The Calm Before the Storm by Elle Klass Book Blast

Blurb:

Evan O’Conner isn’t a normal child. His father’s alcoholism and mother’s abuse drives him to concoct a plan to rid his life of them permanently. The night is fraught with a horrendous storm, thunder and lightning as the beast inside him is born. Even in her death his mother won’t leave. She haunts his subconscious as he attempts over and over to kill her.

Evan meets his match when Officer Burkhalder enters the picture. One of her closest friends and his family fall victim to violent deaths during the worst hurricane Billows Hollow has ever seen. With only a sketch she learns the identity of the perpetrator and digs into his life, pries into his past – hunting him. Will she stop him? Or will somebody else?

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Excerpt:

Evan entered a wooden shed filled with yard equipment, tools and deck furniture the owners wanted locked away when the winds kicked and howled. He edged against the wall, sliding his body through a narrow gap between folded lawn chairs and cushions.

Evan leaned his bulky torso against the slats, turned sideways and peered through the dirt caked window with binoculars at the surrounding neighborhood. A Ford Explorer parked several paces up the road caught his attention, someone sat inside it. He adjusted the binoculars and the driver’s auburn mane flooded his vision. When she reached towards something in the back seat he recognized her oval face and slender nose. “Carrot Top Cop,” he whispered. His first thought, she’d traded in her Billows Hollow badge for Fradenton but her casual T-shirt said otherwise. For the next couple hours he observed and waited. His mind curious, why is she here?

When she crept out of the vehicle he used the opportunity to sneak towards it, pulling a black baseball cap over his head. The passenger side door unlocked, he opened it, studying the contents laying across the seat. A map, the street marked with a red X, and his family’s address scribbled next to the X. Beneath the map lay a sketch and a red pen. Without picking up the sketch he stared into the familiar face, his face. His mind zoomed backwards in time, attempting to piece together what evidence she might have. He shaved his body, used a condom, and kept hold of his knife. He left the girl alive. Did she talk? Impossible. She was too young. Then he remembered the girl from the bar. He left her alive too. He cringed at his immature mistakes. Impressed with Carrot Top Cop’s skills, he needed a good adversary.

Burkhalder’s open soda filled the space of the driver’s seat cup holder. Evan dipped his hand into his front pocket, pulling out a small bottle. He squeezed three drops from the bottle into her drink. The crunching of footsteps walking towards the car startled him out of his thoughts. He eased the door closed and slid downward

against the side of the SUV as Burkhalder hopped back into the driver’s seat. Then he edged his way around the vehicle, stopping by the passenger side back tire. His blade nestled between the waistband of his pants and his back. Evan needed to be sure she couldn’t follow him, his sleeping serum wouldn’t work fast enough. He jammed the tip of his blade into her tire and twisted. His heart threatening to jump out of his chest. Sweat beaded on his forehead as anger roiled inside him. He crouch-walked towards the closest bushes and used the oleanders for cover. Parting the pink flowers, he peered towards her vehicle, and regained control of his anger. His plans for the family ruined. He ran through the ungated yards until he came upon his nondescript silver CRV.

He pulled his hat off and tossed it into the back seat as he drove, glimpsing a flash of red in his rear-view. Evan sniggered, knowing the more energy she exerted the faster her heart pumped forcing the drugs to circulate through her body at a quicker rate.

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The bushes behind her SUV rustled, catching her attention. She grabbed her soda, gulping it down, her eyes fixated on the bush. Something glistened behind it, then a burst of black cloth. She readied her gun. Whoever it was ran through the yard. She cocked the door open, pushed her back against the vehicle, holding her gun with both hands towards the sky and slid alongside it. Her eyes darting from side to side. She jumped around the bush - empty. The cranking of an engine resonated inside her eardrums.

