Blog Tour: An Extract from Abracadabra by Evanne Hardin Gray
In the spirit of spooky season, today I am taking part in the blog tour for Abracadabra by Evanne Hardin Gray by sharing an extract. In the spirit of Practical Magic and First Frost, a modern-day magic folk tale weaves a fantasy of love, secrets, spellbooks, and family bonds into evocative prose …. And it’s available now!
Book Description:
It’s common knowledge in Duran Hill that some women in the Kinley family have certain gifts … and certain curses … running through their bloodlines. But for three sisters in all but name — Rachel, Juliette, and their cousin Sylvia — the ties that bind them close as ivy throughout their childhood are pulled apart in adolescence when both the gift and curse of that power is revealed between them.
Since that fateful incident, sensible Juliette has tailored a perfect and perfectly-ordinary life which unravels after she marries — and loses — the love of her life. Sylvia, drawn to the dark side, sets up a shop that caters to all the mystical powers the latter generations of the Kinley family shunned. And Rachel, the wild child, in whom its magic seems to create a charmed life, is a carefree wanderer who finds herself suddenly drawn home again.
Her arrival will stir old rivalries and test forgotten bonds in the brief span of a few weeks. But when an old friend in desperate trouble seeks her out, she will impulsively unleash the dangerous secret behind their power: one which has lain forgotten in the Kinley house for two generations.
From the Siren’s song of a dead man’s violin to a jar full of harmless-looking buttons, nothing under the shadow of the family’s roof is what it seems — nothing in their bloodline is safe from the dangerous past.
For Juliette, it brings a test of whether love that has withered can bloom again. For Sylvia, a question of whether a dangerous mistake can only be endured until it destroys you. And for Rachel, the choice is the price between the future of the souls she loves most in life and a powerful force that both makes her the enigma she is — and makes to destroy her like embers caught in a firewind.
Against the backdrop of Southern charm, Scottish superstitions, and bewitching romance, ABRACADABRA casts a spell which cannot be undone, from the ache of lost love to the familial links between souls which go as deep as blood and bone.
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Note from the author: Thanks so much for this chance to share an extract of my novel Abracadabra with the readers at Jessica’s Reading Room! It’s a fast-paced, atmospheric read with elements of romance and magical realism. The following short scene hints at more trouble on the horizon for sisters Rachel and Juliette after Rachel attempted a spell with unfortunate consequences.
Tuesday morning, a fine mist rises from the Kinley house lawn, shrouding the grass and shrubs, lingering spookily under the trees. A stranger on the sidewalk has paused to study the place with interest, the big grey and white house emerging from the fog.
Rachel is late for work this morning. Her alarm has refused to go off, mostly because she forgot to change it. She scrabbles around, buttoning her uniform and slipping on her sensible shoes. Ed will be annoyed when she comes through the door.
Downstairs, Juliette is clattering around with the coffee percolator and the dishes. Rachel can hear Antoine whistling through the open bathroom door down the hall as he works. Swish, scrape, swish scrape. The sound of trowel on tile.
She checks her appearance in the mirror and remembers her name tag is still missing. Ed will say something if she turns up without it again. She has a spare, of course — downstairs. She left it in the pantry.
She takes the steps two at a time. “Pour me a cup, please, Julie,” she calls. The dining room window is cracked open, the summer curtains billowing in the breeze. Rachel closes it, seeing the man outside the fence. She waves to him. He doesn’t wave back.
About the Author:
Evanne Hardin Gray has spent most of her adulthood (and part of her childhood) writing novels, short stories, and screenplays. She has family roots in both New England and the South, which is where she currently writes (sometimes as a ‘ghost’), gardens, and collects books and ideas for them.
Contact Evanne:
Twitter/X: @Abracadabrabook
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