Tags

, , , , , , , ,

Y’all know I love a challenge, so when S.M. Boyce tagged me in The Look Challenge last week, I was eager to participate.  The way this works: I had to search my WIP manuscript for the work “look”, and post the scene that surrounds the first occurrence of “look”.  I’ve opted to share a teaser scene from PRIESTESS OF MOAB, my second New Adult novel which will be published in 2013.  But before you get to read the sample, I’ve tagged a few authors for the challenge:

Jaye Robin Brown

Patrice Caldwell

Charity Bradford

Ally Malinenko

Have fun, ladies!  Can’t wait to sneak a first look!  Now, on to the sample of PRIESTESS OF MOAB:

Silently, the grandmothers led me from the bathing pool back to the temple.  They melted into the shadows around the entryway, and I stood, alone, looking into the temple, lingering on the threshold.  Although I had run about this place with full freedom for years, the transition from child to woman was seen as the change from one self to another.  Because of that, I had to wait to be invited in, as would any who came here for the first time.  Strangers have always been welcomed by the Goddess, but the rules of hospitality must be obeyed.

While I stood poised on the threshold of my new life, I wondered what womanhood would have in store for me.  I couldn’t conceive of a life outside of the temple, and although I watched and listened with an eager heart, I was not entirely sure what my role would be now that I was no longer a child.  Swallowing down my fear, I closed my eyes and whispered a prayer to the Mother.  I had no reason to doubt her: my fate was secure.

I waited for a heartbeat, and then another.  I was just beginning to feel nervous when a clear, rich voice called out my name.  Larina spoke the words of welcome, but the voice issuing from her mouth was not her own: it was a voice I had heard many times in my own thoughts and dreams, but never in the waking world.

The Goddess was speaking through Larina, and it was her voice that welcomed me to womanhood.  Trembling in awe at hearing her voice aloud for the first time in my life, I entered the temple.

Like what you’ve read?  Want a chance to get your hands on an ARC of PRIESTESS OF MOAB?  Sign up here!