A squall passed overhead, blowing tree branches and leaves, obscuring her vision. A small silver car pulled away from the road. At the sight, her legs pounded the earth, trying to get the plate number. Blinking through the heavy downpour, she attempted to read the license plate CL or CI, her vision blurred before she could read it. She bent forward, rested her hands on her knees, attempting to catch her breath. She lifted her head, still panting, her head dizzy. The trees and houses swirled through her mind and she collapsed to the ground. Rain pounding her body, small tree limbs whipping through the air.

Author Bio:
Elle Klass is the author of mystery, suspense, and contemporary

fiction. Her works include As Snow Falls, Eye of the Storm Eilida’s Tragedy, and the Baby Girl series. Her work Eye of the Storm Eilida’s Tragedy is a Reader’s Favorite Fiction-Paranormal Finalist in the 2015 Reader’s Favorite Awards. She is a night-owl where her imagination feeds off shadows, and creaks in the attic. Visit her website at https://elleklass.weebly.com.

Excerpt: This chapter written with Whobeda A.K.A. Marcha Fox. Many thanks to her astrological advice.

Read Elle's interview with Whobeda, who has a guest spot in the novel when she does Evan's Natal Chart. 

A short lady with a bob strolled out of Ms. Renard’s room. Eilida looked at Sage, smiles plastered across their faces. “Our turn!” voiced a giddy Sage.

Eilida took Sage’s hand and they marched into the room like two schoolgirls. No crystal balls or tarot cards, instead a full figured Patrice, her fiery hair curled just above her shoulders. But they weren’t there to see a gypsy and have their palms read.
“Ms. Renard. It’s so wonderful to meet you. I follow your stuff.” As the words dropped from her mouth she felt stupid. Follow, she’s going to think I’m a stalker.

Eilida and Sage talked with Patrice a few minutes. Her round figure reminded Eilida of her mother, warm red hair and confidence further eased Eilida’s nervous stomach. Once she had their dates, times and places of birth, she typed everything in and the computer generated their charts. Eilida’s flew off the printer first. Ms. Renard looked from it to Eilida then slid it to the side as she studied Sage’s. She laid it in front of them and explained the position of the planets and their meanings. Sage’s horoscope was filled with happiness, longevity, and success.

When it came time for Eilida’s, she laid the natal chart on the table facing Eilida and sucked in her breath. Eilida’s eyes went directly to the blue triangle in the center.

“We call this blue triangle a yod or the finger of god.”

“What does it mean?”

“A fated life, but let’s get through all of it before you decide what that means. This blue line ties Pluto in the 3rd house to the Sun in the eighth house. This implies that you crave powerful experiences and are attracted to the unfathomable. You commonly hide your interests, except from your closest friends and family. Uranus and Neptune in the fourth house indicate your home life, growing up may have been unstable in some way. You may be searching for an ideal home. The darkness in your eyes reveals the truth in these words.”

“I love my family but I’ve always felt like an outsider except with my grandmother, umm… until she passed. Sage feels more like family than my parents sometimes.”

Patrice’s bubbling personality spilled over. “At your age, most of us feel that way.”

Eilida’s anxiety eased again as Patrice continued.

“Mercury in Taurus and in the 8th house show you tend to be very methodical and have an interest in investigating the supernatural.” 
Eilida’s lips curled into a smile. Her interest in Astrology centered on her interest in the “otherworldly”
“Pluto in Scorpio, the twelve year group you’re both part of, loves mystery and the macabre.”

Both girls chuckled, they lived off zombie and suspense flicks.

Patrice smiled, then her face grew stoic. “There is something in your past, maybe a natural disaster that changed the course of your life. It might be related in some way to the death of your grandmother.”

Zombie-like, Eilida lifted her chart from the table and stood to leave. The dragonflies morphed into dragons breathing fire into her innards, aching to get free. As Eilida exited the door the chatter and

noise in the convention center quieted as her mind focused on something in your past. What could possibly be in her past? Her parents were the most “normal” people she’d ever met and she had a picture perfect childhood, no siblings, everything she needed and most of what she wanted. Her parents and grandmother spoiled her. Yet a feeling she didn’t quite belong always lingered in the back of her mind, followed by a sinking feeling of dread in her belly.
She turned and took a step back into the room, asking another question. “Is all the bad stuff in my past? Does my future look better?”

