family, her friends, her protectors. Archer.

Laughter and flirtation await.

But in a few hours, Sienna's life will have changed forever and her powers stretched to their very limits.

For something is lurking in the forest…

Murder. Sorcery. Revenge.

And no one sees it coming.

Find out how it all began…

The FREE PREQUEL to Rae Rivers' magical new series, The Keepers.

Excerpt

Setting the scene: Sienna is at the town carnival with her four Keepers and she's on the Ferris Wheel with youngest Keeper, Sarah Bennett. Sienna sees Archer waiting for her below, standing beside the school's caretaker...

And standing beside the old man was Archer.

Her breath caught as her gaze met his and all thoughts of the caretaker disappeared. Archer wore jeans and a suede black jacket, his hands shoved casually into his pockets. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a sexy presence that had a group of teenage girls standing nearby swooning over him.

The fact that their relationship was forbidden, cursed, did little to calm the butterfly flip in her stomach.

With a brief shake of the head, Sienna silently scolded herself for the direction of her thoughts.

He could never be hers. Ever.

“I’m going to be sick looking at you two ogling each other like that,” Sarah said, feigning a gag. “You’re going to have The Circle spitting snakes if you’re not careful.”

Sienna waved her off, not caring for the discussion that would follow. It was one they’d had far too often of late.

The Circle were a group of ancestral witches who governed the laws of magic, witches and their Keepers. Not wanting the emotional complication from a relationship between a witch and her Keeper that might influence their roles in maintaining the balance of nature, the old witches had long ago forbidden any romances.

So the handsome, charming and darn sexy Keeper was off-limits.

If only her womanly parts would listen to her head.

Sarah’s harsh intake of breath and soft curse snapped Sienna’s attention back from all thoughts of Archer and she glanced at her with a raised brow. “Sarah?”

She’d gone rigid, her previous playfulness abandoned, and stared at her brother with a harsh frown. A frown that matched his.

“Sarah, what’s wrong?” Sienna asked, knowing instinctively that trouble had reared its familiar head. Damn it. When she didn’t reply, Sienna reached for Sarah’s arm. “Sarah, what’s happening? What do you hear?”

Without looking at her, Sarah shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Then what’s wrong?”

“Blood,” she replied, her tone edged with an icy warning that sent chills down Sienna’s spine. She pinned Sienna with a sharp gaze. “I smell blood.”

The Keepers is a magical Paranormal Romance series published by Harper Impulse, an imprint of Harper Collins.

 

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Why Do We Write?

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I’ve had my nose buried in books since I was old enough to turn the pages. Words are my passion and my love for reading eventually developed into a love for writing. 

Now that I’m a published author and discovered what being an author involves, my relationship with books has changed.   When I see a book – regardless of whether it captures me or not – I treat it with new found respect because I know what it took to write it.

Although it's a wonderful and exciting experience, the writing process is a tricky one that often sparks the question:  Why write?

The answer is simple but before I explain, here’s a glimpse of a few things I’ve learnt about what being an author entails and why I view books so differently now: (And I don’t speak for all the authors out there!)

1.  Writing is fun but it's hard work.  Seriously hard work.  Late nights, long hours, plot twists, word counts, sleep deprivation, doubt crows, edits, revisions, and more. 

2. Unless you’re a JK Rowling or EL James, many authors don’t make their fortunes through book sales and it’s a frequent struggle weighing up the income earned versus the time, tears, and hard work it takes to push out a book.

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3. The late nights mean that we often write in our PJ’s and slippers! What could be more comfortable? I have a nightly ritual once my kids are in bed – I shower, slip into my comfies and head to my laptop to write for the night. I make a point of showering and dressing every morning before going to my desk. If I don’t then I might never get there once I lose myself to my characters!

4. Many authors are not full time writers. We write because we love it but there are still bills to pay, children to care for, homes to run, or jobs to go to. Writing often has to fit into the brief available gaps in our daily schedules.

5. Reviews count. As a reader, I never realized the importance of reviews until I became an author myself. So why review a book once you’ve read it? Because authors like to know your thoughts. Personally, there’s nothing more exhilarating for me than when I receive a message from a reader who loved one of my books. Pure joy.

6. But reviews can also hurt. Remember that old rhyme? “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never harm me.” Well in this case, bad reviews might not break our bones, but they definitely sting. We realize that our books aren’t for everyone and often view the reviews as a way of improving our craft but hope that any negative reviews are done so with respect and carefully considered words.  After all, there’s a human being at the tail end of that review!

7. Actual writing takes up only a small portion of our time. Social media, research, book edits, website management, blog posts, and marketing take up the bigger chunk. It’s so easy to lose precious writing time to all of this and we often have to remind ourselves to get back to what we really love – writing.

8. We LOVE to hear from our readers. So next time you adore a book, pop the author a message and make her day! (She might just be encouraged to write another one!)

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9. As exciting as it is to receive "The Call"” from a publisher with an offer, the road to being published is a daunting process subject to a lot of public evaluation. Often, a Rhino’s skin is called for!

10. So ... having said all this, what makes us write besides our passion for storytelling?

Knowing that somewhere, someone was touched by our stories enough to keep turning the pages - and loved them!

And that’s why we write!

Thank you for reading.

Rae Rivers
www.raerivers.com

The Keepers is a magical Paranormal Romance Series published by Harper Impulse, an imprint of Harper Collins. 

Amazon US

Amazon UK

Barnes & Noble