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Now available from DrolleriePress.com. Coming to print in November 2008.
To visit the publisher click here.
Synopsis
Death creeps around the world and not as in the concept for the end of life. This syrupy creature stalks, hunts, and waits in hiding for those that it chooses and those that choose it.
Anna Carswell met death during a suicide attempt and was left with a troubling gift. She can see where death will strike next. She begins dating Nick, a man who understands her pain.
Nick blames himself for his sister's death. During those dark years he sees death and knows it wants to claim him.
Anna and Nick hope to regain normal lives by facing Death in its home. Their other attempts have failed but in the City of the Dead, they hope to gain understanding and a future.
A college professor is determined to win Anna even if it means murder.
Death also longs for the lady he set free. It doesn't play fair either.
Read the Reviews
"It is a unique viewpoint on death that personifies it in a way that few writers of the paranormal have been able to express. I found it to be fast paced, fresh and full of imagination...If you enjoy reading the works of Anne Rice or Sherrilyn Kenyon, you will not want to put Restless Shadows down until you have read the very last page. .." 9 Campfires by Dianna Petry at
"...Dark and mysterious, deep and intriguing, with themes and topics one may not usually find in a romantic story, this is the kind of tale you do not want to read late at night...Ms. Cloud has written a deeply moving story, with emotions running high and not all in a positive way. It's a story that will get the adrenaline moving and will captivate and entertain.. . for those readers who like to walk on the dark side." 5 Hearts from Valerie. Read the entire review at
http://www.loveromancesandmore.com/reviews/Sept07/restlesshadows_valerie.htm
RESTLESS SHADOWS grabs the reader by the throat from the first paragraph and never lets up." 4 Hearts from Shaiha at www.suitemag.com
"...Using suspense and terror, Jennifer Cloud takes us into the world of death where shadows reign supreme and only love can conquer them."
4 1/2 Stars Elise Lyn
at www.eCataromance.com
"...a brilliant novel that catches the imagination and uses it to spook the reader. ..The pacing is quick, never letting you rest as the
story unfolds. The surprise ending will keep you breathless till the end. I love this book."
5 Cups
Katherine L. Hunt
Karen Find Out About New Books
Coffee Time Romance
Excerpt
Anna looked down at the white scars that criss-crossed her wrists just below her
hand in short horizontal lines, more on her left than her right. They faded as they
approached her elbow, and were lost forever in the meatier part of her arm.
“Fun, fun,” she mumbled as she dotted flesh-toned stage make-up over the right
one. “Must cover up the fun.”
It took a few moments for the make-up to dry, so she finished the left one and sat in
front of the mirror, elbows on the table, palms facing up, looking at herself. There was
something that captivated her when she did that, like looking at her evil twin through
some portal separating this world from that. She studied her twin, the brown hair that
fell an inch below her shoulders and hung in waves around her face. Her eyes were
nearly as dark as her hair, but upon closer examination they grew green with mild brown
bursts surrounding the cornea.
There were a thousand things she would change about herself if she could. Her chest
wasn’t big enough; her hips were too wide. There were a hundred minor imperfections
only she could see, but that’s how it worked. She knew most people overlooked her
flaws. They’d even go as far as to tell her how pretty she was, but those were the same
people who never saw her scars.
“So what have you been up to?” she asked herself and smiled.
Her reflection didn’t answer.
She rested a wrist on the table and powdered it, and then the other. The powder wasn’t
necessary if she didn’t use too much of the make-up, but she needed to
be sure.
The marks were forgotten by the doctors and never mentioned by her parents—no one else
knew—the small pin thick lines were her secret, like the smile she used to hide her real
feelings, or the way she always pretended to be interested, happy, and okay. In a way she
enjoyed knowing they were there. It seemed fitting to carry a trophy of her
failure.
She finished her ritual by putting on her silver bangles. They were light, smooth, and
masked any imperfections in the make-up. In the bathroom light they glittered as she
twirled them on her arm. Her eyes caught the sparkle in the mirror and her gaze fell once
more to the reflection. The twin stared back, mildly amused at her performance.
“Somehow I think we landed in the wrong worlds. But who’s the evil twin?”
Her eye winked in the reflection and Anna reached out to touch the image. She
moved subconsciously, but still felt a weird kind of bewilderment when her fingers fell
on smooth glass. Part of her had expected fingers to greet hers, as if by standing there
she unlocked some mythic puzzle and actually faced a twin who mimicked her.
“I’m not that crazy.” She laughed. “Not yet at least. I’m just a little different.”
The mirror image shifted. It appeared to Anna as if her reflection switched feet or
changed its balance from one side to the other.
Instinctively she drew her hand back.
“Too much caffeine. Got the eyes jumpy.”
She managed another nervous laugh. It had been a while since she’d seen things
move that shouldn’t. Most people would consider themselves insane if a mirror shifted
or the shadows looked with eyes of their own. There was a time that she did doubt her
sanity. There was a time when she worried about it.
Those times passed. She no longer respected the laws of physics or the labels people
used to impose order on the indefinable. Even so, her mind tried to reason away the shift
she saw. It could have been an involuntary movement. She shook her head and
dismissed the excuse. Only unobservant people made up lies for what they witnessed. She was
not blind like the rest. She knew the shadows held eyes because she watched them, and
even more importantly, she knew what those shadows were capable of doing.
There was something special in knowing. She’d been different since she made those
marks at sixteen. She’d wanted to stop feeling—her own emotions and those of everyone
within hearing distance—and so she called on death. Only it didn’t kill her. Instead, it
changed her, molested her, and stole an innocence she could never reclaim.
She winked at herself again. This time the mirror obeyed perfectly.