“Here’s my card, feel free to call.” Eilida noted her solemn expression. 


Eilida lay in bed tossing and turning all night. Her mind a flutter of curiosity and fear, replaying Patrice’s words over and over, ‘a fated life… there is something in your past’. Her fascination of mystery drove her imagination. The man in her nightmares flashed in static against her fleshy brain. Light glittered from her pile of clothes on the floor. Her pendant! She reached down and clutched the pendant, cradling it in her hand. Peace bathed her body and she fell into a restful sleep.

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Eye of The Storm Cover reveal and preorder link

"An electrifying jolt pulsed through my body. I fluttered my lids and a blond me was staring back at me whispering, “It’s OK now”. For that split second, my entire memory overwhelmed my brain but then the connection was severed and all my memories receded to their hiding places."

Eye of The Storm: Eilida's Tragedy volume 1 in the Ruthless Storm Trilogy is now available for preorder at .99 after its release 10/24 the price will go up.

Eye of The Storm: Eilida's Tragedy (Ruthless Storm Book 1) 
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Visit John Reinhard Dizon author of The Triad, Transplant, and Nightcrawler blog and read his editorial review.

Blurb:

A disturbance at her neighbor's house piques Eilida’s curiosity. What she discovers is so shocking it sends her running through the mountainous woods during a thunderstorm. She slips on the wet ground, plummets down Mount Wilde, and slams into a large boulder beside River Freedom. Eilida is transported to Lyden, where Sunshine, a receptionist at the local paper becomes engrossed in her story. The further Sunshine delves into Eilida’s life the more entangled their lives become. Paranormal events, frightening dreams, and terror filled memories draw the women together into an unthinkable web of horror. 

Excerpts:

Sage lay in bed beside me flat on her back. Her hair sprawled behind her mingling with mine. “You remember the day we first met?” she asked. No, no I didn’t. Not paying me any mind she continued, “We were in kindergarten. You were eyeing my Sunburst bar. The little yellow cupcakes with the smiling sun mixed into the frosting and the white filling in the middle. You had a Twinkle bar with the colorful coconut topping. I loved those things! So I really wanted your Twinkle bar and you wanted my Sunburst bar but you were too shy then to ask. I marched right up to you, sat down, and asked, ‘You want to trade?’ You smiled and handed me your Sunburst in exchange for my Twinkle. Then, I introduced myself, ‘I’m Sage.’” 
She made little girl voices as she told the story and I heard myself say, ‘I’m Eilida’. She couldn’t say Eilida. The ill part threw her and she called me Lida. She has stuck with it since calling me Lida to this day. She wore a little green cotton eyelet sundress and I wore a little blue t-shirt with a bright yellow sun flower and my favorite pair of jeans. I remembered! I remembered her and a flood of memories with her washed over my brain.

Getting up she kissed my cheek and said, “I’ll see you later cheeka-babe, I gotta run but someone else will be here soon to fill my void. I think you’ll be pleased,” and off she ran blowing kisses my way as she flung her purse over her shoulder and exited the room.
I remembered the summer her parents got divorced and how she didn’t want to go home. We were eleven and she spent almost the entire summer with us. The house was huge and we would sneak downstairs at night and turn on scary movies. We huddled together and buried our faces into one another’s arms during the bloody parts. We thought we were sly and pulled the wool over my parent’s eyes but they knew all along. I can’t see my mother’s face but I can hear her voice as she walked in and overheard us creating a horror story of our own. "It’s those crazy movies you two watch at night. I wish someone would create parent filters for TV channels." My life hadn’t been mundane. Sage had filled it with adventure and fun. She was like the sister I always wanted but never had.


