Welcome to DAY 4 of
#FosterAnAuthor2
sponsored by Jo & Isa Love Books
& to Debra Doxer's
"foster home"!
"foster home"!
Today Debra is spotlighting her paranormal series
Remedy Series
Book One in the Remedy Series
Keep You From Harm
Secrets...
They weigh you down. I’ve kept a secret all my life. It’s my mother’s secret, too. I inherited it from her along with a unique ability that only we possess. She’s gone now, another victim of addiction. If her death isn’t enough to bring me to my knees, her betrayal flays me to the bone. Because the secret my mother and I have been keeping is just one of many she’d kept. She never told me I have an older brother. And now he’s here, eager to be my guardian.
There is no one else. So I move across the country to live with this stranger, my brother. But experience has taught me that most situations are temporary and forming attachments only leads to hurt in the end. That’s why I’m determined to keep to myself in this new place, struggling to seem aloof while I’m quietly breaking apart.
Then I meet Lucas...
His magnetism is hard to resist, and most girls at school aren’t resisting. I don’t fall so easily though, especially not for guys who use their good looks as a weapon. From the start, our interactions are tense and volatile. I know it’s because I’m denying the unwelcome desire that grips me when he’s near. I think he feels it, too. He looks at me with an intensity that threatens to unhinge my resolve. Soon he’s trying to break through the walls that past hurts have built.
But I’m not what I appear to be, and it wouldn’t be fair to get involved with him. At least that’s what I tell myself. Until a terrible act of violence reveals that Lucas has a secret, too. It’s a secret that links us together and ties us to an evil history I never could have imagined.
She kept everyone from harm, except herself…
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win a signed copy of Play of Light!Book One in the Remedy Series
Keep You From Harm
They weigh you down. I’ve kept a secret all my life. It’s my mother’s secret, too. I inherited it from her along with a unique ability that only we possess. She’s gone now, another victim of addiction. If her death isn’t enough to bring me to my knees, her betrayal flays me to the bone. Because the secret my mother and I have been keeping is just one of many she’d kept. She never told me I have an older brother. And now he’s here, eager to be my guardian.
There is no one else. So I move across the country to live with this stranger, my brother. But experience has taught me that most situations are temporary and forming attachments only leads to hurt in the end. That’s why I’m determined to keep to myself in this new place, struggling to seem aloof while I’m quietly breaking apart.
Then I meet Lucas...
His magnetism is hard to resist, and most girls at school aren’t resisting. I don’t fall so easily though, especially not for guys who use their good looks as a weapon. From the start, our interactions are tense and volatile. I know it’s because I’m denying the unwelcome desire that grips me when he’s near. I think he feels it, too. He looks at me with an intensity that threatens to unhinge my resolve. Soon he’s trying to break through the walls that past hurts have built.
But I’m not what I appear to be, and it wouldn’t be fair to get involved with him. At least that’s what I tell myself. Until a terrible act of violence reveals that Lucas has a secret, too. It’s a secret that links us together and ties us to an evil history I never could have imagined.
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Book 2 in the Remedy Series
To Have And To Harm
Raielle’s life was shrouded in secrets. Her power was a secret and so was her past. When she came to Fort Upton, everything changed. She discovered her family, and she found the boy who would own her heart forever. But it couldn’t last. Knowing so little about her power nearly destroyed her. She had to leave and break both their hearts.
Now she’s back in California, and she doesn’t have to hide who she is anymore. But there is no relief in that because she’s drowning in regret. She knew it would take a miracle or a sin to save her, and there was no miracle. Her survival came at too high a price. She found her father, but she can’t go back to Lucas until she finds redemption.
She saved him. Then she left him…
She came out of nowhere and changed him forever, then she disappeared and left him reeling. Her whole life, she never had anyone who really loved her. Until him. Did she think he wouldn’t come for her? Did she believe she wasn’t worth it?
Lucas leaves everything behind to follow Raielle. When he finds her, she’s a pale shadow of the girl he remembers. Her power is betraying her and so are the people around her, but one thing hasn’t changed. She selflessly wants to save the world, and he just wants to save her.
