About the Book
Title: New Beginnings
Author: Morgan Straughan Comnick
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
You’ve been chosen to be God’s Warrior, but not
even He knows what lies ahead.
Spirit Warrior Stary
Moon is prepared to begin her sophomore year of high school with a better
understanding of the powers granted to her from the Lord. But the path set out
for her is uncertain. Stary never imagined what a challenge it would be to get
her friends and family to accept her true love, former spirit Umbra, whose
Ultimate Weapon powers are resurfacing mysteriously. On top of this, a dark
presence is possessing spirits and ghosts, haunting Stary’s dreams, and wanting
revenge. As Stary dives deeper into the world of spirits, she begins losing her
connection to the world of mortals. Does Stary have the strength to overcome
this darkness alone, or will she need to dabble in some ancient magic? Can she
continue this path no matter what the cost?
Author Bio
Educator
of young minds by day, super nerdy savior of justice and cute things by night,
Morgan Straughan Comnick has a love for turning the normal into something
special without losing its essence. Morgan draws from real life experiences and
her ongoing imagination to spark her writing. In her spare time, she enjoys
doing goofy voices, traveling to new worlds by turning pages, humming
child-like songs, and forcing people to smile with her "bubbliness."
It is Morgan's mission in life to spread the amazement of otaku/Japanese
culture to the world and to stop bullying; she knows everyone shines brightly.
Links
Book Excerpt
Excerpt #2
I didn’t let him
finish. He didn’t need to. With all my heart, all the love and light I felt
overflowing in my soul, the soul that knew its mate would never betray me, I
kissed Umbra with every fiber of who I was. He embraced me tightly back,
leaning us against a wooden support pole without breaking our kiss. I slid my
hands everywhere those girls had, hoping to block his memory of them for
eternity. I deepened our kiss, his lips so delicious that I wanted to kiss more
of him, to see if he tasted any different.
As I laced my fingers
through his hair making him mumble with a smile on his face, I kissed his
collar bone, his chin, his jaw. Umbra relaxed fully under me, which for him I
knew was major. He was always on guard, always ready to fight and now, he was
giving me full control. As I trailed the other side of his jaw bone, wanting
more of him, I noticed a fragment of black on the crimson curtain behind us. It
was almost camouflaged, but it seemed to be…moving…
I needed to learn to
keep my thoughts locked up tight when I notice something unusual. The black
fragment began to dance and crackle. It became a flame and this flame shot down
to the bottom of the curtain after doing its slow, mesmerizing waltz, licking
the skirt of our hiding place. As the curtain caught on fire, the flames didn’t
cause an inferno anywhere else, but instead smoked up the spots it touched and
the now massive black flame was spitting out some sort of liquid. I screamed
and pointed behind Umbra. He was ready immediately to defend us, but I could
tell from his expression that he couldn’t identify what sort of flame this was.
We ducked in time to
see a drop of now green liquid fly past our heads. It splashed onto a
floorboard behind us and that spot began to disintegrate immediately, leaving a
charred two foot by two foot hole in its place. Umbra positioned his hand to
charge up his laser as he stood in front of me, having no protection until his laser
charged to make a shield. As the smoke reached the ceiling, a large puddle of
acid landed right before us. Umbra rose his arms above his head, but used his
whole body to shield me.
I wailed as I heard it
make contact on his skin. When I opened my eyes, I saw the green puddle
dissolve into the fabric of Umbra’s new long-sleeve shirt, the sleeve
disappearing within a second. His arm had a red rash all over it, but only his
shirt looked burned itself. As I gawked at the injury, tears in my eyes that he
had been hurt to save me, the curtain collapsed, becoming a pile of ash.
I heard my name being
called and I looked to see the source was Principal Sea, Mr. Euro, and Mr. Tin.
They bent down to check on the damages and Umbra, who was clutching his arm.
His jaw was set, the jaw that I was kissing and loving only moments ago was the
only thing now keeping him grounded.
As I let Umbra speak
to the adults, I stared at his arm to see a drop of black. It looked similar to
when a black pen leaks ink and leaves a mark on your skin, but this one was
different. It wiggled around, almost like when—
The ink bolt vanished
and no amount of blinking and squinting made it return. Mr. Tin helped me up
carefully, his brow tense with concern. As I assured him I was just shaken, not
harmed, I looked out into the almost clear gym to see Rin, looking like a Greek
goddess statue. She only met my eyes for a second, but the look in her eyes was
undeniable: fear. Utter, complete fear. To make matters more dreadful, she was
clutching her cards for dear life.
I slid to my knees,
the weight of all this literally making it impossible to stand. As I looked at
Umbra once more, trying to track down the maybe imaginary ink bolt, a sensation
pounded into my skull. It felt like someone had punched me from behind with the
strength of Hercules and their arm went all the way through my head. I caught
myself before I could fall forward although the pain was flooding me like
nothing I’ve ever felt before. But the pain was not alone. It brought a friend:
a voice, the voice I’d heard over a week ago.
“Better
run, little one…”
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