I could hear my parents’ voices outside my door but I couldn’t make out what they were saying…

Upstairs were two bedrooms with a Jack and Jill bath between them. Instinctively, I knew which was hers. It was very tidy. An opened laptop sat on a roll top desk. I pushed the button and it started right up. A password box popped up on the screen and intuitively I typed the words Chloe. A Dear Delilah letter filled the screen, it said…

Dear Delilah,

This is Ted again. I want to thank you for your advice. I have been in touch with my sister. In fact, I will be meeting her and her family tonight. Thank you, Ted.

A follow up to the letter I had found and copied? It was dated May eighth. Swishing the date around my head a few times an epiphany struck me. May eighth was the night she had her accident. I closed that letter and worked through all the new ones giving them each a reply. When I was finished I submitted them all. Completing the activity was second nature although I had no idea why I did it except to say I felt compelled.

As I pranced down the stairs, I caught a glance out the front window. The sky had turned black with clouds and night quickly approached. From the corner of my eye I caught movement in the house across the street. A shadow passed in front of the window and then disappeared. My heart stopped for a split second and blood drenched the walls. Not the walls of the house across the street but another, the paint underneath baby blue. I held my eyes closed and counted to five, and when I reopened them all was normal and the sky outside was turning to dusk. 

Goodreads

It's been a while!

The past couple weeks have been an extremely busy time for me but I have a post for you today :-).

Baby Girl Book 3: City by the Bay was on tour through Double Decker Books. They did a wonderful job on the posters and these ladies have unrivaled creativity. Instead of the usual blog tour Cleo and I put together a book soundtrack and she cleared her schedule for a character interview! 

Below are all the wonderful bloggers who helped out. Take a moment to check out their handy work and say hi. 

Cubicle Blindness
The Book Swap
Sunshy Books
The Purple Pen
Cup of Tea and a Book
Music, Lyrics & Me
A TiffyFit's Reading Corner
Jai and K's Reviews
City Life Reader
Ink Spell Reviews
Partners in Books
Vonnie's Reading Corner
Wonderstruck
Spilling words
and check out Kaycee's Rebelmouse!

A very big thank you and cyber hug to all the bloggers who made the book tour a success!

I have also been working on final edits for Eye of The Storm a paranormal suspense thriller written from the perspective of two women. 

Eilida

Fever had consumed me and I shivered under my covers with sweat pouring out of every crevasse. A three tier wedding cake and bridesmaids danced around in my head. A hideous rainstorm nearly washed us off the road. Without warning, I was no longer in a car with friends driving in a ferocious squall but I was walking towards a proverbial melody following a dismal apparition. 

Then a man coalesced before me, his face ambiguous, and his voice that of demon spawn. It mocked my existence. My feet took hold and pounded the saturated earth until a wooden chest manifested before my eyes, it represented safety from the beast. 


Oh my head! Static reverberated against the walls of my skull leaving lacerations across the folds of my brain. A familiar warm feeling squeezed my hand. It was that of my mother. I recognized her face from the pictures but the warmth of her hand native to my existence. She was indeed my mother and comfort washed over me.

Sunshine

The image before me was fuzzy but I could see outlines of the eyes and a nose but not the mouth. Under the nose was still something indefinable. Soaked to the bone I continued. Somewhere inside my soul I had heard the lullaby before. A memory flooded back in disjointed pieces; being held and rocked, a storm and a man. 

Suddenly, to my right, he came out of the fog towards me. “There you are,” he said. His voice sent a sharp pang echoing through me. As a reaction I ran. My feet driving hard into the sinking ground beneath them. The rain turned to blood and a wooden chest, the kind a woman would use to preserve her wedding dress in, materialized before me. Scrambling to reach it and close the lid I jolted awoke.


Tears covered my face. Outside, the lightning illuminated the sky and water pounded my window. The dream had unleashed a very real terror inside me. My body shivered and I yanked the covers up under my chin and curled myself into a ball. I could hear my own heart beat.

In the following weeks I will introduce you to some of the quirky characters.