With more secrets to uncover and dark truths to face, Raielle and Lucas must make sacrifices for each other. But in the end, will those sacrifices bring them closer together or tear them apart? When he’s forced to make the ultimate sacrifice, will she turn her back on everything she believes in to save him again?
~ This book is intended for mature readers due to sexual situations and strong language. ~
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What initially inspired you to write The Remedy Series?
I wrote the first book, Keep You from Harm, when my close friend became very sick. My mother was also having health problems at the time, and I recall feeling so completely helpless. From there came the character of Raielle, a girl with the power to heal.
Tell us little about the characters in The Remedy Series.
Raielle Blackwood is the main character and she’s a girl with a boatload of secrets. She carries the weight of the world on her shoulders and has a special ability she can’t tell anyone about. She moves to a new town and meets brusque and arrogant Lucas. But Lucas has secrets of his own and soon he becomes the only person she can trust.
What was the hardest part of writing The Remedy Series?
Creating Raielle’s special ability was a challenge. Even though Raielle’s ability is unreal, I wanted to write it in a way that made it seem as though it could be real. I had to think about how it would work and how it would feel to her and to others. Then there’s the moral dilemma of interfering with the natural course of things. I wondered what consequences could arise.
What was your favorite chapter (or part) to write and why?
There’s a scene when Raielle and Lucas are in Lucas’s truck and they’re really talking for the first time. Lucas is a confident guy, used to having girls fall for him, but Raielle doesn’t do that and it throws him off-balance. Soon he discovers Raielle is going to give him a run for his money and if he wants her, he’s going to have to work for it, maybe for the very first time.
Is there a message in The Remedy Serie that you hope readers will grasp?
There’s not so much a message as a strong female character who kicks butt. She has a quiet strength about her, and I spent most of my time as I wrote this series wishing I was her.
Now an exciting excerpt from book one To Keep You From Harm from the Remedy Series!
I watch my grandmother’s slow, steady breathing as Kyle’s footsteps fade down the hallway. Once I’m sure he’s out of earshot, I reach my fingers toward her. Her withered hand, dotted with age spots, rests in her lap. I bring my fingertips to her skin with the very lightest of touches, and immediately an intense vibration travels from me into her. I notice her turn her head toward me, and I jump back, snatching my hand away, feeling spooked. But then she turns to the window and stares again, as though the moment never happened.
I eye her curiously, seeing no evidence of any awareness now. Then I decide to try it again, but this time I’m braced for the sensation. Hesitantly, I lean forward, bringing only my fingertips down onto the top of her hand. The vibration begins again, strong at first, before settling into a low hum. My face is close to hers, and I see her blink, once, twice, and then several times more rapidly. She inhales deeply, and her eyes move until they’re on mine.
“Angela,” she whispers, and her stale breath washes over me. With my fingers still on her hand, I lean back against the window, putting more distance between us.
“I’m her daughter,” I say. “My name is Raielle.”
Her blue eyes move over my face. “Raielle.” Her thready voice saying my name unsettles me. “What are you doing here? Where is Angela?” Then she looks down and sees my hand on hers. Realization dawns in her eyes. “You’re doing this,” she whispers.
When I nod, she laughs, and it’s a rough, wet sound. “You’re powerful. I can feel it. More powerful than I ever was. Maybe more powerful than your mother.”
“You could do it, too? You could heal?” I ask, remaining outwardly calm as my insides churn with a mixture of disbelief and excitement.
She tilts her head at me. “Your mother didn’t tell you?”
I shake my head.
“Where is she?” She glances around the room and then back to me.
“She’s not here,” I reply vaguely.
She looks down at our connected hands again. “So strong,” she whispers. “You must charge a great deal,” she says, her gaze meeting mine.
“What?” I ask, wondering if I heard her right.
“Money, my dear. You could become very wealthy with your power, you know?” she says, her lips curving into a thin smile. “I made plenty of money curing silly little colds, but I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t cure diseases of the mind. I tried, but it never quite worked.”
I take my hand back as I’m wondering if I heard her correctly. “People paid you money to heal them?”
“Of course. I had people at my door day and night. But your mother was far more powerful than I. She could rid people of terrible things, illnesses that they would pay mountains of cash to be cured of. But she was always so difficult about it. She didn’t want to take money for it. Then something happened, and she refused to continue.”
