DOUBLE BLOG DAY!

Please join me today! I'll be at two blog sites:
May 7--Books Are Magic
May 7--Coffee Addicted Writer

SUNDAY AT TALLIE'S

It's Sunday and usually the day for dinner at Tallie's.


However, today instead of dinner, I'm going to share a draft book cover for CHALLENGING THE LEGACY, which is Tallie's story and will be released November 1, 2012.


I'm finishing edits to the story and looking for feedback about the cover. So please leave a comment if you have one.


Happy Sunday!

THE CHILD AT THE CENTER OF THE CONTROVERSY

"Go." Todd pointed to the door...

"Not right now, sweetie." Claudia picked him up. He arched backward and shrieked, nearly launching himself out of her arms. "Easy, little one. Are you hungry?"

Todd shrieked louder.

Claudia jiggled him in her arms, trying to calm him with soothing words. He began to flail his arms so wildly Claudia feared she would drop him.

"Any suggestions?" she asked over his screams.

Patrick swung the child up in his arms and swooped him around the room like an airplane. The child fell silent, staring with fascination at the man who held him. "Let's fly to the train station."

Curious, Claudia followed Patrick. The family room downstairs still held boxes that had contained personal care kits distributed to people who had been evacuated from Halo last night.

Patrick lined up several boxes on the floor and set Todd in the first one. Then he plopped a cap on the child's head. "This is your train, young man, and you are the engineer. Choo-choo!"

Todd smiled with delight as he echoed, "Choo-choo!"

**Excerpt from LEGACY OF ANGELS, copyright Genie Gabriel, aka Genene Valleau

vs. A BEAST-MAN

Two tarnished angels join forces to protect a child from a beast-man's savage vengeance…

Patrick stepped into the pale light of the moon. Swaggerty was indeed as damaged as Claudia had described. One side of his face sagged in folds of scarred flesh to melt into his neck and, even from several yards away, Patrick could see the talon-like fingers of one hand wrapped around the wood of the club. 

"Ah, it's the preacher man who consorts with whores." Swaggerty yanked on a rope he held in the other hand and pulled Claudia forward so the moonlight shone on her frightened features. 

Fear for Claudia shafted through Patrick as he stepped forward. If he knocked Swaggerty down, the noose around her neck would jerk. Still, he could gain some advantage. With a quick few steps forward and a sharp roundhouse kick, the club flew through the air, landing with a thunk beyond the fire stones.

With a hearty curse, Swaggerty rubbed his wrist, yanking the rope around Claudia's neck in the process. "So you're not just a simple priest."

**Excerpt from LEGACY OF ANGELS, copyright Genie Gabriel aka Genene Valleau

TWO TARNISHED ANGELS: CLAUDIA

A woman forced into prostitution determined to find a better way...

Standing over her son's bed, Claudia once again marveled such a beautiful child had been born of a violent act. Her heart swelled with love and ached with sadness she might not see him again. If Swaggerty made good his threats, she could die and her son--

She shuddered at what that monster might do with her child.

Determination straightened her backbone as she jotted a note and tucked it in an envelope.

Then she formed a child-sized bundle and covered it with a blanket so Swaggerty would think she had taken Todd with her. She slipped quietly through the hallways of the house to the room occupied by Marly's birth mother, Ruby. As was her habit when she couldn't sleep, the older woman sat in bed reading. 

Claudia entered the room and closed the door with a quiet snick behind her. 

Ruby looked up from her book. "Didn't expect to see you until the fighting was done."

Ignoring the insult, Claudia raised her chin. "I have a favor to ask of you. Mother to mother."

One of Ruby's pencil-thin eyebrows lifted slightly. 

Claudia touched the necklace Patrick had given her for courage and walked the few steps to the bed. She handed Ruby the envelope. "If I'm not back by morning, please see that Emma Midassen gets this."

She hesitated, then also handed Ruby a baby monitor that picked up sounds from Todd's room. "And if Todd fusses, please ask someone to check on him."

"Running away from trouble or toward it?"

"You and I have both made choices we regret. I don't want to wait until my life is ending to make things right. Will you help me?"

Slowly, Ruby smiled and nodded. "For what it's worth, I'm proud of you."

**Excerpt from LEGACY OF ANGELS, copyright Genie Gabriel, aka Genene Valleau

TWO TARNISHED ANGELS: PATRICK

A priest battling personal demons…

Patrick rolled back into his blanket and closed his eyes, feigning sleep yet alert to any movement Claudia might make. The terror and shame in her eyes when she woke from the nightmare struck an answering chord in his heart. Brought a flash of what he thought was memory, but the shapes were shrouded in darkness and he couldn't be sure. 

Years ago, his angel said he should become a priest, and so he had. 

Yet some unknown, unhealed wound lurked in the deepest part of his soul. A darkness at odds with the teachings of the priesthood; that refused to be banished except by pushing his body to its physical limits. So he developed the double life of a beatific priest while also seeking refuge in manual labor and martial arts. While his spirit searched for enlightenment, his body became carved in muscular strength. 

However, lately he found it more and more difficult to escape the shadows in his soul. So he spent more time here at his sanctuary, stripped of even the button-down shirt and slacks that carried some semblance of his priestly career. If he focused completely on the strength of his physical body, perhaps the restlessness of his spirit would once again be silenced.

His plan seemed to be working--until Claudia's panicked flight resonated so deeply with his own desire to flee that he became her accomplice.

**Excerpt from LEGACY OF ANGELS, copyright Genie Gabriel, aka Genene Valleau

LEGACY OF ANGELS IS HERE!

It's release day for LEGACY OF ANGELS!

And I'm saying 

"THANK YOU" 

to readers in a number of ways:

--My novella, "Chasing Rainbows" remains a free read at Amazon.com today and tomorrow. 

--The Spring Fling Web Hunt continues through May 15, with a chance to win Kindles, gift certificates, and many other prizes. I'll be giving away a gift certificate and free e-books.

I'm also kicking off a new contest in conjunction with my Virtual Blog Tour that starts next Monday. 
--A $10 gift certificate to Powell's Books to a commenter each week during May.

PLUS

--A grand prize of a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com to be drawn on May 29 from all commenters from May 1-28.