“What do you mean? What happened?”
Her watery eyes meet mine, and I see malice in them. Before she even answers, I feel nausea crawling inside me. “She took leukemia from a boy and gave it to his father.”
Disbelief is my first reaction.
Noting my expression, she explains. “She had her hands on both of them at the same time. She removed the disease from the son, and then the father touched her and it went into him.” She chuckles, and I can feel the bile rising in my throat. “He died quickly, about a month later. She was afraid to try to heal him, afraid of where it would go next. The family hated us, those ingrates. She saved their child’s life.”
She grabs my hand back, and she’s surprisingly strong. I can feel her trying to pull more energy from me. “It’s no wonder you’re so powerful. Your father was the strongest healer I’d ever seen. His energy could cure nearly anything. He had quite a following,” she says.
“You knew my father?” I’m practically gaping at her as she caresses my fingers.
“We could work together,” she muses, ignoring my question, grabbing my other hand before I can pull it away. “Now that you’ve cured me, we could work together and make a fortune. Your mother lost her taste for it. Then she met your father, and she ran away with him. Once she was gone, people stopped coming.”
“No. She met my father in San Diego long after she left here.”
My grandmother shakes her head. “He was from Los Angeles. She left Alec and followed him out there. Then they had you.”
“You’re wrong.”
“I’m not,” she says in a firm voice. “Alec can tell you. I’m sure he remembers it all. She made a fool out of him.”
Could she be telling the truth? I wonder as I stare at her frail form. Alec never mentioned this when I asked him why my mother left. Why would he hold that back? What difference could it make now? I start to feel tired. My head grows heavy on my shoulders. Somehow, she’s drawing energy from me against my will now. I’m fascinated even as I’m trying to pull my hands away.
“We might have to go somewhere else,” she continues. “This town might not be so welcoming anymore.”
“Does everyone know about us? About what we can do?” I ask. “Does Kyle know?”
“Of course the whole town knows.” She laughs at me. “I advertised in the local newspaper. Where is your mother? Why has she kept you in the dark this way?”
“She’s dead,” I answer, not even considering withholding the truth from her any longer.
She winces, and I yank harder, trying to get her to release me. “She was murdered,” I tell her bluntly. “Did you send someone after her?” I ask, thinking of Rob Jarvis, leaning in closer to her, my voice a low, angry whisper.
Fear begins to seep into her eyes. “No,” she replies, shaking her head. “No,” she repeats. The truth is, if she’s been this way for more than a year, she couldn’t have spoken to the janitor here and sent him after us.
“You have to be careful,” she whispers. “With power like yours, everyone will want a piece. Take me out of here, and I can protect you.”
She finally releases one of my hands and unsuccessfully tries to push herself up from the chair. “Please, help me up. We need to leave. I have so many things I can teach you.”
“Tell me how you came to be this way?” I ask. “What’s wrong with you?”
She blinks in confusion. Then her eyes widen. “I tried to cure conditions that were too severe. But the money was too good to refuse. I didn’t know it could hurt me. It almost killed me.” She smiles. “But now you’re here. You’re here, and we’re going to be unstoppable. Help me.” She grimaces as she tries to stand again.
“I won’t work with you. I won’t take people’s money.”
She shakes her head. “You sound just like your mother. You’ll do as I say, or I’ll tell everyone about you and the sick people will begin beating a path to your door. Either way, you can’t hide your talents. Why would you want to?”
I strengthen my grip on her. I can’t let her leave here. I can’t let her tell everyone. Panic builds inside me as she takes a deep breath, like she’s getting ready to scream. I focus on the vibration that still travels between us. I concentrate on the feeling, on locating it and harnessing it. Then I use all my strength to force it back in her direction. The disease traveling between us, starting to lose its hold on her as it leaves her body, courses through mine now, and I force it to flow back out again, down my arms and into my fingers, striking out at her like a snake and slithering back inside her. Her fingers fall slack as she releases me. I know the moment I tumble back and hit the window that she’s gone. This selfish, venomous woman is lost inside herself again.
©DebraDoxer
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